andy2000.org | ANDISHEH NOURAEE

My friend Kitsy Rose is quoted in the AJC's year-end "Best of" edition of Peach Buzz.

Best ‘Spinal Tap’-inspired radio promo

Q100’s Big Cake Dive at the Lenox Square in February. The teetering, multitiered pastry — which brides-to-be were supposed to toss themselves into for prizes — wasn’t exactly baked with diving in mind.

Unless you wanted to window-shop for a neck brace.

When TV news crews were diverted to cover a house fire, mall rep Kitsy Rose sighed and said: “Normally, I’d be upset if TV got called away from an event. But not today.”

Reminds me more of a WKRP-inspired radio promo. But, hey, that's just me.



Atlanta Trivia: WKRP was reportedly inspired by show creator Hugh Wilson's dealings as an ad exec with Atlanta radio station WQXI (which is now 790 AM).

I'm watching CNN's live "coverage" of Saddam Hussein's execution. That live coverage consists of:

1. Aneesh Raman in Baghdad repeating that the Al-Arabiya and Al-Hurra news channels are reported that Saddam was executed. Did they really need to send Raman to Baghdad just to get him to repeat what he heard on other TV stations?

2. CNN identifies Al-Arabiya and Al-Hurra as "Arab media." Al-Arabiya is owned and operated by the Saudi dictatorship. Al-Hurra is owned and operated by the United States. That's why they got news of the execution first.

3. Anderson Cooper just asked his guest (can't remember the guest's name) to say if he thought Saddam's trial was fair. The guest said that he'd read verdict and found no problems with it. About 10 minutes earlier, the same was identified by Anderson Cooper as a someone who went to Iraq after the war to train its new judges. I wonder if he trained them about objectivity.

4. At the end of Larry King's show, he asked viewers to stay tuned for Anderson Cooper's continuing coverage of Saddam's execution. He then asked viewers to tune in tomorrow night for animal trainer Jack Hanna.

5. CNN's Arwa Damon is also in Baghdad. She keeps saying that saying that Iraq has been waiting up all night for news of Saddam's hanging. Is that reporting? Did she drive around Iraq and count all the houses with lights on?

My theory -- We announced that the execution was imminent several hours ago, but kept Iraqis waiting up all night for it on purpose. That way, Saddam's supporters would be too sleepy to go out and blow stuff up.

"I'm making good progress toward coming up with a plan that we think will help us achieve our objective,"

President Bush, speaking today to reporters.

Only four years after the war started, he's making good progress on coming up with a plan for it. Man, he's good.

NBC News is reporting that Saddam Hussein will be executed by Sunday.

Here's what I wrote about Saddam's trial and execution in September 2005:

First, it would satisfy the desire of Iraq's new leaders to dispose of Saddam quickly. If Saddam is convicted of the Dujail massacre, he can be executed immediately.

Secondly, a trial for the Dujail massacre is likely to result in a death sentence for Saddam without there ever being a public discussion of the U.S.'s long support for regime change.

Put Saddam on trial for using chemical weapons against Iran, and someone's bound to mention that the United States actively supported him during that conflict, funneling him cash and dispatching the U.S. Navy to the Persian Gulf to keep Iran's navy in check.

Put Saddam on trial for using chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurds, and it's likely that someone (other than me) is gonna start talking about the fact that not only did the United States know of the attacks and approve of them, but Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld actually met with Saddam in 1983 on behalf of the Reagan administration. Rumsfeld told Saddam that we didn't mind who he killed or how, as long as he beat Iran in the Iran-Iraq War.

I'm not psychic. The Bush Administration and it's puppets in Iraq are just pathetic and predictable.

I'm not sad that Saddam Hussein will die. That fucker launched missiles at my family. But I'm upset that the very people who supported him for so long will claim a moral victory upon his execution and that the mainstream media will parrot them without question.

"Even two attempts on his life by unbalanced women in California in 1975 did not deter him."

The odd sentence above is from the New York Times 8,100-word obituary of President Gerald Ford.

The first attempt on Ford's life happened on September 5, 1975 in Sacramento, Ca. The wannabe-assassin was a follower of Charles Manson named Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme.

Because of the connection to Charles Manson and the attempted-assassin's cute nickname, the first attempt on Ford's life is better remembered than the second. Nevertheless, the second attempt, is also worth remembering.

On September 22, 1975, President Ford was leaving the St. Francis Hotel in downtown San Francisco. He was on his way to Sacramento to speak to the California legislature.

A crowd gathered outside the hotel hoping to catch a glimpse of Ford. Sara Jane Moore, a political radical and FBI informant (I think), was waiting in the crowd with a pistol.

Standing next to her, by chance, was a former Marine and San Francisco resident named Oliver Sipple. When President Ford got close to them (35-40 feet), Moore drew her pistol with the intention of killing the President. Sipple saw the gun and lunged at it just as Moore fired. Sipple hit Moore's arm, forcing the shot away from Ford. Moore was subdued before she could fire again.

Sipple was a hero. He saved the President's life. Unfortunately for Sipple, the media coverage and political hoopla that followed the incident ruined his life.

Sipple was gay, but he was not out. That didn't stop the press from reporting that he was gay, nor did it stop gay political leaders (most notably Harvey Milk) from touting Sipple as a gay icon.

Sipple was unprepared for the emotional challenges presented to him by his sudden outing. According to several reports, Sipple's mother stopped speaking to him upon finding out that he was gay. Sipple became very depressed and fell into alcoholism.

He didn't want to be a gay icon. He wanted to be a former Marine who just happened to save the President's life. He sued several newpapers for revealing that he was gay, but lost. Sipple's mental and physical health declined throughout the 1980s. In 1989, he died in his sleep. He was 49.

Sipple received a thank-you letter from Ford (which he reportedly framed and had by his bed side when he died), but he was never invited to the White House for a formal, in-person thank-you.

You'll read and hear repeatedly about what a nice guy Gerald Ford was (the obit linked above calls him nice, decent, or kind six times), but it's hard not to conclude that Ford shunned the guy who saved his life simply because he was gay.

A President's weekly schedule is filled with non-policy-related, photo-op meetings. Surely Ford could have spared 15 minutes for the man who saved his life. Do you doubt that he would have if Sipple's homosexuality hadn't been the subject of several news stories?

Nice, decent and kind, but only when it wouldn't hurt him politically.

Don't bother reading any of James Brown's obituaries. If you wanna know what James Brown was about, watch this:



(If you can't see the video image above, click here)

Make sure you watch until the end to see Brown howl and scream along with Maceo Parker's amazing sax solo.

And if I've got my J.B. timeline correct, that's Bootsy Collins on bass (they don't show him, but you can hear him).

Labels: James Brown Maceo Parker Mother Popcorn

Poland proposal would name Jesus king

Wed Dec 20, 11:47 AM ET

WARSAW, Poland - Lawmakers have drawn up a resolution naming Jesus Christ as the honorary king of Poland, but have failed to win support from the country's powerful Roman Catholic church. (read the rest)

As Lord of Lords and King of Kings, and isn't he kind of already the honorary king of Poland?

Anyhoo, I've been to Poland's royal castle. Jesus would like it there.

"We're not winning, we're not losing,"
-President Bush discussing the Iraq war with the Washington Post, December 19, 2006.

"Absolutely, we're winning. We're winning, and we will win, unless we leave before the job is done."
-President Bush, speaking to a reporter in October 2004, shortly before the mid-term election.

"Waging and Winning The War On Terror"
-A bragging, pro-Bush talking-points memo posted on the White House web site in February 2006.

"The Battle For Iraq Is central to the ideological struggle between freedom and terror."
-From an August White House web site memo titled "Fact Sheet: Winning the Struggle Between Freedom and Terror in the Middle East."

A video of American soldiers apparently leading Iraqi children in a chant of "Fuck Iraq."



If you can't see the image above, click here.

Does anyone know when this video was made or who made it?

"One of the interesting things about this experience is that there's a lot of ideas and a lot of opinions. And I want to make sure I hear from as many of those ideas and opinions as possible. Today I heard from some opinions that matter a lot to me, and these are the opinions of those who wear the uniform. "

-President Bush, speaking at the Pentagon today.

The bad news: Incoming Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee doesn't know the first thing about al Qaeda or Hezbollah.

The good news: At least he's not President.

According to today's AJC, state Rep. Timothy Bearden has just filed legislation that, if passed will make it illegal for "any Georgia city or county from issuing any official forms or documents in a language other than English."

Bearden is the Republican representative of Villa Rica, Georgia.

"Make no mistake about it, I understand how tough it is, sir. I talk to families who die."

-President Bush, at a press conference today reassuring the American people that he understands how serious the situation in Iraq is.

This sign is posted over the entrance at the Flying J gas station in Commerce, Georgia.



"30 on pump 12, a pack of Marlboro Lights, and comprehensive terrorist threat assessment, please."