American Idol on The Huffington Post

Mike Ragogna: Paul Simon's Lyrics & The Case Of The Vanishing Compact Disc

2008-11-18T11:01:47Z

Slumming at Borders this past week was a pretty rewarding experience for those of us who wandered around the music aisle. There under "S" appeared a new Random House-published book by singer-songwriter and vintage pop icon, Paul Simon, simply titled Lyrics. It is an assembly of just that, ranging from his Simon & Garfunkel days to his latest solo album, Surprise. What is refreshing about this book is that it not only documents every Paul Simon song you could think of (such as "Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover," a song he wrote for his son Harper to teach him about rhyme), but also rarities such as "Shelter Of Your Arms" that was written during his Hearts And Bones period, as well as the Graceland-era composition, "Changing Opinion," that appeared on Phillip Glass' Songs From Liquid Days album. Even Simon's Capeman musical is thoroughly represented, complete with all the lyrics to that production's final set list as it appeared on Broadway. Comparable to Joni Mitchell's 1997 book The Complete Poems And Lyrics, Simon's collection one-ups Mitchell's by supplying a forward by artist Chuck Close, an introduction by journalist David Remnick, and a few original handwritten pages of classics such as "Kodachrome," "Graceland" and his ever-relevant "American Tune." The book invites both fan and novice to catch all the double entendres, urban imagery, collegiate poetry, inside jokes, and general genius that can elude the most dedicated listener since Simon's recordings engage on more levels than their brilliant lyrics. And weaving through many of his songs' words is the idea that we are all interconnected, whether through romantic entanglements or global concerns. In "Citizen Of The Planet," a song left off of Simon's version of Hearts And Bones when it originally was recorded and mixed as the Simon & Garfunkel album Think Too Much, the author writes, "We are the citizens of the planet, we were born here, we're going to die here come what may." He doesn't mean this exactly as it reads since its verses are peppered with sarcasm, but that's the point. After reading the lyrics as prose, you get yet another kick out of what Simon says.

Now, let's pretend that while you were at Borders or Barnes & Noble with Lyrics tucked under one arm, you also wanted to buy the double or triple compact disc/DVD configuration of The Essential Paul Simon. Good luck. The problem of compact discs disappearing from the marketplace is worse than it was only a year ago. CD inventories, beyond Borders (traditionally, a strong music outlet), are way down. Store buyers just ain't a-buyin' from the labels, and it's looking grim all over. Circuit City's downsizing and filing for bankruptcy plus record label EMI's 1.2 billion dollar loss are giant signposts that the music industry's physical goods dilemma is reaching critical mass with an impending domino effect fast approaching. With download revenues not yet replacing the loss of physical sales, DVDs now claiming CD territory in Best Buy (coinciding with the chain's significant elimination of music endcaps), Borders and Barnes & Noble virtually hiding their music sections, and Starbuck's intense reduction of counter-promoted compact discs, it's easy to see that record companies are facing the worst marketplace ever that will result in a brutal fourth quarter. And contrary to the hype, the resuscitation of vinyl isn't even a band aid despite one-way sales, considering the manpower, time and expense involved. No matter how cool LPs are, vinyl absolutely, positively will not be the industry's savior, though tilting at that windmill reveals much about the music business' continued short-sightedness.

So how are these former music titans facing the impending battle for our entertainment dollar? In a reality where that dollar has more perceived value when spent on a Steve Martin or Michael J. Fox multi-movie box set or even a Superman or Matrix fourpack, what magic can record companies conjure to keep a 45 to 80 minute CD of merely music competitive? Theoretically, a strong release schedule could do the trick. But looking at recently shipped projects and near future releases, it's another yawn of a year's end with one big exception: Guns N' Roses' apocrypha, Chinese Democracy, that finally will be issued in a little over a week. However, this really, really long-awaited release had better turn out to be bigger than any November surprise Obama or McCain could have dropped since the weight of the music industry's future just might be resting on the shoulders of Axl Rose. Why so gloomy? Check out what else is coming down the pike by our pop standard bearers: Britney Spear's appropriately-named Circus, Taylor Swift's Fearless, David Archuleta's and David Cook's self-titled albums, Maroon 5's remix project, Beyoncé's I Am...Sasha Fierce and Ricky Martin's 17. Can you detect any life-changing records in this batch? See anything other than GNR's CD herding fans to stores by the hundreds of thousands?

Trying its best to pick-up the slack, the catalog world of reissues and compilations--once reliable income generators--unfortunately has had to cut back on releases significantly. Future highlights include UMe's deluxe edition of R.E.M.'s Murmur, Rhino's Led Zepplin box revisit, Genesis' Peter Gabriel years box, Legacy's Philly International repackaging campaign and whatever Shout! Factory has up its sleeve. Still, if that's the most adventurous the industry can get during a holiday season that used to support about ten Grammy®-worthy box sets, expanded reissues by the boatload, and significant, high profile, desirable hits collections, people are just not thinking hard enough. Yes, it's the economy, stupid. But no, it shouldn't mean roll over and play dead. As much as this article has downplayed it, there is one cue to take from the release of vinyl--find any existing demand and fill the pipeline. A synergy of niche releases combined with a guerilla-style marketing approach to more local outlets--we're talking Obama-like ground troops here--could begin the outreach process that traditionally has been limited to Special Markets or Special Products departments. Despite the angst-ridden strains from sales departments that can't quite figure out exactly how to do it, CDs, just as they are right now, should be proliferating everywhere since music potentially has a correlate to every product that is being marketed. The simple fact is when Singer Sowing Centers used to sell 45s in the very old days, no sales department resisted, they just sold music every place they could.

There is an even bigger issue than a more challenging consumer landscape. Look at that list of original artists with new releases again. See the problem? See why we should ban American Idol from the airwaves for about ten years? Take Clive Davis' apparently endless parade of mediocrity, add-in boy and girl band graduates, One Tree Hill-taylored emo and Britney clones by the half-dozen and there is, basically, the state of pop music today. It's also the reason why no one is rushing out to buy new CDs regardless of there being fewer places to buy them. This is all casual music, it's all pretty disposable and adds very little to the culture other than being tuneful wallpaper. Sadly, there are so few contemporary acts beyond The Black Eyed Peas, Joss Stone, Coldplay, Radiohead, etc. that don't appear as fabricated as High School Musicals 1-3. Artists of depth such as John Mayer and John Legend are currently such a minority that similarly talented singer-songwriters are always the last signings for labels (Verve and Concord the exceptions) despite the bigger picture. Following this template, there will never be another Paul Simon or Joni Mitchell, and probably not even a Neil Young or Bob Dylan. A&R departments have devoted much energy on signing and promoting kid stuff but have no clue what to do with artists that have multi-generational appeal or consciousness-raising ideas. And as labels abandoned every generation beyond the youngest to snag profits, we practically lost whole genres of music such as classical and true jazz. Sure, labels can complain about stores going away, marketing dollars shrinking, and iTunes being the only future. They could also reminisce about mean ol' Napster and unregulated file sharing that initially contributed to the music business' messy downward spiral. But if what record companies sold wasn't so disposable, maybe one little compact disc would have a greater perceived value than four boxed Tom Hanks '80s movies. Wait, that is still pretty hard to beat. But as we're waiting for the record business to reinvent itself, is it too much to ask for stores that sell Paul Simon's new book Lyrics to at least try and keep his Essential collection in stock?

Suicide Idol's Brother, Friends Rip Paula Abdul

2008-11-14T08:43:52Z

The brother of the Paula Abdul-obsessed "American Idol" reject who OD'd outside the star's LA home is blaming Abdul for crushing his sister's dreams and sending her on a downward spiral.

Paula Goodspeed, 30, had withered away to just 78 pounds at the sad end of her life, brought on by eating disorders and a broken Hollywood heart, her brother, Charles McIntyre, told The Post yesterday.

Although the grieving sibling disputed tentative police reports that Goodspeed committed suicide in her car, McIntyre said his sister's "Idol" tryout in 2005 crushed her dreams of stardom.

Goodspeed auditioned for Season 5 of the hit Fox reality show, and her train-wreck performance of "Proud Mary" brought jeers and cutting comments from the three "Idol" judges.

"[Abdul] didn't speak up for her. She let everyone take her down," McIntyre told The Post from his home in Maine.

"She [Abdul] said she was 'speechless,' when she could have said something in her defense."

Earlier in that "Idol" episode, Goodspeed showed off life-size drawings she had made of Abdul and professed her admiration for the former Laker Girl.

KEEP READING NY POST INTERVIEW

PLUS FROM THE NY DAILY NEWS:

A good friend has rushed to the defense of 30-year-old Paula Goodspeed, telling the Daily News that the aspiring singer wasn't a suicidal, "looney freakazoid" still obsessing over the mocking she received at her September 2005 "American Idol" audition.

Instead, Goodspeed was upbeat and planning for the future when she last communicated with pal Brianna Schlanger less than 24 hours before cops recovered her body Tuesday.

"She sent me a text at 10:22 the night before about meeting for a latte and movie. She ended the message with a happy face," said Schlanger, a model from Reseda, Calif. "She seemed fine. Some

PLUS FROM PEOPLE, A DIFFERENT SIDE:

Last week, Paula Abdul got flowers with a note signed, "Love, J.T." and the message, "Hope you're doing great. Here's my new cell number."

Thinking they had come from her restaurateur boyfriend J.T. Torregiani, Abdul called him asking why he had changed his number, a source close to Abdul tells PEOPLE. When he said he hadn't, Abdul knew immediately who really sent them: ex-American Idol contestant Paula Goodspeed, according to the source....

Also, PEOPLE has learned, Goodspeed had changed her first name from Sandra to Paula.

Kenny Chesney, George Strait Win Big At CMA

2008-11-13T00:06:30Z

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Kenny Chesney won his fourth entertainer of the year award and George Straight became the most-honored artist in CMA Awards history at Wednesday's ceremony, a show highlighted by a lavish performance by Taylor Swift, a surprise appearance by rapper Lil Wayne, and the return of one of country's biggest stars, Shania Twain.

"You look really good," Chesney remarked to Twain, who wore a sexy, low-cut dress as she presented Chesney with his award. Twain is one of country's best-selling artists, but has spent the last several years out of the spotlight. She hadn't been on the show in four years.

Dead Fan Found At Paula Abdul's House

2008-11-12T11:26:56Z

LOS ANGELES — A fan of Paula Abdul whose failed audition for "American Idol" aired in season five was found dead in a car near the home of the pop star and judge she admired, authorities said Wednesday.

Police indicated that Paula Goodspeed, whose rendition of "Proud Mary" was roundly criticized by Simon Cowell and rejected by Abdul and Randy Jackson, had possibly committed suicide, said Ed Winter, assistant chief of the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner. An official cause of death had not been determined.

Tara Stiles: Barack Obama, My American Idol

2008-11-11T15:52:29Z

We're all relieved. The stress knots that had made an unwanted home in my stomach are finally moving out. I couldn't join my friends in the early celebration parties because I was too nervous. Chasing down news sources for the latest updates and glued to CNN, my iPone, and my MacBook, I was like a network anchor without a camera crew. Even when the election was called, I was nervous about the states that hadn't been counted yet. Could there be any way this wouldn't work? We all hoped, and voted, and told everyone we knew to vote, all we could do now was wait. And then he won. Our President, Barack Obama is finally here.

I was talking to a friend of mine who grew up in NYC. She's a gorgeous ballet dancer, a blend of Chinese, Russian, and Indonesian. We're both products of the My Little Pony generation who came of age on Sept 11. We semi-seriously joked about how we were prepared to move to Europe or Canada if November 4th had gone the other way. We talked about how for the first time in our generation, we were really proud and actually believed in Democracy as we teared up with excitement. Before Tuesday, we weren't so sure it was real.

We both believe with hard work, determination, and faith we will achieve our dreams, but we haven't seen a leader in our generation who embodied that. We aren't asking for someone to do the work for us, but we appreciate a leader who has accomplished so much and strives to help us change the world for the better. We feel like we are a part of a movement, kept in the loop, and even invited to participate in his campaign via emails and Facebook groups. George Bush never sent me an email about his plans to shoot wolves, or declare war, but that's probably a good thing. We might have sent back nasty emails, spam about Viagra, or a virus. There are more productive ways to spend time.

While I'm on the subject of wasting perfectly good time, American Idol is drawing some parallels in my brain to this election. Not that I'm a huge fan of the show, I am actually one of those people who get annoyed when a perfectly good conversation slips into a reality show debate. In less hopeful times (everything until Tuesday) it seemed like that show was the only thing that excited most Americans. We weren't even fully aware that things had gotten so dreary, but it could explain the overwhelming enthusiasm and ratings that show was getting. People lived vicariously through the contestants, cheered them on, got excited for them to live their dreams. When an undiscovered amazing talent sings on that show there is no question that person has every chance to succeed. Sound mixers and back up dancers aren't available as distractions. If the singer sucks, it makes for a few good YouTube clips (kind of like the Sarah Palin interviews), but that kid isn't going to have a big music career. Now we're hoping for Sarah's and for our sake that we see Ms. Palin fade back into the vastness of Alaska. This election proved that hard work, drive, determination, and hope won. Barack Obama is my American Idol.

One of my favorite teachers, Krishna Das, said when someone doesn't possess anger, greed, selfishness, and hatred, it's unbelievable the light that shines through. I think this is a big part of the reason we are all so emotional about Obama. We see the light shining right through him and it's lighting us up! It's about all of us. We've gotten zapped!

I'll admit I didn't have much of an interest in politics before this presidential election. Neither did a lot of other young people in America. We've all sort of accepted that we can't do much about our government, so we find ways to work around and do the best we can with our lives. Our government really wasn't our government. How could it be? That's just how it was and we hadn't seen anything different. Now, we feel like we are a part of something. We've been invited to participate in making the world a better place for everyone, by a leader who is actually our leader. People in NYC and around the world are smiling. I've gotten several random high fives in the last few days from strangers. It's in our nature to connect with each other. Before Tuesday, we have been going about our lives with our heads down. That has changed. Eye contact is being introduced back into our culture and this is just the beginning.

Dr. Jonny Bowden: Nutrition and the Obama Moment

2008-11-11T14:46:27Z

For the last two years we've been hearing the question "Is America ready for a black president?"

Meanwhile, we've been ignoring the even more important question: "Is America ready for an intellectual president?"

Intellectuals have fallen on hard times in recent years.

It probably started back in the heyday of William F. Buckley (who would probably characteristically roll his eyes if he saw what he had beget a half-century later). Intellectual conservatives began demonizing "the liberal elite"; this morphed into a demonizing of "elites" in general -- "elite" defined as anyone who had more education than you did, typically confused with "elitist" -- and morphed further into a general dumbed down populism and celebration of anti-intellectualism. (How else to explain otherwise intelligent people actually saying positive things about Sarah Palin?)

Add to the mix an emerging culture whose important features include text messaging -- with it's "C u L8tr" vocabulary -- American Idol's celebration of karaoke-level singers, "The Secret", four word sound bytes substituting for political positions (three words in the case of "Drill Baby Drill"), pollsters reducing swirling and complex shades of purple to "Red!" and "Blue!", a general coarsening of the culture and a population-wide lowering of attention span and you've got the perfect storm: complexity is out, simplicity is in. Who's got the time to read "War and Peace" when there's some Asian guitarist on YouTube playing the theme from Deliverance in his dorm room in under 60 seconds?

It doesn't help that intellectuals are often tone deaf to feelings, which hardly makes them more likeable. The kid who's about to lose his puppy because of the arcane rules of his apartment's co-op board doesn't want to hear a treatise on "Democracy in America" or get lectured on civics, community and the theory of the common good. A detailed and nuanced discussion of medical statistics, causality and correlation is no competition for the powerful pull of a heartbroken mother on Oprah who is convinced that the mercury in vaccinations caused her kids autism. (Some -- though not all -- of those mothers are probably right, but that's another column.)

And yes, some intellectuals have been (are, indeed) pin-heads, paralyzed by analysis and all that.

But in a country in which 42% of college graduates believe that flying saucers have visited us, one-fifth of Americans believe that the sun orbits the earth, a jaw-dropping 1/3 of the men running for the Republican nomination for president in 2008 do not "believe" in the "theory" of evolution, and about 20 million people listen to Rush Limbaugh (not because they think he's a comedian), there's good reason to think that intellectualism is on the ropes.

Maybe this will change now that we have in the White House a guy who actually understands nuance and complexity.

A guy who actually thinks.

Lord knows, we in the world of nutrition and health could use some of that.

Here's a not-so-theoretical example: Joe the Plumber wants to lower his cholesterol! Obama-man understands that there are about 8 or more subfractions of cholesterol (not just "Good!" and "Bad!"), they act quite differently in the body, and that -- newsflash alert -- lowering cholesterol may not have much to do with lowering the risk for heart disease in the first place. Slapping a "no cholesterol" label on a Twinkie may make you feel better about eating it, but it doesn't make it a health food.

Of course, it's far easier to "lower cholesterol" than it is to understand what goes into lowering your risk for heart disease (hint: lowering cholesterol has little, if anything, to do with it).

It's also easier to define "healthy foods" as being equal to "low in fat", another boneheaded position if there ever was one, and one that is at least as common as the belief in flying saucers and just about as accurate.

And hey, I'm just getting started. For a full catalogue of boneheaded, rote-repetition, non-thinking positions on everything related to diet and supplements, see American Dietetic Association. Or go to MyPyramid.gov.

These nutritional memes are so deeply embedded into health establishment culture that to question them puts you immediately in the company of the tin foil hat crowd -- or at the very least, the 9/11 Truthers.

I'd love to see Obama set the tone for the return of thinking. It's due for a comeback. And we could sure use it when it comes to health and dietary advice.

If only I could be more hopeful that it will actually happen.

Alan D. Mutter: Campaign '08: MSM's Last Hurrah

2008-11-11T14:37:23Z

The 2008 presidential election likely will go down in history as the last hurrah for the mainstream media when it comes to its influence over national politics.

The once pre-eminent authority of newspapers and broadcast networks in national campaigns will be diminished sharply in the future by three major and seemingly unstoppable trends:

:: Shrinking audiences and decaying advertising revenues respectively will reduce the reach and resources that the mainstream media traditionally have enjoyed in covering presidential campaigns.

:: Any remotely competent national campaign in the future will go over the heads of the media by emulating the successful interactive tactics that Barack Obama employed to raise record campaign funding; build highly effective real and virtual networks, and energize a previously apathetic generation of young and heavily wired voters.

:: The new generation of media-savvy voters will take full advantage of the abundance of news, commentary and raw information (campaign finance reports, voting records and polling data) available to them on the web. They not only will use those resources to educate themselves but also, in many cases, will add their voices to what is bound to become a national, 24/7, no-holds-barred town hall meeting.

While it may be great for our democracy to have more citizens more actively involved in the political ferment, the consequence is that MSM will be marginalized as never before in terms of audience and credibility.

In fact, the marginalization is well under way.

The 33.5 million households watching Obama's 30-minute infomercial last week represented a larger audience than viewed either American Idol (28 million) or the interminable final game of the World Series (19.8 million).

The infomercial dwarfed the evening news audiences of the Big Three networks, which last week were 8.4 million households for NBC, 8.1 million for ABC and 6.2 million for CBS. Bill O'Reilly, who typically is the top draw on cable news, attracted an average audience in October of 3.1 million households, according to TV Newser.

Newspaper circulation has declined so much in recent years that it has fallen back to where it was in the mid-1940s, when the country's population was half the size it is today. Only 18% of Americans now buy a daily newspaper vs. 36% in 1945.

Public confidence in the mainstream media has been eroding for at least a decade.

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press reported that only 19% of respondents trusted their local newspapers in 2006, as compared with 29% in 1998. In the same period, trust in national newspapers slid to 21% from 32%, broadcast news fell to 22% from 27% and cable news slipped to 25% from 37%. Confidence in the National Enquirer, however, doubled to 6%.

With the credibility of the media sagging well before the 2008 presidential campaign got under way in earnest, the MSM did themselves little good by repeatedly misreading the tealeaves throughout the primary cycle.

Wrapping up the race this weekend in the Washington Post, the distinguished David S. Broder characterized this as the best campaign from a journalistic perspective that he has covered since 1960. But his piece also is a vivid reminder of how often the national media were wrong about such things as the inevitability of Hillary Clinton or the improbability of Mike Huckabee winning the Iowa primary and John McCain topping the Republican ticket.

MSM haters won't let us soon forget the uncommon number of times that the common wisdom proved incorrect among the gaggle in the bubble on the bus.

The last indignity for the MSM - and the one that virtually assures the decline of its future influence - will be self-inflicted.

As soon as the election is over, the Washington bureaus and national desks at most newspapers, magazines and networks are almost sure to be dramatically reduced by their parent companies to offset the sustained declines they have been suffering in advertising sales.

In the process, we will lose the insights and efforts of many of the talented professionals who over the years have attempted to inject a degree of honesty and balance into the inherently ill-disciplined realms of government and politics.

The MSM haters may be glad to see the correspondents go. But I won't, because the online tsunami of misinformation, dirty tricks and invective that inevitably will replace them will overwhelm and confuse the national discourse, making it far less civil in the bargain.

For all that was wrong with the MSM - and there was a lot - their usually constructive contribution to the political process will be sorely missed in the frighteningly fractious free-for-all that likely lies ahead.

Ariston Anderson: Glamour Women of the Year: Condi, Kidman & Chimps...oh my!

2008-11-11T14:12:24Z

The 19th Annual Glamour Women of the Year Awards last night filled Carnegie Hall with a slew of A-listers from the art world, Hollywood, and Washington, as well as some international activists ready to inspire the audience into...Change.

The ceremony opened with a dolled-up Fergie, wearing a full-length white ball gown singing her inspirational song "Finally." Her attempt at soul was a bit distracting. My friend leaned over and asked me, "Did she just say, 'finally, now my life doesn't stink so bad?" That's what I thought. Turns out the actual lyrics are "finally, now my life doesn't seem so bad." Damn, we love us some Fergie, but wished she would have just pulled out some Fergalicious or London bridges.

Kate Bosworth introduced her style icon, CEO of Chanel, Maureen Chiquet, a woman from Missouri who fell in love with France. Her career path went from Old Navy to Banana Republic to...Chanel. That's quite the career path. Imagine getting freebies from Old Navy one day and the next day your wardrobe is full of comp Chanel. How she did it? She asked. "When you know what you want, you have to ask for it," she advised the ladies in the audience. That's what landed her top dog at BR, anyways. Maureen, could I have some Chanel leftovers, please? It doesn't hurt to ask.

Next up, Mayor Michael Bloomberg introduced media mogul Tyra Banks. He told a little story of how Maya Angelou had encouraged Tyra to be a swimsuit model, but Tyra thought she had too many swimsuit ads in her past for that. "Funny, I thought the same thing [about myself]," said Mayor Mike. But that didn't stop him. Another thing they have in common? "She's 6'2 in heels," he joked. That's no joke, as Tyra came out, towering over our dear Mayor.

Tyra gave us some inspiring words from her mama: "If the front door is locked, go thru the backdoor. And if that is locked, go thru the basement or the cellar. And if that doesn't work, climb in through the window." You could see Bloomberg leaning forward (the White House on his mind?) as Tyra told us, "the path to get inside is not always a straight path. So get in any way you can."

Salman Rushdie next introduced his friend, artist Cara Walker, comparing her silhouette work to the man in the Hans Christian Andersen's story, "The Shadow," whose shadow ultimately becomes bigger than his being. Cara accepted her award saying, "As a visual artist, we're not really required to say much." I guess she leaves that up to the critics. But she did explain, "I draw stories that are too hard to verbalize." And thank goodness for that, Cara.

Next up former Glam award winner Barbara Walters presented to Condoleezza Rice, offering that Condi should be awarded just for waking up early enough to exercise an hour each day. She hoped that Condi can one day stop and have time to smell the roses, "and maybe even to fall in love." JAB! BABS! Condi was looking very Thandie Newton (read: gorgeous) in a brown and gold brocade gown. She said that Obama's win as the first black president, "is pretty special to a little girl from Birmingham, Alabama."

Everyone's favorite NBC page Jack McBrayer came out in Oakley shades to present to his Olympic idols Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh. We must say Jack was acting very "Kenneth-like" throughout the ceremony, all smiles and giggles. His 30 Rock co-star Jane Krakowski came out, and they translated the meaning of various volleyball high-fives (e.g. a double high five, down low means "Ooh we nailed that girl!").

The highlight of the night was when Debra Messing presented the Lifetime Achievement award to primatologist Jane Goodall. Who didn't want to be Jane when they were a kid? Jane did a special chimpanzee call to a group of girls from her not-for-profit Roots & Shoots, who were sitting in the upper balcony. The 74-year-old activist shared with us the secret of having the energy to travel 300 days a year: all of the amazing people she gets to meet (present company not excluded). Jane reminded us that activism is threefold: animals, people, and the environment, and it wouldn't be prudent to focus solely on one of those.

Nicole Kidman then took the stage, revealing that she had only achieved balance in her life when she met Keith Urban. "Three and a half years ago a man came along and said, 'I'm going to take you to Tennessee.' And he took me down there and he said, 'I think you deserved to be loved. Let me love you, let me give you a home, and let's make a baby.' (And not some weird scientology baby). Keith jumped out of his seat to lead Nicole's standing ovation the second she finished her speech. Awwww.

And to top off the night, none other than the trailblazer herself, Hillary Clinton. Friend Mary Steenburgen presented the American Idol fan with a surprise, a one-on-one serenade from David Cook with "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." A flashback video revealed to us that Hills was the original Gossip Girl Blair Waldorf, rocking headbands way before they were cool. And she thanked Glamour, who always did like her pantsuits. Hillary told us that no matter how many amazing people Barack Obama is surrounded with, "He can't do it alone," and thus we all need to be his partner in the next four years. Honoring her former opponent the night of her award? Definitely a Do.

Erica Heller: How Do I Thank Thee, Sarah Palin?

2008-11-08T11:08:51Z

(With profound apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

How do I thank thee for running, Sarah Palin? Let me count the ways.

I thank thee to the depth and breadth and height my Democratic, Obama-loving, unemployed soul can reach, still exhausted mightily from the interminable weeks of horrific suspense, waiting to find out if what we were witnessing was a monumental comedy or a catastrophic, world-ending horror-movie.

For letting Katie Couric peel back the layers early on and show that "There is no there there." For not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is or being able to name any Supreme Court cases. (For a second there, I really thought you might say: "Howzabout 'Stop In the Name of Love?'")

For winking during the debate as if twin 747s had flown into your eyes.

For not believing in evolution, for being as narrow-minded and mean-spirited as Scrooge on Christmas, for assuming that all American IQs were no higher than your shoe size, for thinking you could do a Houdini with shockingly expensive couturier fashions, for making the great Joe Biden, a distinguished, solid, national treasure, look and seem even more treasurable.

For honestly believing that real life in our great land had become just one big reality show and that overnight, without benefit of wisdom, knowledge, intellect, experience, ethics, conscience or the merest trace of substance, you wouldn't get voted off the island, could/would dance better than anyone else or be selected the next American Idol rather than the next American Midol.

Oh, how I thank you now for running, Sarah Palin. My mirth is bottomless!

I thank you for Ted Stevens, for thinking you could run the Senate, for defiantly refusing to show us your medical records, for thinking you could somehow look cool on SNL, for providing exquisite fodder for Keith, Rachel, Jon, Bill Maher, Richard Lewis and other mondo-brilliant minds everywhere who managed to spin your transparent mendacity and fomented hatred into gold, as we all watched and waited, breathless, astonished, that you, so unworthy and unfit, even came close. That you were ever even picked and taken half-seriously, you who wouldn't know NAFTA from NAMBLA, didn't know that Africa is a continent and not a country, allowed yourself to be pranked by a couple of impish and astute Canadian comedians, and probably thinks your next check-up is with Diet Dr. Pepper.

What a lesson it's been. America is great enough, free enough, to let someone like you run. But also smart enough to let you lose.

So, I thank thee for running, Sarah Palin, and for helping us last Tuesday to dodge the surreal, existential and yes, perhaps the greatest historical bullet of our lifetime. (As has, no doubt, our pre-natal paragon, Levi "Shootin' Shit" Johnston.)

Now, if only those poor Alaskan wolves could be so lucky.

Joel Schwartzberg: I Suffer From Campaign Withdrawal

2008-11-07T12:57:55Z

After the election, I knew I should be happy. Not only did my side win, but a year's worth of CNN-fueled dread and anxiety had come to a final end, and I had more free time to enjoy pastimes like eating, sleeping, and watching Food Network. So why did I feel so empty?

I tried to tell myself that what I was feeling was residual disappointment. After all, not every candidate I supported saw a victory party. The CNN gee-whiz holograms were hardly ready for prime time. And gays and lesbians, hopeful that they too could surf the big wave of change, were left on the shore saying, "No, we still can't."

But it felt more depressing than simple disappointment. It felt like the day after a birthday, the circus leaving town, the lights coming up in a movie theater, or the beginning of an episode of How I Met Your Mother when you're just too tired to change the channel. It felt like loss, with even more gloominess ahead.

Then, while reading a local newspaper, I recognized my symptoms in an article about "Campaign Withdrawal."

* Feeling letdown? Check.

* Not knowing what to watch on TV? Check.

* Sensing my life is missing something? Check.

* Seeing Wolf Blitzer in the face of every bearded passerby? Well, that may be more related to something from my childhood.

In the article, Dr. Petros Levounis, Director of the Addiction Institute of New York's St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital -- a man who probably doesn't take his coffee black -- said our obsessions stimulate "pleasure-reward pathways in the brain." He said that following political campaigns can become an addiction, with its own kind of withdrawal.

It's true. I miss Candidate Obama and Candidate McCain. I miss the debate and primary nights. I miss the moronic focus groups and their silly reaction meters. I want David Gergen to be my grandfather.

Dr. Levounis said he'd seen similar reactions in people at the end of American Idol. That would make John McCain the David Archuleta of political fascination, the only association those two can and ever will have.

But at least I know now what I'm suffering from, and that the emptiness will eventually be filled by something else, whether I earn $250,000 a year or not.

Goodbye mavericks, William Ayers, socialist redistributionists, magic maps, and Joe the Plumber.

Hello again, my same old life, this time in a brand new world.

"American Idol" Return Date Set, "House" Moving

2008-11-07T07:42:01Z

LOS ANGELES — Fox's "American Idol" will return for its eighth season Jan. 13 while medical drama "House" is moving to a new night, the network said in announcing its midseason lineup.

"American Idol," the singing contest that consistently ranks as TV's most-watched series, is trying to keep the streak going by freshening its formula. A fourth judge, singer-songwriter Kara DioGuardi, joins Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul this year.

Tom Doctoroff: Chinese Obamaphilia? Today, No. Tomorrow, Perhaps.

2008-11-06T00:27:44Z

The Chinese are supreme pragmatists. They view the outside world as inherently dangerous, and revere stability and order as both tantamount to happiness and a prerequisite to progress. In a society without a fully developed legal system, anti-toxicity, in paint and milk, was never taken for granted, even before the melamine debacle. Insurance has always been sold as a disaster defense, never an investment. Savings rates are sky high, and threaten to become higher still due to the global economic crisis, one that has sent panic down the spine of China's newly-minted middle class. But denizens of the Middle Kingdom are also romantics. Driven by both trenchant Confucian ambition as well as Daoist and Buddhist release, Chinese dream of a tomorrow that is not only better than today but resplendently so, dripping with gold. Apartment complexes boast monikers such as "Magnificent Horizon," "Gathering of all Heroes under Heaven," and "Rich Gate." Even government propaganda uses over-the-top turns of phrase, discouraging spitting by promoting "eight shames and eight glories." The back seats of cars have enough leg room to make an executive feel like an emperor.

Polarized Impulses

Given China's tendency to swing between self-protection and fantasy, the country's ambivalence regarding the United States makes sense. On one hand, America, still exotic and not really understood on a deep cultural level, remains unpredictable, a powerful gorilla, lurching, striding, across the global stage in an intoxicated haze of absolutism, ready to advance its own interests. On the other, even during the darkest moments of the Cultural Revolution and Bush's tone-deaf unilateral Iraq misadventure, America never forfeited the allure of a country where anyone, irrespective of race, can realize epic grandeur. True, admiration of U.S has, in recent years, been murmured sotto voce. Political correctness mandates that American hegemony has become a danger to world order, even though MIT continues to attract China's best and brightest engineers. But American Idol, with its cuckoo contestants uninhibitedly confident in their ability to make the big time, remains a projective vehicle of Chinese aspirations. America, gilded fantasyland, never completely faded.

The Meaning of Obama

Within this context - an ambivalent China that fears our power yet reveres our optimism - we can assess reaction to President-Elect Obama's electoral victory. It has been muted but, under the surface, a tentative hope, even a romantic charge, crackles.

When asked about America's election, most mainland Chinese say they don't much care, as long the new president does nothing to block China's rise or disrupt global stability. There were no whoops of delight. We should not forget that most Chinese do not think President Bush has been detrimental to China's interests. Trade barriers have fallen. Taiwan independence was not supported. The rise of the renminbi has been orderly and, the current financial crisis notwithstanding, China has grown wealthier, more respected as a geo-political force to be reckoned with. After his administration's initial anti-China bellicosity and the awkwardness of the 2001 Hainan spy plane incident, relations between America and China quickly regained a pragmatic footing, greatly facilitated by our mono-maniacal focus on the War on Terror. So, in the most practical and relevant place - the Chinese wallet - an Obama presidency is not a cause for celebration. He remains mysterious and triggers an undercurrent of anxiety, particularly given the anti-free trade rumblings coming from Democrats.

Reverence for Winners

For all that, the Chinese are impressed, both with Obama and the country that elected him. Chinese respect his understated intelligence. His glide. His cool. But they positively revere winners. And Obama won big time, defeating established political orders, Democrat and Republican, as an archetypal outsider. The Middle Kingdom is a country replete with Han-style Horatio Alger tales of scholar-nobles nee peasants. Social mobility, the unheralded dynamic strand of Confucian social structure, remains a powerful motivator. Obama, a man of humble beginnings, personifies the potential of Everyman, born of modest means, to achieve not just success but Magnificence. He is an embodiment, albeit an alien one, of hard-earned, super-sized individual glory.

On a national level, the Chinese, matchless ethnocentrics, are struggling to cast off a 150-year inferiority complex sowed in the ruins of the Opium War and cultivated by disoriented Qing dynasty emperors and foreign opportunists. (This is true despite the Olympics games, heralded by everyone here as a triumph.) Obama represents a different model of success, a non-colonial one, and therefore has the potential to evolve into Michael Jordan-esque icon, transcending cultural barriers by tapping into nationalistic aspirations. The symbolism inherent in his election can be a potent font of mass affinity but not until aforementioned anxieties are calmed.

A Pro-American Awakening?

Has the Obama-mania that has swept much of the globe impacted China's view of America. Yes, but very tentatively and, today, only beneath the surface. The image of an efficiently benevolent America was shattered when we bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999. However, Obama's election may yet redeem us, despite the blame currently being heaped upon us here for the world's financial distress. American-style individualism has always had great appeal to the Chinese masses. It's like Eve's apple, a succulent, entrancing - but forbidden - fruit. From Nike and Apple to Coke and Starbucks, U.S. brands have been built by appealing to the dragon in every Chinese heart. While overt rebellion is not sanctioned in a social structure as regimented as China's, the ability to morph from nothing into a star, lauded by society, has always been the Ground Zero of American appeal. Our idealism, easily liberated via a structured system with checks and balances, impresses ordinary Chinese who view their central government as "fair" but provincial organs as poisoned, inherently corrupt. (This is true amongst Communist apparatchiks and entrepreneurs alike.)

As one participant in the 1989 Tiananmen protests whispered to me, "I loved America. When I was in college, I believed in America. As an adult, I awoke from my dream. But maybe it wasn't a dream after all." He then continued, "Obama's election could never happen in a country with a history as long as China's." By shining a mirror on their society's limitations, maybe America can, yet again, be a beacon of hope even in the prideful, nationalistic, economically resurgent Middle Kingdom. We can, yet again, be admired as a well-oiled engine of dreams.

Read more reaction from HuffPost bloggers to Barack Obama's victory in the 2008 presidential election

Carrie Underwood: I "Lose Respect" For Celebrities Who Endorse

2008-11-04T11:02:35Z

American Idol winner and country music superstar Carrie Underwood has lost all respect for Oprah, Jennifer Aniston, Diddy, George Clooney and other celebrities who have backed candidates for office.

While talking about the presidential race with TV Guide, Carrie revealed, "There is someone I do support, but I don't support publicly. I lose all respect for celebrities when they back a candidate."

"It's saying that the American public isn't smart enough to make their own decisions," she explains. "I would never want anybody to vote for anything or anybody just because I told them to. Music is where you go to get away from all the BS. Whether it's from politics or just the world around you, music should be an escape."

Election 2008 Expected To Set Viewing Records

2008-11-04T09:42:38Z

NEW YORK — Election viewership on television and online could approach records Tuesday night _ provided some suspense holds.

The presidential campaign has been a TV hit from crowded pre-primary debates through a Barack Obama infomercial last week that reached an "American Idol"-sized audience. It stands to reason that millions of Americans will tune in for the final results.

Mike Miley: Why This Election is Bad for Hollywood

2008-11-03T13:13:30Z

Regardless of who wins Tuesday, Hollywood is in deep trouble. I don't mean that they'll be threatened with censorship of sex and violence from Congress. What I mean is that this election will quite possibly kill the political film as we know it.

There is no way that Hollywood can top what we've been living with every day for the past six months. What wacky stories are left to put into a political film? Seriously, what is left to make up? I know that "truth is stranger than fiction" is the most annoying cliché there is, but this crap is just bizarre. Just look at these pitches:

Wacky comedy in which respected politician plucks anonymous nobody out of the political wilderness and chooses her to be his running mate. That's the Sarah Palin Story. I guess you could have them start sleeping with each other, but that makes for too icky a mental image when tied to reality.

How about a First Black Candidate Movie? It took nearly the entire primary season for the media to say anything else about Obama. Besides, Hollywood's already shot its wad on the idea of the Obama candidacy every which way. You've got the comedy that imagines "What if?" an African-American became President (Head of State), the right wingnut horror film where the Antichrist is elected President (The Omen III), or the psycho-political thriller where a Communist puppet runs for office (The Manchurian Candidate... which has been made twice). I guess you could do the Secret Muslim movie, so long as you don't cast anyone as Mohammed. Of course, the one movie they won't make is the one in which an honorable candidate gets smeared with everything but racism in a covert racist attack. That's too complicated for Hollywood, and since so few people see it in reality, why would they see it in a movie?

Here's another pitch: inspirational comedy about an Average Joe who asks a candidate a question at a rally and suddenly becomes the star of the campaign trail. Joe the Plumber's story proves how dumb of a movie idea this is, and, in a way, it's a good thing it's happening in real life, because the only thing worse than hearing about Joe the Plumber would be hearing about Larry the Cable Guy: Political Inoperative.

How about a really subversive, sinister political drama like this one: Backroom politicos replace the real President with an impostor? We already got that film, and its sequel: it's also known as two terms of the Bush Administration. Plus, they made this movie already too. It was called Dave. And it, unlike the past eight years, was kind of funny. Maybe we should have elected Kevin Kline. At least we would have felt in on the joke.

What this should tell us is not that Hollywood has run out of ideas or that life has somehow trumped the creativity of art but rather that the last few months have been pretty frickin' twisted. Let's face it: if even half of this shit was in a movie, we wouldn't believe it. And yet there are people who, day after day, continue to try and force us to watch these awful films. And they're not even producers.

This is what has happened to the democratic process: politicians and their handlers have gone from trying to reach us with relevant issues to trying to distract us with empty spectacle. It's been said that this election cycle is the ultimate reality show and the hottest show on television. What bothers me is that every time I've heard either of these statements, each has been said without the slightest hint of irony, shame, or anger. The fact that this campaign resembles American Idol should not be a good thing. This is not some reality show. This is not entertainment. This is the fabric of the country, and if we don't recognize these bad movie ideas for what they are, this will be what every election season is like.

We need to end this bad movie now and greenlight the Obama movie. He's the one leading man in this surreal election movie who wouldn't agree to appear in its sequel. If he gets cut out of the movie, then we're stuck with these other ridiculous movie ideas. And if one of these movie ideas becomes a reality, then Hollywood's really going to have its work cut out for itself. It's going to have to make enough films to keep us in the theater so we won't have to watch the bad movie going on all around us.

William Klein: Post-Obama Cyncism Sets in Early: "Why Wait?"

2008-11-03T13:05:36Z

In what observers say is the shortest "honeymoon" between the public and a new Administration, dissatisfaction with the Obama Administration began before it was even elected. Twenty-four hours before polls opened, 62% of the electorate said they "hadn't seen any results" from the Obama Administration and 74% said they were going back to watching American Idol.

"The electorate feels let down by actions that have not yet been taken by the man who hasn't yet been elected president," said elections expert Norman Sabato, author of the New York Times bestseller What's the Matter With Thinking of an Elephant? "They know they're going to end up bowling alone on a world that's flat, so why wait?"

Or, as Arthur Fowler, 52, of Walford, Ohio, said, "I just wasn't transformed." "Weren't we supposed to get transformational politics?" Fowler said it did not matter to him that he was arriving at this conclusion before Barack Obama took the oath of office.

"If he was really any good," Fowler said, "he would have gotten more done by now. And health care. He would have done health care. And what about the war in Iraq? We're still there, aren't we?"

Surveys have shown that most Americans share this impatience, and find the idea of staying as tuned into politics as they've been in the last two years unpleasant to contemplate.

"You can go bug-eyed watching Keith Obermann," said blogger Lumpy87 on the popular "Cranks and Rants" website. "And what about that guy in wide pinstripes who looks like one of those old puppets on TV that could only move the bottom of their mouths? I'm done."

Although some voters reported a willingness to give Barack Obama the benefit of the doubt at least until his inauguration, most Americans went to the polls on Tuesday so thoroughly exhausted the Obama campaign set up a recovery network where Michelle Obama played her favorite episodes of the Brady Bunch to calm people down.

In a related development, the cable news networks announced the results of research which showed that their audiences would shrink by 65% once there were no campaigns to cover, electoral maps to play with, results to pick apart and vapid comments to make in their desperate attempts to build audiences.

CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and Comedy Central announced they were making their Campaign "08 coverage permanent,and extending their programming's focus on the 2008 campaign. Wolf Blitzer, despite recent stories about him roaming the CNN corridors opening doors and saying, "You're in The Situation Room," has signed a multi-year contrac that contains a clause allowing him to repeat the words "the best political team on television" every eleven seconds.

Jennifer Hudson's Family Holding Private Funeral For Slain Relatives

2008-11-03T10:03:24Z

CHICAGO — Hundreds of mourners attended a private funeral service for Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson's slain mother, brother and nephew Monday at a South Side church.

A composed Hudson paused before the bodies of her relatives before giving her mother a final kiss, said attendees of the invitation-only service.

Monkey Around: Impress These Apes At The Lakeshore Theater

2008-11-03T09:57:34Z

In Blewt! Productions' talent show, now in its third season, the fate of the human race depends on eight contestants impressing three apes from the future whose intelligence has increased to the level of, well, amateur comedians. Each week the same eight performers compete in a different category, like music or stand-up. There's a silly backstory to this lively show, but there are also real stakes: the producers held an open audition, and after eight weeks the winning contestant gets $500. A volatile mix of the staged and the sincere, Impress These Apes delivers the best kind of inconsistency: can't-look-away failure and spontaneous charm. It's American Idol meets lowbrow comedy.

Mourners celebrate lives of slain Hudson relatives

2008-11-02T16:13:35Z

CHICAGO — Mourners in Jennifer Hudson's childhood church Sunday listened as the second-grade teacher of the entertainer's slain nephew read aloud from journals written by his classmates _ including one who lamented that Julian King didn't live long enough to become president.

With three of Julian's classmates standing by her side, Carmen Williams of Gunsaulus Scholastic Academy remembered the 7-year-old as a smart boy who liked to tell knock-knock jokes.

Simon Cowell Dumped By Longtime Girlfriend

2008-11-01T15:49:55Z

Simon Cowell and longtime girlfriend Terri Seymour have split, Cowell's rep confirms to PEOPLE.

"Terri phoned Simon and finished it in September, about six weeks ago," says Cowell's rep, Max Clifford. "They are going to remain close friends. Simon thinks the world of Terri and that isn't going to change. He also understands her reason for ending it."

The couple were together for six years. Seymour, 34, first met Cowell, 48, when she was 18, but the couple didn't begin dating until she interviewed him for a show in 2002.

"In the past Terri has said that she wants kids but that just isn't Simon," added Clifford.

Steve Parker: Preview! Las Vegas' High-Performance SEMA Show and the Los Angeles Auto Show; How Green Will They Be?

2008-10-27T23:24:37Z

It appears that for at least another week or so, there will be no major decisions regarding: A) the $25 billion bailout for the Detroit Three (but we now know Sen. McCain wants it doled-out slowly and in increments; Sen. Obama is still in favor of the original request for $50 billion), B) Help for new car buyers needing financing, C) Help for those late with their car loan or lease payments, and finally, D) Help for those whose vehicles have already been repossessed.

So, as we stay on-alert for news on all of the above, let's start a conversation and preview two important auto shows.

The Los Angeles Auto Show is now officially the first big extravaganza on the national car calendar. It opens Friday, November 21st and runs through Sunday, November 30th at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Another show opens sooner, the annual Specialty Equipment Market Association, or SEMA Show, which runs from November 4th through 7th at the Las Vegas Convention Center, and sets the stage each year for car, truck and motorcycle performance enthusiasts and amateur and professional race drivers and teams. SEMA expects there will be new products displayed from about 2,000 of their 7,000 member companies worldwide. (As SEMA opens on election day, we're voting early and planning to attend an Obama Victory Party somewhere in Las Vegas that evening - Shouldn't be too hard to find one!)

(This Dodge Challenger convertible was built specifically for the upcoming SEMA Show; its supercharged Hemi V8 engine produces 560 horsepower - Not what our green world needs, but it's just one car, so I say enjoy! It's up to car-makers and educators to make high mileage/low emissions and good handling sexy, just as they've been doing for almost a century with horsepower).

"The hot rod parts business" has grown, as SEMA, into what is now estimated to be a $36.7 billion "aftermarket industry."

Both shows will be industry bellwethers and closely watched worldwide, more so than any other auto shows in decades.

We'll see how gas prices, environmental considerations and the world financial crisis effects SEMA members, and, at the LA Auto Show, see what the car-makers themselves choose to present to the public as their visions for near-future cars and trucks.

I don't mind someone spending as much money as they like on an exciting, powerful and interesting car, and I applaud companies developing great concepts, show cars, race cars and exotic "race-cars-for-the-streets."

(Audi's R10 TDI clean diesel race cars have dominated endurance sports car racing the past three years; there's no question that diesel technology developed for these race cars has already "trickled down" to Audi cars like their Q7).

So many parts of our own cars were developed through motor racing, that the car world is one arena where a "trickle down" theory -- of technology, not money -- actually works.

Car company problems aren't because of Chevrolet's Corvette, Ferrari's new California, Porsches, Nissan's GTR, any of BMW's M-models, Chryslers with Hemi engines nor even the $1.6 million, 1,000 horsepower Bugatti Veyron with its quad-turbocharged DOHC 64-valve W16-cylinder engine.

All these cars -- and many other purely high-performance models -- are made in extremely limited numbers and priced too high to ever find a home in an average garage (like mine). The sales theory behind these "halo" cars is that while a person may not be in the market for a Corvette, they might visit a Chevy dealer to see the new 'Vette and perhaps wind up buying a Malibu hybrid.

There's no reason a company which can produce a car with all the technology of a 205-mile-per-hour Corvette ZR1 selling for $100K can't make a family car which gets between 40 and 50 miles per gallon of fuel. But all the public sees are the all-too-automatic-tears-and-hand-wringing every time the government (and the public) asks for improvements in safety, recyclability, higher mileage figures, lower emissions and more.

(TV's "American Idol" producer and judge Simon Cowell exits his Bugatti Veyron somewhere in the La-La Land of Los Angeles).

Starting around 1992, car-makers worldwide took their cue from Detroit in seeing a unique opportunity in the US market which existed nowhere else. Big SUVs. It meant shoving their V8 engines (and sometimes developing a V8 for the first time just for this job) into full-size trucks and selling them to people like us, who had little reason to own, drive (or park) a truck which might weigh over 6,000 pounds with the handling characteristics of an aircraft carrier.

In the mid-1980s I was editor of an industry magazine called Automotive Fleet, and then about 25% to 30% of all car and truck sales in the US were to government and corporate fleets. Vehicles from the Detroit Three made-up by far the bulk of all fleet cars and trucks sold. Washington, along with local and state governments and large corporations often had rules mandating the purchase of only "domestic-made" fleet vehicles. That's changed dramatically; governments and companies now buy just like the rest of us, with decisions based on a vehicle's overall value.

(Ford's Expedition could be a poster boy for the over-6,000 pound SUVs which got huge tax breaks for their owners; more on that, and the Secret Bailout for race track owners, in a posting later this week).

Gas prices have thankfully knocked-down the number of big trucks being sold to folks who don't need them, like me; I only hope those sales figures stay down as gas might get even a bit cheaper.

We'll have plenty of coverage of these shows -- and more -- in this space, so please check back for our stories, photos, videos and audio podcasts reports.

And we look forward to perhaps meeting some of you at the SEMA Show and the LA Auto Show. Frankly, I'm hoping we find some great news on issues including car and part recycling, auto, truck and motorcycle safety, and on gas-saving and emissions-cutting products, as we file some of the first reports from the frontlines of the "Great Automotive Downturn of 2008."

Mike Farrell: The Ugly America

2008-10-25T10:32:25Z

"You really do hate America!" This was the parting shot from a man I had just debated on a television show shortly before the invasion of Iraq. Because he's a notorious right-wing blowhard, I laughed it off as the ravings of a crackpot in extremis.

Little did I know...

Soon, those of us who opposed the Iraq war, torture, "extraordinary rendition," Guantanamo, spying on innocent Americans and other illegal tools in the Cheney/Bush black bag began to hear variations on that theme from people one would have expected to know better. And it's gotten worse as they've become more desperate... or do the depths to which we've fallen suggest a fault-line in America's culture?

Only a short time ago we dissenters were called "Saddam-lovers," "America-haters" or, when they really wanted to cut deep, "French!" But that usually came from the relatively unhinged, like my debate-partner. Today, similar imprecations fall readily from the lips of media bloviators while the hoi polloi moves toward lynch-mob tenor with screams of "traitor," "terrorist," "kill him," and "off with his head" - these not aimed at lowly actors but rather the next President of the United States. Worse, it is winked at and ignored, then defended and embraced by some of those from whom we expect better.

As one in the crucible of this volcanic yet potentially transformative moment, John McCain, who claims to put "Country First," should re-read "The Ugly American." Sarah Palin can watch the movie.

Fifty years ago, Eugene Burdick and William Lederer's book exposed the boorish behavior of some of our citizens when abroad, warning that a "mysterious change seems to come over Americans..." when amid people and cultures seen as 'different.' While the ensuing half-century proved those in developing countries to be neither less intelligent, less capable, nor less interested in improving their lives than human beings anywhere, this breed of Americans, inclined to "isolate themselves socially," per Burdick and Lederer, seems to have turned inward, chanting "USA, USA!"

As the world prospered behind their backs, this insular strain of American metastasized into swaggering jingoes full of Cold War machismo, content to wave the flag and "Go for the gold." For them, the collapse of the Evil Empire proved the world's sole Superpower could do as it damned well pleased: "We're Number One," baby! Anybody who doesn't like it should get the hell out of the way.

"[L]oud and ostentatious," per the book, this parochial group bequeathed its "mysterious change" to generations of Know-Nothings who stuck to their own, seeing 'difference' as a threat. Dumbed-down by television and wary of anyone lacking sufficient fervor for their triumphant "Christian nation," they made those of different color, heritage, or belief into "the other," a practice encouraged by coded appeals to racism from would-be leaders. With Nixon's "Southern Strategy" and "silent majority" setting the stage, Reagan's "Welfare Queens" and Bush the First's "Willie Horton" spread the contagion while conferring it legitimacy.

Embraced as true conservatives and stoked by hate-radio millionaires, these changelings seduced the Republican Party, laid claim to the flag and launched a "culture war." Adopted by anti-government hucksters, empire-seekers and profligate free-marketeers, they divided the nation with a 'God and Country' ethos that declared the Bible inerrant, reviled homosexuality, "permissiveness," liberalism and critical thinking, denied women equal rights, children any at all, and cowed the media into submission.

For them, the horror of 9/11 lay at the feet of the enemy within - the ACLU, abortionists, pagans, gays and lesbians, secularists. And a stunned public, reeling from the assault and sinking into Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, was led into a flag-waving frenzy of revenge-seeking and other-hating that targeted "Rag-heads" and "sand-niggers."

Drunk with power, this mob took heart from W's "you're either with us or with the terrorists," their malignant hostility dividing us more sharply at each iteration, until the enemy became the world of Islam and anyone who disagreed. Forsaking constitutional freedoms in favor of "security," they turned our very nation inside out, with Americans pitted against one another in states red and blue.

And today, while some dream of change, a perfect storm of cultural division, failed leadership, lost principles, military disaster and economic collapse have ripped the mask away, exposing a virus that has undermined and rendered quaint American values of tolerance, generosity, equality and fairness, replacing them with chauvinism, avarice, confusion, fear and despair.

But struggles that have trampled the principles urging America toward greatness are not new. That they have not destroyed us but rather helped us grope toward maturity is due to some who have called on our better angels and re-inspired the triumph of decency that ennobles our promise. Even with chaos at the doorstep people look for hope, for change, for reason to believe that the America of song and story persists.

Yet today, unable to rise to the challenge of hope, would-be-president McCain chooses expediency over country, placing the priestess of parochialism, a barb-tongued, inanity-prone neophyte, a heartbeat away from his Oval Office. Schooled in "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" and "American Idol," she energizes the pitchfork mob, dividing "real America" from the rest, reviving faint echoes of white superiority and "manifest destiny" as her sponsor deafens himself to it all.

This failure of leadership affirms the ugly America, the misanthrope nation. Yet the heartbeat of promise persists. There is hope. There is truth. If the people demand them.

Mike Farrell, co-chair emeritus of the Southern California Committee of Human Rights Watch and President of Death Penalty Focus, is the author of "Just Call Me Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist."

World Series Ratings: 14.6 Million Watch, Down 17% From 2007

2008-10-23T16:47:26Z

Two shows given full-season pickups despite modest ratings went different directions Wednesday night, while CBS' comedy block hit a season high.

Fox won the night with the first game of the World Series, Philadelphia at Tampa Bay (14.6 million, 4.8 rating, adults 18-49). The match gave Fox its highest-rated Wednesday since the "American Idol" finale, yet was down 17% in the adult demo from last year's Rockies vs. Red Sox Game 1 (and down 14% among total viewers).

With the Phillies winning Game 1, Fox Sports notes that it becomes more likely the Series will extend beyond four games. Only once in the last 40 years has the visiting team won Game 1 and gone on to sweep the Series.

John McCain's Prudent And Bizarre Budget Moves

2008-10-23T10:02:54Z

With the presidential campaign approaching its long-awaited conclusion, the McCain campaign has begun making a series of budgetary decisions designed to stretch its resources for maximum political gain.

On Tuesday, multiple news outlets reported that the Senator would be reducing his advertising presence in New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota and -- a Democratic source alleges -- Iowa, all states that represent Electoral College opportunities.

But while Democrats greet the news as validation of Barack Obama's more envious electoral position, media analysts and political observers caution that the effect may be marginal. For starters, McCain's ad drops may not actually be taking place. Officials at various stations in Wisconsin noted that the campaign retains the prerogative to pour money back into their media market should slots be still available. Moreover, a spokesperson for WKBT in La Crosse, Wisconsin told the Huffington Post that -- far from drawing down -- the McCain camp had actually put in an additional "several thousand dollars" for advertisements on its station through November 3rd.

It could not be determined where else the Republican ticket was actually investing in or divesting from in the state. Certainly it is within the realm of possibility that McCain put money into La Crosse while taking it out of other markets -- advertising in that Wisconsin city allows him to reach voters in Iowa and Minnesota as well.

But the main reason observers say Democrats should be cautious in their optimism about McCain's decreased media presence, is that Obama isn't gaining that much of a proportional advantage.

"At the end of the day I think they are stretching what they have," said Evan Tracey of Campaign Media Analysis Group. "It is the difference between being outspent four to one or ten to one. At the end of the day it won't make a big impact on what viewers see... I suspect what [the McCain folks] are probably doing is trying to reallocate resources to do some more network TV down the stretch. But I don't think we are talking about some significant game changing dollars going south."

Indeed, on Wednesday Marc Ambinder reported that the McCain campaign was buying air time in traditional red state Indiana. Moreover, in some of the states where the Arizona Republican is reportedly drawing down, Obama already has the media market cornered. According to Tracey, over the past two weeks, the Illinois Democrat has outspent his counterpart $1.2 million to $250,000 in New Hampshire and $2.4 million to $1.3 million in Wisconsin. In Boston -- which reaches southern New Hampshire -- Obama has blanked McCain $850,000 to zero.

And so McCain is playing with the hand he has been dealt. In addition to reallocating resources -- Tracey predicted more national media buys down the stretch -- the Arizona Republican has turned to other cost saving methods. In recent weeks his campaign has hosted, with more regularity (including this Sunday in Nevada), tele-town-halls -- relatively inexpensive conferences in which voters are called up by a service and offered, on the spot, a chance to listen in on a speech and question and answer forum with McCain.

"These are low money events," said Shaun Dakin, CEO & Founder The National Political Do Not Contact Registry. "Tele-town-halls are much cheaper than a regular in person town hall meeting. Regular town halls meetings include venue, food and drink, staff time, transport, banners, ads, and calls to get people to the event. Tele-town-halls require none of that."

In addition, McCain will, it seems, use campaign stops as a means of generating media coverage in the markets from which he is pulling cash. On Wednesday, the Senator is hosting a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire and three days later he is slated to make two stops in long-shot Iowa.

And yet, for all of the efforts at campaign expenditure frugality, the McCain camp still has made budgetary decisions that boggle the mind. At the same time that it is taking money away from its ad buy efforts, the Senator is spending $8,672.55 a month on a makeup artist known, primarily for her work on American Idol. And on Tuesday night, Politico reported that the Republican National Committee - which shares a joint account with the Arizona Republican - had spent more than $150,000 on clothing for Sarah Palin. How many ads the Senator could have purchased with that loot depends on the market. But it would have been a good chunk for a campaign in its last two weeks.