skippy the bush kangaroo

Labels: economics, idiocy, SAG, union

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Labels: music, skippy's music club, youtube

Labels: mad men, music, skippy's music club, youtube

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Earlier this week:

CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire lawmakers on Wednesday rejected a bill that would have made their state legislature the first one to repeal a gay marriage law, handing gay-rights supporters a key victory in the Northeast, where same-sex marriage is prevalent.

The state House voted 211-116 to kill the measure, ending a push by its new Republican majority to rescind New Hampshire's 2-year-old gay marriage law. Nevertheless, both sides are pledging to continue fighting into the fall elections.

Repeal opponents hoped to solidify what they argue is public support for gay marriage, while supporters hoped to reverse the law in a region of the country where gay-rights groups have strength.

"Today is a banner day for the freedom to marry," said Craig Stowell, co-chairman of Standing up For New Hampshire Families. Stowell said the House, where Republicans hold a 189-seat advantage, was supposed to give conservatives their best shot at repeal. "They blew it. This was supposed to be the most favorable legislative climate for repeal and they couldn't even get a majority"...

The measure failed dismally, as it deserved to, for two reasons. One, it's an election year, and many if not most of the New Hampshire Republicans who voted against the repeal did so because they're trying to hold onto their jobs. And two, while doing what's right in this case may have been nothing more than their pretext, Republicans here in the northeastern part of the United States at least tend to think things through rationally in spite of their beliefs. I, for one, consider this a welcome change from the stripe of Republicans I had to put up with in Virginia.

Not to say that I like these folks any more than I did their Old Dominion counterparts. Lucky Luciano may have had a lot more class than Dutch Schultz, but fundamentally, both of them were gangsters...

Labels: gay/lesbian, politics

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Labels: just life, music, pop culture, television

Red-breasted Nuthatch at Bird Feeder, a photo by Tut99 (Roger) on Flickr.

scotts miracle gro...passing out evil seeds. how can they purposefully do this?

scotts pled guilty this tuesday to charges that the company illegally put insecticides in its “morning song” and “country pride” brands of bird seed. yhat’s right: the company knowingly coated products intended for birds to eat with substances toxic to birds and wildlife. - grist

Labels: birds, environment, poisoning

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Labels: voting rights

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Labels: alabama, aWol, governor

my assemblyman das williams shaved his head on monday at a st. baldrick's day event to show support and solidarity with children battling cancer.

“everyone deserves a shot at life and happiness. that is why it is especially tragic when a child faces the prospect of a terminal illness. instead of playing soccer, they make trips to chemotherapy; instead of school dances, they face baldness and surgery.”

“but we can help them beat it. treatments for people who cannot afford them and research for life saving technology are expensive, so every bit helps. by shaving your head, you give them kinship. by donating, you give them hope.”

you can donate to the cause - click here.

Labels: cancer, das williams, santa barbara

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Labels: music

WASHINGTON — Taking sharply different stands, President Barack Obama on Monday urged pressure and diplomacy to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized his nation's right to a pre-emptive attack. Even in proclaiming unity, neither leader gave ground on how to resolve the crisis.

Seated together in the Oval Office, Obama and Netanyahu at times tried to speak for each other, and other times spoke past one another. The president and prime minister are linked by the history and necessity of their nations' deep alliance, if not much personal warmth, and both sought to steer the Iran agenda on their terms.

"I know that both the prime minister and I prefer to resolve this diplomatically," Obama said. "We understand the costs of any military action."

If he agreed, Netanyahu said nothing about sanctions or talks with Iran, or Obama's position that there still is time to try to deter Iran peacefully. Instead, Netanyahu drew attention back to Obama's acknowledgement that Israel is a sovereign land that can protect itself how it sees fit.

"I believe that's why you appreciate, Mr. President, that Israel must reserve the right to defend itself," Netanyahu said.

Israel, he added, must remain "the master of its fate."

Israel has not yet decided whether to launch a unilateral strike on Iran, a point underscored in the White House meetings...

Labels: Iran, israel, obama, politics

Peter was appalled to learn that his music was linked to Rush Limbaugh's extraordinary attack on Sandra Flute (sic). It is obvious from anyone that knows Peter's work that he would never approve such a use. He has asked his representatives to make sure his music is withdrawn and especially from these unfair aggressive and ignorant comments.

Labels: idiocy, limbaugh, music, snark

[ed. note: third in a series by actor/blogger Gil Christner]

There is yet another very big problem I have with the current proposal to merge SAG and AFTRA, the two national performers unions. Mainly, the actual, finalize merger proposal does absolutely nothing to address, let alone resolve, any of the problems the merger itself was touted as the only solution for.

The grand idea of all actors working under the same contract is, at this point in time (ie, while voting to merge) nothing more than that: a grand idea. NO outline, plan or study to address what that contract could be, or when it will take effect or how we will achieve it, is in existence. “One Contract” doesn’t even exist on paper. The Pro-Merger contingent seems to advise “Let’s merge into a brand new union, then we’ll figure out how to merge into a brand new union!”

In my opinion, there’s a more than excellent chance that Management would use the opportunity of a brand new union to insist on negotiating from scratch, and we would be in very real danger of facing rollbacks, if not outright loss of benefits and achievements.

One reason I think this? It’s known far and wide throughout television acting communities that today, for the lower tiered actor, (ie not top of show stars), an AFTRA contract, while paying a higher session fee (pay for the actual workdays of filming), nonetheless much fewer and smaller residuals than under a SAG contract.

I can foresee management insisting they pay the new “all inclusive union” not much more than they used to pay under AFTRA old contracts. I can foresee SAG residuals being the first Union Achievement to be on the chopping block.

Trust me, as someone who has made a very nice career out of residuals paid for repeat showings of my unique, hard work, I fear for the future generation of actors who will not be able to make a living at this.

And, going back to the Health and Pension Plans, there is NOTHING in the current proposal to address merging of the actual contributions.

One of the biggest talking points of the Pro-Merger contingent is that all too often an actor doesn’t make enough to qualify for insurance. Under both contracts, an actor must make a certain threshold of money in union-sanctioned employment to qualify for insurance converage. I have to make at least $10,000 in a year under AFTRA contracts to gain minimum coverage (for myself alone; dependents can be paid for in higher premiums).

Theoretically, said the Pro-Merger Union Officers, One Union would mean all paychecks go towards insurance qualification! Certainly, in theory; in theory, all men are brothers and peace shall rule the world.

However in reality, actors will still be working under separate SAG and AFTRA contracts after the merger. There is no apparatus even proposed to deal with the problem the merger is supposed to alleviate.

In my opinion, another actuarial report like the 2003 Mercer Report will be needed. Who knows how long that would take? Not that I am terribly concerned about how long an actuarial report would take; I welcome the idea of slowing down, studying and analyzing the merger. But it makes no sense to hurry up and merge because we want to make insurance easier for the members, then having to wait for months (if not years) while it’s being studied and discussed. In other words, this Merger proposal doesn’t do anything to resolve the problem of Health Insurance for its members.

Here’s one other complaint I have about the merger: Going back to Broadcasters in AFTRA who can work non-union with impunity, I am quite upset with the dues apparatus installed in the merger proposal. In it, Broadcasters who make above $100,000 annually will be charged at a rate of 0.274% of their earnings (capped at $250,000) for their yearly dues. Actors, however, will pay $1.575% on all their earnings (capped at $500,000). Smelly, to say the least, to this character actor.

[Part 1 here. Part 2 here. More later]