Benny's World

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Little Bennys


Photo courtesy of Spooky 3, DU



My cat, Benson, was adopted from the Humane Society at the age of 18 months. We are celebrating his birthday (anniversary) next week as he has been with us for 5 years. Occasionally, I wondered what he would have looked like as a kitten. I think the pic of the foster kitties probably gives me a good idea.

JRE Buzz

On this blog, I will be starting a new column called JRE Buzz. It's similar to the JRE News Roundup at OAC, but hopefully, I will catch a few things here that haven't been posted recently.

Yesterday, I missed reading WaPo's blog, "The Fix" by Chris Cillizza. His topic: The Friday Line: Listening to the 2008 Buzz. He listed the ones that he thinks are contenders. JRE is in that list. Here's the snippet:



John Edwards: There are two Edwards in this race. One is the inside the Beltway John who has raised little money for his leadership political action committee, eschewed the importance of courting Democratic Party insiders and is seen as yesterday's news in the 2008 presidential race. The other Edwards has spent the past year working to win the support of organized labor, traveling the country to raise money for candidates (more than $6 million at last tally) and bolstering his foreign policy credentials with trips like the one on his schedule next week to Israel. Which one will emerge when the race begins in earnest late this year? We tend to think the latter. And as we have said before, Edwards is the most natural politician in either party who is widely assumed to be considering the 2008 race -- an invaluable advantage.

As my buddy Susie35 says, "kewlness"!

And apparently, JRE was asked to write the introduction to a special issue of a poverty law journal, Clearinghouse Review, entitled What the Federal Government Must Do to End Poverty . Here's the snip from PRWeb:


In his introduction to the special issue John Edwards, the former senator and now director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity, says: “This special issue offers several important ideas on how we can restore the ideals of the American Dream by lifting more families out of poverty.” As the premier national poverty law journal published since 1967, CLEARINGHOUSE REVIEW serves many purposes for those advocating on behalf of low-income people. Poverty law experts and practitioners view CLEARINGHOUSE REVIEW as their forum of choice for reaching the audience of antipoverty advocates for social and economic justice.

Sorry, journal is not available online for free, or I would link it. But it is the publication of Sargent Schriver National Center on Poverty Law.

Update:
The Carpetbagger Report blog mentions the NYT article from yesterday that "War Handicaps 08 Candidates" and complements JRE for apologizing for his voting mistake.

SEIU loaded their
pics of JRE at the SEIU Rally at Missouri State last week.

Yearnin' to see JRE during the 2004 Campaigns? Yahoo is making good on their offer in their partnership with CBS to load a
bunch of video clips.

More buzz l8tr...

Update on June 4:
Huffington Post, in mentioning a Massachusetts Dem candidate for Governor, noted that only potential 2008 Presidential contenders, JRE and Mark Warner, have invested in their web sites to make them useful and appealing.

The
OAC reports that JRE is travelling to Israel today through Tuesday. Haven't found any news about it yet, but perhaps there will be tomorrow.

WBT News mentions JRE in a piece called NC Dreams. It has to do with JRE and another person, John Woodruff, who are trying to give students an opportunity to attend college. Readers may not be familiar with JRE's "College for Everyone" program in Greene County, NC, one of the poorest counties in NC. If you made good grades, work 10 hours per week, and can get into a college, JRE's program will pay for the student's tuition at any NC college or university.

Friday, June 02, 2006

Ask Me Again

Ask Me Again is an obscure George & Ira Gershwin song. To borrow a bit of history from the Gershwinfan.com site, it was written in the late 1920s or early 1930s.

It's said that Rosemary Clooney was likely the first one to have sung it. But the sheet music was buried until about 1983.

Michael Feinstein, who is credited in finding rediscovering this tune, says that Ira Gershwin considered this song the best of the unpublished George and Ira Gershwin collaborations.

Introduced on Broadway in David Merrick's 1990 revival of Oh, Kay! by Brain Mitchell (Jimmy) and in the 'new' 1991 version of the Merrick "Oh,Kay" by directed by on Richardson.

In 1991 it was published in sheet book called "Rediscovering Gershwin", and the book I have checked out of one of my libraries in town is The New 50 Golden Rediscovered Gershwin Classics.

Recently, on Satellite Radio, we heard Nancy LaMott's rendition of "Ask Me Again". My spouse had me listen to it, and I had to concur, that it was a lovely song. Many of you know who read my blog a couple of weeks ago that I asked Elizabeth if she had heard of LaMott, and she had, but not her music formally. LaMott is no longer with us, but she recorded a lot of music before surcoming to ovarian cancer 10 years ago in December. And the next LaMott CD is supposed to include this song, "Ask Me Again", as the title cut.

I am going to hand type the words here.

Ask Me Again
Who's the One I've Begun to Adore
Ask Me Again
Who's the partner my clamors for

Who is the one who has me tied in a bow tie know
So that I know not
Just where I'm at

Who is it makes my friends find
that I've a one track heart and mind?

Ask me again
Let me tell how I fell from the start
One Look and then
Couldn't govern the love in my heart

Who is it
I looked high and low
for whom I will care for my whole life through

Please ask me again, let me shout to the world--It's you--you!



This post is dedicated to all who have found such people in their lives, but mostly to John and Elizabeth, who are visible to us in this way. Just like the Gershwins and Nancy LaMott, they have engaged our hearts and minds. I will be traveling on JRE's birthday , so this is my early b-day wish for him. I hope he gets to play this song on his and Elizabeth's upcoming 30th anniversary next month too.

Note: this was originally posted at OAC, but I removed it and decided to put it here. Other than JRE News Roundup volumes, ranting diaries are in vogue at OAC at the moment. It's good time to take a break from there.

Bitchin', but at the Same Time I Cannot Follow

On some blogs, I get so annoyed with certain bloggers who bitch all of time. I think of the latest Dixie Chicks CD as I can identify with those gals who are pissed off about our country. But here is my difference:

Artists can bring out points, and so can bloggers. But what are their answers, other than throw money at a situation; they bitch. We need practical solutions. I get tired of folks bitching about every damn thing on my favorite blogs because of fear. Get on it...JRE got tired of fear, and decided to make it work because of his sadness over Wade's death...and now more.