The L.A. Dime

The Dime would like to thank Cincinnati radio gabber, Bill Cunningham, for doing his damndest yesterday to portray my hometown as the seat of ignorant, closed-minded, fear-mongering politics of the past in his opening remarks before Senator McCain’s rally there. In a tirade laced with lies about Barack Obama, he insisted on using the Senator’s middle name, “Hussein,” over and over again, and later said Obama shouldn’t be ashamed of his strong Muslim background. He also referred to Obama as a “prophet,” whose election will cause our enemies around the world to celebrate. Sounds like Bill has been hanging out with Obamadamus.

While Obama has repeatedly discounted this theory that he is a Muslim, and the proof can be found in a my post, Debunked, I have to say, hypothetically, “so what if he was?” This country was founded on the principles of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. In asking you to believe that Obama is a secret Muslim, they are also asking you to believe that all Muslims are terrorists. One of my good friends is a Muslim. A great guy whom I’d let babysit Sophie any time. I teach Muslims at USC. Great kids who are eager to learn and live a normal life. As human beings, they are as varied and unique as all of the Christians I know — and guess why. Because they’re no different than all the Christians I know save for who, how, and where they choose to worship — rights protected by our Constitution. These people are not terrorists just because they pray to a different God. Therefore, why are we being sold this bill of goods that you should fear Obama because some of his family are Muslim, and his middle name is Hussein?

People like Cunningham are counting on the American people to remain afraid. To not think for themselves. To be told the truth rather than seek it for themselves. They believe it worked in 2000 and 2004, so why not now? You may be a McCain supporter, or a Clinton supporter, or undecided. Whatever you are, don’t allow fear and prejudice to be part of the debate. Let’s discuss the issues, please, and not allow ourselves to be swayed by fear mongers. And let’s never let Bill Cunningham represent Cincinnati on national television ever again.

Friend of the Dime, The Cheese Fry, is much distressed that the George W. Bush Presidential Library will be located on the campus of his alma mater, SMU.  Outraged, he sent me this link to the site, the front page of which, I think, makes Obamadamus look like a credible source for information.  I know many of the Dime faithful are Red-State Bush supporters, and that’s fine by me, but I hope even they can admit that this is absolutely ludicrous.

There’s nothing better for sore, teething gums than a plush Giraffe. Except for maybe the plush polar bear that lives in our freezer and has big, chewy, gel-filled paws for chomping on.

Okay, so over the summer before the strike, when I was having trouble figuring out what the hell to write, a few friends of mine and I formed a five-man team to perform an experiment and write a script in a week. It was about a clown named Bobo. It was a very good idea, and while we finished it, it never really came together in the way that we had hoped.

Around that time, before Sophie arrived, we were on a big baby-shower-Babies-R-Us-gift-card shopping spree, and needed to spend 15 more dollars to qualify for a big price break. So after much hemming and hawing, I bought this big plush monkey. I could tell he really wanted to come home with us, and just couldn’t leave him in the store. He was calling to me.

Now, that monkey, named Bobo, is Sophie’s favorite friend. She squeals in delight when I make Bobo dance, she kisses him until he’s sopping wet, she loves to wrestle with him, and she likes to relax with him and listen to music on the iPod — and will just stare at him, smiling, for the longest time. So, here’s Sophie and Bobo chilling in her room, jamming to some tunes:

Or, ECU for film fans.

Daddyhood has gotten in me into this get-er-done safety mode, so after reading an article in Money Magazine about how people get ripped off by their home owner’s insurance when they have a major claim because they don’t have documentation of their possessions, I went around yesterday morning shooting photos of all our stuff. The photo above was the best shot I took of our most valuable commodity. I recommend you have a photo shoot in your own home. It takes half an hour at most. Then put the photos on a disc and store it at work.

It would appear that three months of solidarity and the threat of losing of the Oscars as well as next fall’s TV season may have brought the AMPTP to its senses. The WGA has announced that an agreement has been reached that could put us back to work by Monday, or Wednesday at the latest. There is a general membership meeting tonight at the Shrine Auditorium, where members will have a chance to weigh in on the the deal points which were emailed to us at 3:00 A.M. this morning.

Short of total outrage by the masses, which I don’t foresee (though I guarantee it will be contentious as we couldn’t get everything we wanted), the negotiation committee will likely recommend that the board suspend the strike pending an actual vote on the terms by the membership at some point later. Rejection of this deal by our Guild would do significant PR damage within the industry and among entertainment fans, so I certainly hope our membership recognizes the significant achievements that have been won and opt to approve.

Post Script — as of Sunday morning it seems that the deal will be accepted. The Guild will formally vote on its terms in the next 48 hours, and seems Wednesday is the target date for a return to work.

This post will now serve as the host for all fishing conversations with Scott Hait, as opposed to the one where I endorsed a candidate for President of the United States. Scott has recently discovered the L.A. Dime, and set off a flurry of correspondence. He has a new baby boy named Aaron, to go with an older one named Evan. He has not figured out how to use his camera yet, so we have no pictures, but I’d like to encourage him to start his own blog, so I went ahead and set it up for him.  I say we email him relentlessly until he complies.  I, for one, would read it every day.
http://getate.blogspot.com/

In case you’ve missed it, a few posts down under Endorsement, a nice little political discussion has sprung up. I’m enjoying the dialogue, and hope you are, too.