Sunday Show

Sunday Show at Victorian's Midnight Cafe with a Uke-Guest from Boston

Hey Folks -

A busy weekend for the Uke Man.

The Prodigal Sons and I are at the Air America show Saturday; then Sunday Pete, Ty, and I will be putting out some sounds opening for my good friend Craig Robertson direct from Boston.

Craig is an Original, a great singer/song-writer/showman. He'll blow you away. Check out:

http://www.myspace.com/craigrobertsonukulele

Old pal Dan Sagraves will team up with Craig's Columbus fan Jodi Mathews to provide a few songs too.

It starts at 6:00 p.m. and goes until we're done.

Don't miss your chance to meet Craig !!

See you at Victorian's Midnight Cafe (5th near Neil Ave.) - Sunday at 6:00 !!!

- UKe Man

Air America Benefit

Uke Man part of Air America fund-raiser Sat., March 1

Hey Folks -

Here's the info from the WVKO / Air America page ( http://www.wvko1580.com/events/ ).

It's a little pricey by my lights, but a worthy cause (we aren't getting paid).

We start off the evening at 5:30 (doors open at 5:00) - it ends at 10:00.

DAN DOUGAN will be joining us mid-set for a duet on "Working Class Hero"!!!!!

- Uke Man




Stephanie Miller Arrives This Saturday!
Join us on March 1st for a Democratic “Party” with the infamous Stephanie Miller, as we welcome Progressive Talk Radio back to the Central Ohio airwaves!

Also, music by The Spikedrivers, Donna Mogavero and Ukulele Man, plus raffle prizes and more!

It’s the WVKO 1580 AM Democratic “Party”

Tickets On Sale NOW!

Note: Beginning February 25, tickets purchased online will be available at the door.

Stephanie Miller's fresh and funny show is on dozens of radio stations across the country, including in Los Angeles where she is now the #2 rated talk program in her time period. The Stephanie Miller Show is on the air in Miami, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. and now Columbus, Ohio!


We will have complimentary pizza, a cash bar, a 50/50 raffle, WVKO promotional items and more! (Adults only please!) Entertainment provided by The Spikedrivers, Donna Mogavero and the Ukulele Man.

When:
Saturday, March 1, 2008
5:00 - 10:00 PM
(We had originally planned for a 6:00 PM start but changed it to 5:00 PM!)


Where:
The Makoy CenterEmerald Room
5462 Center St.Hilliard, OH 43026

(Click here for map) or on link below

Tickets:
$25 Individual, $40 Couple$30 at the door (couples pricing not available at the door)
Tickets are also available at WVKO, located at 74 S. 4th Street in Columbus.

Tickets On Sale NOW!

Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=5462+Center+St.,+Hilliard,+OH+43026&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=39.235538,71.015625&ie=UTF8&ll=40.038524,-83.162384&spn=0.074256,0.138702&z=13&iwloc=addr&om=0

The Generals on the ground v Bush

Hey Folks -


This sounds like good news to me. But does this mean that the Generals don't support the troops?


- Uke Man

From: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=44700&sectionid=351020101



Generals to quit if US strikes Iran

Tue, 26 Feb 2008

Some senior US military commanders are prepared to resign if President Bush orders a military strike against Iran, a new report says.


“There are four or five generals and admirals we know of who would resign if Bush ordered an attack on Iran,” The Sunday Times quoted Monday a source with close ties to British intelligence .


“There is simply no stomach for it in the Pentagon, and a lot of people question whether such an attack would be effective or even possible,” the source added.


If proven true a revolt on such a scale would be unprecedented because 'American generals usually stay and fight until they get fired,” said a Pentagon source.


Robert Gates, the defense secretary, has repeatedly warned against striking Iran and is believed to represent the view of his senior commanders.


Iran has announced that in face of any aggression it will respond like a 'tsunami'.


MT/DT

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

"You win with People"

Hey Folks -

Woody Hayes said, “You win with people.”

Whatever faults or weaknesses Woody displayed, he wasn’t a businessman. He cared about his players and staff, his university, city, state, and nation. And he won – with people . . . WITH the people, bringing honor to all those people along with what he brought upon himself.

Business wins with people, too – but in a very different way. Businesses care only about profit, and are not interested in sharing that profit with its workers, community, nation - only themselves and their stockholders. Capitalism is based on selfishness. Don’t take my word for it. Check with Libertarian Ayn Rand; she developed a whole philosophy justifying selfishness and personal greed.

Business wins by squeezing and abusing people.

The whole idea of capitalism is the accumulation of personal wealth. It is common to hear “we have to compete,” a slogan that makes running competitors out of business a positive goal. If people are harmed by that, “Hey! it’s just the Market - life’s not fair.”

Granted, if one accepts capitalism and business as the foundation of social/political life, then that all makes sense. However, this country - we are assured - is supposedly built upon different foundations.

We are not taught it’s a government of business, by business, and for business. The US Constitution does not start “We the businesses.” We are not taught to do unto others before they do it to us. Yet, our culture, run by business interests, saturates us with the view that crushing competitors is laudable, that closing factories is an amoral act requiring no justification, that blackmailing communities into subsidizing businesses with tax abatements is “just business,” that sending jobs overseas helps domestic workers, and on and on.

We all know who runs things. It sure isn’t the People; it isn’t the Constitution; it isn’t Jesus.

It’s business.

It isn’t good for workers, cities, nations, or the world. It isn’t honorable, or ethical, or moral. And it isn’t Woody Hayes.

It’s just business.


- Uke Man

Is it Sexist to call Hillary a Thespian??

Hey Folks -

I watched the last debate and was curious myself - along with the TV Talkers - as to the "high level" of warmth and goodwill Sen. Clinton showed Sen. Obama. None of the explanations really "felt" right.

Then today it all came clear. Here's the Uke Man analysis:


At the Debate:

Hillary is warm, open, and says she’s “proud” to be on stage with Obama.

Talking heads interpret: She’s “seeing the end” – making a valedictory – looking forward to party unity - or trying to get the sympathy she got “finding her voice” earlier.

A Few Days Later:

Sen. Clinton says (my paraphrase): Shame on you Obama for your awful attack fliers that say untrue things about me. You said you campaigned fairly!! Come debate your charges.

Considerations:

From what I’ve heard so far, the “charges” say nothing new, nothing that couldn’t have been debated a few days earlier. Some may actually have been debated already; as far as I can tell, one of Obama's "back-stabbing" charges dealt with the health plan, and remember how Clinton insisted on going on and on - even in the face of the moderator - about that.

My Conclusion:

Clinton was very nice to Obama at the debate in order to set up the charge of mud-slinging. The warm emotion of the debate then would enhance the emotional horror of Obama’s "betrayal," and before it could be sorted out rationally whether Obama actually HAD stabbed a good woman in the back – the woman who had so recently put her trust in him - the Ohio debate and primary would be over.

Never underestimate the Clintons

- Uke Man

p.s. I'm not well, but I'm getting better

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh . . . . . .

Hey Folks -

The Uke Man has been sick for a week - sorry for not keeping up. I'm still not over it, and sitting here typing still isn't easy.

In the meantime, check this out:

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=6565578&ch=4227541&src=news

- Uke Man

<- How I feel

Another View of Hugo Chavez

Hey Folks -

Think Hugo Chavez is a beast? insane? an evil-do-er? a dictator?

Well, you might think that having listened to all the one-sided reportring (from the internation-corporate, foreign-finacier, elite Venezuelan [20% v 80% below the poverty level) point of view).

Listen to a different perspective at: http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=4&islist=true&id=5&d=02-18-2008

- Uke Man

Religion Strikes Again

Hey Folks -


Irrational adherance to patriarchal nonsense from a book thousands of years old is here and now. And it isn't Muslims. It's Christians.


A lot of good ol' regular Americans can see that radical Islamists degrade women, but think we are "free" here in this "Christian country."


Guess again:


http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=6496738&ch=4543756&src=news


- Uke Man

LYNN CHENEY IN CNN SITDOWN, SLAPDOWN: DO YOU WANT AMERICA TO

"Bias" is whatever she says it is.

Lynne "Lon" Cheney is a monster!!!

Hey Folks -

It's an old problem:

The right, dedicated to the elite and to maintaining their prerogatives, defines ANYTHING that threatens their preminence as "biased." What jerks like Lynne "Lon" Cheney are after is NOT a level playing field but a game-ending imposition of their one-sided view.

See below.

- Uke Man

Bills target "left-wing indoctrination" at Southern universities
southernstudies. org/facingsouth/ 2008/02/bills- target-left- wing-indoctrinat ion.asp

Today's issue of Stateside Dispatch, a publication ofthe Progressive States Network, takes a critical lookat conservative efforts to squelch dissent on collegecampuses. In the right's latest attempt to discourageviewpoints it deems politically unpalatable, theAmerican Council of Trustees and Alumni -- anorganization founded in 1995 by Dick Cheney's wife,Lynne -- is promoting what it calls "IntellectualDiversity" legislation. Based on the concern thatacademics are overwhelmingly left-leaning, thelegislation mandates that professors remainideologically neutral in the classroom and createsstate councils to monitor views being presented.

According to PSN, such bills have been introduced thisyear in 10 states, with half of those in the South:Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi, West Virginia andLouisiana. The version introduced in Virginia -- whichwas scaled back somewhat from the model legislationand passed the state House unanimously -- requiresschools to report to the state council on highereducation and the legislature on efforts to promotethe free exchange of ideas.

Interestingly, at least one state that's looked intowhether there are problems with the free exchange ofideas in the academy due to left-wing bias have foundnone. Several years ago, Pennsylvania' sRepublican-controll ed state House created a speciallegislative committee to investigate whether studentswho hold unpopular views need protection. In November2006, the committee issued a report that said it foundno evidence of widespread problems.

The "Intellectual Diversity" legislation is based onthe controversial ideas of left-wingradical-turned- right-wing radical David Horowitz,author of The Professors: The 100 Most DangerousAcademics in America, which targets professors fromSouthern schools including Baylor, Duke, Emory, NorthCarolina State, Texas A&M, University of Kentucky,University of South Florida, and the University ofTexas. One of the academics Horowitz has singled out,UT-Austin Communication Studies Professor Dana Cloud,has written of the hate mail, physical threats andother harassment she's experienced as a result ofbeing targeted by Horowitz, whose tactics she'slikened to McCarthyism. She also reports how studentsin the Horowitz-founded Students for Academic Freedomkeep a watch list and encourage the reporting ofprofessors who exhibit "bias":

... which could mean anything from telling a Bushjoke to encouraging students to think critically aboutgender; but NEVER means talking about capitalism inthe business school or celebrating corporate culturein the advertising department ...

OLBERMANN says it all!!!

Hey Folks -

This is a MUST !!! A You Tube version is below. The audio and video are out of sinc.

For a better view, go to:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23174929#23174929

- Uke Man

Keith Olbermann Special Comment *MR BUSH YOU ARE A FASCIST!*

The sound is a little out of sinc. If you prefer, go to:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23174929#23174929

"Ah'm votin' fer the Great an' Glorious Wizard of Oz"

Why Voters Play Follow-the-Leader

Hey Folks -

Did you see this in the Sunday Dispatch?? (below)

The local editor changed the title to: "Who gets our vote? Research is surprising."

Why were they surprised? Don't they read their own Letters column??

I think this article echoes a friend's discussion of needing informed voters but goes deeper, in that for any progess to occur this wish-thinking, faith-basing, denial, or - as the author calls it - "cognitive self-defence" must be overcome. That's a daunting, but worthwhile goal.

It may be somewhat related to the talk of Obama rising above the differences (Black-White, Rich-Poor, Liberal-Conservative, etc.). Taken literally, that is ridiculous. Exxxon, GE, & Pfizer are NOT going to lie down with the Lamb; racists and homophobes are not going to stop their raucous conniving; "Christians" are not going to stop pushing "Intelligent Design." But, in terms of this article, it seems possible that he might convince a majority of voters to BELIEVE that they will.

Alot of people on the fringe have blindly projected their faith onto Ron Paul's whacky promise of a return to his version of "the good ol' days.". Why couldn't the majority of the people do the same thing with Obama's version?

He'd certainly be better than Mr. Paul.

- Uke Man





Why Voters Play Follow-the-Leader

By Shankar Vedantam
Monday, February 4, 2008; Page A03

What do you think is more dangerous? Terrorists getting their hands on a biological weapon that can be smuggled into the country or another hurricane like Katrina? Which is the smarter way to keep Social Security solvent? Raise the retirement age or raise taxes? How can the current economic crisis be averted? Give Americans cash to spend or slash mortgage interest rates to restart the housing market?

As millions of Americans gather to vote for presidential candidates in tomorrow's Democratic and Republican primaries, what they are really being asked to do is make a number of policy choices.

The problem is that most people do not fully understand the implications of these choices. Everyone agrees a biological attack is to be avoided and a hurricane should be properly managed, but unless you know how large these risks are relative to each other, you do not know how to allocate resources.

How do we form preferences when we do not fully understand complex issues? We fall back on heuristics, or mental shortcuts. New research suggests the most powerful of these is to find leaders with whom we feel cultural kinship -- and then follow whatever they recommend.

"It is much easier to look at someone and say, 'What are those person's values -- are they like mine or not? If they are like mine, I can trust this person to come up with policies that are in my interest because they share my values,' " said Donald Braman, an anthropologist at George Washington University Law School. "This is what happens in a lot of politics."

In an intriguing set of experiments, Braman, Yale University law professor Dan Kahan and others show that people reduce complex policy matters to a question of personal values. This simplifies decisions, but it places our conclusions -- and even our perception of facts -- at the mercy of traits that are ultimately arbitrary.

When people with a strong individualist streak, for example, were given evidence about global climate change in the context of the need for more aggressive pollution controls, Kahan found they were less likely to believe the facts, because the idea of regulations clashed with their beliefs that individuals and markets are best left unfettered. When the facts were framed in the context of needing more nuclear power, however, individualists believed the same information about global warming.

In another experiment conducted with the Washington-based Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Kahan found that when volunteers heard about the risks of nanotechnology from different experts, they gravitated toward the views of experts who seemed to share their personal values -- individualists followed the lead of experts who appeared to be individualists, while people who believed in hierarchy were most likely to be influenced by experts who espoused similar views. Once volunteers decided which experts were most like them, it did not make a difference whether the experts said nanotechnology was risky or safe -- either way, the volunteers agreed with them.

Kahan and Braman found that people did not realize how their views were shaped by personal values. One implication of the research is that when people clash on hot-button issues, their disagreements may have more to do with clashing values than facts. One person may conclude nanotechnology is dangerous while another person concludes it is safe, but neither realizes their conclusions are being driven by underlying values that have nothing to do with nanotechnology. The researchers examined two values: the extent to which people see themselves as individualists, and the extent to which they subscribe to hierarchical or egalitarian philosophies. Other values might have similar effects.

"One of the problems cultural cognition creates is it leads people to have divergent views of the facts, so when they debate one another it seems like they are talking past one another," Braman said. People think their opponents "are either 'completely ignorant and deluded of the facts that are obvious to me,' or they know the facts but are ignoring them and selecting the facts in a biased and untrustworthy way. That leads to deep distrust."

Two presidential candidates have explicitly tried to step away from this kind of thinking: When Barack Obama says it is possible to disagree without being disagreeable, or John McCain emphasizes that his political opponents have things to say that are of value, these politicians are encouraging voters to avoid turning policy debates into proxy wars about values.

"If you can generate conditions in which people are not engaged in cultural battles, they are much more likely to be relaxed and receptive to information," Braman concluded. "Once people are on the defensive, they are very good at screening out facts that are contrary to their cultural commitments. It is a form of cognitive self-defense."

Small Change

Hey Folks -

Changes


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEaS-K3j3M8


- Uke Man

Too Whimpy to be a Conservative??

Hey Folks -

Rush Dirtball and Ann "The Man" Coulter think John McCain is a whimp, not a Conservative (he's "worse than Hillary").

George "God talks to me" Bush thinks McCain is a fine Conservative.

I guess it depends on what constitutes a "Conservative."

The Uke Man suggests you check out the video below and decide for yourself just what John McCain, and indeed, a true Conservative REALLY is.


- Uke Man

john.he.is

New Venue - Papa Joe's - Ashville

Englishmanjohn's Stage - Thursdays

Hey Folks -

My good friend John Locke, A.K.A. "an Englishman abroad," has opened his weekly stage at a new venue, in the lovely upstairs room of Papa Joe's in downtown Ashville (take 316 [at Wendy's] east from South Bloomfield; it'll be on the left by the railroad tracks.

Last Thursday was the first night, and it was fun. Directly below is one performance Ty Barnes and I put forth. I'll have more for you (by the Uke Man and others) as the days go by.

Come out some Thursday.

- Uke Man

Ty & the Uke Man Feb. 7, 2008

Rube Goldgerg Updated

Hey Folks -

HEMA is a Dutch department store. The first store opened on November 4, 1926, in Amsterdam . Now there are 150 stores all over the Netherlands . HEMA also has stores in Belgium, Luxemburg, and Germany . In June of 2007, HEMA was sold to British investment company Lion Capital.

Take a look at HEMA's product page. You can't order anything and it's in Dutch but just wait a couple of seconds and watch what happens.

This company has a sense of humor and a great computer programmer.

click on: http://producten.hema.nl/

- Uke Man

(a ukethanks to John Locke)

The Policeman is your Fiend

Which Side Are You On??

Hey Folks -

This is a question we should ask ourselves regularly:

Which side are we on?

- Uke Man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Dr05tXktSo&eurl=http://burning.typepad.com/

Will the REAL Mit Romney please sit down

Hey Folks -



I just heard on the radio that Mit "Ball Glove" Romney said that the Republican primaries were a:





"A battle for the heart and

soul of the Republican Party."





Well, I guess that shows how smart he is.



Republicans don't have hearts, and Bush sold their soul to the Devil.



- Uke Man

"Get more feesh for the State Fair, an' then shoot some o'them damn commie students"

Jimmy Rhodes - most-elected Ohio gubernor -
and most representative of the state -
the uneducated leading the uneducable

Ominous signs

Well, Folks -

All the good folks who have been telling us for days and weeks and months and years (as more and more Americans' situation spiraled down the drain) how great the economy, labor-market, stock market, etc. were must have taken a bullet, because now - suddenly - THEY are complaining.

The self-serving vulture practices that have degraded us in order to uplift the Titans have finally come home to roost. Below is my letter to the Columbus Dispatch in response to their frontpage report on - apparently just discovered - "ominous signs."

- Uke Man

To the Editor,

There must be some mistake. The front page today said: “Ominous signs for the economy / Ohio has been losing ground to other states for years. But now, as Gov. Strickland begins to fill a huge budget hole, there are warnings that things might get worse.”

How can that be? Ohio and the nation have been in the hands of business-friendly Republicans for years (and got help earlier from “triangulator” Bill Clinton on welfare cuts, outsourcing via NAFTA and GAT, and by declaring the end of the “era of big government”).

Ohio has been cutting taxes, granting abatements, selling lottery tickets to take up the slack, “subcontracting” jobs to avoid expensive benefits, “privatizing” school bussing and food services, providing “vouchers” for business to open schools, making young people shoulder more of the cost of their college education, outsourcing inefficient high-paying jobs, and creating low-paying “service-sector” jobs to replace them.

And now, we are going to cut taxes more (almost to the amount of the predicted deficit) and lay off hundreds (maybe thousands) of government workers. Surely the “ominous signs” are illusory?

Why would anyone be unemployed? Why would young people leave Ohio? As a state we have walked the straight and narrow gospel of business since the days of Jimmy Rhodes. Please recheck your data. Certainly, Ohio MUST rate among the most prosperous states.

Yours,

Tom Harker

Serious Riddles

Serious Questions ???

Hey Folks -

Questions?? What questions?? This is an election!!!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_rJh9b4kW8


- Uke Man