2000: Turn Around, Turn Around
2001:  Suffering in Silence
2002:  Sue Barton, Ladadog and The Black
2003:  Happy Birthday, Jeri
2004:  All in the Family
2005:  Clown Car
2006:  Forty

IN MY OPINION
"Annie Get Your Gun"

Books Read in 2007

Updated 4/9:
"Mutant Message from Forever"

FUNNY THE VLOG

"Paul's Memorial #4 --
Marta's Comments'"


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RING AROUND ROSIE

26 April 2007
(Happy Birthday, Jeri!)

I learned of Rosie O'Donnell's upcoming (June 21) departure from The View by reading Steve's journal entry. 

Rosie brought that rare truth to TV, saying what everyone is actually thinking, about the vile machinations of the Cheney/Bush/Rove axis of evil and the disgusting loudmouthed Donald Trump.

Rosie, you were the breath of fresh air. An out gay person who had a voice and a point of view that is going to be missed.

I sincerely hope that the reasons expressed on the broadcast and in Rosie's blog were true, that ABCs people and Rosie's people were able to come up with a suitable contract.  I hope that Rosie would tell the truth if she'd been pushed out because of the calculated attack that has been waged against her by the media, but in my heart of hearts, I don't believe it completely.

I never watched The View before Rosie joined the panel, but I was a big fan of her talk show and when I learned she was replacing Starr Jones, I thought I'd check it out.  I've found that I quickly became hooked.  She speaks the truth, as she sees it, she rattles cages, but there is no denying her passion, her anger at the wrongs she sees around her, and the heart that gives so much, especially to kids in need.

I will miss her.  And I will go back to not watching The View again.

Joe. My. God. expresses how I have felt about her presence on The View:

Rosie has been a breath of fresh, angry air on The View, where the opening Hot Topics segments were a platform for O'Donnell to rant daily against the Bush administration. I became a devout viewer when she joined the cast and her departure will leave a huge void for (admittedly strident) progressive voices on network television. Her style is not for everyone, but it IS for me. We need more pissed off people with a big megaphone and I can't think of anybody I'd rather have one than Rosie O'Donnell.

I have been watching, particularly Joe Scarborough, each night for the last several months.  I can't remember the last show that he didn't do a Rosie piece and didn't spend the 5 minutes talking with his cronies about how disgusting Rosie O'Donnell is, and didn't end the piece with "is it finally time for Barbara Walters to pull the plug on Rosie?"

Each night I rant and rave because I've seen the shows he was pulling his film clips from and it's almost always something taken waaay out of context.  For example, I saw the episode of The View on which all four of the women at the desk discussed Alec Baldwin's outburst to his 11 year old daughter.  All four of the women felt terrible about it, but each of them knows Baldwin, on one level or another, and while each of them expressed the sentiment that his outburst was totally inappropriate, each of them talked about the stresses of divorce, how contentious the Baldwin divorce had been, how the problems had been going on for years, and how sad the whole thing was.

Rosie O'Donnell's comments were the only ones which were played by Scarborough as he spat out the words about how "Rosie leaped to Baldwin's defense."  No, she didn't.  She just spoke about how he was her friend and how sad the whole thing was.  Scarborough painted an entirely different picture of the comment, and again demanded the Barbara Walters "pull the plug" on Rosie.

I have seen him do this over and over again — take one comment completely out of context and blow it up to monumental proportions, demanding the ABC fire her.  Tucker Carlson does the same thing, as does Access Hollywood.  (I will add that I do not watch Access Hollywood  — I do have some standards — but I frequently see the first few minutes or the last few minutes before I change the station).  I'm sure there are other talking heads who love to make Rosie the target of their barbs.

I listened to Scarborough after the announcement today and everything he said about Rosie was distortion.  I hated the smug look on his face and his attack, now, on Barbara Walters. Rosie never said 9/11 was an inside job, she never said Bush ordered the blow-up of the buildings at the World Trade Center.  She asked questions and she has been vilified because of it.

Tucker Carlson and Scarborough feel this is a triumph for Donald Trump.  Tucker ended his report with "Boy, I'm going to miss attacking her."  I think that pretty much says it all.

Scarborough devoted thirty minutes to the story, the first fifteen laughing with his cronies about all of her perceived outrageous statements, the second fifteen speaking with Donald Trump, who called her a "disgusting degenerate," said Joy Behar was a "no talent," that Barbara Walters' word "couldn't be trusted." Somebody, it may or may not have been Trump, said that The View was just a women's gab fest and had no business trying to be political.

Read Rosie's comments about what happened at and after the taping of the show today.

As far as I'm concerned, Rosie will walk away in June with her head held high and I hope she comes back stronger than ever.

Amy Dickinson in the Chicago Tribune has a wonderful column about Rosie's departure.

PHOTO OF THE DAY 

"This is not my doing or my choice." -- Barbara Walters

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