Thursday, November 25, 2004

PFAW Online Auction: Pearl Jam, Jane Fonda, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Noam Chomsky, Diana Ross, Gore Vidal, Madonna, REM, Prince, Drew Bledsoe, etc.

Please take a moment to look at the following:


A walk-on part on Will & Grace or Joey
The Chloe dress worn by Sarah Jessica Parker's "Carrie" on Sex in the City
Autographed items from Madonna, Pearl Jam, Rod Stewart, REM, Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera, Lucinda Williams, Jerry Garcia, George Harrison and others
A day with legendary Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, flying on his private plane and enjoying lunch before returning back home
A month-long internship with political documentary producer Robert Greenwald, creator of "Unprecedented," "Uncovered," and "Outfoxed"
Signed instruments from Maroon 5, Simon and Garfunkel, John Mayer, Sting, The Eagles, and Blondie
Autographed books from Guy Oseary, Dennis Weaver, David Brock, James Carville, Bill Maher, Norman Mailer, Gore Vidal, Greg Palast, George Soros and others

People for the American Way will be holding their 2004 Annual Ebay Celebrity Auction beginning this Sunday (November 28th) at http://auction.pfaw.org/ and they will be adding more items than are listed above. This online auction will end on December 5th.

I have no idea what any of the above will go for. Looking at the listed items, I can think of people I know who would love to have, for instance, an autographed book by Norman Mailer or Gore Vidal. But People for the American Way is a group that does good work so I wanted to pass this on. PFAW's web site is http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/ and if you go to this web page http://auction.pfaw.org/index.html you will find more items that will be in the auction.

Other items listed on this page include a tour of FDR's residence with Evan Roosevelt (FDR's great grandson); lunches with, among others, The Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel or Everybody Loves Raymond's Doris Roberts; signed instruments from Stevie Nicks, Bob Weir, Alanis Morissette, Green Day, Sting and the Goo Goo Dolls; signed handwritten music lyrics by the likes of Joan Baez, The Black Eyed Peas, Sarah McLachlan, and k.d. lang; signed CD album covers from the likes of Eric Clapton, Liz Phair, James Taylor, Van Halen, Jackson Browne, Moby and Melissa Ethridge; signed posters by Enya, Pearl Jam and the Pixies; signed photos by Bruce Springsteen, Muhammad Ali, Diana Ross, Grace Slick, the Dixie Chicks, Drew Bledsoe and Prince; signed books by Jane Fonda, Twyla Tharp, Noam Chomsky, Benjamin Barber; art work from Joni Mitchell, Natalie Merchant, Tony Bennett . . .

There's a ton of items already listed on this page. Got a friend or family member who's a huge Rickie Lee Jones fan? Check out this auction. Or Margaret Cho, Robin Williams, Mike Myers, Celine Dion, Dave Matthews, Ben Stiller, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Will Ferrell, Magic Johnson, Yao Ming, Peta Wilson, Matchbox 20, Joan Jett, Madonna, Brian Wilson, Linkin Park, Smokey Robinson, Heart, Ashton Kutcher, etc. There's a lot of items and a lot of names already up.

Check the listings out if you're interested and check out the auction once it starts this Sunday.

On the main page, you can find out more about the organization (http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/) and there's a link to send a thank you to Senator Kent Conrad:

A Thank You to North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad Thanks to Senator Kent Conrad and the rules that give a stalwart minority a voice in the Senate, it looks like the nation will be saved from a toxic piece of legislation, and a serious threat to the personal privacy of every American who pays taxes. So this week, PFAW gives thanks that the Senate can serve as a check against the recklessness of the House of Representatives and that the threat of a filibuster can allow Senators to block dangerous legislation or other matters, including judicial nominations.


Saturday's blog entry "It's Just Another Day, Another Episode" quoted the Saturday NY Times:
Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota, said he discovered a provision that would allow leaders of the House and Senate spending panels to designate people who would be given access to tax returns.

and:

"'Are we really going to pass legislation here that says an Appropriations Committee staffer can look at the individual tax returns of any American?' Mr. Conrad asked.

So if you have the time, you might also want to send Senator Conrad a thank you via PFAW's link.

I've gotten lost in an attempt to assemble a "red" state entry that now looks as though it will be several entries. Frank in Orlando and four others are asking where's the commentary on today's Times front page? I'll try to do that right after this and put the "red" state issue on hold for a bit.

I do want to note that Thomas Friedman is in today's paper. Nicky Kristof is the Wednesday columnist (one of them). (I been wrong on that earlier in the week. All regular columnists appear twice a week in the Times unless they have the day off.) Someone asked why I call him "Nicky Kristof" as opposed to "Nicholas Kristof" -- when he overlooks groups (such as feminist groups) that have been working on global issues, he p***es me off, so I dubbed him "Nicky." Implying, I don't take him too seriously. It works the other way as well, when he's got a strong column, "Nicky" can imply "way to go!"

And as for the use of "____" and "p***es" . . . Many people read online at their jobs and some jobs have guidelines regarding language. Trust me, I have a foul mouth. And I use it often. But on this page, to avoid anyone getting into any trouble, I'll use "___"s when it's obvious and use "*"s when it may not be. That includes if I quote someone directly. I have a friend who went to a general web site and clicked on a link only to be sent to a page with the f-word used repeatedly and the following week she was reprimanded for that. So to avoid anyone getting into trouble, in blog entries on this page, "___"s and "*"s will be used.

If you go to a link from this page, consider that you're taking a risk. If I'm thinking, I'll catch it ahead of time and post a "warning foul language in this link" comment. But don't count on me to catch that every time. The Washington Post ran a story on Cheney's use of the f-word that used the actual word so I can't even say that you're safe if you study the link first and determine it to be a publication you wouldn't expect to find foul language in. The Washington Post's position was Cheney said the word so they were going to capture what was said accurately. I agree with that position. I just don't want anyone getting a warning -- oral or written -- as a result of this page. So on this page proper I'll be using "___"s and "*"s.

And to offer an example of missing something, I did an entry on Clamor, which I think is a solid magazine, yesterday. But I didn't provide a warning. WARNING: Clamor sometimes contains foul language, so if you surf the Clamor web site, do so at your home or a public library. Otherwise you're surfing it at your own risk.

And thank you to Tammy in Ohio for reminding me I was supposed to have stopped allowing posting replies on this blog. I'll probably forget again so feel free to remind me. She also asked about the yahoo message at the bottom of some posts. Those posts are posts I do via e-mail and as a result they contain the same message at the bottom that every yahoo e-mail does. I could go back later and edit them out but I've avoided that for time reasons and to avoid going through and correcting every typo.

I hope everyone had a good Thursday and those who celebrated the holiday enjoyed it.