“The song is about a girl in love with a young man who spurns society’s conventions. Despite his being misunderstood by others, the singer claims that he is sweet and faithful, and she vows to be the same towards him.”
As much as it all makes sense to me now, I wonder about the Twilight Zone where pop culture intersects with human destiny; in particular my own.
Although I am not suggesting that Phil Spector wrote this song about me, I wonder if I may have heard this song in the womb with no view, shortly after my arrival into the free world at Jamaica Hospital in Queens, New York in 1962 or in my mothers arms in our Doo Wop Shop in Kew Gardens. I was born under a Democratic President, who was a rebel in his own right, one who may have paid a tremendous penalty for daring to tell the truth, costing him his life and the opportunity to continue to lead his country. Before my mother passed away in 2011, she advised me to follow my own truth. Here I am.
See the way he walks down the street
Watch the way he shuffles his feet
My, he holds his head up high
When he goes walking by
He’s my guy
When he holds my hand, I’m so proud
‘Cause he’s not just one of the crowd
My baby’s always the one
To try the things they’ve never done
And just because of that, they say
He’s a rebel and he’ll never ever be any good
He’s a rebel ’cause he never ever does what he should
But just because he doesn’t do what everybody else does,
That’s no reason why I can’t give him all my love
He’s always good to me,
Always treats me tenderly
MARCHES TOWARDS GOP NOMINATION AGAINST THE WILL OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
Mitt Romney’s Aqua-Fresh inspired Presidential Campaign logo features THREE FACES for the ‘R’, the first initial in his last name. Perhaps the three colored Acqua-Fresh strips are indicative of something else entirely, like the three (3) faces Romney wears in public to fool people into believing he has the critical attributes we look for in a President. Under critical examination of his (i) Faith (ii) Experience and (iii) Values & Character Romney fails the test of what our country needs at this time in terms of leadership. Below I break down the reasons for that conclusion.
FAITH: A Shape-shifter
Park Romney, a member of the Utah based Romney Clan who has left the LDS Cult has written a book entitled: ”The Apostasy of a High Priest” when asked, ”Is Mitt Romney’s religion a fair campaign issue?” stated the following:
“Mitt Romney is an active High Priest of the Mormon Church. Mitt Romney’s religion is thus a fair campaign issue….I think the notion that a candidate’s religion should not be considered and weighed thoughtfully by his constituents is absurd. I think that journalists who promote this naïve and simple minded notion as “appropriate” do a great disservice to important public dialogue that should be promoted and not discouraged.”
Romney’s vaunted private sector business experience, including his serving as CEO of Bain & Company is the centerpiece of his Presidential campaign to lend credibility and standing to his seeking the highest office in the land. Romney claims he is not a life time politician but he has been running for office since the early 1990’s, in Massachusetts as well as at the national level. Romney was elected (barely) to one full term as Governor of Massachusetts. He did seek a second term. Establish Mitt, the appointed/anointed vessel for America’s 1% to best suppress the legitimate interests of the 99%, is running for President now for the second time. RNC establishment and the Wall Street and media Illuminati are firmly in his corner. Political Chaos in the 2012 Iowa Caucus which ultimately may have derailed the Romney campaign and curious circumstances surrounding the results suggest black ops (i.e., “fraud”) to guarantee Romney’s Pyrrhic Victory: 8 Vote Win over surging Rick Santorum, who like Rocky Balboa stood toe to toe with the Republi-Con Robot while spending a few thousands dollars to Romney and his surrogates multi-millions. Most recently, the leading paper published in the state that Romney once governed, The Boston Globe endorsed his rival, John Huntsman in the New Hampshire Republican Primary instead. You would think he would be a local favorite. That would never have happened to William Weld, the Republican beloved by even many Democrats in the Commonwealth.
The Dark Side of Mitt Romney cannot and should not be overlooked by anyone who cares about the future of America. Examine the legacy of this Financial Con Artist and what you will find is truly disturbing, a man who is of, by and for the 1% Economy. In terms of vaunted business experience at Bain & Company, the Global Management Consulting firm, Romney’s role was more akin to that of a vulture capitalist not venture capitalist. So what’s the difference? Romney did not make or build his reputation as a “venture capitalist” financing emerging companies along the high tech corridors of Route 128 or Silicon Valley, taking a small stake and watching them blossom and grow, then taking a seat on their Board. Romney was not a builder who planted seeds, but rather a predator who targeted vulnerable companies in the manufacturing sector, took them over and and feasted on them the way a vulture would on a rotting carcass.
Romney and his team of slick suits operating in a ‘House of Lies’ in Beantown strip mined and raped going concerns, preyed off their income stream for a period of time with obscene management consulting fees until the entities were effectively bankrupt, fed on the remains of their pension funds and then packaged them for resale in their entirety or sold their assets off piece by piece like spare parts while leaving stockholders and creditors naked with their proverbial Johnson in their hands and workers on the street, before moving on for the next kill. Looting the spirit of American Enterprise, sending jobs overseas, destroying communities and being a spokes person for this process of deindustrialization is hardly the character of a builder, much less a President. This is not the resume of a job creator or what America is all about. America does not need a Leveraged Buyout King, a vulture capitalist, unscrupulous CEO or financial con-man who will sell America off for spare parts. It would be a grave error to equate Romney’s predatory vulture capitalist scams with the deliberate and thoughtful work of venture capitalists like Mark Andreesen, who will often nurture a company for years before making a profit. As Investopedia says, “Like them or not, many vulture capitalists make more money than the venture capitalists do.” Romney got paid a lot but he did not do much “building”.
It is grotesque and revolting to consider that fresh on the heels of America’s financial crisis brought upon us largely by the morality of folks like Mitt Romney, that any of our citizens will even contemplate putting a charlatan like him in the White House
VALUES & CHARACTER: Not Like Reagan, more like Madoff
When you begin to deconstruct the man, you will find that Mitt Romney is a rather hollow man who has many of the attributes of a con-man and since he has been a leader (a “High Priest”) in what amounts to a “Spiritual Ponzi scheme’, he may thus in effect be considered more akin to the Republican Bernie Madoff than the second coming of Ronald Reagan. Or stated otherwise,“The flipper is no Gipper” despite the best efforts the Republican establishment to cast him that way; his endorsement by Insane McCain who himself did an about face on Romney not withstanding. Reagan never held a leadership position nor was he a member of any mind controlling cult which required former adherents to enter into a Twelve Step Recovery Program to recover from the oppressive mind control of said “faith”.
This 21st Century Con-man and LDS Cult High Priest is thus a chip off the old block of the 19th Century Con-man, convicted fraudster, and murdering polygamist pedophile known as Joseph Smith who founded Romney’s Utah based Mormon Cult. Romney’s financial, spiritual and political morality emanate from the same hollow place. He is a man without a moral compass or center and thus ultimately the most dangerous kind of individual for Americans of any party to seriously consider to be their President. A Mormon in the White House? No thanks. One’s vote might be better cast for an individual whose positions you do not agree with entirely, who is capable of reason and is an otherwise principled man. If Romney’s slide in the polls on the eve of the New Hampshire Primary is any indicator, perhaps their is some resistance to the Republican establishment’s selection of Romney as the ‘Inevitable Nominee’. Hence while I have principled disagreements with all of the Republican Presidential candidates, whether that be Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, John Huntsman or a man with more integrity than most in Ron Paul, I do not see any of them as similarly barren of soul and think any one of them would be a better selection than Romney. The body of Romney’s life work proves that he cares about only one thing, Mitt Romney.
Life’s too short to even care at all Ooh
I’m losing my mind losing my mind losing control
The fishes in the sea they’re staring at me
A wet world aches for a beat of a drum
If I could find a way to see this straight
I’d run away
To some fortune that I
Should have found by now
I’m waiting for this Cough Syrup to come down, come down
Life’s too short to even care at all
I’m coming up now coming up now out of the blue
These zombies in the park are looking for my heart
A dark world aches for a splash of the sun
-Young the Giant, “Cough Syrup” 2011
The last couple of years have challenged the American spirit in ways most of us have never would have imagined. The pain and suffering out there across America is palpable and real, leaving many of us reaching for more than cough syrup. For once perhaps the drama of the political rhetoric of our leaders does not even begin to address the depth and severity of the pain, insecurity and despair that many citizens feel across our land. Regardless of the prescriptions and solutions they offer to what ails us, to restore life I am no longer waiting for their cough syrup to come down.
Around me I have witnessed the supreme and strong, falling down, hopefully only intermittently, but still not sure. Yet, in the souls of many of my fellow Americans, however wounded or uncertain they may be, I see the ‘eye of the tiger’ looking only for a basis to rise again or maybe I am just looking in the mirror. In the words of Vince Lombardi:
“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up. The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That’s real glory. That’s the essence of it.”
“It ain’t about how hard you can hit. It’s about how hard you can GET hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep – moving – forward.”
Or in the words of film industry legend, Mary Pickford:
“If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down.”
Knock me down enough I say and all you are doing is training me in how to get up more proficiently. Let us give praise and thanks to those who have knocked us down for they will only make our victory even sweeter, in the end. This is the character of our people. It is written into the American DNA, yours and mine. Rest assured, the final bell has not yet rung, we will be prepared to rise and do battle in 2012. A little angel is gonna whisper in your ear: “get up you sonofabitch cause Mickey loves you”.
Cut me Mick I ain’t done fightin’ yet. This is not a time for platitudes or making cliched resolutions to toast at midnight but rather a calling to be resolute in all that we do. To all of you I hope and pray you find your splash of the sun in 2012. May you basque in it for the remainder of your days. It’s time we stop waiting for the cough syrup to come down. If we have to, maybe the answer is that we make our own.
RUSHDIE: GET BACK, GET BACK… YOU DON’T KNOW ME LIKE THAT
“Why you all in my ear? Talkin’ a whole bunch of shit that I ain’t tryin’ to hear Get back mothafucker, you don’t know me like that”
-Ludacris
Devorah Rose, the Upstart Jewish Socialite, is in the headlines once again for reportedly having some sort of liaison or relationship with Salman Rushdie, famed author of the ‘Satanic Verses’. The ‘Celebrity of Her Own Making’ tweeted a suggestive message alluding to relationship of import with the long time beau of Padma Lakshmi. Upon digesting the substance of the interaction between the two parties the first thing that entered my mind was the Ludacris song called ‘Get Back’ (You don’t know me like that) about an obsessed fan who assumes a bond with an artist he does not know on a chance encounter.
Rushdie says Rose mistook a “casual acquaintance” for more. But she tells us Rushdie chased her for months, with dinner invitations and Facebook messages, while she was “pursuing an intellectual relationship.”
“He’s much older than me,” Rose told us. “It was so disheartening. I looked up to him. [I thought he was] charming and intelligent . . . I don’t want this to happen to other girls.”
Devorah Rose, a ‘Celebrity of Her Own Making’ has been ’clawing her way up’ the social ladder for years, worshipping at the alter of fame like some kind of Satanic ritual. In my opinion, her Dracula like blood lust for tabloid press makes her one of the most annoying and potentially dangerous personages for any man of means or accomplishment to cross paths with in this town. The implication that she was somehow shocked and disheartened because she was earnestly looking only to pursue some sort of ‘intellectual association’ with one of the most famous authors on the planet, is well, to be candid, truly LUDICROUS. Her posture in all this actually reeks with all the sincerity of a social grifter fleecing her mark.
Understand, one’s import to Miss Devorah Rose is dependent only on what, who and how they may assist in extending her media profile and moving her up the charts in the Fame Game. Selling you out at hello is her M.O. Everyone knows it, except perhaps Salman Rushdie who was rather slow in figuring it out.
Ms. Rose posts half nude photos of her self literally everywhere and any where she can. Furthermore, she has clearly over the years had significant work done in order to obtain this look found in Maxim so she can gain attention. Most who met her between 2005 -2010 do not recognize her in these images on Maxim. Upon closer examination of the images of Devorah Rose in Maxim, Facebook and Twitter, what I see is not an attractive, sexually desirable woman but something that is disturbing. The images are a cross between a concentration camp victim, a vampire and leave her looking like she is but one procedure away from looking like Jocelyn Wildenstein. What was not removed with a plastic surgeon’s scalpel or sucked out via liposuction, enhanced via breast implants or collagen injections was photo shopped or air brushed to reveal a feminine creature that is a turn on only for necrophiliacs or pedophiles. Scallywag & Vagabond asked whether Ms. Rose is a “Shameless Social Climber or Misunderstood Cover Model.” Maybe perhaps a disease which is a symptom of the times?
You: Oh my god this is so intellectual (rolling your eyes). I am glad we have such a deep friendship where we can discuss topics like your fame. Yeah I guess there really must be a mainstream media and blogosphere conspiracy against their serving as unwitting publicity agents in your social climb. But honey, if Andy Cohen does not give you a show ultimately, what are you going to do?
The Face of Social Life Magazine: For better or worse
Ms. Rose is the ‘Editor-in-Chief’ of Social Life Magazine. As the Society Editor of the same publication Ms. Rose “serves” as the Editor in Chief, I can tell you that while I contribute my perspective on philanthropy along with photos taken around town, I have not had a meeting with or discussion with this woman about any issues related to publication in several years. What I have witnessed in the time I have known her is not one who regularly holds meetings with staff members to discuss content related issues of the magazine or greater collaborations among staff members. Instead, she is someone I randomly encounter pursuing her own FameGame around town (rarely) or in the Hamptons at Social Life Magazine parties where she stands ‘Perfectly Polished, Painfully Poised’ out in front of the cameras claiming responsibility for the publication of a magazine which is largely a collaborative effort among many and that largely eludes her oversight. You will excuse me, if in my opinion, Devorah Rose is but a scandalous farce posing as a meaningful human being, an embarrassment to the idea of what an Editor-in-Chief of a publication should be. Cristina Greeven Cuomo is what one may wish to use as a model, if you are asking me. Why? She is still far too busy figuring out how to take credit, license of and leverage off the artistic creations of others, literally having driven away those who helped create the magazine’s brand in the first place.
The Photo Tweeted by Ms. Rose Illustrates NOTHING
As a photographer and a lawyer, in my opinion, the image tweeted by Ms. Rose hardly looks like that representative or indicative of some massive romance, deeply formed alliance or any kind of significant intimate relationship between her and the world famous author. It instead looks like that of one taken by a fan or brazen fame seeking stalker.
As stated to me by an acquaintance who has withdrawn from New York Social circles because she has moved on to a more important segment of her life called adulthood: “It never ceases to amaze me the lengths these people will go for ’status’ in the make-believe construct of their social microcosm.” This woman gives fame seeking ’stalkers’ a bad name. Her simple quest to rise up in social recognition in tabloid media and reality television by any means necessary, including incessant plastic surgery, advocating Anorexia to wannabe socialites, constant sandbagging of of as many unsuspecting people higher up on the human food chain or with a more significant fame quotient. Salman Rushdie is simply her latest victim, in my estimation.
My advice to Ms. Rose, if you are going to be a star fucker, at least don some knee pads, get under the table and get to work. Capische? But do not sit here and pose like a victim of abuse at the hands of one of your much older heroes , with whom you were merely pursuing an intellectual relationship. It rings hollow and exposes your for the rather shallow charlatan that you are.
Listen babe, what’s going on here is LUDICROUS, Salman Rusdie is in effect saying: “Why you all in my ear? Talkin’ a whole bunch of shit that I ain’t tryin’ to hear Get back mothafucker, you don’t know me like that”.
The Media Whores who were ‘laying it on thick’ (with claims of a suicide pact and depression) in an effort to pull another fast one on the American public, may have just have provided anecdotal evidence of their complicity in the fraud. After this interview, many Americans, including rightfully angry and vigilant Madoff fraud victims like Ilene Kent, will have the right to continue to believe that the Madoff Sons and their mother had full knowledge of and were participants in the monstrous fraudulent scheme along with other members of The MCF –Madoff Crime Family including Peter and Shana Madoff and key beneficiary, Philanthropic Fraud, Jeffrey Picower. And then they continued on their circuit to Matt Lauer live on Halloween:
According to Andrew, Ruth’s first question was ‘What’s a “Ponzi scheme?’ Come again? If you did not hesitate for even a moment when you heard that, let’s back up for a second here. Ruth was a math wiz who graduated from Queens College where she majored in Business Administration & Finance. She was working on Wall Street before Bernie Madoff. In fact, biographers have detailed how Bernie was studying law at Brooklyn Law School before he dropped out to join his ambitious young wife on the street. Ruthie went to Wall Street for similar reasons as Willie Sutton who was once asked why he robbed banks, famously answered, “Because That’s Where The Money Is.” Let’s just say Ruthie knew where the money was. According to reports, she was her husband’s bookkeeper, which it turns out required one to be a Chef as well. Queens College may not be Harvard but it is a fine institution, hence I find it very hard to believe that the little mathematical wiz managing/cooking her husband’s books had no idea what was a Ponzi Scheme.