All posts by Amok

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No justice in “American Idol”‘s multiple-vote, all-you-can-eat- democracy; But it makes Kris Allen the poster child for the undeserving

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It felt like the night George Bush won and Al Gore lost.

This was a night when  meritocracy in pop America  really lost.

It’s still  not as bad as if William Hung had won. It’s not as big a fraud as say calling the Monkees  better than the Beatles.

But everyone knows Adam Lambert should have  been declared this year’s “American Idol”  winner.

Lambert’s talent just dwarfed all the others. Adam made Kris look like Opie at the junior high  talent show.

At first, the night had appeared somewhat stacked in Adam’s favor. On this final episode, he  got to sing with no less than Kiss and Queen, essentially a grand showcase of the eye-linered contestant with his musical forebears.  It almost seemed  a pre-annointing of the winner.

So when Kris was announced as the “Idol”  it just seemed like a false note.

But what do you expect from a multiple-vote system. It’s been said America doesn’t like to sense its vote doesn’t count.  The AI system indulges those voters. Vote doesn’t count? Make it count 10 times. Vote all you want. It’s an all-you-can-eat democracy.  But it does make the vote about the voters and not about the talent on stage.

Doesn’t matter.  Before long, Kris will be joining previous winner  Taylor Hicks on the county fair circuit.

Meanwhile, Adam will emerge quite simply as the most versatile and gifted performer birthed by the show ever.

Talent always wins out in the end.

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On talent, it’s Adam Lambert; But will America vote for a Gay “Idol”?

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Hands down, Adam Lambert has been the most talented performer to emerge from this season’s cast.  The guy is s Freddie Mercury and Ethel Merman’s love child. (Imagine that one for a minute).

But I’m just not sure if America is ready to vote for such an openly gay idol.

It shouldn’t matter, of course. Ask Sir Elton John how its hurt his career.

But Adam seems to have been  hit by a sudden rise in the appreciation of Arkansas troubadour Kris Allen. To be fair, Kris is a gifted singer in his own right, just not the best.

Throughout the entire season,  no one has quite dominated like Adam. He’s has been a mountain of talent next to some nice little musical molehills.  He’s been so far ahead of the pack, Adam’s been the show’s Rachel Alexandra, by golly.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s toned it down a bit for prime-time.

But leaving it up to a fan’s vote makes it questionable whether he will be fairly  rewarded for his domination this year.

Adam deserves to win tonight.

If Adam doesn’t and Kris wins by a slight margin, it won’t be because Kris was more talented.  Chalk it up to good old fashioned American homophobia.  From gay marriage to gays in the miltary, we know it’s there. Why should “American Idol” be immune?

blog, news, politics

Maybe people would vote for an American Idol Tax? Who cares? Why politicians are thrilled with yesterday’s vote; Also–Kudos to Chu, Pleitez

Arnold Schwarzenegger should have had a singing contest for all the different tax and budget proposals. Maybe more people would have shown up at the polls in California.

The only measure to muster a victory was the most obvious one, the limit on pay raises.  That was like putting up a “kick me” sign on the back of public officials.  Yes, for sure. All others, no. Perhaps to the detriment of our state government.  Services were already going to be cut. Now they’ll be cut more.  When there’s little faith in government to begin with, it’s hard to sell the voters on a sense of value.

Still, if politicians know that sending something to the voters is almost always a sure loser, then something else is at work here too.

The governor and the legislators shouldn’t have taken it this far. Putting things up for a  vote is just a massive cop- out that signifies  a real  inability to govern. The politicians shouldn’t be able to use the electorate to dodge their own lack of responsibility.  But now the politicians can say,”We gave the voters a choice and this is what they wanted.”  But do we truly want underfunded public services, inefficient state government, bad schools? I don’t want that.

Tuesday’s vote just gave our elected officials a convenient alibi.

They can now say, “Not our fault; blame the voters, (or lack thereof).”

The tough decisions have been made –not by our elite elected representatives–but by a handful of voters who showed up on Tuesday.

CHU’S VICTORY, PLEITEZ IMPRESSES

Congrats to State Board of Equalization Vice Chairwoman Judy Chu, victorious in the race for the open 32nd Congressional District seat. She won the most votes to beat  fellow Democrat state Sen. Gil Cedillo, but did not gain a majority to avoid a runoff.  Chu survived almost every tactic Cedillo could throw at her.

The real surprise, however, was not the Asian defeating the Latino. The real story is the strong showing of  Emanuel Pleitez,  a Stanford grad from the Eastside of LA, who showed he learned a thing or two from his time on the Obama campaign. The former Goldman Sachs executive used the internet and his personal contacts to run a strong third against the  two veteran Democrat frontrunners.

Clearly, Pleitez is the future.  Not Villaraisgosa. Not Cedillo. Look for Pleitez to resurface again soon somehwere–victoriously.

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Catholics, abortion, Notre Dame and Obama’s common ground

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I’m one of those Catholics who believe in individual choice. I don’t condone abortion, but I don’t think it’s my business, or the government’s for that matter, to restrict you or anyone else from getting one. If that’s what you want.  I’ll pray for you . But I won’t deny you.

This is all about dealing with the contradictions. For example, how does Bush a get off calling himself pro-life after making a living off death row all his political career?

So is my contradiction better than his? I think it is. And somewhere around there is where I think we’ll find common ground. It won’t be on the edges where Alan Keyes and his radical  counterparts are.

It will  definitely be  someplace quieter. And then we can make a breakthrough in this old debate.