Crossposted at Politicook.net.

My Grandfather lived to be 91 years old, and that was quite a thing in 1968, when he finally died.  I was 11, and adored him.

The funny thing was that he HATED kids, but he liked me.  Perhaps it was the second childhood thing, or maybe we just connected.  All of my relatives told me later that I was the only one that he ever liked.

I am pleased, because he introduced me to coffee and cigarettes.  I still take both of them.  Will they kill me?  Who knows.

Warning this is quite a long diary and I hope not too academic,  boring and esoteric. However as we are not in Hillary's cohort, I think it will not be too complicated.

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I presented the following Paper, which will be posted in four parts, at the 1995 International Communication Association conference in Albuquerque. I have decided to revisit it, because it touches on a number of themes that have roiled the blogosphere over the last two months. My concern in this paper was to address what I believed was the failure of Critical Communication Scholarship to attend to the influence and role of talking heads and media paid professionals in the construction and reproduction of the spectacle.

Now that I have your attention, let's talk about something incredibly more important than Obama, Hillary or Edwards. Don't worry, they'll still be there, warts and all when you finish this.

So what's so important? Whales. That's right. We've stopped exterminating them, but the Japanese apparently haven't.

First our pets, dogs and cats, were poisoned, then our toothpaste and now toys our children play with. When will this President say, ENOUGH!!!! When will our Congress say, ENOUGH!!!