Monthly Archives: January 2009

It looks like Al Franken's won the recount in Minnesota and will eventually be a Senator from that state. There will be legal challenges and delays and a lot of kickin' 'n' screamin' but I don't see that anyone really thinks there's a way to deny him that job.

This pleases me and not just because he's a Democrat. I think Franken's a bright guy. I've met him on two occasions and I listened to his Air America radio show for a while and I was impressed. Someone wrote to ask me what the "industry buzz" was about him as a person. I'm a little removed from the circles in which he moved before he got into politics but friends who are/were closer to him have said, in effect, that he was a smug pain-in-the-ass during his Saturday Night Live days but that he outgrew that and turned into a smart, decent guy. My two encounters with him would certainly affirm that…which is not to say that's all there is to the story.

Watching from afar, I thought the recount went about as smoothly as these things can. Some folks are never going to believe the results of a recount if it doesn't show their guy winning…but obviously, you recount ballots because it's possible to arrive at something more accurate than you had on Election Day and sometimes, that means a different leader. Today, an editorial in the Wall Street Journal raised all sorts of charges of impropriety in the recount but Nate Silver does a pretty good job of explaining why they don't know what they're talking about.

That won't change a lot. Those who want to see his victory as illegitimate will go right on seeing that. I don't know if there's any merit to their arguments but we may be past the point where it matters.

During the Clinton administration, even before he became one of the managers of the impeachment case, I thought Bob Barr was a pretty scummy politician. He was out there pushing for that impeachment before Bill even met Monica, arguing that Clinton was guilty of all sorts of alleged crimes which even the anti-Clinton mob later abandoned as spurious. And then when Clinton was impeached, Barr was at the core of two outright lies that were fabricated by the "prosecution" in the Senate — the interpretation of the toy bear that Clinton gave Ms. Lewinsky and the misleading sequencing of events in the effort to find her a job. Barr struck me then as a guy who figured the road to political success was to pander to the extreme right-wing nutcases and tell them everything they wanted to hear…and then some. For years, he was especially vocal in his belief that allowing access to Medical Marijuana was tantamount to passing out heroin to schoolkids or somesuch nonsense.

Barr lost his seat in Congress in 2002. Since then, he's become a vocal Libertarian and civil rights advocate, pretty much reversing every position that the old Bob Barr held. He's now as insufferable (even if I think he's now right) in defense of Medical Marijuana as he once was in opposing it and he's done a one-eighty on most other issues, as well. The man was a main author of the Defense of Marriage Act, a piece of noxious legislation that blocked same-sex marriage. In an article in this morning's L.A. Times, he writes that he now thinks that was wrong and that the act should be overturned.

When someone you once thought was dead wrong about so many things comes over to your side, there are two possible ways to view it. One is the Ebenezer Scrooge example, where once the person sees the light, we forgive them and admire their willingness to change and admit error. You know, no one kept Christmas in their heart better than the reformed Scrooge. The other viewpoint is that they've changed positions for sheer opportunism; that you can't trust their sincerity and can't even trust them to not flip back the other way again if and when it becomes advantageous. It's nice to have Mr. Barr helping undo some of the damage he's done but I think I'm still in the second camp.

I am informed by half the known free world that I typoed/erred when I wrote that the Northgate company went bye-bye in '77. I meant to type '87 (on a Northgate keyboard, no less) and even that would have been wrong. Harry McCracken, who knows this stuff better than I do, informs me, "The original Northgate was bought by Everex in 1992 and disappeared at some point during the 1990s, but the name has been revived from time to time since." At least Harry agrees with me that it's amazing how the company's keyboards have endured.

And the other half of the known free world wrote to ask about a Groucho/Chaplin anecdote I related. There is a photo of Mssrs. Marx and Chaplin together at the luncheon that preceded the Oscar ceremony that year. There also seems to be some question as to whether the cook's account of a post-ceremony visit is accurate. So I've deleted that section and will research further.

Thanks to all who wrote. I was a little sleepy last night and I appreciate you all keeping me honest. Or relatively honest.

How nice to be typing this on a new (actually, refurbished) Northgate keyboard. Northgate is to computer users what Stradivarius is to fiddle players. There are many differences between Northgate keyboards and all others but I think the most salient is that Northgate keyboards are wonderful and other keyboards stink. A Northgate has a wonderful tactile "click" sensation that provides familiarity to any fingers that put in a few decades on an old IBM Selectric or some other, similar electric typewriter. They're built sturdy — their makers did not intend them to be replaced every few years — and most models have function keys on the left where God intended them to be.

The Northgate company made great keyboards. That established them in the marketplace and they used the rep and profits to expand into computers and other components. They were one of the first companies that would sell you a whole desktop system so cheap — and provide such fine 24/7 telephone support — that you'd buy from them instead of some local (to you) retailer. I bought and used a Northgate computer for years and it was quite wonderful. Sadly, they were outmarketed by the likes of Dell and Gateway…and in 1977, the Northgate company went bye-bye. [CORRECTION: See next posting.]

But their keyboards did not. I kept the one that came with my Northgate computer and I also had the one I'd owned before that. Since then, I've acquired others — there's a thriving market for them on eBay — and had them all cleaned and refurbished a couple of times. If you're a Northgate user and you need a good place to fix yours, drop me a note. I found a great guy for this on the Internet.

Yes, I've tried other keyboards but I've been spoiled. There's a company called Avant Stellar that makes a pretty good authorized clone of the Northgate Omni Key 102 and those are good…but when I go back to a real Northgate, I can feel a shade of difference. The Avant Stellars also don't seem to last quite as long but they're still the only other keyboards I really like. I wish I could figure out some way to have one on my laptop.

Don't write and tell me how much you like some other brand. That's what your fingers like. Mine like Northgates and as long as I have my little inventory of them and can keep have them renovated, that's what I'm using. The difference is that when I work on any other kind of keyboard, I feel like I'm writing. And when I work on a Northgate, I feel like I'm WRITING.

This is mainly for folks who live in Los Angeles. The L.A. Times has configured an easy link to the database of restaurant inspections performed by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. You may or may not want to look up your favorite eating establishments. It's a bit scary how many violations a place can have but still score an "A" rating.

From Karen Owen…

I think I actually have an answer for one of your questions that you posed on your site. I remembered that one of the times that the guys from Orange County Choppers were on with David Letterman, they showed Pez dispensers with their heads and mentioned that they were the first real living people to have been made into Pez dispensers. The Wikipedia entry for Pez says the company changed their policy on not doing recognizable real people in 2006 for the Teutels — they did Elvis in 2007 and the Star Trek characters in 2008. I'm a Star Wars fan and collector and am pretty sure they have only done the droids, aliens and helmeted characters as Pez, not the people.

I figured they'd changed it…I was just wondering what prompted it. I guess the opportunity to turn the Teutels into Pez Dispensers was too good to resist.

I remember back in Elementary School, there was a kid — a guy — who was shamed and ridiculed because one day at Lunch, he hauled out a Pez Dispenser of Popeye and kissed it to get the candy. He said that's how it was supposed to work; that you kissed the character and were fed a Pez in return. I'd never heard of that…none of us had. But a lot of other guys thought that was the gayest thing they'd ever heard of, even though they didn't call it quite that. For months after, the poor kids was subjected to wisecracks about kissing sailors in exchange for candy.

I used to wonder if that was a tradition in some circles…kissing the Pez Dispenser. But the one time I met the head of the Pez Company, I didn't think (or maybe have the nerve) to ask him. And I wondered: If it is an old custom, might that have something to do with them not putting real folks' heads on the product? As you can tell, I sometimes waste a lot of time wondering about very silly things…

Over at The Uptake, it's possible at this moment to watch live streaming video of the recount going on today in Minnesota. Regardless of the outcome, the very transparency of the process impresses me a lot. There are lots of folks who will scream "stolen election" (some have already started) if their guy doesn't prevail. In particular, the Coleman partisans seem to not grasp the concept of a recount, arguing that this was settled Election Night and that anything beyond that — including recounting ballots that were miscounted or counting previously-uncounted ballots that all sides agree are legitimate — is an attempt to steal.

But doing the recount in front of webcams and explaining each decision oughta minimize both hanky-panky and allegations of hanky-panky. If someone were ever to edit together a video to show third-world countries what Democracy is all about, they'd do well to include this.

We have twenty more days before we get rid of George W. Bush, at least in a presidential capacity. Polls say 75% of Americans will be glad to see him outta there but I believe that number is low. I'm betting that least half of the 23 percent who say they'll miss him are either late-night comedians or just plain fibbing about how they feel. Even if you believe in his goals and agenda, how could you not wish someone more competent were in there pushing for them?

In my first political-type prediction of the new year, I'm predicting that Bush has one more outrageous, poll-killing act in him…something that will drive his numbers even lower before he leaves and they start their forgiving way back up to the low thirties. I'm guessing it'll be a flock of pardons (and perhaps a lot of file destruction) calculated to prevent him or his associates from being prosecuted for war crimes, including plain, old-fashioned war profiteering. An awful lot of people have pocketed zillions of dollars of our tax money because of the Iraq War — a situation which the Bush administration has always seemed to view as one of the great upsides of the whole conflict. There are other transgressions that Bush probably feels are worthy of a "Get Out of Jail Free" card.

I hope I'm wrong about this. I think it would do Democracy and our standing in the world a great amount of good to show that America is a place where leaders are accountable; that if they break laws, they get prosecuted for it. But I can't help but feel that the Bush position is going to be that no one did anything wrong…but let's just make sure no one can prove otherwise.

Over at Comicon.com, there's a story headlined, "SUPER-CREATOR TEAM-UP: NEAL ADAMS, JOE KUBERT and STAN LEE FIGHT FOR RETURN OF HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR'S ART." It tells how those three great comic book creators are working together on a project that seeks to reclaim several portraits that a woman named Dina Gottliebova Babbitt was forced to paint at Auschwitz during World War II. A worthy cause.

But what caught my eye was a link to that story on the front page of the website. You know how headlines are sometimes truncated either by human effort or software limitations? Well, I'm not sure which but right this second on the front page of Comicon.Com under Latest Message Board Topics, it says: "ADAMS, KUBERT & LEE FIGHT FOR RETURN OF HOLOCAUST."

This article grabbed my attention. Starting today, the major drug companies have agreed to get rid of the "promotional items" they give out to doctors like pens that promote Zoloft or paperweights emblazened with the good name of Lyrica. In a sense, it's rather scary to think this was ever an effective marketing tool; that your doctor might be influenced in prescribing something for you because he had a lot of staplers in his office bearing the name of a particular drug.

My previous doctor, a very good man, had tons of that stuff around his office, which was a very large office housing four busy physicians. I don't think I was ever up there without seeing a couple of what he called Drug Ladies. A Drug Lady is an attractive young woman dressed in smart business attire who works for one of the leading pharmaceutical companies. The Drug Lady spends her day making the rounds of medical offices, wheeling in a large sample case and asking to speak with the doctor when he has a moment. Often, they wait for hours until he has such a moment, whereupon she dispenses a sales pitch, pamphlets, free samples and — I guess this part stops today — pens and memo pads and other goodies that shout the brand name.

My doctor regarded the Drug Ladies as necessary annoyances to his profession. Some physicians, he explained to me, put themselves on the equivalent of a "do not call" list or tell the receptionist to shoo them all away. He saw all comers and for a very good reason: He wanted the free samples. Matter of fact, Drug Ladies had learned that when they came to his office, they'd better bring tons of free samples and promise to ship over a steady supply. Otherwise, he'd refuse to see them and I guess they'd lose standing with their employers. Of one in particular, he said, "This office prescribes an awful lot of the drug she's pushing…and we would anyway, because it's a very good product. But her bosses think it's because of her salesmanship, and that's fine. Let them think that. What they don't realize is how much of it she smuggles to us so we can give it out free to patients."

That was this doctor's way of dealing with high drug prices. He'd prescribe something which, even with good insurance, might cost a hundred bucks or more a month to take. But unless the patient was super-rich — and some of his were — he'd also fill the prescription himself out of his closet for free. When he had me on a couple of expensive medications, I'd stagger home with bags full of little blister-packs of it. It was annoying to open all those little containers but it sure beat paying major buckos at the pharmacy.

Anyway, the tradeoff for all those freebees — and I think this was a good swap — was that the office was filled with promotional swag. Everywhere you looked, the stationery supplies had names of medications. Somewhere here, I have a Viagra® pen I picked up there years ago. I thought it might come in handy next time I have to write some dick jokes.

I dunno if this new ban on promotional items will somehow stem the traffic in free samples but I hope not. That particular doctor is now retired but I'm sure there are others supplying their patients that way. The price of some prescription drugs is appalling and anything which will enable someone to not pay those costs is fine with me.