DRAWING on OBSERVATIONS

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Well, he may be a little heavy. We do believe Ahmed Wali Karzai pays off Taliban insurgents, played a key role in a fraudulent presidential election, is linked to Afghanistan’s profitable opium trade and has senior NATO officials recommending his removal. But, we think he can help persuade Taliban fighters to give up. Well, that, and he’s the presidents brother.

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The UConn women have not lost a basketball game since April 2008. That’s a record 75 games in a row and counting. They won the first three games of this years NCAA tournament by a combined 148 points.

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He created the Ford Mustang…need I say more. Read his obit in todays NYT

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That could only mean one thing: Guys pictured with their mouths wide open. How else to show the madness? Congratulations to West Virginia, Northern Iowa and Butler.

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Husband and wife Margret and H.A. Rey created some of the best known and most beloved children’s books about a mischievous monkey who was always narrowly escaping disaster. The real-life couple were German Jews living in Paris just prior to the German occupation and experienced a number of narrow escapes of their own.

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If you’re curious like me, go see the exhibit at the Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Avenue, New York “Curious George Saves The Day: The Art of Margret and H.A. Rey.” The show features nearly 80 original drawings and watercolors from the more than 30 books the couple wrote and illustrated. Now through August 1.

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Yeah, I’ve been too serious for far too long. The pendulum is now swinging full speed towards the frivolous. Just how frivolous? Here are four guys, none of them are heads of state or a major corporation  and to be honest, I don’t even know who two of them are.

I’m late, gotta catch a train.

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Pivoting away from Washington to the aforementioned frivolity.

Australian actor/comedian Barry Humphries revives his purple haired, wisecracking alter ego Dame Edna to play opposite crooner Michael Finstein in the Broadway two person comic variety show “All About Me.”

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I stayed up to late see the passing in the house, but try as I might, I fell asleep before the president came on.

What’s it mean to us…stay tuned

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Tomorrow is the two year anniversary of this blog, Drawing On Observations. Every weekday, and occasionally on a weekend, over the last two years I’ve posted a doodle. Last year to celebrate the one year milestone I posted a mash up of all the doodles, and again wrapping up 08 and 09, but now at 552 doodles, the file would be too large or the doodles too small to view here. Todays mash up contains one doodle from each month over the last two years. I know what you’re thinking. The answer is yes, I am a grown man.

Stay tuned for more frivolity.

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Much to the hard rights dismay, the affable, quotable, folksy, former Senator Allen Simpson  has returned to Washington to co-chair Presiddent Obama’s bipartisan commission for reducing our mounting debt.

Good luck!

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Happy 80th Birthday to the legendary composer Stephen Sondheim. The New York Philharmonic and a star studded cast performed a birthday concert at Avery Fisher Hall on Monday night. The event was appropriately short on speeches, putting the music of the prolific Sondheim first.

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Rev. Peter Hullermann is finally suspended from the Roman Catholic Church. Two years ago Pope Benedict visited the US and claimed that ridding the church of pedophile priests was on the top of his agenda. But 30 years after a German court convicted Rev. Peter Hullermann of molesting boys, the priest who worked in the popes own diocese, continued to work with children.

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Not all votes against the health care bill are from the right. Dennis Kuchinich has been one of the strongest proponents for health care reform but believes this bill rewards companies that profit from denying care not providing it.

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I’ve never watched the Glenn Beck Show, but I’ve seen clips of his program and understand he’s a conservative talk show host. Last week he called for Christians to leave their churches if they heard the words social or economic justice coming from the pulpit, saying they were code words for Communism and Nazism. I’m not shocked by the stupid things people say on TV anymore. What floors me is that Beck has had five books on the New York Times best-sellers list and his cable news show draws more viewers in his time slot than CNN, MSNBC and CNBC combined. Why are so many people interested in what this guy thinks? H.L. Mencken was right when he said “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”

Forbes reported Becks income for last year at $23 million.

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The leader of the House Appropriations Committee David Obey announced a new ban on earmarks to private business. If the Senate follows suit, it would bar the end run around the merit-based or competitive allocation processes and the means legislators use to slip pork and no-bid contracts into bills. The ban does not include not-for-profits.

It’s a start.

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New York Congressman Eric Massa claimed the Obama administration pushed him out of congress with trumped up ethics violations to help pass health care reform. After 24 hours in the spotlight, it’s become clear, this guy needed no help in destroying his political career. Bizarre.

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Yesterday Obama got passionate about health care, but do Americans share his passion?

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Best Picture: The Hurt Locker

Directing: The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow

Actor in a Leading Role: Jeff Bridges

Actress in a Leading Role: Sandra Bullock

Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz

Actress in a Supporting Role: Mo’Nique

Film Editing: The Hurt Locker,Bob Murawski and Chris Innis

Art Direction: Avatar

Cinematography: Avatar

Animated Feature Film: Up

Documentary Feature: The Cove

Costume Design: The Young Victoria, Sandy Powell

Documentary Short: Music by Prudence

Foreign Language Film: The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos)

Makeup: Star … Continue Reading

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The Academy Awards are on this Sunday. Any predictions?

Okay, I’ll start. Best Actor, for his portrayal of the down-and-out- country singer, Jeff Bridges.

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With ethics violations swirling around the powerful chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, the twenty term congressman from Harlem read a statement temporarily relinquishing his chairmanship. He took no questions.

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Ever get frozen out of an event moments after it went on sale? Of coarse you have, we all have. I don’t know why it took so long to figure out that unscrupulous hackers were gaming the system, buying up all the good seats and selling them back to ticket brokers for huge profits. I’m curious to see if these inditments make it any easier for me to get tickets.

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Forty years after his death, Hendrix is still a legend with an ax. Look for a CD release to commemorate the rock icon.

Watch him do his Voodoo

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Okay, I was routing for the scrappy underdog Americans, but that was a great hockey game and the better team won. Congratulations to Canada and Syd Crosby for scoring the winning goal in sudden death overtime.