Another thought on Palin...

Is anybody else bothered by the fact the Republican vice presidential candidate was flown into New York and introduced to foreign heads of state for briefings even though she has no national job? Henry Kissinger is no problem ... He's just a Republican functionary, so he's fair game.

But something about meeting with the foreign leaders just doesn't seem appropriate. But then, the more that comes out about Sarah Palin, the more it appears she doesn't like to play by the rules (rather like Dick Cheney, if you check this interview with Washington Post reporter and Cheney profiler Barton Gellman.

How did this happen? Here's how.

Well, here's my little piece of the past week's financial meltdown.

A couple of year's ago, my wife and I took out a second mortgage on our house. It made sense financially.

But when we applied for the second mortgage, the guy on the other end of the phone essentially got it approved without ever having an appraisal done. Our part of Erie County has some relatively low real estate prices (at least for 95-year-old houses that could use some work), but he pushed it through at about 30 percent more than we felt it was worth.

The thought seemed to be, "well, that's so low, we can just add another $40,000 onto the value. ... Oh, and would you like some more money? Maybe another $10,000 or $20,000 to spend on whatever you want."

We didn't. And no balloon payments either, thank God. But is it any wonder that companies like Countrywide are on the brink? What I'm wondering now is if the company that owns the mortgage goes under, what happens to the people who have mortgages with that company who are still paying faithfully every month?

Meanwhile, a whole economy was built on that kind of loans. See Michael Greenberger's explanation on Terry Gross' "Fresh Air" on NPR if you want to start to understand it all.

Gathering of the Tribe

I didn't stay through the end of the Music Is Art festival behind the Albright Knox museum in Buffalo Saturday afternoon. It was just starting to rain when I left during the afternoon during the 12-hour event.

I was there long enough, though, to appreciate once again what MIA serves as in the Buffalo rock and art communities -- as a tribal gathering.

It doesn't happen often. Too often it has been for the funerals of its high priests -- the wakes, funerals and get-togethers after the deaths of Mark Freeland and Tim Switala spring to mind.

But MIA has taken on the role of an annual reunion, where the non-blood relatives who make up the Buffalo music family in particular come out to play brief sets and reacqaint themselves.

That it mixes together kids bands ( like teen band winners Inlite) and the weird (Those Idiots -- a horn-powered band with a Meatloafian lead singer that finished off their set with a reworking of the Kiss song into "Rock 'n' Roll All Nite [and Polka Every Day]") is a great bonus. And the art is WAY more interesting than the Allentown Art Festival.

The site was new, after a year's exile at the Erie County Fair (sorry, the vibes didn't mix) and following several years on Franklin Street. The Albright Knox site was good ... the only drawback being that the bands on two of the three main stages were a little removed from the crowd. It was harder for the bands to connect with their audience.

But music was only part of the show. Robby Takac of the Goo Goo Dolls is the spark behind the event (along with his father, who handles a lot of the prep), along with a host of volunteers. So thanks, Robby, for a chance to assemble the tribe ... without need of a funeral.

Mrs. Shepard comes to town

Judy Shepard, the mother of hate-crime victim Matthew Shepard, will be speaking at SUNY Fredonia's Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall on Sunday, Sept. 14, at 7 p.m.

Matthew, of course, was the 21-year-old gay man who was robbed, beaten, tied to a fence and left to die in 1998. That was near the Unversity of Wyoming, where he went to school.

The two perpetrators are in prison on murder and kidnapping charges, but Shepard's death was what it took for that state to create hate crime laws.

Shepard's death spurred an outpouring of reaction. When I hear his name, I always think of the song, "Human, Like You," by my friend Greg Klyma. Greg is a great singer-songwriter who makes his living as a traveling troubadour (you should hear him tell his story about getting stopped by cops out west ... for driving too slow).

Anyway, when I first met Greg, he was a young songwriter full of potential. I wrote about him in the late, great magazine No Depression, and later did his website for awhile. I think he's really fulfilled that potential and even gone beyond that. You can judge for yourself at http://www.klyma.com, which he does a fine job on himself now.

Meanwhile, here's that song, "Human, Like You." If you ever hear it, Mrs. Shepard, I hope if offers you some solace that Matthew's life inspired people to stand up and speak out against intolerance and violence.

Secret Life of the American Palin

Has anybody noticed yet that national politics and the ABC Family channel seem to be getting mixed up.

If you've got teenage daughters and cable, you're probably aware of "The Secret Life of the American Teenager." The storyline revolves around a 15-year-old who becomes pregnant and her circle of friends, including one family of sincere but holier-than-though evangelical Christians. There's even the jerky dad of the baby, a self-centered jockish serial seducer, and a younger brother who has Down Syndrome.

It would seem at first glance that Molly Ringwald ... Oops, I mean Sarah Palin, has enough on her plate without learning how to handle state funerals and the potential leadership of the free world if John McCain croaks. I just wish this soap opera wasn't quite so real.

Other blogs ...

When things happen, journalists write. It's what we do.

Below are links to some of the other sites with reactions to the loss of Jay.

http://buddbailey.blogspot.com/2008/08/john-f-bonfatti.html

http://buffaloroots.blogspot.com/2008/08/jay-john-f-bonfatti-friend-to-all.html

http://marykunzgoldman.com/2008/08/tough-day.html

I suspect there are some others as well.

E