It’s official.

The producers, directors, and everyone else in charge of

my two favorite television shows have lost their minds.

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First up – the show I still have hope for. True Blood.

Last night, we watched Eric Northman stroll out into the sun and certain death in a bid to defeat Russell Edgington. The problem here is that Northman, played by Alexander Skarsgard is the best character/actor/casting-combo on the show.

If Eric does not survive the season finale (which HBO just had to postpone for two weeks) it is likely True Blood will lose a lot of viewers …. Including me. For the record, I do not actually believe Eric will cease to exist ….not because I have read the books on which the series is based, but because it would be numbers suicide for the show. I just felt the need to express myself on that particular plot development.

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Now for the second –

 Dancing with the Stars which announced the line up for the new season yesterday.

Now I don’t want to say the producers were digging the bottom of the barrel when they lined up the “stars” – heck if Jake Pavelka and Kate Gosselin count as “stars”, then I guess Mike Sorrentino and Audrina Patridge do too even though I had never heard of them before.

No the one that really gets me – and I expect this was definitely part of the design – is the inclusion of Bristol Palin.

Is she a star? The only thing I know her to be famous for is a well-publicized series of spats with her ex-boyfriend/fiancée .

Now let’s put aside the fact that her mother — Sarah Palin — is one of the most easily recognizable figures on the American political scene. Let’s just forget that Mrs. Palin is one of the most divisive figures in American politics. And let’s definitely NOT even think about the fact that plenty of her supporters hope Palin will make a run for the White House in 2012…and what this might mean for why Bristol has agreed to be on the show.

No, Bristol Palin is not a star. Her claim to fame is not anything she has done but who her mother is.

Meh …..poor choices, producers, very poor choices.

The only reason TO watch this season? Florence Henderson.

But maybe it’s just me ….

As per my own weird-little-norm-of-obsessive-news-following I have been tracking the floods in Pakistan for a couple of weeks. I quietly did my part, sending what I could to help affected families.

But it wasn’t until this morning that I decided to come out publicly and urge people to get involved.

Why?

Because according to numerous new reports, like this one from Canada’s Globe and Mail, two major reasons relief agencies are having such a hard time raising funds to help people in the affected areas are:

Not enough global media coverage.

Pakistan suffers from an image deficit.

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When I think of a cup of tea, I think: calm, tranquil, serene. The mental picture is two hands on a steaming cup, eyes closed while I breathe in vapors that tantalize the senses with hints of chamomile, mint or citrus smells (depending on my mood).  Now thanks to a story from the Associated Press this week on Chinese activists going online to blast “drinking tea” warnings by meddlesome authorities, I’ll never see that cup of tea quite the same way.

According to the Associated Press story:

Police have long tried to shush and isolate potential activists, usually starting with a low-key warning, perhaps over a meal or a cup of tea. Now, the country’s troublemakers are openly blogging and tweeting their stories about “drinking tea” with the cops, allowing the targeted citizens to bond and diluting the intimidation they feel.

The movement is an embarrassment for officials, who are suspicious of anything that looks like an organized challenge to their authority. And it can’t help that “drinking tea” stories seem to be spreading among ordinary Chinese, including ones who signed a recent online call for political reform.

The country’s top political event of the year, the National People’s Congress, has given the stories another bump. More than 200 people say they’ve been invited by police to “drink tea” since just Friday, when the congress began, said independent political blogger Ran Yunfei.

 That Chinese activists found ways to go around official censorship of the Internet and get their stories out to others helps increased a sense of community for those under scrutiny and reinforces the power potential of the Internet.

 As we saw in Iran following the disputed June 2009 elections and for Haiti after January’s massive earthquake social media like Twitter can simultaneously allow users to spread information about events and draw in a truly international “coalition” of people who feel the same or empathize with the challenges. Those coalition members can and have raised the profile of the issue, raised money and provided invaluable moral support to those struggling through difficult situations.

 It’s a strange kind of magic that unfolds via spells crafted of 140 characters or less. And I, for one, can’t wait to see what practitioners come up with next.

One of the most wonderful things about social media tools like Twitter and Facebook is the ability to locate and connect with people who care about the same issues as you do – and try to do something about them.

The Twitterverse is loaded with great individuals and groups hoping to raise awareness and campaign on everything from human trafficking to health care, from sports teams draft choices to saving favorite television shows.

(Yes, #heroes fans, I’m getting there!!!)

Here’s just a sampling of my evergreen favorites:

1. Women’s issues/rights: @safeworld4women, @thewip, @GlobalFundWomen and @Womens_eNews are just a few of the tweeters out there raising awareness on women’s issues
2. Rare Disease: @GlobalGenes and @rarediseaseday are among those raising awareness about #raredisease and what families face in battling rare, debilitating conditions
3. Autism Spectrum: @autismtoday and @AutismMomExpert are among hundreds campaigning for #autism awareness and acceptance
4. HumanTrafficking: @27millionslaves and @TrafficInPeople are among those campaigning to end #humantrafficking
5. Human Rights: @witnessorg , @EnoughProject, @AmnestyUK and @jonhutsun  

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Most mothers will do anything to protect their child’s best interests and help them succeed. It’s part of being a mom – a reflection of that overwhelming, all-encompassing love that we feel for our tiny mini-mes.

So I guess it’s hardly a surprise that battalions of mothers (and fathers!) out there have joined together to support the campaign effort to raise awareness about Rare Disease Day, February 28. The slogan for this year’s campaign is “Hope – It’s in your genes.”

These parents are simultaneously just moms and dads like any of us, and amazing individuals willing to step forward and try to make a difference. They, and the campaign, deserve our support.

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For years I’ve told the stories of men, women and children struggling to survive amidst conflict, poverty, human right abuses and a wide array of life’s challenges. Every single one of them had a story to tell that contributes to the diverse tapestry of the global family.

And now it’s my turn.

At a time when globalization and the Internet have connected people across the world in more ways than ever possible before, it’s profoundly disconcerting to feel completely alone. And yet, as my family battled to not only survive – but thrive – though my son’s special needs reality that is exactly how I felt.

Most friends, family and colleagues simply could not understand, no matter how much they loved us. When it came time to put in a feeding tube or make the difficult decisions concerning our son’s health, we were inexorably alone. And scared. And angry. And overwhelmed by the amazing love we felt for our son.

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What do Mick Jagger, Coca-Cola and Lahore, Pakistan all have in common?

They are all elements in one man’s ongoing jihad to build bridges across borders.

Salman Ahmad is a modern warrior, armed with weapons of mass destruction aimed straight at hatred, mistrust and divisiveness. Using his favored tools – a guitar, haunting melodies and poignant lyrics – he is out to tear down barriers and get people around the world to stop and really take a look at each other.

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Honestly, what is Danica Patrick thinking?

Patrick has an impressive racing resume as the most well known female contender in the Indy Car series and the ARCA Racing Series in recent years. She was the first woman to win an Indy car race with her victory in the 2008 Indy Japan Race and her 2009 third place finish in the Indianapolis 500 was the highest finish in the event’s history for a woman. Patrick is on track to make her debut in the NASCAR Nationwide Series this coming weekend.

In that respect she is a great role model. She’s a capable, determined, gutsy lady breaking down barriers. And she and/or her managers are smart enough to market Patrick elsewhere while she’s a hot commodity.

But beside her late night talk show guest spots, most of her appearances outside the racing world – including two Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues (like this one from 2009), numerous racy photos shoots and the GoDaddy.com commercials – seem more apropos to a centerfold wannabe than a race car driver.

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If recent history is anything to go by, both traditional and new media are going to be flooded with verbiage on Sarah Palin’s appearance this weekend the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville. Love or hate the former-Alaska governor, only a fool would argue the lady doesn’t have an attention-grabbing public persona.

Her supporters believe this the real Mrs. Palin. An attractive do-it-all-modern mom who shoots from the hip, holds nothing back and brushes off emotional punches like a prizefighter.

Her detractors blast her as a manipulative and dangerous talking head that spews vitriol without checking her facts first.

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Over the span of the last two weeks we have witnessed both the power and the folly of new media.

The blogosphere, twitterverse and other online forums proved to be effective rapid-reaction communications tools when a massive earthquake devastated Haiti on Jan. 12. Outside Haiti, the Internet exploded with posts and tweets providing donation information, suggestions to help people search for loved ones and heartfelt entreaties to lend a helping hand. From inside Haiti survivors tweeted eyewitness accounts and offered to help locate loved ones, uploaded information to MySpace, YouTube and Facebook.

Did all this online activity dig people out from under collapsed buildings? Did it put bandages on bleeding wounds? No, of course not.

But it did provide an almost immediate platform for people to come together, share information and reach out with compassion and do what they could to help Haiti.

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