However, as Paul Newman was famously quoted after discovering that he was on one of Nixon's Enemies Lists, "Being on President Nixon's enemies list was the highest single honor I've ever received. Who knows who's listening to me now and what government list I'm on?
In that light, I congratulate Dr. Cole for being a burr under the saddle of the Cheneyites. Regardless, I'm still calling Sherrod Brown's office and voicing my complaints about the Patriot Act.
Listen, I was never as much a fan of Obama as I was a fan of whomever won the presidency of NOT being George W. Bush. For that, I am grateful that Obama got elected.
Had Hillary Clinton not been married to the Clenis, I was vastly more fond of her moxie and political savvy than Obama, but I'm still certain that Hannity, Rushbo and their ilk would've made more hay with her persona than they've done to Obama.
No Future Shock -- TV On The Radio (best album of the year) Cracking Up -- Rockpile No One Listens -- Ray Davies Red Rain -- Peter Gabriel King Penguin -- Home & Garden Beautiful Dreamer -- Mates Of State Rachmaninov Piano Concerto #2 In C Minor -- San Francisco Symphony The Beast In Me -- Nick Lowe Smoke Along The Track -- Dwight Yoakum Theme To Wendell Stivers -- Spoon
Bonus Nearly Summer Solstice Cut:
I Don't Wanna Go Down To The Basement -- The Ramones
Feel Again -- Nick Lowe Conditioned Soul -- Eurythmics Whatever It Takes -- Fleshtones Floaty -- Foo Fighters Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa -- Vampire Weekend Scumbag Blues -- Them Crooked Vultures Paint It Black -- Rolling Stones No Language In Our Lungs -- XTC Post Rock Defends The Nation -- Bon Savants Bob -- Drive By Truckers
Hang On In There -- John Legend & The Roots L'Espirit D'Escalier -- JET Where's My Everything? -- Nick Lowe Black -- Pearl Jam I Dig You -- The Iguanas She Really Wants You -- Aimee Mann Pop Song 2006 -- Razorlight Shake That Devil -- Joan Osborne Stop The World And Let Me Off -- John Doe and The Sadies I Need To Know -- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Muqtada could make whatever exit strategy the US is planning from Iraq a very different and very ugly situation with a quick directive to his personal Army.
Obama should heed my words and get the fuck outta there tout suite. al-Sadr is not a person to be toyed with, and seriously, if someone else's Army invaded your neighborhood and pushed your entire region around for nearly 10 years, wouldn't you take up arms and want to kill every last one of them?
It's been raining for 40 days and nights. Let's see if the Pod offers any respite...
Everybody's Happy Nowadays -- The Buzzcocks Uncle Remus -- Frank Zappa Oh, George -- Foo Fighters Bag It Up -- Oasis Testify -- Nellie McKay One Chance -- Modest Mouse Shopping For Blood -- Franz Ferdinand Whole Wide World -- The Proclaimers Honey Hush -- Elvis Costello & The Attractions Women vs. Men -- David Byrne
I guess I have no choice but to opine about these pinheads queuing up to lose to Obama in 2012. Pawlenty seems particularly dull to me. He's like some kind of Regional Sales Manager type who swings through the office once a quarter to cut some heads and high five the sorry saps still working there, who, not so secretly, loathe his pasty ass.
Tim Pawlently. The most boring guy ever to run for President. And that's the Truth.
Mr. Reed, Mr. Penick and I went out and played golf this morning to enjoy the chronically wet Spring weather and to also honor the memory of our pal, Bernie Zofcin.
It's three years today since he left our foursome. I shot an 83 and I wish he would've been there to better that number. He is sorely missed.
Story Song -- JJ Magazine Edible Flowers -- The Finn Brothers Ouo -- Andrew Bird River Of Love -- T Bone Burnett No Language In Our Lungs -- XTC Bennie And The Jets -- Elton John Nobody Gets Me But You -- Spoon The Gulf Of Mexico -- Steve Earle All We Have Is Now -- The Flaming Lips The Lover's Face -- The Proclaimers
Just Because -- Jane's Addiction Speed Racer -- DEVO Safety -- The John Doe Thing Ghetto Racine -- Wyclef Jean Close Your Eyes -- Nellie McKay She's A Saint Not A Celebrity -- Foxboro Hot Tubs Cattle And Cane -- The Go-Betweens Rewind -- Sterophonics Days -- Elvis Costello Lost In The Harbour -- Tom Waits
Looks like Mike Huckleberry Hound has found a way to travel back in time and tell the real truth about what happened thirty years. Whew, that's a relief.
D'oh! I missed Jack the Dog's birthday last week. He woulda been 18 this year!
It was also Bailey's 13 birthday this past weekend so I thought I'd post a picture of her (on top for you neophytes) as well for the auspicious occasion!
I'm no big fan of The Ed Show. It's the other side of Faux News' filthy lucre as far as I can tell. However, Ed Schultz does occasionally bring some great guests on the show and Larry Wilkerson is no exception.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Rumsfeld is a War Criminal and should be prosecuted accordingly. Col. Wilkerson is entirely correct that waterboarding is torture and that Rummy, Doug Feith, David Addington, Wolfowitz, Cheney, John Yoo and the rest, including Chimpy, should be indicted, prosecuted and jailed.
A friend emailed me a dead bin Laden joke yesterday...
A guy walks into a bar and says to the barkeep, "Hey buddy, gimme a bin Laden", The bartender replies, "I don't know that one, how's it made?". The guy replies, "It's two shots and a splash and it tastes like victory".
In light of that recycled chesnut, I give you some of my favorite bon mots from the past several evenings of late night talk show humor once again proving that Jon Stewart and David Letterman have the more of the funnier writers in the bidness. I've obviously included the clip from TDS.
From Dave's monologue:
"It seems that there was a big mix-up on the 72 virgins things...turns out, it was 72 vegans".
And from the "Osama bin Laden's last words" Top Ten list of the same Late Night broadcast:
"I need a house full of Navy SEALs like I need a hole in the head."
And finally, a paraphrase from Mark Twain (he doesn't have a talk show):
"I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure."
Baby Plays Around -- Elvis Costello Pretty Girls -- Neko Case Throughout -- Bill Frisell & Petra Hayden Jackson -- Johnny Cash & June Carter Colorado Girl -- Steve Earle I'm A Mess -- Nick Lowe Guiding Light -- Television Temptation Waits -- Garbage Don't Feel Right -- The Roots Give Me Flowers When I'm Dead -- The Knitters
I've always maintained (via a very funny George Carlin bit) that every time a batter comes to the plate, the PA announcer should inform the assembled faithful of each of the player's salaries versus their batting averages. Sure would make for a different dynamic at the ol' ballyard, eh?
The very first person I turned when I heard the news about Bin Laden this morning was Dr. Juan Cole and he, as usual, has proffered some vey wise words indeed.
Not only does Juan Cole provide an excellent historical perspective from which to view this monumental event, he really brings it home as to what the current U.S. president should immediately do to propel an already epic democratic shift in that part of the world into a collective global future. It's your move, Mr. Obama.
He knows exactly what he is doing and the G.O.P. and the ambulance chasers in the news outlets are falling for it like they often do.
Trump is a sham and a ruse. He doesn't believe one word of the Birther stuff he's been shouting about. Mark my words, once his television program has sailed off for the remainder of the season, you'll hear very little else from Trump. But what he has done in the meantime is hobble many, if not all, of the Republican candidates for the 2012 nomination.
We on the Left should be applauding him instead of taking the bait and playing the morally outraged voter. He's a scam machine and everyone who falls for his schtick is a patsy.
Take the video above as proof. If he really thought he could be a legitimate option for voters in the 2012 presidential race, there's NO WAY he'd be saying these things in a public forum.
We've had no electricity since Weds. morning hence the tardiness of the FRT. It just came back on this afternoon around 5:30.
I'll post some pictures of the GIANT tree that fell in the neighbor's yard that was the cause of the interuption in service. So, without further adieu, here's the ten just under the wire of Friday...
Message Of Love -- The Pretenders Television Light -- Marshall Crenshaw Staring At The Board -- Spoon Karpet King -- Fountains Of Wayne Noise Annoys -- The Buzzcocks Low Down -- Tom Waits King Penguin -- Home & Garden Revolution Rock -- The Clash Rex Kramer -- Gomez Chump -- Green Day
Yes, he's entirely nutzoid, but I do love me some Max Keiser.
In this week's episode, Max and Stacy explain to us rubes how exatcly we're getting screwed by Goldman Sachs and little Timmy Geitner...again. Matt Taibbi stops by for some chat in the second half of this always lively 25 minutes. Try and watch it all. It's way over my head too, but Max is always worth the price of admission.
X Ray Spex was one of those seminal English punk bands straight from the pages of NME that Sam and I loved back in late 1977. Poly Styrene was a true original and while this stuff may sound like senseless caterwauling to some of you, Oh Bondage! Up Yours! was a classic of the genre to many of us at the time.
And if you're keen on it, give a listen to the tune and tell me if you don't rightly agree that X Ray Spex was a direct link from the rather slick and cool glam rock of Roxy Music to the hardcore smash punk that followed in their wake. That's what I thought at the time anyway.
Home In My Hand -- Dave Edmunds Just Another Perfect Day -- X Tin Tin Por Tin Tin -- Joao Gilberto Always Late With Your Kisses -- Dwight Yoakum Help Me To Help Myself -- John Lennon Underneath It All -- No Doubt This Time's The Dream's On Me -- Charlie Parker Diplomat's Son -- Vampire Weekend Moment's Notice -- John Coltrane Doorman -- Stereophonics
I'm pleased and proud to announce that as of today, our marriage is of legal drinking age. We are celebrating our 21st wedding anniversary this evening, by, you guessed it, going out for cocktails.
Shocking, eh?
Here's a picture of the happy couple all duded up for your perusal and mirth making. And yes, I know...I'm one lucky fella.
Gee, I sure am glad the pols in 'Merka have the citizens best interests at heart like creating jobs and such instead of wasting their time frivolously on dumb and dangerous symbolism...
Don't Be Afraid -- Colin Hay In Dreams -- Roy Orbison The Greatest Man That Ever Lived -- Weezer Pony -- Tom Waits Under The Bridge -- Jill Sobule and John Doe 27th Ave Shuffle -- Foxboro Hot Tubs Nina's Dance -- Tony Scott Rich Man's War -- Steve Earle I Should Of -- The Pretenders Unholy Trinity -- The Who
My car's odometer hit 104,000 miles this morning, and then, I just noticed a minute ago that the previous Juan Cole LMS entry was my 2,000 post to this austere window to the world. Round numbers.
So, here's to you, both of my loyal readers for sticking with me as I celebrate this anniversary of opining at the fantastic and moronic world around me.
Juan Cole sums up things nicely as they relate to the draconian budget slashing going on in many of our States, most prominent in view in Wisconsin and Ohio.
Government is not bad. It builds your roads, funds your hospitals, pays your social security (the elderly were the poorest group in American in the 1920s, now they generally not so badly off, because of a government program), and could help solve global warming by building high speed rail and promoting green energy.
Corporations don’t do anything of that sort for you. Some of them are well-run and make things that improve lives. But many of them (as with industrial fishing) are destroying the species-wealth of the planet, or strip-mining it, or pumping enormous amounts of poisonous carbon into its atmosphere. Or they are ponzi schemes or modern-day slavers who get people deeply in debt and charge them usurious interest rates, turning them into serfs-for-the-lender.
If someone is charging you 22% interest, he should be in jail, not the recipient of the bulk of your paycheck. Government student loans allow young people potentially to avoid this sort of situation, which is one reason financiers want to destroy government and the whole idea of regulation. Ayn Rand is a recipe for turning the United States into one big Company Town, in which we are born indebted to the corporations and pass the debt on to our children. In contrast, government debt can goose the economy during downturns, is mostly owed to ourselves, and becomes smaller over time because of inflation; and if it weakens our currency slightly it would help exports.
Ever since the Oscar telecast in February, so as to avoid any bad press to rub off on me, I've been keeping my middle aged man-crush for James Franco on the "down-low". Ahem.
Anyway, The Franco was given his due by Mr. Colbert this past week on The Report.
Here's the most excellent video of the first part of the episode in which JF is nearly the entire program.
James Franco was actually on hand to peddle his latest release, Your Highness, which, unlike these clips, is supposed to be really, really terrible.
New Fang -- Them Crooked Vultures Everyday People -- Sly & The Family Stone Not For You -- Pearl Jam Venus -- Bananarama Take The "A" Train -- Duke Ellington Saint Simon -- The Shins Substitute -- The Who Concerto In E Flat For 2 Pianos, K365 - W.A. Mozart Blue Room -- Chet Baker (Just Like) Starting Over -- John Lennon
Too bad too. It would have been a triple word score in Bob-town today if LeBron's mom was blind dunk and slapping the valet help; the Tribe swept the most hated team in baseball and, lastly, well, (this one didn't quite pan out), Tiger shot a high score in the first round of the Masters.
Well, faithful readers of this screed had to know that I would commemorate the announcement of Glenn's departure from Faux News with a video, picto-graph or pithy bon mot.
I've searched long and hard and have decided to leave my homage up to the effervescent Lewis Black from a year or so ago and one of his funniest rants ever.
Both brilliant and equally filled with truthiness, my friends Lance Mannion and the ever insightful darkblack have weighed in this morning on the latest saviour of Red State 'Merka, Rep. Paul Ryan.
Lance gives it to you straight, no chaser and darkblack, well, his entry, as evidenced above, is more of a graphical interpretive dance number. Either way, it's another day of busy chronicling the ever quickening decline of a place we once referred to as the United States of Awesome.
BTW, what the fuck is with Wisconsin that they churning out these right wing tools? Dave?...little help here.
I'm no smart guy, but I've essentially been saying for years that we need to band together as homeowners and collectively stand up to the banks and mortgage companies. We could then put our collective money into escrow until such time that these monolith financial corporations will be forced to negotiate with us. Level the playing field and all that rot, yes? According to this most excellent post, it would appear that several folks with far more business acumen than I possess, are echoing the same sentiment.
I Am Always Touched By Your Presence, Dear -- Tracy Ullman Between The Sheets -- The Isley Brothers Mexican Radio -- Gruppo Sportivo Nothing In This World Can Stop Me Worryin' Bout That Girl -- The Kinks Disguises -- The Jam The Coo Coo Bird -- The Be Good Tanyas Motel Room In My Bed --X A Legal Matter --The Who Freaky Black Greetings -- Mos Def I Wish You Love -- George Shearing
In closing, let's remain steadfast in this time of grief that Sarah Palin will hopefully have something far more gut wrenching in her televised eulogy than I've proffered here. Also.
Love's Great Ocean -- k.d. lang Lucinda -- Tom Waits Helena -- My Chemical Romance Real Love -- Regina Spektor The Fever -- The Von Bondies Welcome To Paradise -- Green Day Let It Rain -- O.K. Go I'm Not Sleepy -- Chris Isaak Have Mercy -- Loretta Lynn & Jack Black I Got Shit -- Pearl Jam
It was eight years ago this weekend that the United States began its illegal and immoral invasion and occupation of the sovereign nation of Iraq.
The traditional gift for an 8 year run is Bronze which I find uniquely appropriate considering that the Bronze Age was a time of great development for tools of war. And seeing that we're now officially the new Roman Empire of current times, we're right on track to implode in the next 20 years of so.
What was particularly compelling about this weekend was two-fold.
Secondly, the appearance of bona fide war criminal, Paul Wolfowitz, supporting this saber rattling on today's This Week with Christiane Amanpourfurther convinced me that this foolhardy invasion of Libya is a HUGE mistake. Don't get me wrong. I'm no fan of Khaddafi, but we just cannot afford to get mixed up in yet another failed military fiasco. Obama is dead wrong on this one.
I just don't know anymore. Maybe it's just me but it sure feels like the world is unraveling at a pace heretofore unseen in our contemporary age. Then again, I'm confident that everyone in the course of history has felt that way...and they didn't have even Faux News to confirm their worst fears. Swell.
Down On The Corner -- Creedence Clearwater Revival Money (That's What I Want) -- The Backbeat Band Lisztomania -- Phoenix Everyday People -- Sly & The Family Stone Flame On -- The Iguanas Keep A Knockin'-- Little Richard Bust A Move -- Young MC You Can Get It If You Really Want It -- Jimmy Cliff Buena -- Morphine Hey Ya! -- Outkast
Bonus Spring's a comin' cut:
Life With You -- The Proclaimers (this one's for the lovely and talented Georgene!)
Tom Waits was inducted into the ridiculous show pony called the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame the other evening. I was looking for a video of his performance, which I hear was super, but FUSE TV owns that piece of footage so I cannot link to it here.
Instead, I give you one of Tom's great bawlers instead. I even pasted the lyrics below for you more literal types.
Well, the smart money's on Harlow And the moon is in the street The shadow boys are breaking all the laws And you're east of East St. Louis And the wind is making speeches And the rain sounds like a round of applause Napoleon is weeping in the Carnival saloon His invisible fiance is in the mirror The band is going home It's raining hammers, it's raining nails Yes, it's true, there's nothing left for him down here
Chorus: And it's Time Time Time And it's Time Time Time And it's Time Time Time That you love And it's Time Time Time
And they all pretend they're Orphans And their memory's like a train You can see it getting smaller as it pulls away And the things you can't remember Tell the things you can't forget that History puts a saint in every dream Well she said she'd stick around Until the bandages came off But these mamas boys just don't know when to quit And Matida asks the sailors are those dreams Or are those prayers So just close your eyes, son And this won't hurt a bit
Chorus
Well, things are pretty lousy for a calendar girl The boys just dive right off the cars And splash into the street And when they're on a roll she pulls a razor From her boot and a thousand Pigeons fall around her feet So put a candle in the window And a kiss upon his lips As the dish outside the window fills with rain Just like a stranger with the weeds in your heart And pay the fiddler off till I come back again
