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20 December 2008

Saturday Shuffle

Rolling Thunder - Ride
Walk the Dogs - Royal Fam
Something - The Beatles
I Alone (live) - Live
Napoleon (live) - Ani DiFranco
Never Believe - Ministry
Lovelife - Lush
School - Nirvana
Coin-Operated Boy - The Dresden Dolls
Doctor Rock - Ween

13 December 2008

Saturday Shuffle

Get Low - Lil' Jon and the Eastside Boyz
Message in a Bottle (live) - The Police
No. 13 Baby - The Pixies
And The Dance Goes On - The Mission UK
Venus in Furs - The Velvet Underground
Cowboy - Kid Rock
Into Dust - Mazzy Star
Little Man, What Now? - Morrissey
I Burn For You - The Police
Don't Give Up - Peter Gabriel

12 December 2008

Do the right thing

Well, George, here's your chance.
 
While it will not--by the longest of long shots--atone for what your policies have wrought over the last eight years, you now have the opportunity to do whats right for the country and working Americans.  Word is, you and Paulson are thinking about using part of the $700B TARP funds to supply the rescue loan for the Detroit Three.
 
It's time to stop thinking and start doing.
 
After years of trying to convince us that things like pre-emptive war, torture, unlawful surveillance, and indefinite detention without trial are in our best interests, here is a no-brainer.  Jobs and American industry?  No convincing necessary.
 
By way of contrast, your brethren in the Seante have decided that crucifying the UAW is what's in America's best interests.  Now, maybe they were figuring you'll step in and leave them blameless for whatever happens: spending the money or the industry collapsing through their inaction.  Maybe it's a calculated move to give you one, last "white horse" moment with which to shore up your legacy and go out on a high note.
 
I don't care why they did it and frankly, doubt that either was the case.  Breaking the union was the purpose, here, no matter the cost.  The election is over and with it the pandering to blue collar interests.  In their minds, that union membership card trumps the bluest of collars, and puts the worker squarely in the enemy camp.
 
Legacy time, Mr. President. 
 
Years ago, you famously talked about the choice to stand with us or stand against us.
 
What's it going to be?

Russian Roulette usually endangers only one

Leave it to the GOP to manage to draw a bead on everyone else, too:
Cheney: It's 'Herbert Hoover' time
Senate Republicans' dramatic revolt against a White House-backed auto industry rescue plan is fraught with political risk.

While the high-stakes gambit places them squarely within the mainstream of anti-bailout public sentiment, at the same time it exposes the party to potentially devastating criticism that its failure to compromise doomed the Big Three automakers and deepened the economic recession.

...By opposing the automaker bailout, Republicans now find themselves vulnerable to charges that they are insensitive to ailing American auto companies and the millions of workers reliant on the domestic auto industry, a problem compounded by their inability to rally around a clear alternative to the $14 billion package of loans that had been backed by Democrats and the White House.

Administration officials have been warning for weeks that failure to pass the bill could lead to an even deeper recession.

That was the message Vice President Dick Cheney brought to a closed-door Senate GOP lunch Wednesday, reportedly warning that it'll be "Herbert Hoover" time if aid to the industry was rejected, according to a senator familiar with the remarks.
Dick Cheney thinks this stand is out of line.

Think about that.

Dick.

Cheney.

When *that* raging liberal can hear the train coming, you just might want to get off the track.

11 December 2008

Detroit Three rescue plan collapses

This is all manner of not good:
A $14 billion emergency bailout for U.S. automakers collapsed in the Senate Thursday night after the United Auto Workers refused to accede to Republican demands for swift wage cuts.

...The implosion followed an unprecedented marathon set of talks at the Capitol among labor, the auto industry and lawmakers who bargained into the night in efforts to salvage the auto bailout at a time of soaring job losses and widespread economic turmoil.

"In the midst of already deep and troubling economic times, we are about to add to that by walking away," said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., the Banking Committee chairman who led negotiations on the package.

Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the GOP point man in the talks, said the two sides had been tantalizingly close to a deal, but the UAW's refusal to agree wage concessions by a specific date in 2009 kept them apart.

The autoworkers' contract doesn't expire until 2011.

"We were about three words away from a deal," said Corker. "We solved everything substantively and about three words keep us from reaching a conclusion."
In case you were wondering just how much the Republican party hates unions, I give you Exhibit A. We're going to have an absolute bloodbath on our hands when the markets open, tomorrow.

It's reprehensible that the Senate GOP is so hell-bent on bending the UAW over that they're willing to risk the collapse of the domestic auto industry. For months, all we heard was Joe Sixpack this and Joe Sixpack that. Guess if ol' Joe has a union card in his wallet, he doesn't matter quite so much.

09 December 2008

08 December 2008

Removing the log from our own eye

Good.
Anh 'Joseph' Cao beats Rep. William Jefferson in 2nd Congressional District

Indicted U.S. Rep. William Jefferson suffered what may be the final blow of his storied political career in the most improbable way Saturday, when an untested Republican opponent took advantage of Louisiana's new federal voting rules -- and an election delay caused by Hurricane Gustav -- to unseat the nine-term Democrat.

With the upset victory, Anh "Joseph" Cao, a eastern New Orleans attorney who fled war-ravaged Saigon as a child, becomes the first Vietnamese-American in Congress. He will represent a district that was specifically drawn to give African-Americans an electoral advantage and one in which two of every three voters are registered Democrats.

...Cao said he began eyeing a run for the 2nd District seat shortly after a Virginia grand jury indicted Jefferson last year on charges of bribery and public corruption following revelations in 2005 that FBI agents found $90,000 in marked bills in his freezer and linked him and several relatives to a wide-ranging bribery scheme.
I guess the feds finding $90K stuck between your Klondike Bars and Tater Tots does present an opponent with a rather ripe opportunity, eh?

Not shedding any tears for Rep. Frigidaire, that's for sure. Dems like that, we don't need. It would've been a thorough embarrassment to see Ted Stevens voted out and Jefferson remain. If ever there was a time to start with a clean slate--well, at least as clean as possible--this is it. Pretty hard to work on an agenda when our reps keep having to answer questions about being able to caucus with Mr. Freeze.

06 December 2008

Saturday Shuffle

Surf Beat - Dick Dale & the Del-Tones
Asian Rut - Morrissey
Wild Thing (live) - Jimi Hendrix
Where Is My Mind? - The Pixies
We Can Work It Out (live) - Tesla
Surf Rider - The Lively Ones
Pride & Joy (live) Stevie Ray Vaughn
Wail - The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
I Woke Up In A Strange Place (live) - Jeff Buckley
Spacegrass (live) - Clutch

Kind of a "live" week, I guess...

05 December 2008

This man wears a robe?

Via Politico:
SCOTUS to debate Obama citizenship?

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide Friday whether to take up a case over president-elect Barack Obama’s citizenship — one of a few around the country seeking to nullify his election, but this one has an interesting lineage. It was referred to the high court by Justice Clarence Thomas, the court’s only African-American justice.

Maybe Thomas is just returning the favor — putting through a case that questions whether Obama should be president, after Obama said he wouldn't have picked Thomas for the high court.
Awesome addition to this already pathetic "story."

If this explanation bears even a passing resemblance to how this actually materialized--and the fact that Justice Souter already told the plaintiff to hit the bricks adds to the suspicion--then Thomas sounds like he should be sporting a diaper, instead.

29 November 2008

Saturday Shuffle

Deity (live) - Ministry
Rock You Like a Hurricane - The Scorpions
Gimme Shelter - Sisters of Mercy
Ring of Fire (live) - Social Distortion
Explosivo - Tenacious D
Supersonic - Bad Religion
Invasion of the Octopus People - Invisibl Skratch Piklz
Hypnotize - Audioslave
Wicked Game - Chris Isaak
Elephant's Graveyard - Strike Under

28 November 2008

Death by Commerce

Seriously, WTF?
Wal-Mart worker dies after shoppers knock him down

By COLLEEN LONG, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK – A Wal-Mart worker was killed Friday when "out-of-control" shoppers desperate for bargains broke down the doors at a 5 a.m. sale. Other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man, and customers shouted angrily and kept shopping when store officials said they were closing because of the death, police and witnesses said.

..."This crowd was out of control," said Nassau police spokesman Lt. Michael Fleming. He described the scene as "utter chaos."

...Kimberly Cribbs, who witnessed the stampede, said shoppers were acting like "savages."

"When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling 'I've been on line since yesterday morning,'" she said.
"They kept shopping."
"Savages" doesn't begin to describe this bunch of rabid animals.

While out-of-control crowds have claimed lives the world over, there's just something so quintessentially "us" about this particular horror. If you want a picture of Americans at their stereotypical worst, you simply cannot do any better than hordes of holiday shoppers enraged that a little thing like a person's death is thwarting them in their quest for a bargain big-screen TV.

But that's afterward.

Wal-Mart set this whole situation in motion.*** You lower prices in order to attract people and couple that with quantities that will, in no way, meet demand, prompting everyone to try and be first to get one of the fifteen or twenty items you have in stock. You further stir the pot by opening up at dawn or earlier so people are waiting through the wee hours in cars or the cold to get their crack at the merchandise. Mix in a couple THOUSAND people (as was the case, here) and you have the nerve to say this?

"The safety and security of our customers and associates is our top
priority," said Dan Fogleman, a company spokesman.

I defy anyone to point out where "safety and security" entered the equasion.

To be sure, accidents happen. Certain jobs have certain risks. Flying planes, fighting fires, law enforcement, etc., all have inherent dangers you must accept to do the work. Retail, however, is NOWHERE on that list.

Large crowds were not a side-effect in this situation; they were the expressly intended goal and any legitimate prioritization of "safety and security" demands exterior crowd management, not just having enough cashiers on hand to take the money.

Whatever the case, Mr. Damour is still dead. And for what? A $300 laptop? An $800 HDTV? Matching a quarterly profit forecast?

Merry Christmas, indeed.

***As did every other retailer who follows a similar "Black Friday" strategy. They ALL roll the same dice; Wal-Mart--and it's employee--were just the ones to lose, this time around.

22 November 2008

Saturday Shuffle

Lorca Not Orca - Coil
Into the Sky (live) - Switchblade Symphony
Welcome 2 The Party - Kid Rock
I Keep Coming Back - The Afghan Whigs
Melon Yellow - Slowdive
Talking Loud and Saying Nothing - James Brown
Coming Down (Butchered Mix) - The Cult
Bombers - David Bowie
Misdirected Hostility - 311
Down Under - Pennywise

19 November 2008

How not to plead poverty

Not a good sign:
(CNN) -- Some lawmakers lashed out at the CEOs of the Big Three auto companies Wednesday for flying private jets to Washington to request taxpayer bailout money.

"There is a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hand, saying that they're going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses," Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, told the chief executive officers of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee.

"It's almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo. It kind of makes you a little bit suspicious."

He added, "couldn't you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled or something to get here? It would have at least sent a message that you do get it."

Rep. Brad Sherman, D-California, asked the three CEOs to "raise their hand if they flew here commercial. Let the record show, no hands went up. Second, I'm going to ask you to raise your hand if you are planning to sell your jet in place now and fly back commercial. Let the record show, no hands went up."
Talk about twisting the knife.

Everyone knows corporate jets are a drop in the bucket compared to the dollar figures being thrown around for this rescue loan; at this point, these reps are clearly going out of their way to embarrass the Detroit Three CEOs. This sort of turn shows there's some serious pent-up anger that we're seeing. Maybe it's a grudge over the autos' obstinancy over fuel standards after the Summer of $4=/gallon. Maybe they finally have a target they feel they can afford to kick hard enough to appease constituencies still smarting over the AIGs and the like.

Either way, things are NOT looking good for Detroit and Michigan's one-state recession.

17 November 2008

UAW Prez needs a wheelbarrow

...just to move around with balls this big:
Auto Workers Union Rules Out Concessions To Help Detroit Bailout

Ron Gettelfinger, the union president, said at the weekend that "the focus has to be on the economy as a whole as opposed to a UAW contract"...

..."We're here not because of what the auto industry has done", Mr Gettelfinger said during a rare press conference. "We're here because of what has happened to the economy." The union represents blue-collar workers at assembly plants, as well as several parts suppliers.
I tried crafting a thoughtful response for quite some time, but the most effective counterpoint I came up with was:

Are you shitting me?

Ronnie, WE'RE here because of what has happened to the economy.

YOU'RE here because of what the auto industry--management and union--has done, and you should be ashamed of yourself for suggesting otherwise.

With years of fat contracts and SUV-centric business plans, management and labor both fiddled while Detroit burned. I still have a ring-side seat and even I'm torn on a Detroit Three bailout. I'm no economist, but I can easily see the economic devastation that could result as a major automaker collapse cascades to workers, suppliers, vendors, etc.

But that doesn't mean I should be on the front lines, alone.

It comes down to fiscal solvency and, contrary to Mr. Gettelfinger's whiny finger-pointing, union contracts are an inextricable part of that.

Suck it up, Mr. G.

If my tax dollars are going to go towards saving your ass, you damn well better be prepared to get your pocketbook pinched, first.

Best. "Humor story." Evar.

From out of the mouths of the Onion-ers. Read ALL of it:
God Angrily Clarifies 'Don't Kill' Rule

NEW YORK — Responding to recent events on Earth, God, the omniscient creator-deity worshipped by billions of followers of various faiths for more than 6,000 years, angrily clarified His longtime stance against humans killing each other Monday.

"I don't care how holy somebody claims to be," God said. "If a person tells you it's My will that they kill someone, they're wrong. Got it? I don't care what religion you are, or who you think your enemy is, here it is one more time: No killing, in My name or anyone else's, ever again."

The press conference came as a surprise to humankind, as God rarely intervenes in earthly affairs.

..."I tried to put it in the simplest possible terms for you people, so you'd get it straight, because I thought it was pretty important," said God, called Yahweh and Allah respectively in the Judaic and Muslim traditions. "I guess I figured I'd left no real room for confusion after putting it in a four-word sentence with one-syllable words, on the tablets I gave to Moses. How much more clear can I get?"

"But somehow, it all gets twisted around and, next thing you know, somebody's spouting off some nonsense about, 'God says I have to kill this guy, God wants me to kill that guy, it's God's will,'" God continued. "It's not God's will, all right? News flash: 'God's will' equals 'Don't murder people.'"

15 November 2008

Bedlam is dreaming of rain...

As is Santa Barbara, and Sylmar, and the rest of Orange County...

Saturday Shuffle

Before I Sleep - Mazzy Star
Mardy Bum - Arctic Monkeys
Starfuckers, Inc. - Nine Inch Nails
I Am Legend - White Zombie
Mama Kin (live) - Guns 'N Roses
Voodoo Lady (live) - Ween
Black Moon Creeping - The Black Crowes
A Little Bitter (live) - Alice In Chains
Transmission - Joy Division
Love's Secret Domain - Coil

13 November 2008

And she kept a straight face...

How she didn't simply burst into flames at the podium trying to float a whopper like this, I don't know. From those fine folks at CNN:
At a press conference earlier Thursday, Palin said that she and her fellow Republican governors were ready to put aside "extreme partisanship" and act if Washington fails to provide the leadership America needs.

She told them not to "let obsessive, extreme partisanship ... get in the way of doing what's right."
What happened to her opponent "palling around with terrorists" and "not seeing America the way you or I do?"

The gun-totin', nonsense blithering poster girl for hyper-partisan mendacity is now calling for the powers-that-be to leave such hackery by the wayside. Amazing what difference a week--and a sound, electoral drubbing--can make, isn't it?

Feel free to offer the patron saint of Joe Sixpack some free advice.

12 November 2008

Word of the Day

Financiapocalypse

Kind of sums everything up, doesn't it?

Don't know if they invented it (sounds like a Colbert or Daily Show-ism) but I'm appropriating this from those magnificent SOB's at Jalopnik.

Some things are just too good not to steal for tags.

08 November 2008

Is it Christmas, already?

From ThinkProgress:
In a new Rasmussen poll out today, Republicans overwhelmingly say that they want Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as their presidential nominee in 2012. Sixty-four percent of GOP respondents said that Palin would be their top choice in 2012.

In the same poll, 69 percent of Republicans said that Palin “helped John McCain’s bid for the presidency,” even though exit polls found that 60 percent of voters felt that she was “not qualified to be president if necessary.”
Just a wild guess, but I'm thinking Democrats would overwhelmingly agree.

I realize that it's largely just familiarity that causes people to come up with a name when prompted, but, even so, you really have to wonder what these folks were seeing over the past two and a half months.

Saturday Shuffle

The Night (live) - Orchestra Morphine
Terrible Lie (live) - Nine Inch Nails
U Not Like Me - 50 Cent
Smash It Up (Part 2) - The Damned
Zip Code - The Black Knights
Blitzkrieg - Metallica
Morning Bell - Radiohead
Get To The Gone - Static-X
Forever - Kid Rock
We've Had Enough - Alkaline Trio

04 November 2008

Election Night Live

11:00 - President-elect Obama. (297-139)

10:58 - John Stewart: "Should Obama win this election tonight, America has lived up to it's creed; on a world stage, it's a show country, not a tell country, living up to its promise."

10:18 - John Oliver: "I'd say the next president is inheriting a giant shitburger."

10:00 - And with Iowa going into the Obama column, we leave Anderson Cooper and David Gregory behind in favor of Stewart and Colbert.

9:50 - Blitzer: "The popular vote is nice, but the electoral vote makes all the difference."

Winning over the majority of people is "nice." Amazing system we have, here.

9:26 - Scarborough just called Ohio for Obama on MSNBC. Boom goes the dynamite.

9:09 - GOP strategist, Alex Castellanos on CNN: "If the GOP can't defeat a lunatic like Al Franken, we're in real trouble." Indeedy.

The Franken Watch in Minnesota begins...

9:00 In the EC, it's Obama - 174, McCain - 49. More than halfway...

8:31 - Kay Hagen knocks out Liddy Dole. ANOTHER pickup. That "godless" ad was the gift that kept giving.

8:30 - Sununu? Suno-no. Double "heh."

8:28 - Pennsylvania. I hear a door closing, Johnnie cakes.

8:22 - FOX is desperately trying not to call Pennsylvania for Obama. Heh.

8:17 - The odious Susan Collins looks to keep her Senate seat in Maine.

8:13 - Dana Bash. STILL looks like an alien.

8:11 - Grant Park in Chicago is getting crowded. CNN is saying 70K are expected to descend before Obama hits the stage, with 500K to 1M by the lakeside.

8:00 - BO up 77-34 in the electoral college.

7:58 - Leave it to Anderson Cooper to call up the explanation for the "0% reporting" voodoo. We [heart] AC360.

7:47 - South Carolina called for Johnnie Mac with 0% reporting. I know that the Vermonts and SCs weren't exactly tossups, but this mad dash to be the first to call something makes for some mighty odd reports.

7:45 - MSNBC rolling tape of McCain on the plane. The man is looking VERY old, indeed.

7:13 - Jessica Yellin via hologram?

"Help me, Wolf Blitzer, you're my only hope."

Just when I thought we'd hit a high water mark in these overdone greenscreen effects. (and by "high" I mean low).

7:00 - Vermont called with 0% reporting? Just looks weird.

6:50 - There are people who shouldn't be shot in close up on HD widescreen; James Carville is one of them.

And away we go...

Vote.

'Nuff said.

03 November 2008

On the election's eve...

Uploaded without comment:
A Comment on Responsible Voting, and a Protocol for a Useful Vote

By Greg Graffin

Bad Times, 1/97

Voting is a privilege. As such it requires responsibility. Irresponsibility when coupled with licence can lead to social tragedy. If one is to feel good about his or her vote, it is necessary to have an agenda to use as justification, and also to adhere to some sort of ideological protocol for casting a particular vote. Too often in the past, our generation has voted and formed opinion based on self-serving interests. I know what is good for me, and I don't really care about what is good for others, I will vote for the candidate or issue that benefits me the most is a common way of thinking. This is an example of the simplest possible voting convention. It doesn't require much worldly knowledge or social concern, it is simply a selfish desire for personal gain. This will probably typify most people's thinking on their way to the polls this year, as it has in years past. But it does not make for a better society. Voting offers us a way to responsibly improve society. If you don't care about such a goal, then voting isn't a privilege for you, its just a routine behavior that happens every four years, or worse, a way to implement evil policies that further degrade the lives of the careless and powerless. If you don't care about improvement, you better hope that those who do go to the polls advocate your interests.

Societal improvement is a somewhat nebulous concept because change is rarely teleological and it rests in the whims of the populace. Most people think that a candidate who wins an election can make the world a better place. This has rarely happened in history. It is the people, or the ruled, who make the world a better place by behavioral changes, and the ruler is usually only a by-product of this collective phenomenon. The process of voting, because it demands sharing of information, requires people to gain knowledge about their world. It offers an opportunity to question whether they accept the tenets of their representatives and of their society. When this occurs, people get informed, people can communicate their distastes, and their hopes. They feel useful and acknowledged by their fellow citizens. And through communication comes action, and eventual abatement of the stigmas that cause suffering and misery. An informed person is a content person. An informed society is a strong society, supportive of its citizens, aware of, and compassionate to those less advantaged. Finally, an informed vote is a responsible vote. It goes far beyond the election in question. The knowledge is carried through the life of the possessor, and it shapes the way that person views his/her position in society and communicates with others. All of this is a contribution to a better community and a more meaningful election.

AN UNORTHODOX PROTOCOL FOR CASTING A MEANINGFUL VOTE:

1. Determine whether you care about the general well-being of society (If you do not, skip to step 7, if you do, continue on)

2. Determine whether you are a privileged citizen (If you are not, then proceed to step number 6, if you are, read steps 3, 4, and 5 only)

3. Examine not how well you will fare if a given issue is voted into law, but how poorly the under-privileged will suffer (no matter which laws pass a vote or who is voted into office, you will probably always still be better off than the people you fear you'll become, namely the under-privileged).

4. Create an ideological balance-sheet that details how much better you will fare, as a percentage of your current comfort level, versus how much worse the under-privileged will drop in their current comfort level (for instance, as a very banal example, a mere 2% drop in your current income, could provide a tremendous relative rise in an under-privileged household's income).

5. Vote for the issue or candidate that promises to balance the disparity between the privileged and the under-privileged classes, even if it doesn’t make you richer or if it provides a small compromise in your day-to-day comfort.

6. Vote for the issue or the candidate who will make your life better.

7. Abstain from voting

Finally, remember voting started out as a way for concerned citizens to play a role in creating a society that was good for all. Over time it evolved into the monstrosity it is today which is no more than a vehicle for selfish partisanism, and worse, a voice for those who want the law to preserve and increase the disparity between needy and privileged.

This unfortunate turn of events has made us a hostile, hopeless people. We should remember that history is relevant, and can help us gain a perspective on our current situation. NO civilization persists without a strong sense of social welfare. The British empire expired once its subjects learned that through unity and enlightenment of the underprivileged came a new power structure and a new sense of national community, one strong enough to turn away any possible oppressors. We are headed in the same direction as the failed British empire as our privileged class increases in wealth yet shrinks in population, and our underclass grows in population and shrinks in wealth.

Your vote is meaningless if it merely bolsters the selfish desires of a small privileged minority of citizens. A meaningful vote depends on the passage of issues or election of candidates that help to create a better scene for everyone, not merely the rich elite, and not merely provisional support for the poor. If you follow these guidelines, we will have a less polarized, more enthusiastic underclass, and a less greedy, more compassionate upper class; and the quality of our social fabric will be drastically enhanced.


01 November 2008

Morons for McCain: Home Stretch Edition

Via the NYT:
“John McCain! Not Hussein!”

So goes the latest popular chant on the campaign trail with Gov. Sarah Palin, demonstrated at a morning rally in central Florida.

After the rally in Florida ended, two of the people leading the chant explained why they did so.

“Because it rhymes,” said Shirley Mitten, 64, a volunteer at a pregnancy center and a resident of Brooksville, Fla.

She said she does not know if Mr. Obama is a Muslim. “He says he’s not, but we have no way of knowing,” Ms. Mitten said.

Her husband, John A. Mitten, 64, took credit for starting the chant. “I was trying to get it going!” he said. “I just do not want Obama to be elected.”

Mr. Mitten said he could not trust Mr. Obama because of his past association with William Ayers, the 1960’s radical, and because of his relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. He also pointed out that Mr. Obama’s father was a Muslim.

The middle name Hussein, he said, added to the suspicion. “I guess Obama was named after Saddam Hussein,” he said.
The anti-Muslim subtext to this sort of crap stopped being subtextual a long time ago. Doesn't seem to bother Palin a bit, though. Her next word of admonishment to her raving fan base will be her first. Even principle-challenged Johnnie Mac seemed to hit a personal breaking point as far as this particular smear goes. Guess Moose-olini, here, is still looking for hers.

As ashamed as I am that there are still ignorant bigots like this wandering around the United States in 2008, in the event Tuesday's election goes as I hope it will, knowing they are will make it just that much sweeter.

Saturday Shuffle

To Live Is To Die - Metallica
Gangster of Love - Talking Heads
Just A Little Heat - The Black Keys
Love Plus One - Haircut 100
Jenny I Read - Concrete Blonde
The Day The Clown Came To Town - Maschina
Ballad of a Lonely Man - Mike Ness
My Empty Room - Queensrÿche
Heroin - The Velvet Underground
The Hardest Button To Button - The White Stripes

Bonus video shuffle:

(EDIT: Original acoustic vid removed. User-made replacement below...)

Jenny I Read

31 October 2008

Happy Halloween

A little holiday rockin' with Dokken...

29 October 2008

Headlines make-y me happy

"Sen. Lieberman likely to lose his gavel in massive reshuffle being discussed"

As I believe I've mentioned in the past, it couldn't happen to a nicer piece of crap.

26 October 2008

The "respect" of Joseph I. Lieberman

"Rape Gurney" Joe continues to be the human equivalent of ipecac:
LIEBERMAN HASN'T BEEN PAYING ATTENTION TO HIMSELF.... Joe Lieberman adopted the role of Republican attack dog early on, but as the election draws near, he's hoping the political world has a very short memory.

Lieberman, a self-proclaimed "independent Democrat" who was chosen by McCain to make the case against Obama at the Republican National Convention in early September, said his comments have been within bounds.

"When I go out, I say, 'I have a lot of respect for Sen. Obama. He's bright. He's eloquent.'"

My hunch is, Lieberman sees the direction of the political winds, and hopes to convince Democrats that while he's been a McCain sycophant, he's always been "respectful" towards Obama.

Lieberman, in other words, has to hope Democrats haven't been paying any attention at all. The party is supposed to forget, for example, when Lieberman argued that Obama doesn't put "country first."
Looks like it just dawned on ol' Joe that leaving the Senate for a plum cabinet position in a McCain administration might be kind of tough if THERE IS NO MCCAIN ADMINISTRATION.

Ever the opportunistic shill, Lieberman is now trying to rewrite history in order to stay in the good graces of a party he not only spit on, but which may no longer require his participation, at all, should they pick up enough seats on Nov. 4. Unfortunately, for Joe, following his years of service as the Bush administration's loyal "bipartisan" lapdog by joining the despicable chorus attacking Barack Obama's loyalties is probably a little less than endearing.

So Joe, let me be the first--though, hopefully, not the last--to offer you a variation of the same counsel you so callously dispensed to rape victims who may be affected by your repugnant stand on the morning after pill: it's a short ride across the aisle. To say that your respect, conveniently found only once the writing is on the wall, rings hollow, gives it, and YOU, more credit than is deserved.

Fuck you, Joe. Respectfully, of course.

This man wants to pilot the ship of state?

Raise the Jolly Roger, Mateys.

Angry McCain

Can I get an ARRRR-men?

Talk about a snapshot that sums up a campaign.

This came from a Telegraph article entitled "John McCain loses temper with defeatist aides as he vows to fight to the last."

Is any part of that description actually news to anyone who's shown even a minimum of interest in this race? McCain hasn't been on speaking terms with "temperment" and "control" in quite some time. He hasn't looked poised, he hasn't looked focused, and, most of all, he hasn't looked remotely presidential.

Instead, he's looked like this, which is precisely why nothing looks very good for him, right now. And thank God for that, because we can't afford for this to be the face we present to the rest of the world.

25 October 2008

Saturday Shuffle

68 Balcony - Death in Vegas
Preaching Blues - Robert Johnson
Broken Head - Catherine Wheel
Guess Who's Back? - House of Pain
Bucephalus Bouncing Ball - Aphex Twin
Memories Can't Wait - Talking Heads
Tonight She Comes - The Cars
Jazz Thieves - Depeche Mode
Garlic Breath - The Exceptions
The Ocean Doesn't Want Me - Tom Waits

23 October 2008

I do not think that job means what you think it means...



(With all apologies to Vizzini and Inigo Montoya)

Unlike other areas, it looks like there's no controversy that the vice presidency is evolving:
Q: Brandon Garcia wants to know, “What does the Vice President do?”

PALIN: That’s something that Piper would ask me! … [T]hey’re in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom.
Yes, the VP is "President of the Senate," and I understand "breaking it down" in order to answer a child's question, but I can think of about a dozen different explanations that would be more accurate. It would be easy to dismiss this as another in the endless string of Palin's idiotic responses to otherwise straightforward questions, but stupidity is unfortunately the most charitable of interpretations. Palin has already gone on record with her Cheney-ian belief that the vice-president is a Constitutional wild card:

PALIN: I'm thankful the Constitution would allow a bit more authority given to the vice president if that vice president so chose to exert it in working with the Senate and making sure that we are supportive of the president's policies and making sure too that our president understands what our strengths are...

IFILL: Governor, you mentioned a moment ago the constitution might give the vice president more power than it has in the past. Do you believe as Vice President Cheney does, that the Executive Branch does not hold complete sway over the office of the vice presidency, that it it is also a member of the Legislative Branch?

PALIN: Well, our founding fathers were very wise there in allowing through the Constitution much flexibility there in the office of the vice president. And we will do what is best for the American people in tapping into that position and ushering in an agenda that is supportive and cooperative with the president's agenda in that position. Yeah, so I do agree with him that we have a lot of flexibility in there, and we'll do what we have to do to administer very appropriately the plans that are needed for this nation.
Not knowing how the office works, or not caring.

GREAT choice.

22 October 2008

Any more radioactive and she'd have super powers

Methinks the Bachmann re-election campaign is going to need some new uniforms.

rad suit

Uh oh.
Five days after Rep. Michele Bachmann went on a McCarthy-esque rant suggesting Barack Obama was unpatriotic and urging the major newspapers of the country to investigate anti-American sentiment in Congress, the national Republican political parties are running for cover.

Two sources aware of ad buys in Minnesota say that the National Republican Congressional Committee is pulling its media purchases from Bachmann's race.

...In the days following her appearance on Hardball, however, Bachmann has watched as her challenger, El Tinklenberg raised more than a million dollars off her incendiary remarks.
Looks like Bachmann's recent dip running leap into the crazy pool has so damaged her prospects that the NRCC doesn't want to waste the money to prop her up when there are other races they want to contest. While not quite a white flag, it's a pretty serious admission of just how much of an embarrassment she's become.

Which should be news to, well, no one...

19 October 2008

(Grand Old) Partying like it's 1954

Shorter--and slightly more coherent--Michelle Bachman (R-MN):

Sutherland_bodysnatchers
AAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGHHH!

In case you misssed it, here's Rep. Bachman's breathtaking turn on Hardball, edited for time and inanity, though not content:
Matthews: How many Congresspeople you serve with -- I mean, there's 435 members of Congress --

Bachmann: -- well right now --

Matthews: -- how many are anti-American in that Congress right now that you serve with?

Bachmann: You'd have to ask them, Chris, I'm focusing on Barack Obama and the people he's been associated with --

Matthews: But do you suspect that a lot of the people you serve with --

Bachmann: -- and I'm very worried about their anti-American nature.

Matthews: Well, he's the United States Senator from Illinois, he's one of the people you suspect as being anti-American. How many people in the Congress of the United States do you think are anti-American? You've already suspected Barack Obama. Is he alone, or are there others?

[snip]

Bachmann: I would say, what I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look -- I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America. I think the people would love to see an expose like that.
Yes, if you were not so mesmerized by the sight of Sen. McCarthy Rep. Bachmann hurling herself over the edge into an abyss of batshit crazy on national television, you heard her right: the membership of the United States Congress--including the Democratic presidential nominee--should be investigated for anti-Americanism in its ranks. It's the sort of thing we've seen trickling out from campaign rallys and public appearances for weeks--except infinitely worse.

How often have we heard that we can't blame the McCain campaign for "isolated supporters" voicing extremist views? This is an elected representative and member of the national party.

News flash: We just left rally attendees yelling "traitor" in the dust...my friends.

No professionalism, no truth and, at its fundamental core, at long last, no decency.

18 October 2008

Saturday Shuffle

Where's Sly? - Medeski, Martin, & Wood
Career Opportunities (live) - The Clash
We Do What We Can - Sheryl Crow
Posthuman - Marilyn Manson
These Boots Are Made For Walking - Crispin Hellion Glover
Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band
Body and Soul - Tori Amos
In Da Club - 50 Cent
That Was Your Mother - Paul Simon
Creeping Death - Apocalyptica

16 October 2008

McCain Campaign reaching out to "the real America"

Looks like "Red" and "Blue" is no longer quite divisive enough:
"We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. We believe" -- here the audience interrupted Palin with applause and cheers -- "We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation."

She continued: "This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans. Those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us. Those who are protecting us in uniform. Those who are protecting the virtues of freedom."

No longer content to assail their political opponent's Americanism, apparently whole swaths of the country and--seemingly--it's population aren't "real Americans," anymore. Every time you think the bottom of the barrel is reached, it seems to recede a few more inches. I wonder how these folks fit into the McCain camp's "real America:"



Before the GOP's perpetual victims choir can warm up, obviously, all small town/rural individuals aren't narrow-minded, virulently racist garbage bleating about "blacks taking over" and the Obamas being "anti-white." People spew that crap from the farmhouses to the highrises; it's a niche to which these folks certainly have no unique claim.

Much like being "real Americans."

And the McCain/Palin insistence to the contrary is part of what makes execrable videos like the one above, possible. However they may try to deny it, that is what naturally follows from the "us vs. them" mindset that they emphasize in pandering to their base. Making people see enemies within as well as without might motivate, but not just to show up at the polls.

15 October 2008

If it quacks like a duck...

Did Rahm Emanuel just call Johnnie Mac "a grumpy old man in the robe and slippers yelling at kids in the neighborhood?

Heh, indeedy.

That was the game on the phone; it's refusing to be changed.

 
Markets tank--again--five hours before final debate.
 
Still planning on playing the Ayers card, Johnnie Mac?
 
Good luck with that.
 
 

14 October 2008

Surging polls are nice

That said, lest anyone think there's anything close to a done deal:

Race Influence

Of course, you say, this could just as easily mean people admitting why they or someone else is voting FOR Obama.

But I kind of doubt it.

11 October 2008

Saturday Shuffle

Cheap and Cheerful - The Kills
Wait for Sleep - Dream Theatre
I Hung My Head - Johnny Cash
The Waitress - Tori Amos
When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder - Johnny Cash
Without Fear - Lacuna Coil
Yellow Calx - Aphex Twin
Vamos - The Pixies
My Morning Song - The Black Crowes
Down Fo' Boogie (live) - Tesla

08 October 2008

Makes Biden's "Bosniaks" seem not so bad, after all

Now this is just plain weird:



Knowing McCain, he was just trying to switch in something other than his usual--and mind-numbingly repetitious--"my friends," but going for a "my fellow Americans" (presumably) and having "prisoners" come out?

Bizarre.

07 October 2008

06 October 2008

How're those "fundamentals" working out for everybody?

File this squarely under truths spoken in jest:

mattress

When your 401k evaporates to 101k levels, the 1st National Sealy Posturepedic starts looking mighty inviting.

Quote of the Day

Now THIS is what a president sounds like:

Obama told reporters in Asheville, N.C., that he was surprised his Republican rival's campaign would signal an effort to avoid talking about the financial turmoil because McCain advisers fear it could cause him to lose the election.

"I've got news for the McCain campaign: The American people are losing right now," he said. "They're losing their jobs. They're losing their health care. They're losing their homes. They're losing their savings. I cannot imagine anything more important to talk about."
 
Brilliant.

05 October 2008

THAT'S what I'm talking about

Awesome. Just awesome:



“Three quarters of a million jobs lost this year. Our financial system in turmoil. And John McCain? Erratic in a crisis. Out of touch on the economy. No wonder his campaign wants to change the subject."
This is exactly what needed to be done. After months of second-guessing and wishing for a stronger response, FINALLY the Obama camp makes a deft pre-emptive strike.

The unnamed official is spot-on: McCain and his toadies made a incredible strategic error in declaring their intention to dive into the gutter. They wanted to change the focus of the race, but now Obama has dictated the storyline, in advance: "questioning associations" has now become "running from the issues."

Which it is.

First he retreated from Michigan. Now, substance, itself, is a distant speck in the Straight Talk Express' rearview mirror.

Happy trails, Johnny Mac. Good luck waving that "change is coming" banner from the lowest of roads.

04 October 2008

Trans-Alaska Pipe Slime

Not a pig, but she ruts in filth, all the same:
"We see America as the greatest force for good in this world," Palin said at a fund-raising event in Colorado, adding, "Our opponent though, is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country."

...Obama's Chicago, Illinois, home is in the same neighborhood as Bill Ayers, a founder of the radical Weather Underground, which was involved in several bombings in the early 1970s, including the Pentagon and the Capitol, and the two have met several times since Obama's 1995 campaign for a state Senate seat.
Well, that didn't take long, now did it? No sooner does the campaign announce that they're abandoning the issues to focus on factually-challenged personal attacks, then they trot out the cue card caribou queen to float smears that, par for her course, don't even jibe with the source she's been fed:
Palin cited an article in Saturday's New York Times about Obama's relationship with Ayers, now 63. But that article concluded that "the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers, whom he has called 'somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8.' "
Not only a liar, but a poor one, at that. That takes her from zero to Rove in five weeks. Nice job, "outsider."

McCain's sputtering campaign running on fumes venom

Shorter McCain: "Fuck this guy, he knows icky people."

With just a month to go until Election Day, McCain's team has decided that its emphasis on the senator's biography as a war hero, experienced lawmaker and straight-talking maverick is insufficient to close a growing gap with Obama. The Arizonan's campaign is also eager to move the conversation away from the economy, an issue that strongly favors Obama and has helped him to a lead in many recent polls.

"We're going to get a little tougher," a senior Republican operative said, indicating that a fresh batch of television ads is coming. "We've got to question this guy's associations. Very soon. There's no question that we have to change the subject here," said the operative, who was not authorized to discuss strategy and spoke on the condition of anonymity."
Even shorter McCain:

"We."

"Have."

"Nothing."

The deep-seated nastiness that pervades the ersatz maverick will be on full display for the next 30 days. Get ready for a month-long barrage of Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers, and anti-American slime. Bereft of ideas, losing on the issues, "fear and smear" is the only club left in Johnny Mac's bag.
McCain hinted Thursday that a change is imminent, perhaps as soon as next week's debate. Asked at a Colorado town hall, "When are you going to take the gloves off?" the candidate grinned and replied, "How about Tuesday night?"
The angry old man of the first debate was nothing but prelude. He's going to come, loaded for bear, with every bit of fact-free innuendo he can muster, so Obama better be ready.

And there's simply no excuse not to be.

McCain has essentially declared, days in advance, that he has no interest in legitimate debate, just character assassination. We've already seen what happens when you try to "high road" your way around gutter politics by refusing to engage them. You lose.

If there was any lesson from the 2004 ride on the executive merry-go-round, it's that this garbage is too dangerous to fret about "dignifying it with a response;" it must be destroyed with a response, and the dirt merchant peddling it decried for the legitimate issues he (or she) is ignoring.

Fingers crossed...

Saturday Shuffle

Wave of Mutilation (U.K. Surf, live) - The Pixies
Phoenix - The Cult
Running Three - Tom Tykwer, Johnny Kilmek, Reinhold Heil
Funky Shit - Prodigy
Ring of Fire - Social Distortion
Through the Never - Metallica
Bawitdaba - Kid Rock
Your Head - Helmet
The Biggest Lie - Hüsker Dü
Hizbollah - Ministry

30 September 2008

They said the worst was yet to come

And, boy howdy, were they right.

It was only a few days ago that the WaPo's Howie Kurtz let slip that all the shoes had not yet dropped from Sarah Palin's cringe-inducing interview with CBS' Katie Couric.

He wasn't kidding:



You really have to see it to believe it.
COURIC: And when it comes to establishing your world view, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read, before you were tapped for this, to stay informed and to understand the world?

PALIN: I've read most of them again with a great appreciation for the press for the media, I mean...

COURIC: Like what ones specifically? I'm curious that you...

PALIN: Um, all of 'em, any of 'em that um have been in front of me over all these years, um...

COURIC: Can you name any of them?

PALIN: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news too. Alaska isn't a foreign country where it's kind of suggested it seems like, wow how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, DC may be thinking and doing, when you live up there in Alaska. Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.
A microcosm of America...without print media, apparently.

She cannot name a single periodical or news source that she consults on a regular basis. I'm sure neither she nor the campaign are thrilled with her Saturday Night Live "appearances," but is the answer really to offer responses so absurd, that they're beyond satire?

We've veered into Celebrity Jeopardy territory here, folks.

28 September 2008

27 September 2008

Saturday Shuffle

Black Jesus - Ghostface Killah
Tiptoe (live) - Ani DiFranco
Locomotive - Thelonious Monk
Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding
No Awareness - Dr. Octagon
Bleed the Freak (demo) - Alice In Chains
Monkey Man - The Specials
Demonomania - The Misfits
Hypnosis - New Order
Head to Wall - Quicksand

26 September 2008

Quote(s) of the Day

Chris Rock, appearing on Larry King Live:
KING: You must be ... proud that at this stage in our history a black man is running for president on a major ticket.

ROCK: Um, you know what? I'm proud Barack Obama's running for president. You know? If it was Flavor Flav, would I be proud? No. I don't support Barack Obama because he's black.
And a close second:
"The choice isn't Republican or Democrat. The choice is you got a guy that's worth $150 million with 12 houses against a guy who's worth a million dollars with one house...The guy with one house really cares about losing a house, because he is homeless. The other guy can lose five houses and still got a bunch of houses. Does this make any sense? Am I the only one that sees this?"

25 September 2008

Demanding a coherent response is SO sexist

Words fail (starting with her, apparently):
 
COURIC: You've cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?

PALIN: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land-- boundary that we have with-- Canada. It-- it's funny that a comment like that was-- kind of made to-- cari-- I don't know, you know? Reporters--

COURIC: Mock?

PALIN: Yeah, mocked, I guess that's the word, yeah.

COURIC: Explain to me why that enhances your foreign policy credentials.

PALIN: Well, it certainly does because our-- our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They're in the state that I am the executive of. And there in Russia--

COURIC: Have you ever been involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?

PALIN: We have trade missions back and forth. We-- we do-- it's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where-- where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is-- from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to-- to our state.

This is just getting scary. Nowhere does she come anywhere near an intelligible answer to the question that Couric posed to her.

"Our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They're in the state that I am the executive of?"

Sweet, merciful crap.

Now, I don't believe Palin to be unintelligent, but she is so clearly out of her depth when called upon to reposnd with anything other than a stock campaign talking point, that's precisely the image that she projects.  An appearance like this would be an utter embarassment for any public official, to say nothing of a candidate for the vice presidency.  It's made all the worse by the unheard of media blackout the McCain camp is trying to enforce through Palin's almost non-existant press availability.  These aren't off-the-cuff responses to questions shouted from across a lobby; this is a carefully established, pre-arranged encounter.  In a setting such as that, every rambling non-answer further cements the notion that the already eyebrow-raising (and now borderline patronizing) efforts to shield her from the press, are not due to any inappropriate media scrutiny, but because any scrutiny, whatsoever, reveals her to be shockingly unprepared, if not downright incompetant. 

For the McPalin campaign, "Not ready to lead" is looking less like an attack and more like an admission, every day.

24 September 2008

The shortest of leashes

What was that about a "pitbull?" Via Politico:
McCain then looked around the room and gestured as if to welcome questions. The AP reporter shouted a question at Gov. Palin (“Governor, what have you learned from your meetings?”) but McCain aide Brooke Buchanan intervened and shepherded everybody out of the room.

Palin looked surprised, leaned over to McCain and asked him a question, to which your pooler thinks he shook his head as if to say "No."
We've long heard that the McCain camp's near-pathological aversion to Sarah Palin having any dealings with reporters (those who aren't appropriately deferential, anyway) was a response to the "sexist" treatment she received upon entering the race. Leaving aside the fact that the vast majority of questions--about experience, background, etc.--had nothing to do with gender, there was definitely a subset of people who stirred the pot with faux-concerned questions that all boiled down to "however will she balance the demands of the vice presidency with being a mother, and with a special-needs child, at that?"

Some of them, undoubtedly, were self-proclaimed progressives who, just as undoubtedly, thought they were so clever for hoisting (some) conservatives on their own anti-working mother petard.

Too clever by half.

It's a bullshit point that they'd scream bloody murder over if it was made about their candidate, and--no matter what far-right hypocrisy it may illustrate--they should be ashamed for attempting to inject it into the discourse. Nietzsche, anyone? To traffick in such dreck, for whatever the purpose, is to perpetuate textbook sexism: that line of reasoning would never be applied to a male candidate in a million years.

Which brings us back to this latest McCain campaign embarrassment.

Have you ever seen a staffer abruptly clear a room and someone actively prevent a male candidate from answering a reporter's question? It would be unthinkable. It would be a high insult; a tacit admission that the individual isn't trusted--or, worse, allowed--to speak for himself.

Yet the newly gender-conscious McCain organizaation thinks nothing of doing just that and completely infantilizing its own vice presidential pick.

Good luck courting those female voters and Clinton diehards, Johnny, I'm sure they just loved that.

Quote of the Day

"It's the longest Hail Mary pass in the history of either football or Marys."
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) responding to John McCain's announcement that he'll suspend his campaign to grandstand "focus on the crisis" facing the economy.

20 September 2008

Saturday Shuffle

I Hate Mornings - The Exceptions
Lapdance - Paul Oakenfold
Elite - Deftones
Comin' Atcha Live/Truckin' (live) - Tesla
Mr. Brownstone (live) - Guns N' Roses
No Time to Cry - The Sisters of Mercy
Wicked Game - Chris Isaak
Sweetest Perfection - Depeche Mode
Cherub Rock - Smashing Pumpkins
I Would For You (demo) - Jane's Addiction

13 September 2008

Saturday Shuffle

U.S. Government - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Don't Let Me Down - The Beatles
Say it Loud I'm Black, I'm Proud - James Brown
No. 13 - The Cult
Harper and the Midget (live) - Twinemen
Rosetta Stoned - Tool
Crucify [Remix] - Tori Amos
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses - U2
Dig a Pony - The Beatles
Beside You in Time - Nine Inch Nails

09 September 2008

About Time...

Few more of these, please:



The Obama camp has been utterly derelict in their response to Johnnie Mac's commitment to go all negative, all of the time. After a convention's worth of "I respect John McCain...," and " I honor John McCain's service," it's long overdue to leave that cringing nonsense behind and focus on Candidate McCain and hit him and James Dobson's dream vice president--hard.

And, it must be noted, this was an excellent start:

08 September 2008

06 September 2008

Saturday Shuffle

By The Time I Get To Arizona - Public Enemy
Stand By Your Man - Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
I'll Be Your Jonny on the Spot (live) - Ween
The New Clean Song - Crispin Hellion Glover
Down the Line - Johnny Cash
The Sing Remains the Same - Led Zeppelin
Once Upon a Time - Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise
Pimpf (live) - Depeche Mode
Your Llorona - Concrete Blonde
Soundtrack to Mary (live) - Mike Doughty

03 September 2008

Ever seen a man's credibility vanish into thin air?

Thank you, Mr. "Noun-Verb-9/11".
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani says if Sarah Palin had been president when the U.S. came under attack on Sept. 11, 2001, he's confident she would have been able to handle the crisis.

Palin's experience as the mayor of a tiny Alaska town and as Alaska's governor for less than two years have led critics to question her readiness to be vice president in a John McCain administration - and president should he be unable to continue serving.

In an interview Wednesday on ABC's "Good Morning America," Giuliani was asked, "If she were the president on 9/11, you would have been confident?"

Giuliani responded: "I'd be confident that she'd be able to handle it. She's been a governor of a state, she's been mayor of a city."

With that utterly asinine observation, you've officially removed yourself from the list of people whose opinions should be given any weight, whatsoever.

I'm not sure whether to feel sorry that you're that clueless, or completely offended that you think we are.

Here's the wind-up...

And the pitch :
Rick Davis, campaign manager for John McCain's presidential bid, insisted that the presidential race will be decided more over personalities than issues during an interview with Post editors this morning.

"This election is not about issues," said Davis. "This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."
Looooooong Gone!:
“Which probably explains why last night when they were speaking, all these speakers [at the Republican National Convention] came up, you didn’t hear a single word about the economy,” Obama said at an economic forum in New Philadelphia, Ohio. “Not once did people mention the hardships that people are going through.”

“I guess I don’t blame them,” Obama added, “because if you don’t have any issues to run on, you want it all to be about personality. If you have got George Bush’s track record and John McCain voting 90 percent of the time in agreement with George Bush, then you probably you don’t want to talk about issues either.”
Come to think of it, that wasn't even a pitch; it was pretty much served up on a tee.

02 September 2008

The Milquetoast Maverick

Setting aside Sarah Palin's ethical problems, pork project funneling, and the laughable job of "vetting" that was done in the rush to add her to the ticket, this story is a sobering look at the judgment that that John McCain is so desperately campaigning on:

Up until midweek last week, some 48 to 72 hours before Mr. McCain introduced Ms. Palin at a Friday rally in Dayton, Ohio, Mr. McCain was still holding out the hope that he could choose a good friend, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, a Republican close to the campaign said. Mr. McCain had also been interested in another favorite, former Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania.

But both men favor abortion rights, anathema to the Christian conservatives who make up a crucial base of the Republican Party. As word leaked out that Mr. McCain was seriously considering the men, the campaign was bombarded by outrage from influential conservatives who predicted an explosive floor fight at the convention and vowed rejection of Mr. Ridge or Mr. Lieberman by the delegates.

Perhaps more important, several Republicans said, Mr. McCain was getting advice that if he did not do something to shake up the race, his campaign would be stuck on a potentially losing trajectory.

With time running out — and as Mr. McCain discarded two safer choices, Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, as too predictable — he turned to Ms. Palin. He had his first face-to-face interview with her on Thursday and offered her the job moments later. Advisers to Mr. Pawlenty and another of the finalists on Mr. McCain’s list described an intensive vetting process for those candidates that lasted one to two months.

“They didn’t seriously consider her until four or five days from the time she was picked, before she was asked, maybe the Thursday or Friday before,” said a Republican close to the campaign. “This was really kind of rushed at the end, because John didn’t get what he wanted. He wanted to do Joe or Ridge.”

This is the who Joe Lieberman (consider the source, I know) thinks "is his own man?"

He threw over the people--even you, personally, Joe--that he felt were best qualified and most desirable for his administration in order to kow-tow to anti-choice zealots with someone he hardly knows, and you laud him for being "his own man?"

The makebelieve Maverick is looking a helluva lot more like Daddy Dobson's man from where I'm sitting.

Following the divisiveness of the primaries, and the exceptional speech given by HRC at the convention, the pressure for Obama to reconsider the "Dream Ticket" must've been considerable. It would've been the mother of all olive branches to the still-substanital--not to mention, still stewing--base of Clintonista voters and donors. While, admittedly, not a perfectly analogous situation to McCain's, he looked a similar moment of pander in the eye and

He.

Didn't.

Do it.

Whereas Johnnie Mac did his best impression of a card table, and folded.

To appropriate a saying: No judgment. No Spine. Not ready to lead.

The boys are thirsty in Atlanta, and there's beer in Texarcana

Jerry Reed, 1937-2008

30 August 2008

Saturday Shuffle

Circus Envy - R.E.M.
Sam Hall - Johnny Cash
Four Walled World - Temple of the Dog
Seeing Red - Killing Joke
End of Time - Danzig
If You Leave - Good Charlotte
Incarcerated Scarfaces - Raekwon
I Can Give You Anything - Soundgarden
Roxy (live) - Concrete Blonde
White Train (Showdown) - Tito & Tarantula

28 August 2008

Quote of the Day

"These times require more than a good soldier, they require a wise leader." -- Joe Biden

27 August 2008

Adventures in Liveblogging: Bubba Edition

Inaugural effort, here. (Wish I'd been able to do it for Hill's speech last night).

9:25 - That's all folks. Bill can still hold a crowd in the palm of his hand. He had fire, he had punch, he kept focus on Obama while teeing off on the Bush's Third Term theme. Pretty good stuff.

Obama name count: 12 13 14 15 16

9:23 - "Sixteen years ago they said I was too young and inexperienced." Great linkage, here.

"Thanks, but no thanks. The third time is not the charm." CANNOT hit that point enough.

Listing the disastrous results of the realization of extreme policies with the Bush presidency and connecting McCain to that doctrine. Extremist, not moderate. Damn right.

"Yes he can, but first we have to elect him!"

Obama name count: 11

9:18 - KATRINA! (Finally).

Bill turns to the GOP and breaks out the knives, first tying them to the state of the economy: layoffs, rising prices no health care. Now troop deployments, torture.

9:16 - "People abroad have always been more impressed by the power of our example, than the example of our power."

Obama name count: 7 8 9 10

9:13 - "He is ready to be president."

Obama name count: 4 5 6

And he hits that Obama is the "man for the job." Now giving a laundry list of why: background, judgment, trials of the campaign, foreign policy views, running mate, security.

Obama name count: 3

9:09 - Economy, economy, economy.

Obama name count: 2

9:06 - Nod to Hillary connecting right to her support of Obama. "That makes 18 million of us." Good reach out.

Obama name count: 1

An everlasting gobstopper of an ovation. They still love him.

9:02 - Here we go.

They might have to look up the last part

Now appearing outside the Minneapolis-St.Paul airport:

Daily Show RNC Billboard

One step forward, two steps back

Kind of undercuts whatever you might say tonight, eh, Bubba?
DENVER (CNN) – Hillary Clinton will be on hand for Barack Obama's acceptance speech, but according to a source close to former President Bill Clinton, he will not: the source tells CNN that Clinton will not join his wife at Invesco Field Thursday night.
If true, way to pick up the unity torch. Hope your legacy is worth acting like a spoiled child on the biggest stage possible.

26 August 2008

She knocked it out of the park

Hillary couldn't have been much more spot on, tonight. The "Twin Cities?" "No way, no how, no McCain?" And the REAL kicker:
"Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?
Damn.

HRC DNC Pregame

Well, a few more hours and counting before Hillary takes the convention stage. Meanwhile, despite having a GOP opponent who promises little more than a continuation of the ruinous policies and positions of the last eight years, we're beset with headlines about her supporters who are "confused," "unsure," etc.

This is what happens when you turn the primary into a knife-fight.

Thanks to that brilliant, Mark Penn-led strategy, the White House is in jeopardy.

Is she does nothing else, Hillary needs to show her supporters the true cost of petulantly casting a McCain ballot, or even sitting home. And she needs to do it explicitly. Everyone who spends election day at their desks or on their couch is casting a vote

For indefinite detention

For "bomb, bomb, Iran"

For a Big Oil drilling Disneyland

For the Bush tax cuts

For a SCOTUS packed with Scalia clones

Against universal healthcare

Against oversight of government

(Most emphatically) Against choice

A Clinton election in 2012 cannot undue a McCain election in 2008.

23 August 2008

I'm the salt of the earth

...just ask my cook, housekeeper, and gardener.
"The McCains increased their budget for household employees from $184,000 in 2006 to $273,000 in 2007, according to John McCain's tax returns."
Kind of tough to play the out-of-touch elitist card when the "household employee" line in your budget exceeds the total income of 98.5% of the households in the United States.

Or at least it should be.

Saturday Shuffle

Charmed Life - Mike Ness
The Knock (Drums of Death Pt. 2) - U.N.K.L.E.
The Beautiful People (live) - Marilyn Manson
Rooster - Alice In Chains
The Downward Spiral (The Bottom) - Nine Inch Nails
Busy Child - The Crystal Method
Hell Is Around The Corner - Tricky
Dog Eat Dog - Ted Nugent
Destruction - Ministry
Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely - Hüsker Dü
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