Running

In my never ending effort to bring you the finest examples of the kind of music I like, I look at dozens of videos every weekend. It's a damn dirty job I tell you, but for you I'm glad to make the sacrifice (cough).

I'm about the same age as most of my favorites so I gotta admit it's fun, and sometimes a little terrifying, to go see some of the videos from way back when we were all young, and see how they've evolved over the years. Of course, the clothes and hair styles which were way cool back then, make me cringe today.

I got hung up big time watching one of my favorite singer/songwriter/musicians, Chris Hillman. Starting off with The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers and several other groups you've never heard of, he went on to The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and The Desert Rose Band heard in this video. He and long-time pard Herb Pedersen have several albums as well, including one of my favorites, Bakersfield Bound. Mr. Hillman does bluegrass, country, California country, country rock, and the Bakersfield sound. Fuck it, he can do anything! And, oh yeah, back in the '70s I worked on his Triumph motorcycle at a shop I worked at in Encino CA. Enjoy.

And by the way, if ya hit some of the links and keep seeing the same names comin' up, the SoCal country-rock scene wasn't all that big even though it had a hell of an impact.

Tony Snow dead ...

Montag:

A first rate liar for a bunch of second rate crooks who want to make America a third world country. Your family will miss you.

That about says it. See ya in Hell, mofo.

A 'Hall of Fame' I can get behind...

I watched Desert Dreamers the other night on PBS. I spent a lot of time in the Mojave when I was younger and it was closer. Lotta characters out there.

One of the characters they profiled in amongst the hermits and religious whackjobs was Dixie Evans, who was billed as "The Marilyn Monroe of Burlesque" and now runs "Exotic World* - The Strippers Hall of Fame".

Heeeere's Dixie! Showing how a girl gets ahead in Hollywood...



*Since Desert Dreamers was made, Dixie has closed up shop and moved to Lost Wages. I don't know the details, but in my opinion it's a tossup between the 'moral values' crowd or a real estate deal, or one used to swindle her out of the other.

Saturday whorage

Saturday means another chapter of Birthright is up at The Practical Press.

The reason I'm late today is I've been doing the taping on the entry foyer.

Leave us your links in comments.

Country Music is actually alive and well. If you know where to look.

One of the things that bugs me about Corporate Country Music is that they'll put up videos at YouTube but you can't swipe 'em for your own blog to share with your readers. It's like, "Watch it all ya want, but don't take it out of the room. Go buy it."

One of the things I like about the lesser-known (read as: no radio airplay) real country artists is they'll put up their vids and ask you to share 'em in the hope you'll go buy one of their albums.

This video was posted yesterday by TashianMusic. These folks have been around since about forever. Go see how Barry got started. Heh.

Barry and Holly Tashian (site, bio) are introduced by Vince Gill and perform "I Dreamed Of An Old Love Affair". Barry is formerly of Barry and the Remains and Emmylou Harris' Hot Band.

Barry and Holly Tashian

Heckuva job, Chimp-o

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

Hear, hear!

Jude at First Draft is outraged and with every right to be:

So. North by East decides to make a list of the fifty most-influential female bloggers. And our own Scout and Athenae don't make the list? That's bullshit!

And Michelle Malkin at number five? ...

Few bloggers (male or female) have done the job Scout has, bringing news of the tragedy and subsequent government failure in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and I've learned more about the newspaper business from Athenae than I ever thought I would.

Bullshit indeed!

Saturday whorage later. Got a buncha running around and carpentry to do.

"...the abuse constituted war crimes..."

Watch this if you missed it.

Was ist los?

I'm hoping my people live up to their reputation and give the Chimp the finger:

There's been an interesting twist in the ongoing behind-the-scenes discussions over whether Barack Obama will deliver a speech on July 24th at Berlin's historically-charged Brandenburg Gate.

A new report in the German press says that Bush administration officials are unhappy with the idea and privately said as much to representatives of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

...

I can't believe the Frau Merkel will let will let Bush dictate policy to Berlin.

Great thanks to Maru for the link.

I am a standout in our 'nation of whiners'!

This is turning out to be one of those days. I've already dealt with a trip to the vet with a sick pup, Maggie, who was consuming mass quantities of the local flora in an apparent attempt to self-medicate something brought on by her own garbage-gut proclivities, and then puking it up wherever, and who hadn't crapped in two days until, of course, the minute I got her back in the house from the vet. She should be fine for a week after that load...

Then there was the trailer load of plastic pipe that would have turned over right in the vet's driveway if it hadn't been for the rear wheels of the tractor. Between the forklifts and tow trucks and gawkers, I had exactly enough room to get out.

Then there's Mrs. G's dental appointment for an extraction this afternoon, the saving grace of which, for both of us, will be Blue Agave down the street from the Doc's.

I'm officially kickin' off this weekend a little early. Step it out, Sister Tina!

Tina Turner - Live In Amsterdam

Update:

The pup is doing fine. The vet gave her an antibiotic regimen and said to give her Pepto-Bismol. It seems to be working as she's stopped trying to digest the forest. The hardest part is that the vet said to not feed her for 24 hours. It kinda breaks my heart a little to do that, and look into those sweet food-pleading eyes, but orders is orders.

Mrs.G is fine too. The doc phoned in a coupla scrips and in the 30 minutes it took me to go get them everything was done. He told her not to drink any agave slurpees for a coupla days, and to not eat for a few hours. We got our Mexican dinners to go.

I don't know how well Mrs. G's penicillin works, but the vikes ain't too baaaaaa...

The peasants are revolting...

It needs to happen soon, and it won't be just about energy policy.

Click to emragen

Why Cheney Won't Take Down Iran

It is very telling about the current state of affairs vis á vis Iran that this article at TomDispatch passes for good news. Today's 'must read'. The last paragraphs:

Here's the point: Yes, there is a powerful faction in this administration, headed by the Vice President, which has, it seems, saved its last rounds of ammunition for a strike against Iran. The question, of course, is: Are they still capable of creating "their own reality" and imposing it, however briefly, on the planet? Every tick upwards in the price of oil says no. Every day that passes makes an attack on Iran harder to pull off.

On this subject, panic may be everywhere in the world of the political Internet, and even in the mainstream, but it's important not to make the mistake of overestimating these political actors or underestimating the forces arrayed against them. It's a reasonable proposition today -- as it wasn't perhaps a year ago -- that, whatever their desires, they will not, in the end, be able to launch an attack on Iran; that, even where there's a will, there may not be a way.

They would have to act, after all, against the unfettered opposition of the American people; against leading military commanders who, even if obliged to follow a direct order from the President, have other ways to make their wills known; against key figures in the administration; and, above all, against reality which bears down on them with a weight that is already staggering -- and still growing.

And yet, of course, for the maddest gamblers and dystopian dreamers in our history, never say never.

The last line is the truly troubling one - the neocons think they have nothing to lose.

As far as 'weight bearing down on them', fuck 'reality'. I want the 'weight' to be that of the Supermax prison in the basement of which they are being kept.

Sex Crimes in the White House

Naomi Wolf

The sexualization of torture from the top basically turned Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay into an organized sex-crime ring in which the trafficked sex slaves were US-held prisoners. Looking at the classic S and M nature of some of this torture, it is hard not to speculate that someone setting policy was aroused by all of this. And Phillipe Sands' impeccably documented Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values, now proves that sex crime was authorized and, at least one source reports, eroticized: Diane Beaver (Ohmigod!!! - G) , the Staff Judge Advocate at Guantanamo who signed off on many torture techniques, told Sands about brainstorming sessions that included the use of "sexual tension," which was "culturally taboo, disrespectful, humiliating and potentially unexpected."

"These brainstorming meetings at Guantanamo produced animated discussion," writes Sands. "'Who has the glassy eyes?" Beaver asked herself as she surveyed the men around the room, thirty or more of them. She was invariably the only woman in the room, keeping control of the boys. The younger men would get excited, agitated, even: "You could almost see their dicks getting hard as they got new ideas" [reported Beaver]. A wan smile crossed Beaver's face: "And I said to myself, you know what, I don't have a dick to get hard, I can stay detached."' [Sands, p 63]

Hopefully Ms. Beaver's cellie will have one. One with straps that won't get, er, detached very much either.

I wish the same for the entire 1600 crew.

Man retires rather than honor Helms

The Charlotte Observer

RALEIGH -- L.F. Eason III gave up the only job he'd ever had rather than lower a flag this week to honor former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms.

Eason, a 29-year veteran of the state Department of Agriculture, instructed his staff at a small Raleigh lab not to fly the U.S. or N.C. flags at half staff Monday as called for in a directive to all state agencies by Gov. Mike Easley.

When a superior ordered the lab to follow the directive, Eason decided to retire rather than pay tribute to Helms.

Good for you, L.F. Lowering the flag to half mast should be reserved for people who contributed to society, as opposed to those who detracted from it like Helms, and for people whom we are sorry they're gone.

There was no honor in Helms' life as a racist, and no honors need be given to him.

"Fat" Mouth Gramm

BuzzFlash

The "nation of whiners" quote, where John McCain's economic adviser Phil Gramm accused the country of being in a "mental recession" received a great deal of national attention, but it's not the first time Gramm has displayed insensitivity for struggling Americans.

In his 1984 Senate campaign in Texas, Gramm allegedly said "Has anyone ever noticed that we live in the only country in the world where all the poor people are fat?" a quote also attributed to Dinesh D'Souza and a favorite of right-wingers leaving comments on Web sites disparaging the American welfare system.

In the same campaign, his opponent ran commercials "portraying Mr. Gramm as saying that the elderly deserved no sympathy because few people had the 'luxury' of living to 80 and that Federal budget provisions for the handicapped encouraged people to be crippled. "

The reason 'poor people' are fat is because carbs and fat are the cheapest kind of food. And the least healthy, which dovetails neatly into this country's lack of affordable health care for all.

Poor people in other countries are skinny because they don't get enough to eat. Poor people in this country get plenty of all the wrong things.

Note to Gramm: Shut The Fuck Up, you walking 'mental recession'.

On the other hand, he's doing a wonderful job on for McCain. Keep up the good work.

What an asshole.

Rove avoids subpoena by fleeing the country

Think Progress

This morning, Karl Rove refused to appear before the House Judiciary Committee to testify about the politicization of the Justice Department, despite a subpoena. During the hearing, Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT) revealed that Rove had not only skipped out of the hearing, but had skipped out of the entire country. Watch it:

A coupla 'comments':

ralph the wonder llama Says:

The dude received a subpoena to testify today, he didn’t show up.

ARREST HIM.

Crusty Old Bastard Says:

This only the first of many to flee the Country in advance of criminal charges. Look for the Great Reunion in Paraguay!

Bilbo Hussein Baggins Says:

I’m kind of looking forward to the first time the Republicans subpoena a Democrat in the next administration. The Democrat can give them the finger and say “what are you going to do about it”. Unfortunately, unlike the Democrats, the Republicans are likely to actually do something.

Many, many more.

Sure, I'd like to see the arrogant sonofabitch squirm when faced with having to actually tell the truth or face jail time, but it ain't gonna happen under the spineless Democrats. The Repugs know that as well.

Rove's lieyer says he's on a 'long-planned trip'. Oh, I'm sure it is! He's probably had a 'getaway bag' packed and in the trunk of his Jag since he left the White House. Heh.

I think the best we can hope for is that he doesn't come back.

Update:

Tony

To resolve this tricky matter,
I couldn't be blunter:
Democrats should hire Dog,
The Bounty Hunter.

Heh. Ol' Dog's quite a character. It'd serve Turdblossom right. A serious ass-chewin' by Dog's ol' lady is nothing to sneeze at either.

Investments ...

Lisa hits it on the head:

...

Most people today don't know this life, but this was the U.S. less than 75 years ago. "A Week of Hunger" in the WaPo today reported most food stamp recipients deplete their allocation by week three. Larry Brown Harvard School of Public Health estimates it would cost $10-12 billion per year to "virtually end hunger in our nation," a plague which costs society at least $90 billion a year in lost revenue and health and societal costs.

How many days of war funding could eradicate hunger in the U.S.? As the economy pulls more people from the isolated comfort of their recliners, we may put more care into such issues.

As a first-generation American, I can repeat all the stories my relatives who emigrated here - the stories of the "hard times", when 6 slept in a 1-room apartment and a couple potatoes had to feed them all for dinner. Mrs. F's Russian forebears can tell similar stories.

With what we spend in Iraq, we could have defeated hunger and provided good health care to every American. Instead, we have an advisor to a presidential candidate telling Americans to shut up and quit whining. I believe a French girl named Marie had that attitude shortly before she lost her head.

It is unfathomable to me how people could give the McCain candidacy any sort of serious consideration. Yet people do. The Republicans harken back to the "Good Old Days", or Leave it to Beaver* or Father Knows Best but in reality, those days meant the average person never had enough to eat and inadequate health care. They were at the mercy of their employers and landlords and treated more like property than human beings.

Thanks to the last 8 years (and special thanks to Reagan and Bush 1) we're on our way back to that place. Voting for McCain will get us there quickly.

As Billy Joel says: "The good old days weren't always good and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems". Enjoy, I'm going to work. TGIF!

Billy Joel - Keeping The Faith

*Can we see yer beaver, Mrs. Cleaver? Heh ... Hey, I have a one-track gutter.

Open season ...

No limit. Our paid 'security contractors' in Iraq better watch their butts:

The Iraqi armed services are likely to target widely-hated American security contractors when they lose their immunity to Iraqi law under a new agreement between the US and the Iraq.

The main American concession, during prolonged and rancorous negotiations over a Status of Forces Agreement (Sofa) that would determine the future military relationship between the US and Iraq, has been to agree to lift the immunity hitherto enjoyed by the 154,000 contractors, of whom 35,000 are private security men.

...

Another bunch of the Chimp's friends under the bus, but such is the fate of a mercenary. No tears shed here ...

The George W Bush Presidential Library

Subtitled "A monument to his years in office."

The George W Bush Presidential Library is now in the planning stages. The Library will include:

The Hurricane Katrina Room, which is still under construction.

The Walter Reed Hospital Room, where they don't let you in.

The Guantanamo Bay Room, where they don't let you out.

The Weapons of Mass Destruction Room, which no one has been able to find.

The National Debt Room, which is huge and has no ceiling.

Go see the rest at Straight Goods.

Put out to pasture in the fields of irrelevance

Tony Peyser

One could easily argue that the major thing
That completely set this putz off
Is Barack's not playing old school politics
Has already cut Jesse's nuts off.

To which I add my own:

The old-school Rev who talks in rhyme
Caught his own crap with his face this time.

It's understandable why Jesse might be sore, and it's ironic - Jesse Jackson has worked all his life for civil rights, and when a brother finally gets to run for President, it's the fruit of his labor that produced a new breed that doesn't need him in his campaign.

And by the way, Reverend Jackson, you've been around long enough ya shoulda known F**News' mics are always on when they're talkin' to godless commie pinko fucks like you. Now you know why.

Update:

Go see "When The Man is One of Us".

We haven't really been in a place this confusing since 1954, when the NAACP's crusade against segregation culminated in the Brown vs. Board decision and the walls came tumbling down. It's fair to say that we were so focused on winning that fight that we weren't prepared for the victory or its aftermath. We've spent nearly 60 years since then trying to figure out what kind of relationship we want to have with America and with each other. For the most part, we, like Jackson Sr., have seen ourselves as outsiders battling for justice and a seat at the table. Our default has been to protest. And while that mindset has served us well, it has, in a flash, been made damn near obsolete by the prospect, even the likelihood, that one of us may soon become the most powerful man in the world. If that happens, how can we seriously argue that we're being held back by anything but the limits we place on ourselves?

We're not really ready for the day when The Man becomes a black man.

It's a dizzying idea that is going to take some getting used to. And until we do, we'll stumble about, like Jesse Jackson Sr., saying all kinds of crazy things as we slip and slide on the new paradigm.

Word, yo.