Night Rider's Lament

As long as I'm on about Texas singer-songwriters, here's ol' Jerry Jeff (website) doing a song I like for the visuals it provokes as well as relate to in a metaphorical way. I call this one "Motorcycle Mechanic's Lament" after 40 years in that saddle.

Jerry Jeff Walker ~ Night Rider's Lament

Thanks to BRod313.

Apropos of nothing at all, I happen to know that Jerry Jeff and I owned the same year, make, and model of motorcycle. This was 1 of 1000 QE2 commemorative bikes imported to here. You got a certificate with it, and when I worked for the distributor of these I saw his certificate. I don't know if he still has his, but I still have mine. That was back before all the showbiz types got Harley-Davidsons and looked cooler and rode slower. I don't know if it was the intent or just a natural result of riding an anvil, but it's a lot harder to outrun the papparazzi on a Milwaukee Vibrator. Heh.

1977 Triumph Silver Jubilee

Click to embiggen

Adios Jolie Blon

One of the best things to come out of Texas besides I-10 and the only thing I'll miss when they secede is the musical genre of the 'Texas singer-songwriter'. Guy Clark (website) is one of my favorites.

The first song is possibly historical now, homage to and remembrance of a way of life that may be gone forever in the wake of the BP disaster. The second alternates between making me hungry and making me sick. Heh. All the white gravy in the world ain't enough to cover up Armadillo á la Goodyear and fried okra. Blechhh...

Guy Clark ~ South Coast of Texas/Texas Cooking

Thanks to BRod313.

Breitbart's Whore

1st and last ¶ from El Rude-o:

Goddamn, wannabe gotcha journalist James O'Keefe must know how to suck a dick. Way more hooker than pimp, O'Keefe must be able to lap Andrew Breitbart's mighty two-incher into a magnificent two-and-a-half inch erection and just go to town. The best part is that he's such an enthusiastic cock gobbler. O'Keefe rings up the Big Government blogger (and, really, that's what Breitbart is, nothing more, nothing less) and begs for another dose of Breitbart chowder. Seriously, this skeevy, ugly fucker could give porn stars lessons.

But such truly noble things are not what Breitbart demands. Like many conservatives, Breitbart is attempting to discredit the census because of fears that urbanization will tilt the balance of representation, among other things. But, oh, O'Keefe. The finest kind of cum whore is the kind who'll do anything for a chance to show how much he loves a cock. And O'Keefe ain't about to give up such bounty for anything like "journalism."

Enjoy the rest. A little light weekend entertainment.

"Oh my God! Somebody tossed a little Baby Ruth of Truth into the swimming pool!"

The title quote simply has to be a 'Quote of the Day' as well! Cue Jaws theme and horror amongst the assembled throng...

David Neiwert at C&L, article, links, and ClusterFox video:

Foxheads freak out when Rep. Linda Sanchez points out the white supremacists lurking behind Arizona's immigration law

The problem they have is that it's in fact perfectly accurate. Sanchez may have gotten the information from a blogger, but it's more than likely the blog got its information from the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League -- both of which have, as Sanchez suggested, fully documented that a number of the leading "respectable" anti-immigration organizations are in fact fronts created by white-supremacist ideologues.

Finally, it's worth remembering that the two people most associated with SB1070 in Arizona -- its coauthor, State Sen. Russell Pearce, and the law-enforcement officer whose immigration obsession inspired the law, Maricopa County's Sheriff Joe Arpaio -- themselves in fact have documented associations with Arizona neo-Nazis.

Fox may think they can whip this up, bloody shirt style, in favor of the Arizona law's advocates. I'd wager those same people are wishing they'd just let it quietly drop. Because Linda Sanchez told the truth, and they all know it.

Truth? F** don't need no steenkin' truth...

BP and Iran

Note to President Obama: Watch this and watch out for BP. They've had the CIA take out regimes before that displeased them by threatening their empire and bottom line. If you come down on 'em, don't pussyfoot around with 'em. Do it hard and from a position of power.

Democracy Now and BuzzFlash

Sixty years ago, BP was called the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, takes a brief look at the story of the company’s role in the 1953 CIA coup against Iran’s popular progressive Prime Minister Mohamed Mossadegh. Currently, as the result of Iraqi Invasions Part I and II; considering BP recently won the biggest Iraq oil contract, should make it obviously clear as to why Iran now rests within the brutal crosshairs of a savage and thirsty empire.

Saturday Emmylou Blogging, sort of...

Emmylou Harris, Paul MacCartney, Barack Obama and others having fun with "Hey Jude" at the White House on June 2.

Thanks to TakenAlso.

Wah-wah-wah ...

The "Mouth from the South", Ol' Bobby "Jive-Ass" Jindal, the man who wants no federal involvement in his state, until it's time to save his ass from something, now has a problem with a moratorium on offshore drilling:

...

Gov. Bobby Jindal's contradictions may confuse you at first. While shaking his fist at BP and the federal government's inability to stop the river of oil poisoning the Louisiana coastline and wetlands, he's also unbending in his support for offshore drilling to continue.

...

Fuck him. It's time to make a choice, Bobby, get with the program and shut the fuck up or clean up the next mess by yourself on Louisiana's budget. Figure it out soon.

Can't go out on his shrimp boat, might as well sing...

This is the most appropriately saddest version of this song I've heard.

Liang Dong-Ping ~ Gulf Coast Highway

Thanks to lonecranedp, Thailand.

Faster, Bee-yotch!

Click to magically embiggen

Thanks to YubaNet.

I'm quite sure the cartoonist only stopped after those "expectation balloons" because he ran outta space.

I still think Obama is doing OK under the circumstances. When yer up to yer ass in alligators, it's hard to remember yer main objective was to drain the swamp. He inherited a swamp chock fulla 'gators, and his (and our) sworn enemies and ugly stepsisters keep throwin' in fresh ones.

Behold our dark, magnificent horror

Friday Morford on the oil spill. A 'recommended read'.

What a thing we have created. What an extraordinary horror our rapacious need for cheap, endless energy hath unleashed; it's a monster of a scale and proportion we can barely even fathom.

Because if you're honest, no matter where you stand, no matter your politics, religion, income or mode of transport, you see this beast of creeping death and you understand: That is us. The spill may be many things, but more than anything else it is a giant, horrifying mirror.

Finally (and a bit shockingly), I'm not hearing Pat Robertson or any of his cretinous cult of apocalypticans blame the gays, or voodoo, or anal sex, or reality TV for what's happening in the Gulf. Oil is, after all, completely non-denominational. It mocks all religions equally -- except, of course, the only one that really matters: capitalism.

This is how you know this is one of the more universally damning disasters of our time: No one really seems to know how to process it, much less react. The GOP is backtracking like terrified hyenas from Sarah "Queen of Duh" Palin's "drill baby, drill" mantra/ass tattoo, as suddenly the incessant Republican wail for more oil exploration, more drilling, more tax cuts for oil conglomerates don't just reek of the usual inbred cronyism; they reek of death and destruction the likes of which the country has never seen.

Truly, BP is behaving no better or worse than any other corporate spawn of Satan would in a similar situation. What's more, if you don't think every oil company on earth is right now kneeling before Beelzebub in gratitude that it wasn't one of their own wells that exploded, you haven't been paying attention.

That said, after all is said and done, it's gloomily nice to think our darkest disaster in a generation could somehow ultimately improve our attitudes, change our behavior, lighten our violent treatment of the planet. As someone recently noted, the BP spill isn't Obama's Katrina, it's actually Big Oil's Chernobyl. Meaning: a disaster so appalling and devastating it might very well alter the industry and change the course of our energy policy forever.

Is it possible? Or, more accurately, are we even capable of such a shift? Is there any silver lining to be found in that black and greasy gloom? This is, perhaps, the most imperative question of all: If we can produce a demon of such extraordinary scale and devastation, can we not also somehow create its exact opposite? Let us pray.

Yeah, that'll work. Yeesh. You think the oil execs aren't praying for deliverance from our wrath? That's more likely than shifting energy consciousness for a long time to come, which is happening a lot slower than the toxic ooze is crawling onto our shores.

BP is praying in particular that they are somehow spared from paying for all this and that it will shift to the taxpayers. It must not. If it puts 'em outta business, so fuckin' what? It won't. They make so much money they could do a 'money shot' and plug the leak with $100 bills and it would barely be a blip on their boardroom wall chart. They're only about the fifth most profitable oil company. There's plenty more just like 'em.

Let us pray.

Yeah, I did it. I'd do it again. Fuck the rule of law, you ain't got the balls to fuck with me, so fuck you too, America.

In case you missed it. Never forget.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Watch this ...

Or, Instant Moron: Just add alcohol:



Update:

What me and Gord were talking about in "comments".

This is the bottom line ...

Click to embiggen. Pic stolen from Digby.

"Drill, baby, drill."

About time ...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama says it's time to roll back "billions of dollars in tax breaks" for oil companies and use the money for clean energy research and development.

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He said the catastrophic Gulf oil spill shows the country must move toward clean energy by embracing energy efficiency, tapping natural gas and nuclear power and eliminating tax breaks for big oil.

...

Indeed! Shit's gotta be paid for and we have to move away from burning fossil fuels. Any corporation that makes billions every quarter in profit should not get a tax break for anything.

Thanks to Susie for the link.

"the majority of the country doesn't give a rat's fuck about the Sestak nonsense "

The Rude One

So just to get this straight, Republicans, 'cause Jesus Christ knows your views shouldn't be misrepresented: with the unstoppable Gulf oil gusher poisoning everything in the sea and destroying the economies of probably four states at minimum, with Israel gettin' all raid-on-Entebbe with a ship that was trying to get food and medicine to starving people in Gaza, with Afghanistan becoming the war that it was always gonna become, with the need for jobs programs and housing programs and training programs in this country, with immigration, climate change, civil rights for gays, and more needing work and leadership and legislation, with all that shit plus whatever the fuck's going on with the European economy, some of you guys think that President Obama should be impeached because a guy was offered a job to not run for office.

California Republican and weepy, greedy, power-hungry bitch-boy Rep. Darrell Issa, a man destined to be a prison twink, is pushing that very notion. Issa believes that, because the White House has admitted that Rahm Emanuel asked Bill Clinton to offer a job to Rep. Joe Sestak if he'd clear the way for Arlen Specter to get the Democratic nomination for the Senate in Pennsylvania, the government should come to a screeching halt while Obama is investigated, impeached, and tried. Because why? Because that's what's first on everyone's mind right now?

Just as an aside, the visual of Issa pullin' a train for the Crips, the Bloods, the Mexican Mafia and last but not least, the Aryan Brotherhood, just makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over. Wait 'til those guys find out he made his considerable fortune selling the car alarms that may have stymied them professionally. Heh. He's one of the worst pols we've got out here in California, and we've got some bad ones.

As Joe Conason points out, this ain't something to be taken lightly. These fuckers play for keeps, damn the consequences on the route to taking back power. The entire affair, playing nonstop on Fox "news," has been elevated to "Obama's Watergate," thanks to Issa, who never misses a chance to demonstrate his extraordinary ability to fellate himself on live television. He's so good at it that Sean Hannity got jealous, bent over, and said, "Hey, look, I can actually get my tongue to my own anus."

Fine, if we're gonna get out the hyperbole machine, let's do something a little more appropriate: the Gulf oil spill is not Obama's Katrina. No, it's his 9/11: a sudden, explosive event that hit in the first part of the presidency and revealed to the nation a threat that crosses party lines. Now, howzabout DC Republicans get off their bullshit propaganda machine for a little while and saddle up to help? Howzabout the media do what they demanded of Democrats after 9/11 and tell Republicans to put aside "partisan bickering" for the "good of the nation"? Maybe a little help instead of mindless slash and burn?

Oh, wait. Don't forget that we're dealing with Republicans. The fact that the majority of the country doesn't give a rat's fuck about the Sestak nonsense doesn't matter. All that matters is that, at all costs, even at the cost of the country itself, they try to bring down the president. Again.

The Repugs are more than happy to commit any act including treason to get the power back so they can further enrich their masters at our expense. Luckily for us, they're all perverts and afraid of getting caught, or it'd be lots worse.

Headline of the Day ב

Conservative pundits blame Obama for Israeli raid on flotilla

Well of course they do. You'd think they'd love him for crucifying Christ and giving them yet another myth to live by. Oy.

To rule Big Oil, we need Big Government

Donna Brazile

The far right likes to invoke Big Government like a bogeyman, a ghost to frighten the uninformed. But when they need Big Government they decry its absence. Bobby Jindal was trying to privatize much of Louisiana's government services. Had his approach been applied nationwide, the Federal government wouldn't have the resources he's demanding it use to save Louisiana's coast.

Can government get big and bloated? Of course. But there's a difference between starvation and a diet.

What the right fails to acknowledge is that big business, by its nature, is a bully. And you don't stop a bully by turning yourself into a 90 pound weakling. In fact, you may have to gain weight. Regardless, you have to exercise, changing pork to muscle.

It's going to take lots of muscle to truly hold BP responsible for the massive impact of its failure.

In short, make sure Big Government is big enough to keep Bigger Business in check. Or who knows what price we'll pay.

Just know that we have been and will continue to pay until government, that's you, Barry, grows the balls to leave BP and others face down bleeding in the dirt for transgressions against us. I mean that both figuratively and literally.

Note to President Obama: Make me'n Fixer Prez For A Day and we'll show you how to do it. Call it 'dungaree liberty on Big Biz assholes'. It won't be pretty, but it will be educational for you and Big Corpora and entertaining for us and our fellow Americans.

Al O'Qaeda

Haaretz

Like a robot lacking in judgment, stuck on a predetermined path - that's how the government is behaving in its handling of the aid flotillas to the Gaza Strip. The announcement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the security cabinet meeting Tuesday that the blockade of Gaza will continue and that Israel will keep on using force to prevent ships from entering Gaza's port suggests that the foolishness continues and no lessons have been learned from this week's incidents.

Instead of taking the initiative and developing a political exit strategy from the crisis, Netanyahu and Barak are digging themselves deeper into the quagmire. The government apparently believes its own public relations, according to which Israel was the victim of "Al-Qaida supporters." If this is the case, it must immediately dismiss the heads of the security and intelligence services who failed to issue warnings in time and did not prepare accordingly to meet this new and dangerous enemy. How does Israel plan to deal with the Irish ship the Rachel Corrie, which is on its way to the Gaza Strip? Will it also argue that the Irish government, which has given this ship its backing, is a member of Al-Qaida?

Any bets that Haaretz' offices will be mysteriously bombed by 'Palestinian terrorists' pretty soon? Or maybe the IRA. Mossad'll think of something.

Headline of the Day

A short refresher on common knowledge:

When the CIA Overthrew Iran for British Petroleum

The CIA did the same for bananas in Central America. Anything for private profit.

I doubt if BP will use the CIA to get out of trouble this time. This time they'll use the Federal and Supreme Courts.

Be careful what you wish for ...

Me and my big mouth ... (If I had a dime for every time I said that).

When the economy tanked last year, and Barry was talking about the stimulus plan, I would kvetch that there's a "shovel-ready" project in my neighborhood, namely the road I live on. It's been fer shit for years thanks to them replacing the gas lines in the street (they just tossed asphalt over the trenches) and about 10 years of winter (and the heavy-duty snowplows that grind over it) since they paved it correctly, and it looks like the Moon. Been kvetching a long time.

Well, seems, for the first time in memory, somebody in the local government heard and actually listened to me. A few weeks ago they began, not just my street, but the whole approach to the Long Island Expressway that's 3/4 mile up the road. New overpass, cloverleaf, and adding an extra lane each way to the secondary road which feeds it. It'll be 2 years until they're done.

So now I'm not just worrying about the fillings being shaken out of my head (I drive like I'm on the slalom on the B.F. Goodrich Test Track) when I come home but it's a pain in the ass with the increased traffic thanks to constant pattern changes. What a fucking mess.

I know it's been sorely needed for years and I'm glad some Long Islanders are back to work, and I know it's going to be good when it's done, but all I was hoping for was a little asphalt rolled over the top of my road to make it smooth. Ah well, I asked for it ...