Gore Vidal: ‘We’ll have a dictatorship soon in the US’

Really good interview with the old man at Times Online.

The grand old man of letters Gore Vidal claims America is ‘rotting away’ — and don’t expect Barack Obama to save it

His voice strengthens. “One thing I have hated all my life are LIARS [he says that with bristling anger] and I live in a nation of them. It was not always the case. I don’t demand honour, that can be lies too. I don’t say there was a golden age, but there was an age of general intelligence. We had a watchdog, the media.” The media is too supine? “Would that it was. They’re busy preparing us for an Iranian war.” He retains some optimism about Obama “because he doesn’t lie. We know the fool from Arizona [as he calls John McCain] is a liar. We never got the real story of how McCain crashed his plane [in 1967 near Hanoi, North Vietnam] and was held captive.”

Actually, McCain has admitted it was his own fault, but of course the press didn't pick up on it very much. Whether even that was the truth is a matter for speculation as is everything he says.

"[...] Obama believes the Republican Party is a party when in fact it’s a mindset, like Hitler Youth, based on hatred — religious hatred, racial hatred. When you foreigners hear the word ‘conservative’ you think of kindly old men hunting foxes. They’re not, they’re fascists.”

Word.

Another notable Obama mis-step has been on healthcare reform. “He f***ed it up. I don’t know how because the country wanted it. We’ll never see it happen.” As for his wider vision: “Maybe he doesn’t have one, not to imply he is a fraud. He loves quoting Lincoln and there’s a great Lincoln quote from a letter he wrote to one of his generals in the South after the Civil War. ‘I am President of the United States. I have full overall power and never forget it, because I will exercise it’. That’s what Obama needs — a bit of Lincoln’s chill.” Has he met Obama? “No,” he says quietly, “I’ve had my time with presidents.” Vidal raises his fingers to signify a gun and mutters: “Bang bang.” He is referring to the possibility of Obama being assassinated. “Just a mysterious lone gunman lurking in the shadows of the capital,” he says in a wry, dreamy way.

Much, much more. Enjoy.

Tuesday Afternoon Easy Listenin'

It's been hotter'n usual around here for this time of year and I've been enjoying it, knowing it wouldn't last, and today dawned chillier and blustery. And then I ran across this tune from Termite58.

This goes out to all my peer age group who may nod their heads in understanding of the lyrics. For folks who may not know who Herb Pedersen is, here's Termite58's notes:

Herb Pedersen (born April 27, 1944 in Berkeley, California) is an American musician, guitarist, banjo player, and singer-songwriter who has played a variety of musical styles over the past forty years including Country, Bluegrass, Progressive bluegrass, Folk, Folk rock, Country rock, and has worked with numerous musicians in many different bands.

Pedersen often performs with Chris Hillman, and both were once members of the Desert Rose Band. Pedersen also fronted his own band called the Laurel Canyon Ramblers. Besides this, Pedersen has also worked with the following musicians and groups: Pine Valley Boys, Earl Scruggs, The Dillards, Smokey Grass Boys, Old and in the Way, David Grisman, Peter Rowan, Vassar Clements, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Tony Rice, Dan Fogelberg, Stephen Stills, Linda Ronstadt, Kris Kristofferson, John Prine, Jackson Browne, John Denver, John Jorgenson, and Leland Sklar, among others.

Enjoy.

Herb Pedersen ~ Hey, Boys

Yo, Barry...

I just sent President Obama this email:

[Dear President Obama

I offer a suggestion in the wake of Iran shooting off its missiles. I believe it will send a clear message to Iran that we can turn them into a self-lighting glass-surfaced parking lot in an instant should it become necessary and a chance for the world to have some fun at Iran's expense.

Have every nation that has missiles capable of reaching Iran fire a Time-On-Target (Jim Jones can explain that to you) mission at Teheran, set to go off at about 50,000 feet. The warheads should contain fireworks which spell out, in Farsi and English and whatever other languages are desired:

"Ahmadinejad sucks wet monkey ass"

Let me know how this works out and come by for coffee anytime.

Your pal
Gordon
Semper Fi]

I asked for a response. Watch the news. Heh.

Drone Wars

Interesting article about the Air Force in Newsweek.

Now that congress has killed the F-22, the Air Force is facing another shock to the system: planes without pilots.

For more than 60 years, the Air Force has trumpeted itself as the service of glamour, its pilots ruling the skies, soaring, diving, bombing, and strafing from far above—yet still commanding the clash of armies on the ground. In movies, they wore white scarves and set the girls' hearts aflutter.

But all that is changing in ways that few outsiders understand. A fierce fight is on for the mission, culture, and identity of the Air Force, and the Top Guns are losing. This is the real story behind a passionate political struggle this past summer over a major weapons system, the F-22 Raptor, the world's most sophisticated fighter plane.

A 'sea change', you should pardon the expression:

[...] From 1947 to 1982, all 10 generals who served as Air Force chief of staff were bomber pilots. From 1982 until last year, all nine generals who occupied that position were fighter pilots. In 2008, a new era in warfare was beginning, and Secretary Gates asked President Bush to appoint a different kind of chief of staff: Gen. Norton Schwartz. He came up through the ranks flying neither bombers nor fighters but C-130s, the bulky cargo planes that haul troops, weapons, and supplies from bases and supply depots to the battlefront. "Airlift," as this duty is called, is a vital mission; the Army, Marines, and Special Forces couldn't mobilize swiftly without it. But it's unglamorous. The Air Force brass had never valued it as highly as missions that involve fast combat planes or bombing targets deep behind enemy lines — until now.

Iraq and Afghanistan are very different wars from the war the F-22 Raptor was designed to fight. (Not one of the advanced aircraft has flown a single mission over either theater.) The enemy isn't a foreign government, but an insurgency; there are few "strategic" targets to bomb and no opposing air force to go after. So the main Air Force role is to support American and allied troops on the ground. This means two things: first, airlifting supplies (General Schwartz's specialty); second, helping the troops find and kill bad guys.

For this second mission, the Air Force has been relying more and more on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with names like Predator, Reaper, Global Hawk, and Warrior Alpha. Joystick pilots located halfway around the world operate these ghost planes. They pinpoint their targets by watching streams of real-time video, taken by cameras strapped to the bellies of the UAVs. Many of the aircraft also carry super-accurate smart bombs, which the joystick pilots can fire with the push of a button once they've spotted the targets on their video screens.

In 2007, the year before Schwartz became chief, UAVs were performing 21 combat air patrols at any one time, for a total of just over 100,000 hours. By 2011, they'll reach 54 patrols and almost 350,000 hours. For now, the joystick pilots have to be certified fighter pilots as well.

But Schwartz says this requirement will be dropped, mainly because there aren't enough fighter pilots to fill the growing demand for UAV crews. "There's no need for them to be pilots," one senior Pentagon official says. "It's sort of like a union regulation."

This year, the Air Force will train more joystick pilots than new fighter and bomber pilots. [...]

Off we go
Into the video arcade...

It looks more and more like "Ender's Game" was prophetic.

Much more in the article.

Cassandras of Climate

Paul Krugman in an op-ed on climate change:

Every once in a while I feel despair over the fate of the planet. If you’ve been following climate science, you know what I mean: the sense that we’re hurtling toward catastrophe but nobody wants to hear about it or do anything to avert it.

Goddamit, Paul, it ain't the planet that's in danger. The Earth won't be in danger until the Sun winks out and fries it to a crisp in about 5 billion years or so.

The danger is to LIFE on the planet as we're accustomed to it. It's going to change and probably not to our benefit.

But the larger reason we’re ignoring climate change is that Al Gore was right: This truth is just too inconvenient. Responding to climate change with the vigor that the threat deserves would not, contrary to legend, be devastating for the economy as a whole. But it would shuffle the economic deck, hurting some powerful vested interests even as it created new economic opportunities. And the industries of the past have armies of lobbyists in place right now; the industries of the future don’t.

Yeesh. Lobbyists. They can always lobby later to get the money they're so desperate for printed on asbestos, I guess.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Administration Scrambles as Gitmo Shutdown Deadline Nears
Best idea so far: give each prisoner a cab and a map of Manhattan.

Study: Teens With Own Cars Have More Crashes
Parents: best study ever.

Uninsured 40% More Likely to Die
"More likely to die" now considered pre-existing condition.

More Simultaneously Watch TV, Use Internet
Text, eat, masturbate while driving.

I don't wanna know how they steer the thing...

Don't drink the Bath water ...

We were in Bath, England on Saturday. Right now, we're somewhere in the North Atlantic just south of the Greenland/Iceland gap.

Sunday Crazy Titty-Lovin' Redneck Music Blogging

Rodney Carrington ~ Show Them To Me

Thanks to kawasakiKLX450R.

"Wild thing, you make my heart sing..."

From Crooks and Liars via Video cafe.



Heh. Ol' Hot Tub Tommy's liable ta find 'The Hammer' up a place he's never seen.

Of crackpots, rightists, and wingers: The "conservative" GOP?

P.M. Carpenter with a good read:

I suppose it's only through force of habit that we still use the phrase, "right-wing Republicans," which, like "unsolved mystery" or "free gift," is a tautological offense against our mother tongue -- a distinctive distinction without a different difference. I mean, when was the last time you heard someone refer to a "left-wing socialist"?

The right, the wingers, have come to define Republicanism, and have done such violence to conservatism's authentic meaning as to detach, one would think, true conservatives from their still-principal base of operations: the Republican Party. There is, of course, always a lag in such transformations; it does take time for many to wake up -- Hello? Calling Olympia Snowe & Constituents -- and realize there is no longer any traditional ideological earth beneath them, that they have been floating along on ethereal clouds of fundamental deception, degradation, and devolution.

They are marooned amidst the likes of the lunatic Joe Wilson, whose supreme lunacy has now earned him the select right to sign fundraising letters for the National Republican Congressional Committee; they are stuck with the likes of Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin, who yesterday scribbled that President Obama's educational policy is but "Rappin’, revolution & radicalism"; they are burdened by the likes of Birthers, Swastika-Scrawlers, and Death-Panelers.

To the extent that the Republican Party has -- because of its own intellectually arrested and emotionally unstable reasons -- failed to renounce the above groupings, those groupings have become not merely the face of the party, but its heart. Republican strategist Mark McKinnon, one of the surviving lucid ones, observed the other day that "Right now the Democrats generally get defined by President Obama, and Republicans, who have no clear leadership, get defined by crackpots -- and then they begin to define the Republican Party in the mind of the general public."

Begin? I think we've surpassed that. We're in at least the middle game. Because other words for "crackpot" are rightist and winger -- the inhuman essence, that is, of modern Republicanism.

I generally use more colorful and descriptive terms than 'rightist' and 'winger', but Carpenter is trying to be a gentleman and I'm not.

From the first 'comment' to the piece:

So we're stuck with them. In fact, nutjob media outlets are not likely to be reduced anytime soon, but instead, increase. So the insanity will increase. We have not reached the tipping point. I predict that one year into Obama's 2nd term we may see something that will make us hope we have seen the worst.

These people aren't going anywhere. Their numbers are increasing. And they're getting crazier.

The 'tipping point' may come on the heels of something awful. I hope not.

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

country gold 3 ,1991

Country Gold： International country music festval in kumamoto.　japan

Emmylou Harris ~ Born To Run

Thanks to htcountry, Japan.

Why The Regressive Right Desperately Wants To Erase The Bush Presidency

Today's second 'must read', at The Regressive Antidote:

Hey, wasn’t that George W. Bush presidency really fantastic?

You do still remember it, don’t you?

Wasn’t it great? Don’t you have lots of warm and fuzzy memories of it? Isn’t it a shame that he couldn’t have a third term?

Pardon the delay here. The vomit got all down in the keys and stuck everything together...

Which makes it all the more puzzling that the troglodytes of the right seem to have disappeared their former grand hero almost completely these days. Isn’t that odd? They never talk about him anymore, as if he had never even existed. They seem quite desperately to want to vanish him entirely, like the body of some beaten-to-death prisoner at Abu Ghraib.

Hmmm. Wonder why? Wonder what gives?

I’ll go out on a limb here and speculate that it might have something to do with the fact that the Bush presidency was a spectacular failure. You know, a total train wreck. A complete cock-up. A gigantic exercise in FUBAR so bad that nobody wants to be associated with it, anymore than with syphilis or projectile vomit.

But that’s kinda weird given the former adoration directed toward the Caligula Kid. Isn’t that kind of intellectually dishonest? Can it be that the right in America is actually disingenuous? I mean, everyone knows they are destructive, selfish, hypocritical, racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, imperialistic, nasty, brutish and short. But who would have thought they were dishonest too? This is almost more than I can bear!

If you pin a regressive to the wall and torture them (a practice which I recommend as often beneficial for both parties involved), they will do two things to try to stop you from beating them up about Lil’ Bush.

Then you should apologize to the wall.

So playing the Reagan card is the first game used to avoid the horrid little reality of Bushism. But if that particular line of diversionary legerdemain fails miserably, the next thing you’re likely to hear is that conservatives have abandoned George W. Bush because he wasn’t really a conservative.

This is my favorite. Oh yes, indeed.

Long list of his non-conservativity follows.

I know how shocking it can be that regressives are hypocritical or deceitful. Go figure, eh? But, truthfully, this is the biggest whopper of them all. The King Kahuna. The Mother of all Deceits. So big, in fact, that I’m pretty sure that they even lie to themselves about it at the same time they’re lying to us.

Because if they didn’t, here’s what they’d have to admit: We tried their ideology. Big-time. And it totally sucked.

Unless, of course, you happen to like war, recession, environmental destruction, constitution shredding, prejudice, hatred, greed, deceit and failure. Those things enjoyed rather remarkable success, actually.

If only there were national figures within the supposed opposition (that means you, Mr. Happy Face, in the White House) who were willing to label this disaster for what it was, perhaps we might have stamped out the scourge of regressivism for a generation or six by now. But, alas, that would require a modicum of political courage.

Unfortunately, that’s just about the only thing regressives have.

Even more unfortunately, it is often enough to carry the day, even when your ideas are so unequivocally destructive.

Please read the rest.

How to talk to complete idiots

Mark Morford with today's 'must read':

There are three basic ways to talk to complete idiots.

The first is to assail them with facts, truths, scientific data, the commonsensical obviousness of it all. You do this in the very reasonable expectation that it will nudge them away from the ledge of their more ridiculous and paranoid misconceptions because, well, they're facts, after all, and who can dispute those?

Why, idiots can, that's who. It is exactly this sort of logical, levelheaded appeal to reason and mental acuity that's doomed to fail, simply because in the idiotosphere, facts are lies and truth is always dubious, whereas hysteria and alarmism resulting in mysterious undercarriage rashes are the only things to be relied upon.

And now we come to option three, easily the finest and most successful approach of all. Alas, it also remains the most difficult to pull off. No one is exactly sure why.

The absolute best way to speak to complete idiots is, of course, not to speak to them at all.

That is, you work around them, ignore them completely, disregard the rants and the spittle and the misspelled protest signs and the fervent prayers for apocalypse on Fox News. Complete refusal to take the fringe nutballs even the slightest bit seriously is the only way to make true progress.

This also happens to be the invaluable advice of one Frank Schaeffer, noted author and a former fundamentalist nutball himself, who made a simply superb appearance on Rachel Maddow's show recently, wherein he offered up one of the most articulate, fantastic takedowns of the fundamentalist idiot's mindset in recent history. It's a must-watch. Do it. Do it now.

Do it. Do it now.

Thanks to ObamaTheBlackFDR. Worth going to see.

You are not kowtowing to the least educated of your voting bloc, like the GOP is so desperately fond of doing. You are not trying to give the idiotosphere equal weight in the discussion. As Schaeffer says, "You cannot reorganize village life to suit the village idiot." (my em) By employing option three, you are doing the only humane thing left to do: you are letting the idiotosphere eat itself alive.

I wish Morford had written this last week before I yanked Mrs. G's niece's chain by commenting on her 'Palin 2012' bumper sticker. I told her Palin'd better get a running mate because when she quits the Presidency halfway through, Nancy Pelosi would be the next in line. Boy, did that start something!

Trying to talk sense to these yingyangs is like hitting a cripple who can't feel it. It's really easy but it doesn't do a damn bit of good so why bother?

Shake that 'Wild Thang', Tommy!

I don't care what you think of MoDo - sometimes her snark is all that will do!

Tom DeLay was icing his foot and resting his booty.

Even after the somewhat comical visual of what it would look like if he got that backwards, I read on:

It might be a sign of the apocalypse — a frilly Tom DeLay shimmying away from an indictment and onto “Dancing.” It’s certainly a blazing reminder that in our lowbrow-loving, no-attention-span culture, most any scoundrel can do the redemption tango simply by being a good sport.

Redemption, shit. According to Penn Jillette on Countdown, the 'Dancing' gig pays a coupla hunnert thousand bucks!

So DeLay, 62, cutting loose in his orthopedic shoes with the cha-cha and his Texas mugshot grin, was the Lipitor version of the finale of “Footloose.” [...]

“You’re crazier than Sarah Palin!” Bruno shouted when a winded DeLay was done swiveling in a leopard-skin-sequin-trimmed brown get-up.

Sillier, maybe, but no effin' way crazier.

Once the Hammer tried to outfox Democrats. Now he’s trying to outfox-trot Donny Osmond. Once he whipped Republicans relentlessly to keep their votes in line. Now he says he and his daughter have “a strategy to whip the vote” on “Dancing.”

Maybe Hot Tub Tom has a future on TV. I'd like to see him on "Survivor: South Central". Heh.

Better that than politics.

Death In Kentucky

Attytood

I debated whether to link to this story -- it's based on very preliminary information, the kind of information that can often be later found incomplete or flat-out wrong. That said, the details are potentially so alarming that it bears close watching for now:

The FBI is investigating the hanging death of a US census worker near a Kentucky cemetery, and a law enforcement official said the word "fed" was scrawled on the dead man's chest.

The body of Bill Sparkman, a 51-year-old part-time census field worker and occasional teacher, was found on 12 September in a remote patch of the Daniel Boone National Forest in rural south-east Kentucky. The census has suspended door-to-door interviews in rural Clay county, where the body was found, pending the outcome of the investigation.

Investigators are still trying to determine whether the death was a killing or a suicide, and if a killing, whether the motive was related to his government job or to anti-government sentiment.

I worked for the Census in 2000. My job was to verify addresses prior to the actual enumeration. It was a fun job, paid well, and took me into some very remote, as in not easily accessible, parts of my local area of the Sierra Nevada. There were times when four-wheel-drive low range wasn't enough and I had to get out and walk.

Like anywhere, most of the folks I met were very nice and wanted to co-operate. One community was really glad to see me because they wanted their roads paved so they wouldn't have to snowmobile their kids three miles to the schoolbus stop every day.

I met my share of backwoods crazies too. Most of 'em just wanted to be left alone and I can dig that. That's why they lived out there in the first place. One guy, whose neighbors actually warned me about, a prominent cattle rancher who was a leading citizen in a town so small that both city limits signs might as well have been on the same post, thought I, as a federal agent, was setting him up for a visit from a black helicopter! Well, maybe I'm exaggerating a little...

That said, I never, ever, felt myself to be in any kind of danger whatsoever. It remains to be seen what effect this incident in Kentucky will have on the hiring of tens of thousands of people for the 2010 Census, and I hope it gets resolved quickly. The Census is very important and is good for us all.

And then there's plain old batcrap crazy:

Even if Sparkman's death proves to be not related to his federal work or even a bizarrely staged suicide, the fact that the FBI was called into the case should be a reminder to any politician whose inflammatory talk even poses the risk of inciting anger and violence against federal workers. This investigation certainly calls to mind outspoken (and often unhinged) Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, who was even criticized by fellow Republicans when she said she wouldn't fill out her 2010 Census form because the Constitution doesn't require such information and she voiced fears about a possible tie between the Census Bureau and the anti-poverty group ACORN.

To be followed closely...

My condolences to Mr. Sparkman's family over their tragic loss, but I'm hoping that the answer lies in plain old criminality rather than some right-wing gasbag-inspired teabagger/hater shit:

UPDATE: As promised, more info. The Huffington Post compiles more information on the tragic loss of Sparkman, a popular substitute teacher. As for Clay County, Whet Moser of the Chicago Reader points out that it may be a dangerous place for federal workers not so much because of politics but because of an alarming level of illegal drug activity.

From the link:

"I’d be wary before jumping to conclusions on this: the Daniel Boone National Forest is a hotbed for pot growers and meth labs and archaeological looters (Harper’s—subscribers only, alas) and there’s a distrust of anyone considered connected to the federal government, including Forest Rangers and local cops."

Our Forest Rangers around here are now law-enforcement trained and have gone around armed for the last few years where they never did before for much the same reasons.

Update:

Retired trooper warned census worker to 'be careful'

Cantor's Health Care Plan: Become Poor And Beg

Brent Budowsky

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) wins the award for why Republican favorable numbers on healthcare are barely above 20 percent. Mr. Cantor was recently asked what a woman with stomach cancer should do if she did not have the insurance to pay huge medical costs.

Here is the Cantor plan for middle-income Americans who may have lost their health insurance after being laid off by a company whose CEO might be making a million dollars a year. First, she should sell all of her lifetime possessions to desperately pay humongous medical costs, with the side benefit that this would make her poor, and therefore qualify for health programs for the poor that many Republicans don’t support. If this fails, Mr. Cantor advises the woman to do this: beg.

The Cantor Plan envisions a middle-class woman made poor by layoffs, cancer and skyrocketing healthcare costs begging for charity as a last resort.

The Cantor Plan is a spin-off of the biblical injunction to sell your possessions and give the proceeds to the poor. In the Cantor plan, you sell your possessions to become poor, while the wealth is kept by those who profit handsomely from the healthcare system.

Note to my Hebrew brethren: This guy is the dumbest Jew on the planet. He's singlehandedly making you look bad. You should sneak into his crib in the middle of the night and sew his foreskin back on so folks'll think he's just another dumbass wingtard christian fundie. You could sew it around his head.

Historical Inaccuracy By Someone Who Ought To Know Better

This sentence is from an article in Newsweek by Fareed Zakaria, whose opinion I generally value, on Obama's decision to quit rattling Bush's limp little dick sword at Russia by dropping plans to install non-existent weapons on their doorstep:

The timing of the announcement, on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland, symbolized the botched diplomacy. [...]

Does anybody but me see the glaring error in that sentence? It's quite obvious to me, but I want to be absolutely sure before I tell Mr. Zakaria (and his editors) that they stepped on their weenies. I'll bet they get thousands of responses.

Update:

I was in error and stand corrected. Thank you, er, Comrade...

Glenn Beck and left-right confusion

A coupla paragraphs from Glenn Greenwald, who knows his shit:

Far more interesting than Beck himself is the increasingly futile effort to classify the protest movement to which he has connected himself. Here, too, confusion reigns. In part, this is due to the fact that these "tea party" and "9/12" protests are composed of factions with wildly divergent views about most everything. From paleoconservatives to Ron-Paul-libertarians to LaRouchians to Confederacy-loving, race-driven Southerners to Christianist social conservatives to single-issue fanatics (abortion, guns, gays) to standard Limbaugh-following, Bush-loving Republicans, these protests are an incoherent mishmash without any cohesive view other than: "Barack Obama is bad." There are unquestionably some highly noxious elements in these groups, but they are far from homogeneous. Many of these people despised the Bush-led GOP and many of them loved it.

Add to all of that the fact that this anti-Obama sentiment is being exploited by run-of-the-mill GOP operatives who have no objective other than to undermine Democrats and return the Republicans to power -- manifestly not the goal of many of the protesters -- and it's impossible to define what this movement is or what is driving it. In many ways, its leadership (both organizationally and in the media) is fundamentally at odds with the participants. How can people who cheered on the Bush/Cheney administration and who want to re-install GOP leaders in power (i.e., Fox News, Limbaugh, the right-wing blogosphere, GOP House members) possibly make common cause in any coherent way with those who are in favor of limited federal government power, reduced debt, privacy, and Constitutional protections -- all the things on which the GOP relentlessly waged war for years? In one important sense, the "tea party" movement is similar to the Obama campaign for "change": it stays sufficiently vague and unspecific to enable everyone to read into what they want, so that people with fundamentally irreconcilable views believe they're part of the same movement.

Shorter: All of 'em are being used by the GOP, who are experts at it, just like they've always been, only more intense. The Repug insiders have only one ideology - to get back in power, and they don't much care how they do it.

There's no confusion on that point at all.

Sorry ...

For my lack of posting the last couple days but we've been having too much fun.

We're on the last leg of the Med cruise, heading for Southampton.

I have a post up from Provence and Barcelona and I'll do a few from the ship in the next couple days.

"...created by Murdoch to conquer death..."

El Rude-o on Crazy Becky and his Beckerheads:

[...] Yes, Beck is tapping into some sweeping discontent in this country, what the Rude Pundit has previously described as pent-up, misdirected rage at the Bush administration, and what he's harnessed and ridden like Slim Pickens on the bomb is the energy that comes with anger. And the fact that Democrats have ceded this fury, often expressed by the least articulate and stupidest among the mob, has led us to where we are with health care and taxation and myriad other issues.

But they have nowhere to go. The problem with the Beck followers is that all Beck offers them is some weirdo ideas about returning to some sort of state of nature, except with Jesus hanging out there, like Utah, one supposes. What they should be directed to do, like the poor back in the 1930s, is to demand more from their government, to demand a truly progressive tax system, to demand safety nets that function, to demand trust-busting and corporate oversight, to demand strong unions and programs that strengthen communities. If this was a century ago, the tea party protesters would be marching to let Andrew Carnegie treat his employees as he saw fit and to give more money to Rockefeller and Vanderbilt (my em).

And the Rude Pundit wants to see Beck fall, hard, back to alcohol, coke. Found with a pile of kiddie porn while fucking a stump whore. Whatever. Cruel? Sure, but these are vicious times. In fact, for real fun, the Rude Pundit asked the Facebook rude friends for their ideas of how Beck will implode and collapse into himself, creating a black hole in Nutzoidland. Here's some of their responses:
-Sheep
-A web clip of him rehearsing his "crying" that ends with him saying "that oughta impress those white trash bastards"
-Video of him snorting amphetamine off of Pat Robertson’s genitals.
-Maybe O'Reilly will falafel him to death for not giving him the common courtesy of a reach-around
-Booze and a freakin' ripped hot dude that's hung like a donkey... just for the added irony
-Hemorrhoid rage
-His other wives come out of the dungeon, more pale and in need of more magic underwear
-Booze and Gannon
-Being discovered masturbating to a copy of Hellcats of the Navy while dressed in full nurse drag
-My guess is that he's a poorly, or untreated, bipolar. His undoing will be something like another suicide attempt or a naked climb up the side of a building.
-Glenn Beck is black?
-Obviously he kills himself and the right blame it on the left hate-machine
-My guess is a combination of gorilla tranquilizers, Japanese manga porn, necrophilia and beastiality
-oh, and possibly cannibalism

It doesn't do to piss the Rude Pundit off. Heh.

Update:

I am now friends with The Rude Pundit on Facebook. This oughta be good. Heh.

Kennedy's Replacement Chosen

FYI, from The Daily Beast

Sorry, Michael Dukakis: Fox News’ Major Garrett is reporting that Paul Kirk has been chosen as the placeholder for the Massachusetts Senate seat previously held by Ted Kennedy. Kirk chaired the Democratic National Committee from 1985 to 1989 and was a longtime aide to Kennedy. He is currently the chairman of the board of directors for the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. Kennedy’s son, Teddy Jr. and Patrick, are said to have endorsed Smith. An official announcement could come Wednesday afternoon.

OK, I won't ask...and I'll never tell!

Let me just be clear - these are soldiers, not Marines...

Thanks to nateg72480.

West Coast Cruise News

EssEffChron

Mexico to lose most of its 'Love Boats'

As if pockets of trigger- and machete-happy drug gangs and infamy as the cradle of swine flu weren't enough, Mexico is now losing half of its "Love Boat" cruises.

What, no more pockets of trigger- and machete-happy drug gangs and infamy as the cradle of swine flu? Gee, there went my idea of a dream Mexican vacation cruise!

Princess Cruises practically invented the Mexican Riviera — and is credited with jump-starting the modern cruise industry — by starring in the hugely popular TV series. But in the 2010-2011 winter cruise season, Princess will pull out 15 of its 32 cruises in order to beef up Hawaii cruise offerings and add two Pacific crossings between California and Sydney. Though Pacific Mexico will remain a part of Princess' mix, a spokeswoman said passengers were asking for longer, destination-focused Pacific itineraries.

Choosing a cruise, frankly, depends more on the kind of shipboard experience you're looking for than what you want to see of Mexico. Each line has its own personality, ranging from party boats that would put a frat house to shame to high-minded cruises that are the waterborne equivalent of a Starwood hotel. Here's what's available now through May 2010. Prices are for the lowest-grade cabin as of this week and can change in the blink of an eye. Except for noted limited departures, itineraries are available throughout the season.

List follows, with links. Sail away, ladies, sail away.

Quote of the Day

From the tune "Daddy Played The Banjo" sung by Tim O'Brien on Steve Martin's The Crow: New Songs For The 5-String Banjo album, I think this line explains a lot about the less-than-reality based yingyangs we so strongly disagree with:

"...memories of what never was become the good old days."

It's kinda like my memories of my motorcycle racing career - the older I get, the faster I was...

CA OKs petition drive for pot legalization

EssEffChron

Two prominent East Bay marijuana advocates got clearance from the state today to try to put a pot-legalization initiative on the November 2010 California ballot.

Richard Lee, executive director of the medical marijuana dispensary known as Oaksterdam, and Jeff Jones, former director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, are the sponsors of a measure that would allow anyone over 21 to possess or grow marijuana for personal use. It would allow each local government to decide whether to tax and regulate marijuana sales.

The secretary of state's office approved the initiative for circulation along with a similar measure sponsored by John Donohue of Long Beach. Each needs at least 433,971 signatures of registered voters by Feb. 18 to qualify for the November ballot.

The Lee-Jones initiative would legalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana. Lee says it would generate billions of dollars in tax revenue.

Good. Where do I sign?

Prescient Reagan Solves America's Financial Woes!

America's Finest News Source

WASHINGTON—In what government officials are calling a stirring testament to the leadership and foresight of late U.S. president Ronald Reagan, nearly $20 trillion in low denomination bills were discovered this week buried in the White House Rose Garden.

Sealed in hundreds of old mason jars, crumpled shoe boxes, socks, metal tins, and oven mitts, the financial windfall is believed to have been stashed away by Regan, then 76, during his second term.

"Everything is here," added Obama, standing among the towering stacks of money, as well as several other items that were uncovered, including three dozen toothbrushes, multiple tire hubcaps, two teddy bears, and a broken desk lamp. "This truly is a tribute to Mr. Reagan's incredible presence of mind."

While the White House has indicated that it has the right to spend the recovered money and instantly bring the country out of its prolonged recession, others believe that such an act would defy Reagan's wishes.

"If President Reagan hid the money there, it was for a good reason," Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said. "Perhaps he was creating an anticommunist slush fund. Or perhaps, as one of his notebooks stated, he was hiding it from invisble pirates. Either way, we must not taint this great man's legacy by spending these precious funds on trifling social programs. If anything, we need to preserve Reagan's memory by sinking the entire payload into an unviable space-based antimissile system."

Regardless of the final allocation of the uncovered trillions, most Americans are simply marveling at the late president's astounding feat.

"When he said he wanted to put money back into America, I didn't think he meant it literally," Maine resident Michael Stargeon said. "I guess the poor man wasn't as crazy as everyone thought. Turns out he was a complete fucking lunatic."

There is nothing I could possibly add. Heh.

What's The New "K Street"?

HuffPo

On Monday, LobbyBlog asked readers to submit new nicknames for the lobbying industry after the Washington Post declared that "K Street" is "soooo Clinton-era." Readers obliged with over 100 suggestions (and counting) in the comments section.

So, thanks for Bribery Boulevard, Crooks Corner, Greed Gulch, Huckster Highway, Lobby Lane, Pickur Pocket Place, and Pork Parkway, but let's not declare a winner just yet. (Also thanks for Fleece Street, Palm Crossing, and Hector Sector, and for the strange "Public Buggering Street" and "NEVER FORGET Avenue.")

Keep the suggestions coming.

Of those quoted, I like 'Pork Parkway' and 'Palm Crossing', but there are many, many more at the 'comments' link.

Personally, I would like to see K St. referred to as a 'Fire Mission' or 'Air Strike', but that's just me.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Experts: Health Care Bill Too Long
Unless whittled down to 140 characters nobody will read it.

Archeologists Find Sharpened Knives Dating Back 164,000 Years
About same time monogamy was starting to catch on.

Also about the time some husbands began sleeping with one eye open...

Many Don't Want Health Insurance
If forced to get it, they'll move to Canada.

Study: Teen Birth Rates Highest in Most Religious States
Conclusion: Saying “Please, God, don't let me be pregnant” doesn't work.

Florentine Pogen* ...

My post from Florence is up at Worlds.

Off to drinks and dinner. We spent today in Provence and I'll have that up after Barcelona tomorrow. Later ...

*Apologies to Frank Zappa.

Roma ...

Sorry for the delay (we've been running like idiots) but I finally got my post from Rome up.

Also, a few observations on cruising.

We've been on a whirlwind for the last couple days, the Mrs. is already asleep and I'm gonna join her real soon. Monaco tomorrow and I hope I'll get some stuff up from our trip to Florence today then.

Later.

Headline of the Day

Obama to Redeploy Missile Defense Along the Mason-Dixon Line

I feel better now...

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

Emmylou Harris ~ Roses In The Snow

Thanks to shaneskhoward, Canada.

Headin' out...

This may be a first for the Brain - me an' Fixer both on a cruise at the same time, him on Queen Mary 2 and me cruisin' south on I-5. Me 'n Mrs. G are heading out to the Central Coast to visit family and friends for a few days.

I'll probably post a little from mini-HAL, so please stop by. I'll be back at this pop stand on Tuesday.

See yas.

Sotomayor Issues Challenge to a Century of Corporate Law

WSJ

n her maiden Supreme Court appearance last week, Justice Sonia Sotomayor made a provocative comment that probed the foundations of corporate law.

During arguments in a campaign-finance case, the court's majority conservatives seemed persuaded that corporations have broad First Amendment rights and that recent precedents upholding limits on corporate political spending should be overruled.

But Justice Sotomayor suggested the majority might have it all wrong -- and that instead the court should reconsider the 19th century rulings that first afforded corporations the same rights flesh-and-blood people have.

Judges "created corporations as persons, gave birth to corporations as persons," she said. "There could be an argument made that that was the court's error to start with...[imbuing] a creature of state law with human characteristics."

"Progressives who think that corporations already have an unduly large influence on policy in the United States have to feel reassured that this was one of [her] first questions," said Douglas Kendall, president of the liberal Constitutional Accountability Center.

Good for her. Yes, it's just one comment, but it shows common sense in the face of a long-ago right wing decision that corporations should be protected from the law and a more recent one that money equals speech. Maybe la Boricua is gonna turn out OK after all, not that her position on this is likely to prevail.

Here's Gordon's Law: If I can't grab it by the stackin' swivel, it ain't got the same rights I do.

Please read the rest of the article to see how, when, and why that ridiculous decision came about. I'll bet you can guess, though.

The Dick gets stabbed in the back

Sorry, didn't mean to get yer hopes up...

Reuters

Former Vice President Dick Cheney was undergoing surgery on Thursday to treat an often-debilitating back condition caused by pressure on the nerves in the lower spine, his office said.

Lumbar spinal stenosis is caused by compression of nerves in the lower back, most often producing pain or numbness, tingling and weakness in the legs and buttocks.

Thanks, Reuters, for the visual of his byew-tocks tingling. Bleach break...

If I gave a shit about Cheney's pain, which I don't, let him suffer, I'd love to do a little 'street surgery' on him.

I'd operate on his back by going in through the front with a shit-eatin' grin and a KA-BAR. Maybe do a little work on his prostate and also clear the anal blockage (his head) that gave him his bad attitude.

Eastern Europe Missile Shield Scrapped

AFP via Raw Story

The United States has pulled back from a plan to build a missile defense system in central Europe that had enraged Russia, after downgrading the threat of a missile attack from Iran, officials said Thursday.

Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer said he was told in a late-night call from US President Barack Obama that the shield would not go into place in the Czech Republic and that Poland had been given a similar message.

The Czech Republic and Poland are unhappy about this because they're still scared shitless of Russia, probably for good reason. I don't think they were ever worried about an attack from Iran, which was Bush's excuse for calling for putting missiles so close to Russia.

The fucking missiles didn't work anyway, and this will ease tensions with Russia, so good for Obama.

Update:

The best indicator that this is a good idea is that the neocons are panicked over it.

The right-wing regimes of the "new Europe" -- that is, the post-Soviet governments in eastern Europe that emerged, during the Bush administration, as the staunchest backers of American empire -- are yelping over the decision by the Obama administration to cancel Bush-era plans to build a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Predictably, the neoconservative Weekly Standard is outraged*, calling it a "complete capitulation to Russia's Vladimir Putin," and adding:

"The consequences of this action in Eastern Europe, especially in Ukraine and in other countries that feel vulnerable to Russian power, will be disastrous. It is a major American retreat in the face of Russian bullying. And we will get absolutely nothing for it."

What reality-based folks call 'diplomacy' and 'common sense', the neoimperialists call 'capitulation'.

Note to the neocons: You lose, fuckers. Go away.

*Normally I wouldn't link to that neobirdcageliner, but it's just too much fun not to go see them get all apoplectic and blow their safeties. Heh.

The truth is that the decision to put a missile defense system was both stupid and needlessly provocative. Stupid, because the system doesn't work and because the threat from Iran is nonexistent. And provocative, because it was part of the Bush administration's neo-Cold War effort to bolster and expand NATO, pressure Russia militarily in south and central Asia, back adventurist states such as Georgia, and otherwise poke the Russian bear with sharp sticks. Obama wants cooperation with Russia -- on energy policy, on Iran, on terrorism, and above all on disarmament and de-nuclearization -- and he's willing to put his money where his mouth is.

President Obama deserves high praise for this action.

Repuglican Gomorrah

My subtitle: Fuck me good, Jesus. Nobody else does.

Article in Harper's that promises hope and salvation. For US! Praise the Lord! A good read.

Republican Gomorrah – Six Questions for Max Blumenthal

3. You record repeatedly how religious right figures embrace conservative sexual mores, and how an amazing number of them break these taboos, become enmeshed in scandal—only to ask forgiveness and announce their adherence to the same taboos. [...]
...

Followers of the Christian right openly admit that they have no capacity to restrain themselves from total depravity without constant, stern commandments from an angry God.
...

These figures believe if they don’t do what God supposedly wants them to do they will descend immediately and inevitably into sin and perversion – because that’s what they want to do.

What a fucking cop-out! Plain old hypocrisy. So what else is new about phony christians?

If Fromm were alive, he would point to Dobson as the modern realization of the “magic helper” who “promises excitement and offers a political structure and symbols which allegedly give meaning and order to an individual’s life.” Fromm would also recognize in Dobson the sadomasochistic tendencies that he says are essential to the authoritarian character–the simultaneous drive to hurt the weak and worship the strong.

Indeed, Dobson’s bestselling childrearing handbook, Dare To Discipline, is little more than a manual for creating sadomasochists. [...]

All good 'christians' too. Yeesh.

Sarah Palin is the archetype of the crisis-wracked right-wing woman. She advertises herself as a feminist to people who oppose women’s liberation and favors abstinence education and “family values” moral crusades while her own family resembles a Jerry Springer episode. This seemingly conflicted dynamic is familiar to women among the Republican grassroots. Thus they relate to her on an intimate, emotional level that transcends issues and even ideology.

They like her because she's as fucked-up as they are. Wonderful.

Finally, after a string of disastrous interviews with the mainstream press, Palin phoned in to Dobson’s radio show for her last major campaign media spot. Without any scrutiny from the secular media, Palin declared herself a “hardcore pro-lifer” and urged all the “prayer warriors” to flood the polls for her and McCain. Dobson pleaded aloud, directing his prayers heavenward: “We’re rather boldly asking for a miracle with regard to the election this year.”

Here's the absolute essence of christianity: "Miracles yesterday, miracles tomorrow, sorry, no miracles today." Whew!

The article ends on an up note:

But only a miracle, or a terribly ineffectual Obama administration, can save the Republican Party from the movement that has taken it over and driven it to destruction.

Nobody, but nobody, could be that ineffectual other than Repugs. Thank you, Lord.

Also, here's former(?) right wing christoloony Frank Schaefer giving the lowdown on the other christowhackoffs to Rachel Maddow. Fast forward to about 6:20.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Mary Travers 1936 - 2009

Reuters

Mary Travers, one-third of the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary who helped popularize the work of Bob Dylan and sang hits such as "Puff (The Magic Dragon)," has died, aged 72, after battling leukemia.

The group's version of "Blowin' in the Wind" by a young Bob Dylan helped transform the song into a civil rights anthem and introduced his music to a wider audience.

The group also scored big hits with "If I Had a Hammer" and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?," co-written by folk artist Pete Seeger.

Along with "Puff," the group's other hits were "Lemon Tree," and "Leaving on a Jet Plane."

The trio's members were also noted for their political activism. They performed at the 1963 civil rights March on Washington and at demonstrations protesting the Vietnam War.

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Travers grew up in the Greenwich Village section of New York City. She was influenced at an early age by Woody Guthrie, the Weavers, Leadbelly and other major folk musicians.

"I was raised on Josh White, the Weavers and Pete Seeger," Travers told The New York Times in 1994. "The music was everywhere. You'd go to a party at somebody's apartment and there would be 50 people there, singing well into the night."

If there's any one reason I'm as slightly Liberal as I am today, it's because of my early (and ongoing) love of folk music. I had all the same artists influence me as Ms. Travers did, PLUS Peter, Paul, and Mary.

I owe ya a big debt of thanks, hon, and I'm not the only one. Godspeed.

Thanks to thatsakeeper, UK.

Rock me ...

I got my post up from Gibraltar today.

Why the Baucus Plan is Dead, Why Co-Ops Won’t Work, and Why You Should Be Happy About It.

As I'm sure we've suspected all along, the 'Baucus plan' turns out to be the dumbest piece of shit ever and a colossal waste of time. Here's the first and last paragraphs from a good post at Please... Cut The Crap!!!:

As anyone could have predicted weeks ago, the "alternative bill" Max Baucus has presented is a complete and utter joke. But don't be mad, progressives. Be happy. Before this piece of crap appeared, there was all sorts of speculation about what an alternative might be. Talk of “co-ops” actually sounded like a feasible idea to a lot of people. Now, however, they can see them and read about them, and now, we can demonstrate that the alternative Blue Dog plan is, well, a dog. If we play this right, we can make a strong reform plan with a robust public option a reality.

That’s why progressives should be glad he presented his plan. Baucus is covering his ass, and the asses of the other Blue Dogs, who are in states with a significant population of right wing cretins. There’s no possible way this plan will go through intact. It's simply not possible, because it makes no sense. If I was able to pick it apart this easily in the first 50 pages, who besides right wing cranks will buy its nonsense?

We just won the war. But keep marching, anyway.

That's pretty optimistic, but I hope he's right.

That was just the first piece I ran across on the backlash against the idiotic 'Insurance Co. Profit Preservation Plan'. It won't be the last.

Lisbon

Finally got pics up from Lisbon. Gibraltar tomorrow.

Toys That Teach

Christmas is coming, and you must know some kids you'd like to give these to and set them on a productive career path. Heh.

Go see the slide show of The 7 Most Inappropriate Products For Children. Don't worry about a 'liquid alert'. Your jaw will drop so far you won't be able to drink.

Stuffed STDs

"My child has herpes!" If that's something you'd like to yell without your child actually being infected with a venereal disease then these plushies are for you...you weirdo.

There's a couple of these that I think are actually kinda cool, but I'm probably not the world's leading role model. Like the 'Toy Tattoo Gun'. The Prison Industry Complex will probably give these out by the thousands...



Toys today seem to be a lot cooler than when I was a kid. I had a toy gas station once, and it led me to a life of being a gas station attendant and later a mechanic. Maybe if I'da had a toy briefcase fulla play money and a toy gay hooker I coulda been a rich Repug politician without ever having to work a day in my life. Who knows where these toys will take today's kids?

In a nutshell...

Click to embiggen

Thanks to YubaNet.

Kathy Griffin & Richard Clarke's Flirtfest

Man, I am so sick of reading about Crazy Becky and his reign over The Land Of The Tiny-Brained that I thought I'd bring ya something kinda sweet and funny.

HuffPo

Move over Levi Johnston, Kathy Griffin is hot for Richard Clarke! The comedienne made a few unsubtle advances at the global terrorism expert on Bill Maher Friday night, begging him to stop eying her rack and trying to start a discussion about his penis. Clarke, who is unmarried, egged her on by suggestively wagging his tongue and licking his teeth and lips at her.

"Are you getting more interested in dating Kathy Griffin?" Maher asked him.

"Oh, I've been interested for a long time!" Clarke responded.

Go watch the video and read the comments. 'Work safe' depending on where you work.

Note to Richard Clarke: Best o' luck, pal. I think hookin' up with her would be a life-changer. Heh.

Here's a rule for survival: Cold steel, hard cash, dry socks, and stay away from red-headed wimmen.

Then again, survival ain't everything...

Headline of the Day

Glenn Beck Proposes Cap on Nation's IQ

Southbound, mama ...

Oy! Left JFK at 2100 Sunday night and didn't have much sleep on the plane during the 6 1/2 hour flight to London and then bureaucratic SNAFUs at Heathrow (plus traffic on the M3 motorway) put us a couple hours behind getting to the ship, docked at Southampton. After getting here, unpacking, saying hello to members of the crew that have become family, it was time for dinner. All we could muster after that was sleep (I don't care what anybody says, the only way to get over jet lag is to sleep your way through it). So, here it is, about 9 am Tuesday morning (we just woke up) after sleeping for 11 hours and I feel so much better.

We're currently heading south (sorta) off the coast of France (We left Southampton about 5 pm last night) and I'll be back later after I get some coffee.

Cross-posted @ Worlds.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

THOUSANDS SWAMP CAPITAL TO OPPOSE HEALTH REFORM
And kick off flu season.

Congress Approval Rating Drops to 2%
Reelection rate remains at 98%.

Obama School Speech Deemed a Success
Millions of children join Communist Party.

BETWEEN THE LINES

Displeasure with (Hatred of) Obama (blacks) is helping conservative lawmakers (racist honkies) gain ground in those states (the former Confederacy) where skepticism about his agenda (fear of communist takeover) has fed doubts (paranoia), leading to calls for restraint (lynch mobs).

Crazy Becky's '9-12' logo based on communist and socialist designs

LATimes, graphics and links. Go see.

For the logo, three raised and clenched red fists are superimposed over the U.S. Capitol. Obviously the bloody fist represents the tea-baggers' themes of unity and resistance.

I don't think he's that deep a thinker. I bet he just sees it as shaking his fist at that uppity administration.

[...] Even in that reduced crowd, however, surely someone recognized how odd the right-wing gathering's left-wing logo was.

Maybe Beck will explain. Sort of.

The wingtard guru and his asshole followers don't give a shit about history and wouldn't know a real commie if one bit 'em on the ass even if they could see around the flapping 'teabags' that are blocking their view. Ignorance is bliss. Yeesh.

I doubt if they'll get the comic irony in their choice of logos either.

So long boss, knock 'em dead, don'tcha worry 'bout a thing...

As always, the Wes' Coas' faction of the Brain wishes the Fixers a wonderful and safe vacation. We'll be following along at Worlds. I ain't really too worried about 'em. I'm more concerned that they mighta beefed up the security on the liquor cabinet, fridge, credit cards, and the wheels...

And, keeping up with tradition, I'm posting yet another version of this tune. - Fixer

This one's got dancin' girls! I wonder if they got anything planned this week...

Jimmy Buffett playing "Gypsies in the Palace" in Bridgeview, IL at Toyota Park on 8-8-2009.

Thanks to ctpdshafer.

Leaving ...

The car will be here in 12 hours to take us to JFK. In that time, we have to pack (yet to begin) and then head over to Dad-in-law Fixer's to make sure he's all squared away. Thankfully, I dropped Shayna at her vet's yesterday so I don't have a Cattle Dog under foot trying to help. Barring any changes (or wifi on the aircraft), my next post will be from The Golden Lion Pub aboard QM2.

As always, Gord's the man. Don't give him too much shit. And, keeping up with tradition, I'm posting yet another version of this tune.

Peter, Paul, and Mary - Leaving On A Jet Plane

The Other London...

Ah, London...sophisticated, stylish, urbane. I envy the Fixers. I wonder if they'll make the Ace Cafe scene?

The Bikes...The Beat...The Burn-ups...
Tritons,Norvins & Goldies. Lewis Leathers, Levi blue Jeans and a white silk scarf. Leather Boys, Ton-Up Kids & Coffee Bar Cowboys. Southend, Brighton and everyone back to the Ace. British beat on the jukebox, the smell of Castrol 'R' and a big steaming mug of tea.

After Elvis but before The Beatles, the 'Cult of the Cafe Racer' A very British documentary. Red Button Films Manchester & Ace Cafe London. Spring 2008

Thanks to rebuttonmanchester, UK.

In reference ...

To what I said yesterday. Alex Pareene:

...

On 9/12, people in New York (and DC) did not feel as "great" as Glenn Beck. They just felt like shit. They felt scared and confused and depressed. Many of them were drunk. And only an idiot or an actual terrorist would want to always feel like it was 9/12/01. And eight years later, normal people, with brains and souls, have decided that some emotional distance from that disaster is healthier and wiser than trying to recapture the dread.

...

Fuck him, and all of his like.

I tell ya, after I got Mrs. F home that night, more than a couple bottles of Grey Goose and Jack Daniels' gave their lives to drown what we felt, or what we didn't. To this day, I still can't figure whether it was unbelievable sorrow or numbness over the impossibility of what happened a few hours before.

The scumbags like Beck who've exploited that should be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes.

Great thanks to Dr. Attaturk (Podiatrist to the Stars) for the link.

Vacation!

As of 5 pm yesterday afternoon, I'm on vacation. Sorely needed. We'll be leaving for London tomorrow night to catch up with our old friend Queen Mary 2 in Southampton. Of course you'll be able to follow us through Europe and then on a North Atlantic crossing (which are always fun this time of year) on Worlds.

With London in mind:

The Clash, Dave Grohl, and Bruce Springsteen - London Calling

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

An old Hank Snow tune from a 1984 concert. The song came out during the Korean War, but nobody does my favorite lyric any more:

"Mamasan a-movin' down the track
With a Gyrene baby strapped on her back.
I'm movin' on..."

Emmylou Harris ~ I'm Movin' On

Thanks to 1000Magicians, UK.

"Every year on this day ...

(Stays on top today - G)

We are all New Yorkers."

With all due respect, Mr. President, no, you're not.

You, and all the other folks who like to wrap themselves in the flag who weren't here. We are the ones who sat, waiting for news of their loved ones, who went to funerals month after month, who dealt with the problems of those who survived, who, every time the morning gives us a clear, blue sky without wind, call it a "9/11 day", you will never know what it means to be a New Yorker on the best day, let alone on the day of our greatest tragedy.

If you were all New Yorkers, you wouldn't have allowed the memory of our friends and neighbors to be used to exploit the nation, to lie us into wars, to use as a lever to pry away our civil rights, to use as a cudgel to silence righteous debate. To be a New Yorker is to be tough and strong when you have to be, to be kind and compassionate when it matters, and to not take crap from people who hold us up as something to be scorned (except when it's politically advantageous), like they do with San Francisco. Most folks in this country wouldn't qualify.

I'm tired of politicians and folks from somewhere else invoking 9/11 as some sort of excuse for doing anything we want, anywhere in the world. I'm tired of people from somewhere else coming here and acting like that hole in the ground is some sort of carnival sideshow ("Hey, ma, get a pic of me hanging on the fence!"), instead of showing any sort of respect for what happened there. I'm tired of being used.

I get what people mean by "all of us are New Yorkers on 9/11". I understand the sentiment and accept that it's said from the heart, but unless you lived it, and then had to watch how the memory of 3000 of our relatives, friends, and neighbors was perverted to achieve goals most civilized people would shun, you don't understand the disgust we feel at those who only see political and monetary gain in our loss.

We will grieve, as we do every year, in our own ways. Some will do it in public and most will do it privately and then we will go on, just as we did in the days directly after the tragedy. We remember every day for the scene remains, neater now and no longer smoldering, but still a 16-acre hole in the bedrock of Lower Manhattan, a gap in the skyline that can be seen from 10 miles away.

On this day, remember us, say a prayer if you will, but don't think you can know what the people of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and the relatives of people from 40 nations who had to witness the deaths of their loved ones on television, went through that beautiful September day. And please, whatever you do or don't, let this day remain as a marker for a tragedy, not as an excuse to get in touch with our baser instincts. I'd rather the sacrifice made 8 years ago change this nation for the good instead of as a reason to torture and oppress.

May they rest in peace.

The Free Light Bulb & Rebate Store

This has been quite a summer for new appliances and rebates around here, and an added fillip in terms of free energy efficient light bulbs.

Back in June, we got a washing machine to replace the old worn out one, paid for by a federal stimulus in the form of a tax rebate. It qualified for a $100 rebate from our local utility company, about whose conservation program I've referenced before.

This past week was kicked off by our water heater catastrophically disassembling itself and its subsequent replacement.

Ferguson's, which calls itself a 'Bath & Kitchen Gallery' and indeed has a small showroom with a coupla faucets and the like, is a pretty big plumbing supply store, and there are always more plumbers' trucks there than Volvos, if ya get my drift. They musta had fifty water heaters there. They had exactly one that fitted my needs and it is humming away under my house now.

Just as an aside, I took the junk water heater up to the Eastern County Landfill and paid a very reasonable $10.75 to properly dispose of it. The Mexican lady took my money and directed me "Up the hill. Number 9.". No. 9 was the appliance pile, and there were several water heaters there just like mine. The folks up there do an absolutely first rate job of recycling everything and have cut actual landfill usage by 50% over the last few years. Our town has a 'blue bag' recycling program which is pretty successful, and in addition to that the landfill takes every bit of trash that comes in there through the regular trash pickup process and sorts it. Picture a conveyor and a buncha Mexican ladies with gloves and clothespins on their noses and you get the idea. They also do oil, batteries, all kinds of hazmat, everything. My hat's off to them. If you come visit, one of the highlights will be a tour of the joint. You'll be dazzled. Go see what their program looks like. What used to be called 'the county dump' is now called 'the solid waste management and material recovery facility'. Sign of the times.

I think the landfill itself is closed and they just do material recovery up there. The landfill stuff is shipped to Nevada. Good place for it and the best use of space. They won't run out of room over there forever and there's no one around for any smell to bother. Heh.

I thought I'd go to the PUD and see if my new water heater qualified for the energy rebate. Frankly, I was much more interested in getting hot water restored to my house than in energy efficiency. Remember, I got the one water heater available in my town that would work for my application.

I went into the office there that handles this kinda shit and thought I'd walked into a light bulb orchard. More on that in a minute.

The rebate & light bulb lady and I hit it off instantly because a) we're both really nice people and b) we have the same last name. She had a book with the energy efficiency scores of every appliance on the planet. My water heater missed qualifying for a rebate by one point. Oh well...

Then she started in on light bulbs.

I've been replacing my incandescent bulbs with CFLs for a coupla years now, and I'm doing pretty good at it. One of the big drawbacks is that the curly bulbs look funny in some applications and people don't want their lights to look funny. We have four-bulb vanity lights in both bathrooms and I hadn't yet replaced those bulbs with CFLs just because of that.

Well, the light bulb manufacturers are getting better at it. I walked out of the PUD with four 40-watt-equivalent 9-watt CFL vanity bulbs that looked just like round vanity bulbs!. I hadn't known they existed. When I installed them, until they got warmed up the first time, I could see the curly bulbs inside the globes. Clever. And boy are them suckers bright! A good score and for free!

I mentioned to the PUD lady that I'd gotten new kitchen appliances in 2007, but hadn't known about the rebate program at the time. She said the program applied to any appliances purchased since May '07. I got them in September. She said to bring in receipts and she'd see what she could do.

Yesterday I traipsed back on over there with the paperwork on the kitchen appliances that I had dug out. I never throw anything like that away. There was a different guy there and we chatted until the light bulb & rebate lady got back from lunch. Turns out that energy programs are required by California state law for utility companies. Some do more than others. He said that the local light bulb giveaway program, "here kid, first one's free", had reduced electrical usage by 3% so far. I thought that was pretty good. He loaded me up with more vanity bulbs and some other ones in a free cloth shopping bag and told me to check back in the near future for CFL bug lights and night light bulbs.

The best part came when the lady returned. They don't offer rebates on ranges, power suckin' monsters that they are, but the icebox and dishwasher both qualified! $200 more dollars are coming my way outta the blue!

I'd say it was a pretty good trip to the power company. I had so many free light bulbs stuffed in my saddlebags that it woulda sounded like a popcorn popper if I'da went down! Heh.

One more light bulb story. I finally got some 3-way CFLs for my end table lamps. One of them screwed right into Mrs. G's lamp, but it was too big to fit inside the harp on mine, and it had an odd style of harp that I couldn't get at the hardware store.

The lamp was a cheap piece of Chinese shit that I've had for long enough that I've had to replace the 3-way socket and the cheapass lampshade disintegrated. The replacement shade was a little longer than the original, and the light shone on my arm instead of up where I could read by it, so I had the lamp sitting up on a pile of books from the horrendous backlog in my reading schedule. I went to Lowe's and got a new table lamp that eliminated the books, but the bulb still wouldn't fit so I got a replacement harp and now it all works just fine.

The bulb claims that I'll save $46.95 over its life. Damn good thing, that! That's what it cost me to get to where I could screw the light bulb in!

I'll close this with a money shot, literally. Since I've gotten the new washing machine and the 3-way CFLs, my electric bill has gone from about $170 every month to $114 on the last bill. I'll have to see if that holds, but for now it's looking good. A penny saved is a penny earned even if you had to put a buncha pennies out front to get it.

‘I’ve Come to the Conclusion That Cheney is Just Crazy’

This is from an interview of Lawrence Wilkerson by Andy Worthington at The Public Record about the Bush administration's policy toward detainees in the War For Political And Financial Gain On Terror. A 'recommended read':

Lawrence Wilkerson: Well, to keep it brief, I think the problem is that this is a national security issue, and there are so many more challenging issues — as one official put it to me the other day — on which the President has already shown some ankle, whether it’s about talking to Iran or whether it’s his rather pronounced silence vis-à-vis North Korea, or whether it’s something as minuscule as lifting some travel restrictions on Cuban Americans for Cuba. They don’t believe they can show another square centimeter of ankle on national security, because the Republicans will eat their lunch, and every time I’m told this I die laughing. I say, your guys are captured by the Sith Lord, Dick Cheney, you’re captured by Rush Limbaugh, whose real radio audience is about 2.2 million, and whose employer, Clear Channel, lost $3.7 billion in the second quarter of this year. I said, when are you gonna wake up? These are kooks. And Cheney is the kook leader. But [Nancy] Pelosi and [Harry] Reid are such feckless leaders they haven’t got any spine. We have no leadership in the legislative branch on either side of the aisle.

Andy Worthington: I agree with you absolutely there …

Lawrence Wilkerson: I become exasperated. There’s just no courage, there’s no moral courage whatsoever in the Democratic Party.

Gee. Someone besides us has noticed that.

On The Dick and The Dickless Media:

Lawrence Wilkerson: I think the principal figure in this — Vice President Cheney — would say, in response to what you’ve just said, “So what?” I mean, I really do. I wouldn’t have said that a couple of years ago, but now I’ve come to the conclusion that the man truly is — whether he was that way when I knew him before, when he was Secretary of Defense, I don’t know, that’s not at issue with me any more — the man now is just crazy.

Andy Worthington: Yes, well, I’m glad you said that. In March you called him evil. Crazy is — you know, he just seems to be a deranged man, I’m surprised he’s been getting so much air time.

Lawrence Wilkerson: It’s our media. Our media loves to keep it going. They love to throw him out there and, you know, stoke the fires. I asked a couple of people fairly high up in our media world, “Why in the world do you continue to give him and Limbaugh an audience? Why? Why do you even put them on the same plane as the President of the United States? Why do you have these dueling speeches? You guys made them dueling speeches, not the two principals.” Well, you know, they’re running out of business. People are canceling their newspaper subscriptions every day. They want news.

Andy Worthington: And they’re more interested in hearing this than they are in hearing that this madman was the driver of manufacturing false intelligence through torture to justify the invasion of Iraq.

Lawrence Wilkerson: Well, they helped in that.

Andy Worthington: Of course, that’s why they don’t want to talk about it.

And the merest glimmer of hope that we may get some justice on The Crazy Evil Dick Bastard yet:

Lawrence Wilkerson: No. My wife thinks that ultimately there’s going to be something. I’m a little more cynical than she, but she’s convinced that this investigation that’s been going on [by John Durham] — very low-key, the guy’s very persistent, he’s very determined, he reminds me of [Patrick] Fitzgerald on the Valerie Plame case, and his starting point is the destruction of the videotapes, and I’m told he’s got a plan, and he’s following that plan, and I’m told that plan is bigger than I think.

It better be a lot bigger than they're letting on. The analogy might be to not let your shadow fall on the spot where you're trying to catch trout. If they don't see you coming, you stand a lot better chance of catching them.

I think I'll change this to 'must read'. Lotsa good shit.

The long war ...

Cdr. Huber:

The long war just got longer, by fiat of Minister of Peace Robert Gates. In an interview with al Jazeera’s Abderrahim Foukara, Gates said, "both Afghanistan and Pakistan can count on us for the long term." To paraphrase the punch line to a joke about asylum inmates, we’re freaking nuts and we’re never getting out of there.

...

We're gonna be paying for our mistakes there for a long time, on many levels. If anyone in the White House has any sense, they should be running around with their hair on fire telling everyone who'll listen that we have to get out now. Our involvement in Afghanistan won't, can't, end well.

You cannot bring people who prefer to live in the 10th Century into the 21st in a decade. They have no understanding of what we expect from them, no frame of reference (don't forget, for the last two generations, they've only known war) for 'democracy'. All we will do is waste money and lives until we realize it's a futile, dry hole.

Ah, to dream...

Click to embiggen

Quit writin' and jerk that fuckin' plug outta the wall!

Thanks to YubaNet.

Bellingham mayor offers 'Daily Show' host key to city

The Bellingham (WA) Herald

Mount Vernon might be planning to give Glenn Beck the key to the city, but Bellingham Mayor Dan Pike thinks the city to the north can do better.

Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central's satirical news program "The Daily Show," is being offered the same honor here, and Pike says he thinks it's appropriate.

The mayor's invitation comes after Mount Vernon Mayor Bud Norris announced that conservative Fox News commentator and radio show host Glenn Beck would come Sept. 26 to receive the key to that city.

Here's the irony, brought to you by the only person on the planet who could possibly see it in his unique and twisted way:

September 26 is not only my birthday, but has been known for years on the Easyriders calendar as "Whatdafuck Day". Heh.

So... Happy Whatdafuck Day to Crazy Becky. I hope the key fits yer ass.

"YOU LIE!" Revisited

Fixer's not the only one to have this thought:

Thanks to Pavlovian Obeisance.

And from El Rude-o after a few of Wilson's quotes through the years:

At least if you're wrong and an asshole, Joe Wilson, you've been wrong and an asshole your whole life.

I guess there's something to be said for consistency...