Norton Buffalo 1951 - 2009

I won't be surprised if you've never heard of Norton Buffalo (wiki, website), but he's been huge out west here for many years. I've been to see him at a lot of small venues around here. At times, his show was the only live music for forty miles. He made his harp rock.

EssEffChron

(11-01) 21:11 PST PARADISE (BUTTE COUNTY) -- Norton Buffalo, harmonica virtuoso, one-of-a-kind performer and consummate accompanist to the stars, died Friday night from cancer in Feather River Hospital, near his home in Paradise (Butte County). He was 58.

Mr. Buffalo, who appeared on more than 180 albums and spent 33 years as a member of the Steve Miller Band, was diagnosed with cancer in September. His life will be celebrated Jan. 23 at the Fox Theater in Oakland in a benefit concert starring the Steve Miller Band and the Doobie Brothers, with special guests Huey Lewis, George Thorogood, Charlie Musselwhite and Bonnie Raitt.

"He was the antithesis of East Coast cynical," said Raitt, who spent Sunday morning watching Buffalo videos on YouTube. "He was always in funny mode without being too gooey about it. He's been that guy all this time. In one guy, you got all the hope and optimism of the '70s."

Take five and go read about him.

Adios, dude.

Oh., the irony...

Ironic Times

China Signs Huge Oil Deal With Iraq, Huge Copper Deal With Afghanistan
Your tax dollars at work.

World's Largest Cruise Ship Sets Sail on Maiden Voyage
Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas has 2700 cabins, 33 Olympic-sized swimming pools, 1200 restaurants, 114 discotheques, 11 supermarkets and two cemeteries.

Big City Newspapers' Circulation Down 25% in Last 6 Months
According to reliable blogs.

In related news:

Cruise Line to Retrace Voyage of Titanic on 100th Anniversary
On April 8, 2012, HM Balmoral will leave Southampton carrying over two thousand print journalists.

Quote of the Day

Our buddy Nucks:

...

Go buy some food, winter is coming and the economy is being dragged on the ground behind some so called expert economists like toilet paper on yer ex wife's heel coming out of the bathroom.

...

Going to work ...

Sorry ...

For the lack of posting lately. We're busy as hell at the shop and I've been working on the Mrs. office the rest of time, trying to get it finished in a minimum of time - hopefully by sometime next week. I'll be back in form soon.

Remember?

Remember a few years ago, when Bush and Congress decided the President needed broader surveillance powers (we can't keep you safe unless we listen to everything), wiretapping our phones and electronic activity? Remember how we jumped up and down and the Rethugs chalked it up to "Bush hatred"? Remember when we said we didn't want any President to have the power to basically ignore our privacy rights?

Well, seems the current White House has gotten used to having that capability and doesn't want to give it up either:

The Obama administration has, yet again, asserted the broadest and most radical version of the "state secrets" privilege -- which previously caused so much controversy and turmoil among loyal Democrats (when used by Bush/Cheney) -- to attempt to block courts from ruling on the legality of the government's domestic surveillance activities. Obama did so again this past Friday -- just six weeks after the DOJ announced voluntary new internal guidelines which, it insisted, would prevent abuses of the state secrets privilege. Instead -- as predicted -- the DOJ continues to embrace the very same "state secrets" theories of the Bush administration -- which Democrats generally and Barack Obama specifically once vehemently condemned -- and is doing so in order literally to shield the President from judicial review or accountability when he is accused of breaking the law.

...

Sorry, but when it comes to this, I don't trust this White House any more than I did the last one.

I hope the rest of yer day goes better...

Thanks to onaitsabes21.

Oasis of the Seas

Fixer, this one's FYI. Also here and here. Oh what the hell...

Marijuana growers upend hard-luck California town

Go read about growing pot in Hayfork in the LATimes.

This hardscrabble Northern California town has become a hotbed for medical marijuana farming. Kids stroll much of the year past pungent plants flourishing in gardens and alleys. The red-and-black clad Timberjacks football team moved its halftime huddle on a recent Friday night to avoid the odor of marijuana smoke wafting over the gridiron from nearby houses. Some students talk openly of farming pot after graduation, about the only opportunity in this depressed timber town.

How Trinity County, a sprawling, lightly populated area twice the size of Rhode Island, came to be dubbed "Northern California's pot paradise" by High Times magazine is a story of law, lawlessness and geography.

Just a little more than 14,000 residents are spread across its 3,000 square miles. People live as they like in its mountains thick with trees, separated from civilization by windy roads and "No Trespassing" signs. For decades, that's made it easy for some residents to grow marijuana without much interference.

That's no shit. I went to visit a friend of mine in Hayfork forty years ago. He had moved up there from pretty affluent circumstances in SoCal to live with his grandparents in a cabin 'out on the Hyampom road'. Those were hippie days and he helped the old folks out and grew dope.

Hayfork is so far out in the sticks that its zip code is eieio. I got there from the west via CA SR36 which wasn't paved at that time for the last twenty miles into town. It was uphill and winding, and my biggest memory is driving with my left ear out the window listening for the jake brakes of loaded logging trucks coming downhill in the opposite direction right at me!. The upside was that after the first big rig appeared outta nowhere around a blind turn, they couldn't scare the shit outta me. If I'da known then what I know now about the sometimes lackadaisical maintenance on backwoods big rigs...ah, the innocence of youth, ignorance really is bliss, fools rush in and all that. But I digress.

The parking space for the cabin was on the opposite side of the road. Walk across the road, then across a suspension foot bridge high enough over Hayfork Creek (a tributary of the South Fork Trinity River and pronounced 'crick') so as to be passable during the occasional high water, and then uphill a little ways to the cabin.

By modern standards, my buddy's grow was pretty modest, maybe twenty or so plants in amongst his grandparents' vegetable garden which he also took care of, but growing weed was a major felony back then, so he kept it quiet. Nobody up there gave a shit, and nobody came looking for it. The local culture was all about logging*, and my pal was enough of an oddity that he was 'that thar hippie grandson of the _________s'. They're pretty friendly folks up there and so was he and he got along fine.

*Q: Why do loggers have foreskins?
A: So they got a place to stash their chew at lunchtime.

He'd been up there a coupla years and had something I had never seen at that time: 2lb. coffee cans full of manicured weed. Many of them. I was there for three days and never drew a straight breath, and no reason to. Pretty laid back bucolic lifestyle. Heh. 'Lifestyle' wasn't even a word then.

He wasn't in it for the money and only needed enough of that to get by, and as far as I know his only cash customer was his brother in SoCal.

Those were simpler times. My friend was pretty pure at heart about growing weed as the answer to society's ills and not much interested in money.

These days, like almost everything else, it's all about the money. I can see growing weed to make a living in these post-logging depression days, but greed has gone way beyond that as usual and has fucked up even little out-of-the-way Hayfork. Seems like you can't get far enough out in the sticks these days to avoid it.

Such is progress sometimes, not always for the good. Sigh.

Quote of the Day

Mikhail Gorbachev

By the way, in 1987, after my first visit to the United States, Vice President Bush accompanied me to the airport, and told me: “Reagan is a conservative. An extreme conservative. All the blockheads and dummies are for him, and when he says that something is necessary, they trust him. But if some Democrat had proposed what Reagan did, with you, they might not have trusted him.”

Jesus fuckin' Christ, 41, why didn't you tell us that? Coulda saved this country a lotta grief, most especially from your idiot spawn.

G.O.P. Stalinists Invade Upstate New York

Daddy Frank's column today is about the congressional race in N(orthern)Y(okels)-23 and is 'do not miss', links at site.

BARACK OBAMA’S most devilish political move since the 2008 campaign was to appoint a Republican congressman from upstate New York as secretary of the Army. This week’s election to fill that vacant seat has set off nothing less than a riotous and bloody national G.O.P. civil war. No matter what the results in that race on Tuesday, the Republicans are the sure losers. This could be a gift that keeps on giving to the Democrats through 2010, and perhaps beyond.

The battle for upstate New York confirms just how swiftly the right has devolved into a wacky, paranoid cult that is as eager to eat its own as it is to destroy Obama. The movement’s undisputed leaders, Palin and Beck, neither of whom has what Palin once called the “actual responsibilities” of public office, would gladly see the Republican Party die on the cross of right-wing ideological purity. Over the short term, at least, their wish could come true.

Careful, Pop! That 'die on the cross' shit has implications. But...at least they'd be dead. I'll settle for that.

The right’s embrace of Hoffman is a double-barreled suicide for the G.O.P. [...]

Ah, the visual - toe on the trigger, their empty head on the Moon!

Only in the alternative universe of the far right is Obama a pariah and Palin the great white hope. It’s become a Beltway truism that the White House’s (mild) spat with Fox News is counterproductive because it drives up the network’s numbers. But if curious moderate and independent voters are now tempted to surf there and encounter Beck’s histrionics for the first time, the president’s numbers will benefit as well. To the uninitiated, the tea party crowd comes across like the barflies in “Star Wars.”

Ahhhhh.....and then:

There is only one political opponent whom Obama really has to worry about at this moment: Hamid Karzai. It’s Afghanistan and joblessness, not the Stalinists of the right, that have the power to bring this president down.

Ya sure know how ta harsh a mellow, Pops.

Tonight We Ride!

This is a delightful song about cowboys "going rogue" and yes, I said that on purpose! Did I mention that choices have consequences? Heh.

A great song by Tom Russell!

Indeed it is! How could it be otherwise with lyrics like this?

When I'm too damn old to sit a horse, I'll steal the warden's car
Break my ass out of this prison, leave my teeth there in a jar
You don't need no teeth for kissin' gals or smokin' cheap cigars
I'll sleep with one eye open, 'neath God's celestial stars

Tonight we rock, Tonight we roll
We'll rob the Juarez liquor store for the Reposado Gold
And if we drink ourselves to death, ain't that the cowboy way to go?

Listen and enjoy.

Tom Russell ~ Tonight We Ride

Thanks to Wegg09, Norway.

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

Emmylou cuts loose a little toward the end of this one. Be still my heart!

Hello Stranger by Emmylou Harris w/ Nash Ramblers

Thanks to sanjosepal.

The White Man's Burden

Pretty good post on the parallels between Afghanistan and Vietnam by Ray McGovern. He starts off with a little Kipling. I'm surprised it's taken so long for the big writers to invoke him.

It is not wise for the Christian white
To hustle the Asian brown;
For the Christian riles
And the Asian smiles
And weareth the Christian down.

At the end of the fight
Lies a tombstone white
With the name of the late deceased;

And the epitaph drear,
A fool lies here,
Who tried to hustle the East.

Whether we're trying to conquer them or help them, it will end the same.

By the way, I caught part of Dr. Brzezinski's address on C-Span that Mr. McGovern refers to. I thought it was common sense and realpolitik, but then I respect him and agree with him a lot. Mr. McGovern does not.

Go figure ...

Whoda thought it?

So it may turn out that Harry Reid was the hero in the public option after all.

"We'd rather fight than stand around. Tell yer friends."

Thanks to DrStranglove.

Jane on Miss Connecticut

Back before the flood when I was one horny young Jarhead amongst many, we were given to hyperbole concerning the for all practical purposes non-existent opposite sex, and we used phrases like this to describe our feelings about attractive sexy women:

"I'd low-crawl a mile through ground glass to sniff the tire tracks of the truck that carries her skivvies to the laundry."

We would have too if the opportunity had presented itself, which of course it didn't.

The drop-dead gorgeous Jane Hamsher (wiki) of Firedoglake was in about first grade then, but she is the perfect example of what we were talking about. Her wit, brains, and the committed Liberal activism that have launched her to Blogtopian superstardom were not what we had in mind, but are definitely part of the package now.

That said, fast forward this video to 6:00 and watch her give you arguably the most disturbing visual of Joe Lieberman you will ever have! Oh, the horror...

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

Healthcare Hoax from Hell

This is the first I've heard of this.

AfterDowningStreet

Lies, damn lies, and promises from Democrats. An amendment allowing states to create state-level single-payer healthcare has been stripped out of the House healthcare bill, after having passed in committee back in July by a vote of 27 to 19. And rumor has it that a vote on national single-payer that was promised in July in exchange for skipping a committee vote on it will now be denied.

First, the state single-payer amendment.

Back in July, the House Committee on Education and Labor did something right, something that could have made all the difference in the world to millions of Americans. Congressman Dennis Kucinich introduced in the committee an amendment that would have effectively allowed states to improve on our healthcare system if they chose to, allowed them to create state-level single-payer healthcare. There are bills to do this in several state legislatures already. Such a bill has passed and been vetoed in California twice, where a change in governor is imminent.

President Obama told the committee chairman, George Miller, to oppose Kucinich's amendment, and he did so, leading off the voting with a resounding "No." But the Democrats voted 14 to 14 with one member passing and two failing to vote. And the Republicans voted 13 to 5 with one member failing to vote. That added up to 27 yes votes and 19 no votes. Some Republicans may have voted yes simply because the chairman voted no, but they said they were voting yes for states' rights. And that would be a sensible, decent, and constitutional position. Why shouldn't states be permitted to do better, as well as worse, than Washington, even if the insurance companies bring in less blood money?

Canada got its healthcare system in one province first. If California or Pennsylvania joins the civilized world and treats healthcare as a right, and eliminates the waste and bureaucracy of the health insurance companies, our whole nation may just be forced to come along, or watch half the population migrate to California and Pennsylvania.

I've already watched what seems like half the population migrate to California, thank you very much. It was and continues to be damned ugly and I'm not sure single-payer here would be worth more of it.

My opinion on more overpopulation of my state has nothing to do with the point of Mr. Swanson's post. Please go read the rest.

Obama's Declaration Of Swine Flu Emergency Prompts Pro-Swine-Flu Republican Response

The World's Best News Source

Claiming that the president was preying on the public's fear of contracting a fatal disease last week when he declared the H1N1 virus a national emergency, Republican leaders announced Wednesday that they were officially endorsing the swine flu. "Thousands of Americans—hardworking ordinary Americans like you and me—already have H1N1," Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele said during a press conference. "Now Obama wants to take that away from us. Ask yourself: Do you want the federal government making these kinds of health care decisions for you and your family?" Other prominent Republicans opposing Obama's declaration of emergency include Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, who urged residents of his state to continue not washing their hands, and radio host Rush Limbaugh, who made a point of dying of the virus during his show on Wednesday.

Hmmmmm. Might be worth a little collateral damage such as a few million dead wingtards to get rid of Rushole.

Al-Qaeda Outwitted Bush, Neocons

Duh. It wasn't very hard for them to do, either, given that Bush/Cheney played right into their hands.

Robert Parry

As security worsens in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it is clear that al-Qaeda and its Taliban allies outwitted President George W. Bush and his neoconservative advisers by tying down U.S. forces in Iraq for five years while the Islamic militants rebuilt their forces for the war on their “central front.”

What might have been possible eight years ago – in rebuilding Afghanistan and winning the hearts and minds of many Afghans – has become almost impossible because of Bush’s “muddling through” strategy regarding what became “the forgotten war.”

Too bad Afghanistan doesn't have any oil. Then he'da had a 'strategy'. Yeesh.

Parry goes on to quote Captain Hoh at some length, whom I am sure we're all familiar as the first and hopefully not the last Foreign Service Officer to resign in order to publicly question the whole AfPak flusterpluck.

Yet while Capt. Hoh may have struggled to reach a painful personal decision, it is far from clear that senior U.S. officials and American opinion-makers have come to grips with an even more troubling realization: that President Bush and his neocon advisers committed the United States to two wars whose chances for success were crippled by ill-defined goals and ill-considered strategies.

Indeed, one of the most remarkable aspects of life in Washington today is how the neocons remain exceptionally influential. They keep their well-paid jobs at prestigious think tanks, write books for major publishing houses, and control key opinion columns in the Washington Post and, to a lesser degree, the New York Times.

Even now, as President Obama ponders what to do with the botched war in Afghanistan, the neocons bait him about alleged weakness and defeatism. Their allies in Congress, the likes of Sens. John McCain and Joe Lieberman, seem determined to undermine the Obama administration at every turn if the President doesn’t take the neocons' advice and escalate the war.

It seems that Official Washington can’t face up to its disastrous misjudgments over the past eight years.

Neither the pols nor the journos have a very good track record about admitting their colossal mistakes. Without that, nothing is going to change very quickly. When pigs fly.

I think we could make a good start by taking a few machine gun belts' worth of neocons out and shooting them. I volunteer to throttle the smarmy grin off Kristol's face myself to kick things off.

Is This Tom Friedman's 'Walter Cronkite Moment' on Afghanistan?

Harvey Wasserman

The Iraq war's chief New York Times cheerleader has reversed field on Afghanistan. Does it mean there will be no escalation?

In early 1968, after the devastating Tet Offense, CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite pronounced the Vietnam War unwinnable. Lyndon Johnson knew he had "lost middle America" and soon declined to run for a second term. The war dragged on for seven more hellish years. But the hearts and minds of the American public had been lost.

Tom Friedman is no Walter Cronkite. [...]

Thomas Friedman is nothing if not a megaphone for the corporate elite. He supports atomic power and consistently pumps global trade agreements, US military adventurism and top-down decision-making in ways that can draw howls of outrage with a single smarmy sentence.

It's impossible to assign tangible value to Friedman's loss of faith in escalation. But those of us hoping to avoid a catastrophic dive off the Afghani abyss have expected nothing but grief from this mainstay of the Iraqi catastrophe.

That a key cheerleader for that war is now waving his editorial pompoms for de-escalation can only be good. Let's make sure the White House gets the message.

Hear, hear.