"He'll steal yer woman, then he'll rob yer head..."

I suspect this song of having some cleverly hidden drug references...

Panama Red was a big hit (funny vid!) for NRPS way back when, but Peter Rowan wrote it. This video is ancient! Then again, so am I...

Peter Rowan ~ Panama Red

Thanks to coyotesahowling.

Waitin' For the Hard Times To Go

Videos of Mary McCaslin (wiki) and Jim Ringer are thin on the ground so when I find one I put it up.

Their album The Bramble and the Rose is probably my all time favorite. I wore out two vinyl copies and am working on the CD. This song is on Waitin' For the Hard Times To Go.

Thanks to coyotesahowling.

V.A. Easing Rules for Users of Medical Marijuana

NYTimes

DENVER — The Department of Veterans Affairs will formally allow patients treated at its hospitals and clinics to use medical marijuana in states where it is legal, a policy clarification that veterans have sought for several years.

A department directive, expected to take effect next week, resolves the conflict in veterans facilities between federal law, which outlaws marijuana, and the 14 states that allow medicinal use of the drug, effectively deferring to the states.

The policy will not permit department doctors to prescribe marijuana. But it will address the concern of many patients who use the drug that they could lose access to their prescription pain medication if caught.

This is a good thing. Much more in the piece.

Headline of the Day

Strongest ever beer served up in dead squirrels

American Psychosis

Today's 'must read'.

What happens to a society that cannot distinguish between reality and illusion?

Just go.

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

No video. Close your eyes and enjoy this pretty song.

Mary Black & Emmylou Harris ~ A Woman's Heart

Thanks to AlbanachNEireannach, Ireland.

CAFKIA can crash with me ...

But if Zach Wamp wants Tennessee to secede (or if any other state wants to for that matter), I say we let 'em go.

Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN), who is running in a heated three-way Republican primary for governor of Tennessee, has a dire warning about the new health care reform law: If a new Congress and president aren't elected in order to repeal the bill, states might just have to secede.

"I hope that the American people will go to the ballot box in 2010 and 2012 so that states are not forced to consider separation from this government," said Wamp, who has also promised to refuse to implement the law at the state level if he is elected, in an interview with the Hotline.

...

The Union is in tough shape financially, and if they're offering to go, I say it'll save us some money. See yas!

Palin's Shocking Admission

Excellent piece by David Corn:

Sarah Palin can't expect anyone to take her seriously as a presidential candidate -- not after what she said this week.

Thanks, Dave. That's a load off...

But Palin was offended. In responding to The Daily Caller piece, though, she conceded a major point about herself: She does not posses a hardy enough constitution to be president. In that interview, The Daily Caller reports, Palin

said the media became a key reason she decided not to finish out her term as governor.

Consider that for a moment. Eight months after the grueling 2008 campaign was over, Palin, by her own admission, was not tough enough to handle the media and had to quit her job as Alaska governor. After confessing that, how can she possibly present herself as presidential timber? If she allowed herself to be hounded out of office in Juneau by the big bad press, could she withstand the slings and arrows of the media while under pressure in the White House?

This part of her reaction to The Daily Caller article is a tell. Looking to scapegoat the media for her decision to quit -- a decision widely described at the time on the left and right as bizarre -- she displays her own weakness. Does a true commander in chief turn tail when "sick puppies" bark?

Usually they just delegate their Quick Reaction Spinmeister to respond.

I wonder if Palin meant to reveal this much. Possibly, she was lazily exploiting the latest Journolist revelation. Bashing the liberal media is good for Sarah Inc. It sells books and six-figure speeches. And it's good politics, for this theme is an oldie-but-goody relished by the GOP base and Tea Partiers -- the sort of voters who will dominate the Republican Party's 2012 presidential primaries. Still, saying that she could not do her job in Alaska because of pesky reporters is a true admission of weakness. If you can't stand the heat from reporters (including the ferocious liberals of Journolist), how can you be strong enough to deal with the Russians, the Chinese, the North Koreans, the Iranians, the Taliban, and, oh yes, the terrorists? They're a bit more fierce than Katie Couric.

There's a phrase in there that bears repeating:

...the GOP base and Tea Partiers -- the sort of voters who will dominate the Republican Party's 2012 presidential primaries.

The candidates they select could be the best thing that could happen for this nation. As long as Non-Brain Dead Voters outnumber the Dead End Quarter in the general, we're safe. The results aren't in on that, of course. Let's wait and see how the teabagger candidates do later this year.

Headline of the Day

CNN's Cooper detonates Breitbart's NAACP applause falsehood

Somebody's gotta call bullshit and keep calling it on Breitfart and F**Prop for the liars and scumbags they are. Get 'im, Andy!

Run, Sharron, Run!

I get exactly one Reno TV station and I watch it for a half hour every evening M-F because I like Jeopardy! The three commercial breaks are chock-a-block with political ads these days. The back-and-forth between Reid and Angle is like watching a Roadrunner cartoon as Wile E. Angle trots out her Acme politics. The poof!s and puffs of smoke are coming fast and furious...

The Ostroy Report, with video:

It was the first time since she won her Republican primary over a month ago that Nevada Senate candidate and Tea Party darling Sharron Angle invited the press to one of her speeches. At a local business Thursday she spoke for three minutes about her pledge to repeal the estate tax. She then stepped back and stood in line with workers as a moderator announced she'd be taking questions from the press. At that point she did a military-worthy 90-degree turn and bolted out the door like a fleeing shoplifter as reporters chased her down asking why she's refusing to answer questions....at her own press conference! She hurriedly got in her SUV ("S" for "Safety") and sped off. Not very Senate-worthy behavior.

Let's face it: Sharron Angle is a right-wing fringe candidate who seeks to abolish the Education Department, the EPA, Social Security, Medicare, seeks to repeal health care reform, supports Wall Street excess, called the $20-billion BP fund a "slush fund," claims unemployment benefits deter people from looking for work, and scoffs at global warming. These Tea Party radicals like Angle and Kentucky's Rand Paul lack any real political experience, and for some strange reason salivate at the chance of joining a government they don't believe in. They're all about freedom and freedom of speech, yet refuse to follow conventional practices like being accountable to a free press and a voting public.

It's hard to imagine how Angle can recover from this sort of constant public humiliation. Outside of her teeny Tea Party constituency, she's giving mainstream Republicans and independents absolutely no reason to vote for her. Her repeated refusal to face the media and answer questions about her positions demonstrates a supreme lack of confidence and a mortal fear of public embarrassment. Neither of which are qualities we want in a U.S. Senator. To Reid, she's the gift that keeps on giving, and his best asset in his campaign for re-election.

Harry needed someone like her to run against him or he was going to get beaten. After this latest incident I'm more positive than ever that she's a Reid plant.

Shudder...

Here's the first and last ¶ of a disquieting piece you should read by Paul Krugman:

For a couple of years, it was the love that dared not speak his name. In 2008, Republican candidates hardly ever mentioned the president still sitting in the White House. After the election, the G.O.P. did its best to shout down all talk about how we got into the mess we’re in, insisting that we needed to look forward, not back. And many in the news media played along, acting as if it was somehow uncouth for Democrats even to mention the Bush era and its legacy.

Again, Republicans aren’t trying to rescue George W. Bush’s reputation for sentimental reasons; they’re trying to clear the way for a return to Bush policies. And this carries a message for anyone hoping that the next time Republicans are in power, they’ll behave differently. If you believe that they’ve learned something — say, about fiscal prudence or the importance of effective regulation — you’re kidding yourself. You might as well face it: they’re addicted to Bush.

And if they get back in power, our nation will be found dead with the needle still in its arm.

Quote of the Day

From David Aquarius in a comment on yesterday's post:

The way out of this economic shitstorm is sitting just across the street waiting for someone to dart into traffic and bring it back. Pres. Obama, on the other hand, insists on waiting for the light to change.

I was reminded of a cartoon I saw once. I looked for it and couldn't find it. Showed a cobweb-covered skeleton sitting in a car at a stop sign. He had been waiting for something to change that wasn't going to.

Like a battered spouse ...

I keep coming back for more. I think I'm either a masochist or insane ... or both.

Running late this morning; go surf the blogroll until the old man gets his ass outta bed.

TGIF!

Don't have a problem with it ...

Some people just need killin' ...

Quote of the Day

Digby:

...

As a blogger Palin/Gingrich is nirvana. As an American it's the 7th circle of hell.

Speaking as an atheist ...

I'd say God's pissed:

First Glenn Beck, now Rick Warren? WTF is with all the hypocrites going blind?

...

The Funniest Marketing Fails Of All Time

Photos
This is a quickie. Run your mouse over the thumbnails. "Fun day at the funeral home!" is a particular favorite.

Update:

If you're in the mood for this kinda shit, check out "Crap At My Parents' House: An Homage To Mom & Dad's Terrifying Belongings". Captions if ya click on 'em.

Headline of the Day

The Story Behind the 1965 Killing of Sherrod's Dad

Scaring white people for fun and profit

From Maddowblog. Long, but worth watching.

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

Weasels (them) v Chickens (us)

David Sirota on the latest 'weasel word':

Over the last few days, Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner have made the case that Harvard professor and Congressional Oversight Panel chairwoman Elizabeth Warren is essentially too controversial (potentially not "confirmable," in Dodd-speak) a figure to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). This, then, raises the revealing question of how Washington defines "controversial?"

Yada, yada. Cut to the chase:

The message to both today's generation and the future generation of citizens who may aspire to work in government is pretty clear: If you are personally/financially connected to private for-profit corporations that underwrite political campaigns - even the ones that helped destroy the economy - then Washington has no problem with your appointment to a position overseeing those same private corporations. But if you forge an independent path and are not connected to those corporations and to that sluice of corporate campaign cash, you are suspect - and probably will have trouble getting a job in government. Why? Because the former cadre of insiders poses no real threat to the economic status quo - while the latter kind of independent outsider like Elizabeth Warren might actually rock the boat. Defining "controversial" this way, thus, creates a perverse incentive system: Going through the revolving door is rewarded as noncontroversial, while refusing to go through the revolving door is effectively punished as too controversial.

This is how corruption tends to work most often in D.C. On a day to day basis, it's far less the brazen money-for-votes schemes, and far more the narrowing of the political debate and the distortion of political language itself. In this case, it's the hijacking of the concept of "controversial" so as to marginalize an agent of change. And if that hijacking ends up preventing Elizabeth Warren from heading the CFPB, then, indeed, the status quo will - once again - have won.

In Ms. Warren's case, 'controversial' is literally a 'weasel word' - a word used by the weasels who want to be in charge of the henhouse and look out for the best interests of the weasels as opposed to someone who might actually do what they're supposed to and look out for the best interests of the chickens.

Shorter: same old, same old.