Smackdown - Swiftboat Financier Edition

Ho ho!!! In this modern political world, as accountability dies an ever-quicker death, it's a rare and beautiful thing to witness the paying of the piper. We saw a little bit of it when BushCo. hung FEMA director and horse show judge, Michael Brown out to dry. And over the course of the I. Lewis Libby trial we've seen a wee bit more of it as the goons under the microscope step all over each other to avoid the public glare. But recently, Senator John Kerry had the wonderful fortune of facing a major financier of the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth.

Sam Fox floated 50k to the smear group during their infamous 2004 attack on Kerry. This week, Fox, as a reward for his vigorous GOP fundraising, was up for an ambassadorship to Belgium. But as these things work, his nomination was reviewed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who's senior members include one Senator John Kerry.

Follow the link below to read an article and transcript on the under-oath smackdown Kerry laid on the visibly nervous Fox. While it's ultimately meaningless, it must have felt damn good.

Major Swift Boat Donor To Kerry: "You're A Hero"

Movin' On Up

Back to light posting as we pack up (our just throw out) our junk and move it on across town to our new digs. We felt like we deserved better, so we went out and found a house that doesn't appear to be in danger of being condemned by the city anytime soon. Unlike our current house.

We've also got a guest room. So why not come up for a visit?

Newsness

Mrs. Delano III has begun her own foray into blogland. She poses as one Hari Covert and posts with an eye toward foodstuff. Have a look at Hari News.

And as for me, I'm on a trial run over at the Gaper's Block offshoot, Drive Thru. As Gaper's is a daily "goings on" blog covering all things Chicago, Drive Thru is a food-based look at life in Chicago. It'll cover everything from restaurant reviews to food events to recipe swapping and about a thousand things in between. I'm very excited to be a part of something new, exciting and positively lusty like Drive Thru. And really, it was a natural choice to go for it, because conversations about Chicago food issues make up about half of the chit-chat in our house. So why not start writing about it?

My first submission is titled, "Far Away Flavors Made Easy." It covers shopping for cheaper and easier to find herbs, spices and exotic ingredients in Chicago.

Back With A Bummer - UPDATED

After a much needed Blogging break, I think I'm ready to get back on the horse.

So, I'll kick things off right where they left off, with a death announcement.

From outer space, freak and roll band, the Sun City Girls:

02/20/07

With deep regret, we must announce that Charles Gocher passed away yesterday in Seattle due to a long battle with cancer at the age of 54. He is survived by the two of us who adopted him as a brother 25 years ago and his many friends around the world. He will be missed more than most could ever know. Our thanks to everyone for their support and encouragement during the past three, very difficult years. Many of you were not aware that Charles was ill and that’s because he wanted it that way. Details of a memorial in his honor will be announced soon.

---Alan and Richard Bishop

Charles was a mutant of a drummer. How Evan Jones framed Coltrane, how Art Blakey led his players with rhythms that just shouldn't have been possible, how Keith Moon was the thunder behind Townshend and Entwhistle's lightning. Gocher was all this and plenty more.

May the dead tongue continue to sing and sing and sing.

Sun City Girls website.

UPDATE - And of course, being a Sun City Girl, Mr. Gocher did much more than just play the drums. As evidenced below - followed by a Gocher drum clinic.