Finish My Wine dot Com

It Is Accomplished

2008-11-05T01:55:00.001-06:00

We did it.

As burned out and as fried as I've become about politics lately, it seems that all of my twinkle-toed optimism has found the requisite company and won the day. I've had tears in my eyes off and on for the last 4 hours. I hope you have too.

Generation of Swine

2008-08-13T10:52:00.008-05:00

The nation's top cop, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, should be tarred, feathered, drug through an angry mob brandishing rotten vegetables and then sent to prison for the rest of his natural life for his gross dereliction of duty and what essentially amounts to treason--and not one of those country club prisons either. He deserves the dankest, most wicked hellhole we've got.

Justice Staffers Won't Be Prosecuted For Illegal Hiring Practices

My ire wasn't sparked by that decision alone. It came more from his weaselly posturing afterwards:

Said Mukasey, "Not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime."

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???

**However, much consternation has been stirred about the legal kung-fu involved in interpreting Mukasey's statement. Especially from folks outside the legal community. Like myself. Not that this absolves the pandering tool of an AG and his motives for taking no further action in the DOJ hiring scandal... but I suppose it does provide a look at exactly which bunker he's taking his legal refuge under. (This dialogue was taken from reader J's comment over at a Sadly, No! post):

...here’s something from FireDogLake:
“Understand: Mukasey has turned into a terrible shill for the Administration. But it has been clear for over a year that the Administration would escape criminal charges for having committed massive violations of the Hatch Act. But that has more to do with the Hatch Act than with Michael Mukasey. Even a Democratic AG would have a hard time charging this stuff, given the stated penalties for civil Hatch Act violations.

The Hatch Act gives citizens no real recourse for the politicization of our government. And the loyal Bushies know this. After all, by all appearances, they’re still committing Hatch Act violations.”
(http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/08/12/i-hate-to-say-i-told-you-so/) Emphasis in original.

The conduct of Sampson & Goodling — as noxious, hideous, corrupt & terrible as it most certainly was — just did NOT violate any *criminal* laws.

To repeat something I’ve said several times already that perfectly illustrates this: Title VII (federal law) prohibits firing an employee because they’re black. Such a firing is *illegal,* but it is NOT a crime. Under Title VII, the EEOC might be able to impose a fine or the fired employee might bring a civil suit for damages.

Under the federal civil service laws, weak as they currently are, it seems the most that can be done against scum like Goodling & Sampson is to fire them. But they no longer work for the Government.

What we should do is press our Congress critters to pass some criminal penalties for this kind of corrupt politicization of our Justice Department. We should not pillory Mukasey for making this statement. Besides, we have *plenty* of other valid reasons to trash this pathetic excuse for an AG.

GWB: Enough Already?

2008-08-12T13:16:00.004-05:00

George Bush to Bob Costas: America doesn’t have any problems

Like the commentary over at Crooks and Liars says, I've got no problem with optimism. But fer fuck's sake. What kind of douchebag, jagoff, fuck-knuckle can sit there on the other side of the planet and proclaim to the world that their nation simply has no problems? It's like Bush is running 'em right outta a playbook from North Korea or Mayanmar... or even, ahem, China.

Fox News in the Bag for the GOP?

2008-08-05T10:27:00.003-05:00

Yea, yea, quite the shocker, I know. But the other day, on the occasion of Rush Limpball'z 20 years in ~~propaganda~~ radio celebration, the Bush boys called in to wish well. Elder Bush then let go with a doozy. Not that anyone's really all that shocked mind you. It's just nice to have this kind of affirmation is all.

Reason(s) Not To Vote Republican in '08 - Foreign Policy Edition

2008-07-21T17:14:00.008-05:00

It's difficult to believe that there's still people willing to let the GOP continue to ~~ruin~~ run the nation after all the damage they've done over the past 7 years. Whether you care about the economy, civil liberties, or being killed in a far away land for reasons no one can really put their finger on, chances are the Republican "leadership" of the Bush administration has probably mangled something you care about. Badly.

And in this election year it seems that despite Bush's abysmal approval rating, his type of low-ball, Rovian politickin' hasn't disappeared. In desperate attempts to keep the Republican brand alive, the waters have become somewhat, uh, muddied as of late.

In an effort to help clarify things, and help you understand why John McSame is a joke, there's this:

Foreign Policy Expert McCain: “Iraq-Pakistan Border” Extremely Dangerous (Hint: there is no Iraq-Pakistan border.)

and this:

McCain Gaffe Watch: Gets another basic Iran fact wrong

aaand this too:

A McCain Gaffe in Jordan

There's plenty more out there and without a doubt, and when you add in little points like the Iraqi Prime Minister practically campaigning for Obama yesterday, and a staggering difference in fundraising among their constituencies, and his general affibility around the globe, I guess we don't really have to guess why McSame and his Rovian minions have to try and build some alternate reality to foist on the American public. It's all they've got.

Oh.

And speaking of Karl "Turdblossom" Rove... looks like he's fled the country to avoid testifying before congress. Wow. Kinda has an "I am not a crook" feel to it, huh?

***UPDATE***
Well, as if I haven't leaned on Crooks and Liars hard enough in this post, they go and lay out a doozy on this very topic. Goddamn.

Uh Oh, It Done Happened Again

2008-07-11T13:35:00.003-05:00

Wonkette writes:

What are the odds of a dude named Troy King getting caught in bed with aHomecoming King from Troy University? This seems like a wacky sitcom plot, on a gay porn channel.

Wouldn't cha just know it, you can't make this crap up:

Anti-Gay Republican Alabama Attorney General Caught... Being Gay.

The Other Mental Recession

2008-07-11T11:23:00.003-05:00

Ben Cohen blogging on The Huffington Post has an excellent post today. It's a little trip down memory lane to four years ago when Bush's war was still a galloping success and he was a hero in a ten gallon hat and tin star.

While surfing the net on 'Stumble', I came across an interview with President Bush on Irish television that caused a bit of a storm in 2004. The interview conducted by the tenacious Carol Coleman of Radio Television Ireland was not aired on American television, and Bush's press officers apparently complained vociferously about the rigorous questioning.

The video shows Bush at the absolute peak of his arrogance -- convinced of his own rhetoric about Iraq, flooded with confidence from international subservience to American power, and high off a crushing military victory that reinforced his childish fantasies of American power and preeminence.

The problem was, Coleman was having none of it, and what transpired was a unique insight into the warped brain of the least respected and most hated president in the history of the United States.

Go now and read the rest of the article and, by all means, watch the video.

And after doing so, ask yourself that if this swine has fallen so far that he now enjoys the lowest approval rating of any president in the history of the country, why in the HELL do congressional Democrats still kow-tow to his corrupt, deranged, morally bankrupt administration. Please share any answers with me, cuz I've come up with absolutely none.

Where'd You Move Your Government Cheese To?

2008-07-02T13:51:00.004-05:00

So after months of curious waiting, I finally got my George Bush economic stimulus refund check thing last week. Right off the top most of it went to paying off bills. The rest was spread out around several Chicago-area bars and restaurants over the course of a three-day weekend. So much for my free money.

I was curious what other people had done with their money, provided they'd received it yet. So I conducted a super-scientific poll during my weekend on the town. Most people, it turns out, did the exact same thing as I did; spend it on some combination of bills and booze (and maybe a meal or two). Perhaps that's what I get for polling a random assortment of barflies.

Apparently, other people, like adult entertainment market researchers, have concluded different findings. To think, I coulda had a seat on the bang bus and all I got was an awful, awful hangover and the telephone number for a fat girl from Texas.

Calling Bullshit on all the ANWAR and Offshore Drilling Talk

2008-06-25T14:35:00.004-05:00

Via the magic of the interwebs, I offer the following two arguments against the current crop of Republican horseflop solutions to the nation's fuel price crisis:

Case 1) McCain: My offshore drilling gimmick would have big “psychological impact”

Case 2) Closing Enron Loophole Would Drop Oil Prices 25% - 50% Overnight

There's a whole bunch of people getting rich off of what we're paying for a gallon of gas these days. And there's a reason that some people only want to offer up "solutions" that, even in the wettest-dream, wouldn't begin to have an effect for at least 7 years.

Yep. This July 4th, this nation should celebrate their collective gullibility if this ruse is allowed to continue.

5 Billion Mistakes

2008-06-19T13:31:00.008-05:00

So the venerable iTunes has announced they've now sold over 5 billion individual songs via their online music store. 5 billion handicapped, rights-restricted, song rentals, more like it. iTunes songs come locked-down with DRM technology that cripples the mp3 files and severely limits the purchaser's rights to do what they please with a product they're supposed to own.

Why on Earth would people continue to patronize these goons? I mean Amazon has gone DRM-free, there's the wonderful Other Music and a host of other legal alternatives--not to mention the more dubious, less-legal options.

5 billion. For fuck's sake, people.

The Music Industry Abuses Us And We're To Blame.

Stay Classy, GOP (Another In An Ongoing Series)

2008-06-18T13:14:00.002-05:00

Ahhh. Nothing like a little bald-faced lying to pump up your bigoted base.

Professional disinformation dealer and race baiter, Rush Limpballs, makes some seriously spurious claims about the nexus between America's recent natural disasters and citizen ethnicity.

Rush Limbaugh Attacks Black Katrina victims and praises Whites as the Floods hit.

Swine.

Stay Classy, GOP FOX News

2008-06-12T11:11:00.002-05:00

Wow. Their bigotry is all they have left, isn't it? Pathetic.

Need Another Reason Not To Vote Republican This Year?

2008-06-11T12:37:00.002-05:00

Uh oh. There goes the Fraternity vote.

John McCain: “I will veto every single beer”

Firewater Blows the Roof Off The Empty Bottle

2008-06-04T12:58:00.009-05:00

Last Friday night I made it out to see the band Firewater at Chicago’s Empty Bottle. I’ve liked the band on and off for some years now, but, honestly, I wouldn’t have gone had I not won free tickets from Chicago Public Radio (of all places). Before that day I hadn’t even heard their latest album. But after winning the tickets I started reading up on the story behind that album, 2007’s The Golden Hour. I still wasn't sure if I was going to use the tickets. Then I went and got the album. And after getting the album, well, of course I was gonna go see the show.

The story goes a little like this; in 2004 Todd Ashley, the singer and songwriter behind the entire Firewater project, was devastated by the concurrent misfortunes of losing his wife to divorce and the re-election of George Bush. He opted to lick his wounds by doing a great deal of globe trekking. Over the course of his adventures at some point he was drugged and robbed and stuck somewhere in Pakistan. His blog/journal, Postcards from the Other Side of the World, chronicles much of the time after he got out of that particular jam and is an absolutely fascinating read.

What to do when you're destitute musician in a foreign land with no desire to head back home? Well, start writing songs, of course. Ashley supported himself by teaching English and doing odd jobs. All the while he kept working on the material that would ultimately become the current Firewater album. Recruiting musicians from various countries and musical backgrounds to play his songs results in an album that, while having that completely distinctive Firewater sound, also has a richly flavored global vibe to it. There’s plenty of klezmer and banghra alongside eastern European and middle eastern folk. Though, most of the exoticism exists more to set the atmosphere than drive the songs… maybe as a way of illustrating Ashley’s journeys. Sort of mirroring his state of mind in that despite fleeing to all these exotic locales, and despite his soaking-up of all these musical influences, he remains unable to lose himself in any of them fully. That’s a sentiment that’s never too far from the surface in the lyrics. Tales of loss and woe abound. And even when he sings about being lost and robbed in very foreign lands, the things he lost and left back at home continue to haunt him with far more urgency than any fiasco abroad.

So, the show… wow. Firewater absolutely blew the roof off of the Empty Bottle. They had the normally too-cool-for-school, folded-arms Chicago crowd instead jumping, dancing, singing along. It was a big party. Wall to wall, it looked like everyone was having a blast. Myself included. Eventually, I joined forces with a group of Russian girls who had been boogieing down throughout the show. When I asked if they knew who the band was, one replied, “Oh yes! We love these band (sic)!”

And so we kept on dancing.

Check out an interesting 5 minute infomercial-thing on youtube about how the album came to be. A handful of songs from Firewater’s new album, The Golden Hour, can be heard on their myspace page.

"Lost" Finale Roundup

2008-05-30T11:24:00.004-05:00

(Yea, once again the pic above was ripped off from the good folks at Shakesville.)

So, I had the great misfortune of having to watch the two-hour blow-out season finale of Lost with a gal who's never seen it... and couldn't help herself from making snarky comments throughout. I guess it beats watching it alone, but not by much. And same goes for my deadbeat Florida Lost contingent. You all fell off, my friends. Fell right off on the biggest night of the season.

I think I'm gonna have to stake out a couple hours this weekend and re-watch it for whatever subtleties I may have missed.

It was, as each season finale has been, an excellent episode. This season's more sci-fi tinged themes were expanded upon and as we've come to expect, entirely new mysteries were laid out for us fans to salivate over all summer long. But there were some answers... or at least some moments of relative congruence, which, in this show, is about the best one can hope for really. My (and after checking the intertubes, apparently everyone's) favorite one of those was seeing Desmond and Penny finally re-unite. I had a goofy goddamn grin from ear to ear for that. Very sweet.

Anyway, Salon.com has a great rundown of last night's show. And Shakesville has their usual post-show dialog up and Sadly, No! has a message board going as well. But if you really wanna geek it, there's always the super-fan site, The Fuselage.

Hungry For Worms

2008-05-27T18:52:00.003-05:00

Er, words. Yea, words.

So, here's a poem by a writer far better know for his short fiction, Raymond Carver:

The Possible

I spent years, on and off, in academe.
Taught at places I couldn't get near
as a student. But never wrote a line
about that time. Never. Nothing stayed
with me those days. I was a stranger,
and an impostor, even to myself. Except
at that one school. That distinguished
institution in the midwest. Where
my only friend, and my colleague,
the Chaucerian, was arrested for beating his wife.
And threatening her life over the phone,
a misdemeanor. He wanted to put her eyes out.
Set her on fire for cheating.
The guy she was seeing, he was going to hammer him
into the ground like a fence post.
He lost his mind for a time, while she moved away
to a new life. Thereafter, he taught
his classes weeping drunk. More than once
wore his lunch on his shirt front.
I was no help. I was fading fast myself.
But seeing the way he was living, so to speak,
I understood I hadn't strayed too far from home
after all. My scholar-friend. My old pal.
At long last I'm out of all that.
And you. I pray your hands are steady,
and that you're happy tonight. I hope some woman
has just put her hand under your clean collar
a minute ago, and told you she loves you.
Believe her, if you can, for it's possible she means it.
Is someone who will be true, and kind to you.
All your remaining days.

Something Completely Diff'rent

2008-05-26T18:21:00.003-05:00

Something cheerier. Yea, I get it.

So there's this homemade, shot-for-shot remake of the first Indiana Jones movie that's been floating around for like ten years now. It's been hard as hell to track down and I've yet to see it (though it's apparently out there in Bit Torrent land if you're into that kinda thing).

Anyway, in this week's Chicago Reader there's a great little article about the homemade Jones vs. the real thing in the light of this week's release of the 4th Indiana Jones film. And apparently there's a more in-depth one over in the Vanity Fair archives.

Let's Do The Timewarp... Again

2008-05-26T17:11:00.003-05:00

Another set of lyrics as a post. A sorry excuse for blogging, I know. Especially cuz they're aimed at someone who couldn't be bothered to look here anyway. But I'm having a regressive day today. And what better place to regress than back to some good ol' high school angst.

And with that, here's the words to "Gutless" by Jawbreaker:

Swallow your pride.
But take it slow.
You might just choke on it.
And you wouldn't want to do a thing like that.
What's left inside without your words
And fists to hold them up?
Can you look at it without rose colored lenses?
Doesn't speak too well of you.
You crawl to pass their tests.
I would like to help you but
I'm not sure who to address.
There are so many of you.
Used to be just one.
Lost you to the other side
To promises of fun.
Do you define yourself by some remembered set of empty phrases?
Do you question them at all?
Is what you do and what you say just following companions?
Do you do it from fear of not belonging?
I don't condemn you.
I know that we've all got to cling to something
To find our way through this life.
Just look inside and see if your beliefs have any meaning.
Or are they something that you found?

Recycled Boner Jokes

2008-05-22T14:09:00.003-05:00

Yea, this has been all over the internet for years, but it cracked me up anew after surfacing over at the glorious Sadly, No! site today in yet another post on right-wing pundit Michelle Malkin's pretzel logic.

Also, someone in the Sadly, No! comments section directs our attention to a post on Dial 'B' for Blog where they lovingly posted all the panels with boner references from that particular Batman issue.

Speaking of the Red Sox...

2008-05-20T11:36:00.003-05:00

...it looks like we in Red Sox nation have another hero in our midst.

Last night ESPN cut away from the Cubs drubbing the Astros to show Boston Red Sox pitcher, John Lester, seal the deal on his no-hit pitching clinic against the ever-lowly Kansas City Royals. It was a marquee moment for Lester who returned to the Sox rotation late last season after taking nearly a year off to battle cancer.

As a fellow cancer survivor, I can tell ya that beating cancer and getting your life back on track is a monumental struggle... it's something to really be proud of. To not only get back on track but to blow the doors off of your career, well, damn. I think I've got another hero to add to my list.

"Lost" Roundup

2008-05-18T09:43:00.004-05:00

The writers, actors, directors and everyone else involved in the TV show "Lost" have really hit it out of the park this season. Last year with the show floundering and ratings falling, the network reined the creative team in and demanded they tighten things up and cut out alot of the fat. This season they've certainly righted the ship... and then some. Television just doesn't get any better in my opinion... well, unless it's the Red Sox winning a world series.

Anyway, as we "Lost" fans gear up for the season finale, over at Shakesville, Brad from SadlyNo and Melissa from Shakesville get down into it in a salon-style back and forth. Jump on in to the Lost Salon and Open Thread.

(Image stolen from the Shakesville post... obviously.)

Stay Classy GOP

2008-05-15T14:04:00.005-05:00

(Via Politico.com)

In a 20-page memo on GOP electoral woes, Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) repeatedly misspells Barack Obama’s name – it’s one R, congressman, not two -- and then manages to use the racially charged term “tar baby” in a paragraph about Obama and immigration.

“Remember,” Davis writes, “Hispanic voters are a swing group in this election and future elections. John McCain, being from a border state, may be out of sync with many Republicans but he has standing among Hispanics. Barrack Obama has not made the sale to Hispanic voters. Thus, this issue is a tar baby for anyone who touches it, with land mines everywhere.”

Ahhh today's GOP. While the ship hasn't yet split in two, it has gone vertical and the panic has certainly set in hasn't it. No sooner than the media declared Hilary Clinton's campaign hopeless against the Obama juggernaut, than the American Right lets loose with all manner of slightly veiled racist barbs directed toward their almost-crowned opponent. Well, enjoy the relative benignity cuz shit's gonna get a whole lot worse the closer we get to November.

*Bonus - Dig the quick and smug retorts in the comments section of the Right-leaning Politico article linked above... people are apparently trying to rebrand the phrase, "Tar Baby." Yikes.

Oh Internet... Sometimes You Bring It Real Good

2008-05-13T16:19:00.002-05:00

Such as over at a website called, Manbabies.com. Oh, it's really almost too much.

(Via the mighty Boing Boing.)

Hot Times Over At WFMU

2008-05-07T16:50:00.003-05:00

WFMU gives us the skinny on a band pretty well ahead of its time, Hot Poop.

The End of a Long, Strange Trip

2008-04-30T10:59:00.003-05:00

No, this isn't another mopey post about my personal bullshit. Yesterday, the man who discovered Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) passed away at the ripe old age of 102. Albert Hofmann in a very real way changed the world with his discovery. The shamanic substance and its rituals continue to affect popular culture and consciousness in the western world (if more in recollections and media these days).

My favorite part of this article in the Guardian is how he retired in 1971. Heh. 37 years of retirement. I wonder what he did for all those years (besides write books). You think he spent much time dosing up and getting freaky?

Fresh Cave Air

2008-04-29T10:42:00.003-05:00

The great Nick Cave was on yesterday's premiere NPR interview program, Fresh Air.

Dig it.

Highly recommended recent music from the prolific Nick Cave and his cohorts:

Soundtrack for "The Proposition" (with Warren Ellis)

Grinderman - Self Titled Debut Album

Soundtrack for "The Assasination of Jesse James..." (with Warren Ellis)

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - "Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!"

The Brides Have Hit The Glass

2008-04-16T13:10:00.006-05:00

The past several months have been, for me, a succession of massive, life-changing events... each arriving fast on the heels of the one prior. And as it's the nature of the way these things work, I imagine that things won't be returning to "normal" anytime soon. Indeed, the idea of "normal" itself is still in the process of being (re)defined.

So, without delving nor dwelling on the things that have come to pass in my life, I'll simply offer up someone else's words in the hopes that they'll convey a little something about, well, something.

Oh, and yes, I've cleaned things up around here and intend to get back to posting on a regular basis very soon.

Ever forward,
Bry.

The Brides Have Hit Glass

by Robert Pollard (Guided By Voices)

I don't come around
Never call or let her know
I got a life of my own
You know I hate to be around her
When she's like that
I wrote a song once about her
Called "The Brides Have Hit Glass"
You know it just won't last
To be on top of your own world
With no guardrails to cling to
You fall so very fast
It's very odd to find her up again
Staking out expansion
Seeking new exposure

And when she holds out an empty glass
And she comes for a handout
I ask for the same thing-it's sad
And I hold on so sure I can take all she can
Just to be around her
Just to feel bad

One day I will know
That's it's a waste of time
And there's a better road ahead of me
I just don't know how to make it there
So I'll just hang around and take my chance
Once again I'll roll the dice
And try to hang on to my shrinking paradise

And I'll hold out an empty glass
And I'll come for a handout
And I'll ask for the same thing-it's sad
And I'll hold on so confident
That it's all I can give
To try to find my way back
Just to hit glass

The Mechanics of Modern Right-Wing Politics

2007-10-25T16:18:00.000-05:00

The venerable Digby pulls the GOP-mobile into the garage and lifts the hood in her latest post on the Common Sense for America's Future blog.

She finds, among other things, that the modern Republican political machine runs on some high-test whine--with plenty of hollow sanctimony and bellowing insincerity helping to grease the gears.

Read the excellent, "The Art of the Hissy Fit"

(Via Crooks and Liars, of course.)

Reflecting Reflected Reflections

2007-10-11T18:40:00.000-05:00

So those editorial cartoons that have been appearing in the Onion for the past year or so have had me a little befuddled. The artist, "Kelly," portrays the suburban right wing mentality to the point of self-parody and occasionally complete insanity.

So, what gives? It's The Onion, so they're there in there to be funny, of course. But, did they pick this nut up from some wire service and run his crazy pieces to be ironically amusing (and intentionally irritate their mostly left-leaning readership)? Or is the whole thing just brilliantly made up? I mean the panels simply nail the grandstanding, paranoia, and inanity--not to mention the technique--of these syndicated political cartoon types. You know, the current-event whoring, the recurring conventions (Lady Liberty shedding a tear... again), and even a mini-'toon of the artist giving you a straight-up version of the strip in case you missed the meaning in the drawing.

I finally got curious enough to investigate and it turns out I'm not the only one who was thrown for a loop.

An LA Times article does a good job of illuminating things--complete with plenty of linked examples.

And for good measure, my recent favorite.. it's just so completely insane:

Anything New Under The Sun?

2007-10-09T18:12:00.000-05:00

Over a month away, huh? Well, how 'bout a good one to get things rolling around here again?

Over the last month and a half there have been several cases of Right-wing Republican-types bursting out of the closet in the most unintentional and hilarious ways. This sent what had been about a once-a-month trend skyward, forcing Republicans everywhere to pour on the hetero and dig even deeper into their roster of tough-guy/daddy-save-us types. Hell, just look at the ever-manlier--and apparently great-smelling--Fred Thompson, who's running for the GOP presidential nomination.

A brief recap of the most recent GOP sexual oopsies: Well, there was that Senator from Idaho getting busted for cruising an airport bathroom. Pure comedy. And who could forget the Florida campaign chairman who's fear of black men sent him into a public toilet in search of carnal knowledge of... a black man? There was also a more tragic outcome to a couple of these transgressions. A high-level state Republican staffer with very close ties to K-Street criminal, Jack Abrhamoff, was murdered in a gay love triangle gone bad in--ahem-- Orlando. And just this weekend a Republican prosecutor from--where else?-- Florida committed suicide after being brought up on charges for trying to rent a 5-year-old girl for certain acts from an undercover federal agent over the internet. So, that last one aint exactly closeted homosexual activity, but it fits the theme of Republican repression and hypocrisy so well, it deserves to hop on for the ride.

So, of course this all leads up to today's item in the booming news beat I'll coin, "Right Wing Moral Hypocrisy on Parade".

Moralist, bible thumping, GOP advocate, Baptist minister, Michael Aldridge was found dead in his Alabama home this weekend. The official cause of death? An errant auto erotic undertaking. Now, normally, that would only get a mild chuckle, partially from the unintentional suicide part (death by jerking off is always a funny item) and partially at the mild hypocrisy of the situation. Buuut, as his bad luck would have it, that's only the first layer of this tasty taco.

Ya see... um. Well, the thing is... Ah, hell. Why not just read the police report provided by The Smoking Gun?

Go ahead. Read it again.

That's right. Not one, but two scuba suits. And he apparently hog-tied himself. And there was a condom'd dildo hanging out of his butt. Wow. How far gone do you need to be to where one rubber wet-suit just doesn't cut it for you anymore? Jeeesh.

Anyhoo, the always rollicking Sadly No! has more on the story and a lively free-for-all in the comments section. Go have a look!

Damn, it's good to be back.

Paging Dr. Jung

2007-08-23T16:40:00.000-05:00

An excellent read on The Mahablog dissects Bush's bizarre allusions to Vietnam in his recent speech. Historians freaked and the opposition howled, but it seems the Preznit is painting with strokes much broader than most of us have realized. Maha traces this allegorical rhetoric within the Right Wing back to WWII and the British response to the German threat. And even illuminates the terrain by recounting a Star Trek episode of all things.

Very, very interesting.

Read: The Power of (Right Wing) Myth.

Full Speed Ahead

2007-08-20T18:32:00.000-05:00

Little posting on here as the summer days drain like sands through the hourglass. And there will be even less posting until about mid-September, cuz me and Mrs. Delano will be out of town to be officially wed (and subsequently party our pants off).

The wedding planning and work-related craziness has left me with little free time for blog posting. For that, I apologize and offer this tasty morsel that will have to tide you over until I get back to Chicago, tanned, rested and, yes, married.

Bush and Co. have finally been nabbed for attempting to turn the Federal Government into a subsidiary of the GOP. Not exactly news for those of us who've been paying attention, but it now seems some folk have dug up some pretty damning evidence. And to whom does the finger of blame for the most part point? Why the recently flown-the-coop Karl Rove, of course.

Read

The Washington Post's take:

'How Rove Directed Federal Assets for GOP Gains'
The Liberty Papers' take:

'Karl Rove Directed Government Funds For Political Gain'.

Rotten To The Core

2007-07-27T15:31:00.000-05:00

Just when it seems that the Bush administration and their Republican enablers can't get any more corrupt or any more vile, new information surfaces and this gang is cast down even further into some new level of stinking rot. Can we consider these fucks anything less than Satanic at this point?

(Via the great Cursor.org, who incidentally, need you help.)

Item 1: Apparently the numero uno US construction contractor building the US Embassy in Bagdhad (a complex rumored to be larger than the Vatican) has been using slave labor.

"I believe these men were kidnapped by First Kuwaiti to work at the U.S. Embassy,"a witness tells the House Oversight Committee, adding "I've read the State Department Inspector General's report on the construction of the embassy. Mr. Chairman, it's not worth the paper it's printed on." More on 'charges of human trafficking.'

Item #2: As new information is leaked about the death of post-9/11 US Army enlistment poster-boy, Pat Tillman (the poor fella who walked away from the NFL only to be killed by his own unit in Afghanistan), it turns out that in the days before his death, not only was he about to go public as a major anti-war figure, but by all accounts it now appears his death was an assassination, not an accident.

Documents obtained by the AP in response to a FOIA request, note medical examiners' suspicions that Pat Tillman was killed deliberately by his own men, something that his mother, who remains harshly critical of the investigation, has long suggested may have been the case.

Power Grab? What Power Grab?

2007-07-23T16:35:00.000-05:00

Via Crooks & Liars:

Democratic Member Of House Homeland Security Committee Denied Access To Portions Of Presidential Directive

From the article:

...As a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, DeFazio, D-Ore., is permitted to enter a secure "bubbleroom'' in the Capitol and examine classified material. So he asked the White House to see the secret documents.

On Wednesday, DeFazio got his answer: DENIED. "I just can't believe they're going to deny a member of Congress the right of reviewing how they plan to conduct the government of the United States after a significant terrorist attack,'' DeFazio said...

My Next Album Cover

2007-07-21T00:10:00.000-05:00

Had I a record coming out, I would beg, borrow, steal, murder to get the cash together to buy this picture by nature and landscape photographer Ladislav Kamarad.

Were I to spend about a minute and a half on it and name the band after myself, it might look something like this:

**UPDATE**

It just occurred to me that my new imaginary album cover looks a lot like this record from The Fucking Champs:

Ah well.

The Free Market : The Ultimate Problem Solver

2007-07-09T15:05:00.001-05:00

(Or, Semi-Coherant Rant About America's Hyper-Capitalist Economy)

It's one of the main tenets of those who champion the free market as the ultimate righter-of-wrongs, healer-of-wounds, and servant of humanity-- customer service. It's the manifestation of their belief that the corporation is controlled by the citizens (the old "speak with your wallet" adage). Unfortunately, even in the face of massive deregulation across the business spectrum, this belief looks far better on paper than it works out in real life.

The plainest evidence of this is seen in the presentations of the massive anti-Wal Mart-ization movement and, on a slightly more conceptual level, by the anti-globalization movement. And those are only a couple of specifics. Just look at the blowback from the global warming hoopla. The vast majority of independent scientists across the globe are practically in hysterics about the toll humankind's massive carbon emissions have begun to take on the biosphere. And who stands against this science? A far, far smaller number of scientists who, as becomes clearer the deeper you dig, are represented by various think-tanks and PAC's who all have ties to manufacturing and production lobbyists.

Care to connect those dots? That's right, the good ol', god-like free market that works so wonderfully in our favor, in theory anyway, is also working, for... well, to take the thing to it's logical conclusion, is working for our extinction. Not exactly a god I'd like to worship.

Well... to turn from the macro to the micro, give this story a read: Sprint ditches customers who complain too much.

How does that story apply to the failure of today's hyper-capitalist free market? I mean, these schlubs can always go sign with a rival network, right?

Well , they can certainly switch cell phone providers... for now anyway. The same unchecked free-market force that's allowed the mass media environment to become homogenized to the point that you can count the number of companies behind America's major news outlets on one hand can also be seen in the dwindling number of cell phone service providers the public has to choose from.

As these companies buy each other out and conglomerate again and again, our choices as consumers dwindles as well. And as we saw from the uncritical, uninterested media in the run-up to the invasion and occupation of Iraq, homogeny breeds complicity, which breeds apathy, which, in turn, breeds decay.

And that is the ultimate result of the unchecked, hyper-capitalism so many deluded American trumpet so loudly these days--decay.

Anti-Science Friday

2007-07-06T15:09:00.000-05:00

OK, so we all got a huge laugh out of the Flat Earth Society koo-koo-krazies a couple weeks ago, right? Well, today, the vaunted Science Blogs site gives us a look at Overwhelming Evidence, a site dedicated to, uh, to... well, apparently dedicated to the intellectual heavy lifting of conflating science and religion. And wouldn't ya know it, anything with a whiff of off-kilter scientific verbiage has attracted a gaggle of ID proponents. (And like the Flat Earth, it can only spell fun after you realize just how goddamn nuts this gang is.)

Today's case revolves around a company's claim to have built a perpetual motion machine (which failed completely at its first public outing... surprise, surprise). The debate, er, diatribe revolves around some hilarious misinterpretations of the laws of thermodynamics, raising the dead, and the wicked dogma of the leftist science-elite. Don't worry a bit if you're unfamiliar with the science behind the laws of Thermodynamics (entropy and all that fun stuff), cuz, you're still way ahead of the brainiacs at Overwhelming Evidence.

Oh, and be sure to read the comments on the Science Blogs page. Golden.

From one of the resident PhDummies at Overwhelming Evidence:

Let me explain: Such acts [Jesus' bringin' ol' Laz back from the dead] would have required a great deal of energy brought in from apparently nowhere. The laws of thermodynamics as Hawkings understand them say this can never happen. In hawking's world-view reviving the dead is impossible because a long-dead body contains a great deal more entropy than a healthy living body. On the other hand, well documented evidence says these miricales [sic] happened. As scientists we must follow this evidence wherever it leads.

Read, "Yet another example of credulity begetting credulity".

(Via the mighty Boing Boing.)

Sleep Deeper

2007-07-06T13:45:00.000-05:00

Oftentimes over the past six years (though decidedly less of late), we of similar opinion note how ~~Emporer~~ President Bush lives in a bubble; an insular world where critics and their criticism are constantly shieldled from the predisdent's perception. It's why he rarely speaks off the cuff and why he almost never takes uncanned Q&A. It was why Jeff Gannon was planted in the press pool and why we smiled so wide when Stephen Colbert got Bush's goat at a press club dinner. It's why they created "free speech zones" at presedential events and why, to even attend a presidential speech, you are forced to sign a loyalty oath to the president.

We bitched and moaned and cried about these rank and unAmerican actions taken by the American government against the American people. But the so-called "liberal" media could have cared less. Their complicity was duly noted and we've been left to, for the most part, preach to the converted in light-circulation magazines and on (increasingly less) obscure political blogs.

Will any of this change with the release last week of "Presidential Advance Manual" a document obtained by the ACLU in a lawsuit against presidential staffers? Well, no one's holding their breath, but chalk it up as yet another straw on the tired camel's back.

Sez the ACLU:

The lawsuit names as plaintiffs Jeff and Nicole Rank, who were arrested at a Fourth of July presidential appearance at the West Virginia State Capitol because they were wearing T-shirts critical of the president, and Alex Young and Leslie Weise, Denver residents who were thrown out of a town hall meeting with President Bush because they had an anti-war bumper sticker on their car.

The heavily redacted manual illustrates the gameplan for shielding the president and the complicit media from any dissenting or derogatory positions taken, quite leagally, by American citizens in the public sphere. It's just as predictably sickening as one would expect from this sickening administration. And whatsmore: it highlights exactly what we've claimed all along. Yet agian, we've been right from day one and all the talking heads and barking dogs have been dead wrong.

From the Dept. of Great Big Surprises

2007-07-02T17:09:00.000-05:00

Wow. The sleazy criminality of the ruling thugs in the Republican party has officially breached the levies.

Today #43 commuted the prison sentence of federal criminal I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Bush White House intimate, Libby was convicted (by a Republican prosecutor and Republican judge, no less) for lying to authorities and obstructing justice in an investigation looking into the outing of an undercover CIA agent for political retribution.

Libby had only today been ordered to report to prison immediately and no stay of time would be awarded. The $250,000 fine and two years of probation remain intact, however. Though, apparently, it's fully within the bounds of the law for Libby's defense fund to pay the fine. So, it's quite safe to assume he'll incur very little financial duress from the sentence. And how 'bout that probation? Good golly. Ouch. That wrist must be hurting after a slap like that.

Gotta love it. One set of laws for them and another for the rest of us. I mean, last week it was the VP claiming he wasn't a branch of the government at all (and therefore able to operate his office in TOTAL secrecy) and now this. America, these guys are f'ing laughing at you. And laughing all the way to the bank.

Bush and Co: putting the "Con" back in Neocon.

Oh, and be sure to keep a look out for the full pardon, sure to come on January, 19 2009.

2007 NBA Draft

2007-06-29T13:42:00.000-05:00

(Photo grabbed from Blog-a-Bull, who likely grabbed it elsewhere.)

Wow. What a night it was for us Gator fans. 3 from the back-to-back champs went in the first ten picks. Al Horford went to Atlanta with the third overall pick and Corey Brewer went to Minnesota with the seventh. Those of us in Chicago were thrilled to land the colorful Joakim Noah with the ninth pick. And it's not just a thrill for the Gator fans here; Bulls fans have been raving about the pick, elated about his speed, size and heart.

The Bulls still need to make a trade or two to pick up a serious scoring threat (Kobe, anyone?), but even if they jettison a few names, this fall's Bulls will be one of the fastest, tallest teams out there and a true defensive powerhouse.

Round two saw Chris Richard join Corey Brewer in Minnesota and Taurean Green join the number one overall pick from the team the Gators steamrolled to pick up their second national championship, the towering Greg Oden out in Portland.

As for draft coverage Yahoo has a great Winner and Loser run-down and ESPN columnist Bill Simmons offers his predictably excellent and hilarious draft blog.

A Tree Grows In SOCTUS

2007-06-28T17:55:00.000-05:00

Dear Leader George Bush's stocking of the Superme Court of the United States with far-right idealogues is really starting to pay off.
Oh joy.

From Crooks & Liars:

In one full term, this Court has severely curbed local efforts to promote racial diversity in schools, upheld a right-wing ban on a necessary medical procedure for women, curbed students’ free speech rights, crippled Congress’ ability to keep corporate money out of political advertising, prevented taxpayers from challenging the constitutionality of Bush’s faith-based initiatives, made it almost impossible for women to prevail on claims of longterm sex discrimination . . . and they’re just getting started.

Road Apples, Romney Style

2007-06-27T18:11:00.000-05:00

This is insane. Therefore you oughta read it.

That it's about the behavior of a Republican presidential candidate means you must read it.

Romney's Shaggy Dog Story.

(And be sure to read the comments... full of yuks.)

BushCo and 9/11 : BFF

2007-06-23T11:20:00.000-05:00

Yet again, a Bush administration top dog can't pass up a chance to hold the specter of 9-11 over the heads of Americans. The swine.

This time, though, they did it over the bodies of 9 South Carolina firemen who recently died in a warehouse fire. The fucking swine.

O'Neal Compton has the rundown.

Friday Roundup

2007-06-22T16:28:00.000-05:00

Another crazy week here. Isn't summertime supposed to be all relaxing and slow? Even in the workplace?

In any event, posting will be light next week too as I'm headed to Miami for some decidedly somber business. Then it's up to Orlando for some visiting and other business. Orlando folk, gimme a call, eh?

In the meantime, filmmaker, firebrand, lightning rod, provocateur, etc, etc, Michael Moore has a new film out soon. Sicko is about his inspection of America's fundamentally, pervertedly flawed health care system. Something I've had an ongoing, intimate experience with since 2002, my happy-go-lucky cancer year. I'm looking forward to seeing the film, for sure, but as with any of Moore's projects, I'll be bringing a grain of salt along. In fact I'll bring the whole shaker.

The Nation magazine has a great article on Sicko. Why not read it?

Friday Roundup

2007-06-15T13:24:00.000-05:00

No posts this week, guess it was a busy one.

Well, on to today's roundup:

More here on how the wannabe terrorist boobs the feds keep busting (and the administration keeps hyping) are little more than schmucks with more pipe dreams than pipe bombs (yea, I used that phrase last week, I like it). This time security technology expert Bruce Schneier shines the light of reason on what is never presented to the American public without a heavy dose of frothy fear-mongering. Sez he, "There is a real threat of terrorism. And while I'm all in favor of the terrorists' continuing incompetence, I know that some will prove more capable. We need real security that doesn't require us to guess the tactic or the target: intelligence and investigation -- the very things that caught all these terrorist wannabes -- and emergency response. But the "war on terror" rhetoric is more politics than rationality. We shouldn't let the politics of fear make us less safe."
The legendary and notorious Yes Men have struck again with typically insightful and hilarious results. This time at Calgary's Gas and Oil Exposition. (If you hasn't seen the film on these guys... rent it now!)
And on a slightly more depressing note, ever wonder how all that outsourcing of labor and manufacturing is gonna affect the American economy over the long haul? I mean, of course, how it will affect normal plebeians like you or I, not our corporate masters or the guy passed out at the bus stop in a puddle of his own (hopefully) vomit. Well, economists aren't too keen on the way things have played out and warn that, basically, China's got America's proverbial balls in the proverbial vice. And they could turn the crank anytime they please. Global Research's Richard C. Cook has the run-down.
And if that isn't depressing enough for you, try this website. Apparently there are a good number of people who believe the Earth is flat. It's not a joke, sadly enough. So, maybe this isn't so much depressing as it is hilarious. But the Q&A page employs a rationale so akin to the modern anti-Darwin, creationist movement's rationale, that it's guaranteed to depress you again once you remember just how big and just how stupid the Creationist movement in America is.
And finally, not one to leave you on too depressing a note, I got blogger and friend Patrick Hughes' new book, Diary of Indignities, in the mail this week. If you've enjoyed his blog, Bad News Hughes, well, you won't find a whole lot particularly new here. But you will revisit a multitude of painful humiliations anew and find that, even though you know the stories this time around, they're still awfully goddamned funny.

Friday Roundup

2007-06-08T13:04:00.001-05:00

I'd meant to mention this a few weeks ago, but things have been mighty busy on this end... the rP00P blog is back! Get your music fix. Have some laughs... and apparently see a picture of me during a not-so-open mic night at the Art Institute Museum last month. Dig the backing band.
The Existentialist Cowboy is also back after some time off. And, again, this is something I've been meaning to mention for the past few weeks. Today's excellent post dissects the vitriol and finger-pointing emanating from the modern GOP. Or as the cowboy himself puts it, "What we are witnessing from outside America's increasingly radical, imperialist party is the ugly puss that oozes from an open sore: Republicanism, desperately seeking scapegoats."
Everyone's favorite smartass lefty blog, Sadly No!, continue the hilarious feather rustling of right-wing ~~simp~~ blogger, Ace of Spades. Previous posts-turned-spats revealed ol' Ace's puzzling take on women parts. Specifically, that he finds vaginas icky and they, for some reason, to him, resemble an assemblage of "play-doh and bacon." Today's post investigates Ace's particularly cock-eyed take on modern feminism.
It's been a while, so why not check in with one of the greatest, funniest sites in the intertoobs, Engrish.com?
And finally, I've somehow managed to keep my head above water over at Chicago's finest food blog, Drive Thru. And despite being ungodly busy lately, I found the time to post a couple articles this week. If you're so inclined, just look for my byline.

Summer Art Fun

2007-06-05T15:10:00.000-05:00

Photographer Merideth Allen has authored a series of photographs that I find hilarious, beautiful and oddly compelling. The series, "Melting Ice Pops," is comprised of pictures of melting popsicles against summertime-y scenery. The popsicles are the cartoon-face variety you get from an ice cream truck or the helados cart. I would love to own a few of these prints.

(Via the mighty Boing Boing.)

Another Half-Baked Terror Plot Herocially Foiled

2007-06-04T15:31:00.000-05:00

Another kooky, ill-considered "terror plot" was thwarted this week. And wouldn't you know, all signs once again point to the plot being more pipe dream than pipe bomb. Sound familiar?

Hell, even the reporter from Fox News called the plot, "impossible to carry out."

But of course the Bush administration and their apologists never let little things like facts mess up some good fear mongering. Thusly, pundits and politicians around the nation wasted no time in filing another notch in the bedpost, as they unsurprisingly hailed this latest bust as at once a justification of their "extraordinary" techniques... and, curiously, at the same time, a reason to continue to expand the legal reach of those techniques.

Attytood brings the goods. From his post:

Look, here's what you need to know about the JFK Four (one suspect is still at large.)They were yet another band of ne'er-do-wells with a homegrown hatred forthe U.S. They had no terror training or know-how, no links to Osama bin Laden,al-Qaeda, or the big-bucks funding mechanisms of the kind that carried outreal terror on 9/11. Their driving force in this plot of "unthinkable devastation"was a government informant, a twice-convicted drug dealer eager towin a lighter sentence. Aside from the most important aspect that their plan was not feasible, they also had no explosives to carry it out.

People who think that violence and bloodshed are an answer to anything are indeed danger to a civil society, so unless the facts are radically different than what's been reported so far, we should have praise for law enforcement, including the NYPD and the FBI, for not letting this kind of nonsense get very far. It shows yet again that the law-enforcement approach to fighting this type of threat -- so ridiculed when John Kerry dared even mention it in 2004 -- remains the one that in most cases works best. That said, the plot was not exactly the biggest thing going on the world right now.

***UPDATE***

Tonight, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann aired a piece about the "nexus of politics and terror," in which the Bush administration's calculated use of these so-called terror busts is chronicled. How they have been used to put political feathers in the president's cap is scrutinized.

Crooks and Liars hosts the video. WATCH IT.

Endless War For Endless ______?

2007-06-01T16:02:00.000-05:00

Profit, I guess.

Sooooo, lessee what's in the news today.

Bush Administration Calls for Permanent US Bases in Iraq

In the words of the late, great Gomer Pyle, "Surprise, surprise, surprise."

Vice President Cheney's Lesbian Daughter Has A Baby

2007-05-24T17:08:00.000-05:00

From both the department of ballbusting irony and the department of dish-it-out-but-can't-take-it:

The veep sez,

"This is a baby. This is a blessing from God. It is not a political statement. It is not a prop to be used in a debate by people on either side of an issue."

The Bush Administration, Ever Classier, Part 2

2007-05-22T18:13:00.000-05:00

(While she aint exactly in Bush's cabinet, she's far enough up his ass, so whathehell. )

This episode of, "Gee What a Surprise," stars right wing radio personality and professional busybody, Dr. Laura Schlessinger who only a week ago complained about the attitude of serviceman's wives ("He could come back without arms, legs and eyeballs, and you’re bitching?”) when they dared speak up about said troops treatment by the government (see Walter Reed hospital scandal).

She went on to speak about her son, a paratrooper stationed in Afghanistan, stating that she never shares her concerns with him because she, "raised a warrior," who, we're to assume, don't need no pansy-ass mothering. Which in the context of the conversation also means that when he returns, he won't need no faggoty PTSD treatment either.

Well, looks like mommy's little monster might be sent home a little sooner than anyone expected. But that PTSD treatment looks like it might be court-ordered, whether mommy likes it or not.

From the Salt Lake City Tribune:

The soldier son of talk radio relationship counselor Laura Schlessinger is under investigation for a graphic personal Web page that one Army official has called "repulsive."

The MySpace page, publicly available until Friday when it disappeared from the Internet, included cartoon depictions of rape, murder, torture and child molestation; photographs of soldiers with guns in their mouths; a photograph of a bound and blindfolded detainee captioned "My Sweet Little Habib"; accounts of illicit drug use; and a blog entry headlined by a series of obscenities and racial epithets.

Wow. It's certainly jarring but considering the boatloads of bullshit she sends over the airwaves it's not in the least surprising. A heavily right wing jingoist, the former army brat Dr. Laura has perfected the blame-the-victim mentality with her daily "self-help" radio program. Her advice to women on relationships and child rearing has been the wind beneath the wings of many of America's misogynists and those who still feel that Betty Friedan is the Anti-Christ.

Well, at least we can rest assured that in raising her little warrior, Dr. Laura seems to have put her money where her mouth has been. The proof is in the psychopathic pudding.

UPDATE: Both an Army spokesman and Dr. Laura now claim that her son's Myspace page was--you might wanna sit down for this one-- hijacked by terrorists. Uh huh.

It's really something to see what becomes of a person raised on heavy doses of right wing demagogue froth. This kid's lunacy is the precisely the fruit that grows from the incessant hate, paranoia and stupidity sowed by AM radio and a good swath of cable "news."

Congratulations conservative America. It's a boy.

The Bush Administration, Ever Classier

2007-05-22T10:24:00.000-05:00

The only thing surprising about this is, sadly, that it's not all that surprising.

Bush domestic policy czar: "I am never going to hire another woman because they just get pregnant and leave."

(Via C&L)

Dollars To Doughnuts

2007-05-21T17:47:00.000-05:00

The Washington Post published an article today about the lag the Republicans face in their presence on the internet. There are plenty of reasons proffered by both left and right leaning sources in the piece, but the article shies away from making the assertion that seems, to many of us, to be glaringly self-evident, namely, that it’s a matter of intention.

It doesn’t take a very long look around the web to realize that the Republicans and right wing outlets tend to function from the standpoint of disseminating rhetoric and propaganda mostly in the form of opinion pieces. While, more often than not, their left-leaning counterparts tend to prefer transparency and fact-based reporting. (This tendency has even spawned its own catch-phrase, courtesy of TV’s Stephen Colbert, “Reality has a well-known liberal bias.”)

This isn’t to say that GOPers don’t enjoy their studies and charts or that the progressives don’t have their own circle-jerking, hyper-linked witch hunts. But the tendency is solid. It’s there in black and white. And the internetting public has very clearly responded to that dynamic.

Afterall, on a message board flame war, some clever talking points and a shrill put down might win the day, but when hammering out your position on, say, the existence of Sadaam's WMD's a pile of links to actual reports from the UN weapons inspectors goes a hell of alot further than a link to Bill O'Reilly's latest rant or a venomous Ann Coulter quote.

Now this hasn’t always been the domain of the Democrats to any great extent, but after two electoral drubbings the party discovered a need to reinvent itself, from the bottom up. And it certainly didn’t hurt that despite of, or perhaps because of, their public victories the GOP evolved into a bloated and historically corrupt political party who’s penchant for secrecy and top-down lockstep loyalty have provided endless fodder for truth-seeking John Q. Public’s everywhere.

Hitches vs. Falwell, Part Deux

2007-05-18T16:37:00.000-05:00

Writer, crank, provocateur Christopher Hitchens has not exactly minced words when speaking or writing about swindler, Jerry Falwell during his life and now upon the Rev. Fartwell's death, he really goes to town. His first appearance on CNN last week caused quite a ruckus. Then came this priceless appearance on Fox News where he not only shut up perennial gasbag, Sean Hannity, but verbally kicked Christian Coalition President and simpering GOP suck-up, Ralph Reed repeatedly in the balls.

Good and funny stuff at, wouldn't you know, Crooks and Liars.

The Rev. Fartwell Checks Out (And the Left's Self-Police Check In)

2007-05-15T19:23:00.000-05:00

After weighing all the mindbending bullshit spewed from his greasy maw and the rank hypocrisy in which he enshrouded himself, it's safe to say that Jerry Falwell was the enemy of everything I hold to be true, evident and dear on this planet. My first thought upon seeing the headline about his passing this morning was, "Good Fucking Riddance," which I then shouted out loud.

Normal Internet news stop Crooks and Liars was on my drive-by list after getting to work and ignoring that big stack of paperwork. Their Falwell entry contained a caveat about posting respectfully in the comments section. Of course that's an invitation for some fireworks so I spent some time there, eventually getting involved in some of the back and forths.

What piqued my interest was the battle within a group of more or less likeminded people about what the tenor of the comments oughta be. As if the comment board wasn't supposed to be a kind of dialogue.

And it usually is on the C&L site. Not like the lockstep you'll find at the DailyKos or 99% of pro-Republican sites. That's part of what I like about it. But today was different.

They know that Right wing internetters and even some prominent columnists troll the boards just waiting to sink their teeth into an off-color comment and hold it up as an oh-so-typical example of Lefty values or whatever. Thus the initial warning.

What was acceptable to post became far more interesting that what folk actually had to say about Fartwell himself. And before long the site moderators kicked up the policing a few notches. Which was very interesting. Pruning the more explicit comments and keeping the conversation on topic is their usual MO and the folks at C&L do that better than anyone, usually. What started out as a plea to keep things respectful and reasonably civil turned in to, for me, a lesson on where the American Left stands in relation to its critics and detractors.

How? Well, the crux of the discussion alluded to the fact the certain Right wing journalists and web site dwellers will gleefully be taking the worst of the comments and running all the way to the polls with them, so we oughta be good little boys and girls and show those jerks what upstanding citizens we could be and not post anything too angry or mean. And that's a sentiment that's chapped my ass severely lately.

For me, it smacks of pandering. Of branding. Of performance. It's a corner that we (as Left America, as progressives, whatever) have allowed ourselves to be painted in to by the think tanks and strategists of the Right. It's Karl Rove's way of grabbing our arm and saying, "stop hitting yourself," as he repeatedly smacks us upside the head with it.

I posted the following on another site's board after being holla'd at by someone of like mind who saw me get into a tiff with another commenter and a site moderator/writer of the Falwell post over on C&L earlier.

It’s like they’re [C&L mods] a little tweaked at the idea that someone from outside the clubhouse might peek in and see everyone running around in their underwear or something.

The Reich-wingers will certainly troll for the more turd-colored comments about this death, and use em to point the finger, sure. But so what. If no one said any of it, they’d just make it up anyway.

All that “bad for the brand” bullshit. I can understand where they’re coming from, but I don’t care for it. Nope

And whatsmore……

To stoop to hyper-policing the comment section content or to even bitch about that content on the grounds of, “lets show them how upright we can be about this and not post anything boorish” is to play the exact game they want us to play.

Notice how the Right-ists have, over the last couple years as Bush’s glory has faded, increasingly painted the Left as hypocrites in our approach to “tolerance” and “diversity”? It’s a cheap-shot, purposeful mis-understanding of the concepts. To paint us as intolerant of their “right” to bigotry, homophobia, etc…

To try and over police ourselves is to not only play the game by their rules, it’s to play their game, period. It’s called “controlling the message” and why the FUCK would we let them control our message?

Oh, almost forgot to add–GOOD FUCKING RIDDANCE JERRY FARTWELL.

To put it another way, I just feel that now that blogs have begun to become scrutinized by the big boys in the MSM and some of us feel the pressure of the world watching as our readership rises and our voice gets louder, there's no flippin' reason to buy in to the same relationship that the mainstream left-ish press has with the world at large. To overly self-censor because an "enemy" might be watching or to tailor your output to fit someone else's idea of how you oughta think is completely blasphemous to me. It's why the Democrats have had their ass handed to them for 40 some years by the Republicans. They let the other guys define the terms of play. And if that attitude doesn't change, the victories won in the wake of GWB's abject failures will be decidedly short-lived.

Ahhh... crap. Is that even any clearer? It's been a long day and I think it's just about Miller time.

BTW: If anyone happens to arrive at this post via the C&L comments, I sincerely do hope I've clarified myself to some degree as I was asked not to post any more about this issue over there. I don't relish starting arguments and certainly don't enjoy poo-pooing on someone who works as hard as that particular author/mod.

(Additionally, I feel it's worth pointing out that nothing I posted had anything to do with trying to grab a spotlight and grandstand. Those were some very cheap shots. Very cheap shots.)

From the Dept. of Buzz Kills

2007-05-10T17:14:00.000-05:00

Not that I'm about to run out and stock up on Dental Dams just yet, but for what it's worth...

From the BBC:
Oral sex linked to throat cancer.

Wag The God? (UPDATE)

2007-05-10T14:42:00.000-05:00

The bit below was taken part and parcel from the always excellent, Cursor.org. As I predicted, there's already growing skepticism about the validity of what we were told of the supposed terrorist plot to attack an Amry base in NJ.

"It's never too early to watch for the hype," argues CJR Daily's Paul McLeary, recommending "a healthy dose of skepticism" as 'Questions About Legitimacy' are raised with regard to the role of an F.B.I. informant in the Fort Dix plot.

Wag The God?

2007-05-08T14:37:00.000-05:00

Every six months or so for the past few years, the Bush administration and its enablers in various branches of government have attempted to trot out evidence of a great plot against America that they’ve foiled.

Indeed there has been several plots against the people and property of this country, but in just about every single instance, the plots were nowhere near as congealed and immanent as we were led to believe in the official announcements. Further investigation has consistently revealed that the various plots have ranged in stages on planning from, “If only we could find someone to sell us a surface to air missle,” to “Hey, man, (toke, toke) you know what would be really cool?”

The kooky shoe bomber, Richard Reid, came as close as anyone to actually pulling something off. And the validity of that has actually been called into question with investigators charging that the “bombs” in the guys shoes were about of capable of blowing up as house party in a retirement home. And let’s not even get into the phony-baloney story about the British Muslims trying to mix fluids en route.

Time and time again the plots the government claims to have foiled have been little more than trumped-up media events; a PR circus whose only goal is to pump up the credibility of an administration who are failing historically on every conceivable front.

Which takes us to today.

A day after major polling figures are released indicating that President Bush’s approval rating has hit an all-time low of 28%, presto-blammo, the trumpets blare across the land that Bush’s special anti-terror badass fox force, or whatever, have made a major bust. They stopped a ring of 9 or 10 Islamic terrorists right here in America!

But that’s not all. You wouldn’t believe what these scum were up to. They wanted to attack a US Army base in New Jersey and kill as many soldiers as possible. It’s like they hate our troops as much as Democrats do… hell, the talking point nearly writes itself, doesn’t it?

Now if we’ve somehow stopped an attack, however minor, that woulda killed at least one American on our own soil, well, great. This should be celebrated. But spend a few minutes thinking about this with our good pal, Mr. Common Sense and things start to look a wee bit fishy.

1) Once again, these guys were nowhere near coming close to pulling this off. They apparently put out some inquiries about automatic weapon purchases and got busted right off.

2) What were they planning on attacking again? Oh yea, an Army base. Think about that one for a minute. Less than a dozen knuckleheads try to blast their way on to a fully-fortified US Army base. Now I know most of our equipment is over in Iraq at this point (as the woeful disaster response in Kansas this weekend illustrated), but I’m fairly certain we still keep a good number of firearms on our military bases. Had these clowns targeted, say, a shopping mall or a school or something, well, sure, that would be a pretty scary story. But a frickin’ Army base??? It sounds like movie script from the Al Queda branch of National Lampoon.

3)Which leads us to ask why. Why was this info released now? Well we already covered the most likely reason for that happening. And to back that up follow this story to learn how long ago they had the goods on these guys and how long they’ve kept them on ice. I’ll bet you my car that it didn’t all just fall together in the last couple of weeks.

Maybe I’m way out on a limb with all this speculation. But, really, none of it can be considered much of a stretch given the administration's track record on this stuff lately. Supposed terror plot arrests have been substantially dubious and of outrageously self-serving timing for the embattled Bush regime. This newest story smacks every bit of the same type of desperate propaganda.

Another NFL Draft

2007-05-07T16:25:00.001-05:00

This year’s NFL draft wasn’t chock full of big names and dramatic trades. The buzz wasn’t as shrill as it had been in recent years for a number of reasons. But for those of us who thoroughly geek out on this stuff, it was still a wild weekend.

A number of lesser trades sufficed in the absence of blockbusters and a series of first-round head-scratching picks left the board wide open for a number of surprises.

Perhaps the biggest trade involved a lowly fourth round pick. The New England Patriots gave up that 4th rounder for the contract of perpetually disgruntled wide receiver, Randy Moss. A gamble to be sure as Moss’ attitude seems to be antithetical to the team mentality that has allowed the Pats to blossom into thee NFL dynasty of the era. But, when taking the rest of the Pats offseason movements into account, this move makes them a bedwettingly monstrous offense should Moss buy in to coach Belichik’s philosophy even just a little. And with several upgrades and smart draft picks the Pats defense can finally operate above skeleton crew capacity for the first time in nearly 3 whole seasons. It looks like, once again, New England can be penciled in as “the team to beat."

My hometown Chicago Bears have emerged from the drubbing they received in the Super Bowl a couple of months ago ready to pick right back up where they left off. Though they made no major moves, not even on disgruntled DB Lance Briggs, they did, however, draft smart.

Initially, I’d been left a little cold by the Bears’ draft day decisions, much like the past few seasons. But after reflecting on the amazing returns from last year’s draft, I took another look at this years haul, draftees, undrafted rookies and all. I gotta say that I like what I see.

With the 1st round pick the Bears somehow against all odds wound up with the best tight end in the draft, University of Miami’s Greg Olsen. A large presence with soft hands, he should be an immediate threat on offense, especially when combined with veteran Desmond Clark in two TE sets. From where they sat on the board, Greg Olsen was easily the best possible pick for the Bears.

In the second round, they went with a little-known DE from Central Michigan, Dan Bazuin. After watching tape of this guy on every local sports show for the last week and seeing him in action at this weekend’s mini-camp, I’ve become more impressed by the day. Dan has talent and has an even better attitude. Whether or not he ever winds up starting, he’ll be a great addition to the line and should play his heart out with every down he gets.

The third round saw a mild reach in selecting the undersized, but fast and record-breaking RB from NIU, Garrette Wolfe. Sure, a bit of a reach, but the Bears staff see something in this guy. And from the buzz around town, so does the rest of the city. We got to see a lot of Wolfe due to the NIU games getting plenty of airtime here. He’s got some great moves and a ton of upside. Will be ever be a feature back and uproot a Cedric Benson-type? No, probably not. But in this modern NFL it’s been proven that you absolutely must have a one-two punch at running back. Wolfe’s speed and juking ability could be the yin to Benson’s yang.

Other picks at Guard and the defensive backfield all look solid and should shore up any loose ends that might result from, say, a pissy pants, wanna be superstar, deciding to sit out all season just to prove a point.

There were also a big haul of undrafted free agent rookies. That the QB for national champs, the Florida Gators, Chris Leak went undrafted wasn’t particularly shocking—he’s been maligned as both too short and too soft to make any mark in pro ball. But the kid helmed a championship team fer chrissakes, that’s got to be good for something. And to get a chance to learn under fellow Gator Rex Grossman (also supposedly undersized and soft) makes him a perfect fit. Leak may not play a down this year, but his development will be most interesting to watch.

Another pick-up here that I’m particularly jazzed about is New Hampshire WR David Ball. Ball obliterated Jerry Rice’s Div I-AA receiving records and despite being labeled as a plodding dwarf. Indeed, he’s kinda short and pretty slow but the guy can grab a football and has plenty of moves for after the catch. UFA pick ups don’t get much smarter or better than this one. I’d love to see him get some playing time this year.

And finally, one more undrafted rookie to mention. DB Jay Skaggs from UNLV was a good player on a terrible, little-noticed team. But what endeared him to Bears management was his passion and tenacity.

The following is from an article on Skaggs from the Sun Times – nod to the Windy City Gridiron for their post:

The 6-1, 220-pound safety from UNLV was on a bad team that finished 2-10 in the Mountain West Conference, hardly on the radar of most scouts. So Staggs started by finding phone numbers for teams on NFL.com. Then he called front offices and relentlessly sought numbers for West Coast scouts. He kept a chart of all his calls.

''When I called a scout, if I didn't hear from him, I called twice the next day,'' Staggs said. ''If I still didn't hear from him, I called three times the day after that.''

He practically lived in the UNLV football office as he put together two DVDs of himself, one on defense and one on special teams. He mailed them to anyone he thought could help him, spending more than $4,000. At the small Texas vs. The Nation All-Star Game in El Paso, he brought ''swag bags,'' including a profile of himself and the DVDs, and went around passing them out to scouts. He also had seven tackles, a sack and a forced fumble and recovery during the game.

''With my work ethic and love for the game, who knows what can happen?'' Staggs said. ''This is my passion.''

He got in contact with Bears scout Marty Barrett and finally was hooked up with special-teams coordinator Dave Toub, who liked what he saw. When Staggs went undrafted, Toub acted fast to get him on board, and now he's in position to perhaps replace Cameron Worrell, who made the Bears as a tryout player in 2003 and left for Miami in free agency.

Now, how can you not root for a guy like that? I predict that by the next mini camp, the city of Chicago will be absolutely in love with this guy.

So, all in all, it was another fun draft even if a good bit of the fun happened from trading veterans and picking up some leftovers after ESPN had turned off the lights and headed back to Bristol. Now, we’re left to wait and plan our fantasy league draft plans, hit a training camp scrimmage or two and drool about the whats-his-name snoozefest that is the preseason. I can’t wait.

(For some great and funny draft coverage from one of the big boys, make sure to check out ESPN's Sports Guy, Bill Simmons column.)

Obligations

2007-05-05T23:07:00.000-05:00

Since I've been busy lately and I need to post some damn thing...

My favorite Polvo song lyric has to be, "...following the grapevine down into the goldmine..."

And really, were I somehow to teach a class on 90's indie rock, Polvo would be a chapter unto themselves--not because they're the gold standard of the decade, but because the represent the particular aesthetic, the particular characteristic of the era.

Propaganda Prospecting in a River of Blood - or - Just Another Day for the American Right

2007-04-17T17:09:00.000-05:00

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or in Iraq with far more important things to worry about, you’ve likely heard all about yesterday’s tragic massacre at Virginia Tech.

The dude was, predictably, a loner with some serious issues. But that news didn’t stop Right wing pundits from attempting to claim the South Korean ~~national~~ born, naturalized American citizen as an Al Queda-connected, Muslim… or claiming that this was the best reason yet for arming every man and woman on every college campus across the nation--Now, I’m reasonably pro-gun, but you’ll probably draw the same conclusions as me about a campus full of fully armed, hormone-flooded, testosterone-crazed, booze-soaked, kids freshly escaped from a lifetime under mommy and daddy’s watchful eyes. Yea. Great idea.

So, shall we visit some of the swine who’ve come to graze on the still-warm corpses in Virginia?

* Well there’s the National Review’s John Derbyshire, whom you may remember from this post where he publicly chastised the captured British sailors last month. Well, the human-swine hybrid is at it again. Today, he bravely describes how, had he been on campus yesterday, he would have gone all Chuck Norris and put a stop to the madness.

*Then there's ding-a-ling winger, Debbie Schlussel, who has gone to bat for America's racists and "War On Terror" (tm) types--with decidedly diminished returns as more info on the murders has been released. Her wild speculations aired on, where else, Fox News where she cast an ever wider net in attempts to fire up the ol' base and maybe win a few strays back with some blatant racist pandering.

*Not to be outdone for comedy's sake, another National Review-er, Carol Iannone, tosses out this gut-buster, blaming the killings on co-ed dorms and English lit.

*Should I even bother with the "Bowling for Columbine"-esque, rapid-response of the NRA types? Though, there is this.

I will be on the lookout for more wingnut responses and will post the more sub-human of 'em.

**Update Below**

*A late entry to this knuckle-dragging, morally corrupt gang is bible-thumper, Ken Ham, who feels that were every US public high school be converted to a christian academy, Monday's tragedy could have been prevented.

*And what would a list of self-promoting swine be without his Foxness, Bill O'Reilly? Here every one's favorite stoke-victim-in-waiting employs his famous, post-modern political jujitsu to use the tragedy to attack the politics of those who used the tragedy to even mention the subject of gun control. Dizzy yet?

Billy Pilgrim's Wild Ride

2007-04-12T16:58:00.000-05:00

(Photo borrowed from Rolling Stone magazine)

This news is omnipresent right now... no, not more Imus bullshit. (Though, if you want to see the human side of that bit of nastiness--not the political posturing and maneuvering--the real, honest to goodness, human faces on the receiving end of the supposedly glib, racist, pap, you could do much worse than this here.)

No, today, it's another story. (Always another story for another day here on the good ol' internets.) You see, writer, philosopher, survivor, Kurt Vonnegut has passed away .

There's really not much I can add to the eulogizing goin' 'round the web right now, except to simply add that if you haven't yet read any Vonnegut, just what in the hell are you waiting for?

2007's been a lousy year so far for... well, for all kinds of people and for all kinds of shit. But as it happens, it's also been a lousy year for folks that I greatly admire. They've been dropping dead at a somewhat alarming pace. Maybe it's not the pace, though. Maybe it's more the quality of people that have shuffled off lately. I dunno... it's a little sad to start thinking about.

And anyway, there's still a pile of work to get done before I can go home. And once I'm safely home, there's still our unconcerned neighbor's car alarm that will certainly go on and off all goddamned night. And even if it didn't, our bank account's still in the red. And that's nowhere near as red as all the blood that's getting spilled in our nation's name over in a place called Iraq as our corrupt and inept politicians rob us all several generations into the future. And...

And then again... I won twenty bucks at poker last night. And I got Red Sox tickets the other day. And I've got some good friends coming to town soon. And there's all those great restaurants waiting to be discovered and all those great albums the keep on coming out regardless of tastemaker prognostications... And, hell, I've just started reading a new book. It looks pretty good.

So, maybe sad isn't exactly the right word for what I'm feeling.

(Photo borrowed from Nezua, the Unapologetic Mexican)

Some worthwhile Vonnegut interviews: Rolling Stone, NPR, Salon, PBS, In These Times, Playboy (interviewed by Joseph Heller).

Just What They Needed?

2007-04-09T15:27:00.000-05:00

I almost never shop at Circuit City for various reasons. One of those reasons happens to be that, year after year, they give the lion's share of their corporate political donations to the Republican party. Off the top of my head, I think the figure averages to something like 80/20 for the GOP.

Add to that the godawful customer service and knowledge-base that their shoddy, Wal-Mart-esque treatment of employees garners and there's very little incentive to even walk in the door. And I didn't even mention the uncompetitive prices and perpetually under-stocked inventory.

So, it's not like I need any more incentive to stay the hell away from Circuit City. But should you need it, look no further.

These days, it doesn't surprise me in the least to read about how American upper management treats long-term, mid-level employees. It's always another variation on the cannibalistic urge to swell the corporate coffers and bloat the corporate aristocracy. It's a sickening symptom of the cancer that's killing the American dream... AKA: America's Soul.

Barbara Ehrenreich writes about the media reaction to this wickedness.

From the article:

"Columnist Bill White of the Allentown Morning Call pictures Circuit City CEO Philip J. Schoonover getting a warm welcome to hell - very warm. Satan tells him, "This place is full of overpaid, outsourcing, golden-parachuting, employee-abusing worms like you." Schoonover's sin? Laying off 3400 employees because they had been around for too long and needed to be replaced by minimum wage workers...

...Times columnist David Leonhardt showed some pious sympathy for the laid-off, who will, after a 10 week cooling off period, be able to re-apply for their old jobs at much reduced pay. But he goes on to explain that Circuit City's employee abuse is just part of the larger corporate demand for 'efficiency.'"

Read the entire article: Circuit City Slaughter.

Right Wing Bloodlust On Parade

2007-04-04T14:20:00.000-05:00

Crooks and Liars points us to leading "conservative" publication, The National Review, where that famous Right Wing support of our troops is on full, naked, dog piled, electrode-to-the-genitals, display.

From ~~human-swine hybrid~~ TNR opinion columnist, John Derbyshire:

Once again, it's me and Ralph Peters on the same wavelength, deploring the cowardice of the British sailors and marines kidnapped by Iran. When it happened, I said I hoped the ones who'd shamed their country would be court-martialed on return to Blighty, and given dishonorable discharges after a couple years breaking rocks in the Outer Hebrides (which, believe me—I've been there—have a LOT of rocks). Now, I confess, I wouldn't shed a tear if some worse fate befell them.

Read the C&L entry.

Read the pathetic article itself.

Been Down So Long...

2007-04-04T13:21:00.000-05:00

...Don't Hardly Know What Diplomacy That Doesn't Come From The Barrel of a Gun Is.

If you too have forgotten that diplomacy really isn't defined by sabre rattling and troop surges, perhaps it'll lift your spirits to read this: "Syria Tells Pelosi It's Ready for Peace Talks."

R-O-C-K (Updated)

2007-03-29T17:20:00.000-05:00

My friend Jon gave me a ticket to see the band Explosions in the Sky last night. I like the band. They're an instrumental, quiet-to-loud-to-bombastic, indie quartet who, as they've matured, have even begun to take on qualities of the more emotive, multi-tonal, neo-classical composers of yesteryear (maybe Stravinsky or Shoenberg). The results are a big, almost cinematic sound that often sounds like a full-fledged symphony instead of a few guitars and a drum set.

Explosion in the Sky played an excellent show. They've nailed their live act down. It's exciting and flawless... But somehow, that wasn't enough. The loud-quiet-loud-quiet-real loud formula (or the reverse) paid diminished returns and by the fourth song, I had pretty much tuned out. And that makes sense, cuz they're the kind of band that I have trouble paying attention to for an entire album, let alone an entire live show. The utter lack of hooks or pop nuggets just tends to wear on me after a few songs. Thus it went at the sold out show last night.

But alas, tonite I've got a chance to get that mojo back.

Me and Mrs. Delano have tickets to go see young indie, up and comers, The Besnard Lakes. Their new album, The Dark Horse, is awash in Phil Spector-ish, Beach Boys meet Jesus and Mary Chain sweetness. Or as one review aptly put it, "The band reminds me a lot of Low, if, instead of stripping down their songs to bare-bone affairs, they turned it up to eleven and invited Roger Waters to the party."

That reviewer also posted an mp3 of one of the best songs, "And You Lied To Me."

***Update***

Wow. What a show it was.

They were one of the best live bands I've seen in years. I really like the new album, but live, the guitars move out from the background. They're big, loud and, for lack of a better word, glorious. And the smoke machine was a perfect accompaniment to the shimmering walls of sound and pop nuggets exploding from the small stage.

Do what you must to see this band live.

What's That Stink?

2007-03-26T13:39:00.000-05:00

Ahh, the hypocritical, braying jackassery of the Republican Youth Korps is ripe upon the spring air: Eagles vs Ducks: Promoting War from the Safety of Home.

Turning Worms

2007-03-21T15:14:00.000-05:00

MoveOn.org has been, as far as I'm concerned, a mildly useful organization. But I've never been much for rallies or hosting discussion groups... especially as a proxy for an organization that's ever-closer to the Democratic party.

So, I've removed them, finally, from ye olde blogroll. But as I aint exactly one to close a door without opening a window, I've added a new link.

Sadly, No! is a smarmy, belligerent, wickedly funny political blog. Juvenile yet skewering, it's a fun counterpoint to a blog like Glenn Greewald's super-serious fillets. No a bad one-two punch.

Write Your Own Caption

2007-03-14T15:17:00.000-05:00

This photo is just too precious to limit to one or two smarmy captions.

So, please feel free to add your own on the comments section.

"President Bush Gives Little Brown Worker Lesson in NAFTA/CAFTA Economics."

Jim Beam Brain Bake

2007-03-14T13:53:00.000-05:00

Things are slowing down a bit finally. The Great Big Move is nearly finished, but as this new house is officially the 9th place I've lived in the last ten years, there's an incredible amount of furnishing and tweaking to come, cuz, I don't intend on moving again for quite a goddamn while.

Among plenty of other exciting homemaking decisions, we've decided to make a foray into the world of satellite tv. And I'm as giddy as a toddler anticipating Christmas morning about it all*. We're getting the DVR's and about a jabillion stations. The miracle man come Friday morning with the little dish and the magic boxes. I only hope I can get some sleep the night before.

*I should add that as a responsible and moral citizen, I only intend to watch nature and educational programs on my new magic dish, oh, and C-SPAN. And maybe some ESPN. But, really, that's all. Really.

419 Is a Joke

2007-03-06T15:30:00.000-06:00

Familiar with the Monty Python skit about the dead parrot? I knew you were.

Know what a 419 scam is? Sure you do.

How about the anti-419, scambaiting movement? Of course.

So, what do you get when you combine all three?

A goddamn, certified inteweb classic.

See Xeni's post on Boing Boing for much more about this video and scambaiting in general.

When Fascism Come To America, It'll Be Wearing a Miniskirt

2007-03-06T13:42:00.000-06:00

For me, "conservative" cheerleader and professional attention-seeker, Ann Coulter usually garners the kinda attention span usually reserved for a channel-surfing stopover on Sabado Gigante or one of those ouch-it-hurts-sports-injury gawkfests... in other words, she's a fly-by oddity. Or, oughta be.

I find her politics and personality wildly repugnant but at the same time I find her to be such a cartoon of a normal human being, that I can't be bothered to laugh at her, let alone fume about her. But I can only wish she'd remain little more than an occasional blip on my personal radar.

It's just that, every couple of months her inner fascist orbits a little too close to her inner child and she says something so outrageously offensive/stupid/titillating that it gets picked up and circulated 'round the blogoshpere, and sometimes the tv-o-sphere. And I become a little more familiar with Ann Coulter.

As I understand it, she's garnered a large following in America's "conservative" community. She's a perennial major player on the GOP punditry circuit where book deals, speaking engagements and TV appearances have earned her a very, very agreeable income. From there, Coulter plays to the baser instincts of the GOP faithful, oftentimes uttering statements (usually in the form of the defensible opinion--actual or calculated) that would get plenty of other media darlings publicly shunned for a lifetime or two. Tellingly, she's retained her seat in the Pantheon of "conservative" icons as much by explicit approval of those masses, as by implicit approval by the leaders of those masses.

Despite the repeatedly violent and vicious pronouncements vomited from the mouth of Ann Coulter, the GOP has yet to publicly denounce her; yet to claim she's gone too far. Whether it's bemoaning a missed opportunity to assassinate a "liberal" political figure, daydreaming of exterminating America's left-leaning citizens, or, now, the jocular, verbal emasculation of a Democratic presidential candidate, Coulter's words are met with a roar from the groundlings and ever more invitations from the elite.

The always excellent Glenn Greenwald writes about the phenomenon behind this tacit approval of Coulter and her peers by the GOP in today's column, The Right-Wing Cult of Contrived Masculinity. It's perhaps the most insightful, most damning post Greenwald's wrote yet. And that, my friends, is saying something.

Weedend Weekend Reading

2007-03-02T16:11:00.000-06:00

Essential reading from the LA Weekly (via BoingBoing):

A Terrible Thing to Waste
Convicted as an ecoterrorist, a brilliant young scholar nose-dives in prison.

*Thanks to Mr. Freejack for pointing out my Friday moment.

Smackdown - Swiftboat Financier Edition

2007-02-28T14:24:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-27T17:40:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-22T17:21:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-21T09:16:00.000-06:00

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.

Robert Anton Wilson, Out (UPDATED)

2007-01-11T16:44:00.000-06:00

Writer, Philosopher, Prophet, Hellraiser, Freethinker, Robert Anton Wilson passed on this morning. No doubt he left looking forward to his next great adventure. If you never read any of his work, get to it. Wilson's writing has the powerful ability to actually change the way forever how one sees themselves in the universe and, indeed, how one sees the universe itself. Time, space, truth, nature... you'll see none with the same eyes as before.

From his blog:

Robert Anton Wilson Defies Medical Experts and leaves his body @4:50 AM on binary date 01/11. All Hail Eris!

On behalf of his children and those who cared for him, deepest love and gratitude for the tremendous support and lovingness bestowed upon us.

(that's it from Bob's bedside at his fnord by the sea)

RAW Memorial February 07date to be announced .

UPDATE: Reason Magazine Online has a great atricle on RAW with links and commentary.

Florida Gators Win It All

2007-01-09T15:37:00.000-06:00

My Florida Gators won the NCAA Football Cham-peen-ship last night by eviscerating the overwhelmingly favored Ohio State Buckeyes. The Gators played intense, nearly flawless football making the Buckeyes look at first confused, then downright lost. It was a real treat.

Robert Weintraub, writing for Slate.com, has my favorite take on the event: Urban Renewal - The Florida Gators and their genius coach maul Ohio State.

And here's a few more of my favorite pics:

Death Cult Glee Club

2006-12-30T12:07:00.000-06:00

Just a reminder:

Juan Cole remembers. He gives us the Top Ten Ways the US Enabled Saddam Hussein.

Bad Moon Rising - Government Approved Science

2006-12-18T18:29:00.000-06:00

It's hard to understate how frightening an idea this is. While America's eyes are turned Eastward and our hearts are warmed with the self-destruction of the American Right, those same Rightists have managed to sneak into legislation a major tenet of Neocon ideology.

New scientific publishing guidelines give strict partisan oversight to scientific findings and the flow of scientific information. The new rules essentially subject all data to political interpretation before being made public. This effectively creates an in-house propaganda unit for every government-funded scientific research project.

Before, many of these projects were spun and distorted by extra-agency government units whose take could be measured next to the actual scientific findings. In other words, there was always a division between the scientific results and "the official findings." Not anymore. This new directive clears the way for political manipulation of research, data and of course, results.

This is the very essence of corruption. The very meaning of the word. This type of manipulation and secrecy of science combined with, on the other hand, the corporate secrecy of science effectively takes science out of the public sphere. And in our brave, new, modern world this amounts another face of the rising American fascism.

The Bush administration is clamping down on scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey, the latest agency subjected to controls on research that might go against official policy.

New rules require screening of all facts and interpretations by agency scientists who study everything from caribou mating to global warming. The rules apply to all scientific papers and other public documents, even minor reports or prepared talks, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

Read the article: New publishing rules restrict scientists.

All About 2012

2006-12-15T12:34:00.000-06:00

The date December 21st, 2012 A.D. (13.0.0.0.0 in the Long Count), represents an extremely close conjunction of the Winter Solstice Sun with the crossing point of the Galactic Equator (Equator of the Milky Way) and the Ecliptic (path of the Sun), what that ancient Maya recognized as the Sacred Tree. This is an event that has been coming to resonance very slowly over thousands and thousands of years. It will come to resolution at exactly 11:11 am GMT.

LEARN MORE HERE.

What Darkness Lurks...

2006-12-01T16:26:00.000-06:00

Digby over on Hulabaloo points us to several columns by John Marshall of Talking Points Memo covering the quickly growing tendency of right wing loyalists to paint the myriad of Republican failures as, wouldn’t you know, the failures of the American people. They’re out there on the net and in the newspapers and on the cable news suite right now talking up this crap. Scolding average Americans everywhere for being down on the war, down on the Repubs and for wanting change. Typical.

Theirs is a kind of power that’s meant to appeal to the kid in all of us… the locked-in part of our human psyches that will always have a need of a parent figure, a need to be told what’s what, a need to have the world interpreted for us. That we’re all far more capable of figuring it all out for our selves with a little hard work and reflection is meaningless to them and is, indeed, something they hate to see in the populace at large. It's why they shout loud enough and stamp their feet strong enough to drown out the sound of our own conscience talking to us. And should anyone cognizant enough to hear their own voice start speaking, it's why they mock and deride and marginalize.

This is their philosophy of governing… the occluded, perhaps subliminal side of everything they stand for, but never talk about in classrooms or conventions or on TV. This is why the demand from us servitude, compliance and ignorance. It’s also why we see, down so many avenues, their attempts to cover-up, to silence, to censor.

It is why we people like us call ~~them~~ people like them "evil".

In order to gather their power, to wield it and sustain it, they must actively smother what so many of us understand to be mankind’s greatest assets—our spiritual, emotional, intellectual freedoms.

A snip from Digby’s post:

I'm sorry that these starry-eyed neocons who looked at George Bush and saw a genius are disappointed that the rest of the country didn't support their vision. They were given more of a chance to prove themselves than dreamers and fools usually are --- and they failed on a grand scale. This is what the Bushites deserve and what they should expect for ram-rodding through a war without real public support and then screwing it up royally. The families of all these dead and wounded soldiers, unfortunately, didn't deserve this and neither did the poor Iraqis who didn't know they were going to be guinea pigs in a 7th grade neocon thought experiment based on cartoons and psycho-babble.

Neither War Nor Politics Nor Gossip, Yet, Of All

2006-11-21T12:36:00.000-06:00

With so much going on in the world around us right now, it’s important to call attention to some of the less fantastic, less dramatic, less bloated headlines.

Film director, Robert Altman died today at the age of 81. He was/is one of my all-time favorite directors. The first film of his I saw was The Player towards the end of my high school years. The opening shot, a record breaking long take with swooping, shifting camera angles, was like a slap in the face. And if the opening shot was a sustained smack, then the rest of the film was like a boxing match. A pinnacle of storytelling, camera work and acting that gave my teenage self an entirely new perspective on filmmaking.

If you haven’t seen any of his films, well, get to it. Here’s my top five (in order of release date):

1) M*A*S*H
2) Nashville
3) The Player
4) Short Cuts
5) Gosford Park

The Party Expands

2006-11-16T20:19:00.000-06:00

As I continue to reassess what this blog should be all about, if exist at all, why not glide on over to Ed Ballinger's band new, squeaky clean, I Should Care Less.

Fun fact about Ed: He like to put Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream in his underpants and head out on the dance floor to do the Electric Slide. You didn't hear it from me though.

News Alert!

2006-11-15T09:20:00.000-06:00

This just in:

FOX NEWS FUNDS TERRORISTS TO THE TUNE OF TWO MIL.

Number One Son, Heed This Ancient Parable

2006-11-09T16:07:00.000-06:00

The following was grabbed part and parcel from Billmon's Whiskey Bar blog. I think it sums up the situation nicely, don't you?

What the Dems are saying:
Pelosi praised "the beauty and genius of our democracy," and thanked voters for giving Democrats the chance to lead.

"Democrats pledge civility and bipartisanship in conduct of the work here," she said, calling for "partnerships … not partisanship."
What the Dems are actually thinking:
MARSELLUS: Step aside, Butch.

Butch steps aside, revealing Marsellus standing behind him, holding a pump-action shotgun. KABOOM!!!!

Zed is blasted in the groin. Down he goes, screaming in agony. Marsellus, looking down at his whimpering rapist, ejects the used shotgun shell.

BUTCH: You okay?

MARSELLUS: Naw man. I'm pretty fuckin' far from okay.

BUTCH: What now?

MARSELLUS: What now? Well let me tell you what
now. I'm gonna call a couple pipe-hittin' niggas, who'll go to work on homes here with a pair of pliers and a blow torch. (to Zed) You hear me talkin' hillbilly boy?! I ain't through with you by a damn sight. I'm gonna git medieval on your ass!

--Quentin TarantinoPulp Fiction.

Again, this was lifted from the always wild and wooley, Billmon's Whiskey Bar. Borrowed sentiment to be sure, but borrowed with love.

Post 201 - Who Will Lead Them?

2006-11-08T10:25:00.000-06:00

Wowee Zowee, what a night. Was up till well past three savoring the spectacle. And catching GOP pundits and Fox News all red-faced and pissy while calling so damn many races for the Dems was sheer political porn. It was H-O-T.

All in all, a great night for me, for the American Left, for all of America, for the world. It's wildly encouraging to see the American public put their foot down. Yea, a couple years too late, but hell. Better late than never, I guess. As I read somewhere last night, "Subpoena Powers: Active!!!"

Last night's victory drink: Trader Joe's carbonated blueberry juice and a splash of 100% cranberry juice over vodka.

Last night's victory dinner: Truffles on soft-boiled eggs with shaved parmesean and brown butter.

Last night's hero: The American public. Wow. Not even the GOP's fiendish shenanigans could sully the upsets. Hoo-rah!

Last night's zero: Joe Lieberman. Sucked in enough Republican votes to down Ned Lamont by a good 10% margin. And the way things look to be shaking out, he'll be the deciding vote in a tied senate. Ugh.... let's hope payback aint quite the bitch it's said to be.

Ok.... now I'm late for work. But I will say that a hangover never felt so good.

**UPDATE**
The flight's not over!!! Glenn Greenwald explains the day after in "The Great Victory - crushing the developing myths." Read it now!!!

200th Post!!! - Now Go Vote!!!

2006-11-07T12:26:00.000-06:00

Champagne, confetti, horns and those little things you whip around that make a noise like a spine realignment-- for everyone!!! It's the 200th post on Finish My Wine dot Com!!!!

Woo hoo!!!

Ok, here's a broom and a trash bag. Clean up and then go vote if you haven't already. If you have, I think I saw a dude stashing a few beers in the lettuce drawer of the fridge. Grab me one, cuz I done voted already.

Continuing election coverage:

*CSPAN*

*CNN*

*Crooks and Liars*

*Huffington Post*

*Alternet*

**UPDATE**
Check out Gore Vidal's ‘The Most Important Election in My Lifetime’
Check out Glenn Greenwald's "Tradesport predictions and other election matters "

A Good Time To Look Forward

2006-11-06T19:01:00.000-06:00

Yea, yea… not much posting lately. As I approached (and still do... this is #199) the 200th entry for Finish My Wine dot Com, Michael Benton from the blog, Dialogic, invited me (and you and everyone else) to participate in an upcomming issue of Reconstruction, an online cultural studies magazine. The issue will be about blogging and Michael wants writers from across the blogosphere to pen entries about their motivations behind blogging and any ideas on the theory and practice of blogging.

It sounds like a great project. A diverse blogging public checking in with their take on the hobby/job/obsession… It couldn’t be a more relevant topic these days as the number of blogs on the internet continues to explode (over 55 million to date!). However, there’s been little discussion as to what they mean to those who create them and those who frequent them. And there’s certainly been no effort to centralize the discussion.

So, I was digging around in the ol’ headspace in a effort to come up with an angle for why I started this blog-thing and why I continue to do it. And that’s where I hit a wall.

I’m just not sure if I’ve got much to offer at this point beyond foot-stomping political posts and link-heavy traffic-cop type posts. Work’s become severely encompassing and my rush hour creative energies, as feeble as they may be, have begun to turn elsewhere. There just doesn’t seem to be any point to keeping this up right now beyond sheer vanity… And anyone who’s known me for more than ten minutes can attest to my contempt for that particular deadly sin.

So… no determinations at this point. Just questions. We’ll see what happens.

Buuuuuuuut seeing as I’m taking the time to write all this, I may as well toss in some political snark, right?

I’m fairly politick’d out right now. The local TV ads for the mid-term seats have been wildly entertaining.. if only because to think of them in any other way would quickly become wildly depressing. And the Rove-ster’s ~~October~~ November surprise… wow. Hussein sentenced to hang just days before the American elections. Gee. Transparent AND irrelevant.

It’s like the GOP has so little to offer that even their whoppers have that stale fart smell about them. The kind you catch a wiff of in hospitals or, more appropriately, in funeral homes. It’s the smell of decomposition. The slow and inevitable march towards the grave taken step by step, cell by cell, microbe by microbe.

But who knows. With all the GOP election-day shenanigans poised to reappear this year, one can’t be too sure of exactly which way the shit will fly after it hits the fan. Really, the only thing you can count on right now is that, win or lose, the GOP and the Fox-ite zombie army are already figuring ways to blame the ills of the next two years on the still powerless Democrats and those rotten American traitors, the “liberals.”

Topical Post

2006-10-31T12:29:00.000-06:00

There's something about people dressing up their pets that just cracks me up. So, in observance of this Halloween Holiday, I pass on to you these links sent to me from Mrs. Delano III.

Take your pick, Halloween Dogs and Halloween Cats.

All hail the Principia Absurdia!

The Omen: Part IV -- The Jitters

2006-10-30T17:39:00.000-06:00

Well, Ill be dipped in shit. What do think this is a picture of?

A hint: Haloween aint the only thing scaring some folks right now.

Wonkette's got the answer.

Playa-Participata

2006-10-27T13:00:00.000-05:00

The Rude Pundit pulled out an ice cold bottle of vodka for the president’s limp, uninspiring speech the other day. He clocked in with comments between frosty shots.

My favorites:

10:38 - Already bored. The Rude Pundit's thinking of the most frightening Halloween costume he could wear. Maybe it'll be a zombie Rush Limbaugh gnawing on Michael J. Fox's brain. Nah. Too much padding.

10:44 - Bush ain't "satisfied" with the situation in Iraq. Umm, gee, motherfucker, didn't you put that souffle' in the oven? If it doesn't rise, it ain't our fault.

10:49 - Oh, fuck, he's giving that creepy squint-smile. And he's off - acting like a phone psychic, predicting what people of the future will say about us. Apparently, "My mommy was blown-up in a worthless war" is not one of those things. Nor is "Boy, I'm glad we stopped using gasoline cars."

11:25 - Wonder if that burrito place is open for lunch? A burrito'd soak up all this vodka.

For the whole enchilada, er, burrito, read Live Vodka-Shot Blogging the President's News Conference.

Q4 - It's All Downhill From Here

2006-10-24T16:42:00.000-05:00

Calamities, fiascos, and clusterfucks rule these days. I peer out from behind my mountain of paperwork and dream of a match, a match, my kingdom for a match. And I'd skip and spin down the stairs and out to door but not before watching it all catch and start to glow.

Despite the election fast approaching, I’m feeling way, way burned out on politics. Or maybe I’m just coming down with a cold… or maybe both. Anyway, for whatever reason, I aint exactly feelin’ it right now.

So, allow some of my friends to do the heavy lifting today:

*Rollie St. Bacon rolls the bones and comes up Carter. Though, if you prefer a little less milk in your coffee but are still in that 70’s frame of mind, dig his column on the day that rock and roll really died. And if rock and roll aint yr bag… Oh! Baby! You need to get out more. Maybe take a ride in a shagadellic make-out mobile.

*Mrotzie invites us along on her Roman holiday where her and her beau introduce pancakes to unsuspecting Italian villagers.

*Melissa in Ecuador keeps bringing it with stories and pics so spot on, you'd swear it was you that's been knee-deep in unruly mountain children and interesting cuisine.

*Bad News Hughes continues his zany adventure into the heart of darkness, AKA his own twisted life.

*And if all that readin’s got yer eyeballs a scortchin’ and a scratchin’, Ms. BeBe Gun’s got some excellent works of visual acuity for you to gander at.

*And finally, if all that sittin’ and starin’ at the screen’s got you ancy for some shopping, dig on Joanna Ballinger’s Red Attic handbag emporium. Do I need to remind you that them holidays are right around the corner?

Monkey Trouble

2006-10-20T16:37:00.000-05:00

WFMU’s Beware of the Blog points us in the direction of the Best Damn Monkey Portraits Ever. As your doctor, I’d advise you have a look.

Bringing a Knife to a Gunfight

2006-10-18T18:25:00.000-05:00

So Yahoo’s having an email Q & A forum with MoveOn.org’s director, Eli Pariser. Users can add a question to a long list sent in by readers. Apparently Yahoo, moderator Judy Woodruff and Pariser will pick out their favorites for him to answer in an upcoming column.

That’s all fine and good, I guess. MoveOn is a decent organization who, from what I’ve seen through my own involvement with them, are trying (and succeeding) to connect people of similar political persuasions. They aim, at the very least, to educate and if they can make an activist or donator out of participants, they’ll gladly do so.

That they’ve become downright demonized in the right wing media is sheer testimony as to how effective they’ve become at raising both consciousness and capital—and how much they scare the pants off “conservatives” and the GOP faithful.

After reading down the “what would you like to ask Eli Pariser” message board, one fact become glaringly, pitifully obvious… (And forgive the polarization here, I tend to despise lumping regular folks’ personal politics in to one camp or the other. It’s become a lazy, divisive technique of the base-catering goons on AM radio and cable news, but it serves to set the stage here.) … As I said, after reading down the message board, one fact just jumps right out and boxes your ears.

It seems that one side of this fight comes armed to the teeth with facts and has a strong grasp on issues and the players involved. By and large, they’re willing to consider the opinions of others and even attempt to bridge some of those great empathic gaps we all seem to keep falling in to these days.

The other side in this fight paints with strokes as broad as their sentences are short. They toss out characterizations about catchphrases without a hint of shame. They offer little in making their point beyond the petty mocking of opinions and ideas that they plainly don’t understand. There is little substance and less good will. They give us a clear look at the ass-end of the echo chamber. Manufactured outrage distilled to its basest, most simple sentiment.

Perhaps not surprisingly, these folks are made up of the blindly pro-Bush, the GOP grunts, and the "with-us-or-against-us" crowd. Nevermind that the torchbearers of the ideology that they're still clinging to have been unmasked and exposed as the plunderers and swindlers they've been all along.

Not that the “left-leaning” comments are spun entirely of gold. There’s plenty of knckleheaded brain farting and party-line lockstepping. But the genuine, thoughtful, knowledgeable, heart-felt sentiment comes overwhelmingly from that “left.”

I don’t know how long this is gonna be up, or how much you can stand, but if you feel like wading into those particular waters, check out Talk to Eli Pariser of MoveOn.org.

The King's Eyes and Ears Are Now Bionic

2006-10-18T15:13:00.000-05:00

As the mid-term elections creep closer, and we find that Rove and the GOP are about to light the fuse on a one hundred million dollar advertising and propaganda blitz, and dictator-in-chief Bush signs in to law a regressive, twisted piece of legislation that strips every US citizen of their right of Habeas Corpus, the ever-floundering Department of Homeland Security has sunk a couple million into a data trolling service hoping to snare and analyze even the most inane of anti-American sentiment from across the globe.

Truthout’s Chris Floyd explains this latest insanity shat from the “with us or against us” mindset.

Why is the United States government spending millions of dollars to track down critics of George W. Bush in the press? And why have major American universities agreed to put this technology of tyranny into the state's hands?

As with so many of the Bush measures that have quietly stripped away America's liberties, this one too is beginning with a whimper, not a bang: a modest $2.4 Department of Homeland Security million grant to develop "sentiment analysis" software that will allow the government's "security organs" to sift millions of articles for "negative opinions of the United States or its leaders in newspapers and other publications overseas," as the New York Times reported earlier this month. Such negative opinions must be caught and catalogued because they could pose "potential threats to the nation," security apparatchiks told the Times.

This hydra-headed snooping program is based on "information extraction," which, as a chipper PR piece from Cornell tells us, is a process by which "computers scan text to find meaning in natural language," rather than the rigid literalism ordinarily demanded by silicon cogitators. Under the gentle tutelage of Homeland Security, the universities "will use machine-learning algorithms to give computers examples of text expressing both fact and opinion and teach them to tell the difference," says the Cornell blurb.

Read the entire article: Sentimental Education: Academia Signs Up to Track Down Dissent.

So Un-Punk

2006-10-13T16:37:00.000-05:00

ESPN color columnist Bill Simmons has a good rundown of the remaining three quarters of the NFL season. He’s consistently the only decent thing about the god-awful, wretched, tax write-off, waste of ink and paper that is ESPN The Magazine. If you’ve ever been tempted to pick one up or, heaven forbid, purchase a subscription, for fuck’s sake just don’t do it—Unless you’re a fifth grader with some extra allowance money. At least then, you’ll be reading something written for your age group.

In the interest of opening a window after closing a door, I’d suggest The Sporting News if you’re looking for a good sports magazine. While they do get a little long in the tooth covering the NASCAR circuit, and their NBA section rarely goes over 3 pages, their football and baseball coverage is always outstanding, even in the offseason. It’s written well and is typically devoid of Sports Illustrated-esque, human interest fluff.

Anyway, if you’re a football fan, read Bill Simmons’ Putting the Sleeper to Bed.

Melissa In Ecuador

2006-10-12T16:07:00.000-05:00

Yowza, does time fly. I've been meaning to send out a word on and a link to this for over a month now. Ooops. My apologies.

My friend Melissa is down in Ecuador for four months. She's living with a host family and teaching wild mountain children at a run down school house. By all accounts it's been a hell of an adventure. She's got a blog up and running now with incredible pictures and stories. Check it out and get your vicarious on.

Melissa In Ecuador - "This is the blog of Melissa Resh while teaching in Ecuador. I arrived on August 4th, and I should be here until the beginning of December."

PS - The picture above is of a local dish called Cuy. It's basically a deep fried guinea pig.

Coffee, Microscope, Monkeywrench

2006-10-12T14:33:00.000-05:00

New job duties have required being here more hours of the day and staying busy while I am here. With any luck I’ll pull in enough dough on the next paycheck to buy a Caribbean bungalow… or at least a case of Corona and tickets to that Naked Raygun / 7 Seconds reunion show in November.

Some recent observations:

Woke up to snow in Chicago this morning. My god. Snow already.

Payroll snafu has had my pay all goofed up for the last month. I was sure I never got one particular paycheck. Had payroll office put a stop payment on it. They said someone cashed it and had me come down to take a look. The signature on the back of the check was, of course, my own. I still don’t understand what happened. I’m gonna blame this one on the chemo. You bethca.

Death knell or not, right wingers and republicans will be pulling out every dirty trick from their nefarious bag in these next few weeks before the election. At the very least, it’ll make for some serious avant-garde theater. Grab some popcorn and enjoy.

These Chicago Bears are going to the Super Bowl. No doubt about it.

Meatballs are the future. My lovely lady made pasta with meatballs last night as the temps dropped and the wind howled. Just perfect. Though, the accompaniment (new episode of LOST) left a lot to be desired.

After rereading ReSearch’s book on Pranks in anticipation of next month’s publication of Pranks 2, I’ve got a spring in my pre-winter step. While we Americans may or may not be hopelessly fucked as prisoners of our own affluence, it’s good to know that there’s still a lot of good, wicked fun out there to be had. Sometimes I forget that.