Just Another Coincidence

Last week whilst I was whining about SUVs, Soundsurfr and I had a private e-mail discussion. I said:

Certainly, if the culture sways away from the use of SUV's to where it becomes very uncool to drive them it will improve the situation slightly.

I know Sound won't mind my posting his response:

The culture needs to say – as long as we’re hog tied to a bunch of lunatic fringe Muslim extremists for our oil, we need to use one of our SUV’s to drive 7 children from the same neighborhood to school one time instead of using 7 Hondas to drive them all to school separately. The culture needs to say – we’re not buying any more oil from those , so you can each use 15 gallons of gas per week, and you can choose to put in your SUV or your Ferrari or your motorcycle or your converted school bus unless you have a valid reason for needing more. The culture needs to say, I’ll pay 5 thousand extra bucks to put a hydrogen fuel cell in my SUV and those idiot Iranians can rot in hell. The culture needs to say – maybe windmills along the ocean shore are unsightly, but not half as unsightly as skyscrapers aflame with jet fuel. The culture needs to say – if weaning ourselves off foreign oil will solve half our foreign policy, military and environmental problems, then we really shouldn’t be voting oil barons into office anymore.

What the culture doesn’t need to do, is tell us what style of vehicle we should be driving.

Hmm, voting oil barons into office. I wonder if this is just a coincidence?

***
This week's Top 10.

Pleasant Diversion From Saturday

I am not easily persuaded by conspiracy theories. I believe in Occam's Razor for one thing. For another, I am skeptical of anyone's ability to keep a conspiracy of any magnitude that requires the cooperation of more than two people a secret.

Bearing that in mind, I still found all of the following at least thought provoking.

- The Viscount

January 27, 2006 -- An influential group of prominent experts and scholars have joined together alleging that senior government officials have covered up crucial facts about what really happened on 9/11. The members of this new non-partisan association, "Scholars for 9/11 Truth" (S9/11T), are convinced their research proves the current administration has been dishonest with the nation about events in New York and Washington, D.C.

Excerpted from here.

Thanks to Raw Story.

Scholars for 9/11 Truth: 20 Reasons to question the official story.

Does this make you paranoid?


Amateurish consipracy theory video that nevertheless raises some valid points toward the end in spite of its flaws.

Dr. Dean's Prescription For The Democratic Party

The big news in the blogsphere from Howard Dean’s appearance on the Today show was his comment on the Abramoff scandal.

COURIC: Hey, wait a second. Democrats took money -- Democrats took money from Jack Abramoff, too, Mr. Dean.

DEAN: That is absolutely false. That did not happen. Not one dime of money from Jack Abramoff went to any Repub -- Democrat at any time.

COURIC: According -- let me just tell you. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Abramoff and his associates gave $3 million to Republican and one -- Republicans -- and $1.5 million to Democrats including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid [R-NV]. So, this --

DEAN: Katie, not one -- not one dime. Not one dime of Jack Abramoff money ever went to any Democrat. We can show you the FEC [Federal Election Commission] reports, we'd be very happy to do it. There is a lot of stuff in the press that the Republican National Committee has been spinning that this is a bipartisan scandal. It is a Republican-financed scandal. Not one dime of money from Jack Abramoff ever went to any Democrat. Not one dime.

What may have been overlooked was the following exchange, where Couric basically says that Democrats stand for nothing:

Couric: What do you think (in 30 seconds) The Democratic Party stands for at the point in time:

Dean:

1) American jobs that will stay in America using energy independence to create those jobs.

2) A strong national defense based on telling the truth to our citizens our soldiers and our allies

3) Honesty and integrity to be restored to our government

4) A healthcare system that works for everybody just like they have in other countries

5) A strong public education system so we can have optimism and opportunity back in America

Entire segment can be seen here. We better start listening to the good doctor.
***
Thanks as always to Media Matters and Crooks and Liars.

My my my my Once Raped Twice F***ED!

MORE PROOF that the Republican Party has no regard for women.

uhh uhh er DEMOCRACY uhh uhh THE PEOPLE

I'm speechless.

Also, check out these two posts by Sound.

Temerity

This is the mainstream media today. This is America. God help us.

Belafonte compares the Department of Homeland Security and the deeds of the US Government to the Gestapo. Blitzer takes exception. Belafonte reminds him how American citizens can be taken away to foreign countries to be tortured without being charged. Blitzer does not deny this, but he says

"But no one has taken you or anyone else, as far as I can tell, to an extermination camp..."

Belafonte says perhaps if the Jews and other Germans had spoken up earlier [The Holocaust] might have been avoided. Blizter actually has the unabashed raw temerity to fallaciously ask:

“…are you blaming the Jews of Germany for what Hitler did to them?”

***
BLITZER: The new Gestapo. You know, those are powerful words, calling an agency of the U.S. government, the Department of Homeland Security with, what, about 300,000 federal employees, the new Gestapo. Do you want to take that back?

BELAFONTE: No, not really. I stand by my remarks. I am very much aware of what this has provoked in our national community. And I welcome the opportunity for us to begin to have a dialogue that goes other than where we've been having one up until now. People feel that I talk in extremes. But if you look at what's happening to American citizens, a lot is going on in the extreme.

We've taken citizens from this country without the right to be charged, without being told what they're taken for, we've spirited them out of this country, taken them to far away places and reports come back with some consistency that they are being tortured, that they're not being told what they've done. And even some who have been released have come back and testified to this fact.

BLITZER: But let me interrupt for a second. Are you familiar -- and I'm sure you are, because you're an intelligent man -- what the Gestapo did to the Jews in World War II?

BELAFONTE: Absolutely.

BLITZER: And you think that what the Department of Homeland Security is doing to, you know, some U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism is similar to what the Nazis did to the Jew?

BELAFONTE: Well, if you're taking people out of a country and spiriting them someplace else, and they're being tortured, and they're being charged without -- or not being charged, so they don't know what it is they've done.

It may not have been directly inside the Department of Homeland Security, but the pattern, the system, it's what the system does. It's what all these different divisions have begun to reveal in their collective.

My phones are tapped. OK? My mail can be opened. They don't even need a court warrant to come and do that as we once were required to do.

BLITZER: But no one has taken you or anyone else, as far as I can tell, to an extermination camp and by the tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, even millions decided to kill them, which is what the Nazis did.

BELAFONTE: Well, Mr. Blitzer, let me say this to you, perhaps, just perhaps had the Jews of Germany and people spoken out much earlier and had resisted the tyranny that was on the horizon, perhaps we would never have had...

BLITZER: Well, wait a minute, wait a minute, are you blaming the Jews of Germany for what Hitler did to them?

BELAFONTE: No, no. What I'm saying is that if it an awakened citizenry, begins to oppose the first inkling of the subversion of government, of the subversion of our democracy, then perhaps an early warning would have saved the world a lot of what we all experienced. I'm not accusing the Jews at all.

BLITZER: Well, I just heard you say perhaps if the Jews of Germany had done something earlier then that might not have happened. That's what I thought you were getting at.

BELAFONTE: Well, what I was getting at really is that if all citizens, the Jewish community, the Christian community and all else had taken a very early aggressive stand rather than somehow suggesting or thinking or feeling that this would have gone away, we might have found that Germany would have been in a far different place than it wound up in.

Video here.

Transcript here.

Everything Must Go

As some may have noticed, I was a Dean supporter in the ’04 election. In my view he was the only candidate that could have decidedly beaten Bush, and the only one in years that I actually could believe in.

After his defeat in the Iowa Caucuses, and the immediate and relentless saturation of the airwaves of the infamous scream by the self-servative media I saw that it was over. I wrote the following piece and sent it out to all the folks that I had been e-mailing, sending articles, cartoons and opinions.

I also played “Everything Must Go” by Steely Dan.

***
Howard Dean upset the apple cart. He observed that the Democratic Party was being pulled to the right by the DLC. This is a poor strategy for the democrats because it doesn't lure Bush's base away, and alienates voters who think that is the wrong way to go. So Dean was an outsider who wanted to return to a true alternative party for the democrats. His success baffled and infuriated his opponents, and struck fear in the hearts of the republican conservatives (that nonsense about them wanting Dean as the nominee was a strategy - if they really thought Dean was going to be easy to beat, they would have kept quiet and not spent millions on Dean bashing advertisements.)

So, Dean was taking it on the chin from both the Bush camp and the old-boy network of the Democratic Party. Up until about a week before the IA election, Dean had been taking the high road and this was quite appealing to many people, but the constant bashing had started to take its toll on him. He (understandably, but mistakenly) lashed out and this is what sank him in IA.

[Note: Shortly after writing this piece, I gave some more thought to the fact that someone in the self-servative media had dug up a tape of Dean giving one of his (in)famous unbridled opinions from three years earlier regarding the Iowa Caucuses. As usual he was correct, but as usual, that didn’t matter. The good people of Iowa were deeply offended and turned their backs on our one chance. So it goes.]

Unfortunately, after his defeat, the cameras caught him in a moment that was never meant to be isolated. We've all had a picture of us taken where we had a bizarre _expression on our faces - one that we could never actually recreate but the camera captured. We don’t look like that photo at all - it is a misrepresentation of who we are. Yet, there it is.

Well, that snippet of Dean yelling in context was understandable, but the media, being who and what they are, bombarded us with that one byte, that one moment in time, and this has sent the Dean candidacy into a death spiral. Pity, because for the first time since 1976 we had a candidate who we could actually believe in – one who we could vote “for” rather then picking the lesser of two evils.

I think the Bush administration is the most corrupt, cynical and evil administration that I have experienced in my life. Their stated agenda is a complete ruse. They are about shifting the tax burden away from the rich, changing the laws to benefit the biggest corporations, and transforming the world into one big Wal-Mart. They use racism, fear, greed, and religion to divide and control people. They took a horrific event in America’s history and cynically used it to justify a war. They have purchased the media, and that media now reports that Winona Judd had an argument with a cop, but ignores the fact that Dick Cheney’s old company is having a profit fest at the expense of human life and our reputation in the world.

For me, my political activism is over. I will go to the polls in November, and I will cast my vote for the Democratic Tweedle Dee and against the Republican Tweedle Dum, like I have since 1980.

***
The men American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try and tell them the truth. – H.L. Mencken

Everything Must Go
By Walter Becker and Donald Fagen
From “Everything Must Go”

It's high time for a walk on the real side
Let's admit the bastards beat us
I move to dissolve the corporation
In a pool of margaritas
So let's switch off all the lights
And light up all the Luckies
Crankin' up the afterglow
'Cause we're goin' out of business
Everything must go

Talk about your major pain and suffering
Now our self-esteem is shattered
Show the world our mighty hidey-ho face
As we go sliding down the ladder
It was sweet up at the top
'Til that ill wind started blowing
Now it's cozy down below
'Cause we're goin' out of business
Everything must go

We gave it our best shot
But keep in mind we got a lot
The sky the moon good food and the weather
First-run movies -- does anybody get lucky twice?
Wouldn't it be nice...

Tell me can you dig it Miss Fugazy
Now it's gone from late to later
Frankly I could use a little face time
In the service elevator
And if Dave from Acquisitions
Wants to get in on the action
With his Handicam in tow
Well we're goin' out of business
Everything must go

Can it be the sorry sun is rising
Guess it's time for us to book it
Talk about the famous road not taken
In the end we never took it
And if somewhere on the way
We got a few good licks in
No one's ever gonna know
'Cause we're goin' out of business
Everything must go

Vocals, Rhodes, clavinet, percussion: Donald Fagen
Bass, percussion: Walter Becker
Drums: Keith Carlock
Guitar: Jon Herington, Hugh McCracken
Piano: Ted Baker
Tenor sax solo: Walt Weiskopf
Background vocal: Tawatha Agee, Brenda White-King

america is having a blowout sale

Big Wheel (little stick)

I started a post about my adventures in St. Louis, but after reading Bobby’s post, I decided to save that for another day.

I know there is no shortage of rants against SUV’s in der bloggensfear, but I can’t help myself. I absolutely hate the useless things.

Where I live, they are ubiquitous. I think they more than anything else, more than the Mick Mansions, more than fast food, more than the stupid church marquees with the smarmy messages from believe-it-or-else-land, more than the cult of celebrity, more than the anal leakage that passes for TV programs, more than Fox News, more than all of it, the gaudy things symbolize what is wrong with Murika in the 21st Century Schizoid Man 2006.

First of all, they are wasteful. Just like us. They burn through our garbage-culture’s dirt blood faster than I hit the punt-key on my car radio when I hear the first drop of note from a Journey record. The combustion engine car-plankton has parked itself at well over $2 per gallon due to the greed of Bush’s pals, but realistically given the fact that our entire lifestyle depends on that ancient dinosaur rot it makes sense.

And they are carelessly, selfishly, wantonly wasting it.

Secondly, the massive piles of crapsteel are dangerous. Just like us. Should one of those beasts plow into my accord, I don’t care how high it scores on the safety chart, they’re gonna be peeling my carcass off the pavement and donating my accord-ion to the Frankie Yancovic Memorial Museum. [Funny coincidence that the two most well-known accordianists in Muricka have the same last name but are not related.] They’ll put me in a package and sell me as the new and improved freeze-dried Viscount LaCarte (no refunds, warranties or exchanges.)

One of the reasons they are so dangerous is because they are big and fat. Just like us. They take up so much room in the parking lots; park next to one of them and you are almost guaranteed another door-ding, and should it still be there when you leave you have to play side-airbag roulette as you back out. They are always in the way. You’re on a four lane trying to make a left turn, and some whatwouldjesusdrive psalm-singing gay-bashing evangelical fistula-impersonating-a-human is wanting to do the same thing from the other direction, and you may as well be Stevie Wonder, so you have to wait for them to make their turn first. Then you get one of the same behind you, and they got an even bigger one (or smaller one depending on whether you believe Adam Elk or not!) and they can see fine, but they are so self-absorbed, self-righteous, self-flagellating, self-flatulating, self-centered and self-selfalating that they can’t figure out that you are in normal car in Ray Charles mode, and they start barking the horn because there is no oncoming traffic and you are slowing them down on the way to their favorite center for ignorance and regressive thinking.

And they are ostentatious, they are outrageous, they are loud, they are obnoxious, they are ugly, and they are vulgar, and they are aggressively inefficient and proud of it and they think they are going straight to heaven when in reality they are already doing the brimstone-polka in Satan’s Thermonuclear Theme Park and Dance Studio.

JUST.
LIKE.
US!

Big Wheel (click me to listen)
From Labello
By Adam Elk

Big wheel little stick
Wanna pass can’t find a lane
Drive over me if I don’t move
Big wheel little stick

Rubber tire
Twice my size
Blow smoke in my eyes
I guess you got something to prove
Big Wheel little stick

I’m just trying to drive on a Sunday
I did not know you were king of the highway!

I’ve got much better things to do
Than play this cat and mouse with you
I’ve got much bigger fish to fry
So get a clue and drive on by

I think this road is big enough for two
I get the feeling that nobody told you

Chance and The Target Program

In my school district, there is a special program for exceptional children called "The Target Program." I’ve got some exceptional kids, but this story is not really about that.

My stepson Chance is an exceptional child. He scores in the 99th percentile on the IQ tests. Last semester, his first in high school, (9th grade) he made straight C’s. One of the things that people don’t realize is that exceptional children are not necessarily guaranteed success. To the contrary, sometimes high intelligence can be an obstacle to success.

When Chance was about 8, and had gotten a particularly low grade on a test, he said to us, “Sometimes I don’t know which question to answer.”

His mother said, “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I don’t know if I should answer the question, or the question inside the question.”

He had an extremely difficult time with spelling at that age as well. Spelling tests often caused much consternation and tears in our household, because he couldn’t understand the concept of memorizing spelling words. He was angry because he couldn’t figure out how to spell words. He understood phonetics, and thought that words ought to conform to the rules of logic. “Silent letters are stupid. How come ‘rough’ isn’t spelled ‘ruff?’ How come ‘through’ isn’t spelled ‘throo?’"

One night over dinner, at about age 7 Chance said to me, “Hey Al (my step-children call me by my first name and my children call my wife by her first name,) what is your favorite kind of danger?” I probably said, “What do you mean? You mean, like hurricanes, tornadoes?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know. Maybe lava?”

“Wanna know what mine is? Debris flow!”

Apparently he was watching the Discovery Channel in the middle of the night instead of sleeping.

In any event, he hated school. He was scoring very high on the IQ tests, but getting dismal grades because he despised homework, and he loathed studying. He would often get good grades on tests, but he would forget to do major assignments, and even when he would remember he would sometimes lose them or forget to bring them to school.

[Slightly off topic, but I just have to relate this incident at his elementary school. He was in the “After School Program” and one day as we were walking to the car he remembered a homework assignment and knew that he left his book in his desk. We went into the office, and the bitch that worked there said, “He can’t go back and get it. He should have remembered it.”

I said, “Huh? You’re telling me we can’t go back to his class to get his book so he can do his homework? The boy WANTS to do his homework!” I was incredulous.

She said, “Sir. He should have remembered the book! It isn’t my problem! Maybe if he makes a bad grade it will teach him to remember his books!”

She was an ugly, mean, nasty woman who seemed to revel in her power over us. Her tone was smug and righteously indignant, and I could see that she was fighting back a smirk. I turned and left the office with my teary-eyed stepson sniffling and dragging his feet.

As we headed for the door, a young teacher of about 24 who recognized Chance and witnessed the incident said, “Sir? Don’t pay any attention to her. I’ll l take him back to his class so he can get his book.” I said, “Does the school really need to give my kid even more reasons to hate it?” She said, “It does seem that way sometimes doesn’t it…?]

When he was in the 4th grade, the school contacted us and suggested that he go into the Target program. My oldest of three, and the Viscountess’ two older girls had all been in Target , so we knew what to expect. Lots of extra homework and projects. We had a hard enough time getting him to do his simple homework assignments, so we said, “we don’t think it is a good idea.” The school persisted and we relented.

For the first few weeks, it was a disaster. He was crying a lot, complaining about all the work. We called the school, and his mother went in and had a meeting with them. They told her that it would be a crime to deprive the boy of such an opportunity, and that we should give the program a little more time. We did, and something happened.

The assignment was to create a news program. The kids had to “make a camera,” write the news story and present the news. The boy loved it. He is extremely artistic and good with his hands. He made a bunch of new friends that were into science. His stature in the class improved because he was with kids that respected intelligence, and this quiet boy who couldn’t spell was surprisingly brilliant. He was very excited about the different things they were learning, and one night even told us that when grew up he wanted to be a paleontologist or an archeologist.

The last assignment of the 4th grade in his non-Target Social Studies class was to memorize the 50 capitol cities of the USA. Chance “forgot” to study and scored a 40 or so on the test. We called the school, and the teacher agreed to allow him to take a retest. We worked with him and he studied and studied and learned all of them. The problem? He couldn’t remember how to spell the damn things! In spite of the fact that he got every one right, there were numerous spelling errors and he made about a 70 on the retest.

One of the rules of the program was you had to keep a “B” average to stay in the program.

They dropped him! The poor boy was devastated. His mother wrote letters to the principal, the school superintendent and his teachers. She demanded a meeting with the school and it was granted. She told them that the program should not be for over-achievers with parents who fussed over them and pushed them hard so they could put bumper stickers on their cars bragging about their honor students. The goal of the program should be for exceptional kids who are at risk precisely because they are exceptional. Our child was clearly in that category. She told them that she was outraged that her son, who scored in the 99th percentile was being penalized because he couldn’t spell! She reminded them that we thought he was not a good candidate for the program but we let them persuade us. Now that he actually liked something about school, now that the program was working on a student who was not only gifted, but at risk for failure because he was gifted, now we have to tell him he can’t go to Target because he can't spell?

She said they didn't understand, and that the administrators stressed achievement of the students and said if he couldn’t keep up his grades he didn’t belong in the program.

We were livid. The boy was bitterly disappointed, and just plain bitter. He told us he didn’t care about school anymore because it didn’t matter what he did. It was very hard to explain to that 10 year-old about schools, educators and school politics.

Since then, he has managed to stay out of trouble, and to make some A’s, but mostly B’s and C’s. He is 15 now and has a good grip of what is really going on. He still has a problem with homework, and received a C in Science his first semester, in spite of the fact that he had an “A” average on the tests, because of his problem with homework. Still, he knows he can do better than straight C’s, and he has started this semester off right. I am very optimistic about his future because he is charismatic and compassionate and has a great perspective on life, but that has very little to do with his schooling, and everything to do with his mother, who has a deep understanding of the issues facing an exceptional child.

A New Prescription

Whenever anyone mentions the following names:

Bill O’Reilly
Rush Limbaugh
Sean Hannity
Chris Matthews
Ann Coulter
Tucker Carlson
Michael Savage
John Gibson
Neil Boortz

Say: “You actually listen to that idiot and have the nerve to admit it?” and then roll your eyes and walk away shaking your head.

I just can’t seem to express in words how offended I am by these people, and their latest “I love sucking up to these corrupt Republican Plutocrats” talking points that compare Osama Bin Laden to anyone who dares to criticize Bush’s immoral and unnecessary war and his anti-American tactics.

According to them my wife is like Osama Bin Laden. So are my children. So is Jimmy Carter. So is General Zinni.

I can only imagine what these minions of evil would say if Gore were president and Bin Laden was still at large. Not that he would be. Indeed, everything would be better, but these professional liars would screaming for Gore’s impeachment.

“All war is based on deception.”
- Sun Tzu

***
Don't forget this week's Top 10.

Suicide Note

[Note. Originally the first part of this post contained many links for reference purposes. I decided that the important part of the post might not get read in lieu of all the links, so I deleted them. The original post intact with the links can be found after the “Suicide Note.”]

Intelligent people like Jimmy Carter know all the reasons as to why war has to be the last resort.

Earlier this week I got another e-mail about the hypocrisy of Ted Kennedy because of the Mary Jo Kopechne incident of over 30 years ago. Responding to these e-mails have proven to be frustrating, upsetting and ultimately futile, so I stopped some time ago.

What I wanted to say was, "Fine. We all know about Mary Jo. Lots of us wish Ted Kennedy would go away. You want me to agree with you, that he's a hypocrite? You want to call him a murderer? I actually think he was more of drunken loser who screwed-up royally, but you have a right to call him what you will."

"What do you call the men who orchestrated The War in Iraq catastrophe that had been in the planning phases prior to 9/11? That has been a complete sham, from false justifications, from poor planning, from the blatant and vulgar profiteering all the way down to the name, 'Operation Iraqi Freedom?'"

I am so sick of all of them calling us names, labeling us cowards, saying we are all treasonous, lying about our commitment to the American Soldier, the whole lot of it.

It is all a bunch of bullshit.

This is EXACTLY what we are talking about:

"Suicide Note"
by Spc Douglas Barber.

Spc Douglas Barber: PTSD- Every Soldier's Personal WAR!
1/9/05

By Doug Barber

In the last month I have been working with Jay Shaft, the editor of Coalition For Free Thought in media regarding my experiances in Iraq and since coming home from the war. We have only touched on some of the struggles of being a soldier, however we have not dug deeply into the personal war that Operation Iraqi Freedom has caused for returning soldiers.

Donald Rumsfeld and President Bush do not want to reveal to the American people that this war is a personal war. They want to run the war like a business, and thus they refuse to show the personal sacrifices the soldiers and their families have made for this country.

My thought today is to help you the reader understand what happens to a soldier when they come home and the sacrifice we continue to make. This may be lengthy, it may be short; but no matter how long it is, just close your eyes and imagine a flag drapped coffin.

Inside that coffin is the body of a man or woman who will never get to live their life to the fullest, yet they bore the total cost so that we could live free. Their soul is somewhere else and all we have is their memory which over time will be forgotten by other everts of greater importance. The families of these soldiers have a hole in their hearts that will never be replaced, even though they have pictures and happy memories.

Some families will refuse to believe they are gone, but still their sons and daughters are the heros of a country that sent them to war. This war on terror has become a personal war for so many, yet the Bush Administration does not want journalists or families to photograph the only thing that is left of our soldiers who have died. They do not want the people to remember that image of a flag draped coffin as the last memory this country will ever have of our fallen men and woman.

They say that America will raise their voices and demand a stop to the war, but my question is why should we not show the results of war? For us as a country, we send these soldiers to war and we see their faces while they are alive. I say let their memories live on in every photo, even when they do come home in a flag drapped coffin. Let their sacrifice be forever etched in the memory of America. We owe their families this at the very least.

All is not okay or right for those of us who return home alive and supposedly well. What looks like normalcy and readjustment is only an illusion to be revealed by time and torment. Some soldiers come home missing limbs and other parts of their bodies. Still others will live with permanent scars from horrific events that no one other than those who served will ever understand.

We come home from war trying to put our lives back togather but some cannot stand the memories and decide that death is better. They kill themselves because they are so haunted by seeing children killed and whole families wiped out.

They ask themselves how you put a price tag on someone elses life? The question goes unanswered as they become another casualty of the war. Heros become another statistic to America and they are another little article relegated to the back of a newspaper.

Still others come home to nothing, families have abandoned them: husbands and wives have left these soldiers, and so have parents as well. Post Tramatic Stress Disorder has become the norm amongst these soldiers because they don't know how to cope with returning to a society that will never understand what they have had to endure to liberate another country.

PTSD comes in many forms not understood by many: but yet if a soldier has it, America thinks the soldiers are crazy. PTSD comes in the form of depression, anger, regret, being confrontational, anxiety, chronic pain, compulsion, delusions, grief, guilt,dependance,loneliness, sleep disorders, suspiciousness/paranoia, low self-esteem and so many other things.

We are easily startled with a loud bang or noise and can be found ducking for cover when we get panicked. This is a result of artillery rounds going off in a combat zone, or an IED blowing up.

I myself have trouble coping with an everyday routine that deals with other people that often causes me to have a short fuse. A lot of soldiers lose multiple jobs just because they are trained to be killers and they have lived in an enviroment that is condusive to that. We are always on guard for our safety and that of our commrades. When you go to bed at night you wonder will you be sent home in a flag draped coffin because a motar round went off on your sleeping area.

Soldiers live in deplorable conditions where burning your own feces is the order of the day. Where going days on end with no shower and the uniform you wear gets so crusty it sometimes sticks to your body becomes a common occurence. We also deal with rationing water or even food for that matter. So when a soldier comes home to what they left they are unsure of what to do being in a civilized world again.

This is what PTSD comes in the shape of--soldiers can not often handle coming back to the same world they left behind. It is something that drives soldiers over the edge and causes them to withdraw from society. As Americans we turn our nose down at them wondering why they act the way they do. Who cares about them, why should we help them?

Talk show hosts like Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and so many others act like they know all about war; then they refuse to give any creadence to soldiers like me who have been to war and seen the brutality of war. These guys are nothing but WEAK SPINELESS COWARDS hiding behind microphones while soldiers come home and are losing everything they have.

I ask every American who reads this e-mail to stand up for the soldier who has given their everything for this country to stand up to these guys in the media; ask them why they don't pick up a weapon and follow in the steps of a soldier. Send this e-mail to as many people on your e-mail lists and ask them to do the same.

There needs to be a National awareness for every Veteran who has ever served in any war. Send e-mails to the Big Mouths on TV and ask them to have soldiers like me on their programs. I am asking you as Americans to BOYCOTT every TV show or host/journalist that refuses to tell the real truth.

THIS IS A PERSONAL CHALLENGE TO BILL,SEAN AND RUSH TO HAVE ME ON YOUR PROGRAM TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT. Other wise you are nothing but dirt under every soldiers boot!

***

Thanks to Shakespeare's sister for linking to it.


***
Intelligent people like Jimmy Carter know all the reasons as to why war has to be the last resort.

Earlier this week I got another e-mail about the hypocrisy of Ted Kennedy because of the Mary Jo Kopechne incident. Responding to these e-mails have proven to be frustrating, upsetting and ultimately futile, so I stopped some time ago.

What I wanted to say was, "Fine. We all know about Mary Jo. Lots of us wish Ted Kennedy would go away. You want me to agree with you, that he's a hypocrite? You want to call him a murderer? I actually think he was more of drunken loser who screwed-up royally, but you have a right to call him what you will."

"What do you call the men who orchestrated The War in Iraq catastrophe that had been in the planning phases prior to 9/11? That has been a complete sham, from false justifications, from poor planning, from the blatant and vulgar profiteering all the way down to the name, 'Operation Iraqi Freedom?'"

Achtung!

Hey kid! Yeah, you kid, I'm talking to YOU! You wanna make some moolah, stick it to the liberals and help out your country at the same time?

Sign up here!

Offensive News Footage

Over the past 6 months I’ve been treated to video footage of a beating, a shooting at a Home Depot Parking lot, and the running over of a mother and her three children by an automobile, all courtesy of my local news. Local news. None of these things happened locally. Not a single one. None of them involved anyone who was from the Atlanta area. The only reason these events were aired on the local news was the fact that the events were captured on tape and made available to the station.

This angers me.

I’m angry because someone has made an editorial decision that these gruesome documents are deemed newsworthy. I’m angry because these are tragic events that involve real people, and their tragedy is being trivialized and treated almost as entertainment. I’m angry that real violence and accidental mayhem are now routinely broadcasted into millions of homes. I’m not only angry at the fact that these stories which have absolutely no local relevance whatsoever are being piped into peoples’ homes, but I’m also angry at what isn’t being presented to all of us in lieu of these gruesome videos. I’m angry that the government has ordered the MSM to avoid showing the images of our soldiers coming home in caskets, and this order is being obeyed by our so-called free press. The same MSM has no issues with broadcasting video footage of a mother and her children being run over by a car and judge such footage as perfectly acceptable for my family and me to watch over breakfast.

This also disappoints me.

I’m disappointed because people apparently inured to these images. I’m disappointed because people expect these images and accept them. I’m disappointed because there obviously isn’t an outcry from the public over the airing of such footage.

This stands in stark contrast to airing of Janet Jackson’s nipple-clamp adorned teat.

Remember that? Janet Jackson's teat caused such an intense uproar you’d a thought that they aired a tape of a bunch of punk kids mercilessly beating a homeless man with baseball bats for fun. There were editorials. There were apologies. There were conversations in the office about it. I was in London when it happened. Their news coverage of this event was hilarious. The people there were baffled and amused at the level of hysteria that had been aroused by 3 or 4 seconds of Janet Jackson’s unattractive 40 year-old nipple-clamped teat. In England, they think naked men running around a football field kicking a soccer ball with their flaccid penises bouncing around is acceptable comedic entertainment. On free television no less. When they visit America, they can’t understand why words like “shit” or “asshole” are routinely "bleeped" from televised movies, why an attractive lady’s bare breasts are considered offensive and censored, but Arnold shooting up 200 people in one movie is not?

Personally, I’m with The English on that one.

True or False?

This statement is false.

My Land is Burning

"My Land Is Burning"
By Andy Partridge
From "Fuzzy Warbles Volume Five"

My land is burning
and yet I smell no smoke
no one's laughing here
which is strange my dear
as the government's a joke

my land is burning
and yet I see no flame
we just smoulder mad
while the fat cats add
all our savings to their name

pity me pity me
my fair lady
pity me if you can
as I stabbed myself
with a small black cross
when I voted for that man

my land is burning
yet nothing is alight
but the hell mouth doors
of department stores
while the old must freeze all night

my land is burning
yet nothing good's consumed
but the countryside
by the cars you ride
while in tarmac we're entombed

pity me pity me
my fair lady
pity me if you can
as I stabbed myself
with a small black cross
when I voted for that man

And my land is burning
yet nowhere is it warm
just the street stripped bare
by the crack head stare
of the brain dead skateboy swarm

And my land is burning
while government still lied
you underestimate
all our quiet hate
and the fire still burns inside.

***

This weeks Top 10.

Time For A Rerun

I'm feeling quite tired an unmotivated today. I'm reminded of the day my stepson, (who was in the 2nd grade at the time) was handed a homework assignment which was to write 7 sentences each containing one of the 7 days of the week:

It's not Monday.
It's Tuesday.
It's not Wednesday.
It's not Thursday.
It's not Friday.
It's not Saturday.
It's not Sunday.

The teacher was not nearly as amused as his mother and I were.

Anyway, my friend and frequent commenter Simon alerted me to this story: 'Truthiness' is word of the year

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (AP) -- A panel of linguists has decided the word that best reflects 2005 is "truthiness," defined as the quality of stating concepts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than the facts.

And that reminded me of one my earliest posts, which is just some Conicidental Quotes.

Republicanism 101

Republicans label anything that benefits most people "liberal." They label any good idea that will actually solve problems and ease suffering as "socialist." They label anything that benefits the richest people as "American."

Regardless of what they say, how they spin it, regardless of what issue or idea that motivates people to call themselves "Republican" or "Conservative" and to vote for Republican candidates, never forget the following:

The only goal of the Republican party is to preserve and increase the wealth of the richest, most powerful Americans. Every single law they pass, every word out of their mouths always either directly or indirectly advances that single agenda.

I defy anyone to come up with anything the Republicans have done since Ronald Reagan took office in 1981 that contradicts the above.

Don't Skip The Matinee

By now we all know that the world isn’t fair. Talented people go unnoticed and losers crowd the airwaves. One really great thing about the internet is that the talented ones at least can get some exposure for those of us who don’t care for the mainstream and are constantly looking to hear some good music that doesn’t neatly fit into a box or on video.

Bobby Lightfoot reminds me somewhat of the Jack Black character in “High Fidelity” (which by the way is a "must see" for record geeks!) Possessing a rough and tumble exterior that belies a sensitive and sublime musical talent below the surface, his music might make you actually stop what you are doing and listen. If all you know about Bobby is his web persona, you might expect his music to be somewhere in between Gwar and The Clash, but you'd be mistaken. I have no doubt that he is capable of music that resembles either, but his most recent output sounds like what I imagine a mix of Paul McCartney and Michael Penn could be.

Bobby tells me this song is about a decision to never marry. It is a beautiful recording, arranged perfectly. Not one note is superfluous. None of the instruments step on each other’s toes. I love the vocals, lead and background. To listen to the song now, please click the song title to hear the recording courtesy of Bobby Lightfoot and Putfile.


Matinee
By Bobby Lightfoot

Don't know where to go
But I'm gonna run away...
Don't know where it is
But I'm gonna find it anyway...

Gonna skip the matinee...

All the little girls
Wonder in their upturned faces
All the little boys
Want to tie their own shoelaces
As the lights fade away...

Gonna skip the matinee...

Because you make me feel...
You make me feel...
You make me feel like the curtain might catch me crying...

When I was a child
Mother took me to a movie
Starring her and dad
All about the art of losing gracefully...

Gonna miss the passion play...

Because you make me feel...
You make me feel...
You make me feel like the curtain might catch me crying...


More of Bobby’s music can be heard here.
Related post: Sweet Regret.

Soldiers of Christ Revisited

I often couch my criticisms of people who label themselves “Christian” because I abhor stereotyping and prejudice. I understand that there are many “Christians” who are genuinely committed to the teachings of Jesus Christ, and those people have my respect. Sadly, as time marches on, I meet less and less of them and more and more of the people who are “Christians” in name only. After 9/11, many people called upon the peaceful Muslims of the world to renounce terrorism and hatred, and to condemn the acts of violence of the militant fundamentalists. I think it is time for the “true” Christians to do the same regarding their own fundamentalist wing.

One of the most dangerous trends in modern American Christianity is the rise in Dominionism. Basically, this term describes a movement which seeks to force Christianity upon all peoples of the world, to dominate all aspects of human existence based on their own twisted interpretation of a book of allegories and fairytales. It is patently un-American and ironically, anti-Christian.

Fundamentalist, evangilical Christians want all of us to live according to their whim. They want us to ignore the biological and scientific evidence of evolution in favor of a fairytale that was written centuries ago. They want to force women into carrying unwanted pregnancies to term, even in cases of rape. They want to deny women the right to pharmaceuticals that could block fertilization in the 72 hours after un-protected sex, thereby forcing the agonizing decision to have an abortion instead of preventing one. They want to deny people the right to die with dignity, forcing them to be kept alive by artificial means when their bodies can no longer sustain life themselves. They are intolerant of homosexuals and would condemn them to a life of loneliness. They insist that their faith is the one true faith, even though all faiths have exactly the same amount of evidence as to their own veracity, which is zero. That is why it is called “faith.” Millions of them believe that Christ will return soon and will visit destruction upon the planet. They use this as an excuse to ignore the warnings of the scientists regarding energy conservation, global warming, air and water pollution and the mass extinction of species of both plants an animals due to the negligence and recklessness of mankind.

They want to do all this based not upon any rational methodology or thought process, not upon scientific evidence or analysis of available data, but based upon one book of myths and legends written almost 2,000 years ago. A book that tells stories of talking serpents, virgin births, and angels and demons.

A major factor in the rise of dominionism is the exploitation of these individuals by the Republican party. The Republicans have only one agenda to the exclusion of all else and to the peril of all of us, themselves included, and that is the acquisition of wealth and power for a few individuals. They have cultivated the support of religious fanatics because their thirst for power and wealth requires votes, and mobilizing these people behind a few wedge issues enables them to win elections.

I don’t know about anybody else, but I for one do not wish to sit idly by while these misguided self-righteous fools attempt to hijack our nation and potentially our world. We must vote in the all upcoming elections, and we must vote Democratic, not because they deserve our votes, not because they have all the answers, and not because they are paragons of virtue as none of those things are true. We must vote Democratic as they are our only chance today in defeating the Republicans.

Related Posts:
How Can We Win?
Soldiers of Christ. (Updated with a link to Jill Sobule's chilling song.)
Thoughts on Religion.

***
The Top 10 is back!

"This is a REPUBLICAN Scandal!"

Thanks again to Crooks and Liars we get to see Howard Dean demonstrating how it is done. He leaves Blizter speechless.

I love the way he manages to so deftly answer the questions while simultaneously pointing out the mistakes and misdeeds of this administration. Witness how he mentions the fact that the War in Iraq has actually increased the threat of terrorism and in the same breath points out that this administration did not properly outfit the military with the necessary equipment.

Watch the look on Dean's face when Blizter changes the subject to the Abramoff scandal and tries to put him on the defensive. You can almost see him fighting off the grin in anticipation.

Favorite line for me? "Now it appears they're stealing from Indian Tribes!"

Watch.

Balderdash!

Bloody Shite!

Indian Burn

Neil's post, "Facing The Music" reminded me of "Indian Burn" from Kevin Gilbert's "Kaviar" record.

Now, I'm not one of those people who glamorizes the Native American as a bunch of peaceful hippies running around in the garden of Eden. Like any other race of people, there were good and bad. Peacful and warlike.

That doesn't mean they deserved genocide.


Indian Burn
by Kevin Gilbert

Me and my pals just got off that boat
Cause we didn't like the king
And we wanted to vote
And we're your new neighbors, and we're here to stay
We'd like to make nice in a neighborly way
I've got this idea we're gonna be friends
How soon? And how long? Well, that all depends
On how long it takes to obtain all we need
We got things to build, we got mouths to feed
So as long as you stay on your side of the street
We'll like all your people, we'll think that you're neat!

My wife, she wears makeup, she paints her face too!
Just not in that primitive way that you do
Pocohontas is cute, that Tonto's no fool
And them Mohawk haircuts, they're kinda cool
How 'bout that Geronimo, bold and bad!
And that teary-eyed guy on that pollution ad
And check out those eagles - hey, those are nice too
We'll make them our symbol in memory of you

Your heads can have hats, your feet can have shoes
We’ll just take this land you can’t possibly use
All savage and huge and covered with weeds
In exchange you can have all these colorful beads
We’ll sit Indian style give your peace pipe a toot
We’ll make firewater with your old rotting fruit
And oh we’re so pleased we can all get along
So just give us New York and we’ll sing you this song

You can show us how you worship the sun
We’ll show you the ways that we use this gun
You can show us the way that you worship the trees
We’ll give you some blankets all full of disease
You can tell us how you love to worship the sky
We’ll force you to worship our one big Mean Guy

Ten little, nine little, eight little Indians
Seven little, six little, five little Indians
Four little, three little, two little Indians
One little Indian
No little indians

Here’s your English lesson for today:
You say “How”
And we say “Hi”
Then we say “Jump”
And you say “How high?”
We say “Good day”
And you say “Goodbye”

So thanks for giving us our great new nation
With so little struggle without hesitation
Pull up a chair to our big celebration
So please go ahead to make your reservation
Relax Mr. Indian, don’t get uptight
It’s because we won’t rest till America’s white
We’d love to hang out and chat more with you braves
But we gotta go set up the South for the slaves

Indian burn

You can show us how you worship the sun
We’ll show you the ways that we use this gun
You can show how you love to worship the trees
We’ll give you some blankets all full of disease
You can tell us how you love to worship the sky
We’ll force you to worship our one big Mean Guy

Look Jeb
Look how excited they are
And who can blame them
They’re gonna be
Americans!

A Stroke of Stupidity

I know every damn progressive blogger in the sphere is going to have ball with this one, but I can't help myself. Anyone reading this can think of all the stupid reasons as to why this thing is stupid, and they can read more stupid reasons elsewhere. Still…

Sharon is 78 years old. My father had his first stroke at like 75 I think, and he didn’t divide God’s land. Hell, he hated math. God, the omnipotent one, the omnipresent one, the one who can do whatever He wants, whenever and wherever He wants, can think any thought before we coulda thunk it up ourselves, that God, and all He could do was come up with a stroke?

Please.

Well let me tell you something. If I was omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, a Dodge Omni, Omni magazine and the Omni hotel too, I wouldn’t be so subtle.

First thing I would do would be to broadcast a message, and when I say broadcast, I mean on every single media delivery device in the universe, I’m talking every TV station, every radio station, every CD player, IPOD, church marquis, even the billboards, in every damn language, I would send a message:

“Tomorrow at noon Eastern Standard Time, put the cameras on Ariel Sharon, and I want every one of you to tune in.”

Noon the Next Day:

“This is Geraldo reporting live at Ariel Sharon’s bedside. The big man has asked us to cover this story, and we are all anxiously awaiting His arrival.”

For my grand entrance, I would turn myself into Osama Bin Laden and float in on a magic carpet, and proclaim, “I AM HE WHO IS!” and then jump off of the carpet and land at the foot of the bed in a blaze of fireworks and smoke not seen before on this planet or any other. After that, with a spotlight on my face and a gleam in my eye I would turn to the cameras and say:

“Gotcha!”

I would then morph into Michael Jackson, and with the song “Bad” playing in 6.1 DTS Surround I would start dancing and begin to sing:

This land is mine
Don’t belong to you
Can’t carve it up
You silly Jew
I’m telling you
Right to your face
Can’t give an inch
To the Arab race
Come on

I’ll tell you what
I’m gonna do
Gonna smote some gays
And liberals too
Gonna show you all
Just what is what
Gonna make you pay
Gonna kick some butt

You’ve heard I’m coming back
But maybe you forgot
Well Ari here I am
Gonna show you what I got

Because I’m God I’m God
(really really God)
Yeah I’m God, I’m God
(really really God)
You know I’m God I’m God
(really really God)
And the whole world has to answer right now
Just to tell you once again
Who’s God

And then after that ...

Well, you get the idea.

Stupid right? Well, that’s how stupid Pat Robertson and all of these religious fanatics who claim to know who God is and what He wants seem to me.

Stupider in fact.

This is our world too, and some of us are getting pretty sick and tired of suffering ignorance and pretending to respect stupidity. Isn't time once again for the blathering idiots to sit down and shut up and give the intelligent ones a chance to set things straight?

Thankful

Apparently, Republicans new way to put down Democrats is to point out that they too have had dealings with sleazy Republicans.

Man, I'm so thankful we have them to teach us about the moral high ground.


This is from Times Premium, so I hope I don't get sued.

Saving the House
By DAVID BROOKS

I don't know what's more pathetic, Jack Abramoff's sleaze or Republican paralysis in the face of it. Abramoff walks out of a D.C. courthouse in his pseudo-Hasidic homburg, and all that leading Republicans can do is promise to return his money and remind everyone that some Democrats are involved in the scandal, too.

That's a great G.O.P. talking point: some Democrats are so sleazy, they get involved with the likes of us.

If Republicans want to emerge from this affair with their self-respect or electoral prospects intact, they need to get in front of it with a comprehensive reform offensive.

First, they need to hold new leadership elections. As Newt Gingrich and Vin Weber told me yesterday, Tom DeLay needs to take care of his own legal problems and give up the dream of returning as majority leader.

But Republicans need to do more than bump DeLay. They need to put the entire leadership team up for a re-vote. That's because the real problem wasn't DeLay, it was DeLayism, the whole culture that merged K Street with the Hill, and held that raising money is the most important way to contribute to the team.

New leadership elections would, at least, make the current leaders re-earn their slots with new platforms. At best, they would allow the party to reinvigorate itself under new management. A party led by young talents like Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor, Mike Pence and Mark Kirk would be taken seriously as a party of reform.

Second, the Republicans need to get a grip on earmarks.

Earmarks are the provisions that single members can stick into gigantic bills to steer spending toward favored projects. They're an invitation to corruption. If individual members of Congress can control $100 million federal contracts or billion-dollar pork barrel projects, then of course companies are going to find ways to funnel graft to those members.

To prove they're serious about special-interest spending, Republicans could declare a one-year earmark moratorium until they get a handle on this problem. Or they could promote legislation mandating that earmarks eat up only 1 percent of any spending bill's total cost.

Third, Republicans need to steal David Obey and Barney Frank's lobbying-reform ideas. For some insane reason, having to do with their own special interests, Democrats have been slow to trumpet the ideas coming from their own party. Republicans have a chance to hijack them before the country notices.

Specifically, there should be a ban on lobbyist-paid travel. (Members should be allowed to take spouses on publicly financed travel because it is important that members get out and see the world.) Former members should not be allowed to lobby on the House floor. All lobbyist contacts with government officials should be posted on the Internet.

Gingrich intriguingly suggests abolishing all fund-raising in the Washington metro area. Make the lobbyists go to the districts if they want to attend $1,000 cocktail parties.

Fourth, enforce House rules. There's bound to be corruption when spending provisions can be slipped into legislation in the dead of night, outside the normal oversight procedures. There's bound to be corruption when members are forced to vote on sprawling bills nobody has a chance to inspect. Instead, all legislation should be posted online for 72 hours before the vote, so the staff and bloggers can nitpick and expose.

Fifth, rebuild the ethics committees. Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute proposes a bifurcated process. The investigations should be conducted by a commission of former members and former staffers. That way, current members are not investigating one another. Then the committees can vote on the commission recommendations.

Sixth, readopt the pay-as-you-go budget rules. As long as a $2.6-trillion-a-year government is expanding into more areas of national life, businesses will have an incentive to invest in lobbyists. The 1990 pay-as-you-go rules, which forced Congress to offset new expenditures with spending restraint not only imposed fiscal discipline but also forced pork projects to compete for limited resources.

Finally, today before noon, fire Bob Ney as chairman of the House Administration Committee. For God's sake, Republicans, show a little moral revulsion.

Back in the dim recesses of my mind, I remember a party that thought of itself as a reform, or even a revolutionary movement. That party used to be known as the Republican Party. I wonder if it still exists.

***

Tom DeLay Sez:

1) "I AM the federal government." –Tom DeLay, to the owner of Ruth's Chris Steak House, after being told to put out his cigar because of federal government regulations banning smoking in the building, May 14, 2003 (Source)

2) "So many minority youths had volunteered…that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like myself." --Tom DeLay, explaining at the 1988 GOP convention why he and vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle did not fight in the Vietnam War (Source)

3) "Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?" –Tom Delay, to three young hurricane evacuees from New Orleans at the Astrodome in Houston, Sept. 9, 2005 (Source)

4) "We're no longer a superpower. We're a super-duper power." –Tom DeLay, explaining why America must topple Saddam Hussein in 2002 interview with Fox News (Source)

5) "Nothing is more important in the face of a war than cutting taxes." –Tom DeLay, March 12, 2003 (Source)

6) "Guns have little or nothing to do with juvenile violence. The causes of youth violence are working parents who put their kids into daycare, the teaching of evolution in the schools, and working mothers who take birth control pills." –Tom DeLay, on causes of the Columbine High School massacre, 1999 (Source)

7) "A woman can take care of the family. It takes a man to provide structure. To provide stability. Not that a woman can't provide stability, I'm not saying that... It does take a father, though." -Tom DeLay, in a radio interview, Feb. 10, 2004 (Source)

8) "I don't believe there is a separation of church and state. I think the Constitution is very clear. The only separation is that there will not be a government church." –Tom DeLay (Source)

9) "Emotional appeals about working families trying to get by on $4.25 an hour [the minimum wage in 1996] are hard to resist. Fortunately, such families do not exist." –Tom DeLay, during a debate in Congress on increasing the minimum wage, April 23, 1996 (Source)

10) "I am not a federal employee. I am a constitutional officer. My job is the Constitution of the United States, I am not a government employee. I am in the Constitution." –Tom DeLay, in a CNN interview, Dec. 19, 1995 (Source)

***
HL Said:

"In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican."

Me7e

Bobby Lightfoot tagged me to do the Meme of 7. Seems like a fine idea.

7 Things to do before I die:

1) Tour the vineyards of Italy with The Viscountess.
2) Live in a world where idiots on the radio are held accountable for the stupid things they say
3) Get out of the Southeast
4) Learn the lesson of the Swift quote at the top of my blog
5) Change careers
6) Accept blatant contradiction as part of the human condition
7) Finish recording “Savage Breeze” with Soundsurfr and MT Vanus*

7 Things I cannot do

1) Sing
2) Play basketball
3) Watch sports on television
4) Watch reality TV
5) Become a vegan
6) Eat liver
7) Crossword puzzles

7 Things I say most often

1) "Bloody Shite"
2) "Stupid dog"
3) "Out of my chair"
4) "[CENSORED] Stupid republicans"
5) "I hate these big pieces of [CENSORED!] crap!" (SUV’s and large Pickup Trucks)
6) "What’s wrong with you?"
7) "I love you (too)"

7 Movies I can watch over and over again

1) Groundhog Day
2) The Mask (Jim Carrey)
3) Men In Black
4) Casablanca
5) Shrek
6) House of Games
7) Any Kubrick Movie

7 Books I love

1) The Glass Bead Game - Hesse
2) Siddhartha - Hesse
3) Hop on Pop - Seuss
4) The Hobbit - Tolkien
5) The Stand - King
6) A Matter of Honor - Archer
7) Noble House – Clavell

11 People who are a national disgrace

01) George W. Bush
02) Dick Cheney
03) Karl Rove
04) Donald Rumsfeld
05) Tom DeLay
06) Rush Limbaugh
07) Ann Coulter
08) Bill O’Reilly
09) Sean Hannity
10) Neil Boortz
11) Michael Savage

7 People I want to play too

1) Jill
2) Sound
3) Decatur Dem (can submit as comments)
4) Xtcfan (can submit as comments)
5) MT Vanus (can submit as comments)
6) Manny Festo
7) Kevin

*”Savage Breeze” is a 5 song cycle by MT Vanus and Terence Douglas written in 1974. They were just kids. We never recorded it properly. About 2 years ago I convinced Soundsurfr to help us get a good recording of it. It is a work in process, and the going is slow.

The Ice is Surely Melting

I have a couple posts simmering on the back-burner, but they need some more time. In the meantime, I thought I’d blow the dust off of this one. This is a rare treat. SNL from Oct. 76. It sounds so pure and optimistic to my neo-con fatigued ears. We all need some optimisim about now.

Here is the other one they did that night. Man, George sounds so good on his verse.

Time For Us To Speak Up Again

“Monkey To Man” came out in ’04, but I didn’t hear it until a couple of months ago. According to Elvis, it is a follow-up / response to an obscure song by Dave Bartholemew, titled “The Monkey.” I’ve included the lyrics at the end of this post.

I have to say that I absolutely love this song. I have it on a “mix CD” that I’ve been playing in my car. It is classic Elvis Costello. He is angry and he rocks the house down, with lyrics that just scream what many of us have been feeling.

Crank it up!

“Monkey To Man”
By Elvis Costello
From “The Delivery Man”

A long time ago, our point of view
Was broadcast by Mr. Bartholomew
And now the world is full of sorrow and pain
And it's time for us to speak up again

You're slack and sorry
Such an arrogant brood
The only purpose you serve is to bring us our food
We sit here staring at your pomp and pout
Outside the bars we use for keeping you out

You've taken everything that you wanted
Broke it up and plundered it and hunted
Ever since we said it
You went and took the credit
It's been headed this way since the world began
When a vicious creature took the jump from Monkey to Man

Monkey to Man

Every time man struggles and fails
He makes up some kind of fairytales
After all of the misery that he has caused
He denies he's descended from the dinosaurs

Points up to heaven with cathedral spires
All the time indulging in his base desires
Ever since we said it
He went and took the credit
It's been headed this way since the world began
When a vicious creature took the jump from Monkey to Man

Monkey to Man

Big and useless as he has become
With his crying statues and his flying bomb
Goes 'round acting like the chosen one
Excuse us if we treat him like our idiot cousin

He hangs up flowers and bells and rhymes
Hoping to hell someone's forgiven his crimes
Fills up the air with his pride and praise
He's a big disgrace to our beastly ways

In the fashionable nightclubs and finer precincts
Man uses words to dress up his vile instincts
Ever since we said it
He went and took the credit
It's been headed this way since the world began
When a vicious creature took the jump from Monkey to Man


“The Monkey”
By Dave Bartholomew

Three monkeys sat in a
coconut tree
Discussing things as they are
said to be
Said one to the other, now
listen you two,
There's a rumor around that
can't be true
That man has descended from our
noble race
The very idea is a great
disgrace
No monkey has ever deserted
his wife
Starved her babies and ruined
her life
And you've never known a
mother monk
To leave her babies with others
to bunk
Or pass from one on to another
Till they scarcely know who is
their mother
Here's another thing a monkey
won't do
Go out at night and get on a
stew
Or use a gun or club or knife
To take some other monkey's
life
Yes, man descended, the
onery cuss
But brother, he didn't descend
from us.