The Internet Archive discovers and captures web pages through many different web crawls.
At any given time several distinct crawls are running, some for months, and some every day or longer.
View the web archive through the Wayback Machine.
Web wide crawl with initial seedlist and crawler configuration from March 2011. This uses the new HQ software for distributed crawling by Kenji Nagahashi.
What’s in the data set:
Crawl start date: 09 March, 2011
Crawl end date: 23 December, 2011
Number of captures: 2,713,676,341
Number of unique URLs: 2,273,840,159
Number of hosts: 29,032,069
The seed list for this crawl was a list of Alexa’s top 1 million web sites, retrieved close to the crawl start date. We used Heritrix (3.1.1-SNAPSHOT) crawler software and respected robots.txt directives. The scope of the crawl was not limited except for a few manually excluded sites.
However this was a somewhat experimental crawl for us, as we were using newly minted software to feed URLs to the crawlers, and we know there were some operational issues with it. For example, in many cases we may not have crawled all of the embedded and linked objects in a page since the URLs for these resources were added into queues that quickly grew bigger than the intended size of the crawl (and therefore we never got to them). We also included repeated crawls of some Argentinian government sites, so looking at results by country will be somewhat skewed.
We have made many changes to how we do these wide crawls since this particular example, but we wanted to make the data available “warts and all” for people to experiment with. We have also done some further analysis of the content.
If you would like access to this set of crawl data, please contact us at info at archive dot org and let us know who you are and what you’re hoping to do with it. We may not be able to say “yes” to all requests, since we’re just figuring out whether this is a good idea, but everyone will be considered.
TIMESTAMPS
The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20110501030543/http://alterx.blogspot.com/
AlternateBrain
Saturday, April 30, 2011
On the tornados
I'm sure all our hearts and thoughts and condolences and prayers if we do that go out to all the folks affected by the death and injury and destruction across several southern states, but...
How come I ain't hearing the fundie televangeliars saying it's God's wrathful payback for their sins like Katrina was for...others?
I guess if you're black it's Heavenly justice and if you're white and southern it's just bad weather. Can't piss off the folks you pass the plate to.
This should help quell the notion that somehow Europeans are more sophisticated than we are...
Is that the Fixers way back there in the crowd...?
I'm sure these folks think the draped stars 'n bars is just a country music thing. Somebody should tell 'em what it really stands for.
By the way, I like to watch line dancing. Folks all over the world* do it. I don't do it in this country because I don't like getting hit with beer bottles when I flub a step.
*Still lookin' for some from Nepal...
coreografia: John "Grrowler" Rowell música: Girl With A Bass Boat by Len Doolin. IV Trobada Country a Premia de Mar, Barcelona, 23 maig 2010
Billie Anthony (born Philomena McGeachie Levy in Glasgow on 11 October 1932 — 5 January 1991) was a Scottish female singer. In October 1953, after months of voice training and with her name changed to Billie Anthony, she recorded and released her first single for Columbia Records called "I'd Rather Take My Time" coupled with "Things Go Wrong". However it flopped.
Yes, things go wrong. Oh well, if at first you don't succeed... I'm sure this one did it for her.
For more info about this artist click here and on 'Show more'.
1. "These people could have personally witnessed Obama being born out of an apple pie, in the middle of a Kansas wheat field, while Toby Keith sang the National Anthem – and they’d still think he was a Kenyan Muslim." –Jimmy Kimmel
2. "It's important that we, the few, the proud, the reality-based, attack this stuff before it has a chance to fester and spread. This is not a case of Democrats versus Republicans. It's sentient beings versus the lizard people." –Bill Maher, on birtherism
8. "The state of Hawaii passed a new law allowing the state government to ignore requests for President Obama's birth certificate from the 'Birthers.' From now on, every future president should be required to be born on camera and in front of a national landmark." –Jimmy Kimmel
Fuckwads'd still think it was a socialist/communist/Muslim/Kenyan/whatever plot if the guy wasn't a whiter shade of pale.
A man dressed in a cow suit managed to rob a busy Stafford, Virginia Walmart of 26 gallons of milk on Tuesday night before being nabbed by the cops.
The local news story on the crime, by David Pierce at InsideNova.com, is an absolute must read. Apparently, the cow-suited criminal escaped the megastore by crawling out the doors, "trying to emulate cattle." He then began handing out the stolen jugs right outside the store before making his escape, in a sort of bovine interpretation of Robin Hood.
Rumor has it** that Wall St. is looking for this guy. He likes to swipe stuff and give it away. They heard we had some money left so they want to re-educate him a little about priorities and run him for national office.
For a Yank to get in trouble (there were only 40 of us on this barge) in a crowd of Brits. Just use this quote (and I'm pretty sure it was from our friend Comrade Misfit) in a room full of 'em:
"Most of the problems in the world today can be traced back to the British mapmakers of yesterday."
For the last 2 weeks, I thought my first name was "Bloody", middle name "Fooking", last name "Yank".
Sitting in Heathrow now, waiting for my flight. Bandwidth sucked yesterday during the Royal Wedding so I didn't get my post up from Vigo. I guess all the Limeys aboard had to text and email home about the wedding. Bloody twats. I'll be back in NYC by 8:30 Eastern, barring any screwups by Delta or the fucking plane crashing. Probly have something up tomorrow.
...although rumor has it that Charles considered installing one for Di. Or his Mom...
I think this is funny. The car has an "L-plate". The 'L' is for 'Learner' as in new driver. What it really means is "Newbie at the wheel! Get outta the way!". I will ass-yoom there's not a similar plate on their bedpost. Heh.
Harry did it! Apparently that is the plate for the Royal Bedpost!
Many have speculated that the bright red L plate on the grill of the James Bond-style vehicle signified that the Prince was still a rookie behind the wheel. But fret not, motorists! It’s probably just a royal inside jape, as Prince William successfully passed his drivers’ test in 1999.
The DB6 was given to Prince Charles by his mother Queen Elizabeth II on his 21st Birthday.
The 42-year-old car is kept at Highgrove House the residence of Charles and Camilla.
The vintage car is running on vintage too - surplus wine from a nearby English vineyard. It was converted to bio-fuel about three years ago.
The car is only driven about 300 miles a year and averages ten miles a gallon. That's about 4 and one half bottles of wine per mile.
We wonder what the exhaust smells like.
"Honest, officer, it ain't me!".
Runs on wine? Why not? The Royal Family has run on gin for generations.
You can also get cufflinks made out of the Volante's old pistons as well.
Six pistons that came from the car's engine when it was being converted to run on biofuel are being melted down to create the 200 pairs of cufflinks.
That's their story and they're stickin' to it, but my guess is the pistons were maybe a little pre-melted when they pried 'em outta the engine block. English petrol and 'power timing' will do it every time.
Christopher Bennett, managing director of TMB, said: "These cufflinks are quintessential conversation pieces, with each pair directly benefiting The Prince's Trust. When I heard about the possibility of creating such future heirlooms from the Prince's Aston, the project was irresistible." ...
TMB was formed following the excavation of a Battle of Britain Hurricane fighter which crashed into Buckingham Palace Road, London, in 1940. Parts of the recovered Hurricane were later made into limited-edition sculptures.
Woulda been really cool if Wills and Kate had left the palace in one'a those...
While cable news has been offering wall-to-wall coverage since 3 am of the Alexander McQueen gown Kate Middleton wore to the royal wedding, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) was a bit behind this morning, tweeting, “Just catching up here. So she wore a Steve McQueen dress? #TheOneHeWoreInBullitt” — a reference to the actor’s 1968 classic cop flick.
I think Steve McQueen looked a lot cooler in the dress he wore in the motorcycle chase in The Great Escape. I still dress like that for riding...
How mind-boggling is this? And how sadly not unexpected. And what's also sadly not unexpected is the reaction from the birthers. It's a forgery, it's not enough, it needs to go through forensics testing, what about his grades, what about his Social Security number, what about his Muslim connections, what about, what about, show us, show us. Seriously, could you guys just start saying, "That uppity nigger should be lynched"? Could you say that you're all het up because he looked at Hillary Clinton funny? Could you just stop pretending that anything else - anything else - is going on here other than that you hate black people with power? Because what you're doing is asking someone to prove shit when you don't have a scintilla of real evidence to support the crime you're accusing Obama of committing. What's next? Dig up his dead father to get DNA samples?
Shit, could Obama just get an intern to blow him in the Oval Office? Because, at this point, that fucking debacle makes sense. Hell, calling Bill Clinton a coke-snorting murderer just seems quaint.
Now that President Barack Obama's legal team went out of its way to get a copy of Obama's so-called long-form birth certificate, it's time for the birthers to eat crow, right? Not so much. It hasn't taken long for members of the "birther" movement to grab their backup plans.
They're getting wingnuttier and wingnuttier. Being caught in a lie doesn't faze 'em even a little bit. They had backup bullshit ready to go.
Many cultures bury afterbirth as a tribute to life-giving Mother Earth. I think it would be sacreligious to bury these After-Birthers for the same reason, but possibly OK as fertilizer.
Other cultures fry the placenta with shallots and garlic and...
TMI.
Update:
Go read "Josh's New Taxonomy of Birtherism". There's no reasoning with these racist morons so it's time to just plain ridicule them. Laugh 'em outta the picture.
Oh, and QUIT GIVING THEM AIR TIME.
So as we move into D Day +1 I've been trying to put together a new and workable taxonomy of birtherism. And here are my preliminary findings. Notwithstanding birtherism's roots in xenophobia and racism, the reactions have nonetheless been diverse. The birther movement has broken up into three broad contingents, with at least some overlap between the groups.
Second comes what I now term 'Forensic Denialist Long Form Birthers'. These are the folks who going on very theories deny or doubt the authenticity of the document released yesterday. Orly Taitz appears to be in this category, claiming, with no apparent reason, that an authentic document would have identified Obama's father as "Negro" as opposed to "African." More creatively, Jerome Corsi, author of the swift boat smear and leading birther now calls the Nordyke twins -- two girls born one day after Obama -- represent the "Rosetta Stone" of birtherism because the numbers on their birth certificates are lower than Obama's notwithstanding being born a day later.
Most intriguing and the final broad category are the Racialist Birther Triumphalists. This group accepts the birth certificate as proof that Obama was born where and when he claims. But that doesn't matter, they argue. And the birth certificate actually proves that President Obama's father was not a citizen of the United States at the time of his birth. Ergo, seemingly based on no existing constitutional argument, Obama himself is not a 'natural born' citizen although he is a 'native born' citizen. Even within the RBT category, there appears to be a division between those who say Obama isn't natural born because his dad was not a US citizen and those who claim that Obama is actual a dual-citizen of the British Empire, based on his father's birth, and thus not capable of being President.
Clever stuff. Enjoy.
And now, saving the best for last, my theory on what The Donald is really up to with all his birther noise. Are ya ready?
He's trying to get into Oily Taintz's pants and the haircut* wasn't working...
Radio host Nicole Sandler Arrested at Rep. Allen West’s Town Hall Meeting
The QotD:
Odd how during the health care reform town hall meetings of 2009, the tea baggers could scream, overshout, carry guns, make demands, cause a ruckus, and it was considered “freedom of speech”. But if a liberal asks a question or two, she gets arrested.
Batcrap wingnuts like West hate us because we ask questions they don't dare answer truthfully because it would sink them. Lying to cops was a handy way to get her outta there.
"Now we have this craziness. The Republican party..."
For once, Joe Klein makes sense out of the obvious:
Now we have this craziness. The Republican party has rejected all of the polices mentioned above, except for financial deregulation. It has gone off the deep end on taxes. It has denied the long-term economic and societal benefits of universal health insurance. It has gone into climate change denial…it is hard for any card-carrying Republican to say: I believe that Darwinian evolution is God's plan. These sad realities probably led to Haley Barbour's decision not to run for President and may well lead to the same decision for Indiana's Mitch Daniels. They have led Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty to make mortal fools of themselves
And I wish them great success in doing so, but they don't need much help.
Two words immediately come to mind: Fox News. And two more words: Rush Limbaugh. And two more words: Newt Gingrich. And two more: Frank Luntz. But it seems clear that all eight of these words are part of the same, superficial, demagogic media phenomenon. And it also seems clear to me that there is a lot more to the profound political swing to the right that we've witnessed than telecharlatanism. The fear that has accompanied our economic slump has made the fear that right-wing demagogues sell a more attractive product. There is also the accumulating decades of educational incompetence, since - let's face it - a whole lot of smart female teachers were liberated to pursue their dreams and we were left, as Albert Shanker used to say, with the bottom 20% of college graduates to preside in our classrooms. And another thing: Perhaps this is just rear-view, rose-colored glasses, but after Bill Clinton took his lumps in 1994, he learned how to out-argue and out-think the extremists. His message was complicated, but his persona was clear - he was the McDonald's-eating, lounge-singer-screwing, good ol' boy with the 800 SATs, who really did understand how Americans (especially blue-collar American males) think, and really cared about their welfare. It was just flat embedded in his DNA after a childhood of having the cool athlete guys laugh at his sax-playing obese butt.
Last night, I watched two examples of the media at our best: Lawrence O'Donnell quietly filleting Rush Limbaugh on the subject of Jesus of Nazareth's economic policies and Anderson Cooper proving the utter non-existent nonsense of Donald Trump's "investigative" efforts to discover the "truth" about Barack Obama's birth certificate in Hawaii. Regular readers here know that I've avoided all mention of Trumpet from my posts on the grounds of life being too short for me to be played a sucker by that lame fool, but Anderson's work is probably a necessity for a mainstream outlet.
For most of the 40 years that I've been a working reporter, the country chugged along pretty damned well. There were plenty of important issues, but none that threatened the essence of our American miracle. That's no longer true. We face a future dominated by the celebration of ignorance and sloppy short-term thinking. I think those of us who are trying to actually report the world as it is - flawed and mistaken as we sometimes are - are facing a great challenge right now. We really owe the public a good, smart, rigorous couple of years between now and election day, 2012.
If it's Wednesday, it must be Morford going on about Guv'ner Goodhair's calls for prayer for rain and the Rapture.
Indeed, Perry's official Proclamation for Days of Prayer for Rain in Texas -- thusly issued after a staggering drought has ravaged the state for months, ruined crops, devastated local economies and dropped reservoir levels to record lows -- might at first glance induce, as it most certainly did for me, a chortle and gasp at the governor's somewhat mindless view of God; it might first make you think, "Oh Rick, you loveably despicable hunk of right wing chuzpah, you. Don't you know such peculiar entreaties just make God roll her eyes and laugh?"
She likes us better than you, Texas. Our drought is officially over after this past winter. Suck it, bitchez.
Ah, existential irony. Jesus loves that stuff.
But oh, poor Jesus, once again caught in the twee crossfire of mankind's terrible lack of imagination, once again reduced to a petty deity stuck way out there off the cosmic turnpike, a judgmental, lopsided hooligan who actually gives a damn about things like rainfall, and touchdowns, and borders, and math, and political parties, and gender, and whether or not you understand that the Second Coming has nothing whatsoever to do with bazooka-wielding angels blasting everyone into fiery smithereens, and everything to do with, you know, waking up.
But hey, if it will help, and before the apocalypse comes, I'll happily join right in and offer up a prayer for some rain for Texas, too. I'm sure the governor won't mind some liberal, left-coast, pro-gay, pro-sex, pro-choice, tantric-inspired love, right? I'm sure he'd happily do the same for San Francisco, right? We're all one, after all. Right?
See you at the Rapture. I'll bring the whisky.
Yeah, I'll be sittin' on my seabag all ready for that. Yeesh.
That the birthers aren't satisfied with the release of the long form birth certificate isn't surprising. Birthers aren't satisfied because no matter how many documents Barack Obama releases it will never be enough, because there isn't a document in the world that will turn him white.
Sorry for taking so long but I was in no mood to post after the great time we had in Funchal yesterday. I got posts up from Tenerife, Gran Canaria, and Funchal. At sea today, Vigo, Spain tomorrow.
For 30 years we've been experimenting with specialty courts because we know that putting someone with a mental health issue or an addiction in prison instead of treatment is not only cruel, it's much more expensive. For three years, we've been tentatively opening that model to veterans, who often fit into both categories. Since the attack on the Twin Towers, tens of thousands of veterans of previous conflicts have flooded VA facilities across the country, with PTSD by far the most common diagnosis. Ten years later, those old soldiers are being joined by younger veterans, in equally daunting numbers, who are similarly haunted by their memories and overwhelmed by the symptoms of their psychic injuries.
They use drugs or alcohol to manage their nightmares, red-line their Harleys to feed their addiction to adrenalin, keep guns under their pillows to feel safe, and when they have flashbacks, muscle-memory takes over and they default to combat survival skills. Rages at the terrible images that colonize their minds get misdirected at innocent bystanders, often the people who love them the most—all known symptoms of PTSD, all predictive of trouble.
Shorter: Train them, use them up, throw them away, punish them for their nightmares instead of helping them.
Some vets get help, some get jail. Shameful, and we have a whole new generation of them who were used every bit as badly as the Vietnam vets.
I’ve been remiss in not calling attention to the budget proposal from the Congressional Progressive Caucus. It’s not going to happen — but then neither is the Ryan plan. And unlike the Ryan plan, it actually makes sense.
So why does this plan get no attention, while the cruel fantasies of the right get headlines? I’ll leave that as a question for readers.
Because it makes sense and has the phrase "The People's" in it, which makes it socialist or worse, Librul.
Normally I don't post music videos during the week, but when the cat's away the mice will play, and I couldn't resist this one.
These are my young tribal brethren and sisteren. Despite the fact that Marine Air is the best infantry weapon ever devised (think of it as a really looooong bayonet), and the 169 squadron's snakes will come bring maximum smoke on your enemy with one phone call, look at the fucking haircuts on some of these Air Wing pogues! Looser'n a soup sandwich! We always thought of the aviation Marines as being some kinda separate service with different rules anyway.
In the fine tradition of military personnel blowing off steam in the field comes this latest masterpiece out of Afghanistan.
Below, watch the 266 Rein and HMLA 169* Marines perform their awesome rendition of Britney Spears’ “Hold It Against Me.”
*Mottoes:
"World Famous Vipers, perhaps you have heard of us?"
"We hate each other, but we hate you more."
Heh. Also, this vid has had over 2,000,000 hits in the week it's been up. I left 'em a little comment and while I was doing that about 20 more comments came in. I think this vid qualifies as 'gone viral'.
Robert Watson, a high-ranking Republican state legislator in Rhode Island, is in hot water after being charged with driving under the influence of marijuana and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Drug charges alone would be bad enough for a public official, but Watson, Rhode Island's House minority leader, is still remembered for his controversial anti-drug, anti-gay and anti-immigrant remarks.
In February, Watson said the Rhode Island legislature had their priorities right "if you are a Guatemalan gay man who likes to gamble and smokes marijuana."
Watson was pulled over at a police checkpoint Friday, East Haven police told the Associated Press. Police noted a "strong odor of marijuana" coming from Watson's car, and charged him with possession and driving under the influence. The lawmaker was released after he promised to appear in court, and has not yet issued a statement.
To celebrate the engagement of Prince William of Wales to Ms. Catherine Elizabeth Middleton, Crown Jewels Condoms of Distinction has commissioned a unique heritage edition Royal Wedding Souvenir boîte de capotes.
Combining the strength of a Prince with the yielding sensitivity of a Princess-to-be, Crown Jewels condoms promise a royal union of pleasure. Truly a King amongst Condoms.
So the GOP has but one step left. If they can gain control of our national government and establish the same rules that now exist in Michigan, America’s beautiful experiment in democracy is over.
So yes, Tom, the GOP is indeed the Devil incarnate - and worse.
Former chief U.N. nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei suggests in a new memoir that Bush administration officials should face international criminal investigation for the "shame of a needless war" in Iraq.
"I was aghast at what I was witnessing," ElBaradei writes of the official U.S. attitude before the March 2003 invasion, which he calls "aggression where there was no imminent threat," a war in which he accepts estimates that hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were killed.
In such a case, he suggests, the World Court should be asked to rule on whether the war was illegal. And, if so, "should not the International Criminal Court investigate whether this constitutes a `war crime' and determine who is accountable?"
Formidable political and legal barriers would seem to rule out such an investigation. But ElBaradei, citing the war-crimes prosecution of Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic, sees double standards that should end.
"Do we, as a community of nations, have the wisdom and courage to take the corrective measures needed, to ensure that such a tragedy will never happen again?" he asks.
Me and Terry spent the afternoon hanging in The Golden Lion (talking football - soccer - with a couple of drunken Irishmen) while our women were out shopping on Gran Canaria. Ain't in no condition to write a post right now. We'll be in Madiera (Portugal) tomorrow. We're behind schedule because our compass went to shit last night as we left Tenerife and we had to recalibrate, cutting holes in the Atlantic for 4 hours. Cap'n Wells (a friend of mine through 1st Engineer David, who served with Cap'n Wells on QE2) says he's gonna have to do a speed run tonight to make up time. He's gonna put the engines to full and try to get 30 - 32 knots out of her during the night. Should be a fun ride. We have lunch and dinner reservations in Madiera tomorrow so I'll have something up in the morning from Tenerife and Gran Canaria.
Gotta get ready for more drinks and dinner. See yas in the morning.
And just a note: My mother emigrated from Germany to the US aboard the first Queen Elizabeth 60 years ago today.
Addendum: What the fuck is with that so-called English they speak over there in the Kingdom? Can't understand a bloody thing when I'm loaded. Heh ...
Addendum Zwei: And fucking Terry, when he's loaded, speaks to me in fucking Welsh (a beautiful language BTW) but Jesus H. Christ, it's bad enough trying to understand the English. ;)
Yours truly on Playa del Ingles (Beach of the Englishmen) on Gran Canaria this morning
ElBaradei: Bush Should Be Tried for War Crimes Bush: ElBaradei should be arrested, tortured and shot.
Thank you ElBaradei.
72% Say Raise Taxes on Those Earning More Than $250,000 28% say eat them.
California Wine Company Asks Court to Declare its “Mommyjuice” Doesn’t Violate Rival’s “Mommy’s Time Out” Trademark Or their “Mommy’s Drunk Now,” or “Mommy’s Soused, Get Lost, Kiddo” brands.
Afghanistan: Buzkashi Championships Begin Under Cloud of Scandal Apparently some of the horsemen fighting over a headless goat carcass are “juiced.”
Thinkin' about the Fixers disporting themselves all over the Atlantic is bringin' back memories and making me nostalgic for my own sea cruise frolics. Here's the main activity aboard one of the ships I was in. The squid who shot this left out the Marines who were also cargo for these hell-o-copeters. This is about 25 years after my cruise. Not much difference.
I think my cruise in Guam may have been slightly noisier than Fixer's in Queen Liz.
A PR stunt that succeeded beyond its wildest dreams and has been causing trouble the world over pretty much ever since, mostly after Constantine organized Christians to unify the Roman Empire and gave them a book that satisfied his agenda and that continues to be taken seriously to this day by the tiny-brained.
How'd that 'Roman Empire' thing work out for ya, Con-Man? Its successor, the 'Holy' one? The United States is fixin' to reenact the last part of those pretty soon and then we'll know.
Not directly related to The Big Prank, if it hadn'ta been for Mohammed, it seems to me that most of today's Muslims would be Jews. With them, eh, we coulda cut a deal, saved the world a lotta trouble...
We could start by cannin' the whole 'ham on Easter' thing that originated no doubt to stick the crucifixion in the the Jews' eyes - they didn't do it.
Will Durst on how the right-wing culture war tops the important stuff and things that actually matter and why the never-right is totally fucked.
You got to love The Right. Every single study and poll, every one, shows independents turned off by cultural- values wars; the same way chalk sidewalk drawings dissolve in a thunderstorm. And they try and they try and they try but they just can't help themselves. Like active moral volcanoes with a bad case of the hiccups, conservatives erupt and spew and god help any innocent bystander that gets in the way of their lava of virtuousness. That includes themselves.
Oh, they talk about getting the government out of people's business. But when its bedroom business or women's body businesses, an infatuation with perceived iniquity overcomes them. Especially businesses into which tab A is not destined for slot B; which could possibly offend some busybody. That's when their business becomes the business of judging other people's business. And business is good.
Knowing better, but unable to control his compulsion, Speaker John Boehner (R- $$$) swoopingly interrupted his budget putsch, hiring a law firm to argue on behalf of the Defense of Marriage Act. President Obama declared it unconstitutional and indefensible, so the Speaker is taking it unto himself to ensure equal rights are denied to same sex relationships. Apparently, certain people's happiness makes him miserable.
Previously, the GOP tried lathering their moral superiority onto the budget bill. That's when Jon Kyl (R- Wackyville) went on the floor of the Senate to say abortions "are well over 90% of what Planned Parenthood does." And he was close. Off by 87%. Just a bit outside. Later, Kyl's office recanted saying "his remark was not intended to be a factual statement." Of course. Who would ever think it was? After all, he is a known politician.
With no innards left, leaping onto the anti- abortion bandwagon with talons extended, Michele Bachmann called Planned Parenthood the Lenscrafters of abortion, which by all rights allows you to call the Heritage Foundation the Orange Julius of the death penalty. Congressman Bachmann, the Home Depot of ridiculously overwrought indignation. Making the Republican Party itself, the Luigi's Shoe Repair of self inflicted gunshot wounds to the chest.
I hope they shoot so many holes in themselves they automatically, like a player piano, whistle "Red River Valley" in a breeze and maybe "Onward Christian Soldiers" in a gale. Heh.
Look, up in the sky, it’s a bong, it’s a plate of brownies — no, it’s … Marijuanaman.
Superheroes are everywhere these days, so perhaps it’s no surprise that a cannabis-themed crusader is fighting the good fight on the cover of a (ahem) high-profile new project with musician Ziggy Marley as part of the creative team. But what’s intriguing is the hero on the cover is no bleary-eyed burnout looking for the Xbox controller in the couch. This pothead looks as intense as the Punisher, and Marley says there are meaningful messages rolled up within the tales’ action.
“It relates to the reality of why the plant is being criminalized and why it’s not being used in all of its facets,” said the five-time Grammy winner and 42-year-old son of the late Bob Marley. “In the early days of American history, this plant was used much more widely, and then it became a demon and a devil.”
The 48-page hardcover premiere of “Marijuanaman” from Image Comics hits on 4/20 (no surprise)...[...]
There was a need to please discerning comics fans but also a resolution to keep the Marley name, music and legacy as a touchstone. Spattered with references to the contemporary reggae singer and his father, intricate (and sometimes incongruous) tapestries of Wailers song references and hat tips to the Tuff Gong record label are woven in the pages. Naturally, the Lion of Judah makes several majestic cameos.
Comic books have come a long way since the Classics Illustrated masterpieces that got me through book reports...
I don't know about you, but coffee plays a very important part of my life. Makes me human in the morning. Thing is, being on a ship, good coffee is impossible to get. If the seaworthiness of a ship was measured by the quality of its coffee, the entire fleet would be towed out over the Atlantic Trench and scuttled. An old Navy chief would willingly jump overboard and drown himself. I'm not exaggerating.
What they do, is make the coffee ashore, turn it into a concentrate, and then add water aboard ship. Makes for a horrible swill. The Mrs. and I have a solution.
We bring a pound of good coffee, our little drip fixtures and a box of #2 filters. All we do is order up a couple pots of boiling water from room service and make our own.
Off to Tenerife in a couple hours. Sorry I didn't post yesterday but they had a big football (soccer) bash in The Golden Lion all day so you can figure where I was.
Idaho is well-known as a Mecca (heh) for militant right-wing nutjobs. This will remove all doubt and chill you to your bones. It ain't just in Idaho either.
Little talk of repealing “Obamacare” or of modifying objectionable provisions of healthcare legislation took place at Stout’s “Patriots Unite” event, held March 26. The impending possibility of a government shutdown due to an impasse over the budget was hardly mentioned. Nary a word was spoken about bailouts or taxes. Instead, speakers at this Tea Party event gave the crowd a heavy dose of racist “birther” attacks on President Obama, discussions of the conspiracy behind the problem facing America (complete with anti-Semitic illustration), Christian nationalism, anti-environmentalism, and serious calls for legislation promoting states’ rights and “nullification.”
Read this article. It's like looking in through the window of the snake exhibit at the Crazytown Zoo.
Minnesota Republicans Want To Bust Poor People Who Carry Cash
I don't carry much cash around with me because I like the convenience of using my debit card to pay for stuff. I use cash for very small purchases or if they're going to charge me for using the card. It's my choice. Your choice is your choice. This is unconscionable. It's the Repug way.
They're not just crazy, they're evil -- and un-Christian, should they have the audacity to claim otherwise. If only we could force them to live like this, they wouldn't last a week:
St. Paul, MN – Minnesota Republicans are pushing legislation that would make it a crime for people on public assistance to have more $20 in cash in their pockets any given month. This represents a change from their initial proposal, which banned them from having any money at all.
It's not stated, but I think the pols are convinced that poor people's only use for cash is to buy dope. They must think that everybody's got a checking account, debit card, credit cards, etc. At the least we're talking massively outta touch here.
At the worst, which is probably a lot closer to the truth, we're talking keep poor people poor so they can be more easily controlled.
There is an obvious target on the poverty stricken in this country. Let’s not forget, just as many poor people are Republicans. This won’t fare well and they’re signing their own Get Out of the House certificate. As the classes divide even more with their assistance, this is further proof that their campaign against government spending was simply to gain power and now, they’ve gone power mad.
2 hours off the Portuguese coast and just heading into the shower before drinks and dinner. We went north of Lisbon to the beautiful towns of Cascais and Sintra. Come along. I love Portugal!
Yes, mota is soooooo bad! It leads to harder drugs, will get your daughter pregnant and make her jump out a window, has no medical usage whatsoever, and can still get you life in prison in some places. It's illegal to grow, sell, transport, possess and use.
Unless you get it from a corporate- and government-approved commercial source, of course.
And perish the thought that you should ever use this plant that God put on this earth for pleasure and fun! It is written in the Holy Book that He put it here to exploit for profit only by Chosen entities like Big Pharma.
As always when I link to a Tomgram, take a lunch...
What It Feels Like When a Superpower Runs Off the Tracks ...
This can’t end well.
But then, how often do empires end well, really? They live vampirically by feeding off others until, sooner or later, they begin to feed on themselves, to suck their own blood, to hollow themselves out. Sooner or later, they find themselves, as in our case, economically stressed and militarily extended in wars they can’t afford to win or lose.
The United States is, of course, an imperial power, however much we might prefer not to utter the word. We still have our globe-spanning array of semi-client states; our military continues to garrison much of the planet; and we are waging war abroad more continuously than at any time in memory. Yet who doesn’t sense that the sun is now setting on us?
Can there be any question that something big is happening here, even if we don’t quite know what it is because, unlike the peoples of past empires, we never took pride in or even were able to think of ourselves as imperial? And if you were indeed in denial that you lived in the belly of a great imperial power, if like most Americans you managed to ignore the fact that we were pouring our treasure into the military or setting up bases in countries that few could have found on a map, then you would naturally experience the empire going down as if through a glass darkly.
Hit the brakes or hit the wall. Will we get over the denial in time?
Above all, even as our imperial wars in the oil heartlands of the planet went desperately wrong, they allowed us not to think about empire or, until the economy melted down in 2008, decline. They allowed us to focus our fears on “them,” not us. They ensured that, like the other great imperial power of the Cold War era, when things began to spiral out of control we would indeed sleepwalk right into the imperial darkness.
Now that we’re so obviously there, the confusion is greater than ever. Theoretically, none of this should necessarily be considered bad news, not if you don’t love empires and what they do. A post-imperial U.S. could, of course, be open to all sorts of possibilities for change that might be exciting indeed.
Right now, though, it doesn’t feel that way, does it? It makes me wonder: Could this be how it’s always felt inside a great imperial power on the downhill slide? Could this be what it’s like to watch, paralyzed, as a country on autopilot begins to come apart at the seams while still proclaiming itself “the greatest nation on Earth”?
I don’t know. But I do know one thing: this can’t end well.
"...a demented slapstick comedy starring The Donald as The Donald in "The Donald." "
An enjoyable read by William Rivers Pitt who survived both the Yuengling and Western Pennsylvania to bring us this.
Stick your nose into the air and smell the panic emanating from RNC headquarters. It is bad enough that they have to contend with potential presidential runs by the likes of Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich. Now they're staring down the barrel of a full-fledged freak storm, a demented slapstick comedy starring The Donald as The Donald in "The Donald." I feel a deep and overwhelming compulsion to go to church every day this week, light a candle each time, and pray until I'm sweating blood that this actually happens.
Seriously. Oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please let this happen. It is already wildly entertaining today, and can only get better if Trump actually jumps into the race. He has gone over the high side* (my em) at top volume regarding the "birther" issue, which has pleased the berserk GOP base to such a degree that he is blowing away the entire potential Republican presidential field, and now leads the pack by as much as nine points in the latest poll.
*A rare and heartwarming reference to the absolute worst way to get off a motorcycle at speed that doesn't involve a brick wall, a cliff, or a Buick Pahk Avenoo!
So what gives here? Did Trump just turn on a dime, scrap all of his former positions, and embrace the Tea Party platform because he believes in it? Is he cynically using those positions to elbow his way into the conversation because he knows GOP primary voters are made mostly of the far-right base?
I have my own theory, out there though it may be. He could believe in all that stuff, or he could be using those issues to position himself, but there is a third possibility. Trump could be pulling the biggest prank in the history of American politics. If he still believes in single-payer health care and higher taxes for the rich, he could be playing the GOP for fools with a fake run that is already scrambling the RNC's eggs.
Could it be that Trump is the greatest political mole/troll we've ever seen?
I report, you decide.
I have embraced the "deep plant Democrat" theory myself. It's probably not so, but it would be the best punk job in recent political history if it were.
I'll wait for the report and then decide. Please God, let it be so! Heh.
The BRAD BLOG is on the case in the highly questionable "Oh gee, I found some more ballots for our side" debacle in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election.
Details included in Kloppenburg's request for a special investigator in Waukesha --- including the curious point that Prosser "was observed entering the Governor's Office late in the evening and attending a private, one-on-one meeting with Governor Scott Walker" on the night following the election, on the very same day in which the controversial new GOP Governor publicly stated that there might be "ballots somewhere, somehow found out of the blue that weren't counted before." --- are certainly compelling.
Compelling indeed. They knew exactly which operative in a position of power was likely to 'find' them too. And willing to risk a jail sentence for it as well.
Two points of note in response to the video above. ...
2) The point made in the video about trusting the G.A.B. or anybody else. As we have pointed out over and over, for years on this blog, elections are not about trust. They are about oversight by the citizenry. If the citizenry can't see it for themselves, there is no reason to trust it. Kennedy seems like quite a decent fellow, as witnessed by his willingness to chat on the street about these matters with a citizen. But nothing here is about trust. It's about checks, balances, and oversight, as we recently emphasized with some passion in this video on the Wisconsin mess.
Kudos to the two folks at Defending Wisconsin for their good citizen watchdogging and video taping! We could use a million more like 'em on the ground in WI and in every other state!
No shit. Ten million.
Much, much more, links and video. and this:
But it looks like Fox "News" doesn't, and have apparently already decided the outcome, as reported on their website in their usual "fair and balanced" manner...
Failed Democrat Requests Recount In Wisconsin
P.S. Kloppenburg is not a Democrat. She's an independent. Not that facts 'n' stuff matter that much over at Fox "News", of course.
Actually, facts do matter at FoxProp. They are to be spun or ignored to the Repugs' advantage.
If yesterday was Wednesday, it must have been Morford going off on religious right the-sky-is-falling e-spittle.
On it went, item after item, all context-free and gleefully myopic in its abject fearmongering and its intent to scare the unsuspecting reader out of his stock portfolio and into investing in gold bars. Unfortunately, I haven't the space here to list the most garish examples -- there are just so many -- but if you're so inclined, remove your pants, pray to Shiva, and click.
This may be too late, but re 'click' - tinfoil hat alert!
Nothing new here, really. After all, Christian panic mongers like Snyder (and Glenn Beck, and the Tea Party, and the Tories, and nervous cavemen) have been trafficking in similar flagellation for eons. But thanks to the Net, the spiteful imp at the center of his list -- which is to say, fear -- now has far more fluid access to the brainstems of the unwary and the retired.
You'll have to go read the rest. I got things to do. I've been as busy as Fixer usually is for the last coupla days and I don't get up as early. Enjoy.
With A Stroke Of His Pen Obama Strikes Back At Citizens United
"Strikes back" is a little too strong. A "gentle rebuff" is more like it, but it's something. I'da had a coupla SCOTUS Justices taken out and shot pour encourager les autres, but that's just me.
Conservatives are not known for their veracity, and based on von Spakovsky’s portrayal of the order, there is no telling how Fox, Limbaugh, Beck and myriad Republican presidential hopefuls will spin the story, or to what end their faux outrage will take. One thing is certain; Republicans will make the order tyrannical and un-Constitutional before the dust settles and that should be a signal that the president’s proposal is appropriate and in keeping with democratic principles of fairness. Of course, any attempt at ensuring fairness in government is contrary to Republican principles of corruption, fear mongering, and doing the bidding of the Heritage Foundation.
Big day today! Off to do shopping in The Big City, the pups get a spa day, the Tacoma gets fixed under a federal recall floor mat/gas pedal deal, and breakfast at Q's (go drool!).
Also, the article linked to at this post turns out to be satire. Fell for it hook, line, and sinker. I thought it was too good to be true and it was. Wishful thinking.
We got aboard Queen Elizabeth yesterday at about 1400. No sooner had we arrived in our cabin when there was a knock at the door. Our friends Chris and Terry were already aboard and were waiting for us. Great to see them again. We were nuts last night, unpacking, dinner, and then some much needed sleep (we'd gone 40 hours without sleep after leaving NYC).
Currently we're in the Bay of Biscay, off the coast of France, heading for Lisbon Portugal. Just getting ready for lunch with our friends but I'll have pics up later from last night's sunset over Southampton Water. Fortunately, we didn't encounter any bears. Heh ... Glad you, the Mrs. and the pups are safe, homeboy.
Here's a good example of "shit happens" causing financial outlay as described in the previous post.
Last night I took the dogs out for their late-night walk about 11:30. I also had a new bag of dog food to bring in from the truck. Well, I thought I did. As soon as we got outside, the dogs went fucking crazy. I noticed that a) my camper cap was open, and b) the bag of dog food was laying on the ground beside the truck. It had been torn open and partially consumed.
Only one thing could have done that: b'ar!
I didn't see the bear, but we must have surprised it or it would have have finished its meal. The tracks leading to dinner were sorta meandering-lookin', not too deep, but here's its tracks bookin' outta there. You can tell it was on the move!
Click photo to embiggen
So, besides about ten bucks worth of dog food, what's the financial outlay? The goddam bear didn't know how to open the cap is what!
The bear just fiddle-fucked with it 'til it sprang its latch bar and the hydraulic units opened it the rest of the war and voila! - buffet! Below the scratch you can see the three dents it left. Otherwise the cap still works fine, but I gotta get it fixed of course.
I'll go to the body shop and get an estimate later today. If they can fix a Corvette they oughta be able to fix the cap. I hope so. That one cost $800 (Ironic, eh? See previous post. Heh.) so I hope they can save it. The dents? Who knows? Then I guess I gotta deal with the insurance company if the repair costs more than my deductible and it might. I don't know if they cover bear damage, but I guess I'll find out.
Yes, this is my own damn fault. Isn't everything? I know I shouldn't have left anything remotely resembling food in the truck, but we haven't seen bear activity in my neighborhood in several years. The old motorcyclist's adage proves itself again - the time ya get in trouble is when ya think yer safe.
Sigh.
Update:
Since the b'ar tracks led next door, I went and visited with Clancy to see if he had seen or heard anything. Boy did he! The bear batted the handle on the man door to his garage and went in. He thought somebody was coming up the stairs to his man cave/tree fort and flipped on the light. The bear skedaddled back toward my house. He saw it, says it was about 3 1/2 feet tall.
I just got back from taking the dogs for their noonday walk and ran into a coupla my neighbors out walking their dogs. Naturally we discussed bear break-ins of various kinds. Apparently there's been considerably more bear activity around here in the last year than I had thought.
Do you wonder (like I do) what the tax accountants and executives are doing over at GE this weekend? Frantically rushing to fill out their IRS returns like the rest of us?
Hardly. They're taking the weekend off to throw themselves a big party and have a hearty laugh at all of us. It must really crack them up to see us like suckers scurrying around to make sure we report everything to Uncle Sam -- and even send him a check, if necessary.
I know just how they feel! Yesterday, Mrs. G got done with our federal and state income tax. With the help of TurboTax Premier to help us account for our (half)vast far-flung financial empire (cough), we are getting back $800 more than we paid in. Same with the state, but a much smaller amount.
This is on an Adjusted Gross Income of $17,970.00. There was no tax on our SS income of $21,000 and change. We get by OK, but since we've retired the outflow* is larger than the inflow. We have all sorts of retirement accounts and a rental house that is depreciating quickly and only barely pays for itself. The rental and our health insurance outlay are the secret to this $800 windfall.
*Everything's paid for and we have no debt and get along fine on our income day-to-day, but shit happens.
Note: That $800 probly cost us twenty grand, one way and another. Do not hire me as your financial advisor. Heh.
I normally wouldn't mention this kind of personal financial info, but this is a very odd one-time event. This year there'll be no withholding at all, so next year we'll have to pay something. We're saving up now by buying the store brand cat food. When it's on sale.
TV, Newspapers, Congress Apologize for Claiming War Not About Oil
In the wake of the latest revelations of what everyone always knew, the largest press conference in the history of the United States has been planned for tomorrow in the Nationals Park baseball stadium in Washington, D.C. The powerful people lining up to apologize for having claimed the ongoing War on Iraq has had nothing to do with oil were deemed too numerous to gather in any indoor facility.
Former Congressman David Obey, who screamed at Congressman Dennis Kucinich in a Democratic caucus meeting for suggesting that oil might be one factor in the war, is currenly on a plane back to Washington to MC the mass apology. The line-up includes each major television, radio, and print news outlet in the United States. Select commentators, columnists, cartoonists, and talking heads of all varieties will represent each organization apologizing.
Former Senator Tom Daschle is quoted in the event announcement as saying, "We believe the time has come to set this straight. We collectively denied the obvious. In apologizing for having instinctively covered for one of the most destructive industries on earth, no individual or organization is necessarily continuing to pretend to have believed any particular purported reason for the war. What we are saying is that we ought to have asked for a credible reason before taking an action that has killed well over a million people, destroyed a country, ruined the good name of our nation, hollowed out our economy, and enriched the people we said had nothing whatsoever to do with it. We're sorry."
What the hell did they think the top-secret "Cheney Energy Task Force" meetings were all about anyway? It was about divvyin' up the spoils.
Sorry, shit. Shoulda thought more about going along with Bush's Criminal War For Oil before you fucked the U.S.A. up for generations. "Sorry 'bout that" doesn't cut it.
You wanta really try to do something to atone, not that you could? Lock up Bush and Cheney and a buncha others and let 'em die in prison.
The Use and Abuse of a Decade from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush
If you were there, ya might oughta read this. I read all I can about the '60s. Trying to remember them. Actually, I remember 'em pretty good until I got outta the service in '66. After that it's sorta blurry...
The '60s are still with us. I think we're gonna be in the 'hangover' phase for a long time yet to come.
Forget such pesky things as Jim Crow and equal rights for women. All but the archest of archconservatives will concede that tinkering was needed to correct egregious racism and sexism. This shift led, von Bothmer continues, to a bizarre splitting of the 1960's into two parts: the good sixties and the bad sixties.
The good sixties, he writes, ran from 1960 to 1964 and included John Fitzgerald and Robert Kennedy, the nonviolent resistance of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the Peace Corps, the Civil Rights Act, the 1963 March on Washington and the activists who pushed for racial integration as part of the beloved community.
On the flip side, he continues, are the bad sixties, which ran from mid-decade to the fall of Saigon in 1975. Among the markers of this period: the sexual revolution, Roe v. Wade, escalating protests against the Vietnam War, the Stonewall Rebellion, urban riots and the growing influence of groups such as the Black Panthers and the Young Lords.
About half of those oughta be in the 'good' '60s. Your choice.
Bush, a man with a history of substance abuse who had skirted active military service in Vietnam, was so successful in tarnishing Kerry that he skated to victory. By presenting himself as a God-fearing, born-again Christian who was family-oriented and believed in tradition, he represented the good, nothing-to-fear years of pre-1960's mythology.
Obama, not born until 1961, represents a shift from this good/bad dichotomy. That said, the right wing continues to dredge up the sixties in its attempt to blame them for every flaw in contemporary life. The so-called culture wars continue to rage and, perhaps nostalgic for the good 1960's - before queers took to the streets, before women flooded the workforce and before a family of color lived in the White House - have taken on new urgency. Indeed, conservatives seem ascendant.
Some things haven't changed - I didn't like the Repugs and Birchers then and I don't like the Repugs and Rightards now.
…or just rip ‘em off like he does to everyone he does business with?
He'll work 'em like a redheaded stepchild because they're the only ones brain-dead enough to watch him abuse washed-up celebrity apprentices who need the money like Gary Busey.
When the show's run is mercifully over, sooner rather than later, then he'll tell 'em they're fired.
Yeah, he's rippin' 'em off. It's what he does.
Update:
I've actually kinda had the feeling that Trump's being so ridiculous he could be a deep plant, but I like conspiracy theories. Well, the one about JFK anyway.
Paul Krugman on the Repug/Ryan proposed class war budget.
When the proposal was released, it was praised as a “wonk-approved” plan that had been run by the experts. But the “experts” in question, it turned out, were at the Heritage Foundation, and few people outside the hard right found their conclusions credible. In the words of the consulting firm Macroeconomic Advisers — which makes its living telling businesses what they need to know, not telling politicians what they want to hear — the Heritage analysis was “both flawed and contrived.” Basically, Heritage went all in on the much-refuted claim that cutting taxes on the wealthy produces miraculous economic results, including a surge in revenue that actually reduces the deficit.
By the way, Heritage is always like this. Whenever there’s something the G.O.P. doesn’t like — say, environmental protection — Heritage can be counted on to produce a report, based on no economic model anyone else recognizes, claiming that this policy would cause huge job losses. Correspondingly, whenever there’s something Republicans want, like tax cuts for the wealthy or for corporations, Heritage can be counted on to claim that this policy would yield immense economic benefits.
The point is that the two parties don’t just live in different moral universes, they also live in different intellectual universes, with Republicans in particular having a stable of supposed experts who reliably endorse whatever they propose.
Which brings me to those calls for a bipartisan solution. Sorry to be cynical, but right now “bipartisan” is usually code for assembling some conservative Democrats and ultraconservative Republicans — all of them with close ties to the wealthy, and many who are wealthy themselves — and having them proclaim that low taxes on high incomes and drastic cuts in social insurance are the only possible solution.
This would be a corrupt, undemocratic way to make decisions about the shape of our society even if those involved really were wise men with a deep grasp of the issues. It’s much worse when many of those at the table are the sort of people who solicit and believe the kind of policy analyses that the Heritage Foundation supplies.
So let’s not be civil. Instead, let’s have a frank discussion of our differences. In particular, if Democrats believe that Republicans are talking cruel nonsense, they should say so — and take their case to the voters.
I am totally down wid not being civil to the 'bagger/Repug retards.
Gotta go drop the dogs at Dr. Grove's place, then check on dad-in-law once more, and then begin to pack. I still got a load of laundry going too. I am so far behind I'm about to lap myself. For once I'm happy for an overnight flight because the car won't get here until 5. I might actually get everything done.
If I don't stop back here today, I'll catch you from the ship tomorrow. As usual, I'll be posting at Worlds while I'm gone so you can see what we're up to. We only have 4 ports in 11 days so I'll have time to post a bit more regularly than when we did "Europe on crack" a couple years ago (12 ports in 14 days).
As always, listen to Gordon, try not to drink all my booze, and don't leave stains anywhere I can find 'em. Heh ...
... Add it all up, and Denham’s special committee spent nearly a quarter of a million dollars to net a grand total of $650 in outside contributions ...
"I was watching [the President's] speech, and I was the opposite. I was thinking “Boy the president's being so gentle and modest.” I mean, you know what I would have said. I would have said the Republican plan stinks and I will chew my right arm off before I sign any part of it."
"If you don't want to have your program criticized by the President of the United States I say two things. One, don't make dumb proposals. And two, maybe you should think a little bit about the tone in this town when they've been eviscerating the president for everything from being a Socialist, a Communist and not even being born in this country. I thought the president's tone was remarkably measured considering the attacks that he's on every day. I mean President Weiner certainly wouldn't have been that measured."
As far as leadership goes, Tony's hung like a horse. Keep using that thing like a club, bro! This is what we could use in the White House; a man who stands up for progressive principles without bringing the "Kucinich Crazy". And, as Mrs. F says, "he's such a lovely Jewish boy; his mother must be kvelling".
Here's a tune from Alison Krauss and Union Station's new album "Paper Airplane" ($9.99 at the Big A if ya order enough other stuff for free shipping like I did) which came out last Tuesday and I got in the mail yesterday. Country don't get much "easier listenin'" than this! There are several off this CD to listen to at golradir2 (Netherlands).
Alison Krauss & Union Station - My Opening Farewell
I would like to thank 1000Magicians, whose name is Laurie and who resides in the UK, for her fine uploads to YouTube. I use a lot of them because they're simply the best. The lady has exquisite musical taste, which means she likes the same artists and music I do. She also has access to a lot of European performances which we wouldn't get to see otherwise. She's very active and puts up new stuff all the time. She makes this very easy. Here are two of my favorite songs by some of my favorite artists that she uploaded just this week.
Both of these songs are set in God's Country, which runs from about where I'm sitting in the Sierra Nevada east until it plunges down the Rockies to its final reward in ever-expanding Jesusland.
"Nightriders Lament" is a song about choices - doing what you want instead of what others think you should do. Trust me, 'cuz I did it, if you follow your heart instead of your head, you'll be happy in life and you'll never make much money so you have to use your head even more to get by. Funny how that works...
This is by Texas singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith who brings in professional help on the yodelling, Don Edwards.
"Darcy Farrow" was written by Steve Gillette and Tom Campbell (reference deep in here) many years ago. If you've never heard of them you should go read. This version is by Canuckistanian folk/country superstars Ian and Sylvia Tyson with an able assist by the OG* of country rock and La Belleza de Tucson, Linda Ronstadt.
*Original Goddess
This song is set in my neck of the woods. The place names mentioned are all familiar to me.
The West Fork of the Walker River is one of the most scenic rivers in the Eastern Sierra, particularly through the canyon from about the Sonora Pass turnoff on US 395 to the wide spot in the road of Walker which has a joint that serves the best Chile Cheeseburger in the world!.
Yerington is a nice town if you like Superfund sites. The town is very proud to have been mentioned in a song and there may be a reference to it on their city limits signs. Heh.
The Truckee 'runs through' less than half a mile from where I sit and our town's motto is "Flush twice, it's a long way to Reno". Actually, our world-class wastewater treatment plant puts very clean water into the river.
Virginia City is a 2000-foot vertical drop waiting to happen. Most famous for Hoss Cartwright's mad sexual escapades with Julia C. Bulette. No video. Drat. Rumor had it that these thunderous performances were also used to test the integrity of the Deidesheimer Squaresets used to shore up places like this. The Squaresets are still there, peacefully rotting away. Since most of 'em are right under the main street VC better be glad Hoss and Julia ain't.
Now that I've bored you silly, please enjoy this sad and lovely song.
A quick one as I'm trying to find clothes I haven't seen in 6 months.
If you caught Larry last night, you heard his "Rewrite" segment about the interest we give to England's Royal Family, especially the upcoming wedding of Wills and Kate. Now, I'm not one for royalty but, being of British descent (dad), being a big fan of the great charitable organizations (over 3000) the royals have lent their names to (namely Diana but Chuck and the Queen as well), I do sorta keep tabs on the boys, watching them grow into the young men they are now. As the son of a British subject, I'm proud of them.
Now, Larry's correct, in the intellectual sense, about the wedding and how much time we spend gawking at them after giving them the finger a couple hunnert years ago but, as R.K. Barry says over at Michael's place:
... Unless, of course, many are not thinking about this in a critical way but simply want to enjoy a good party ...
We'll be aboard Queen Eizabeth* for the wedding**. Why do you think I care? Heh ...
*If I can find my fucking clothes.
**You know the Mrs. and my buddy Terry's Mrs., saps that they are, are gonna cry through the whole thing (especially if they have a couple drinks in 'em beforehand). Pics will be posted as soon as I pull 'em out the camera. Heh ...
Leaving for London on Monday afternoon so this weekend will be nuts. I got a dentist appointment this morning, still have to unpack the summer things (it's 85 in the Canaries) and get them washed (thank god I got the dry cleaning done last week), and get dad-in-law's stuff squared away so we can leave for a couple weeks without catastrophe. See you when I see you.
Since I'm on an economic thing this week, I just wanted to make these budget hostage situations negotiations a little simpler for people with a little less economic education than Mr. Krugman (like me).
The Republicans are always kvetching about how the government should be run like you run your household finances and I agree with them. After that, our paths diverge, drastically. Here's why.
We'll use the "household finance" example.
You = America (or, more accurately, the US government). Your house and the land around it is America.
Your job = Running the country. You are responsible to provide for your family's (the American people) well being. Keeping the house fixed, the lawn mowed, the lights on, the water running, the cars gassed and maintained, etc.
Tax revenue = Your salary. What your boss pays you to give him a certain amount of work for a certain amount of time every week.
Okay, got that? Let's move on.
Now, you find you've over-extended yourself somehow. Maybe spent too much on Christmas presents for the rugrats, or had a medical emergency your insurance barely covered, or had a fucked up mortgage that adjusted on you and doubled, or tripled, your payments. Whatever, but you're in the hole.
According to the Republicans, you should go to your boss and say "boss, I'm really in debt and I need every dime I can, so I'm gonna ask you to cut my hours" and, in turn, you'll make less.
That's what the Republicans want you to do by calling for more tax cuts for the rich and corporations. They're telling you to voluntarily cut your salary at a time when you need the money more than you ever did.
Then, with less money, you find you have a leaky roof, termites, the car's acting up (infrastructure), your kids are coming up on college age and they ain't Einstein or Hawking, and your mother or mother-in-law can't live on her own anymore and has no means to get into a decent home or home care so you have to care for her yourself (social programs).
The Republicans won't let you to spend anything on those things (because you got yourself in debt, you loser, and you got your boss to cut your hours). Their big plan, instead of you or your spouse going out and getting a second job to make a little more money (raise taxes) to fix and take care of the necessities, is for you to ask your boss for another cut in hours and pay (more tax cuts for the rich).
Thing is, you live in a neighborhood that isn't inherently dangerous, but there have been a few robberies and domestic violence (localized disruptions in other countries), maybe you've been robbed once (9/11). The local news tells you, day after day, that your neighbors are all planning to kill you and take your stuff so you go and invest in security (national defense), big time, because you want to keep your family and stuff safe. You couldn't really afford it to begin with, but it's all you got and you want to protect it. Now, since you got your boss to cut your hours, you really can't afford the armed guards patrolling, the searchlights, infrared night vision cameras, and perimeter fence with guard towers but your security company is running around with its hair on fire telling you the crap your paying for is now obsolete and you have to upgrade, for a fee. Also, disagreements with your neighbors due to your over-the-top security have got you sued a couple times and a decent part of what's left of your salary is garnished (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya).
Also, during this time, the price of gas has gone up 50% and you have to drive 35 miles to get to your job (where now you're making about half of what you did before) and that expense is added on to everything else. You also find out the bank you deal with has been badly managed and run into the ground, so all your savings have been taken to keep them afloat (big bank bailouts).
What do the Republicans want to do? They're telling you, once again, not to cut back your security system because it's bleeding money. Not to, maybe now that you're up to your neck, have your spouse go get a job, or you get a second one (raise taxes), but to cut back on feeding your kids and educating them (sorry, kids, no college for you), to cut back on grandma's care (sorry, grandma, but you and the dog can share the same bowl), and ask your boss to cut your hours once more (even more tax cuts for the rich and corporations).
If the Republicans want to run the country like I run my household budget, that's fine. I'd welcome that. But I don't go and abandon everything in order to make my boss "feel certainty" that he can make money in the future. If my boss loses his shirt, that his problem. If he can't run a profitable business unless he cuts my salary, he's either a bad businessman or he's trying to fuck me. If I think, after giving him back so much, he'll come to my aid when I can't afford my basic needs anymore (trickle-down economics), I'm a fool.
The Republicans are playing a good portion of us for fools.
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?
Forbid it, Almighty God!
I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! - Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775.
"Because it's on, motherfuckers!" - David Rees of mnftiu.
"The right is nothing, if not filled with liars and hypocrites." - The Rude Pundit.
"You gotta stop thinking with the alternate brain, Sarge." - Col. William 'Stonewall' Bryant to Sgt. Fixer after freeing him from the custody of the London Metropolitan Police.
... That's US here at the Brain! Sittin' all alone out in the cold, thanklessly freezin' our beboops off, lookin' for a chance to lob a few at the enemy and praying for a secondary explosion, wonderin' if it's all worth it or if it will make any difference in the scheme of things ...
- Gordon
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