History Lesson, From Your Friends at Fox News

A Little Churchin' Music

Sort of...

Courtesy of The Chairman, here's Get Me to the Church on Time, recorded live at The Sands in the fall of 1966.

Stifle Yourself, America

I must be nuts...or else everyone else is.

I got home this evening and turned on the news shows and it's now nonstop hand wringing over the Reverend Wright 'controversy' and I'm hot as a pistol over it.

Honestly, the more they talk about it, the more endeared I find myself being towards the guy. If I have any complaint about the candidate, it's that he didn't give the country a big "F-U" when they started hassling him about his preacher.

I'm no Bible thumper, but if Barack chooses to spend his Sunday mornings listening to a Christian guy with a leaning towards liberation theology and a sharp tongue, the rest of us should be careful lest we open ourselves up to what we're doing every Sunday morning and the actions of the institutions we may choose to attend.

Beyond the live-and-let-live argument, I'll posit that the preacher had a point in the 'chickens coming home to roost' argument.

"America, Love it or Leave It" is a clever vote-getting scheme, but it's clearly a bullshit worldview and I wish Obama would step up to the plate and say it.

The Best Site of All Time?

Perhaps.

This has me rolling around here....

The Neocon's Enemy's Enemy...Is Also His Enemy

Bill Kristol, the new kid on the block over at the New York Times Opinion Page, comes through with a winner this morning.

While no fan of Hillary Clinton, he argues that she's actually run a much better campaign than most of us expected her to, wiggling herself out of more than one tough spot and throwing some excellent punches, compared to Barry's Chinese Water Torture approach picking up caucuses and the like.

The press, he points out, has been very unfair to her in not noting her successes and framing everything in an Obamacentric point of view.

Well worth your time if you have it.

Some Bobby Zimmerman to Kick Off a Monday

Here's another great cut of one of my favorite Dylan covers the Dead did.

Desolation Row.

This is from the Ventura County Fairgrounds on June 12, 1987, the first show of a nice little three-show run (before also tooling up the coast to The Greek), helping them to warm up for the summer tour.

I feel kind of dumb because I used to think it was just rather melancholy, like the last verse pasted below. But the song can actually make you think and get you a little down when you read what it's probably about...

Yes, I received your letter yesterday
(About the time the door knob broke)
When you asked how I was doing
Was that some kind of joke?
All these people that you mention
Yes, I know them, they're quite lame
I had to rearrange their faces
And give them all another name
Right now I can't read too good
Don't send me no more letters no
Not unless you mail them
From Desolation Row

Some Cool Campaign Photography

Here are two cool black-and-white pictures of the Clintons on election night last week in Pennsylvania.

They're from Time's neato Photo Essay site.

Both these photos are by Diana Walker.

Editorial Cartoon of the Day

Timing is Everything

In New York City the other day, a jury acquitted the cops who shot an unarmed man 50 times outside a club, just prior to his wedding.

Today, Al Sharpton threatened to "shut down" the city and, for one of the first times, I don't quite blame the guy.

I'm all for the cops, but there has to be a point at which we say, "yeah, you have to protect yourself first and foremost, but you also have to exercise at least some self-control."

This brings us to our next story a few miles to the west.

Chicago's Mayor, Richard M. Daley, who just celebrated a birthday the other day, is proposing that his rank and file cops get to start carrying semi-automatic weapons because they're sometimes out-gunned on the streets.

Sooner or later, someone's going to have to pull their collective head out of wherever it's residing and have a sensible discussion about this. I don't blame the cops for wanting to be able to come home alive after their shift, but it's a shame that in a country with this many smart people, we're stuck in a situation like this because of people's refusal to look beyond themselves when it comes to an appreciation of the Constitution.

MSNBC Says the Darndest Things

This can't have been an accident.

I'm simply not clever enough to read something very funny into it that wasn't intended by some smartass in Secaucus.

I was kind of flipping past MSNBC this morning and they were talking about old Bubba campaigning out in Oregon for his doting wife.

He was making the argument that she's tougher than him and ready to answer the tough questions.

So tough, in fact, "that he's challenging Obama to two debates in the Beaver State."

Speaking of Deuces

No, I won't blog about dropping one.

Rather, that's the metaphor that the incomparable Ms. Dowd uses this morning in describing the Obama/Clinton race...they're stuck at deuce!

It's perfect.

Sorry for the lazy postings lately...been a bit busy and the old noggin is drained.

But the weather is warming up here in the rust belt and it's just about time to get the tomatoes growing, so that's got me excited.

The Beach Boys Perform Little Deuce Coupe

Little Deuce Coupe was always one of my favorite Beach Boys songs.

I just love the way they harmonize!

Was His Name Naughtius Maximus?

Paul Verhoeven, the director of Basic Instinct, has a biography of Jesus coming out soon.

In it, he hypothesizes that Jesus was the son of a Roman soldier, via rape.

Fox News says that this claim is "incredible" in comparison to the more believable explanation of a virgin birth.

Funny, though, I think I've seen a similar theory about this in a movie...

>> Addendum, earlier, I had only a link to a generic MP Wiki page. Upated it to my original intented landing page.

These Kinds of HuffPo Posts Are Starting to Get on My Nerves

I appreciate a good slip-up catch (like the bit Stern plays when Shepard Smith made a Freudian blow job reference to J-Lo) or the exposing of hypocrisy and irony, but HuffPo is trying too hard to make itself look clever.

Entries about Chris Matthews saying the wrong time or Jenna's skirt blowing up a few inches last week in a windstorm really say more about the poster than the subject.

On to Indiana

Early word seems to be that Barack is looking better than expected in the exits, but if history is any indication, he tends to overpoll there.

So what happens next is anyone's guess.

I do know, however, that Barry has a rally in Evansville within the hour. John Mellencamp will be performing there and I'll use the next week to post him up.

For now, though, we can watch this psycho dude lip syncing the R. Dean Taylor classic, Indiana Wants Me.

I Don't Think Any of You Care...

...but Artie returned to the Stern show today.

I was both surprised and disappointed that they continue to enable his downfall.

And If You Were on the Moon, Bill, You'd be Weightless

It's hard to call anything the biggest Clinton whopper of all time, but this might at least get an honorable mention in the hall of fame.

Today, Bill's quoted by ABC as saying that if Hillary were running in a primary under Republican rules, she'd be ahead by hundreds of delegate votes.

ABC's counting brings it closer to 173 ahead, but regardless, there would be a whole hell of a lot things different if Hillary were running in the GOP.

But again, I have to hand it to him. Knowing that most people don't really think about the fact that Bubba hand-picked the people currently in charge of the party and had ample opportunity to change any structural inequities in the nominating process, it was another slick move.

Good Write-Up on Halperin's The Page Today

The Times had a very favorable review of Time Magazine's The Page, the brainchild of Mark Halperin.

I've mentioned it here several times and was so pleased when he came back onto the web scene.

I was a shameless addict of The Note (despite, as this article mentions, its use of a lot of practically-decipherable inside jokes) and disappointed when he left it.

The Page really is where it's at for a quick catch-up on all things politics.

Some Old Elvis

No particular reason to post this...except that I always dig the old, bloated Elvis Presley videos...

Here he is in 1977 doing Return to Sender.

Political Cartoon of the Day

Mike Luckovich, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Times put this in their Week in Review and it just tickled me.

The Technician of the Obama Campaign

The New Republic has a cool profile of David Plouffe, who some think is the brains of his outfit (rather than David Axelrod, who should more appropriately be credited with kickstarting Obama's career.)

I don't have a hell of a lot to comment on with this article except that it's really interesting how, when a campaign begins winning, everything down to a strategically dropped fart after Mexican food seems like a genius move, but on the losing side, jumping out of the way of a semi- leads to the "yeah, but what if..." second-guessing.

King of the Casserole

I picked up a really good cookbook some time back that I've been digging into...The Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Casseroles.

I've made a few of the breakfast dishes on weekends (a baked egg/hashbrown/ham/broccolli concoction this morning and a cinnamon raisin baked french toast dish a few weeks ago were both winners) as well as some dinners (the Reuben casserole was easy and just as good as the name suggests).

I recommend this book without reservation...even if you think it should be called HotDish.

Cool Picture of the Day

Barry at a rally in Philly last night.

Ohio Tax Dollars At Work...The Old Glory of Bipartisanship

Just a random, silly news item from the Buckeye State...

This week, a mixed bag of Ohio state legislators started the ball rolling on making it a 3d degree misdemeanor for a retailer to sell a flag that's not made in the United States.

It's almost not worth the effort for me to bitch about this one.

It's easy to go after retailers. If you find it that offensive for one to engage in the practice of flying foreign flags, then why not make it illegal to buy or fly one of these?

Further, we really need to be careful about defining exactly what a flag is. Does a picture of a flag on a newspaper constitute a "flag?" What about a piece of cloth with the colors that look like a flag, but it might be one stripe short or one star too many? Is that a flag?

It really is silly season.

Some Good Friday Music

Todd Rundgren's Bang on these Drums.

Enjoy!

"I'm a God-Fearing, Church-Going, NRA Member and I'm Proud of It"

Hahaha. Just kidding.

But that's what Matt Shaner, an otherwise boring, cookie-cutter Republican in PA is using in a new mailer for his upcoming PA 5th District Congressional primary.

He's trying to cash in on the Bittergate mojo.

Tip of the had to Mark Ambinder for this one.

Picture of the Day

Friends in Terrorist Places...With the Clintons.

ABC's Mix of Jive-Ass Wankery and Lack of Conviction

Funniest clause I've seen so far about last night's debate.

Hillary Clinton...No Dummy

Last night at the debate, Hillary offered her first kind of public apology for repeatedly "misspeaking" about things that never happened in Bosnia in the 1990s.

"I may be a lot of things but I am not dumb," she said.

You can say that again, sister. You're not.

So one's left to wonder if her explanation really proves our point. She actually isn't stupid enough to misspeak this many times...or to hire a full staff, none of whom had read her book and realized that what she was saying never really happened.

One is left to wonder if it's only a coincidence that this misstatement, if true, would make her look much more heroic than she actually is.

This Debate...Brought to You By Vince McMahon

The Democratic debate last night from Philly was a terrible disappointment.

Shame on ABC for putting this on.

I understand that candidates will engage in theater and chicanery to try and get your vote, but the network doesn't have to be an accessory to this.

Did we really need such a good portion of this debate (sorry, I didn't have my stopwatch with me) devoted to Rev. Wright's greatest hits and...what kinds of fashion accessories Barack likes to wear?

I kind of expect that from a hack like John Gibson, but what was little George being such a weasel for? I thought he was a little bit more serious.

ABC Debate is to CNN/YouTube Debate
as
American Idol is to Masterpiece Theatre

>> Erratum...in the interest of good netiquette, I'll post a correction rather than modifying the original post. The co-moderator was Charles, not John Gibson (the idiot on Fox News Talk). Our sincere apologies to Charles for this insult.

The PD Gets it Right

Not that it was a particularly difficult task to find the real truth here, I do have to be even-handed around here and credit the Cleveland Plain Dealer when they get it right.

Their Opinion page today nails the Bittergate issue.

Go back to the basic truth of what Obama said: Neither party has delivered for too many hardworking Americans. They don't need demagoguery about guns, God or trade. They need reasons to hope - and concrete evidence that, at long last, better times are coming.

Remember to tune into the debate tonight!

Grateful Dead Perform Dylan's 'Memphis Blues'

This morning, I was listening to a smokin' Hartford show from the spring tour, 20 years ago.

Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again came on just as I was walking into the office and I knew I had to cut this one for you...it's really sweet, even though Bobby goes a bit overboard. The fat man even helps out in the 'Texas medicine' verse.

This is my fave, though, of this totally-out-there masterpiece...

When Ruthie says come see her
In her honky-tonk lagoon,
Where I can watch her waltz for free
'Neath her Panamanian moon.
An' I say, "Aw come on now,
You must know about my debutante."
An' she says, "Your debutante just knows what you need
But I know what you want."
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.

I hope you enjoy it even half as much as I do!

Grateful Dead - April 3, 1988
Civic Center - Hartford, CT

Recording Info:
SBD -> Cassette Master (TDK SA-X90)

I Need to Thnk More About This on the Way Home

...but I wanted to at least get the rough thought out there on the tubes of the internets.

I thik that one of the benefits of this long campaign for the Democrats is that we're getting a good idea of the elasticity of their support.

For instance, Quinnipiac polling says that despite his 'clinging' faux pas last week, Barack's support in PA is virtually unchanged.

On the other hand, when Hillary tears up in New Hampshire, hers goes up.

Have to let it bake a little more, but we might be onto something.

Variation in the Gene Pool

Some apples fall farther from the tree than others.

This week, my brother, the GF and dog begin trekking from Mexico up to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail. For those keeping score at home, this is about 2600 miles.

About 300 people attempt it each year and it has about a 60% completion rate.

The only thing more likely than my falling into the other 40% is not being counted amongst the 300 to begin with.

Good luck!

Happy Birthday, Matthew Lehmann!

Wonder how long it takes for Wikipedia to catch on to this one. ;-)