Editorial Cartoon of the Weekend

I thought this was quite funny...

Mike Peters, Dayton Daily News

Sunday Mornings Will Never Be the Same Again

While I won't go melodramatic and claim to literally be in shock, this is a major loss...

Vote for Barack...It's the American Thing to Do

Well, well, well...I must be on a Jewish Minnesotan kick lately...what with the Franken post the other day and now something about Thomas Friedman, the esteemed foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times.

Friedman's column in yesterday's paper gets at something important. Just the fact that a guy with as silly a name as Obama's, with such an Amish quilt background (minus the Amish), really makes this one of those "only in America" stories that chest-thumping patriots like to talk about.

He writes the column from Cairo and asks, rhetorically, whether the keys to power are truly available to all citizens of a country like Egypt.

Of course not.

Just having gotten someone like Barry to become a major party nominee is something that distinguishes us from most of the rest of the world.

Now, his background should in no way be a substitute for preparation for the job and that's not the argument Friedman or I are making. But I will argue that all these America-first rednecks who won't vote for 'that mooslim who goes to a church' because he has a funny name ought to take a step back and look again at what makes this country pretty cool.

More Great Deadhead Commentary

In reference to an Oade Brothers recording of the classic 6-30-85 show at the Merriweather-Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD...Looking back over this one, I think I will have to dust it off tomorrow!

Will also try to get up a cut of their Keep on Growing cover from that night.

Let the critics have their Keith & Donna, I'll take this serving of tasty, wild 1985 summer glory anytime.

I Hate Minnesota (Femi)Nazis

We may have found some ground that can sustain Rush Limbaugh and Al Franken at the same time.

Seems that Senator Amy Klobuchar and others up in the frozen tundra might be ready to stay home or get another Democrat to run against Horseyface Coleman for his US Senate seat this fall.

These folks remain apparently ticked off about Franken's career as a satirist, during which he...wrote satire, some of which was off-colour and sexist if you read it listerally.

While I can understand Minnesotans being a little bit trigger-shy when it comes to electing someone from an entertainment career, it's downright silly for them to draw this kind of line in the sand.

And the DFL had better be careful because Franken has a better shot at defeating Norm than St. Thomas grad, Michael Ciresi.

Hack Gets Hacked

Sorry, couldn't resist the subject line...I actually don't think that little Dennis Kucinich is that much of a hack.

But the other day, after he introduced 35 articles of impeachment against W, his campaign website was hacked and taken down for a few hours.

Another Favorite from One of My Favorite Bands of All Time

Here's a little bit of a slower Ramones song...when they did their priceless cover of Needles and Pins.

Enjoy!

The Decline of Western Civilization

I guess I have the power to change the channel (or, to more accurately reflect my viewing habits, never turn there in the first place), but VH1's Celebrity Rehab is just such an immoral show.

While Dr. Drew Pinsky will dress it up and try to feign some social value to the show, which follows has- and almost-been celebrities through some kind of attempt at removing the scourge of chemical dependency from their lives, it turns it into something more like a comic freakshow.

They just announced their new lineup for the upcoming season. Rehabbers include Tawny Kitaen, Cleveland native Steven Adler and Rodney King.

While our society and entertainment in general certainly has greater evils, I'll use up my free bit of space out here on the tubes to say that, until they begin donating their profits from the show to getting help to people who really need it, "Shame on you, VH1."

George Herbert Walker Bush...Terrorist Sympathizer?

E.D. Hill again brings home the bacon when it comes to idiocy on the Fox News Network.

Last week, teasing a segment on one of their favorite topics (which I often find interesting, truth be told), body language.

She referred to the fist bump that Barry and Michelle did at his St. Paul victory speech last week as possibly being some kind of "terrorist" gesture.

The bump is something that I took note of when she was on stage with him and actually found it quite charming. Luckily, their expert seemed to give little credence to Blondie's suggestion, but ... what a dipstick!

Media Matters has also put together a nice pictorial layout of the fist bump's notable practitioners.

A Cut from the First CD I Ever Bought

Wow, this dates me...but the first CD I ever bought (yes, I think it was actually old by that time!) was Face Dances by The Who.

Here's one of the more popular cuts from the album...You Better, You Bet.

I never totally got into The Who beyond the popular radio cuts, but this album does hold a special place in my heart and the video also features a few good windmills by Townshend, so it can't be that bad!

Too Darned Hot

I'm too hot to care enough to do much posting, but hopefully this nice-looking t-storm we have rolling in will cool it down.

But for now, here's a funny picture I came across on failblog.

Al Franken...In it to Win It

Over the weekend in beautiful Rochester, Minnesota, the state Democratic Farm Labor Party had their convention and picked Al Franken to be their candidate to go up against douche bag Norm Coleman.

While I'll stop short of endorsing everything Franky seems to be talking about these days, during the time I was up there, Norm (then the mayor of St. Paul who had recently switched his registration from Democrat to Republican) was a guy who made my skin crawl. So I'm for just about anyone who sends him out to the glue farm.

Norm's slimy New York accent just makes one guess that his breath stinks of old luggage.

It was not exactly an easy ride for Franken...as of late, the GOP machine has been pulling some interesting tax stories about him as well as a satirical piece in Playboy from the 1990s that, when read literally, would be offensive.

How stupid.

No one reads the articles in Playboy!

So anyway, I'll enjoy watching this race as the next few months tick by.

Tubby, in a Moment of Prayer

Todd Heisler/The New York Times

I'm pretty sure my Congresswoman and I do not pray for many of the same things.

Here she is at Hillary's speech last Tuesday in New York City.

Buh-Bye!

Doug Mills/The New York Times

Put Dis Guy Over By Der In Da Superfans

I really don't know why this Chicago Sun-Times article caught my eye this morning, but as soon as I saw the guy, and read his speech pattern, he reminded me of way too many people I knew in the greater Chicagoland area.

He won 25K in a contest sponsored by the paper. Here, he relates the winning moment, at 7-11, as well as his future plans.

"I go to the guy next to me: 'I think I won,' " Kronenberger recalls. "He was like, 'Get the hell outta here.' Then, he looks and goes, 'Ya won.' "

Kronenberger knew exactly what he wanted to do. "I think I'm just going to go on a nice vacation with my wife and kids," he says. "I always wanted to check out Hawaii. Maybe a nice Hawaiian vacation."

And the ladies of the Kronenberger house approve?

"You kiddin'?" he says. "No doubt about it."

I think he belongs on Bill Swerski's Superfans...

Some Tunage Before I Turn In

Here's the show I was listening to on the way home this evening. I had not heard it in a few years, but immediately remembered why October 29, 1977 at the Evans Fieldhouse at DeKalb's Northern Illinois University is one of my all-time faves.

1977 is a top year for some people...the band's sound was just in a really nice groove and it was one of the last years before bad habits started to take their toll on certain band members with Hispanic surnames.

While I'm not in full agreement with all folks on 77, this show really shines in my book. The scorching Mighty Swell surprises as an opener, but the real highlight for me is the Estimated->Eyes in the second set. If you listen to nothing else, check those out and let the music wrap around your head.

The Vagabond Who's Rapping At Your Door Is Standing in the Clothes That You Once Wore

This wonderful cut of Dylan's It's All Over Now, Baby Blue by the Good Old Grateful Dead goes out to Hillary...it was the encore out at the Charlotte Coliseum on October 5, 1984.

(Even though she's not going away anytime soon...)

Guess Who Bobby's Rooting for in the NBA Finals

I suspect that someone from the Bay Area would rather root for Satan himself than any team from SoCal...so Bob Weir donned a Celtics jersey for Saturday night's RatDog gig at Hampton Beach Casino in New Hampshire.

I just grabbed a tape of this show, so it should be on the list for tomorrow.

Dick "Big Time" Cheney...Appearing at a Chuckles Near You

Big Time made a funny joke today at the National Press Club.

Talking about the research his wife did on their family tree, and how she found a few tangled branches, he quipped, "So I had Cheneys on both sides of the family and we don't even live in West Virginia."

Robert "Grand Wiz" Byrd (D-WV) is pretty pissed off.

RIP, Bo Diddley

Another one of the masters has left us.

Pfleger Reels It In

Father Michael Pfleger apologized to his parish this morning for the allegedly racist and sexist words he spoke last week as a guest pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ.

I don't care enough to repost the rant (even though I got kind of a charge out of it), but his only sin as far as I'm concerned, is that he should have known better.

He expressed surprise and disappointment this morning that people are fixating on a minute or two of his sermon and not on the larger problems facing our society. Furthermore, I guess he's gotten quite a few angry and threatening emails since he went nationwide.

This is a disappointment to me. I've casually admired the Loyola Chicago grad from afar for some time. He's certainly way out there on the fringes (and if a certain Catholic friend still reads this, he'd probably argue that Pfleger should be sent packing), but he appears to be associated with more positive work, and puts himself in more danger while doing said work, than a lot of other men who wear the collar.

Keep you chin up, Padre.

Almost as Funny as Springtime for Hitler

The Ramones perform The KKK Took My Baby Away in Sweden in 1981.

Gabba gabba hey!

Fill My Hole, Jerry

I don't know if Deadheads have always been this funny and I've just been missing it, but here's another gem from etree...

(I did not have this show, btw, so am grabbing it)


A perfect show and one of the top 25 shows. Top three of the Brent Era. If you don't have this show you got a big hole that now can be filled...

Grateful Dead - July 4, 1981
Manor Downs - Austin, Texas

The Real Dirty Harry

While it's now taboo to make any sort of suggestion about Barry being on the wrong end of a meeting with firearms, one can't help but imagine Harold Ickes throwing down a little, "Do ya, punk?" at Obama after the MI/FL decision yesterday at the Dem Rules and Bylaws meeting.

Not only did he offer that this was not a way to start building party unity, but dangled out there the threat to appeal the committee's decision (which made the SCOTUS in Bush v. Gore look downright NASA-like in the precision with which they assigned voter intent) to a higher power, much closer to the Denver convention in August.

Game on.

Below, here's a typical Hillary supporter at yesterday's event.

Ironically, I Got This Screenshot From a Pro-Hillary Video

More on the MI/FL decision later, but this video was linked over on Hillary's site and it just amused the hell out of me.

Attack of the Clintonistas

This is why we should fear a Hillary administration.

Please send these angry women back to the couch to watch Oprah.

Those Deadheads Sure Are Funny

Since The Archive cracked down a few years ago and stopped hosting downloadable soundboard tapes of Grateful Dead shows (they are there streaming only, but the AUD tapes are still able to be downloaded), bit torrent has really ramped up as the trading method of choice in the bootleg world.

While you can often just trade one show at a time, some folks will occasionally put together 'collections' usually bound by a particular year.

Over at etree, someone's starting up a 1977 project that they will have to break up into chunks (when you combine all known sources for all shows, the compressed size of the year is a whopping 130G!).

This comment someone posted on the first installment tickled me.

I think I am one of my mother's favorite (of 2) sons...

dnick926	2008-05-29 20:27:14
Thank you very much to all that have worked to put this up. It gives me a chance to fill in all the missing shows from one of my favorite late 70's years.

As Promised

Sweet Transvestite, from the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

You go, girl!

Observation of Annoyance

I'm not particularly offended by what I'm posting about here, but I do find it rather curious and distasteful...

It seems to be a commonly-accepted gimmick in advertising to poke fun at 12-Step-like meetings.

One I hear regularly on my satellite radio goes something like, "Hi, my name is John and I'm addicted to Sirius."

"Hi, John!"

Then they go on to pitch buying a second radio and getting a special deal on a second subscription.

While reasonable people can certainly disagree on what kinds of ailments, mental, physical or both, are more destructive, can you imagine Playtex running an ad that claims, "Our bras offer so much support, it's like you had a mastectomy!"

$.02

Who Says Lame Ducks Don't Have ManDates?

"Say, Do Any of You Know How to Madison?"

The little Clinton joke I currently have over on the funny picture up top made me wax nostalgic for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, so I had to throw up The Time Warp.

Will have to post up that transvestite song later on in the week.

Enjoy!

Praying for Rain This Weekend

When the summer months come, I'd almost-always prefer to be outside, provided the weather is agreeable.

I'm praying for rain, though, on Saturday, which would provide a good excuse to stay inside.

CSPAN is slated to be broadcasting the full Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting of the DNC starting at 9:30 AM. This is going to be a pretty key meeting because they're supposed to settle the Florida/Michigan dispute.

I don't have a really good feel for where this is going to go, but with the relative dearth of good primaries lately, this should help relieve my DTs.

I'm thinking that some banana pecan cornmeal pancakes might be in order...

I've Topped Myself

I found a picture more unsettling than the Chinese party leader below...

Try to Get This Picture Out of Your Head

Photo: Shiho Fukada for The New York Times

I can't...

It was on the front page of the Times this morning.

I suspect that this problem is not going to go away soon enough for the Party...

Perez Hilton Makes Me Giggle

Just a quickie post here...more maybe tomorrow.

But this Perez item made me laugh...

clipped from perezhilton.com That's It???? Filed under: Pete Wentz Newly married Pete Wentz shows off his wedding ring (and the number of fingers he likes up his butt when having sex with Ashlee Simpson), Friday night in NYC. Where are the diamonds??? That band is so….boring simple. Pete wears guiliner and flat irons his hair! We expected something a little more flashy! No????