I'm going to preface this by saying that I'm not a John Mayer fan. But this song keeps coming on the radio in the car at just the right times. Maybe it's something in the lazy, heavy-lidded arc of the guitar riff. Maybe it's the resignation and weariness tinged with hope in the lyrics.
I wrote an angry letter to NPR today. I asked what they're thinking having Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Tom Tancredo, Dinesh D'Souza, Josh Bolten (twice!), and Jeff Sessions (R-Dumbfuckistan) on in one 24-hour period. I felt like I was listening to ClearChannel. I mean, fucking Dinesh D'Souza?! People will swear up and down to you that NPR has a "liberal bias", but I listen to it all day every day and the big news magazines, All Things Considered and Morning Edition are anything but liberal. They're more like center right. I mean, they've had RICH LOWRY on to comment on the Fitzgerald grand jury investigation. RICH LOWRY? I mean, why not just put a pumpkin on a stool and ask it questions?
Right-wing pundits like to make a lot of noise about the "marketplace of ideas", the "culture war", "ideological clashes", and the "war of ideas", but basically all that ever amounts to is buying up all the media outlets and shouting down all opposition. We've got a long way to go, but at least I know that all the really smart people are on our side.
"Belief"
Is there anyone who
Ever remembers changing their mind from
The paint on a sign?
Is there anyone who really recalls
Ever breaking rank at all
For something someone yelled real loud one time
Everyone believes
In how they think it ought to be
Everyone believes
And they're not going easily
Belief is a beautiful armor
But makes for the heaviest sword
Like punching under water
You never can hit who you're trying for
Some need the exhibition
And some have to know they tried
It's the chemical weapon
For the war that's raging on inside
Everyone believes
From emptiness to everything
Everyone believes
And no ones going quietly
We're never gonna win the world
We're never gonna stop the war
We're never gonna beat this
If belief is what we're fighting for
What puts a hundred thousand children in the sand
Belief can
Belief can
What puts the folded flag inside his mother's hand
Belief can
Belief can
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oh lord…
I got EPU’d for sure!
wontcha buy me a mercedes-benz
friday cat blogging
wow.
great lyrics.
NPR also has what’s her face, Mara something or other, as their regular commentator. She’s a Pox News slag….
“Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothin’ to kill or die for
And no religions too . . .”
America blog has a bit about Clinton looking to sue ABC for attempting to re-air the Path to 9/11.
What the hell would they do that for?
And, Comedy Central is predicting that Cheney will resign and Rice will step into the veep slot. How nice to be that much closer to her husband!
NO FUCKING SHIT!!! THAT’S WHAT I HAVE BEEN THINKING FOR WEEKS.
(YES, I KNOW I AM SHOUTING)
This I believe. TRex.
About 20 years ago, we had a revolt at our public radio station. That was during the Reagan years when they tried to have all the stations do NPR news and classical music only.
We won that battle. They don’t f*ck with the listeners here any more.
twolf-great cat video. I love it!
momly @ 8
Maybe they’re hoping the low ratings were a Labor Day thing and not a sucky piece of propaganda shit thing? They’re wroooooong.
I wondered about that scenario when Bush moved Negroponte to State. I would take no joy in being right. (But the confirmation hearings might be fun!)
I stopped listening to NPr except on weekends, because I like this American Life.
has a bit about Clinton looking to sue ABC for attempting to re-air the Path to 9/11.
What the hell would they do that for?
And, Comedy Central (sorry can’t find the link Insider something) is predicting that Cheney will resign and Rice will step into the veep slot. How nice to be that much closer to her husband!
And, Comedy Central is predicting that Cheney will resign and Rice will step into the veep slot. How nice to be that much closer to her husband!
But what would her children think?!?? Oh wait…
bonkers @
6
Mara Liason. She was actually NPR before she was Fox.
Comedy Central Insider link
Americablog link
Patrick 4/4 @ 16
Ah, chicken or egg…Whenever I hear her, she seems like a good ol’ Rupert trooper.
bg,
Was that KUNM?
Hey, kids. Had to step away for a bit, but I’m back.
I really didn’t know I liked John Mayer until I heard this song.
Member stations are giving away clutching-pearls as premiums this week.
The whole damn “Crossing the Divide” series was an exercise in phony centrism. I couldn’t decide which was quicker – turning off the radio or crashing my car.
NPR=National Public Relations
bonkers @
22
Nice Polite Republicans.
TRex @ 23
That’s a rare breed
Here’s a scary list: 28 senators who on Wednesday voted “yea” to a Wayne Allard amendment that would have eliminated the federal minimum wage. Note that the list includes no less than TWO Republican presidential contenders…one of them John “‘Common Sense Conservative’ Means I Play to Lose” McCain.
Alexander (R-TN)
Allard (R-CO)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Hatch (R-UT)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lott (R-MS)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Sununu (R-NH)
Thomas (R-WY)
Well, let’s not overlook the Nice Polite Republican stylings of Mrs. Cokie Roberts this morning, waxing poetic about the Good Ol’ Days in Washington, when all the little Congressional children played together on the veranda.
What’s Two-Buck Chuck doin’ there?
Hagel (R-NE)
him.
twolf1 @
4
Thanks for that great link! I loved it.
p.s. TRex- you listen to NPR all day every day? I just find that hard to believe. ;)
Actually I only listen to NPR on weekends for “Wait Wait Don’t Tell me” and “Car Talk”. I may be a girl but I am a Click and Clack fan.
Shorter Cokie: “Stop all that infernal bleating, Sheep! Just shut up and let the nice Wolf eat you!”
NPR = Nice Polite Republicans. C’mon, T, don’t try to tell us you’ve never heard that one before.
The two best reasons to have your iPod hard-wired into your car stereo are “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.”
Bruce (Cockburn, that is) speaks for me:
If I had a rocket launcher
I would retaliate.
P.S. If there are any Crowded House fans out there, and you haven’t heard the news, you’ll want to be sitting down.
They’re back.
Okay, well not all day. But given that I host All Things Considered every weekday, my knowledge of it is pretty extensive.
EvilDrPuma @ 25
Hey Dr.Evil! great minds think alike. If TRex got my (semi) incomprehensible email w/ a suggestion for Late Nite, he can confirm that I too have been on the case.
EEEEEEEEEEE!1 I love Crowded House.
Something so strong,
Could carry us away.
Something so strong
Could carry us todaaaaaaay…
Sandia Blanca @ 26
My kid is 18 and is still not allowed to play with republicans. Too scary.
Margot @
19
Yes.
I live near Sacramento and I am blessed with two progressive radio stations. I pretty much only listen to NPR for “Car talk” and “Wait, Wait-Don’t Tell Me.”
As for John Mayer, don’t sell him short. His song-craft and guitar work are first-rate in an age of sampling and hip-hop booty-worship crapola. Maybe not the greatest vocalist in the world, but a tremendous talent nonetheless. Musicianship is underappreciated and in short supply these days in the world of pop-music. John Mayer is certainly among the best of a very bad lot IMHO.
Sandia Blanca @ 26
Ugh, that was so bad. She was basically saying “I remember the good ole days when women and minorities had no political power, and all the white men got along so well.” It was THAT nauseating.
TRex @
20
he’s a fairly good popster with a flair for the hook, a bit “breath-y” for my taste. if nothing else, he should get high props for penning “Your Body is a Wonderland”.
This cut reminds me of Jonny Lang; doesn’t have the vocal power, but the same kind of bluesy feel.
[Sh*t. I just realized my son could be a Jonny Lang in a few short years; he’s digging learning about the blues.]
TRex @ 32
!!! I didn’t know that!!! I knew you had a late nite musical gig with that classical stuff… BTW, I was not, NOT at ALL, doubting your familiarity with the NPR oeuvre (I mean, like, OMG, I know that’s your DAY JOB), jus’ nigglin’
***!!!Rawrr!!!*** ***!!Chomp, Chomp, Chomp!!***
What had !El Gato Negro! fuming and clawing up the drapes was the fact that Nice Polite Republiculos put el Puerco Grande on the air as part of their bullsheet “Crossing the Divide” Bipartisansheep wank-a-thon.
Joo see, according to NPR, Bipartisansheep ees such an objective good that eef joo can no see eet’s benefits, well then, joo are exactly the same as Limbaugh.
Pfui, stupid and transparent, that’s NPR for joo.
!Pfui!
twolf1 @ 4
Have you seen the website, Stuff on my cat?
Kinda funny. (not todays pictures, btw. Click on the stuff on the right.)
http://www.stuffonmycat.com/
Excellent post and subject, Dinodog.
Lotsa doggies love NPR. I listen. I’ve been listening since May, 1971, when NPR came to Seattle on KUOW with ATC. I was Music/News Director at KRAB during that time, and the Program Director wanted us to start playing ATC at 11:00 a.m., when we could play the live feed, beating KUOW by 5 hours.
Late summer of ‘71, at a board of directors meeting, it came to a vote. At the time CPB (Corp. for Public Broadcasting) actually paid stations money to carry ATC and some other programs. Now, of course, you pay them. But the first hit was better than free.
At the board meeting, I was part of the faction which held that NPR program rules for participants would eventually help destroy small, independent listener-supported radio stations. But KRAB had a cash flow program, and we needed $ to support our “War Report,” which was some of the best Vietnam war reporting on the air. The winning side argued that NPR would surely pick up some of our war reports. They never did.
I’ve watched how, since then, our faction turned out to be right. I began to become a fairly ardent critic of NPR during the first Gulf War, especially after their reporting of the supposedly erroneous bombing of a civilian bomb shelter in Bagdhad, which probably killed almost a thousand innocents.
Sure enough, NPR homogonized public radio. KRAB and all the stations in its network except Portland’s KBOO eventually died. Along with hundreds of others.
@Trex @34:
Then I guess we’ll be seeing you at Coachella this year. They’ll be playing there on Sunday (April 29). Tickets go on sale at 10:00 pacific time tomorrow.
I assume you’ve grabbed the DVD of the Sydney Opera House farewell show from 1996, which came out a couple of weeks ago. Un-flippin’-believable!
Valley Girl @ 33
And so do we!
Rayne @ 40
Hey gang, great cat video, and as for the Crowded House return news I must say I wasnt much of a fan when they were first getting big but theyve grown on me over time. I for one welcome our new old Aussie overlords.
As for your son learning about the blues, get thee to a record store and buy up everything Robert Johnson did, lock the kid in a room for a month with a guitar and amp, those CDs you bought and a CD player and you will have the next Johnny Lang.
oregondave @
7
Well.. there’s always presidential candidate Tom Tancredo (R-Klan)’s solution to the religion bit..
2005 radio show:
“Tancredo: ….Well, what if you said something like — if this happens in the United States, and we determine that it is the result of extremist, fundamentalist Muslims, um, you know, you could take out their holy sites . . .
Campbell: You’re talking about bombing Mecca.
Tancredo: Yeah. ….. “
Shorter Cokie: “Things were just so much more civilized back then, dearie.”
So George W. Bush got a grammar lesson: he’s no longer “The Decider,” he is now “The Decisionmaker.”
That’s The Decisionmaker.
This pronouncement flies in the face of the U.S. Constitution. It declares that the Congress elected by the people of the United States has no power to make decisions about how our government is to function. They can meet, they can debate, they can argue, but they cannot decide anything. Forget any notion of co-equal branches of government.
Listen, Junior:
The Congress makes the laws and controls the purse strings. It declares war, among many other powers. It decides what is supposed to happen in our government.
The president executes the laws. That means he is supposed to do what Congress tells him to do.
The Supreme Court interprets the laws. It decides what Congress meant when it enacted laws, and whether those laws are constitutional.
It decides whether what the president decides to do is lawful or constitutional. On occasion, if you have forgotten, Mr. Bush, it decides who is to become president.
The decisionmaker should decide to start listening to the decisions that Congress and the Supreme Court make, and act accordingly.
John Dean on KO now.
[Mod note; bold tag closed]
neurophius @ 50
Close that tag!
Rayne @ 40
Jonny Lang- our hometown kid.
Well, the wankers totally have taken over the airwaves, and public air–since the Newtie years, they have been moving ever rightward.
You know, Cathie Martin’s husband, Colin Powell’s son, and all their cooterie. Icky.
Got it.
When you bring the house down, I hardly know
Which way is up and which way down,
People are strange, God only knows,
I feel possessed when you come round.
My favorite Crowded House song.
The Battle of News Orleans V. 2.0
by
Traitor Joe and Teh Homeland Droogeez:
http://media-newswire.com/release_1042153.html
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/…..thispage=2
NOLA AUSA random cases 2006:
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/lae/press/index.html
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/pap…..o-drop.php
That last one is by Gonzo and Teh Moot NSA.
————-
Gonzo has visited lots of big cities since the election. High murder/gang violence. Miami, Boston, Phily, LA. Much more of this to come.
[Big cities = Dem votes.]
In NOLA = one.
———-
and who is handling Rep. Jefferson and the evidence from his House Office.?
—
Something is up.
DR. Evil- Ha! Great minds link alike (and so do we)..LOL My comment with link:
http://www.firedoglake.com/200…..ent-476592
Later comment by cp: http://www.firedoglake.com/200…..ent-476671
~~Most of them from States where the law actually would make a difference for those working at or near the current Minimum. These states have their own minimums far behind the proposed Federal level.
Imagine working a 40-hour week and getting paid less than $8,000! I guess these Republicans think that that’s more than enough to live on!
For the record, those running for reelection in 2008 are Alexander, Bennett, Chambliss, Cochran, Cornyn, Craig, Enzi, Graham, Hagel, Inhofe, McConnell and Sununu. Toss in Brownback, and McCain for those who will have to defend how their actions are “Family-Oriented” and for the “working class”.
~~
Fini FiniTOOBZ! >
Every Saturday & Sunday evening from 6:00PM until 12:00AM Pacific be sure & stream KPLU for blues.
“The inaudible and noiseless foot of Time” – William Shakespeare
!El Gato Negro! @ 42
Valley Girl @ 57
I had a feeling.
EvilDrPuma @ 60
I thought that this might catch TRex’s attention, bec. two of the Senators who supported the Allard ammt. are from Georgia. (Or maybe this was just old news).
My senators suuuuuuuuck.
Valley Girl @ 61
On the other hand, it’s just par for the course for the likes of Chambliss and Isakson. And how about the Christian compassion of the Utah vote?
Fri 26 Jan 2007
20.55 Los Angeles
What a relief to read this; I’ve felt completely out of touch even w/ my ‘liberal’ friends because no one seems to notice this. PBS is at least as bad, witness yesterday’s Newshour: the newspaper editor group talk, a more or less regular feature ostensibly representing a ‘balanced’ swath in the middle of the spectrum, featured 1) The Atlanta Journal Constitution; 2) The Chicago Tribune; and 3) The Mobile Press Register. In short, NPR and PBS are only marginally less right wing than the rest of corporate media… and just as coopted.
El Gato,
Does ‘wank-a-thon’ translate to Espanol?
no NPR here ever … BBC streamed overnight for news that acknowledges more of the world and local hiphop on the rare occasion I’m in the car … better for my blood pressure
My father gave the prayer to Congress: Tip O’Neill and I were in the same discrist.
Siun @ 66
The BBC isn’t perfect, but it’s a damned sight better than any American broadcast news for global coverage.
I don’t listen to NPR anymore. I listen to Air America, using my FM to capture the satellite feed. Some of their hosts grate on me after awhile, e.g. Randi, but I listen as a matter of principle. If we don’t support progressive talk, tell me who will????
El Gato, does ‘wank-a-thon’ translate to Espanol?
Badly…si,
as “La Fiesta de los Frotaconados”.
so.
Maldito comment theengy.
Frotacionados.
so.
NPR sacrificed Ray Suarez to CPB. it’s been all downhill since, but I confess that it’s what’s on my car radio when not driving the kidz, listening to their hippity-hop (avg. commute: 10 min.)
Blank Kludge @ 56: Something is up.
Of course. Doesn’t New Orleans have something to do with oil?
I think we ought to phone into Click and Clack, and ask them about the problem of the wheels coming off on the repug / NPR bus, and if they can trace this to the root problem. (I hope I am correct in quoting Montag on this quip- it’s hard to be thrown under the bus when the wheels are coming off). But, I did start to wonder how many wheels that bus has… wheels within wheels…
Listen to this John Mayer song.
http://profile.imeem.com/zn0q4…..w/gravity/
A lot like Martin Sexton. btw, if you have never heard MArtin Sexton, you’re missing out BIG TIME.
Pardon the Blogwhoring, but….
The Decisionmaker decides to listen to The Leaders.
TRex @ 62
Mine also suuuuuuuuuk.
!El Gato Negro! @ 70
Gracias. I’ll save some extra hierba de los gatos para ti.
Fortunately, mine don’t suck. I have FINEGOLD!!!! and Kohl, although the latter does not seem to do much. At least he doesn’t do too much harm.
“RICH LOWRY? I mean, why not just put a pumpkin on a stool and ask it questions?” (HeeheeheeHahahahahahah…. )
Or, speaking of pumpkins, Tim Russert?
punaise @
39
Love that. Also, “Waiting for the world to change.” Been doing a lot of that.
I have been an NPR listener since long before my son was born, and he’s in college. In recent years I am turning more to the internet, disappointed with the apparent NPR scramble toward a safer perch, where it will not be taking so many potshots from wingnuts who think that Mara Liasson is evidence of liberal bias.
I think it was Valley Girl who asked about the MSNBC poll to impeach Bush.
Here’s the link
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10562904/from/ET/
Looks like it’s still at 87% say yes to impeachment.
Vaguely OT or not, but I just stumbled across this post and I’m recommending it. I feel like I learned something.
Leaders vs. Climbers
Valley Girl @ 74
Sadly, no. It wasn’t mine (wish it had been, though :) ).
joysness @ 81
Yep, I eventually found the link. I think that the poll has closed. I was probably among the last to vote, and IIRC, the number of voters did not change a lot after I voted. I thought that the numbers might change after the Left Coast weighed in.
El Gato,
Here might be George W. Bush stumping for the Hispanic vote:
“Lemee ’splain that the Mexican language is an some ways s’perior to ‘merican. For example, in ‘merican there is no word that rhymes with “orange.” Thats unfortunate and a shame-a durn shame. Now in Mexican “orange” is “naranjo.” I understand that ’cause I speak Mexican. Now “naranjo” has many words in Mexican that rhyme with it and as your commander in chief have been bestown the honor in latin ‘merica of “Pendejo,” which rhymes with “naranjo.” Anyways, it’s why I bought that rancho in Paraquay so I can be “Pendejo mas grande.” Mexican compliment I’m told.
montag @ 83
Are you sure? Possibly you don’t remember because you had so many other matters of national importance on your mind. Sure sounded like something you would have penned, tho.
Rushton @ 85
So funny… I think Hugh would appreciate.
Now I’m listening to MArtin sexton. found a few live shows on archive.org.
http://www.archive.org/details/ms2000-12-01.shnf
http://www.martinsexton.com
check him out. seriously. especially if you ever have the chance to see him live.
Rushton @ 84
hehe.
Rushton @ 85
I have the feeling that most of George’s Spanish was learned in whorehouses in Nuevo Laredo. He probably would know, for that reason, the meaning of pendejo. :)
Rushton,
muy divertido, I weel share eet weeth los gatos atzlanos of my acquaintance.
I am after all, Catalan, from Catalonia that ees, although I take no offense or displeasure at jour inability to place my accent, eet ees difficult to prehend een textual form, no?
so.
montag @ 89
If that’s true, I hope he didn’t pass a little sumthin extra onto Condi-nasty…ewww….
Continuing my coverage of NPR 34 years ago -almost to the week:
NPR refused to air two or three of my own reports on the Vietnam War. They were mild tidbits, like interviewing businessmen outside what was then the biggest building in Seattle, a bank across from the library, the day the Pentagon papers were released about the businessmen’s attitudes. But the story that was so good I wish I had the tapes, was a multi-part radio documentary on Operation Linebacker, called “Air War.” We aired and syndicated it in early 1973.
It culminated with a series of interviews. Our War Report reporters discovered a group of Scandinavian and Soviet doctors and nurses were going to have an overnight stopover in Vancouver, BC on their way back from Hanoi/Haiphong to their places of work. I was already in Vancouver, interviewing a Chinese musician from the PRC for what would be the first on-air interview of a PRC artist in the US.
Karen and Roy came up and I watched and did some recording setup help as they interviewed a succession of medical professionals who hade endured weeks of the bombing. Some had been there throughout.
What they described was a horrendous war crime. The height of “Linebacker” or “Nixon’s Christmas,” as they called it, was a cluster bombing campaign in suburbs of Hanoi and Haiphong which either didn’t have adequate civil defense facilities or where the facilities were degraded. Thousands of tons of a new type of cluster bomb were dropped in these civilian areas.
The bomblets were shrouded in magnesium. Inside, magnesium, phosphorus and little fiberglass shards and balls were packed around an explosive core. When the bomblets exploded, the combination of stuff would enter and get on the skin of human bodies. But the fiberglass shards and balls, driven sometimes inches under the skin, didn’t show up on contemporary imaging devices.
Doctors had to excavate and search for whatever was causing hemmhorage, creating more internal bleeding. The doctors claimed this was intentional and that it worked. They stated the Vietnamese doctors, exhausted and demoralized by continuous work in the trauma centers, pled with the leadership to find a way to stop this.
We were Americans interviewing people who clearly hated what our country was doing. I’ll never forget the way they looked at us.
Driving back to Seattle the next evening, I heard a Vancouver radio station playing Shostakovich’s 8th string quartet, partially about the Allied bombing of Dresden in February 1945. I’ve seldom cried so hard or so long.
NPR practically hung up on Roy and Karen as they tried to sell the program to ATC. ATC suggested toning it down and making 5 minutes – we’d already pruned the report considerably for NPR– to 90 seconds (!!!). They still refused it. Even Pacifica only ran part of the series.
http://profile.imeem.com/Kywei…..about_you/
Play this one.
mhpcr @ 67
Hi, I grew up across Mass Ave from Tip’s home in Cambridge. You?
Ed*ard Teller @ 93
Wow.
Just dropped in to say that, as someone who takes his rock guitar playing and players pretty seriously and critically, in my not so humble opinion, young Mr. Mayer has clearly gone to school and learned.
He’s sadly destined to be the rock Vince Gill. Don’t get me wrong, Vince is a great, if somewhat sappy singer, and a truly nice man. But how many folks out there know that he’s a really great guitarist?
Yeah, that’s what I thought.
ET- you continue to amaze me. Glad you stuck it out after your (long time back) initial rocky reception at FDL. Yes, I do have a good memory!
Hey SteveAudio! What you been up to?
SteveAudio @ 97
We are definitely on the same wavelengths brother, I’ve been saying this about Vince Gill for years and people just look at me like I said aliens walk amongst us. He really is a good guitar player.
I dont care for John Mayer myself, just not my cuppa tea. But I do recognize from this video here that he does have some talent in the pickin department. I may have to give him a second chance. Maybe his non radio stuff has redeeming value.
SteveAudio @ 97
I kinda did. My country lovin’ neighbor brings it over and makes me ape it on my ‘67 Gibson. My brother and I both both admire and despise Mayer. ahh. yes 2 boths.
Valley Girl @ 98
I’d like to think I’ve learned a lot here, Valley Girl. Thanks for helping convince me not to bail.
Valley Girl @ 77
KS here. My senators suuuuuuuuck too. But paradoxically, presidential wannabe Brownback opposes Bush’s escalation in Iraq. Go figure.
Fini- sorry I haven’t replied to your email. I was hit with some flu bug or other, but it looks like I’m on the mend. Continuing to consider your proposition and your kind words. Will email soon, I promise. VG
SteveAudio @ 97
Word. John Mayer is a truly fine guitarist. He ‘effin wails. He would have been hugely popular in the 70’s when music fans appreciated that sort of thing.
What’s the most durable head for a kick bass? I can’t locate any with kevlar or strong enough for the very punchy technique of Eric, the drummer in my son’s band. He just went through one in 20 minutes!
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 100
Dude!
Call me tomorrow (not too early, I’m gonna sleep til 10 PST).
Ed*ard Teller @ 102
Oh, ET, your comment has almost brought tears to my eyes. YOU have contributed so much to FDL, and I (and we, I assume) have learned so much from you!!!!! xxoo.
Ed*ard Teller @ 102
And thank you VG for convincing him to stay. I’ve learned a lot from Ed*ard Teller here in late night. The place would not be the same without you. I’m glad you stuck with us, we’re sometimes a rowdy bunch.
Here’s Vince Gill as guitar God:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hfgZ8sRqB8c
Valley Girl @ 86
EvilDrPuma says:
January 23rd, 2007 at 9:16 am
Probably some confusion because the Evil Doctor was quoting something I’d said about Rove.
It is a gem, though. :)
SteveAudio @ 107
Did you send me your number a while back? If not can you send it tonight?
And VG, no worries, take your time hon, we have until August. I just want you to seriously consider the offer is all, you would be perfect for that.
Ed*ard Teller @ 106
Kevlar heads are shit on snare. I can’t imagine one for a kick of any size. Put a heavy pillow inside. A real heavy pillow. There are those kevlar beater-size circles, tho. Double up on that, maybe.
SteveAudio @ 110
Yeah see, this is some of that boogie woogie stuff he does that just sets my ears on fire. I love it!
I’m so glad others are picking up on NPR’s right-wing lean.
I did stop listening in the late 1990’s, after being a long-time devotee. Now I’m in a lonely outpost, and I listen to them a lot.
To attach a name to the problem: pay attention to Steve Inskeep, one half the anchor team on Morning Edition. He is a major part of the problem.
Also, Ken Rudin, NPR Political Editor. Guy can’t lose the Al Gore invented the Internet, Hillary’s a cold bitch stuff. Real loser.
Don’t know what can be done, because far too few people seem aware…
Blank Kludge @
56
Something IS up. The cost of EVERYTHING is sky high. Crime is rampant. Big companies are bringing in immigrant workers and paying them little, and if they don’t toe the line…whatever the line happens to be…they’re threatened with deportation. We have been told by some workers that they “paid” ten thousand dollars to be able to come to this country, and that this money is being taken from their pay. [Indentured servitude, anyone?] God help you if you get sick. Orleans Parish is the only parish in the state not under the jurisdiction of the Public Service Commission (I’m not sure when that happened), which means that utilities are not regulated at all, and they’re gouging. I was billed $217 for an actual usage of $33 on my gas bill and twice what we normally pay on the electric for this time of year. The powers that be don’t want New Orleans to be rebuilt, I’m thinking.
daCascadian and ET — do you remember KZAM?
fini- trust me, I am seriously considering the offer, more than seriously. It just sometimes takes me a while to wrap my mind around things, especially things that involve travel and airline reservations. I have no rational explanation for this, but apparently you understand.
urban pirate @
94
noice! will delve deeper.
I return the favor with Jack Johnson:
Flake
F Stop Blues
MelodyMaker @ 113
MM,
Eric sez “Thanks.” So do I. Good common sense advice, actually. I’m fronting for these guys until payday….
ouiski @ 117
If RBG’s moderating, he’s a virtual KZAM encyclopedia. I worked for one of the guys who started KZAM in my last Seattle job.
Traitor Joe is Chair HomelySec. CT is INSURANCE.
Who decided a bunch of subpoenas promised before the CT-Dem primary,iirc, were to be ‘retracted’. Potential embarrassing questions about land, real estate, damage, HSA $$$ etc.
—
ET – same as what Valley Girl said.
Hey Punaise- my flu thing seems to have lifted! Sorry I can’t contribute on the music front. Personally, I like the cat blogging w/ YouTubes.
Valley Girl @ 118
I do understand completely, believe me, I know. We are not at all that dissimilar. I just have noticed in getting to know you whenever youre around you have a wonderful story to share from someone you know, read about, or heard about. Thats a talent you may not even know is rare. The ability to sniff out a good story is what being a producer of any kind is all about. See Jane Hamsher for example – same deal at work. Which is why she is a great movie producer and blog mistress.
Urban Pirate linky central, eh?
——-
You recommend – I gotta believe.
ET @121 — KZAM was my favorite radio station of all time. Apparently some incarnation of it is available on the toobz.
Ed*ard Teller @ 93:
Your humanity, at least, inspires us today. And today we need more just like you.
Ed*ard Teller @ 119
Yeah. And a little masking tape at the edges will calm that snare down. I’ve also used maxipads to deaden a floor tom.
Hope this helps:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KZAM
http://www.psrba.org/History/KLSY_history.htm
http://www.kexp.org/
fini- wow! I never thought that this might be a rare talent.
(Toppers and surgi tape.)
punaise @ 119
Yeah. He’s on the I-Pod too. :)
MelodyMaker @ 128
707. and the band – fortunately several feet from my laptop – spewed their sobas…..
I said “stfu and try it.”
cdnt agree more about knish klooza. I was stuck on the freeway and as soon as that idiot came on with his pap about vietnam, dominoes and advice to the right wing–i turned it off.
I would rather listen to rush.
p.s. fini- can I ask people about what role duct tape (DuckTape) played in packing their suitcases for yKos? I always pack a roll of duct tape when I travel, because it always comes in handy.
Blank Kludge @ 125
Thanks, BK. I caught Martin Sexton at Town Hall a few years back and have been hooked since.
national propaganda radio will drive “anti-fascists” crazy.
it has been pbsed.
and the same thing is slowly happening to pacifica. why? pacifica wants those federal dollars.
the lynn chadwick, mofu berry crime persisting.
Peterboy @ 134
HACK!! Eh meh gahd. Easy, tiger! No need to do anything rash, really.
Heh.
Rush.
StveAudio – Good link on The Vince Gill. He CAN play.
Funny, it sounded a lot like the Dead’s “cumberland Blues”
John Gibson is Fox News’s Geddy Lee.
TRex @ 138
I listen to everything and anything on the radio. I recommend a weekly dial survey to all doggies.
Valley Girl @ 130
It truly is a rare talent. For example, the next party you go to, spend the first half hour wandering the room and listening to the stories people are telling. They are almost always going to be relating stories which happened to them or to their children or some other story which has them personally involved. It is a rare talent to hear a story from someone at a party or other situation in which the person sharing the story is not personally involved in the story being told.
These folks, of which you belong, are the storytellers. Your kind of person dates back to the caves but in every tribe in human history there was always only a single storyteller entrusted to share the tribe’s stories. You’re FDL’s storyteller. I only know a handful of people who could do what you do and of those folks one doesnt speak to me anymore (Fini make her made she goes away) and the other would not be caught dead at a political convention like YKos. You’re a natural for the gig and might actually attend it, hence the offer.
Rush. I bet that wuss wasn’t breaking kick heads in 20 minutes. ting-ting.. that’s the kick, btw.
Thanks, RGB.
(Sighs, remembering youth)
Valley Girl @ 135
OH hell yeah!
albertchampion @ 137
That’s terrifying, but not unexpected. The right has been talking about the “war of ideas” for quite a while. Their propagandists live in mansions, while ours hold bakesales.
Rush is an easy target for ridicule simply because I was ridiculous when I was 14. Ok, 15 and maybe 16 too.
Nice little thumbnail sketch of the changes in NPR over the decades here.
Ed*ard Teller @ 141
Interesting, ET. Your comment gave me a sudden “AHA” moment. You are an “audio”/ hearing person, what with being a composer and musician. I am a “visual” type. Maybe that’s why I would rather read news and commentary on the internet, rather than listen to radio or TV. Yeah, TV is visual, but it’s hard for me to escape the audio dominance. So!
montag @ 148
Thanks for the link. :) Good read.
VG, I’d say music is intensely visual. Like trigonometry, you can’t see it with your eyes, but it only makes sense in up/downs and over time.
WWI’s Moltke said that success in war was its only justification, no doubt this is why Cheney is always pounding on how successful his Iraq action has been.
I’m not feeling very successful, m’self.
OK folks, I’m off to bed. Gnight!
MelodyMaker @ 149
It’s math in color.
And I think singers are the coolest because our relationship to all those sine curves and intervals is purely physical and intuitive.
So, nyah, nyah, nyah.
Valley Girl @
123
no more FluTube? good.
twolf1’s cat-vid was fun.
I remember when we used to give $$$ to KUOW Seattle every year, because we’d got into the habit of ATC and ME while living in the cultural wasteland of Utah.
Then they slowly morphed into everybody else. Scott Simon’s smarmy persona, Mara Liasson’s audibly raised eyebrows, Juan Williams doing repeated Talk of the Nation shows about the phony Whitewater deals–it all became just dull and pointless.
Then came Clinton and Monica, and they were just as breathless in their need to repeat every last detail as Rush himself.
And before the Iraq invasion, they aired a LOT of blowhards explaining why Bush was right . . .
End of support. End of listening, except for Car Talk.
We don’t need these people. The public space is not richer for their presence.
one more
http://profile.imeem.com/rXUrS…..ory_bound/
for a long time I associated Mare Liason with the giddy days of Clinton ‘92. no longer.
don’t get me started on Neal Conan
TRex @ 153
That’s what Prince said about Led Zeppelin in a 1985 Rolling Stone interview. (the colors, not the nyah, nyah, nyah)
Singers are cool because they can’t hide behind an instrument. Who said that thing about having something to hide behind? Not Jim Morrison.. Pete Townsend?
Kneel, conehead.
-GSD
Generally our massive swollen egos provide more than adequate shelter.
And if you are the proper razor thin hipbones and elbows build, a microphone stand can provide a certain meager cover.
Having lived in MA, MD, CA, FL, OR and liking Florida the least, I still consider a radio station there to be a listener-supported gem better than any station I’ve found in the US thus far: WMNF.
Consider their schedule or listen to their stream. Saturday mornings are especially good.
That’s where I was first introduced to the Reverend Billy C. Wirtz, a tall, pompadoured guy who does a great evangelical schtick, combined with a band that can sound like Stevie Ray Vaughan or Jerry Lee Lewis.
His lyrics and music are often better than this one example I found on YouTube. I heard him live; you should, too. Great music and much laughter: what better way to spend an evening?
TRex @ 160
I’m sure that works great for a 40′ tall whatever you are.
Okay, kids. This dino needs some sleep. See you Sunday night. Maybe sooner if the gods decree.
Send happy thoughts to Jane.
stibbert @ 151
nor was moldy Moltke. His dad, like W’s was more prudent. The younger Moltke died knowing he was an abject failure. Hopefully, W…..nah, he won’t. The younger Moltke at least had honor of a sort and a conscience.
MelodyMaker @ 161
60 feet!
g’night. I’m done too.
G. Love and Special Sauce – Cold Beverage
(stick in da fridge)
fini- you are too sweet! but, I do like to get out and about, in my own supremely introverted way (no parties here), because I am always fascinated to hear what others have to say about their lives and experiences. I think it might be genetic. My mother (now 90) is the same. So, growing up in that environment, I take that kind of curiosity/ interest for granted.
later, gang. My physical therapist gave me permission to play piano for the first time in months, but only for 15 minutes. I’ve been saving it up. I’m going to play “Cinderella and the Prince,” the pas de deux from Prokofiev’s greatest ballet. Then off to rest. Thanks, VG, Urban Pirate, MM, FiniFini, RBG, ouiski, BK and Kevin….
Good night, ET.
MelodyMaker @ 150
Interesting comment! I have a great friend who is famous for his scientific photography, and I would have pegged him as a visual type. But, at the same time, he is a great pianist and lover of music. I will have to talk to him about how he sees/ hears music, the next time we speak. This is a fascinating idea that you’ve raised. Also, I will have to ask Punaise about this. (Punaise, more to come.)
Vince Gill can surely play, but to my ear he’s 95 percent technique and five percent ideas. I kinda know where he’s going two beats before he gets there.
Tony Rice is my guitar god.
punaise @ 168
Nice!
Good taste in music, punaise. G Love is a personal fave too.
oh, yeah – and TREX.
JANE HAMSHER RULES!
We’ll help bring her the head of Dick Cheney.
burnspbesq @ 173
Link?
Okay, Punaise, on the visual audio divide, I have a few questions. Are you still here for questions?
Ed*ard Teller @ 174
ET -
Just for that you need to podcast this piano by Prokofiev’s ‘Cin/Prin’,eh?
:~>
Valley Girl @ 176
chocolate cake break (newly arrived leftovers from
“the wife’s”better half’s book club) back in as fewplayed out here, too.
thanks to you lakers for your company today, g’night.
TRex @ 160
That reminds me of a joke that I heard David Lee Roth tell in an interview.
Q. How many lead singers does it take to change a lightbulb?
A. Just one, they hold the lightbulb and wait for the world to turn around them.
very late to the new thread – but bless you, TRex.
NPR national has become neo-con central. Even here in SF, KQED touts next week’s Dinesh hit – a long book tour stop on the post-ME morning local affiliate.
KQED – the local affiliate for SF that plans airtime for Dinesh’s new hate book – and touts it on air?
KQED chooses to do that. They choose to give Dinesh a big megaphone for hate speech.
That ain’t from national – that’s local KQED programming (Forum).
Oh, yeah – KQED’S pledge drive starts today.
KQED just asked members to surrender voting control – and the members did.
Oh, yeah – KQED’s pledge drive starts today.
KQED is 50% listener supported.
Oh, yeah – KQED’s pledge drive starts today.
KQED pays NPR to run All Things Considered, Morning Edition, etc.
NPR’s “bill” for national program varies with station size – bigger stations pay more.
KQED is the most-listend to public radio staion in the US.
Oh, yeah – KQED’s pledge drive starts today.
So NPR counts on tons of pledge dollars from the freakin’ Bay Area in order to put neo-con nut jobs and right-wing hate mongers on national drive-time radio.
Uh – does this seem like a stable business model?
One local Bay Area media activist is taking down Mickey.
Wonder who will step up and rescue Big Bird from the neo-cons? It just takes one…..
Meanwhile, back at the pledge drive,
…live human beings will take your views about KQED/NPR programming – and your reduced or deferred pledge.
Local pledge number (PDT daytime) is broadcast on KQED.org
The toll-free number is 800-937-8850.
Big Bird needs you – so call during the daytime and explain why NPR lost your financial support – and what they must do to regain it.
Seize control of their microphones from the wingnuts and the AEI/Hoover Institute corporate shills.
They don’t book Holocaust deniers, they don’t book HIV-deniers, they don’t book flat earthers, they don’t offer alchemy shows.
This isn’t censorship – this is about what we choose to pay for.
I don’t choose to underwrite a greenwashed soapbox for the American Enterprise Institute and the neo-cons.
I don’t choose to contribute to wingnut welfare.
So I’ll be talking often with KQED during the fund drive – letting them know what to do to regain support.
And they’ll be answering.
Let’s give ‘em a friendly earful.
and remember:
Without your calls, the neo-cons have Big Bird.
urbanpirate @ 175:
Here’s a taste. Once you get there you’ll need to click on the link to start a RealAudio file.
http://www.tonyrice.com/cdcat/trcd6.html
“…Imagine no posessions
It’s easy when you’re rich…”
Valley Girl @ 171
I had to come back and correct something I said. Trigonometry has nothing to do with time, AFAIK. I should have said depth in describing music instead of time. Trigonometry has that, I think. But Trex pointed out COLOR. That’s even more important than depth. Up/down is still obvious, I think, in observing music visually. Many fine musicians have described this better than I can. “Forward” comes to mind.
Ed*ard Teller @ 169
When I was recovering and just returning to work, I had to really work to get one of my best show tunes ready for my Holiday Extravaganza. It’s called “All For The Best” from “Godspell.” It’s not an easy song for a solo with one guitar and it took over a month to get it performance ready again.
But when I got up the strength and nailed it, it was so sweet.
Good luck on your recovery.
Oh, Punaise, you are such a gem.
I didn’t mention this before, but I loved your comment here:
~~speaking of Neil Young,
“think I’ll pack it in
and buy a pick-up
drive it down the hallway”~~
So, as an architect, I would assume that you are mostly a visual creature. But, you obviously are into music, which to my thinking is pretty hearing related. So, re: MelodyMaker’s comment aboveabout music being intensely (edit MM didn’t say that) visual, what say you?
Rayne @
40
this is the thing. mayer has guitar chops and the words to this song are powerful. he just doesn’t have the voice to really lift you. two outta three ain’t bad though …..
Speaking of Lennon…
I’d say I got a real solution,
Well, ya know,
You’d all love to see the plan…
p.s. Punaise- with your gift for language I may have pegged you wrong as a visual type. Or maybe this idea of visual/ auditory divide is hooey.
“you may write me down in history
with your bitter twisted lies
you may trod me down in the very dirt
and still like the dust i’ll rise
does my happiness upset you
why are you best with gloom
cause i laugh like i’ve got an oil well
pumpin’ in my living room
so you may shoot me with your words
you may cut me with your eyes
and i’ll rise
i’ll rise
i’ll rise
out of the shacks of history’s shame
up from a past rooted in pain
i’ll rise
i’ll rise
i’ll rise”
-ben harper
UptownNYChick @ 35
We got yer blockhead buster political ad right there folks. I see a spoof of the parental control ads on TV where they say “sorry but I have to block you, you’re too violent”. Replace the Soprano archetype with the Rethug Party and voila!
Anne is the one who would do this idea real justice. Where ever you are Anne please know that I miss your brilliant reasoned mind and great political ads ideas.
Kevin Hayden @ 161
I clicked on their livestream, and it brings up iTunes store. Do I have to buy stuff to listen to that station?
hey VG, I could see how music is very visual for some; not sure I can pinpoint where I’m at.
of course there’s arithmetic in rhythm (that’s the closest I get to being a musician) – otherwise the math in music theory escapes me. I’m a sucker for a slinky bass line or a good harmony.
Soul Coughing – Circles
punaise @ 193
Thanks Punaise. Hope you enjoyed the book club leftovers. All for me t’nite. Heading down the hallway, moi.
Spew alert:
Surfing C-span on TV a bit ago they had the end of a female panel called State of Conservatism or some shit, K-Lopez sez Malkin goes out there and does a great job of “original reporting” (cough) on her blog for the conservatives.
Bwahahahaaaaa choke wheeze *wipes tears*
Mel Strom @
64
NPR should start reflecting the thoughts and feelings of the national public.
banner: The voice of the people is not represented on NPR. Time for new management.
Valley Girl @ 189
The people who claim to “see” colors in music, or music in colors, are likely synesthesiacs. I have a feeling that it’s more common than earlier research suggested.
That said, part of architecture is knowing the mathematics behind it (although being able to imagine the ways space is enclosed is a big part of it, too), and math, music, language are all left-brain skills. My own guess is that all this stuff depends upon individual variations in the way the corpus callosum is formed and the kinds of attachments it makes between the brain halves–that may account for the great variations in creative activity.
As a neurobiologist, you’ve probably got a lot of theories about that, too.
ouiski >
Heard of it but I was not in the area during itz run (mostly gone from 65-83)
“We are accustomed to the new land yet attached to the old country” – anon
punaise @ 193
with a mind like yours i’d say that you’re just not interested. the math in chords and scales is pretty easy to follow if you want to go that route. i’m terrible in math, but if you can count on your fingers you can figure out any interval. ‘course for some people that destroys the mystery of it and erases the beauty …..
lectric lady @
79
first: do no harm.
God I hate BushCo.. Sorry to state the obvious.
montag @ 198
montag- as I just told Punaise, “I’m heading down the hallway”. Thus, I am not at my best. And, actually, I don’t have a lot of theories. But I will think on this. Although I have read a lot about the left-brain/ right-brain stuff, I have always had a sense of confusion about this, because, being a “lefty” I wondered if I was the reverse of all that. Still, the associations re: language, math, music that you mention are interesting. And, re: synesthesiacs, you prompted me to remember that my best friend from college once long ago told me that she sees calendar dates in color, and that was part of remembering b’days. I will have to ask her about this, next time we speak.
well, here’s my stop.
in a Soul Coughing groove:
Screenwriter’s Blues
Super Bon Bon
…super bonne nuit!
Valley Girl @
195
No need to walk around in the unit-circle, surely. I don’t know why I brought trig into it. but that 60 foot singing thing is a provocative image.
Roll a boogie mutherf*.
Hakuna Matata means nothing here,
When kids work in sweatshops and live in fear.
Where they’re told it’s a treat,
Eating nine times a week,
And we just don’t care.
They can’t have a union or health care plan.
And where they’re workin ain’t Disneyland.
But don’t Mickey look swank,
Dancin’ straight to the bank,
Cause we just don’t care.
It’s the Third World after all…
Well, while my mac ‘n cheese is heating up in the microwave, I have to say that FDL late nite surely is a source for the most interesting conversations. h/t to Punaise, MM and montag.
Ed*ard Teller @ 93
I’ve read that this is what really sucks about CBUs – the shrapnel doesn’t show up on X-rays. It must have been even worse back then, because CBUs were such a new thing that no one had developed any alternative detection and treatment methods.
Ed*ard Teller @
106
reading Gunter Grass’ “The Tin Drum” right now. Eric seems a bit like Oskar Matzerath ……..
fahrender @ 200
Sincere apology for abusing your words fahrender.
If ya can’t nail Bach on 4 manuals, play tambourine. (Try bass first :) My point is that everybody has the music in ‘em. Just gotta let it out. Put a kazoo in front of it.
OT, but just gotta say it:
Serena!!
oregondave @ 7
I was there this summer, with my Catholic cousin married to a muslum and me, Methodist with a history…it always makes sense, with the love attached to it.
Cujo359 @ 208
Even something as simple as the concussion grenade was being changed forty years ago to make more extensive wounds with less detectable shrapnel. The grenade with the “beer can” skin was filled with a long coil of what amounted to coping saw blade, so that the shards were about 1/32nd of an inch.
And, they keep improving on them. *sigh*
montag, VG, have you seen a special that was on TV a few years ago where they took a mathematician, an artist, and a computer to try to see what a huge sequence of numbers would look like converted to art? The first image it created was stunning, distinctly a Goddess, a female form. They found they could manipulate and stretch the basic images to infinity. Cool as shit.
I’d also like to ad that our main chakra system in our body has 7 matching colors and 7 matching musical notes that correspond to each other.
This link on chakras also ads this:
Our 8th chakra (color white, note C#) above our head in our auric field is what bridges our physical causal body to our subconscious and spiritual soul body. Indeed I believe people can see and taste music, letters, numbers, colors, light, etc., by tapping into universal knowledge and having the ability to perceive heightened awareness multidimensionally. I find it all perfectly natural and completely fascinating.
MelodyMaker @ 210
that’s not abuse. that’s creativity ….
and what montag said about music being “left brain” only relates to music literacy. music is so immediate. so direct. it goes right inside you. it’s irresistable. that’s why it can bring tears to your eyes. it’s why music is the way people can express what love feels like. music can do that better than any other medium….
montag @ 213
Sadly, this might be true. I’m not an expert on these things, but I think it’s generally useful to incapacitate opposing combatants for as long as it takes to overrun their positions. This might have that effect, but I’m only guessing. It’s also possible it’s just a side effect of some new weapon, too. There were supposed to be CBUs in among the ordinance we sold to Israel before the Lebanon offensive, and I seem to remember charges that they were used on civilian areas.
Shez, that is fascinating and I’m not kidding here.
Didn’t someone post here recently with Iggy’s Lust for Life?
I can intuitively “see” how a C# is “white,” but which one? 440Hz 4*12th root of 2? Of course d is the saddest of all keys. OK, now I’m being a jerk.
Valley Girl @ 203
I thought I read somewhere that the right/left divide worked the same for lefties as for righties, IOW, that the left side of the brain handled the same basic work for both right and left-handed people.
and on the other hand music can help fully express defiance, like that ben harper song i quoted earlier. the words are really good but when you hear him sing it, especially the version in which the lines “i’ll rise, i’ll rise, i’ll rise” are sung with a capella background, it will just blow you away. such resolve and defiance. not done with electric guitar and drums, but softly, with no instruments. pure genius ……
and dixie chicks doing “Not Ready To Back Down”. three young women putting fuckwad and cheney in their place.
the soviet union used to go ballistic over music. they shunned composers who did anything that wasn’t banal, ordinary. they punished them because they knew what music can do. that’s one thing that the republicans haven’t figured out how to take away from this country. if they ever do, then it’s all over.
Ok looking through my notes from tonight I have a Bwahahahaha highlighted to share. On Countdown tonight Richard Wolffe of Newsweek said Bushit even has a presidential seal on his mountain bike!
FDL Courtesy Phone paging Darkblack…
not quite ready for bed yet. very best part of fahrender’s great music post:
three young women putting fuckwad and cheney in their place.
Christy, Marcy and (next month) Jane!
oh, the Dixie Chicks…..
syncronicity
That’s what Cheney said.
Lindy @
116
Sounds like your standard rethug vision of utopia… so long as they can observe it from behind tinted windows and then feel good about themselves.
Who gave permission for Joe Wilson to write his NTY article? If they were both apprised by the CIA, then who gave them permission to potentially expose them both? What’s with the CIA that allows a husband’s point of view to expose your carefully placed asset? I really despise this administration, but what and who gave you permission to expose this family and her children to this? Patrick Fitzgerald? No wonder he might be a better man for your wife, as you wondered. There are worse: both of your egos are suspect.
I did happen to notice on TV earlier that C-Span will have some coverage on their schedule for the big peace rally against the war in D.C. tomorrow. Interesting to see how much the Completely Discredited MSM tries to ignore it this time. Anyone have any good links for coverage online?
mhpcr @ 224
Umm, in reading this, I’m having a severe bout of pronoun confusion. Could you repeat this with nouns instead of pronouns so the gist of your complaint can be understood?
Cheers.
combination of the pronouns and term “wife” indicates level two FOX hypnosis syndrome in many cases.
Got this link from an Israeli peace activist who claims it came out a week ago and is being touted as COGAT’s (unit of the IDF responsible for such things as border crossings and checkpoints in the occupied territories) solution to criticism of apertheid in the administration of the territories. If you’re unfamiliar with what the terms, parties, sections and activities described in the powerpoint presentation mean, you might not get it. Otherwise, you might realize that if this is supposed to be a carrot, wtf does the next stick look like?
It is a 14-page pdf of a powerpoint or mac presentation, so don’t download it if you aren’t genuinely interested and have about 4.5 megs of space. Scroll down to get to the download:
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6442.shtml
no apertheid here, move right along……
montag
I’m upset.
My aunt was a CIA analyst in Saigon. She died in the crash of the orphans…or so we were told. Her husband (my uncle) was a Colonel in the army who didn’t take General because he didn’t believe in the Viet Nam conflict. He had been in WWII and Korea. We’ve given lives for this country: Joe got a younger wife who was a better asset than he. Who was the risk assessment manager for this? Whomever it was made a very serious mistake.
mhcpr,
my hunch is that Brewster-Jennings was already being rolled up by orgs connected to Cheney when Wilson decided to write his column. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of this goes as far back (Armitage) as the time when your aunt perished with those kids.
mhpcr @ 228
Perhaps it’s time to reflect on what actually happened, rather than conflating dissimilar events.
Why was it a mistake to send an experienced State Dept. career officer to investigate a claim the provenance of which was in doubt, and figured very prominently in the White House’s reasons for initiating a war, especially when that officer had extensive, practical experience in the country in question–Niger?
Second, Wilson did not out his own wife in the July 6th, 2003 op-ed. I’ve just reread it.
Third, the suggestion to send him came from his wife. That suggestion was vetted by a number of others in the CIA, and, given his background, knowledge of western Africa and Iraq, there’s some soundness to the decision.
Fourth, what analysis brings you to the conclusion that his wife was a “better asset” (than Wilson himself?). Wilson’s career was over, and he was simply doing the government a favor. Nothing in his trip included any expectation that his wife’s work would be compromised. Therein, I think, lies the fault in your logic. The real damage done here was by people in the White House who outed her for their own political purposes. That’s the most important point in the whole mess.
It’s irrational to blame Wilson or the case officers in the CIA for the actions of others who are charged with and responsible for both upholding the Constitution and carrying out their duties under law. That includes revealing the identity of a covert agent, a violation of the IIPA. Wilson did not do that–the White House and the OVP did that.
If you wish to find fault in this, at least place that fault at the feet of those actually responsible.
Ed*ard Teller @ 230
Her daughter said that she got a casket, but she never knew what was in it. It’s been some time, but this is bringing it up again. TY Ed*ard. we deserve better. I pray every night for Fitz to nail Cheney; now I know why.
mhcpr,
Sorry I misunderstood you at first. I hope this trial and other upcoming events help vindicate your longstanding pain and wonder about our government’s bizarre and mostly unfeeling nature.
OT, but some late, late night humor might do. The subject of Donnie Davies and his website “Love God’s Way” came up earlier – yesterday now. He’s compiled a list of bands which might turn you gay. Part of his criteria are whether or not a group has played music by a gay song writer. He wants help in making the list complete. I thought I’d do that, so wrote him this:
Dear Donnie,
What a great idea. Does any band which plays music by gay songwriters count? I thought so. Am I glad you don’t get stuck in those grey areas.
Here’s my list:
Bands that play music by gay songwriters (Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Copland, Samuel Barber, etc.):
Every American symphony orchestra
Every American high school band and orchestra
the nation and the world’s youth symphonies
The US Air Force Band
The US Army Band
The Navy Band
The Marine Corps Band (Heaven help us, Lord – Sousa himself played gay composers!)
The Walt Disney company
every American media outlet
I can compile a list of every school in the country which has ever played music by those four notorious homosexual composers if you wish. It might take a while and will be several thousand pages long, but we must, as George W Bush stated so firmly until a few months ago, “stay the course.”
I could go on. Please write back if I can help more on this. Time is short and the nefarious creators of the gay agenda are snickering as you dither.
ps – you also forgot Laurie Anderson. How could you?
Ed*ard Teller @ 234
I would suggest that in your next missive, you tell him that he should be playing John Philip Souza records backwards, and that in many, he will find the secret “Rainbow Anthem,” which is like “The Marseillaise” for the gays who want to take over the United States…. :)
montag:
Your well considered response is most excellent and very comforting. I’m just so grateful for your time and effort. Of course, the seemingly inane depravity of the OVP is at fault here; but I was distressed at thinking of those children and relating it to my family’s experience. I know that it’s illogical, and I know that I feel that the effect of exposing the slime at the top by Fitz is worth it for the country. But: someone said OK. And I agree with them, upon consideration, not that it mattters. What a risk; just taking it all in.
Thank you. This entire experience has been amazingly enlightening. I’m so sad, but so grateful.
montag,
Is there some question out there whether or not Donnie is real?
The Nazis wouldn’t play Tchaikovsky or Chopin or any Slavic composers, which didn’t help them once they occupied eastern Europe. Jewish composers were even worse off, to say the least. A generation of brilliant young Jewish composers and musicians died in the camps. But even the Nazis didn’t ban any major composer for being gay. Richard Strauss, who collaborated with gay and/or Jewish artists on the majority of his operas, was even invited to head the Nazi musical apparatus, which Strauss eventually found utterly distasteful.
hi edward,
earlier you described a guy who ground up fiestaware and i figured it had to be james acord. i read the profile on him that appeared in the new yorker (i think it was in ‘91). i’ve always remembered that story. i would like to hear more (your own contact with him). i found all kinds of stuff on the net.
if you have time, just leave me a message at my site:
fahrender.blogspot.com
And who doesn’t love Der Rosenkavelier? I know I do…you’ve both been wonderfully consoling! My best to you both, and thank you.
Defintitely, Belief Can—whew—thanks for the music—up early today, going to Washington—
WTF’s up wi NPR?
F them: I know why I didn’t send them money this year.
But there are protest songs burning up the waves again !! Surf’s up !!
It’s not the music that starts the march–it’s the stamping feet !!!
mhpcr @ 236
If it’s any help, try thinking of it this way–Wilson’s intentions in exposing a blatant lie by this administration were borne out of the same sense of service as those in your family, and I’m reasonably sure, based on what he’s said both here and elsewhere, his going public about this administration lie certainly wasn’t done without his wife’s concurrence, and certainly wasn’t done with the expectation of retaliation against his wife by the administration. At that time, no one knew her identity. Both Wilsons were likely prepared for attacks against him, not her.
The people who did the damage play by their own rules, and they have no sense of service; they do what they do for political power and dirty tricks are their specialty (Rove: “the wife is fair game”). If there’s any fault in the Wilsons’ judgment about going public, it’s only in not anticipating the depths to which this bunch of cultists would sink in the attempt to hide their lies from the very public they were sworn to serve.
Try to look at it this way, too: everyone’s children will, eventually, be better off with these people gone from government, and Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame helped show the public some of the truth that will, hopefully, drive these moral cretins into political exile.
Cheers.
mhpcr @ 239
mhpcr:
it’s on at the semper oper here in dresden. i’ve never seen it and i’m going to try to get a ticket for tomorrow night!
Ed*ard Teller @ 237
Not at all. Just suggesting that continuing the ridicule would be a good idea. :)
Ridicule helps deny such people the legitimacy they crave for their ideas.
Cheers.
DC rally coverage 11:15 AM eastern CSPAN. [streaming available thru C-SPAN.org.
Deadheads would know: Mickey Hart, drummer. Drum is first instrument we ever hear. [gestation - ‘Lub-dub, Lub-dub…]
Bach does some mean math.
Book title : Godel, Escher, Bach.
unified theory.
punaise et al:
Architectural Metaphor
http://www.geocities.com/arcmetgreg/
Seeing color in music? That’s Albert Hoffman.
——
Oh. CSPAN will also note:
RIP
Grissom, White, Chaffee.
[40 years anniversary]
——
cheers.
Thank you, Ed*ard Teller. I saved a copy of your very moving posting. You should make the tapes available on YouTube or another venue where people can download and listen to the whole testimony.
Blank Kludge @ 244
Scriabin was working on a color organ. he had really gigantic ideas and plans about the synthesis of sound and sight, but he had to shuffle off the mortal coil unexpectedly.
Goethe had a great interest in the physics of light/color.
Nabokov saw colors for letters (don’t remember about numbers) but he had no interest in music. that always puzzled me. i think there were a couple of other great minds that were pretty much indifferent to music but i can’t remember who they were just now ……
signing out now (in case there’s anyone else still around!) gotta go get something done …….
From Rich Lowry’s: The Tragic Courage of John McCain
Tragic indeed.
I always seem to be the first one up. But I don’t have any steamy muffins to offer. I’m not the domestic type. I do have Starbuck’s coffee, however. I guess I will have to wait until Marion gets here with her usual morning goodies. :|
fahrender: hang on to your socks for the third act trio, it’s the best in the business! (envious of you)
montag: wise and smart. of course. sooooo kind. whomever is paying you, demand more. ed*ard also. this means so much to me.
mhpcr @ 250
Thanks. Umm, unemployment leaves me time to think, but the pay ain’t so great. :)
I think you could get recs from fdl…
Good morning, pups. My brain engine must have thrown a rod because I got up, muttering at myself about being late, did my “morning stuff,” and chivvied Mr. MinS out of bed. Only to have him tell me “It’s Saturday.” I must have been having some INTENSE guilt dream about work that I can’t remember!
In the NYT this morning we have Stacy Schiff on the politics of messiness (now I know why my desk looks like it does…) and Maureen Dowd takes on Cheney using words like “exquisite kind of lunacy.”
http://mgpaquin.blogspot.com/
Because I got up early to no avail I had time to make coffee, there’s ALWAYS a pot of tea, and this morning I’ve got nice hot cocoa made from Droste cocoa powder. There are Thomas’ English Muffins right over there by the toaster, already split for you.
Somebody please tell me I am overreacting about this but the following bothers me:
1. Iran is kicking out the head UN Weapons Inspector;
2. Iran stated it will continue with its nuclear program;
3. Bush has said the US will kill Iranians in Iraq if it so chooses;
4. Bush has stated they will not cross the Iranian border to kill Iranians.
Now 1&2 is posturing which is basically saying to the US, screw you. Ahmadinijhad sees the Deciderer’s support is at an all time low, that the American people do not support further aggression and he is taking advantage of this weakness by pushing back, if only symbolically (as we know, it doesn’t matter to Bush since he’s not interested in diplomacy).
3&4, more posturing on the other side. To state you will not cross the Iran/Iraq border is planting a seed in the mind of Americans that this line may eventually be crossed if the Decision-Maker decides it is necessary to do so.
Of course, I would like to think that signs of further delusion would be interpreted by Congress as extremely dangerous and it will force them to act more aggressively and certainly, not provide the funds for invading Iran. (But that’s pretty much already under way, is it not? So he can claim they don’t support the troops, once again). However, an incident involving Iranians inside Iraq can be fabricated or blown out of proportion for the Decision-Maker to claim that aggression towards Iran is necessary to protect us from terrism.
I pray Congress will do the right thing as I am also convinced the WH will try to create such a scenario. I hope they will not cave as they did in the past to an attempt to continue to scare the shit out of the American people. And although the “support the troops” mantra has certainly worked in the past and the admin. is still pounding that drum, it’s the only card they have left in their deck.
Really, though, do people think our military resources, in terms of warm bodies, is limitless? Those still supporting the Decider In Chief seem to believe this. Lord, Congress, do not fear this dwindling minority.
Thomas’s promises…YUM!
Thanks, Marion. Something to nibble w/coffee [yumm…]and Dowd.
–
edit:
Mandrake -
Sadly…you forgot the State resignation in Non-Prolif:
Cheers.
——-
fahrender -
gotcha.
Marion in Savannah @ 253
Yayy!
Shez @
214
Great topic and thanks for your comment. I have a few thousand questions if you ever have time.
Indeed I believe people can see and taste music, letters, numbers, colors, light, etc., by tapping into universal knowledge and having the ability to perceive heightened awareness multidimensionally.
I just finished watching “The Siege” and coincidences like that film and The Lone Gunmen pilot episode contain, bring this first question.
Is the universal consciousness formed in advance by simultaneous creative energy or is creative energy unknowingly tapping into plots as they are forming?
yeesh,….I forgot to say good morning.
g’morning all and thanks for the coffee.
Right…
Good Mornin’ folks.
Big props Marion [Swamp Foxy?] in Savanah.
Like they say on some callins:
‘First time long time’ –
I cut/pasted some of MoDo elsewhere. It fit nicely behind other stuff I was documenting.
Thanks.
IOU a blueberry muffin to be named later.
:~>
Loathesome BlackJack Keane on CSPAN.
ohhh…dear lord. ‘No drawdown on CIVILAIN CONTRACTORS’…
guy is kook.
Mornin’ all!
Loathsome BlackJack Keane on CSPAN WJ.
Nutcase says ‘No drawdown on CIVILIAN CONTRACTORS’
B-Water is ‘defensive’…yup.
argh!
g’morning
I noticed Keane rattled off a list of claims that we know the details and culprits behind 9/11. I don’t think that’s true. DoJ has never issued a formal charge against ObL in the form of a warrant. It might be a formality but an FBI spokesman replied that we lack the hard evidence when he was asked why we have no warrant for him on that crime.
hhhmmmm..
modded for noting C*pan guest is AEI nutcase guest is ev*l.
Could it be the name ‘Ke*ne’ or calling him ‘lo*athsome’?
Or, I get it now…gambling..
I call this general derisively that nickname for that card game whose mission is to add your cards to 21 or under and beat the dealer.
Bl*ckJ*ack, perhaps….?
good challenging bs callers, besides the usual suspects..
question for da house:
Why is he on now, today?
C-Span covering the March in DC at 8:30 and 11:15 Eastern this morning:
http://inside.c-spanarchives.o…..hedule.csp
PEACE
Blank Kludge @
266
It is butthead day on CSPAN?
It looked like your comments didn’t stay in mod-realm for very long.
The callers show the difference in right/left thinking, especially the analytical nature of the left v acceptance of sponsored information on the right
Why is he on? He’s trying to win back support for increasing the military and mercs.
Car bomb kills 13 in Baghdad Shiite area
Mornin All
Thanks MinS for the additional reading material.
Got a full 8 hours sleep and still woozy
(usually go 5 1/2 or 6)
Looking around *my* basement office, you would be hard pressed to argue with the assertion that disorder has a liberal bias.
Maybe that’s why we chafe so much at prejudice?
As for the Cheney is nuts meme
That is just so 2003, you know?
Honestly, I seethe at the press who have awoken from a long Winter’s nap to find that all their glorious dancing with the Beltway stars has ended with a big rotten pumpkin.
And then surprised that Prince Charming still asserts that it is a chariot.
(sorry for the entirely jumbled metaphors)
NONE OF THIS IS NEW
NONE OF THIS IS NEWS
Impeach the press!
twolf1 @ 268
I’m not sure ‘butthead’ is in Orwell.
‘Six countries on iRaq’s borders are all different. but they have one thing in common: THey don’t want [i.e. couldn’t imagine…] a ‘failed state’…[so we must destroy teh region to save it.]
Our occupation ’caused this insurgency. No mistake about it.’
Perfect. Gen.Ja*k D. Ri**er.
——-
rumi – 10-4,
I may need to stop streaming this or lose Marion’s [my late Mom’s name] tasty Thomas’s…
40 years already: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1
also:
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/spa…..llo_1.html
..and a multimedia dealie from nasa.gov. site [right in the middle of the 3×3 array]
—-
OK.
Now, the real story of the day.
YaY cspan!
Ive found that the stations that carry npr are also the ones that play classical music alday.So everyone assumes they are liberal becouse only leberil elites listen to that shit.
–no, that last CSPAN caller was NOT me
We’re never gonna win the world
We’re never gonna stop the war
We’re never gonna beat this
If belief is what we’re fighting for
Hear, hear.
OfT, but thoughts about the trial:
In other news, MSNBC is reporting that Rove and Dan Bartlett just got subpoena’d by the Libby Team. Now *that’s* interesting. Team Libby is determined to make this case about who leaked – Fitz has pledged to keep it tight as to w/n Scoots lied.
Fuck it, Fitz. Let this thing go where it will. I really don’t care whether Libby goes to jail – it would be so much more entertaining to watch these WH fuckers slug it out amongst themselves as to who leaked what, to who, when, and why. PLUS, all that sand that Libby supposedly threw in Fitz’ eyes while originally investigating the leak – might all get washed away, without the need for more and more Grand Jury work.
Fitz – let this thing play. I wanna watch ‘em eat each other. Try this thing by the seat of your pants, oldschool style, and let’s see where it goes.
Can anyone find a webcam of the March in DC? I’m tryin’ my best.
Lou Costello @
281
Is the march on the Mall?
Thanks for that amazing account, ET!
NPR hasn’t been good since the early 1980s, when they still allowed the likes of Michael Harrington of the Democratic Socialists of America to give regular commentaries. The best one ever hopes from them now are occasional flashes of nonmediocrity.
I’ve gone from railing about them and writing letters and bitching to their ombud to listening only 5 minutes per week (Will Shortz’s Sunday puzzle). I get the real journalism from the BBC, Democracy Now!, FAIR’s Counterspin, et al.
For me, NPR really started sliding in the mid-1980s, with their increasingly stenographic coverage of Reagan’s Central American interventions. They were being actively cowed, to be fair — along with the rest of the press — by the intimidation tactics of the Office of Public Diplomacy and attack dog neocons like Elliott Abrams. But they caved, bigtime, and never regained anything approaching journalistic courage.
People who bitch about NPR’s supposed liberal bias often trot out Daniel Schorr as Exhibit A, which just proves the vacuity of their arguments. The man hasn’t reported anything since the 1970s, and his commentaries, if you actually force yourself to listen to them, never actually say anything.
For all the bitching, right-wing pols who knew the score never considered Schorr a threat. Remember when former Reagan National Security Adviser Robert “Bud” McFarlane, during the height of Iran Contra, got himself excused from aggressive interrogation by faking (IMHO) a suicide attempt with Valium? (Very tough drug to kill yourself with.)
After the pathetic Iran Contra hearings were over, McFarlane chose to grant his first public interview with a guaranteed softball tosser: Daniel Schorr. Nearly 20 years later, I still remember Schorr ending his interview by saying (very close paraphrase), “I believe I speak for everyone listening when I wish you well.”
I screamed at the radio, “I wish him nothing close to ‘well’”! (Although I wished him no overt ill.)
Since then, NPR has continued to offer little that came close to “speaking for” me.
twolf1 @ 282
http://inside.c-spanarchives.o…..hedule.csp
11:15 AM eastern.
—–
jayt -
wrt Fitz…ya might have sometin’ dare.
Will only caution [ianal] the adage that lawyers generally don’t succeed when asking questions they don’t already know the answers to.
ymmv.
—-
but, i got a real chuckle reading your case brief.
:~>
good morning all. RH, you’ve got mail. Enjoy!
Blank Kludge @ 284
I’ve got that already. Still looking for a webcam.
Lou Costello @ 267
Jon Mayer’s Continuum rules…
To hell with the radio, get the release!
There are only a very few throw away tracks (re-make of Axis is one)
NPR needs an election to clean house
I for one, am really glad you wrote to them, and hope you keep it up, cause I don’t plan to stop, anytime soon-
Washington Webcam
EarthCam
NPR has been making a fairly obvious shift to the right recently. It’s been quite clear to me and perplexing. They just got a bunch of money from Ray Crock’s wife – does that have something to do with it?
An update on our very own “Kiss” celebrity — Michelle Bachmann. This came to me this a.m. by email.
And the article goes on to frame all of her “No” votes in the house. Very good reading. I will find the Stillwater Gazette link right now.
..ray croc’s ‘widow’ would be correct.
Sorry Lou, musta thought I was Bud Abbott for a sec there…
——
twolf1 seems to have the idea..
:)
–
Did Iran ever go to the Euro-based ‘bourse’ oil market?
Could be important…
I could not find the article printed in the Stillwater Gazette (see my # 290) so the words “will be appearing” are accurate and we have only the email author’s word. But with the emails flying around the toobz re the Kiss, I am sure I will hear when it prints in the newspaper itself.
Stillwater and its surrounding communites are some of the most wealthy communites in the 6th district. The 6th District includes all the west, north and east suburbs. Stillwater is one of the republican strongholds in the 6th, and for this article to appear (if and when it actually does) is rather a minor miracle. I believe Michelle has caught the Bushitis disease.
Speaking of Bushitis, there’s this from Garry Wills, via Glenn Greenwald.
When batty bachmann & hubby spent 3 days fasting & praying whether she should run for the senate seat, they should have taken Al Franken’s advice: never make a major decision on an empty stomach.
ralphbon @ 283
I stopped listening to NPR several years ago for the reasons you described. Now that I have been able to deal with my anger over the war better (perhaps because of the shift in public opinion, perhaps b/c Congress is developing some semblance of tiny testicles, not really sure, either that or it’s just to maintain some level of sanity and avoid going ballistic on the conservatives I have to put up with where I work and live), I started tuning in again. It is the only alternative to mind-numbing radio where I live.
And yet, I certainly agree with you. Things have not changed since I last tuned in years ago. The only reason I still listen is to get some sort of news (on the way to work) about the world that I’m not getting on TV since I stopped watching TV news years ago as well (with the exception of CSPAN).
Still, I remember now why I started listening to nothing but CD’s for years. I suppose I will still listen, taking all with a boulder-sized grain of salt, until I get fed up again. I guess if I reach my limit, I will pull out the old CD’s again!
We should start some kind of writing campaign to let them know how we feel, maybe?
Sandia Blanca @ 26
I do declare. And lobbyists took Senators to tea at the Washington Hotel.
Blank Kludge @ 261
So what about those 92,000 troops? Apparently we don’t have them. How do we get them? Do they believe they are going to recruit that many, really? What am I missing here? Somebody throw me a bone.
Oh, just got of the phone with my mom. She & I both agree that Bush & Cheney are both dangerously delusional. Used to think Cheney was just evil but sane. Now, I believe the evil has begun to eat away at not only his heart, but his brain as well.
This is why many of us find our NPR listening friends so horrifically ignorant…trashing Barbara Boxer over Condi, for example…because they are subtly programmed by what they perceive to be “fair” radio.
Air America (and other progressive talk) are available online or as downloads. They are marvelous, outraged, smart and inspiring: check out Sam Seder, for example, who includes netroots people every day.
Remember that Pew poll showing the percentage of people who erroneously thought Saddam was connected to 911 by media source?
I don’t have the exact numbers, but the results were along these lines: Fox 90%, the major networks 50% – 60%, etc. The lowest was NPR at about 20%.
If news execs were actually interested in informing the public, they would say to themselves, “yikes, our viewers/listeners are terribly misinformed – we need to do a better job”.
Instead, what happened was the right wing went after NPR, and put alot of political pressure from the top down – Tomlinson was the main advocate – to weed out left-wing influence, and include more airtime for conservative issues.
The results have been extraordinary. I remember the first time I heard a piece on NPR about the “two sides” of the “evolution debate”, and sadly shook my head.
The right wing targeted NPR and got what they wanted. I stopped listening, but after reading the above, I think I will start listening again and dash off e-mails whenever the I see clear indications of the rightward (and counterfactual) shift.
I had switched from NPR to Air America – but in the Boston area, this just went off the air in November (Clear Channels switched to a Spanish language format). So now I listen to AA via the internet.
Total information control is underway, and at this point therer is not a single “mainstream” news source. Thank God Al Gore invented the internet!!!
neil @
296
Where’s a radioactive teapot when you need one?
TRex @ 62
I love my senators. Both are progressive liberal lightening rods, Kennedy and Kerry. Few orate better on the Seante floor than Kennedy, maybe just Byrd. Kennedy is also prolific drafter of legislation. Kerry’s heart is in the place.
TREX great voice.
T-Rex:
First of all, I happen to be a proud resident of Sen. Sesssions’ home state of Dumbfuckistan and a regular Firedoglake reader, so we’re not all like that. As to the liberal media bias the wingnuts rail about, I quote from a letter to the LA Times by the late great Steve Allen: “You know who the liberal media are, don’t you? That’s the 600-odd stations that carry Rush Limbaugh.” Fight on!
Margot @ 193: Not sure why that site did that. I just clicked through w/o that problem.
Odd.
Kevin Hayden @
304
My son figured it out, I had iTunes as the ‘default player’ when I downloaded something. So he changed it to RealPlayer and it works.
Good station, thanks!
I don’t know why, but NPR is having this series about how divided Americans are, and how that’s a terrible thing. as part of that series, they did a piece today about Rush Limbaugh, or as Olberman refers to him, comedian Rush Limbaugh.
The piece focussed on Limpbrain’s partisanship, and questioned whether or not he is divisive. Rusty was unapologetic about
it, and for once I agree with the old fart.
I don’t mind that Limpy is opinionated and partisan. Good for him. Democracies are supposed to include strong
differences. There is a reason why the distance between the governmnet and opposition benches in the Westminster
parliament is two sword lengths. We have elections because its better than shooting at each other, and vigorous debate is a welcome alternative to combat.
I have two grievances against Dumbo. First, he lies. You want an example, listen to his show for five minutes or consult the archives at Media Matters. He claims in the interview that one of his goals is to inform his audience, but telling people stuff that isn’t true is not informing them. NPR made a passing reference to that issue, but all they really care about is that we all get along.
Crap to that. This country faces serious problems that aren’t going to get solved by masking the truth for the sake of comity. And if one side in a debate is wrong, the media, who are supposed to provide accurate information, should say so.
In this case, reporting on Limberger should include an easily documented exposition of his, shall we say, ambivalence about objective truth.
The other charge i would make aganst Rott is his nasty habit of calling people nasty names. Specifically, he habitually uses racial slurs and ad nominem attacks. Examples ? Sure.
Feminists are feminazis. Obama is a halfrican. I could go on.
And then they had the bigot Glenn Beck come on and attack Rutty for being rude!!! Glenn Beck, slanderer and serial racial name caller himself.
Heckuva job, NPR. Next funding drive, I got yer donation, right here.