New Age Hits

Friday music videos again. I am not going to touch the Red Sox on this blog until I know what the hell is going on with them. Instead of pulling-away from the Yankees, they are being reeled-in. Scary.

My girl told me this morning that she had this song, Shattered Dreams, in her head. We were trying to determine who performed it. Well, it is Johnny Hates Jazz. Remember this one from 1987?

This is the US video, in which the lead singer, Clark Datchler, is unshaven and more masculine than he appears in the color UK video. So for the US, he's got black & white stubble, very much like the dude in Cutting Crew, which had a hit just months before this single. Interesting also how this single went to # 2 in the US, while it peaked at # 5 in the UK. Could it have been the result of the better video in the US? It was their biggest hit, along with Turn back the Clock (featuring Kim Wilde on vocals).

These guys are not to be confused with the slightly more funky Level 42 around the same period (1985-1987). Level 42 would be grouped into the same sub-category of white UK acts that dabbed in R&B and soul, like Living in a Box, Joe Jackson, and Rick Astley.

Generation Chickenhawk (AKA The 2007 College Republican Convention in DC)

The nation's Max Blumenthal has put together a piece of guerrilla filmmaking that would make Michael Moore proud. This piece speaks for itself. It's hilarious. But listen to the remarks from Tom Delay regarding the relationship between abortion and illegal immigration.


If you believe abortion doesn't affect you, I contend it affects you in immigration. If we had those 40 million children that were killed over the last 30 years, we wouldn't need the illegal immigrants to fill the jobs that they are doing today. [3-second pause] Think about it.

Wow. Just wow.

This is simply awesome. Could this be the best thing I have ever seen on YouTube? Except maybe the sneezing baby panda? No, this is even better. You rock, Max!

The quotes in this are incredible. And these kids seem sober (of course, their mental stability is highly questionable).

That kid talking about how we are all tempted by homosexuality is pretty funny. Speak for yourself, kid.

And don't accuse Max for being just another liberal. He got a press pass to the Taking Back America conference in June, and did his best to ridicule it as well:

And here is Max at CPAC (the Conference Political Action Conference) in March. Also hilarious. Priceless stuff.

Saying Goodbye To Private Wilson, 18

There's a tragic story behind every one of our 3,628 soldiers lost in Iraq. This is the most recent example from my city. A young Trinidad-born son of a naturalized Army officer enlists at age 17. He is dead at age 18:

The Imperative of War: A Life Recruited at 17, Taken at 18
By JIM DWYER
July 18, 2007

A little more than a year ago, Le Ron A. Wilson, not yet 18, walked into the military recruiting center on Jamaica Avenue in Queens and signed up to serve in the Army. He had the kind of brains and drive that make a good soldier, the persistence that wears down parents. His mother, Simona Francis, gave her permission.

Yesterday, not far from the recruiting center, the short, happy life of Le Ron Wilson was recalled at a funeral Mass in Christ the King Church. Twice named soldier of the month in his platoon, a specialist in the repair of weapons, a correspondent with scores of friends on his MySpace page, Private First Class Wilson and another soldier were killed on July 6 by a roadside bomb.

Many of those in the church yesterday wore buttons with his image. The pictures that show him fresh-faced do not lie. He was born on Nov. 16, 1988. He was not yet 13 during the attacks of Sept. 11 and never voted for a president. He barely had to shave.

He is among the youngest soldiers killed in Iraq. Of more than 3,600 soldiers who have died in the war, about 30 have been 18. Tens of thousands of Iraqis young and old have also lost their lives.

In the pews, his classmates from Thomas Edison High School dabbed their eyes.
“Me and Danielle, one of our friends, tried to talk him out of it,” said Lilibel Araullo, 19, recalling when he enlisted. “A few others signed up. Justin. Derrick. I went to see him down in Savannah, before he left.

“Last time I heard from him was in June, a phone call, he was telling me it was hot over there,” she said. “I told him: ‘Message me on MySpace. Let me know you’re O.K.’ So I would get messages from him — ‘I’m alive, I’m okay.’ ”

These are the rites of connection for the young. Rituals for the dead are woven into the church and the military. For the church, a bishop came; for the Army, a general. The bishop, Octavio Cisneros, recalled the suffering of the mother of Jesus, and prayed that she would bring peace to Private Wilson’s mother. The general, Bill Phillips, spoke of the fellowship of soldiers, their care for one another and their mission.

He read the citations for the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star and the Combat Action Badge for service in Operation Iraqi Freedom, the name given to the invasion that started more than four years ago as a mission to eradicate weapons of mass destruction that turned out not to exist, and in retribution for the Sept. 11 attacks, which the Iraqis had nothing to do with.

The name of the operation is not heard so often these days.

The medals and a framed flag were presented to his mother. Ms. Francis handed them to relatives. Then the bishop, stood to begin the final prayers in the church.

“Into your hands, father of mercies, we commend our brother Le Ron,” Bishop Cisneros said.

When he was done, Ms. Francis strode behind her son’s coffin, composed but struggling.

The young people did not bother. They wept openly, then pooled together in cars, ready to join the procession to Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale, where they would lay their friend down.

“A girlfriend? Not in high school,” said Ms. Araullo. “He went to Hawaii, on recreation; there was a girl named Roxanne he met that he liked. That was before he went to Iraq.”

A few blocks away, as the funeral procession moved east, it was break time at the military recruiting center where Le Ron Wilson declared that he would become a soldier.

Two girls cantered streetward, down a flight of stairs, out into the sunshine. They paused beneath a sign for the center, where they are working through August.

“We go leafleting, we call people up about recruitment,” said one of the girls. “A lot of people say ‘no’ right away because they think they have to go straight to Iraq, but that’s not true, there’s other things they could do.”

She was 14. Her companion was 15. All told, they said, nine teenagers, paid $7.15 an hour by the city’s summer job program, are working at the Jamaica recruiting center.
Military recruiting, of course, is the work of professional soldiers, not teenagers in a summer program to learn how to hold a job.

Still, it is not surprising that they would be drawn into the search for new soldiers. Just as youth must be served, so, too, must the needs of a country at war.

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

An Anti-Bush Editorial From A Scaife-Owned Newspaper

No End In Sight
Short and sharp. This, from a Scaife-owned newspaper:


The war in Iraq
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Editorial
Sunday, July 15, 2007

Perhaps Jack Murtha put it best: The Pennsylvania congressman, among the first to make the cogent argument that staying the course in Iraq was the exercise in futility that indeed the war has become, says President Bush is delusional.

Based on the president's recent performance, we could not agree more. "Staying the course" is not simply futile -- it is a prescription for American suicide.

We've urged for months to bring our troops home. Now is the time.

"Progress" has become such a nuanced, parsed and tortured term that it no longer has meaning.

The "fledgling" Iraqi government -- how long can it reasonably be called that? -- consistently has not stepped up to the plate.

President Bush warns that U.S. withdrawal would risk "mass killings on a horrific scale." What do we have today, sir?

And quite frankly, during last Thursday's news conference, when George Bush started blathering about "sometimes the decisions you make and the consequences don't enable you to be loved," we had to question his mental stability. [Italics added]

If the president won't do the right thing and end this war, the people must. The House has voted to withdraw combat troops from Iraq by April. The Senate must follow suit.

Our brave troops should take great pride that they rid Iraq of Saddam Hussein. And they should have no shame in leaving Iraq. For it will not be, in any way, an exercise in tail-tucking and running.

America has done its job.

It's time for the Iraqis to do theirs.

People Are Still Buying CDs. Which Ones?

Well besides the latest from the White Stripes and Interpol (both of which I highly recommend), people are buying classic rock, pop and hip-hop. I must admit, I only got Metallica's 1991 album two years ago. But I was the first kid on my block to own a copy of Paul's Boutique, which I am very happy to see below. The Beastie Boys brilliantly turned 1989 into 1972, and they did it in their mid 20's. The album's 18th anniversary is this Thursday! Here is the full wire story:


Vintage AC/DC, Nirvana still big-sellers
By JAKE COYLE, AP Entertainment Writer
Mon Jul 16, 5:31 PM ET

Much of the rock 'n' roll and pop canon is well established.

Buying the albums of `60s and `70s acts like the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley is akin to a rite of passage for any young music fan. These are the artists that baby boomers love to keep buying, and with whom seemingly every teenager at some point experiments. (Remember A.J. hearing Bob Dylan for the first time in the "Sopranos" finale?)

Now that the `80s and `90s are ancient history, what albums are people still buying from those decades? Do critical favorites like Radiohead and the Pixies grow more popular with time? Or do the Backstreet Boys and Madonna still rule the charts?

The short answer is that, above all, people are buying vintage Metallica, AC/DC, Bon Jovi, Guns 'N Roses and, well, Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

AC/DC's "Back in Black" (1980) last year sold 440,000 copies and has thus far sold 156,000 this year, according to the Nielsen SoundScan catalog charts, which measure how well physical albums older than two years old are selling. (All figures for this article were provided by Nielsen SoundScan.)

Those "Back in Black" numbers would make most contemporary CDs a success. Metallica's self-titled 1991 album is altogether the second-biggest selling album of the Nielsen SoundScan era, which began in 1991. "Metallica" sold 275,000 copies last year.

Bon Jovi's greatest hits collection "Cross Road" last year sold 324,000 copies, while Guns 'N Roses "Appetite for Destruction" (1987) sold 113,000. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "Christmas Eve and Other Stories" (1996) continues to be a holiday favorite; it was bought 289,000 times last year.

Greatest hits compilations are counted as catalog releases, and account for the majority of vintage best-sellers. Artists that commercially peaked in the `80s or `90s that have had lucrative best-of collections include Garth Brooks, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tim McGraw, Creed, Queen, Tom Petty, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Def Leppard, Aerosmith and Lionel Richie.

U2, Bruce Springsteen, Prince, Celine Dion, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Dave Matthews Band and the ever-touring Jimmy Buffett also all continue to sell large amounts of old records.

Michael Jackson, of course, still has one of the most desirable back catalogs. His best- selling "Thriller" moves over 60,000 copies a year and his "Number Ones" collection yielded 162,000 sales last year.

Avid fans may be buying everything their favorite artist puts out, but there's more than nostalgia fueling vintage sales.

"Young fans aren't excluded from catalog sales — especially the ones who really get interested in music, there's always that sense of discovery," says Geoff Mayfield, the director of charts at Billboard Magazine.

Not everything maintains long-term success. Asia's self-titled 1982 album was the biggest seller of 1982, but only sold 5,000 copies last year. Whitney Houston's 1985 debut, also self-titled, was 1986's top album, but now sells about 7,000 discs a year.

The same trajectory has befallen past mega-hits like Ace of Base's "The Sign," Bobby Brown's "Don't Be Cruel" and the Spice Girl's "Spice." Though one of the best selling artists of all time, Mariah Carey's self-titled debut sold a measly 5,000 copies last year. The Backstreet Boys' "Millennium" managed only 9,000 sales.

Alas, the turning wheel of fortune isn't always kind to boy bands.

"The only thing that kept coming to mind to me was that line in the Bruce Springsteen song: `Someday we'll look back at this and it will all seem funny,'" recalls Rolling Stone senior editor David Fricke.

Now, some critical hits that were trounced on their initial release by the likes of 'N Sync can claim a measure of commercial superiority. The Flaming Lips' "Soft Bulletin," often hailed as one of the best albums of the `90s by critics, sold a solid 38,000 copies last year.

Radiohead's legendary "OK Computer," currently celebrating its 10-year anniversary, last year sold 94,000 copies. Nirvana's "Nevermind" has done even better; it sold 143,000 copies in 2006.

Current events can alter the charts. When Ray Charles died, his older albums spiked for months, says Mayfield. A new album from Alanis Morissette would surely increase sales of her 1995 disc "Jagged Little Pill," one of the best selling albums of the past 20 years.

Likewise, recent reunions of the Police and Genesis can be expected to increase sales of their catalogs. The Police's 1986 compilation "Every Breath You Take" has already doubled its already strong 2006 sales by selling 107,000 copies so far this year.

Many well-regarded albums continue to do healthy business, including: U2's "Joshua Tree," Dr. Dre's "The Chronic," Beck's "Odelay," Wu-Tang Clan's "Enter the Wu-Tang," the Clash's "London Calling," Weezer's "Weezer," and the Pixies' "Doolittle." Each sold at least 20,000 copies last year.

Still, many albums that are consistently revered on critic top-ten lists of the `80s and `90s have not sold much. Joy Division's "Closer," the Smiths' "The Queen is Dead," My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless," and REM's "Murmur" all sold 12,000 copies or less last year.

Labels often reissue classic releases to capitalize on the devotion of die-hard fans and to attract a new audience. In the past few years, revered indie label Matador Records has released Pavement's first three albums, including "Slanted and Enchanted," a disc frequently ranked among the best in the `90s.

"It's almost like a new release for us," says Matador founder Chris Lombardi. "We probably sold in a one-year period, pretty much what those records sold in their first year period when they were initially released."

Though hip-hop continues to rule today's charts, many of its most historic albums don't enjoy the catalog sales that those from rock's heyday do. Public Enemy's "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" sold 15,000 copies last year; Beastie Boys' "Paul's Boutique" sold 22,000; and Run DMC's "Raising Hell" sold far less than both.

So far this year, catalog sales are down 11.7 percent, but that's stronger than overall sales, which are down 14.7 percent, according to Billboard. It's a major portion of the music business. This year's total catalog sales of 95.6 million copies accounts for about 40 percent of all albums sold physically.

When people switched from cassette tapes to compact discs, catalog sales received a windfall as people re-bought their collections. The onset of digital downloading hasn't had that affect because CDs can easily be downloaded to your iPod, but digital stores do have the advantage of unlimited (virtual) store space to sell older music.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has pegged catalog downloads as 64 percent of all download sales in the U.S. (Apple declined to share its iTunes data on catalog sales.)

That still leaves illegal downloads unaccounted for, as well as a more important quantity: cultural impact. Though bands like Sonic Youth, the Ramones and Public Enemy may never sell as much as other acts, their influence remains immeasurable.

"Impact is not strictly about sales," says Fricke. "Otherwise everyone would be running around forming bands that sound exactly like Poison."

More Bush-Related Depression

Let's go back three years, to October 2004 - the second debate between Bush & Kerry. I need a drink after Bush's press conference this week. This has been a bad, bad week.

In the video below, the president's comments are edited together in one long rant. I wish I could post the entire second debate here. It was the debate in which Bush fumbled over and over again. It was the debate in which he quipped, "Don't forget Poland!" His delusional thinking is all here on the table. Bush's way forward in Iraq was to keep believing that it is possible to effectively referee a civil war. And despite pensive and even painful looks from the audience, we re-elected him anyway. How could we have been so fucking stupid? How could we not see a complete lack of leadership and intelligence. How could anyone follow this guy?

"I'm worried about our country," Bush says in the amateur video above.

I'm beyond worried. I think America is finished. Done. Over. It was fun while it fucking lasted.

Yes this country has dusted itself off before. We survived the Civil War, which would have destroyed any other nation. We got past an ugly and unjust Reconstruction. We survived the Cold War. We survived Nixon. But I am not sure we can survive Bush's legacy. His shadow over us will be long and long-lasting. He has tarnished this nation, and has buried the next several presidents and future generations in mountains of debt. He has virtually destroyed this country.

The world didn't change in 2001. But America did. Permanently. For the worse. Our votes were thrown into the trash. Our nation was attacked. We were put into a state of perpetual fear, and pinned-down by a war we didn't ask for, but were convinced we needed. And who am I to thank? A man whose Saudi-financed, $1 Billion library will be built on the SMU campus, but will display nothing because his was the most secretive presidency in our nation's history?

Remember this from December 2000? Wasn't this the truth:


A little dose of Reagan optimism won't help me. A speech from Barack Obama or Bill Clinton about "hope" won't make this feeling go away. It is twilight in America. The sun has set on our once great nation.

It's time to drink on this Friday the 13th.

Stuck In Iraq While The War Against al Qaeda Fails


Thursday July 12th will go down as one of the more depressing days of the Bush administration.

In his press conference, the president told the nation, in broad terms, that he will keep our army and marines in Iraq through the end of his second term. He also said that he will leave Iraq to the next president, and his legacy to historians to judge. He tried to end his press conference with this sound byte:


When it's all said and done ... if you ever come down and visit the old, tired me down there in Crawford, I will be able to say I looked in the mirror and made decisions based upon principle, not based upon politics.

As if there was not enough evidence that Bush has become delusional. He even took a shot at his dad while politely telling a reporter to shut up:

Do we ever use 'kinder and gentler'? No.

Just hours before the president spoke, the latest National Intelligence Estimate was either rushed to leaked to the press, on the heels of Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff's pitiful 'gut feeling' that we will be attacked very soon. I take the NIE with a grain of salt. It could be somewhat embellished to serve a political agenda. But even so, it should be considered mostly factual. And the facts do not bode well for this administration. It means that after nearly six years of invasions, bombings, kidnappings, torture, secret prisons, spying, bullying, and suppressing domestic dissent, there are al Qaeda survivors relatively safe and sound in the mountainous region of the Afghan-Pakistan border. Among them, presumably, is Osama bin Laden.

They don't have passports. They have guns and some rockets. We assume they cannot attack American targets very easily. But this means that while Bush moved half of our global military into the sands of Iraq, our real enemy was given time to recover, regroup, and possibly replace members who were killed. This is nothing less than a defeat for Bush - and us. The US has failed to finish-off al Qaeda.

Try spinning that, wingnuts, war hawks and fighting keyboardists. What are you going to say? It's Clinton's fault? It's the fault of liberals like me? John Kerry? Al Gore? I'm sure. Isn't it time you all got depressed and started doing hard drugs and just drifted away? Please do. Michelle Malkin, why haven't you and Ann Coulter hung yourselves in a Vegas hotel room yet? It's time you did that. You can do it naked as one last thrill for your fanboys. You can leave a note behind saying that you had sex with each other before doing it. That sounds hawt.

The pretty, bible-thumping Marie Jon'? Enough. Your articles defy reason. Stick to your MySpace page.

The very un-sexy Pam Atlas? Ew.

And let's not forget the male wingnuts out there. Especially the ones who keep making quasi-homoerotic comments but deny that they are gay. Militant homosexual brownshirts appear more than once in the current list of wingnuts.

Mark Steyn?

Jeff 'Manshake' Goldstein? Good lord. He is the personification of this theory.

How about "Vaginas are Icky" Ace of Spades, who this spring, famously described the female sex as resembling Play-Doh and bacon. That one is still getting laughs today. And Ace doesn't stop. He goes on to describe a woman's breasts as feeling like bags of sand. If he had ever touched a woman, maybe he would really know.

But seriously -

There have been many essays on yesterday's proceedings. I give you two of the best.


A Black Mark Not a Benchmark
by Rep. Jim McDermott
Huffington Post
Thu Jul 12, 5:51 PM ET

The President called another news conference today to pretend he is making progress in Iraq. It is the beginning of another White House White Wash.

This President is bound and determined to have U.S. soldiers fighting and dying in Iraq throughout every last day of his Administration.

The Administration's interim report released today represents a black mark, not a benchmark in the President's deadly and disastrous military escalation to prop up his failed Iraq strategy.

When the Vice President said in mid 2005: "I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency," 1,000 U.S. soldiers had already died in Iraq.

When the Secretary of State said in late 2005 that the U.S. would probably not need to maintain its current troop levels "very much longer," 2,000 U.S. soldiers had already died in Iraq.

When the President held a news conference in mid 2006 and predicted that "progress will be steady" toward achieving the U.S. mission there, 2,500 U.S soldiers had already died in Iraq.

When the Vice President said in early 2007: "We have, in fact, made enormous progress," 3,000 U.S. soldiers had already died in Iraq.

And as the President touted his latest vision of progress today, over 3,600 U.S. soldiers had already died in Iraq.

And we cannot forget the 26,000 U.S. soldiers who have been wounded, the 40,000 U.S. soldiers who will suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the uncounted tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians who have been killed and the millions of innocent Iraqi civilians who have fled the country.

But this President sees progress. I see a President willing to keep misleading the American people, no matter the consequences.

We are 17 months away from a new President being sworn into office and thousands of additional U.S. casualties if we follow this President.

It will be a travesty of justice if it takes getting to the 2008 general election and the American people throwing out every Republican in order to stop this war.

It is time for the Republican Members of Congress to stand up and stand down this President's war.


And this beautiful essay on our setback in the war against al Qaeda:

President Bush Loses His War On Terrorism
By Bob Cesca
Huffington Post
Thu Jul 12, 1:55 PM ET

President Bush is a loser of monumental proportions. We know this. But late Wednesday afternoon, the AP reported that al-Qaeda has returned to its pre-9/11 strength -- perhaps stronger, according to the latest National Intelligence Estimate.

Counterterrorism analysts produced the document, titled "Al-Qaeda better positioned to strike the West." The document focuses on the terror group's safe haven in Pakistan and makes a range of observations about the threat posed to the United States and its allies, officials said. Al-Qaeda is "considerably operationally stronger than a year ago" and has "regrouped to an extent not seen since 2001," the official said, paraphrasing the report's conclusions. "They are showing greater and greater ability to plan attacks in Europe and the United States."

All of the tens of thousands of dead and wounded American soldiers; all of the torture; all of the illegal wiretaps; all of the damage to our national reputation; all of the trespasses against the Constitution; all of the billions of dollars spent on this effort have succeeded in absolutely nothing positive. Nothing.

Al-Qaeda is not on the run.

President Bush, May 5, 2003:

Al-Qaeda is on the run. That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly, but surely being decimated. Right now, about half of all the top al-Qaeda operatives are either jailed or dead. In either case, they're not a problem anymore. (Applause.) And we'll stay on the hunt. To make sure America is a secure country, the al-Qaeda terrorists have got to understand it doesn't matter how long it's going to take, they will be brought to justice. (Applause.)

Their leadership is certainly not depleted by 75 percent, and Pakistan has agreed to a treaty allowing al-Qaeda to occupy the border.

President Bush, September 2, 2004:

Today, the government of a free Afghanistan is fighting terror, Pakistan is capturing terrorist leaders [...] the army of a free Iraq is fighting for freedom, and more than three-quarters of al-Qaeda's key members and associates have been detained or killed. (Applause.)

Not a single one of the myopic bumper-sticker horseshit platitudes which the president, Republicans and right-wing pundits have bleated into our hemorrhaging eardrums have proved true. If I'm wrong, name one. Terrorists are stronger now than they have been since September 11, 2001, according to your government.

There's no other way to spin this news. The president has unequivocally failed at the one thing he's supposed to be good at: fighting those folks -- the terrorists. Vice President Cheney has repeatedly instructed us that he and his henchmen are the only ones who can keep us safe. Without Bush & Cheney and their successor Rudy, we're all doomed and al-Qaeda will get us.

But as it turns out, the Republicans can't hack it.

Every terrorist they've claimed to have captured or killed has been replaced, as predicted, by another terrorist. According to the September, 2006 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, your government said that the replacement terrorists have been recruited because of our ongoing occupation of Iraq.

And now, according to this latest NIE, some of the jihadists are dispersing elsewhere. In other words, they're not staying over there. In fact, they're evidently following us home even though we're still there.

At this stage of the effort, and with everything we know, you can't dream up a delusion large enough that says, "But hey -- that means we have to stay the course! That means we have to fight them in Iraq. Duh-yuk." Anyone who buys into this, after all the facts and events which have come to pass, is lying to themselves and to you.

That includes Mr. Giuliani, who rapidly evolved from a tarnished yet mildly popular mayor into the most delusional, narcissistic, opportunistic, fear-mongering, shameless, cock-a-hoop in the history of modern politics. Strong words, especially "cock-a-hoop," but all too true.

The Giuliani campaign theme of "staying on the offense against terrorism" is as laughable as it is meaningless. The evidence shows that staying on the offense has succeeded only in strengthening al-Qaeda, no? But this guy is proud to announce that he supports continuing the incompetent Bush/Cheney effort against (or, as it turns out, for) terrorism.

What other countries would Rudy invade in order to remain on the offense? How much longer would Rudy keep our boys in Iraq? Both scenarios have proved, to date, ineffectual at best and counterproductive at worst -- dangerous above all. If his only issue is horseshit, he has no choice but to drop out of the race now. Don't embarrass yourself any further, Rudy. Follow Senator McCain out the back door.

The Bush/Cheney/Giuliani policy has played out like that scene in Fight Club in which Edward Norton pummeled Jared Leto into a regurgitated bag of goo. Likewise, after 9/11, most of us felt like we needed to pummel something. But the pummeling surpassed the threshold of vengeful exhilaration and rapidly transformed into excessive and meaningless aggression. When we invaded Iraq, we surpassed a "stay on the offense" zero barrier, a point at which even the other pummelers cringed, took a step back and said, "Where'd you go, Psycho Boy?"

So where does that leave you and I? Our only course as Americans is to...continue onward as Americans. That means not acquiescing our constitutional rights for the sake of a little extra security. That means channeling our fear and uncertainty into supporting productive and forward-thinking measures, rather than meaningless sloganeering and futile military campaigns.

The Democrats, meantime, should be mandated to watch Michael Moore's appearance on CNN. Over and over again until the force of Moore's charisma bleeds into their collectively soupy Jell-O mold, hardening it to a razor sharp edge. Hopefully, then, they'll snap to the program. Hopefully, then, they'll cut the shit with this apologetic glad-handing and cease their reactive stammering in the face of a 29 percenter who has failed at everything at the peril of the entire world.

A Week of Mixed Messages About al Qaeda

This is not a complicated series of events. But look where the Bush Administration's terror message has taken us this week:

1. On Tuesday, the incompetent hatchet-man Michael Chertoff told the Chicago Tribune that he has a 'gut feeling' that al Queda is planning a major summer attack. You know, like 9/11. Aside from not caring how this man's stomach is feeling, this is correctly interpreted as an intentional sound byte from the Bush administration to re-plant seeds of fear in the public. Most people ignored this, considering it is came from a man who couldn't foresee the levees breaking in New Orleans, and appaently did nothing when they did break.

2. On Wednesday, a new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) was either leaked or rushed to the press, entitled, al Qaeda Better Positioned to Strike the West. The White House responded by calling an emergency counterterrorism meeting for Thursday.

3. On Thursday morning, Michael Chertoff appeared on Good Morning America to downplay the report and what he said on Tuesday. As if anyone is listening to a word he says.

4. Then president Bush announces that he is holding a press conference Thursday morning at 10:30, to discuss the latest report which details that the Iraqi government is behind or is failing on at least 10 of the 18 goals we defined for them in January legislation. Surely, he will also remind us of why we must remain in Iraq, so we don't have to fight 'the enemy' here.

Enemy? Well, in Bushworld, there is only one enemy - the axis of evil, the evildoers. But as the brave and objective Michael Ware explains to AC, it is enemies. There are at least four distinct groups that are attacking us and Iraqi civilians. Bush sees a world of black vs. white, and one-on-one conflicts. But that's not reality.

Quick, Who Was The Last Surgeon General?


His name is Doctor Richard Carmona, a seemingly competent CUNY graduate of Puerto Rican descent. He resigned in 2006 and I don't recall him ever giving a reason. His replacement is pending confirmation.

Today, testifying before Henry Waxman's House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Dr. Carmona explained that he was often silenced by the Bush administration.

His full testimony can be read here.

Dr. Carmona was not allowed to publicly express his opinion on stem cell research, contraception, or his critical opinion of the federal program to promote abstinence to both teenagers and some adults in their 20's.

This is just one more example of what the young and distinguished journalist, Chris Mooney, describes as the Republican War on Science. I'm about 2/3 through his comprehensive book, and while it is not the easiest read, it clearly outlines how Republicans have been attacking scientists for political reasons over the last 20 years.

Here is the video courtesy of NancyPelosi:

The Florida Panhandle / Alabama / Mississippi - It Don't Get Any Redder Than That

And only there could a story like this emerge. An 11 year-old girl, driving drunk. And oh, so appropriate, she was driving a Chevy Monte Carlo. You know, the car Earnhardt fans drive, 'cos both father and son drove the rear-wheel-drive, NASCAR version. If were an Onion story, it would be pretty good.

We're talking about a region that gave us some of the darkest chapters in US history. Montgomery was the first capital of the Confederacy. The Heart of Dixie to this day.

Not to mention Lynyrd Skynyrd (whose members called the area from southern Alabama to Jacksonville home). Or the Lynyrd Skynyrd air disaster (a case study in how Red Staters get drunk and die). I can go on and on.

Red States, man. General Sherman didn't burn enough of them. Actually, I should be kind to Georgia. Georgia is fucking blue compared to the region southwest of it.

You know that Lynyrd Skynyrd's biggest hit, Sweet Home Alabama was a response to Neil Young's songs Southern Man and Alabama. Not great songs, but I do get a kick out of Southern Man, and its occasional use on the classic Saturday series, Mystery Science Theater 3000.

I found a karaoke version. Mmmmmmmm, karaoke. Can't wait to hit 2nd on 2nd after summer ends.

Friday Video: Live To Tell

I thought about posting a video in honor of W's 61st birthday. The Smiths did a song called "Unhappy Birthday." and the first few lines apply to W ("you're evil and you lie"). But the song is sung from the perspective of a lover who commits suicide.

So I wanted something dark and beautiful. And then I remembered hearing a Madonna song in the distance while waiting for the fireworks in New York harbor. The song was La Isla Bonita, from the album True Blue. That reminded me of the best song on the album, Live to Tell.

You might recall that True Blue was dedicated to Sean Penn, who is described in the liner notes as, "the coolest guy in the universe." The single, Live to Tell, was the theme to the film At Close Range, which starred Sean Penn, Chris Penn, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Christopher Walken. It was directed by James Foley, whos other great accomplishment was the movie version of Glengarry Glen Ross (accompanied by the same DP and editor, which counts for a lot.

If The Falcon and the Snowman didn't turn Sean Penn into an A-list actor, then At Close Range surely did. It was also a very dark film. I mean dark; darker than Sopranos. It told the semi-true story of a crime family in rural Chester County, Pennsylvania. Christopher Walken is a believable psychopath who murders one of his own sons and his other son's girlfriend. In a decade where dark films were rare, At Close Range and Blue Velvet stood-out as the darkest mainstream dramas of 1986. That was a year in which Reagan's popularity was at its peak, and there was some national unity over the Challenger disaster as well as our skirmishes with Libya (recall that the top-grossing movie of 1986 was Top Gun).

So here is a well-mastered video that shows key clips of the film accompanied by Madonna's song. Some graphic violence and spoilers in this one:

And here is the original music video from 1986. This is is one of Madonna's greatest songs, in my opinion. You know...along with Open Your Heart, Rain, Take a Bow, Deeper & Deeper, Express Yourself, and Frozen. Oh yeah.

It Hurts to Work on July 5th


It's like working on New Year's Day. I'm not hungover, but I was partying under fireworks last night. At least in 2008 and 2009, Independence Day falls on a Friday and Saturday, respectively. And in 2010, it falls on a Sunday, but we will have the following Monday off.

The last time we had Independence Day on a Wednesday was in 2001. Oh shit. Another bad sign. And yes, that means that 11 September comes on the Tuesday the week after Labor Day. The same exact day al Qaeda chose to ensure everyone was back in their cubicles. The planes arrived too early, thankfully, or else more than 3,000 civilians would have been killed. Why didn't those guys pick later flights? I always wondered. Was it a distinctly American thing to be at one's desk at 9am? Is that what they thought? Or maybe they thought that security was lax for the flight designed specifically for business travelers? They chose the perfect day, but the wrong time. I got to work early that day. Not everyone was as punctual that day, and was saved as a result.

Anyway...

I don't need to be at work today or tomorrow (and my company doesn't need me here these two days, either). But here I am.

And then a little slap from the European Trade Union Institute comes-in on my wire service this morning. It calls the USA the "No Vacation Nation". I love the Europeans, but who the fuck asked them for their opinion? Piss off, please. I'm at work!

I was enjoying my espresso in peace until that story caught my eye.

But then I re-read it, and they have an excellent point. The USA cannot claim to have higher worker productivity if it's low-income workers take fewer than ten vacation days per year. I personally have UK-style benefits, with 23 vacation days available each year. But most Americans either don't have that available, or are unable to take all of those days off (because of children, elderly parents, or simply an under-staffed department).

And the report is mirrored by a Washington think tank this morning as well. So it is not just the Europeans who are telling us what's up.

Because This Must All End

Keith Olbermann has done something incredible. He has made it OK to not only speak of George Walker Bush as the worst president in history, but also given us the green light to speak of Bush as no longer relevant, finished. Bush has reached the end of his effective presidency with over 500 days remaining in his term. He did it in several ways, such as not listening to his generals or the American people.

If I can indulge in my love for the Godfather Part II for a bit -

This presidency is an abortion. Just like our nation is an abortion. We had to kill this presidency, Because This Must All End. I know now that it's over. I knew it then. There would be no way...no way you could ever forgive me, not with this Neocon Thing that's been going on for 16 years.

I'll let Keith spell it out. This is brilliant. It will go down as Keith's boldest and best Special Comment ever broadcast.


Bravo, sir. You rock. Now what are the rest of us going to do? There are over 500 days left to this term. Can we abort it? Can we make it end sooner? We ought to.
Not today, but this weekend, we should be yelling in the streets. And on Sunday, there is a tiny effort to encourage us do just that.

More Checkpoints, Seizures, Searches, and Spying

From an unnamed security bulletin in New York:

...there will be a higher police presence in and around major U.S. cities and various modes of transportation, including rail, air, subway, bridges and tunnels. These security measures have the potential to disrupt normal travel activity; therefore, you should plan your travel accordingly. As always, airline passengers should arrive at the airport with sufficient time for security clearance.

Thanks to the bozo amateurs in the UK, we are one step closer to a police state.

Thanks, bozos. You've made the USA scared. Not bad considering it was done with some cars and propane tanks. You just wanted to spook your own people, but you ended-up spooking the other side of that 'Special Relationship.'

UPDATE, July 3rd: Even the right-wing New York Post has called the would-be bombers, "bozos." It seems I chose the correct adjective. They tried to detonate the propane tanks with cell phones, and failed.

Go See a Blockbuster, Then Stay for Sicko


I saw Sicko in New York Sunday night. It's playing at the AMC Lincoln Center / IMAX on 68th and Broadway (same theater referenced in the Lazy Sunday video, no less).

It is a must-see movie. In my opinion, it is the best edited of Moore's films. And it might also be the best narrated. I used to dislike Moore as a narrator. But this time around, he sounds good, and we don't see as much of him as before.

The movie is mainly visceral. It is meant to make you mad as hell. Regardless of your political affiliation, you will probably exit the theater wanting our healthcare system dismantled and replaced. If not, then perhaps you have no heart or you are too wealthy to worry about an injury or illness bankrupting you.

The major problem with Sicko is that it offers not a single idea on how to turn back the clock 40 years and get healthcare right in this country. Sicko is in great need of a sequel. At least Michael Moore offers ideas on what to do on his website. But we could use a 30-minute video on what we need to do next.

So Sicko does not explain how to reverse 40 years of mismanagement and privatization of our healthcare system. It does not explain how much a single-payer system would cost (hundreds per citizen, possibly $1 Trillion per year). But the visceral impact of the film is clear. When we see doctors in the UK, Canada, Cuba, and France, treating patients for free, we should be furious and ask "why don't we have that?" Sicko will infuriate you. Seeing a Cuban doctor patting an American saying, “It is going to be alright,” is both humbling and infuriating.

There are some contexts not shown. We see a British internist who earns $150,000 per year and lives in a $1 Million London town house. But is he an exception or the rule?

We see Cuban doctors treat American exceptionally well, but surely the care the Americans received was a cut above what an average Cuban would have received? Still, their diagnoses were as good if not better than the diagnoses the patients received in the US of A.

And there are contexts and details that are on full display. We see both scholarly and ordinary Canadians and Britons explain why their systems are so precious, and why they were built. We see how their people are more productive and happy when they don’t have to worry about or pay medical expenses. We see that the French are not as nasty and as evil as we have recently been led to believe. We see a link between free universal healthcare and life expectancy, infant mortality, and economic prosperity. Moore doesn't show us a chart, but smart viewers should be able to figure it out.

You're smart, right? You will love this movie.

Healthcare should be free of charge to the public. Now why isn't it? That's the question the movie asks us.

Moore hits a few out of the park. There are some tangents and sequences that are simply priceless. And the film made Sunday night's audience of 800(one of the largest in the city) both cry and burst with spontaneous applause. It was really something.

It is a must see movie. Expect an Oscar nomination or two (best documentary, best editing).

Oh -

And when Moore reveals that he anonymously paid the $12,000 health care bill of a blogger critic’s wife, it is amazing. That guy is going to literally shit himself when he sees this movie. It is one of many ‘holy shit’ moments in the film.

UPDATE 1:
What? He already shit himself back in May? I'm often among the last to know in the age of Teh Internets.

UPDATE 2:
BTC News has an excellent essay entitled Health care in America is un-American. Go read it. It summarizes the crisis better than I could above.

WHAT-EVER



I'm not impressed by the would-be car bomb in central London. I don't doubt it would have been a giant nail bomb in the theater district. I don't doubt that it could have killed a few people. No. When I heard that the suspected driver of the car drew attention to himself by driving erratically and hitting a curbside dustbin as he parked the vehicle, I knew it was not al Qaeda's A-team, if you know what I mean. It probably wasn't al Qaeda.

London has a long history of bombings, don't you know. There have been bombings in response to immigration, as well as bombs directed against the nearby gay community in Soho. This is way overblown.

What's that? Oh right, it's post-9/11, so now every little threat has to be overblown. Right.

Have you ever thought that putting little shit like this on the front page is precisely what the real terrorists want? I know what many of our politicians want. They want us to be afraid as well. Fear begets fear, seemingly from both the bad guys and our leaders.

And now London police have nearby Mayfair closed off as a suspicious car was parked on Park Lane, near The Dorchester Hotel and along the edge of Hyde Park. Again, I say, whatever. We all need to say it; not because terrorism isn't serious, but because this particular would-be terrorist is not a serious threat. What would Winston -who grew-up in-between the two car locations- do?

It's summertime and the time for London terror. Three years in a row now.

And this just-in from the NYPD:


The New York City Police Department has informed midtown office buildings that, "they will be conducting response exercises that will result in an increased police presence in the Midtown and Times Square area over the next several weeks. These deployments are being conducted in an abundance of caution and not related to any specific threat."

Flex your muscles, boys. Make us white, cowardly people feel safer. It won't stop the terrorists as effectively as good ol' intelligence work. I trust you and the FBI are working together on that. The illusion of safety is not the same thing.

And now this London story will dominate our news, while much more lethal TNT bombs kill our soldiers. Five more were killed today by an IED, bringing June's total to 100 just as the month ends. Let's see, 104 killed in April, 116 killed in May, and 100 killed in June. That's an average of 106 per month. With 3,576 soldiers killed in Iraq since March 2003, we will see number 4,000 in precisely four months using this average. That's October 31st.

Now let's turn to some better news.


Isn't that fucking beautiful? Both sides. Just beautiful.

I don't want the Sox to loose five in a row. They need to get back on track. They would have buried the Yankees if they swept Seattle. Now they need to reset and get back to winning. I want the Yankees 12 games back by the All Star break. It is still possible. Boston players would be well-advised to skip the All Star game and focus on the AL East race at-hand.