Where Am I?

Where was this photo taken?

The American Embassy in Saigon, April 1975? No.

The Department of Motor Vehicles? No.

A Greyhound Bus Station? No.

This is one of the United "Express" gates at O'Hare. It's the one from which the flights that don't even rate a jetbridge, the lowest of the low, depart. Shortly after I took this picture, the Customer "Service" Agent (United Express employees are the elite graduates of the Academy of How To Do Your Job Really Poorly With An Attitude) began shrieking into the PA system that three flights, including mine to Fargo, were boarding at the same time. She commanded us to keep our boarding passes in hand. I had to walk a gauntlet of four surly United Express employees about 10 feet apart, each of whom mumbled something while glancing at my boarding pass. I assume they were checking to see if I was getting on the correct plane, but I can't be sure.

The tall, somewhat bewildered-looking African man in the photo was on my flight. (He was not African-American, he was African.) He had to move out of the exit row across from me when he couldn't understand what the flight attendant was saying when she was asking if we'd be willing and able to assist (aka opening the door and yelling "follow me") in the event of an emergency. He ended up in the row behind me, across from two Real Americans from Indiana who were on their way to work in North Dakota. I'm not talking Accenture consultants here--they must do the work that Real American Men of the Sacred Heartland do--construction of some sort, or maybe they're welders. I couldn't understand why the one kept saying things in Spanish; it clearly wasn't his native language. As we were waiting to get off the plane I realized he was trying to communicate with the African guy (from Nigeria? Ghana?) The woman who ended up across from me finally explained "I don't think he speaks Spanish." Cooter Brown was trying to speak Spanish to the fur'ner! Who says 'murcans are dumb??

Trolls R Funny

. . . and stupid.

On Jonathan Martin's Blog, he tells us how "In reintroduction, Palin to do more interviews and 'tell her story'".

Are they serious? Reintroduction? Like when you re-introduce a drug to which a patient may or may not have had an adverse reaction to see if it was the cause? I think we already know that the adverse reaction to Palin is definitely related to her being completely unqualified and a joke. And don't even get me started on her friggin' story. I think anyone who has not been in a coma since her first introduction knows her hackneyed story by now. 95% of those commenting agree:

At this point, nobody cares about her 'story.' We are tired of stories, and want to hear some FACTS, and we want to see some QUALIFICATIONS, and maybe even a taste of ABILITY, yet so far, we have seen NONE of the above, just a load of gibberish. My recommendation? Go back to Alaska, and let us never hear from Sarah Palin again.....

However, there are of course a few laff lines. For example,

And meanwhile Nobama gets another pass from the MSM. Unbelievable!! Let Nobama get in and the Republicans regroup. People think things are bad now, just wait till Nobama and his left wing, socialist, commie friends take over. Will we see an SNL skit on that?

Oh Gawd - "Nobama". Clever. Does anyone know where this alternate universe is with the librul, Obama-lovin' MSM?

Next up, I give you "Becky":

Sarah Palin rocks! She stands up for what she believes in. Bad interviews for sure, but I am still thinking she kicks butt. You haters are afraid of people like her..people who live their values and beliefs. No one is perfect and unless you are I suggest you shut your mouths. Have a nice day. :) McCain/Palin '08! Woot!

Becky U R so rite! Sarah Palin, like, rocks! She stands up for what she believes in (whatever that is), and we haters who are not perfect just need to shut our mouths. Cuz, like, Rush, Bill-O, & Co. are so totally NOT haters and, um . . . whatever. Did you hear about Clay Aiken?? OMG!

"Disgusted" writes to share these original thoughts:

people are just about had it with the Liberal Media Bias againist Sara Palin we are sick of the crap Againist her SHE WILL BE President someday SO Knock it off with your Haterd LIES ABOUT Sara Palin You Idiots Democrats ARE Respondsable for this MESS WE ARE IN NOW they CONTROL CONGRESS who ever RUNS THIS WEB SITE AND Goes on TV YOUR FIRED

That one was definitely cranked out by a random comments-spamming generator. Again with the "Liberal Media Bias"? Oy. Why are libruls so full of Haterd? Oh and whoever "wrote" that, where have you been since January 2007? It's true that there are more Dems than Rethugs in Congress, but I'd hardly say the Democrats have "controlled" it since becoming the majority in 2006 (3/4 of the way through Bush II's reign, by the way . . . but I know math is hard).

I know I'm shooting fish in a barrel again, but it's all just so surreal. Who are these people? (Oh wait - my Dad, for example. Still processing that.) On the other end of the entertainment spectrum is this comment featured by Mr. Sullivan:

I don't understand why Palin isn't doing more interviews in America. In her hourlong appearance on Canadian TV, she engaged in a trenchant critique of Samuel Huntington's clash-of-civilizations theory, identifying the western Balkans and central Asia as but two significant outliers. She acknowledged Syrian secret service involvement in past unrest in Lebanon, but said to craft a Syria-focused US policy vis-a-vis Lebanon for that reason alone would be "reductionist." I didn't understand the second half-hour very well, when she was answering the questions in French. But I think she gently corrected the interviewer's imprecise use of the word "geostrategic."

Brilliant! Be sure to check out the video that AS has included with his post.

More Pure Unadulterated Crap

To be Mary McCarthy-esque about it, every word that McCain and his hacks say is a lie, including "and" and "the".



Is anything Holtz-Eakin said not bullshit, propaganda, and spin?

Rookie

Ha-ha - I was just on the Blogger "edit posts" page when I saw "Complaints (2)" . . . I had an adrenaline surge and a bit of lower GI distress. Two people have already complained to Blogger about my blog!?

Upon further review, what I was looking at was the listing of labels. I've labeled two (only two?) posts "Complaints". Duh.

Whiny Bitch

Waaaaaaah! Mean Nancy Pelosi hurt poor wittle Ewic Cantor's dewicate feewings. She gave her "inappropriate" speech and ruined everything. [Aren't you and your fellow McCainiacs the ones always yammering about "country first"? Assholes. If you're against the bailout, fine, but if you all are such macho Republican tough guys, at least have the guts to explain yourselves.]

Unfuckingbelievable.

Shouldn't be surprised, though. This is an asshole who uses the term "Democrat" (instead of "Democratic") on his website. He is so not a mensch.

Ugh - here he is with Tweety, answering no questions, saying "Democrat", trying to bleat out bullshit McCain talking points, and generally being a weasel:



Hey Eric! Drawling "Chris, Chris . . ." as a preface to every "response" doesn't make you look calm, cool, and collected. It makes you sound like a phony, pompous ass. You were busted and you looked just like the rat fucker that you are.

Two Excellent Pictures / One Unsuccessful Mini-Schlep

I admit it, I'm just regurgitating these from Down With Tyranny because they're so awesome:





My mini schlep to Wisconsin did not go so well. Seems my dad's a racist and kind of a sucker for McCain's bullshit. Maybe the racist part is an homage to my grandfather and grandmother. Says Obama has no ideas to fix the economy, and is totally unaware that Sarah Palin's an extremist Christianist freak. I'm sure his new cult leader snobby Rabbi and all his Jewish War Veterans friends (???) have helped to brainwash him. When I mentioned that I'm leaving the country if McCain wins, my dad's response: "Good-Bye!". Nice. "You have your views, I'll have mine." Great, Dad, but my views won't negatively impact your life. Thanks for the support! As Sarah says, "Vote for Obama, gonna visit grandmama. Vote for McCain, to me you're a shit stain."

New Constitutional Amendment

I would like to amend the U.S. Constitution to prohibit our sacred flag from being used as a baby blanket in creepy militaristic photos of children of patriotic "Real Americans".



Shouldn't the shirt say "Future Wounded Veteran with Inadequate Medical Care" or "Future Casualty of War on Terror"? Isn't putting Old Glory underneath a possibly shit-filled diaper a teensy-weensy flag code violation? Just asking.

(I found that disturbing shot on Facebook - one of my friends was commenting on one of her friend's millions of baby photos. Used without permission.)

Well at least he didn't SIGH . . .

OK, seriously . . .



If the over-hyped, hostile media-driven possibility that Al Gore may have sighed (because Bush was actually a total dumbshit who was lying left and right) during his debates with Gub'ner (now Prez'dint) Shit-for-Brains was treated as a legitimate issue, then John McCain's visible assholery and contempt for Barack should absolutely disqualify him in the minds of the voting public.

Oh wait - I said minds. Strike that. Wishful thinking. Somebody get me a Remy Martin with a water back goddammit!

Enough With the Fucking Tasers Already

This is just sad. As Digby says,

When are we going to do something about this? They are routinely killing mentally ill people with these things and torturing many, many others. Something's got to be done.

We're becoming a nation of hooligans and thugs. Does any other country on the planet have people driving around with plastic testicles on their trucks?? Be sure to read Eric "E Leven" Leven's post on the incident as well.

On a brighter note, ELeven found and photographed this piece of "Sidewalk Encouragement" on 11th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.



Really - every day we hear of some new atrocity in the name of patriotism or "love" of country. I must return to and finish reading Victor Klemperer's diaries [I Will Bear Witness]. As questionable as Niall Ferguson is, his review of the book is eerie:

It is not the horror of the Holocaust we see here, but the subtle, barely discernible corruption of daily life, as the regime's cocktail of economic recovery, coercion, and propaganda poisons the mind and perverts the conduct of ordinary Germans.

In the future, will I look foolish and dramatic for making that comparison? I hope so.

Neat . . .

From Daily Kos:

According to the September 8 Army Times, the Army will deploy its first ever full-time combat unit within the borders of the United States, starting October 1. While troops have previously been mobilized within the US, as they were to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, employing combat troops in any extended capacity to serve as domestic law enforcement is in open violation of the Posse Comitatus Act as it has been historically interpreted from its passage in 1878 until its dismantling under the Bush Administration.

Still, there has not been a full-scale deployment of troops within the borders of the United States since the end of the Reconstruction. This 130-year restriction on the use of military for civilian policing will end on October 1, 2008.

Hrmmm . . . when to leave? Where to go? When will it be too late?

Paranoid? I'd like to think so, but with this bunch . . . please.

HRH Rachel

Rachel for Queen.

STFU Joe

No, not Joe "Perpetually Constipated" LIEberman. I'm referring to Joe "My Good Friend John McCain" Biden.

Unfuckingbelievable.

I know that AP/AOL shouldn't really be used in the same paragraph as "news", but I don't think they're making up what Joe said. Of course there was a tepid retraction, but the message is out there - Biden thinks that ad was "terrible". (So do 65% of AOL users--hardly a representative sample--who have voted on this "question" thus far.)

Sheesh.

Netherlands Carillon

An iPhone photo of the Netherlands Carillon. (A little easier to see if you embiggen.)

"To achieve real harmony, justice should be done also to the small and tiny voices, which are not supported by the might of their weight. Mankind could learn from this. So many voices in our troubled world are still unheard. Let that be an incentive for all of us when we hear the bells ringing."

Queen Juliana, April 4, 1952

Bravo Signorile

I fully support outing hypocrites whose work is detrimental to my life as a gay person.

Michelangelo Signorilie has done just that once again:

What does John McCain’s loyal chief of staff – a man who apparently is in a long-term relationship with another man, and appears to be open about it to John McCain -- think about the fact that Sarah Palin devoutly worships at a church that promotes “converting” gays to heterosexuality? What, conversely, does she think of him? More importantly, what does John McCain think about all of this? And don’t we deserve some answers from the American media?

(Good luck on the "answers from the media" part.)

I don't expect the sheer hypocrisy on McCain's part to register with any of the under-informed and mis-informed electorate, or to sway any of the imaginary "undecideds". The schadenfreude part is fun, though.

Of course the comments section of Signorile's blog is a minefield of idiocy. One of the most laughable quotes:

Excuse me, but if an African-American man had been Jesse Helms Chief of Staff for 20+ years, his community would be supporting him. The African-American community doesn't harsh on those whom simply have a different view on segregation or slavery. Gays need to respect those like Palin who disagree with our lifestyle choice - Leviticus 18:22

I think my bar mitzvah Torah portion was from Leviticus and while it may not have been that exact section (or whatever it's called), I'm pretty sure there was no mention of gays needing to respect those like Palin who disagree with our lifestyle "choice". Obviously a troll pretending to be gay. Lifestyle choice? Nothing need be said about that. What African-Americans have "different" views on segregation or slavery?? Where are the pro-slavery African-Americans?? Oh and dumbass, "whom" is so wrong the way you used it. [Must stop. I'm shooting fish in a barrel.]

Things I Love

I LOVE Philip Glass's music.

I first heard of him in 1985 - "Einstein on the Beach". "WTF?" thought my suburban high school fag brain . . . in a good way.

One of the transcendent experiences of my life was hearing the CSO perform Glass's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra at Ravinia in the summer of 1994, with Gidon Kremer as the soloist. What a magical night - Gershwin's Cuban Overture, the Violin Concerto, and Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World". I'll never forget it. I'm sure Rich and I having to chug our cabernet at intermission added to the majesty of the New World Symphony, but whatever.

A few months later I found a recording of the piece by the Vienna Philharmonic, with Gidon Kremer as soloist. [I see Deutsche Grammophone have re-done the album cover art. (Did I just call it an "album"?) I'd like to get a closer look.] I would soon drive my roommate Rich mad by playing it non-stop . . . I could listen to the coda forever. More about that piece later - and back to the Thin Blue Line.

From hdtracks.com:

On "a dark night in 1976, a Dallas police officer named Robert Wood was shot and murdered by someone in a car that he had stopped for a minor traffic infraction. A young man named Randall Adams who had no criminal record was convicted of the murder. He was serving his 11th year of a life sentence when Errol Morris, one of America's most brilliant and innovative documentary filmmakers, interviewed him while researching a film on a Dallas psychiatrist nicknamed "Doctor Death".

"The Adams case began to obsess the filmmaker and the result is the film, The Thin Blue Line that has been called "the first movie mystery to actually solve a murder". The film is credited with overturning the conviction of Randall Adams for the murder of officer Wood. Morris interviewed many of the key individuals in the case, including Adams, who seemed defeated and resigned about his fate, and the chief witness against him, David Harris, who had been sentenced to death for another murder, and who essentially confesses to the murder of Wood in the suspenseful last moments of the film. Morris' film is not a typical investigative journalism piece, though the style of the film has been widely imitated by television. He obsessively uses staged recreations of the murder, close-ups of physical evidence, interviews of all the players, newspaper headlines, footage of dark city streets, etc. to create a swirling, repetitive trance that is masterfully supported by Philip Glass' haunting and frightening score.

"Philip Glass remembers that director Errol Morris was a musician, a Julliard trained cellist and he often took the sheet music home with him to study and play on the piano. Glass says of the experience: 'Errol could make musical comments because of his training and he had very specific music in mind that he wanted for each character, though he couldn't hum it to me. As a result there were many rewrites. He had a very intuitive way of working. He didn't have any plan; he just knew it was right when he saw it. He has a very accurate idea of music and can talk about music but his way of working is very subjective. The way music matches to the image is totally intuitive and there is no way to describe that ... so he will wait you out until he gets what he wants.'

"In 1989 Nonesuch records released the The Thin Blue Line soundtrack record that interestingly included much of the voice-over and interviews from the film. With the exception of one track the music was mixed very low and "behind"" the voices. In continuing with our mission to bring you prime material from the Philip Glass archive of recordings, we decided to release the original score without the voice-over along with the extra material that was written and recorded for the film but was never used. We returned to the original master tapes and have remixed the cues to better suit home stereo playback and to take advantage of the latest digital recording technology."

— Don Christensen
March 2003

Personally, I find Houston, and Texas in general, to be a very creepy place (and the road between Houston and Galveston, extremely creepy). Perhaps that's why I think Glass's score is perfection. (All of his music is perfection - but this one is perfection linked to a specific place.) When I hear the Thin Blue Line music (e.g. "Houston Syline"), I think of driving in to Houston at night from the airport. Houston - The Blob that Ate Texas. A gigantic, tropical mess of mean-spirited bravado and tacky boastfulness. The home of Enron. The sprawling neighborhoods of shitty housing underneath countless billboards offering paternity testing. (Is there an uglier drive in the U.S. than the trip from downtown Houston to IAH?? If there is I haven't seen it.)

This combination of danger and malignant Texas ill-will with the always appealing (to me) Philip Glass essentials of somber beauty and hypnotic urgency is absolutely intoxicating.

Republican Thuggery Laid Bare

Absolutely disgusting.

1. In August, protesters at the 2004 RNC successfully won police brutality lawsuits against the New York City police department.
2. So, a few days later, the Republican Party indemnified the St. Paul police for up to $10 million in the event that charges of police brutality would be brought against them.
3. Then, at the convention, the police went out and illegally beat up $10 million worth of progressives, including progressive media. It was a free beating for them.In short, the Republican Party paid for $10 million of thuggery against progressives...

Basically, with no cause, police ran over and beat up some members of the progressive media. They did it because the money they will lose from civil suits over the matter has already been paid. So, of course the charges were dropped. There were no real charges. It was beating, paid for by the Republican Party, pure and simple.

Assholes, assholes, ASSHOLES.

I found that delightful little nugget on digby's blog, and I really like this summation by tristero:

There used to be a word for a political ideology that turns love of country into a vicious, fanatical nationalism. Their used to be a word to describe a political philosophy that elevates to the point of obsession a politician's charisma over the substance of her/his ideas. There once was a word for a state that suppressed dissent and free speech by incarceration and violent beatings.

That word today is America.

Power

Woodrow Wilson, PhD, on power:

When I resist, therefore, when I as a Democrat resist the concentration of power, I am resisting the processes of death, because the concentration of power is what always precedes the destruction of human initiative, and, therefore of human energy.

Snort - what did he know?

Elitist. He was never Managing General Partner of the Texas Rangers . . . and he probably blinked a lot.

Question

Why do so many douchebags feel that the signs posted all over the gym stating that cell phones are prohibited do not apply to them?

Thanks, Avis

Hello from Phoenix.

To get to the rental car facility, passengers have to take a bus to a location that I think is in another county. When you're sitting at not only one, but two stop lights on the rental car bus, you're going way to far. Hrmmm . . . Air-conditioned buses running non-stop 24/7--or close to it--from 3 terminals to the rental car facility 10-15 minutes away. Good thing there's unlimited oil here in 'murca! Now that I think of it, O'Hare's pretty guilty too - each rental company has its own buses, and while the trip is nowhere near as long, there's more buses running almost non-stop.

Anyway, to continue with this captivating post, here's what awaited me at the end of my journey:



A Mercury Grand Marquis.

What a stinking turd - nothing is grand about it except the degree of its awfulness. Despite its mammoth, clumsy appearance, its interior is not much bigger than Sister Girl Jetta's ("Sister Girl" - copyright Angry Black Bitch).

Ergnomics? What ergonomics? The accelerator is where the brake pedal should be, and there is nothing where the accelerator should be. Both require an uncomfortable degree of foot flexion to operate, which must be difficult for the elderly, who must make up the bulk of people who actually own these cows. The controls are circa 1968--completely non-intuitive.

The trunk can hold plenty of junk - or 10 corpses. It does have some oomph, which proved useful yesterday on 101 when zipping ahead of one of Phoenix's many, many terrible (aggressive but clueless) drivers who was evidently unaware that I was trying to merge onto the highway and made no attempt to make room for or pass me.

Grrrrr.

Disgusting

Andrew Sullivan links to Robert F. Kennedy's post on Huffington Post:

Fascist writer Westbrook Pegler, an avowed racist who Sarah Palin approvingly quoted in her acceptance speech for the moral superiority of small town values, expressed his fervent hope about my father, Robert F. Kennedy, as he contemplated his own run for the presidency in 1965, that "some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in public premises before the snow flies."

It might be worth asking Governor Palin for a tally of the other favorites from her reading list.

I'm beyond over hearing about the superiority of small-town values. Enough of this "we're the ones who fight the wars" crap. Many members of the "Greatest Generation" were evil city-dwellers. Now, it's probably true that most of those who enlist in our volunteer military are country folk . . . but most of all y'all are the dumbshits who voted for President Shit-for-Brains, and it's his war, so go ahead and fight it.

As for quoting Pegler - Disgusting. Heckuva "speech", Psychobitch-MILF.

My New Name is DRINK!

According to the You-Know-Who baby name generator, if Psycho-MILF were my mother (shudder), my name would be:

DRINK HACK P-----

Ha! My name is Drink! How appropriate. (And my middle name is Hack!)

Not enough attention is being paid to the "First Dude".

I certainly don't mean attention like the stupid Salon article headlined:

"Sarah Palin's powerful 'First Dude' - Todd Palin has exerted unusual influence on his wife's Alaska government. In Washington, their methods would do Bush and Cheney proud."

WTf-ingF??? Yeah, because we so need to do Bush and Cheney proud. What hack wrote that??? I mean, I think the author was serious. (I could link to the article but I shall not.)

I am referring to some COLT-esque photos or footage (heh-heh) of said dude. From what I've seen, I would like to objectify him. Hard.

Gawker kind of agrees with me.

Things I Love

All hail Apollo and give thanks for seancody.com

Why the hell didn't I think of that business model, damn it? Brilliant. Many sites like Sean's exist, but unlike many/most others, his is not creepy at all, and while every guy is not my type, many, many are.

For example, Rob:


Image used with the generous permission of seancody.com

Confirmed: Zoe A Pox on Humanity

Brava to Ginia Bellafante of the New York Times for her review of the ghastly "Rachel Zoe Project" on Bravo.

Given that Ms. Zoe is already a pox on humanity — exploiting an aesthetic of dissipation, invading our collective consciousness and spraying it with dummy dust — it is amazing that “The Rachel Zoe Project,” which focuses on her career, manages to send its audience deeper into the territory of smug NPR obsessives who won’t stop ranting about triviality’s conquest of the American soul. First I hated the show for passing Ms. Zoe off as an innovator when all she does is recycle a look that has held appeal since Tom Ford’s days at Gucci. Then I hated it for turning me into Max von Sydow in “Hannah and Her Sisters,” a cranky old person hungering for anachronisms.

I just hate it, and I haven't even watched it. The commercials tell me all I need to know. Dog damn her to hell for wearing the butt-ugliest sunglasses ever - who told women and girls and not a few gay guys that lenses the size of salad plates made them look good? (They don't.) I did LUV Stella on Project Runway trashing Rachel Zoe - what a delicious NY-LA catfight that would be.

It's hard to believe anything could be more disgusting than the Rachel Zoe Project (anything on television that is), but having seen a few commercials for "The Real Housewives of Atlanta", I'm afraid it's possible.

The Party That Ruined America

Ah, yes. What a day. While Anti-Maverick was in Jacksonville declaring that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong", up in unpatriotic, cosmopaaahlitan* New York, AIG was struggling to survive after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch was gobbled up by Bank of America.

Jim Kuntsler:

At least one thing ought to be clear: this has happened due to the negligence and misfeasance of the regulating authorities, namely the Republican Party, and that now all the hoopla surrounding Sarah Palin can be swept away revealing that group to be what they actually are: the party that wrecked America. I hope one or two Barack Obama campaign officials are reading this blog. You must commence the re-branding of the opposition right now. The Republicans must be clearly identified as, the party that wrecked America.

Whatever. As Glennzilla said last week, let's debate more about whether Barack called Sarah Palin a pig.

*Fuck you Ghouliani, you human turd.

Somebody Hurt McCain's Feewings : (

Via Jockohomo, I see that photographer Jill Greenberg took a few extra shots of Grandpa Simpson when he posed for the cover of the Atlantic.

Cue the howls of those questioning her "professionalism". AS IF this lying sack of shit deserves professionalism. This evil, dishonorable putz is running the singularly most vile political campaign in American history (and that's sayin' something), full of non-stop media manipulation (aka lies). Greenberg is simply joining him on the shit-strewn battlefield that he and his forbears Lee Atwater and Turblossom created. Boo-hoo.

Naturally, the Atlantic is wussily apologizing to McCain, is not paying Greenberg, and is of course contemplating a lawsuit against her. May have to cancel my subscription - that'll show 'em! Just wondering . . . if Obama had been the "victim" of this egregious lack of "professionalism", would the Atlantic be as busy apologizing to him as they are genuflecting to St. John? One thinks not.

I say Brava, Jill Greenberg. Vive la resistance! (Freedom fries for all!)

Things I Love

About a month ago I was driving to ORD for an early morning flight to DCA for work. Fortunately, my trip coincided with WFMT's airing of Howard Hanson's Symphony #2 "Romantic"

And romantic it is. At first I thought it was a movie score (not sure if that's a compliment to Mr. Hanson - and it turns out it has been used as such). It is so very lush and poignant. Each movement has moments of exquisite optimism and serenity. I'm glad I had time to sit in my car in the parking garage for a few minutes to hear the end and find out what this wonderful piece was. I'm also glad that the version that I purchased later that day on iTunes has Leonard Slatkin conducting the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. How perfect is that?? I grew up in the sainted heartland (I know Wisconsin is not a square state, but Wisconsin and even Chicago, where I live now, are certainly part of flyover territory for our coastal-centric breathren), and I can absolutely sense a definite American-ness in this music.

The symphony premiered on November 28, 1930. It was commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

And how lovely is this?

Hanson met Margaret Elizabeth Nelson at her parents' summer home on Lake Chautauqua in the Chautauqua Institution in New York. Hanson dedicated the Serenade for Flute, Harp, and Strings, to her; the piece was his musical request to marry him, as he could not find the spoken words to propose to her. They married on July 24, 1946 at her parents' summer home in Chautauqua Institution.

Even though Hanson's Song of Democracy was performed at the inaugural concert for Richard Nixon in 1969, when I listen to his music in this possibly pre-apocolyptic election season of 2008, I'm claiming this piece of music as my own as an American, with much true patriotism (not the bullshit Republican advertising variety) and the sincere hope that the visions of the [non-religious] founders will survive the insane President/Vice-President ticket puked up by the Republic party in its hideous death throes.

Just When I Thought My Head Was Going to Explode . . .

What a week. It's beyond surreal.

Love Child of Karen Walker and Marge Gunderson Palin: Total idiot in her big interview. Good at saying "Charlie" in a failed attempt to personalize her responses and gain control when she had none, but otherwise a moron.

McCain: Ass handed to him on a plate on . . . The View. [Full disclosure - didn't watch the damn thing, only the Huffington Post excerpts. Yeah, I know it's HuffPo, but unless NRO has all the other excerpts where he was, you know, coherent, competent, alert and oriented X3, I think I got the picture.] Way to go Joy. That had to feel good - to be able to call him a liar, right to his pasty white reptilian face.

Our country (yes, it's still part mine, despite what Greater Wingnuttia would believe) is not very old compared to the rest of the world (just ask them), but it's a safe bet that the revered Founders [who, might I add, went out of their f-ing way to make sure this wasn't a Christian, Judeo-Christian, Animist-Christian, S&M-Christian, or any other combination thereof theocracy, you goddamn dumb-ass wingnuts] surely rank among the great thinkers of history. All y'all remember thinking, don't you? Sadly, here in 2008, a percentage of 'murcans think this dynamic duo, Anti-Maverick and Psycho-MILF (not my creation), are an acceptable choice to lead this country that they shaped. Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe . . . Dubya, McCain, Palin. (Wouldn't it be tragic if Palin were to become the first female President? I can't get my mind around it.)

It would be shocking if it was 10% of the population, but it's utterly mind-boggling that the actual figure is much higher. I'll say it again, who are these people?? I spent the week in Fargo and Denver, and even in the Holy Heartland, all I saw were Obama bumper stickers, etc. (I did see a Bush '04 sticker on a pickup in Fargo and a bunch of wingnut shit in Denver. Is there anything cornier and more maudlin than those stupid Calvin kneeling before the cross stickers??? Cheesus H. Christ.) Not a single McCain item.

But where was I? Oh yes: This totally made my night:



Finally! Get it Ari! We need more, much more of Ari, and we need more Aris. Such a mensch. And who is the Most Awesome Host of the Jed report?? Mad, mad props to her for busting Brad Blakeman, Rove's eunich cum reservoir Rethuglican "Strategist", after prefacing his bullshit talking point "answer" by puking up the beyond-surreal statement that the "Democrats protest too much." This, from the Masters of the Faux Hissy Fit?

As digby put it,

. . . you call these hacks liars, you call them dishonorable, you do it again and again.

Ari was on the money:

Are you saying today that the bill is about teaching kindergarteners about sex? Are you really claiming that on TV? Is that what you think?

And all Mr. Soundbite Talking Points Hack can do is sputter. There is a Dog. There is hope.

Shameless

At long last, have they no shame?

Here's a memorial to United flight 93 at Denver International. One of the pilots on that flight was from Colorado.

Someone has left flowers with a card reading "To my United family, you are not forgotten." Nice.

However, it appears that this person has also decided to "honor" her United family and the memorial by creating a holder for her flowers by Scotch taping an editorial from the Denver Post: "The Lessons of 9/11" to the plaque. The author purports to compare and contrast the Obama and McCain campaigns' BS about how they would fight the "war on terror". It should actually have been called "The Lesson of 9/11" - that lesson being that we should vote for McCain because he's such a tough guy and not afraid of being politically correct, blah blah blah.

Honestly. Could that be any more tacky? Way to deface the memorial. What if the pilot whose name is on the memorial was a big 'ol libtard? Thanks for that lesson, you fucking freak. I was going to rip down the article but I realized it was holding up the flowers and didn't want anyone to think I was the one defacing the memorial.

What I think of the Right and its media partners

To sort of borrow a phrase from Melissa McEwan, I'm absolutely inflamed/engorged/fulminant with detestation for the goddamn media whores who have made the pig/lipstick non-issue into a "story". What kind of fucked-up bullshit country is this where that is worthy of coverage? Who thinks Anti-Maverick and Psycho-MILF are acceptable as leaders??

I just love that - Anti-Maverick and Psycho-MILF. I didn't make it up. RadicalRuss at Pam's House Blend did.

I was made aware of the work of art above by the mysterious, smart and mega-sexy mikeinbama. Evidently Michael Jackson's underwear--ahem, soiled underwear--were up for auction today. Per Mike, those are the actual underwear. Yesiree they are.

I really don't want to know any more, but I did see a cosmic connection between the revolting photo above and my new level of contempt for 99% of our nation's mainstream journos . . . and their facilitation of Grandpa Simpson's smear campaign.

God Bless 'murca!

One Less Propaganda Outlet in Fargo

Currently awaiting my United "Express" flight from Fargo to Denver. Naturally we're late. No reason. They should start listing JUST BECAUSE on the website and the airport monitors as the explanation for delays.

Fargo Hector International (?) Airport is certainly a welcome change from the inhumane, frayed-nerve, nowhere-to-sit conditions at O'Hare. I like the woman who asked the TSA agent "Do you know where I go?" after she got through security. Ummm . . . probably one of the five gates, ma'am.

And just now, a bewildered elderly lady hobbled up near me and asked "Where's number five??" in a mystified tone. I pointed her to gate 5 at the end of the terminal, maybe, oh, 25 yards away. "Oh my, this is a big place!" she exclaimed. Oh, my indeed. What is she going to do when she gets to DIA?

Anyway, after navigating the TSA's Gauntlet of Patriotism and Peace, my serenity was impacted by the blare of TV "news" - then I recognized the phony, overwrought urgent/sarcastic/scandalized tone of the Faux News talking head "reporting" on something one of Sarah Palin's cult leaders clergymen said . . . something about telling his cult members congregation in 2004 that they would not get into a magical, make-believe fairy land heaven if they voted for John Kerry. It was ruining my atmos, as they say in Australia. Fortunately this particular flat screen had a prominent OFF button which, in a triumphant display of activism, I used. Here is a photo of my newly-peaceful surroundings:



Speaking of things propaganda- and voting-related, our trustworthy, fearless, principled, unstoppable media outlets wouldn't do this, would they?

Quick question

I just saw a local cable TV commercial for AM 100 - The Flag, a right-wing hatetalk radio station here in Fargo. It featured Rush, standing in front of his Excellence in Broadcasting (lie) logo, Hannity, and some local psycho-killer looking wannabes bragging about how much they love America (also a huge lie).

If the Rethugs have this raging hard-on for America (about which they cannot shut up), why have they done so much to ruin it?

Assholes.

Jim Kunstler, writing before the infomercial/Nuremburg Rally last week in St. Paul:

The roll-out of John McCain's ridiculous and cynical choice of a running mate, complete with pompom pumping cheerleaders, will remain front and center in the public's consciousness now while the party delegates go through a few procedural motions in Minneapolis -- taking it light on the funny hats, and the other usual festive hijinks, which would only seem indecent against the background of a profound natural disaster. Despite the poll numbers currently showing a fairly close race between Obama and McCain, the Republicans are well on-track to being regarded as "the party that wrecked America."

Ah, and here's T. Boone Pickens on the teevee telling us all how we need to switch to natural gas and wind power. While that is a great idea, I do wonder if T. Boone has funded any Swiftboat commercials lately, like he did back in 2004.

Asshole.

Fargo

This is Fargo at dusk, September 7 2008, facing west. Not the best view, nor the best shot. iPhone, for all his wonderfulness, does not have the very best outdoor camera available.

My first time here. Interesting town. They must be so tired of people trying to do the Marge Gunderson accent - something that only those of us who grew up in the upper midwest can truly re-create with any accuracy.

Perhaps you can see the downtown condos being built on Broadway, just south of the historic and cool-looking Fargo theater, which unfortunately was not in my shot. Almost everything was closed on Sunday night, and downtown was dead.

Hrmmm . . .

Is someone protesting too much?



Via HuffPo, I found my way to this fawning story at Radar Online (not to be all elitist an' shit, but "Fresh Intelligence"?) about Michael Phelps executing "a classic butt-rub maneuver on a scantily-clad cocktail server". Ah yes, the butt-rub - a true classic. I've always wondered how a "true champion" executes said maneuver.

I'm just imagining a scenario where some of Michael Phelps's handlers felt he needed to burnish his heterosexual image. Let's bring him to Vegas and get him photographed feeling up some cocktail waitresses! And, quelle coincidence, staff writer Neel Shah just happened to be there.

What is the douchebag to the right of Phelps in the photo doing?

Oh Cheesus

Since I know all of the commercials on CNBC by heart, this new one caught my ear and then eye: sad music plays, a somber (but hot) guy sits on a park bench looking at an empty swing. WTF? A traffic safety PSA? NOPE . . . Abortion hurts everyone . . . including men (or something to that effect; I'm not willing to watch it again online lest they think one more person is interested) so sayeth the graphic.

[Why the swing? Was the fetus on the swing at one point? Or maybe it was a cluster of cells, unable to survive outside the womb and not capable of thought or feeling, that has left this DILF so sad.]

Silly me - I thought kofc.org was some radio station from the glorious heartland west of the Mississippi. Clicking my way over to kofc.org, I was met by the grisly, ghoulish visage of Her Holiness Pope Benedict. Seems the Knights of Columbus are sponsoring a program in Chicago (actually Oak Brook--at a Marriott of course) next week called "Reclaiming Fatherhood: A Multifaceted Examination of Men Dealing with Abortion". I'm sure it's going to be extremely multi-faceted.

I did have a brief Eureka moment as I wondered, once again, why so many men are so foaming-at-the-mouth psychotic about abortion. (Usually anti.) I asked myself why I, as a man, am so foaming-at-the-mouth pro-choice and anti-anti-abortion. Not exactly Aristotlean, but it helped a bit.

Time for a donation to Planned Parenthood, and for a PSA of my own. If you are gay, you should avoid staying at Marriotts and their hoard of other properties (including Renaissance and Ritz-Carltons--except the one in Chicago which mysteriously is a Four Seasons property even though it looks like all the others). Marriott International Inc (NYSE:MAR) is owned by Mormons, who give a percentage of their income each year to the virulently homophobic cult church. I don't have a 100% success rating in this regard--seems whenever I travel with or attend a meeting sponsored by a client their default choice is the Marriott. I tell myself that my money (more like the client's money) ends up in the percentage of the company's income that goes to its gay employees, like the ebullient Brett at the Phoenix Ritz-Carlton. Holla, Brett!

An Undiscovered (by me--until now) Piece of Awesomeness by Melissa McEwan

Man, did I enjoy reading this post from February by Ms. McEwan. One delicious morsel:

. . . I am just inflamed with pulsating detestation for President Fuckhead again.

Poetry!

The Muppets . . . and Peaches.

This is most certainly among the funniest things ever. (NSFW)

[h/t Todd on Shakesville.]

The Great One speaks

Of course Sam Harris has written a spot-on piece about Grandpa Simpson's ridiculous VP choice.

This is one of the many points at which narcissism becomes indistinguishable from masochism. Let me put it plainly: If you want someone just like you to be president of the United States, or even vice president, you deserve whatever dysfunctional society you get. You deserve to be poor, to see the environment despoiled, to watch your children receive a fourth-rate education and to suffer as this country wages -- and loses -- both necessary and unnecessary wars.

Palin’s nomination has clearly excited Christian conservatives, and it may entice a few million gender-obsessed fans of Hillary Clinton to vote entirely on the basis of chromosomes. Throw in a few million more average Americans who will just love how the nice lady smiles, and 2009 could be a very interesting year.

Terrifying.

Francois Sagat

Say what you will about the cranial tat, he's beautiful, always smoldering and extremely sexual.

Si je ressemblais à M. Sagat, je ferais probablement consacrer un site Web à me, juste comme il. I'm certainly not complaining . Love the theme from "Jaws". Brilliant.

Francois, la prochaine fois que vous êtes a Chicago, svp me téléphonent.

[Photo from: http://fsagat.blogspot.com/]

Jesus H. F-ing Christ, we get it already

So, like, was John McCain a POW or something?

Via Andrew Sullivan's Face of the Day, here's TV celebrity Fred Thompson speaking in front of a gigantic, and gigantically creepy image of a wounded John McCain.

Enough already. Is that all you've got? For the 1000th and last time, thank you, John Fucking McCain. Thank you so fucking much for going to Annapolis (where I believe you finished 3rd from the bottom . . . can you say legacy?) and then going to Vietnam and then crashing several planes and getting taken prisoner around the time that I was born. I cannot thank you enough, but please STFU and do not become President, you batshit crazy freak.

In the 70s, "Vietnam" was so powerfully laden with sensitivity. As soon as I was aware of the world I knew it was something that had freaked out the entire country. As a result I grew up with a profound respect - reverence? - for the veterans who served there. What on Earth had they been through? How could people treat them poorly when they returned home? Granted, watching Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter, and the PBS documentary based on Stanley Karnow's book on consecutive Thursday nights does not equal one one-billionth of what guys born 15-20 years before me (those who went or ended up there - not chickenhawks like Dubya, Cheney, etc, etc) went through, but those films, along with a high school/college historian's interest in that time and that war and a sponge-like absorption of the post-Vietnam zeitgeist, certainly let me know that it was one fucked-up experience. Once again, J Mac, STFU about it. May I say that I think you diminish your experience and all of your fellow veterans' collective experience when you use your time in Vietnam as a Karl Rovian dogwhistle character trait on par with Dubya's bullshit Texas Toughguy persona.

I just have one more question (for now). As DailyKos diarist Chumley
asks, "Why is McCain a delicate flower who needs constant ass kissing?"

God in heaven, is there any man in America who has been given MORE respect and deference for his military service than John McCain?

Seriously! Someone, (don't know who--please advise if you know) said something to the effect that McCain served his country with utmost bravery while a POW, then spent every year since then being a complete asshole. So true.

[Photo by Paul J. Richards/Getty]

Spare Me

The headline at : Conservative Media Elites Blast Commenters on Liberal Blogs As 'Vicious', 'Hurting the Country'

Meanwhile, here in the Echo Chamber,

Commenter on Liberal Blogs Blasts Conservative Media Elites as Huge Phonies and Shameless Hypocrites

Waaaah - somebody hurt Tucker Carlson's feewings!! What a bunch of fucking crybabies.

Conservative pundit Tucker Carlson: People are “really underestimating the vitriolic dumbness” that’s out there. “I don’t think there’s any way to understate it. … It’s mostly on the left,” he said, and it’s “totally intolerant.” It’s “the least liberal thing I have ever seen — the default position is ‘I don’t agree with you; you are either stupid or corrupt,’” he said. “I think it’s actually hurting the country.”

Right . . . There you have it. It's the evil, hurtful, totally intolerant librul blogosphere that's hurting the country with its vitriolic dumbness. Unlike the reasoned, respectful, polite discourse that pervades the right-wing blogosphere, of course.

Unbelievable. Unfuckingbelievable.