Yes, the title is sarcasm. Sarcasm about the Republican Party support for our troops, that is. I explain:
Paul Hackett volunteered as a Marine to serve in Iraq. Served ably and nobly by all accounts. Now he's back in Ohio, and wants to serve as Senator. Which would be the first Irag War veteran serving in Congress.
Hey, great idea.
Here's the rub: he's running as a Democrat (with decidedly Libertarian leanings).
Now, Ohio is a pretty thoroughly Republican state, and he started his campaign late. However, his opponent has a few negative aspects. So once the polls showed Hackett closing the gap, what kind of response do you think the Republicans make?
Yes, that's right, start up the slime machine.
The part that raises my anger is the belittling and attacks on this man's service, a la 'Swift Boat Veterans'. This is how the Republicans support and honor our vets? If he was a Republican, he'd be touted as the greatest warrior since Patton, with unassailable integrity. But since he's a Democrat, they have no problem insinuating that he faked his way through battle, or that as a Marine, he somehow doesn't deserve to be a Senator (but running a series of failed businesses into the ground and then owning a baseball team is the perfect background to be President). The NRCC is dumping over $500,000 into this local race, 94% of which is being spent on last minute attack ads, the ones that can make unsubstantiated charges since by the time corrections are made, the election is over.
Apparently, what made the Fat Guys Go Nutzoid in this case where Hackett said"I've said I don't like the son-of-a-b--- that lives in the White House. But I'd put my life on the line for him." Maybe a bit crude, but the essential message "I disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death you're right to say it" has been said before. But in response, the NRCC decides to "Bury him". Orders from Karl? Can you doubt it? Maybe President Middle Finger had his feelings hurt by being described as a son-of-a-bitch? (editorial accuracy in my view)
Here's what John Glenn has to say.
And here's a place to donate; if, like me, you'd like to let the Republicans know that unjustified attacks on Veterans ar most decidedly NOT appropriate behavior. The hypocrisy and 'Moral Relativism' inherent in this campaign is truly appalling.
So, this FRT is for Paul Hackett. Good thoughts, sir.
Desktop iTunes. 14,330 songs. 57.06 gigs
1. Aimee Mann - King of The Jailhouse. Oddly enough, This song ISN'T about Karl Rove.
2. Ultrasound - I'll show you mine. Ultrasound was one of the Great Unknown Bands of recent vintage. The are alternative in the vein of Pere Ubu, with heavier prog-rock leanings, but as if played by Sonic Youth. Released one brilliant album, then broke up because they couldn't get along.
3. Sonic Youth - Rain King. Nice segue, pink boy.
4. Joe Jackson - Pretty Girls.
5. The Cure - The Figurehead. Reagan? Bush I? Thatcher? your guess.
6. Sally Timms - Old Flames Can't Hold A Candle To You. Sally is a vocalist for the Mekons. Identifies herself as "The Laziest Woman In Show Business" Next best thing to a Mekons song.
7. Genesis - The Lamb Lies down on Broadway. As Norbizness has said , don't make me pull the Shut The Fuck Up card.
8. XTC - Dance Band. XTC used to have the energy of 47 Squirrel Monkeys on meth laced coffee and no sleep, before Andy Partridge suffered paralyzing stage fright and went all pastoral. This is a live version of a song from that time. Pogo along!
9. The Cure - One Hundred Years. I think my computer is depressed. Not only two songs, but two from Pornography? Bzzzzt!! Foot Fault! Three penalty random songs. Go on.
10. The Handsome Family - When That Helicopter Comes. The best Chicago alt-country goth duo ever to do a song about Lake Geneva, Jimmy Carter and Albert Einstein. "It's gonna rain champagne and the hills are gonna dance. There will be power in the blood when that helicopter comes. The sky will swim in lightning fire and the trees will shake and scream. Rocks gonna roll up hill and the sun will dive in the sea. The dead gonna wake and sing and roll their bones in the grass." You tell me what that's about.
11. Blue Oyster Cult - Moon Crazy. I told you before: STFU. It wasn't called a penalty song for nothing, OK? Don't Make Me Stop This Car.
12. Television - Venus. a punk band fronted by two guitar virtuosos? Brilliant! "I Fell right into the arms of Venus di Milo"
13. Moby - Now I Let It Go. A fitting end to the FRT.
Other than the Genesis, pretty good showing, if I had felt like dropping the NCSA.
Now go and help Paul Hackett.
Saturday Morning Open Thread: Busy, Busy, Busy All the Time
24 minutes ago
Dude!
ReplyDeleteI was all set to agree with you 100% on everything you said in the first part, and then you have to go and rip on Reagan AND Genesis. Peter Gabriel Genesis, no less.
Well, all right, I'll forgive you your elitist liberal pooh-poohing of Pete, Phil, Tony and Mike. Because the rest of your post is dead on balls accurate. This IS the type of crap that is ruining politics today, and digging an ever deeper gorge between parties and people. Very sad.
I shall have to look into the bruhaha! That will no doubt have everyone shaking in their boots.
Oh, and do remember, though I support you in your righteous indignation at the Republicans, your sound and fury would carry a whole lot more weight if you leveled it at folks on the left side of the aisle, as well. Generally, your response seems to be along the lines of, "they did it first!" Which really isn't very persuasive.
Have a good weekend.
Hey, don't get me wrong on the Genesis. There's a reason that it comes up so often in my FRT: It's cuz I got a boatload of it on my Computer. Even the real old stuff like Trespass, and Happy The Man. (BTW, this was the Seconds Out live version of Lamb, with Phil on vocals - so not really Gabriel)
ReplyDeleteBut to further establish my Genesis creds, I saw the Mama tour in Milwaukee (which was not my first Genesis show), then two days later drove my beater down to the Rosemont to see it again (as a matter of fact, I think one of those shows was with your bro);
Furthermore, three years ago I saw the Musical Box theatrical recreation of a 'Selling England By The Pound' era Genesis show. Subsequently, when the Musical Box came through with their recreation of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, again I saw it on two consecutive nights. And these are 'dead-on balls-accurate' recreations of the original shows; the Box had access to The Farm archives for photos, slides, etcetera, and were able to reproduce the costumes, masks, even the instrumentation; Peter Gabriel once took his children to the show to demonstrate what their old man was doing when he was a kid.
So let's just presume my Genesis cred is in good working order, shall we? (btw you forgot Steve). It's just that it falls down the scale on the Self Coolness Audit meter.
But on the righteous indignation part; I view the issue similar to self defense (and as a black belt, I certainly do take self defense seriously): when someone attacks me, I will respond in kind; but I won't stand down until that person has desisted. It would be foolish to open my defenses before the other person drops first (and incidentally, also as a Black Belt, once the other person has desisted, I am legally liable if I continue my attack).
I see too many Dems that seem to believe that these kinds of baseless attacks are anomalies, and that if they try to preserve decorum that the opposition will regain their restraint (which may be true of some Rs, certainly, but when loudmouths like Sean Hannity and Mike Savage claim to be talking for all Republicans, the reasonable ones seem to disappear). For five years we've seen how untrue and ineffectual this is; unfortuantely, when you're dealing with thugs, the only thing they understand is responding in kind. Not reasonable like you, Nick.
Unfortunately, this blog doesn't extend back far enough. Although, of course, I agreed with more of the policies under the Clinton Adminstration, if anything I got more frustrated on certain issues, especially privacy. And in 2000, I felt that Gore ran an extremely poor campaign, trying to follow in Clinton's footsteps; I wouldn't even vote for him.
Even now, I am appalled at the Dems that voted for the Bankruptcy bill (although honestly it didn't surprise me that Kohl did). As well as the ones who voted for CAFTA.
If the Dems ever get their shit together and recover any amount of power, I will happily rip them a new one when they need it. 'Rectum? Dam near KILLED 'em!'
So yeah, thanks for the comment and good weekend right back atcha; we're heading up the EAA tomorrow to see Spaceship One.
Ah, Nick, I see where you got the wrong Idea on the Genesis.
ReplyDeleteThe Shut The Fuck Up was to be directed at people who would feel that the representation of Genesis on the list is a bit lame and out of character; meant to defend my taste by not trying to justify it in terms of coolness.
I like what I like. STFU. see?
STFU indeed.
ReplyDeleteThe whole problem with the coolness self audit as I see it, is that EVERY song should just be a STFU. In other words, this particular song is on my hard drive for some reason; I spent the time to buy it/steal it upload/rip it. At some point in my life (or even currently) I enjoyed this. There IS NO SHAME. No need to judge me (or no need to judge myself) by the content of my ipod. My tastes are varied and personal, and nobody should be compared to what the cool kids think is fashionably hip.
Of course those who believe they ARE the cool kids will argue this.
Take Led Zep for instance. Cool or uncool? In the 70's: Cool. In the 80's and 90's: Uncool. Now: Cool again? I can't keep up with the trends, so I just like what I like and listen to what I want to listen to. And everyone else can simply STFU.
Well, zelmeister, the NCSA as I see it isn't really a reflection of what you like (after all, we both know that there are things on my iPod that are indefensible, but I like them. I will even debase myself with one example: Get The Knack. Not cool. Not cool at all. But it was a massive slab of Pure Power Pop when it came out, and as a nice sugary nugget before diving into the Ramones and the Clash, it was good to cleanse the palate, as it were); rather, it is an attempt to judge, as honestly as possible, how a limited sample of your music reflects on a kind of general musical coolness scale.
ReplyDeleteBy its nature, a bit subjective, of course. But I think with a little bit of musical knowledge, a fair assessment of relative coolness standing can be achieved.
To use your example: Led Zeppelin. Now, there will be levels of coolness for various songs. "Stairway To Heaven" is pretty low, just because of all the times it served as a prom theme. I'd give it a 3. The version from the BBC recordings will score a bit higher (maybe a 4.8), because that version crackles and burns so intensely, even after thirty years, that it nearly brings Bonzo back to life. And, something Like "Communication Breakdown", "Kashmir", or "Hot Dog" will score better, maybe up in the sixes.
Defending your choices to the Kewl Kids or Poseurs is not necessary. If you pull a stunt, comments are there for people to bring the pain.
So it's just a reference to your level of coolness, not the music. And I think the important part is to try to be fair about it; otherwise it's just kind of stupid.
Nobody wants you to stop listening to what you like. To listen to music just to impress other people is kind of stupid; and it's kind of the point of the NCSA.
But I maintain that the Mekons high NCSA scores are justified; if for no other reason than that they were Lester Bangs favorite band.