Friday Random Ten, The Instigator version

So named because a friend and I went to Shank Hall last night to see Rhett Miller of the Old 97's (who started their career on Bloodshot Records. woot!) who put on a fine solo show, and got all us old farts home in time to nearly make our bedtimes.

Also so named because apparently today is the day Patrick Fitzgerald tells us who the Instigator of the Plame Affair may have been. again, woot!


Here we go, 14,325 songs! (including new stuff from Buffalo Tom, Echo and the Bunnymen, Elliott Smith, and the Ghettobillies!)


1. Voices Carry - Til Tuesday. Out of the gate with a big ol' new wave HIT! But TT was Aimee Mann's band, and new wave synths aside, this is still a fine song from one of the best singer-songwriters around. Plus, Aimee Mann is a huge fan of Scott Miller, so she gets points for that.

2. Atom Drum Bop - The Three Johns. Obligatory Mekons Reference! One of Jon Langfords side projects from the eighties, goth-rock trio in the vein of Sisters of Mercy, Gang of Four, or maybe a little Joy Division.

3. Businessmen are Okay - The Loud Family. Speaking of Scott Miller. Off of the Brilliant album Days For Days. even with a user stupidity error, this is shaping up to be a fine FRT.

4. Never Been In A Riot - The Mekons. The first song from the Mekons, a sardonic response to the Clash's White Riot. Very Nice, iTunes is being good to me today.

5. Wherever I May Roam - Metallica. Ah. Here is the macguffin, the embarrassing track that proves I am not self-editing . Off the reviled S&M album (why does everybody hate this album so? I think the orchestra adds something interesting to the thrash). Definitely a guilty pleasure, and I respect Metallica for doing something just to piss off the fan base. I like to think it was in response to how the fans hated their short haircuts. Kind of like “You think short hair is bad? wait till you hear this, you posers!”

7. Here Comes President Kill Again - XTC. Ouch! Originally written during the Reagan nightmare, this one casued me to laugh out loud when it came up. Good songs are always relevant (dated reference to them Russians notwithstanding):

Here comes President Kill again,
Surrounded by all of his killing men.
Telling us who, why, where and when,
President Kill wants killing again.

Hooray, ring out the bells,
King Conscience is dead.
Hooray, now back in your cells,
We've President Kill instead.

Here comes President Kill again.
Broadcasting from his killing den.
Dressed in pounds and dollars and yen,
President Kill wants killing again.

Hooray, hang out the flags,
Queen Caring is dead.
Hooray, we'll stack body bags,
For President Kill instead.

8. Chunks - Dinosaur Jr. Noisy little bit of rage from J Mascis and Lou Barlow.

9. My Girl - The Ghettobillies. Funny to mention it up above and have it come up in the FRT. Cool little band I got from a reference from a the fellow Mac-Head who writes As The Apple Turns. Well, normally; he hasn't really updated much lately. But otherwise a fresh little song about a brutal girlfriend. It's sexxxy. Off the disc Butterface, which also includes a version of Basketball Jones, for you Cheech and Chong fans. Stoners!

10. The Old Gods Return - Blue Oyster Cult. Ah. more guilty embarrassing pleasures. I would say something along the lines of, at least it ain't Journey, but that would probably bring some up on the next track. Oh well, fortunately Norbizness has just pioneered the FRT Mulligan, yet another FRT innovation from our friends at Happy Furry Puppy Story Time!


A couple of bonus randoms because of the user error referred to above:

11. Beaten and Broken - The Mekons. Apology accepted, iTunes. A live track recorded in honor of their 25th anniversary at Chicago's Double Door.

12. Jesus Gonna Be Here - Tom Waits. My favorite Tom Waits moment: I saw him talking to Letterman once, and the issue of his voice came up. Tom said that at one point, he visited his doctor for a check up. At the end, the doctor told him that if he kept singing like that, he'd end up like Frank Sinatra. Waits responded, “ you mean rich, with a lot of friends?”

13. Iowa - The Letterpress Opry. Very well done; Americana rock from this band; we saw them last week doing a fine job, even with the lead vocalist having a sick throat. Made some new friends. Very highly recommended; music available on CDBaby and iTunes.

That was so nice I'll do one more:

14. Why Is It Always This Way? - The Ramones. nuff said.



And, because we're off to the Free Hot Lunch reunion in FLA on Sunday, here's a random Wa-Ha Five:


1. Sex In A Volcano. scary! guitar.
2. Tequila Sheila. The show closer, sway along.
3. Samba Song.
4. Penguin Love. Should have been the end credits song for March of The Penguins
5. Oz. one of my favorite Jeff Berg songs...


Dang. Now I'm all Wa-Ha and no tequila in the office.

Career of Evil

Not what you think, boyos.


This has to do with Wal-Mart, or Big Box Mart if you need a bit of a primer.


It will probably come as no surprise that as a fuzzy thinkin librul, I don't hold any liking for Sam Walton's little venture; it abuses it's workers through institutionally regressive employment practices, they actively exploit less-employable workers like the elderly and disabled, and their treatment of female employees is just shabby; as a small business owner, I find their exporting of trade and support of Third World exploitive companies to be repugnant and their strong-arm trade tactics toward their suppliers to be offensive.

Not to mention as a designer, I find their greenfield development approaches to be the worst example of environmentally destructive, automobile oriented sprawl, coupled with their liking for buying off local zoning and approval boards to be noisome and bullying. Not to mention that their 'big box' buildings are the cheapest and ugliest amongst a crowd of the cheap and ugly.

But now there's a new offense. As a licensed architect, who daily strives to provide accessibility, or universal design to the built environment, especially converting older buildings to usability by a wider range of people, it is revolting that Wal-Mart has been discovered to incorporating discrimination against the disabled as corporate policy.

It may come as a surprise that one in 5 Americans have a disability. Part of the reason this is not apparent is the inhospitability of the built environment toward the disabled. Try a day, just a day, in a wheelchair yourself and see. Now try a day blindfolded. Now deaf. (disclaimer: My office is in a small building that is inaccessible to wheelchairs. self-serving mea culpa: I am constantly lobbying the Owner to provide full accessibility). This prevents the disabled from getting out as much as the fully-abled do; unless you have someone in your family with a disability, you just don't have as much contact with disabled people.

Here's an excellent example: Recently, the National Spinal Cord Injury Association built a small respite building in an unused corner of the Summerfest grounds. The building was to provide relief from claustrophobia (try maneuvering through a packed crowd at 4' head height) and overheating (many para- and quadriplegics also lose the ability to regulate their heat. This type of building had no precedent, so no one really knew what to expect.

The building became an instant success, being used at all hours of Summerfest; moreover, the addition of this facility (as well as provision of generous amounts of other accessible features) has roughly tripled the number of disabled visiting the festival, to the point where the increase in numbers was
noticeable to casual visitors in the crowd.
In a crowd of 80,000 people, that's significant.

It was so remarkable that we teamed up with them to design a similar facility for the State Fair site, except it was triple the size. It was an incredible learning experience, since many of the people making up the Board of the NSCIA are disabled; their critiques of our design not only improved the building, but gave us invaluable insight into the realities of living as disabled person, and the constant frustrations that are experienced; that can't be written into the building code or described in a diagram.

In this environment, it is reprehensible in the extreme that the greedy bastards running Wal-Mart find it expedient, even profitable, to incorporate written description of discriminatory practices toward this segment of the population into their business. It also says more than a little about the business environment, and unwillingness of the government, OUR government, to protect American citizens from this kind of predatory behavior. And that Wal-Mart feels safe in committing this behavior to writing.

Many people are of the opinion that by enacting the Americans with Disabilities Act, Bush 41 placed an incredible burden on businesses and construction; however, I was a practicing professional at the time, and I performed a code analysis of the requirements for the firm I worked for and I can say that it did not add any kind of undue burden to the industry. Most states already had some form of accessibility codes in place; the ADA did not make any wholesale changes and very few minor ones. As a matter of fact, there were several areas where Wisconsin code was ALREADY more stringent than Federal Guidelines. The creation of the ADA did two things, however; it established a baseline level for Accessible Design across the country; but maybe more importantly, it established the right of a significant number of Americans for redress of discrimination.

In the face of such inhumane, even inhuman behavior, I have hope that it may serve that purpose in this case.

However, I also fear that our country has devolved to the point where corporate behavior always trumps individuals.


[Edit: Shakespeare's Sister has a Rant.]

Almost Anything Goes

Another week, another batch of late posting....excuses, malingering, and procrastinating, right?


Just kind of lounging about after a busy day filled with stupid people, preparing for at least two more of the same. So it goes without saying that posting may be sporadic, at best.

Which kind of sucks, because our Friendly Conservative Librarian Nick left a couple of good discussions in the comments down below, and I've been wanting to at least take a stab at some rambling, incoherent responses to them, if I can manage to find a way to do it in Lockstep with the Left (I Keed, Nick, I Keed!) Feel free bump him on those, folk, if'n you're so inclined.

Of course, you can expect A Friday Random Ten of some kind. Maybe some catblogging; if can figure out how to post the thing, maybe even a little CatVideo.

And I would dearly love to make sarcastic comments and say 'I Told You So' as indictments are announced and the level of depravity of the Bush administration is exposed through the Legal Process. As Hunter would say, Patrick Fitzgerald is a Warrior; and has balls of Hardened Steel.

But my Time is Limited, because The Wa-Ha calls. A Careen is Imminent, and because of the congruency of a Date of Birth, much merriment is forecast.



Truly. We need to address the mundane needs of clients, before the expiration of the week; The Bird Flies On Sunday, and Wilma spared the site of the Careen. even a Mighty Thunder God will not come between the FHL and their fans: this is the Third installment of the Reunion Trilogy, and George Lucas can only dimly dream of the success of the first two installments, tears dribbling into his hairy dewlap.


Indeed. Ten Years is Too Long; and half a World of separation cannot prevent the attraction of organisms united in Tequila and Summerfest, whose heritage has destroyed not only many livers, several friendships, and a couple of marriages, but the legendary Club de Wash. The Penguin has spanned the distance between Playboy magazine and a small bar in Platteville; has united folk and punk in 'My Wife And My Best Friend's Girl'; and filled the Kenwood Inn lightshelf with shot glasses.

So I will talk when I have time; post pictures if the Pipe is Large, and time avails; or just put some random weirdness out on the Wire. And hopefully will provide enough juicy details, etc. to make KE feel like an Extra Large buffoon for missing what may be the last Wa-Ha for another Decade. Depending on the condition that the Republicans leave the country, that may be a truly savage interval.

Catblogging

Cuz you know you want it.

Toby and the late Tiller share a sunbeam on the stairs.

Friday Random Ten, grinnin' Bug Man Edition

Man, what a goober. Lighting up in a big stoner-style grin for a mugshot. Total doofus.

Course, I've never been arrested, so I don't know how I'd look in a mugshot. I have been fingerprinted by the FBI though. Long story.

Hey! Do I get to feel morally superior to Tom delay now, because he's been booked and I haven't?


Sripped down, old-school, no extras FRT:

1. Atomic Power - Uncle Tupelo.

2. Suffer in Silence - The Frames

3.Flight of The Fire Weasel, Part 1 - The Meat Puppets

4. Why? - Meat Puppets. woo. just had a massive deja vu feeling, with the 2 Puppets songs in a row. Gaa. better go to lunch.

5. There You Go - Jon Langford. member of the Mekons covering Johnny Cash, with Neko Case singing backup. doesn't get much better than this. I'm gonna listen to it twice.

6. You You You - Kevin Coyne. RIP Kevin

7. Imagine...walk on the wild side - the partyparty. I don't even know where the hell this came from.

8 Snow - The Mekons. From WAYback, this was when they not only didn't know how to play their instruments, they had no interest in learning. Postmodern Irony takes DIY to the logical conclusion.

9. Sally - Blue Oyster Cult. odd little demo.

10. Wall of Death - REM. cover of a Richard Thompson song. very cool.



That's it.

Puke And Cry

ewww.


Go Look:


Ack! Janine Turner is a Republican?!?


I mean, Janine Turner?


Shit. Another fantasy shot all to hell.

Say Anything

It has come to my attention that posting has been light.

Sorry.

Meatspace requirements have been overwhelming, and it appears that this will continue for a few days.

However, you should read this transcript of the ideal Intelligent Design debate.

Memorable quote:

"AHHHHHHH!! THE PAIN!!!!!!"

Oh, and Friday at Points East Pub is the Letterpress Opry. Very cool Americana rock. Plus they've covered a Sally Timms song, so Coolness is Assured. Show up and buy me a beer.

Armed and Stupid

PZ Myers, of Pharyngula, writes a very good entry at his blog regarding a Salon Article entitled “Idiot America” and he doesn't even have to fluff the bit out with the tidbit that the title apparently comes from Green Day.

Doesn't matter; it's about the rampant idiocy being broadcast around the country, and the anti-intellectualism seeping into America under the guise of 'fairness', 'balance', and 'intuition' .

Implicit in his article is refutation of the aggravating notion that experts merely hold opinions, and another's opinion is just as relevant; I've experienced this myself on a professional basis.

As he points out, reality isn't subject to a vote; as Opus once remarked, “when 10 million people do a stupid thing, it is still a stupid thing”

PZ's final graf is the best:

You would be surprised at how much email is sent to me telling me to stop being so derisive, that harsh language and ridicule turn people off and repel the very ones we're trying to persuade. My reply is like the one above; by refusing to ridicule the ridiculous, by watering down every criticism into a mannered circumlocution, we have created an environment where idiots thrive unchallenged. We have a twit for a president because so many people made apologies for his ludicrous lack of qualifications—we need more people unabashedly pointing out fools.

Harsh language and ridicule? I'm totally on board, PZ! The totally idiotic deserve what they get, and it's especially funny to do it with sarcasm and satire, when they don't understand it.

Friday Random Ten

Just following the lead of stalwarts Lauren and Norbizness.

Skipping the self-audit, cuz I got a Mickey's hangover, and really, how many of you give a shit? We know that I'm no longer cool, and neither are you, in the cold grey light of dawn.

If you want to check, go Ask an Insufferable Music Snob


Desktop random, 14,219 songs, 56.59 gigs:

1. Power of Moonlight - Tiger Army. Punk from the Hellcat! label. They do these great mashup CDs of punk, ska and reggae labelmates; like the Clash and Rancid, it works.

2. Face It - Moby.

3. Take The Skinheads Bowling - Camper Van Beethoven. Yes! this is the kind of music on this kind of Friday. Absurdist bit of post-punk genius. They may never have reached this height again, but fuckin Cracker never got close. If I was scoring, this would be a solid 9, even if it was in that Michael Moore movie. Post modern irony still has a place.

4. In The Name of God - Dream Theater. guitar heavy prog. In high school, I would have loved these guys. Seems awful timely, though, doesn't it? Check these lyrics:

How can this be?
Why is he the chosen one?

Saint gone astray
With a scepter and a gun

Learn to believe
In the mighty and the strong

Come bleed the beast
Follow me it won't be long

Listen when the prophet
Speaks to you
Killing in the name of God

Frankly, though, a little too much scale-based noodling. Definitely not cool.

5. Point Shirley - Rhett Miller. Of the late Old 97's, this guy should be receiving the accolades and record sales Ryan Adams is receiving. Definitely worth checking out.

6. Will Tomorrow ever Come - Dance Hall Crashers. I don't care whether it's cool or not, IMS, but I always like the ska, first wave, second wave, or third wave.

7. Leaving New York - REM. High point, subtle piece, from the latest album. Bittersweet parting, with a chorus that is one big hook. And I love overlapping vocals like toward the end. All you folks that argue about what album killed REM can just send your damn tickets to me. I saw them on the Life's Rich Pageant tour in a theater of about 2500 people (Camper Van opened! Yes!) and on the Green tour in a shed of 40,000. Probably one of the only bands I would still go see in a big shed or barn, if they ever come by again.

8. No Hiding Place - The Boomtown Rats. I started listening to punk and new wave with Elvis, the Cars, the Clash, the B-52's and the Rats. Never made it big in America, due to a backlash from radio critics. Bastards.

9. My Girl - Madness. Back to the second wave ska. definitely a theme going here.

10. Black Blade - Blue Oyster Cult. Ahh, HERE's the embarrassing track. Again, I loved these guys in high school; still like them, and in recent years, they've reverted to what I call 'the Cheap Trick Phenomenon' ; where they've re-discovered the fun of playing rock n roll, no matter what size of crowd, and in the end, it's better than working. So I still like 'em, and fuck you. I think Norbizness likes 'em too, although he won't admit it, and if it's good enough for HFPST, it's good enough for this low-rent district.

Bonus tracks: let's see how much more embarrassing iTunes will get on me:


11. Always There - UB40. Recent stuff. They used to be great, before they became AOR easy listening for suburban emigres who like to think they're still cool. The UBs deserve the benefit of the doubt, though, just for writing One inTen as well as taking their name from Britain's unemployment Benefit form.

12. The Real Sheila - Game Theory. Scott Miller (again) I think ITunes likes his stuff; I wonder if the computer knows that Miller is now working as a UNIX uber-geek since the music career petered out. I blame Warner Brothers; when the revolution comes, I claim dibs on WB music execs. Their screams shall be as of the Damned.

And we'll just go with a baker's dozen today:

13. Inspector Gadget - Ska King Crab. Third Wave.

Football Meat

God is A Big Wheel

A handy little site you all should visit:

And here's the best bit:

...you have a number of rights and responsibilities. These include (but are not limited to):
1. Have no gods.
2. Don't worship stuff.
3. Be polite.
4. Take a day off once in a while.
5. Be nice to folks.
6. Don't kill people.
7. Don't fool around on your significant other.
8. Don't steal stuff.
9. Don't lie about stuff.
10. Don't be greedy.

Sounds good to me. The FSM commands you all to follow these suggestions.

Just What I Needed

this is wonderful. Via PZ Myers, (who is fast becoming one of my favorite on line reads) comes this meme:

Google (your first name) Needs, to see what tha Intranets think you need:

Temporary Costello Needs:

TC needs are not being met
TC needs to hear the response, “I will concede the point about the threat built up about Nuclear WMDs was wrong”
TC needs food, badly
TC needs assistance
TC didn't need the crutches

TC needs to open up
TC needs to do a Gospel CD
TC needs to clear his head
TC needs a new car
TC needs to get his homework done.

TC needs to show what he brings to the table
TC needs a beer.
TC needs your help!
TC needs our prayers
TC needs to cut every corner

TC needs upgrade
TC needs coffee, but unwilling to enter the apocalyptic Starbucks...
TC needs to schedule an appointment
TC needs to stop blaming God
TC needs to select a unit in an RTS or open a door in an RPG...

TC needs terms to be agreed on large donations/pledges/loans as soon as possible.

Totally. In a horoscopic kind of way, each and every one of those things absolutely applies.

Except for the Gospel CD, of course. That's just fucked up.

One Law for Them

After 5 years, Bush has finally, finally decided enough is enough and he's going to veto something.


A Congressional resolution barring inhumane or cruel treatment from any American detainees.


Nice move, Chimpy. My admiration for your willingness to display your inhumanity grows ever daily. Am I allowed to use the word Fascist yet? How about Brutal Tyrant?

This is how far we've descended? Americans once fought to eradicate this behavior from the word, and much of the world, to their credit has continued to work to continue this work. But under Bush's reign, America has become the worldwide face of torture. Nice work, asshole. Way to piss all over the idea that America might stand for something.

I find it near inconceivable that so many Americans managed to bring themselves to vote for this man and the gang of political thugs that managed to rig the machinery long enough to install him into office.

This is behavior redolent of Pinochet, Khomeini, or, ironically enough, Saddam Hussein. This is the face of the Modern Republican Party: this is the Face of Evil.

Friday Random Ten...

... Karl Rove trying to wiggle his doughy butt out of jail version.



1. Contact -Big Audio Dynamite. Mick Jones is great, but it's not the Clash. 4/10.

2. Shipbuilding - Elvis (not the fat dead one). It's Elvis. automatic 8/10.

3. Me and the Wind - XTC. Bitter little song, Partridge. 7/10

4. Roll Over And Die - Bob Mould. ah. a song just for Turdblossom. 7/10

5. Lorelei - The Pogues. Post-Shane. Good, but Shane was what made the Pogues genius. 4/10

6. The Lights - Robbie Robertson. Good stuff from an album called Contact from the Underworld of Redboy. Check it out. 8/10

7. Pretty Vacant - The Sex Pistols. Remember when this was going to destroy Western Civ? Guess what. apparently it did, it just looks like it took till now for the effects to be visible. Now, it just sounds like Van Halen. 4/10

8. Afraid of Sunrise - Marillion. under-rated prog band. 5/10 cuz prog ain't cool.

9. Forever - Cracker. It's not CVB. iTunes is out to underwhelm today. 4/10


That's it. Only 9, because all of you have been BAD. Except J Neo. He named his new album Freedom Fried.

You boyos do your own math, if you must. And go see Serenity, how many times do I have to tell ya?

Spy In The House Of Love

The BushCo administration, always with an eye out to pioneer; always blazing new trails...



For the FIRST TIME EVER. A spy within the White House has been caught.

IN. THE. WHITE. HOUSE. Feelin' safer yet?

darth Cheney's office, no less. Gotta wonder if he did that Force-chokin thing to the guy?


Aaaaaaaand.... in a display of lightning quick response, Bush gives a speech.


Incompetents and Cronies, Drunks and sociopaths. The Modern Republican Party. Ruining a Country near you.

Good Golly Miss Molly

I sure love me some Molly Ivins.

Hits another one right out of the park.


I'd say she should run for president, but I think she has too much fun being a gadfly.


Here's the best bit (emphasis me):

It seems to me what we are looking at was put best by noted journalist Billy Don Moyers, formerly of Marshall, Texas, who was home last week and observed that the Republican right came to Washington to start a revolution and stayed to run a racket. It has become a game of ideological flim-flam, a scam in which all manner of distracting hoo-hah -- abortion, judicial activism, even “the war on terra” -- is used to obscure the fact that the government has been taken over by people who are using it to make money for themselves and their friends.

The Ballad of TV Violence

Orders for my Teeming Minion:

Go see Serenity. Now.

Do not come back until this mission is accomplished.

That is all.

It Only Makes Me Laugh

leaked from a Presidential Briefing:

Rumsfeld:
“Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed in an accident'

POTUS:
”OH NO! That's terrible!“

His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching
as the President sits, head in hands. Finally, the President looks up
and asks..........

POTUS:
”How many exactly IS a Brazillion ?

Won't Get Fooled Again

Posted without comment at Billmon's Whiskey Bar:


A summation of the rightwing pundits, including my Ol Buddy Cal Thomas, extolling the need and virtues of trusting GWB in his selection of Harriet “Ozzy” Miers.


Hahahhahahahahahahahahaahhh! ha!

wait. let's look at that again:


TRUST. GEORGE W BUSH.


Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahheeheee hee hee hee hee hooooooooo. heh.


And here I though irony was dead; I guess poetic justice was revived by Tom DeLay, because nothing.... NOTHING...... could be sweeter than the cream of the Wingnuts being forced to resort to TRUST in the man who has betrayed any trust the American People and other Nations of the World have ever put in them. He has violated every trust he's ever held: to stockholders, to fellow National Guard members who served their duties, to Armed Services members who fulfilled their obligations in Vietnam and Iraq. To firefighters in New York. To baseball fans in Texas. To college students in Yale and Harvard and others who are there by dint of talent and abilities, not bloodlines. To his Father. To Congress who thought he would use the cudgel they put in his hand to restrain Saddam Hussein, not to beat the entire neighborhood to a pulp. To Alberto Gonzales. To the policemen. To the CIA. And now, finally to the religious right and red-meat Republicans.

As I've said before, and as Digby has put it so brutally and truthfully, George W Bush does not give two shits about ideology, or about America, or about anything further than the G and H in his name; Karl rove maneuvered him into position by appealing to his self-interest, and in the sole pursuit of permanent political power. Since cases involving Rove, Abramoff, and other BushBuddies will be coming up, it was necessary to install sinecures into the most powerful deliberative body in the country to protect the sources of that permanent power.

It's frightening at its core, because it may be a turning point in America; turning either into a continued democratic republic, committed to individual liberty and opportunities, or a rigid, repressive, religiously dominated police state run for corporate benefit where citizens live at the pleasure of a small ruling elite. It's like towards the end of a game of Risk, where you must decide whether to extend yourself to the limit, possibly overextending yourself and leaving yourself vulnerable, to dominate a landmass or eliminate an opponent: the question now becomes, have the Rovenauts overextended themselves?


But Cal Thomas being forced to rely on Trust In Bush, now that's good funny.

Walking Contradiction

Over the weekend, I got to talking with an acquaintance about several things. Alcohol was involved.

But we got, especially, to talking about the two most prominent disasters to occur during Preznit HappyHour's reign so far, the 9/11 attack and Hurricane Katrina (and isn't it telling that we now have to rank the disasters during this Presidency?)

However, this friend, who in addition to being a proud Republican, also happens to be a firefighter.

He mentioned being in NY for a while, and out of deference and concern, spending some time working at Ground Zero, which was maybe no longer an emergency site, but still smoldering. I. of course, immediately bought him a drink.

And then, moving on to Katrina, he regurgitated the meme of the responsibility for evacuation being the local authorities, and the individuals, and anybody but any Federal authorities. even though the locals, had, in fact, asked for help. Even though FEMA's actual mission statement calls for them to be first responders in cases of national emergency or where asked by local authorities. The current interpretation being, apparently, that Federal intervention is only permissible when all other resources have been exhausted and after the fact, rather than in prevention and preparation.

And, of course, no amount of diversion of federal funding or Army Engineer warning about weaknesses in the levee system create culpability at the Federal level, since it's their own damn fault for living there.

However, Federal aid for Florida was just fine. As was federal intervention to preserve operation of oil facilities, who had also chosen to locate there, right?

But ultimately, what I thought and did not ask, in deference to a first responder, is, how come when it comes to 9/11, Federal intervention couldn't happen too soon or in too excessive quantity, extending to his personal involvement at his own cost; but that a more extensive disaster, involving the obliteration of an American City and much of its surrounds, deserves nothing but opprobrium and scorn for the residents?


Unfortunately, I think I know the answer.

Feel The Benefit

oooh. comments. we got this in our comment section:

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And the highly efficient little spambot posted it 3 times today, on a post from June. So you know it's got to be the real thing.
So I Got that goin for me. Which is nice.

No really, if anyone has a nice spambot program, can you just crash whatever kind of web based assholery this semi-literate fucktard is running? You know, because I really want find a cure.

Clowns of Death

Jeff Jacoby carries water for the Intelligent Design lunkheads.

PZ Myers completely dissects this article, like any qualified scientist, efficiently splitting Jacoby's seams, pinning his eviscerated husk to a board and neatly labeling all the shriveled arguments. It's beautiful.

But not least for his dismissal of JJ's deliberative capabilities as... wait, let me just get the quote:

In the first sentence of his paragraph, he says that ID is a “restatement of a timeless [religious!] argument” implying the existence of a “higher intelligence”, which he identifies as “God”; in his third sentence, he says “It doesn't make a religious claim”. There is a space of 14 words between those two contradictory statements. If nothing else, this essay establishes an upper bound on the length of a train of thought that Jeff Jacoby can maintain. I suspect that he might be able to compete with a caffeinated gerbil.

... It uses scientific data, it's not a scientific theory, it implies God, it doesn't make a religious claim, and now it's science again. I think I'm going to have to test his attention span against that of a caffeinated gerbil on meth.

Exquisite. The Caffeinated Gerbil is now the standard against which wingnut commentators must be judged.

Years of Wrong Impressions

Harriet Myers.

Huh.

Well, my prediction, and I'm going out on a limb here, is that since there's no record of dismembering puppies in her past (the rightwing sets a pretty low bar, remember), she'll be approved. Gotta get those Bush fambly retainers installed prior to the next elections, ya know.

However, this is where there's a significant problem here.

Let's look at that money shot again, shall we: In the White House that hero worshipped the president, Miers was distinguished by the intensity of her zeal: She once told me that the president was the most brilliant man she had ever met.


Okay, now even amongst the full goose bozo Kool Aid Faithful of the Rightwing Shock Troops, you can't find someone who will claim for GWB the mantle of 'most brilliant I've ever met'. me, I give him credit when he manages to get the underwear inside of the pants without help from Pickles Stepford.

either that, or Ms. Miers has a woefully deficient circle of acquaintances, seemingly centered around the brain trust of the local Gas N Go.

But in either case, someone who claims Bush as the most brilliant man is a) an irrepressible obsequious brownnoser , b) an inveterate hopeless liar, or c) dim as a 5 watt bulb. In any of these cases, I would maintain, not your ideal Supreme Court material.

But this is Bush's world, we just live in it; and in BushWorld, loyalty to the family crest of crossed bongs is all the qualification you need, and the rest of us are servants, cannon fodder, or irrelevant.