Calling Scientists, Science Lovers, and Reasonable People to the Yard

Last night I witnessed the most magnificent expression of one's beliefs on Facebook. I will be posting the conversation over a short duration today. While I am not suggesting it is appropriate to mock others, I am hopeful this will illuminate how one might dialogue about science with deniers and why it matters in public and private schools in America.

It began with this:

Fish out of H20: This may be the first August I've ever spent somewhere with lows in the 50's.

And so it went:

Creationist: Thank you, global warming, AHEM--I mean, climate change. :-)

Fist out of H20: Note to self: I am far less likely to make a fool of myself if I do not speak before I know all the facts.

Creationist: I'm sorry that you feel a person must agree with you or they don't know "all the facts". As I do educate myself on my opinions, I could counter that you do not have all the facts either. If global warming does exist, and we evil humans are causing it, why has the earth actually cooled over the past 10 years? Further, why did the earth have various periods of increased and decreased temperatures before CFCs and automobiles existed? The only thing that makes logical sense is that the earth operates in cycles. If you believe (which I'm sure you do) that the earth has been here for billions of years, it's kind of egotistical to think that it survived on its own for so long, and now we measly humans are able to destroy it with 50 years of CO2. I am willing to concede that periods of warming may exist, but only if periods of cooling also exist, which the evidence does show. (Please note this may be plagerized by C. off a webpage.!)

Goyim Scientist: The earth has cooled over the past ten years? News to me and everyone else in the scientific community. There can be no "if" about whether global climate change is real, nor can there be an "if" about whether human actions are its primary causative factor. We've been pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for a hell of a lot longer than 50 years--try since the discovery that we could create fire on our own.

Creationist: When you made the comment above, it sounded as if you were implying that I didn't know all the facts and that I was making a fool of myself. Perhaps that's not what you were saying, but all of my statements still stand. :-)

Fist out of H2O: My point was that I'm now living in XXX. You know, at a higher altitude?

Creationist: Actually, there are plenty of "ifs" and questions. The problem is that the "scientific community" is no longer interested in real science. Real science is always questioning, always probing. However, the few real scientists left who "dare" to question certain "facts" are shut out of the scientific community and branded as idiots. It's a shame that so many individuals call themselves true scientists and yet value a certain ideology over the quest for what is true.

C links to the following websites here, here, here, and here.

Creationist: There are many credible scientists who question global warming, one of the most prominent being the founder of The Weather Channel. One would think that he might know what he was talking about. But because he doesn't automatically cave to the agenda, he is reviled as a kook.

Goyim Scientist: There are no "ifs" about global climate change. It is a fact. There are plenty of questions about how bad it is and whether or not it's progressed past the point where we can reasonably do anything about it, but no one not pushing a particular political agenda seriously disputes that it exists. I note that at least two of the "sources" you quote are associated with that particular political agenda. If you're interested in the actual data, I recommend having a look here:

Link here

That's from the first chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2007physical science report. Notice that while there is a certain amount of statistical noise (as would be expected when drawing data from such a large number of different sources using different methodologies), there is no question but that the global average surface temperature is trending steadily upward, and has been since the 1950s.

Law School Flunkie: Climate Change Debate for Dummies:

1. The vast majority of scientists agree that climate change is a demonstrated phenomenon.

2.The vast majority of people who oppose the argument for climate change do so for political reasons....

3.The vast majority of people who argue about climate change are not scientists.

4.Scientists get smarter in a community, while the masses get dumber.

5.Trust the scientific community, not the politicians or the internets.


Creationist: Flunkie, Nice try. If, in fact, we should always regard the "experts" as completely knowledgeable, then I should now be regarded as the expert in econ and financial matters. If you would have us to believe that anyone who is an expert in a certain field is always correct, then fine--I will begin to bow down to what scientists tell me when you and all other liberals begin to regard me (as well as Ben Bernanke, Thomas Sowell, etc.) as the one to turn to on financial and economical matters. But the fact of the matter is that is not the way we operate. Al Gore and Jimmy Carter have won Nobel Prizes. Does that mean I should regard anyone who has won a Nobel Prize as being a god? Absolutely not. What you seem to be preaching is validity of a subject based on who is saying it, not on the evidence and the argument itself. I, rather, care not who says it, but rather what their argument is and what evidence they have.

Link

This link itself should make a person question the sanity of those who preach the gloom and doom of global warming. How can global warming cause both increases and decreases in harvests? How can GW cause both melanoma increase and a decrease in melanoma? Do you not see how crazy this is?

For your sake, I will not even go so far as to say that man-made global warming is false. What I will say is that the evidence, at best, points to cyclical warming and cooling. Which does not merit billions of dollars in spending to try to combat it.

Goyim Scientist: Way to conflate things which are not equal, Creationist. Climate change is variable. Harvests will undoubtedly increase in some parts of the world, even as they decrease in others. This is elementary logic. Climate change has nothing to do with the rates of melanoma, since melanoma is caused by exposure to ultraviolet rays (primarily), and has no correlation whatsoever with temperature.

Nor does any serious scientist question that there are natural climate cycles. Those, however, operate on timescales of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years. Whereas the rise in global temperatures that we're concerned about is largely a product of the last half-century.

It's particularly interesting to see you riding Flunkie for appeals to authority when you yourself were guilty of it first. (See your comment about the "founder of the Weather Channel"--of whom there were two, by the by, neither of whom had a science degree: they were both journalists.)

Flunkie: Just because you have a degree doesn't make you an expert. To paraphrase from my field a bit, a scientific expert is one whose opinion is based on peer-reviewed research generally accepted by the scientific community. You are not a scientist, and your opinion is based on political ideology, so pardon me if I defer to people who actually know what the hell they're talking about, instead of people who argue with internet links.

Creationst: I am giving a name of a person that I happen to agree with, but not because of his name. I found after doing my own research and establishing my position that the founder happened to agree with me, but I did not base my decision on who made certain arguments. As I said, you are both saying that a person's argument can have no merit if they are not "scientists"; if that is the case, only those of us who have econ and finance degrees (which I do have) are intelligent enough to speak on economic and financial matters. I believe neither of those to be true. Is my opinion more valid just because I spent four years studying financial markets and the banking system? It might mean that I know more in-depth facts and inner-workings of the system, but it doesn't mean that every single opinion I have in that area is correct. In the same vein, I do not believe a person just because they have a degree in something.

I have done my own research, and I provided you with links from scientists who dared to disagree with the scientific community on this. I am sorry if you think I don't know "what the hell I am talking about", but other people agree with me. What's really sad here is that even though you profess to be a scientist, you really have no desire to find the truth, only to suppress any opposition. If only someone had been around to tell Newton and Galileo they were idiots from veering away from the scientific propaganda around them. Maybe you should watch Ben Stein's movie and see that there are scientists and mathematicians all over the world who don't believe this global warming stuff, and they have been shunned. That should cause you to at least raise an eyebrow about the intentions of your scientific peers.

To add one more thing, I have no political agenda here. I don't win anything by standing against global warming. However, you as well as other scientists do win if you stand for it--you keep your "credibility" and will retain whatever jobs and positions you hold in the scientific community.

Interesting link

I must let you know that I am not so far anti-global warming that I am unaware of sustainability issues. I am a huge proponent of recycling and reusing; I hardly ever throw anything away,especially if I can think of another way to use it. To me, this is just common sense--there is only so much land where we can only throw so much garbage, and it makes sense to recycle and reuse things whenever possible.

Update: The conversation was taken down by the owner of the Facebook page. I'm so sad. I wanted to get to the point where I called her out on her apologist agenda and suggested she go outside to pet puppies and smell daises. Dammit!

I may have them in deleted e-mail. Let me hunt and peck.

She Should Run Fast

I made the argument during the 2008 presidential election that political campaigns are fertile ground for evidence of the patriarchy in the modern world. They are as good if not better, than a fetal heart monitor when it comes to gender inequality and the culture war. Research suggests that when women run for office the smears are more likely to turn into disparaging comments about their bodies than when men run for office. The feminization of political campaigns is remarkable. Consider the last time you heard something like “John McCain is the John Holmes of America’ or ‘John Kerry’s schecky has been inside Harvard Yard.’ You don't remember too many of those, do you? Conversely, you can still purchase a comfortable cotton blend t-shirt to support Hillary here.

From the national to the local level, women’s bodies are objectified during political campaigns to a much greater proportion than men’s. Little if anything, is being done to impede this gross activity, especially with the increase in computer chat rooms and news board comments. As women desire to enter politics, the cost has become much greater than other professions because of the public spotlight. Technology and the conservative media has made it only more vivid and pervasive.

I would like to illuminate what I am saying by taking a look at what happened in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania in 2008. Former legislative aide, Bernie Kiekak, fired up the comments section on this B-list blog and wrote the following comments about Sam Bennett, then candidate for the 15th congressional district of Pennsylvania. "Sammy Bennett is a phony political whore who gives good head and makes cheap, blatant political opportunists look like Mother Fucking Teresa. Even her cunt is made of plastic." Is Sean S. writing under a new pen name?

His mother and father must be so proud.

What bothers me most about this individual is not the vile that comes from his fingers regarding her vagina. Or that he believes women are only good for two things -- fucking and blow jobs. Furthermore I am certainly not going to get fecal matter on my hands by addressing the rabid connections he wishes to draw between Bennett and an inanimate Barbie Doll. While these are all heinous and outrageous and relevant to the point here, the money bite is how he spews his venom by starting with 'Sammy.' This is a tactic that is worth exploring more because it separates the garden variety misogynist from the mentally ill.

When examining hate speech throughout history, you'll often find that the most violent, diabolical, and mentally ill of individuals will begin their hate mantra with some form of mutilation of their opponent's name. For women it is generally a version of their first names because the patriarchy best flourishes when it reminds women of their second class citizenship by ensuring that they are not referred to by their last names which are often shared with their fathers or husbands. Wouldn't want to offend a bro, right? Her first name is then often reduced to a child-like nickname, when possible, because women have not earned their place out of the playpen in a world where men shall rule in the minds of this diabolical individuals. By returning women to their days of playground hopscotch and dodgeball, these individuals believe they are restraining women to nothing more than the servitude they witnessed in the classroom where female teacher's are grossly underpaid for their work and young boys who act out are rewarded with attention or minor school expulsions that parents hold adminstrators responsible for rather than their children and their own failings to examine the psychological and emotions wiring of their child's behavior.

It is deeply disturbing to me that we live in a society where this kind of mental illness is left untreated. If women do not already have enough challenges with the robust powers of patriarchy, they have to endure the rampant untreated mentally ill. Perhaps a national healthcare plan will give women some reprieve becase local news outlets do not appear to be doing so. I firmly believe there is something more unique about these individuals than sexist men. (I'll cover this is another post soon.)

How did the local newspaper and the individual who hosted the words that were inscribed about Ms. Bennett respond? Why they left the hate speech on the blogosphere while the local paper went on a witch hunt the week after regarding her salary at a local nonprofit. A rolling stone gathers no moss, right? Why scrape down the diary of a mentally ill man so long as Manson can live free in prison with a swastika on his forehead, right.

What the paper was incensed about was that Bennett was on track to reel in $110,000 in 2007 as executive director of Properties of Merit, an Allentown-based organization that rewards people for repairing their homes. According to the local newspaper, Bennett's salary was 31 percent of the group's $351,000 budget. After the salary was publicly criticized, Bennett volunteered to take a pay cut and the group board cut it in July 2007 to $55,000.

Interestingly enough, the newspaper did not respond with a similar kind of witch hunt about the legislative aide who pulled in $95,000 a year until he was terminated for writing misogynistic comments online. Or her opponent, Charles Dent, who makes $174,000 at his tax payer funded job in the Congress. Has he suggested he'd take a pay cut or better yet, give half of his salary to the budget of the nearly bankrupt state he represents?

The point of all of this is that Bennett is now President at The Women’s Campaign Forum. WCF supports level the playing field for women against the patriarchy with a program known as She Should Run. It’s an extraordinary organization that seeks to put an end to what Bennett and so many other women endure when they run for public office. I hope you’ll take a moment to visit the site and consider nominating someone you know who is interested, has contemplated it, or just has a bit of interest in running for any form of local, state, or national political office. Being involved in the process matters and women need to be supported when the endeavor to do so.

Pre Caturday

AG is outtie for a wedding this weekend. So, here you go early:



-Oh Hai, Momma! Do you have any Grey Poupon? more...

Blood Lies

Jill Stanek writes of an anti-abortion movie that she suggests her readers should see. Having only reviewed the You Tube trailer, I have limited understanding on the arguments inside of the 'documentary'. I am delighted to address the trailer Stanek provided and will review the full documentary when it becomes available:

A. Women Do Not Talk About Their Abortions. It's true. Women generally do not engage in discourse about abortion or other reproductive choices for that matter when they get together at their block parties or over dim sum with work colleagues. Given that one's birth control options or gall bladder and aorta for that matter, concerns do not interest the majority of individuals they engage with, why does anyone expect abortion to be different? It's not like AG rings up her blog BFF. "Annie, so how's that IUD working for you? Did you feel like it was the best money your insurance paid for?". Men rarely speak of vasectomy. Why then should women discuss their abortions or reproductive choices with anyone other than someone they trust and respect or beyond the patient-physician relationship? Furthermore, HIPPA legislation resulted in a clear message: what happens behind closed doors and curtains should stay there.

Feminists would argue here that I should not encourage women to be ashamed of their abortions. I certainly am not saying they should. However, there are social, political, and historical reasons for their silence that the trailer would like to avoid. Many women do not reveal whether they have or have not had an abortion because of the stigma attached from the very people who created and will watch this kind of propaganda. Would you want Terry Randall or Jill Stanek to know you or your partner/spouse/lover has had an abortion? Given what Terry Randall recently did and the acts of domestic terrorism anti abortionists engage in, I wouldn't even share a pap smear result with these individuals.

Historically, it was not that long ago when the anti-abortion crowd saw it fit to go through healthcare clinics and hospital's dumpsters searching for records. Once recovered, they would treat women who used abortion services like so many treat sex offenders as the result of Megan's Law. They had no regard for privacy or the Geneva Convention. They went for public jugglers and showed no mercy. Those days were not that long ago to be forgotten and too many are not willing to take the risk.


B. When Life Begins. It would be desirable if the real issue behind the hatred of abortion spewed by the anti abortion crowd was actually about when life begins. I personally would find that argument easier to fight against because it would be a one issue, honest and open debate that is not opaque. It would be an easy argument of separation of church and state and a reminder of science and medicine are like math for the masses: too complicated for them to understand. Stanek has proven his misrepresentation of that in a vast majority of her work.

Unfortunately, the debate is not that easy and the underlying debate is not so easily dissected from the majority of haters. Thus we are left to remind them that the question of when life begins is not relevant to the abortion debate because so many individuals like religious leaders and medical ethicist are not specialized in the field of science and medicine. Them taking part in the debate is like me going to a church and taking communion and then filling out a comment card on what the church could do to improve their practice of Catholicism. More importantly, quasi self proclaimed experts apply their definitions to abortion but do not hold other related acts of contempt to the same standard.

For example, countries all across the globe are at war and people are dying and poverty and lack of basic needs such clean water claim millions of child and adult lives everyday in third world nations. People in the United States expire daily because of the archaic rules of private health issuers. (Death panels currently exist in practice by Aetna, Blue Cross, etc. and domestic poverty rates.) Given that Stanek and pseudo scientists and the physicians who determine when life begins are not in Africa right now addressing the genocide in the Sudan or out paying for wells for clean drinking water in Pakistan, I have to wonder what gives with these individuals. Is women terminating unwanted pregnancies more heinous than say the killing of innocent civilians in Zaire for blood diamonds? Clearly moral debate is not only a cloaked but its a veiled argument by these individuals to negate the real issues behind their vehement hatred of abortion and reproductive freedom.

C. Planned Parenthood is Expanding in Anticipation of Socialized Medicine. I am intentionally placing the overt misuse of the term 'socialize medicine' to the side in this conversation. Planned Parenthood provides the following services according to a random sampling of a Planned Parenthood website in New York:

Birth Control

Abortions

Colposcopy, Cryosurgery & LEEP

Emergency Contraception (EC)

Endometrial Biopsy

GYN Exam/Annual Exam

Male Services

Mid-life Services

Pregnancy Testing & Counseling

Prenatal Care

Rape Crisis Service

Sexually Transmitted Infections Testing and Treatment HIV Testing

More than three million individuals receive services annually from a Planned Parenthood facility in the United States. Whereas the Guttmacher Institute reports in 2005 (the most recent year for which there is reliable data), approximately 1.21 million abortions took place in the U.S., down from an estimated 1.29 million in 2002, 1.31 million in 2000 and 1.36 million in 1996. Since abortions can and are performed by other organizations as well, the highest number of individuals Planned Parenthood would serve for abortions would be approximately 1 million or a third of their services to patients. Remember, this is the maximum number if one believed Planned Parenthood is the sole provider of abortion services in America.

This United States based non profit made available to the public a break down of their services provided in 2007. A mere 3% of services were devoted to abortion procedures. Therefore, if a particular Planned Parenthood is expanded or a new office opens, it may be that there is a greater need for the other 66% or more of services they are providing. Abortion is not the only function of this healthcare provider, folks!

C. An Unknown Organization Only Takes Cash. Many organizations uphold a standard operating procedure of cash or credit card only. Since many organizations enter into similar policies with their patrons it makes the argument for tax evasion not only false but incoherent in logic. Rather many organizations recognize that cash is king and money today is worth more tomorrow. This is good business sense and basic economics. If an organization like Planned Parenthood or a non profit hospital were engaging in such practices as the trailer suggests, we can be rest assured that the likes of Stanek and others would be eager to call in the federal auditors. Since they have not hauled my local Planned Parenthood into court, they lack standing.


D. What Abortion Does to Women. From a medical perspective, surgical abortions are safe. A surgical abortion during the first trimester is safer than a tonsillectomy. The Guttmacher Institute reports abortion is approximately 11 times safer than carrying a pregnancy through to childbirth. Less than one woman in 100 will report a complication, and serious complications are rare.

What does abortion do to women? What is it really about abortion that the anti abortion crowd detests? Abortion allows women to control their own destiny. It allows women to retain a form of control over the patriarchy. The sobering reality is that pregnancy is fundamental to women. It allows women to control their own bodies and not men, other women, governmental bodies, and anti abortions to determine their lives and their futures. Most importantly, it levels the playing field in a society indoctrinated by patriarchal values and rampant in misogynistic actions.

Are Stanek and her crowd of angry vagina haters finished yet because I am tired of listening to their veiled arguments and false cries. more...

Comment Game

We are hosting a new tradition here at the Empire. ZRM and AG will provide the space to post your most deliciously favorite comments found in other blog comments each week. For example, AG's two favorites thus far are:

From Bossy's comment thread:

Workers at whole foods get 100 % healthcare paid for except for highish detuctables- company knows how to run their healthcare so CEO was trying to give light to a “different way” and gets hammered by libs….

and I guess I’m really horrible because I think most unions these days need busting- car companies wouldn’t be in the place they are now if unions were not dragging them down…

Texts from Last Night:

(586): Look at my ENTIRE past
(586): Highly public sexual behavior gross mismanagement of funds socially unaccpetable and radical speech and thought
(586): Might as well have a blog about it at this point

Trading-Up!

I will see you a Russ Feingold, Pilgrim and trade you a Specter.
Check out Specter's non-response to my concerns about safe reproductive choices being available to American women and the lack of choice in our reproductive options. Four legal and safe choices (abstinence, vasectomy, pull-out, and condoms) are not enough for men while women have more choices. These choices are hardly much of a choice, though. The choices are less desirable because of the costs and affects on women's bodies not to mention the refusal of many to accept abortion and RU-486 as a viable means of birth control. To that end, we are reaching the point where abortion will be legal but nobody will be available to perform them. So, they win and AG loses. Meanwhile fertility clinics are grossly unregulated because the women who use them desire more children, not less. Funny how it works, isn't it?

I'm glad Specter is interested in discussing a national plan, but that was not what I wrote to him about. I seriously await the day when I get into the fountain naked with the Sestak kiddies (oh yeah! Fucking Chris Bowers and his campaign dude from Altoona/Pittsburgh are hotties albeit goyim hotties, but a fine tuckus and big schmecky (Jew boys rarely have one of these in my medical opinion. Truth hurts, boys.) is acceptable in all cultures.) and dance the hora in celebration of our removal of him from Washington. Ms. Voting Machine, I think I have a hard on for you...

Dear Dr. AG:

Thank you for contacting my office regarding reproductive-health services. I appreciate hearing from you.

As a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, it is essential that I remain fully informed in all areas of health care policy. During the 111th Congress, we will debate various health issues, such as the complex question of managed health care and the Federal role in its regulation, as well as reforms to the Medicare program, including its prescription drug benefit. Along with providing access to affordable health care for all Americans, my top legislative priorities include necessary increases in funding for all aspects of biomedical research within the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control, and ensuring the appropriate examination and refinement of the vital public health programs administered by the Federal government.

Again, I appreciate your taking the time to bring your views on reproductive-health services to my attention. Your input is vital as I continue to press for targeted health care reform and urge Congressional leadership to make this reform a top priority. If you have any further questions on this issue or any related matter, please do not hesitate to contact me or visit my website, at http://specter.senate.gov.

Sincerely,
Arlen Specter

Dedication

To that special someone...

Because Somethings Never Change

AG could not help but think of Fish as the Phils gave it hard to the Diamondbacks the other night. (I know, but balls especially make me think of Fish.) Then, AG totally did not try to not think of him this morning when she saw this.

La. La.

P.S. My abstract can kick your abstract's tuckus too!

Caturday

A new tradition at the Empire. more...

The Philadelphia Phillies

I do not know whether or not you know AG is Jewish. Or that there is Jewish Heritage Night at Citizen's Bank Park. So, let me just share with you that you have not lived until you see the Phillie Phanatic and his girlfriend performing the hora during Jewish Heritage Night! I went last night without the goyim (AH's stoopid friend was a goy, but let's not remind me of Little Miss Skank Culture.) More stories on my thoughts on baseball, America, and Philadelphia shortly.

Rabbits

Back in those old, dim college days when I had hope and energy, some friends had a band. Called themselves the Animated Geeks. It was New Wave, it was.

They did a version, however, of "White Rabbit" featuring the GF of one of the members on vox. during practices, the guitar player would hum the lyrical parts, and during one memorable beer-soaked practice, merely shouted " RABBITS!" at the appropriate point, which cracked up the rest of the players.

MenD's recent post about rabbit names (during which he refused to post my visual entry, apparently out of respect for his readership's sensitive natures, which evidences a lack of awareness of just exactly who his readership is. Anyway, in the interest of being as obnoxious as possible, I post my entry below. mission accomplished. Although if I was thinking clearly, I probably should have proposed the rabbit names as "Grace Slick" or "Alice"). Made me think of this.

But as with the cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit", Patti Smith's version of this made me post about it. The Geeks' version had the same undisciplined rawness about it, led by strong, aggressive vocals and both of them make Grace Slick's version sound like frickin Debbie Gibson.

Anyway, here you go. Drop some acid. Or not:

(Removed for ick factor. replaced with picture of bronze bellhop statue, installed outside of a converted historic hotel I designed)

[EDIT] I get my new eMusic allotment on Friday, and it can't happen too soon. Maybe I will do a new music Random Spew, with NO JOURNEY just cuz Zelmo never comes by anymore. I guess they are working him like a zombie in the threat of losing his job...

The Spotlight

I love that he validates our existence, even if he thinks he doesn't! more...

Overheard

At Netroots, you'll over hear some of the best lines:



"I'm dateless. I'll buy you a drink."

"I've done more for less."

"I've seen his stimulus package."

"I think she gave birth to Prozac."

"I'm not interested in talking about anything other than sex."

"They reached their expiration dates. They can go."

"I've never."

Anyone overhear anything good lately?

Too Tough To Die

Alerted by SadlyNaught N__B to this.

yeah, our mayor will totally fuck you up. He was BEATEN WITH A PIPE, and I'll bet you he's not gonna show up tomorrow in a wheelchair, like Fainting Goat Gladney.

Our new motto is going to be: Milwaukee. Wear a Cup.

The Love of My Life

Because ZRM mentioned her and I miss her:

[EDIT from ZRM] Normally I wouldn't mess with an AG post, but since she mentioned hers and it is, after all, Caturday, here's old Toby catching his own damn bliss:

Don't be fooled. He probably just finished eating bunny brains.

more...

1 billion live in chronic hunger. Only when terrorism strikes or food riots happen in 33 countries because of oil prices and a mass recession, someone cares and alerts go out.

It's not because we don't have food for them -- it's market failures.

Why is our world like this? more...

Yes, yes it is!

When you buy something, this is what you do to celebrate on AG's vacation:



Then you see Bill Clinton:




Don't believe me?:

Going Somewhere

Les Paul died.

Waaah.

The Road Less Traveled

AG is back from Vacation 2.0 and headed tomorrow AM for Vacation 3.0. A few highlights from Vacation 2.0:

Dragging My Own Tombstone

Is today a mental Health day? Probably not. Won't stop me from doing some music though, and then I've got a couple of other things I need to do before I get into billable work, but those fuckers are taking their own sweet time to pay me, so what's the fucking rush?





35,917 songs. 149 gigs. The whole collection no longer fits on my large iPod, even when it's working. But I DIDN'T cut the Love Sounds of North American Frogs!


1. Kiss Off, Violent Femmes. I first saw them in 1983, playing the UWM ballroom. I think it cost two bucks to get in. Joel McNally played a typewriter with them. This is from a show recorded in 1982, for Michael Feldman's radio show.

Of course, the egos grew too large too fast. Lately, Gano sold the rights to a song to Wendy's - facking WENDY'S? - and Brian Ritchie sued him. Now the attorneys have taken over, Ritchie lives on the west Coast, Gano lives in NY, and the drummers still hang out in Milwaukee. But really, Gordo, Wendy's? I know it's a paycheck, and I am certainly NOT entitled to talk about what we do for money, but come ON.

2. Statue Of A Bum, Victoria Williams. Victoria is kind of an acquired taste, like Tom Waits, but well worth it. A few years back, she became one of the first in a long string of musicians who developed health problems (MS) and needed her friends to record a benefit album to pay her bills, eventually creating the Sweet Relief Fund to pay for other musicians hospital bills. The albums are still out there and are well worth it, some great artists covering her songs. Most notable are Pearl Jam doing Crazy Mary and Soul Asylum doing Summer of Drugs (they still do it in concert).

Seriously, bake sales to pay for musicians to stay healthy? For fuck's sake, if we can't save the lives of people who feed our souls, what the fuck are we doing? Just dissolve the country now and let anarchy take over. Other, more highly developed societies revere the creators in their lives. We toss them to the trash heap if they can't hit the top twenty. And if they do, we toss them out also. It's sick, it's uncivilized, and now I'm getting pissed and think I will go kick Paul Ryan's motherfucking Insurance-bought ass.

3. World Class Fad, Paul Westerberg. A minor rocker from his first solo album. Westerberg's minor songs are better than anybody else's A-list material. I've seen him a few times with the Replacements, both drunk and sober. Him I mean. I am pretty sure I was drunk every time. I even have a few of the live cuts recorded at one of the shows by one of the local radio stations.

4. Set Out Running, Neko Case. I was introduced to Neko by her work on Mekons albums. But of course, she's worked with the New Pornographers also, as well as her fine solo work like this one. I have been forced to miss her last couple of shows in town due to cash flow issues, and now she regularly sells out the venues. Don't miss live music, is what I'm saying here.

5. Here, Gravity Kills. Good old fashioned aggro-industrial from a few years back.

6. Ziggy Stardust, Bauhaus. I saw them a couple of years ago opening for NIN at Summerfest. Bauhaus is NOT a band to see in the daylight. It needs to be dark, yanno? Anyway, great song, great band, a little too faithful. Why not a little Bela Lugosi freakout?

7. Knock It Right Out, Paul Westerberg. Okay, I like Paul Westerberg, but jeez, ITunes, calm down, willya? This is a pretty good sloppy rocklet. After his first solo album, Westerberg started recording in his basement in the DIY aesthetic, and due to label fights (those labels. who's gonna miss em when they're gone? Plus, they have driven out all the people who knew anything about music) released the result as Grandpaboy. He released later stuff, the more garagey stuff, under the same monicker later.

8. My Heart Is A UFO, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. Clyne used to front The Refreshments; this is more Americana than that band. Obviously a healthy dose of humor.

9. Zero, Smashing Pumpkins. Melon Collie is one of the worst titled albums ever. And while it seems every double disc ever released will eventually be negatively described as 'sprawling' by some critic, this one seems to really deserve it. There's some good stuff on here, but really, buy a little focus, Corgan.

The Pumpkins used to come up to Milwaukee on a regular basis, playing a basement club called the Unicorn. Often, they would be trying out new material, in front of a smaller crowd. Another unfortunate miss on my part, it seems that much of Siamese Dream was acid tested there.

10. Century Plant, Victoria Williams. iTunes seems to want to double up all day. Oh well. More Victoria.

11. Some Postman, The Presidents Of The United States of America. heh. The later stuff, after the novelty hits on their first album, is really pretty good power pop. And I am ALL ABOUT the power pop.

12. Captain America, Styx. OK, this one is pretty cringeworthy. Moral, kids: Don't drink and go to iTunes with a credit card.

13. Sultans of Swing, Dire Straits. Holy hell, that's a bit of whiplash. Pretty good song to go out on, though. more...

Rest in Peace

Saw the news on CNN World headlines late last night. American suffers yet another great loss this year. more...

Smoke and Mirrors

Dammit, I am doing a Musical spew tomorrow, fuck the fucking (commercial) clients.

Updates as warranted.

Son of Sam I Am

Customer: Now what does this 512MB of RAM mean on this PC?

Salesman: ummmm... RAM is what slows down your PC. See, it rams into your processing power, causing slowdowns. That's why it's called RAM.

Customer: Are...are you sure?

Salesman: Who's the expert here?