GHOK BUTI

The Playmobil Airport Security Playset

2009-01-23T04:58:00.000-08:00

Check out the reviews for this children's toy from Playmobil.

A thought for you short-sighted Bush haters.

2009-01-20T03:11:00.000-08:00

Now that Bush's administration is coming to an end, many of his critics have asserted unequivocally that his term has been a disaster. Other, more thoughtful commentators, however, have noted that Bush's critics are short-sighted. What appears to be incompetence, corruption and dishonesty at first glance may in fact be brilliance so far beyond our ordinary perception that only the passage of time will allow a proper assessment.

I completely agree with those who defend Bush. An accurate assessment of the Bush administration will require the passage of many years. It is far too early to tell whether the Iraq War, the financial meltdown, the flooding of New Orleans, and the destruction of the Justice Department, among many other things, will turn to out to be good or bad.

I have applied this principle in my professional life as well. For example, early this year I was asked to help find a business solution for a very important client. After many delays, during which time the client angrily called my boss and demanded action, I came up with a plan which had nothing to with the problem, ignored the client's business realities, and insulted several of the company's top management. I also made a phone call to the SEC which resulted in an embarrassing and very costly investigation to the client. Finally, I threw up on the company's CFO.

Now, a short-sighted person might have concluded based on this that my performance for the year was poor. However, events have shown otherwise. Following this turn of events, the company hired a dedicated team of high-priced experts and consultants to salvage the relationship with the client. Through several months of diligent and very costly efforts, including many expensive trips to tropical locations, the company has managed to keep the client. Not only that, but the financial crisis has forced the client to do business with us on favorable terms, since no other options were available to it. Finally, the company's top management were all killed in an unfortunate wheat thresher accident, and the new management team doesn't know anything about our history with the client. So our relationship with the client is now stronger than ever. I have explained to my boss that the way things turned out I deserve a large bonus, and I feel sure that he will agree.

A similar principle applies in my personal life. Sure, I had multiple affairs this year, drunkenly crashed the car a few times (severely injuring the children) and spent most of my salary on prostitutes, gambling and drugs. You might conclude that my wife is angry at me - but again that would be short-sighted. Our family income is larger than ever from my wife having to work two jobs, and the kids are absolutely loving their physical therapy. Also, the fact that I am away from home so often on gambling junkets and entertaining cheap hookers means that my wife has had more space to develop her own interests. So once again, what appeared at first glance to be despicable conduct on my part, dragging my family down into a squalid cesspool of degradation, anguish and poverty, is with the passage of time making me look like a pretty smart cookie.

So anyway, think about this the next time you're tempted to criticize President Bush. Things may look bad for Bush now, but I feel certain that someday, when the surface of the Earth has become a blasted landscape of radioactive debris, and people have evolved into free-floating shimmering plasmas of pure energy, we will look back at the Bush administration and laugh at those whose jumped to the conclusion that Bush was a bad president.

In the long run we're all dead

2008-12-29T17:48:00.000-08:00

This is what Condoleeza Rice said about the prevailing view that Bush has been a terrible president.

Rice noted that while Germany was reunified in 1990, the work that made it possible was done in the 1940s, "when things didn't look quite so rosy." So historians who are now making judgments about the Bush administration and its Middle East policies aren't very good historians, Rice said.

"One cannot yet judge the effects of decisions that this president has taken on what the Middle East will become," Rice said. "I mean, for goodness' sakes, good historians are still writing books about George Washington."

I'm sure the people who died in the Holocaust would be glad to hear that it all worked out okay for Germany.

And this woman was a professor at Stanford.

Best. Ayn Rand. Parody. Ever.

2008-11-26T17:13:00.000-08:00

If you've never read Atlas Shrugged, you should go read it right now, just so that you can enjoy this parody.

Bruce Lee Playing Ping-Pong . . . with Nunchuks!?

2008-11-21T17:48:00.000-08:00

Are conservatives divorced from reality?

2008-11-10T20:57:00.000-08:00

This is a trick question. Here's conservative blogger John Hinderaker:

Obama thinks he is a good talker, but he is often undisciplined when he speaks. He needs to understand that as President, his words will be scrutinized and will have impact whether he intends it or not. In this regard, President Bush is an excellent model; Obama should take a lesson from his example. Bush never gets sloppy when he is speaking publicly. He chooses his words with care and precision, which is why his style sometimes seems halting. In the eight years he has been President, it is remarkable how few gaffes or verbal blunders he has committed. If Obama doesn't raise his standards, he will exceed Bush's total before he is inaugurated.

Har-de-har-har.

Now that the election's over, we can finally admit it

2008-11-10T03:25:00.001-08:00

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

My experience poll-watching Pennsylvania

2008-11-08T06:47:00.000-08:00

On Monday, the night before the election, I drove to Pennsylvania to volunteer as an election observer (EO) for the Obama campaign. The job of an EO is to monitor a polling site and make sure that nothing happens that could disenfranchise voters. EO's are typically lawyers, but are not registered to vote at the polling site and typically are not experts in state election law. The lawyers more expert in state law are stationed at a central location, called the Boiler Room, where they field phone calls from the EOs, can answer more difficult questions, and if necessary can call for help (such as the local police, the Board of Elections, or the governor).

An EO looks out for any problem that could potentially disenfranchise voters, such as broken voting machines, excessively long lines, voter intimidation, etc. Vote suppression historically has taken a variety of forms. In some cases, a party can suppress voting by under-allocating resources to wards that are expected to vote predominantly for the other party. In some cases, the election official can slow down voting and disenfranchise voters by challenging voters excessively, or by imposing illegal restrictions on voting. For example, in Pennsylvania a voter is not required to produce an ID unless he has never voted in that ward before.

I picked up my credential at the Obama campaign office in Allentown, PA. The office was bustling. By coincidence, my uncle was volunteering in that office. That evening he was interviewed by a local news reporter. The reporter told him that she had been to the McCain office and that it was busier than the Obama office.

I was assigned to a polling site in Bethlehem, PA, at the Concordia Lutheran Church on W. 4th St. The polling site covered two wards, the 16th and 17th. Each polling site has a Judge of Elections (JoE), two minor officials to check in voters, etc., and two Official Poll Watchers (OPWs), one from each party. Because there were two wards at this site, there were two JoEs, Irma and Roger. The only people allowed into the polling places are the voters and the officials.

Polling opens at 7:00am in Pennsylvania. The campaign told us to arrive by 6:30, and I got there around 6:15. A few people started to line up at about 6:30. The JoE's came out and started setting up signs to direct voters, a little table, etc.. A second EO arrived, named Kush, who by coincidence was a junior associate at Baker & McKenzie in New York where I used to work. Kush brought a big box of donuts with him for the voters and us. He had a friend with him who was a journalist from England. Shortly thereafter a third EO showed up, an older lawyer from Piermont in New York.

We busied ourselves for the next few hours monitoring the line, assisting voters in determining which line they should be on, and helping the elderly out of their cars. The line never got longer than about twenty minutes at most, which to us seemed long (the Boiler Room told us to call if the line got longer than 20 minutes, which I did).

Around 9:30 two people showed up with some bottles of water and a few sandwiches. I could see that the sandwiches were wrapped in cellophane with little Republican elephant stickers. They strolled right into the polling place and presumably gave the swag to the judges. They then left the polling place and were not seen again. I thought to myself, this is the difference between the Republicans and the Democrats in a nutshell. We were there for two and a half hours, helping people to vote in a non-partisan fashion. The Republicans were there for five minutes, entered the polling place (illegally), bribed the judges and then left.

Around 10:30 or so the line had died down to the point where the lawyers outnumbered the voters. I decided to drive down to the Dunkin Donuts to buy a big box of coffee. On the way back I noticed a long line at another polling place. When I got back to the church there was a line manager from the Obama campaign there (named Bob). The line manager goes from polling site to polling site checking to see if there are any problems. I told him that there seemed to be a long line at the other site, and suggested that I transfer to there. I could have just picked up and left, but the campaign had been very meticulous about assigning me to THIS polling place, and I was loath to just leave on my own authority. Bob made some calls and got "permission" for me to move.

When I arrived at the other polling place, there was a line with hundreds of people, about two and a half hours long at worst. The site was a room in the corner of an old age home called Litzenberger House. There were several volunteers there, none of them lawyers. Most of the voters on the line were students from Lehigh University who had just been registered to vote in Bethelehem. The Obama campaign was busing students back and forth from the college to vote. Reports were that the Republican JoE was challenging every student voter's right to vote at that site, disenfranchising voters and slowing down the line. For the next few hours we walked up and down the line, encouraging people to stay on line and explaining to them why there was a delay and what we were doing to try and relieve it.

Bob showed up at the site and made some phone calls. A short while later two gentlemen arrived at the site who clearly were in a position of authority. One of them, Ken, strode purposefully into the polling site. Ken turned out to be an official from the Board of Elections. When he emerged he told us that the judge actually wasn't challenging voters improperly, but that the delay was caused by an unbelievably slow poll worker checking in names. We took steps to try and relieve the wait, splitting up the line in order to reduce the burden on the slow pollworker.

The steps we took to speed things up helped a bit, but the lines were still very long, on the order of one to two hours. The polling site was crawling with a rotating team of Obama volunteers but I was the only lawyer. There was a team of young women from Sarah Lawrence, who knew my nephew Sam, who is a senior there. We busied ourselves in keeping the voters informed of what was going on, keeping them entertained (the Obama campaign arranged for musicians to come and play) and fed (the campaign had twenty pizzas delivered and we distributed water and snacks). I spent a good deal of time calling the Board of Elections on behalf of individual voters who were unsure of whether they were registered or where they were required to vote. The Board of Elections, although apparently very harried, was extremely helpful and went the extra mile to identify voters, many of whose names were misspelled so it took some time to find them. In some cases there were Hispanic voters, some of whom were elderly, but most voters were students from Lehigh.

There was not much in the way of serious trouble. We had a flurry of excitement when it was reported to me that the Republican pollwatcher was complaining that there were Obama campaign workers in the polling place. It turned out that the JoE had pressed the Obama campaign workers into service to handle the large crowd. I spoke briefly to the Republican pollwatcher - he was the only angry person I spoke to all day. I assured him that there were no Obama people in the polling place but if there were I would take care of it. I got hold of one of the Obama people who had been pressed into service, and it was then that she told me that there were in fact several Obama people working in the polling place at the request of the JoE. I instructed her to get the JoE to acknowledge that he had pressed the Obama campaign workers into service, in the presence of the Republican pollwatcher so that he would know there was no funny business. The problem was apparently solved and the rest of the day passed more or less without incident. I spent the time helping individual voters, calling the Board of Elections, and answering questions. One voter from another ward reported that their polling place was closed, which was not true, but we arranged to have an Obama volunteer stationed there to help people find the entrance.

The remainder of the day passed mostly without incident. We kept the voters fed and entertained. Late in the afternoon I got a phone call from the Boiler Room. They asked me to move over to the Litzenberger House because there was a long line. I laughed and told them I had been there for 6 hours. They said "So you've been pretty busy."

As the end of the voting day approached, the Obama campaign workers were closely monitoring voting reports and as favorable results came in people started getting increasingly giddy. At a few minutes to 8:00 one Obama volunteer yelled out "Obama!". A more senior campaign worker told him to shut up, as the polls had not yet closed and it was important that campaign volunteers not be seen as trying to improperly influence the vote. Doing so is not illegal however, as Pennsylvania allows electioneering as close as ten feet to the polling place.

One amusing piece of misinformation filtered down to us. Some McCain apparatchik had apparently said on TV that the Pennsylvania polls had been all wrong and that McCain was going to win Pennsylvania in a landslide. Spreading misinformation until the very end.

Under Pennsylvania law anyone on line when the polls close (at 8:00) must be permitted to vote no matter how long the line is and no matter how long the polls have to stay open. As 8:00 approached we were repeatedly warned that we had to make sure that no one on line at 8:00 was turned away. However, by the time 8:00 rolled around the line was (to our surprise) much shorter. The JoE did the right thing, which is to get at the end of the line to ensure that everyone in front of him got to vote, and that no one who arrived after 8:00 was permitted to vote.

In the course of my day in Bethlehem, I saw hundreds of Obama volunteers, and two McCain volunteers. The Obama volunteers were scrupulously non-partisan. Their only activity was to help people vote. Except for the over-enthusiastic campaign worker referred to above, I did not witness a single incident of partisan conduct at all. I helped one person whose voting card showed him to be a registered Republican, but I helped him anyway and I have no idea who he voted for. I believe that the fact that Obama workers were out in force helping people in a non-partisan way to vote, while McCain people were nowhere to be seen, was not lost on the voters, regardless of whether they voted for McCain or Obama. This, I'm sure, was being played out all over the country. I believe that the Republican party is going to pay a heavy, unforeseen price for their attempts at voter suppression, By forcing Democratic volunteers to help protect people's right to vote, the Republicans are showing voters that it is the Democrats, not the Republicans, who have the voters' best interests at heart.

Joe Scarborough is a schmuck, cont'd

2008-11-06T05:11:00.000-08:00

Predictably, now that Obama has been elected, conservative media personalities that for years have been carrying water for the Bush administration have all of a sudden discovered their inner muckraker. This morning on Regular Joe's daily propaganda broadcast, Scarborough opined that the press has to do their jobs and be tough on Obama, just like they have with Bush.

Apparently, Joe forgot about the time he accused NJ high school students of "slandering the commander in chief at a time of war" because they held a mock war crimes trial. Or the time he claimed that "all Republicans are winners" during the Bush torture scandal. Numerous other examples abound.

Suck on this, crazy lady from Manhattan

2008-11-05T04:29:00.001-08:00

Sarah Palin was right

2008-11-04T21:31:00.000-08:00

The wisdom of the people did prevail on Nov. 4.

The New York Post soldiers on

2008-11-02T07:31:00.000-08:00

I saw today's New York Post, with the headline blaring "Presto! McCain Hoping for Magical Upset."

The significance of the poll on which that headline is based is thoroughly debunked by Nate Silver here.

This headline couldn't possibly have anything to do with this, could it?

Victoria Jackson, SNL alumna, speaks on Obama

2008-11-01T21:17:00.000-07:00

Remember Victoria Jackson? She was the Saturday Night Live cast member who was always cast as a ditz. Well, apparently it was type-casting. This is what she had to say about Obama:

I don’t want a political label, but Obama bears traits that resemble the anti- Christ and I’m scared to death that un- educated people will ignorantly vote him into office.

I'm sorry, my irony meter just burst into flames. Gotta go.

Hockey Mama for Obama

2008-11-01T18:31:00.001-07:00

Joe Scarborough is a schmuck

2008-11-01T05:49:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry, but I've just been watching Morning Joe, and I can't escape the conclusion that Joe Scarborough is a schmuck. Every word out of his mouth is dripping with sarcasm and nastiness against Obama. And Scarbotrough is considered a moderate!

What American disaster has the right not connected to Barack Obama?

2008-10-31T20:26:00.000-07:00

I have discovered a new drinking game. Try to think of every disaster that has ever occurred in U.S. history. If the right has connected it to Obama, take a drink.

Pearl Harbor.

The Alamo.

The Great Depression.

The Bay of Pigs.

The Dred Scott Decision.

Vietnam.

The War of 1812, for God's sake.

Urp. I think I'm going to puke.

The Obama-Katz Connection: When Will America Open Its Eyes?

2008-10-31T19:53:00.000-07:00

Hang on to your hats, patriots – We’re finally going to expose the Obama web of lies and deceit. I’ve uncovered some facts that will destroy Obama and his cadre of commie terrorists once and for all.

The entire conspiracy revolves around a shadowy New York figure named Stuart Katz. Katz lies at the center of a network of financial and terrorist operatives whose goal is nothing less than the takeover of the United States by any means possible.

Much of this story has already been exposed by the conservative blogosphere – the connection between Obama and William Ayers, Obama’s sympathy to radical Islamism, and Obama’s responsibility for the collapse of the U.S. financial system. However, I’ve uncovered a further connection between Ayers, Obama and the financial collapse, and for the first time established incontrovertible evidence of Obama’s complicity in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center that killed nearly three thousand Americans. The scope of the conspiracy is truly frightening.

Katz first surfaced as a college student at Dartmouth College in the early ‘80s. Not much is known about Katz’s subversive activities in college. Katz’s first year roommate was a founder of the college’s conservative newspaper, the Dartmouth Review. Apparently Katz’s views were so far to the left that he moved out after only a few months. Through diligent research I was able to find in the Dartmouth Review archives a letter from Katz defending a perverted “sex researcher” who had sent to every student in the college a “questionnaire” inquiring into intimate details of their sexual activities. Not surprisingly, Katz was a frequent user of illegal drugs.

Katz’s first immersion in the world of international terrorism was a job at a “law firm” in New York. Continuing his perverted activities, one of Katz’s clients at this law firm was a well-known pornographic magazine. Located in the same building were the Anti-Defamation League and the Trilateral Commission, groups well-known to those who follow closely the international communo-terrorist conspiracy. The building was also located just a few feet away from the United Nations, obviously a well-known haven for anti-American activities. During the period when Katz worked in that building, bomb scares were a common occurrence. One can only speculate as to whether he was responsible for those bomb scares.

After two years, he attended New York University Law School, one of the most liberal in the country. The school is in Greenwich Village, only a few blocks away from the townhouse where members of the Weathermen terrorist organization blew themselves up building a deadly bomb. The Weathermen Townhouse was once the home of Charles Merrill, one of the founders of Merrill Lynch. More on that later. The new owner of the house built on that location displays a teddy bear in the front window. As those alert to the Obama cult know, the teddy bear is frequently used as a secret signal to Obama supporters.

Following law school Katz went to work for a New York law firm called Brown & Wood. Brown & Wood was located in – surprise! - the World Trade Center. One of Brown & Wood’s most important clients at this time was none other than the same Merrill Lynch. Working with Merrill Lynch, Katz helped create the mortgage-backed securities which eventually resulted in the destruction of the U.S. financial system.

It gets worse. It has been shown that contacts between Barack and Michelle Obama, William Ayers and terrorist Bernardine Dohrn centered around a law firm named Sidley Austin. Just a few months before 9/11, Brown & Wood merged into Sidley Austin. Furthermore, on 9/11 almost 3,000 people were killed in the World Trade Center attacks, and yet only one person from Brown & Wood was killed. Logic requires the conclusion that Brown & Wood knew about the attacks in advance.

After leaving Brown & Wood, Katz went to work for the law firm Baker & McKenzie, with offices in, among other places, Moscow and Riyadh. A member of the Executive Committee of that firm sat on the board of directors of the suspicious-sounding Chicago Council on Global Affairs with none other than Michelle Obama. One of Katz’s most important clients at Baker & McKenzie was Werner Erhard, founder of the 1960’s cult called est. The link between the est cult and Barack Obama is well-established. Katz met with Erhard on numerous occasions, probably to talk about how est could be used to help in Obama’s mind control.

You want further connections between Katz and 9/11? Following the World Trade Center attacks, the owners tried to recover financial compensation from their insurance companies. One of the most important of those insurance companies refused to pay based on a legal technicality. That insurance company now employs Stuart Katz. Katz has also had numerous contacts with Sidley Austin since going to work for the insurance company.

The Obama campaign has had numerous contacts with Katz since Obama’s rise to power began. Obama and Katz first met at a fundraiser last year. Campaign contribution records show that Katz has been a frequent financial contributor to the Obama campaign. Most recently, in late August, Katz and his family vacationed at a liberal resort only a few miles from the U.S.-Canada border (a known location for terrorists entering the U.S.). A senior economic adviser to the Obama campaign stayed at that resort the very same week. Undoubtedly the two sipped Chardonnay while discussing how to subvert the U.S. economic system.

The traitors on the left will probably say that this is just a remarkable series of coincidences. Now, I’m no mathematician, but if you use a locally weighted regression scatterplot methodology, apply a Poisson regression model, and adjust for the restricted natural cubic spline function, you conclude that the odds of these facts being merely coincidental are approximately 100,000,000,000 to 1.

The liberal media will, as always, ignore this crucially important story. It’s our duty to get this out there. Unless something is done now, I am fearful that come election day we may find ourselves living in a communo-fascist Muslim-liberal dictatorship.

Obama's use of hypnosis.

2008-10-30T04:02:00.001-07:00

My wingnut brother will definitely want to check this out.

Republican voter suppression

2008-10-29T18:28:00.001-07:00

A guide.

Helen and Margaret

2008-10-29T16:59:00.000-07:00

Two women in their 80s who don't take shit from anyone.

"That Man" and "That One"

2008-10-28T15:59:00.000-07:00

Someone else noticed it as well, but - interesting how close "That One" is to "That Man"?

Reality Beats McCain

2008-10-28T14:54:00.002-07:00

Enough with the Dewey Defeats Truman stuff.

Truman defeated Dewey in 1948.

The polling industry was in its infancy in 1948. Pollsters stopped issuing new polls days or even weeks before the election. Therefore, pollsters didn't detect Truman creeping up in the pools. Furthermore, after being embarrassed in the 1948 election, pollsters improved their methods.

And BarackObama ain't Thomas Dewey.

Anybody who thinks this is going to be a replay of the 1948 election is living in a fantasy world.

Palin as President

2008-10-28T14:54:00.001-07:00

has been updated.

What's playing in my car (red car edition)

2008-10-25T19:26:00.000-07:00

Paul Revere and the Raiders - The Legend of Paul Revere

Bobby Bare - Lullabys, Legends and Lies

Jay Reatard - Blood Visions

What's playing in my car?

2008-10-25T08:25:00.000-07:00

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life

Giant Sand - Provisions

Sloan - Parallel Play

Vivian Girls - Vivian Girls

Walkmen - You & Me

Sarah Palin and science

2008-10-25T05:54:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin demonstrates her ignorance of science. Why am I not surprised?

Watch and learn.

A Fruit Fly In New York from Imagine Science Films on Vimeo.

Opie and Richie for Obama

2008-10-25T05:39:00.000-07:00

Gamblers Anonymous

2008-10-25T05:22:00.001-07:00

Gamblers anonymous

The Vet Who Did Not Vet

2008-10-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

A cautionary tale for us all.

Hilarious post on the right-wing blogosphere

2008-10-23T16:31:00.000-07:00

You're not likely to see a funnier and more thorough cataloging of why the right-wing has lost its collective mind.

Will Sarah Palin be the Republican nominee in 2012?

2008-10-22T19:00:00.000-07:00

No.

There's a debate circulating on the internets about whether Palin is positioning herself as the 2012 presidential candidate.

There is zero chance that Palin will be the candidate in 2012. First of all , no one likes a loser. Second, the Republican leadership must know that they have no hope of winning if Palin is the candidate. They will never allow it. Some say that Palin is hugely popular with the base, but so what? The Republican base has shown itself to be composed of sheep who will do whatever they are told.

The notion that Palin is a star is total nonsense. She was completely unknown before the Republican convention, and nothing that has happened since gives any reason to believe that she will retain a significant constituency after she gets slaughtered in the election.

After the election she will crawl back under her rock, and good riddance.

2008-10-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

Who wrote this:

The necessaries of life occasion the great expense of the poor. . . . The luxuries and vanities of life occasion the principal expense of the rich, and a magnificent house embellishes and sets off to the best advantage all the other luxuries and vanities which they possess. . . . It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.

Was it Karl Marx? No, it was Adam Smith.

Now here's an interesting factoid...

2008-10-22T18:53:00.001-07:00

The last time a Republican was elected president without a Nixon or a Bush on the ticket was . . . 1928. It's true!

Prayer Alert!

2008-10-21T15:34:00.000-07:00

Pagans are praying to their obscene gods for an Obama victory! I'm doing my part. I've already sacrificed my first born to the Lord. Praise Jesus!

Oh my God - Michelle Obama member of anti-American political party!

2008-10-20T04:04:00.000-07:00

I'm so depressed, this is going to absolutely kill Obama. It's been discovered that Michelle Obama was for seven years a member of a political party that advocated seceding from the United States. Take a look at these quotes from the founder of the party: "I am not an American . . .I've got no use for America or her damned institutions." "The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government. . . . I won't be buried under their damned flag."

Even worse, Barack Obama himself attended the party's convention in 1994 and 2000, gave the keynote address at the 2006 convention and recorded a video greeting for the 2008 election!

The founder of the party was murdered in 1993 during an illegal sale of plastic explosives, so they're terrorists too.

McCain is just going to go crazy with this, bombarding the swing states with advertisements, and Fox News is going run this 24 hours a day. We are so screwed.

Oh, wait. Never mind.

Red Sox-Rays game

2008-10-19T20:22:00.000-07:00

Just watched a snippet of the baseball game. J.D. Drew strikes out looking with the bases loaded, two men out, in the top of the eighth in the deciding game of the ALCS, trailing 3-1? They should chop off one of his fingers for that.

This evening's entertainment

2008-10-19T19:54:00.000-07:00

Just saw Graham Parker and Nick Lowe at the Tarrytown Music Hall, with lots of other desperately old farts. I thought Parker was good, and Lowe was terrific. More on the show when it's not quite so late.

The latest from Hanoi John

2008-10-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

Here's McCain's reaction to Obama's September fund-raising numbers.

What's the matter John, your scamming of the fundraising system not working out for you?

I wade knee deep in shit . . . so you don't have to

2008-10-19T09:11:00.000-07:00

Here is what the right wing is saying about Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama (NB: these are not necessarily mainstream Republican voices; there are lunatics on the left as well). These are all from freerepublic.com. Racist much?

"Powell is loyal to his race, and disloyal to his party and country."

"Powell a traitor? Old news. "

"How much dirt did they have on Powell to make him endorse Obama?"

"Remember, Powell got to where he is through affirmative action.
He’s just returning to his roots."

"Before this election, I treated blacks as individuals. I was wrong. They are a clan."

Here's a few from townhall.com:

"Colin Powell…joins the ranks of terrorist groups and dictators throughout this world in wanting the “Messiah of Islam” as our President."

"It is pretty clear....that either Colin Powell is a closet socialist, he is a black racist (in that he will vote for his race over policies), or he has turned into an idiot. Or a combination of any."

In fairness though I want to say that I have not visited townhall.com before, thinking it was a right-wing site, but I was impressed by the even-handedness of the comments, and not all of them appear to be trolls.

The three categories of Republicans

2008-10-19T06:50:00.001-07:00

I have long felt that there are three categories of Republicans: the evil, the selfish and the stupid.

The evil are the Republicans who know exactly what the party is doing to the country and support it anyway. I suspect that the only Republicans in this category belong to the leadership: Karl Rove, Bill Kristol, Charles Krauthammer, etc. I have never met one of these and hope I never do.

The second category consists of the selfish. This is the largest category and the one I am most likely to meet. A member of this faction would say, "Yes, I know the Republican party is racist, war-mongering and deceitful, but I'm voting for them because they would keep my taxes low." Members of this category are residents of a moral cesspool, but they are also short-sighted - paraphrasing one commentator to Andrew Sullivan's website: "The stock market's in the tank, the military's busted, we're hated around the world - please, tax me."

The third category are the stupid. These are the ones who think that liberals will ban the bible, sell out the country to terrorists, and adopt communism. I don't recall ever meeting any of these.

More on ACORN

2008-10-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

The fundamental disagreement over voter registration is that Republicans claim that collecting false or redundant registrations results in voter fraud. It does not. If Mickey Mouse registers to vote, that does not mean that he is going to show up to vote. There has never in the history of the United States been a proven case of voter fraud. What there has been are situations where the persons responsible for running the election have tried to influence the outcome, and isolated cases where people have tried to vote who were not allowed to do so (i.e., ex-felons) and occasionally people who have tried to vote multiple times. If you don't believe me, look it up. Between 2002 and 2005, the DoJ at the behest of the Bush Administration tried to prosecute voter fraud aggressively and found 25 cases nationwide.

Watch this discussion between Republican Party, propaganda division, Laura Ingraham, and constitutional lawyer John Flannery, in which Flannery tries to talk sense and Ingraham tries to shout him down.

More right wing insanity

2008-10-18T09:03:00.000-07:00

For all you Republicans who have stumbled onto this site, here's a look at your base. Hope you're proud.

A nice sampling of rightwing lunacy

2008-10-18T05:46:00.000-07:00

If you have the stomach for it, here are some samples of what's going on right now in the right wing head.

Chicago Tribune endorses Obama

2008-10-17T20:08:00.000-07:00

The Chicago Tribune has endorsed Obama for President, marking the first time the paper has endorsed a Democratic candidate.

The Chicago Tribune was founded in 1847.

I've decided to have six children

2008-10-17T18:54:00.000-07:00

I am 46 (soon to be 47 years old) and I have two children. However, I have decided to have six more children because one of my children may cure cancer (that would be Saul, born 2009), one may lead the U.S. to victory in World War IV (Esther, born 2011), and one may become one of the 21st century's greatest composers (that would be Gustave Aschenbach Katz, born 2013). Yes, there will be one black sheep in the family (Hezekiah, ax murderer, born 2014) but hey, they can't all be stars.

I have decided this after viewing this fucking brilliant essay in the pages of the National Review.

Please fucking kill me.

The ACORN Thing

2008-10-17T18:40:00.000-07:00

It has been said by many others, that the whole ACORN-is-stealing-the-election thing is a total fraud. But let's not lose sight of just why this is so pernicious. McCain's going to lose the election. Therefore, the only reason to spread lies that the Democrats are going to steal the election is so that Republicans can deny the legitimacy of the Obama administration. I don't think you need to be a genius to understand why that's so dangerous.

By the way, when the Republican's start claiming that Obama's admionistration is illegitimate, let's not forget this. Or this. Or this too.

Palin as President

2008-10-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

The web's ultimate killer app.

Boy Bands for Obama

2008-10-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

This is fun.

The stock meltdown

2008-09-16T04:00:00.000-07:00

I am of course a little concerned about the stock meltdown, but frankly it is not unexpected. I have no expertise to render such a judgment, but I expect that this will continue for another year or so. After Obama wins the election, I think the capital markets will settle down, knowing the government is back in responsible hands.

In this regard, did you know that the stock markets do better under Democratic president than Republican presidents? As the Nooner says, it's nice to see your principles confirmed. (Sorry, can't find the link.

Writing on this blog

2008-09-16T03:57:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to get over the writer's block over writing this blog. The thing I need to realize is that no one is actually going to read this.

I remember before law school, after a particularly bad break-up, I resolved to keep a journal. Being a post-adolescent fuck-up, I planned on writing extremely touching and profound things in my journal. After writing a few embarrassingly pretentious things, I gave up.

Years later, I realized that the way to write a journal is not to try to be profound every day, but to simply write about your daily experience. The profundity will come (hopefully). I need to take this approach to this blog.

Dartmouth Association of Alumni election

2008-05-24T09:10:00.000-07:00

I confess I had paid little attention to the upcoming Dartmouth Association of Alumni election. Despite all I owe to Dartmouth (my student loans, for one, which my lovely wife graciously paid off), I frankly don't care who runs the College.

However, I was clued in by an article in Daily Kos that there was more to this than just control of the College. Apparently the battle was between those who want to take over the College to advance a right-wing agenda (the "Pro-Parity Slate") and those who want to comport themselves as befits a person who used to go to the school.

I decline to address the full argument here, but the argument most recently advanced by the Bad People is, so what if this is a right-wing takeover, Dartmouth alumni have the right to vote for a right-wing takeover if they want.

This is an argument worth taking seriously if you care about democratic process (no matter how much you dislike the controlling faction) but this argument would be much more compelling if the Pro-Parity slate actually revealed their agenda in their campaign materials. Not surprisingly, they have not - like all Bad People, they cannot win with honesty.

So, I urge you to vote against the pro-parity slate and go with the Dartmouth Undying slate.

Capsule Music Review - Blitzen Trapper

2008-03-02T19:18:00.001-08:00

Blitzen Trapper – Wild Mountain Nation

This debut album bounces from genre to genre, which a naysayer would call a lack of focus and a true believer would call range. I call it somewhere in between. The band curates a natural history museum’s worth of idioms: garage rock (“Devil’s a-Go-Go”); Skynyrdisms (“Wild Mountain Nation”); twisted experimental rock (“Woof & Warp of the Quiet Giant’s Hem”); and Wilco-like country rock (“Summer Town”, “Country Caravan”). But this museum is the kind with the sexy interactive exhibits, not the static dioramas of cavemen hunting for wooly mammoths.

Capsule Music Review - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

2008-02-01T20:28:00.000-08:00

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Some Loud Thunder

How soon they forget. Only a year ago they were the alt-rock darling debut album band. Now . . . what were they called again, "Clap your something something something"?

That's unfair. In fact, over the first several tracks and the last few, I thought, you know this is a good record. But, like the 1984 Cubs, they're weak up the middle, with some misguided gobbledy gook that did not keep my attention. Despite its intentionally crappy production, the title track is quite good. Worth picking up for "Yankee Go Home" alone.

Capsuile Music Review - Burial

2008-02-01T20:24:00.000-08:00

Burial - Untrue

I think they call this underground hip-hop. I'm not sure. I'm white. I'm a tax lawyer.

It's the top-rated record of the year in Metacritic, but I'm sorry, it still sounds like the soundtrack to Grand Theft Auto. The fragments of R&B with some admittedly brilliant staticky production sounded great in the 30 second iTunes snippet, but over the long term.......zzzzzzzzz.

Capsule Music Review - Avett Brothers

2008-02-01T20:14:00.001-08:00

Avett Brothers - Emotionalism

Quite the breath of fresh air in some circles. Don't bother to resurrect the rotting corpse of country music, it's dead, fully absorbed into the soil, and the grass that grows out of it is either God-shit or (please, kill me) Faith Hill.

But we can dream can't we? A world in which the Everly Brothers are understood and appreciated? We can listen to the Avett Brothers and their completely heartfelt and sincere brand of country music. Some truly fine songs here, like "Shame" - as in, it's a shame that country music has been taken over by a bunch of bloodsucking worms. The seemingly bizarre but ultimately profund "The Ballad of Love and Hate" documenting the relationship between a man named Hate and a woman named Love. "The Weight of Lies" - Oh Lord, why can't every record be like this?

Capsule Music Review - Art Brut

2008-02-01T20:05:00.000-08:00

Art Brut - It's a Bit Complicated

There are some jokes that you just don't get tired of. Monty Python, Animal House, Galaxy Quest . . . and Art Brut. These cheeky monkeys continue to impress with their pop smarts and funny funny lyrics. They're obviously in on the joke, as they sing in the first track "Pump Up the Volume": "I know I shouldn't . . . is it so wrong . . . to break from your kiss . . . to tart up a pop song?" To be effective, smartass bands have to back it up with some chops, and Art Brut delivers the goods - "Direct Hit", great! "People in Love" simultaneously breaks your heart and snickers in its Grape Nuts: "People in love lie around and get fat/I didn't want us to wind up like that."

God save Art Brut!

Capsule Music Review - Battles

2007-10-27T06:49:00.000-07:00

Battles - Mirrored

The key to avoid being labelled as pretentious, apparently, is to not have lyrics. It isn't the Byzantine time signatures, the obscure cultural borrowings parachuting into the mix, or the wanking, er, sorry, the musicianship, that makes music pretentious, it's the lyrics. Thank God, nothing about crystal pools of being, or mystical warriors, here.

Let's acknowedge that the music rocks. Song structure nyet, but maybe we can leave that to the Super Furry Animals of the world. The lack of identifiable pop form, the lack of lyrics, makes this a record you can project yourself on to. Sex, anyone? Anthony Braxton's son Tyndall (Tyndia, Tyndox, Tynwhatever) is in this band.

Capsule Music Review - Architecture in Helsinki

2007-10-27T06:44:00.000-07:00

Architecture in Helsinki - Places Like This

Play that slightly funky music, white boy. This fun music mixes funk and whimsical children's music into a delightful stew of something that tastes good on rye bread. I recommend "Heart It Races" for your next children's compilation.

When an Architecture in Helsinki track plays in my car:

3-year old daughter: "Daddy, what's this called?
Daddy: "Um, Architecture in Helsinki."
3-year old daughter: "Daddy?"
Daddy: "Yes, sweetie?"
3-year old daughter: "Can you play checsher sinky?"

Not ready to make nice with "Not Ready to Make Nice"

2007-02-11T20:03:00.000-08:00

One of the more pathetic spectacles I've seen recently is the orgy of musical bad taste being played out right now at leftie blog Daily Kos over the Grammy win for the Dixie Chicks' "Not Ready to Make Nice." From people's comments you'd think it was "Masters of War." It is indicative of how desperate people are for the strong medicine of protest music that they are willing to chug the lukewarm bathwater that is this staggeringly crappy piece of self promotion.

Even a quick scan of the lyrics to this thing reveal it to be a randomly strung-together catalog of cliches and platitudes. Furthermore to the extent that the song is about anything at all it is about the Dixie Chicks and how brave and principled they are. No wonder Bush is getting away with murder if this is the best we can do in counter-propaganda.

When the Bush administration ends I'll name my list of best protest songs of 2000-2008. Perhaps in the next two years Dylan can take his balls out of cold storage and tear himself away from his joint ventures with wineries and Victoria's Secret long enough to contribute something.

2006 Year in Review

2007-02-11T20:00:00.000-08:00

Here are my picks for the ten best records of the year:

1. Destroyer – Destroyer’s Rubies

In the past I’ve damned Destroyer’s Dan Bejar with faint praise, pigeonholing him as the “Odd One” in the New Pornographers. His albums with Destroyer were interesting, but their strangeness kept listeners at a distance. That distance has been erased with 2006’s best record, a near-masterpiece of cryptic lyrics, gorgeous melodies, exciting rock dynamics, and, most surprisingly, hooks. Beautifully arranged and produced, the record is both deep and wide, with the varied instrumentation (is that baritone sax I hear?) allowing Bejar to exploit the full musical palette. The frequent use of both piano and organ begs comparison with the Band and Procol Harum, especially apt touchstones since the casual feel of the production (intrusion of background sounds into the mix, guitar solos that leak over the edges of the track) makes this record feel like a prog-rock Basement Tapes.

2. Cursive – Happy Hollow

The aging and battered body of punk rock has life in it yet, in part because of the defibrillator jolt delivered by Tim Kasher and Cursive. Kasher’s projects (including side project The Good Life) share a punk sound married to non-punk instrumentation (strings on prior albums, horns on this one) and literate and heartfelt lyrics. This record is something of a concept album, exploring modern America through the prism of religion (“Big Bang”; “Bad Sects”), war (“Flag and Family”), sex, and politics. Kasher may well be the most earnest punk rocker in history, showing a deep concern for human emotions and evincing an admirable even-handedness in examining characters, such as religious fundamentalists, who might not be all that sympathetic. As with Kasher’s other projects, clues to his intent can be found in the wordplay of his titles – the title of the album refers to the vast expanse of “mainstream” America, which chooses to project an image of God-inspired contentment, but which masks a frightening emptiness. Intro track “Opening the Hymnal/Babies” has some blazing hooks, as does “Flag and Family,” about a young man whose wife’s arch-conservative family wants him to join the military (“Are you down on your knees, are you praying for holy war?”). The lyrics are easily heard, making this a good record to sing along to as well as contemplate.

3. Howe Gelb – ‘Sno Angel Like You

Giant Sand-man Gelb hooked up with a Canadian gospel choir called Voices of Praise for this startling album of newly-written Gelb songs, new versions of Giant Sand songs, and three songs from the late blues artist Rainer Ptacek. Gelb’s spare and creaky vocal and guitar arrangements (reminiscent of Neil Young) mesh sublimely with the vocal choir. The session sounds like it was recorded in someone’s living room, an impression enhanced by some great raw slide guitar by Fred Guignon, although apparently some of the choir tracks were recorded separately. The understatedness of the choir allows the recordings to avoid “I Want to Know What Love Is” bombast. Of the Gelb-penned tracks, the best are “Get to Leave,” which uses the dynamics potential of the choir to great advantage, and the dramatic “But I Did Not.”

4. Mission of Burma – The Obliterati

Any newbies who heard 2004’s comeback ONoffON and wondered what the fuss was about need to pick up 2006’s entry, the REAL comeback. Burma’s charm has always been to meld quality songwriting with post-punk excitement. This record displays the band’s trademark bludgeoning attack and the startling rock sensibility that somehow allows the band to pump out hooky melodies that teeter on the edge of chaos. The band’s trademark anarchy owes much to the band’s inimitable drummer Peter Prescott. The album is so remarkably consistent that I had genuine difficulty picking out a single track for my year-end compilation, but opener “2wice” sets the stage admirably. The live-sounding “Donna Sumeria” is also particularly satisfying.

5. Sunset Rubdown- Shut Up I Am Dreaming

This side-project by Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade has the same stunning emotionally resonant sound as that band, but doesn’t quite reach the same lyrical heights. There is a danger that Krug is spreading himself too thin, what with his participation in Wolf Parade and Swan Lake as well, the latter a supergroup with Dan Bejar of both Destroyer and the New Pornographers. There’s got to be a name for this type of sound, typified by a number of bands around today, including Modest Mouse, the Arcade Fire, Danielson and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. A dynamic and dramatic sound, yelping and heartfelt lead vocals, a circus-like sound incorporating organ, accordion and xylophone. An image of the midway at a medium-sized amusement park comes to mind, but these guys aren’t out in the brightly-lit rides and games of chance. They’re back in the shadows, lurking with the fortunetellers, the bearded lady and the wolf-boy.

6. Hold Steady – Boys and Girls in America

Close your eyes. Let your memory drift back. Travel with me now to the days of yesteryear. A simpler time. A time before websites and iTunes, when a handful of mighty rock bands strode the earth like titans. Boston. Foreigner. Journey. Loverboy. But no! It can’t be! I never left the ‘00s! I’ve been here the whole time! It’s not a bloated seventies FM hard rock band. It’s been the Hold Steady . . . all along. My . . . God… But seriously, even though I don’t particularly like ‘70s hard rock, these guys do it extremely well. Plus, along with their giant slabs of aural Wonder Bread slathered with power chords, they’ve managed to ingest the populism of Bruce Springsteen, the verbal inventiveness of Dylan, the punk integrity of the Minutemen and the pop savvy of Billy Joel. The Hold Steady manage to have it both (all?) ways, melding the macho big guitar sound with a heavy does of irony that makes them appealing to the Lester Bangs crowd.

7. Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

Let’s get the usual mention of Neko Case’s voice out of the way (she has a lovely, charismatic and supple voice) and get right to the music. For a more or less traditional artist, this is a remarkably ambitious and creative album. Were she an older and more well-established artist, such as Emmylou Harris, I would have said that she had undergone the Daniel Lanois treatment in an effort to become relevant. The songs are written mostly by Case herself, and are of such high quality that her songwriting may in future be mentioned before her voice. “Margaret vs. Pauline” movingly contrasts two women from very different backgrounds and socioeconomic classes (“one left her sweater sitting on the train and the other lost three fingers at the cannery”). That song is bookended with album closer, the wonderful “The Needle Has Landed.”

8. TV on the Radio – Return to Cookie Mountain

One of the best-reviewed and most aurally inventive records of the year. The fact that the band is biracial didn’t hurt either when it came to positive critical reception. TV on the Radio may well represent the future of popular music – effortlessly incorporating all that’s come before, stretching the limits of production as well as lyrical convention, defying the imposition of boundaries. The band’s appeal is best exemplified by “Wolf Like Me,” a relentlessly catchy piece of techno-punk with the forward momentum of Cream’s “Crossroads.” In my view there is only one (big) thing holding this band back, which is the lack of dynamics (or, put another way, song structure). The songs have no beginning, middle or end, and therefore no tension, no release and very little payoff. However, if you live entirely in the moment this is a great album.

9. Jon Auer – Songs from the Year of Our Demise

The first proper solo album (after several EP’s) from the former member of the beloved Posies is a magnificent display of songcraft and the use of hooks in the service of mature and emotionally satisfying adult pop music. Auer’s sweet tenor and gorgeous melodies promises candy-coated fun, but as with the Posies this record is a confection with a chewy center. Auer is a master of song structure, with indelible verses, convincing bridges and unforgettable choruses. Lyrics are evocative although lacking in specificity. The saminess of Auer’s recordings will prevent him from ever making a classic album, but adult consumers of music with hooks cannot do worse than this record.

10. Danielson - Ships

After recording six records under the name Danielson Famile, Daniel Smith chose the abbreviated Danielson moniker for this record, for no apparent reason since the Danielson empire has had a shifting roster anyway. This record evidences none (that I can tell) of the Christian lyrics that Smith is generally known for, in favor of a more generalized surreal lyrical approach. The slightly cluttered production, Byzantine melodies and high-pitched vocals remind me strongly of the lost classic album Boulders from former Move and Electric Light Orchestra member Roy Wood. Under the layers of instrumentation are some fine songs and compelling hooks.

Raandy Newman takes his scalpel out of storage and sharpens it

2007-02-10T04:28:00.000-08:00

Anyone seething with anger and frustration over the state of our country has got to check out the new single from Randy Newman, entitled "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country." Those familiar with Newman's career know him to be a razor-sharp satirist who has gotten stuck in the craw of just about everyone at one time or another, although he now prints money as the in-house soundtrack composer for Disney/Pixar animated films.

Since we canceled our subscription to the New York Times (that right-wing rag) I did not realize that the lyrics were published as an op-ed in the January 24 edition (lyrics available here). If you haven't seen the lyrics, they are sad, brilliant and hilarious. The song defends the U.S. by noting that our leaders, although "they're the worst that we've had," actually compare favorably with Caligula, Hitler, Stalin and King Leopold of Belgium.

And the verse about the Supreme Court deserves to be quoted in its entirety:

You know it pisses me off a little
That this Supreme Court is gonna outlive me
A couple of young Italian fellas and a brother on the Court now too
But I defy you, anywhere in the world
To find me two Italians as tightass as the two Italians we got

And as for the brother
Well, Pluto’s not a planet anymore either

The song ends with a lament that the American moment may be coming to an end, but of course the message is not that it is going to end, or that he is glad that it is ending, but that America can live up to its ideals if its people take them seriously and act to adjust their behavior so that it is consistent with them. It is therefore depressing and somewhat comical that people on both the left and right don't get it. Right-wing posters on iTunes complained that they bought the record expecting a nice soothing patriotic tune like "Proud to Be an American" or a Disneyfied pop tune like "You've Got a Friend in Me." On the left, a clueless poster on DailyKos thought that the message of the song was that we should be grateful for Bush's leadership since he's not as bad as Hitler.

Capsule Music Review - Ali Farka Toure

2007-02-10T04:03:00.000-08:00

Ali Farka Toure - Savane

If you had the fortitude to go through my previous capsule music reviews you might have noticed a high percentage of records I didn't like. This is partly because I was holding back reviews of any record that had a good chance of making my top ten. Now that I have settled on my top ten (which I will publish on February 11 in conjunction with the Grammies), I can review the other records I liked.

Ali Farka Toure (there should be an accent on the "e", but I can't figure out how to do that on this software) is a West African guitarist (who died in 2006) sometimes referred to as the African John Lee Hooker. I find it difficult to make critical evaluations of "world music" artists because I lack a command of the criteria necessary to judge artists outside the Western popular music tradition. The difficulty with Toure is reduced slightly by his strong resemblance to the American blues tradition. Listening to Toure, it's easy to see how African musical traditions were incorporated into the blues, making Toure (until recently) a living time capsule of American traditional music. Of course, it is likely that Toure was in turn influenced by American blues artists, muddying the waters somewhat.

With that in mind, this is an essential record for anyone with an interest in folk music, blues, and guitar. I am unfamiliar with Toure's previous, apparently substantial output, but this record is filled with brilliant and startling guitar work that is simultaneously both familiar and alien. The lyrics are not sung in English, but that is no obstacle to getting the general emotional drift. The compositions tend to be somewhat static, resulting in a droning quality, which is by turns both mesmerizing and dull.

Capsule Music Review - Joanna Newsom

2007-02-10T03:39:00.000-08:00

Joanna Newsom - Ys

I resisted the urge to pick up Newsom's previous record, The Milk-Eyed Mender, despite the critical bouquets deposited at her feet, but after the even greater paroxysms of enthusiasm for Ys (pronounced "ees") I felt I had no choice but to see what all the fuss was about.

It's easy to see why jaded critics looking for something different would admire this record since it certainly is different. Newsom's warbly, high-pitched voice had me longing for the the sound of fingernails on a blackboard. Stapled on to Newsom's meandering and unexceptional melodies are the hyperactive and cluttered string arrangements of Van Dyke Parks, a rock music hanger-on whose previous claim to fame was making Brian Wilson look down-to-earth by comparison.

Finally, the engineer on the record is the well-known maverick and asshole Steve Albini, who seems to have made a career now of locating and nurturing artists that suck.

Capsule Music Review - Minus Five

2007-01-09T19:47:00.000-08:00

Minus Five - Minus Five

Nicknamed "The Gun Album" because guns appear on the cover and in the lyrics of several songs. The clown prince of alt-rock Scott McCaughey continues his smartass assault on modern rock's pretensions to classicism. In ample supply are McAughey's jokey compositions, aided by the usual roster of distinguished alt-rock hoodlums, including Peter Buck, Jeff Tweedy, and Ken Stringfellow. Case in point, "Out There on the Maroon," which features the line "I had six white Russians tonight . . . and two of them were people," or "I never wanna let you go . . . and that's why I bought this rope" from "Bought a Rope."

However, as has been McCaughey's wont in the past he's not above getting serious, as in the masterful "Cemetery Row" sung by Colin Meloy.

Capsule Music Review - New York Dolls

2007-01-09T19:39:00.000-08:00

New York Dolls - One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This

Contrary to popular opinion, apparently rock n' roll is not a young man's game, since the Dolls apparently have picked up right where they left off after 22 years. This record rocks more than hard enough for old farts, and Johansen works up a convincing sneer despite his advanced years. The record (as well as the excellent Live from Royal Festival Hall 2004) benefits greatly from the lead guitar of Steve Conte, who fills in for the late Johnny Thunders.

However, listening to this requires a certain suspension of reality, pretending that the band members are really 16 and on the make. I noticed this especially on the live album, when Johansen sneeringly described attending a fancy-schmancy record company party, as if he hasn't spent the last 22 years doing Sesame Street videos and Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve.

Capsule Music Review - Roy

2007-01-09T19:34:00.000-08:00

Roy - Killed John Train

This band coulda been a contender, perhaps staking out a plot on the edges of the alt-country ranch, as demonstrated by the soulful harmonica that opens the first track, "Reno, I'm Coming Home," segueing into a feedback drawl that evokes Wilco. However, later tracks don't sustain the consistent mood and abandon the country inflection for a duller alt-rock sound. Nevertheless, standout track "Jesus Drives a Trans Am" shows a greater influence from Pavement than by the Long Ryders, to good effect.

Capsule Music Review - Television Personalities

2007-01-09T19:24:00.000-08:00

Television Personalities - My Dark Places

At least there is truth in advertising in this title. Cult band Television Personalities released several uncompromisingly bizarre records in the '80s, including And Don't the Kids Just Love It in 1980 and The Painted Word in 1984. After dropping out of sight in the late 90's, band leader Dan Treacy reemerged amid rumors of mental illness and drug abuse. His "comeback" involved releasing this record even darker than previous output and at times so haphazard and intentionally sloppy as to be unlistenable. Still, the emotions are real and at times the record is deeply affecting in a Jonathan Richman-like naive way, as in "No More I Hate Yous" or "I Hope You're Happy Now."

Capsule Music Review - Long Winters

2007-01-09T19:08:00.000-08:00

Long Winters - Putting the Days to Bed

Calling this record a disappointment seems unfair and beside the point, since this album is so damn catchy. However, songwriter John Roderick does not hit the consistent depth apparent in many of the songs in their previous album, When I Pretend to Fall.

Listening to this record puts me in mind of the classic Saturday Night Live skit featuring Dana Carvey as a songwriter singing his composition "Chopping Broccoli." Although this record is far less humorless than the singer-songwriter being parodied in the Carvey skit, nevertheless they both display a flaw of lazy songwriting - a single phrase or line of no particular significance which is made to give the impression of profundity through repetition and an earnest delivery: "wish me luck" in "Pushover," and the word "teaspoon" in the track of the same name, for example.

Nevertheless, there are some fine songs, including the two aforementioned tracks, the fine "Ultimatum" and the affecting "Honest" in which a mother advises her daughter not to fall in love with a lead singer.

Capsule Music Review - Twilight Singers

2007-01-05T19:54:00.000-08:00

Twilight Singers - Powder Burns

Former Afghan Whigs frontman Greg Dulli mines the same vein of leering sexual energy with his current project that he did with the Whigs. Similar also is the dramatic powerhouse sound deployed here, although not quite as incendiary as were the Whigs in such great 90's albums as Gentleman.

The production, especially Dulli's emotive vocals, are toned down compared to the Whigs, making the record more readily digestible by middle-aged listeners whose sexual preferences don't run quite to the imaginative extremes apparently endorsed by Dulli. Although thelyrics are never explicit, his curled-lip delivery leaves his intent undoubted. Dulli is an interesting figure in the modern alt-rock world - much of today's alt-rock is so solipsistic as to be asexual, making Dulli a more convincing superstar-in-waiting than cult figure.

Standout tracks on this album are "Bonnie Brae," "My Time (Has Come)," and the title track.

Capsule Music Review - Covers albums

2007-01-05T19:26:00.000-08:00

Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs - Under the Covers Vol. 1
Tortoise and Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The Brave and the Bold
Grant Lee Phillips - Nineteeneighties
Luna - Lunafied

This seems a particularly active year for established artists showing their roots by releasing albums of covers. These four records all released this year show the various approaches to the covers album and the pitfalls and rewards of each.

The Sweet/Hoffs album represents the "faithful reproduction" school of covers, attempting note-for-note versions of mostly well-known and much loved tracks such as "And Your Bird Can Sing," "The Kids are Alright" and "The Warmth of the Sun". Sweet and Hoffs' big mistake is trying to beat rock's greatest icons at their own game - who in his right mind is going to try to top the vocal achievements of the Beatles or the Beach Boys, or the chops of the Who in their prime? And really, just how much courage does it take to do "Alone Again Or" without strings? Opening track "I See the Rain" comes off best, possibly because it is the most obscure track on the record, a 1967 hit for the band Marmalade.

Representing the "radical reinterpretation" school is Will Oldham in his persona as Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Chicago art rockers Tortoise having their way with the familiar and the unfamiliar with mixed results. The noisy version of Elton John's "Daniel" is terrific, and the Frankenstein-like reconstruction of "Thunder Road" will have Springsteen fans burning Oldham in effigy but is in fact a brilliant exploration of the hidden possibilities in the song. On the other hand the version of Richard Thompson's "Calvary Cross" does nothing to improve on the original.

The goal of Grant Lee Phillips, formerly front man for Grant Lee Buffalo, seems to be to prove the songwriting credentials of icons of 80's new wave. He does this by rendering a rather obvious choice of tracks in sensitive singer-songwriter mode with a mild alt-country twang. Phillips ends up batting about .500. New Order's "Age of Consent" sounds rushed and awkward, while the Cure's "Boys Don't Cry" done with toy piano comes off very well. The version of Robyn Hitchcock's "I Often Dream of Trains" is lovely but since the original recording is in more or less an identical style I wonder what's the point. The Psychedelic Furs' "Love My Way" is also good.

The final entry comes from Luna, representing the "here are my influences, like it or not" school. The ubiquitous Serge Gainsbourg is well-represented, along with nice versions of the Beat Happening's "Indian Summer," the obscure Velvet Underground track "Ride Into the Sun" and Talking Heads' "Thank You for Sending Me an Angel."

Capsule Music Review - Tom Verlaine

2007-01-05T19:10:00.000-08:00

Tom Verlaine - Around
Tom Verlaine - Songs and Other Things

The songwriter and guitarist Verlaine of the great early New York quasi-punk band Television emerges from a 14-year hiatus with one album of instrumentals and one of more conventional songs. The instrumental record (Around) suffers from the lack of strong melodies and some uncharacteristically diffident guitar-playing.

The second record is probably Verlaine's strongest since 1981's Dreamtime. Verlaine's singing (or singspiel in some spots) and the stinging guitar comes close to evoking some of his best stuff with Television. Particularly excellent is "From Her Fingers," "The Earth Is In The Sky," and "All Weirded Out." Some of the songs, including instrumental opener "A Parade in Littleton", are excessively polite and lacking in punch.

Capsule Music Review - Robyn Hitchcock

2007-01-05T19:02:00.000-08:00

Robyn Hitchcock - Ole! Tarantula

Hitchcock's penchant for lyrics featuring creepy-crawlies (such as the title arachnid) has long since passed from being a style into the world of pathology, and this record is no exception. Hitchcock's status as much-loved of icon of alt-rock (both in his solo career and as a member of the Soft Boys) has deservedly earned him many fans among today's rock cognoscenti, several of which (Peter Buck of REM among them) play on this record.

The record is quite ordinary musically and Hitchcock's once magnificent songwriting is in little evidence, except perhaps in "Belltown Ramble" and "N.Y. Doll," an ode to Arthur Kane of the New York Dolls.

Capsule Music Review - Scott Walker

2007-01-05T18:52:00.000-08:00

Scott Walker - The Drift

Scott Walker is surely one of the strangest stories in pop history. Walker (born Scott Engel) was a member of the Walker Brothers, a band of American non-siblings consciously modeled on the Righteous Brothers with a similar sound, little known in the United States but at one time huge stars in the UK. Their biggest hit was the much-admired "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore."

Anyway, so the band breaks up and Scott retains the Walker surname and starts releasing solo albums at uneven intervals. Several albums later, Walker is releasing uncompromising and well-nigh unlistenable slow-paced sludge-rock with coal-black lyrics, something like a cross between Tom Waits and the Swans. It's as if Paul McCartney emerged from the studio once every seven years with an album of grindcore.

This album may well be a work of genius, as most critics seem to think, but you couldn't tell by me. If you squint your ears really hard you may start to get a glimpse of an actual point to this music, but the strain was too much for me.

Capsule Music Review - Drive-By Truckers

2007-01-05T18:44:00.000-08:00

Drive-By Truckers - A Blessing and a Curse

A major disappointment, not because it's bad really but because 2004's The Dirty South may well end up being the album of the decade. The band's chops and emotional sincerity are still there but unfortunately primary songwriter Patterson Hood has succumbed to the temptation of lazy songwriting. The specifics of Dirty South have been traded for a surfeit of vague generalities - "I'm just floating", "Don't be so easy on yourself," and, God help us, "When the well runs dry." The major exception is the heartbreaking "Little Bonnie." "A World of Hurt" is also surprisingly effective due to its wrenching emotional honesty, despite its potentially cliched-sounding spoken-rather-than-sung lyrics.

Capsue Music Review - The Decemberists

2007-01-05T18:33:00.000-08:00

Decemberists - The Crane Wife

Another of the year's disappointments, not that it's awful, it's just that the group's great strength is Colin Meloy's songwriting skills and these are not exploited to full advantage on this record. Great songwriting is not just about precious melodies, it's also about song structure, more specifically in the rock context about tension and release, slow build, and a big payoff as the last strains fade away.

Unfortunately, the prog-rock genre does not lend itself to song structure; separate sections sound like snippets of different songs smooshed together. Furthermore, there are few (none, actually) pop or rock musicians with the compositional skills to make a truly unified work of multiple sections as could be achieved by a decent classical composer.

Of the two lengthy compositions, "The Crane Wife 1 & 2" stands up fairly well, while I find "The Island" to be dull. Whatever merits true prog-rock has cannot be achieved here because the band just doesn't have the chops. The shorter songs nevertheless offer some of what made previous Decemberists albums so terrific, particularly "Shankhill Butchers" and "Sons & Daughters," the latter of which once again demonstrates the endless lyrical merits of the word "cinnamon."

Capsule Music Review - Comets on Fire

2007-01-05T16:25:00.000-08:00

Comets on Fire - Avatar

The heaviest record of the year is less cacophonous than the band's last, the excellent Blue Cathedral, and thus more easily categorized, in this case as late 60's, early 70's protopunk/blues rock in the mold of the Stooges, Blue Cheer and the Groundhogs. The playing is fine all around, and is well-matched to the time-warp feel. The derivativeness of it and the similarity of the tracks to each other puts a limit on how many nice things I can say about it. It is nevertheless worthwhile traditional hard rock.

Capsule Music Review - Camera Obscura

2007-01-04T21:00:00.000-08:00

Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of This Country

Extremely catchy and tuneful Scottish band often compared to Belle and Sebastian produces enjoyable music lacking in depth. Songs are of high quality but production lacks in imagination and musicality. Best of the lot are the title track and the uncharacteristically morose "Dory Previn."

Capsule Music Review - Calexico

2007-01-02T20:38:00.000-08:00

Calexico - Garden Ruin

One of the most disappointing albums of 2006. Calexico had been moving away from alt-rock and towards a more mellow pop sound, but until now had the good sense to stay away from Loggins-land.

Unfortunately, with 2006's entry, Calexico has apparently decided that their target market is fans of Dan Fogelberg who thought he was moving too much in a punk direction. Only a few tracks, such as "Letter to Bowie Knife," display the chops and imagination that made 2003's Feast of Wire so good. Here's hoping that the record sells poorly, so that Burns and Convertino can get back to a more interesting style.

Capsule Music Review - Ben Kweller

2007-01-02T19:56:00.000-08:00

Ben Kweller - Ben Kweller

It's usually a bad sign when an artist releases an eponymous album that isn't his first. It usually means that the artist, or the artist's record label, is trying to repackage him. Thus, Ben Kweller releases his third solo album.

Kweller is a competent if unambitious songwriter, whose charm has lain mostly in his smart-ass persona. Unfortunately, the earnestness displayed on this album does not suit him. The best of the lot is "This Is War", which is unfortunately war-as-metaphor and not a political song. In the current environment, this is not as amusing as it once was.

Capsule Music Review - T Bone Burnett

2007-01-02T19:45:00.000-08:00

T Bone Burnett - The True False Identity

Burnett is a very distinguished and successful songwriter, producer and impresario. His taste and musicianship are beyond reproach, and his contribution to the sacred cause of popular music unquestioned. As can be seen in the lyrics of many of the songs on his new solo album, his politics are also in the right place.

However, the elevation of craft over grit on his new solo album makes it a merely passable musical experience. Even the rawness on the record feels calculated. Despite Burnett's flawless credentials, this record feels like a resume.

Capsule Music Review - Bruce Springsteen

2006-12-08T19:56:00.000-08:00

Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions

The title is misleading - these are not songs written by Seeger, they are recordings of traditional and other songs inspired by Seeger. Bruce's sincerity is of course beyond reproach, and I have no doubt these songs really were recorded in one take, but no matter how spontaneous these recordings were they don't sound spontaneous (Bruce's shouting out changes on the fly notwithstanding). Perhaps it's the seriously annoying Southern accent affected by Bruce. Perhaps it's the realization that these "informal" recording sessions were undoubtedly facilitated by state-of-the-art equipment and some top-notch catering. Perhaps it's the inherent contradiction in a guy as obviously well-off as Bruce singing about what he would if he do if he had as much money as Bill Gates.

These flaws make the record not as great as it should have been, but it's still lively and enjoyable. "Old Dan Tucker" and "Jesse James" are jaunty and catchy, and Seeger's "Bring'Em Home" is genuinely moving under the circumstances. The record shares two tracks with the recent sea chantey album Rogue's Gallery ("Mrs. McGrath" and "Shenandoah"; the version of the latter is inferior to Richard Thompson's).

Capsule Music Review - Bob Dylan

2006-12-08T19:26:00.000-08:00

Bob Dylan - Modern Times

Yet another drastically overrated album from the single greatest individual artist in the history of popular music. You may say I'm being unfair, that I can't expect every album to be Highway 61 Revisited, but I don't think so. Is it too much to ask from Bob Dylan that in 2006 he do better than "If it keeps on rainin' the levee's gonna break" without a trace of irony? "Thunder on the Mountain"? "When the Deal Goes Down"? "Workingman's Blues #2"? It's like he cut up the collected lyrics of Robert Hunter, threw them up in the air, and reassembled them at random.

Musically the record is as dull as dishwater. The lead guitarist plays so diffidently and with so little fire or originality that he sounds like an awed teenager playing his first gig. What, is Robbie Robertson dead? Is Richard Thompson too busy? For God's sake Bob, you can do anything, have any band you want, why are you so fucking boring?

I had this record on my car CD changer back to back with Springsteen's Pete Seeger Sessions (which has its own flaws). When the Dylan album ended and the Springsteen album came on, it was like a rotting corpse had been reanimated.

Everything about the album feels like a marketing ploy, from the lazy and trivial lyrics, to the falsely ironic album title. I don't know where the hell these critics come from who are hailing this as a masterpiece, but I think it's crazy. One numbnuts even had the temerity to compare it to The Basement Tapes.

Capsul Music Review - Built to Spill

2006-12-03T05:34:00.000-08:00

Built to Spill - You in Reverse

Like the Taliban in Afghanistan, the forces of prog-rock have refused to die and continue to mount devastating raids on the fringes of alt-rock. At the vanguard of this guerilla force are Built to Spill, whose prominent guitars and high-pitched vocals signal that the spirit of Yes lives on.

Whatever the shortcomings of 70's prog-rock, Built to Spill continues to release remarkably consistent and worthwhile records, wisely reducing the risk of drowning in topographic oceans through superior song quality and a judicious restraint in song length.

This record is very rewarding for those with any interest in the genre. Musicianship is impressive without an excess of showing-off. There is not enough beauty, emotion or rock excitement to push this record into the year's top ten, but it is nevertheless well worth picking up.

Capsule Music Review - Alejandro Escovedo

2006-12-03T05:25:00.000-08:00

Alejandro Escovedo - The Boxing Mirror

Escovedo is much loved among discerning fans of adult alternative. My prior experience (with his 2002 theater piece/album By the Hand of the Father) was, please get this crap off my disc changer now.

His new album was a pleasant surprise, being a far more eclectic and far less maudlin exercise in alt-rock, almost completely devoid of the studied ethnic sound of the 2002 album. Eclectic, but also unfocused, leaving my overall experience with the album at the tepid level.

Some tracks rocks surprisingly hard, such as the Springsteenish "Break This Time," or the punkish "Sacramento and Polk."

In short, a worthwhile record, but non-essential.

What's playing in my car?

2006-08-23T03:59:00.000-07:00

Ali Farka Toure - Savane
Futureheads - News and Tributes
New York Dolls - One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This
Scott Walker - The Drift
Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming
Twilight Singers - Powder Burns

England Dan and John Ford Coley's "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight"

2006-08-04T06:41:00.000-07:00

There are many execrable songs in the history of popular music. "Feelings". "Afternoon Delight". "Tonight's the Night" (Rod Stewart, not Neil Young).

But I have concluded that none is more foul, more detestable, than "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight" by England Dan and John Ford Coley.

I won't even comment on the musical vapidity of the song, but it's lyrics - oh my God.

Okay, guy calls up a girl and says, "Hey, haven't spoken to you for a while, how you doin', would you like to get together tonight and do something." So far, we are in the land of the merely banal.

But in the chorus, he sings "I'm not talking about moving in, and I don't want to change your life..." At this point the girl should be saying "Hold on, cowboy, who said anything about moving in?"

It only gets worse from there. The second verse amounts to "So maybe we could take a walk in the park, watch TV and hang out or something, and then maybe we could, uh, you know, fuck."

So in other words, this guy is calling up this girl to say "I haven't seen you in six months, but I'm feeling horny, I'd like to come over to your house, fuck you, and then leave. Is that okay?"

The girl's only correct response to this asshole is "If you call me again, I'm calling the police."

I suppose some deconstructionist dimwit (like my brother-in-law) would say "Actually, the song is meant ironically. The songwriter knows the protagonist is an asshole. The song is a biting, satirical portrait of loneliness and self-loathing that rivals "Strange Fruit" for pathos and power." Yeah, right. How did I miss that?

Capsule Music Review - Johnny Cash

2006-08-03T18:53:00.000-07:00

Johnny Cash - Personal File

This two disk set is purportedly composed of obscurities and rarities recorded mostly in 1973, uncollected and released only sporadically from Cash's basement. As one might expect, the song quality is uneven, but there are some gems, especially "The Engineer's Dying Child" and the Louvin Brothers' "When I Stop Dreaming" on disc 1. The spoken personal reminiscences on disc 1 are charming.

Disc 2 is composed entirely of religious songs, again of uneven quality. Cash's religiosity is moving and all but, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde, one would have to have a heart of stone to listen to these songs without laughing. I know I'll burn in hell for this, but when he talks about religion between songs, he just sounds like a stupid hick.

What's playing in my car?

2006-08-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

T-Bone Burnett - The True False Identity
Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of this Country
Drive-By Truckers - A Blessing and a Curse
Galaxie 500 - Today
Parliament - Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome
Walker Brothers - After the Lights Go Out

What's playing in my car?

2006-07-31T11:59:00.000-07:00

Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
Danielson - Ships
Minus 5 - Minus 5
Roy - Killed John Train
Television Personalities - My Dark Places
Tom Verlaine - Around

Capsule Music Review - Belle and Sebastian

2006-07-30T06:21:00.000-07:00

Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit

B&S's traditional appeal has been its mopey style and sensitive approach, hilariously dissed in the movie High Fidelity.

Whether group leader Stuart Murdoch has reached a happier place, or wants to reach a larger audience, is unknown, but now B&S is a highly expert pop band writing cheerful, catchy songs.

Nevertheless, the lyrics have a bite that one does not normally associate with pop music, putting this band on a higher level. Song quality is consistent and excellent.

ABA Task Force Recommendation on Presidential Signing Statements

2006-07-28T16:20:00.000-07:00

Just finished reading the ABA Task Force Recommendation on Presidential Signing Statements and the Separation of Powers Doctrine. The Report analyzes and makes recommendations with respect to the President's use of signing statements to disregard the rule of law.

The Report confirms, as any marginally sentient being has known for at least five years, that the Bush Administration represents the greatest threat to America as we know it in at least the last 50 years. Arguably, Bush represents an even greater existential threat to the country than the Nazis in WW II.

The Report concludes that Presidential signing statements may be used solely for the purpose of illuminating the President's understanding of the meaning of a statute. He may not use it to justify disregarding the law.

The report tries to be non-partisan and level-headed, but the contempt of the authors for the Bush administration is palpable. For starters, the report makes no bones about the fact that through the signing statements, Bush is literally assuming kingly powers. The report also makes thinly veiled threats of removal from office, comparing Bush's actions unfavorably to those of King James II "which ultimately occasioned his dethronement" and suggested that legislation by Congress allowing judicial review of signing statements would "demonstrate an eagerness to play by constitutional rules short of impeachment."

The task force pointedly quotes at length from Jimmy Carter's 1978 signing statement for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (you know, the law that Bush keeps ignoring) as an example of a proper signing statement.

The historical discussion of signing statements is interesting also in that it highlights the non-constitutional problem with the signing statements, a problem that permeates the entire Bush administration, which is that the real reason for the signing statements is not that Bush feels the power of the President needs to be expanded, but that by creating such statements as an alternative to vetos Bush avoids political accountability. Few people know about the signing statements, and most Americans would be unable to understand their import even if they knew about them. By signing a bill and then secretly refusing to enforce it he can have it both ways - take credit for the bill in public while eviscerating its effectivenss.

But perhaps the saddest sentence in the report is the coda to the task force's suggestion that the Supreme Court should be given the opportunity to rule on the constitutionality of the signing statements: "It is to be hoped that the President would obey any constitutional declaration of the Supreme Court." What does it say about the state of the country that we need to worry about whether a President will obey an order of the Supreme Court?

Misleading headline on Huffington Post

2006-07-28T09:01:00.000-07:00

I find a headline on the Huffington post regarding the deaths of four UN observers in Lebanon to be misleading and dishonest. The headline says "Israel Refuses Investigation of UN Deaths," implying that Israel is refusing to investigate the deaths. In fact, Israel is pledging to investigate the deaths, but is declining to conduct a joint investigation with the UN.

Capsule Music Review - Band of Horses

2006-07-26T19:21:00.000-07:00

Band of Horses - Everything All the Time

I do most of my listening in the car, and I try to put the discs in alphabetical order so I can keep track of what I'm listening to. I went all the way through this debut album by Band of Horses before I realized it wasn't Built to Spill.

The commonalities are the high-pitched vocals and sophisticated approach of prog-rock. In retrospect, the comparison is superficial, as Band of Horses shoots for a more lyrical place, with some excellent and moving songwriting. The reverb-y vocals are also reminiscent of My Morning Jacket.

The sum total is solid, and occasionally compelling alt-rock with high-quality songwriting and flashes of great beauty, especially the album closer "St. Augustine". "The Great Salt Lake" also stands out as a well-constructed song with nice dynamics.

Capsule Music Review - Neil Young

2006-07-25T19:37:00.000-07:00

Neil Young - Living with War

Few artists do disintegration better than Neil Young, as in his best records Tonight's the Night and Rust Never Sleeps. Unfortunately he doesn't do calls to action quite so well. True, Neil deserves major points for unambiguously attacking the Bush administration, a small thing you might say, but who else is doing it? The Dixie Chicks?

However, these songs are overall fairly weak, with cheesy chorused vocals to create a simulacrum of collective action, and lazy lyrics that rely too heavily on now hackneyed phrases like "shock and awe," "mission accomplished" and "smoking gun." Neil's laziness drains the power from the songs, favoring vague generalities over more powerful specificity: sadly, and with a nod to Stalin, "thousands buried in the ground" is less powerful than "four dead in Ohio."

The only really successful song is "Lookin' for a Leader," in which Neil identifies explicitly potential replacements for Bush who might have a chance to set things right.

Music capsule reviews - Arctic Monkeys

2006-07-25T19:31:00.000-07:00

Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

One of this year's hyped bands is neither as good nor as bad as the hype would suggest. Tracks are at breakneck speed in the '80s dance-punk vein, with that unmistakable snotty UK attitude. The hit, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor," would be a worthy addition to any 2006 compilation.

Tony Snowjob on murder

2006-07-25T14:57:00.000-07:00

On July 19 Tony Snow said that Bush believed that stem cell research was "murder." On July 24, Snow (apparently the most incompetent press secretary in U.S. history) said, oops, I didn't mean to say that, I was "overstating the president's position."

As others have noted (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-j-elisberg/a-summer-snow-job-the-st_b_25779.html) what the hell is going on here? Is it possible that Snow could have inadvertently used the term murder? Did he not discuss this with the President, or anyone else who knew what passes for the President's mind on this subject?

My belief is that the whole thing was set up - Snow refers to stem cell research as murder, then pretends to have misrepresented the President's view.

Why? The original statement prompts the headline "President's spokesman says stem cell research is murder!" Yippee, go the conservatives. The liberals get all upset.

A few days later, Snow says he overstated the position, but note he did not say "Bush thinks stem cell research is not murder." That would have upset the right wing. Instead he says Bush "would not use that term." Really? Well, what term would he use? The story does not get reported.

The result? Bush got his message across to the right wing, and liberals can't accuse Bush of taking the patently absurd position that stem cell research is murder because Bush can deny ever having said it.

Name that quote

2006-07-24T18:25:00.000-07:00

"His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it."

Ron Suskind on Bush? Nope, the OSS on Hitler during WWII.

Ghok Buti's Three Fundamental Laws

2006-07-23T19:53:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know I said the first rule was that the Bush admin always lies. Okay, that's not fundamental.

Here are the Three Fundamental Laws:

1. Everything is overdetermined

Taught me by my analyst. It means that there's never only one reason. For anything. Doesn't matter what it is: personal foibles, environmental crises, political actions, sports results.

2. This is not a damned football game.

Taken from a powerful moment in the movie Failsafe. This is not a zero sum game. Best example: no matter how moronic Republicans are, they're still Americans and they're still people. It is essential we show them the error of their ways. Even if it were possible to crush them, we would all lose.

3. It is futile to reason someone out of a position they were never reasoned nto.

Jonathan Swift. Stop trying to explain to Republicans why a cluster of cells one-tenth the size of a period is not a person. Instead, tell them that their leaders are lying to them for their own political gain, and let them go home and think about it.

The "Bush administrati0n always lies" rule could be thought of as a corollary to the Third Law of Ghok Buti.

Bolten on Meet the Press

2006-07-23T19:45:00.000-07:00

Just saw Josh Bolten on Meet the Press. Seems like an articulate, intelligent guy. Let's not forget the Ghok Buti First Principle: everything the Bush administration says is a lie.

What can we learn then from applying the first principle to Bolten's appearance?:

The Busb administration doesn't want a cease-fire in Lebanon because they're hoping it will trigger a Mideast-wide conflagration.

The Bush administration does not believe that Iraq will turn into a democratic ally of the United States.

Bush doesn't care about the fate of embryos.

What kind of President sacrifices human life for the sake of his own political fortunes?

What kind of person does that make Josh Bolten?

GHOK BUTI

The Playmobil Airport Security Playset

A thought for you short-sighted Bush haters.

In the long run we're all dead

Best. Ayn Rand. Parody. Ever.

Bruce Lee Playing Ping-Pong . . . with Nunchuks!?

Are conservatives divorced from reality?

Now that the election's over, we can finally admit it

My experience poll-watching Pennsylvania

Joe Scarborough is a schmuck, cont'd

Suck on this, crazy lady from Manhattan

Sarah Palin was right

The New York Post soldiers on

Victoria Jackson, SNL alumna, speaks on Obama

Hockey Mama for Obama

Joe Scarborough is a schmuck

What American disaster has the right not connected to Barack Obama?

The Obama-Katz Connection: When Will America Open Its Eyes?

Obama's use of hypnosis.

Republican voter suppression

Helen and Margaret

"That Man" and "That One"

Reality Beats McCain

Palin as President

What's playing in my car (red car edition)

What's playing in my car?

Sarah Palin and science

Opie and Richie for Obama

Gamblers Anonymous

More video

The Vet Who Did Not Vet

Hilarious post on the right-wing blogosphere

Will Sarah Palin be the Republican nominee in 2012?

Now here's an interesting factoid...

Prayer Alert!

Oh my God - Michelle Obama member of anti-American political party!

Red Sox-Rays game

This evening's entertainment

The latest from Hanoi John

I wade knee deep in shit . . . so you don't have to

The three categories of Republicans

More on ACORN

More right wing insanity

A nice sampling of rightwing lunacy

Chicago Tribune endorses Obama

I've decided to have six children

The ACORN Thing

Palin as President

Boy Bands for Obama

The stock meltdown

Writing on this blog

Dartmouth Association of Alumni election

Capsule Music Review - Blitzen Trapper

Capsule Music Review - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Capsuile Music Review - Burial

Capsule Music Review - Avett Brothers

Capsule Music Review - Art Brut

Capsule Music Review - Battles

Capsule Music Review - Architecture in Helsinki

Not ready to make nice with "Not Ready to Make Nice"

2006 Year in Review

Raandy Newman takes his scalpel out of storage and sharpens it

Capsule Music Review - Ali Farka Toure

Capsule Music Review - Joanna Newsom

Capsule Music Review - Minus Five

Capsule Music Review - New York Dolls

Capsule Music Review - Roy

Capsule Music Review - Television Personalities

Capsule Music Review - Long Winters

Capsule Music Review - Twilight Singers

Capsule Music Review - Covers albums

Capsule Music Review - Tom Verlaine

Capsule Music Review - Robyn Hitchcock

Capsule Music Review - Scott Walker

Capsule Music Review - Drive-By Truckers

Capsue Music Review - The Decemberists

Capsule Music Review - Comets on Fire

Capsule Music Review - Camera Obscura

Capsule Music Review - Calexico

Capsule Music Review - Ben Kweller