Hot Talk

Making an ass of myself over at NW Wingnut again. Join me, won't you?

0-4, damn

Consider four attributes of the ideal man: self-control, bravery, confidence and sex appeal.

TGIF - free agent edition

This one goes out to our favorite quarterback.

TGIF - welcome back edition

I'm sure we can all get down with NWA's strong stance against the use of mind-weakening narcotics.

the War is over....Time for Celebration?

The war, first declared by Nixon in '71, is over!

I new BHO would end a war, just wasn't expecting this one:
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske said Wednesday: "Regardless of how you try to explain to people it's a 'war on drugs' or a 'war on a product,' people see a war as a war on them," he said. "We're not at war with people in this country."

Good to hear.....

Now if we actually stop locking up 100,000's of otherwise law abiding Americans, that would be a real victory!

Super-Weird Chris Matthews Content

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

13 minutes of power. Just disregard this, pretend I never posted it, etc.

I've had a good night's sleep, but this clip is still on my mind.

Is it simply the subject matter - the characters involved herein - or something else, about Matthews' 'performance?' Is he starting to remind me of some ensemble character in an Altman-ish rendition of my wonky-(we)blog-life? I fucking hope not, Jesus. When did Matthews gain the ability to turn into an ultra-avunvular, asshole-ish Jack Lemmon at will?

Disregard this.

The rise of the dead?

Just thought I would let ya'll know that the LA forum show was very hot. the setlist:
(Set 1)
Viola Lee Blues->
Bertha->
Viola Lee Blues->
Caution-> (raging! warren screaming something about a Gypsy woman)
Viola Lee Blues->
Black Peter
Cosmic Charlie

(Set 2)
Shakedown Street
New Speedway Boogie
Scarlet Begonias
Fire on the Mountain
Drums >
Space
Dark Star
Wharf Rat
Dark Star
Satisfaction

(Encore)
One More Saturday Night

Warren was sharp, there was very little aimless noodling, and the sound was excellent. I would recommend catching any and all possible future shows (with this lineup)

I am finishing up my finals week, and intend to begin posting more frequently (as in more than not at all) but first, piles of tests to grade....

I love reading Lex and SoliCit, but I wish that Wobs, Dave3544, and Ash would come out of retirement or "whatever", return to the OG, and we could have even more extended dialogue and good-natured back-and-forth over the ongoing apocalyptic deterioration of the "free" market system, the debate over holding torturers accountable, and of course the sad saga surrounding EFCA. Helloooo????? Are you out there?????? Would it kill you to post once in a freakin blue moon? (like me....)I know you comment here and there, but that isn't the same thing......just sayin. organize some serious grievances.... work it out........love is the answer... (I might be slightly influenced by my experiences from last night, but still....)

Business School Horn

EzraKlein Archive | Those Scary Union Organizers
Hipster's Complaint | Culture | The American Scene
Q & A with Alyssa Picard - The Boston Globe

Personal Health - High- Functioning, but Still Alcoholics - NYTimes.com
Wilco's Jeff Tweedy Responds to Jay Bennett Lawsuit :: Music News :: Articles :: Paste
Disgraced John Edwards back in the spotlight - Ben Smith - POLITICO.com

Start Making Sense: The Obama Administration's new international tax proposals
Obama Dines With Economic Critics - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com
The Health-Care Talks: Will Obama Get More Involved? - TIME

How Not to Join a Union

from the Center for American Progress, prolly the liberal wonk-Tank closest to l'administration.

if you've been avoiding the jargon-y EFCA talk up until now, here's as accessible a place as any to jump in.

TGIF

Goddammit, them's fightin' words

But, as a rule, if you’re really in the mood to see blood spilled, take advantage of your right to free speech by taking a position on the first amendment. For instance, there are those who argue there should be absolutely no limits on free speech, even when it comes to pornography, blasphemy or sedition.

Do you have to ask?

I think Jonah Goldberg nails it here.. The one overriding feature of the Obama presidency has been arrogance. The left, lead by the Obamessiah and his wife, Mary, thinks they own the world, but as the totally un-orchestrated Tea Parties show, there is a revolution a'brewin'. A revolution inspired and supported, but in no way organized or funded, by many groups that Jonah Goldberg works for and/or his mom owns. Please, whatever you do, do not notice the fact that Goldberg supports his assertion that Obama's arrogance is breathtaking with one quote from Charles Schumer and...well, the Schumer quote.

100 Days and Life to Go -- Thoughts?

We should be mindful, and critical, of even the best-written of the leading liberal fantasy-'profiles' of Obama.

Also: whatever their imbrication w/i a vast, world-statist conspiracy may be...the Politico's done us a service by compiling these 165 vids of the first 100 days.

BHO at 100 Days: C/NC? Step to it.

Another Idea That's Time Has Come

Fuck yeah! Andy Stern!

and/or

Perez Stern!

Go figure, huh....?

I'll admit it, we're complete and total hypocrites

Speaking, as I often do, for "the left," I'd like to take a moment to criticize President Obama for golfing this weekend instead of staying at the White House to monitor the developing swine flu epidemic.

The comparison between the swine flu outbreak which has devastated approximately 20 Americans in five states and Hurricane Katrina, which wiped out an entire American city, left approximately 2000 people dead, and tens of thousands homeless is in no way specious. The comparison between Obama golfing (golfing!) during this crisis and the (some say) criminal disregard for life shown by President Bush is so strikingly similar as to be shocking. The whole Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln thing is done after this. Also comparable is the fact that Obama has not even bothered to appoint someone to the position of Director of Homeland Security Health and Human Services Secretary who is acceptable to the extreme anti-abortion crowd, while all President Bush did was publicly praise the guy who fucked the whole Katrina thing up. I'd like also to note that it took 20 people getting sick before the Obama administration declared a public emergency, while Bush was savaged for waiting only two days after the hurricane struck to do anything about it.

When are we on the left finally going to admit that this Obama guy is exactly the same as Bush? Hypocrites all, we are.

Wings

Lex has been repping the Wings for awhile now and I have been listening. I gotta ask though, is Wings what happens when there is no one to say "no"? That's my take on it. Not that I don't dig the whatever goes approach to music, but I'm just wondering if that's the general take on it.

The New Ellroy is Coming, 9/22

Dear Booksellers,

In all its mellifluous and macho-maimed magnificence: my new novel, Blood's A Rover.

Knopf will drop this atom bomb of a book on you September 22. Your job is to groove it and grok its groin-grabbing gravity between now and then. From that point on: you handsell it to the book-buying public; I appear at your store and drive legions of my fans and your customers nuts; we all make out and give publishing a cash-cascading and profit-pronging boost in a bum marketplace!!!

Dig it!!!!!

The novel covers 1968-1972. It's a baaaaaad-ass historical romance -- huge in scope, deep in its exploration of the era, filled with my trademark craaaaazy shit, and suffused with a heightened sense of belief and the corollaries of political conversation and revolution. Oh, yeah -- this is a book for these times!

You've got Howard "Dracula" Hughes, Gay Edgar Hoover, and Tricky Dick Nixon. You've got the mob's evil eyes scoping the Dominican Republic. You've got voodoo in Haiti, a vicisiou armored-car heist, and the Feds out to deep-sixi the black militant movement. More than anything else, you've got three obsessed right-wing toadies grapping with the horror of their misdeeds - and seeking redemption in the peron of my greatest female character: The Red Goddess Joan.

Read this book.

Grab its greatness.

Find me on Facebook and let me know what you think (post on my wall!)

Yours truly,

James Ellroy

(h/t: Sarah Weinman)

Ya think?

A checker at the local grocery store was just speculating that Cheech and Chong may, may, have been stoned while making the movie Up in Smoke. He doesn't know for sure, but you gotta think maybe they were.

Frame Talk is Frivolous, Frame Talk is Fun

The Politico has really nice dish - or mebbe it's navel-gazing tripe - about the official BHO semiotics of the Frst Hndrd Days.

ps - No, I have not abandoned the for(u)m of weblogs ("blogs"), I'm just caught in a move-in bind.

pps - And how about unconditional endorsee - and example of all that is righteous in the 20-something blog-wonk matrix - Ezra Klein getting hired by the MotherfuckingWashington MotherfuckingPost?!?

Bigger by the second

Over at NW Republican wingnut Coyote is having a fun time with numbers. In a post titled "An Obama rock concert?" - reference to the 75,000 people that turned out in Portland to see Obama The Decemberists - he posts picture of roughly 5,000 people in Lansing to see Joe "the Plumber" Plumber. No one said math was Coyote's strong suit.

Better, in the same post, he estimates that the crowd in Salem was 2,000. Now, one expects that a wingnut website is going to double the size of the crowd that actually shows up. Just as the cops automatically double the number of beers Coyote estimates he drank when they pull him over. Maybe he realized that in a state of 3.7 million, pulling in 2,000 people is not so impressive. What is that 5/ten-thousandths of a percent? I'm going to be honest with you, I'm not used to dealing with numbers that small, so I may be off, correct me. Or maybe Coyote remembers that Obama drew 10,000 people in Eugene - twice - so he updated his post and his number to reflect that some people were estimating there were 3,000 people there. Seconds later it was 3,200, but you know the libural media, right?

Six hours later, Coyote had that number up to 4,000. I am imagining that by this afternoon 8,000 people will have been at the Capitol yesterday loudly protesting the policies of the Bush Obama administration and calling for an end to the War tax cuts for the wealthy an increase to the capital gains tax an end to government as we know it.

Really when was the last time liberals were able to draw such a crowd? Huh? Huh? Oh yeah, that Obama rock concert.