daniel schorr comtemplates sex

Nonagenarian Daniel Schorr was heard recently on NPR grasping for a common thread about recent, and recurring, sex scandals in politics. Don't look too far Mr. Schorr, it's really not very complicated; the common thread is sex.


Photo by Jacques Coughlin

bush wows 'em with lounge act

El Presidento Bush prepares for life after the White House by working on his lounge act at the Gridiron Club.

lightspeed champion @ sxsw festival

Good news for music fans locked into working FOR THE MAN when they should be out celebrating the advent of spring and some of the hundreds of bands appearing at the SXSW festival in Austin, TX. NPR, yes those staid NPR folks, are broadcasting LIve! from Austin. Venues like this are in part what took the NPR head out earlier in the week, but I say go for it. Puzzles are fun and all, but they don't make you want to dance.

What's nice about this coverage is that it's full of all the defulgities of a live show, including, not knowing when the next act is coming on stage, dealing with amp problems, wavering volume levels, and announcers who sound more like fans than pinheads.

So point your browser to npr music, crank up the speakers, and enjoy what you can. Local NPR affiliates are picking up where the national feed drops off. Right now we're enjoying the rocking sounds of Jonhathan Rice who says,
"We're all stuck out in the desert
and we're going to die!
Wipe that sand and salt
from your blistering eye."


Update 3/30/2008:You can read about what sxsw is really like from a musician who was there at the Wilder's On Tour blog.
brother phil testifies on sxsw

Photo by Jessica Byme

high and low cotton

Bill Steber, Pick Jesus, Belen, MS, 1994


They don't make cotton bales like they used to. A cotton bale today is the size of about 16 bales of the old 500 lb. burlapped-wrapped ones. They are the size of a tractor-trailer bed. They pick the cotton, compress it in layers, drop it at the end of the field and there it sits till the truck picks it up. No more trailers full of just picked cotton gong down the road to the compress. The reason behind the large bales is the same concept as the very large hale bales. Less surface area is exposed to the elements, therefore less spoilage of the product.

Folks are still poor in Mississippi, although casinos have brought new money in the state, largely figuring out a way to further tax the lower- and middle-income citizens while suggesting that the prize is still within the grasp. Hanging out in casinos, is sorta like a sub-prime balloon mortgage. In theory it can pay off; the reality, it almost never does. You don't imagine you'll get struck by lightning, why do you think you'll win the lottery? Only the house walks away from the table while they're ahead.

How poor is Mississippi? According to U.S. Census data more than a third (34.7 percent) of rural children in Mississippi live in poverty. The problem? Education and jobs. Without a good education, there are no good jobs. There are largely unskilled jobs in the service industry and casinos and many of those won't take you from poverty.


Elvis is still alive. At least in Tupelo. At least for a day. Hillary Clinton, who carried only a few counties in Mississippi, did carry those surrounding Tupelo. The power of Bill speaks once more.

But in Clarksville, just a short driver from the birth of the blues and the most famous road crossing in the world, voters went solidly for Barack Obama, as did the rest of the state. Clintonites are suggesting that the reason Obama won in Mississippi was because of the black vote. However, 100,000 more votes were cast for Obama as for Clinton. Although Mississippi has the highest percentage of blacks in the country, they account for only 37 percent of the population. Therefore, of Barack's total, if he got, as some suggested 90 percent of the black vote, this still accounted for only about half of his total votes. The rest. From whites and Hispanics.

So if HRC could have mobilized voters in her favor she would have been able to win the state. Isn't this how it's supposed to work? You convince the voters to vote for you, and if they do, then you win? Apparently a lot of those white folks went and voted for McGruff the Crime Dog.

romney delighted to be hillary's vice-president

Nitt Nomey, who's disappeared from the public eye for almost as long as Eliot Spitzer, emerged today to say that he'd be honored to be HRC's running mate and serve as Vice-President. No word yet from the Clinton campaign as to whether or not this is something they'd be interested in pursuing.

OH, right, there is that whole thing about delegates that the Clinton campaign needs to overcome but they're working the backrooms pretty hard on that one. Then there's this other problem. According to Steven Waldman, founder of Beliefnet.com, who was on Fresh Air today discussing his book Founding Faith this afternoon, there are two religions that you can still use to smear a political candidate in this country. Mormonism, and if you want to really turn off voters, then call them a Muslim.

Considering that the Clinton campaign has tried to taint Obama as a follower of Islam, this would seem to pose a problem with the whole "why don't you be my running-mate" idea they also floated. An idea, which really stinks of bigotry if you think about it. "Boy's got some learn' to do 'fore he's ready for the White House."

Another, as yet, un-floated trial balloon, but we've got weeks before Pennsylvania primary, is that Bill could serve as her Vice-President. An unbeatable ticket!

what’s on tv tonight? humiliation to the point of suicide

That was the title of an opinion piece by Adam Cohen published in the March 10, 2008 edition of the NYTimes.
--------
Later in the day, shortly after 1 pm Eastern time, the Times broke the story about the Governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer having been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute.
-------------
Guess they were right.

seven deadly sins update

Just in time for Easter but not in time to help the soon-to-be former governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, Vatican officials have updated the deadly sin list to be more, in their words, "global".

Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti's not-to-do list.

1. “Bioethical” violations such as birth control
2. “Morally dubious” experiments such as stem cell research
3. Drug abuse
4. Polluting the environment
5. Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor
6. Excessive wealth
7. Creating poverty

Forgive me father, but wouldn't using birth control help to deal with sins 4,6 and 7?

millions exiled to stone age

The attempted manipulation of the Florida and Michigan primary contests by the Clinton campaign, with ample help from devious Republicans who wish to fragment the party's hard drive and a serendipitous boost from the networks who love the bloody battle, threatens to pollute the Democratic party with rancor and disillusionment. For a long time to come.

Millions of young Americans, primarily energized to the party by Barack Obama, will not get behind HRC if she succeeds in wresting the nomination by strong-arm tactics, deceit, and midstream rule changes brought under a faux call "to not disenfranchise the voters of Florida and Michigan". As her husband, Bill, was fond of saying, "that dog don't hunt".

Party nominations have always played to the insiders and the party insiders made the rules (this would include members of the Clinton camp) and now they are desperate to figure out a way to cry foul and get some votes by hook or crook. Actually, they prefer to have others cry foul, and once fed a punch line, many pundits are only too eager to play along. But we digress.

Back to those young, newly christened party members. If this plays out as a nasty comeuppance to the Obama campaign "he's too young and inexperienced to play the dirty game like we (and the Republicans) play it", then come November, a large chunk of them won't vote for HRC or McGruff the Crime Dog, who just attached himself to a President who believes in torture and wants Congress to make it legal again. The also won't vote for Ralph Nader, nor Ron Paul, nor the billionaire from NYC should he decide to jump out of the cake and make it rain. No, they'll walk away from what they will now perceive, as many of them perceived before, the bullshit arena of cow-shit politics. And this will send McGruff the Crime Dog to the White House where he can extract the revenge of the people (which includes himself). My friends, five years of solitude, one hundred years of war.

If these shenannigans do come to pass then to HRC's and/or McGruff's chagrin, they'll discover that the neophytes won't go away forever. They may go away quietly. THIS TIME. But when they do come back, and THEY WILL COME BACK, it'll be to take America away from the party neanderthals and make the process more transparent and fair to those who choose to play the game.

bush attempts to regain torture momentum

Cowboys just weren't meant to be happy.

For your consideration we offer a portion of El Presidento Bush’s message To the House of Representatives:

I am returning herewith without my approval H.R. 2082, the “Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008.”

*The Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) must be allowed to maintain a separate and classified interrogation program.

*While details of the current C.I.A. program are classified, the attorney general has reviewed it and determined that it is lawful under existing domestic and international law, including Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.

*I remain committed to an intelligence-gathering program that complies with our legal obligations and our basic values as a people. The United States opposes torture, and I remain committed to following international and domestic law regarding the humane treatment of people in its custody, including the “Detainee Treatment Act of 2005.”

*In accordance with a clear purpose of the “Military Commissions Act of 2006,” my veto is intended to allow the continuation of a separate and classified C.I.A. interrogation program that the Department of Justice has determined is lawful and that operates according to rules distinct from the more general rules applicable to the Department of Defense.

*I cannot sign into law a bill that would prevent me, and future presidents, from authorizing the C.I.A. to conduct a separate, lawful intelligence program, and from taking all lawful actions necessary to protect Americans from attack.

Other provisions of the bill purport to require the executive branch to submit information to the Congress that may be constitutionally protected from disclosure, including information the disclosure of which could impair foreign relations, the national security, the deliberative processes of the executive, or the performance of the executive’s constitutional duties.

George W. Bush

The White House,

March 8, 2008.
---------------------------------
Bush's objections stem from this Administration's need that the Executive Branch of the government be allowed to operate in secret and wholly separate from any meaningful oversight by other branches of the government. Trust us, we will do the right thing.

Better not, given the history of this Adminstration. If they won't bungle it, they'll just make it up, or lie about it.

More importantly though, is now, can the Democrats offer another solution to this veto? Can they garner the votes to over-ride it? In short, and most importantly, CAN THE DEMOCRATS LEAD?

Let's hope so.

visual reviews of aural entertainment: pat metheny trio

Pat Metheny Trio w/ special guest Mike Metheny.
Unity Village, Missouri; March 7, 2008
Attendance ~1500

warrior ant press receives death threat

moi received the following email yesterday, from of all people, a Kansas City police officer. We are not making this up.
---------------------
Hello,

I am very sorry for you, is a pity that this is how your life is going to end as soon as you don't comply. As you can see there is no need of introducing myself to you because I don't have any business with you, my duty as I am mailing you now is just to KILL you and I have to do it as I have already been paid for that.

Someone you call a friend wants you Dead by all means, and this person have spent a lot of money in this venture,This person came to us and told me that he wanted you dead and he provided us with your name ,picture and other necessary information's we needed about you. So I sent my boys to track you down and they have carried out the necessary investigation needed for the operation on you, and they have done that but I told them not to kill you that I will like to contact you and see if your life is important to you.I called my client back and ask him of your email address which I didn't tell him what I wanted to do with it and he gave it to me and I am using it to contact you now.

Now do you want to LIVE OR DIE? Since all program ahs be made and draw to kill you. Get back to me now if you are ready to pay some fees to spare your life, $15,000 is all you need to spend in this process you will first of all pay $8,000 then i will send a tape to you which i recorded every discusion i had with the person who wanted you dead and as soon as you get the tape, you will pay the remaining balance of $7,000. If you are not ready for my help, then I will carry on with my job straight-up.


WARNING: DO NOT THINK OF CONTACTING THE POLICE OR EVEN TELLING ANYONE BECAUSE I WILL KNOW,REMEMBER, SOMEONE WHO KNOWS YOU VERY WELL WANT YOU DEAD! I WILL EXTEND IT TO YOUR FAMILY, INCASE I NOTICE SOMETHING FUNNY ABOUT YOUR TELLING THE SECURITY ABOUT IT BECAUSE A GOOD LOOK IS OUT YOU AT MOMENT.

DO NOT COME OUT ONCE IT IS 7:PM UNTIL I MAKE OUT TIME TO SEE YOU AND GIVE YOU THE TAPE OF ALL DISCUSSION WITH THE PERSON WHO WANT YOU DEAD THEN YOU CAN USE IT TO TAKE ANY LEGAL ACTION. GOOD LUCK AS I AWAIT YOUR
REPLY.
---------------------------------
Wow! I'm still alive this morning. That's a good thing. The other good thing, I suppose, given the grave tone of the email is that it's an internet scam. So if you get an email like this you should contact the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center.

elsewhere:
fbi internet crime complaint center

urban legends death scam

giving a damn about the grand canyons

The Bush Administration and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne's attempts at multi-purpose management of our great environmental resources are like SUVs - neither sport, nor utilitarian. It's a bloated, out-dated, and wasteful approach to environmental management. But that's never kept them from celebrating a brief tap-turning by holding press conferences and calling it a good day. Pass the cigars and the lite beer. Now eat my cake.

This same approach is played out all over the country, notably on the Missouri River, where a handful of powerful farm and barge lobbyists continue to extort millions of tax dollars annually from citizens using hijinks and buzz words about feeding the world and homeland security. It's bunk.

The science has, and continues to prove that alluvial farmland created and nourished by a riverine system isn't harmed by more natural-like flows. Even a middle-school science student understands this connection. As do farmers. Businesses masquerading as farmers, choose to ignore this function, because they want the taxpayer to continue to support them. The irony of the laissez-faire approach touted by Republicans is that it's just the opposite, it's completely hands-on, and leveraged on the side of the money-changers.

Eliminating the natural flows on the Missouri River have set in place an unsustainable agricultural economy, especially where twice-subsidized corn is grown for ethanol production which uses more foreign oil to produce than it offsets and serves to toxify another vital resource, the Gulf of Mexico, in the process. There are more canoes now on the river than barges but recreational users don't have the myopia or checkbooks of greedy corporations.

But when confronted by the facts, lobbyists cry science foul and distort the facts to line their pocketbooks as well as the campaign coffers of Republican Senators like Kit Bond who push millions in earmarks through Congress every year to keep themselves and the system bloated. Everyone profits but the American people.

When will it end? When the public says "Enough. Stop. You're out, this is the nation's resource, not that of the special interests."

natural capitalism or color field?

No, this isn't what happens when no one scores a decisive victory in the primaries. It's not free-range money making, nor tepid, rather than steroidistic growth of your money market account. Imagine it to be something more along the lines of Wall Street meets the Land Institute, if they could meet and decide on a common purpose. A place where your money works for the benefit of everyone.

Tricky business or valued optimism?

Luminous gesture constrained by shapes?

Diluted greed?

Hard to stay, but the sweeping canvas painted by Heather Lovins recently at the Central Library provided an optimistic tone to an often bleak outlook where it seems as though even your grandmother is calling for a future of rising temperatures and populations, massive extinctions while also prognosticating dwindling water supplies, lower standards-of-living, and diminished supplies of affordable food.

Lovins talk sounded a lot like the socialism of old, except that now it's OK to make lot's of money as long as your carbon credit sheet is balanced. Socialism, as a term, is as out-of-fashion as Castro, so the term Natural Capitalism is coined to appease the business types. Really, it doesn't matter what we call as long as mindless consumption, wars-for-oil, and toxifying the planet take an extended hiatus. And business has to be involved in the solution. Or we're dinked.

elsewhere:
natural capitalism
color field retrospective @ smithsonian american art musuem

a victory that isn't

Among the things that the Clinton White House was very good at, was controlling how stories got reported in the press. They did it with such subtlely and panache that often no one knew what was happening before it was too late. They called Reagan the Great Communicator, but they made movies about how well Bill Clinton could Wag the Dog.

Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning were great examples of how getting new help at the top can help reinvent your image across America. And the press is more than happy to go along with the deception because it's fun. Or not. Well, it's expensive.

Here's the scenario. Hillary wins decisively in Ohio, cue the victory speech, cue the confetti, cue the raised arms. Do this moments after McCain accepts the nomination of his party. It was as though HRC was being heralded as the nominee of her own party.

Then cue the Texas primary results, which Hillary also won. By a narrow margin but now we have Decisive Victories. Headlines. Turnaround. Cue We are the Champion.

Except.

If the race is about delegates and if at the end of the process you end up with fewer delegates, isn't that a loss? Because of the way Texas splits its delegates, Obama will emerge two-days later as the victor. And without the massive headlines. He will still be viewed by most of America as losing on Tuesday. HRC won 4 more delegates that day than Obama. Is this really a turn-around?

You may not like the way the Clintons play politics, but they play to win. Why else play?

o-mentum slows

Forces on both sides are expected to assess wins and losses, quickly regroup, and then begin the process of lobbing shells into each other's camp, with the hope of finding the one Kadusha rocket that lands a lucky, knockout blow. Unlikely, as the candidates are surrounded by a protective wall that prevents them from being closely pinned down on specific issues, yielding to consensus, and capitulating to rancor. They may eventually resort to tearing each other apart limb-by-limb to settle this thing once and for all.

huckleberry conceeds to mcgruff

It was a dogfight. Not a very good one. But still a fight. Regardless I'll miss the 'dawg. Even if he never caught a rabbit, or the crime-stopper, he did catch Nitt.

Today McGruff heads to the White House to meet with Old Guard and Top Dogs where he, McGruff, is expected to get a bag of doggie treats and obedience lessons on how to behave like a GOP candidate in post-apocalyptic America. Once completed, he should be able to sit, bark-on-command, and cry wolf with the best of them, although it's likely he'll also take a moment to pause and urinate on a tree just to show everyone he's still man enough for the job.

last stand @ the Alamo?

Katherine Seelye of the NYTimes is reporting on a couple of very interesting things. The Clinton camp, after weeks of sublimal threats about challegning the days outcome even before it happened, is holding a teleconference with reporters charging that voters in Texas are being disenfranchised by the caucus process. Projected winner in Texas - Barack Obama. The Obama camp is esconced in the Municipal Auditorium in San Antonio, perhaps as a symbolic gesture of bringing diverse camps together with the hopes that he can squeeze a capitulation from HRC? Still way too early for that to happen. Weather in Ohio has been a real problem today. Advantage may be slightly to early Obama voters, but it's unlikely he can overcome HRC completely.

Better yet is that fact that after today, should George W. Bush or Dick "the Dick" Cheney ever show up in either Brattleboro or Marlboro, Vermont, they can be charged with high crimes and misdemeanor and potentially impeached. Now there's a slice of Vermont cheddar we'd like to see.

someone's texting the white house at 3 am

Enough with the red phones ringing in the middle of the night. If there really were a crisis somewhere in the world and they needed to call the White House, wouldn't you hope they had the cell phone number of the President? The sat-phone number? Can't they just send a text message? Are all the Secret Service Agents asleep and can't be bothered to knock on the door?

All those images of phones ringing in the dead of the night did remind me of a phone I once saw in the KGB museum in Vilnus, Lithuia. No dial, just a phone, like on the set of Get Smart. However the museum, actually called the Museum of Genocide Victims, was a stark reminder of the brutality of the Soviet Regime. It was housed in the basement of the former KGB headquarters in Lithuania and exhibited real instruments of torture the likes of which I had not seen since the European instruments of torture and capital punishment exhibit. Torture has been big for some time now. Perhaps someday, Guantanmo will also be a musuem.

The KGB musuem had an actual water torture cell, which consisted of small windowless cell, approximately 8 feet by 8 feet across. In the center was small steel platform about the size of large pizza pan, raised about 1 foot off the floor. The floor of the cell was constructed like a shower stall and when in use, water was filled just below the lip of the platform. The cell wasn't heated, and this being the basement, the cell stayed about 50 degrees year round. The prisoner was forced to stand on the platform, sometimes without clothes. As long as the prisoner could stand on the tiny platform, they could remain dry. The walls were far enough away so that you couldn't brace yourself, so the only way to stand upright was to balance on the disc. Try standing in the same spot for an hour. Now 2 hours. Now a day. Now 2 days. If one got tired, or sleepy, and stepped off the platform they went into the water, and once wet, there was no way to get dry. No place to urinate, or shit, except in the water. Prisoners were kept in the cell for several days to soften them up if they didn't go mad. Think you'd be happy to see your captor after a few days in this cell?

There was also a padded room, which is maybe where you went after you'd lost your wits in the water torture cell.

All that was creepy enough, but there were even creepier things to come. One thing that really stuck with me was after showing you several large cells were prisoners were kept; these were big enough to hold maybe 6 prisoners, you were led past one cell were the entire door was papered over. There was a small typewritten notice taped next to the door explaining that the room was sealed because it held the remains of thousands of unknown dissidents who had been "disappeared" by the KGB during the Soviet occupation. These remains had been uncovered in mass graves, discovered after the fall of the Soviet Union, as construction projects began around the newly developing Vilnius.

Upstairs there was another exhibit of dissidents that had been exiled to Siberia. Among the personal effects displayed were letters that prisoners had sent home. The letters expressed an air of confidence to their loved ones, often with an element of trying to reassure the family that the camps weren't so bad, their health was fine, when in fact conditions were horrific and the prisoners were starving and freezing to death. What was telling and jarring was how the letters were juxtaposed with photographs of actual camp conditions and photographs of those who wrote the letters and how as the photographs got more and more dismal, the tone of the letters still tried to remain upbeat and hopeful. Most of these dissidents never returned home alive.

Photograph of the Museum of Genocide Victims, at the former KGB Headquarters, Vilnius, Lithuania, by Sigitas Platukis
elsewehre
museum of genocide victims
european instruments of torture and capital punishment

vote early, then vote again

That's the strategy in Texas. Early voting before the primary, mobilize voters during the day of the primary, then as soon as the polls close, do what has been dubbed the Texas two-step, show up for the caucuses, where you can vote again.

The Texas Democratic Party, which has some of the most convoluted delegate appropriation procedures since Nevada awards two-thirds of its delegates by popular vote (but there's a catch!) and the remaining one-third by caucus. The catch is the popular vote delegates are awarded based upon how Democratically precints voted in the last 2 Texas elections. Dub-the-Shrub carried the state in 2004 and Republican Rick Perry was elected Governor in 2006.

Therefore some areas of the state which historically have been Democratic will be awarded fewer delegates tomorrow because they voted Republican of late. Austin, Dallas, and Houston voted overwhelmingly Democratic in '04 and '06, so they'll get a disproportionate share of delegates come Tuesday. This could help Obama because he's expected to do well in these areas. He's not expected to do so well in outlying, largely Hispanic border counties.

It sounds confusing because it is. The only map which even came close to showing how the state would divide its delegates was this geologic map of the state, and yes, it clearly shows it to be a confusing mess. A few high ranking Texas Democratic Party officials know how the process works and when they determine a winner, I'm sure they'll let us know.

I think a knockout blow by Obama is unlikely tomorrow. This is HRC's one good chance to be Prez. and Bill's chance to be Vice-Prez. No one's done that before, and they may be the most ambitious couple in America.

tickle me remy

Wanna hear a rat laugh? And we're not talking about push-pollers, Republican operatives, or crime-syndicate stooges. No, this is the real thing.








This is based on the research of Dr. Jaak Panksepp of Bowling Green University, who studies the psychobiology of laughter and came to our attention via a great little radio show called radiolab broadcast on many NPR affiate stations across the country.