Pretty War

Happy B-day to DKos!!

"I am progressive. I am liberal. I make no apologies. I believe government has an obligation to create an even playing field for all of this country's citizens and immigrants alike. I am not a socialist. I do not seek enforced equality. However, there has to be equality of opportunity, and the private sector, left to its own devices, will never achieve this goal."
-kos of Daily Kos

I would be remiss if I did not give a shout out to Daily Kos on its 3rd anniversary.
It has given me solace in dark times and made me more aware of the important current events that the main-stream media won't even touch. I think Bill in Portland Maine says it best:

I don't know about you, but I say Daily Kos's arrival couldn't have come at a more crucial time. The GOP has attempted to dismantle so much of what we mainstream Americans hold dear: free speech, safety nets, privacy, transparency, science, infrastructure, fiscal responsibility, and credibility in the world. But now that we're a force (along with other blogs and watchdog groups like Media Matters) to be reckoned with, the evil ones can't be quite so brazen in their lust for power. Not bad for a bunch of nerds in their jammies. So Happy (belated) Birthday from user ID #2574. And here's to many mo... Ooh! A nickel!

Congrats!!

Friday Cat Blogging

Wayne the cat...

Dick Cavett Rocks!

Via TV Shows on DVD:
The Dick Cavett Show
Rock Icons

Set Includes New Introductions By Cavett And Rare Performances From Janis Joplin, David Bowie, George Harrison, Stevie Wonder And More

Unlike many of today's nighttime talk shows, Cavett invited his guests to remain on stage for the entire show, creating an atmosphere for discussion among the celebrities. As Newsweek commented at the time, "[Cavett] mixed guests like a chemistry professor." During "The Dick Cavett Show," not only was the audience treated to a Janis Joplin performance of "Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)" or "Get It While You Can," the viewer also witnessed the fascinating interactions between Joplin and Gloria Swanson or Raquel Welch on the couch. Sly & The Family Stone performed their #1 hit "Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Again)," then sat on the couch with Debbie Reynolds. At other times, Cavett created more of a themed show, such as the episode featuring performances by Jefferson Airplane, Joni Mitchell, Steven Stills and David Crosby, taped just hours after the Woodstock Festival. Any way he mixed it, these episodes are rare and intriguing glimpses into rock 'n' roll history.

Music as Nostalgia

Recently I've pondered the sensation recieved from listening to the music of my youth, ie. 1976-1984. Back then I listened to primarily top 40, tempered with a little KSHE and a little Magic 108. Casey Kasem's weekly top 40 show on Sundays became my new church, and in those years, I didn't miss a service.
A lot of the music I listened to back then, I don't hear on a regular basis anymore, for various reasons. Mainly, I had them on albums and 45's and I don't have a turntable anymore. Also, because I don't really listen to the radio, other than KDHX, NPR and Cardinals baseball. So when I hear "Cars" by Gary Numan, "Steal Away" by Robbie Dupre or "Tired of Toein' the Line" by Rocky Burnette, I'm immediately 12 years old again, sitting on the shag carpet floor of my 2-story sided suburban home, spinning records and making mix tapes. Looking back, it doesn't matter if the songs were/are good, what matters is the memories they conjure up. It's one of the best features of iTunes/iPod. I can create a playlist of nothing but music from 1983 if I want, and relive that whole year of my life in an afternoon while barbequeing! Only the beer drinking is legal now!! Anyway, enough rambling ... what I wanted to get at was this excellent post by Kevin at Deviated Septum regarding what he calls "Mammalries".

excerpt:

When I hear "Miss You", I'm nine years old, dirty and dried-sweat, in the dying day of summer, spooked out of my skull by Mick Jagger, proud of my shared tree house accomplishment, wondering if I'm going to get my ass kicked for coming home... after dark.

Galloway Transcript

George Galloway is a member of British Parliament and stands (falsely) accused by conservative US senators of taking bribes from Iraq in an oil-for-food scandal. There was a Senate hearing yesterday that addressed this issue, and Mr. Galloway threw DOWN. Via Common Dreams, here is yet another day-late must-read from Pretty War.

"I was an opponent of Saddam Hussein when British and Americans governments and businessmen were selling him guns and gas. I used to demonstrate outside the Iraqi embassy when British and American officials were going in and doing commerce.

I told the world that Iraq, contrary to your claims did not have weapons of mass destruction.

I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to al-Qaeda.

I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to the atrocity on 9/11 2001.

I told the world, contrary to your claims, that the Iraqi people would resist a British and American invasion of their country and that the fall of Baghdad would not be the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning.

Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong and 100,000 people paid with their lives; 1600 of them American soldiers sent to their deaths on a pack of lies; 15,000 of them wounded, many of them disabled forever on a pack of lies.

Media Matters to the NYT

Via Atrios, Media Matters writes an open letter to the New York Times:

Choice quotes:

As a media watchdog, we believe self-examination by news organizations is always useful, so we welcomed the arrival of The New York Times' recent report, "Preserving Our Readers' Trust." Because a democracy cannot operate without an independent, critical, and responsible press, it is incumbent on news organizations to continually assess their own performance to see if they are fulfilling their obligations to the public. Nonetheless, we are concerned about some of the ideas expressed in the report, and we take issue with some aspects of the Times' reporting that the report does not address.

and...

On page 13, we learn that the Times apparently takes "great care" in the editing of stories on subjects characterized as "emotional." Among those listed are abortion, gun control, the death penalty and gay marriage -- all so-called social issues on which you appear to conclude that the paper lapses at times into liberal advocacy. May we suggest that subjects like "war" and "national elections" are "emotional" also? And that "great care" ought to be taken when handling them as well?

But, as usual, read the whole thing and share with others...

iPod Shuffle - Friday the 13th version

My turn to do the Friday iPod shuffle:

1. Miracle Drug - A.C. Newman
2. Driving The View - Jay Farrar
3. Die, Alright - The Hives
4. Drop It Like It's Hot - Snoop Dogg & Pharrell Williams
5. Thirteen Grand - The Wrens
6. Parameters - Ani DiFranco
7. Vertigo - U2
8. Feed Kill Chain - Jay Farrar
9. Open Up Your Heart - The Rapture
10. When I Was Dumb - The Bottle Rockets

Speaking of the Bottle Rockets, you can see them this weekend at Iron Barley's May Fest. They're billed as "Special Musical Guest you won't want to miss".
See my previous entry on this.

Real Journalism

I'll repeat Attaturk's sentiment via Atrios, and that is I cannot encourage you enough to read this editorial in the Louisville Courier-Journal by American Journalist, Molly Bingham. There needs to be more of this to wake America up. Here is a sample, but really read the whole thing and pass it on.

We spent 10 months in Iraq, working on a story, understanding who the people are who are fighting, why they fight, what their fundamental beliefs are, when they started, what kinds of backgrounds they come from, what education, jobs they have. Were they former military, are they Iraqi or foreign? Are they part of al-Qaida? What we came up with is a story in itself, and one that Vanity Fair ran in July 2004 with my text and pictures. [My colleague Steve Connors] shot a documentary film that is still waiting to find a home. But the basic point for this discussion is that we both thought it was really journalistically important to understand who it was who was resisting the presence of the foreign troops. If you didn't understand that, how could you report what was clearly becoming an "ongoing conflict?" And if you were reading the news in America, or Europe, how could you understand the full context of what was unfolding if what motivates the "other side" of the conflict is not understood, or even discussed?

However, as Richard Cranium writes on The All Spin Zone:

Unfortunately, I think Ms. Bingham is missing a key point - the vast majority of Americans don't want to understand. They don't want to know that a dozen Americans have been killed in Iraq in the past 72 hours, and hundreds of Iraqis have died in the past week - they want to be soothed with the assurances that the U.S. military killed over 100 insurgents in a major offensive against the resistance.

...Between reporters like Molly Bingham and Dahr Jamail, the truth is out there. But it requires some actual legwork on a truthseeker's part to find it...

So, am I right to assume that Dateline viewers are infinitely more interested runaway brides and Michael Jackson? Nevermind. I already know the answer to that question.

Indeed...

Diebold or (Fili)Bust

I've been saying for a while that the GOP wouldn't be attempting to use the nuclear option to eliminate filibustering, if they weren't sure they would never lose another major election. It just wouldn't make sense.
Avedon, in care of Atrios agrees:

One reason I don't think it's at all paranoid to suspect that the Republicans have deliberately taken over the voting system in order to cheat is that they keep doing things that don't otherwise make sense. There's a rather long list of things you just wouldn't expect them to think they could get away with unless they really thought they could control the ballot box, because otherwise they would have to expect that the public would kick enough of them out to not only end some political careers but also make impeachment - and prison - a distinct possibility. And then there's this nuclear option thing - why would they be willing to remove any possibility of stopping majority party initiatives unless they were absolutely sure that they could never become the minority party again?

Conservatives have made good use of the filibuster over the years, on judicial nominations and a lot of other things. Are they absolutely certain no one will wake up and get rid of them? Or are they just sure that how we vote isn't going to matter?

Cue the Jaw's theme. It's gonna get a lot worse before it gets better.

Friday Dog Bloggin'

Magnifico-oh-oh-oh

Via Chromewaves, NME reports why the Flaming Lips decided to cover Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody:

“We took it to task, knowing that when people think of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ they think of this huge overblown thing with the weird vocal swirls and backwards bits going on. I think we nailed it and made it a little more intense and a little more sad. We put a big operatic flourish in the middle just to make it a little more Flaming Lips-ish.”

I was very excited for an '05 release of "At War With The Mystics", but...

Coyne revealed that fans can expect The Flaming Lips new album, ‘At War With The Mystics’, in January 2006.

For those of you who, like me, need a Flips fix soon can catch "Fearless Freaks" at the Webster Film Series on Friday the 13th (May). We made the mistake of waiting to purchase tickets for the Sounds of Science with Yo La Tengo the day of the show, only to find that both showings were sold out. We won't be making the same mistake for this!

If you can't make it to the film, Shout! Facory is releasing a double-disc DVD on May 17th.

Are You a Republican