posted by Ukulele Man at 5:32 PM
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Friday, June 30, 2006
Why Bob Herbert doesn't get printed often in the Columbus Dispatch
Playing Politics With Iraq
By BOB HERBERT
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
If hell didn't exist, we'd have to invent it. We'd need a place to send the public officials who are playing politics with the lives of the men and women sent off to fight George W. Bush's calamitous war in Iraq.
The administration and its allies have been mercilessly bashing Democrats who argued that the U.S. should begin developing a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces. Republicans stood up on the Senate floor last week, one after another, to chant like cultists from the Karl Rove playbook: We're tough. You're not. Cut-and-run. Nyah-nyah-nyah!
"Withdrawal is not an option," declared the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, who sounded like an actor trying on personas that ranged from Barry Goldwater to General Patton. "Surrender," said the bellicose Mr. Frist, "is not a solution."
Any talk about bringing home the troops, in the Senate majority leader's view, was "dangerous, reckless and shameless."
But then on Sunday we learned that the president's own point man in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, had fashioned the very thing that ol' blood-and-guts Frist and his C-Span brigade had ranted against: a withdrawal plan.
Are Karl Rove and his liege lord, the bait-and-switch king, trying to have it both ways? You bet. And that ought to be a crime, because there are real lives at stake.
The first significant cut under General Casey's plan, according to an article by Michael Gordon in yesterday's Times, would occur in September. That, of course, would be perfect timing for Republicans campaigning for re-election in November. How's that for a coincidence?
As Mr. Gordon wrote:
"If executed, the plan could have considerable political significance. The first reductions would take place before this fall's Congressional elections, while even bigger cuts might come before the 2008 presidential election."
The general's proposal does not call for a complete withdrawal of American troops, and it makes clear that any withdrawals are contingent on progress in the war (which is going horribly at the moment) and improvements in the quality of the fledgling Iraqi government and its security forces.
The one thing you can be sure of is that the administration will milk as much political advantage as it can from this vague and open-ended proposal. If the election is looking ugly for the G.O.P., a certain number of troops will find themselves waking up stateside instead of in the desert in September and October.
I wonder whether Americans will ever become fed up with the loathsome politicking, the fear-mongering, the dissembling and the gruesome incompetence of this crowd. From the Bush-Rove perspective, General Casey's plan is not a serious strategic proposal. It's a straw in the political wind.
How many casualties will be enough? More than 2,500 American troops who dutifully answered President Bush's call to wage war in Iraq have already perished, and thousands more are struggling in agony with bodies that have been torn or blown apart and psyches that have been permanently wounded.
Has the war been worth their sacrifice?
How many still have to die before we reach a consensus that we've overpaid for Mr. Bush's mad adventure? Will 5,000 American deaths be enough? Ten thousand?
The killing continued unabated last week. Iraq is a sinkhole of destruction, and if Americans could see it close up, the way we saw New Orleans in the immediate aftermath of Katrina, they would be stupefied.
Americans need to understand that Mr. Bush's invasion of Iraq was a strategic blunder of the highest magnitude. It has resulted in mind-boggling levels of bloodshed, chaos and misery in Iraq, and it certainly hasn't made the U.S. any safer.
We've had enough clownish debates on the Senate floor and elsewhere. We've had enough muscle-flexing in the White House and on Capitol Hill by guys who ran and hid when they were young and their country was at war. And it's time to stop using generals and their forces under fire in the field for cheap partisan political purposes.
The question that needs to be answered, honestly and urgently (and without regard to partisan politics), is how best to extricate overstretched American troops — some of them serving their third or fourth tours — from the flaming quicksand of an unwinnable war.
By BOB HERBERT
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
If hell didn't exist, we'd have to invent it. We'd need a place to send the public officials who are playing politics with the lives of the men and women sent off to fight George W. Bush's calamitous war in Iraq.
The administration and its allies have been mercilessly bashing Democrats who argued that the U.S. should begin developing a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces. Republicans stood up on the Senate floor last week, one after another, to chant like cultists from the Karl Rove playbook: We're tough. You're not. Cut-and-run. Nyah-nyah-nyah!
"Withdrawal is not an option," declared the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, who sounded like an actor trying on personas that ranged from Barry Goldwater to General Patton. "Surrender," said the bellicose Mr. Frist, "is not a solution."
Any talk about bringing home the troops, in the Senate majority leader's view, was "dangerous, reckless and shameless."
But then on Sunday we learned that the president's own point man in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, had fashioned the very thing that ol' blood-and-guts Frist and his C-Span brigade had ranted against: a withdrawal plan.
Are Karl Rove and his liege lord, the bait-and-switch king, trying to have it both ways? You bet. And that ought to be a crime, because there are real lives at stake.
The first significant cut under General Casey's plan, according to an article by Michael Gordon in yesterday's Times, would occur in September. That, of course, would be perfect timing for Republicans campaigning for re-election in November. How's that for a coincidence?
As Mr. Gordon wrote:
"If executed, the plan could have considerable political significance. The first reductions would take place before this fall's Congressional elections, while even bigger cuts might come before the 2008 presidential election."
The general's proposal does not call for a complete withdrawal of American troops, and it makes clear that any withdrawals are contingent on progress in the war (which is going horribly at the moment) and improvements in the quality of the fledgling Iraqi government and its security forces.
The one thing you can be sure of is that the administration will milk as much political advantage as it can from this vague and open-ended proposal. If the election is looking ugly for the G.O.P., a certain number of troops will find themselves waking up stateside instead of in the desert in September and October.
I wonder whether Americans will ever become fed up with the loathsome politicking, the fear-mongering, the dissembling and the gruesome incompetence of this crowd. From the Bush-Rove perspective, General Casey's plan is not a serious strategic proposal. It's a straw in the political wind.
How many casualties will be enough? More than 2,500 American troops who dutifully answered President Bush's call to wage war in Iraq have already perished, and thousands more are struggling in agony with bodies that have been torn or blown apart and psyches that have been permanently wounded.
Has the war been worth their sacrifice?
How many still have to die before we reach a consensus that we've overpaid for Mr. Bush's mad adventure? Will 5,000 American deaths be enough? Ten thousand?
The killing continued unabated last week. Iraq is a sinkhole of destruction, and if Americans could see it close up, the way we saw New Orleans in the immediate aftermath of Katrina, they would be stupefied.
Americans need to understand that Mr. Bush's invasion of Iraq was a strategic blunder of the highest magnitude. It has resulted in mind-boggling levels of bloodshed, chaos and misery in Iraq, and it certainly hasn't made the U.S. any safer.
We've had enough clownish debates on the Senate floor and elsewhere. We've had enough muscle-flexing in the White House and on Capitol Hill by guys who ran and hid when they were young and their country was at war. And it's time to stop using generals and their forces under fire in the field for cheap partisan political purposes.
The question that needs to be answered, honestly and urgently (and without regard to partisan politics), is how best to extricate overstretched American troops — some of them serving their third or fourth tours — from the flaming quicksand of an unwinnable war.
posted by Ukulele Man at 5:22 PM
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Poem
********** Out! Out!**********
I’ve had enough of Death.
and old Sam Donaldson
(before they swept him out the door)
(before we had this fucking war)
Saying: “If we go to Iraq once more,
we should kill him –
this time !!”
I’m tired of the handsome, empty heads
who took Sam’s place
demanding death, with earnest face:
“Death death death –
We killed some more today!!
Death to terror – bombs away
Shock and awe!
Let us pray.”
I’m tired, too, of the Monkey Man who had a plan –
long before his term began - to kill Saddam and then Iran –
“Dead or alive” - So cock sure,
Cloaked inside his bloated pride.
Bring ‘em on; let’s have some fun!!
Kill the bastards, every one;
Liberty, you see, is on the move
Starbucks – Wal-Mart – Jiffy Lube.
The sacred Market has decreed
who will live and who will bleed,
Who will prosper, who will breathe,
Who will die and who will grieve.
Death, destruction, grief, and rubble
Profiteers earn
and oil …
bubble.
- - -
Thrice the brindled cat hath mewed
Thrice and once the hedgepig whined
The Holy Writ is misconstrued
The best of us have lost our minds.
And by the pricking of my thumbs,
Much that’s wicked has been done.
- - -
So, bring ‘em on; let’s have some fun !!!!!
Kill the bastards, every one;
Yeah! kill the bastards, every one;
Kill us all !!! Everyone !!!
(when all are dead
our show is done)
- Uke Man
I’ve had enough of Death.
and old Sam Donaldson
(before they swept him out the door)
(before we had this fucking war)
Saying: “If we go to Iraq once more,
we should kill him –
this time !!”
I’m tired of the handsome, empty heads
who took Sam’s place
demanding death, with earnest face:
“Death death death –
We killed some more today!!
Death to terror – bombs away
Shock and awe!
Let us pray.”
I’m tired, too, of the Monkey Man who had a plan –
long before his term began - to kill Saddam and then Iran –
“Dead or alive” - So cock sure,
Cloaked inside his bloated pride.
Bring ‘em on; let’s have some fun!!
Kill the bastards, every one;
Liberty, you see, is on the move
Starbucks – Wal-Mart – Jiffy Lube.
The sacred Market has decreed
who will live and who will bleed,
Who will prosper, who will breathe,
Who will die and who will grieve.
Death, destruction, grief, and rubble
Profiteers earn
and oil …
bubble.
- - -
Thrice the brindled cat hath mewed
Thrice and once the hedgepig whined
The Holy Writ is misconstrued
The best of us have lost our minds.
And by the pricking of my thumbs,
Much that’s wicked has been done.
- - -
So, bring ‘em on; let’s have some fun !!!!!
Kill the bastards, every one;
Yeah! kill the bastards, every one;
Kill us all !!! Everyone !!!
(when all are dead
our show is done)
- Uke Man
posted by Ukulele Man at 8:18 AM
2 comments
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Thursday, June 29, 2006
Letter to La-La Land
Hey Folks,
Here's what we're up against. Sen. Rick Santorum, the man who thinks gay marriage will lead him to sex with dogs, says "Ahha!! WMD" when he finds some ancient, rusting tins of Hellmann's Mayonnaise. Then the brain-dead Ms. Parker feels the need to come to the aid of her party-line and writes a column. Then the Columbus Dispatch ("Ohio's Greatest Home Newspaper") feels the need to come to the aid of its party-line by printing Ms. Parker's insane rant in support of the Doggy-Boy.
Mr. San(i)tor(i)um's entire notion was so ridiculous on its face, from its first utterance, that one must wonder at the depth of stupidity that allowed such crap to be taken seriously!
Read below, and judge for yourself.
- Uke Man
Dear Ms. Parker,
Below is an excerpt from one of your columns. Below that is an excerpt from one of Trudy Rubin's columns. How would you explain the stark contrast?
Did you not know what Ms. Rubin knew and subsequently published? Or is it your opinion that Ms. Rubin is wrong? Or is it that you are committed to supporting the Right regardless of the facts?
Perhaps there is another reason. If so, please fill me in.
Yours - Tom Harker, Ukulele Man
P.S. I should mention that I had become aware of most of the facts Ms. Rubin eventually presented before I read your column, and I was startled that you took the position you did.
Strange battle brewing over WMD
Monday, June 26, 2006
KATHLEEN PARKER
If you thought Democrats and Republicans were divided over the war in Iraq, you haven’t seen anything yet. The real battle apparently is being waged under the radar among the White House, the intelligence community and Congress.
At the center of the skirmish is a newly unclassified document released
Wednesday that seems to confirm evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, including degraded and possibly lethal chemical agents.
According to the document, coalition forces have recovered about 500 munitions since 2003 that contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agents. Other key points are that these chemicals could be used outside Iraq and that "most likely munitions remaining are sarin- and mustard-filled projectiles."
Which is to say, we don’t know what other stores may remain, or where they are, or who else may know about them.
Most significant, perhaps, is the assertion that while such agents degrade over time, "chemical warfare agents remain hazardous and potentially lethal," according to the released document.
In other words, degraded doesn’t necessarily mean "nothing to worry about." Moreover, Wednesday’s document is but a small piece of a much larger document that remains classified and that Republican insiders consider very significant.
The unclassified document was released Wednesday by Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., and Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., to thin fanfare and much speculation. Why are we hearing about these findings only now? Why is the White House so quiet about them?
Those questions have had congressional offices buzzing the past couple of days, while theories have offered little comfort or clarity.
Competence, not drawdown, is main Iraq question
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
TRUDY RUBIN
The debate in the Senate last week over when to exit Iraq was disgraceful.
Americans deserve an honest airing of the most important foreign-policy issue facing the country. But this congressional circus had little to do with policy and everything to do with election-year politics.
Democrats looked hapless, and many Republicans were flat-out dishonest. The Pinocchio prize for devious discourse went to Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Rick Santorum.
I’m surprised his nose didn’t grow a foot when he claimed a recent Army intelligence report proved Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The report, released under Republican pressure in the midst of the debate, says about 500 munitions have been recovered in Iraq since 2003 that contain degraded mustard or sarin gas.
Mind you, these munitions were picked up in ones and twos and date to Iraq’s war against Iran in the 1980s. There was no operative chemical weapons program after 1991.
Such weapons degrade over time. According to David Kay, the head of the U.S. team that hunted for WMD in 2003-04, these gases by now would be "less toxic than most things that Americans have under their kitchen sink." Their "poor condition" was affirmed by intelligence officials in a media briefing.
But Santorum insisted this report proved Saddam had WMD that could have reached terrorists. Such silly claims only bolster the evidence that U.S. intelligence is being manipulated for political reasons.
Why would terrorists want old, degraded munitions when within potential reach are much-more tempting targets, such as unsafe Russian nuclear storage dumps? Has Santorum been demanding that more money be appropriated to help Russia secure its nuclear waste?
Here's what we're up against. Sen. Rick Santorum, the man who thinks gay marriage will lead him to sex with dogs, says "Ahha!! WMD" when he finds some ancient, rusting tins of Hellmann's Mayonnaise. Then the brain-dead Ms. Parker feels the need to come to the aid of her party-line and writes a column. Then the Columbus Dispatch ("Ohio's Greatest Home Newspaper") feels the need to come to the aid of its party-line by printing Ms. Parker's insane rant in support of the Doggy-Boy.
Mr. San(i)tor(i)um's entire notion was so ridiculous on its face, from its first utterance, that one must wonder at the depth of stupidity that allowed such crap to be taken seriously!
Read below, and judge for yourself.
- Uke Man
Dear Ms. Parker,
Below is an excerpt from one of your columns. Below that is an excerpt from one of Trudy Rubin's columns. How would you explain the stark contrast?
Did you not know what Ms. Rubin knew and subsequently published? Or is it your opinion that Ms. Rubin is wrong? Or is it that you are committed to supporting the Right regardless of the facts?
Perhaps there is another reason. If so, please fill me in.
Yours - Tom Harker, Ukulele Man
P.S. I should mention that I had become aware of most of the facts Ms. Rubin eventually presented before I read your column, and I was startled that you took the position you did.
Strange battle brewing over WMD
Monday, June 26, 2006
KATHLEEN PARKER
If you thought Democrats and Republicans were divided over the war in Iraq, you haven’t seen anything yet. The real battle apparently is being waged under the radar among the White House, the intelligence community and Congress.
At the center of the skirmish is a newly unclassified document released
Wednesday that seems to confirm evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, including degraded and possibly lethal chemical agents.
According to the document, coalition forces have recovered about 500 munitions since 2003 that contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agents. Other key points are that these chemicals could be used outside Iraq and that "most likely munitions remaining are sarin- and mustard-filled projectiles."
Which is to say, we don’t know what other stores may remain, or where they are, or who else may know about them.
Most significant, perhaps, is the assertion that while such agents degrade over time, "chemical warfare agents remain hazardous and potentially lethal," according to the released document.
In other words, degraded doesn’t necessarily mean "nothing to worry about." Moreover, Wednesday’s document is but a small piece of a much larger document that remains classified and that Republican insiders consider very significant.
The unclassified document was released Wednesday by Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., and Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., to thin fanfare and much speculation. Why are we hearing about these findings only now? Why is the White House so quiet about them?
Those questions have had congressional offices buzzing the past couple of days, while theories have offered little comfort or clarity.
Competence, not drawdown, is main Iraq question
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
TRUDY RUBIN
The debate in the Senate last week over when to exit Iraq was disgraceful.
Americans deserve an honest airing of the most important foreign-policy issue facing the country. But this congressional circus had little to do with policy and everything to do with election-year politics.
Democrats looked hapless, and many Republicans were flat-out dishonest. The Pinocchio prize for devious discourse went to Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Rick Santorum.
I’m surprised his nose didn’t grow a foot when he claimed a recent Army intelligence report proved Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The report, released under Republican pressure in the midst of the debate, says about 500 munitions have been recovered in Iraq since 2003 that contain degraded mustard or sarin gas.
Mind you, these munitions were picked up in ones and twos and date to Iraq’s war against Iran in the 1980s. There was no operative chemical weapons program after 1991.
Such weapons degrade over time. According to David Kay, the head of the U.S. team that hunted for WMD in 2003-04, these gases by now would be "less toxic than most things that Americans have under their kitchen sink." Their "poor condition" was affirmed by intelligence officials in a media briefing.
But Santorum insisted this report proved Saddam had WMD that could have reached terrorists. Such silly claims only bolster the evidence that U.S. intelligence is being manipulated for political reasons.
Why would terrorists want old, degraded munitions when within potential reach are much-more tempting targets, such as unsafe Russian nuclear storage dumps? Has Santorum been demanding that more money be appropriated to help Russia secure its nuclear waste?
posted by Ukulele Man at 10:00 AM
2 comments
links to this post
Olbermann massacres O'Reilly
Hey Folks,
If you missed "Countdown" last night - or even if you didn't - you'll feel sooooooo good if you just click below, and then when the site comes up, move down to the picture of Bill O'Reilly and a blue Circle with "Factor" in it (3rd one down at the moment)!!
The first two and a half minutes are about the "swift-boating of Rep. Murtha - the rest is a total annihilation of O'Reilly.
Enjoy !!!!
- Uke Man
http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?f=00&g=311a48a0-8ca8-4ad0-bc52-709084cfbb18&p=News_Comment%20-%20Analysis&t=c1149&rf=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/&fg=
If you missed "Countdown" last night - or even if you didn't - you'll feel sooooooo good if you just click below, and then when the site comes up, move down to the picture of Bill O'Reilly and a blue Circle with "Factor" in it (3rd one down at the moment)!!
The first two and a half minutes are about the "swift-boating of Rep. Murtha - the rest is a total annihilation of O'Reilly.
Enjoy !!!!
- Uke Man
http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?f=00&g=311a48a0-8ca8-4ad0-bc52-709084cfbb18&p=News_Comment%20-%20Analysis&t=c1149&rf=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/&fg=
posted by Ukulele Man at 9:00 AM
0 comments
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Wednesday, June 28, 2006
OK, Folks! You decide which one:
1) Fought for his country. 2) Is most interested in personal wealth. 3) Is an ignorant ass. 
posted by Ukulele Man at 8:02 PM
1 comments
links to this post
Kill the witch (and everything will be all right)
Hey Folks,
Here are some things people have believed in the past; some people still believe it:
Cows die and crops fail because of witch’s spells.
A curse or blessing really works and once uttered cannot be called back.
Taking someone’s picture captures his soul which is then trapped inside the picture.
The mentally deranged are inhabited by evil spirits.
The earth is flat.
Kings are chosen by God.
It is the white man’s “burden” to “civilize” the black and brown peoples of the world.
The rich are rich because God blesses them; the poor are poor because they are sinful.
The South won the Civil War.
Women aren’t fit to vote.
WW I was fought to make the world safe for Democracy.
Poking needles in a voodoo doll can harm an individual if a bit of his fingernail or hair has been placed in the doll’s “mojo” bag.
Japan committed no atrocities in WW II.
The Holocaust never happened.
It was good to drop the bomb on Japan.
There is no global warming.
Saddam is in league with Al Kaida
And these same folks believe that Cuba is a terrible threat to our beloved democracy, our capitalism, our religion, and our domestic cigar industry - not to mention professional baseball's farm-team system. It is their belief that Cuba must be subjugated at all costs; we can’t even let on that Cuban children might smile every now and then
-Uke Man
ACLU sues Fla. schools over Cuba book ban
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ, Associated Press Writer
MIAMI -
The American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal judge to stop the Miami-Dade County school district from removing a series of children's books from its libraries, including a volume about Cuba which depicts smiling kids in communist uniforms.
The ACLU and the Miami-Dade County Student Government Association argued in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Miami on Wednesday that the school board should add materials with alternate viewpoints rather than remove books that could be offensive.
Last week, the board voted 6-3 to remove "Vamos a Cuba" and its English-language version, "A Visit to Cuba" from 33 schools, stating the books were inappropriate for young readers because of inaccuracies and omissions about life in the communist nation.
The book, by Alta Schreier, targets students ages 5 to 7 and contains images of smiling children wearing uniforms of Cuba's communist youth group and a carnival celebrating the 1959 Cuban revolution. The district owns 49 copies of the book in Spanish and English.
The school board also decided to remove 24 other books in the series, including ones on Greece, Mexico and Vietnam, "despite not having received a complaint about those books and without having reviewed the books in its administrative process," the suit said.
The ACLU noted the books have received favorable reviews in nationally recognized publications including Publishers Weekly and the School Library Journal. The suit also cites staff recommendations to keep the books.
"The Miami-Dade School Board's decision to defy U.S. law prohibiting censorship and ignore the recommendation of their own superintendent and two committees is a slap in the face to our tradition of free speech and the school board's own standards of due process," said JoNel Newman, an attorney working with the ACLU.
School district spokesman Joseph Garcia said the district will go to court to defend the board's decision.
The controversy began in April when a parent who said he had been a political prisoner in Cuba complained about the books' depiction of life under communist rule.
The lawsuit alleges the books' removal violates students' rights to a free press and that the volumes were removed without due process.
Here are some things people have believed in the past; some people still believe it:
Cows die and crops fail because of witch’s spells.
A curse or blessing really works and once uttered cannot be called back.
Taking someone’s picture captures his soul which is then trapped inside the picture.
The mentally deranged are inhabited by evil spirits.
The earth is flat.
Kings are chosen by God.
It is the white man’s “burden” to “civilize” the black and brown peoples of the world.
The rich are rich because God blesses them; the poor are poor because they are sinful.
The South won the Civil War.
Women aren’t fit to vote.
WW I was fought to make the world safe for Democracy.
Poking needles in a voodoo doll can harm an individual if a bit of his fingernail or hair has been placed in the doll’s “mojo” bag.
Japan committed no atrocities in WW II.
The Holocaust never happened.
It was good to drop the bomb on Japan.
There is no global warming.
Saddam is in league with Al Kaida
And these same folks believe that Cuba is a terrible threat to our beloved democracy, our capitalism, our religion, and our domestic cigar industry - not to mention professional baseball's farm-team system. It is their belief that Cuba must be subjugated at all costs; we can’t even let on that Cuban children might smile every now and then
-Uke Man
ACLU sues Fla. schools over Cuba book ban
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ, Associated Press Writer
MIAMI -
The American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal judge to stop the Miami-Dade County school district from removing a series of children's books from its libraries, including a volume about Cuba which depicts smiling kids in communist uniforms.
The ACLU and the Miami-Dade County Student Government Association argued in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Miami on Wednesday that the school board should add materials with alternate viewpoints rather than remove books that could be offensive.
Last week, the board voted 6-3 to remove "Vamos a Cuba" and its English-language version, "A Visit to Cuba" from 33 schools, stating the books were inappropriate for young readers because of inaccuracies and omissions about life in the communist nation.
The book, by Alta Schreier, targets students ages 5 to 7 and contains images of smiling children wearing uniforms of Cuba's communist youth group and a carnival celebrating the 1959 Cuban revolution. The district owns 49 copies of the book in Spanish and English.
The school board also decided to remove 24 other books in the series, including ones on Greece, Mexico and Vietnam, "despite not having received a complaint about those books and without having reviewed the books in its administrative process," the suit said.
The ACLU noted the books have received favorable reviews in nationally recognized publications including Publishers Weekly and the School Library Journal. The suit also cites staff recommendations to keep the books.
"The Miami-Dade School Board's decision to defy U.S. law prohibiting censorship and ignore the recommendation of their own superintendent and two committees is a slap in the face to our tradition of free speech and the school board's own standards of due process," said JoNel Newman, an attorney working with the ACLU.
School district spokesman Joseph Garcia said the district will go to court to defend the board's decision.
The controversy began in April when a parent who said he had been a political prisoner in Cuba complained about the books' depiction of life under communist rule.
The lawsuit alleges the books' removal violates students' rights to a free press and that the volumes were removed without due process.
posted by Ukulele Man at 7:43 PM
1 comments
links to this post
Some Comfest Photos
Hey Folks,
Here are a few shots from Comfest. I'll have a few more tomorrow. The "Blogger" software is being REALLY STUBBORN today!!
- Uke Man
Here are a few shots from Comfest. I'll have a few more tomorrow. The "Blogger" software is being REALLY STUBBORN today!!
- Uke Man
posted by Ukulele Man at 10:02 AM
0 comments
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Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Quote with Comment Interspersed
Hey Folks,
How stupid ARE we??
For much of our lives we might be excused for accepting all the bullshit they feed us, but AT SOME POINT we need to tell them to shove it. As Harold Pinter said - quoted by Gunter Grass directly below:
"You have to hand it to America. It has exercised quite a clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It's brilliant, even witty, a highly successful act of hypnosis."
And it's NOT just the rest of the world who's been brilliantly hypnotized!!
Wake up, Folks!!!
- Uke Man
New jobless claims up 11,000 last week
By David Lawder Thu Jun 22, 9:04 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. workers claiming an initial week of jobless aid rose 11,000 last week, broadly in line with expectations [Whose expectations??] and signaling a still-healthy job market [Yeah? Tell that to the 2,421,000 “officially” unemployed], a government report showed on Thursday [and you can trust the government!!] .
First-time claims for state unemployment insurance benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 308,000 for the week ended June 17 from an upwardly revised 297,000 claims the previous week, the Labor Department said.[the ginks – even after they raised their “estimate” – missed it – LOW – by 11,000 and they call THAT a “positive report” – positive for whom? And they call the upward adjustment a "moderation of claims"].
"I would say this is largely a positive report. With jobless claims now moderating again, it gives us more confidence in the resilience of the economic expansion," said Patrick Fearon, senior economist at A.G. Edwards and Sons Inc. in St. Louis. "It won't necessarily come to a screeching halt" [it will for 11,000 who will join the 2,421,000 officially unemployed and the – who knows how many others who are not counted simply because they have become so discouraged that they’ve given up? - "moderating again"????].
After claims peaked this year at 344,000 in mid-May, the recent moderation of claims [ a 36,000 drop out of 344,000 over several months] adds to evidence for the Federal Reserve to justify another interest rate hike next week [ If you pay attention to the Federal Reserve’s behavior, you know that a major reason the FED raises interest rates is to keep inflation down. You also know that what the interest rate increase does is to dampen hiring, which dampens demand for labor, which undercuts pressure for wage increases, which dampens inflation by keeping wages down – i.e. capitalists’ profits stay up or increase by freezing or reducing what workers receive!! That’s why the shitheads keep saying it’s a GREAT ECONOMY while wages and the standard of living of regular folks is degraded further and further – it IS a positive sign for the sucks who already have it made but want more ].
- Uke Man
complete story at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060622/bs_nm/economy_claims_dc
How stupid ARE we??
For much of our lives we might be excused for accepting all the bullshit they feed us, but AT SOME POINT we need to tell them to shove it. As Harold Pinter said - quoted by Gunter Grass directly below:
"You have to hand it to America. It has exercised quite a clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It's brilliant, even witty, a highly successful act of hypnosis."
And it's NOT just the rest of the world who's been brilliantly hypnotized!!
Wake up, Folks!!!
- Uke Man
New jobless claims up 11,000 last week
By David Lawder Thu Jun 22, 9:04 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. workers claiming an initial week of jobless aid rose 11,000 last week, broadly in line with expectations [Whose expectations??] and signaling a still-healthy job market [Yeah? Tell that to the 2,421,000 “officially” unemployed], a government report showed on Thursday [and you can trust the government!!] .
First-time claims for state unemployment insurance benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 308,000 for the week ended June 17 from an upwardly revised 297,000 claims the previous week, the Labor Department said.[the ginks – even after they raised their “estimate” – missed it – LOW – by 11,000 and they call THAT a “positive report” – positive for whom? And they call the upward adjustment a "moderation of claims"].
"I would say this is largely a positive report. With jobless claims now moderating again, it gives us more confidence in the resilience of the economic expansion," said Patrick Fearon, senior economist at A.G. Edwards and Sons Inc. in St. Louis. "It won't necessarily come to a screeching halt" [it will for 11,000 who will join the 2,421,000 officially unemployed and the – who knows how many others who are not counted simply because they have become so discouraged that they’ve given up? - "moderating again"????].
After claims peaked this year at 344,000 in mid-May, the recent moderation of claims [ a 36,000 drop out of 344,000 over several months] adds to evidence for the Federal Reserve to justify another interest rate hike next week [ If you pay attention to the Federal Reserve’s behavior, you know that a major reason the FED raises interest rates is to keep inflation down. You also know that what the interest rate increase does is to dampen hiring, which dampens demand for labor, which undercuts pressure for wage increases, which dampens inflation by keeping wages down – i.e. capitalists’ profits stay up or increase by freezing or reducing what workers receive!! That’s why the shitheads keep saying it’s a GREAT ECONOMY while wages and the standard of living of regular folks is degraded further and further – it IS a positive sign for the sucks who already have it made but want more ].
- Uke Man
complete story at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060622/bs_nm/economy_claims_dc
posted by Ukulele Man at 8:49 PM
0 comments
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Nobel Laureate flays Bush
By Haroon Siddiqui Asheville Global Report No. 386 June 8-14, 2006
http://agrnews.org/?sectionfiltered=news&news_sectionfiltered=6&#Nobel%20Laureate%20flays%20Bush
Jun. 1- Gunter Grass, celebrated German novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, sculptor and commentator,is a living legend. When this Nobel Laureate speaks,people listen.
His address in Berlin to the annual Congress of International PEN, the worldwide organization of writers, had been much anticipated, especially given his long admonition to intellectuals to speak up on the political and moral issues of the day.
He himself has done so all his life, most famously against the Nazi past and contemporary neo-Nazism and xenophobia.
Grass, at 78 still spry and energetic, quickly gets into his topic, "The hubris of the world's only superpower," and proceeds to offer a sweeping critique.
His words find resonance among the writers gathered,including another Nobel Laureate, South African novelist Nadine Gordimer.
"Armed force is used by this superpower to defeat the terrorism it is itself responsible for," Grass says,citing Osama bin Laden, the by-product of US support for Afghan jihadists in the 1980s. "The war [on Iraq],deliberately started in blatant disdain of the laws of civilized societies, produces still more terror."
Yet George W. Bush is searching for new enemies and targets.
"Dictatorships, and there are plenty to choose from,are referred to as rogue states and threatened vociferously with military strikes, including the deployment of nuclear weapons. But it only further stabilizes the fundamentalist power systems in those countries.
"Whether the term 'axis of evil' is used to refer to Iran or North Korea or Syria, politics could not be more stupid and hence more dangerous. Yet the entire world is watching and pretending to be powerless."
Grass quotes liberally from the blistering speech given last year by British playwright Harold Pinter in accepting the Nobel Prize for Literature: "The United States supported and, in many cases, engendered every right-wing military dictatorship in the world after World War II - Indonesia, Greece, Uruguay, Brazil,Paraguay, Haiti, Turkey, the Philippines, Guatemala, El Salvador and, of course, Chile...
"Hundreds of thousands of deaths took place in those countries... but you wouldn't know it. The crimes of the US have been systematic, constant, vicious, and remorseless but very few people have actually talked about them.
"You have to hand it to America. It has exercised quite a clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It's brilliant, even witty, a highly successful act of hypnosis. How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described as a mass murderer and a war criminal?"
Having cited Pinter, Grass adds his own condemnation of "the hypocritical method of keeping the body count" in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Although we meticulously keep count of the victims ofterror attacks - terrible though their number is -nobody bothers to count the dead caused by American bombs or rocket attacks."
The death toll from America's "three Gulf Wars," as he called it - "the first one having been fought by Saddam Hussein against Iran, with support from the UnitedStates" - runs into hundreds of thousands.
"In Western evaluation, not only are there first-,second- or third class citizens among the living, but also among the dead."
As for Bush and Tony Blair, he says, "whenever their lies lack persuasive power, they put God into harness.Hypocrisy is written all over their faces. They are like the priests and missionaries of old who used to bless weapons and carry death with their Bibles into distant countries."
The enormity of US-initiated death, destruction and torture, places a burden on the citizens of democracyto be more vigilant: "Who wanted this war? What are the lies that have disguised its true purpose? Who profits from it? Whose shares go up because of it?"
In a post-speech interview, I ask Grass about governments ignoring the electorate between elections,as those did in Britain, Italy and Spain, which joined the war on Iraq despite overwhelming public opposition.
"In the last 10 years, lobbies have become stronger than the government, in the US and other democracies,"Grass responds. "They cannot change policy, for example, on health without the pharmaceutical industry,or farming policy without the farm groups. Lobbies are too powerful," the most powerful being the ones wanting war.
Source: Toronto Star
By Haroon Siddiqui Asheville Global Report No. 386 June 8-14, 2006
http://agrnews.org/?sectionfiltered=news&news_sectionfiltered=6&#Nobel%20Laureate%20flays%20Bush
Jun. 1- Gunter Grass, celebrated German novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, sculptor and commentator,is a living legend. When this Nobel Laureate speaks,people listen.
His address in Berlin to the annual Congress of International PEN, the worldwide organization of writers, had been much anticipated, especially given his long admonition to intellectuals to speak up on the political and moral issues of the day.
He himself has done so all his life, most famously against the Nazi past and contemporary neo-Nazism and xenophobia.
Grass, at 78 still spry and energetic, quickly gets into his topic, "The hubris of the world's only superpower," and proceeds to offer a sweeping critique.
His words find resonance among the writers gathered,including another Nobel Laureate, South African novelist Nadine Gordimer.
"Armed force is used by this superpower to defeat the terrorism it is itself responsible for," Grass says,citing Osama bin Laden, the by-product of US support for Afghan jihadists in the 1980s. "The war [on Iraq],deliberately started in blatant disdain of the laws of civilized societies, produces still more terror."
Yet George W. Bush is searching for new enemies and targets.
"Dictatorships, and there are plenty to choose from,are referred to as rogue states and threatened vociferously with military strikes, including the deployment of nuclear weapons. But it only further stabilizes the fundamentalist power systems in those countries.
"Whether the term 'axis of evil' is used to refer to Iran or North Korea or Syria, politics could not be more stupid and hence more dangerous. Yet the entire world is watching and pretending to be powerless."
Grass quotes liberally from the blistering speech given last year by British playwright Harold Pinter in accepting the Nobel Prize for Literature: "The United States supported and, in many cases, engendered every right-wing military dictatorship in the world after World War II - Indonesia, Greece, Uruguay, Brazil,Paraguay, Haiti, Turkey, the Philippines, Guatemala, El Salvador and, of course, Chile...
"Hundreds of thousands of deaths took place in those countries... but you wouldn't know it. The crimes of the US have been systematic, constant, vicious, and remorseless but very few people have actually talked about them.
"You have to hand it to America. It has exercised quite a clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It's brilliant, even witty, a highly successful act of hypnosis. How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described as a mass murderer and a war criminal?"
Having cited Pinter, Grass adds his own condemnation of "the hypocritical method of keeping the body count" in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Although we meticulously keep count of the victims ofterror attacks - terrible though their number is -nobody bothers to count the dead caused by American bombs or rocket attacks."
The death toll from America's "three Gulf Wars," as he called it - "the first one having been fought by Saddam Hussein against Iran, with support from the UnitedStates" - runs into hundreds of thousands.
"In Western evaluation, not only are there first-,second- or third class citizens among the living, but also among the dead."
As for Bush and Tony Blair, he says, "whenever their lies lack persuasive power, they put God into harness.Hypocrisy is written all over their faces. They are like the priests and missionaries of old who used to bless weapons and carry death with their Bibles into distant countries."
The enormity of US-initiated death, destruction and torture, places a burden on the citizens of democracyto be more vigilant: "Who wanted this war? What are the lies that have disguised its true purpose? Who profits from it? Whose shares go up because of it?"
In a post-speech interview, I ask Grass about governments ignoring the electorate between elections,as those did in Britain, Italy and Spain, which joined the war on Iraq despite overwhelming public opposition.
"In the last 10 years, lobbies have become stronger than the government, in the US and other democracies,"Grass responds. "They cannot change policy, for example, on health without the pharmaceutical industry,or farming policy without the farm groups. Lobbies are too powerful," the most powerful being the ones wanting war.
Source: Toronto Star
posted by Ukulele Man at 7:47 AM
0 comments
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Monday, June 26, 2006
Quote with Comment
Hey Folks,
Our hero, Rush, tries to get things straight, and the government steps in and ruins everything! Damned socialists!!! Stole his viagra!!!
- Uke Man
Limbaugh detained at Palm Beach airport
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -
Rush Limbaugh was detained for more than three hours Monday at Palm Beach International Airport after authorities said they found a bottle of Viagra in his possession without a prescription.
Customs officials found a prescription bottle labeled as Viagra in his luggage that didn't have Limbaugh's name on it, but that of two doctors, said
Paul Miller, spokesman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
Investigators confiscated the drugs, which treats erectile dysfunction, and Limbaugh was released without being charged.
(full story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060627/ap_en_ce/limbaugh_viagra )
Our hero, Rush, tries to get things straight, and the government steps in and ruins everything! Damned socialists!!! Stole his viagra!!!
- Uke Man
Limbaugh detained at Palm Beach airport
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -
Rush Limbaugh was detained for more than three hours Monday at Palm Beach International Airport after authorities said they found a bottle of Viagra in his possession without a prescription.
Customs officials found a prescription bottle labeled as Viagra in his luggage that didn't have Limbaugh's name on it, but that of two doctors, said
Paul Miller, spokesman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
Investigators confiscated the drugs, which treats erectile dysfunction, and Limbaugh was released without being charged.
(full story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060627/ap_en_ce/limbaugh_viagra )
posted by Ukulele Man at 10:53 PM
0 comments
links to this post
Quote with Comment
Hey Folks,
Thank goodness this recent report is just based on “science” and isn’t mentioned in the Holy Bible – there goes that stupid “reality-based community" again !!
If we didn't know better, it could convince people that hating gays is as stupid as hating blondes or tall people.
As Rev. Phelps will tell you, “Jesus hates Science almost as much as he hates gays!! – ‘Satan’ and ‘Science’ start with the same letter!!!”
- Uke Man
Men with older brothers more likely to be gay
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Having several older brothers increases the likelihood of a man being gay, a finding researchers say adds weight to the idea that there is a biological basis for sexual orientation.
"It's likely to be a prenatal effect," said Anthony F. Bogaert of Brock University in St. Catharines, Canada, "This and other studies suggest that there is probably a biological basis for" homosexuality.
S. Marc Breedlove of Michigan State University said the finding "absolutely" confirms a physical basis.
"Anybody's first guess would have been that the older brothers were having an effect socially, but this data doesn't support that," Breedlove said in a telephone interview.The only link between the brothers is the mother and so the effect has to be through the mother, especially since stepbrothers didn't have the effect, said Breedlove, who was not part of the research.
Bogaert studied four groups of Canadian men, a total of 944 people, analyzing the number of brothers and sisters each had, whether or not they lived with those siblings and whether the siblings were related by blood or adopted.
He reports in a paper appearing in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that having several biological older brothers increased the chance of a man being gay.
(entire story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060626/ap_on_he_me/sexual_orientation )
Thank goodness this recent report is just based on “science” and isn’t mentioned in the Holy Bible – there goes that stupid “reality-based community" again !!
If we didn't know better, it could convince people that hating gays is as stupid as hating blondes or tall people.
As Rev. Phelps will tell you, “Jesus hates Science almost as much as he hates gays!! – ‘Satan’ and ‘Science’ start with the same letter!!!”
- Uke Man
Men with older brothers more likely to be gay
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Having several older brothers increases the likelihood of a man being gay, a finding researchers say adds weight to the idea that there is a biological basis for sexual orientation.
"It's likely to be a prenatal effect," said Anthony F. Bogaert of Brock University in St. Catharines, Canada, "This and other studies suggest that there is probably a biological basis for" homosexuality.
S. Marc Breedlove of Michigan State University said the finding "absolutely" confirms a physical basis.
"Anybody's first guess would have been that the older brothers were having an effect socially, but this data doesn't support that," Breedlove said in a telephone interview.The only link between the brothers is the mother and so the effect has to be through the mother, especially since stepbrothers didn't have the effect, said Breedlove, who was not part of the research.
Bogaert studied four groups of Canadian men, a total of 944 people, analyzing the number of brothers and sisters each had, whether or not they lived with those siblings and whether the siblings were related by blood or adopted.
He reports in a paper appearing in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that having several biological older brothers increased the chance of a man being gay.
(entire story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060626/ap_on_he_me/sexual_orientation )
posted by Ukulele Man at 1:03 PM
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Fresh Air June 22 2006
Hey Folks,
If you want to hear how sparklingly humane and fastidiously constitutional, and how unlike our evil-doer enemies our leaders - here on the "shining city on the hill" - are; tune in to Fresh Air below.
Click on the link below, and scroll down to and click on:
Fresh Air from WHYY
Listen to the entire show for June 22, 2006
http://www.npr.org/templates/archives/rundown_archive_hub.php?date=22-Jun-06
- Uke Man
If you want to hear how sparklingly humane and fastidiously constitutional, and how unlike our evil-doer enemies our leaders - here on the "shining city on the hill" - are; tune in to Fresh Air below.
Click on the link below, and scroll down to and click on:
Fresh Air from WHYY
Listen to the entire show for June 22, 2006
http://www.npr.org/templates/archives/rundown_archive_hub.php?date=22-Jun-06
- Uke Man
posted by Ukulele Man at 10:15 AM
0 comments
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Sunday, June 25, 2006
Poem # 12 from the Arts Fest Reading
Two trees lived in the meadow
All alone together
And they loved the world
And shared their treasures
With the boys and girls
And men and women
who passed their way.
And while the boys and girls
And men and women
Passed along their own way,
Two trees lived in the meadow
All alone together.
All alone together
And they loved the world
And shared their treasures
With the boys and girls
And men and women
who passed their way.
And while the boys and girls
And men and women
Passed along their own way,
Two trees lived in the meadow
All alone together.
posted by Ukulele Man at 10:57 PM
1 comments
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"A Little religion, Bushathy? You and your little dog, Dickie, too!!"
The 23rd Qualm
(written by a retired Methodist minister)
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
Bush is my shepherd, I dwell in want.
He maketh logs to be cut down in national forests.
He leadeth trucks into the still wilderness.
He restoreth my fears.
He leadeth me in the paths of international disgrace for his ego's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of pollution and war, I will find no exit, for thou art in office.
Thy tax cuts for the rich and thy media control, they discomfort me.
Thou preparest an agenda of deception in the presence of thy religion.
Thou annointest my head with foreign oil.
My health insurance runneth out.
Surely megalomania and false patriotism shall follow me all the days of thy term,
And my jobless child shall dwell in my basement forever.
amen!
(written by a retired Methodist minister)
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
Bush is my shepherd, I dwell in want.
He maketh logs to be cut down in national forests.
He leadeth trucks into the still wilderness.
He restoreth my fears.
He leadeth me in the paths of international disgrace for his ego's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of pollution and war, I will find no exit, for thou art in office.
Thy tax cuts for the rich and thy media control, they discomfort me.
Thou preparest an agenda of deception in the presence of thy religion.
Thou annointest my head with foreign oil.
My health insurance runneth out.
Surely megalomania and false patriotism shall follow me all the days of thy term,
And my jobless child shall dwell in my basement forever.
amen!
posted by Ukulele Man at 10:43 AM
1 comments
links to this post
Comfest Report
Hey Folks,
Comfest was great today. I heard lots of my friends perform, saw some folks I hadn't seen in a while, and the band and I were "on," energetic, and well received.
It's late, and I'm back at it in the a.m. I'll share more from Comfest as soon as I can.
- Uke Man
Comfest was great today. I heard lots of my friends perform, saw some folks I hadn't seen in a while, and the band and I were "on," energetic, and well received.
It's late, and I'm back at it in the a.m. I'll share more from Comfest as soon as I can.
- Uke Man
posted by Ukulele Man at 12:43 AM
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A moment in the shade near the Gazebo
posted by Ukulele Man at 12:42 AM
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Friday, June 23, 2006
A Few Shots From a Rainy Comfest Friday
We play sat., 6:00, @ Gazebo
posted by Ukulele Man at 11:32 PM
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I answer to no one !!
And the fucks I've put on the Supreme Court will tell you the same thing!!
posted by Ukulele Man at 10:30 PM
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Fuck the White House
Hey Folks,
I saw an infuriating news item on Yahoo. Here it is, and below the article is my furious response.
- Uke Man
White House demands dismissal of spy suit
By DAVID KRAVETS, Associated Press Writer Fri Jun 23, 4:32 AM ET
SAN FRANCISCO - A lawsuit challenging the Bush administration's domestic spying program must be dismissed because it threatens to reveal state secrets and jeopardize the war on terror, the government says.
The case was set to go before a federal judge in San Francisco on Friday.
The Bush administration argues that the courts cannot decide the constitutionality of the president's asserted wartime powers to eavesdrop on Americans without warrants.
The government is invoking the so-called "state secrets privilege" in a federal lawsuit filed by a privacy group against communications giant AT&T Inc. about the telecom's alleged involvement in Bush's surveillance program adopted after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
"Resolution of those legal issues depends entirely on facts that, in light of their highly classified nature, cannot be made the subject of litigation," the Justice Department wrote in a brief to U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker.
The legal tactic of state secrets privilege, first recognized by the Supreme Court in a McCarthy-era lawsuit, has been increasingly and successfully invoked by federal lawyers seeking to shield the government from scrutiny by the courts, from espionage cases and patent disputes to routine employment discrimination lawsuits.
The president confirmed in December that the National Security Agency has been conducting warrantless surveillance of calls and e-mails thought to involve al-Qaida terrorists if at least one of the parties to the communication is outside the United States. The administration is mum on whether purely domestic calls and electronic communications are being monitored, as the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit was brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, on behalf of customers of San Antonio-based AT&T. The EFF accuses the telecom of illegally cooperating with the NSA to make communications on AT&T networks available to the spy agency without warrants.
AT&T said it follows all applicable laws when it comes to government monitoring of customer data, but would neither confirm nor deny the allegations.
The EFF is urging Walker in legal filings to rule on whether the president possesses wartime powers to authorize warrantless eavesdropping in the United States without publicly disclosing any classified or sensitive material.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the state secrets defense as recently as January, when it rejected an appeal from a former covert CIA officer who accused the agency of race discrimination. And last month, citing the state secrets defense, the government urged a federal judge in Virginia to block a lawsuit by a German national who says he was illegally held in a CIA-run prison in Afghanistan for four months and tortured.
The Supreme Court first recognized the state secrets doctrine in 1953, when it dismissed a lawsuit against the government brought by family members of people killed in a plane wreck while testing secret electronic surveillance equipment.
FUCK THE WHITE HOUSE !!!!!!
That Shit-head in Washington has got to go!!!!
Yeah, Mother Fucker Bush, you are the “Commander in Chief” and you can do anything you want because we are at “war,” and this fucking “war” is going to last at least a GENERATION; so you and your mother fucking ass-kissers can do anything you fucking want to for as long as you fucking want to (just like a King; even a Divine Right King, since god whispers in your ignorant ear), and here’s the good part: you can “spread DEMOCRACY around the world” even though you take it upon yourself to declare that you don't have to follow ANY of the laws Congress passes and you sign (YOU are above the law - you're the Commander in Chief, the Big Cheese, the New Fuehrer!!!).
You are out of your fucking mind, Dubya!!!
And these psychotic arguments about how you can’t testify about how you are fucking America over because testifying about how you are fucking America over would reveal the facts of how you are fucking America over and that would fuck America over - make me puke!!!!!!!!!!!
Why does a government of, by, and for the people – supposedly spreading
Democracy around the world - need to do what the AP story says:
“The legal tactic of state secrets privilege, first recognized by the Supreme Court in a McCarthy-era lawsuit, has been increasingly and successfully invoked by federal lawyers seeking to shield the government from scrutiny by the courts, from espionage cases and patent disputes to routine employment discrimination lawsuits.”
The government needs to do it because it’s NOT a government of, by, and for the people; and it’s not spreading Democracy. This shitpile in Washington – in reality – is doing everything that, as a child, I was taught the evil “commies” were doing.
Talk about dictatorships, talk about Authoritarian Totalitarianism !!! These fuckers are IT !!!!!! McCarthy, for sure.
These bastards are dedicated to bending the world to their will. And if you think they only want foreigners licking their boots, you’ve not been paying attention.
These fuckers have got to go. If the courts say, “Oh, gee willikers!! There’s no problem here. We don’t need to hear THIS case,” you’d better start building a guillotine or kiss your ass goodbye.
- Uke Man
I saw an infuriating news item on Yahoo. Here it is, and below the article is my furious response.
- Uke Man
White House demands dismissal of spy suit
By DAVID KRAVETS, Associated Press Writer Fri Jun 23, 4:32 AM ET
SAN FRANCISCO - A lawsuit challenging the Bush administration's domestic spying program must be dismissed because it threatens to reveal state secrets and jeopardize the war on terror, the government says.
The case was set to go before a federal judge in San Francisco on Friday.
The Bush administration argues that the courts cannot decide the constitutionality of the president's asserted wartime powers to eavesdrop on Americans without warrants.
The government is invoking the so-called "state secrets privilege" in a federal lawsuit filed by a privacy group against communications giant AT&T Inc. about the telecom's alleged involvement in Bush's surveillance program adopted after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
"Resolution of those legal issues depends entirely on facts that, in light of their highly classified nature, cannot be made the subject of litigation," the Justice Department wrote in a brief to U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker.
The legal tactic of state secrets privilege, first recognized by the Supreme Court in a McCarthy-era lawsuit, has been increasingly and successfully invoked by federal lawyers seeking to shield the government from scrutiny by the courts, from espionage cases and patent disputes to routine employment discrimination lawsuits.
The president confirmed in December that the National Security Agency has been conducting warrantless surveillance of calls and e-mails thought to involve al-Qaida terrorists if at least one of the parties to the communication is outside the United States. The administration is mum on whether purely domestic calls and electronic communications are being monitored, as the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit was brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, on behalf of customers of San Antonio-based AT&T. The EFF accuses the telecom of illegally cooperating with the NSA to make communications on AT&T networks available to the spy agency without warrants.
AT&T said it follows all applicable laws when it comes to government monitoring of customer data, but would neither confirm nor deny the allegations.
The EFF is urging Walker in legal filings to rule on whether the president possesses wartime powers to authorize warrantless eavesdropping in the United States without publicly disclosing any classified or sensitive material.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the state secrets defense as recently as January, when it rejected an appeal from a former covert CIA officer who accused the agency of race discrimination. And last month, citing the state secrets defense, the government urged a federal judge in Virginia to block a lawsuit by a German national who says he was illegally held in a CIA-run prison in Afghanistan for four months and tortured.
The Supreme Court first recognized the state secrets doctrine in 1953, when it dismissed a lawsuit against the government brought by family members of people killed in a plane wreck while testing secret electronic surveillance equipment.
FUCK THE WHITE HOUSE !!!!!!
That Shit-head in Washington has got to go!!!!
Yeah, Mother Fucker Bush, you are the “Commander in Chief” and you can do anything you want because we are at “war,” and this fucking “war” is going to last at least a GENERATION; so you and your mother fucking ass-kissers can do anything you fucking want to for as long as you fucking want to (just like a King; even a Divine Right King, since god whispers in your ignorant ear), and here’s the good part: you can “spread DEMOCRACY around the world” even though you take it upon yourself to declare that you don't have to follow ANY of the laws Congress passes and you sign (YOU are above the law - you're the Commander in Chief, the Big Cheese, the New Fuehrer!!!).
You are out of your fucking mind, Dubya!!!
And these psychotic arguments about how you can’t testify about how you are fucking America over because testifying about how you are fucking America over would reveal the facts of how you are fucking America over and that would fuck America over - make me puke!!!!!!!!!!!
Why does a government of, by, and for the people – supposedly spreading
Democracy around the world - need to do what the AP story says:
“The legal tactic of state secrets privilege, first recognized by the Supreme Court in a McCarthy-era lawsuit, has been increasingly and successfully invoked by federal lawyers seeking to shield the government from scrutiny by the courts, from espionage cases and patent disputes to routine employment discrimination lawsuits.”
The government needs to do it because it’s NOT a government of, by, and for the people; and it’s not spreading Democracy. This shitpile in Washington – in reality – is doing everything that, as a child, I was taught the evil “commies” were doing.
Talk about dictatorships, talk about Authoritarian Totalitarianism !!! These fuckers are IT !!!!!! McCarthy, for sure.
These bastards are dedicated to bending the world to their will. And if you think they only want foreigners licking their boots, you’ve not been paying attention.
These fuckers have got to go. If the courts say, “Oh, gee willikers!! There’s no problem here. We don’t need to hear THIS case,” you’d better start building a guillotine or kiss your ass goodbye.
- Uke Man
posted by Ukulele Man at 9:41 PM
5 comments
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Maureen
Fukuyama, Hannah and Zegna
By MAUREEN DOWD
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
Washington
As he launched a progressive journal to ponder big ideas that might help the wretched Democrats stop driving on Ambien and snatch back a little power, Andrei Cherny sought advice from a conservative pundit.
"Who's on your tie?" the pundit asked, explaining that Reaganites had been able to sum up their philosophy in the 80's by wearing Adam Smith and Edmund Burke ties.
Mr. Cherny did not say. (John Stuart Mill?)
So far, Democrats have been more famous for who gave the tie — Monica draped Bill with a Zegna — than who gazed from it.
Besides, Republicans don't own all three branches of government because of little cameo pictures of Adam Smith and Edmund Burke hanging over their blue Oxford button-down shirts. Mr. Smith and Mr. Burke would blanch at the shape W. and Karl Rove have given conservatism — the political muscle of the Christian right, the withering of the social contract, greedy capitalism, fiscal profligacy.
If the Democrats need anything, it's not a new tie. It may not even be big ideas.
The Republicans, after all, got a monopoly while headed by W., a guy who makes Reagan look like Hannah Arendt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt). "Compassionate conservatism" was an alluring alliteration, not a paradigmatic philosophy.
In politics, big ideas are too often just big slogans and big marketing techniques and big slime campaigns.
Besides, big ideas can backfire. Yesterday, Mr. Cherny and his fellow editor, Kenneth Baer, former Gore speechwriters, introduced their journal, Democracy — it's sort of like Foreign Affairs without the glitz — at a panel at the National Press Club with Francis Fukuyama and Bill Kristol.
Mr. Fukuyama's big idea was The End of History. But a couple of little things like religion and nationalist ideology, not to mention history, got in the way.
Mr. Kristol was a key backer of the neocon push to knock out Saddam and create a model democracy in the Middle East. As he pointed out ruefully yesterday, big ideas cannot survive "contact with politicians, unbruised," and are sometimes "applied inappropriately." That was no doubt a veiled shot at Donald Rumsfeld, whom Mr. Kristol faults for the slide in Iraq.
"And since my relations with conservatives these days are so bad — with Rumsfeld and immigration and other things — I'd just as soon hang out with you guys," the Weekly Standard editor told the room of liberals, bloggers and journalists. "You're less mean."
You'd think that incorrectly predicting history is over would get you banished from the intelligentsia forever, but Mr. Fukuyama proffered another big idea, warning that the pendulum was not making its customary swing left because "values" voters were clutching it.
"There's a guy I buy my barbecue from who says, 'I think we're in a class war and my class is losing,' " he shared. (Is this The End of Barbecue?) In Europe, he said, such brisket purveyors would be voting for the left, but in America, "the values issues have been much more prominent, and so people who for economic reasons ought to be voting on the left are held still in the Republican column precisely because they don't trust the left on all the issues having to deal with family, and identity, and this sort of thing."
Big ideas are not enough, because personalities and circumstances intervene. What matters is the bearer of an idea.
Bill Clinton had big ideas but short-circuited his presidency when he elevated his chaotic, self-regarding and gluttonous personality to a management style. Al Gore had big ideas but was too neutered by political mercenaries and focus groups to make those ideas compelling. Maybe because she had one idea that was way too big, Hillary has been running away from big ideas as though they're poison.
After 9/11, Dick Cheney transposed his desire to expand executive power and his personal paranoia into a national policy. Ron Suskind reports in his new book, "The One Percent Doctrine," that Vice dictated that the war on terror allowed the administration to summarily reject the need for evidence and analysis before action.
Mr. Suskind describes the Cheney doctrine: "Even if there's just a 1 percent chance of the unimaginable coming due, act as if it is a certainty. It's not about 'our analysis,' as Cheney said. It's about 'our response.' ... Justified or not, fact-based or not, 'our response' is what matters. As to 'evidence,' the bar was set so low that the word itself almost didn't apply."
In the hands of the wrong person, big ideas can be terrifying.
By MAUREEN DOWD
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
Washington
As he launched a progressive journal to ponder big ideas that might help the wretched Democrats stop driving on Ambien and snatch back a little power, Andrei Cherny sought advice from a conservative pundit.
"Who's on your tie?" the pundit asked, explaining that Reaganites had been able to sum up their philosophy in the 80's by wearing Adam Smith and Edmund Burke ties.
Mr. Cherny did not say. (John Stuart Mill?)
So far, Democrats have been more famous for who gave the tie — Monica draped Bill with a Zegna — than who gazed from it.
Besides, Republicans don't own all three branches of government because of little cameo pictures of Adam Smith and Edmund Burke hanging over their blue Oxford button-down shirts. Mr. Smith and Mr. Burke would blanch at the shape W. and Karl Rove have given conservatism — the political muscle of the Christian right, the withering of the social contract, greedy capitalism, fiscal profligacy.
If the Democrats need anything, it's not a new tie. It may not even be big ideas.
The Republicans, after all, got a monopoly while headed by W., a guy who makes Reagan look like Hannah Arendt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt). "Compassionate conservatism" was an alluring alliteration, not a paradigmatic philosophy.
In politics, big ideas are too often just big slogans and big marketing techniques and big slime campaigns.
Besides, big ideas can backfire. Yesterday, Mr. Cherny and his fellow editor, Kenneth Baer, former Gore speechwriters, introduced their journal, Democracy — it's sort of like Foreign Affairs without the glitz — at a panel at the National Press Club with Francis Fukuyama and Bill Kristol.
Mr. Fukuyama's big idea was The End of History. But a couple of little things like religion and nationalist ideology, not to mention history, got in the way.
Mr. Kristol was a key backer of the neocon push to knock out Saddam and create a model democracy in the Middle East. As he pointed out ruefully yesterday, big ideas cannot survive "contact with politicians, unbruised," and are sometimes "applied inappropriately." That was no doubt a veiled shot at Donald Rumsfeld, whom Mr. Kristol faults for the slide in Iraq.
"And since my relations with conservatives these days are so bad — with Rumsfeld and immigration and other things — I'd just as soon hang out with you guys," the Weekly Standard editor told the room of liberals, bloggers and journalists. "You're less mean."
You'd think that incorrectly predicting history is over would get you banished from the intelligentsia forever, but Mr. Fukuyama proffered another big idea, warning that the pendulum was not making its customary swing left because "values" voters were clutching it.
"There's a guy I buy my barbecue from who says, 'I think we're in a class war and my class is losing,' " he shared. (Is this The End of Barbecue?) In Europe, he said, such brisket purveyors would be voting for the left, but in America, "the values issues have been much more prominent, and so people who for economic reasons ought to be voting on the left are held still in the Republican column precisely because they don't trust the left on all the issues having to deal with family, and identity, and this sort of thing."
Big ideas are not enough, because personalities and circumstances intervene. What matters is the bearer of an idea.
Bill Clinton had big ideas but short-circuited his presidency when he elevated his chaotic, self-regarding and gluttonous personality to a management style. Al Gore had big ideas but was too neutered by political mercenaries and focus groups to make those ideas compelling. Maybe because she had one idea that was way too big, Hillary has been running away from big ideas as though they're poison.
After 9/11, Dick Cheney transposed his desire to expand executive power and his personal paranoia into a national policy. Ron Suskind reports in his new book, "The One Percent Doctrine," that Vice dictated that the war on terror allowed the administration to summarily reject the need for evidence and analysis before action.
Mr. Suskind describes the Cheney doctrine: "Even if there's just a 1 percent chance of the unimaginable coming due, act as if it is a certainty. It's not about 'our analysis,' as Cheney said. It's about 'our response.' ... Justified or not, fact-based or not, 'our response' is what matters. As to 'evidence,' the bar was set so low that the word itself almost didn't apply."
In the hands of the wrong person, big ideas can be terrifying.
posted by Ukulele Man at 7:00 AM
1 comments
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Thursday, June 22, 2006
Comfest !!!
Music, dancing, and unique shops
posted by Ukulele Man at 4:25 PM
1 comments
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Community Festival !!!!!!!!!
Hey Folks,
COMFEST starts Friday, and Uke Man & his Prodigal Sons will be playing Saturday in the Gazebo at 6:00 p.m. I hope to see you there !! But even if you can't make our show, DON'T miss the COMFEST!!!! ( http://www.comfest.com/ )
Below is a report I did last year on the Saturday we played that will give you just a small view of what the festival has to offer.
- Uke Man
Comfest Report - Saturday before the show
Saturday was “show day” for Ukulele Man & his Prodigal Sons; so I packed my amp and ukes in early and stashed them at Jon & Karen’s “Retro1.com” booth (if you haven’t checked out their wonderful vintage offerings – both nostalgic AND practical, as well as cool – DO SO next year or go now to: http://www.retro1.com/ !!!
Then it was off to the Revolutionary Books booth to hawk my book review of Bob Avakian’s recently published autobiography. I had been asked to review the book; so I spent some time handing out copies of my “scholarly treatise” (the review will appear at some point in “The Columbus Free Press” and I’ll put it on the blog as well).
And THEN, the Gay Pride Parade!!! All these years I’d been stuck working in one guise or the other during the parade and was restricted to enjoying only the lining-up process on Dennison and Buttles. This time I had a spot on High Street!!! And, Yes!!, there ARE gays in the military – the gay veterans were there to prove it!
After the parade I hiked to the Off-Ramp Tent to emcee three bands: Whoa Nellie ( my friends Trent Arnold and Ed Mann and my band-mates Peter English, Bob Hite, and Bob Starker), the Woosley Band, and Eric Wrong and the Do-Rights – all this before heading to the Gazebo to catch Chief Johnny Lonesome, Bob Sauls, and Myke Rock before we went on.
COMFEST starts Friday, and Uke Man & his Prodigal Sons will be playing Saturday in the Gazebo at 6:00 p.m. I hope to see you there !! But even if you can't make our show, DON'T miss the COMFEST!!!! ( http://www.comfest.com/ )
Below is a report I did last year on the Saturday we played that will give you just a small view of what the festival has to offer.
- Uke Man
Comfest Report - Saturday before the show
Saturday was “show day” for Ukulele Man & his Prodigal Sons; so I packed my amp and ukes in early and stashed them at Jon & Karen’s “Retro1.com” booth (if you haven’t checked out their wonderful vintage offerings – both nostalgic AND practical, as well as cool – DO SO next year or go now to: http://www.retro1.com/ !!!
Then it was off to the Revolutionary Books booth to hawk my book review of Bob Avakian’s recently published autobiography. I had been asked to review the book; so I spent some time handing out copies of my “scholarly treatise” (the review will appear at some point in “The Columbus Free Press” and I’ll put it on the blog as well).
And THEN, the Gay Pride Parade!!! All these years I’d been stuck working in one guise or the other during the parade and was restricted to enjoying only the lining-up process on Dennison and Buttles. This time I had a spot on High Street!!! And, Yes!!, there ARE gays in the military – the gay veterans were there to prove it!
After the parade I hiked to the Off-Ramp Tent to emcee three bands: Whoa Nellie ( my friends Trent Arnold and Ed Mann and my band-mates Peter English, Bob Hite, and Bob Starker), the Woosley Band, and Eric Wrong and the Do-Rights – all this before heading to the Gazebo to catch Chief Johnny Lonesome, Bob Sauls, and Myke Rock before we went on.
posted by Ukulele Man at 3:05 PM
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Poem # 11 from the Arts Fest Reading
When I Unwrap the Fruitcake
When I unwrap the fruitcake
from its silver shroud,
layer upon layer
of ever more convoluted, evolved, and faceted
foil,
I almost shrink from the sight of the inner
more sacred shroud
(Turin is discredited – but not this)
the cloth with its inter-weavings strikes my mind,
a net to hold, a skin to preserve, and
each time
it must be stripped
to leave the naked delasciviousness of itself
each time it must lie bare before me to feel the pleasure
of my knife
it came from love, from god
for he so loved the world that he
breathed life into plants and beasts and men
and women
and they saw that it was good and bore fruit and the fruit was good
and worthy
and the woman took of the fruit and manipulated it as if she were
a god unto herself (for the serpent had beguiled her)
and she gave it to the man as an offering and he unwrapped her
tenderly he unwrapped her
tenderly he placed his edge against her
tenderly he split her
and made her whole.
When I unwrap the fruitcake from its shroud
new life stirs in me
stirred from the fruit of love’s labor past
not lost
that touches my eye
my nose
my tongue
and my serpent.
When I unwrap the fruitcake
from its silver shroud,
layer upon layer
of ever more convoluted, evolved, and faceted
foil,
I almost shrink from the sight of the inner
more sacred shroud
(Turin is discredited – but not this)
the cloth with its inter-weavings strikes my mind,
a net to hold, a skin to preserve, and
each time
it must be stripped
to leave the naked delasciviousness of itself
each time it must lie bare before me to feel the pleasure
of my knife
it came from love, from god
for he so loved the world that he
breathed life into plants and beasts and men
and women
and they saw that it was good and bore fruit and the fruit was good
and worthy
and the woman took of the fruit and manipulated it as if she were
a god unto herself (for the serpent had beguiled her)
and she gave it to the man as an offering and he unwrapped her
tenderly he unwrapped her
tenderly he placed his edge against her
tenderly he split her
and made her whole.
When I unwrap the fruitcake from its shroud
new life stirs in me
stirred from the fruit of love’s labor past
not lost
that touches my eye
my nose
my tongue
and my serpent.
posted by Ukulele Man at 12:48 PM
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Pittsburgh's Homophobic Bishop Robert "the Yo-Yo" Duncan - holding his pole
posted by Ukulele Man at 10:31 AM
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Jesus Loves a Machine Gun
Hey Folks,
If the sepulcher weren’t empty, Jesus would be turning over in his grave. The bigots in the Anglican church deserve their founder, King Henry the VIII. Check him out. When it comes to torture and evil, he makes Saddam Hussein look like a bunny rabbit.
More on the Anglican/Episcopal nonsense at a later date.
For now let’s learn about some of their bloodthirsty “Christian” brethren.
“Kill, kill, kill !!! In Jesus name, we prey.”
- Uke Man
... ... ... *** ... ... ...
It's the new "Left Behind" video game, where you maim and murder and hate, all in God's name. Praise!
- By Mark Morford
- SF Gate Columnist - Wednesday, June 7, 2006
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2006/06/07/notes060706.DTL&type=printable
Are you a true believer? Do you just know deep down in your black Wal-Mart socks that every word of the Bible is the absolute literal truth and nothing dare be doubted and anyone who thinks that God is merely an ambisexual omniblissful bloom of moist divine nondenominational honeydew melon should be strung up by their small intestine and beaten with sticks sharpened by Mel Gibson's teeth?
Do you feel, furthermore, that human cretins like, say, gays and Jews and Wiccans and all those hippie weirdos with their iPods and low-cut jeans and easy laughter are a plague upon this fine and holy land?
Do you think that contemptible books like "The Da Vinci Code" are not only blasphemy, but that you should probably go out into the street right now and behead a few lambs and perhaps mow down some Taoists with a Gatling gun just to deflect its horrible notions of the sacredness of the feminine divine? You do?
Praise Jesus! Your video game has arrived.
Behold, blessed children, the new and upcoming "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" video game, based on the freakishly best-selling series of apocalyptic trash-lit books. It's an ultraviolent, hilariously inept, wondrously accurate portrayal of what every true right-wing Christian fundamentalist really fantasizes about after they've had one too many pink wine spritzers and have logged a few hours in the gay chat rooms and have sufficiently indoctrinated their happily numb kids with tales of vile homos and scary "progressive" liberals who want to buy them candy and tattoo their sacrums and feed them organic hot dogs.
What's the game actually about? How do you play? I believe the pro-choice, pro-religion Talk to Action http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/5/29/195855/959 blog describes it best:
Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission -- both a religious mission and a military mission -- to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state -- especially moderate, mainstream Christians. Your mission is "to conduct physical and spiritual warfare"; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice.
Ah yes, the neo-Christian ideal. The ultimate dominionist police state, a smoking, reeking, post-apocalyptic vision of New York, a world teeming with nonbelievers just waiting to be either converted or massacred by nothing less than a Christianized American Taliban, a world of righteousness and judgment and death, all in the name of one very nasty and bloodthirsty God. It's "Grand Theft Auto" for the Rick Santorum set. It's "Resident Evil 4" for American Family Association types who eat too much BGH meat and never have sex.
Is it worth delineating all the appalling whorings of Christ's true message in this thing? Do you need to imagine the explosive reaction if, say, a powerful Muslim organization came out with a major video game where Islamic fundies killed hapless Christians with machine guns in order to restore the world to Allah? Or if the KKK or Aryan Nations created a game where you get to "cleanse" 'Merka of all the Jews and blacks so happy white people can stop being so scared of hip-hop? Verily, you do not.
But it is worth mentioning that, while the vast majority of sane Christians will recoil from this silly video game as violently as any sighing Wiccan, the bad news is the 10 "Left Behind" books -- a certified phenomenon, they -- have sold nearly as many copies as "The Da Vinci Code" (upward of 40 million worldwide) and their rabid fans are legion and dominionist demagogue megapastors like Rick Warren (whose megaministry is tacitly connectedto the game) and famed hatemongering homophobes like James Dobson of the AMA are indoctrinating countless new and militant Christbots into their happy shiny armies of God every single day.
We can never forget: These are the people who still whisper into Dubya's ear when he's playing with his little green army men in the White House bathtub. They have stained the Supreme Court, attacked science and open discourse, made the human female nipple a symbol of shame and humiliation. Their power may be waning slightly as BushCo crumbles, but their agenda remains deeply sickening.
But hey, everyone needs a fantasy, right? Everyone needs an outlet for their violent daydreams, even fundamentalist right-wing bonk-jobs and their hapless 13-year-old male children, for whom (presumably) this game is designed. It's venomous bigotry made fun! More good news: The game should be ready just in time for Christmas.
Oh but wait. There's a lovely kicker: When you get bored with the sanctimonious drabness of fighting on the side of a hateful Christ (which, invariably, you most certainly will), the game apparently allows you to switch modes and fight for the army of the Antichrist, unleashing cloven-hoofed demons who feast on the flesh of the righteous as you blow away Bible-thumping soldiers who, just before they die, secretly confess their intense gay love for their platoon commanders. Isn't that thoughtful?
It's also a bit of genius marketing. After all, aren't the villains always far cooler and sexier than the self-righteous and the holy? The devil always has better vodka than God. Who wants to run around shooting Buddhists and praying, when you can don the armor of hell itself and drink and have dirtyfun sex and get tattoos and listen to Metallica and wear low-slung jeans and laugh easily? No one, that's who.
Which is why the game could become the sleeper hit of the year. Sure, brainwashed fundamentalist kids will love playing on the side of God. For a while. But then the dark side will beckon. The irresistible scent of rebellion will hit their noses like hot porn pizza. They will fall into the clutches of a crazy self-defined happiness, they will squirm and giggle and feel anarchic and seditious and free, running clean in a place where the beer is cold and the dancing is hot and no one is telling them they have to kill someone because that person dared to believe that God isn't, well, a misanthropic, murderous jackass.
Now that's heaven.
If the sepulcher weren’t empty, Jesus would be turning over in his grave. The bigots in the Anglican church deserve their founder, King Henry the VIII. Check him out. When it comes to torture and evil, he makes Saddam Hussein look like a bunny rabbit.
More on the Anglican/Episcopal nonsense at a later date.
For now let’s learn about some of their bloodthirsty “Christian” brethren.
“Kill, kill, kill !!! In Jesus name, we prey.”
- Uke Man
... ... ... *** ... ... ...
It's the new "Left Behind" video game, where you maim and murder and hate, all in God's name. Praise!
- By Mark Morford
- SF Gate Columnist - Wednesday, June 7, 2006
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2006/06/07/notes060706.DTL&type=printable
Are you a true believer? Do you just know deep down in your black Wal-Mart socks that every word of the Bible is the absolute literal truth and nothing dare be doubted and anyone who thinks that God is merely an ambisexual omniblissful bloom of moist divine nondenominational honeydew melon should be strung up by their small intestine and beaten with sticks sharpened by Mel Gibson's teeth?
Do you feel, furthermore, that human cretins like, say, gays and Jews and Wiccans and all those hippie weirdos with their iPods and low-cut jeans and easy laughter are a plague upon this fine and holy land?
Do you think that contemptible books like "The Da Vinci Code" are not only blasphemy, but that you should probably go out into the street right now and behead a few lambs and perhaps mow down some Taoists with a Gatling gun just to deflect its horrible notions of the sacredness of the feminine divine? You do?
Praise Jesus! Your video game has arrived.
Behold, blessed children, the new and upcoming "Left Behind: Eternal Forces
What's the game actually about? How do you play? I believe the pro-choice, pro-religion Talk to Action http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/5/29/195855/959 blog describes it best:
Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission -- both a religious mission and a military mission -- to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state -- especially moderate, mainstream Christians. Your mission is "to conduct physical and spiritual warfare"; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice.
Ah yes, the neo-Christian ideal. The ultimate dominionist police state, a smoking, reeking, post-apocalyptic vision of New York, a world teeming with nonbelievers just waiting to be either converted or massacred by nothing less than a Christianized American Taliban, a world of righteousness and judgment and death, all in the name of one very nasty and bloodthirsty God. It's "Grand Theft Auto" for the Rick Santorum set
Is it worth delineating all the appalling whorings of Christ's true message in this thing? Do you need to imagine the explosive reaction if, say, a powerful Muslim organization came out with a major video game where Islamic fundies killed hapless Christians with machine guns in order to restore the world to Allah? Or if the KKK or Aryan Nations created a game where you get to "cleanse" 'Merka of all the Jews and blacks so happy white people can stop being so scared of hip-hop? Verily, you do not.
But it is worth mentioning that, while the vast majority of sane Christians will recoil from this silly video game as violently as any sighing Wiccan, the bad news is the 10 "Left Behind" books -- a certified phenomenon, they -- have sold nearly as many copies as "The Da Vinci Code" (upward of 40 million worldwide) and their rabid fans are legion and dominionist demagogue megapastors like Rick Warren (whose megaministry is tacitly connected
We can never forget: These are the people who still whisper into Dubya's ear when he's playing with his little green army men in the White House bathtub. They have stained the Supreme Court, attacked science and open discourse, made the human female nipple a symbol of shame and humiliation. Their power may be waning slightly as BushCo crumbles, but their agenda remains deeply sickening.
But hey, everyone needs a fantasy, right? Everyone needs an outlet for their violent daydreams, even fundamentalist right-wing bonk-jobs and their hapless 13-year-old male children, for whom (presumably) this game is designed. It's venomous bigotry made fun! More good news: The game should be ready just in time for Christmas.
Oh but wait. There's a lovely kicker: When you get bored with the sanctimonious drabness of fighting on the side of a hateful Christ (which, invariably, you most certainly will), the game apparently allows you to switch modes and fight for the army of the Antichrist, unleashing cloven-hoofed demons who feast on the flesh of the righteous as you blow away Bible-thumping soldiers who, just before they die, secretly confess their intense gay love for their platoon commanders. Isn't that thoughtful?
It's also a bit of genius marketing. After all, aren't the villains always far cooler and sexier than the self-righteous and the holy? The devil always has better vodka than God. Who wants to run around shooting Buddhists and praying, when you can don the armor of hell itself and drink and have dirtyfun sex and get tattoos and listen to Metallica and wear low-slung jeans and laugh easily? No one, that's who.
Which is why the game could become the sleeper hit of the year. Sure, brainwashed fundamentalist kids will love playing on the side of God. For a while. But then the dark side will beckon. The irresistible scent of rebellion will hit their noses like hot porn pizza. They will fall into the clutches of a crazy self-defined happiness, they will squirm and giggle and feel anarchic and seditious and free, running clean in a place where the beer is cold and the dancing is hot and no one is telling them they have to kill someone because that person dared to believe that God isn't, well, a misanthropic, murderous jackass.
Now that's heaven.
posted by Ukulele Man at 10:16 AM
1 comments
links to this post
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
& Now !! Something completely different . . .
Hey Folks,
Do you think they'll come to regret this??
Or is it the start of a great career????
- Uke Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsDrbnl_WHI
Do you think they'll come to regret this??
Or is it the start of a great career????
- Uke Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsDrbnl_WHI
posted by Ukulele Man at 9:48 PM
1 comments
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Ask Dr. Maddow
Hey Folks,
If you listen to Air America - liberal talk radio - you might know Rachel Maddow. She's the morning show in Columbus (7:00-9:00 a.m. - on 1230 AM).
She has a bit she does called "Ask Dr. Maddow" in which she answers listeners left-oriented questions. I've had a question for some time that I'd like answered; so I whipped it off to the Doctor!
It's not as sexy as a recent one asking whether plastic or paper was the most environmentally appropriate option* (if and when one has forgotten one's canvas bag), but it's sexy to me.
Who knows whether she'll answer? Probably not, but if she does, I'll pass it on to you. In the meantime, if there is a wonk in the house who can answer in her stead, please do! Your comment will enlighten us all.
- Uke Man
* She said, "plastic."
Dear Dr. Maddow,
Over the years I’ve come to realize that media “business reports” are almost always delivered from the perspective of the wealthy. For example, when Timkin Co. laid off over three thousand workers, "Wall Street celebrated." When profits go up, that’s "good news." When wages stay down, that’s claimed to be "good news" too; and the unemployment rate supposedly “improves” when discouraged unemployed workers finally give up on ever finding another job.
I’ve got most of the hype figured out, but am still wondering about “productivity.”
The business reports always cheer “improved productivity,” and the official doctrine is that workers have become more effective, producing more goods more efficiently; and that this allows workers to get raises while they also increase profits for the stockholders.
Unfortunately – in my experience – “productivity” and profits increase together, and wages lag far behind. My hunch is that cheering for “productivity” is a bit like cheering for layoffs. If I knew as much about how “productivity” is calculated as I do about how the "unemployment rate" is calculated, I think I would be able to quit wondering and know.
So, Dr. Maddow, how is “productivity” calculated?
Yours - Ukulele Man
If you listen to Air America - liberal talk radio - you might know Rachel Maddow. She's the morning show in Columbus (7:00-9:00 a.m. - on 1230 AM).
She has a bit she does called "Ask Dr. Maddow" in which she answers listeners left-oriented questions. I've had a question for some time that I'd like answered; so I whipped it off to the Doctor!
It's not as sexy as a recent one asking whether plastic or paper was the most environmentally appropriate option* (if and when one has forgotten one's canvas bag), but it's sexy to me.
Who knows whether she'll answer? Probably not, but if she does, I'll pass it on to you. In the meantime, if there is a wonk in the house who can answer in her stead, please do! Your comment will enlighten us all.
- Uke Man
* She said, "plastic."
Dear Dr. Maddow,
Over the years I’ve come to realize that media “business reports” are almost always delivered from the perspective of the wealthy. For example, when Timkin Co. laid off over three thousand workers, "Wall Street celebrated." When profits go up, that’s "good news." When wages stay down, that’s claimed to be "good news" too; and the unemployment rate supposedly “improves” when discouraged unemployed workers finally give up on ever finding another job.
I’ve got most of the hype figured out, but am still wondering about “productivity.”
The business reports always cheer “improved productivity,” and the official doctrine is that workers have become more effective, producing more goods more efficiently; and that this allows workers to get raises while they also increase profits for the stockholders.
Unfortunately – in my experience – “productivity” and profits increase together, and wages lag far behind. My hunch is that cheering for “productivity” is a bit like cheering for layoffs. If I knew as much about how “productivity” is calculated as I do about how the "unemployment rate" is calculated, I think I would be able to quit wondering and know.
So, Dr. Maddow, how is “productivity” calculated?
Yours - Ukulele Man
posted by Ukulele Man at 7:36 PM
0 comments
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Poem # 10 from the Arts Fest Reading
a son of the Greatest generation
..a father of the Alphabet
....a John the Baptist of the Big Boom
....... living under the gilded “W”
...................Watching . . .
............................. & Wishing:
........................................I wish I may,
.................................................I wish I might
......................................................find a chunk
.....................................................................of . . .
..............................................................................Kryptonite
Superman has died .
and he is not the same.
Clark Kent is dead
and Bizarro clark
stands there in his stead.
Lois is a trollop
Perry works for Fox
and Jimmy fancies signing up
to come home in a box.
And the Super one, born again,
according to god’s plan,
cannot speak the language –
says, “Hi, I’m Stuporman.”
Yes, he’s still a man of steel,
but a smirking super fool
who would destroy the world itself
to fit it to his rule.
........................................I wish I may,
.................................................I wish I might
......................................................find a chunk
.....................................................................of . . . ...............................................................................Kryptonite
..a father of the Alphabet
....a John the Baptist of the Big Boom
....... living under the gilded “W”
...................Watching . . .
............................. & Wishing:
........................................I wish I may,
.................................................I wish I might
......................................................find a chunk
.....................................................................of . . .
..............................................................................Kryptonite
Superman has died .
and he is not the same.
Clark Kent is dead
and Bizarro clark
stands there in his stead.
Lois is a trollop
Perry works for Fox
and Jimmy fancies signing up
to come home in a box.
And the Super one, born again,
according to god’s plan,
cannot speak the language –
says, “Hi, I’m Stuporman.”
Yes, he’s still a man of steel,
but a smirking super fool
who would destroy the world itself
to fit it to his rule.
........................................I wish I may,
.................................................I wish I might
......................................................find a chunk
.....................................................................of . . . ...............................................................................Kryptonite
posted by Ukulele Man at 7:20 AM
1 comments
links to this post
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
posted by Ukulele Man at 9:20 PM
0 comments
links to this post
Rove, not smart - Democrats, brain-dead and Craven
Karl Rove Beats the Democrats Again
By FRANK RICH
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
IF theater is in your blood, you just can't resist the urge to put on a show. After the good news arrived about Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, administration officials at first downplayed any prospect of a new "Mission Accomplished" to hype the victory. But that restraint didn't last a week. In sync with Barbra Streisand, who this month announced a new concert tour to cap her 1994 farewell tour, the White House gave in to its nature and revved up its own encore.
Given our government's preference for spectacle over substance, "Baghdad Surprise 2" was more meticulously planned than security for post-liberation Baghdad. The script was a montage of the administration's greatest hits.
As with the prototype of Thanksgiving 2003, there was a breathless blow-by-blow of how President Bush faked out his own cabinet, donned a baseball cap and slipped into his waiting plane. In cautious remembrance of "Top Gun," White House photos were disseminated of the fearless leader hovering in the cockpit. Once on the ground, Mr. Bush made much of looking into the eyes of Nuri al-Maliki, our third post-Saddam Iraqi leader, and finding him as worthy as he did Vladimir Putin after a similarly theatrical ocular X-ray. This bit of presidential shtick is now as polished as Johnny Carson's old burlesque psychic, Carnac the Magnificent.
But not every sequel is as satisfying as "Spider-Man 2." This time, the plot holes in the triumphal narrative were too obvious. Since Thanksgiving 2003, the number of American troops in Iraq has gone up and casualties have increased more than fivefold. With Italy and South Korea leading the bailout, the "coalition of the willing" is wilting. (Rest assured that Moldova and El Salvador are hanging in.) Iraq security is such that Mr. Bush could stay only six hours, all in the Green Zone bunker. The presidential diagnosis of Mr. Maliki's trustworthiness was contradicted by the White House decision to keep the visit a secret from him until the last minute. How big a dis is that? Even the Americans the administration distrusts most - journalists - were told a day in advance.
Polls last week showed scant movement in either the president's approval rating (37 percent in the NBC News-Wall Street Journal survey released on Wednesday night) or that of the war (53 percent deem it a mistake). On NBC Tim Russert listed Mr. Bush's woes: "Iraq, Iraq, Iraq." Americans pick Iraq as the most pressing national issue, 21 points ahead of immigration, the runner-up. They find the war so dispiriting that the networks spend less and less time covering it. Had the much-hyped Alberto roused itself from tropical storm to hurricane, Mr. Bush's Baghdad jaunt would have been bumped for the surefire Nielsen boost of tempest-tossed male anchors emoting in the great outdoors.
All of which makes it stupendously counterintuitive that the Republican campaign strategy for 2006 is to run on the war. But there was Karl Rove, freshly released from legal jeopardy, proposing exactly that in a speech just before the president's trip. In a drive-by Swift Boating, he portrayed John Kerry and John Murtha, two decorated Vietnam veterans calling for an expedited exit from Iraq, as cowards who exemplify their party's "old pattern of cutting and running."
Mr. Rove's speech was almost an exact replay of the first speech to politicize the war on terrorism - also by him and delivered just four months after 9/11. In January 2002, he said Republicans could "go to the country on this issue" because voters "trust the Republican Party to do a better job of protecting and strengthening America's military might and thereby protecting America." Democrats howled, but with Mr. Bush's approval ratings still sky-high, the strategy was a slam dunk. The Democratic Senate majority leader then, Tom Daschle, was yoked to Saddam Hussein in a campaign attack ad. Intimidated colleagues stampeded to sign on to a hasty Iraq war resolution, exquisitely timed by the White House to come to a vote before the midterms. The Democrats lost anyway, as they would again in 2004, when Mr. Rove elevated Swift Boating to an extreme sport.
But in 2006? The war is going so badly that it's hard to imagine how the Democrats, fractious as they are, could fail, particularly if the Republicans insist on highlighting the debacle, as they did last week by staging a Congressional mud fight about Iraq on the same day that the American death toll reached 2,500. As the Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio wittily observed in April: "The good news is Democrats don't have much of a plan. The bad news is they may not need one."
Actually, though, the Democrats did have some plans, all of them now capsizing. The biggest was the hope that they could be propelled into power by their opponents' implosions. But Mr. Rove was not indicted. And the "culture of corruption" has lost its zing. Tom DeLay is gone, Duke Cunningham is in jail, and many Americans can't differentiate between Jack Abramoff, the Indian casino maven, and William Jefferson, the Louisiana Democrat who kept $90,000 of very cool cash in his freezer.
On the war, Democrats are fighting among themselves or, worse, running away from it altogether. Last week the party's most prominent politician, Hillary Clinton, rejected both the president's strategy of continuing with "his open-ended commitment" in Iraq and some Democrats' strategy of setting "a date certain" for withdrawal. She was booed by some in her liberal audience who chanted, "Bring the troops home now!" But her real sin was not that she failed to endorse that option, but that she failed to endorse any option.
Like Mr. Bush, she presented a false choice - either stay the course or cut and run - yet unlike Mr. Bush, she didn't even alight on one of them. This perilous juncture demands that leaders of both parties, whether running for president or not, articulate the least-disastrous Iraq exit option that Americans and Iraqis can rally around. Time is running out. The new Brookings Institution Iraq Index cites a poll showing that 87 percent of Iraqis want a timeline for American withdrawal, and 47 percent approve of attacks on American troops. A timeline does not require, as Mrs. Clinton disingenuously implies, an arbitrary "date certain" for withdrawal.
While the Democrats dither about Iraq, you can bet that the White House will ambush them with its own election-year facsimile of an exit strategy, dangling nominal troop withdrawals as bait for voters. To sweeten the pot, it could push Donald Rumsfeld to join Mr. DeLay in retirement. Since Republicans also vilify the defense secretary's incompetence, his only remaining value to the White House is as a political pawn that Mr. Rove can pluck from the board at the most advantageous moment. October, perhaps?
What's most impressive about Mr. Rove, however, is not his ruthlessness, it's his unshakable faith in the power of a story. The story he's stuck with, Iraq, is a loser, but he knows it won't lose at the polls if there's no story to counter it. And so he tells it over and over, confident that the Democrats won't tell their own. And they don't - whether about Iraq or much else. The question for the Democrats is less whether they tilt left, right or center, than whether they can find a stirring narrative that defines their views, not just the Republicans'.
What's needed, wrote Michael Tomasky in an influential American Prospect essay last fall, is a "big-picture case based on core principles." As he argued, Washington's continued and inhumane failure to ameliorate the devastation of Katrina could not be a more pregnant opportunity for the Democrats to set forth a comprehensive alternative to the party in power. Another opportunity, of course, is the oil dependence that holds America hostage to the worst governments in the Middle East.
Instead the Democrats float Band-Aid nostrums and bumper-sticker marketing strategies like "Together, America Can Do Better." As the linguist Geoffrey Nunberg pointed out, "The very ungrammaticality of the Democrats' slogan reminds you that this is a party with a chronic problem of telling a coherent story about itself, right down to an inability to get its adverbs and subjects to agree." On Wednesday Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid were to announce their party's "New Direction" agenda - actually, an inoffensive checklist of old directions (raise the minimum wage, cut student loan costs, etc.) - that didn't even mention Iraq. Symbolically enough, they had to abruptly reschedule the public unveiling to attend Mr. Bush's briefing on his triumphant trip to Baghdad.
Those who are most enraged about the administration's reckless misadventures are incredulous that it repeatedly gets away with the same stunts. Last week the president was still invoking 9/11 to justify the war in Iraq, which he again conflated with the war on Islamic jihadism - the war we are now losing, by the way, in Afghanistan and Somalia. But as long as the Democrats keep repeating their own mistakes, they will lose to the party whose mistakes are, if nothing else, packaged as one heckuva show. It's better to have the courage of bad convictions than no courage or convictions at all.
By FRANK RICH
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
IF theater is in your blood, you just can't resist the urge to put on a show. After the good news arrived about Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, administration officials at first downplayed any prospect of a new "Mission Accomplished" to hype the victory. But that restraint didn't last a week. In sync with Barbra Streisand, who this month announced a new concert tour to cap her 1994 farewell tour, the White House gave in to its nature and revved up its own encore.
Given our government's preference for spectacle over substance, "Baghdad Surprise 2" was more meticulously planned than security for post-liberation Baghdad. The script was a montage of the administration's greatest hits.
As with the prototype of Thanksgiving 2003, there was a breathless blow-by-blow of how President Bush faked out his own cabinet, donned a baseball cap and slipped into his waiting plane. In cautious remembrance of "Top Gun," White House photos were disseminated of the fearless leader hovering in the cockpit. Once on the ground, Mr. Bush made much of looking into the eyes of Nuri al-Maliki, our third post-Saddam Iraqi leader, and finding him as worthy as he did Vladimir Putin after a similarly theatrical ocular X-ray. This bit of presidential shtick is now as polished as Johnny Carson's old burlesque psychic, Carnac the Magnificent.
But not every sequel is as satisfying as "Spider-Man 2." This time, the plot holes in the triumphal narrative were too obvious. Since Thanksgiving 2003, the number of American troops in Iraq has gone up and casualties have increased more than fivefold. With Italy and South Korea leading the bailout, the "coalition of the willing" is wilting. (Rest assured that Moldova and El Salvador are hanging in.) Iraq security is such that Mr. Bush could stay only six hours, all in the Green Zone bunker. The presidential diagnosis of Mr. Maliki's trustworthiness was contradicted by the White House decision to keep the visit a secret from him until the last minute. How big a dis is that? Even the Americans the administration distrusts most - journalists - were told a day in advance.
Polls last week showed scant movement in either the president's approval rating (37 percent in the NBC News-Wall Street Journal survey released on Wednesday night) or that of the war (53 percent deem it a mistake). On NBC Tim Russert listed Mr. Bush's woes: "Iraq, Iraq, Iraq." Americans pick Iraq as the most pressing national issue, 21 points ahead of immigration, the runner-up. They find the war so dispiriting that the networks spend less and less time covering it. Had the much-hyped Alberto roused itself from tropical storm to hurricane, Mr. Bush's Baghdad jaunt would have been bumped for the surefire Nielsen boost of tempest-tossed male anchors emoting in the great outdoors.
All of which makes it stupendously counterintuitive that the Republican campaign strategy for 2006 is to run on the war. But there was Karl Rove, freshly released from legal jeopardy, proposing exactly that in a speech just before the president's trip. In a drive-by Swift Boating, he portrayed John Kerry and John Murtha, two decorated Vietnam veterans calling for an expedited exit from Iraq, as cowards who exemplify their party's "old pattern of cutting and running."
Mr. Rove's speech was almost an exact replay of the first speech to politicize the war on terrorism - also by him and delivered just four months after 9/11. In January 2002, he said Republicans could "go to the country on this issue" because voters "trust the Republican Party to do a better job of protecting and strengthening America's military might and thereby protecting America." Democrats howled, but with Mr. Bush's approval ratings still sky-high, the strategy was a slam dunk. The Democratic Senate majority leader then, Tom Daschle, was yoked to Saddam Hussein in a campaign attack ad. Intimidated colleagues stampeded to sign on to a hasty Iraq war resolution, exquisitely timed by the White House to come to a vote before the midterms. The Democrats lost anyway, as they would again in 2004, when Mr. Rove elevated Swift Boating to an extreme sport.
But in 2006? The war is going so badly that it's hard to imagine how the Democrats, fractious as they are, could fail, particularly if the Republicans insist on highlighting the debacle, as they did last week by staging a Congressional mud fight about Iraq on the same day that the American death toll reached 2,500. As the Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio wittily observed in April: "The good news is Democrats don't have much of a plan. The bad news is they may not need one."
Actually, though, the Democrats did have some plans, all of them now capsizing. The biggest was the hope that they could be propelled into power by their opponents' implosions. But Mr. Rove was not indicted. And the "culture of corruption" has lost its zing. Tom DeLay is gone, Duke Cunningham is in jail, and many Americans can't differentiate between Jack Abramoff, the Indian casino maven, and William Jefferson, the Louisiana Democrat who kept $90,000 of very cool cash in his freezer.
On the war, Democrats are fighting among themselves or, worse, running away from it altogether. Last week the party's most prominent politician, Hillary Clinton, rejected both the president's strategy of continuing with "his open-ended commitment" in Iraq and some Democrats' strategy of setting "a date certain" for withdrawal. She was booed by some in her liberal audience who chanted, "Bring the troops home now!" But her real sin was not that she failed to endorse that option, but that she failed to endorse any option.
Like Mr. Bush, she presented a false choice - either stay the course or cut and run - yet unlike Mr. Bush, she didn't even alight on one of them. This perilous juncture demands that leaders of both parties, whether running for president or not, articulate the least-disastrous Iraq exit option that Americans and Iraqis can rally around. Time is running out. The new Brookings Institution Iraq Index cites a poll showing that 87 percent of Iraqis want a timeline for American withdrawal, and 47 percent approve of attacks on American troops. A timeline does not require, as Mrs. Clinton disingenuously implies, an arbitrary "date certain" for withdrawal.
While the Democrats dither about Iraq, you can bet that the White House will ambush them with its own election-year facsimile of an exit strategy, dangling nominal troop withdrawals as bait for voters. To sweeten the pot, it could push Donald Rumsfeld to join Mr. DeLay in retirement. Since Republicans also vilify the defense secretary's incompetence, his only remaining value to the White House is as a political pawn that Mr. Rove can pluck from the board at the most advantageous moment. October, perhaps?
What's most impressive about Mr. Rove, however, is not his ruthlessness, it's his unshakable faith in the power of a story. The story he's stuck with, Iraq, is a loser, but he knows it won't lose at the polls if there's no story to counter it. And so he tells it over and over, confident that the Democrats won't tell their own. And they don't - whether about Iraq or much else. The question for the Democrats is less whether they tilt left, right or center, than whether they can find a stirring narrative that defines their views, not just the Republicans'.
What's needed, wrote Michael Tomasky in an influential American Prospect essay last fall, is a "big-picture case based on core principles." As he argued, Washington's continued and inhumane failure to ameliorate the devastation of Katrina could not be a more pregnant opportunity for the Democrats to set forth a comprehensive alternative to the party in power. Another opportunity, of course, is the oil dependence that holds America hostage to the worst governments in the Middle East.
Instead the Democrats float Band-Aid nostrums and bumper-sticker marketing strategies like "Together, America Can Do Better." As the linguist Geoffrey Nunberg pointed out, "The very ungrammaticality of the Democrats' slogan reminds you that this is a party with a chronic problem of telling a coherent story about itself, right down to an inability to get its adverbs and subjects to agree." On Wednesday Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid were to announce their party's "New Direction" agenda - actually, an inoffensive checklist of old directions (raise the minimum wage, cut student loan costs, etc.) - that didn't even mention Iraq. Symbolically enough, they had to abruptly reschedule the public unveiling to attend Mr. Bush's briefing on his triumphant trip to Baghdad.
Those who are most enraged about the administration's reckless misadventures are incredulous that it repeatedly gets away with the same stunts. Last week the president was still invoking 9/11 to justify the war in Iraq, which he again conflated with the war on Islamic jihadism - the war we are now losing, by the way, in Afghanistan and Somalia. But as long as the Democrats keep repeating their own mistakes, they will lose to the party whose mistakes are, if nothing else, packaged as one heckuva show. It's better to have the courage of bad convictions than no courage or convictions at all.
posted by Ukulele Man at 8:40 PM
1 comments
links to this post
Kinsley, Kafka, and the CIA
The Name Is Kafka . . . Franz Kafka
By Michael Kinsley
Friday, June 16, 2006
"So put aside your Captain Crunch decoder ring,"recommends the Central Intelligence Agency, "for the moment." This is on the Internet site of the CIA's legal department. It's part of a pitch for recruits so startlingly moronic -- even as an attempt at adorable self-mockery -- that you think it must be some subtle comment on the double meaning of the word"intelligence." In good hall-of-mirrors fashion, it's lifted from some book, but the book quotes supposedly real CIA employees. Whatever, this is the agency's self-presentation on its own Web site.
"If the theme music from Mission Impossible runs through your head," it says, "or you get the urge to order a martini 'shaken, not stirred,' at the mention of the letters 'CIA,' '' -- why, then, you're just the kind of lawyer we want!
"We've been a major player in developing the law of national security vs. the First Amendment," the agency deadpans. "Or the Fourth Amendment. . . ." When"Americans [abroad] come across on our screen, they've got constitutional rights we've got to think about . .. . Or electronic surveillance . . . . In areas like that, we're helping to create the law, and that's a real rush."
And it's all true. The CIA is in the forefront of efforts to make sure that democracy, individual rights and stuff like that don't get in the way of our crusade for the spread of democracy, individual rights and stuff like that.
For years, all the intelligence agencies have been tussling with the American Civil Liberties Union over documents about the innovative Bush administration policy of locking people up in foreign countries where they can be tortured without the inconvenience of anyone knowing about it or bringing up, you know,like, the Constitution. It is not yet clear -- though there is little reason for optimism -- whether the courts will let them get away with it, but the official position of the executive branch under President Bush is that the U.S. government can lock you up anywhere in the world, torture you and tell no one about it. And if someone does find out and starts talking trash like "habeas corpus" or "Fourth Amendment," too bad: It's all okay under the president's inherent powers as commander in chief.Congress -- unbeknownst to Congress -- approved it all in its resolution shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, urging the president to fight terrorism. And the president deputized the CIA and other agencies to go forth and use this authority, in documents that you can't have and that may or may not exist.
In a twist fully worthy of Kafka, or at least Joseph Heller ("Catch-22"), the very suspicion that bad things are going on is a reason you can't find out. As a CIA legal document explains: "CIA confirmation of the existence of [evidence] would confirm a CIA interest in or use of specific intelligence methods and activities." After all, the agency gaily reasons,the "CIA would not request . . . authorization from the president for intelligence activities in which it had no interest."
Meanwhile, in another federal court, the ACLU has been arguing with the National Security Agency about the wiretapping of international phone calls to and from the United States. The 1978 intelligence reform law made clear as cellophane that these agencies had no authority to wiretap citizens of this country and in this country without permission from a judge. So clear, in fact, that the president doesn't deny that his wiretapping program violates the 1978 law.Instead, he says that Congress overruled that law in its 2001 resolution to oppose terrorism. That, plus the usual inherent powers of the presidency.
What's more, government lawyers say, they can prove all this. Or at least they could, but they can't,because the evidence must remain secret for national security reasons. And what are those reasons? Well,the reasons why the reasons why the program is okay are also secret. And without this evidence, there cannot be a trial. Sorry.
It's true that you and I are not being grabbed on the streets and sent to a former secret police torture-training camp in Godforsakistan. Nor is the government eavesdropping on your international phone calls or mine. Probably. Because I like you, I'll forgo the usual ominous warning about how they came after him and then they came after her and then they came after you. I'll even skip the liberal sermonette about how even bad guys have rights.
But your rights and mine are not supposed to be at the whim of the government, let alone the president. They are based in the Constitution and the willingness of those we put in power to obey it -- even as interpreted by judges they may disagree with. The most distressing aspect of this story is the apparent attitude of our current rulers that the Constitution is an obstacle to be overcome -- by conducting dirty business abroad or by wildly disingenuous interpretations of laws and the Constitution.
Just look at what these supposed worshipers at the shrine of "strict constructionism" and "original meaning" have done to the 2001 anti-terrorism resolution. Did any senator who voted for this resolution have any idea that he or she was, in essence, voting to repeal all the protections for individuals against government agency abuse that Congress enacted in 1978?
The fact that there are countries in this world where the government can torture people in secret and without fear of courts is supposed to be a tragedy --not a convenience.
By Michael Kinsley
Friday, June 16, 2006
"So put aside your Captain Crunch decoder ring,"recommends the Central Intelligence Agency, "for the moment." This is on the Internet site of the CIA's legal department. It's part of a pitch for recruits so startlingly moronic -- even as an attempt at adorable self-mockery -- that you think it must be some subtle comment on the double meaning of the word"intelligence." In good hall-of-mirrors fashion, it's lifted from some book, but the book quotes supposedly real CIA employees. Whatever, this is the agency's self-presentation on its own Web site.
"If the theme music from Mission Impossible runs through your head," it says, "or you get the urge to order a martini 'shaken, not stirred,' at the mention of the letters 'CIA,' '' -- why, then, you're just the kind of lawyer we want!
"We've been a major player in developing the law of national security vs. the First Amendment," the agency deadpans. "Or the Fourth Amendment. . . ." When"Americans [abroad] come across on our screen, they've got constitutional rights we've got to think about . .. . Or electronic surveillance . . . . In areas like that, we're helping to create the law, and that's a real rush."
And it's all true. The CIA is in the forefront of efforts to make sure that democracy, individual rights and stuff like that don't get in the way of our crusade for the spread of democracy, individual rights and stuff like that.
For years, all the intelligence agencies have been tussling with the American Civil Liberties Union over documents about the innovative Bush administration policy of locking people up in foreign countries where they can be tortured without the inconvenience of anyone knowing about it or bringing up, you know,like, the Constitution. It is not yet clear -- though there is little reason for optimism -- whether the courts will let them get away with it, but the official position of the executive branch under President Bush is that the U.S. government can lock you up anywhere in the world, torture you and tell no one about it. And if someone does find out and starts talking trash like "habeas corpus" or "Fourth Amendment," too bad: It's all okay under the president's inherent powers as commander in chief.Congress -- unbeknownst to Congress -- approved it all in its resolution shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, urging the president to fight terrorism. And the president deputized the CIA and other agencies to go forth and use this authority, in documents that you can't have and that may or may not exist.
In a twist fully worthy of Kafka, or at least Joseph Heller ("Catch-22"), the very suspicion that bad things are going on is a reason you can't find out. As a CIA legal document explains: "CIA confirmation of the existence of [evidence] would confirm a CIA interest in or use of specific intelligence methods and activities." After all, the agency gaily reasons,the "CIA would not request . . . authorization from the president for intelligence activities in which it had no interest."
Meanwhile, in another federal court, the ACLU has been arguing with the National Security Agency about the wiretapping of international phone calls to and from the United States. The 1978 intelligence reform law made clear as cellophane that these agencies had no authority to wiretap citizens of this country and in this country without permission from a judge. So clear, in fact, that the president doesn't deny that his wiretapping program violates the 1978 law.Instead, he says that Congress overruled that law in its 2001 resolution to oppose terrorism. That, plus the usual inherent powers of the presidency.
What's more, government lawyers say, they can prove all this. Or at least they could, but they can't,because the evidence must remain secret for national security reasons. And what are those reasons? Well,the reasons why the reasons why the program is okay are also secret. And without this evidence, there cannot be a trial. Sorry.
It's true that you and I are not being grabbed on the streets and sent to a former secret police torture-training camp in Godforsakistan. Nor is the government eavesdropping on your international phone calls or mine. Probably. Because I like you, I'll forgo the usual ominous warning about how they came after him and then they came after her and then they came after you. I'll even skip the liberal sermonette about how even bad guys have rights.
But your rights and mine are not supposed to be at the whim of the government, let alone the president. They are based in the Constitution and the willingness of those we put in power to obey it -- even as interpreted by judges they may disagree with. The most distressing aspect of this story is the apparent attitude of our current rulers that the Constitution is an obstacle to be overcome -- by conducting dirty business abroad or by wildly disingenuous interpretations of laws and the Constitution.
Just look at what these supposed worshipers at the shrine of "strict constructionism" and "original meaning" have done to the 2001 anti-terrorism resolution. Did any senator who voted for this resolution have any idea that he or she was, in essence, voting to repeal all the protections for individuals against government agency abuse that Congress enacted in 1978?
The fact that there are countries in this world where the government can torture people in secret and without fear of courts is supposed to be a tragedy --not a convenience.
posted by Ukulele Man at 7:50 AM
0 comments
links to this post
Monday, June 19, 2006
Only a Bone-Head
needs to get
cell phone calls from telemarketers!!!!
cell phone calls from telemarketers!!!!
posted by Ukulele Man at 8:01 PM
0 comments
links to this post
Cell Phone - Do Not Call
Hey Folks,
I just did this and it seems legitimate.
I understand that in a few days from today, all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies, and you will start to receive calls.
YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS !!
To prevent this, go to www.donotcall.gov and follow the instructions on how to add your cell phone to the "Do Not Call" list.
- Uke Man
I just did this and it seems legitimate.
I understand that in a few days from today, all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies, and you will start to receive calls.
YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS !!
To prevent this, go to www.donotcall.gov and follow the instructions on how to add your cell phone to the "Do Not Call" list.
- Uke Man
posted by Ukulele Man at 7:48 PM
0 comments
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Bono & Bush - Tony, Bony, & Bushy - "Bloody Sunday"
Hey Folks,
Disk Daddy Dubya does Bono - let's roll!!
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
- Uke Man
http://www.jengajam.com/r/bush-sings-sunday
Disk Daddy Dubya does Bono - let's roll!!
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
- Uke Man
http://www.jengajam.com/r/bush-sings-sunday
posted by Ukulele Man at 6:17 PM
1 comments
links to this post
Leiberman's a Snake - Part II
Lieberman weighing run as independent
By SUSAN HAIGH, Associated Press
HARTFORD, Conn. -
By SUSAN HAIGH, Associated Press
HARTFORD, Conn. -
Democratic Sen. Joe Leiberman, warily watching his primary challenger advance in the polls, must soon decide whether to start collecting signatures for a possible independent bid this November.
Lieberman's campaign contends that it's focused only on winning the Aug. 8 primary, but the Democrat has not ruled out petitioning his way onto the November ballot as part of a backup plan to secure a fourth term in the Senate.
"I am not going to close out any options," the senator recently told reporters.
Lieberman has until Aug. 9 — the day after the Democratic primary — to collect 7,500 signatures from registered voters to gain a spot on the ballot as an unaffiliated candidate.
But any effort to gather signatures before the primary would be a sign of weakness, indicating that Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000, fears that he could lose to businessman Ned Lamont. The effort also would rile Democrats who already question Lieberman's party loyalty and his perceived closeness to President Bush
The senator has been a strong backer of the Iraq war.
Christopher Kukk, an associate political science professor at Western Connecticut State University, said it's a risk Lieberman may be willing to take as Lamont continues to make gains in the polls.
"I think he'll alienate Democratic voters, but to be honest with you, I think he already has alienated Democratic voters," Kukk said. "If Lamont is gaining ... I think you'll see Lieberman jump."
According to a recent Quinnipiac University Poll, 57 percent of registered Democrats in Connecticut said they would vote for Lieberman, compared to 32 percent for Lamont. A month ago, Lieberman drew 65 percent to Lamont's 19 percent.
The poll found that if Lieberman runs as an independent, he would win with 56 percent of the vote, compared to 18 percent for Lamont and 8 percent for Republican Alan Schlesinger. Lieberman enjoys higher ratings among Republicans and unaffiliated voters than Democrats, the poll found. Unaffiliated voters are the state's largest bloc of voters, followed by Democrats and then Republicans.
Lamont, a multimillionaire owner of a cable television company, launched an ad campaign this week asking for Lieberman's support should he win the primary, and promising to back Lieberman should the senator prevail.
"What do you say, Senator?" Lamont asks in the radio ad. "May the best Democrat win."
Lamont's campaign manager, Tom Swan, said Democrats want to know what Lieberman will do.
"If Joe Lieberman is considering abandoning the Democratic Party, the people have a right to know it," Swan said. "Ned is agreeing to abide by the process and respect the choice of the people. Will Joe?"
No matter what Lieberman does, Kukk said he believes the veteran senator will win re-election. Lieberman still enjoys a strong lead over Lamont, and Kukk said if Lieberman runs as an unaffiliated candidate, it likely won't hurt him with the general electorate because party loyalty isn't very strong anymore.
"I think they are thinking of it," Kukk said of a possible Lieberman independent run. "If you're looking for your political survival, you'd be silly not to."
posted by Ukulele Man at 9:44 AM
0 comments
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Poem # 9 from the Arts Fest Reading
...........Empire
Death and destruction
are under construction.
The obligation
of this Great Nation
quite clearly, then,
is obfuscation.
* * *
Attention!!!
* * *
You are approaching the end
of the moving sidewalk.
Watch your step . . .
as you leave the moving sidewalk.
Death and destruction
are under construction.
The obligation
of this Great Nation
quite clearly, then,
is obfuscation.
* * *
Attention!!!
* * *
You are approaching the end
of the moving sidewalk.
Watch your step . . .
as you leave the moving sidewalk.
posted by Ukulele Man at 9:30 AM
0 comments
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Sunday, June 18, 2006
You Be The Judge
Hey Folks:
Pick a Winner!!!
# 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TXWwVo9Zpc&search=Al%20Gore
or
# 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWFMUMytm3U&search=Al%20Gore
(This is actually an IQ test)
- Uke Man
Pick a Winner!!!
# 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TXWwVo9Zpc&search=Al%20Gore
or
# 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWFMUMytm3U&search=Al%20Gore
(This is actually an IQ test)
- Uke Man
posted by Ukulele Man at 5:34 PM
1 comments
links to this post
Alistair Hulett on the Uke Man's CD
Hey Folks,
A while back I reported on a great show at Little Brothers featuring Alistair Hulett and David Rovics ( http://www.ukuleleman.net/2006/04/david-rovics-alistair-hulett-concert.html ).
At the show I gave Alistair my two CD's. Below (in large blue print) are his review of them.
Check out Alistair's web site: http://www.folkicons.co.uk/alistair.htm
.................Alistair's News
NEWS UPDATE FROM “THE GALLOWS RANT” – May ‘06
Fresh back from a thoroughly enjoyable string of US gigs with the magnificent singer/songwriter and all-round diamond geezer, David Rovics, the clamour for news of what went down across the pond from at least three people, maybe even as many as five, has proved impossible to resist. Here's a quick resume of some of the most memorable bits.
The first show was in a venue called The Community Church Of Boston, but these folks seemed more like a bunch of commies and anarchists to me. A jolly decent crew who made me feel right at home! The soundman, Jeff Manzelli, recorded both David's set and mine and has posted a few tracks from each of us up on the web. For a wee taste, visit Jeff's site at www.492cafe.org and click on 'guests' then 'concerts.' Not one of my better performances, but very well recorded. A touch of jet lag I think. Nice one Jeff.
Next morning I woke to find I'd been smitten in the vocal chords by Dodgy Airline's dirty air-vent disease, and couldn't so much as warble a note. Consequently David had to hold our end up all on his todd at the next gig in New York. A shame really, 'cos it was a very nice night and a benefit for promoting trade unionism among low paid workers, put on by the Industrial Workers Of The World to boot. I'm sorry to have missed being on in this one.
Fortunately we weren't the only turn booked that night, and Big Davey was in fine fettle and easily coped alone while I hung about slurping vile tasting herbal tinctures and coughing. A day resting up at the lovely lakeside home of one of the Big Yin's good mates, Terry in Connecticut, got me well back on track and it was a doddle from there on.
Good gigs and happy trails were the order of the day most everywhere after that, with fine concerts in Pennsylvania, Ohio (two of them), Chicago, Wisconsin (two again) and Minnesota. No space here for a blow-by-blow account, so a thumbnail sketch will need to suffice.
Highlights came thick and fast, but stand-out memories include sharing a stage in Pennsylvania with two feisty women from the Appalachian mountains who were touring around, spreading awareness of how a local mining company has packed up its things and left their 'holler' in a disgraceful state, with coal sludge in all the waterways. More power to them and their noble cause.
I was as delighted as the two women, at the end of the night, to discover that both my people and theirs call a paper bag a poke. So it is true, mountain folks in Appalachia are the direct descendents of weegies fae Glesga. No wonder we love banjos so much in Govanhill.
In Ohio I met The Ukulele Man, who gave me his CD and it is magnificent. The spirit of Will Shade is alive and well, and living in Columbus Ohio. Who'd have imagined the humble ukulele, in the hands of a maestro, was capable of reducing grown men to tears? Snicker if you will, but I speak the truth.
Time and space doesn't permit me to tell how good it was to sing in the Heartland Café in Chicago, and the nice big theatre in Toledo, and for the IWW comrades in Madison and the lovely farming folk in Veroqua who took time out from planting their veggies to come and see us in Wisconsin. Everywhere we went I found kindness and hospitality, pleasantly laced with a venomous hostility to George Bush that was utterly disarming.
One last mention needs to be made. Minneapolis, first base for the young Dylan on his epic journey from Hibbing to New York, gave us the honour of appearing on a concert with several Native American artists, including the fine song-maker Mitch Walking Elk. Far too few turned out on the night for such a show, but it was great to be part of it. Next day our host, Larry Olds showed me round Dinky Town, with its Purple Onion and Ten O' Clock Scholar, where Dylan served his apprenticeship way back in '59.
By then David was on his way to Houston Texas, our dear tour friend Reiko was heading for Boston and I was getting ready to pack my bags and set out for the sun-drenched boulevards of Govanhill. Govan Hell more like! I got back and it was pishing down, as it always is in Glesga. So that was America then. I loved it and look forward to doing it all again. Hopefully I'll be joining them next time to celebrate the impeachment of Bush and Rumsfeld, to name but two in a very long list.
A while back I reported on a great show at Little Brothers featuring Alistair Hulett and David Rovics ( http://www.ukuleleman.net/2006/04/david-rovics-alistair-hulett-concert.html ).
At the show I gave Alistair my two CD's. Below (in large blue print) are his review of them.
Check out Alistair's web site: http://www.folkicons.co.uk/alistair.htm
.................Alistair's News
NEWS UPDATE FROM “THE GALLOWS RANT” – May ‘06
Fresh back from a thoroughly enjoyable string of US gigs with the magnificent singer/songwriter and all-round diamond geezer, David Rovics, the clamour for news of what went down across the pond from at least three people, maybe even as many as five, has proved impossible to resist. Here's a quick resume of some of the most memorable bits.
The first show was in a venue called The Community Church Of Boston, but these folks seemed more like a bunch of commies and anarchists to me. A jolly decent crew who made me feel right at home! The soundman, Jeff Manzelli, recorded both David's set and mine and has posted a few tracks from each of us up on the web. For a wee taste, visit Jeff's site at www.492cafe.org and click on 'guests' then 'concerts.' Not one of my better performances, but very well recorded. A touch of jet lag I think. Nice one Jeff.
Next morning I woke to find I'd been smitten in the vocal chords by Dodgy Airline's dirty air-vent disease, and couldn't so much as warble a note. Consequently David had to hold our end up all on his todd at the next gig in New York. A shame really, 'cos it was a very nice night and a benefit for promoting trade unionism among low paid workers, put on by the Industrial Workers Of The World to boot. I'm sorry to have missed being on in this one.
Fortunately we weren't the only turn booked that night, and Big Davey was in fine fettle and easily coped alone while I hung about slurping vile tasting herbal tinctures and coughing. A day resting up at the lovely lakeside home of one of the Big Yin's good mates, Terry in Connecticut, got me well back on track and it was a doddle from there on.
Good gigs and happy trails were the order of the day most everywhere after that, with fine concerts in Pennsylvania, Ohio (two of them), Chicago, Wisconsin (two again) and Minnesota. No space here for a blow-by-blow account, so a thumbnail sketch will need to suffice.
Highlights came thick and fast, but stand-out memories include sharing a stage in Pennsylvania with two feisty women from the Appalachian mountains who were touring around, spreading awareness of how a local mining company has packed up its things and left their 'holler' in a disgraceful state, with coal sludge in all the waterways. More power to them and their noble cause.
I was as delighted as the two women, at the end of the night, to discover that both my people and theirs call a paper bag a poke. So it is true, mountain folks in Appalachia are the direct descendents of weegies fae Glesga. No wonder we love banjos so much in Govanhill.
In Ohio I met The Ukulele Man, who gave me his CD and it is magnificent. The spirit of Will Shade is alive and well, and living in Columbus Ohio. Who'd have imagined the humble ukulele, in the hands of a maestro, was capable of reducing grown men to tears? Snicker if you will, but I speak the truth.
Time and space doesn't permit me to tell how good it was to sing in the Heartland Café in Chicago, and the nice big theatre in Toledo, and for the IWW comrades in Madison and the lovely farming folk in Veroqua who took time out from planting their veggies to come and see us in Wisconsin. Everywhere we went I found kindness and hospitality, pleasantly laced with a venomous hostility to George Bush that was utterly disarming.
One last mention needs to be made. Minneapolis, first base for the young Dylan on his epic journey from Hibbing to New York, gave us the honour of appearing on a concert with several Native American artists, including the fine song-maker Mitch Walking Elk. Far too few turned out on the night for such a show, but it was great to be part of it. Next day our host, Larry Olds showed me round Dinky Town, with its Purple Onion and Ten O' Clock Scholar, where Dylan served his apprenticeship way back in '59.
By then David was on his way to Houston Texas, our dear tour friend Reiko was heading for Boston and I was getting ready to pack my bags and set out for the sun-drenched boulevards of Govanhill. Govan Hell more like! I got back and it was pishing down, as it always is in Glesga. So that was America then. I loved it and look forward to doing it all again. Hopefully I'll be joining them next time to celebrate the impeachment of Bush and Rumsfeld, to name but two in a very long list.
posted by Ukulele Man at 3:54 PM
1 comments
links to this post
"Run-away entitlements" a letter to a Dispatch Columnist
Hey Folks,
If one accepts the "givens" of the ruling class, their arguments make sense.
Unfortunately, the unexplored foundations of their positions are almost always slanted and self-serving. Convincing oneself that Africans were less than human, made slavery seem sensible. Assuming that women were the "weaker sex" justified not letting them vote. Believing that "our god is bigger than their god" has justified historical and contemporary Crusades and Jihads.
All such "intellectual" absurdity eventually sinks into the shit upon which it is built. Reality is slow but inexorable.
Below is a response to a column that, like the examples above, makes sense only as long as one doesn't notice what's at the bottom of the porta-potty.
- Uke Man
Dear Mr. Riskind,
Often when folks discuss something, at the very start of it, a number of assumptions are already in play. These assumed matters push the matter forward but are never themselves examined; a fact that can often lead to a faulty resolution of the actual matter at hand.
I respectfully request that you examine some underlying assumptions present in your Sunday, June 11 column.
I find the term “entitlements” presupposing. Everyone uses it. I can hear you asking, “What else would I call it?” and I understand that. Yet, it is a derogatory term on the face of it as well as in its common usage. I think it deserves deeper scrutiny.
In your column “entitlements” specifically refers to Social Security and Medicare, but I think we can agree that the term “entitlements” is usually aimed at those governmental services intended to help the masses: Medicaid, food-stamps, unemployment compensation, and the like.
Orally, the term “entitlements” is generally delivered with a sneer at worst and a sigh at best. What does that reflect?
You write: “lawmakers can’t be relied on to make the tough decisions needed to overhaul the nation’s tax system and rein in runaway entitlements such as Social Security.”
Beyond the general assumption (not just your column’s) of negativity regarding “entitlements,” a large segment of “opinion makers [what a term]” assert that “entitlements are exploding or “running away.” I believe that neither view is accurate.
We don’t call snow removal an “entitlement”; nor tax abatements for business; nor a new aircraft carrier, nor a war in Iraq. If these and similar expenditures balloon or even “explode,” we hear excuses and slogans; critics are “socialists” or they “hate America.” Those who attack Social Security and Medicare or call for a reduced tax burden on the wealthy are “courageous.”
How does all this fit with "government of the people, by the people, and for the people"?
Please. There is no “financial crisis” looming in Social Security (it has been demonstrated that removing the “cap” – letting the wealthy pay the same as everyone else – would solve the problem). The cost of social services isn’t “spiraling upward as the population gets older.” There are a number of reasons: profits of insurance companies, drug-makers, hospitals, rest homes, and others; and the “Boomers” are heading into retirement, increasing the numbers. But that doesn’t establish either a “financial crisis” or “runaway entitlements.” It is a problem of priorities, will, and oligarchy rather than of means.
The fact of the matter is that the power structure sees taxing the wealthiest among us a little more to care for the least enabled among us as an unacceptable solution, but reducing the help we provide to those same people is – to them - an obvious and morally-sanctioned approach – much like the situation in Haiti.
So steeped is our “culture” in this nonsense that even an honorable columnist such as you isn’t stopped in his tracks when implying that congress lacks the “courage” to cut the programs that don’t need cutting.
It’s obvious to me that Senator Voinovich is attempting to address “fiscal responsibility,” but it’s just as obvious that he and his commission will be addressing problems felt by the powerful few rather than the vast many who will suffer at their hands.
If that is ever to change, it will take people in the media attacking such propaganda rather than praising it. Do you think I should hold my breath?
- Uke Man
If one accepts the "givens" of the ruling class, their arguments make sense.
Unfortunately, the unexplored foundations of their positions are almost always slanted and self-serving. Convincing oneself that Africans were less than human, made slavery seem sensible. Assuming that women were the "weaker sex" justified not letting them vote. Believing that "our god is bigger than their god" has justified historical and contemporary Crusades and Jihads.
All such "intellectual" absurdity eventually sinks into the shit upon which it is built. Reality is slow but inexorable.
Below is a response to a column that, like the examples above, makes sense only as long as one doesn't notice what's at the bottom of the porta-potty.
- Uke Man
Dear Mr. Riskind,
Often when folks discuss something, at the very start of it, a number of assumptions are already in play. These assumed matters push the matter forward but are never themselves examined; a fact that can often lead to a faulty resolution of the actual matter at hand.
I respectfully request that you examine some underlying assumptions present in your Sunday, June 11 column.
I find the term “entitlements” presupposing. Everyone uses it. I can hear you asking, “What else would I call it?” and I understand that. Yet, it is a derogatory term on the face of it as well as in its common usage. I think it deserves deeper scrutiny.
In your column “entitlements” specifically refers to Social Security and Medicare, but I think we can agree that the term “entitlements” is usually aimed at those governmental services intended to help the masses: Medicaid, food-stamps, unemployment compensation, and the like.
Orally, the term “entitlements” is generally delivered with a sneer at worst and a sigh at best. What does that reflect?
You write: “lawmakers can’t be relied on to make the tough decisions needed to overhaul the nation’s tax system and rein in runaway entitlements such as Social Security.”
Beyond the general assumption (not just your column’s) of negativity regarding “entitlements,” a large segment of “opinion makers [what a term]” assert that “entitlements are exploding or “running away.” I believe that neither view is accurate.
We don’t call snow removal an “entitlement”; nor tax abatements for business; nor a new aircraft carrier, nor a war in Iraq. If these and similar expenditures balloon or even “explode,” we hear excuses and slogans; critics are “socialists” or they “hate America.” Those who attack Social Security and Medicare or call for a reduced tax burden on the wealthy are “courageous.”
How does all this fit with "government of the people, by the people, and for the people"?
Please. There is no “financial crisis” looming in Social Security (it has been demonstrated that removing the “cap” – letting the wealthy pay the same as everyone else – would solve the problem). The cost of social services isn’t “spiraling upward as the population gets older.” There are a number of reasons: profits of insurance companies, drug-makers, hospitals, rest homes, and others; and the “Boomers” are heading into retirement, increasing the numbers. But that doesn’t establish either a “financial crisis” or “runaway entitlements.” It is a problem of priorities, will, and oligarchy rather than of means.
The fact of the matter is that the power structure sees taxing the wealthiest among us a little more to care for the least enabled among us as an unacceptable solution, but reducing the help we provide to those same people is – to them - an obvious and morally-sanctioned approach – much like the situation in Haiti.
So steeped is our “culture” in this nonsense that even an honorable columnist such as you isn’t stopped in his tracks when implying that congress lacks the “courage” to cut the programs that don’t need cutting.
It’s obvious to me that Senator Voinovich is attempting to address “fiscal responsibility,” but it’s just as obvious that he and his commission will be addressing problems felt by the powerful few rather than the vast many who will suffer at their hands.
If that is ever to change, it will take people in the media attacking such propaganda rather than praising it. Do you think I should hold my breath?
- Uke Man
posted by Ukulele Man at 12:30 PM
0 comments
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Saturday, June 17, 2006
New Song
Hey Folks,
Just wrote this, and I'll try to sing it tonight at Little Brothers.
See you there !!!
- Uke Man
.....Sunshine Soldier.....
Just another sunny day in Baghdad,
Just another sunny day in Baghdad,
Just mowing the sand and slowly goin’ mad
It’s another sunny day in Baghdad,
Sunni and Shii
say “Hello GI.
We’ve got a cell phone call for you.”
Billy goes for a ride then all his buddies died –
When that cell phone call came through -
Just another local call in Baghdad.
--------But everything’s OK
--------In our sand-trap USA
--------Yes, sir!! The sun shines every day.
--------It’s always a sunny day
--------in Baghdad,
From his stretcher Billy cried
For all his friends who had died,
And he clouded up with tears, it’s true.
But in the end - you know the drill, my friend
In Baghdad
The sun always breaks through.
--------And everything’s OK
--------In our make-shift USA
--------Yes, sir!! The sun shines every day.
--------It’s always a sunny day
--------in Baghdad,
Billy pulled R&R in Germany
But I don’t think he’ll be writin’ me
He left both his hands behind, you see.
On that sunny day in Baghdad.
And our leaders swear it’s true
That we must do what we must do –
And they know much more than Billy, me, and you;
They’ve spent a sunny day in Baghdad.
--------And everything’s OK
--------In our Iraqi USA
--------Just mowing sand and slowly goin’ mad.
--------Wrote to Billy yesterday
--------Didn’t have too much to say
--------Just “It’s another sunny day in Baghdad.”
It’s always a sunny day in Bagdad
Just wrote this, and I'll try to sing it tonight at Little Brothers.
See you there !!!
- Uke Man
.....Sunshine Soldier.....
Just another sunny day in Baghdad,
Just another sunny day in Baghdad,
Just mowing the sand and slowly goin’ mad
It’s another sunny day in Baghdad,
Sunni and Shii
say “Hello GI.
We’ve got a cell phone call for you.”
Billy goes for a ride then all his buddies died –
When that cell phone call came through -
Just another local call in Baghdad.
--------But everything’s OK
--------In our sand-trap USA
--------Yes, sir!! The sun shines every day.
--------It’s always a sunny day
--------in Baghdad,
From his stretcher Billy cried
For all his friends who had died,
And he clouded up with tears, it’s true.
But in the end - you know the drill, my friend
In Baghdad
The sun always breaks through.
--------And everything’s OK
--------In our make-shift USA
--------Yes, sir!! The sun shines every day.
--------It’s always a sunny day
--------in Baghdad,
Billy pulled R&R in Germany
But I don’t think he’ll be writin’ me
He left both his hands behind, you see.
On that sunny day in Baghdad.
And our leaders swear it’s true
That we must do what we must do –
And they know much more than Billy, me, and you;
They’ve spent a sunny day in Baghdad.
--------And everything’s OK
--------In our Iraqi USA
--------Just mowing sand and slowly goin’ mad.
--------Wrote to Billy yesterday
--------Didn’t have too much to say
--------Just “It’s another sunny day in Baghdad.”
It’s always a sunny day in Bagdad
posted by Ukulele Man at 12:59 PM
0 comments
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"Hey guys, I CAN'T pull it out !!"
"I only do that for Condi."
posted by Ukulele Man at 7:41 AM
0 comments
links to this post
Quote (more or less*) without Comment
House rejects timetable for Iraq Pullout
AP - WASHINGTON - The House on Friday handily rejected a timetable for pulling out of Iraq, culminating a fiercely partisan debate between Republicans and Democrats regarding Iraq’s potential pregnancy.
The Republicans, feeling pressure from their base during the onrushing midterm campaign season, reiterated their opposition to condoms and other methods of birth control.
Democratic, and Catholic, Senator Edward Kennedy, Mass., in a letter to House Leadership, spoke – from personal knowledge - to the uncertainties of the rhythm method; demanding to know whether the taxpayers were to be saddled with another unwanted Republican love-child.
In the end a timetable for withdrawal was rejected in favor of pounding away – as long as it takes – until a satisfactory climax is achieved.
* http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/iraq
AP - WASHINGTON - The House on Friday handily rejected a timetable for pulling out of Iraq, culminating a fiercely partisan debate between Republicans and Democrats regarding Iraq’s potential pregnancy.
The Republicans, feeling pressure from their base during the onrushing midterm campaign season, reiterated their opposition to condoms and other methods of birth control.
Democratic, and Catholic, Senator Edward Kennedy, Mass., in a letter to House Leadership, spoke – from personal knowledge - to the uncertainties of the rhythm method; demanding to know whether the taxpayers were to be saddled with another unwanted Republican love-child.
In the end a timetable for withdrawal was rejected in favor of pounding away – as long as it takes – until a satisfactory climax is achieved.
* http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/iraq
posted by Ukulele Man at 7:30 AM
0 comments
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Friday, June 16, 2006
Short Notice Show!!!
Hey Folks,
The Uke Man & his Prodigal Sons will be opening at Little Brother’s this Saturday for Postcard and Jonathan Hape.
The cover will probably be about $5, but I won't really know until the day of the show. This is the show to go to if you missed us at the Arts Festival and can't make ComFest (we play the Gazebo on Comfest Saturday at 6:00).
-Uke Man
June 17, 2006
Little Brothers
1100 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43201
The Uke Man & his Prodigal Sons will be opening at Little Brother’s this Saturday for Postcard and Jonathan Hape.
The cover will probably be about $5, but I won't really know until the day of the show. This is the show to go to if you missed us at the Arts Festival and can't make ComFest (we play the Gazebo on Comfest Saturday at 6:00).
-Uke Man
June 17, 2006
Little Brothers
1100 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43201
posted by Ukulele Man at 9:19 PM
0 comments
links to this post
"Ve haff vays of making you reveal your Secret Identity (or you can be reeely schtoopid and do it for us) !!!"
posted by Ukulele Man at 11:57 AM
0 comments
links to this post
"No," they said and then dragged him off to Gitmo
Spiderman outs himself to the press
(a ukethanks to Travis)
Wed Jun 14, 4:10 PM ET
NEW YORK (AFP) - For a comic book hero, it's the ultimate taboo.
In the latest edition of the Marvel comic "Civil War" on sale, Spiderman does the unthinkable and removes his Spidey mask to publicly reveal his hidden identity.
"I'm proud of who I am, and I'm here right now to prove it," the legendary webslinger tells a press conference called in New York's Times Square, before pulling off his mask and standing before the massed ranks of reporters as newspaper photographer Peter Parker.
"Any questions?" Parker asks in the final panel of the issue, amid a barrage of camera flashes.
In a statement, Marvel trumpeted the revelation as "arguably the most shocking event in comic book history."
The seven-issue "Civil War" series, launched in May, sees Marvel's writers taking on the topical issue of civil liberties.
Following a showdown between a group of superheroes and supervillains in which hundreds of innocent civilians are killed, the government passes the Super-Hero Registration Act, requiring all superheroes to reveal their identities and register as "living weapons of mass destruction."
Marvel's roster of invincible crime fighters is split into two bitterly opposed factions, with one camp -- championed by the likes of Spiderman -- in favour of the new law and the other, including Captain America and his ilk, refusing to relinquish anonymity.
"It's about which side you are on and why you think you are right," said Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada.
(a ukethanks to Travis)
Wed Jun 14, 4:10 PM ET
NEW YORK (AFP) - For a comic book hero, it's the ultimate taboo.
In the latest edition of the Marvel comic "Civil War" on sale, Spiderman does the unthinkable and removes his Spidey mask to publicly reveal his hidden identity.
"I'm proud of who I am, and I'm here right now to prove it," the legendary webslinger tells a press conference called in New York's Times Square, before pulling off his mask and standing before the massed ranks of reporters as newspaper photographer Peter Parker.
"Any questions?" Parker asks in the final panel of the issue, amid a barrage of camera flashes.
In a statement, Marvel trumpeted the revelation as "arguably the most shocking event in comic book history."
The seven-issue "Civil War" series, launched in May, sees Marvel's writers taking on the topical issue of civil liberties.
Following a showdown between a group of superheroes and supervillains in which hundreds of innocent civilians are killed, the government passes the Super-Hero Registration Act, requiring all superheroes to reveal their identities and register as "living weapons of mass destruction."
Marvel's roster of invincible crime fighters is split into two bitterly opposed factions, with one camp -- championed by the likes of Spiderman -- in favour of the new law and the other, including Captain America and his ilk, refusing to relinquish anonymity.
"It's about which side you are on and why you think you are right," said Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada.
posted by Ukulele Man at 11:49 AM
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Well, Spidey, if you think criminals are a pain, wait 'til the government starts fucking with you.
posted by Ukulele Man at 11:46 AM
1 comments
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Reality-Based Philosopher / Free-Floating Psycho
posted by Ukulele Man at 10:13 AM
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The Blonde Nazgul
Hey Folks,
Were you like me Wednesday night, wasting your time waiting up for fireworks between George Carlin and Ann Coulter on the Tonight Show?
What a waste - and the hockey game pushed the disappointment even farther into the morning.
Carlin, suffering the liberal’s disease, was a gentleman. Coulter was her usual insane, deluded self.
The saddest thing isn’t that this emaciated, androgynous, cowardly, clearly-deranged, self-righteous creature does what she does. The saddest thing is that a large number of Americans actually convince themselves that she is a voluptuous, feminine champion of sanity, trumpeting holy dogma.
It was clear to me, early on, that a considerable number of conservative zombies were in the audience; anything the least bit derogatory Leno said about anything to the left of Joe Lieberman, resulted in loud bursts of approval, a response uncharacteristic of Leno’s usual audience. They were there for Ann. They were crazy together.
It was heartening near the end when K. T. Tunstall - a quite interesting performer from Scotland who loops her own voice and instrument live to create a multi-layered piece by the end- was introduced. The one redeeming feature of the futile evening was clearly emblazoned on her guitar. In large letters was Woody Guthrie’s warning, “This Machine Kills Fascists.”
I wonder if it does. I know that fascists kill guitar players.
- Uke Man
posted by Ukulele Man at 9:35 AM
2 comments
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Poem #8 from the Arts Fest Reading
You Are My Sunshine
Did you know that
some days the sun shines
and warms the meadow,
while all the while projecting
sub-atomic particles of darkness –
subliminal shade.
You cannot see them, these particles;
they’re much too small,
but in time they’ll clot
to lumps and threads,
spidery webs
that cast faint shadows on the grass.
But that’s not all,
for the flypaper strands
entrap the lurking blackness
in every nascent sunbeam,
enwrap themselves
again, and again;
and thicken.
Threads become ropes,
the web a net,
an expanding net of shrinking windows,
shrinking, shrinking, shrinking!
Until they are shut – Tight!
by pulsing woof and warp,
and all is dark.
Then I beat my head upon the ground
Until I can see the stars.
Did you know that
some days the sun shines
and warms the meadow,
while all the while projecting
sub-atomic particles of darkness –
subliminal shade.
You cannot see them, these particles;
they’re much too small,
but in time they’ll clot
to lumps and threads,
spidery webs
that cast faint shadows on the grass.
But that’s not all,
for the flypaper strands
entrap the lurking blackness
in every nascent sunbeam,
enwrap themselves
again, and again;
and thicken.
Threads become ropes,
the web a net,
an expanding net of shrinking windows,
shrinking, shrinking, shrinking!
Until they are shut – Tight!
by pulsing woof and warp,
and all is dark.
Then I beat my head upon the ground
Until I can see the stars.
posted by Ukulele Man at 12:30 AM
1 comments
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Thursday, June 15, 2006
Quote without much Comment
Museum to reunite Venus statue with head
By GIOVANNA DELL'ORTO, Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA - For the first time in possibly 170 years, a Roman marble statue of Venus will be reunited with its head.
Both pieces are going to the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University, where conservators will piece them back together.
The museum bought the charmingly prudish portrait of the goddess of love — called Aphrodite by the Greeks and Venus by the Romans — for $968,000 at a Sotheby's auction in New York on June 6. A private collector in Houston, Texas, agreed to sell the head at auction to the buyer of the body. The head, which sold for about $50,000, was last documented attached to the body in 1836.
The private Texas collector also owns two-thirds of former Governor George W. Bush’s brain – which he keeps in a jar by the door. The brain, which is not for sale, was last documented as attached to the body in 6th Grade.
- Uke Man
By GIOVANNA DELL'ORTO, Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA - For the first time in possibly 170 years, a Roman marble statue of Venus will be reunited with its head.
Both pieces are going to the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University, where conservators will piece them back together.
The museum bought the charmingly prudish portrait of the goddess of love — called Aphrodite by the Greeks and Venus by the Romans — for $968,000 at a Sotheby's auction in New York on June 6. A private collector in Houston, Texas, agreed to sell the head at auction to the buyer of the body. The head, which sold for about $50,000, was last documented attached to the body in 1836.
The private Texas collector also owns two-thirds of former Governor George W. Bush’s brain – which he keeps in a jar by the door. The brain, which is not for sale, was last documented as attached to the body in 6th Grade.
- Uke Man
posted by Ukulele Man at 9:47 AM
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Wednesday, June 14, 2006
"I'm Flippo the Clown! Hello, hello, hello! I wear the crown! King of the Circus Clowns!"
Hey Folks,
I, like many others, grew up with the crazy clown on TV / Channel 10 / WBNS – back in the olden days. Jonathan Winters worked there then, too, and Fritz the Night Owl, and the Old Wrangler, and Aunt Fran, and Captain Kangaroo.
The passing of Bob Marvin/Marvin Fishman/Flippo, the King of the Clowns - and a respected musician/band leader - brings back a flood of memories.
How could Flippo die? Flippo, who was inspired by the Popeye cartoons he showed to sing (among other things), “I love to go swimmin’ with bald-headed women; I’m Popeye the sailor man” ?
Like the Fishmans, my band-mate, Peter English lived in Worthington and grew up knowing the family. Another friend attended Flippo's show as a girl scout. Most of us just knew the clown from the afternoon tube; but anyone who knew anything about Flippo, feels the loss of his passing.
In case you didn’t know the man, below is part of the Dispatch’s “farewell” editorial.
-Uke Man
Farewell, Flippo
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Central Ohio mourns the passing of a consummate entertainer, a gifted jazzman and a sophisticated wit who found his true calling wearing white greasepaint and a red nose. Marvin Fishman, whose professional name was Bob Marvin but who was best known as Flippo the Clown, died Saturday at 79.
Flippo came into being in 1952 as part of the national craze of children’s clown shows. But Marvin’s real shtick and the source of his three decade staying power was a comic sensibility that cracked up college students and hipsters, yet delighted children and left their parents comfortable that the kids were being safely entertained.
The self-proclaimed King of the Clowns, for all his big, floppy collar and baggy suit trimmed with white pom-poms, wasn’t a circus-style clown. He employed just enough slapstick, including the occasional practical joke on a TV-studio crew member, to keep things lively. But he is most remembered for the mischievous wisecracks with which he peppered the breaks during films, shown weekday afternoons on The Early Show.
Flippo’s daily show was enough to provide thousands of people who grew up in central Ohio in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s with memories of watching the show or, if they were industrious or lucky enough, actually appearing on it.
I, like many others, grew up with the crazy clown on TV / Channel 10 / WBNS – back in the olden days. Jonathan Winters worked there then, too, and Fritz the Night Owl, and the Old Wrangler, and Aunt Fran, and Captain Kangaroo.
The passing of Bob Marvin/Marvin Fishman/Flippo, the King of the Clowns - and a respected musician/band leader - brings back a flood of memories.
How could Flippo die? Flippo, who was inspired by the Popeye cartoons he showed to sing (among other things), “I love to go swimmin’ with bald-headed women; I’m Popeye the sailor man” ?
Like the Fishmans, my band-mate, Peter English lived in Worthington and grew up knowing the family. Another friend attended Flippo's show as a girl scout. Most of us just knew the clown from the afternoon tube; but anyone who knew anything about Flippo, feels the loss of his passing.
In case you didn’t know the man, below is part of the Dispatch’s “farewell” editorial.
-Uke Man
Farewell, Flippo
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Central Ohio mourns the passing of a consummate entertainer, a gifted jazzman and a sophisticated wit who found his true calling wearing white greasepaint and a red nose. Marvin Fishman, whose professional name was Bob Marvin but who was best known as Flippo the Clown, died Saturday at 79.
Flippo came into being in 1952 as part of the national craze of children’s clown shows. But Marvin’s real shtick and the source of his three decade staying power was a comic sensibility that cracked up college students and hipsters, yet delighted children and left their parents comfortable that the kids were being safely entertained.
The self-proclaimed King of the Clowns, for all his big, floppy collar and baggy suit trimmed with white pom-poms, wasn’t a circus-style clown. He employed just enough slapstick, including the occasional practical joke on a TV-studio crew member, to keep things lively. But he is most remembered for the mischievous wisecracks with which he peppered the breaks during films, shown weekday afternoons on The Early Show.
Flippo’s daily show was enough to provide thousands of people who grew up in central Ohio in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s with memories of watching the show or, if they were industrious or lucky enough, actually appearing on it.
posted by Ukulele Man at 3:24 PM
1 comments
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Yeah, and Uncle Pauley is going to Heaven
Hey Folks,
Below is a true, real-life story told by a reliable, woman friend of mine. It’s chilling, but true; and it supports my position that rationality, logic, compromise, and other highly regarded methods of dealing with other humans will not work with the mentally deranged psychopaths who support Bush & Co. and the Neo-Conehead, God-endorsed fascist agenda.
Be ready. These folks are as blindly self-assured, determined, ruthless, guiltless, and as profoundly insightful as any regular patron of the Bada Bing Club (think "Uncle Pauley")!!
- Uke Man
“I wanted to share a scary moment I had this week.
I was driving down Morse road, top down on the car, really enjoying an early summer day. As many of you know, I have 2 bumper stickers on my car: “Impeach Bush” and “Support the troops, bring them home now”.
I have never had bumper stickers on any cars I've owned, but this administration broke me & I put these on about a year ago.
So, I'm driving along and suddenly a red car with a middle-aged (younger than I am) guy pulled up next to me & tried to run me into oncoming traffic; all the while he was screaming at me "you f---ing bitch, traitor, I hope you die, etc.
i was so shocked that i could not respond at first but just tried to keep my car from hitting anyone else. He pulled ahead of me; then slowed & got beside me & started it up again--screaming names at me and damn near wrecking himself. i was at one point face-t-face with him across the cars and said "He's your idiot; he's just my embarrassment," and he turned - I swear – PURPLE, he was so enraged ! and he repeated that I and all my family should die.
Aside from the obvious danger this moron put everyone near us in, I was really struck by how incredibly freaked out these right-wing nuts must be. Things are going so badly for them that their true colors are bleeding through. I also remembered all their chatter about bringing civility back to public life--yes, yes, i recognize now, he was one of those CIVIL republicans just responding to my uncivil desire for free spech & expression.
be careful out there. times are dangerous.
Peace.”
Below is a true, real-life story told by a reliable, woman friend of mine. It’s chilling, but true; and it supports my position that rationality, logic, compromise, and other highly regarded methods of dealing with other humans will not work with the mentally deranged psychopaths who support Bush & Co. and the Neo-Conehead, God-endorsed fascist agenda.
Be ready. These folks are as blindly self-assured, determined, ruthless, guiltless, and as profoundly insightful as any regular patron of the Bada Bing Club (think "Uncle Pauley")!!
- Uke Man
“I wanted to share a scary moment I had this week.
I was driving down Morse road, top down on the car, really enjoying an early summer day. As many of you know, I have 2 bumper stickers on my car: “Impeach Bush” and “Support the troops, bring them home now”.
I have never had bumper stickers on any cars I've owned, but this administration broke me & I put these on about a year ago.
So, I'm driving along and suddenly a red car with a middle-aged (younger than I am) guy pulled up next to me & tried to run me into oncoming traffic; all the while he was screaming at me "you f---ing bitch, traitor, I hope you die, etc.
i was so shocked that i could not respond at first but just tried to keep my car from hitting anyone else. He pulled ahead of me; then slowed & got beside me & started it up again--screaming names at me and damn near wrecking himself. i was at one point face-t-face with him across the cars and said "He's your idiot; he's just my embarrassment," and he turned - I swear – PURPLE, he was so enraged ! and he repeated that I and all my family should die.
Aside from the obvious danger this moron put everyone near us in, I was really struck by how incredibly freaked out these right-wing nuts must be. Things are going so badly for them that their true colors are bleeding through. I also remembered all their chatter about bringing civility back to public life--yes, yes, i recognize now, he was one of those CIVIL republicans just responding to my uncivil desire for free spech & expression.
be careful out there. times are dangerous.
Peace.”
posted by Ukulele Man at 10:00 AM
1 comments
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Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Poem #7 at the Arts Fest Reading
1999
At the hospital
I helped Mom down the long hallway
to the last room at the end.
"The Price Is Right!" was on
and Uncle Joe was the next contestant.
He didn't hear our
hello's
so I began to peel an orange
for the rest of us.
Just then
(before Bob Barker was ready)
Uncle Joe selected
the Showcase behind the final curtain
and left us there alone . . .
waiting for Don Pardo
to tell us what he'd won.
At the hospital
I helped Mom down the long hallway
to the last room at the end.
"The Price Is Right!" was on
and Uncle Joe was the next contestant.
He didn't hear our
hello's
so I began to peel an orange
for the rest of us.
Just then
(before Bob Barker was ready)
Uncle Joe selected
the Showcase behind the final curtain
and left us there alone . . .
waiting for Don Pardo
to tell us what he'd won.
posted by Ukulele Man at 9:50 PM
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Cal Thomas
Hey Folks,
Cal Thomas, the man with the bad wig (or a terrible comb-over) who used to work for Pat Robertson (the man with a milkshake from God that can help you leg-press 2000 pounds) recently got his tush in a tingle over the “disaster” of gay marriage and “the moral state of the union [governmental - not sexual].”
He said:
“Now we are told such exclusivity of preserving marriage for men and women discriminates against people of the same sex who wish to marry each other. Some forms of discrimination are good, because they send a signal and provide an example that certain behavior is to be preferred over other behaviors for the betterment of society.”
Yeah, some discrimination is good; like not letting women vote, like Jim Crow, like red-lining, and other bullying. Right, Cal. It just depends, doesn’t it, on who gets to pick the basis of that discrimination - which you explain for us:
“Today, right and wrong, an objective concept rooted in unchanging truth, has been dismissed in favor of the imposed rulings of federal judges guided by their own whims and opinion polls”
Yeah, what the hell do those damn judges know compared to the objective, unchanging Biblical truths communicated to folks like you. Yeah, unchanging truths like: unrepentant witches must be burned, the world is flat, Galileo is a heretic, the Jews killed Jesus, our god is bigger than your god, and freedom is on the march.
I’m with you, Cal. Those damned homos are trying to ruin everything. I am confused, however, about something you said:
“When there is no no to any behavior, then there must be yes to every behavior. If same-sex marriage is allowed, no one will ever be able to say no to anything again.”
Well, I hate to be a fair weather friend, but if you're right about that last point, I'm going to have to start lobbying for the legalization of gay marriage instead of against it !
You see, if you're right, on the glorious day that gay marriage becomes a legal reality, I'm heading down to my local Chevy dealer to ask him for a free, brand new Corvette.
I've always wanted one, and he won't be able to say no.
- Uke Man
Cal Thomas, the man with the bad wig (or a terrible comb-over) who used to work for Pat Robertson (the man with a milkshake from God that can help you leg-press 2000 pounds) recently got his tush in a tingle over the “disaster” of gay marriage and “the moral state of the union [governmental - not sexual].”
He said:
“Now we are told such exclusivity of preserving marriage for men and women discriminates against people of the same sex who wish to marry each other. Some forms of discrimination are good, because they send a signal and provide an example that certain behavior is to be preferred over other behaviors for the betterment of society.”
Yeah, some discrimination is good; like not letting women vote, like Jim Crow, like red-lining, and other bullying. Right, Cal. It just depends, doesn’t it, on who gets to pick the basis of that discrimination - which you explain for us:
“Today, right and wrong, an objective concept rooted in unchanging truth, has been dismissed in favor of the imposed rulings of federal judges guided by their own whims and opinion polls”
Yeah, what the hell do those damn judges know compared to the objective, unchanging Biblical truths communicated to folks like you. Yeah, unchanging truths like: unrepentant witches must be burned, the world is flat, Galileo is a heretic, the Jews killed Jesus, our god is bigger than your god, and freedom is on the march.
I’m with you, Cal. Those damned homos are trying to ruin everything. I am confused, however, about something you said:
“When there is no no to any behavior, then there must be yes to every behavior. If same-sex marriage is allowed, no one will ever be able to say no to anything again.”
Well, I hate to be a fair weather friend, but if you're right about that last point, I'm going to have to start lobbying for the legalization of gay marriage instead of against it !
You see, if you're right, on the glorious day that gay marriage becomes a legal reality, I'm heading down to my local Chevy dealer to ask him for a free, brand new Corvette.
I've always wanted one, and he won't be able to say no.
- Uke Man
posted by Ukulele Man at 10:22 AM
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Monday, June 12, 2006
"You WILL buy socks . . .
and help the economy (notice the intriguing bar code!!)."
posted by Ukulele Man at 8:34 PM
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"Shit Delicious and Full of Vitamins" - The Wall Street Journal
Economy booming, if you’re well off
Friday, June 09, 2006
TOM TEEPEN
The White House is frustrated that it can’t seem to get credit for the arguably booming economy. With unemployment low – just 4.6 percent, virtually full employment as such matters are measured – and with profits prospering, why all the long faces?
The polls find consumer confidence only so-so and slipping. Most folks think Democrats would be better stewards of the economy than Republicans are. This adds insult to political injury. Republicans know, from telling each other that it is so, that they are the true keepers of economic wisdom.
But the disconnect that so confounds President Bush and his crew is easily explained. Talking to their well-off friends and colleagues, the Bush crowd is talking with the winners. The high-bracket folks are doing very well, thank you. For the makers, sellers and buyers of luxury goods, this is party time.
Outside that privileged circle, matters are not quite so cheery.
The rich have been getting richer and the poor poorer at a clip that would have impressed even the court at Versailles. The economy grew at a robust 4.2 percent in 2004, but family incomes for midrange earners fell for the fifth year in a row.
That gap has been additionally widened by the Bush tax cuts, tilted steeply to the already rich. The administration boasts that everybody got in on the deal. Yes, but if you count four-star restaurants and feeding stations for the homeless, everybody eats, too, but rather differently. Households hauling in $1 million have had their incomes sweetened by 5.4 percent, thanks to the tax favors – on average, a $103,000 bonbon every year.
The minimum wage was last raised – and then only by 40 cents an hour – in 1997, the longest dry spell ever.
And the high gasoline prices don’t make the well-off sweat but they turn up the heat on most folks.
The workaday don’t find their lot improving but are spectators at the corporate extravaganza that is lavishing record-high megabuck deals on chief executives and other top hirelings. Even failed bosses can make more getting fired than most folks earn in a lifetime.
The number of Americans without health insurance – 45 million and counting – is steadily expanding, casting a frightening shadow, like a looming movie monster, over millions more. Who’ll be next?
Pensions are wobbly, college costs are leaving many families behind and interest rates are rising, nudging homeownership beyond the range of many.
And the unemployment rate is not, in practice, quite as smileyface as the White House makes it out to be. It is bolstered in part by former job-seekers who have given up and dropped out of the work force. What is more, the number of hours typically worked is declining, undercutting personal income.
Last month saw only 75,000 new jobs come open, where economists had expected 100,000 more than that. Over the past three months, the average job growth of 125,000 has failed to keep up with population growth.
Bush may want cheers but can hardly expect them for a hollow, borrow-and-spend prosperity bought with record deficits that assure future troubles, demand high federal interest payments now and distribute even their short-term benefits mostly to the people who need them least.
Tom Teepen writes for Cox News Service.
teepencolumn@coxnews.com
Friday, June 09, 2006
TOM TEEPEN
The White House is frustrated that it can’t seem to get credit for the arguably booming economy. With unemployment low – just 4.6 percent, virtually full employment as such matters are measured – and with profits prospering, why all the long faces?
The polls find consumer confidence only so-so and slipping. Most folks think Democrats would be better stewards of the economy than Republicans are. This adds insult to political injury. Republicans know, from telling each other that it is so, that they are the true keepers of economic wisdom.
But the disconnect that so confounds President Bush and his crew is easily explained. Talking to their well-off friends and colleagues, the Bush crowd is talking with the winners. The high-bracket folks are doing very well, thank you. For the makers, sellers and buyers of luxury goods, this is party time.
Outside that privileged circle, matters are not quite so cheery.
The rich have been getting richer and the poor poorer at a clip that would have impressed even the court at Versailles. The economy grew at a robust 4.2 percent in 2004, but family incomes for midrange earners fell for the fifth year in a row.
That gap has been additionally widened by the Bush tax cuts, tilted steeply to the already rich. The administration boasts that everybody got in on the deal. Yes, but if you count four-star restaurants and feeding stations for the homeless, everybody eats, too, but rather differently. Households hauling in $1 million have had their incomes sweetened by 5.4 percent, thanks to the tax favors – on average, a $103,000 bonbon every year.
The minimum wage was last raised – and then only by 40 cents an hour – in 1997, the longest dry spell ever.
And the high gasoline prices don’t make the well-off sweat but they turn up the heat on most folks.
The workaday don’t find their lot improving but are spectators at the corporate extravaganza that is lavishing record-high megabuck deals on chief executives and other top hirelings. Even failed bosses can make more getting fired than most folks earn in a lifetime.
The number of Americans without health insurance – 45 million and counting – is steadily expanding, casting a frightening shadow, like a looming movie monster, over millions more. Who’ll be next?
Pensions are wobbly, college costs are leaving many families behind and interest rates are rising, nudging homeownership beyond the range of many.
And the unemployment rate is not, in practice, quite as smileyface as the White House makes it out to be. It is bolstered in part by former job-seekers who have given up and dropped out of the work force. What is more, the number of hours typically worked is declining, undercutting personal income.
Last month saw only 75,000 new jobs come open, where economists had expected 100,000 more than that. Over the past three months, the average job growth of 125,000 has failed to keep up with population growth.
Bush may want cheers but can hardly expect them for a hollow, borrow-and-spend prosperity bought with record deficits that assure future troubles, demand high federal interest payments now and distribute even their short-term benefits mostly to the people who need them least.
Tom Teepen writes for Cox News Service.
teepencolumn@coxnews.com
posted by Ukulele Man at 8:20 PM
0 comments
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Poem #6 from the Arts Fest Reading
********A Tub of Buttons********
I have a tub of buttons
to run my fingers through.
I have a tub of buttons.
Do you have some buttons too?
-------Q. Buttons, buttons,
-----------who’s lost their buttons?
-------A. Those who’ve gone before –
-----------I’ve got their history
-----------in this tub
-----------behind my cupboard door.
pea jackets,
little blouses,
and from off the ends of sleeves.
Time passes
and so do we
and this is what it leaves
from bouncy cotton jumpers
and yellow leisure suits
from velvet skirts and underwear
and Santa’s special boots
marble from the Parthenon
leather from a goat
plastic from recycled jugs
anchors from a boat
hieroglyphic messages -
happy faces too
You ought to have some buttons
to run your fingers through.
Come by, and I will show you mine,
and show me yours,
please do
before we grow much older, dear, and
as will surely come to pass,
we lose our buttons too.
-Uke Man
I have a tub of buttons
to run my fingers through.
I have a tub of buttons.
Do you have some buttons too?
-------Q. Buttons, buttons,
-----------who’s lost their buttons?
-------A. Those who’ve gone before –
-----------I’ve got their history
-----------in this tub
-----------behind my cupboard door.
pea jackets,
little blouses,
and from off the ends of sleeves.
Time passes
and so do we
and this is what it leaves
from bouncy cotton jumpers
and yellow leisure suits
from velvet skirts and underwear
and Santa’s special boots
marble from the Parthenon
leather from a goat
plastic from recycled jugs
anchors from a boat
hieroglyphic messages -
happy faces too
You ought to have some buttons
to run your fingers through.
Come by, and I will show you mine,
and show me yours,
please do
before we grow much older, dear, and
as will surely come to pass,
we lose our buttons too.
-Uke Man
posted by Ukulele Man at 9:35 AM
1 comments
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Sunday, June 11, 2006
Vonnegut
Hey Folks,
I've been struggling with the question: "Why are we human beings so damned stupid?"
I think Vonnegut has helped me out: people aren't stupid; they're ignorant, always have been, aren't used to the idea that they don't HAVE to be, and - so - are still putting on the dark glasses, swilling snake oil, and calling it their salvation - as if they still had no alternative.
See what you think.
-Uke Man
from "A Man Without a Country":
Human beings have had to guess about almost everything for the past million years or so. The leading characters in our history books have been our most enthralling, and sometimes our most terrifying, guessers.
May I name two of them?
Aristotle and Hitler.
One good guesser and one bad one.
And the masses of humanity through the ages, feeling inadequately educated just like we do now, and rightly so, have had little choice but to believe this guesser or that one.
Russians who didn't think much of the guesses of Ivan the Terrible, for example, were likely to have their hats nailed to their heads.
We must acknowledge that persuasive guessers, even Ivan the Terrible, now a hero in the Soviet Union, have sometimes given us the courage to endure extraordinary ordeals which we had no way of understanding. Crop failures, plagues, eruptions of volcanoes, babies being born dead - the guessers often gave us the illusion that bad luck and good luck were understandable and could somehow be dealt with intelligently and effectively. Without that illusion, we all might have surrendered long ago.
But the guessers, in fact, knew no more than the common people and sometimes less, even when, or especially when, they gave us the illusion that we were in control of our destinies.
Persuasive guessing has been at the core of leadership for so long, for all of human experience so far, that it is wholly unsurprising that most of the leaders of this planet, in spite of all the information that is suddenly ours, want the guessing to go on. It is now their turn to guess and guess and be listened to. Some of the loudest, most proudly ignorant guessing in the world is going on in Washington today. Our leaders are sick of all the solid information that has been dumped on humanity by research and scholarship and investigative reporting. They think that the whole country is sick of it, and they could be right. It isn't the gold standard that they want to put us back on. They want something even more basic. They want to put us back on the snake-oil standard.
Loaded pistols are good for everyone except inmates in prison or lunatic asylums.
That's correct.
Millions spent on public health are inflationary.
That's correct.
Billions spent on weapons will bring inflation down.
That's correct.
Dictatorships to the right are much closer to American ideals than dictatorships to the left.
That's correct.
The more hydrogen bomb warheads we have, all set to go off at a moment's notice, the safer humanity is and the better off the world will be that our grandchildren will inherit.
That's correct.
Industrial wastes, and especially those that are radioactive, hardly ever hurt anybody, so everybody should shut up about them.
That's correct.
Industries should be allowed to do whatever they want to do:Bribe, wreck the environment just a little, fix prices, screw dumb customers, put a stop to competition, and raid the Treasury when they go broke.
That’s correct.
That’s free enterprise.
And that’s correct.
The poor have done something very wrong or they wouldn’t be poor, so their children should pay the consequences.
That’s correct.
The United States of America cannot be expected to look after its own people.
That’s correct.
The free market will do that.
That’s correct.
The free market is an automatic system of justice.
That’s correct.
I’m kidding.
And if you actually are an educated, thinking person, you will not be welcome in Washington, D.C. I know a couple of bright seventh graders who would not be welcome in Washington, D.C. Do you remember those doctors a few months back who got together and announced that it was a simple, clear medical fact that we could not survive even a moderate attack by hydrogen bombs? They were not welcome in Washington D.C.
Even if we fired the first salvo of hydrogen weapons and the enemy never fired back, the poisons released would probably kill the whole planet by and by.
What is the response in Washington? They guess otherwise. What good is an education? The boisterous guessers are still in charge – the haters of information. And the guessers are almost all highly educated people. Think of that. They have had to throw away their educations, even Harvard or Yale educations.
If they didn’t do that, there is no way their uninhibited guessing could go on and on and on. Please, don’t you do that. But if you make use of the vast fund of knowledge now available to educated persons, you are going to be lonesome as hell. The guessers outnumber you – and now I have to guess – about ten to one.
I've been struggling with the question: "Why are we human beings so damned stupid?"
I think Vonnegut has helped me out: people aren't stupid; they're ignorant, always have been, aren't used to the idea that they don't HAVE to be, and - so - are still putting on the dark glasses, swilling snake oil, and calling it their salvation - as if they still had no alternative.
See what you think.
-Uke Man
from "A Man Without a Country":
Human beings have had to guess about almost everything for the past million years or so. The leading characters in our history books have been our most enthralling, and sometimes our most terrifying, guessers.
May I name two of them?
Aristotle and Hitler.
One good guesser and one bad one.
And the masses of humanity through the ages, feeling inadequately educated just like we do now, and rightly so, have had little choice but to believe this guesser or that one.
Russians who didn't think much of the guesses of Ivan the Terrible, for example, were likely to have their hats nailed to their heads.
We must acknowledge that persuasive guessers, even Ivan the Terrible, now a hero in the Soviet Union, have sometimes given us the courage to endure extraordinary ordeals which we had no way of understanding. Crop failures, plagues, eruptions of volcanoes, babies being born dead - the guessers often gave us the illusion that bad luck and good luck were understandable and could somehow be dealt with intelligently and effectively. Without that illusion, we all might have surrendered long ago.
But the guessers, in fact, knew no more than the common people and sometimes less, even when, or especially when, they gave us the illusion that we were in control of our destinies.
Persuasive guessing has been at the core of leadership for so long, for all of human experience so far, that it is wholly unsurprising that most of the leaders of this planet, in spite of all the information that is suddenly ours, want the guessing to go on. It is now their turn to guess and guess and be listened to. Some of the loudest, most proudly ignorant guessing in the world is going on in Washington today. Our leaders are sick of all the solid information that has been dumped on humanity by research and scholarship and investigative reporting. They think that the whole country is sick of it, and they could be right. It isn't the gold standard that they want to put us back on. They want something even more basic. They want to put us back on the snake-oil standard.
Loaded pistols are good for everyone except inmates in prison or lunatic asylums.
That's correct.
Millions spent on public health are inflationary.
That's correct.
Billions spent on weapons will bring inflation down.
That's correct.
Dictatorships to the right are much closer to American ideals than dictatorships to the left.
That's correct.
The more hydrogen bomb warheads we have, all set to go off at a moment's notice, the safer humanity is and the better off the world will be that our grandchildren will inherit.
That's correct.
Industrial wastes, and especially those that are radioactive, hardly ever hurt anybody, so everybody should shut up about them.
That's correct.
Industries should be allowed to do whatever they want to do:Bribe, wreck the environment just a little, fix prices, screw dumb customers, put a stop to competition, and raid the Treasury when they go broke.
That’s correct.
That’s free enterprise.
And that’s correct.
The poor have done something very wrong or they wouldn’t be poor, so their children should pay the consequences.
That’s correct.
The United States of America cannot be expected to look after its own people.
That’s correct.
The free market will do that.
That’s correct.
The free market is an automatic system of justice.
That’s correct.
I’m kidding.
And if you actually are an educated, thinking person, you will not be welcome in Washington, D.C. I know a couple of bright seventh graders who would not be welcome in Washington, D.C. Do you remember those doctors a few months back who got together and announced that it was a simple, clear medical fact that we could not survive even a moderate attack by hydrogen bombs? They were not welcome in Washington D.C.
Even if we fired the first salvo of hydrogen weapons and the enemy never fired back, the poisons released would probably kill the whole planet by and by.
What is the response in Washington? They guess otherwise. What good is an education? The boisterous guessers are still in charge – the haters of information. And the guessers are almost all highly educated people. Think of that. They have had to throw away their educations, even Harvard or Yale educations.
If they didn’t do that, there is no way their uninhibited guessing could go on and on and on. Please, don’t you do that. But if you make use of the vast fund of knowledge now available to educated persons, you are going to be lonesome as hell. The guessers outnumber you – and now I have to guess – about ten to one.
posted by Ukulele Man at 11:04 AM
0 comments
links to this post
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Kurt Vonnegut on the Daily Show
Hey Folks,
Check it out!! You'll be glad you did!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3Mlo_z5crM&search=Kurt%20Vonnegut
- Uke Man
Check it out!! You'll be glad you did!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3Mlo_z5crM&search=Kurt%20Vonnegut
- Uke Man
posted by Ukulele Man at 9:56 PM
1 comments
links to this post
Leiberman is a Snake
Seasonal Memory Lapses
June 4, 2006
Medical researchers have identified a host of causes for amnesia, from encephalitis to traumatic brain injury.
I've discovered another cause: political campaigns.
Exhibit A: The current campaign in Connecticut for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination.
In the wake of challenger Ned Lamont's surprisingly strong showing at last month's Democratic convention, the race has begun to take shape. Both candidates are trying to define the race - and each other - early. Lamont seeks to cast incumbent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman as an out-of-touch apologist and crucial helper of President Bush's Iraq war and environmental, economic and health-care policies. Lieberman seeks to identify his opponent as an out-of-touch plutocrat. (Lamont, a tech entrepreneur, is worth between $90 million and $300 million.)
Meanwhile, in ads and public statements, Lieberman portrays himself as Regular Joe, a fighter for the little guy, in touch with blue-state Connecticut and mainstream Democrats on all issues except Iraq.
And somehow we - not just Lieberman - keep a straight face, as if he hadn't just spent 18 years helping Republicans hijack the Constitution and pick on little guy after little guy.
The Bush administration values Joe Lieberman because he has been a crucial ally in efforts to free Enron-style corporate crooks from regulation, transfer wealth to the wealthy, hound gays, trample on the rights of government critics and sacrifice the lives of thousands of Americans and Iraqis to dishonest, dangerous military adventurism.
Lieberman understands how, in campaigns, you can make people forget all that. You can change the subject by making fun of your opponent for being rich. Then, with millions of dollars from wealthy donors, you can reinvent your record.
Watching Lieberman and Lamont these past few weeks, I had to wonder: Am I the one with amnesia?
So I went up to the attic and pulled out my Lieberman file, with clippings and documents collected from covering him during his three terms in Washington.
It was true. My memory was faulty. I had remembered that, out of the eye of voters back home, Lieberman developed working alliances with the most hypocritical and dangerous right-wingnuts like Ralph Reed and Charles Murray and Bill Bennett. But I had forgotten just how extensive a record he had accumulated.
I had forgotten how he played the leading role in 1993 to thwart Democrats who tried to close loopholes allowing companies to cook the books on millions of dollars of stock options. Thus began the regulatory abandonment that spawned Enron and its sibling rip-offs.
I had forgotten how that same year, Lieberman joined with Republican Sen. Alphonse M. D'Amato of New York and against Democrats to "work the cloakrooms" of the Senate, in the words of a news account, to "line up unanimous support so that a tax break eagerly sought by the real estate industry could be passed without senators having to vote on the record."
How many Connecticut Democrats remember that their senator was one of only two Democrats who voted with Republicans in 1995 to kill a lobbyist-gift ban? Or that he called affirmative action "un-American?" Or that in August 1994 he voted in favor of a proposal by Republican Jesse Helms to cut off all federal money from schools that offer counseling to suicidal gay teens by referring them to gay support groups or in any way suggesting it's OK to be gay?
Or that Gov. John Rowland and Lieberman had the same fundraiser, Michael Lewan, raising the same campaign cash from the same fat cats, because, as Lewan told the Courant, "they're two like-minded guys?"
Did most Connecticut Democrats even know that Lieberman helped Lynne Cheney found a McCarthy-style group called the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, which hounded liberal university professors for criticizing American foreign policy, including the president of Wesleyan University?
No wonder Lieberman could vote to confirm an attorney general, Alberto Gonzalez, who wrote the legal opinion excusing torture. Most recently, Gonzalez threatened to start prosecuting journalists for publishing classified information in order to silence government critics. But that was weeks ago. The new Fightin' Joe is on our side. A real Democrat.
Now it's true that Lieberman earns high marks on Democratic interest group "report cards." That's because he plays a shell game in which liberal interest groups are complicit. He gets the "right" mark for voting against Samuel Alito's Supreme Court nomination, for instance. But he gives the Bush administration the vote it needs to make Alito a judge, by voting to stop a filibuster.
Similarly, he held back on voting for Clarence Thomas's nomination until the first Bush administration saw it had the votes. Then Lieberman could safely vote against Thomas and earn the "right" grade.
It's fine for Lieberman to join Republicans in ideological arguments. He does that a lot for someone still calling himself a Democrat. And when he can publicly excoriate President Clinton for having sex with an intern - then hold back on President Bush's immoral lying about Iraq and illegal spying on Americans - he steps over not just a party line, but an ethical line as well.
It's also true that Lieberman has acknowledged some errors. He told me in past interviews that he was wrong to vote with Helms on the gay-bashing proposal. He said he erred in joining the Cheney group. But such after-the-fact admissions ring hollow when he continues to oppose gay marriage, or when he accuses critics of the Bush administration's Iraq war of endangering national security.
Finally, it's true that Joe Lieberman is a genuinely nice person, a decent man. That has nothing to do with his record, with masquerading as a Connecticut Democrat while enlisting in a Republican assault on Americans' bedrock freedoms and norms of social justice. Good people do awful things when power tempts. In watching this senate race unfold, remembering that adage might help ward off the most dangerous effects of Connecticut's political amnesia.
Paul Bass edits the New Haven Independent (www.newhavenindependent.org).
June 4, 2006
Medical researchers have identified a host of causes for amnesia, from encephalitis to traumatic brain injury.
I've discovered another cause: political campaigns.
Exhibit A: The current campaign in Connecticut for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination.
In the wake of challenger Ned Lamont's surprisingly strong showing at last month's Democratic convention, the race has begun to take shape. Both candidates are trying to define the race - and each other - early. Lamont seeks to cast incumbent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman as an out-of-touch apologist and crucial helper of President Bush's Iraq war and environmental, economic and health-care policies. Lieberman seeks to identify his opponent as an out-of-touch plutocrat. (Lamont, a tech entrepreneur, is worth between $90 million and $300 million.)
Meanwhile, in ads and public statements, Lieberman portrays himself as Regular Joe, a fighter for the little guy, in touch with blue-state Connecticut and mainstream Democrats on all issues except Iraq.
And somehow we - not just Lieberman - keep a straight face, as if he hadn't just spent 18 years helping Republicans hijack the Constitution and pick on little guy after little guy.
The Bush administration values Joe Lieberman because he has been a crucial ally in efforts to free Enron-style corporate crooks from regulation, transfer wealth to the wealthy, hound gays, trample on the rights of government critics and sacrifice the lives of thousands of Americans and Iraqis to dishonest, dangerous military adventurism.
Lieberman understands how, in campaigns, you can make people forget all that. You can change the subject by making fun of your opponent for being rich. Then, with millions of dollars from wealthy donors, you can reinvent your record.
Watching Lieberman and Lamont these past few weeks, I had to wonder: Am I the one with amnesia?
So I went up to the attic and pulled out my Lieberman file, with clippings and documents collected from covering him during his three terms in Washington.
It was true. My memory was faulty. I had remembered that, out of the eye of voters back home, Lieberman developed working alliances with the most hypocritical and dangerous right-wingnuts like Ralph Reed and Charles Murray and Bill Bennett. But I had forgotten just how extensive a record he had accumulated.
I had forgotten how he played the leading role in 1993 to thwart Democrats who tried to close loopholes allowing companies to cook the books on millions of dollars of stock options. Thus began the regulatory abandonment that spawned Enron and its sibling rip-offs.
I had forgotten how that same year, Lieberman joined with Republican Sen. Alphonse M. D'Amato of New York and against Democrats to "work the cloakrooms" of the Senate, in the words of a news account, to "line up unanimous support so that a tax break eagerly sought by the real estate industry could be passed without senators having to vote on the record."
How many Connecticut Democrats remember that their senator was one of only two Democrats who voted with Republicans in 1995 to kill a lobbyist-gift ban? Or that he called affirmative action "un-American?" Or that in August 1994 he voted in favor of a proposal by Republican Jesse Helms to cut off all federal money from schools that offer counseling to suicidal gay teens by referring them to gay support groups or in any way suggesting it's OK to be gay?
Or that Gov. John Rowland and Lieberman had the same fundraiser, Michael Lewan, raising the same campaign cash from the same fat cats, because, as Lewan told the Courant, "they're two like-minded guys?"
Did most Connecticut Democrats even know that Lieberman helped Lynne Cheney found a McCarthy-style group called the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, which hounded liberal university professors for criticizing American foreign policy, including the president of Wesleyan University?
No wonder Lieberman could vote to confirm an attorney general, Alberto Gonzalez, who wrote the legal opinion excusing torture. Most recently, Gonzalez threatened to start prosecuting journalists for publishing classified information in order to silence government critics. But that was weeks ago. The new Fightin' Joe is on our side. A real Democrat.
Now it's true that Lieberman earns high marks on Democratic interest group "report cards." That's because he plays a shell game in which liberal interest groups are complicit. He gets the "right" mark for voting against Samuel Alito's Supreme Court nomination, for instance. But he gives the Bush administration the vote it needs to make Alito a judge, by voting to stop a filibuster.
Similarly, he held back on voting for Clarence Thomas's nomination until the first Bush administration saw it had the votes. Then Lieberman could safely vote against Thomas and earn the "right" grade.
It's fine for Lieberman to join Republicans in ideological arguments. He does that a lot for someone still calling himself a Democrat. And when he can publicly excoriate President Clinton for having sex with an intern - then hold back on President Bush's immoral lying about Iraq and illegal spying on Americans - he steps over not just a party line, but an ethical line as well.
It's also true that Lieberman has acknowledged some errors. He told me in past interviews that he was wrong to vote with Helms on the gay-bashing proposal. He said he erred in joining the Cheney group. But such after-the-fact admissions ring hollow when he continues to oppose gay marriage, or when he accuses critics of the Bush administration's Iraq war of endangering national security.
Finally, it's true that Joe Lieberman is a genuinely nice person, a decent man. That has nothing to do with his record, with masquerading as a Connecticut Democrat while enlisting in a Republican assault on Americans' bedrock freedoms and norms of social justice. Good people do awful things when power tempts. In watching this senate race unfold, remembering that adage might help ward off the most dangerous effects of Connecticut's political amnesia.
Paul Bass edits the New Haven Independent (www.newhavenindependent.org).
posted by Ukulele Man at 8:00 AM
0 comments
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Friday, June 09, 2006
Pope Cookies
leave a sour taste in your mouth
posted by Ukulele Man at 11:07 PM
0 comments
links to this post
Quote with Comment
Family is threatened, says Vatican
VATICAN CITY (AP) -
The Vatican issued a sweeping condemnation Tuesday of contraception, abortion, in-vitro fertilization, and same-sex marriage, declaring that the traditional family has never been so threatened as in today's world.
Hey Folks,
Is this the best a 2000-plus year old institution can do to identify problems facing families – traditional or otherwise?
Yeah!! Contraception is a MUCH BIGGER problem than no health care!!! A 13 year old rape victim getting an abortion could destroy hundreds of families !!! In-vitro fertilization is … uh … uh … - sorry, but what the hell is wrong with those unable to have a child any other way having a child this way??
On the other hand, I must admit that millions of heterosexual marriages fell apart immediately upon the legalization of gay marriage in Massachusetts (or not).
Is it any wonder that “Pope” rhymes with “dope”?
- Uke Man
VATICAN CITY (AP) -
The Vatican issued a sweeping condemnation Tuesday of contraception, abortion, in-vitro fertilization, and same-sex marriage, declaring that the traditional family has never been so threatened as in today's world.
Hey Folks,
Is this the best a 2000-plus year old institution can do to identify problems facing families – traditional or otherwise?
Yeah!! Contraception is a MUCH BIGGER problem than no health care!!! A 13 year old rape victim getting an abortion could destroy hundreds of families !!! In-vitro fertilization is … uh … uh … - sorry, but what the hell is wrong with those unable to have a child any other way having a child this way??
On the other hand, I must admit that millions of heterosexual marriages fell apart immediately upon the legalization of gay marriage in Massachusetts (or not).
Is it any wonder that “Pope” rhymes with “dope”?
- Uke Man
posted by Ukulele Man at 10:42 PM
0 comments
links to this post
Bob Herbert Speaks Where others Fear to Tread !! - Uke Man
Other People's Blood
By BOB HERBERT
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
For the smug, comfortable, well-off Americans, it doesn't seem to matter how long the war in Iraq goes on — as long as the agony is endured by others. If the network coverage gets too grim, viewers can always switch to the E! channel (one hand on the remote, the other burrowing into a bag of chips) to follow the hilarious antics of Paris, Britney, Brangelina et al.
The war is depressing and denial is the antidote. Why should ordinary citizens (good people, religious people, patriots) consider their role in — and responsibility for — the thunderous, unending carnage? Enough with this introspection. Let's go to the ballpark, get drunk and boo Barry Bonds.
The nation is in deep denial about Iraq. For years the president and his supporting cast of arrogant, bullying characters have tried to put the best face on this war. They had no idea what they were doing when they ordered the invasion of Iraq, and they still don't. Many of the troops who were assured that the Iraqis would welcome them with open arms are now dead. And there's still no plan.
Paul Wolfowitz, who fashioned the phony intellectual underpinnings of this catastrophe, told us that Iraqi oil revenues would cover the cost of reconstruction. He was as wrong about that as the president was about the weapons of mass destruction. (And as wrong as Dick Cheney was last June when he said the insurgency was in its last throes.)
Here are the facts: The war so recklessly launched by the amateurs in the Bush White House has already taken scores of thousands of lives, and will ultimately cost the United States $1 trillion to $2 trillion.
No one has been held accountable for this. While Mr. Bush's approval ratings are low, the public has been largely indifferent to the profound suffering in Iraq. This is primarily for two reasons: Because most Americans have no immediate personal stake in the war, and because the administration and the news media keep the worst of the suffering at a safe distance from the U.S. population.
The killing of American troops is usually kissed off with a paragraph or two in the major papers, and a sentence or two, at best, on national newscasts. (Imagine if someone in your office, sitting at a desk across from you, were suddenly blown to bits, splattering you with his or her blood. You wouldn't get over it for the rest of your life. This is what happens daily in Iraq.)
The many thousands of Iraqis who are killed — including babies and children who are shot to death, blown up, or incinerated — remain completely unknown to the American public. So not only is there very little empathy for the suffering of Iraqis, there is virtually no sense among ordinary Americans of a shared responsibility for that suffering.
Despite the frequently expressed fantasies expressed by President Bush and some of the leading politicians of both parties, the idea of a U.S. victory in Iraq is an illusion. The nightmarish violence is rising, not receding. Iraq is not being pacified. A suicide bomber blew himself up in a bustling market in Basra over the weekend, killing 27 and wounding scores. On Sunday, 20 people were stopped and pulled from their vehicles on a highway near Baquba and shot to death.
John Burns, writing in yesterday's New York Times, told us: "The death toll in one of the most grisly recent attacks, in the village of Hadid, near the Diyala provincial capital of Baquba, rose to 17 on Tuesday when the police delivered nine severed heads to the Baquba morgue in the fruit boxes in which they were found in the village."
Eight other heads had previously been found.
Instead of beginning to pull our troops out of Iraq, we are sending more in. The permanent Iraqi government, which was supposed to be the answer to everybody's prayers, is a study in haplessness.
As was the case with Vietnam, the war in Iraq is a fool's errand. There is no clear mission for American troops in Iraq. No one can really say what the dead have died for. And yet the dying continues.
When it all finally comes to an end (according to President Bush, on somebody else's watch) we'll look around at the hideous costs in human treasure and cold hard cash and ask ourselves: What in the world were we thinking?
By BOB HERBERT
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
For the smug, comfortable, well-off Americans, it doesn't seem to matter how long the war in Iraq goes on — as long as the agony is endured by others. If the network coverage gets too grim, viewers can always switch to the E! channel (one hand on the remote, the other burrowing into a bag of chips) to follow the hilarious antics of Paris, Britney, Brangelina et al.
The war is depressing and denial is the antidote. Why should ordinary citizens (good people, religious people, patriots) consider their role in — and responsibility for — the thunderous, unending carnage? Enough with this introspection. Let's go to the ballpark, get drunk and boo Barry Bonds.
The nation is in deep denial about Iraq. For years the president and his supporting cast of arrogant, bullying characters have tried to put the best face on this war. They had no idea what they were doing when they ordered the invasion of Iraq, and they still don't. Many of the troops who were assured that the Iraqis would welcome them with open arms are now dead. And there's still no plan.
Paul Wolfowitz, who fashioned the phony intellectual underpinnings of this catastrophe, told us that Iraqi oil revenues would cover the cost of reconstruction. He was as wrong about that as the president was about the weapons of mass destruction. (And as wrong as Dick Cheney was last June when he said the insurgency was in its last throes.)
Here are the facts: The war so recklessly launched by the amateurs in the Bush White House has already taken scores of thousands of lives, and will ultimately cost the United States $1 trillion to $2 trillion.
No one has been held accountable for this. While Mr. Bush's approval ratings are low, the public has been largely indifferent to the profound suffering in Iraq. This is primarily for two reasons: Because most Americans have no immediate personal stake in the war, and because the administration and the news media keep the worst of the suffering at a safe distance from the U.S. population.
The killing of American troops is usually kissed off with a paragraph or two in the major papers, and a sentence or two, at best, on national newscasts. (Imagine if someone in your office, sitting at a desk across from you, were suddenly blown to bits, splattering you with his or her blood. You wouldn't get over it for the rest of your life. This is what happens daily in Iraq.)
The many thousands of Iraqis who are killed — including babies and children who are shot to death, blown up, or incinerated — remain completely unknown to the American public. So not only is there very little empathy for the suffering of Iraqis, there is virtually no sense among ordinary Americans of a shared responsibility for that suffering.
Despite the frequently expressed fantasies expressed by President Bush and some of the leading politicians of both parties, the idea of a U.S. victory in Iraq is an illusion. The nightmarish violence is rising, not receding. Iraq is not being pacified. A suicide bomber blew himself up in a bustling market in Basra over the weekend, killing 27 and wounding scores. On Sunday, 20 people were stopped and pulled from their vehicles on a highway near Baquba and shot to death.
John Burns, writing in yesterday's New York Times, told us: "The death toll in one of the most grisly recent attacks, in the village of Hadid, near the Diyala provincial capital of Baquba, rose to 17 on Tuesday when the police delivered nine severed heads to the Baquba morgue in the fruit boxes in which they were found in the village."
Eight other heads had previously been found.
Instead of beginning to pull our troops out of Iraq, we are sending more in. The permanent Iraqi government, which was supposed to be the answer to everybody's prayers, is a study in haplessness.
As was the case with Vietnam, the war in Iraq is a fool's errand. There is no clear mission for American troops in Iraq. No one can really say what the dead have died for. And yet the dying continues.
When it all finally comes to an end (according to President Bush, on somebody else's watch) we'll look around at the hideous costs in human treasure and cold hard cash and ask ourselves: What in the world were we thinking?
posted by Ukulele Man at 7:00 PM
1 comments
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Poem #5 from the Arts Fest Reading
---Gemini---
Gemini has two faces
With opposing views
(sometimes they make the effort to commune)
Mostly
One makes demands, and
The other makes amends
(neither will let the other rest)
Indeed !
One sees what gods see, and
The other mourns humanity.
And whenever
(on those notable occasions)
They turn inward upon themselves
To kiss,
They bite instead.
Gemini has two faces
With opposing views
(sometimes they make the effort to commune)
Mostly
One makes demands, and
The other makes amends
(neither will let the other rest)
Indeed !
One sees what gods see, and
The other mourns humanity.
And whenever
(on those notable occasions)
They turn inward upon themselves
To kiss,
They bite instead.
posted by Ukulele Man at 7:55 AM
0 comments
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Thursday, June 08, 2006
John Stewart meets Bill Bennett
Hey Folks,
If you missed it, here it is.
If you saw it, feel good again. Watch a right-wing bafoon try to defend ugly prejudice.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/06/07/watch-jon-stewart-slam-co_n_22479.html
-Uke Man
If you missed it, here it is.
If you saw it, feel good again. Watch a right-wing bafoon try to defend ugly prejudice.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/06/07/watch-jon-stewart-slam-co_n_22479.html
-Uke Man
posted by Ukulele Man at 7:11 PM
1 comments
links to this post
"Now you just let us handle this, little man."
"De seguro, pendejo
!!"
!!"
posted by Ukulele Man at 3:57 PM
0 comments
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The Capitalist Right looking for help from The Socialist Left??
Dear Professor Southgate,
If you review your Dispatch column “Chavez feeling backlash
as Latin America takes right turn," * I think you will agree that it, probably unintentionally, raises an interesting perspective.
You argue that Latin America is turning to the right, a turn of which you seem to approve. Your last few paragraphs, however, undercut your approval.
You say:
“So Latin America is not falling in behind Chavez. But in a sense, the challenge that he has posed to the political status quo may turn out to be useful. Successful or not, the campaigns of President Evo Morales of Bolivia, Humala and Lopez-Obrador prove that, in places with reasonably democratic elections, economic expansion can be jeopardized if a sizable portion of the population remains impoverished.
Maybe Chavez and Co. will scare their opponents into improving education and other public services, thereby helping more people to rise out of poverty and to benefit from market-oriented economic development. If so, the greater good truly will have been served.”
There’s the rub: sizable portions of the population remain impoverished. They remain impoverished – as you point out - in countries presently controlled by the RIGHT, and – by your own indirect admission – they will stay that way UNLESS Lefties like Chavez “scare” “market oriented” Righties into helping the people.
Hence, unintentionally I’m sure, you argue that right/market-oriented systems -- even democratic ones – won’t act in the interests of a sizable portion of their people unless forced to.
Perhaps, if we really believe in democracy and government of, by, and for the people, we should hope for a turn to the Left in Latin America.
- Uke Man
* http://www.ukuleleman.net/2006/05/southgate-on-chavez.html
If you review your Dispatch column “Chavez feeling backlash
as Latin America takes right turn," * I think you will agree that it, probably unintentionally, raises an interesting perspective.
You argue that Latin America is turning to the right, a turn of which you seem to approve. Your last few paragraphs, however, undercut your approval.
You say:
“So Latin America is not falling in behind Chavez. But in a sense, the challenge that he has posed to the political status quo may turn out to be useful. Successful or not, the campaigns of President Evo Morales of Bolivia, Humala and Lopez-Obrador prove that, in places with reasonably democratic elections, economic expansion can be jeopardized if a sizable portion of the population remains impoverished.
Maybe Chavez and Co. will scare their opponents into improving education and other public services, thereby helping more people to rise out of poverty and to benefit from market-oriented economic development. If so, the greater good truly will have been served.”
There’s the rub: sizable portions of the population remain impoverished. They remain impoverished – as you point out - in countries presently controlled by the RIGHT, and – by your own indirect admission – they will stay that way UNLESS Lefties like Chavez “scare” “market oriented” Righties into helping the people.
Hence, unintentionally I’m sure, you argue that right/market-oriented systems -- even democratic ones – won’t act in the interests of a sizable portion of their people unless forced to.
Perhaps, if we really believe in democracy and government of, by, and for the people, we should hope for a turn to the Left in Latin America.
- Uke Man
* http://www.ukuleleman.net/2006/05/southgate-on-chavez.html
posted by Ukulele Man at 12:45 PM
0 comments
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Mentos & Diet Coke - Beware !!!!
Hey Folks,
Click here to see what this chemical concoction can do:
http://eepybird.com/dcm1.html
Then click here to see what happened to one very foolish girl:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRBkQe_lwak
- Uke Man (a ukethanks to John)
Click here to see what this chemical concoction can do:
http://eepybird.com/dcm1.html
Then click here to see what happened to one very foolish girl:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRBkQe_lwak
- Uke Man (a ukethanks to John)
posted by Ukulele Man at 10:10 AM
0 comments
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Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Twain, in "Connecticut Yankee," Touches on Why People like Marilyn & Mark (below) Do What They Do
Hey Folks,
I asked some questions below regarding the ignorant behavior of two Dispatch letter-writers ( http://www.ukuleleman.net/2006/06/no-wonder-everything-is-mess.html ). Perhaps Mark Twain's comments will provide some insight into the matter.
- Uke Man
Chapter 30 – The Yankee and the King come upon a burning Manor house and a mob of peasants busy chasing down and hanging other peasants suspected of having killed the oppressive lord and burning his manor.
The painful thing observable about all this business was the alacrity with which this oppressed community had turned their cruel hands against their own class in the interest of the common oppressor. This man and woman seemed to feel that in a quarrel between a person of their own class and his lord, it was the natural and proper and rightful thing for that poor devil’s whole caste to side with the master and fight his battle for him, without ever stopping to inquire into the rights or wrongs of the matter. This man had been out helping to hang his neighbors, and had done his work with zeal, and yet was aware that there was nothing against them but a mere suspicion, with nothing back of it describable as evidence; still neither he nor his wife seemed to see anything horrible about it.
This was depressing – to a man with the dream of a republic in his head. It reminded me of a time thirteen centuries away, when the “poor whites” of our South who were always despised, and frequently insulted, by the slave lords around them, and who owed their base condition simply to the presence of slavery in their midst, were yet pusillanimously ready to side with the slave lords in all political moves for the upholding and perpetuating of slavery, and did also finally shoulder their muskets and pour out their lives in an effort to prevent the destruction of that very institution which degraded them.
see the entire "Yankee" compilation at: http://www.ukuleleman.net/2006/03/complete-twain-postings.html
I asked some questions below regarding the ignorant behavior of two Dispatch letter-writers ( http://www.ukuleleman.net/2006/06/no-wonder-everything-is-mess.html ). Perhaps Mark Twain's comments will provide some insight into the matter.
- Uke Man
Chapter 30 – The Yankee and the King come upon a burning Manor house and a mob of peasants busy chasing down and hanging other peasants suspected of having killed the oppressive lord and burning his manor.
The painful thing observable about all this business was the alacrity with which this oppressed community had turned their cruel hands against their own class in the interest of the common oppressor. This man and woman seemed to feel that in a quarrel between a person of their own class and his lord, it was the natural and proper and rightful thing for that poor devil’s whole caste to side with the master and fight his battle for him, without ever stopping to inquire into the rights or wrongs of the matter. This man had been out helping to hang his neighbors, and had done his work with zeal, and yet was aware that there was nothing against them but a mere suspicion, with nothing back of it describable as evidence; still neither he nor his wife seemed to see anything horrible about it.
This was depressing – to a man with the dream of a republic in his head. It reminded me of a time thirteen centuries away, when the “poor whites” of our South who were always despised, and frequently insulted, by the slave lords around them, and who owed their base condition simply to the presence of slavery in their midst, were yet pusillanimously ready to side with the slave lords in all political moves for the upholding and perpetuating of slavery, and did also finally shoulder their muskets and pour out their lives in an effort to prevent the destruction of that very institution which degraded them.
see the entire "Yankee" compilation at: http://www.ukuleleman.net/2006/03/complete-twain-postings.html
posted by Ukulele Man at 11:52 PM
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"I'm worried that my children will have a tougher time financially."
J.P.Morgan
posted by Ukulele Man at 9:47 PM
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Quote (more or less*) Without Comment
Survey: Wealthy Americans keen on market
By EILEEN ALT POWELL, AP Business Writer
Tue Jun 6, 1:39 PM ET
NEW YORK - Wealthy Americans are more optimistic about the stock market now than they were last year, but they also believe gains will be more muted in the future, according to a survey released Tuesday.
The 2006 U.S. Trust survey of affluent Americans, the 25th in a series begun by the New York-based wealth management company in 1993, measures the confidence of a sample of the top 1 percent wealthiest Americans — those with an adjusted gross income of more than $300,000 or a net worth greater than $5.9 million.
The study found that 63 percent of respondents were optimistic about their U.S. stock market investments, up from 48 percent in 2005 but still below the 2004 high of 66 percent.
Still, the wealthy are concerned about future returns, the study found.
Asked to identify their top financial worries, the respondents expressed concern that stock market gains will be lower in the future. They also worried that their children will have a tougher time financially, terrorism could hurt the economy and inflation could eat away at investments.
* http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060606/ap_on_bi_ge/wealthy_attitudes
By EILEEN ALT POWELL, AP Business Writer
Tue Jun 6, 1:39 PM ET
NEW YORK - Wealthy Americans are more optimistic about the stock market now than they were last year, but they also believe gains will be more muted in the future, according to a survey released Tuesday.
The 2006 U.S. Trust survey of affluent Americans, the 25th in a series begun by the New York-based wealth management company in 1993, measures the confidence of a sample of the top 1 percent wealthiest Americans — those with an adjusted gross income of more than $300,000 or a net worth greater than $5.9 million.
The study found that 63 percent of respondents were optimistic about their U.S. stock market investments, up from 48 percent in 2005 but still below the 2004 high of 66 percent.
Still, the wealthy are concerned about future returns, the study found.
Asked to identify their top financial worries, the respondents expressed concern that stock market gains will be lower in the future. They also worried that their children will have a tougher time financially, terrorism could hurt the economy and inflation could eat away at investments.
* http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060606/ap_on_bi_ge/wealthy_attitudes
posted by Ukulele Man at 9:41 PM
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Insane Ann
Hey Folks,
If you aren’t scared shitless about the nasty, fascist forces at work in this country; if you don’t think insane, bestial monsters are ready, willing, and working to make our lives a nightmare; check this out!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xv05FK69KU&search=Coulter
Ann Coulter may seem like a cartoon to thinking people, but she is a heroine to millions of unthinking clods. This clip is one of four versions available on "Youtube." One of the versions was characterized by the disturbed person who posted it as: “Ann Coulter, the right-wing firebrand kick's a near hysterical Matt Lauer's ass on the Today show.”
- Uke Man
If you aren’t scared shitless about the nasty, fascist forces at work in this country; if you don’t think insane, bestial monsters are ready, willing, and working to make our lives a nightmare; check this out!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xv05FK69KU&search=Coulter
Ann Coulter may seem like a cartoon to thinking people, but she is a heroine to millions of unthinking clods. This clip is one of four versions available on "Youtube." One of the versions was characterized by the disturbed person who posted it as: “Ann Coulter, the right-wing firebrand kick's a near hysterical Matt Lauer's ass on the Today show.”
- Uke Man
posted by Ukulele Man at 7:39 PM
1 comments
links to this post
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Poem #4 from the Arts Fest Reading
Everyday Low Prices at Wal-Mart
Long ago (much more than 7 thousand years ago)
billions of years ago, actually (although it’s just a theory
whose opponents know [for a certainty]
how many angels can dance on the head of a pin)
elemental bits of happenstance and serendipity
were consumed in the bowels of the earth and
(egged on by gravitational passion)
consummated their periodic elemental coitus.
Pricked on against rest
(by overwhelming inertia) and
blessed by the limitless permutations of time,
gestation (eventually) brought forth
primordial Ooze
from the crack of the Mother
earth
and it ate its insensitive elemental brethren
(which was no bother to anyone)
and eventually
(consumed by passion)
foolishly Knew itself
(though a child at heart)
and complicated things further
And
with knowledge
complications geometrically progressed
until
All ate each other
(brothers, sisters, parents, and children)
All & None: innocent
All & None: guilty
Consuming, consummating, and consumed
Etcetera
FINALLY
(we would like to say)
WE (upright folks that we are) appeared on the shelf
to be Known and to Know.
NEW & IMPROVED
(the best yet)
(god’s pet)
(no longer wet
behind the ears)
Dedicated
to consume and be consumed
in the Ultimate consummation
of our carnival knowledge
and to put an end
to this Mobius trip.
So
Eat me sister
and I’ll eat you
and let us consummate our complications
so that What (we do not know)
shall (blessed by the permutations of time)
carry on (perhaps)
the splendor of
the consumer.
Everyday low prices at Wal-Mart
Long ago (much more than 7 thousand years ago)
billions of years ago, actually (although it’s just a theory
whose opponents know [for a certainty]
how many angels can dance on the head of a pin)
elemental bits of happenstance and serendipity
were consumed in the bowels of the earth and
(egged on by gravitational passion)
consummated their periodic elemental coitus.
Pricked on against rest
(by overwhelming inertia) and
blessed by the limitless permutations of time,
gestation (eventually) brought forth
primordial Ooze
from the crack of the Mother
earth
and it ate its insensitive elemental brethren
(which was no bother to anyone)
and eventually
(consumed by passion)
foolishly Knew itself
(though a child at heart)
and complicated things further
And
with knowledge
complications geometrically progressed
until
All ate each other
(brothers, sisters, parents, and children)
All & None: innocent
All & None: guilty
Consuming, consummating, and consumed
Etcetera
FINALLY
(we would like to say)
WE (upright folks that we are) appeared on the shelf
to be Known and to Know.
NEW & IMPROVED
(the best yet)
(god’s pet)
(no longer wet
behind the ears)
Dedicated
to consume and be consumed
in the Ultimate consummation
of our carnival knowledge
and to put an end
to this Mobius trip.
So
Eat me sister
and I’ll eat you
and let us consummate our complications
so that What (we do not know)
shall (blessed by the permutations of time)
carry on (perhaps)
the splendor of
the consumer.
Everyday low prices at Wal-Mart
posted by Ukulele Man at 10:29 PM
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Poem # 3 from the Arts Fest Reading
A Package To James in England
Dear James,
For your edification I have enclosed mementos
of our American aristocracy –
those living in the . . . “White Castle,”
the Burghers of Columbus, so to speak.
The contents include:
one souvenir bag embossed with Hollywood promotions;
one seductive placard singing the praises of “The Six Pack”;
AND two (2) –
suitable as knick-knacks
and REAL collector’s items –
cardboard White Castle hamburger containers
(some re-assembly required).
These latter items are ACTUAL packages
(from which the sandwiches have been removed)
and – as such –
they allow the lucky recipient to discover the unique aroma
associated with this great American delicacy.
If only I could send you the entire, delectable package!!
Enjoy!!
Yours - Tom
Dear James,
For your edification I have enclosed mementos
of our American aristocracy –
those living in the . . . “White Castle,”
the Burghers of Columbus, so to speak.
The contents include:
one souvenir bag embossed with Hollywood promotions;
one seductive placard singing the praises of “The Six Pack”;
AND two (2) –
suitable as knick-knacks
and REAL collector’s items –
cardboard White Castle hamburger containers
(some re-assembly required).
These latter items are ACTUAL packages
(from which the sandwiches have been removed)
and – as such –
they allow the lucky recipient to discover the unique aroma
associated with this great American delicacy.
If only I could send you the entire, delectable package!!
Enjoy!!
Yours - Tom
posted by Ukulele Man at 9:47 AM
2 comments
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Alot of newspapers treated this idiot like he had something worthwhile to say.
posted by Ukulele Man at 9:08 AM
0 comments
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No Wonder Everything Is a Mess
Hey Folks,
Is it any wonder that things are so screwed up in this world? What with “the reality based community,” science, and reason under attack by our President, his Neo-Conehead posse, religious zealots, racists, xenophobes, homophobes, et.al. - what rationality can we expect?
It’s one thing to take one’s personal, spiritual beliefs on faith; it’s another to present the world’s physical reality any way one wants simply because one wants to believe it is that way – regardless of the facts available within the “reality based community.”
Below are some examples of this mental disorder – i.e. making insane claims simply because one feels the need to.
Now, whatever the complete truth is regarding Hugo Chaves, the President of Venezuela, its discovery is not aided by either of two recent letters to the Columbus Dispatch regarding Mr. Chavez. All we really learn is that two woefully ignorant letter-writers don’t like him – apparently because the faith of their central-Ohio upbringing requires them not to like him.
The first example:
Venezuelan leader not known for benevolence
Friday, June 02, 2006
I respond to Saturday’s letter from Anthony Fife, "U.S. should sit down and listen to Chavez’s oil deal." I suggest that he visit, unannounced, Venezuela and note the military rule and the poor people. Then he will see how President Hugo Chavez shares his wealth.
MARILYN A. CLARK Columbus
Well, I dare say that if the Uke Man should attempt to tour Venezuela, he would love to be “announced,” but I think my chances for that are slim. I NEVER get announced ANYWHERE until I’m going on stage. Marilyn’s suggestion to slip into Venezuela keeping a low profile should be pretty damned simple for most of us.
I am a bit confused, though, as to how I would be able to recognize the “military rule.” Mr. Chavez WAS elected (twice) by much larger percentages than President Bush. And although he most likely has “military types” in his government, we just got a new director of the CIA who is a General known for creating a telephone eavesdropping program. How can we tell the difference?
Maybe – I don’t know for sure – a visitor to Venezuela might see National Guard troops in the airports. I see them HERE!! And maybe – I don’t know - visitors might see police arresting protestors. I see them HERE!! Maybe – but I don’t think so – visitors could view TV reports of Venezuelan military personnel killing and being killed in foreign wars.
It sounds like maybe Marilyn needs to rethink this point.
As for noting the “poor people,” I’m sure that won’t be a problem. Before Chavez was elected, twenty percent of Venezuelans were very wealthy and eighty percent were dirt poor. Although Chavez has diverted significant amounts of money from the elites to programs to help the masses, I’m sure that – while the masses are better off than pre-Chavez – they are not yet living the high life.
Of course, if Marilyn would get her ass out of her armchair and move around Columbus a bit, she could find plenty of extreme poverty right here at home – but that (foolish me) would involve the reality based community.
All this certainly does suggest a few questions: Why in the world would someone with so little actual knowledge and understanding of a situation seem so confident spouting idiotic accusations? What is her actual psychological motivation in sending her rant to a newspaper in the first place? And what motivates the paper to print patently ignorant and biased commentary?
These questions were again suggested by a second, long, letter from Mark Friday of Blacklick. While seemingly containing more “facts,” it was – like the first – a faith-based mental problem on display (you can read it, along with my comments at: http://www.ukuleleman.net/2006/05/dont-let-ignorance-stop-you-mark.html
Suffice it here to say that my man Friday sounded as if he were channeling a paranoid John Bircher from the 50’s. He forgot only to mention fluoridation of the drinking water, and the necessity to impeach Earl Warren.
It’s not difficult to see why the world is in such a mess when poor souls like Marilyn and Mark – who are dumb as rocks, as sure of themselves as John the Baptist, and angry as hell that anyone in "the reality based community" might not toe their line - when people like that get treated by the only newspaper in town as if they had something worthwhile to say.
- Uke Man
Is it any wonder that things are so screwed up in this world? What with “the reality based community,” science, and reason under attack by our President, his Neo-Conehead posse, religious zealots, racists, xenophobes, homophobes, et.al. - what rationality can we expect?
It’s one thing to take one’s personal, spiritual beliefs on faith; it’s another to present the world’s physical reality any way one wants simply because one wants to believe it is that way – regardless of the facts available within the “reality based community.”
Below are some examples of this mental disorder – i.e. making insane claims simply because one feels the need to.
Now, whatever the complete truth is regarding Hugo Chaves, the President of Venezuela, its discovery is not aided by either of two recent letters to the Columbus Dispatch regarding Mr. Chavez. All we really learn is that two woefully ignorant letter-writers don’t like him – apparently because the faith of their central-Ohio upbringing requires them not to like him.
The first example:
Venezuelan leader not known for benevolence
Friday, June 02, 2006
I respond to Saturday’s letter from Anthony Fife, "U.S. should sit down and listen to Chavez’s oil deal." I suggest that he visit, unannounced, Venezuela and note the military rule and the poor people. Then he will see how President Hugo Chavez shares his wealth.
MARILYN A. CLARK Columbus
Well, I dare say that if the Uke Man should attempt to tour Venezuela, he would love to be “announced,” but I think my chances for that are slim. I NEVER get announced ANYWHERE until I’m going on stage. Marilyn’s suggestion to slip into Venezuela keeping a low profile should be pretty damned simple for most of us.
I am a bit confused, though, as to how I would be able to recognize the “military rule.” Mr. Chavez WAS elected (twice) by much larger percentages than President Bush. And although he most likely has “military types” in his government, we just got a new director of the CIA who is a General known for creating a telephone eavesdropping program. How can we tell the difference?
Maybe – I don’t know for sure – a visitor to Venezuela might see National Guard troops in the airports. I see them HERE!! And maybe – I don’t know - visitors might see police arresting protestors. I see them HERE!! Maybe – but I don’t think so – visitors could view TV reports of Venezuelan military personnel killing and being killed in foreign wars.
It sounds like maybe Marilyn needs to rethink this point.
As for noting the “poor people,” I’m sure that won’t be a problem. Before Chavez was elected, twenty percent of Venezuelans were very wealthy and eighty percent were dirt poor. Although Chavez has diverted significant amounts of money from the elites to programs to help the masses, I’m sure that – while the masses are better off than pre-Chavez – they are not yet living the high life.
Of course, if Marilyn would get her ass out of her armchair and move around Columbus a bit, she could find plenty of extreme poverty right here at home – but that (foolish me) would involve the reality based community.
All this certainly does suggest a few questions: Why in the world would someone with so little actual knowledge and understanding of a situation seem so confident spouting idiotic accusations? What is her actual psychological motivation in sending her rant to a newspaper in the first place? And what motivates the paper to print patently ignorant and biased commentary?
These questions were again suggested by a second, long, letter from Mark Friday of Blacklick. While seemingly containing more “facts,” it was – like the first – a faith-based mental problem on display (you can read it, along with my comments at: http://www.ukuleleman.net/2006/05/dont-let-ignorance-stop-you-mark.html
Suffice it here to say that my man Friday sounded as if he were channeling a paranoid John Bircher from the 50’s. He forgot only to mention fluoridation of the drinking water, and the necessity to impeach Earl Warren.
It’s not difficult to see why the world is in such a mess when poor souls like Marilyn and Mark – who are dumb as rocks, as sure of themselves as John the Baptist, and angry as hell that anyone in "the reality based community" might not toe their line - when people like that get treated by the only newspaper in town as if they had something worthwhile to say.
- Uke Man
posted by Ukulele Man at 8:47 AM
0 comments
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Monday, June 05, 2006
"Fooled you once . . . uh, Ah c'n fool ya again."
posted by Ukulele Man at 6:02 PM
0 comments
links to this post
Quote (more or less*) Without Comment
Republican majority uses symbols to woo its base
AFP - 1 hour, 19 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Five months before a congressional election that may prove difficult for Republicans, the party of President George W. Bush has decided to move to the forefront an issue dear to its conservative base: gays.
[Must have been the "spotlighted" performances at both ends of Pensylvania Ave. - Uke Man]
* http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/gays_and_lesbians
AFP - 1 hour, 19 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Five months before a congressional election that may prove difficult for Republicans, the party of President George W. Bush has decided to move to the forefront an issue dear to its conservative base: gays.
[Must have been the "spotlighted" performances at both ends of Pensylvania Ave. - Uke Man]
* http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/gays_and_lesbians
posted by Ukulele Man at 5:51 PM
0 comments
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Poem # 2 from the Arts Fest Reading
..........Clothes Make the Man..........
Clothes make the man
So, when I die
Bury my clothes.
When I murder
Arrest my clothes
Execute them
Or
(if the Republicans are out)
Give them life imprisonment without chance of parole
Make love to my clothes;
take them off caressingly,
and take the money from the pockets
(they won’t notice)
Impregnate my clothes
and bring forth progeny
of patches and rags,
a gauche immortality
spawn of moths’ balls.
Clothes make the man
So, when I die
Bury my clothes.
When I murder
Arrest my clothes
Execute them
Or
(if the Republicans are out)
Give them life imprisonment without chance of parole
Make love to my clothes;
take them off caressingly,
and take the money from the pockets
(they won’t notice)
Impregnate my clothes
and bring forth progeny
of patches and rags,
a gauche immortality
spawn of moths’ balls.
posted by Ukulele Man at 2:30 PM
0 comments
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"Oh Dicky ! Oh Chainy !"
"Turn on your spotlight !"
posted by Ukulele Man at 11:03 AM
0 comments
links to this post
Quote (more or less*) Without Comment
Senate Puts Gays in the Spotlight
AP - 30 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - President Bush and congressional Republicans are aiming their political "spotlights" this week on gays, with events at both ends (wide appeal among social conservatives).
- Uke Man
* http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/gays_and_lesbians
AP - 30 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - President Bush and congressional Republicans are aiming their political "spotlights" this week on gays, with events at both ends (wide appeal among social conservatives).
- Uke Man
* http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/gays_and_lesbians
posted by Ukulele Man at 10:41 AM
0 comments
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Sunday, June 04, 2006
"I couldn't afford to retire, eat, or take my meds"
"So, now I work, starve, and throw up while offering people carts at Wal-Mart. If I complain, I'm accused of fomenting class warfare."
posted by Ukulele Man at 8:39 PM
0 comments
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A Letter to Joe Hallett on his Sunday Dispatch Column
Dear Mr. Hallett,
I realize that my suggestion may sound very unfamiliar, but please consider it – at least momentarily – before dismissing it:
There is NO funding problem with Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid; there is, instead, a PRIORITIES problem.
It is true that retiring boomers will increase demands on these services and that medical expenses have been increasing faster than inflation and wages (I doubt they’ve increased faster than oil and pharmaceutical company profits). However, the problem isn’t that our nation CAN’T pay for the services. The problem is that the rich REFUSE to pay their fair share to provide them.
It has been demonstrated that extending the payroll tax beyond the $90,000 cap would end any problem for Social Security (see: http://www.ukuleleman.net/2005/05/fool-me-once-shame-on-you-fool-me-you.html ). Likewise, we are told everyday how our economy is working so well and that we are the richest nation in the world. How can it be, then, that – unlike Canada and Europe - we can’t find the money for universal health care?
We CAN find it. We already know where it is: in the bank accounts of the richest 10% of Americans – the ones to whom Dubya keeps giving tax cuts. Funding?? No problem; the money is there.
Hobson cries “if you try to make any changes in it [the services] you’re considered inhumane.” I should hope so.
The approach to this entire “problem” has seemed insane (as well as inhumane) to me from the start – at least if it is measured against all the altruistic clap-trap this country is supposed to believe in.
It is a clearly defined problem – notwithstanding all the smoke and mirror obfuscation put out by the wealthy and furthered blindly by the media.
The options clearly are:
1. Support the retirement of aged Americans by asking a little more of the wealthy – or – let large numbers of Americans slip inexorably into poverty as they work until they drop.
2. Provide medical coverage to all Americans by asking just a bit more from the Wealthy – or – let large numbers of Americans (particularly the most unfortunate among us) suffer unnecessarily and die prematurely.
Is there any difficulty in making a choice here? An honest choice? An honorable choice? A choice in keeping with America’s supposed “ideals” and “values”? A choice consistent with “government of the people, by the people, and for the people”?
This analysis is valid whether anyone in government or the media is willing to endorse it. I believe that if you give it conscientious consideration, you may think so too.
- Uke Man
I realize that my suggestion may sound very unfamiliar, but please consider it – at least momentarily – before dismissing it:
There is NO funding problem with Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid; there is, instead, a PRIORITIES problem.
It is true that retiring boomers will increase demands on these services and that medical expenses have been increasing faster than inflation and wages (I doubt they’ve increased faster than oil and pharmaceutical company profits). However, the problem isn’t that our nation CAN’T pay for the services. The problem is that the rich REFUSE to pay their fair share to provide them.
It has been demonstrated that extending the payroll tax beyond the $90,000 cap would end any problem for Social Security (see: http://www.ukuleleman.net/2005/05/fool-me-once-shame-on-you-fool-me-you.html ). Likewise, we are told everyday how our economy is working so well and that we are the richest nation in the world. How can it be, then, that – unlike Canada and Europe - we can’t find the money for universal health care?
We CAN find it. We already know where it is: in the bank accounts of the richest 10% of Americans – the ones to whom Dubya keeps giving tax cuts. Funding?? No problem; the money is there.
Hobson cries “if you try to make any changes in it [the services] you’re considered inhumane.” I should hope so.
The approach to this entire “problem” has seemed insane (as well as inhumane) to me from the start – at least if it is measured against all the altruistic clap-trap this country is supposed to believe in.
It is a clearly defined problem – notwithstanding all the smoke and mirror obfuscation put out by the wealthy and furthered blindly by the media.
The options clearly are:
1. Support the retirement of aged Americans by asking a little more of the wealthy – or – let large numbers of Americans slip inexorably into poverty as they work until they drop.
2. Provide medical coverage to all Americans by asking just a bit more from the Wealthy – or – let large numbers of Americans (particularly the most unfortunate among us) suffer unnecessarily and die prematurely.
Is there any difficulty in making a choice here? An honest choice? An honorable choice? A choice in keeping with America’s supposed “ideals” and “values”? A choice consistent with “government of the people, by the people, and for the people”?
This analysis is valid whether anyone in government or the media is willing to endorse it. I believe that if you give it conscientious consideration, you may think so too.
- Uke Man
posted by Ukulele Man at 8:25 PM
0 comments
links to this post
Poem # 1 from the Arts Fest reading
My reclining chair broke his hip last week,
And being as he was old and had seen better days
That was it.
No sense in reconstructive surgery.
Tuesday he goes to the curb,
To await the undertaker,
With nothing to look forward to but
the resurrection of the upholstery.
“Remember chair that thou art dust
and to dust thou shalt return.”
It hurts, what with all those years of intimacy,
To send him away, but what could I do?
I ache, in part, because
I’ve become, with age, a Lazy Boy too.
Maybe when my hip breaks,
The kids can get another Daddy at the store
And, come Tuesday, take me to the curb.
And being as he was old and had seen better days
That was it.
No sense in reconstructive surgery.
Tuesday he goes to the curb,
To await the undertaker,
With nothing to look forward to but
the resurrection of the upholstery.
“Remember chair that thou art dust
and to dust thou shalt return.”
It hurts, what with all those years of intimacy,
To send him away, but what could I do?
I ache, in part, because
I’ve become, with age, a Lazy Boy too.
Maybe when my hip breaks,
The kids can get another Daddy at the store
And, come Tuesday, take me to the curb.
posted by Ukulele Man at 12:35 PM
0 comments
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Rube Goldberg or the Second Coming ?? "Water-Fuel"!!
Hey Folks,
I was pretty excited when someone sent me this - until I noticed it was from FOXXX "News."
I've heard this kind of stuff all my life (there's always a catch - or a "conspiracy"). We'll see.
- Uke Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUmlLqkUHd0&search=water%20fuel
I was pretty excited when someone sent me this - until I noticed it was from FOXXX "News."
I've heard this kind of stuff all my life (there's always a catch - or a "conspiracy"). We'll see.
- Uke Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUmlLqkUHd0&search=water%20fuel
posted by Ukulele Man at 9:53 AM
0 comments
links to this post
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Bloggers "are going to be policed"!!
Hey Folks,
Here is my letter to Ann Fisher in response to her recent column in the Dispatch. Her column is printed below.
- Uke Man
Dear Ms. Fisher,
As one of the 30 million bloggers out here in the ether, let me say “thank you” for your column.
I found the comment about bloggers by Brian Rothenberg, communications director of the Democratic party, quite chilling – but not surprising: . "In time, they are going to start selfpolicing or they are going to be policed."
He sounds like a Republican, but THAT is not surprising either.
He demonstrates exactly WHY I am a blogger.
You know the “Golden Rule”: He Rules Who Has The Gold.”
Do you know the bumper sticker: “The Media Are Only As Liberal As The Conservative Businesses That Own Them”? That applies to the Dispatch as a newspaper and to the Democrats as a party.
Here’s a fact that we both know: “News” outside certain parameters does NOT get disseminated in the major media – regardless of its truth or importance. It is published only within the limited scope of pamphlets, monthlies, specialized magazines, newsletters, and blogs.
This is by design – decorum ( and privilege) uber alles.
Bloggers are a threat to that.
How sad that a leader of the Democrats (the people’s party ??) would be so ready to apply severe discipline to maintain order (shades of Mayor Daly). And how outrageous that he thinks he denigrates bloggers by comparing them to “the pamphleteers of the Revolutionary War period.” We must be a real Thomas Paine in his ass!!!
Thank you for supporting the independent voices of bloggers. Rothengerg wants us to toe the line, get in line, accept HIS line; or he promises to sick the thought police on us. I’m sure his pals, the Republicans, feel pretty much the same.
I’ll end by asking, “If the thought police police the bloggers, who will be left to police the thought police?”
Yours - Uke Man
Bloggers perplex political parties
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
ANN FISHER
Until recently, Brian Rothenberg admits, he was content to watch the phenomenon of Internet blogging from his perch at the Ohio Democratic Party, where he is the communications director.
Those days are over, and his baptism by fire to the blogosphere leaves no doubt that the medium is here to stay and also evolving.
Rothenberg and others who are paid to get the word out for political parties should take note. Someday, they’ll be hiring an assistant just to monitor bloggers and their ilk, trolling for the thoughts and phrasing, the kernels of truth that ignite conversation and consideration.
The joke is that bloggers are youngish, live in their mothers’ basements, work in their pajamas and have nothing better to do than wax away on any number of topics. Like most generalizations, that’s probably unfair.
In this case, I prefer to focus on their passion for politics and to encourage the participation. Perhaps their brand of chatter will light the fire we need to redeem the body politic in this country.
In the meantime, Rothenberg and others are forced to navigate an unformed landscape, where few use their real names and ethics are just beginning to become an issue. And he’s been burned.
Some bloggers recently asked the Ohio Democratic Party for free passes to the state party dinner at Veterans Memorial on Saturday. Those otherwise anonymous bloggers wanted the proverbial rubberchicken dinner and a chance to hear the vaunted U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois work his oratorical magic on a room filled with true believers.
Rothenberg said he didn’t want to offend the friendly bloggers, an increasingly potent factor in the political matrix. But he’s also sensitive to the lowly party grunt, the perennial volunteer, who often can’t afford a ticket.
Finally, Rothenberg is concerned that in arguing for the tickets, some bloggers likened their craft to that of a newspaper reporter. Newspaper reporters may attend such events, but they don’t — or shouldn’t — take even as little as a salted cashew from the bowl at the bar. Reporters surely are not entitled to take a seat reserved for a paying customer. The event is, after all, a fundraiser.
He turned them down and felt the wrath of the blog.
In the end, Obama paid for a blogger table. Still, Rothenberg is troubled, likening bloggers to the pamphleteers of the Revolutionary War period, without form or rules. "In time, they are going to start selfpolicing or they are going to be policed."
John McClelland, of the Ohio Republican Party, said he hasn’t yet fielded any requests from bloggers for freebies. He, too, is watching and waiting. "They are not the traditional media, but we’ve tried to be open with them in terms of having access to our events, taking phone calls, answering any questions."
Blogger and journalist David Kline, in a U.S. Department of State Web chat in March, said that more than 30 million blogs have been launched since the technology became available about five years ago, which tells us many people are finding a voice and that many more are listening.
A blogger effectively ended the leadership career of U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, by forcing into the forefront a nostalgic comment he made about the old racial segregation. Others will skewer campaigns and candidates, the traditional media and one another.
Campaigns can get with it, establish some ad-hoc rules, or get out of the way.
Ann Fisher is a Dispatch Metro columnist and can be reached at 614-461-8759 or by e-mail.
afisher@dispatch.com
Here is my letter to Ann Fisher in response to her recent column in the Dispatch. Her column is printed below.
- Uke Man
Dear Ms. Fisher,
As one of the 30 million bloggers out here in the ether, let me say “thank you” for your column.
I found the comment about bloggers by Brian Rothenberg, communications director of the Democratic party, quite chilling – but not surprising: . "In time, they are going to start selfpolicing or they are going to be policed."
He sounds like a Republican, but THAT is not surprising either.
He demonstrates exactly WHY I am a blogger.
You know the “Golden Rule”: He Rules Who Has The Gold.”
Do you know the bumper sticker: “The Media Are Only As Liberal As The Conservative Businesses That Own Them”? That applies to the Dispatch as a newspaper and to the Democrats as a party.
Here’s a fact that we both know: “News” outside certain parameters does NOT get disseminated in the major media – regardless of its truth or importance. It is published only within the limited scope of pamphlets, monthlies, specialized magazines, newsletters, and blogs.
This is by design – decorum ( and privilege) uber alles.
Bloggers are a threat to that.
How sad that a leader of the Democrats (the people’s party ??) would be so ready to apply severe discipline to maintain order (shades of Mayor Daly). And how outrageous that he thinks he denigrates bloggers by comparing them to “the pamphleteers of the Revolutionary War period.” We must be a real Thomas Paine in his ass!!!
Thank you for supporting the independent voices of bloggers. Rothengerg wants us to toe the line, get in line, accept HIS line; or he promises to sick the thought police on us. I’m sure his pals, the Republicans, feel pretty much the same.
I’ll end by asking, “If the thought police police the bloggers, who will be left to police the thought police?”
Yours - Uke Man
Bloggers perplex political parties
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
ANN FISHER
Until recently, Brian Rothenberg admits, he was content to watch the phenomenon of Internet blogging from his perch at the Ohio Democratic Party, where he is the communications director.
Those days are over, and his baptism by fire to the blogosphere leaves no doubt that the medium is here to stay and also evolving.
Rothenberg and others who are paid to get the word out for political parties should take note. Someday, they’ll be hiring an assistant just to monitor bloggers and their ilk, trolling for the thoughts and phrasing, the kernels of truth that ignite conversation and consideration.
The joke is that bloggers are youngish, live in their mothers’ basements, work in their pajamas and have nothing better to do than wax away on any number of topics. Like most generalizations, that’s probably unfair.
In this case, I prefer to focus on their passion for politics and to encourage the participation. Perhaps their brand of chatter will light the fire we need to redeem the body politic in this country.
In the meantime, Rothenberg and others are forced to navigate an unformed landscape, where few use their real names and ethics are just beginning to become an issue. And he’s been burned.
Some bloggers recently asked the Ohio Democratic Party for free passes to the state party dinner at Veterans Memorial on Saturday. Those otherwise anonymous bloggers wanted the proverbial rubberchicken dinner and a chance to hear the vaunted U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois work his oratorical magic on a room filled with true believers.
Rothenberg said he didn’t want to offend the friendly bloggers, an increasingly potent factor in the political matrix. But he’s also sensitive to the lowly party grunt, the perennial volunteer, who often can’t afford a ticket.
Finally, Rothenberg is concerned that in arguing for the tickets, some bloggers likened their craft to that of a newspaper reporter. Newspaper reporters may attend such events, but they don’t — or shouldn’t — take even as little as a salted cashew from the bowl at the bar. Reporters surely are not entitled to take a seat reserved for a paying customer. The event is, after all, a fundraiser.
He turned them down and felt the wrath of the blog.
In the end, Obama paid for a blogger table. Still, Rothenberg is troubled, likening bloggers to the pamphleteers of the Revolutionary War period, without form or rules. "In time, they are going to start selfpolicing or they are going to be policed."
John McClelland, of the Ohio Republican Party, said he hasn’t yet fielded any requests from bloggers for freebies. He, too, is watching and waiting. "They are not the traditional media, but we’ve tried to be open with them in terms of having access to our events, taking phone calls, answering any questions."
Blogger and journalist David Kline, in a U.S. Department of State Web chat in March, said that more than 30 million blogs have been launched since the technology became available about five years ago, which tells us many people are finding a voice and that many more are listening.
A blogger effectively ended the leadership career of U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, by forcing into the forefront a nostalgic comment he made about the old racial segregation. Others will skewer campaigns and candidates, the traditional media and one another.
Campaigns can get with it, establish some ad-hoc rules, or get out of the way.
Ann Fisher is a Dispatch Metro columnist and can be reached at 614-461-8759 or by e-mail.
afisher@dispatch.com
posted by Ukulele Man at 10:03 PM
0 comments
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Friday, June 02, 2006
Poetry & Music June 3
Hey Folks,
The Columbus Arts Fest calls on the Uke Man again on Saturday, June 3 to be a “featured reader” at the Poetry Corner on Civic Center Drive just south of Main Street.
I’ll be on from 5:30 until 5:45 (that’s a long gig at this venue). Hey! If you like my lyrics, you’ll love the poetry!!!
Before the poetry (4:00 to 4:30 p.m.) I’m heading to the lot next to Skully’s ( 1151 N. High Street) to perform a solo set as part of the Garden District’s contribution to Gallery Hop/Hemp Fest/Etc.
Stop by there too!!!!
- Uke Man
The Columbus Arts Fest calls on the Uke Man again on Saturday, June 3 to be a “featured reader” at the Poetry Corner on Civic Center Drive just south of Main Street.
I’ll be on from 5:30 until 5:45 (that’s a long gig at this venue). Hey! If you like my lyrics, you’ll love the poetry!!!
Before the poetry (4:00 to 4:30 p.m.) I’m heading to the lot next to Skully’s ( 1151 N. High Street) to perform a solo set as part of the Garden District’s contribution to Gallery Hop/Hemp Fest/Etc.
Stop by there too!!!!
- Uke Man
posted by Ukulele Man at 9:25 PM
1 comments
links to this post
the Columbus Arts Fest
Pictorial Report
posted by Ukulele Man at 6:17 PM
0 comments
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In the shadow of the "Lincoln LeVeque Tower" - AKA the "AIU Building."
posted by Ukulele Man at 5:46 PM
0 comments
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Columbus, the Arts Fest, the River, Nature
and the bird !!
posted by Ukulele Man at 5:26 PM
0 comments
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Hey Folks, I just flew in from Minneapolis
and, boy!! are my wings tired !!!
posted by Ukulele Man at 5:24 PM
0 comments
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Thursday, June 01, 2006
Yes!!! Consider !!! It's not just the Uke Man calling on us to consider!!
Consider the Living
by BOB HERBERT - May 29, 2006
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
Pretty soon this war in Iraq will have lasted as long as our involvement in World War II, with absolutely no evidence of any sort of conclusion in sight.
The point of Memorial Day is to honor the service and the sacrifice of those who have given their lives in the nation's wars. But I suggest that we take a little time today to consider the living.
Look around and ask yourself if you believe that stability or democracy in Iraq— or whatever goal you choose to assert as the reason for this war — is worth the life of your son or your daughter, or your husband or your wife, or the co-worker who rides to the office with you in the morning, or your friendly neighbor next door.
Before you gather up the hot dogs and head out to the barbecue this afternoon,look in a mirror and ask yourself honestly if Iraq is something you would be willing to die for.
There is no shortage of weaselly politicians and misguided commentators ready to tell us that we can't leave Iraq — we just can't. Chaos will ensue. Maybe even a civil war. But what they really mean is that we can't leave as long as the war can continue to be fought by other people's children, and as long as we can continue to put this George W. Bush-inspired madness on a credit card.
Start sending the children of the well-to-do to Baghdad, and start raising taxes to pay off the many hundreds of billions that the war is costing, and watch how quickly this tragic fiasco is brought to an end.
At an embarrassing press conference last week, President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain looked for all the world like a couple of hapless schoolboys who, while playing with fire, had set off a conflagration that is still raging out of control. Their recklessness has so far cost the lives of nearly 2,500 Americans and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis, many of them children.
Among the regrets voiced by the president at the press conference was his absurd challenge to the insurgents in 2003 to "bring 'em on." But Mr. Bush gave no hint as to when the madness might end.
How many more healthy young people will we shovel into the fires of Iraq before finally deciding it's time to stop? How many dead are enough?
There is no good news coming out of Iraq. Sabrina Tavernise of The Times recently wrote: "In the latest indication of the crushing hardships weighing on the lives of Iraqis, increasing portions of the middle class seem to be doing everything they can to leave the country."
The middle class is all but panicked at the inability of the Iraqi government or American forces to quell the relentless violence. Ms. Tavernise quoted a businessman who is planning to move to Jordan: "We're like sheep at a slaughter farm."
Iraqis continue to be terrorized by kidnappers, roving death squads and, in a term perhaps coined by Mr. Bush, "suiciders."
The American ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, acknowledged last week that even at this late date, there are parts of western Iraq that are not controlled by American forces, but rather "are under the control of terrorists and insurgents."
Now we get word that U.S. marines may have murdered two dozen Iraqis in cold blood last November.
No one should be surprised that such an atrocity could occur. That's what happens in war. The killing gets out of control, which is yet another reason why it's important to have mature leaders who will do everything possible to avoid war, rather than cavalierly sending the young and the healthy off to combat as if it were no more serious an enterprise than a big-time sporting event.
Nothing new came out of the Bush-Blair press conference. After more than three years these two men are as clueless as ever about what to do in Iraq. Are we doomed to follow the same pointless script for the next three years? And for three years after that?
Leadership does not get more pathetic than this. Once there was F.D.R. and Churchill. Now there's Bush and Blair.
Reacting to the allegations about the murder of civilians, the commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Michael Hagee, went to Iraq last week to warn his troops about the danger of becoming "indifferent to the loss of a human life."
Somehow that message needs to be conveyed to the top leaders of this country,and to the public at large. There is no better day than Memorial Day to reflect on it. As we remember the dead, we should consider the living, and stop sending people by the thousands to pointless, unnecessary deaths.
by BOB HERBERT - May 29, 2006
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
Pretty soon this war in Iraq will have lasted as long as our involvement in World War II, with absolutely no evidence of any sort of conclusion in sight.
The point of Memorial Day is to honor the service and the sacrifice of those who have given their lives in the nation's wars. But I suggest that we take a little time today to consider the living.
Look around and ask yourself if you believe that stability or democracy in Iraq— or whatever goal you choose to assert as the reason for this war — is worth the life of your son or your daughter, or your husband or your wife, or the co-worker who rides to the office with you in the morning, or your friendly neighbor next door.
Before you gather up the hot dogs and head out to the barbecue this afternoon,look in a mirror and ask yourself honestly if Iraq is something you would be willing to die for.
There is no shortage of weaselly politicians and misguided commentators ready to tell us that we can't leave Iraq — we just can't. Chaos will ensue. Maybe even a civil war. But what they really mean is that we can't leave as long as the war can continue to be fought by other people's children, and as long as we can continue to put this George W. Bush-inspired madness on a credit card.
Start sending the children of the well-to-do to Baghdad, and start raising taxes to pay off the many hundreds of billions that the war is costing, and watch how quickly this tragic fiasco is brought to an end.
At an embarrassing press conference last week, President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain looked for all the world like a couple of hapless schoolboys who, while playing with fire, had set off a conflagration that is still raging out of control. Their recklessness has so far cost the lives of nearly 2,500 Americans and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis, many of them children.
Among the regrets voiced by the president at the press conference was his absurd challenge to the insurgents in 2003 to "bring 'em on." But Mr. Bush gave no hint as to when the madness might end.
How many more healthy young people will we shovel into the fires of Iraq before finally deciding it's time to stop? How many dead are enough?
There is no good news coming out of Iraq. Sabrina Tavernise of The Times recently wrote: "In the latest indication of the crushing hardships weighing on the lives of Iraqis, increasing portions of the middle class seem to be doing everything they can to leave the country."
The middle class is all but panicked at the inability of the Iraqi government or American forces to quell the relentless violence. Ms. Tavernise quoted a businessman who is planning to move to Jordan: "We're like sheep at a slaughter farm."
Iraqis continue to be terrorized by kidnappers, roving death squads and, in a term perhaps coined by Mr. Bush, "suiciders."
The American ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, acknowledged last week that even at this late date, there are parts of western Iraq that are not controlled by American forces, but rather "are under the control of terrorists and insurgents."
Now we get word that U.S. marines may have murdered two dozen Iraqis in cold blood last November.
No one should be surprised that such an atrocity could occur. That's what happens in war. The killing gets out of control, which is yet another reason why it's important to have mature leaders who will do everything possible to avoid war, rather than cavalierly sending the young and the healthy off to combat as if it were no more serious an enterprise than a big-time sporting event.
Nothing new came out of the Bush-Blair press conference. After more than three years these two men are as clueless as ever about what to do in Iraq. Are we doomed to follow the same pointless script for the next three years? And for three years after that?
Leadership does not get more pathetic than this. Once there was F.D.R. and Churchill. Now there's Bush and Blair.
Reacting to the allegations about the murder of civilians, the commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Michael Hagee, went to Iraq last week to warn his troops about the danger of becoming "indifferent to the loss of a human life."
Somehow that message needs to be conveyed to the top leaders of this country,and to the public at large. There is no better day than Memorial Day to reflect on it. As we remember the dead, we should consider the living, and stop sending people by the thousands to pointless, unnecessary deaths.
posted by Ukulele Man at 10:07 PM
0 comments
links to this post
"Bilibong the Carpenter".. a modern fable
Once upon a time Bilibong lived in a little house with his Mother and Father.
It was a nice little house except when it rained. Then, it leaked, and things got wet. Bilibong, his Mother, and his Father got wet too.
The family was accustomed to this; it had always been such. They – just like the soggy napkins on the kitchen table - would dry out eventually. You never heard anyone complaining in this household; it was all just part of life.
Now, of course, that is not to say that Bilibong’s parents were negligent when it came to the problem. No, his father, who had been to university, had – for years – applied his learning to it, but without success. New windows had done nothing to stop the flood. Newly plastered ceilings seemed to offer hope for a while, but always succumbed in the end. Increased use of oil lamps, potpourris of salt, a fire constantly blazing on the hearth, portraits of the King hung in every room – nothing worked.
If the truth be told, Bilibong’s Grandfather – who had not been to university -had tried many of these same things in his own day (then, they were called “folk remedies”). You see, all the houses in the village had the same problem and had had it throughout more generations than anyone could report.
And Bilibong’s house was old; it had been built by his Great-Great-Great Grandfather and passed down, but as old as Bilibong’s house was, the drenching rain was older; and in all those years no real progress was ever made against it. True, in some ways the invention of rubber pajamas made life a little less unpleasant during the wet season, but nothing kept out the rain.
Perhaps it was the obvious failure of the intellectual and scientific communities that early-on turned a moldy society to religion for solace. In any case, as far back as anyone knows, the clergy had energetically done its part.
Bilibong’s Mother, a pillar of the parish, found herself moved to recite holy scripture and relevant quotations from recent homilies during every downpour. She was an inspiration to the drenched family as well as to houseguests, visitors, or passers-by caught in the tempest.
“Embrace thee the rain! And be washed clean!!” - That was her favorite, and she always repeated it - four times for emphasis - before wiping her face and continuing.
She had an amazing repertoire which she shared with her appreciative family whenever the rain came; and always with variety, almost never repeating herself – save for her “favorite” - with which she always started and always – when the rain finally ceased – ended.
Like the rubber pajamas, though; religion, while ameliorating the discomfort, did no more than science to end it.
And so it continued throughout Bilibong’s life, and the wet-but-happy little boy grew up, learned the carpentry trade, married, and had children of his own - laughing little ones who loved listening and dancing to Grandmother's recitations in the rain.
To please his family, Bilibong emulated his Great-Great-Great Grandfather and built his own house. He was a carpenter, after all, and a modern man. True to his craft, he’d thought long and hard regarding the advancement of the ancient construction methods.
Only the best timbers and the finest plastering mud would do. And he made sure the rooms were more efficiently arranged for daily living than any in the village. He was most proud, however, that his house honored not only the days of the week with the traditional seven, moon-shaped holes in its roof!!
His roof boasted an additional twelve square holes!! One for each of the twelve blessed months of the year!!!
- Uke Man
It was a nice little house except when it rained. Then, it leaked, and things got wet. Bilibong, his Mother, and his Father got wet too.
The family was accustomed to this; it had always been such. They – just like the soggy napkins on the kitchen table - would dry out eventually. You never heard anyone complaining in this household; it was all just part of life.
Now, of course, that is not to say that Bilibong’s parents were negligent when it came to the problem. No, his father, who had been to university, had – for years – applied his learning to it, but without success. New windows had done nothing to stop the flood. Newly plastered ceilings seemed to offer hope for a while, but always succumbed in the end. Increased use of oil lamps, potpourris of salt, a fire constantly blazing on the hearth, portraits of the King hung in every room – nothing worked.
If the truth be told, Bilibong’s Grandfather – who had not been to university -had tried many of these same things in his own day (then, they were called “folk remedies”). You see, all the houses in the village had the same problem and had had it throughout more generations than anyone could report.
And Bilibong’s house was old; it had been built by his Great-Great-Great Grandfather and passed down, but as old as Bilibong’s house was, the drenching rain was older; and in all those years no real progress was ever made against it. True, in some ways the invention of rubber pajamas made life a little less unpleasant during the wet season, but nothing kept out the rain.
Perhaps it was the obvious failure of the intellectual and scientific communities that early-on turned a moldy society to religion for solace. In any case, as far back as anyone knows, the clergy had energetically done its part.
Bilibong’s Mother, a pillar of the parish, found herself moved to recite holy scripture and relevant quotations from recent homilies during every downpour. She was an inspiration to the drenched family as well as to houseguests, visitors, or passers-by caught in the tempest.
“Embrace thee the rain! And be washed clean!!” - That was her favorite, and she always repeated it - four times for emphasis - before wiping her face and continuing.
She had an amazing repertoire which she shared with her appreciative family whenever the rain came; and always with variety, almost never repeating herself – save for her “favorite” - with which she always started and always – when the rain finally ceased – ended.
Like the rubber pajamas, though; religion, while ameliorating the discomfort, did no more than science to end it.
And so it continued throughout Bilibong’s life, and the wet-but-happy little boy grew up, learned the carpentry trade, married, and had children of his own - laughing little ones who loved listening and dancing to Grandmother's recitations in the rain.
To please his family, Bilibong emulated his Great-Great-Great Grandfather and built his own house. He was a carpenter, after all, and a modern man. True to his craft, he’d thought long and hard regarding the advancement of the ancient construction methods.
Only the best timbers and the finest plastering mud would do. And he made sure the rooms were more efficiently arranged for daily living than any in the village. He was most proud, however, that his house honored not only the days of the week with the traditional seven, moon-shaped holes in its roof!!
His roof boasted an additional twelve square holes!! One for each of the twelve blessed months of the year!!!
- Uke Man
posted by Ukulele Man at 9:04 AM
0 comments
links to this post
About Me
- Name: Tom Harker
- Location: Circleville, Ohio, United States
Music and Politics, Politics and Music!!! * * * Everything is political. We’re admonished, “Never discuss religion or politics.” Follow that advice, and we’ll have to quit talking altogether. * * * Well, the Uke Man speaks! * * * Keep track here of my musical shenanigans, my political ruminations, and - from time to time - some other interesting eruptions.
Previous Posts
- "Animal Farm" by the Uke Man
- American Animal Farm
- The Columbian "Rescue" Hmmmm . . . . . . do I s...
- The Pig is Dead (but his odor lingers on)
- The usual chauvanistic double standard
- not a ukulele, but it DOES have four strings
- Stradivarius explained???
- Who would President Dtaft Poop on??
- Be afraid; listen to the rich guy; forget about th...
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- August 2007
- September 2007
- October 2007
- November 2007
- December 2007
- January 2008
- February 2008
- March 2008
- April 2008
- May 2008
- June 2008
- July 2008
