Book Review

I said I would never mention the author of this books name on this blog again...but for a good time, check out the Wikipedia review of his book...HERE!

Hurricane Season

I listen to BBC World Radio quite regularly before I go to sleep each night and one of my favorite programs is World Music. For years, the host was Charlie Gillet and early this year, he died after a long illness, The BBC had been broadcasting repeats of his programs as a tribute. I discovered so much because of Charlies broadcasts. I believe he invented the genre of World Music.

Last night, though, I listened and the new host, David Loewe had his first official broadcast and kicked off his show with this tune, Hurricane Season by Trombone Shorty(Troy Andrews). Now this is serious, I am so excited by this New Orleans artist, that I would pick up my Yamaha B340 and audition to play bass for this band if for a second I thought they would take a 60 year old ex punk/funk player such as myself, seriously...I'm in training.

Listen, I know I could do it....

Trombone Shorty is a 24 year old New Orleans trombone and trumpet player, and if you check out his videos, he's a pretty good vocalist as well. He has been playing since he was 6 and the trombone was bigger than he was.

His current band is called Orleans Avenue, a funk/juzz/pop/hip hop fusion....

He has played with U2, Green Day, Jeff Beck..Lenny Kravitz...everybody wants to play with Shorty...including microdot!

Cassis

Here's a photo of a branch of one of my cassis bushes, just before I picked them yesterday afternoon. I had to do it now because they are ripe and there were a group of very suspicious looking Golden Orioles hanging out.

I love cassis, it might be my favorite fruit. You never see it for sale, unless you live in the area around Dijon, France where it is a speciality. In Dijon, I had a memorable dessert one evening of merengue shells, cassis sorbet with cassis syrup drizzled over it...

So, I decided to grow it for myself. I have had 2 bushes for the last 4 years planted in a shady location by my swamp. I prune them each year and put wood ashes around the plants in the winter to rpomote the acidity of the soil. Wood ashes seem to be a very good source of nutrients for berry plants. They go on my raspberries as well.

This year, I used berry fertilizer on them and had very good results.

The harvest, perhaps 2 and 1/2 kilos will become a few pots of cassis/framboise jam and the rest, perhaps just under a kilo are now macerating with 2 bottles of Courbieres wine.

Courbieres is a dry red wine, inexpensive for the table, any decent dry red would do. 

I crush the berries and pour the wine into a big stainless steel bowl which I will leave over night. Tomorrow, I will strain the liquid, add perhaps 3/4 kilo of sugar and bring the mixture to a boil on the stove. This creates a simple syrup. The liquid will thicken.

This type of a preparation is referred to as a "Creme" and I am making Creme de Cassis.

I did this a few years ago and was very pleased with the results. This time I am using much more cassis. The final touch is to bring the alcohol content back up, because the boiling evaporates the alcohol in the wine. I use commercial clear distilled fruit alcohol which I can buy in supermarkets here. I am very inexact proportionally, I have to taste it to see if it burns right in the mouth....

Then, I put it in bottles and it keeps for quite a long time.

Creme de Cassis is used to make a very nice aperative drink called a Kir. It was named after a famous mayor of Dijon, where the commercial center of Creme de Cassis manufacture is. To make a Kir, first, you put a big dollop of Creme de Cassis in a tall wine glass and then fill the glass with chilled dry white wine.

If you use champagne, or a sparkling white wine, it becomes a Kir Royale....

Chin, Chin.....

The No Blow Jobs Party

The latest polls in the Texas Gubernatorial Race have incumbent, Rick Perry, the longest serving Governor in Texas history and heir apparent to George W Jr. as being tied, neck and neck with Ex Houston Mayor, Democrat, Bill White.

Perry is even sinking in the polls which only a few months ago indicated that Texans were eager to see their governor go on to mount a Presidential bid in 2012.  

Can it have anything to do with the Teabagging of the Party platform which has put the state of Texas in the center of the spotlight as the wingnut capital of conservatism?

We read about the debacle of the attempt ot revise the educational system and impose a ridiculous revisionsit rewriting of American History which glorified the Confederacy. Joseph McCarthy, and denied the history and legitimacy of the Civil Rights movement in America. The punch line was that after they approved the propaganda rewrite, the state couldn't find the funds to pay for the books....

Then we had to endure the national shame of Republican Congressman, Joe Barton, groveling before British Petroleum, offering his apology because The Obama Administration had the audacity to hold them to their responsibilities.....If this wasn't an unatural politcal sexual act, lubricated by hydrocarbonic grease....aauugghhh!

Well, perhaps the highjacked Texan Republican Party has put the final nail in their coffin with the platform they adopted

The Texas Republican Party has passed its new election platform, including a ban on pornography, oral sex, gay marriage, sodomy, strip clubs -- they also want to ditch the Federal Reserve, "withhold Supreme Court jurisdiction in cases involving abortion, religious freedom, and the Bill of Rights," "oppose the implementation of one world currency" (why was I not informed of this One World Currency? It would sure make travel simpler!), and get the US out of the UN.  (here's a link ), and here's some verbatim highlights.

The GOP there has voted on a platform that would ban oral and anal sex. It also would give jail sentences to anyone who issues a marriage license to a same-sex couple (even though such licenses are already invalid in the state). "We oppose the legalization of sodomy," the platform says. "We demand that Congress exercise its authority granted by the U.S. Constitution to withhold jurisdiction from the federal courts from cases involving sodomy."

Ah yes, the "no blowjobs party" -- that'll bring out the vote! 

Summer In The City/Summer In The Country

Summer in the city? Well, Brive-la-Gaillarde is just about the biggest city I ever get to these days. I was in Brive most of yeterday and this was little glimpse of the urban youth problem of Brive... Brive is wonderful little city in the Correze, well, it is the biggest city in the Correze and we do a lot of our shopping there and our friend, Sophie, a sculptress was having an opening of a show of her work.

If you are wondering what I am doing these days, I get up around 7:30 am and start dealing with nature before it gets really hot. I raise a lot of Red Fruit....strawberries, cherries, some cassis, though that's not really red. My fantasy for many years was to have as many raspberries as I could eat...When you see them in the markets, they are like little gems, sold in little barquets for ust won't take that. I have been working for quite a few years to realize my fantasy. I have four different varieties of raspberries growing in two 18 meter rows. They are different shapes and this year, I have a remontant variety I got from my nephews neighbor in New Jersey...it just set flowers.

But the raspberries have just started to produce in earnest this week. So, I start picking around 8 am...and now I am getting around 2 to 3 kilos a day. We freeze them and eat all we can. The amount in the photo is about 1/3 of my daily harvest, but in the next few days, it will increase, then begin to taper off.

Raspberries in home made yoghurt is a staple, raspberries with Petite Suisse, Fromage Blanc...mmmmmm!!!!

We make raspberry ice cream, my wife invents raspberry desserts...raspberry tiramisu, raspberry bavaroise with a chocolate gateau as a base and of course, raspberry confiture(now imagine raspberry/cassis confiture) White chocoalte mousse with raspberry coulis...This is intense research and development of dessert concepts that will only make our world a much more raspberry friendly environment for every one! raspberries will unite and save our planet if we only grow them eat them and share our recipes!

No matter how much we try, we cannot eat all the raspberries we grow each day...so I have to freeze them...as of today there are 12 kilos in the freezer.

I just invested in a generator in case of a power outage...it happens here more than you want to think about...

Please I hope you will try to understand if I try to share my raspberry passion with you here on thebrainpolice.

Pete Quaife

In 1961, Peter Quaife met Ray Davies and his brother Dave as art students in London.

This formed the beginning of the band which would be called The Kinks. The legend is that Pete and Dave drew straws to see who would play bass guitar and Pete lost. Of course, Dave was a pretty good all around guitarist. Pete was a great bassist.

The Kinks never achieved the super stardom of other British Invasion Groups of the early 60's, but were probably the group with the most long reaching influence. Perhaps running afoul of the American Musician Union on their first American tour held them back. They would not tour America again until 1969.

A canny intelligence which somehow predicted punk and still had its roots deep in the esthetic of Music Hall and vaudeville, the band painted aural portraits of people and mores.

I chose this song, Johnny Thunders from 1966 because it is not a well known Kinks piece, but it embodies all of what made them great and unique. It also seems to be the inspiration for one of Punks most iconic players, the guitarist for the New York Dolls, The real life Johnny Thunders.

Pete died at age 66 on Thursday. After leaving the Kinks, he had a brief career in music, but moved to Canada where he had an entirely different life as a graphic artist and cartoonist. End of an era? I don't think so. The Kinks music continues to influence generations of songwriters with the very quirkiness which set it apart from everything else.

To appreciate the Kinks, Petes bass playing and his back up singing, if you aren't familiar with the work, please listen to Waterloo Sunset. It doesn't get any better.

Peter played bass until 1969 with the Kinks. He contributed much song writing and was featured on The Village Green Preservation Society.

Free Stickers!

Free Prosecute BP Sickers from stickerobot.com! Send them a SASE and they will send you free bumper stickers. BP does not own the world. BP cannot be trusted to manage the clean up and repair of it's leaking wells and pipelines all over North America.

Any politician who defends BP is a collaborator and should be prosecuted as an accesory to the crime. It is not just a local ecological catastrophe anymore, it is a planetary attrocity!

Blockhead

Here's a tune that's stuck in my head. The Music Scene by Blockhead.

The video is great. Blockhead is actually NYC Hip Hop Producer, Tony Simon, who is a member of The Party Fun Action Committee
and the producer for Hip Hop Rapper, Aesop.

Yes you could say it's kind of retro psychedelic elevator muzak, but the ambience is big fun...and I kinda sympathize with the sentiments.

Portugal

Did you know that Portugal legalized the use and sale of all previously illegal drugs in 2001? Drug use actually went down and the crime rate dropped. Portugal did not become a drug haven.

Thomas Jefferson said, "If people let the government decide which foods they eat and medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry state as those who live under tyranny"

Great Art Will Always Be Dangerous

(Click to enlarge, it's worth it!)

A Poster for an exhibition by Andres Serrano at  The Cooper Union in NYC 

in  1989.

All truly great art is dangerous!

Garry Shider

Hey, I just heard today, Garry Shider passed away. He died on the 16th of lung cancer and was out there playing until he couldn't do it no more. Garry was 56 and started on his journey in Plainfield, NJ learning to sing doo wop at the barber shop that George Clinton owned. The core of that group became The Parliaments. Years later, Garry formed the rock/soul band United Soul (U.S.). He sang and played guitar.

He linkerd up again with Clinton in Toronto and became the guitarist/musical director for the Parliament Funkadelic Thang. Gary is best remembered for his costume in the early days of Funkadelic...he was the guy who wore diapers and had a penchant for playing while being suspended above the stage in a flying harness.

He cowrote many of Funkadelics most memorable songs with Clinton.

We lost one of the main Funkateers...Garry Starchild Shider.

This is a live version of Cosmic Slop from 1978.

POISIN

Here is a live performance by Wayne Kramer from about 1994? The piece is Poisin, a song he wrote and was first recorded by The MC5 on their last studio record, High Time.

If you have been following this blog, you realize that I am absolutely nuts when it comes to The MC5 and the subsequent career of Wayne Kramer.

I saw him perform this piece at Maxwells in Hoboken, NJ around this time and, believe me, the little guy actually levitated. A brilliant, visionary guitarist who has somehow walked the line between hard rock and free jazz. He plays the amplifier as much as he plays the guitar.

I tried to post this last year, but embedding was prohibited. Just by chance, I looked today and BINGO!

The Peasants Are Revolting!

Your Majesty! The Peasants are revolting!

Yes, I know they are... Somebody! hose them down and distribute cologne...

But, Your Majesty, the children are starving, they have no bread!

Keeeriste, well let the little fuckers go dumpster dive!

Jeeves, where's my suitcase of Viagra?

You're all Fired!

Texas Is Back! #1 Skeeziest State In The Union!

"I would like to apologize to BP for letting our worthless pelicans 

soak up their valuable oil!" 

It's a close neck and neck, well, you are free to choose your anatomical description, race.

South Carolina was edging out there for a few days with the election of Alan Greene, but today, the Democrats said they were "cool" with the results and nobody in South Carolina can figure out how to operate the voting machine memory hardware anyway, so fuck it.

But Joe Barton's apology to Tony Hayward, the President of BP for the "Chicago-style shakedown slush fund" payoff of 20 billion brokered by the Obama Administration for the Gulf Oil Spill has firmly put Texas back in the #1 spot! Hoopla!

Now we at least who owns who in Texas! In case you missed Bartons heart felt sincere apology, here it is:

"I'm ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday," Barton said. "I think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown, in this case, a $20 billion shakedown."

Let's find out who else Mr. Barton has apologized to lately 

Read Rep. Barton's heartfelt apologies to Darth Vader, the Confederacy and Hurricane Katrina (among other injured parties) here.

 

You Must Enter the Mirror

 An excerpt from Blood Of A Poet, 1930 by Jean Cocteau. Cocteau did everything...he was a poet, novelist, playwright, film maker, costume designer, artist, jazz drummer, opium addict, catholic, surrealist, homosexual, member of the Legion of Honor...he was the twentieth century and totally original.

Bloody Sunday

LONDONDERRY, Northern Ireland – Relatives of 13 Catholic demonstrators shot to death by British troops on Northern Ireland's Bloody Sunday cried tears of joy Tuesday as an epic fact-finding probe ruled that their loved ones were innocent and the soldiers entirely to blame for the 1972 slaughter.

The investigation took 12 years and nearly 200 million pounds ($290 million), but the victims' families and the British, Irish and U.S. governments welcomed the findings as priceless to heal one of the gaping wounds left from Northern Ireland's four-decade conflict that left 3,700 dead.

Thousands of residents of LondonDerry — a predominantly Catholic city long synonymous with Britain's major mass killing from the Northern Ireland conflict — gathered outside the city hall to watch the verdict come in, followed by a lengthy apology from Prime Minister David Cameron in London that moved many locals long distrustful of British leaders.

The probe found that soldiers opened fire without justification at unarmed, fleeing civilians and lied about it for decades, refuting an initial British investigation that branded the demonstrators as Irish Republican Army bombers and gunmen.

Cameron, who was just 5 years old when the attack occurred, said it was "both unjustified and unjustifiable."

"I couldn't believe it, I was so overjoyed," said Kay Duddy, clutching the handkerchief used to swab blood from her 17-year-old brother's body that day. Jackie Duddy, the first of the 13 killed, was shot in the back.

"Never in my wildest dreams would I ever envisage a British prime minister would stand up in Parliament and tell the truth of what happened on Bloody Sunday," Duddy said. "David Cameron told the world and its mother that Jackie Duddy and the rest of the deceased and injured were innocent people. They were totally exonerated today," she said.

One by one, relatives of the 13 dead and 15 wounded went to a podium, huge black-and-white pictures of their dead or wounded relative displayed on a massive television screen. Each declared their relief that the demonstrators were found innocent and the elite soldiers of the Parachute Regiment solely to blame.

"Thirty-eight years ago a story went around the world ... that there was gunmen and bombers on our streets, and they were shot and killed. Today that lie has been uncovered," said Kate Nash, whose 19-year-old brother William was shot fatally once through the chest.

"Unjustified and unjustifiable. Those are the words we've been waiting to hear since January the 30th of 1972," said Tony Doherty, whose father, Patrick, was fatally shot as he crawled away from gunfire. The fact-finders rejected soldiers' claims that Doherty had been carrying a gun by digging up photos of Doherty seconds before he was hit and showing he was unarmed.

Question: How Long Will The Palestinians Have To Wait? 

The Scarab

A garden picture. A Tuscan Superb Rose with a Scarab Beetle in the center. I took this yesterday in between rain showers. Today, the sky opened up and it rained all day. We have had almost 2 months of rain in the last week. I had to dig drainage ditches in the vegetable garden. We live on a hill top here, but in the valley below, the creek is over its banks. The rain seems to have stopped and we are having a very foggy sunset and it looks like it will begin to dry out tomorrow!

Aquaman

This tragically brilliant image is from a New Jersey illustrator named Rob who has a blog called The Aquaman Shrine.

I'm Ready For My Close Up, Mr. DeMille

You didn't actually think I wouldn't post this item, now, did you?

This happened yesterday outside of Cincinnatti, Ohio. The giant 60 ft. tall "Touchdown Jesus" statue was hit by lightning and burnt spectacularly.

It's the quotes by the congregation members that crack me up....

What does this mean? It scares me...what is god tryin to tell us?

As a serious job applicant for the position of Anti-Christ, I am a Union Member, I am now working on a design for replacement statue for them.

I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille....

Too Drunk To Fuck

A request and I would like to thank The Engineer of Knowledge for making me remember this song.Too Drunk To Fuck, live by the Dead Kennedys. They were one of the greatest politically punk bands of all time...well perhaps one of the greatest punk bands of all time! This live performance is probably from 1980 and captures the insane energy of the time. Jello Biafra is still performing and still politically active. A man of  true conviction, he is proof that punk will never die.

Punk is alive and well here in La Sechere!

Live Fat And Die Outraged

Last Week, Barack Obama issued this executive order under the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act which declared:

There is established within the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council (Council).

Among other things, the purpose of said council is to:

(c) provide recommendations to the President and the Congress concerning the most pressing health issues confronting the United States and changes in Federal policy to achieve national wellness, health promotion, and public health goals, including the reduction of tobacco use, sedentary behavior, and poor nutrition;

Almost too predictably, this act provoked OUTRAGE! UTTER OUTRAGE! Only in profound Inner Dumbfuckistan could this be a bad thing. On the one hand, they whine about our spending on health care and on the other, whine about any initiative which actually stands a chance of improving both spending and outcomes.

The Council is comprised of cabinet officers and policymakers, but that doesn't stop the wingers from jumping off into the Imagination Canyon where they opine about what "advisors" the President will appoint, naming Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers as prime examples of the evil about to descend upon our nation. Oh, and Dr. Kevorkian, so as to raise the specter of "death panels" one. more. time.

I could quote them, but then I'd have to link and it's really just too ridiculous to link. If you really want to read the insanity for yourself, try googling the term "lifestyle behavior modification" or "nanny state liberation front."

Of course, this is just a riff on the "big government is bad" set of conservative talking points. They really hate big government until they love it. They don't want to make lifestyle changes, but are outraged -- OUTRAGED -- that Big Government hasn't stopped the oil spilling into the Gulf, sent Superman to clean it up, and restarted drilling in deepwater worldwide.

Maybe there is a new prescription blue pill from a multinational drug company to combat Outrage fatigue...of course, consult your physician if you experience any side effects such as dizziness, shortness of breath, rashes, neuritis, neuralgia, the heartbreak of psoriasis...

SOUTH CAROLINA BACK AT #1! HURRAH!

 

It seems that the winner of the Democratic South Carolina Senate Primary, Alan Greene recieved many more voted than were actually cast in many Spouth Carolina Districts. It would seem that Greene is in way over his head after playing a game he thought might lead to quick payday. The story gets fishier and fishier with reports of other candidates who might have been Republican plants in other South Carolina Democratic Primary races.
But, even deeper, it's time for the ES&S IVOTRONIC VOTING MACHINES to be outlawed! These were the machines used in the SC Deomcratic Primary and they have been systematically proven to be flawed and vunerable to manipulation. If there ever was a case to take advantage of absentee ballots, the use of these machines makes it almost imperative. States which still use the machines are:
Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, North carolina, Ohio, Pennsyvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas , Virginia and Wisconsin.
If you vote in one of these states, I would highly recommend that you use an absentee ballot!

Just when you think that Texas has taken the lead as the sleazient State of The Union, South Carolina gets its second wind!

Your Interactive White Trash Moment

That's right, tonight it's your choice, cast your vote now!

Yesterday on the 700 Club, Pat Robertson answered a question from concerned Christian viewer, Anne, who coyly asked his advice about her husband and his inclination to "flirt with other women he finds attractive".

Here is a transcript of his advice to Anne:

CO-HOST: Pat, this is from Anne who says, “My husband has always been a flirt and loves to talk with other women he finds attractive. He says he would never cheat on me but his actions are starting to get to me. What should I do?”

ROBERTSON: Anne, first thing is you need to make yourself as attractive as possible and don’t hassle him about it. And why is he doing this? Well, he’s doing it because he wants affirmation that he is still a man, that he is attractive — and he gets an affirmation of himself. That means he’s got an inferiority complex that’s coming out. And he’s not gonna cheat on you. He’s just playing.

But you need to not drive him away or start hassling and hounding on him, but make yourself as beautiful as you can, as fun as you can, and say let’s go out here, let’s go there, let’s go to the other thing.

Roberts has a long history of making outrageously chauvinistic comments. He famously once said, “The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women,” but is rather “a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.” On the proper role of a wife, Robertson has said, “Christ is the head of the household and the husband is the head of the wife, and that’s the way it is, period.”

Now, you, thebrainpolice blog interactive commentor can have your say! Here are two videos by The Country Music Queen, The legendary Tammy Wynette. Lord knows she tried, married for years to George Jones. Tammy wrote and recorded two classics, Stand By Your Man and it's sequel, D.I.V.O.R.C.E.....

Here they are, now it's your turn to tell Anne which song she should be singing!

INFLATION?

Another day, another Fox News lie. My question is, would this work if FOX reported my checking account balance? How do I get in touch with their accounting staff? The campaign contributions related to BP were primarily from BP employees and the number was closer to $70,000 so only a slight accounting error from Fox. As questionable as Rahm Emmanuel's free apartment may be, being tied to a marketing guy who did an advertising campaign is a bit different from being tied to the executive team, as it exists with the Republicans. But why let facts get in the way? More from Media Matters:

Fox News pushed the tenuous suggestion that White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has unethical "ties" to BP because he once lived in the home of Stan Greenberg, a D.C. research strategist who has done work for the oil company. In fact, there is no evidence that Emanuel's relationship with Greenberg -- which dates back several decades -- has anything to do with BP or benefited BP in any way. Moreover, Brian Kilmeade falsely claimed BP donated $750 million to Barack Obama's presidential campaign, which would have amounted to the entirety of Obama's campaign haul.

Always Look On The Oily Side Of Life

The Brain Police has obtained exclusive footage of British Petroleum Crack Researchers solving the leak in the Gulf of Mexico...

While the boys come up with their next sure fire solution, and we wait and wait, I decided to try to look on the lighter side of the oil spill...Anyway, here are a few ideas I came up with:

1. I’m not a fan of seafood.

I grew up in the midwest and it wasn’t something we ate that often. When we did, it wasn’t that fresh. Just never developed a taste for the stuff.

I used to go to this Asian noodle place on Avenue A in New York when I lived there, and order their beef soup and always say, “There’s no shrimp in this, right?” But then, just as I get to the bottom of it there’s a shrimp there. It’s as if the cook hated me — which, to be honest, he could; I’m an awfully picky eater and he caught me making faces at him once while explaining to the waiter that shrimp are the cockroaches of the ocean floor. It was kind of a sick-to-the-stomach kind of face, with my tongue sticking out. A lot of cultures find that insulting.

In any case, now that all the Gulf shrimp are dead, the price of shrimp will have gone up so much that they’re going to be protecting it like gold bullion. So, no more shrimpy surprises for me!

Score!

2. Cuba

Take that, commies!

3. Goodbye Bermuda Triangle

BP is going to divert the oil to the Bermuda Triangle. That means the aliens that live under the water and steal all our planes and boats will probably die. Unless they come from a planet where they breathe oil. If that’s the case, it could make them stronger and they’ll steal even more planes.

Let’s say that this one has a silver lining for now, but it could turn out badly in the end.

4. The Great Wall of China will no longer be the only man-made thing visible from space.

Take that, China! (Also commies.)

Ha, ha...ha, ha...harrr dee harr.har...hee hee..It helps to laugh, right? Koff...koff, ahem...errr

it's awfully quiet, c'mon folks, laugh it up!

Bad Craziness In The Desert

This video almost seems to defy reality. Last weekend, videographer attended the "Phoenix Rising" rally in Phoenix, AZ. The rally was held to protest the boycott of Arizona over their anti immigration racial profiling law, SB1070.

Things really get strange with the woman who believes that there is a "radical Islamic Mexican Catholic movement" that "has been taking over America and getting rid of and killing American citizens."

You see a lot of the familiar faces, Joe Arpato and Russel Pearce who are the nominal "mainstream conservatives" who show up on MSNBC and FOX as the voice of sanity? to defend the desert paranoia.

But, they are quite comfortable rubbing shoulders with Neo Nazis and The White Supremecists who are the backbone of this mob.

But then, consider that the "Phoenix Rising" rally was actually organized by Barbara Coe, leader of the nativist group California Coalition for Immigration Reform, which led the fight to pass the anti-immigrant Prop 187 back in 1994. You see, CCIR has a sordid history that led to their being designated a "hate group" by the SPLC:

Vitriolic, conspiracy-minded and just plain mean, Coe routinely refers to Mexicans as "savages." She claims to have exposed a secret Mexican plan (the "Plan de Aztlan") to reconquer the American Southwest. Last May, at a "Unite to Fight" anti-immigration summit in Las Vegas, she launched the kind of defamatory rant for which she is infamous. "We are suffering robbery, rape and murder of law-abiding citizens at the hands of illegal barbarians," she warned her cowering audience, "who are cutting off heads and appendages of blind, white, disabled gringos."

More recently, she attacked the new Hispanic mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, accusing him of seeking to return Southern California to Mexico.

But the most curious thing about the former police clerk -- whose friends have said she told them she was forced from her job in 1994, after using a city-owned camera to photograph people she thought were illegal aliens -- may be her offhand comments to the Denver Post this November. In a profile of her close friend, U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), the paper said Coe described speaking to and belonging to the Council of Conservative Citizens. That group, which has called blacks "a retrograde species of humanity," has long been listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group -- as has Coe's own California Coalition for Immigration Reform.

Even more recently, Coe has attack the current president as well:

Barak [sic] Obama and his anti-American "czars" are taking a page from Hitler's Nazi Germany playbook - only worse, much worse. Be afraid, be very afraid!

This is the classic Fascist ploy of accusing the victims of their hate of doing what they have already done. We are seeing an attempt by White Supremicist groups to spread this kind of hateful crazy legislation in a concerted manner, state by state.

Everybody Knows the Hound!

So many serious things to think about and I just want to listen to Hound Dog Taylor.

Sure, Ernie Isely is a slick player, but Hound Dog was the man!

This is probably from 1972, rotten quality, lousy sound, Hound Dog's playing his bargain Teisco electric guitar, but that's part of what makes this so damn good!

Who's That Lady

Yesterday, I posted a piece about the death of Marvin Isely, the Bass Player of the Isely Brothers and I mentioned Ernie Isely. I found this video of Ernie from the late 80's playing with his own band performing the Isely hit, Who's That Lady.

Ernie was a young kid when Jimi Hendrix was playing in his brothers band, but he was forever influenced and created his own sonic signature and style which still resonates today. Ernie was probably the only R&B rock cross over artist who ever referenced Emily Dickinson. another reason why the Isely musical influence will live on long beyond the short attention span of our cultural pop conciousness.

Wild Orchid 2010 #2

Here's a Orchis bouc, himmantoglossum hircinum, or in English, a Goat Orchid. This plant decided to grow over my septic tank in front of a rose bush. The get to be about 2 feet tall and have quite a pronounced spicy odor.

The goat name comes from both their strong smell and the extended twirly lower lip petal on each flower. They grow in dry limey earth at the edge of forests.

They really are striking plants. I was really surprised to see that I have a number of them coming up here. As the ground becomes less fertile and reverts back to its natural ph, I am seeing more and more orchid species colonizing here.

Up until we moved in, 6 or so years ago, this was used a cow pasture, so the soil was too rich for the orchids. I have heard that they can remain dormant for years until the conditions are right.

Marvin Isely

I cannot figure out why the Isely Brothers Band have not gotten the acclaim and the place in World Music they so honestly deserve. I always felt they were one of the most original forces in pop...true outsiders is a world of slickness.

The Isley Brothers created many of the most definitive cross over R&B Rock Classics of the last 50 years. Everybody knows Twist and Shout, or from the same period...SHOUT!

YOU KNOW YOU MAKE WANNA SHOUT!

As the family band moved into the 60's they evolved and the younger members of the family pushed the music ahead. In the mid 60's, the Classic Isely line up included Jimi Hendrix on guitar. A young teen, Ernie was profoundly influenced and became the guitarist for the later day Iselys and created his own sonic signature. Ernie remains one of the most under appreciated and influential guitarists of all time...everybody loves his sound, but nobody knows who he is.

Around the same time, the youngest member of the family, Marvin began to play bass with the band in the mid 70's. They created a new sound, the song everybody knows is Who's That Lady?

The Brothers kind of broke up and retied in the early 80's, but Ernie released some incredible records on his own and Marvin, Ernie and Jasper had a few international hits, the biggest was Caravan of Love...they played together and in solo projects for years, but Marvin became diabetic and eventually became an invalid and lost his legs.

Marvin died yesterday at age 56. I posted this piece because it was the dawn of the new Isely Brothers in the early 70's. The older brothers and the younger musicians redefining funk, R&B and rock for a brave new world!

This is for you Marvin.....

Bless Helen Thomas

I got this message in an email from an old friend today, and I have to say I heartily wish Helen Thomas the best. Her comments about Israel were the unspeakable thoughts that mnay people agree with. I haven't been a supporter of Israel since I was brainwashed as a child seeing Exodus. Then the reality set in.

So Helen made her comment, every pro Israeli group was trying to trump each others outrage and she was thrown under the bus. Pretty easy to throw an 89 year old woman under the bus, but why can't we use the same outrageometer that went off the scale with Madame Thomas's remarks on some of the younger males who outrage us every day...Like Rand Paul who just outraged even himself, I think, by comparing himself to Martin Luther King?  There is just something a littel more than obscene about comparing the Fallen Civil Rights Giant and the struggle for racial equality to his valiant struggle to allow smoking in restaurants.

It’s time for Pat Buchanan to retire, too. Why can't we throw him under a bus?

Despite a decades-long track record of offensive comments about … well, nearly everybody, Buchanan continues to write columns and appear as a commentator on MSNBC.

During his time in public life, Buchanan has defended Adolf Hitler -- repeatedly. He has peddled Holocaust denial claims and compared suspected Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk to Jesus Christ.

Buchanan has reminisced fondly about his childhood in segregated Washington, DC, and complained that “Old heroes like ... Robert E. Lee are replaced by Dr. King." He wrote that “integration of blacks and whites” was likely to result in “perpetual friction, as the incapable are placed … side by side with the capable.” Buchanan's anti-integration views were so hard-core, even Richard Nixon characterized Buchanan’s them as “segregation forever.” When 67 blacks were shot to death by South African police, Buchanan dismissed the massacre as “a few South African whites mistreating a couple of blacks.” In 1989, Buchanan defended Bob Jones University’s ban on interracial dating. 1989!

In 1983, Buchanan wrote that "homosexuals ... have declared war on nature, and now nature is exacting an awful retribution." (During his 1992 presidential campaign, he stood by that view, insisting "AIDS is nature's retribution for violating the laws of nature.") He has compared gays to alcoholics.

So Why Is This Guy Still Waddling Around In The Don't Walk Zone While Helen Thomas Is Under The Wheels Of The AIPAC EXPRESS?

Meet The Bushies

I'm still totally disgusted with Ohio's ambulatory human outhouse,  Rep Congressman, John Boehner and his demand that Paul McCartney apologize to America for his mild remark insulting George Bush's intelligence. The day he made the  remark about Bush not knowing what a library was, our ex president was in Kalamazoo being paid to have his sphincter polished at a Kiwanis Club speaking engagement. In his speech, Bush admitted that his administration sanctioned waterboarding and he would do it again if he had the chance.

This might have been the first time he actually admitted the use of torture in a public forum and it still is only a hint of what really was approved from the top.

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today released evidence it says indicates that the Bush administration conducted "illegal and unethical human experimentation and research" on detainees' response to torture while in CIA custody after 9/11. The group says such illegal activity would violate the Nuremburg Code, and could open the door to prosecutions. Their report is based on publicly available documents, and explores the participation of medical professionals in the CIA's "enhanced interrogation program." Download the full report at phrtorturepapers.org.

The report documents the treatment of prisoners, the monitoring of techniques designed to mask the physical evidence and the involvement of physicians.

It also reveals the way these studies went way beyond controled "experiments".

(in the event that you aren't familiar with my source for the illustration, in 1965, the Beatles released a record called Yesterday and Today. The original cover had the boys posed with dismembered dolls in bloody butchers smocks. The record shipped and was recalled immediately. Only a few of the original covers were seen by the public. Many were just pasted over with a new safe cover. So this is sort of my revenge. By the way, Mr. Boehner, I have never claimed to be a "classy fellow") 

Finding His Voice

Here Ya Go!, Just about the first talkie movie...and an explanation of the concept of optical sound from the brilliant Fleischer Brothers in 1929!

ISRAEL AT SEA

(after reading this infuriating snide article in yesterday's NYTIMES, I feel compelled to post this piece by Pete Karman from his great blog TheKarmanTurn which he posted yesterday!)

In that same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt, unto the great river, the river Euphrates --Genesis, 15:18

Twice in official state documents David Ben Gurion [Israel’s first prime minister], announced that the state was created "in a part of our small country and "in only a portion of the Land of Israel." He later noted that "the creation of the new State by no means derogates from the scope of historic Eretz (Greater) Israel."

The headline above refers to something beyond last monday’s murderous maelstrom in the Mediterranean. Let’s begin with a commonplace. Israel’s acolytes never stop asking: doesn’t Israel have the right to exist? My answer is, “Sure, what are its borders?” They are certainly not fixed, like the line, say, between Vermont and Quebec. Rather, they are described by Zionists as "to be negotiated." In fact, Israel is an expansionist state both by aspiration and by action. Since its founding in 1948, it has invaded and seized land from all of its neighbors. Those additions are populated by five million people who are afforded no rights by their occupier. Israeli writer Yitzak Laor put the situation this way:
"We are the masters. We work and travel. They can make their living by policing their own people. We drive on the highways. They must live across the hills. The hills are ours. So are the fences. We control the roads and the checkpoints and the borders. We control their electricity, their water, their milk, their oil, their wheat and their gasoline. If they protest peacefully we fire tear gas at them. If they throw stones, we fire bullets. If they launch a rocket, we destroy a house and its inhabitants. If they launch a missile, we destroy families, neighborhoods, streets, towns."
Over the four decades of its existence, Israel has used the often vicious and self-defeating resistance of its captives as an excuse to portray itself as a victim while making their lives all the more miserable. There is a plan to this. After the 1967 Six Day War in which the Israelis conquered parts of Syria, Egypt and Jordan, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan offered a suggestion to the welter of Arabs that had come under its rule. “You can live like dogs,” he said, “or you can leave.” That plan has not changed in the last 43 years. “The message,” says Yitzak Laor, “is always the same: leave or remain in subjugation under our military dictatorship. We are a democracy. We have decided democratically that you will live like dogs.”
Israel is a settler nation, redolent of the United States in the early 19th century. The U.S. was able to destroy its indigenous population and overrun a continent because its numbers were huge compared to theirs. Israel lacks such advantages. Its indigenous people are almost equal in number to its Jewish settlers. What’s more, Israel is surrounded by tens of millions of the kith and kin of those its seeks to eliminate as part of its expansionism. Most of the world’s Jews choose not to live in Israel, meaning there are not enough potential settlers to populate the lands seized. Immigration by gentiles would dilute the requisite Jewish nature of the state. Finally, demographics are on the side of the conquered, who are multiplying at a greater rate than the Israelis.
As a result, Israel has been unable to digest its gains. It was obliged to return the Sinai with its oil resources to secure a fitful peace with Egypt, its biggest neighbor. Unable to defeat a tenacious 22-year resistance, it finally retreated from the ten percent of Lebanon it had grabbed. In 2005, it ended its costly ground occupation of Gaza. Instead, it sealed the territory from the outside, turning it into what the president of Turkey calls an “open-air prison.” Rather than its troops kicking in doors, Israel relies for control on what it calls keeping the Gazans “on a diet.” In other words, starving them into submission.
Thus Israel cannot recreate Eretz Israel, and, worse, has increasing difficulty in holding on to the territories it has already seized. Most vexing of all, its Jewish population is riven by bitter differences between the Haredi (orthodox) and secular communities. So antagonistic are these groups that Israel’s housing minister has proposed their physical separation. This would mean double apartheid: that between Jews and Arabs and that between Jews themselves.
After a succession of increasingly hard right governments and wars characterized by over-the-top violence and ruthlessness, Israel has been been losing friends in the world. Even old allies like Turkey are dropping away. An important article by Peter Beinart, a conservative American Jew, bemoans the failure of the pro-Israel lobby to prevent the serious erosion, particularly among young American Jews, of unquestioning support for Israel. Like its now departed close ally and role model, the Union of South Africa, Israel is becoming increasingly isolated in the world. Who knows whether it will react by loosening up or digging in its heels? All we do know for sure is that the "dogs" are not going away.

Silly Little Comment

“Like millions of other Americans, I have always had a good impression of Paul McCartney and thought of him as a classy guy, but I was surprised and disappointed by the lack of grace and respect he displayed at the White House,” Boehner told HUMAN EVENTS. “I hope he'll apologize to the American people for his conduct which demeaned him, the White House and President Obama.”

That was a statement from John Boehner after Sir Paul McCartney played a concert at The White House and serenaded Michelle Obama with his classic "Michelle".

Paul was being feted for having his work incorporated inrto the Library of Congress and he in truly classic Beatlesque fashion remarked, “After the last eight years, it’s great to have a President who knows what a library is,”

Boehner is (yawn) outraged...perhaps he'll burn his Beatle records on the White House Lawn.

Meanwhile, here is Sir Paul with Wings in 1976 with what many people regard as his silliest song, but wait, what a killer band! What a classic bass line! Dig the huge Rickenbacker bass! 

McCartney created bass lines that had their own kinetic energy. He plays a lot of notes, but is there one note wasted? It's almost as if he creates an artificial life form....a true genius!

BOEHNER? WHAT COULD THIS HUMAN DOUCHEBAG KNOW ABOUT CLASS? JOHN BOEHNER, DO THE WORLD A FAVOR AND BURN YOUR FUCKING BEATLES ALBUMS ON THE WHITE HOUSE LAWN! WHAT AN INCREDIBLE DOPE! 

Nullus In Verba

I found this extremely interesting. A document from Sir Robert Boyle from the late 17th century which illuminates one of the most extraordinary minds of his age and asks for and predicts much of what we take for granted in the 21st century:

Boyle is best known for his Boyle's Law on the behaviour of gases. With the famed ''natural philosophers'' of the time, including Sir Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke, he aimed to uncover the secrets of the world through experimentation.

They first founded the ''Invisible College'' at Oxford University, referred to by Boyle as ''our philosophical college'', and then the Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge in 1660.

The society, which had the motto Nullus In Verba, meaning ''take nobody's word for it'', often produced lists dreamt up over long discussions in the coffee shops of 17th-century London.

Boyle's handwritten ''wish list'' was found in his personal papers, donated to the Royal Society on his death in 1691.

Keith Moore, the Royal Society's librarian, said these ideas were prophetic in the 17th century. ''This was an age that still believed in magic, which had just come out of the bloodiest civil war imaginable and was divided by religion [yet] this wish list is still relevant today.''

Robert Boyle's prophetic 'wish list'

''The Prolongation of Life'' - health improvements mean we are now living longer.

''The Recovery of Youth, or at least some of the Marks of it, as new Teeth, new Hair colour'd as in youth'' - Botox, plastic surgery, teeth-capping, hair dye, transplants.

''The Art of Flying'' - planes.

''The Art of Continuing long under water, and exercising functions freely'' - submarines and scuba gear.

''The Cure of Diseases at a distance or at least by Transplantation'' - transplants and keyhole surgery.

''The Emulating of Fish without Engines by Custome and Education'' - free diving.

''Strength and Agility … exemplify'd by that of Frantick Epileptick and Hystericall persons'' - steroids.

''The Acceleration of the Production of things out of Seed'' - GM crops.

''The making of Parabolicall and Hyperbolicall Glasses'' - spectacles and telescopes.

''Making Armor light and extremely hard'' - Kevlar.

''The practicable and certain way of finding Longitudes'' - satellite navigation.

''A ship to saile with All Winds'' - boats with engines.

''Perpetuall Light'' - bulbs.

''Varnishes perfumable by Rubbing'' - scratch-and-sniff.

''Transmutation of Species in Mineralls, Animals, and Vegetables'' - synthetic biology, genetic engineering

A Reminder

As the coservatives try to rewrite our recent history and dodge responsibility, just a reminder, you can run, but you can't hide......

Wild Orchid Post #1 2010

Over the last few years, in the spring, I usually post a few pictures of wild orchids of this area. I am intensely interested in the biology and the ecology and I keep discovering species that I have never seen before.,.

I was biking on Tuesday and I happened to see this beauty out of the side of my eye. I got home and looked it up and found it was a variety I had never seen before, in fact, it is pretty rare in this part of Europe. 

So today, I took off on my bike to try to find it with a camera.It was pretty hot today, about 87 farenheit...It was a 15 kilometer ride back to the location, but after a few minutes, I found the orchid.

Its common name is Orchs Verdatre, the latin name is Plantanthera chlorantha. It took me a little while to classify it because it is a variation of the more common type. The flowers are much bigger and white  than the common variety. The give away is the green tinted lower petal. which differentates it from the more common Plantatherea bifola.

I have some other pics I will post soon, including a pretty spectacular Orchis bouc, which is just beginning to bloom in my front garden...it just spontaeously appeared over my septic tank!

Higher And Higher

Jackie Wilson.....

This is dedicated to the brave people on the Irish Gaza Freedom Ship, The Rachel Corrie, in the Mediterrenean on it's way to Gaza as we speak.

The ship was named after the brave American young woman, protesting against the Israeli vilence against Palestinians, who was run over deliberately by an Israeli tank that she dared to stand in front of.

Architecture In Motion

About 3 years ago, Jazz visionary, Ornette Coleman premiered his first ballet, Architecture In Motion...

He was 77 at the time, he recently turned 80 and is still breaking the rules and creating new ones. One of my real heroes.

How The Russians Do It

 Day 42 of the leak.

Insane Problems Demand Insane Solutions!

Gaza Freedom Summer

They knew it was a dangerous situation, and they were shocked but not surprised when James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman were abducted and killed by the KKK as the project just got going. There were many other acts of quasi-official violence meted out to the volunteers, and while the organizers obviously would have preferred to have avoided all of that, they expected it and it was part of their strategy. The largely but not entirely unstated reasoning was that the country would continue to ignore massive violence directed towards the African-American community in Mississippi, but could and would not remain oblivious to similar violence directed towards young, white, middle-class college students from New York City and other metropolitan centers. This, indeed, proved the case. The violence directed at the Mississippi Freedom Summer shocked the conscience of the country and was among the numerous decisive moments in the civil rights movement that ultimately succeeded in dismantling the apparatus of formalized racism in the United States.

Like segregation in the American South, the siege of Gaza (and the entire Israeli occupation, for that matter) is a moral abomination that should be intolerable to anyone claiming progressive values. It’s sad that it should require the deaths of non-Palestinians to finally shake the international community from apathy and inaction, but, as with the tragic murders of Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner, if it contributes to ending the situation then that’s a positive outcome.

Unfortunately, the killings will also likely result in the strengthening of support for Hamas vis a vis more moderate Palestinian leaders, causing greater unrest, and stirring more violence.

But we going to see an increase in incidents like the one that occurred yesterday. The "activists" who engaged in this action are human rights heroes. They knew there would be some kind of confrontation. It's ridiculous to watch the Israelis try to cover up the identities of the "Freedom Boat Riders". They included Holocaust Survivors, The Ex American Ambassador to Malawi and a few high profile writers, including the most popular Scandanavian mystery writer, Henning Makell, who might have been one of the murdered.

The Israelis are playing the 6 Degrees of Separation from Ben Ladin by trying to claim that anyone who supports the Palestinian cause is a de facto Al Qaeda supporter.

As the Israeli wall of bluster crumbles, the Netanyahu is going to face more problems with  its popularity falling rapidly with the Israeli public. 

They met this flotilla with brute force, as did the sherrifs in Mississippi in 1964, but the Freedom Riders kept coming. The Freedom Boats are going to keep coming.It looks like the start of a long hot summer for Israel and they just lost round one.