does this make you feel "funny"?

Funerals

Today, I went to a funeral for an old friend, Robert Salinier, who was 87 and died on Friday morning.
He was a neighbor in the little hamlet I used to live in, Chaumont which is part of the Village of Ajat.
I live about 25 kilometers from there now and in the country, where most people live and die in the same house they were born in, 25 kilometers is another land. So, occasionally, I would visit friends in Ajat and sometimes over the last 8 years, we would get visits from l'Ajatois...

Meanwhile the children all got bigger and became teens and got married.  We keep in touch and have remained friends so it was a duty to our friends to go to Roberts funeral. The service was held in the little 11th century L'eglise de St. Barthelmy in the little village of Beauzens. A place up on the limestone Causse, in the scruffy truffle oak forest, where there was once a monastery, but now all that remains is the ancient pigeonnier, the little fortified romanesque church and piles of white limestone rocks.
It was a moving simple ceremony with about 80 people. At the end of the service, we all filed up and sprinkled the casket with holy water. One son played a solo jazz version of Summertime on the flute, another gave an elegy and two grand daughters read poems they wrote.
Then we all drove to the little cemetery in Ajat. 
After the funeral, we were all invited to the cousin, Oliviers guest house where we had a nice reception and the atmosphere turned into a grand reunion. We have been very close friends with the other cousin, Didier, who is now the mayor of Ajat. He is a strawberry farmer and his family, Les Clerjoux, also has been producing Fois Gras d'Oie for many years and their product has been rated tops year after year  in the major competitions. It was a chance to catch up on gossip and renew friendships. It was a fitting closure and doubly so because at virtually the same time Robert died in France, my wife's best friend of about 50 years, Suze Rotolo, died after a long battle with lung cancer in New York. We all suspect that the cancer was an effect from living at the epicenter of the fallout from 9/11. The wind roars up Broadway and she lived on Broadway in lower Manhattan. She told us as soon as she was diagnosed and swore us to secrecy. She needed to deal with this on her own terms. So we lived with the ups and downs, the progress and the decline, but Suze kept her great humor and brave spirit alive throughout.
Suze died at home, in the arms of her husband Enzo in their handmade loft in Greenwich Village.
There was no funeral in NYC, she wanted to be cremated quietly, but there will be a memorial service in a few months. It will be quite an occasion because Suze Rotolo touched a lot of people's lives. You might have seen here in Robert Scorcese's 2005 Bob Dylan documentary, No Direction Home. She was the woman with the fascinating hands, the story teller with the infectious laugh, a Queens accent with an hint of Italian.

Suze was a talented artist, she made books, delicate book like objects, she did things with paper. Without any degree she taught  "Book Art" at Parsons College for a few years. In the living room of their loft was television with a paper hand lettered sign taped over the screen that said "CONVERSATION".
he was an illustrator, a sometime activist, an erstwhile East Village Other slum goddess, a devoted wife, a proud mother, a poet's muse, a good comrade, and late in her too-short life, a published author. She was intensely private but as the radiant young woman on the cover of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, she became a legendary figure and even a generational icon. Just writing that I can hear her annoyed chortle--although she did humorously allow, after years of dodging rabid Dylanologists, that she was some sort of "artifact."

After years of living her life trying to escape the shadow of what she "The Elephant in The Room Of  My Life" her early relationship with Bob Dylan, she finally published her memoir after consulting her son, husband and everyone who might be involved in the written work. My wife served as her back up memory for the project via the internet. Suze and my wife ran away to Europe together and ended up living in Perugia, Italy. Suze stayed and eventually married Enzo, my wife ended up in Lyon, France....
The book, A Freewheelin' Time (subtitled "A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties" and prefaced with a Village street map) is essentially about her youth--how it felt to be a working-class red-diaper baby, the child of Italian-born anti-fascists living in Sunnyside Gardens, a teenager in love at the epicenter of the folk revival, an art student in Italy, a tourist of the revolution in Cuba, an off-off Broadway stagehand. The story is hers and so is the voice (no ghost writing allowed). She signs off with the words "we had something to say, not something to sell."
Suze was a woman of strong opinions and fierce standards (a demanding connoisseur of inexpensive table wine, a cook whose pasta was never less than perfect), but to be fair, Enzo made the pasta and I swear by his momma's recipe: 1 egg/100 grams of flour per person). She had no use for religion and deeply appreciated political theater--not just Brecht but the Billionaires for Bush, with whom she was affiliated during the 2004 election. She had a healthy sense of the absurd. She listened to jazz on WKCR and was delighted by her son's career as a musician and luthier. She thrived on spirited talk.  She was, to the very end, a person of enormous cheer. She might not physically be with us here anymore, but she will grow stronger  and always remain in our hearts.

This has gone viral....Ghadaffi Zenga Zenga rant

Techno version

The Ghost Of Tom Joad

I See France

I See France....

NIRVANA

Blue Butterfly

This was sent to me by someone posting as anonymous, but the flicker page is by someone named art2science. It was posted in a comment on the last Duchamp post I did and it is an amazing image and I would like to repost it and dedicate the image to my friend, the person who posted here under the tag SR who was great admirer of Marcel Duchmap as well. The image is based on Duchamps most famous painting, probably one of the most important pieces of modern art, Nude Descending A Staircase.

Duchamp would have approved.

SR died on Friday morning after a long brave battle with lung cancer. She was my wife's best friend for at least 50 years and made my life infinitely richer for the last 25 years. A true artist in all things she did.

I will write more about SR later...I already have in this blog, but, I want to let her family contact people who should know first.

How The Shit Flows Down From The Top...

The governor of Wisconsin likes to say he’s not out to bust unions, but a front group for 

his chief financiers. the Koch Brothers has a different line.

At a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this year, Scott Hagerstrom, the executive director of Americans for Prosperity in Michigan, publicly advocated taking unions out “at the knees,” clearly contradicting the public facade of anti-union legislation hitting statehouses nation-wide.

This video is from Think Progress, published Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011.

image stolen from Squatlo Rants
click on red type to read Squatio Rants!

Walker Loses The Cops!

Police Union announces solidarity with students, workers, and Wisconsin residents occupying the State Capitol in Madison. February 24, 2011.

"THIS ISN'T A UNION ISSUE, THIS IS A CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE!"

"MR. WALKER, LET ME TELL YOU WHO WE WORK FOR! "

Sort of brings to mind when the military started to support the protestors in Tarhir Square in Cairo., don't it?
Yesterday afternoon, hundreds of cops marched into the Wisconsin Capitol Building, where Wisconsinites have spent more than a week protesting their governor's plan to eliminate collective bargaining for most public employees. They were there to join the protest. You have to ask yourself, 

WHY WASN'T THIS STORY IN THE 

MAINSTREAM NEWS?

via The Understory

uhh, did the Gipper actually say this, or should we just blame it on the Alzheimers?
Haven't the teabaggers been touting Walker as their next Reagan?

Another One Of Those Days....

Madison,WI Police Chief Ray Would Like To Ask The Governor A Few Questions

Just a few little questions, sir, but....?
Madison, WI police chief Noble Wray has asked Governor Scott Walker to explain his statement to a phone prankster impersonating billionaire arch-conservative David Koch, in which Walker stated that he'd considered using provocateurs to create problems amongst the demonstrators in order to discredit the public service unions and their supporters. The chief wants to know why Walker would consider sowing public disorder for political gain. Via Channel 3000, Madison, WI.

Libyan Liberation Song

سوف نبقى هنا كي يزول الألم سوف نحيا هنا سوف يحلو النغم موطني موطني موطني ذا الإباء موطني موطني موطني يا أنا رغم كيد العدا رغم كل النقم سوف نسعى إلى أن تعم النعم سوف نرنو إلى رفع كل الهمم بالمسير للعلا ومناجاة القمم فلنقم كلنا بالدوا والقلم كلنا عطف على من يصارع السقم ولنواصل المسير نحو غاية أهم ونكون حقا خير امة بين الامم كم سهرنا من ليالى للصباح لا ننم كم عراقيل كسرنا كم حفظنا من رزم كم جسور قد عبرنا كم ذرفنا من حمم نبتغى صيد المعالى نبتغى راس الهرم

in english: We will stay here till the pain goes, we will live here the song will become beautiful

My country my country proudly  my country my country is me

......this what the prosteers are singning.....

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)

Just about the only  aid organization allowed on the ground in Libya and they really need donations!

Click on the red link!


Al Jazeera English Live Blog Here!

Italian Lesson #23,764

pier paolo pasolini - uccellacci e uccellini 

- music by enrico morricone 1966

waddaya mean no shingle mens? heesh my essshcort!

And Whither Doth The FOX Spinnith Now?

By Now, Everyone has seen and heard the prank call by Ian Murphy, The Editor in Chief of Buffalo Beast to Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin in which he pretended to be right wing billionaire, David Koch. In case you haven't and would like to, here is the entire 20 minute call. Here is a link to Murphy's interview last night on "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell in which he discusses the prank ands makes some interesting comments about the Governor, who seems to have incriminated himself in a couple of ethics issues and now, The Ex Attorney General of Wisconsin is recommending that he be prosecuted,  as well as bald facely revealing his strategy to trick the Democrats. I wanted to embed the video, but I had some technical problems so please view the interview.




This clip is from FOX News, today. Shepard Smith, the host of a show on the conservative-leaning Fox News Channel, says the motive of Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker and his allies is to bust unions, not balance the budget.  You have to ask, which way are they spinning today?

Accepting things is a way of finding peace.

Marcel Duchamp

Ignore Him

"You thought you could play with Anonymous. You observed our rising notoriety and thought you would exploit our paradigm for your own gain," said the group in a press release.
"When Anonymous says we support free speech, we mean it. We count Beatrice Hall among our Anonymous forebears: 'I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.' "
That was the response to members of Pastor Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church who claim to have discovered the underlying purpose of the Internet: using it "to tell this nation & this world that your destruction draws nigh."
While it was unclear what they thought of other priceless online frivolities, such as lolcats or Something Awful, but there's one online entity in particular has tweaked the "God Hates Fags" people, and they made their feelings clear in a media advisory posted to their website.
"GOD HATES FAGS & LOUSY 'HACKERS!'" they declared, apparently responding to a missive from protest group "Anonymous," which was well known for becoming a persistent antagonist to another group of religious fanatics: the Church of Scientology.

"The only reason the Internet exists is for Westboro Baptist Church to tell this nation & this world that your destruction draws nigh."

Phelps's bizarre press release was issued in response to a letter published to AnonNews.org, an unofficial, uncensored channel for members to post details relevant to their forthcoming actions.


"Cease & and desist your protest campaign in the year 2011, return to your homes in Kansas, & close your public Web sites," the first "Anonymous" letter demanded. "Should you ignore this warning, you will meet with the vicious retaliatory arm of ANONYMOUS: We will target your public Websites, and the propaganda & detestable doctrine that you promote will be eradicated; the damage incurred will be irreversible, and neither your institution nor your congregation will ever be able to fully recover.


The response from Phelps was an even more rare public tantrum, claiming that the Anonymous was the result of the lack of spankings and proper parental and religious discipline. Westboro Spokeswoman, Shirley Lynn Phelps Roper appeared on The David Packman Show and suggested that go would punish the "cowardly"members of Anonymous, adding that some people know the identities of those participating in the group. This generation doesn't talk about spanking children, in fact, they don't," Phelps-Roper explained. "That's why we have groups like Anonymous running around. Just connect these dots."


Members of 'Anonymous' have suggested that the campaign launched against the Westboro Baptist Church was a trap and not in line with the free speech philosophy of the group.
"They make all their money from suing people who fight back, so they're just waiting for IPs to sue," a press release on AnonNews.org stated. "I have a bad feeling that it's all a trap, made by them so they can get some money and attention.
What I find most fascinating about Anonymous is the hive intelligence. It is, to me, evidence of a new stage of intellectual evolution. A hybrid human cyber assisted organism, beyond what we would call anarchy, this is the dawn of a new intelligence. The process by which Anonymous arrives at it's focus of action is a collective cyber hive mentality. They thought they should make Phelps a target, then through the collective deliberations, in a matter of hours, they arrived at the proper response...IGNORE HIM!
And Anonymous is correct!


Fred Phelps does not believe what he is doing. This is a scam.

It's a business. They travel the country, set up websites telling you exactly when they'll be there, and using the most inflammatory statements all over the place, just to get someone to violate their rights for profit. Then they sue the military, the police force that was to protect them, and everyone that is around them for money. This is a sham, and it is a trap to get people sued. Every member of his family is an attorney. Phelps does not break the law. What he does is try to make you break the law by trying to punch your sensibilities about everything you hold dear, and then sue you and everyone municipality around him to the max.
This is a scam.
Whether he believes his posters or not is irrelevant.
He's using this as a moneymaking scheme.
Lay one finger on him, do one thing that violates him, and he will sue you, and more importantly, the city, the police department, the US Military, and any private property owner he happens to be standing on to make money off of it.
Let's look at the ways he's trying to get you up in a tizzy to violate his civil rights for profit:


He says God Hates Fags, God hates the US Govt., that God hates the US Military, God Hates you, and God justifies the killing of others.
Phelps knows that saying 'God' and 'Hate' in the same sentence gets people worked up. He knows that. He knows that people have a knee jerk reaction to that.


He says that the US Govt. and the United States are evil.
This is another hot button with people who love their country. It is intentional. It is designed to make you take a swing at him. He wants $50,000 from you. He wants a Powerball winner to swing at him so he gets 100 million dollars. It's that simple.


He goes after homosexuals, he goes after people who are making sacrifices. Phelps intentionally targets people that are being victimized, or good people doing their jobs to create more outrage. He kicks people when they're down. He does that so someone will come up and defend them. Then he will sue you.


His boards are laminated on hardwood, because he pulls them out of trucks at least five times a week. He also puts them in bright colors for attention, and makes absolutely sure that you can read them at all time. He's phishing you. Everyone must know that.


The most telling tale about all of Phelp's behavior is the schedule he keeps, and the company he keeps as well. The parties sometimes split up and go to two separate state funerals to maximize the profitability of them. There are, at maximum, twelve members to the party. They never stay more than thirty minutes (I assume they realize that someone will do something to them the MOMENT they come out of the vans, and really, after that, they get their camera shots to cause the outrage for the next stop, and then they move on) to maximize their profits, because time is money, and really, they're not interested in the message, because they're just interested in the lawsuit.
See? They don't believe this stuff. If they did, they wouldn't have come to Coretta Scott King's funeral. Because in their doctrine, they don't believe that god hates black people who tried to promote Christianity. So why were they there? They were there to make a buck when someone slipped up. They were there to petition the police department for a right to protest, and if they didn't get it, take them to court over it.
Basically, Phelps is playing the Ken Lay, Karl Rove, "Smartest Man in the Room" game where he is willing to do anything (if it be lying or stealing, or telling you God hates you) to make himself rich and powerful. This is his scheme, and admittedly, it's clever, but just downright evil to promote so much hatred in the world.
Tell all your friends about this.
This man is a con artist, and he's not a man of religion whatsoever.
After all, he makes everyone around him a lawyer.
That should tell you right now he is not anything.


Ignore Him, PLEASE!...That is his most fitting punishment....

French Lesson #20,676

Where are the toilets, please?

In the corridor, on the left, follow the flies......

Louis deFunes 1976, L'aile ou la cuisse.....

Governor Walker Accidentally Sees The Dawn
And Joins The Sy Sperling Comatose Ex-Dictators Club
Hair Club For Men...

OSCAR

"True friends stab you in the front."

"Some cause happiness wherever they go;
 others, whenever they go."

Official Head Of The G-Mens Wimmin' Haters Uterus Squad

I have a hard enough time lookin' at this guys picture without imagining him standing in back of me, breathing through his mouth and mumbling to himself, in line at a Wall Marts with a tote basket full of froze fish sticks. I believe that I would be very nervous.

This is the esteemed pooty obsessed Republican Georgia State Representative, Robert (Bobby) Franklin. He already has sponsored legislation that would classify abortions as "murder", and to change the language of criminal complaints by woman who report rapes so as to not cast aspersions on the character of the alleged rapist....
Two weeks ago, Bobby said that repealing DADT was the same as allowing drug dealers to join the military. Franklin has also sponsored a bill requiring Georgia to transact all its business in gold and silver coins, as is stipulated by the Constitution.

His latest foray into his fervid fantasy land of wimmins private parts is that police will have to investigate all miscarriages to ensure that they were "spontaneous." Here's the complete bill. Via Daily Kos:

Franklin wants to create a Uterus Police to investigate miscarriages, and requires that any time a miscarriage occurs, whether in a hospital or without medical assistance, it must be reported and a fetal death certificate issued. If the cause of death is unknown, it must be investigated. If the woman can't tell how it happened, than those Uterus Police can ask family members and friends how it happened. Hospitals are required to keep records of anyone who has a spontaneous abortion and report it. Yup, we've been waiting for someone to suggest this--and Franklin has. Needless to say, there are no exceptions allowed. Not for rape victims. Not for incest victims. Not to save the life and health of the mother (the fetus must get equal care).

Where to next, Oh Bobby?

by the way....

Foreign Policy: FAIL!

The Execution by Firing Squad of The Failed Emperor Maximilian I
of Mexico in The Cerro de Campanas, 1867
Harpers Magazine Illustration

In case you hadn't been paying attention to other news in the Western Hemisphere lately, there is a serious diplomatic row going on between France and Mexico. The basic story is about a 36 year old French citizen, Florence Cassez who was convicted in a Mexican court for complicity in drug and arms trafficking, and kidnapping. She was involved with a member of the Mexican drug cartel, Zodiac. There is a lot of controversy as to her actual involvement in the crimes, but she was arrested as part of the gang and tried.

She received a sentence on multiple counts for approximately 80 years in a Mexican prison.

Do I believe that Florence, a very pretty woman who seems to have been a tragically drawn into a mess of her own making, is actually guilty? I could not say.

The sentence is beyond the scope any sentence that would have been handed down by a European Union Member Court and The mini-Hyper President of France who is failing miserably in all polls has made this one of his personal PR Missions. He claims that Florence should be at least transferred to a French prison and sentenced under French justice and that Mexico is bound by treaties to honor the Strasbourg accord. There is a lot that could have been done diplomatically, behind the scenes, that might have actually accomplished this, but in his quest to pump some stale air into his historically lousy ratings, he has created a personally managed debacle. 

He publicly demanded, emotionally on National Television with Florence's parents standing behind him that Mexico release Florence to France immediately. Florence and her lawyers were horrified at his attempt to intimidate the Mexican government which immediately derailed any behind the scenes negotiations and forced the Mexicans to harden their stance.

This year was to be a year of International Cultural Unity between Mexico and France. Millions of dollars had been spent in preparation and the entire schedule looks to be derailed and even more so, both countries are on the verge of breaking off relations.

The Hyper President has often been compared to Napoleon III, in his incompetent micromanaging style that is bluster and invariably produces dire results. He is supposed to be the President of the G-20 and no one is paying him any attention. The Frenchman who is getting the attention at the G-20 and here in France is Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the present and very successful president of the IMF. Strauss-Kahn is a Socialist, by the way and will most likely be the next president of France.

Why is the comparison to Napoleon III so damaging to Sarko? Why does Mexico resent the attempts of the French president to bully Mexican justice and humiliate them internationally?

Perhaps this is another example of not paying attention to history and not understanding the culture of the  people you are trying to deal with.

Maximilian of Austria was suspected of being the bastard son of Louis Napoleon and the Austrian Princess Sophie. During the American Civil War, Napoleon III  invaded Mexico to establish it as part of the French Empire.  He offered a crown with a group of Mexican Monarchists to Max who accepted it in 1864 and became Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico without realizing the tenuous ground he was treading on. He was deposed in 1867 and executed by a firing squad in Mexico City and Mexico has never forgotten.

Libya's New Flag

Follow the dramatic heroic uprising of the Libyan People against the regime of Ghadafy here at
The Guardian's Live Blog, 
updated every minute with videos and live reports.

People climb up flag poles in front of a building purported to be the
internal security headquarters in Benghazi, Libya

and now, let's do something... uhhh...different

Much More Duchamp, Even....

The Virgin #1, Marcel Duchmap, 1916

This was the first "schematic" that led to the never quite finished large glass work by Marcel Duchamp, The Bride Stripped Bare BY Her Bachelors, Even. I am giving you a link top the best Duchampian essay  I have ever read on line. The piece, Fasten Your Seatbelts As We Prepare For Our Nude Descending by author, Edward D. Powers, gives a fairly concise history of the development of Duchamp's intellectual deconstruction of the idea of Art over the course of his entire life. I enjoyed it immensely and will be going back to it again and again.

...Duchamp is an even more anti-historic being than I. -- Salvador Dalí

...whether you're anti or for, it's two sides of the same thing. 

And I would like to be completely... nonexistent. -- Marcel Duchamp

The Right Fight, The Right Time!

Look for the Union Label, 1978 Television Ad

So now, the rabid conservative commentators are telling us that it is un American to Support the Union Protestors in Wisconsin and Ohio and next in New Jersey. The Governor of Wisconsin's principle financiers are the Koch Brothers, the ultra right wing anti union oil tycoons who have financed the Tea Baggery Movement as well. 
In fact, Koch Industries has savagely slashed jobs in Wisconsin while awarding themselves an extra  11 billion dollar of income from their coal company with 4 major facilities,  six timber plants and a huge network of pipelines, all in the State of Wisconsin. They are the major force in the Pro-Walker Protests being organized for media purposes in Madison.

To support American Workers and their rights to organize once was considered patriotic. We bought Union Made Products made by American Union Members in America. Now, because it is more profitable to the corporations to outsource to foreign companies, they are pushing the message that Unions are UN AMERICAN and using the language of the early 20th century that they used to try to suppress Unions.

The rights and the existence of the middle class are now deemed debatable and must be jettisoned because they threaten the profits of the wealthiest. That is American? That is the conservative illogical propaganda which the population is being hammered with.
More over, this is the issue that Scott Walker has built his career on in Wisconsin, 
BUSTING UNIONS!
And he sees it as his launching pad for his future political ambitions.

Sarah (The Biggest Loser) Palin, issued one of the most hypocritical statements of her increasingly bizarre career..which was read by one of the counter demonstrators in Madison yesterday “Union brothers and sisters, this is the wrong fight at the wrong time.”

Sarah,  you have demonstrated over and over again that these people aren't your "brothers and sisters". You have picked the wrong side to be on in 

The Right Fight, At The Right Time! The Time Is NOW!

Madison, February 19, 2011

It's your internet

The Chess Players

The Chess Players, Marcel Duchamp, 1911

Duchamp gave up on canvas painting quite early on in his career, unsatisfied with what he termed “retinal art". 

“The first man to compare the cheeks of a young woman to a rose was obviously a poet; the first to repeat it was possibly an idiot.

When Duchamp understood that he had generously sown the wind with his youthful ideas until he had no more, he aristocratically stopped his “game” and announced prophetically that other young men would specialize in the process of contemporary art.

Then he played chess itself.”

— Salvador Dalí, from Dialogues with Marcel Duchamp, by Pierre Cabanne

Ball Of Confusion....

It's rare that you can look at a current moment in time and recognize it for the historical significance it holds. 2011 is turning out to be the Year of the Protest, as people all over the world take to the streets, demanding fairness, equality and civil rights.

Bahrain

Libya

We watch the Middle Eastern Countries like Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Yemen and Libya, who have never really experienced a true democracy, try to shake off decades of post colonial military dictatorships. They never went through the fledgling democracy state.
Today, a primarily youthful, educated and technically hip populace can accomplish more in a few weeks than it would have taken decades to accomplish only a few years ago.
America, on the other hand has a fierce tradition of independence and and an almost mythological reverence for the concept of Freedom. We fought hard for our rights to organize and form labor unions. We created a Social Security System that became the model for the rest of the world. We the People paid into it, created it and now the corporate  interests want to control it and earn profits from it that they do not deserve.
It has been an bloody uphill struggle, but the people were usually ultimately victorious.
That is why, today, in 2011, as the rest of the world struggles to discover how to create a free society, the current struggle in the American State Capitols, Madison and today, Columbus,  against the concerted effort to destroy these hard earned rights and preserve our free society is so crucial. This is happening in conservative governments all over the world. After the financial institutions wreaked havoc on the words economy, it gave the Right the leverage of fear it needed to manipulate itself into power. Their solution is almost universal. And it's not a solution, it's a bald excuse for short term massive profit to be gained by selling off national assets, gutting social programs and taxing those who can least afford it while rewarding the very forces which caused the problems.

Madison

For many people,this is a defining moment in American politics and the Republican Governors Conference has picked the fight. It is interesting to compare the rhetoric coming from the conservative media regarding the protestors in the State Capitols over proposed restraints on the State Workers Unions power to strike and negotiate with the stance of Mubarak when he was first faced with protests in Tarhir Square in Cairo.


Beck Characterizes Union Protests As "Riots" And "Uprisings." On the February 16 edition of his radio show, Glenn Beck stated of union protests: "You are about to see this president start embracing the uprisings in this country. You are going to see him embrace the teachers unions and all of the unions that are marching on the streets." Beck later characterized the protests as "riots in the streets." [Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Program, 2/16/11]
Beck Cites WI Protests To Claim That "Evil [Is] Spreading Around The Globe." On the February 16 edition of his Fox News show, Beck stated that protests in Madison, WI, as well as in the Middle East and Mexico are part of "evil spreading around the globe." [Fox News' Glenn Beck, 2/16/11]
Malkin: Protesters "Stormed" Capitol For Demonstration; Teachers Used Students As "Kiddie Human Shields." In a February 16 post about protests in Wisconsin, Michelle Malkin wrote that the SEIU "and its allies stormed in for a sleepover protest" at the state Capitol building. She later wrote of teachers staging a protest: "Kiddie human shields become kiddie sacrificial lambs." In a later post, Malkin called the protesters "union thugs." [MichelleMalkin.com, 2/16/11, 2/16/11]
Malkin On Fox: Protesters Engaging In "Thuggery." On February 17, Malkin took her attacks on the union protesters to Fox & Friends, stating, "If this brave Republican governor can stand up to the immense amount of power and thuggery, essentially, by these unions, it bodes very well for other states." [Fox News' Fox & Friends, 2/17/11]
FBN's Byrnes: Protests Could "Borderline ... Get Violent." On the February 16 edition of Fox Business' Varney & Co., Tracy Byrnes stated that protests in Wisconsin are "actually, borderline gonna get violent, it sounds like." Byrnes later stated, "I for one hope they lose. I hope they lose. I hope they stick their ground and the unions lose in the end." [Fox Business' Varney & Co., 2/16/11]
Obenshain: Wisconsin Teacher Protests Are "Reminiscent Of Greece." On the February 16 edition of Fox News' Hannity, Republican strategist Kate Obenshain stated: "We see something that's going on, say, in Wisconsin, where they have the rallies for the teachers, where teachers are yanking kids out of the classrooms and calling in sick -- totally lying - which is reminiscent of Greece and England." [Fox News' Hannity, 2/16/11]
RedState: "Leftist Union Bosses Also Know They May Be Losing Their Grip On Taxpayers' Throats And They Are Desperate To Keep It There." A February 17 post on RedState discussed the union protests in Wisconsin, as well as others in Ohio and Indiana, and stated: "As labor activists strategize for 'class war,' Leftist union bosses also know they may be losing their grip on taxpayers' throats and they are desperate to keep it there. They're not going to let go easily either." [RedState.com, 2/17/11]
It's not the armed forces that the Conservative corporate interests are counting on to enforce their strategy. It is the manipulation and complacency of public opinion in the media. As in Egypt and now Libya the most powerful violence agains the protestors came from the ignorant manipulated masses.
It is vital that we try our very best to get the real message out to as many people as possible in the most efficient way we can. Most people have their comfort and future as their guiding lights but are easily confused and manipulated as to where their best interests lay. There is a small hardcore of fanatics who will never even try to understand...

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Ball Of Confusion, The Temptations, 1970....

Don't Look Beck....

This graphic via Chris Placek. All of the sponsors who have dropped Ben Gleck in the last year.

Murdoch has been supporting him without sponsors in the UK for 2 years now...

Who's licking whose asshole?

How High The Moon?

I had to post this after seeing it! Jeff Beck has been one of my all time favorite guitarists for 45 or so years. He just finally won a few Grammy Awards and is about to release a new record and a tour with the Irish singer Imelda May. He always acknowledged Les Paul as his main influence and after Les died at the age of 94 in 2009, Jeff started to perform some of Les' music. Here he is with Imelda May at the Les Paul 95th Birthday Tribute performing How High The Moon. Les would have been proud!

Les played at the Iridium Club across from Lincoln Center for years every Monday night. I saw him there a few times, but the Monday night tradition started years earlier at Fat Tuesdays on 2nd Avenue. I saw Les there a few times as well. 

I can' wait to get ahold of Jeff's soon to be released recording, Rock And Roll Party. He kicks off a tour with Imelda May in April.  

Detroit Will PAY You To Take One Of These 100 Abandoned Homes

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing is trying to save his city by offering lucrative incentives back into abandoned neighborhoods.

One program offers $150,000 in housing renovation money and requiring only $1,000 down to police officers who are willing to relocate to the city. Another offers college graduates $2,500 to rent and $20,000 forgivable loan to buy properties.

Potential home buyers can choose from plenty of cheap or free homes, especially in the blighted neighborhoods of Woodward Ave. and Brush Park.

If I was say, 30 years younger and I hadn't made some of the choices I have made with my life at this point in time, I could find the prospect of the Brave New Urban and cultural landscape of Detroit very alluring.  I actually lived in the Woodward Ave. and Brush Park area for a few years in a decaying, but still luxurious house. The architecture is as unique and historically important as any cities  late 19th and early 20th century urban design. Check out this article and the gallery of pictures! Some are fairly harrowing, but many are the stuff of fantasies.