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.

Corporations Are People, Too....

In the controversial Supreme Court Ruling on Freedom of Speech, corporations were judged to have the same rights as individuals. Since, we are now granting corporations the same rights and privileges that we the people of the United States enjoy, then is stands to reason that they should be bound by the same standards that apply to all of us.

Now, I do not support or defend the death penalty, but there are 37 states which currently have a death penalty and all of the Gulf Coast States engage in the practice of Capital Punishment.

Texas seems to dole out capitol punishment on the level of entertainment for the masses. There are 37 inmates on death row in Louisiana. It's a matter of money, of course, racial and class politics.

You could be liable for the death penalty for example in Texas if you were driving a car and say, your friend in the front seat asks you to stop at a 7/11 and wait while he goes in and decides to rob it...and kills the clerk. You could find out later on the news what happened, but you still could be liable for the death penalty just on the off chance tht you might have known something about what your friend was planning and you could have prevented it. 

Now say, through your negligence and deliberate manipulation of information, you caused  a catastrophic accident which destroys the lives of millions of people and an ecological nightmare that will forever change the Gulf of Mexico.

You'd have to hire an army of pretty slick lawyers to get you off and as an individual, you'd probably fail. After all if you were responsible for an incident that was beyond the imagination of any decent terrorist organization, the public would demand a scapegoat.

Now, we're hearing all kinds of stories that indicate that BP executives, managers, regulators and engineers either knew or had serious concerns that the Deepwater Horizon rig was at risk for an explosion.

And what else have we seen? A "Three Little Pigs" memo where BP makes it clear it's cheaper to pay long-shot damages than to make the rig safe. Memos where engineers warned of danger. Interviews with BP employees who talked about how the safety tests were rigged.

Think how much it would do to clean up corporate corruption if employees could say to their managers, "I could get the death penalty for covering that up -- and so could you." Imagine if they were required BY LAW to report their bosses for telling them to cut corners on high-risk products because it was cheaper - or risk being tried if something goes wrong.

Talk about (finally) being held accountable. Wouldn't you love to see it happen?

In China, when executives are found to have manufactured items that are killing people -- well, at least they have the good grace to kill themselves. We can't count on that; we don't have enough healthy shame left in this country.

But after all,  aren't corporations people now, too.?

What Can Israel Be Thinking?

This video went up on YouTube 45 minutes ago. It documents lst night's attack by the Israeli Navy on the Relief Flotilla bringing a symbolic 10,000 tons of humanitarian supplies to the Gaza Strip which has been blockaded by the Israelis. The Israelis claim that they allow 15,000 tons of relief materials into Gaza each week, but this is hardly a drop in the bucket.

The attack on the peaceful flotilla sunk one boat and left 16 people dead. The Israelis claim they were attacked when they tried to board. The videos now being released by Al Jazeera show the force the Israelis used in their boarding attempt.

The protesters say the only force they planned to use was peaceful resistance and to try to block entrance into the steering room and the engine room.

You will hear more about this today, I am sure, lots of spin as Netenyahu prepares for his visit to Washington later this week, but make no mistake, this was a massacre, another tragically wrong choice by Israel.

What was Israel thinking? Even if stopping the ships was the mission, killing 16 people in the process is a complete PR disaster.

Update: The death toll has gone to 19 or 20, depending on the reportage with at least 30 wounded. The Israelis are being condemned internationally and mounting a very aggressive defense. Could this be a turning point?

For the latest updates, click here.

Les Orties

Yes, I'm sure we've all had an experience from time to time with the plants in the picture.

The burning tingle of nettles is something we eventually get used to if we work in a garden or do landscaping. These are some nice specimens by my pond. 

There are many species of nettles, these are European stinging nettles. I seem to remember the nettles in Northwestern Ohio as having rounder leaves, but the same sting.

The sting can be extremely dangerous in some tropical and Australian species of Urtica. It is caused by a mix of irritants and toxins delivered by hairs, like tiny hypodermics. 

Here in the Dordogne, old people claim that nettles or ortie can relief the pain of arthritis and you can develop a resistance to them over time. I believe this, as my personal discomfort from touching them seems to be diminshing. 

They spread by seeds and develop very deep and intricate root systems. The roots are yellow and very hard to eradicate if you've ever tried, you know what I mean.

But, what seems to be a curse is actually a blessing. 

Nettles are one of the most useful garden plants. They can eliminate the need for commercial fertilizers and insecticides. This is ancient knowlege, but now, it is being systematically proven.

A horiculturalist, Jean-Francois Lyphout near here has been championing the use of Ortie Slurry for years and one of the major local strawberry farmers has turned his entire operation into an organic hydroponic system with raised beds and uses ortie as his major fertilizer. This was a big gamble, but in the last few years, it has really paid off.

The strawberry farmer, Didier Clerjoux is also using Comfrey slurry and a Fern slurry.

The Nettles should be cut before they go to flower and broken and crushed. The crushed orties are steeped in water. The water turns deep green from the chlorophyl. Ideally, the water should be filtered and kept in dark sealed bottle sfor long tuerm use.

It is pretty powerful stuff and can burn sensitive plants, but I have never had this experience. When the slurry is kept in a bucket too long, it starts to really stink, so it is important to filter it, the stink doesn't develop if it is filtered. Do not store the finished ortie liquid in metal containers! I use plastic liter water bottles and keep them in the barn in the dark.

This year, for the first time, I put crushed ortie in the holes I planted my tomato plants in. So far, the plants look great, but it's very early in the season for me to tell you jhow much better they are. 

The slurry is rich in nitrogen and can be used to occasionally water plants and when it is sprayed on, it makes the plants resistant to diseases and insects like mites and aphids.

In Europe, the nettle is traditionally a food source. The sting disappears after cooking.

The ortie is high in protein and very high in vitamin C and Phosphorus.

We make ortie soup occasionally by boiling the ortie leaves in a little chicken broth, then making a puree in the processor and adding a little cream. When made this way, the soup tastes a like advocado. 

We have been using ortie for years on flowing plants, but this is the first time I have really started to use it in our vegetable garden. 

Recently, I aquired some comfrey plants which are another very powerful "green manure" source as well as having many other medicinal uses. They are very attractive, and they don't have a sting...

I used to wage a war against the Nettles on my property, of course all I have to do is go to road side and their are fields of them, all for me and my raspberries!

For Heavens Sake, Don't Make The Republicans Mad...

I would like to preface my post by reiterating my my sincere belief that nuclear energy is not the answer to mankinds problems...it is the simple solution that is in fact a dead end.

Nuclear weaponry makes life on this planet a precarious entity. There is still no realistic long term solution for the use and disposal of the waste products of nuclear energy. It remains a destructive and suicidial gift for the future generations on our planet. But insane problems demand insane solutions!

We have entered an age of unreal disasters and ecology of The Gulf of Mexico has been destroyed and as the oil spill and the inept and obscene attempts of BP to disperse it cosmetically with chemical disperssants, the ocean is taking the plume of destruction into the Florida keys and soon we will be seeing the effects reaching the Atlantic seaboard of the United States. This is not a local problem, this is a global disaster with far reaching consequences. The Gulf has been ecologically altered forever.

British Petroleum has been allowed to act as an independant entity. They have tried to control the information and the reaction to the oil leak as if they were an independant  soveriegn state. Due to the special relationship that was estalished under the Cheney energy management policies, they have engaged the use of Whakenhut, the poor mans "Blackwater", the guys who brought you the Afghani Hazing scandals last year, to enforce theri media black out.

Plan Nine From Outer Space, the "TOP KILL" latest last resort has failed. BP is begging fopr understanding and patience. Time has run out. Now we discover that there is another, potentially bigger plume of oil that they have been hiding.

If BP chosses to act as an independant sovereign entity, ti is time for us to start treating them as a rogue terrorist state. After all, the disaster they have enabled by trying to protect their "investment" is beyond the imagination of any decent terrorist organization.

Let's face it, what ever Barack Obama does, it will make Republican mad. Doing nothing? Republicans are mad! Doing something? Republicans mad. Fuck the Republicans!

It is time for heroic action. It is time to seize control and definitively seal the well. Then we can get on to other business like prosecuting BP and Halliburton and making them cough up every penny in their coffers to eradicate the mess...which, no matter how much money is spent, will never be eradicated...this was THE BIG ONE!

I stand with the scientists who say that destroying the well with high explosives, effectively permanantley sealing it is the only way to go here. BP has to be supressed, they have no more opinions, they have had their last word...GOODBYE! GET LOST!

WE ARE GOING TO NUKE YOUR WELL IF THAT IS WHAT IT TAKES!

Insane problems demand insane solutions..............

Publish Post

Freedonia Goes To War!

In the most tragic sense, sometimes, I can see the making of a nightmarish futuristic version of the Marx Brothers Movie,  Duck Soup based on the Presidency of Geroge Bush Jr. In fact the night that the Iraq war started after we marched in the huge demonstration in Paris, we consoled ourselves by watching Duck Soup....

The true empty and inane idiocy of George Bush's grasp of reality comes to full bloom in this excerpt from Oliver Stone’s new documentary South of the Border, which interviews several left-wing leaders of Latin American countries. It includes a startling new allegation from Argentina’s former president Néstor Kirchner. During his interview with Stone, Kirchner said he once discussed global economic problems with former President George W. Bush. The former Argentine president says that when he suggested a new Marshall Plan, referring to the WW II-era European reconstruction plan, Bush “got angry” and suggested that “the Marshall Plan is a crazy idea of the Democrats.” Instead, Kirchner says, Bush suggested that “the best way to revitalize the economy is war”:

KIRCHNER: I said that a solution for the problems right now, I told Bush, is a Marshall Plan. And he got angry. He said the Marshall Plan is a crazy idea of the Democrats. He said the best way to revitalize the economy is war. And that the United States has grown stronger with war.
STONE: War, he said that?
KIRCHNER: He said that. Those were his exact words.
STONE: Is he suggesting that South America go to war?
KIRCHNER: Well, he was talking about the United States: ‘The Democrats had been wrong. All of the economic growth of the United States has been encouraged by wars.’ He said it very clearly.

Watch it:

It is worth noting that despite the prosecution of two major wars, there was very minimal net job growth during Bush’s tenure as president. And of course, he bequeathed an economy that suffered massive job losses in his wake.

Suggested Responses

It doesn't really make up for the problems and the response to date, but this is a start and as it becomes clear that this is the biggest environmental disaster in United States History,  the biggest part of the problem of mounting a real response was the continuing level of dishonesty and  spin control by British Petroleum as they tried feverishly to  "protect their investment".  On this blog I have repeatedly demanded that the well be destroyed immediately. BP has acted so irresponsibly and with such arrogantly tantamount greed, that I would not be surprised if they tried to claim that the oil that is cleaned off of the beaches is their "property".

He strode into the East Room to mount a robust defense of his handling of the largest oil spill in American history, reassuring the nation that he was in charge and would do “whatever is necessary” to stop and clean up the BP leak in the Gulf of Mexico. But by the time he walked out an hour later, he had balanced that with a fairly unusual presidential self-critique.

He was wrong, he said, to assume that oil companies were prepared for the worst as he tried to expand offshore drilling. His team did not move with “sufficient urgency” to reform regulation of the industry. In dealing with BP, his administration “should have pushed them sooner” to provide images of the leak, and “it took too long for us” to measure the size of the spill.

“In case you’re wondering who’s responsible, I take responsibility,” Mr. Obama said as he concluded the news conference. “It is my job to make sure that everything is done to shut this down. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. It doesn’t mean it’s going to happen right away or the way I’d like it to happen. It doesn’t mean that we’re not going to make mistakes. But there shouldn’t be any confusion here. The federal government is fully engaged, and I’m fully engaged."

Jeff Zelaney of the NY Times commented on Barack Obama's press conference yesterday:

... it remains an open question whether the measured tone that has become the soundtrack of Mr. Obama's presidency -- a detached, calm, observational pitch -- served to drive the point home that he is sufficiently enraged by the fury in the Gulf Coast.

At least he resisted the urge to compare Obama to Spock.

... Kevin Drum watched the CNN coverage, and saw the various on-air personalities "solemnly advising us one after one that Obama really needed to be more emotional because that's what the American people want." ...

Hey, the press has a point -- there are a lot of other things Obama could do besides calmly demonstrating a grasp of the situation. He could:

* loudly and melodramatically suspend the entire federal government, demanding a combined legislative/executive branch summit to deal with the problem, at which he'll prove to be thoroughly unprepared.

* put up a bunch of Facebook posts with lots of capital letters and exclamation points.

*break down and cry.

Any one of those approaches would make the oil dissipate faster -- right?

The Diane Linkletter Story

A short experimental improvised film made in 1969 by Baltimore, MD filmaker, John Waters, starring Divine as Diane and David Lochary and Mary Vivian Pierce as Art and his wife Barbara Linkletter.

Somehow, today, this film seemed so appropriate.
UPDATE: Sorry to say, John Waters yanked the film from YouTube. It was posted only yesterday. Too bad, it was buried for years and now this bizarre and hilarious piece of work goes back to dusty obscurity. Big Mistake, Mr. Waters!

She Demons

Finally rain! Lots of heat, and suddenly too dry. I had to call on the arcane and mysterious powers of

The She Demons to drum up some rain! It worked like a charm!
Dig that thunder!

The Comedy Harmonists

A few years ago, a friend gave me a cd compilation of the Pre WW2 German singing group, The Comedy Harmonists. The Comedy Harmonists were immensely popular and able with their close harmony ensemble style to let the various members drift in and out as the lead voice. They were able to convey the effect of a small orchestra and usually worked with only a piano accompaniment.

The last concert by the original group was in 1934. Three of the members were Jewish and another had a Jewish wife. As the Nazis enforced their anti Jewish laws, first, they were not allowed to perform any compositions by Jewish composers and then it became harder and harder for them to perform any where in Germany, in spite of their popularity.

Finally the group disbanded, the Jewish members made it to the States and the others tried to regroup under the name, Das Miestersextette as they were not allowed to use

foreign language words during the Nazi rule.

A little too much like the crackdown on school teachers with foreign sounding accents

occuring today in Arizona.