The 2 Levels of Conservative Insanity

All they need to be real GOP Reps are cute little suicide bomber belts!

And what was it all for? What did the Tea Party zealots get in return? As far as I can tell, "Obamacare" emerges intact and spending remains as it would've been if none of this occurred. It's pretty much status quo, business as usual. On the surface, the Tea Party got nothing, but in actuality what they got was unprecedented media attention, the likes of which is worth many millions of dollars. Through Sen. Cruz, they held the country hostage, shutting down the government and risking national default, all so that they could garner some free publicity. Like cheap, two-bit shysters. These are U-S-A patriots? This is country first??
So things get pushed off till February, when we undoubtedly will have to go through this crap all over again. Will this become the norm for how government will operate in the future? Every six months, we'll go through this nonsense to see if the government (and national parks, etc.) will remain open and the country won't default on its debt? If so, then rating agencies should lower our credit rating! Talk about third world!
Assuming this unfortunately becomes the norm, I recommend ignoring the media and following the stock market when it comes to gleaning the most likely outcome. During this past ordeal, the market held up well through it all, indicating much of it was idiotic showboating and correctly looking past the inane shenanigans. In general, investors collectively are not stupid.
As for Republicans, they have only themselves to blame. Carve up a bunch of districts through gerrymandering to successfully elect a bunch of what would normally be unelectable candidates, i.e. lunatics -- you get what you deserve. Inmates are definitely running the asylum.
The much greater tragedy is we as a country get screwed in the process. At least Reagan was shrewd enough to just pretend to care, to throw the nutballs some symbolic morsels they could chew on yet never letting them gain enough voice to wield actual power. Somewhere the former president is shaking his head, saying "You idiots!" (and, "Enough with renaming so many post offices after me!!"). 

This ugly episode hasn't resolved the tensions within the GOP and the conservative movement—it has exacerbated them. Here is Post mortem diagnostic list of quotes from key players which illustrate the levels of severity of the mental condition infecting the Conservative Movement. This obviously is not going to end soon...

Level One: Jest A Half Bubble Off Center, or,THE WE-TOLD-YOU-SO ESTABLISHMENT

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.): "We're not going to go through the shutdown again. People have been too traumatized by it. There's too much damage…We're not going to shut down the government again. I guarantee it."

Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.): "This party is going nuts."

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.): "For the party, this is a moment of self-evaluation, we are going to assess how we got here…If we continue down this path, we are really going to hurt the Republican Party long-term."

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.): "On our side of the aisle, we've wasted two months focused on something that was never going to happen. I won't say that I did, but a number of folks did. What we could have been doing all this time is focused on those mandatory changes that all of us know our country needs, and we’ve blown that opportunity. I hate to say it.”

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.): Called Republicans advocating for the shutdown "lemmings with suicide vests…They have to be more than just a lemming. Because jumping to your death is not enough."

Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Penn.): On his long-held belief that the government shutdown wouldn't work: "I was correct in my analysis, and I'd say a lot of those folks were not correct in theirs."

Karl Rove: "Barack Obama set the trap. Some congressional Republicans walked into it. As a result, the president is stronger, the GOP is weaker, and Obamacare is marginally more popular. The battles over spending, taxes, and debt have not been resolved, only postponed. It's time Republicans remembered that bad tactics produce bad outcomes."

Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.): "All you need to do is look about 200 miles south of here to see the mess that Republicans and Democrats have made of our national government and we should haul all their rear-ends to Camden today to see how bipartisanship works and government works together."

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah): "Heritage used to be the conservative organization helping Republicans and helping conservatives and helping us to be able to have the best intellectual conservative ideas…Right now, I think it's in danger of losing its clout and its power around Washington, DC."

Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.): "The reality is there's a much larger population within our caucus that recognizes reality for what it is."
* * *
Level 2: As my Dear Aunt Ruthie would have said, "Is this funny, ha ha,  or is this funny, Boo Hoo?" or,THE WE-WILL-RISE-AGAIN REBELS

Rep. John Fleming (R-La.): Said that the agreement will "get us into Round 2. See, we're going to start this all over again.”

Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho): "I'm more upset with my Republican conference, to be honest with you…If anybody should be kicked out, it's probably those Republicans—and not Speaker Boehner—who are unwilling to keep the promises they made to American people."

Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kans.): "I would say the surrender caucus is the whiner caucus, and all they do is whine about the battle, as if they thought being elected to Washington was going to be an easy job."

Erick Erickson, editor in chief of RedState: "We must advance. Two Republicans in the Senate caused this fight that their colleagues would have surrendered on more quickly but for them. Imagine a Senate filled with more. We have an opportunity to replace Mitch McConnell in Kentucky with a better conservative. We should do that…as more Americans watch Obamacare fail them through the Republican primary season, conservatives will be able to put the focus on Republicans who funded Obamacare instead of fighting it. Whether they like it or not, Republicans in Congress will find their names on ballots in 2014. They cannot hide or escape fate."

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.): "Absolutely, I think [the shutdown and debt ceiling fight were] worth it! It's been worth it because what we did is we fought the right fight."

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.): "My No Obamacare Exemption for Washington language has been blocked out by Harry Reid, Barrack Obama and others who want to keep their special subsidy. But it's not going away and neither am I."

Americans for Prosperity: "Our activists are more engaged than ever in this fight, and we intend to hold politicians accountable for their promise to stop overspending."

Michael Needham, Heritage Action for America president: "I admire what the House has done in the last couple weeks. It's unfortunate that the Senate hasn't been responsive to the American people…and really has undercut the House throughout the last two weeks."

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas): Called the agreement "a bad deal," and when asked whether Congress would be back in the same situation in a few months, he didn't hesitate: "Yes."

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah): "The media keeps asking, was it worth it? My answer is that it is always worth it to do the right thing. Fighting against an abusive government in defense of protecting our individual rights and freedoms is always the right thing…In Washington, victories are rarely immediate and very few are permanent. Obamacare wasn't enacted overnight and it won't be repealed overnight. We must remind the American people of the harmful effects of this law at every opportunity."

Matt Kibbe, FreedomWorks president and CEO: "Republican leadership has completely lost its way. Not only is this proposal a full surrender—it's a complete surrender with presents for the Democrats."

The Tea Party Patriots: "The Senate deal is a complete sellout. Speaker Boehner and the House should stand firm and reject this deal to reign [sic] in the Executive branch's power before it is too late…The House 'Leadership' must stop playing 'flinch' with themselves, and instead, play hardball with the White House, the Senate, and the House."

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas): "The American people rose up and spoke with an overwhelming voice and at least at this stage Washington isn't listening to them…But this battle will continue."

Maybe the real answer for the Level 2 Loonies would be to just take 'em out back of the barn and shoot 'em...but that's not nice. So sign this new Move On Petition, I did! Arrest and Try House Leadership for Sedition! Yeee Hah!

Prototype

Outkast/2003/Speakerboxxxx

Andre 3000

Reality Cam...out side my kitchen window now! 4:35 pm CET!
Little green tree frogs like it here!

The Bottom Line Behind The Current Budget Crisis
....and you know it's true!

I'm ever so much fun at parties...

Prepare Thyself To Deal With A Miracle

The Inflated Tear, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, 1967, Prague.

Kirk was not one of us. He had powers and abilities beyond those of mere mortal men. A brilliant composer, an real musical innovator...he could be a one man horn section, play three saxophones, two flutes at the same time and he had mastered the Yogic technique of circular breathing. He could inhale and exhale at the same time which gave him the ability to record the longest sax solo ever made by a human with out pausing for a breath...one 25 minute+ side of the three record set, Prepare Thyself To Deal With A Miracle. Here is a cut from that recording:

Cavern

This has been in my head all morning!  I knew the bassist Richard McGuire and saw the dub/punk influenced duo Liquid Liquid many times in NYC....the 1981 track, Cavern was ripped off for the Melle Mel, Grandmaster Flash hip hop rap hit, White Lines. The original label, 99 Records took SugarHill to court and finally won the unauthorized sampling use case which kind of put SugarHill out of business....The video from 1983 was groundbreaking. Bassist McGuire and Drummer, Scott Hartely are still performing today as Liquid Liquid. Truly timeless stuff!

A Grand Old American Tradition

A few of the flags at the October Vet Protest March which was turned into a photo op by Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin to protest the closing of the Veterans Memorial caused by their TeaBrained shutdown of the government. They tried to reap some kind of PR coup by using the manipulative tactic of the inherent racism of their base to deflect the reality of what they did. The planted themselves at the head of the protestors confronting the police to somehow take advantage of the blind anger over what they themselves created. Sarah, ever the publicity whore never turned down a photo op...the girls desperate for any press as a starving tiger shark in a tuna tank.  As Cruz dementedly stated, he was only doing god's work. That's the level of this debate. Please pay attention to the Confederate flags. Here's a video of the event...

So, Sarah and Ted had a Tea Party march on the White House to protest the GOP shutdown of the federal government (which Palin supported and the Tea Party orchestrated), several of the Palin Tea Partyers were carrying Confederate flags, while others yelled a racist slur at the White House cops, and a speaker at the event accused the President of being a Muslim. "Mr. Obama, put down your Koran and come out with your hands up" We're not racists...just keep repeating this mantra...HA HAHHHHH!

In the spirit of racist extremists storming Washington, I invite you to step into my Wayback Machine and experience the 1928 Ku Klux Klan march on Washington. Being naive and hateful and proud of it in spite of the illogic of going against your own best interests is truly a grand old American tradition.

The Infernal Cauldron
George Melies
1903

Now You Know You Got To Go!

I've read some fascinating articles on the brain and neurology. Some of these particular pieces sound more like science fiction rather than science:

Quasi mind control as signals from one man’s brain causing another man to move his finger.

Brain-eating amebas; and Growing tiny versions of human proto-brains.

Some amazing information, and all too true.  Even though they may sound far-fetched, most of us probably realized that, with current research techniques, they are possible. We will surely build on this research in the future. Whether those future outcomes are great (brain repair using cloned neural tissue) or horrific (motor or mind control) remains to be seen. However, when I read a few articles describing this next research proposal – head transplants – I thought it was pure science fantasy.

Injury to neural tissue is difficult to repair. Nerves can be fragile things. We’ve seen people who have had traumatic injuries, or neurologic diseases, of the spinal cord who have been paralyzed. An example of the former is the late Christopher Reeve, who sustained spinal cord damage as the result of a fall. The latter is exemplified by Stephen Hawking, who has Amyotophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease). Both were almost completely paralyzed as a result.

What happens when neurological tissue is damaged? Many things that are far beyond the scope of this article. But, briefly, a few of the mechanisms are: immediate damage to the neurons, that can be deadly to them either immediately or over time, swelling, decreased blood supply, bleeding into the damaged tissue, release of neurotransmitters, damage from free radicals and scarring. All of those make repair very difficult.

Treatment includes stabilizing the area to prevent additional movement, surgery to decompress the area, remove debris and blood from the area and other treatments. Speed is of the essence, some studies show better outcomes when the area is treated quickly after the injury.

Experiments have shown that if the spinal cord is severed surgically (i.e., very precisely and cleanly) it can be reunited and the cells are able to regenerate better, to a degree. Additional research has focused on preventing scarring and enhancing the neurons’ ability to repair themselves.

Some of the early spinal cord work was done in the 1970s and 1980s. But the techniques available didn’t produce very good results in experimental animals. However, there have been some major changes since then.

Reapproximating the cut areas of the cord precisely, using microsurgical and other techniques, and the use of medications and chemicals, have started to produce impressive results. So much so that a neurosurgeon did a paper on the possibility of human head transplantation.

Sounds like science fiction. But so were kidney transplants until the 1950s. So was most heart surgery till the heart-lung bypass pump was developed.

Animal head transplants have been done for over 40+ years

Many people do not realize that animal head transplants have been done for over 40 years. Sometimes the donor head is connected to the recipient’s body. Other times the recipient’s head is removed and the donor head implanted. The first produces a two-headed animal. Reportedly, a number of two-headed dogs were produced. Both heads could breathe and eat. But the dogs died in less than a month because of rejection issues with the transplanted head.

Similar experiments were done in monkeys, but the monkey’s own head was removed and the donor head attached, producing a one-headed animal. Again, these animals only lived a short time, but the heads did function. One of the transplanted monkey’s heads even tried to bite the researchers.

These experimental animals were sacrificed after a few days. If not, the animals would have probably died from rejection. Remember, though, that much more is now known about tissue compatibility matching, the phenomenon of rejection and snit-rejection drugs, than was available in the 1970s and 1980s.

The author of this article is neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero. He’s written in detail about just how the surgery would need to be carried out, and the details behind preparation of the patients, surgical teams, operating rooms, technology and other factors. The paper has been published in a peer-reviewed journal and is available, online, for free. It’s worth reading, however it is really technical and detailed at times.

I am an not a real doctor, but I play one on Television, I’m not a neurosurgeon, but I find this fascinating as a source of speculative material for my own projective fiction.  Quite often reality is light years ahead of your imagination and you have to research ideas to know where to go next.  I think that Canavero's article is very well thought out and the planning seems good. We may not ever know if it would work until it is attempted.

Aside from the technical issues, which are many, it raises a number of other interesting and difficult questions.

Is it even ethical to attempt a human head transplant? Some of the problems were highlighted in the Blaxploitation sci fi film with Rosie Greer and Ray Milland, The Thing With Two Heads....needless to say, this was Ray Millands final cinematic effort.

In reality, today, the cost of a surgical procedure like this would be millions of dollars (after the construction of special operating rooms, obtaining necessary equipment, training surgeons and staff, etc.). Would it ever be worth is to spend that much money to save one life? If “yes,” who would qualify? How would we prioritize?

Would this lead to black market surgery for those who could afford it to have a chance at quasi-immortality? A black market in “recipient” bodies who are procured because of histocompatibility to the oncoming head transplant?

Does the chimera produced have the identity of the “body,” the identity of the “head,” both, or is it an entirely new person? Would the two brains continue to function independently? What if they didn't get along?  Maybe the head of the donor body would have to be rendered unconscious during the transplant graft acceptance period. Maybe it would be be very interesting to record the conversations and the interaction between the two heads....Would they share dreams?

Does its new family consist of both of the previous beings’ families? If it has children, are they legally part of the biologic parent (i.e., from his reproductive cells) or the cerebral parent (who directed the procreative act), both, or is it the child of a new person? (Genetically, they’d be the children of the body-parent, not the head-parent. But what about legally?)

I don’t know the answers. Perhaps they aren’t answerable, no transplant like this has ever been attempted. But as with any untried,  seemingly perfect futuristic solution to a problem...Hey what could go wrong?

Do you have any thoughts about these issues? Are there even other problems that must be addressed?

La Belle et La Bete

I just saw this film again after almost 45 years. It's been totally restored. Absolutely amazing!

Scorpion And Frog Part #2 The Wrong Brain

In my last post about the budget fiasco, I cited the fable of the Scorpion and the Frog...but it's much uglier, The Republican Party has unwittingly created and unleashed an idiot Frankenstein Monster that they cannot control. The monster exists only to create short term profits for the corporate elite and long term misery and class warfare for the rest of the world. Let me try to explain:
In business “bad profits” are short-term gains at the expense of a business’ long-term viability. For example, soaking your loyal customers might bring you some increase in short-term profits but the customers won’t remain loyal, and your future market share will decrease. Cutbacks in service, quality, and overall value drive future customers away.
Bad profits are what you get when you use tricks to bring a quick boost to quarterly profits, paid back with trouble later. With a bad-profit approach a company might get a short-term gain, but loses the future. *
For the Republican Party, this is that future. For the giant corporations that funded the worst elements of the right, this is that future.
Many businesses have been gaining bad financial and political profits by funding the conservative movement and its corruption machine. They put money into right-wing “think tanks” and the other anti-government, anti-law, anti-democracy outfits. They did this because it purchased a Party that gave them tax breaks, favors of various kinds and monopolistic deregulation, boosting their profits. But these were bad profits.
To keep the votes coming they encouraged the worst kind of ignorant, racist, superstitious, reactionary thinking. It worked, it got them the votes that got them the tax cuts and the capital gains breaks and the deregulation and the rest. But it also “dumbed down” their constituents — now too many actually believe that tax cuts increase revenues, cutting government helps the economy, and other nonsense. (Never mind climate denial and the coming consequences.)
Now the consequences of this “dumbing down” of the Republican base are coming home to roost. By financing the right these companies ate the seed corn of democracy that enabled their prosperity in the first place. Now the Frankenstein’s monster they created opposes funding infrastructure and R&D and courts even economic statistics. (And immigration, health care, disaster relief…)
They have shut down the whole damn thing. They have shut down the prosperity engine. They have killed the golden goose. And they are on the edge of shutting down the whole world’s economy.

* Actually the “they” who make bad profits get big bonuses or big stock payouts and move on, but the company suffers. It is very important to see the difference between the people who do the bad things and make fortunes doing so, and the company that suffers from those things. A company is not a sentient being that makes decisions, people do that. And particular people do that. Bob in Accounts Receivable and Bev in Sales didn’t make the decisions or get the bonus but it is their job that goes away when the bad profit scheme catches up to the company. Just like how the citizens haven’t been making the decisions for the country but it is their economy and democracy that has been wrecked while the billionaires can fly away in their jets to their private islands.

The Mantra

Every Tea Brain in America feels they can enunciate each bigoted turd that floats to the top of the tea filled septic tank sitting on top of their shoulders, as long as they preface or qualify the statement with some sort of simpy version of "I'm not a racist, but...." or for example:
Joe Wurzelbacher, the phony everyman fake plumber and full time scam artist used by John McCain in the 2008 presidential campaign, has a new post on his website, "America needs a white Republican president."
"Admit it. You want a white Republican president again. Now before you start feeling like you're a racist, understand you are not. Wanting a white Republican president doesn't make you racist, it just makes you American."

Well, If I have to listen to that stupid mantra, they can listen to mine! 

If you will kindly just step into the Wayback machine, Sherman.....

Chateau Vieux Chevrol

I haven't had much time to post this week. A lot of catch up but, little by little, I am getting more material from the Vendange 2013 at Chateau Vieux Chevrol. I ran across this video made about 3 years ago about Chateau Vieux Chevrol, in Neac, France where I have worked since 2002. It is located in the Lalande de Pomerol region, situated about 8 kilometers east of Libourne, between the Pomerol and the St. Emilion regions. Yes, it is in French, but that's the language we speak here. It is an interview with the owner, Jean-Pierre Champseix, who passionately explains the art, technique and tradition of the way wine is made at Vieux Chevrol. I am very grateful for Jean-Pierre's patience in explaining and attempting to educate me in the tradition and letting me be a part of it. This is a place where traditional methods rule. There is no flavor but the grapes themselves and the natural aging in oak casks. To have the appellation, Lalande de Pomerol, the vines are not fertilized, or irrigated. It is the conditions of each year that dictate the nature of the grapes. It is the variations in the  of the earth itself in the various parcels of land of the Chateau that create the flavor. The two grape varieties used are Merlot and Cabernet. I participate in l'empamprage, the spring trimming and cleanup of the vines and remove all the excess buds. Later in the mid summer I work for a few weeks on what is called, Le Vendange Vert, where we remove the excess foliage and bunches of grapes so each plant has the optimal conditions to produce healthy fruit. Other Chateaux have compromised and modernized.  In fact Vieux Chevrol has made a major investment in it's future with a new state of the art "cave" with a temperature regulation system to maintain perfect conditions for the initial fermentation, but the cultivation and harvesting is all by hand. It is, as Jean-Pierre says in the video, his revenge! I really enjoy the Vendange, the harvest. I always make new friends. We are a group of 25 people, French, Dutch, Moroccan, occasionally English and always one sole American, me. I am the best damn American porter in France! I am so happy to be able to easily do this work. The best thing is after I finish, I always feel so much healthier than when I started! I love being outside all the time. Here's a few pictures and videos of the Vendange 2013, good friends, good food, good times and pride in our hard work!

The dawn view facing North of the Vieux Chevrol vines

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go at 8 am.....

Grape Pickers In Action

A very interesting place, the highest hill in the area, a place called La Montagne
Where there are medieval windmills which have been restored using the original
7 varieties of wood for the different parts of the machinery.

The perfect place for an apero on an early autumn night.
That's me, microdot, Stef, the other blues brother and Celine.

The last day, after a torrential storm. I christened that particular puddle,
Lake Stanley....don't ask...we worked 10 hours in the mud that day.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself and can't wait to do it again!

Here's a little video of the inside of the new cave. The pressed grapes are emptied into the stainless steel fermentation tanks for the initial fermentation. The tanks are kept at a steady temperature by a monitored system which controls the temperature with pipes of hot or cold water. The water is drawn from a well over 30 meters deep under the cave. When the wine reaches the proper alcohol and sugar level, it is then put into oak casks and aged for almost a year before it is bottled. The young man working in the video is Michel Champseix who I have known since he was 7 years old. I hope I am able to continue to do this for many years to come!

One more video, my friend Mohamed who is one of the full time employees at Vieux Chevrol. He is a master of all he surveys!

Frog and Scorpion

We've all heard the fable of Frog and the Scorpion where both animals need to cross the river, and the scorpion suggests it catch a ride on the frog’s back. The frog, understandably, says “no way, you’re going to sting me halfway through and I’m going to drown.” The scorpion responds, reassuringly, “don’t be silly, if I sting you halfway through, then we both drown.”
So, won over by the incontrovertible scorpion logic, the frog carries his deadly adversary across the river, and midway through – what happens? – the scorpion stings the frog.

As they both start to drown, the frog asks the scorpion, “why did you sting me?”
The scorpion replies, “I had no choice, it’s in my nature.
There are scorpions among us. They sit in Congress, committed not to solving problems, but blocking solutions.
They would take the food out of the mouths of children. They would put the insurance companies back in charge of health care. They would shut the government down, refuse to pay the nation’s bills, destroy the trust that other countries place in us when they buy our bonds, they would do all this rather than give President Obama the slimmest of political victories.
Why? It is their nature.
I am not talking about the entire Republican Party. I actually have friends who I respect who claim to still be Republicans and try to deal with clearing their pond of the scum, but more and more, it is a Herculean task, like cleaning the Augean Stables. In the myth, Hercules had to divert a river to flush out the stables to clean out the filth.... No, I am talking about a faction of far-right, tea party-driven congressmen who do not care who drowns.
They don’t have real alternate plans to help people. They weren’t, they believe, elected to help people. They were elected, they believe, to keep the other side from helping people.
The thing is, Newt Gingrich didn’t care who drowned either. Republicans all the way back to the early 1990s didn’t care who drowned. And the scorpions go all the way back to the advent of the modern religious right, and the early 1980s. The Tea Party is only the latest scorpion of indifference to visit the GOP.
Now, that doesn’t mean that things haven’t gotten particularly worse the last few years. I think they have. In addition to being indifferent – and I’d argue antagonistic – to the suffering of others, the fringe controlling the GOP has now gotten a bit crazy to boot.
The Republican party is a coalition built on hate, intolerance, indifference, and lies. It not only doesn’t exist to compromise, but as Simon notes, the GOP doesn’t exist to help people period – Simon says he’s talking about the Tea Party fringe, and not the entire GOP, but what’s the difference? The extremist tail is wagging the political dog, and it has been for thirty years.
What’s worse, as the GOP is not a party built on truth, or even reality – the age of the earth being 6,000 years, and climate change being a lie worthy of Hitler, come to mind – they see no cost to their lack of cooperation. If they default on the national debt, cut food stamps $40 billion, repeal Obamacare, none of it will make any difference because to them none of it is real.
We’re dealing with people who hate government, in all its forms. They infect their base with their hate and use racism, the fear of a black president to enable the hate. How many of the Gomerts, The Trumps  The Palins etc. etc...really believe their birther nonsense?
And they don’t particularly like people either.
So not only do they not believe that the world is going to come crashing down if they default on the national debt or cut programs for seniors. But they also don’t particularly care if it does.

Aucun commentaire....

Repeat This 10,000 Times!

Here it is, the microdot workout program for 2013! It's simple, just carry 40 pounds of grapes on your back for at least 8 hours a day and walk about 25 kilometers a day, then perform this simple easy motion! I can do it right or left handed...and then you don't have to even think about dieting, in fact the more you eat, the better! 

Don't Worry About The Government

Well, I'm back, earlier than I thought, but let's just say, yesterday is now just a bad dream that ended very nicely. Almost 10 hours of carrying literally tons of grapes on my skinny little back through the very special clay that turns into boot sucking mud after the torrential downpour the Libourne region experienced Friday evening. I love it. I will post some photos and a video in the next few days so we can all share my masochistic ecstasy. 

I got back here this morning and am slowly catching up with reality...And perhaps this is the perfect song...The Talking Heads. 1978? Don't Worry About The Government, and don't you worry about meeeeeeeee!

Last Of The Merlot

It's that time of the year again...things get a little complicated and I have to be on call for the moment the grapes at Chateau Vieux Chevrol start to ripen. It was a very strange year and the latest it's ever been. I leave Sunday afternoon to journey back to the middle ages in the little village of Neac, France to carry tons of grapes on my back for approximately 2 weeks. So, I will be out of touch with the 21st century....I do have a little multi band radio...but that's it....a bientot, mes chere amis!

I don't know...I had this free plastic coated cardboard record that I got in an issue of MAD Magazine in 1963 for years...and I was reading about the current state of the disorganized debacle that is calling itself the Republican Party and it made me want to hear this again.....

One of the select cuts from the classick, Fink Along With Mad!

Spawn Of Cthulthlu

I have been a fan of H.P.Lovecraft from my early adolescence. My passion for other sci fi and fantasy authors came and went, but the obscene fascination and obsession of Lovecraft's work defined his genius. I did quite a few drawings and paintings inspired by the obsessive analogic voyages into the depths of our collective terror which Lovecraft was so brilliantly able to bring to to physical reality through his art. (The illustration for this piece is a white Conte pencil on black archival rag paper piece I did almost 30 years ago, inspired by Lovecraft...)  I also had trouble dealing with seafood in general for years after reading Lovecrafts work, but happily, today, that is behind me....
Here is something I've believed about Lovecraft, which has been largely ignored by his devoted readers. Lovecraft's work was actually very prophetic and politically significant. From the early 1920's Lovecraft was virtually the only writer to envision a rapidly approaching time when one person or a small cabal would have the power to destroy humanity. Nuclear science made this a reality militarily within ten years of his death, but advances in communication and propaganda technology, coupled with the concentration of previously inconceivable wealth in the hands of a few, have now made it possible politically.
Over the last half century, and with ever increasing intensity, the Republican party has set about creating in the United States a cadre of living zombies, people filled with rage and hunger, and immune to any kind of introspection or critical thinking. Like any Lovecraft villain, the leaders of the Republican party were absolutely sure they could put down this army of the mentally undead whenever it suited their purpose. And like all Lovecraft villains, they were wrong.
We have seen a long succession of leaders now, who have nothing in the world to offer except their willingness to pander to the mindless, voracious minions they have created, telling themselves at every step that they are in control and that the minions will do whatever suits the interest of their betters. Palin, Bachmann, Ryan, both Pauls, Gohmert, Alan West, and now perhaps the most vicious of them all, Ted Cruz, who openly states that he believes the entire Senate should consist of 100 people like the unrepentant race hater and corupt corporate tool, Jesse Helms.
Today, we are confronting an ugly reality- similar to, for example, the one faced by Weimar Germany in the 1920's- it is far easier to destroy democracy than it is to create it. The hordes of ignorant, greedy, hate-filled intellectual zombies the Republicans deliberately called up out of the swamps of American dysfunction are now running things, and those oh, so wise grifters like Gingrich, Boehner and McConnell are now helpless captives on a runaway train, with disaster the only conceivable future.
Now, this disaster may be only days away. Paul Krugman (as usual):

"...at the moment, it seems highly likely that the Republican Party will refuse to fund the government, forcing a shutdown at the beginning of next month, unless President Obama dismantles the health reform that is the signature achievement of his presidency. Republican leaders realize that this is a bad idea, but, until recently, their notion of preaching moderation was to urge party radicals not to hold America hostage over the federal budget so they could wait a few weeks and hold it hostage over the debt ceiling instead. Now they’ve given up even on that delaying tactic. The latest news is that John Boehner, the speaker of the House, has abandoned his efforts to craft a face-saving climbdown on the budget, which means that we’re all set for shutdown, possibly followed by debt crisis."
And a very real likelihood of a collapse of the world economy. Here's some more Krugman:
"...this story is all about the G.O.P. First came the southern strategy, in which the Republican elite cynically exploited racial backlash to promote economic goals, mainly low taxes for rich people and deregulation. Over time, this gradually morphed into what we might call the crazy strategy, in which the elite turned to exploiting the paranoia that has always been a factor in American politics — Hillary killed Vince Foster! Obama was born in Kenya! Death panels! — to promote the same goals.
But now we’re in a third stage, where the elite has lost control of the Frankenstein-like monster it created."
Frankenstein's monster, only because he didn't think of comparing it to its real literary equivalent: Cthulhu- a single entity with the capacity to destroy all humanity. Krugman suggests that the momentum behind this apocalyptic fit of destruction is now inevitable- the Republican party we have today is, against all rational self interest, intent on pulling the house down around them. Well, I guess that is what I believe too. At this point, as I said recently, they may as well get on with it and do all the damage they can, and then we can either exterminate them like the vermin they are and get on with repairing the damage, or we will succumb to their violence and irrationality, and the United States of America will vanish from the world like Rome, Assyria, Babylon and so many other great civilizations that exist today only as vague dreams of a distant glory.

Arthur Russell

An American artist who truly was his own genre. Arthur Russell, 1951-1992.

A multi instrumentalist, but many of his most moving works were simply him accompanying himself with his cello. He invented styles. He composed orchestral pieces, wrote and performed rock. He was very influential in the birth of the club music scene in Lower Manhattan. He was very instrumental in encouraging bands like The Modern Lovers and The Talking Heads, who he recorded with. He even worked with Bootsy Collins and Gerry Harrison. 

This name of this piece is, This Is How We Walk On The Moon.

There is no such thing as"still life"

Have It Their Way

Chief talking Fucktard, The Koch Brothers funded Reason Magazine Vice President of Policy, Adrian Moore on yesterday's Thom Hartmann Show explains why 70% of public opinion supporting raising California'a minimum wage to $10 and hour is a faulty democratic process. It's faulty simply because he' paid not to like it. He's just another overpaid whore.
The conversation started out discussing California's proposal to raise the minimum wage, and devolved into this:
MOORE: But, why should every job pay enough to live on? The whole idea of a diverse economy is that there are many, many, many jobs on which you can make a living, and there are many jobs which are not intended -- they're at the bottom of the scale -- they're not jobs you're supposed to be able to live on.
HARTMANN: Every job should make enough to live on, because every human being is worth living.
MOORE: No. When you're unskilled, you should not expect to be able to make a living off of your ordinary day's labor.
This of course is what the Koch Brothers and ALEC want...an American third world population of cheap expendable labor with out the means to obtain education which would then give them the tools to earn the wages they would have to struggle to obtain to live on anyway. Remember, this is what they are doing to Detroit and they want to do it to you! A nation of underpaid fast food workers who can't even afford to have it their way...
If only the same could be said for overpaid, bloviating propagandists who are making their living keeping the rubes squabbling amongst themselves, while their billionaire buddies laugh all the way to the bank. As my dear little wife would say, "Schlack, Poom!" 

Schlack, Poom!

"The general population doesn’t know what’s happening, and it doesn’t even know that it doesn’t know."

Noam Chomsky

Your Voice For Evil

And of course, this is what Fox had to say about this today. It's not about guns, gun control or the lack of medical and psychiatric care in America... it's all about video games! 

Tragically, This Is Truly About America....

Dr. Janis Orlowski is the chief medical officer at MedStar Washington Hospital, where many of the victims of yesterday's shooting were taken. Speaking to the press afterwards, Dr. Orlowski spoke not only of the number of patients, but what she saw as a disease in our society that allows these tragedies to occur far too often.
Via Mediaite:
"There's something evil in our society that we as Americans have to work to try and eradicate," Orlowski said after decrying what she called "senseless trauma."
"There's something wrong here when we have these multiple shootings, these multiple injuries," she continued. "There is something wrong."
"I would like you to put my trauma center out of business," Orlowski added. "I really would. I would like to not be an expert on gunshots and not to be an expert on this."
"It's a great city. It's a great country, and we have to work together to get rid of this," she concluded. "Because we just cannot have, you know, one more shooting with, you know, so many people killed."
She ended her remarks by saying "Let's end this. This is not America."
Oh, but this is truly about America. The violently dysfunctional America of today, where gun manufacturers' proxy, the NRA, cheers every time some crazy lunatic shouts liberty and offs ten or fifteen people while leaving a bunch more injured in their wake. These are the same people who fearmonger over the Boston bombers while shirking their own responsibility for the violence left in the wake of their devotees' fetishlike obsession with weapons of human destruction.
Yes, I'm afraid this is America.This is truly about America.  The America brainwashed into blaming this on a black president. The America bought and paid for by Koch Brothers, ALEC and the NRA. Brain damaged imbeciles arming themselves because they have to paranoiacally defend themselves from each and every other armed paranoiac imbecile.The America the NRA built, and one they'll cling to as long as the last man standing is armed.

ORGANIZE!

Urban Terrorism 9/11/13

There was a blackout in Detroit, Michigan on September 11th this year, but the reason for it seems to depend on who you ask.
Via Addicting Info:
"If you ever had any doubt that Michigan has been taken over by a group of dangerous, radical extremists, what happened in Detroit on September 11th, 2013 should be enough to wake you up. There were several things significant about September 11th, 2013. Not only was it the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Center, but the state of Michigan was also experiencing an unseasonal heat wave. In the city of Detroit, power outages left people stranded in elevators, trapped four hours in the blistering heat. Hundreds were evacuated from buildings in the downtown area, traffic lights did not function, public transportation was disabled and 1,400 sites across the city were without power. Wayne State University and other key buildings still remained closed, the following day. All of this after the city’s power supply supposedly failed.
The Frank Murphy Hall of Justice, a twelve story building that conducts the city’s criminal proceedings was shut down and the building was evacuated. Earlier in the week, a prisoner had stabbed a Wayne County Deputy, before fleeing from the building. A manhunt followed, with authorities searching for the escaped prisoner for several long hours, before finally apprehending him as he was trying to flee the city. In light of this, the power outage on September 11th created a tense and dangerous situation for officers, justice workers and visitors to the building.The problem is that the city’s power supply never failed.
On September 12th, 2013, Bill Nowling casually stated that the city’s power outages were intentional. Officials and citizens working in the city were given no warning before the electricity was cut off. Law enforcement officials working in the Hall of Justice had no time to prepare. Senior citizens and disabled citizens using elevators in the city’s downtown district had no way to know what was coming. The entire criminal justice system was shut down without notice. Wayne State University Campus was just one of many sites evacuated under emergency conditions. Traffic lights across the city stopped working. 1,400 public and private locations were left without power. And the entire thing was intentional, to “send a message” to the people of Detroit. Bill Nowling works in the office of Kevin Orr, Detroit’s Emergency Manager.
Many people believe that the deliberate power outage was carried out because Orr’s office has been pushing for the privatization of the city’s power supply. The video shows Gary Brown laughing about the power outage. After saying that he deliberately took power away from the city, causing chaos in the process, of course, the need for privatization of electricity in the city is stressed. "
The following day, Erika Erickson with Detroit's WJBK followed up with Gary Brown amid outrage over not only his statements, but also his laughter during the interview about the power outage. Brown attempted to defend his actions by saying that if he hadn't made the call to shut down power, that DTE would have.
However when called to verify, DTE offcials say that simply isn't true; they supply the power, they don't choose where the power goes.
As for injuries caused by the power outage, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Sharon Grier said that "Someone was injured. I know of her personally. She was injured, in extreme pain because of this."
Kevin Orr, Detroit’s Emergency Manager, was appointed by GOP Governor Rick Snyder to replace all of the city’s elected officials under the state’s “Emergency Manager Law,” and is the sole authority over the city of Detroit. He answers to no-one except the Governor. He is not elected and cannot be fired, as is also noted by Addicting Info.
But wait, this all sounds so familiar...
Ah yes,:
CNN
"One Enron employee tells a colleague in another recorded conversation, "I'm just trying to be an honest camper so I only go to jail once."
"Well, there you go. At least in only one country," the other replies, and laughs.
"Yeah, [expletive], this isn't a joke," the first employee says.
Earlier tapes obtained during the Enron-Snohomish lawsuit indicated Enron had manipulated the Western power grid for a year and a half.
Those tapes include traders gloating profanely about overcharging "Grandma Millie" in California."
I don't know if what the emergency manager's office did when they shut down the power was a crime. In a perfect world, it would be a crime, and someone would actually go to jail. Preferably a jail without air conditioning, or cable tv and situated on the banks of the Detroit River, next to the Koch Brother's piles of petcoke. Will Detroit become the testing ground for the Koch Bros and ALEC's tactics to terrorize the rest of America into submitting to their exploitative plan to dominate and subjugate America? Will you allow yourself to be forced to putting on their the yoke of third world anti Union, anti social slavery. Because that is what this is about. If they can do it to Detroit, they will do it to you.
Make no mistake. This is your future if you don't ORGANIZE!

The Twonky

A 1953 Comedy...sci/fi? film, but that's the problem with SciFi. what was the fantasy future in 1953 came and went and became historical fact in just a few short years. A great satire on technology starring Hans Conried....

“The trouble with fiction is that it makes too much sense, whereas reality never makes sense."

 Aldous Huxley

An American In Rome

At the end of October, I am going to Italy for a week or so. I have only been in Italy once before and that was just for a few minutes...I accidentally went to Ventimiglia when I made a major wrong turn and got lost driving in France in 1986. We are going to visit Rome and then to Perugia as guests of a very old friend whose family home is in the Etruscan wall of Perugia. My wife lived in Perugia for a year in the mid 60's. I am trying to get ready for the trip by filling my head with the sound of Italian. I stumbled on this film today, I want to see the entire thing, but this much is pretty cool! Forgive me if I start posting Italian pop music in the next few weeks. 
Hey, wait a second, here's Luciano Pavarotti and James Brown! I guess you just got to give it up!

I had that dream again

Sometimes you just got to give it up...

James Brown, 1971 live on Italian Television with the guy I always wanted to be when I grow up

Bootsy Collins on bass and his big brother Catfish on guitar....

Some Tuareg Music

Omara 'Bombino' Moctar is an internationally acclaimed Tuareg guitarist and singer-songwriter from Agadez, Niger. His nickname, from the Italian meaning 'little child', comes from his time with the band of renowned Tuareg guitarist Haja Bebe. Here he performs a live version of his song Amininine, from his second album Nomad. I am still very involved with the relief efforts of Groupe Coordination Aude Mali (GCAM). We are still accepting donations from the PayPal button on the side of this blog. There are still thousands of Malian Tuareg refugees trying to get back to their lands in Mali from the camps in Mauritania and Burkina Faso. Then there is the reality of helping them re establish their lives. While the political situation in Mali has temporarily calmed, the political roots of the problem, the cycle of revenge and religious/political intolerance still festers.  GCAM has promoted Tuareg culture, art and music and has helped them create a self sufficient agricultural economy and given them stability in their fragile political landscape that Mali has become.  GCAM has been working with a a few tribes from the Timbuktu region for over 30 years. Tuaregs have a rich culture that has been defined by the desert they live in since the dawn of history. I've written about Tuareg music and the efforts of Damon Albarn among others to assist them through exposing this rich culture to the world. The ancient libraries of Timbuktu, which consist of one of the oldest collections of books on the planet was partially destroyed by the Islamic Fundamentalists and much of it is still being safe guarded by the clans who have been conserving this trove of technical, religious and traditional literature for over 1000 years. If you'd like to learn more about Tuareg history and culture, perhaps you's enjoy this Wikipedia entry. You would learn that the Tuaregs share a culture that is not defined by modern political borders. The music has very direct links to traditional American blues which are still very much alive. I am going to start featuring more links to Tuareg music again. Maybe someday soon, the situation will stabilize enough that the musicians who have received world renown can return to their own country with out fear of being murdered by extremists.

My Philosphical Dissertation

People ask me if I can sing tenor, I say yes, they say, well how's about ten or twenty miles away from here? After 30 years, nothing has changed...There Is No Hope, but, You Gotta Go Against The Flow...you must always go against the flow.

2 episodes of true terror from the legendary Pyramid Club in 1982 as the Giant Horrible Mr. Bubble Experience wreaks havoc. There is no hope and Go against the flow...You won't have to listen to this again, to paraphrase the philosopher, Richard Nixon. 

I Feel It Coming On Again

The piece of music is the 1980 song by the Robyn Hitchcock's great band, The Soft Boys This version is from a reconstituted version of the band  in 2001 and Robyn dedicates it to Dubya. The song parodied Punk Rock, but ironically it became a much covered punk rock anthem. Frankly, I discovered as a punk/grunge performance artist that through parody, you became the path to reality.  The name of the piece is I Wanna Destroy You, but the poignancy of the lyric: I Feel it Coming on Again Just Like It Did Before, says all I want to say about the recurring War Fever that is gripping the US Media and legislature.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee narrowly passed an authorization to use military force against Assad's Syrian regime. A military foray against Syria has bipartisan support- funny how Congress can agree about blowing the crap out of Middle Easterners but they can't agree to a jobs bill for citizens of the United States (unless they work for military contractors).
While the Assad regime is brutal, the opposition is a multifarious assemblage of disparate groups, ranging from pacifists to Islamic fundamentalist jihadis. My biggest concern is that U.S. foreign policy won't take into account the complexity of the former Syrian society, and that the Sunni/Alawite, Turkish/Arab/Kurdish, Druze/Salafi, and the Just-About-Everybody/Armenian conflicts that threaten to boil over and scald the entire region. The simplistic approach to the Iraq invasion led to a decade of sectarian violence, a conflagration which will only be "fanned" by a poorly-executed attack on Syria.
As if that weren't enough, Russia opposes American intervention and Iran, while not keen on Assad's use of chemical weapons, stands in opposition to U.S. military intervention as well. Does the U.S. government really need to get into a proxy war with Russia and Iran (the true victor in Bush's Iraq War)?

After a week of having my computer hijacked by a thirteen year old kid
 and my life interrupted, I'm back.
Welcome to my world......