Five Before Chaos

Some of you readers alive in the 70′s who might have been fans of the genre of limited appeal known as “progressive rock” probably know that the band Genesis didn’t always suck, and what’s more, Phil Collins was a sick, incredibly competent drummer, not resembling at all the cheesball hack who croons shit for Disney movies nowadays. Anyways, here’s a instrumental track (“Los Endos”)  from the tour after Peter Gabriel split and Phil became the frontman. They actually did an amazing album called “Trick of the Tail” in ’76, before sliding into mediocrity a year or two later.  This track also has Bill Bruford, drummer for Yes and King Crimson, on it. If the White Stripes is your idea of the best rock has to offer, don’t bother, you’ll be bored. Heck, you’ll probably be bored anyways, even if you don’t think that. For prog/fusion geeks only, I guess. All two of you. Enjoy.

It’s really no secret in VT that Gov. Jim Douglas keeps winning because of two reasons: (1) his robot-like 1950′s persona seems to fool many that he’s an okay moderate kind of guy, and (2) the Dems can’t seem to put a decent candidate up to run against him. The Clavelle campaign was a walking joke, and Scudder Parker didn’t seem to get the necessary traction, and at least to me and others I talk to, came across as a rather unassertive wuss.

Anyways, at this point there’s not much that I can personally do about getting a decent candidate in the race, but I do want to let you know about a groovy little contest over at GMD.

Time to get out the cameras and/or microphones and start following Republicans to public meetings and events. Ask the tough questions, get them on record and put it out on the intertubes as a permanent record. Ask them how they voted on the global warming bill, death with dignity, campaign finance. Ask how they feel about gay marriage, IRV, the RNC hiding from a subpoena behind “executive privilege.” Ask them in front of GOP crowds. Get a hold of a video editor and add your own music and effects, or just post it raw. Nobody’s gonna do this for us, folks, so lets start to kick it up a notch.

To that end, GMD will have a contest: make your own internet ad that tells voters why its time to stop voting for Jim Douglas.

You can probably remember the VA Senate race last year where racist GOP sleazebag and then-senator George Allen had his “macaca’ moment, putting his casual, callous racism out there for all the world to see, and it most definitely had a hand in his undoing. Now, I’m not expecting something that dramatic from the VT GOP, but nevertheless, you can count on them to say some pretty stupid and/or revealing things that might not sit so well with the electorate. Got a camera? Give it a try.

If you frequent the left blogosphere, by now you’re probably aware of some tiff going on between right-wing t.v. personality/douchebag Bill O’Reilly and the Daily Kos website. Personally, I’m only following it marginally, I can’t really stomach anything dealing with Mr. O’Reilly. I’ve heard more enlightening things come from my ass after a big Mexican dinner than what comes from his microphone on a daily basis. Now, I’m not discounting that there very well could be much more to this, as do the people on Kos. Odum at GMD had an interesting take on it as well. I’m just not finding it’s something to get my panties in a bunch about. John at Americablog seems to have gone a bit over the top about it.

The funny thing is, O’Reilly is really taking advantage of the fact that his average viewer is about as intelligent as week-old dogshit… he’s trying to paint Kos as a a hate site. What’s he using to illustrate it? Substantive articles and editorial content by the front pagers? No, he’s picking out the worst stuff in the comments section, usually troll-rated garbage, and somehow painting it as representative of the site. Now, the Kos site is most definitely guilty of a few things such as Dem-cheerleading and such, but as far as blogs go, it’s pretty much on the up and up and undoubtedly made an impact in the last election(which is why the wingers hate/fear it so much, I guess).

Kos FP’er “Hunter” has a great diry that’s summing up what this is really all about:

You know, the longer this goes on, the more silly it gets. Bill O’Reilly now has people contacting Democratic presidential candidates to ask them what they think about random pictures posted by random users of a website? Are we serious?

Take a look at what’s happening. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, a multi-kajillion dollar company, is having to battle us. And they’re having to do it as equals. They’re a giant, well-financed corporation: we’re a damn collection of websites and grassroots groups. We took away their ability to host Democratic presidential debates: they struck back by launching an on-air battle against one of the YearlyKos sponsors.

They’ve launched themselves into a pathetic tit-for-tat, now choosing to take time out of their busy schedule of lying about the news to making conservatives feel better about themselves in order to start lying about us, because we’re finally to the point where we’re starting to threaten their abilities to get away with their manipulative, hatemongering crap — redbaiting, anti-patriotic blubbering that went out of style decades ago among all Americans but the most trembling and fear-driven and bigoted. They’re battling us on equal terms because they have to. And by mere virtue of that fact, we’re winning.

And, if you read the diary, he talks of how today was the day O’Reilly was going to ”destroy Kos today”. He found something in the comments section so disgusting, so unbelievably shocking, mean, and hateful, it pushes the limits of what should be shown, even on the internet. Hide the kids….

And you thought it was going to be a nude photo of Fred Thompson, didn’t you? Either way, it’s pretty fucking funny (because it’s true!), and hardly something to topple Big Evil Orange. Maybe O’Reilly got secretly turned on by it or something and he’s acting out.

Well, it didn’t take long for the superficial-beyond-belief element to seep into the campaign coverage this early: apparently Hillary’s tits are all the rage now. Now, of course, putting aside for a moment that a male candidate would never have to deal with this kind of B.S. (I’ve yet to see an article on Obama’s trouser snake or anything similar), the last thing I want to think about is anything sexual regarding Hillary Clinton. I don’t need to be reminded that she has tits. I figured she had ‘em, I just didn’t want my attention drawn to ‘em. And I certainly don’t want them to dominate an all-important election like this one. I’d rather see another article on her constant pandering or something. And even if I was a super-shallow voter (you know, like those people that vote for the candidate they’d most like to have a beer with), Hillary’s tits still wouldn’t do it for me. Thankfully, I am unable to think of her in any sexual context whatsoever, nor do I view her in a presidential context. There’s nothing that could get me to vote for her.

For those of you coming here for the spaghetti westerns, I added another page with a dropdown menu where you can pick what review or article you’d like to go to. You can get to the page on the tab next to “Contact me…”

Seriously. And betcha you thought the only fights in prison had to do with bending over and picking up the soap or taking someone’s apple in the cafeteria. 

Perhaps a kick in the teeth, as well… Gotta love this one from the Hill…  Anxious Republicans fear another beating:

Nine months after Republicans were routed in the midterm elections, campaign observers, K Street lobbyists and political experts say there is little evidence the party can rebound in 2008.

The same bad news – the president’s low approval ratings, opposition to the war in Iraq, and the lingering taint of congressional scandal, from the Jack Abramoff investigation to Sen. David Vitter’s (La.) involvement with the alleged “D.C. Madam” – leave observers skeptical that the GOP can dent Democratic majorities, let alone reclaim power in the next election.

The only thing that has changed is that everything that was bad got worse,” said Bernadette Budde, political director of the Business Industry Political Action Committee. BIPAC supports business-friendly candidates of both parties, though most of the group’s donations go to Republicans.

If the election were held today, “We’d be lucky to hold our own,” one House Republican said.”

Aside from the “facism creep” of the past few years, howzabout the fact that they’re fucking wrong on just about everything? Gorver Norquist believes thy can still pull it together if it weren’t for that Iraq thingie:

Grover Norquist, director of Americans for Tax Reform, believes the conservative coalition of anti-tax, pro-gun and anti-abortion advocates can still deliver elections, but only if Iraq does not remain the central issue in voters’ minds.

So, by this (il)logic, America is still really a bunch of antitax, antichoice gun nuts, we’re just a little miffed about the Iraq thing. Uh, okay. Oh, wait.. I get it… that vocal minority of Americans can still get their collective heads out of their asses and away from their Left Behind books and Ted Nugent gun videos to pull of one more for the Gipper. Say it again… uh, okay. Quite a big “only if”, dontcha think? Eh, hell with Norquist… I think this Grover’s a lot smarter anyways:

Now, I’m not expecting things to turn around too quickly in ’08, even if the Dems get more seats and the WH, which is a very real possibility. At least they won’t get worse. It’s just that there’s still no bold, progressive agenda to be seen anywhere, an I fear the squandering of an historic opportunity which results in another backlash and then another 1994. Lest you think I’m being poopy on this, I fully realize that perhaps when the Republican minority is more minor (and the Lieberman problem is effectively neutralized), there’s not the constant obstructionsm and they’re busy licking their wounds or thier hookers’ feet, perhaps some good positive change could actually happen (odds are even greater if Hillary doesn’t make it to the WH). I’m still quite jaded, but at least “wait and see” is finally entering the brain dialog.

Now, this isn’t just another cynical rant brought on by madness from 12 hours alternating in the blistering sun and in my dank, dark crawlspace (see here for more on that..). The larger point I’m trying to make is that it’s pretty likely that the GOP is going to be taken to the cleaners in ’08, and we can’t use that as an excuse to be complacent. We need to keep the pressure on the Dems, both for positive change and undoing the damage of the last 12 years of Repub rule. It’s time to stop “practicing” democracy and start getting it right.

Yeah, I crossposted this on Green Mountain Daily. So sue me. 

Movie, director, and year, please, with no Obligatory Stupid Trivia Question this time…

Okay, I’d just like to give you all a heads up that I may be blogging a bit light both here and at GMD for the next few weeks. I’ve started a project of rather immense proportions: I’m lifting my house two feet, putting in a foundation and an addition. I’m doing almost all of the work myself, with the help of a neighbor and a few others, so byt the time I get to the computer, I’m toast. I’m by no means out of the picture, it just may a bit sparse around here for the next few weeks. And no, it won’t turn into ‘home improvement blog’, but here’s a pic to get you going:

It’s all dug out now, I need to pull the old, shitty pilings, put down the footer and foundation wall, and so forth.  For the majority of you who could care less, here’s a pic of a young moose that Jenni and I saw on the way back from out NH backpack last month, which you will hopefully find more interesting:

Let’s hope this one sticks:

Federal court orders Shell Oil to suspend Arctic offshore drilling program