A song and two quotes

David Bowie, Underground:

It's only forever
Not long at all
The lost and the lonely
That's underground, underground

Daddy, daddy, get me out of here
I'm underground
Heard about a place today
Nothing ever hurts again

Sister, sister, please take me down...

Aaron Sorkin, The West Wing, "The Crackpots & These Women:"

I want to be a comfort to my friends in tragedy. And I want to be able to celebrate with them in triumph. And for all the times in between, I just want to be able to look them in the eye...I want to be with my friends, my family, and these women.

Aaron Sorkin, The West Wing, "20 Hours in America:"

My son's in public school; it's no good. They've got 37 kids in the class, no art and music, no advanced placement courses. Other kids, their mother has to make 'em practice the piano, you can't pull my son away from the piano, he needs teachers.

Things you never thought you'd see me say dept.

Go, Tennessee!

Tip of the hat to TGW...Fred Phelps Chased Out of TN Town. And in a related story, here's Sean Hannity's latest idiotic statement: The Reverend Fred "god hates fags" Phelps is part of the anti-war left.

You know, I'm really starting to think it's true. That sound you hear is the right screeching out of control.Sorry, guys. You backed the wrong horse. I've said it before but it's worth saying again:

The one thing you can count on (besides the left's bumfuzzlement) is the right's overreaching.

The backlash is coming, guys, and it's gonna be hard, and it's gonna be long.

Point/Counterpoint

Mark Evanier wrote yesterday:

I don't want to make the mistake that many bloggers seem to be making today of trying to use Hurricane Katrina to bolster their partisan arguments...and besides, I don't even believe it has to be an either/or situation. The richest, most powerful nation on the planet ought to be able to deal with a war and a couple of natural disasters at the same time. And if we aren't, that is hardly a failing that can be blamed on any one administration or Congress.

Today, Josh Marshall says:

there are just too many examples out there of the ways in which [the president's] policies have contributed to and accentuated this crisis: systematic cuts in levee and pump construction around New Orleans...phasing out FEMA and the apparently the whole concept of national coordination of the response to natural disasters. That's a great idea, isn't it? ...And, of course, example after example of cronies running critical agencies.

I tend to agree with Marshall, but it's worth reading what both of them have to say.

Well...Keitha and Annabel ARE white...

The Washington Post says there are few gay characters in the new TV season, and those there are...

While there is no definitive figure available for the U.S. gay and lesbian population, GLAAD believes the number is "certainly higher" than that represented on network TV, spokesman Damon Romine said in an interview Monday.

...Homosexual characters also tend to lack ethnic and gender diversity.

The study looked at 110 scripted shows and found 16 characters on 14 shows. There were 13 males and three females. Thirteen were white.

"If you're looking at network television to see a good cross-section of our community, you're not going to find it," Romine said. "What you will find is primarily gay white males."

All right!

Ladies, your sex-toy wants have been answered. Amazon.com is now in the business.

The Evil Empire

Bob Harris makes a pretty good case for Bush as Nero. Me, I'm too tired right now to make the argument. The people who need to know won't listen, and the people who know, don't need to be told.

He is what he is, and that is not what they say he is. Times like these I wish I believed in heaven and hell, because it would be a comfort to me to think that people like this would spend eternity burning in undying flame.

But that's just something we use to tell our children.

Sometimes I get them mixed up.

In a speech today at the North Island Naval Air Station in San Diego, President Bush once again misled the American people on the origins of the Iraq war and the future of the Iraqi government. Speaking to a military audience commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, the president again implied a direct connection between Iraq and the events of September 11.

“As we mark this anniversary, we are again a nation at war. Once again, war came to our shores with a surprise attack that killed thousands in cold blood,” said Bush. “Once again, we face determined enemies who follow a ruthless ideology that despises everything America stands for. Once again, America and our allies are waging a global campaign with forces deployed on virtually every continent. And once again, we will not rest until victory is America's and our freedom is secure.”

(Bob Geiger)

And once again, we have a President of proven courage who hoped to settle international difficulties through the United Nations. But who worked himself so hard during a war against those who had attacked us, despite having already lost the use of his legs, that it killed him.

A President who said:

It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another.

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.

Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.

How fortunate we are to...oh wait, that's not Bush, that's Franklin D. Roosevelt. Bush is the coward who speaks of a war against a country that wasn't any threat to us whatsoever as a noble cause. One for which other peoples sons and daughters should die while he and his remain in perfect health to play baseball, and other useful things like that. The one who is intent on destroying a program that other guy started to keep Americans out of poverty, and who has alienated the nations of the world.

There's no comparison.

Forest<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Trees

I haven't written anything about hurricane Katrina because I couldn't think of anything to say except really bad-taste, gallows humor jokes about "Katrina & the Waves." Anyway, Mark Evanier wrote something which is more-or-less what I would have said (only more eloquent and otherwise better), yesterday.

Today, however, I found out that, also yesterday, a group called Columbia Christians for Life emailed out their response to this tragedy. As a blog called Eve's Apple, where I got this (via Pandagon) puts it...

I do not make this shit up!
This is the text of an actual email I received on Monday...

From: Columbia Christians for Life
Subject: Hurricane Katrina satellite image looks like 6-week fetus
To: Columbia Christians for Life

Satellite picture of Hurricane Katrina at NOAA.com looks like a 6-week unborn human child as it comes ashore the Gulf Coast, vicinity states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida at 12:32 PM, Monday, August 29, 2005...Louisiana has 10 child-murder-by-abortion centers - FIVE are in New Orleans
www.ldi.org ('Find an Abortion Clinic [sic]')

Baby-murder state # 1 - California (125 abortion centers) - land of earthquakes, forest fires, and mudslides
Baby-murder state # 2 - New York (78 abortion centers) - 9-11 Ground Zero
Baby-murder state # 3 - Florida (73 abortion centers) - Hurricanes Bonnie, Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne in 2004; and now, Hurricane Katrina in 2005

God's message: REPENT AMERICA !

They. Honest to god. Think. That this hurricane is a message from god because of abortion clinics. And some people tell me female women's rights advocates are too obsessed with a single issue.

ETA: And speaking of bad-taste jokes: clown prince of lies Rush Limbaugh and armchair warrior Jonah Goldberg have decided it's great fun to equate the natural disaster of a hurricane with the editor of a magazine with whose politics they disagree.

They're such cards, those guys on the right.

Give it to me...two times

So I traditionally--"traditionally" meaning I did it last year on my old blog--do this thing a day or so before my birthday, which is September first. I've been thinking of it as "the state of the blogger address," but that may be because I've been working my way through my West Wing DVDs.

Anyway, I like to talk a little about where I think I am and what this place looks like today. My big thing this year is I'm incredibly happy to have found, not just characters that I care about but ones I think I can work with for a really long time.

I'm also scared to death that whatever talent I may have, I won't be able to use it to its proper fruition. And the worst part is if I don't I'll feel like I've let them (Keitha, Annabel & Colley-my characters) down. Which is nuts but hey, I'm a writer.

I still feel incredibly cut off from my life except, oddly, when I'm writing. I'm proud of my writing and the rest of my life's a mess. I feel like I need a hand and I know there are people who would help me if they could but they don't know how.

On the other hand, my "common-law stepbrother" is still making me look good.

I miss having friends and a support system in a physical sense. I love my friends in California, they've been incredibly supportive (you know who you are) and there are people I like here in Washington but none of it...it just doesn't...

And it's not clear to me whether I've done anything at all. I'm pleased to have this blog, though. So, onward into another year...

Dissed Ms.

On the Mother Jones blog:

I left the Democratic Party for a long list of reasons, but the main one was the fact that I felt dismissed as a woman. And nothing has changed. Even in the 21st Century, all the Democratic Party had to offer for a presidential ticket was two white males

Like her or not, Senator Clinton gets the same kind of bashing from Democrats that she gets from Republicans, and it isn't about her politics. When the subject of her possible presidential candidacy came up on the MSNBC program "Hardball," host Chris Matthews, a Democrat, immediately said: "Well, that would motivate all the men in the country to vote against her." All the men? Those are some mighty strong feelings of insecurity.

Yeah, I'm not sure what that's about either. There are times when I think I would like a chance to vote for Hilary Clinton and there are times when I think I wouldn't, but I assure you: Neither has as much to do with her being a woman as her being a democrat in the worst sense of the word. I'm really starting to think they're shooting themselves in the foot if they don't address that divide I talked about a few days ago before 2008, if not '06.

Now that's comedy

Ann Coulter's syndicated column has been dropped from The Arizona Daily Star. Why? Let's ask David Stoeffler, publisher and editor of the Star.

Many readers find her shrill, bombastic and mean-spirited. And those are the words used by readers who identified themselves as conservatives.

Act Up and smell the coffee

"Concerned Women for America" (a conservative, "faith-based" group) has found something to object to in the coffee cups at Starbucks. Or rather, on the coffee cups at Starbucks. It seems that the company is running a promotion whereby they include quotations from quotable noteables on the backs of cups.

And one, from Armistead Maupin (author of the well-known Tales of the City series), has aroused their ire. They feel there's something offensive to their people in his proclaimation that he doesn't regret being gay--rather the opposite.

And you know what--they're probably right. There is something offensive to them about that. Good thing, too. The things we choose to care about...

Just let me hear some of that...

Amanda at Pandagon did a couple of numbers today about sex, drugs and rock & roll, only not so much the sex and drugs. First she "translates" a Bush-supporters column about the forthcoming Rolling Stones song thats getting so much publicity.

The Bush-supporter says:

Everybody thinks the Stones are trashing Bush, but the president isn’t really a neocon, and the word sweet is a real stumper. One theory is that Jagger has a crush on Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, or Condi Rice. Probably Cheney, since the name Halliburton pops up in the lyrics.

Which Amanda translates as:

Translation: The word "neocon" was made up to make the new, more fascist breed of conservatives seem "with it". But since I can cleverly convince my audience I too listen to classic rock radio, there is no need to strain ourselves. It turns out that many Baby Boomers were not especially interested in starting a revolution so much as getting reassured that they could be one step short of uniform-donning goose-steppers and still be able to purchase Rolling Stones albums and think that they invented the idea of "cool".

Amanda also did the same music list thing I did five days ago, and passed on a little suggestion:

writing in the year you were 13 and embarrassing yourself with what songs you actually liked then.

Embarassing myself? Little does she know I turned 13 in 1984. I offer you the top 100 hits of that year. There's hardly any I'm embarassed by even today. Just look at that top 10. It's even got the one and only Yes song I've ever liked on it.

If we go to 1985, the year I was 13 the most for...why I do believe it's "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" by Tears For Fears, in the top 10.

Embarassed? Not a bit of it. Proud as a peacock.

The best and the brightest

Via Hoffmania: A couple of guys from Truthout took a video camera down to Crawford to ask some Bush supporters why, since they were able-bodied, they weren't in uniform. You'd be amazed at how touchy some "hawks" get when you suggest they maybe ought to do more than wave a sign and ride a horse.

I mean, since this is something they really believe in and all.

Well.

In 2002 I wrote a review of Paul Hyde's Big Book of Sad Songs, Vol. 1. I liked that album, in fact it made the top 10 of my top 19 for the year. It seems now that I am not alone in touting Mr. Hyde's songwriting prowess.

For actor, friend to the common man, master and commander Russell Crowe has chosen to record a song from the album for his forthcoming solo debut. I don't know Hyde, but I've got to think this is a pride he will carry with him the rest of his life.

A tale of five women in or from the south

This is gonna be long. I'm combining a couple of different posts I originally made separately, for reasons that should be obvious.

I notice Cindy Sheehan is getting some of the same shit the pro-warriors gave the Dixie Chicks. Meanwhile, I don't want to say the Bush supporters are divorced from reality...oh no, wait, that's exactly what I want to say.

CNN.com has a story about the "Dueling protests" now outside the Bush ranch in Crawford. One of them, of course, is Sheehan's, the other is Bush supporters.

The founder of Move America Forward, Howard Kaloogian, accused Cindy Sheehan, the sponsor of the anti-war protest, of encouraging the very insurgency in Iraq that killed her son.

"The terrorists that are watching Cindy Sheehan's protest believe that this is something that might topple the current administration." Kaloogian said.

Right. Failed "neocon" strategy, general incompetence and a mission where expectations keep being revised downward. A president who thinks sending men and women to their deaths for dishonest reasons is funny and who now has a 36% approval rating.

And Cindy Sheehan might topple the current administration.

And you know what? She might.

I got the CNN story via Hoffmania, who point out:

Arrest Numbers in Crawford:

Camp Casey after three weeks: 0
Pro-Bush Demonstrators after one day: 1

...That doesn't even include Shotgun Guy or Pickup Truck Drunk Guy.

Over on Tiny Cat Pants, Aunt B has made an excellent entry. She starts out by wondering about the Dixie Chicks and whether their career is well and truly over. I hope not. I came to like the Dixie Chicks music late, and I admit the first thing I liked about them was their lead singer's big mouth. Ok, the second thing--they are awfully cute, after all.

But I have come to like their music, which is no small thing. Remember, you're talking about a guy who prefers sample-jams, dance, new wave, techno and synth-pop bands from the '80s. And I like--I legitimately like--the Dixie Chicks' music. I came to like it on compilations; and on their live album which I asked for and got for Christmas last year after seeing them sing with James Taylor on the "Concert For Change." I think/hope they're too good for such vicious, stupid attacks as they recieved to end their careers. But I concede they're probably going to have to complete that crossover.

Anyway, that's only Aunt B's starting point, in the spirit of essays going from the smaller to the big (or in this case, the broads to the broader):

Those of us who have only ever lived in urban areas, where it's impossible for everyone in your community to be in your business, don't understand the appeal in believing that, if only we could get rid of the troublemakers, everything would be all right. We especially don't understand the small-town paranoia that says "If only we could get rid of the troublemakers, everything would be all right" at the same time the speakers seem almost cognizant that anyone at any moment could become a troublemaker.

She develops from that starting point thoughtful opinions about why the war, and George W. Bush, have become so unpopular not just in those urban areas, but rural communities as well. It's worth a look.

The Return of Captain Chaos

Last week I blogged about Roger Ebert's review of the film "Chaos" and the "open letters" he exchanged with the filmmakers. These have resulted in what the editor of his web site calls "an unusual number of impassioned and thoughtful responses from readers." They've reprinted some of them here.

I especially like the letter by someone named Karlheinz Noise (great name!), who writes in part:

You neglected to mention one thing: The only victims who did anything "wrong" were women. Were we to take the message seriously, it is this: that women (especially young and pretty ones) should stay home and do what they're told, and if they don't, they DESERVE to get tortured, raped, and killed. This is a classic example of what feminists call the "protection racket," and there's probably enough in this one movie to fuel a dozen Susan Sontag books.

you let them off much too lightly when you simply called it a "surrender." The filmmakers claim that they "tried to give you and the public something real." This claim has a simple rebuttal: Their film is not a documentary. It is fabricated out of whole cloth -- more accurately, out of the celluloid scraps of better films, as you and others pointed out.

I must say this may be the most thought-provoking film that I have no expectation of seeing I've ever heard of...

Things I didn't know about Tennessee

A mere eighty-five years ago, American women gained the right to vote. The 72-year battle waged by American feminists finally paid off when Tennessee became the 36th and final state to ratify the 19th Amendment. The Tennessee legislature passed the Susan B. Anthony Amendment by one vote.

Brothers and sisters...pump up the volume!

Good article on Salon (you'll need a "day pass" if you're not a member) today about the feminist and abortion rights activists who have been saying for a while now that John Roberts is a big problem. Bigger than some moderate, and tellingly mostly male, "liberals" were saying he is...until more of his past was brought to light.

It's also revealing about a divide that I'd like to think isn't as great as it probably is between those moderate males and the female women's rights advocates. Basically the fear, seemingly justified, is that these men would throw women's rights overboard if it means the difference in winning an election.

Is it true? I dunno, but I'm reminded that we already know Bill Clinton counseled Kerry to sell out gays in the last days of the 2004 campaign.

I don't want to turn this into a long post about abortion and my feelings on a woman's right to choose. Suffice it to say, I believe there are things we need to compromise about, but basic civil and human rights are not among them, and neither is Roe v. Wade. And I believe some people aren't necessarily as enlightened as they think they are, or as they want you to think they are, or both.

What profits a party if they gain the presidency but lose their soul? I want a democrat back in the White House, but more than that, I want a Democrat back in the white house.

I wonder where we could find one?

America, America, god shed his grace on thee

Poll: People overwhelmingly support right of critics to openly protest Iraq war

An overwhelming number of people say critics of the Iraq war should be free to voice their objections -- a rare example of widespread agreement about a conflict that has divided the nation along partisan lines.

Nearly three weeks after a grieving California mother named Cindy Sheehan started her anti-war protest near President Bush's Texas ranch, nine of 10 people surveyed in an AP-Ipsos poll say it's OK for war opponents to publicly share their concerns about the conflict.

"Part of the Constitution is the First Amendment," said Mike Malone, a salesman from Odessa, Fla. "We have the right to disagree with the government."

With the U.S. death toll in Iraq climbing past 1,870 with an especially bloody August, the public's opinion of the Bush administration's handling of the war has been eroding over the past two years.

The poll found that most people disapprove of the Bush administration's conduct of the war and think the war was a mistake. Half believe it has increased the threat of terrorism. Democrats overwhelmingly question the president's policies, while Republicans overwhelmingly support them.

Public doubts about the war have gotten new attention since Sheehan, who lost her son Casey in Iraq last year, took her protest to Crawford, Texas, on Aug. 6.

Depends what your definition of "advocate" is

See how quickly they shit in the waters of truth. It's pretty amazing. I mean, you would think a remark as indefensibly stupid as Robertsons would be, in fact, hard to defend. I think you underestimate a little idiots favorite named Sean Hannity.

The Brothers Grimm

Terry Gilliam! For me, the anti-Tim Burton. A genuinely visionary (not a word I throw around) director who also knows the importance of story and respects writers. No doubt coming up with Monty Python, a team of five writers prepared to fight to the death for their work, helped.

When he's directed other people's screenplays, as on 12 Monkeys and The Fisher King, by all accounts he's been respectful to their intentions in the extreme. He involves them in decisions more meglomaniac directors reserve for themselves alone.

And when he's serving his own vision (Brazil, Time Bandits, the ridiculously underrated Adventures of Baron Munchausen), he has enough of a brain to know what his weaknesses are. And he asks good writers to help him. Who? Oh, only Tom Stoppard, Michael Palin--people like that.

He is my favorite director, and not only because he was smart enough to know Watchmen couldn't be condensed into one movie. I don't write the kinds of things he makes, but he's one of the only directors I'd give one of my scripts to in a minute.

And yet, to follow Terry Gilliam's career is to see a man who again and again finds himself on troubled productions. I don't know if he brings it on himself or what, and lord knows I don't think he was wrong in many or all of these cases.

But, it started with clashing with his fellow Pythons on Holy Grail. His battle with Universal to release Brazil in the form in which he wanted it is legendary. The production of Munchausen was a nightmare, but at least a truly remarkable film resulted. The same cannot be said of his aborted attempt to film Don Quixote, the ill-fated production of which is documented in Lost in La Mancha.

Reading between the lines of recent interviews Gilliam has given, you get the impression that here he ran afoul of the infamous Weinstein brothers, who are known to keep a heavy hand on their films. For one thing, they forcibly replaced his preferred director of photography. And the film, especially in the first half, seems to have the fingerprints on it of someone saying come on, come on, cut faster, get to the moment, no lingering, no beauty shots, come on come on come on come on come on!

But I don't want to let him entirely off the hook just because he is my favorite director. Who is to blame when a film is only just all right? The director, the screenwriter are the most obvious culprits when a movie is truly terrible, but when it's enough, 'twill serve? What then? There are too many things we don't know about what goes on behind closed doors.

This is my way of saying that The Brothers Grimm is minor Gilliam, but even minor Gilliam is always interesting. It contains enough of a glimpse of the way the Grimm fairy tales would look through his eyes to make me wish this film had been simply that.

But, unfortunately, we're lumbered with a story in which most of the parts mesh, but far too often the resulting beast just lies there, it doesn't sing, it doesn't soar, it doesn't swell with pride.

The main thing I came away with is a desire to see more of one of the supporting players, Lena Headey, an actress whose face is new to me.
She's a very attractive woman and seems, inasmuch as you can tell, to have the chops to embody a better character than this one. But although she starts out well and strong, in the end the film forces her into a box.

I'm just left thinking how very long it's been since we've had what I would call a "pure" Gilliam film. One that seems, as co-writer Charles McKeon described Brazil, like taking off the top of his head and peering around inside.

It's been too long, and I hope he's allowed to make another one soon.

Or am I a page in your history...book?

Okay, so here's the trick (courtesy of Bill Sherman):

A.) Go to http://www.musicoutfitters.com; B.) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function; C.) Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you hate and underline your favorite. Do nothing to the ones you don't remember (or don't care about).

As I couldn't figure out how to "strike through" songs I've decided to italicize the ones I hate instead. Which brings us to 1989...

1. Look Away, Chicago
2. My Prerogative, Bobby Brown
3. Every Rose Has Its Thorn, Poison
4. Straight Up, Paula Abdul
5. Miss You Much, Janet Jackson
6. Cold Hearted, Paula Abdul
7. Wind Beneath My Wings, Bette Midler
8. Girl You Know Its True, Milli Vanilli
9. Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird, Will To Power
10. Giving You The Best That I Got, Anita Baker
11. Right Here Waiting, Richard Marx
12. Waiting For A Star To Fall, Boy Meets Girl
13. Lost In Your Eyes, Debbie Gibson
14. Don't Wanna Lose You, Gloria Estefan
15. Heavan, Warrant
16. Girl I'm Gonna Miss You, Milli Vanilli
17. The Look, Roxette
18. She Drives Me Crazy, Fine Young Cannibals
19. On Our Own, Bobby Brown
20. Two Hearts, Phil Collins
21. Blame It On The Rain, Milli Vanilli
22. Listen To Your Heart, Roxette
23. I'll Be There For You, Bon Jovi
24. If You Don't Know Me By Now, Simply Red
25. Like A Prayer, Madonna
26. I'll Be Loving You (Forever), New Kids On The Block
27. How Can I Fall?, Breathe
28. Baby Don't Forget My Number, Milli Vanilli
29. Toy Solider, Martika
30. Forever Your Girl, Paula Abdul
31. The Living Years, Mike and the Mechanics
32. Eternal Flame, The Bangles
33. Wild Thing, Tone Loc
34. When I See You Smile, Bad English
35. If I Could Turn Back Time, Cher
36. Buffalo Stance, Neneh Cherry
37. When I'm With You, Sheriff
38. Don't Rush Me, Taylor Dayne
39. Born To Be My Baby, Bon Jovi
40. Good Thing, Fine Young Cannibals
41. The Lover In Me, Sheena Easton
42. Bust A Move, Young M.C.
43. Once Bitten, Twice Shy, Great White
44. Batdance, Prince
45. Rock On, Michael Damian
46. Real Lov, Jody Watley
47. Love Shack, B-52's
48. Every Little Step, Bobby Brown
49. Hangin' Tough, New Kids On The Block
50. My Heart Can't Tell You No, Rod Stewart
51. So Alive, Love and Rockets
52. You Got It (The Right Stuff), New Kids On The Block
53. Armageddon It, Def Leppard
54. Satisfied, Richard Marx
55. Express Yourself, Madonna
56. I Like It, Dino
57. Soldier Of Love, Donny Osmond
58. Sowing The Seeds Of Love, Tears For Fears
59. Cherish, Madonna
60. When The Children Cry, White Lion
61. 18 And Life, Skid Row
62. I Don't Want Your Love, Duran Duran
63. Second Chances, .38 Special
64. The Way You Love Me, Karyn White
65. Funky Cold Medina, Tone Loc
66. In Your Room, Bangles
67. Miss You Like Crazy, Natalie Cole
68. Love Song, Cure
69. Secret Rendesvous, Karyn White
70. Angel Eyes, Jeff Healey Band
71. Patience, Guns N' Roses
72. Walk On Water, Eddie Money
73. Cover Girl, New Kids On The Block
74. Welcom To The Jungle, Guns N' Roses
75. Shower Me With Your Love, Surface
76. Stand, R.E.M.
77. Close My Eyes Forever, Lita Ford
78. All This Time, Tiffany
79. After All, Cher and Peter Cetera
80. Roni, Bobby Brown
81. Love In An Elevator, Aerosmith
82. Lay Your Hands On Me, Bon Jovi
83. This Promise, When In Rome
84. What I Am, Edie Brickell and The New Bohemians
85. I Remember Holding You, Boys Club
86. Paradise City, Guns N' Roses
87. Iwanna Have Some Fun, Samantha Fox
88. She Wants To Dance With Me, Rick Astley
89. Dreamin', Vanessa Williams
90. It's No Crime, Babyface
91. Poison, Alice Cooper
92. This Time I Know It's For Real, Donna Summer
93. Smooth Criminal, Michael Jackson
94. Heavan Help Me, Deon Estus
95. Rock Wit'cha, Bobby Brown
96. Thinking Of You, Sa-fire
97. What You Don't Know, Expose
98. Surrender To Me, Ann Wilson and Robin Zander
99. The End Of The Innocence, Don Henley
100. Keep On Movin', Soul II Soul

I'm actually a fan of Chicago's 16 and 17 albums, but once Peter Cetera left they were done. Which may be the most damning statement I can make: When Peter Cetera's departure means you collapse creatively...

At the time I either didn't like or wouldn't admit to liking "The Look," "Rock On" or Duran; today I think the first two are at least dumb fun and the last one of my favorite new wave bands (even if the reunion album's a disappointment).

And ah, god bless the B-52's...

"Sowing The Seeds Of Love" is a close runner-up for my favorite hit of that year, but I decided I couldn't deny the brilliance of the greatest rap lyric ever: "She's in yellow, she says hello, come sit next to me, you fine fellow."

Point of order: One-hit wonders When In Rome's one hit was "The Promise," not "This Promise." Call it what you like, it was a great single, especially the 12-inch. The album's not bad either; in fact I'd say it's underrated.

"Smooth Criminal." The bass-line alone is enough to make me at least a little sorry that Michael Jackson has now gone so beyond-help, batshit insane. And speaking of batshit (and insane), I'm sure Prince wrote the Batman album in his sleep, but it's still the last one of his I've liked.

For the second week in a row...

Gary Hart says some good things. Here's a little to get you started, but I highly recommend reading it all:

what will history say about an opposition party that stands silent while all this goes on? My generation of Democrats jumped on the hot stove of Vietnam and now, with its members in positions of responsibility, it is afraid of jumping on any political stove. In their leaders, the American people look for strength, determination and self-confidence, but they also look for courage, wisdom, judgment and, in times of moral crisis, the willingness to say: "I was wrong."

To stay silent during such a crisis, and particularly to harbor the thought that the administration's misfortune is the Democrats' fortune, is cowardly. In 2008 I want a leader who is willing now to say: "I made a mistake, and for my mistake I am going to Iraq and accompanying the next planeload of flag-draped coffins back to Dover Air Force Base. And I am going to ask forgiveness for my mistake from every parent who will talk to me."

She said what?

Ok, it's offical, the theme of today's batch of Dictionopolis in Digitopolis posts is Stupid Things Republicans Have Said Recently.

Now, I know I should have long ago had enough of Ann Coulter saying stupid things. This is, after all, the woman who smeared a former Senator who is also a silver star-winning, triple-amputee veteran because he was not patriotic enough to please her. This is the woman who once declared "God said 'Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It's yours."

You'd think I'd have had enough of her to have grown cynical. Never. I'm constantly amazed.

Blogger Ed Cone found this:

Ann Coulter questions the courage of New Yorkers in the face of terrorism.

She says of terrorists, "it's far preferable to fight them in the streets of Baghdad than in the streets of New York (where the residents would immediately surrender)."

That's what Ann Coulter thinks of the cops and firemen of New York City, and of the family members of those lost on 9/11, and of the everyday people who refused to let the attacks keep them from going on with their lives.

Actually, though, I'm glad she said that. Because it reminds me that a couple of weeks ago when I was talking about the new issue of Vanity Fair, I forget to mention something I wanted to mention.

The issue contains a moving excerpt taken from a forthcoming memoir, written by the widow of one of the firemen who lost his life on 9/11.

By "surrendering," no doubt...oh no, wait:

The captain announces Dave died trying to save a child.

Seriously: What's wrong with Ann Coulter? I mean, what's wrong with Ann Coulter? How do you do that and look at yourself in the mirror, or sleep at night?

Okay, the Robertson thing

Anne from Peevish says it best...

(Why is everyone so wound up about Robertson making stupid remarks? Has it escaped everyone's attention that he regularly makes half-stupid remarks? He's a nutcase who would be a big nobody if the national media didn't keep handing him headlines.)

"Hoo-hoo dilly?"

So there's this documentary series to be broadcast on, I believe, the Sundance Channel, about "transgender" students as they go through their transitions--two boys becoming girls, and vice-versa.

I won't pretend to understand what makes a person feel they need to do that, but you know what's great? I don't have to. So long as no one's kidnapping me and forcibly performing the surgery, it's none of my business and does me no harm.

There are, of course, people who feel differently. People like...sigh..."Doctor" Mike Adams of the University of North Carolina, who plans to attend a campus screening of the film and ask a few questions.

Questions like...

Will the two new men get their new hoo-hoo dillies from the two new women?

As Jesse from Pandagon points out, this is

a grown man who plans to go in public and use the phrase "hoo-hoo dilly".

And he's not, so far as we can tell, trying to be funny. Then again maybe we should be grateful, because when he does...

When a woman has a hoo-hoo dilly surgically attached, does that not legitimize Freud’s sexist notion of penis envy? Is that something the Women’s Center really wants to touch - figuratively speaking?

Bwa ha! Bwa ha ha ha! Oh, those republican comedians. My sides! My sides are splitting!

We're through the looking glass here, people

I'm not sure who coined it--I got it from Oliver Willis-but there's a term one or two of the Democratic blogs have been using: "The Tinkerbell Caucus." It refers to those war supporters who seem to believe that everything will be all right if we believe in president Bush and clap our hands real hard.

Here's a couple of examples. David Frum, a former speechwriter for president Bush who is said to have come up with the phrase "axis of evil," thinks Bush just isn't giving good enough speeches.

By now it should be clear that President Bush's words on the subject of Iraq have ceased connecting with the American public. His speech yesterday to the Veterans of Foreign Wars is the latest - and one of the most serious to date - manifestations of the problem. The polls tell us that the American public is losing heart. A substantial majority (56%) now say that the war is going either "very badly" or "moderately badly." More than 50% now regard the war as a mistake. One-third want an immediate and total withdrawal. Maybe most fatefully: a plurality now say that they believe that the president deliberately misled the country into war.

And why would this be? I mean, it couldn't be that the war is going badly, and was a mistake that we should get out of as soon as humanly possible, and that the president did lie to us about, now could it?

Nah. Must be a PR problem.

Again and again during the Bush presidency - and yesterday most recently - the president will agree to give what is advertised in advance as a major speech. An important venue will be chosen. A crowd of thousands will be gathered. The networks will all be invited. And after these elaborate preparations, the president says ... nothing that he has not said a hundred times before.

What an unbelivable coincidence. The thing that can save Bush's war, and probably his presidency, just happens to be a skill Frum belives he has. I mean, it couldn't be that Bush has nothing to say he hasn't said a hundred times before, could it?

ETA: Michael Crowley, guest-blogging for Joshua Micah Marshall in Talking Points Memo, observes:

when even erstwhile allies like David Frum are complaining that "President Bush's words on the subject of Iraq have ceased connecting with the American public," it's hard to see how repeating the same old soundbites, even with precise casualty figures empathetically thrown in, will do the trick.

P.S. Note Frum's comment that he's been flooded with emails -- from National Review readers, remember -- agreeing with him. Republicans are nearing a state of panic over Iraq.

Meanwhile, Town Hall columnist Tony Blankley thinks it's those darn generals' fault:

It is hard to argue that the war is going optimally, and the administration argument that more troops wouldn't help is, at the least, counterintuitive. The president says he is sending as many troops as the generals ask for -- which is true. But recently, retired generals, and others, are saying that they are afraid to ask for more. If that is true, it is rather unheroic of the generals not to give the president the unvarnished truth of what is needed.

Yes, because we all know how well this president takes unvarnished truth. That's why he's attended so many military funerals. That's why he takes the issue of sending troops into battle so seriously, and would never, ever think there was anything funny about it. That's how we know, in fact, we went to war for good and sufficent reason--because of this president's ability to look the truth right in the eye and not blink.

If the unvarnished truth ever touched George W. Bush's little toe, he'd shrivel up into a little ball of skin and die.

Blankley finishes with a truly touching show of belief in his president:

The president rightly says that Iraq is currently the central front on the war on terror.

Sure...now.

Place your bets

From The N.Y. Times...

Americans continue dying in Iraq, but their mission creeps steadily downward. The nonexistent weapons of mass destruction dropped out of the picture long ago. Now the United States seems ready to walk away from its fine words about helping the Iraqis create a beacon of freedom, harmony and democracy for the Middle East. All that remains to be seen is whether the White House has become so desperate for an excuse to declare victory that it will settle for an Iranian-style Shiite theocracy.

(Via Hoffmania)

Wait a minute

According to U.S. News and World Reports...

Conservative Republicans are becoming increasingly convinced that Virginia Sen. George Allen will run for president in 2008--and win. "He's got the right pedigree," says a longtime Bush adviser. "He's conservative, he's a former southern governor, and he's likable."..."People like him," the official says. "He's the one in the race who's got that Bush quality."...A former Bush aide says 2008 is shaping up as a "Bush legacy" election

I certainly hope so. Ok, can anybody tell me what I'm missing here? BUSH IS NOT LIKABLE, YOU MORONS. You know how I know that? BECAUSE THE COUNTRY DOESN'T LIKE HIM.

They're acting as though more than 36% of Americans approve of the way Bush is handling his job and less than 58% disapprove. But then, they are conservatve republicans, after all.

It's a sad day for somebody like me whose favorite music has always been synthesized

Robert Moog, the inventor of the synthesizer that bore his name, has died.

He was one of the very few folks who could truly say he changed the way music was made and the way it sounds.

At the height of his synthesizer's popularity, when progressive rock bands like Yes, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk and Emerson, Lake and Palmer built their sounds around the assertive, bouncy, exotically wheezy and occasionally explosive timbres of Mr. Moog's instruments, his name (which rhymes with vogue) became so closely associated with electronic sound that it was often used generically, if incorrectly, to describe synthesizers of all kinds.

More recently, hip-hop groups like the Beastie Boys and rock bands with more experimentalist leanings, from They Might Be Giants to Wilco, have revived an interest in the early Moog synthesizer timbres. Partly because of this renewed interest, Mr. Moog and his instruments were the subjects of a documentary, "Moog," which opened in the fall of 2004. In an interview last year with The New York Times, Hans Fjellestad, who directed the film, likened Mr. Moog to Les Paul and Leo Fender, who are widely regarded as the fathers of the electric guitar.

To All The Girls I've Loved Before

I'd just like to apologize to those of you women in Dictionopolis in Digitopolis' vast reading audience whom I've shamed by having some form or another of sex with you (One percent, according to the most recent polling data).

(Maybe 1.5).

I didn't mean to make you so miserable, I mean I actually thought I usually tried to show you a pretty good time. But according to this article Amanda Marcotte found, I never really appreciated you as a person.

You can imagine my embarassment. I mean, here I thought I was a sensitive, considerate and giving lover, at least when I'm at my best. But no, apparently, I treated you as though you were one of the girls from Sex & the City, some ho in a rap video, or an excercise bike. Oh, and I've been telling all my buddies that I had you.

Apparently I've been doing that, because apparently that's what we all do. Sorry about that.

You know...

I wouldn't want to be accused of being someone who doesn't support our president at all, and has no confidence in him whatsoever. But I can understand how you might get that impression. So, I'd like to take a minute now to say that there is one thing George W. Bush is doing that I have complete confidence in, and in which he has my complete support.

And that is chasing his popularity numbers to the bottom of the ocean. A while back, those of us on the left were chortling about the fact that Bush was less popular than Bill Clinton had been on the day he was impeached.

It's gotten even better now. George W. Bush is officially less popular than Richard Nixon was during the height of Watergate. His popularity ratings are in the 30s, and I don't think they've hit bottom yet.

In fact, I say, if this president really puts his shoulder to the wheel, he can drop below 20%. And need I add, he has my complete and utter support in this endeavor? C'mon, George! We know you can do it! We're counting on you!

This can't be a Democrat speaking

I mean, this is both smart and right. And when was the last time a Democrat was either of those things, let alone both?

Senator Feingold: the Democratic Party and Democratic leaders decided to take a pass on the Iraq war. They decided to defer to the President, and I have to tell you many Democratic leaders knew better. This was a bad idea, but they allowed the Bush administration to brilliantly intimidate them into not standing up and saying this doesn’t fit in with the fight against Al Qaeda and the terrorists that attacked this country on 9/11...And now we're making the same mistake, now that it’s clear that the administration took us into Iraq under false premises. We have a situation where they are doing a terrible job managing this war. They are doing a terrible job of having a plan to win the war and win the peace. Yet, Democrats are allowing the President to set the terms of the debate.

I must have water in my ears--no way that's a Democrat speaking...

Oh, for the love of god

ETA: You know what, Digby says it a lot better than I do over in Hullabaloo:

...for those of us who have been bellowing until we are hoarse for the last four years about the magical thinking about Iraq, it is ineffably galling to still be treated as if we are the starry eyed hippies when in it's the allegedly sophisticated savants of the foreign policy establishment who have behaved as if this war could be won by clicking the heels of Laurie Myleroie's ruby slippers.

We are the ones who pointed out the fact that Bush's delusional PNAC/TeamB/CPD braintrust had been wrong about everything since the dawn of time and were the last people who should be trusted with a pre-emptive war doctrine. We're the ones who noticed that you didn't have to be a nuclear scientist to see that the "evidence" of Saddam's arsenal had a bit of a comic book flair to it. (The drone planes should have been a tip-off.) We're the ones who understood that people tend to not like being invaded by foreign troops even when they despise their own leaders.

It was the sophisticates of the establishment who bought every bit of snake oil the administration was selling, not us. And yet we still have to be condescended to from the people who were flat out, 100% wrong?

There's a story in the Washington Post about how Democrats are basically running around like chickens with their heads cut off. It seems they were caught by surprise by the President's dishonesty and incompetence about the war, which most of them supported.

Now they don't know what position they should take.

The wariness, congressional aides and outside strategists said in interviews last week, reflects a belief among some in the opposition that proposals to force troop drawdowns or otherwise limit Bush's options would be perceived by many voters as defeatist. Some operatives fear such moves would exacerbate the party's traditional vulnerability on national security issues.

I'm gonna make this real simple. They should say, over and and over, as many times as possible, these words:

"I was wrong...Howard Dean and the protesters were right."

Still, the Democratic discord has provided solace for Bush advisers at a difficult time. Although Bush's approval ratings have sunk, the Democrats have gained no ground at his expense. In a Washington Post-ABC News poll in June, just 42 percent of Americans approved of congressional Democrats, a figure even lower than Bush's.

Gee, I wonder why that would be?

Oh, good. Joan Baez has weighed in.

Isn't there some way you can show your support for Cindy Sheehan without having to listen to Joan Baez?

And now for a commercial break

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One Mother's Son

Frank Rich has a good column today; his opinion is that the attempted " Swift Boating" of Cindy Sheehan failed. And that this is a sign of the growing unease of the American people with regard to the war.

I hope he's right. But the thing that jumped out at me, and why I'm linking to it even though I can imagine some of you have had your fill of Ms. Sheehan (agree with the way she's done what she's done or not) is this:

Casey Sheehan's death in Iraq could not be more representative of the war's mismanagement and failure, but it is hardly singular. Another mother who has journeyed to Crawford, Celeste Zappala, wrote last Sunday in New York's Daily News of how her son, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, was also killed in April 2004 - in Baghdad, where he was providing security for the Iraq Survey Group, which was charged with looking for W.M.D.'s "well beyond the admission by David Kay that they didn't exist."

As Ms. Zappala noted with rage, her son's death came only a few weeks after Mr. Bush regaled the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association banquet in Washington with a scripted comedy routine featuring photos of him pretending to look for W.M.D.'s in the Oval Office. "We'd like to know if he still finds humor in the fabrications that justified the war that killed my son," Ms. Zappala wrote.

Again, this may be the one single thing that I find most loathesome about Geprge W. Bush. It's not that he's an incompetent. It's not that he's a liar. It's that he doesn't even seem to be serious about the things he's incompetent at and lies about.

The man makes jokes about sending men and women to their deaths. And that's not funny.

I believe just about anything can be funny in the right context, but a Commander-In-Chief cracking wise, in public, about decisions that cost the lives of American soldiers? That's not funny. That's not funny at all.

Well. Well, well, well, well well, well well...

There's this woman named Michelle Malkin. She's a favorite punching bag of the more Democratic-leaning blogs, a Republican columnist, and most recently, one of the pack of attack dogs set out after Cindy Sheehan.

She's also the author of a book defending the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Don't you just love the internet sometimes? Because it turns out, she also wrote this statement (via Atrios):

The government has apologized and provided cash compensation to victims who were forced into camps. There is no denying that what happened to Japanese-American internees was abhorrent and wrong.

Now I know what you're thinking: Being the author of a book defending the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the writer of that statement are mutually contradictory.

Maybe you didn't hear me. I said, she's a Republican columnist...

I was wondering when somebody would remember that

Barbara Bush, on Good Morning America in March 2003:

Why should we hear about body bags, and deaths, and how many, what day it’s gonna happen, and how many this or what do you suppose? Oh, I mean, it’s not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?

Now that, my friends, is comedy. Tragedy tomorrow...

Pandagon found a blog with the ridiculously trendy title of Not A Desperate Housewife. Where, taking off from the well-known show "The Vagina Monologues," someone has posted a letter from her own genitalia.

The message of which seems to be, in the words of a little ditty made famous by Three Dog Night, "Mama Told Me (Not To Come)." It basically says (in so many words), that a girl's vagina is for her future husband, not for any other fortunate souls along the way, and certainly not for herself.

Well. Amanda's vagina took exception to this, and Ms. Marcotte decided the only thing for it was a head-to-head (or...um...) challenge: Party gal vs. the Pope of Girlstown.

Place, as they say, your bets.

My vagina sounds like less of a drag than NADH's, but hers sounds like it would drive you to the airport in the middle of the night...my vagina, while well-liked by those who know her, just isn't popular enough to be the talk of the town to the point where people are spreading lies about her or trying to snatch her from me or anything like that.

When you're finished with that, on a more serious tip, Ms. Marcotte responds to the latest piece of clunky justification for being anti-choice and anti-contraception here. Once again, what gets me about the esteemed opposition isn't so much their muddy thinking, which I've only come to expect. It's their tortured prose.

The feminist establishment is in an uproar over the appointment of Judge John Roberts to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. In their minds, the abortion license established by Roe v. Wade is sacrosanct. But I believe the very concept of reproductive freedom is dangerous illusion that has brought misery to millions of people. The series of Court cases which created this illusion increased access to both contraception and abortion. These cases did indeed, allow people to change the probability of a live baby resulting from any sexual act. It would be a defensible intellectual position to claim that people are entitled to use new technologies to change these probabilities. But under feminist tutelage, the social norms and constitutional interpretation around sex and conception have morphed into a much stronger demand: We now believe that we are entitled to have sex without having a live baby result.

Gah! Anyone who writes like that isn't going to have to worry about me trying to have sex with them, I'll tell you that...

We're the kids in America, everybody live for the music-go-round

Via Digby, a blogger named

Rose Aguillar is interviewing people in states that overwhelmingly voted for George W. Bush.

Here's an Oklahoma woman. Ms. Aguillar's questions in italics.

I feel like the president is doing everything he can to help.

Like what?

For one thing, he is protecting our country by being in Iraq.

No, he's not.

We can't pull out too soon because they'll think we're chicken and they'll try to attack us again.

They didn't attack us the first time.

We can't pull out until they're able to fend for themselves. Those who are strong are supposed to help those who are weak.

We attacked those who were weak.

We are strong and we're that way for a reason. We've always been peacemakers.

But we made war. And we made it badly. And we made it because of a lie. So, even though I know we all know the answer, I wonder, how can she think this?

Where do you get your information about the war?

The Bible and the 700 Club. I also listen to preachers who know what's going on. Pat Robertson.

There is, sad to say, more.

I know, I know: If I love Roger Ebert so much, why don't I marry him?

What can I say, I'm a sucker for good writing--and the man didn't win a Pulitzer for nothing. Ebert has posted a thought-provoking commentary on the film "Chaos" on his website, in response to an open letter the producer and the director of the movie sent him after his review.

I don't quite know what to say about it here, except that I identify with his response to the film (which I haven't seen). It reminds me of some of the reactions I've either experienced myself or seen in others when a piece of drama seems to have no other purpose but to sadistically abuse its audience and/or characters.

Here's Roger:

your film creates a closed system in which any alternative outcome is excluded; it is like a movie of a man falling to his death, which can have no developments except that he continues to fall, and no ending except that he dies. Pre-destination may be useful in theology, but as a narrative strategy, it is self-defeating.

What I miss in your film is any sense of hope. Sometimes it is all that keeps us going. The message of futility and despair in "Chaos" is unrelieved, and while I do not require a "happy ending," I do appreciate some kind of catharsis. As the Greeks understood tragedy, it exists not to bury us in death and dismay, but to help us to deal with it, to accept it as a part of life, to learn about our own humanity from it. That is why the Greek tragedies were poems: The language ennobled the material.

What I object to most of all in "Chaos" is not the sadism, the brutality, the torture, the nihilism, but the absence of any alternative to them. If the world has indeed become as evil as you think, then we need the redemptive power of artists, poets, philosophers and theologians more than ever.

Oh, yeah

Yellow Dog Blog reminds us that there was a time, really not all that long ago, when Bush didn't hesitate to come back from vacation...

Remember?

"Look, this is a symbolic move, for sure," said Richard Cizik, the vice president for government affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, on Bush's disrupting his vacation to intervene in the Schiavo affair. "It's his willingness to interrupt his vacation to make a statement. And not just to make a statement, because we're not playing games here, but to make a difference, too."

Meanwhile, mothers of Iraq war dead – because there are more parents who have lost children than just Cindy Sheehan at Camp Casey – can't leapfrog over Bush's bike riding, fishing and nap-taking for even a quick meeting.

YDG also has:

a sampling of comments from right-wingers posting at the Huffington Post comments section on the story about Cindy Sheehan leaving Camp Casey to be with her sick mother:

"We need reporters to verify this story. I want to know from the doctors what caused this stroke. Was it shame brought about from her daughter trashing her grandson's memory?"

"Cindy....did it ever occur to you that YOU may be the cause of your mothers stroke?????? Give it up; you are shaming your family."

"This woman is a looser. Last time I checked this was a volunteer army. I don't care about Bush, its apparent to everyone the guy has made a lot of mistakes (except for Limbaugh). GET OVER IT."

"I hope Cindy realizes that she probably caused her mother’s stroke. No of course not, being the self-centered poor pitiful me person she is, she will find a way to blame Bush."

Compassionate conservatives. Gotta love 'em.

No, you don't.

I don't know whether to say "Oh, Crap" or "ha ha ha..."

The LA Times recently ran a story about the Child Exploitation Section of the Toronto Sex Crimes Unit, which contained a mind-boggling statistic: of the more than 100 offenders the unit has arrested over the last four years, "all but one" has been "a hard-core Trekkie."...the Toronto detectives claim that the connection is undeniable.

In fact, Star Trek paraphernalia has so routinely been found at the homes of the pedophiles they've arrested that it has become a gruesome joke in the squad room. (On the wall, there is a Star Trek poster with the detectives' faces replacing those of the crew members). This does not mean that watching Star Trek makes you a pedophile. It does mean that if you're a pedophile, odds are you've watched a lot of Star Trek.

Well gals, I've got some good news and some bad news

The bad news is, if you're unfortunate enough to live in North Carolina (or Alabama,apparently) and your husband or boyfriend beats you, we're not going to let you get a restraining order. The good news is, we are going to make it easier for you to get a gun!

As they write down at TGW...

Empowerment? Guns will empower women?

Presumably there is little that can be done about the problem of violent men, so legislators have turned their attention to the problem of 'disempowered' women.

(Is it just me, or does anyone else think of "Goodbye Earl," by the Dixie Chicks when they read this?)

(I haven't mentioned it in about 10 months, but I still have a major crush on Natalie Maines)

Good lord. My senator has a lower approval rating than one from TN

Survey USA released approval ratings for all 100 U.S. Senators. My Senator, Patty Murray, ranks below Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. Don't ask me how it happened, she's seemed pretty solid to me. Granted, her office was less than helpful to my mother recently...

She also ranks below Dianne Feinstein of California. You know, I remember hearing an exchange about non-biodegradable tea bags when I lived in California that went something like this:

"That bag'll be here long after we're gone."

"Didn't we used to say that about Dianne Feinstein?"

And above Barbara Boxer, which is more surprising to me. Ah, but there's good news today. The absolutely least-popular senator facing re-election in 2006 is...Rick "man on dog, Democrats=Hitler" Santorum.

Gee, it was only last November he was thought a likely candidate for 2008. I wonder what changed? (If you really need that question answered, you haven't been reading this blog)

They deserve each other

Digby responds to a Kevin Drum post about the old "So what if we do get out of Iraq...what then?" question. It's long(ish) but well worth reading, herewith, a little something to get you started:

Kevin's question about "looking weak" is more than an academic one to both the neocons and Osama bin Laden. The neocons are convinced that everything from the rise of terrorism to male pattern baldness is the result of looking weak....The neocons worry incessantly about this. It's almost as if they share the Japanese obsession with "face" and they will do almost anything to save it. They will fight withdrawal with every breath in their bodies.

"No doubt some folks enjoy doin' battle, like presidents, prime ministers and kings, so let's all build them shelves so they can fight among themselves. And leave the people be who love to sing. / Come and sing a simple song of freedom, sing it like you've never sung before, let it fill the air, tell the people everywhere: We the people here don't want a war"

--Bobby Darin, "Simple Song of Freedom"

Well, how did you rate?

Mary-Jane at A New England points to a list purporting to be of "The most over-rated films of all time." She also adds her own candiates to the list, which is featured in a new issue of Premiere.

What would I add? Well, certainly the last "Star Wars" movie..."Almost Famous"..."Keeping The Faith." And, (sigh) "The Princess Bride." Which has a great script and nearly flawless casting, but Rob Reiner somehow manages to shoot locations so they look like sets.

"The Goonies." For a certain age bracket, this seems to be a treasured gem of childhood. I am not in that age bracket. "Bad Santa." And if there were a special listing for directors, I'd be talking about Mike Nichols, David Lynch, and of course, Tim Burton.

Mary-Jane offers:

(I still cannot believe that 'Titanic' and 'Braveheart' won Oscars for anything, much less Best Picture.) Naturally, in the IMDb poll on this list, I voted for 'Forrest Gump', which is not only overrated, but one of the worst films of all time.

I can't speak to "Bravehart" or "Forrest Gump" because I never saw them. "Titantic" I think could have been a much better movie if they had just started with Kate Winslet's nude scene and gone on from there.

Here's Premiere's list, with comments where applicable.

* 'Chicago'

Absolutely. This movie made me want to keep the director out of the editing bay at gunpoint. What is the point, pray, of hyping the notion that your cast did all their own dancing--and then cutting the dance numbers so quickly it wouldn't matter if the star was Gwen Verdon or Jessica Simpson?

* 'A Beautiful Mind'
* '2001: A Space Odyssey'
* 'Monster's Ball'

Here I have to disagree--I thought "Monster's Ball" was a great movie. It's also my number one go-to flick for an example of a sex scene that actually is integral to the plot and all those other things directors tell young actresses.

There's simply no way to tell that story without that scene.

* 'Forrest Gump'
* 'American Beauty'

Here, again, I agree. "American Beauty" was good...but not that good. It wasn't that funny and it's insight seemed limited to me.

* 'Gone with the Wind'

Maybe, but I respect its place in history. And I remember actually kind of liking it when I saw it in high school.

* 'Clerks'

I don't know if I'd say this is an overrated movie as much as I'd say Kevin Smith has failed to live up to his potential.

* 'Mystic River'

Strongly disagree. Fucking great movie with a really strong script.

* 'Good Will Hunting'

Now we're talking. My take on "Good Will Hunting" remains what it has been since I saw it: Some good performances, especially Williams, but it's not a story, it's a collection of acting showcase scenes.

As a side note, this is what Bob Strauss of the Los Angeles Daily News wrote when predicting that Williams would win over Burt Reynolds, nominated the same year for "Boogie Nights:"

"In Boogie Nights, Burt plays a guy who can't distinguish vulgariry from art. In Good Will Hunting, Robin tells a self-proclaimed genius that nothing's his fault. Which role do you think Hollywood types find more reassuring?"

--as quoted in "Inside Oscar 2"

* 'Field of Dreams'

Overrated? It's a baseball movie and I liked it. It must have done something right.

* 'The Wizard of Oz'
* 'Moonstruck'
* 'Chariots of Fire'
* 'Fantasia'

Depends how you're judging it, really. But to an animation fan, it's certainly better than "Fantasia 2000."

* 'Easy Rider'
* 'An American in Paris'

No, I won't have that. This movie is amazing, with one of the most romantic movie scores ever. And arguably the best on-screen dancer, though obviously if you wanted to mention that Fred Astaire fellow I wouldn't call you a blapsphemer. I'd almost rather see "Singin' in the Rain," on this list, and I rate that pretty highly too.

* 'Jules et Jim'
* 'Nashville'
* 'The Red Shoes'

What?

From the August 16 edition of the Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club:

[PAT]ROBERTSON: I had interviewed a lady who was a sociologist who says "I am a lesbian," but she described homosexuality in this term, she said, "They are self-absorbed narcissists." I want you to put that down -- self-absorbed narcissists who are willing to destroy any institution so long as they can have affirmation of their lifestyle. You go back to the various laws that took away the difficulty of getting a divorce, and the people leading the charge were homosexuals, way back in the '70s. So we have no-fault divorce. Who are leading the charge for abortions? So often, you'll find people who are lesbians leading the fight for the destruction of human life. Now they want to destroy marriage.

Courtesy of Media Matters, who adds:

The first no-fault divorce law in the nation was signed in California in 1969 by Gov. Ronald Reagan.

Once again, the G.O.P. shows their remarkable political courage

For which they're so renowned.

Republicans said a convergence of events - including the protests inspired by the mother of a slain American soldier outside Mr. Bush's ranch in Texas, the missed deadline to draft an Iraqi Constitution and the spike in casualties among reservists - was creating what they said could be a significant and lasting shift in public attitude against the war.

The Republicans described that shift as particularly worrisome, occurring 14 months before the midterm elections. As further evidence, they pointed to a special election in Ohio two weeks ago, where a Democratic marine veteran from Iraq who criticized the invasion decision came close to winning in a district that should have easily produced a Republican victory.

"There is just no enthusiasm for this war," said Representative John J. Duncan Jr., a Tennessee Republican who opposes the war. "Nobody is happy about it. It certainly is not going to help Republican candidates, I can tell you that much."-NY Times

Oh! What a shame. Your nasty little president's incompetence is going to make it harder for you lot to keep lining up at the trough. Boo hoo. Let's throw a little pity party for you.

Tens of thousands of people, American and Iraqi, are dead, you assholes.
That's more important than your goddamn re-election. Don't think I've forgotten that 99% of our "Democratic" representatives laid down on this one...but let's have some respect for that.

I swear to you, there are times when I think I would vote for the first politician who gets on televison and says "I was wrong, Howard Dean and the protesters were right."

Well I'll be damned

A possible sign of life from the Democrats. Political Wire reports:

Though a story yesterday suggested Democrats had thrown in the towel, the New York Times reports Senate Democrats "on Tuesday night sharply escalated their resistance to the president's Supreme Court nominee, Judge John Roberts."

"The statements were a stark contrast to the Democrats' previously noncommittal comments and suggested a possible turning point."

Maybe hold off on quitting those jobs, ladies, it may not be all over bar the shouting after all.

Some pictures are worth...

ETA: Thanks to Egalia at TGW for the shout-out, and for adding me to her blog-roll. I suppose I should do one of those one of these days...

There is a brilliant and hilarious blog post here. It's by a young gay man who reprints a composite of several letters he's gotten from people who want to save him from his homosexuality. The horror, the horror.

He replies by posting photographs of himself and his husband and their life together. It's really eloquent.

Oh wow, here's a thought

Hoffmania writes:

Even if, fate forbid, we were hit with another terrorist attack, no one on the planet would rush to our aid - and Bush's inability to handle such a situation has already been proven.

The Bush who cried Weapons of Mass Destruction.

I can't add anything to that

"There is no way our children died in vain, not if we pay attention, not if we learn. I'm proud of my son. I love the Marines. And I'm very much against this war and always have been.

"I guess our children went and were sacrificed for us to take a look at what we let happen. We let this war happen. If nothing else, this is a huge lesson. Watch who you vote for. Watch what they're telling you. Don't be so afraid."

- Lynn Bradach of Portland, OR who joins Cindy Sheehan in Crawford today

Bright and early for their daily races

I don't link to a lot of columns by Maureen Dowd; I don't like her as much as some of my Democratic brethern do. I especially don't like the way she's attempted, in the past, to equate Clinton's lie with Bush's, as though the two were in any way comparable.

As Eric Alterman said in April of last year:

"Let’s do a tally, shall we?

People dead from Clinton’s lie: 0
People dead from Bush’s: tens of thousands.

Endless quagmires caused by Clinton’s lie: 0
Endless quagmires caused by Bush’s lie: 1"

That said, this is good stuff:

How could President Bush be cavorting around on a long vacation with American troops struggling with a spiraling crisis in Iraq?

Wasn't he worried that his vacation activities might send a frivolous signal at a time when he had put so many young Americans in harm's way?
"I'm determined that life goes on," Mr. Bush said stubbornly.

That wasn't the son, believe it or not. It was the father - 15 years ago. I was in Kennebunkport then to cover the first President Bush's frenetic attempts to relax while reporters were pressing him about how he could be taking a month to play around when he had started sending American troops to the Persian Gulf only three days before.

...


"I just don't like taking questions on serious matters on my vacation," the usually good-natured Bush senior barked at reporters on the golf course. "So I hope you'll understand if I, when I'm recreating, will recreate." His hot-tempered oldest son, who was golfing with his father that day, was even more irritated. "Hey! Hey!" W. snapped at reporters asking questions on the first tee. "Can't you wait until we finish hitting, at least?"

Junior always had his priorities straight.

ETA: Meanwhile, Junior asks the nation, "How you like me now?"

President Bush’s job approval has dropped to 41% nationwide, according to the results of 50 separate but concurrent, statewide public opinion polls conducted by SurveyUSA.

Our next Supreme Court justice, ladies

The following is cobbled-together (Frankenstein style) from pieces published by The Washington Post (via Feministing) and USA Today:

The memo about the Los Angeles service for aborted fetuses is part of a pattern in the documents issued yesterday by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library: During his tenure from 1982 to 1986 in the Reagan White House, Roberts staked out conservative positions on a broader array of issues than has previously been known.

He [wrote of] a federal court decision that sought to guarantee women equal pay to men "I honestly find it troubling that three Republican representatives are so quick to embrace such a radical redistributive concept. Their slogan may as well be, 'From each according to his ability, to each according to her gender.' "He wrote that a Supreme Court case prohibiting silent prayer in public school "seems indefensible."

But don't worry, the democrats will fight him. Oh. Except that they won't, really. Time to stock up on morning-after pills, quit those jobs and resign your unconventional religious affiliations, gals.

Call out the instigator
Because there's something in the air
We got to get it together sooner or later
Because the revolution's here and you know it's right

--Thunderclap Newman, "Something In The Air"

I guess reading really is fundemental after all

At Pandagon, Amanda Marcotte found a bizarre column by someone named Rebecca Hagelin. It's basically a shriek-and-clutch-your-pearls piece about how the American Library Association, in conspiracy with teachers, is assigning books that contain "highly sexualized, vulgar garbage, filled with four-letter words and enough verbal porn to embarrass even an ole’ salt."

Well! Obviously things have changed since I was a lad. I mean, there was that sequel to "Harriet The Spy" that described a girl getting her period for the first time, and the Judy Blume books, god knows, are peverted hotbeds of middle-grade sexuality. But I can't believe that even the tightest-wound holy roller from Texas or Tennessee would say they were "vulgar garbage, filled with four-letter words and verbal porn."

So naturally, I'm curious. What books is Miss Hagelin talking about? Oh. She won't tell us:

In the interest of decency, there’s no way I can give you word-for-word examples. And I refuse to give the trashy book and its loser author free publicity in a column that often gets forwarded around the World Wide Web.

Right. Nor does she provide the list of ALA-recommended books from which these collections of verbal porn by "perverted author[s] most folks have never heard of" are alleged to have been drawn.

We're just supposed to take her word for it, although we have no way of knowing what she considers pornographic (all kidding aside, some people do think that about Judy Blume). Or what "perversion" is to her (I'm gonna go way out on a limb and suggest that homosexuality may fall into that category).

It's a neat trick: Fire shrill volleys at people who are actually trying to give children the gift of reading, which has to be one of the nobler tasks given to mankind. Accuse them of being trash peddlers, but hide behind "decency" when it comes to actually substantiating any of your claims.

I haven't seen that kind of nimble thinking since my last Usenet flamewar.

People fill the world with narrow confidence

David Neiwert (the second-greatest liberal blogger out of Seattle) reminds us of something about Cindy Sheehan that should not be forgotten. Responding to local columnist Robert Jamieson:

He regurgitates the now well-trodden (and largely debunked) GOP/Drudge talking points claiming that Sheehan "changed her story."

He misses a key point regarding Sheehan's earlier meeting with Bush: It occurred in June 2004. The Duelfer Report -- which made clear that there were no weapons of mass destruction -- was released in September 2004. Note now, if you will, that Sheehan's main line of criticism of Bush is that "he lied to us."

Meanwhile, our pal James "the" Mann writes about the conservative who hit on a newly unique way to "support the troops."

There are good people in the world...
And then there are "people" such as the human piece of waste that drug a chain and a pipe behind his pickup truck and mowed down the crosses bearing the names of servicemen killed in Iraq located at Camp Casey.

Bob Geiger has a little more context and asks the question: Just how low can conservatives go?

Point/Counterpoint

Point:

White House aides say they worry about the precedent, should Bush see Sheehan again. "If the President meets with her, does he have to meet with every protester who camps out in Crawford or in Lafayette Park [in Washington]?" asks a Bush aide. "Does he have a second meeting with every mother or wife who asks for one?"

--Time Magazine, via Hoffmania

Counterpoint:

BARTLET
Toby, if we start pulling strings like this, you don’t think every homeless veteran would come out of the woodworks?

TOBY
I can only hope, sir.

--The West Wing, "In Excelsis Deo" Aaron Sorkin & Rick Cleveland

Mystery right-wing Christian theocracy theatre 3000

A conservative blogger named Bill Hobbs live-blogged the protesters outside "Justice Sunday II" in my favorite state. He asked some questions that deserve answering. For example, under a photo of a woman holding a sign with the words "American Medial Technology?" and a picture of a coat hanger, and then the words, "never again," Hobbs writes:

I agree with this woman's sign. We should never ever have another back-alley abortion performed with a coat-hanger. But if that's wrong, how does replacing the coat hangar with a doctor's tools and the alley with an operating room make it morally acceptable?

Um...because the one is dangerous, unsanitary and risks the mother's life, and the other is a medical procedure performed by a trained professional with every precaution taken? I mean I'm just spitballing here, but that's what I think the difference is.

Egalia comments:

One young woman held an ‘Outlaw Viagra, Not Abortion’ (a.k.a. slice men’s reproductive rights for a change) sign. Conservative blogger Bill Hobbs didn't get it. He posted a picture of her and commented: "There's always a man-hating poster at a left wing protest."

Another blogger calling himself "The Captain" (make of that what you will) shows a similar degree of not-getting-it, no play on words intended.

Apparently, women can have a choice to have a baby or not, but men can't choose to have an erection

Proving once again that men may or may not have a sense of humor, but there's nothing funny about our penises. There's nothing funny about penises at all. Really. Ask any woman.

And besides, they're both missing the most important point, which is that the chick in the jeans with the red top is fucking hot.

Getting back to Mr. Hobbs, he then goes on to show that the Tennesseeans' gift of being able to read someone's mind by looking at their picture is not limited to Bill Frist, who could not only do that, he could diagnose someone's medical condition.

Under another photograph, Hobbs writes:

The guy on the left seems to want religious people to stay out of politics, though I bet if you asked him he wouldn't mind Left-wing religious people staying involved in politics. The lady on the right holding the "Pro-Child/Pro-Choice" sign probably never looked at her own kids and said, "I love you, buddyboo, but I'm so glad I had the right to kill you if I wanted to!"

"I bet." "Probably." Not being in Tennessee, my powers are stronger (on so many levels). So I can tell you with the same level of accuracy or better, and without even looking at any pictures of them, that "the Captain" hasn't gotten any in a decade and Bill Hobbs beats his kids.

I bet. Probably.

He's such a man. He's such a big, strong man.

Bush's approval ratings are plunging, oil prices are soaring, and belief that the US is winning the War On Terror is currently about on par with a belief in The Great Pumpkin. So...here's the latest from the media on how massively huge President Bigman Notstupid's jock is. He can crush liberals into tiny powder between his mighty fingers!

USA Today reports:

the truth about the Biker-in-Chief is that the man can really ride. Over the course of a two-hour Tour de Crawford, Bush humbled every rider in Peloton One with a strong and steady pace over scorching hot paved roads, muddy creek crossings, energy-sapping tall grass and steep climbs on loose and crumbling rock.

And The Economist concludes:

enthusiasm for sport can be a ticket to Mr Bush's inner circle...Condoleeza Rice "works out with the president and spends time at Camp David watching baseball and football on television...a poor physique can test the president's patience. When Mr Bush sacked Larry Lindsey, his portly economic adviser during his first term, he apparently complained in private about his failure to exercise.

Well, it's not like Mr. Bush needed to sweat his economic adviser--his policies are doing great with the public! And, once again: FDR was in a wheelchair and won WWII.

Because it worked so well for John Kerry

Democrats are recruiting "newly-minted veterans from Iraq and the war on terrorism" to face Republican incumbents in next year’s congressional elections

--Political Wire

I knew I regretted not having gone to college

According to the Washington Times, via Feministe, college life today is a "sex carnival." (Of course, if I had gone, it would have been in the early '90s at or near the height of AIDS paranoia...)

Atrios remembers a little something

In response to a New York Times editorial suggesting Judith Miller be let go:

Number of days Susan McDougal spent in prison for contempt? About 540.

Number of New York times editorial board pieces suggesting she be let go? According to a variety of Nexis searches I've done, approximately 0.

This may be the thing I like best about blogs and blogging: Unlike the seeming vast majority of the mainstream press, they have memories. Incidentally, I read and liked McDougal's book a couple of years ago. Mark Evanier's got a little note about meeting her here (you'll need to scroll down).

Lucky Fin

Since Peter Jennings died from complications of lung cancer, and it was revealed that Dana Reeve, widow of Christopher, has it, there's been a bit of wishful thinking in the press. The hope is that this will inspire people, perhaps especially young people, to stop smoking.

I see a handful of reports that says more smokers are looking to quit and calling the ALA and I hope it's true. But color me skeptical, I don't think addiction works that way.

I don't want to nag my one or two friends who do smoke--they know I wish they wouldn't, and I know they'd like to quit. Besides, I'm sure there are one or two things they wish I wouldn't do that are bad for my health. And I don't think the death of a reporter or "Superman's widow" being sick is going to help us make those choices.

But if anything could, I wish that this would: Dan Lee, a character designer at Pixar studios, is dead.
He designed Nemo in Finding Nemo and Boo in Monsters, Inc. It was lung cancer. He was 35.

In the interests of truth, justice and the American way...

From Yellow Dog Blog...

I've heard from both TruthOut.org and from another blogger who is also in Crawford that Cindy happened to not be at Camp Casey when the conservative throng showed up to chant "we don't care" at her.

Not that it makes it a lot better, but I'm so glad she wasn't there to hear it in person.

Mission Accomplished

The Bush administration "is significantly lowering expectations of what can be achieved in Iraq, recognizing that the United States will have to settle for far less progress than originally envisioned during the transition due to end in four months," the Washington Post reports.

"The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society in which the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say."

--Via Political Wire