What The Hell Is Wrong With John McCain?

So we aren't even in the same year as the next Presidential election, yet John McCain skips the Senate vote on the funding for Iraq because he is on a "presidential campaign swing." This is April 2007, Not April 2008 or even October 2008. This is from The Hill:

The Senate voted, 51-46, to OK the conference report’s goal of withdrawing most U.S. troops from Iraq by April 2008. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) missed the vote while on a presidential campaign swing, and Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) were also absent.

RIP: Bobby "Boris' Pickett

Bobby "Boris" Pickett, the lead singer on the best holiday song not involving Christmas, the "Monster Mash," died yesterday.

Presidential Brief: Locksley -- Don't Make Me Wait

Artist: Locksley
Title: Don't Make Me Wait
Label: Feature Records
Release Date: 1/9/07

Rating: Harry Truman

I don't know very many bands that strive to be the early Beatles. Everyone and their mother wants to be Revolver era or Sgt. Peppers era Beatles not Meet the Beatles...well I guess except The Smithereens...

On the other hand, no one ever wants to be a later era Kinks...everyone wants to be early Kinks...no band ever started by learning every note of Sleepwalker...

Locksley debut album fills the early Beatles void nicely...and they should seriously consider suing The Kooks for sound infringement..."Don't Make Me Wait" is the first and best song and things start rolling from there. By the time you reach "The Past and the Present" (Track 8 of 13) you feel like like only a few moments have gone by.

So, You Think The Cold War Is Over?

Secretary of State Rice seems to be getting a lot of flack for calling Russia "The Soviets" this week...I doubt a government headed by former Soviets will really care...and for those who think the Cold War is a thing of the past think again...

What Ho, What Ho, What Ho?

Yesterday was my birthday so I was out and about and posting zilch...what's better than a birthday? Getting up at 6:20am the next morning to make it to class...

Birthday present I am most excited about: The Complete Jeeves & Wooster...If you only know Hugh Laurie from his interesting American accent in House or even The Black Adder series, you must see this Masterpiece Theatre series and his tour de force performance of Bertie Wooster...

A relevant quote from the series:

Bertie: "It's about time some publicly-spirited person told you where to get off. The trouble with you, Spode, is that just because you've succeeded in convincing a handful of half-wits to disfigure the London scene by going about in black shorts, you think you're someone. You hear them shouting "Hail, Spode!" and you imagine it's the voice of the people. That is where you make your bloomer. What the voice of the people is actually saying is, "Look at that frightful ass Spode swanking about in footer bags! Did you ever in your life see such a perfect perisher?"

It's Over

It's one thing to say these sort of things when the Dems were in the minority and get away with it...but now, things are sooooo different...Guiliani blows any chance of me voting for him...and probably half the country...

A Riot's Gonna Happen

Someone's getting fired...

Local News/National News

Living here in Seattle, sometimes it is hard to tell what is "national" news versus "local" news...take Sanjaya...he is from the Seattle area and so it wasn't clear at first if it was just our local news that was freaking out about him...a least until Hilary got involved...

UPDATE:Gay Pride isn't Free

Where are all the gay millionaires?

UPDATE: Seattle Out and Proud is bankrupt...

Nike Ad To Don Imus

Game Plan

So the game plan is to do some record reviews using the Presidential ranking list (on the left) as my system...I previously used a list from 1948 and because of massive feedback (thanks, Craig) I will use an updated list with Dwight Eisenhower much higher...but know he will probably be angry the JFK is higher than LBJ...What's the expression...don't write checks your ass can't cash? LBJ did cash the checks that JFK wrote...but I guess JFK gets points for what could have been...

Good New for People Who Love Bad News

Reports out today say that Medicare and Social Security will survive in the black for a year longer than they thought last year...now Medicare will go into the red in 2019 and Social Security in 2041...as a graduate student studying health care administration I eat these articles for breakfast and dream about them at night...these problems can easily be avoided and done away with all together if we simply had an administration that would not threaten a veto to any bill that raises taxes...of course, these problems cannot be fixed by increased taxes alone...there are other options...

Quote of the Day

“I find it ironic that the flags were flown at half-staff for the young men and women who were killed at VT, yet it is never lowered for the death of a U.S. service member."
--Sgt. Jim Wilt serving in Afghanistan

New-ish Radiohead

Hear Ye, Hear Ye, newish Radiohead is coming to America...in another article I read about this, they claimed it was because of the huge number of import copies that were being sent to America and England...that may be, but there is another reason too...keeping customers happy...check out this excerpt from an Amazon.com user review of the import version:

"Com Lag is an expensive EP. In addition to that it has a bad glitch. Track 7, the remix of Scatterbrain, is ruined by a static hiss that comes out of nowhere. Gosh, if that's not generosity, I don't know what is. And rather than recall the faulty product, EMI issues another pressing that corrects the problem but comes at the same ridiculous price. Way to go EMI. Way to alienate the faithful. Why don't you come over to my place and scratch all of my CDs with rusty nails? I'll pay you for your services." -- from user "j. garratt"

When I read this review, it was enough for me to not purchase the CD even though I would have happily spent $35 on a defective CD like a good little lemming...

Someone Still Love You Boris Yeltsin, RIP

I remember a few months ago sitting around with a couple of friends from graduate school and I asked, "Is Boris Yeltsin still alive?"...we all went around the table and the consensus was that Mr. Yeltsin was, in fact, dead...I wasn't so sure but I could remember that he was sick when Clinton was President so maybe they were right...even in this information age, nobody checked and I completely forgot about this conversation until today...I guess we were wrong...


By the way, there is a great band called Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin that seems relevant today...


Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin -- Methane River

Damien Rice -- Rootless Tree

This video version of the song is slightly different than the version on 9...I consider myself a little too manly to like Damien Rice but this song is something else and if he would ditch the paino and play guitar on every song he wouldn't be lumped in the James Blunts of the world...

Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot

"I didn't even think twice. I just went and did it," she said. "If they'd even dared come close to me, they'd be 6 feet under by now."

--Miss America 1944

No Limbo...But What About The Twist?

The Catholic Church flip flops...

In a Nutshell: Tom Snyder

This may be the perfect Tom Snyder clip...a then-obscure guest ("Weird Al" Yankovic's first TV appearance) in which Tom makes snide (or Snyd) comments about...Tom always played it as if he was "one of us" and his guests were sort of thrust upon him by somebody else...some unknown force that claimed that these people were worthy of a few minutes on NBC or CBS to which Tom tended to think "yeah, right"...for example he doesn't know anything about the song that "Weird Al" is going to play or that it is a parody of a Queen song...

Charlie Rose

Watching Charlie Rose on PBS is nearly a daily occurrence for me...it is hit or miss as to whether I am fulling engaged or if its just great back ground noise...one of the best interviews I've seen recently is Charlie with Ira Glass from This American Life...Regrettably, Mr. Rose doesn't ask as many "asshole" questions as Tom Snyder did...but he must be credited with having unique guests that no one else does...

Here is a rare White Stripes performance from a 2006 show.

Eye Rolling Free Zone

Poet Nikki Giovanni at the Virginia Tech memorial service...although The American Spectator was doing some heavy eye rolling...

Even Bad Music Gets Dragged Into Politics

Simon rolled his eyes, and the nation gasped...I sometimes find myself guilty of what everyone's favorite American Idol judge, Simon Cowell, is accused of doing during the last episode...when people mention major events (9/11, Columine, the Virginia Tech shootings) to add credence to their argument it is hard not to roll your eyes especially if the speaker is not completely sincere...or say hoping you phone in your vote for him.

Blog Civil Defense System

Sometimes I think blogs around the world need to unite as a sort of Blog Civil Defense System that can get the word out about really, really, really important things...you know...like a new Will Ferrel video:

There is no such thing as "Pro Abortion"

Dahlia Lithwick of Slate brings up an interesting point in her article about the Supreme Courts new ruling on late-term abortions:

As a matter of law, the majority opinion today should have focused exclusively on what has changed since the high court's 2000 decision in Stenberg v. Carhart. Stenberg struck down a Nebraska ban that was almost identical to the federal ban upheld today. That's why every court to review the ban found the federal law, passed in 2003, unconstitutional. What really changed in the intervening years was the composition of the court: Sandra Day O'Connor, who voted to strike down the ban in 2000, is gone. Samuel Alito, who votes today to uphold it, is here.

John McCain vs. The Beach Boys

This blog is about politics and music...sometimes they meet in rather unfortunate ways...

"Ba-Ba-Ba Ba-Ba-Ba-Barbara Ann"

"Bomb Bomb Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran"

This Will Give McCain and Lieberman Someone To Blame

Everyone's favorite anti-christ will make his return in June.

Let's not forget what happened last time...here is a clip from Bowling for Columbine to refresh your memory...

Quote of the Day

"If Giuliani is the nominee, we’re going to hammer him with ads, and it’s going to be easy because the issue is simple: He’s a draft dodger"

--Jon Soltz of VoteVets.org

Winning the Hearts and Minds

Not a good sign.

I Thought It Was a Bunch of Tubes

We don't need a whole new Internet...we just need some Drano for the Internet tubes...