One quick question

After the first 2000 debate, which Al Gore won on substance but committed hari-kari on style, did the "dial" groups that the networks love reflect that?

By comparison, the first 2004 debate was a complete knock out for Kerry in every possible way.* Bush's debate coach considered the worst beatdown in presidential debate history as it was occuring.

* The two biggest victories in terms of just annihilating your opponents were Kerry v. Bush I in 04 and Mondale v. Reagan I in 84. Notice that neither "victor" won the ultimate prize.

My Mid-Debate Thoughts

Yes! Two mentions of Latvia!

Things aren't going as well as I hoped for Obama...I hadn't really expected that we would talk so much about cutting spending after both candidates pretty much agreed they would support a $700 billion financial crisis bill...if cutting spending actually matters to voters then McCain will benefit from that based on his debate showing...

My mid-debate reaction

John McCain is either winning, ala John Kerry in the first 2004 debate, as being forceful, pointed and sharp. Or he is losing, ala Al Gore in the first 2000 debate, with his devilish grin, interrupting and hectoring. Right now, I can't figure out which.

The Wire: Seasons 2 & 3

I didn't post a review of Season 2 of the Wire because there wasn't the single moment that jumped out at me like in Season 1...But right away in Season 3 we have drug dealers using Robert's Rules of Order and as a former Parliamentarian I am simply in love! You can see the scene at the 1:57 mark in this video:




Parliament -- Handcuffs

Parliament -- Give Up the Funk [Tear the Roof Off the Sucker]
Both songs are from the Mothership Connection album.

This Blog Is Being Suspended

I am suspending this blog until the end of my financial crisis [which is semi-serious...I need a job, like, yesterday]...thanks John McCain for the great idea[I say half jokingly]...CS, I hope that you prove able to stand up to this financial crisis and continue to blog...be strong!

New York Dolls -- Personality Crisis
This is the fundamental New York Dolls track as it is Track #1 of Album #1.

Teenage Fanclub -- Personality Crisis [New York Dolls Cover]

The Go! Team -- Milk Crisis
This track could be found on the Proof of Youth bonus CD.

Bonus Track:

Placebo -- 20th Century Boy [T.Rex Cover]
This song, as well as the Teenage Fanclub cover, are from the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack.

"John Edwards Is A Total Loser"

You know whenever John Edwards pops into my mind I get angry...I don't know if it will ever go away but I think each month that goes by makes it easier...after watching this I feel a bit better:

The Button

I hope you take this in the light-hearted manner in which it is intended...

Songs of the Future: September 20th

1. Secret Machines -- Atomic Heels
This is the first track from the new Secret Machines album which will be released October 14th.

2a. Watcha Clan -- I Mean Diaspora
2b. Watcha Clan -- Eli
Recommended if you like a mixture of "North African, Spanish, Arabic, Hebrew, and French influences along to a strong dance beat." These tracks are from the Diaspora Hi-Fi album.

3. Portugal The Man -- New Orleans
From the Censored Colors album that came out last Tuesday.

Cold War Kids

Next week's release of Loyalty to Loyalty has got to be one of the most anticipated of the year especially with the great first single "Something Is Not Right With Me."



God, I hope that this album is great.

Cold War Kids -- Something Is Not Right With Me

Cold War Kids -- Golden Gate Jumpers
This track has a laid back Tom Waits feel to it.

Relevant Review: Ben Folds "Way To Normal"

Artist: Ben Folds
Album: Way To Normal
Ranking: William Howard Taft

My first impression is that I'm afraid Ben Folds will never make another album as good as anything from the Five discography. But then again isn't that worry just stupid nearly 10 years after their breakup? I am just going to have to get over it I guess.

In terms of solo albums, I would put this squarely between Rockin' the Suburbs [my favorite] and Songs for Silverman [better than 97% of all other albums but you know...not quite...you know...] in likability. The finest track is Folds latest addition to his "Bitch" trilogy" [after "Song for the Dumped" and "Bitches Ain't Shit"] with "Bitch Went Nuts." The song title tells you all you need to know about the song's content.

The opening track, "Hiroshima," takes a couple of listens to appreciate and at first you might think you have stumbled upon another Ben Folds live album but instead it turns into the funniest opening track since "One Angry Dwarf..."

Ben Folds -- Bitch Went Nuts

Ben Folds -- Hiroshima [B B B Benny Hit His Head]

In Case You Wanted To Know

I could survive for 47 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

Songs of the Future: September 18th

Hellsingland Underground -- Shadow of the Old You

I was sent this by a member of the band through SoundCloud.  It's not quite the music you would expect from a band with a poster like that.

The Ettes -- I Get Mine

This is the 2nd single from Look At Life Again Soon.

The Coral Sea -- I Know You'll Find A Way

From the upcoming album Firelight which is out October 7th.

Vic Chestnutt, Elf Power, and The Amorphous Strums -- And How

From the upcoming album Dark Developments which will be out October 28th.

Readymade Breakup -- Talking to Myself

From the Alive on the Vine album.

Relevant Video:

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin -- Pangea

Watch the full concert at baeblemusic.com

In Memory of Norman Whitfield

Song writer Norman Whitfield passed away today and he will be greatly missed around the YASR offices.  He wrote some of the greatest R&B songs ever and was responsible for the psych-R&B trip that The Temptations went on in the late '60s and early 70's.  In particular, I absolutely love "Ball of Confusion"...get yourself a good pair of headphones, put that song on, and turn it up as loud as you can stand and just listen to all that is going on on that track...if for nothing else you will understand that the problems we face today in America are from original.

In my opinion, here are his greatest hits:

1.  The Temptations -- Ball of Confusion (That's What the World is Today)

2.  Marvin Gaye -- I Heard It Through the Grapevine

3.  The Temptations -- Papa Was a Rolling Stone

4.  The Temptations -- Cloud Nine

5.  The Temptations -- I Wish It Would Rain

6.  Edwin Starr -- War

7.  Marvin Gaye -- Too Busy Thinking About My Baby

8.  The Temptations -- Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)

Andrew Sullivan has gone off the deep end

I agree with everything said in this blog post, but wanted to add one point.

Andrew's Palinophobia officially insulted and offended me with this post.

She is a long-time member of the Assemblies Of God. That's all you need to know.

In Sullivan's mind the conversation would be similar to this.

Sullivan: That's racist.
Someone else: I'm not sure. I think there is an innocuous point there.
Sullivan: David Duke said it. That's all you need to know.

In one easy swoop, Sullivan outed himself as a religious bigot. I understand that as a proudly gay man, Sullivan probably hasn't had the greatest experiences with evangelicals. But what he is practicing here goes directly against what he extols in his book. He praises the Oakeshottian view that faith rests on doubt, not certainty. The point is inarguable: faith requires doubt. There is no need for faith to believe in incontrovertible facts.

Look at Sarah Palin's prayer:

“That our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God, that’s what we have to make sure we are praying for, that there is a plan, and that plan is God’s plan.”

Because Sarah Palin never expected Andrew Sullivan to fisk her faith, she probably didn't worry about the wording. But the intent is clear to any reader who is not trying to denigrate her or her faith. She is making one of the most simple prayers any Christian can make: thine will, not mine, be done. It's a prayer I have uttered countless times myself. It's a prayer of uncertainty: Lord, I do not always know what you will is, but I ask that it be done. I ask that you give me guidance and wisdom. Or in this case: I ask that your will be done in Iraq. I am sending my son there and I ask that the plans of our leaders are your plans. Your will, not ours, be done.

Instead of showing the work behind his tortured logic, Sullivan dismisses it with the wave of a hand. "There is no need to for me to explain Sarah Palin's relationship with God. She goes to an Assemblies of God church, ergo she is a misguided fundamentalist bigot who thinks the Iraq war is a mission from God, Blues Brothers-style."

There can be no other way to put it: Andrew Sullivan is just as bigoted as the people who would deny him the love he feels for and from his husband.

Songs of the Future: September 17th

1a.  Vancouver -- Penalty Box

1b.  Vancouver -- Shape of Your Knees

If there is one band that I've found that shares the intensity and lyrical gusto that Ted Leo & The Pharmacists have it is Vancouver.  That is very evident in "Penalty Box" while "Shape of Your Knees" calmly strums along for nearly three minutes until the lyrics kick in.  It is a prime example of a band that is comfortable with their own song structure.  Both tracks are from Even My Winters Are Summers.

2. So Many Dynamos -- Search Party
From the Flashlights album.

3. The Dears -- Money Babies
This is from the upcoming album Missiles out October 21st.

4.  Brass Bed -- BBC Midnight Broadcast

From the Midnight Matinee album that came out yesterday.

5. Mystery Jets -- Half In Love With Elizabeth [Delorean Remix]
The Mystery Jets are my "unknown in the United States" British band and that might all change if their album 21 ever gets released on this side of the Atlantic.

¿Habla Español?

I don't know what it says but it's pissing off some conservatives.

The Electric Company

We got the first official look at the Chevy Volt today...it will be available in 2010 and save the world shortly thereafter.

Captain Beefheart -- Electricity
From the Safe as Milk album.

Moby -- Electricity

From his self-titled album.

Suede -- Electricity
From the Singles collection.

The Avalanches -- Electricity
From the classic Since I Left You album.

The Strokes -- Electricityscape
From the First Impressions of Earth album.

New Cinematic Titanic

Just in time for Halloween, a new episode of Cinematic Titanic hits on October 9th and this time it's a horror movie called Legacy of Blood:

Songs of the Future: September 15th

1. The Streets -- The Escapists
This is from the Everything is Borrowed album and reminds me a little bit of "Dry Your Eyes."

2. Jenny Lewis -- Acid Tongue
The first thing I've heard from the upcoming second solo album of the same name out September 23rd.

3. Dylan Champagne -- From Here To There
I've been watching The Wire, so I can't help but think of Omar as the whistling begins in this song. The press release accompanying this music lists comparisons with Iron & Wine but I don't hear "the distance" that is often in Iron & Wine's music...it's hard to describe I guess...this just seems more intimate.

4. Almamy -- French Kiss
It's got a good beat you can dance to.

5a. The Unbearables -- The Darker Part
5b. The Unbearables -- The Loose Connection
Wow, this is awesome. If I had a Band of the Week category this would be it! Imagine a harder rocking Sufjan Stevens [with full band]. Or maybe Yes combined with the Ben Folds Five song "Steven's Last Night In Town"...how's that for a unique description?

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

New episodes of my 2nd favorite show begin on Thursday and I can't wait...for the show to be put on iTunes I mean because I don't have cable...Here's a little preview of what we have in store:

Neglect

I've been sort of neglecting the blog this past week because I really don't know how much of this election I can take anymore. Pardon the astral physics simile but it is like the campaign is moving closer and closer to the speed of light and time is starting to slow down and maybe even go in reverse. It's like the the election is not responding to the the rules of nature like gravity or the laws of motion.

The polls make no sense. How does the addition of Sarah Palin make an Obama voter switch to McCain. Is it only about gender and nothing else? Karl Rove is criticizing McCain for false ads. This from the guy who spread rumors that McCain had an illegitimate black child. Obama is criticized for wanting children to know how to not get molested.

So for a while it's going to be just music from me...I feel like this guy from Get Your War On at the end of the day:

Roosevelt, Hoover, Reagan & Carter

"Just keep running against Hoover. Whoever the Republicans put up, run against Hoover." -- FDR

FDR's advice lasted at least until 1968 or more accurately until 1980. Whoever the Republicans ran for president, link them back to Hoover. Not necessarily by name, but in rhetoric. Look at JFK's 1960 DNC acceptance speech. Hoover is only mentioned once in passing, but JFK does everything he can to link Nixon to the pre-Depression Republican presidents like McKinley, Harding, Coolidge and Hoover as a way of scaring voters. It was telling them, "Don't elect a guy just like the fatcats who let the Great Depression happen." Between 1932 and 1976 -- 12 elections -- the Republicans won four of them, two by running the greatest war hero since Grant (and maybe even since Washington himself) and one by running a man who talked like a Republican and governed like a Democrat. The Republicans couldn't overcome Hoover.

Reagan never put it as explicitly as FDR did, but he might as well have. No matter who the Democrats put up, run against Carter. Paint your opponent as a return to the oppressive welfare state, as a man who doesn't understand how ordinary Americans think and live. Use liberal as a epithet. Paint government as the problem and not the solution. And since 1980 -- 7 elections -- the Democrats have won only two. And they needed a man who governed like a moderate Republican to do it.* In essence, Bush I won by turning Dukakis into a Carter/Mondale liberal. And Bush II did the same to Gore and Kerry.

(I think Nixon and Clinton are very similar politicians. Most of the time when the comparison is made, it inevitably centers around their ethics. But they also had the same core set of political instincts. Both were governing in an era when their party and its ideology were unpopular. The idea of government involvement in our lives was as politically popular in Nixon's day as it was unpopular in Clinton's. In order to survive politically, Nixon's presidency was almost as liberal as LBJ's. The EPA and OSHA were created. Title IX was passed. He seriously considered a guaranteed income proposal. Clinton would survive by signing essentially conservative legislation like welfare reform, NAFTA and DOMA. Their instincts were all about doing whatever was necessary to maintain their popularity and political capital because neither possessed a core lodestar of governing. There is a 0% chance that Nixon or Clinton would have left Reyjavik empty-handed. The idea of selling out SDI in exchange for incredible concessions from the Russians, complete with the adoration it would have generated in the news media and international community would have been an easy deal for either of them to make. They always grasped for political capital, but didn't have an essential plan for how they wanted to use that capital. In that respect, both are the reverse George W. Bush, who governs much like his government spends. He spends political capital regardless of whether he actually possesses it.)

The FDR Doctrine of always running against Hoover ran its natural course for nearly 50 years. By the time Reagan was running against Carter, most of the electorate had never lived under Hoover. The recession was bad, but you couldn't scare voters by tapping into their Great Depression memories. Alan Greenspan, a man known for circumspection in his speech, declared that "capitalism is in crisis" in the 1970s and questioned whether America was going to remain a free-market economy. So the idea of cutting taxes, deregulating industries and encouraging entrepreneurship was welcome under an oppressive government bureaucracy.

But as the FDR Doctrine proves, you can't run against the same person forever. Eventually, demographics and the political climate catch up with you. There have been several books out recently by respected conservative thinkers about how the Republicans should pivot to account for this political reality. But faced with an opponent who is a singular political talent and who has the momentum on his side, McCain has doubled down on the Reagan Doctrine. He is trying as hard as he can to turn Obama into a conventional liberal -- to repeat what Bush/Atwater did to Dukakis 20 years ago. This ad, which is as clumsy as it is unfair, is exactly the type of ad designed to make Obama look like a conventional 1980s liberal.

If McCain wins, it proves that the Reagan Doctrine had one more win in it, even as George W. Bush had done everything he could to create a political environment to kill it, mutilate its body and have the corpse thrown into the river. But eventually, it will lose its effectiveness. If McCain loses, especially if he loses big, the Republicans will have at least four years to spend trying to regroup. I think David Brooks has the right idea that the conservative status quo (often a redundancy) is very much in decline, but for different reasons.

Songs of the Future: September 10th

 
Emmett Till.  For information on this photo go here.

1.  Carolina Liar -- I'm Not Over
This song seems to be a big hit here in the Kansas City area...Very catchy but I'm interested in hearing single #2.

2.  Electric Umbilical Cord -- Dark Roads
This is sort of like She Wants Revenge and Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" combined. 

3a.  The Mojomatics -- Clean My Sins
3b.  The Mojomatics -- Miss Me When I'm Gone
I've gushed about The Mojomatics previously and here are two more great tracks from Don't Pretend That You Know Me.

4.  Bloc Party -- Talons
This is the 11th track to the Intimacy album that was released yesterday for those of us who bought the digital release. 

The Wire

I had never seen a single episode of The Wire until this week believe it or not.  I just never saw a DVD set on sale for cheap enough or thought about renting it from Netflix.  

The first few episodes were fine but no better than Homicide [my favorite cop drama] or some of the best episodes of Davinci's Inquest or Jerry Orbach-era Law & Order.  But then I came to Episode 4 "Old Cases" and this scene and things changed for the better.  I get it now...how do things get better from here?

 The Blind Boys of Alabama -- Down in the Hole [Theme song from The Wire]
This is a Tom Waits cover and on the The Wire: And All the Pieces Matter --Five Years of Music From The Wire.

Now That's What I'm Talking About

Word is out that the new MGMT album [a double album by the way] will be produced by The Chemical Brothers.  I was slow to get into MGMT but I cannot wait for this as I have been a huge Chemical Brothers fan since I was certain that techno would sweep America in the late 90's.  

The Chemical Brothers -- Midnight Madness
From the Midnight Madness single.  

Huckabee Tidbit

A little side note from an article on Mike Huckabee in Time:

He is most assuredly the only Republican ever to reference the Keanu Reeves movie Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure in a convention speech. And he is definitely the only one who can pull off rewriting the lyrics to "Cocaine," Eric Clapton's hit homage to drug abuse, into a campaign theme song called "McCain."

It's only a matter of time until the cease and desist order...

Eric Clapton -- Cocaine
From the Crossroads box set.

Bryan Adams

This is a great moment from an interview with Bryan Adams on the CBS morning show:

Lykke Li

Right now the singer Lykke Li takes up 10 positions in the Hype Machine Top 50 tracks making her without a doubt the hottest internet blog musician of past three days...not exactly a ringing endorsement but let's see what the hubbub is about:

Lykke Li is Lykke Li Zachrisson, a Swede with a new album called Youth Novels which is produced [and co-written, by the way] by Bjorn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John fame. I missed out on her debut EP Little Bit until recently and here are two tracks from that [these two also appear on the full length album].

Lykke Li -- Little Bit

Lykke Li -- Dance, Dance, Dance

OK Computer for $1.99

As they are tied for #1 on my list, I am contractually obligated to let everyone know that you can get OK Computer as a digital download for $1.99 on Amazon.com right now.

Noel's Top 10

Noel Gallagher has given us his list of his Top 10 bands....with a couple of qualifiers:

A.  No solo artists

B.  No female artists

C.  No collectives...the article sites Public Enemy as a collective...I wonder if that means something like Audioslave wouldn't count either...or what about The Byrds or Cream?

Here's his list:

1.  The Beatles

2.  The Rolling Stones

3.  The Who

4.  Sex Pistols

5.  The Kinks

6.  The La's

7.  Pink Floyd

8.  The Bee Gees

9. The Specials

10.  Fleetwood Mac [the Peter Green years]

The Bee Gees?  Sheesh...he might as well have put The Eagles.  A distinctively English list and I am surprised that he didn't pick the Stone Roses as well.  

Here is my list...clearly there are better bands then the one's I have selected but these are the my Top 10 for personal reasons...

1a.  The Kinks

1b.  Radiohead

3.  The Beach Boys

4.  The Zombies

5.  Nirvana

6.  Blur

7.  Ben Folds Five

8.  Wilco

9.  Weezer

10a.  Belle & Sebastian

10b. Led Zeppelin

Feeling Better

I'm feeling better about Palin today...I've just got to remember that Dick Cheney had the most experience of any Vice President so the opposite would have to be better, right?

Love Her or Hate Her

Love her or hate her, her kids gave us the best moment of any convention this year...maybe ever.

It Had To Be You.........

Matt,

Lets assume for the sake of argument that John McCain was looking for the following traits in a vice-president:
--Female
--Acceptable to the conservative base
--Doesn't automatically alienate swing voters
--Good campaigner
--Seen as ready to be president if necessary (experience, etc.)

Now lets look at the candidates and see how they fare:

Carly Fiorina: She does seem like Mitt Romney in a pantsuit. But had McCain picked her, the press would have instantly focused on her departure from Hewlett-Packard. She has no governing experience, so the heartbeat questions would still be there. Conservatives would view her warily. She has been one of McCain's surrogates, but hasn't done such a terrific job that her campaign skills would stand out. If McCain is trying to avoid being the ticket of the rich, a CEO is your last choice for vice-president.

Meg Whitman: The conservative base would probably find Whitman to be acceptable. The scale of acceptance probably does something like: hatred, suspicion, lukewarm, acceptable, happy, ecstatic. Her eBay time was largely a success. Again, the heartbeat questions are going to be even louder for her than they were for Palin. And she does pose the problem of being one of the few people in this country who is richer than McCain's family.

Lisa Murkowski, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins: No, no, no.

Liddy Dole: She's running for re-election, so picking her could cost the GOP a Senate seat. She has no ability to campaign off the cuff and was very wooden in her run for president. If she was 10 years younger, she would have been a more serious prospect.

Kay Bailey Hutchison: This is probably the only other really viable candidate. The base would veer between hatred and lukewarm on her selection. She is a good campaigner, but not one that excites voters. In some ways, she is a female John McCain: fairly solid conservative who crosses over just enough to give the party heartburn. The experience questions would be less likely to come up.

No one can deny that Sarah Palin added excitement to the ticket unlike any other. If McCain wanted to simultaneously make the base deliriously happy, enrage the other side and make swing voters go, "Hmmm," he could not have picked a better candidate. Peggy Noonan (among others) is right: this pick is dynamite. We just don't know if it is going to blow up on Obama or McCain.

What Could Have Been

I think Sarah Palin is to me what Bill Clinton was to conservatives for most of the 90's. I'm finding she is dominating my thinking more and more everyday. So I turn to CS to help me through...

Dear CS,

Besides maybe a lack of desire to be Vice President, why didn't McCain pick Carly Fiorina as Vice President? Although I disagree with about everything that comes out of her mouth, she seems to be pretty competent in a Mitt Romney sort of way.

Thanks,

Matt

Greatest Daily Show Clip Ever

This is, without a doubt, the greatest Daily Show clip ever.

OKC Thunder

SEATTLE SUPERSONICS FOREVER!

The Kinks -- Johnny Thunder [Mono Version]
From the Village Green Preservation Society album.

Ween -- Old Man Thunder
From GodWeenSatan.

Poison Control Center -- Ride the Thunder
From the A Collage of Impression album.

Eddie Beram -- Riot in Thunder Alley
From the Death Proof soundtrack.

White Zombie -- Thunder Kiss '65
From the Past, Present & Future album.

Bob Dylan -- Thunder on the Mountain
From Modern Times.

Beck -- Thunder Peel
From the Odelay Deluxe Edition.

Bruce Springsteen -- Thunder Road
From the Greatest Hits album.

The Battle Royale -- Thunderbabe
From the Wake Up, Thunderbabe album.

Tom Jones -- Thunderball
From the James Bond Themes collection.

John Mellencamp -- Thundering Hearts
From the American Fool album.

AC/DC -- Thunderstruck
From The Razor's Edge album.

Songs of the Future: 9/3/08

1. Dead Confederate -- Get Out
This song is from this much hyped group's self-titled EP.

2a. UNKLE -- Chemical [featuring Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age]
2b. UNKLE -- Kaned and Abel
Both tracks are from the new End Titles...Stories For Film album.

3. Shwayze -- California
A perfect combination of music & politics = Bill Clinton+ rap.

4. Titus Andronicus -- No Future
Imagine Bright Eyes fronting the Black Angels.

5a. Le Man Avec Les Lunettes -- Could I Call You Honey?
5b. Le Man Avec Les Lunettes -- Sybil Vane
5c. Le Man Avec Les Lunettes -- The Blogger and The Dandy
Translation: The Man with the Spectacles. Could be an Italian Dandy Warhols.

6a. Point Juncture, WA -- Kings Part II
6b. Point Juncture, WA -- Sioux Arrow
6c. Point Juncture, WA -- Sick on Sugar
These tracks are from the new album Heart to Elk.

My Two Dads

I don't usually go to TMZ for my political humor but this clip is a must see.

Little Britain vs. America

The new version of Little Britain [this time set in America] is starting September 28th on HBO. Now they already did a couple of holiday specials with the characters going to different countries called Little Britain Abroad so I'm not too sure how this will be different. I hope it's great.

Here are some clips from the new series:

Pluot

Today I had my first pluot...which is 3/4 plum and 1/4 apricot. It was fine I guess...as you would imagine, it tasted like a plum.

Facebook Drama

CS and I got into it a little bit today on Facebook but I thought it was only fair to reprint it here...it is hard to gauge our true feelings as we live 500 miles apart but I just want to say that I can't wait until this election is over.

It all started with a semi-serious snide comment on my Facebook status:

"What is it conservatives saw about Harriet Miers that they now ignore about Sarah Palin?"

CS responded:

"Harriet Miers had no experience -- what so ever. Harriet Miers had no track record to be judged on. And most importantly, Harriet Miers would have been in a job where she was accountable to no one. Sarah Palin has relevant experience, she has been governor and being vice-president means she is still accountable to the voters."

I got a little worked up and shot back:

"As you well know, only recently did we expect Supreme Court nominees to have any judicial experience at all...and if there is any branch of government in which a person could be expected to have "on the job training" it would be someone with a life appointment.

The answer is abortion. People complained about a lack of a record with Miers because conservatives were not 100% certain she wouldn't become another Sandra O.

The opposite is true here with Palin. We have actual down syndrome babies and statements against abortion even in cases of rape and incest to show how Palin feels. And therefore, it seems other common sense problems can be glossed over...e.g. member of secessionist party, at best minimal national security experience, etc... I don't pretend to not gloss over Obama's problems myself but this is beyond focusing on the good and sticking one's head in the sand."

I'm sorry to blow up CS. Thank goodness we don't pick Vice Presidents until nearly September.

Ben Folds Five to Reunite

I am a member of the Ben Folds Fan Club and I nearly fell off my chair when I read this email today:

BEN FOLDS FIVE TO REUNITE FOR A ONE TIME ONLY CONCERT! TO PLAY REINHOLD IN ITS ENTIRETY!

Tickets on sale Sept 8th 10AM EST via etix.com

Proceeds to go to Operation Smile.

BEN FOLDS new album Way To Normal - in stores Sept. 30th! First single "You Don't Know Me" (featuring Regina Spektor) now available on iTunes.

MySpace, the world’s premier social network, today announced the exciting launch of its newest music program, Front to Back, celebrating iconic albums that have helped shape the MySpace Generation. MySpace kicks off this program by reuniting beloved alt-pop band Ben Folds Five with an exclusive one-time live performance of their final studio album together, The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, in its entirety. The concert will be the band's first performance together in nearly ten years and will take place in the band’s former hometown of Chapel Hill, North Carolina on September 18, 2008 at the UNC Memorial Hall. The show will be rebroadcast on the Front to Back official MySpace profile in October http://myspace.com/fronttoback

Ben Folds Five -- Mess
From The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner album.

Who the heck is Reinhold Messner? Find out here.

Does John McCain ever watch movies or TV or read books?

John McCain has done it. He is the equivalent of a black astronaut, the cop who is months away from retirement or the young soldier with a pregnant wife stateside. He is destined to die in office.

Picking a female vice-president is the surest way to guarantee that the president will die in office. Maybe his death will be long and slow, like Teddy Bridges. Maybe he'll die trying to prove his toughness. He should probably hire a food tester, because Palin might be out to kill him, Caroline Reynolds-style. When Glenn Close served as Harrison Ford's vice-president in Air Force One, we nearly had the immovable object versus the irresistible force of movie plot lines: Harrison Ford in an action flick (where you can assume he will save the day) vs. a male president in mortal danger with a female vice-president waiting in the wings (so you can assume he will die). Maybe he'll just be boring and die of a good old fashioned heart attack.

The Sarah Palin story is just too cliched. Go to Hollywood and pitch them this story:

"You've got a former beauty queen hockey mom who eloped with her high school sweetheart. She lives in Alaska and is living a normal life when she decides to run for City Council to make the small town where she lives into a better place. Before long, she ends up as the mayor. And then she is appointed to a powerful government board by a crusty U.S. Senator turned Governor. He ends up being corrupt, so she takes a big risk by speaking out against him and then running against him, trouncing him in the process. She spends two years as governor and finds herself pregnant with a Downs Syndrome baby. Not long after giving birth, she gets a discreet call asking her if she is interested in possibly running for vice-president. She figures she doesn't have a chance -- it'll probably go the former governor with perfect hair and the whitest teeth you've ever seen who got beat in the primaries -- but thinks it would be kind of cool to tell her grandchildren that she was almost vice-president. The Republican nominee is facing the first African-American presidential nominee and needs to shake up the race, so he meets with her and loves her and chooses her. She is introduced to the world and it isn't long before the press and her political opponents are digging up everything they can find. One of her sharpest critics is a gay blogger with a British accent. Suddenly the entire nation is buzzing about the fact that her 17-year old daughter is pregnant. People are questioning whether she will be able to stay on the ticket. She gives a great speech at the convention and starts prepping for a debate against a Senator who has been in Washington for 30 years and has a reputation as a loquacious blowhard and a superb debater."

The Hollywood exec would declare that it sounds way too cliched, but might ask how it would end.

We know how it would end. She would win the debate and help McCain win a narrow victory. Once inaugurated, she would discover that McCain has no use for her in actually running the country -- he only put her on the ticket to win. Left to a boring life of funerals and presiding over the Senate (a body which includes the losing president/VP nominees of the last election), she wishes she had stayed in Alaska. The mere mention of her name causes White House staffers to chuckle. About six months into his term, McCain will authorize a highly dangerous covert mission in Iran. Hours after ordering it, he will die of a heart attack in his sleep, leaving her in charge of a military mission that she knows nothing about. And this is the same time as her daughter's boyfriend/fiancee leaves her and the Downs Syndrome child is causing her trouble and heartbreak. Will she be able to balance it all?

Now you know why Bartlet never considered having a female politician replace Hoynes. Between that and multiple sclerosis, he would have been as good as gone.

The Big Lebowski

I just finished reading the great article in Rolling Stone about the making of The Big Lebowski and it put me in the mood to watch it again...the article references that the movie was trashed in the episode of Siskel & Ebert with Siskel famously saying that Kingpin was a better movie about bowling.  Ebert half-heatedly endorses the movie but I don't really think either of them knew what they had in front of them.  

Bob Dylan -- The Man In Me

From the Big Lebowski soundtrack and also the Dylan album New Morning.

Witness Trees

I had never heard of the idea of witness trees before reading this story from earlier in August but I find it fascinating. I had heard of the infamous Shakespeare tree [stories here and here] but I didn't know they did the same thing with the Civil War.

The Move -- (Here We Go Round) The Lemon Tree
From The Best of the Move collection.

Radiohead -- Fake Plastic Trees
From The Bends album.

The Beach Boys -- A Day in the Life of a Tree
From the Sunflower/Surf's Up double CD.

Stereophonics -- A Thousand Trees
From the Live From the Dakota album.

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly -- An Oak Tree
From The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager album.

Wolfmother -- Apple Tree
From the self-titled debut.

Robbers on High Street -- Beneath the Trees
From the Tree City album.

Mew -- Chinaberry Tree
From the And the Glass Handed Kites album.

Belle & Sebastian -- Family Tree
From the Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant album.

Ben Kweller -- Family Tree
From the Sha Sha album.

Loretta Lynn -- Family Tree
From the Van Lear Rose album.

Blue Cheer -- Feathers from Your Tree
From the Outsideinside album.

Belly -- Feed the Tree
From the Star album.

Counting Crows -- Hanging Tree
From the Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings album.

Pearl Jam -- In My Tree
This is on the No Code album.

Bright Eyes -- Lime Tree
From the Cassadaga album.

Ween -- Marble Tulip Juicy Tree
From the GodWeenSatan album.

Animal Collective -- Must Be Treeman
From the Grass EP.

The Clientele -- My Own Face Inside the Trees
From the Strange Geometry album.

Hootie & The Blowfish -- Not Even the Trees
From the Best of Hootie & the Blowfish collection.

U2 -- One Tree Hill
From The Joshua Tree album.

The Wailers -- Out of Our Tree
From the Nuggets collection.

Brenda Lee -- Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
From the Time-Life Treasury of Christmas collection.

Damien Rice -- Rootless Tree
From the 9 album.

Damien Rice -- Rootless Tree [Live]
From the Live at Fingerprints: Warts and All EP.

U2 -- Shadows and Tall Trees
From the Boy album.

Dave Matthews Band -- The Dreaming Tree
From the Before These Crowded Streets album.

Dashboard Confessional -- The Shade of Poison Trees
From the album of the same name.

Badly Drawn Boy -- The Treeclimber
From EP2.

Andrew Bird -- The Trees Were Mistaken
From the Soldier On EP.

Aretha Franklin -- Tree of Life
From the Rare & Unreleased Recordings collection.

The Federalists -- Tree Song
From their self-titled album.

Radiohead -- Treefingers
From the Kid A album.

Nada Surf -- Treehouse
From the High/Low album.

I'm From Barcelona -- Treehouse
From the Let Me Introduce My Friends album.