Thanks, Teresa. That was so very much more listenable than any of
the other songs for The Huckster. Which only means that I could get
completely through it.
Put me on the same planet as Sylvia Li. I just never liked that
group, and didn't listen to their music. From the patterns, however, I did recognize the song, from the rockabilly cover by Two Tons of Steel. I could only find this long, boozy clip. The song starts about a minute in. The recorded version is much, much faster.
I notice, on the eve of the Texas primaries, that there are brand
new comments on each of the Spanish-language Obama clips about Hussein
Obama and Muslims for Obama. **sigh** I guess Hillary's Professionals
figure if it could work for Uncle Turd Blossom on McCain in South
Carolina, it should work on Obama too.
Completely unrelated, but I also notice that "Huck 'Em All" has been "removed by the user."
Jonathan Shaw @ #29: That was delightful indeed. I'm just
wondering how long it'll take before a producer of such a video about
GWB wouldn't be subject to arrest.
Noncompliance is the word here. This administration of thugs has raised Noncompliance to an art form.
Lee @ #26: Considering the importance of "preemptive" attacks and operations to this administration, I'm certainly not surprised they'd be strong on preemptive pardons. I'm certainly in favor of that constitutional amendment.
At last, a thread that barks up a tree after my own heart.
bryan @ #26:From some swamp rock . . .I believe the first practitioner of swamp rock was Tony Joe White.
elise @ #37: I went back to my blue-collar roots, and have never missed the Big City. But surely Tinned Salmon is an item of décor, not for the tummy.
Lance @ #45: I tried your recipe, with some excitement, but discovered the bowl chunks just won't make into patties. And it's altogether indigestible. Not to mention the damage to my teeth! Have you any suggestions on how to tenderize the bowl?
elise, again, @ #68: I'm familiar with golf lesbians. Here, in the home of Texas Wymyn's University, we also have Peterbilt lesbians, a/k/a Mechanical Engineers with Attitude. Two other categories I'd suggest are Law Enforcement Lesbians (which probably include the military), and Art Lesbians (which include my step-daughter, who's married to a LEL).
Xopher @ #322: Heck, at least he got your name right. Of course, yours is shorter, and has a neat abbreviation.
William F. Buckley. Pompous, hateful jackass supreme. Man who gave his "conservative" voice to the people of my generation who sold all of our ideals out to the generation of Nixon. Poisonous viper, lying in wait for the honest expression of ideas and strongly-held principles. Single-handed cementer of the new class distinctions that followed the WWII hardly makes one a hero.
J A Arkansawyer @ #131: That's how I remember it. The ever-prissy Buckley breaking butch on Vidal. Vidal's been a hero of mine ever since.
Xopher, yeah, sometimes drive-bys (drive-bies?) are like the postman, and ring twice. I loved that "I'm forced to write" line. What dramatic intensity.
Russell @ #273 & your other spam attack: Okay, you stopped by earlier to plug your own weak blog, in which you spew invective like Rush Limbaugh and upon which you called one of our own moderators a "blowhard." Now you've come again, to reiterate your points and to prove, by your own words, that you're not a Green, but a Naderite (all bow down to the one true and wise!) with a case of Clinton derangement. Like any good seagull, you've flown in, made your noise, and taken your shit. Now fly away.
will shetterly @ #279: Of course you weren't wrong. Apparently you believe Al From is one of the smartest people who ever used words, as you continue to take as a given that his writings are fact. That makes you slightly less gullible than the folks who believe "it must be true, because it was on TV/The Internet/'The 700 Club.'" You've ignored the statements of many others in this thread alone, not to mention others, pointing out the flaws in your argument as well as your simple lack of manners, veiling your loutishness with lame apologies and protestations of innocence. You've resorted to the most insulting of passive-aggression when people have pointed out the shakiness of your arguments, and even had the audacity to claim to be the victim.
I'm beginning to see more and more of your hero (Nader, not From) in your behavior here. You've beaten the dead horse repeatedly to make him get up. You've promised to quit beating him ("I'm bowing out now"), only to resume within minutes. Now, today, you're back with a rope, to drag him behind your car until he rises, to gallop again. This bears a remarkable parallel to the political behavior of your horse-faced hero. You know your arguments for Nader are unwelcome here, and for what reasons, and you know there are other venues where you might be able to make your arguments more effective, and certainly in a more welcoming atmosphere. But here you remain. Is your persistence meant, perhaps, to punish, like your hero has said his 2000 presidential race was? Your arguments certainly don't bear much more relevance to your claimed position than Nader's do during his political races. And, your false-tragic claims of wounded innocence and passive-aggressive attacks notwithstanding, your attention mongering is just like Nader's. You've made nearly 20% of the comments in this thread, and with your rhetoric, you've managed to make it all about you, just as, every leap year, Mr. Nader finds that he just can't stand to be out of the limelight, and jumps in to stir the pot and increase his face time.
Perhaps, to honor you and your fervid participation, someone will rename this thread after you. Speaking for myself, I don't give a damn what interpretation of Al From you can come up with--your points are insupportable.
Teresa, thank you, thank you, thank you for this excellent post. It's filled the local news over the past 4-5 days. One small correction. The paper you're quoting is the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The Dallas paper (at least, the one that survives) is the Morning News. You may have noticed that I only quote the "Startlegram" here--that's because they're the one remaining bastion of reasonably liberal viewpoints here. Not to mention that they carried Mollie Ivins' column, along with The News' insistence that folks register to read even a single article.
We were working on a job in Dallas last Wednesday, and I mentioned during the trip down (45 miles) that I wish I could have arranged to attend. Three of the four employees who were with me also wanted to go, so we ditched the morning like school kids, got the labor crew started on cleaning up the jobsite, gave the customer our regrets, and got to Reunion Arena at around 09:15. There was already a line, and we waited, finally got screened, and went in. There were some people standing next to us who had friends who arrived late, and who mentioned in a phone conversation that they hadn't been screened when they came in. They soon came to our spot, fairly near the front, and although they mentioned again that they hadn't been searched, at the time, I thought they were just boasting of their importance. It never occurred to me that the SS had actually stopped screening.
(I'll add here that we drank all the Kool-Aid that was offered, shed tears, and hollered with the rest. Later that afternoon, one of my foremen, an African-American Viet Nam vet, made believers of our customer and his wife.)
I didn't see anything in our local papers about the security outrage until Friday, but I already knew about it from an odd source. Coincidentally, starting the following day (Thursday), we began what I call our Law Enforcement Seasonal Tour. Over the years, through referrals, I've picked up several customers who are in the upper echelon of county and state law enforcement in this area, and 3-4 times per year we schedule service calls for them. This is tree trimming time, and so far, since last Thursday, we've serviced six places, with two to go. These are regular customers, and over the years they've come to know I'm a liberal Democrat. Most years we just don't talk about it, but this year, every single one has mentioned the security lapses at the Obama rally. They are, to a man, furious.
John Chu @ #80 & Tom Recht @ #85: I don't have to look too far to see how independent candidacies can create an unrepresentative result. When Idiot Son left his cozy job as Texas Governor for his new position as Commander-and-Chief of Freedom in 2001, his lieutenant-governor, Rick Perry, took over as governor. Governor Good Hair (RIP, Molly) is like The Shrub without the finesse. He won a full 4-year term in 2002, and by 2006 had pretty much finished handing the State of Texas over to the business interests that have taken such good care of him. I'll spare you the nasty details.
By 2006, many Texans were willing to do almost anything to get Perry and his cronies out of power. These days, in Texas, most of the races are actually decided in the Republican primary, so it stood to reason that was going to be the governor's battle ground. Kay Bailey Hutchison strongly considered running for governor, and Carole Keeton Strayhorn, then State Comptroller (a strong position in the strange way Texas state government is set up), announced she'd run against him in the primary. Senator Hutchison decided to run again for US Senate, and Strayhorn was threatened with a Rove-inspired primary campaign, so she withdrew and announced she'd run as an independent. Kinky Friedman, a Texas singer and detective-story writer and general colorful character, had already announced his independent candidacy. Chris Bell was the Democratic Party's candidate.
Effectively, even though the Republican Party had every other state-wide office wrapped up, there was a strong "anybody but Perry" feeling that made the winner of the governor's race simply a question of whom the ABP candidates would unite behind. Problem is, none of them dropped out. Chris Bell, the Democrat, wasn't initially given much chance. He proved an excellent debater with a strong set of policy statements, however, and gained strong support. But when election day came, Perry had 39.0%; Bell, 29.8%; Strayhorn, 18.1%; and Friedman, 12.4%.
There are no run-offs for Texas state offices--the winner of the plurality wins the election. So we have a governor for four more years who 61% of the voters voted against. And many of us are convinced that, had there been a celebrity death-match between Bell and the two independents to determine a single ABP candidate, we'd actually have an honest governor who the majority of Texans supported.
As to the weird state elections laws that allowed for that, I'm hoping there's enough of a coat-tails effect here this year that a bill changing that might actually have a chance of being introduced.
Fragano Ledgister @ #15: Excellent point. Thanks for sharing that.
Nader is an attention whore, pure and simple. He's learned to game his little part of the system, and apparently has some backers lined up. I can't help but wonder at the comparative figures of their political affiliations. His picks for causes in corporate America have been capricious as well. Bruce Cohen's example of the Corvair is just one, where the Corvair (actually an enthusiast's car) was vilified, but the Volkswagen and others with similar problems were barely mentioned. Certain drugs and other products become major issues, while others with worse problems are ignored. It's hard for me to look at the Nader Institute's choices for action without wondering if there are other influences besides concern for the populace.
I've noticed that the BBC is making a big deal of Nader's announcement. I'm sure anything that might help bring Ol' Blood 'n' Guts McCain to power is regarded with horror in most parts of Europe.
My partner died in exactly the same way. After I got over the shock, which took a few weeks, I realized that Death had offered him something so strong, so comforting, that he went for it immediately. As a sad survivor, of someone for whom I only wanted the best, how could I argue with such (unexpected) commitment? And I know that he's arranged, in his usual style, a heck of a welcome, when my time comes.
My sympathies to all who mourn Robert Legault, and assurances to all who will go after him. Know his passing was without pain, fear, or hesitation.
ethan @ #114: Toronto's isn't necessarily incredibly beautiful, it's just incredibly Gothic Revival. And just because the turret windows are curved-sash, and just because the first three stories are the same height as a modern neighbor's first nine stories, well, that's just splendor. So never mind.
But wait! There's more!
He's also a Master Chef in the cuisine of three planetary systems, and an excellent golfer.
Serge @ #600: And lovely doggies they are, too! (I have two Catahoulas and a bulldog-gremlin mix.)
Ginger, that's just further proof that they're inchoate.
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| 2008 | 176 |
| 2007 | 35 |
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