Dubya is definitely losing his teflon coating. An economic who was Reagan's Asst. Secretary of the Treasury has compared Bush to Hitler in many ways:
"Bush is like Hitler," Paul Craig Roberts writes in a column entitled The Surge: Political Cover or Escalation?. "He blames defeats on his military commanders, not on his own insane policy."
[Link to full text]
Then, of all people, Oliver North goes on record saying that he thinks the surge is a bad idea, and that he has not found that the troops he has spoken to over there want this thing either. He says they want more Iraqi troops and more trainers for the Iraqi troops, not more American troops.
Tuesday, January 9th is the birthday of Jimmy Page, one of the finest rock guitarists who ever lived and still lives. Stairway to Heaven, one of the most well-known guitar songs ever (arguably the most well-known... so much so that in the guitar store in the movie Wayne's World there hangs a sign that says "No 'Stairway to Heaven' ") and will cement him into music history forever. Check out this radio station blog that has posted 101 Versions of Stairway to Heaven. Actually it's more, because it's a blog and there are more of them in the comments.
Like Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, his own style and virtuosity was established back in the early Sixties with The Yardbirds.
Last year I wrote up a personal memory post on Led Zeppelin (that time on Plant's birthday) and you can read it here if you'd like:
We were watching the episode of Engineering an Empire with Peter Weller on the History Channel that dealt with Xerxes I, and were floored by the similarities between the actions of Xerxes and our own Misleader. I was going to do a post on this (and technically I just did it), but Steve Horowitz did a much better job than I could. Here are some excerpts from his post, and links to the whole article on Smirking Chimp or LoveAmericaHateBush (they are the same article, the latter is Steve's blog):
The ancient failings of George W. Bush by Steve Horowitz
It was early in the 5th Century B.C., and King Xerxes, leader of the most powerful nation in the world, held a grudge. Ten years earlier, the city-state of Athens had actively aided rebellions against Persian rule by communities on Aegean islands and the west coast of present-day Turkey. The rebels were thwarted by Darius, Xerxes' father, who then attacked Greece. But Dad hadn't quite finished the job. Now the time had come to settle scores. "You ought to march against Greece," one of Xerxes' advisers urged. "It will enhance your reputation, and also make people think twice in the future before attacking your territory." [...] King Xerxes, as it happens, feared he might not be the leader his father was. So proving himself the equal of Darius and previous Persian conquerers was always on his mind. "When I became the king of Persia," he told the men he'd gathered to announce his invasion plans, "I began to wonder how to avoid being left behind by those who preceded me in this position of honor." [...] The neocons in Xerxes' administration very much liked the idea of a Greek invasion. "Who is going to oppose you?" asked Mardonius, Xerxes' Rumsfeld. "When it comes to military matters there is no one in the world to match us."
Xerxes was warned by his uncle Artabanus not to be hasty, but he didn't listen, not wanting to "talk about bad things" and refused to fully evaluate the situation before acting. Steve also points out the irony of Dubya majoring in history.
I swear that I have not done this on purpose, but the last several movies I have picked out at Hollywood Video in the last 2 weeks have contained full frontal male nudity. Full frontal, backal and sidal female nudity is fairly common (can I just make up words? Thanks. Might as well add "uppal" and "downal"), but it's much more rare to see the male equivalent. This might seem incredible, but I neither of us had ever seen "The Man Who Fell to Earth" (1976), and I was not expecting to see David Bowie completely naked (in one of the weirdest love scenes. Ever. It had to do with a gun, that's all I will say). I must admit that I prefer him in clothes. I mean, David Bowie IS clothing.
Another one was "The Quiet Earth" (1985) where Bruno Lawrence is naked in one scene, but it's arguably gratuitous. It's almost a prop, like a cup of coffee or a vase of flowers.
Then I come home with "Velvet Goldmine" (1998). This is a movie about fictitious characters that are VERY similar to David Bowie, Iggy Pop and others. Ewan McGregor plays Iggy... I mean... not Iggy... and gives an incredible stage performance singing an Iggy Pop song, "TV Eye" -- he is completely unleashed, and loving it. I've posted the video of it below, but be prepared, and don't look, Ethel. With no offence intended for Mr. Blueberry, People Magazine with its annual tribute to male beauty has missed the mark by not getting this guy on the cover. It's not the nude body, it's the darned smile. It reminds me of John Lennon's smile with the same look on his face. It's also his personality and the accent is nice too. I love a great smile, humor, and brains. I've since learned that Ewan is naked in a dozen or so movies... and another one is sitting here waiting to be watched tomorrow. This time I won't be surprised if someone's penis turns into a painting... or so I've heard (as opposed to creating paintings with a penis as in a recent post here).
I've got my TV Eye on you. There's some truth in that I suppose.
This video is from 2003 when Clark was running for Prez. Asman tries to distort one of Clark's statements on the war in Iraq and I think it becomes clear that this guy isn't going to take that from the likes of Fox News, or probably anybody else. Watch him not only answer the question intelligently and articulately, but delivers it with a big dose of STFU.
[sorry, but video is now unavailable]
I know it's too early in the race and Clark isn't even running, but I really like what I've heard from him so far. I think he will run. He might screw up royally later on and lose favor with me, but for now he is one of my favorites. One thing is for sure about him; he will never put troops into harm's way without a complete appreciation of exactly what that means for the human beings who will be on the front lines.
Lloyd Doggett: Pro-peace, Treehugger, down to the core I've now got someone in Congress who represents my views. Well whaddya know?
He's not a new Congressman, Tom Delay tried getting rid of him through "Delaymandering", and for a while he was not our representative on this particular city street, but he's still there and Delay is... a victim of his own corruption. I love how Doggett mentions him without using his name [listen for "tobacco"]
You would think it's been bitter cold here they way these cats have been seeking warmth. Jax above spent his first 7 years as an outdoor alley cat, so he very much appreciates being indoors and under the covers even when it's 60 out like today (tomorrow it will be 70)
But the cool evenings have been a good excuse for using the fireplaces, and Henry, senior citizen of 15 that he is, loves to see how close he can get to the fire without getting curly whiskers. And speaking of geriatric cats, check out this article on cats getting Alzheimer's:
(HealthDay News) -- Cats can develop a feline form of Alzheimer's disease, say U.K. and U.S. researchers who identified a protein that can build up in brain nerve cells and cause mental deterioration. [...] "Recent studies suggest that 28 percent of pet cats aged 11-14 years develop at least one old-age related behavior problem, and this increases to more than 50 percent for cats over the age of 15," Gunn-Moore said.
Good diet, mental stimulation and companionship can reduce the risk of dementia in cats, the researchers said.
Our four are ages 10, 11, 15 and 16. Duncan below thinks that people shouldn't worry so much about cats acting nutty. He and all the boys had a nice bit o' the 'nip today, followed by some really nutty behavior.
And in further cat and catnip-related news, check out this story:
Jan 3, 2007 -- Two Los Angeles police officers, coming out of a convenience store, observed a suspicious looking bag in the back seat of a car. When the owner of the car returned, the man was asked to open the car and "step aside." The two officers then searched the car and analyzed the content of the bag. After realizing it was catnip, the officers chuckled, apologized and let the man go.
It turns out that the owner of the car is none other than Adrian Martinez, founder of DogCatRadio.com, a radio station that caters to pet lovers. He had just received the catnip earlier that day to be featured on an upcoming broadcast.
"My first thought was to run," says Martinez, jokingly. "We get a lot of products from companies and I carry anything from pet food to catnip in my car, however, I don't think I will be traveling with catnip anytime soon."
And on that nightcap for a slow cat-news day, Jax begins to zone out.
"The Lord didn't say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that."
Robertson said God told him during a recent prayer retreat that major cities and possibly millions of people will be affected by the attack, which should take place sometime after September.
First of all, I have a very important question. If the Lord HAD said "nuclear", would he have pronounced it "nuke-u-ler" (rhymes with "Bueller") or "nu-clee-ar"?
Remember that tsunami that just hit the West Coast late last year? Up around the Pacific Northwest? No? [LINK] I guess Pat Robertson needs to learn how to ask the Lord, "Huh? "
When I was young my mother and I enjoyed reading this Criswell book, and seeing him in his spooky B-movie shorts with the most outlandish predictions for the future (read some of them at the "Criswell" link). We liked all kinds of crazy crap, anything remotely of the occult. She took it all a lot more seriously than I did.* The first time one of his predictions went laughably wrong, he became just pure fun for me. Nostradamas from the sixties with extra cheese. You can see him portrayed in the movie Ed Wood, and the real Criswell in at least a couple of Ed Wood's movies.
*my mother's side of the family tended to believe the stuff in the Weekly World News.
This is an article on some of the dumb things that tourists have asked tour guides and other officials and tour staff over in the U.K. Many more at the LINK.
Is Wales closed during the winter?
Which bus do I get from the Orkney Islands to the Shetland Islands?
Why on earth did they build Windsor Castle on the flight path of Heathrow?
Can you tell me who performs at the circus in Piccadilly?
What time of night does the Loch Ness monster surface and who feeds it?
asked of London staff: In what city is your Tokyo office?
What time does the midnight train leave?
I can poke fun at these people because I will never be able to afford to visit there. Also, I try to keep my mouth shut rather than ask dumb questions, so I end up being lost and exasperated in strange places.
I recommend this wikiquote page for him, there are some real gems there.
* What I will be remembered for are the Foundation Trilogy and the Three Laws of Robotics. What I want to be remembered for is no one book, or no dozen books. Any single thing I have written can be paralleled or even surpassed by something someone else has done. However, my total corpus for quantity, quality and variety can be duplicated by no one else. That is what I want to be remembered for. -- Yours, Isaac Asimov (1973-09-20)
* Imagine the people who believe such things and who are not ashamed to ignore, totally, all the patient findings of thinking minds through all the centures since the Bible was written. And it is these ignorant people, the most uneducated, the most unimaginative, the most unthinking among us, who would make themselves the guides and leaders of us all; who would force their feeble and childish beliefs on us; who would invade our schools and libraries and homes. I personally resent it bitterly. -- Canadian Atheists Newsletter (1994)
*quote in title attributed to Harlan Ellison. Tags: Asimov - Humanism
RANT alert: Calling this barbaric would be too kind. It's a 4-day Muslim feast called Eid al-Adha, and over 1,400 people were injured slaughtering animals to commemorate Abraham slaughtering a ram instead of his son. I am sorry, but killing for religion is despicable. The whole idea of killing for sacrifice to a god or gods is absolutely uncivilized and unenlightened.
If your god requires you to offer up some murdered creature, whether human or animal, before he or she can stand to look upon your hideous and unworthy face, I'd say your god is the one who's unworthy... hell, you're both hideous and unworthy. That's what I think about being "washed in the blood".
New Year's Eve is not something we go out for. We can pay a lot less for the same bands on practically any other night of the year... and skip the hype, the buffet we can't eat, and the champagne at midnight that you have to wait an hour in a line for. Besides there are probably 10 times the drunks out there on the road, and the normal drunks are likely to be even drunker. Yeehaw!
For several years we just get a stack of videos, some good snacky food that is sure to leave you with a tummy-ache (this year it was falafel and veggie chips), some bargain sparkling wine and some orange juice in case we want Mimosas. The fireworks in the neighborhood started around 5:00 PM, and they weren't that disturbing at 5:00 PM, but they are constant until around 1:00 AM which puts most of the cats in a state of freakout. They are pretty good fireworks too, and I can't swear that some of isn't gunfire. (good grief!) So... everybody stays up past midnight whether they want to or not. It's not a choice. We watched "Slither" again, this time with all the extras from the DVD. I love that one, pretty funny, pretty gross, Nathan Fillion, Gregg Henry, Elizabeth Banks.
