mp3 monster mash monday

Today's tasty trick-slash-treat comes courtesy of my bro Mick and his radio show, It Is To Slack. It's a mashup of Mick's own creation in which he brings new life to Bobby "Boris" Pickett's Monster Mash by zapping it with R.E.M.'s Crush with Eyeliner and What's the Frequency, Kenneth? (off their Monster album, natch).

Click Michael Frankenstipe to listen to/download the R.E.M.onsterMash.


Bonus Mash: Eugene Harold Mashontz (the man behind Dracula's Greatest Hits), that is -- courtesy of WFMU's Beware of the Blog:




(Click to listen to the entire LP!)


Bonus Bonus: Rhyme Torrents Halloween 2.0, a Nerdcore Hip Hop NSFW compilation of holiday-appropriate trax:




(Click for Download/Torrent links)



Okay, One More Bonus: The best Halloween song EVER, from the lovely and talented Siouxsie & The Banshees:




(Click to listen to/download "Halloween")

Pre-Halloween Madness

The Lennon Sisters perform a truly surreal version of Dry Bones.

(h/t WFMU's Beware of the Blog)

Tell Harry Reid: No Immunity for Lawbreaking Companies

"The Senate is considering a bill that would grant immunity to any telecom company that assisted in the administration's illegal wiretapping. Chris Dodd promised to put a hold on any such bill, and Joe Biden and Barack Obama pledged to uphold it. We believe that any bill coming before the Senate that includes provisions for so-called 'amnesty' for large companies involved in illegally spying on Americans should be opposed, and have authored a letter to this effect addressed to Majority Leader Reid."

Sign the letter.

Our Country is So Frickin' Doomed

Meet some of the folks who are gonna elect us our next prezident:



P.S. - This is one of many reasons why I don't want Hillary to be the Dem's nominee: She brings out the hate.

(h/t TBogg)

Taking It To The Streets

"On Saturday, October 27th there will be 11 massive demonstrations for peace throughout the United States. In Boston, Chicago, Jonesborough, Tennessee, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and Seattle, people from all walks of life will join together to express their anti-war sentiments and to call for an immediate end to the conflict in Iraq."



"People everywhere want the war to end, but Washington has failed to take decisive action. With each passing month, the Iraq disaster claims the lives of nearly 100 service people and countless Iraqis as it drains 12 billion of our tax-dollars. Our communities are neglected and suffer the consequences.

Join the October 27 National Mobilization to End the Iraq War, initiated by United for Peace and Justice."

For more information, go to oct27.org.

Well, This Made Me Happy

(Click to Vote)

I Got Nuthin' Today

But I can assure you, the world continues to suck. Let's all cheer ourselves up with a video, okey dokey?



The Hives: Tick Tick Boom

Punk Rock Preschool with Deborah Harry

"The Killers are pansies!"

Don't Veto Me!

Tell Congress S-CHIP works and to overturn Bush's veto.

Call 1-866-544-7573

TrueMajorityAction.org

The Best Maureen Dowd Column, Ever!

That's because it was written by Stephen Colbert:

(excerpt) I’d like to thank Maureen Dowd for permitting/begging me to write her column today. As I type this, she’s watching from an overstuffed divan, petting her prize Abyssinian and sipping a Dirty Cosmotinijito. Which reminds me: Before I get started, I have to take care of one other bit of business:

Bad things are happening in countries you shouldn’t have to think about. It’s all George Bush’s fault, the vice president is Satan, and God is gay.

There. Now I’ve written Frank Rich’s column too.

And speaking of Rich, the same edition of the Sunday New York Times also featured one of his best columns ever:

(excerpt) It was always the White House’s plan to coax us into a blissful ignorance about the war. Part of this was achieved with the usual Bush-Cheney secretiveness, from the torture memos to the prohibition of photos of military coffins. But the administration also invited our passive complicity by requiring no shared sacrifice. A country that knows there’s no such thing as a free lunch was all too easily persuaded there could be a free war.

Instead of taxing us for Iraq, the White House bought us off with tax cuts. Instead of mobilizing the needed troops, it kept a draft off the table by quietly purchasing its auxiliary army of contractors to finesse the overstretched military’s holes. With the war’s entire weight falling on a small voluntary force, amounting to less than 1 percent of the population, the rest of us were free to look the other way at whatever went down in Iraq.

We ignored the contractor scandal to our own peril. Ever since Falluja this auxiliary army has been a leading indicator of every element of the war’s failure: not only our inadequate troop strength but also our alienation of Iraqi hearts and minds and our rampant outsourcing to contractors rife with Bush-Cheney cronies and campaign contributors. Contractors remain a bellwether of the war’s progress today. When Blackwater was briefly suspended after the Nisour Square catastrophe, American diplomats were flatly forbidden from leaving the fortified Green Zone. So much for the surge’s great “success” in bringing security to Baghdad.

Click the links to read the whole columns. You'll laugh, you'll cry...

mp3 monday: death to the record industry (?) edition

By now I'm sure most of you have heard about Radiohead and their novel way of "releasing" their new album, In Rainbows. Just in case you didn't, here's the quick version: On October 1st, the band announced that In Rainbows would become available on October 10th in a downloadable, DRM-free format for a price of people's own choosing. There would be no advance copies so everyone (you, me, journalists, djs, etc.) would be hearing it for the first time at the same time.

People paid various amounts (all in English pounds), from 0 to 20. I paid £2 (about $4 plus a credit card service fee which they don't tell you about up front) figuring I'll probably end up buying a physical version when it's finally released but I might as well throw the band a little love seeing how much they've made me happy (or miserable, depending on your point of view) over the last decade and a half (my how time flies). You too can play along and pay what you want (although I warn you, the site is a bit wonky; try reloading the page after you've entered the site):





Some saw this move by the band as a major challenge to the record industry. In fact, the band's lead singer, Thom Yorke said after their contract with EMI/Capitol expired, "I like the people at our record company, but the time is at hand when you have to ask why anyone needs one. And, yes, it probably would give us some perverse pleasure to say 'Fuck you' to this decaying business model." At the very least, the band has found a very cool way of saying there are ways to both make people happy and make a helluva lot of money (apparently the band netted a cool £4.8 million!).

Of course, not everyone is happy. Many fans/cranks have complained about the low quality of the digital download (160 kilobits per second, half the rate of previous Radiohead mp3 releases). But no one held a gun to their heads and told them to pay for these downloads -- the band clearly let people know they could pay nada, zip, zero. Besides, good music is good music. When I was a kid, I first heard a lot of music on either a crappy A.M. mono radio or on a crappy mono record player (I actually had a "Talking Teddy" record player with a single speaker inside a teddy bear's stomach). I still loved the music, whether it was The Beatles, The Dave Clark Five or The Shirelles (such was my early childhood). So to these foolish sound geeks I have to say grow up and get over it.

Because ultimately the point is In Rainbows IS good music. Is it a masterpiece? Is it their best album? No and no. They've probably already done that. But the band continues to make challenging and often beautiful music. So, today I'm going to share with you Faust Arp, possibly the most beautiful song, soundwise, the band has ever recorded (lyrically, I'm not so sure). To listen/download, click the "album" cover below:





Part two of our special "death to the record industry (?)" edition of mp3 monday comes courtesy of Ray Davies of The Kinks and the Times Online. Ray has chosen, ala Prince to give away his new album, Working Mans Café, when you buy the Sunday Times on October 21st. To promote this giveaway, Times Online is offering a free download of a track from the new album called Vietnam Cowboys.

Unfortunately, many of us do not live in merry old England so ixnay on the free iscday. And, unfortunately, Times Online wants you to register with their site in order to get the download. However, because you are all my friends, I gave up my soul (well, personal information) and registered for all of you so you could enjoy Ray's new song. Not his finest hour (for Kinks novices, may I suggest The Kink Kronikles), but good to hear Ray's still got some life in him. Click the man to listen/download:





And finally, I came across this item today which probably does mean that it's curtains for the music industry:

CD sales are falling. Vinyl sales are rising but not for a mass market. So the music industry has come up with a new format in the fight against dwindling revenues.

Rock band Fightstar is releasing its next single on a disc that is vinyl on one side and a CD on the other. Its record company Gut admits the vinyl-disc is a gimmick but hopes it will capture fans' imagination.

"It can only work as a gimmick because we don't actually know how many fans have record players," says Gut's chairman, Guy Holmes.

This has to be about as dumb as it gets. I cannot imagine the free publicity Fightstar is getting will even come close to help offset the costs of manufacturing these "divinyl" discs that no one except for collectors are going to want.

I sure hope the savior of the music industry has some better ideas...

Arcade Fire Meets The Boss

Win Butler and Régine Chassagne of Arcade Fire joined Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band last night in Ontario for "State Trooper" and Arcade's "Keep the Car Running":

Bruce Stringsteen and Arcade Fire - State trooper
Uploaded by trendwhore

Bruce Stringsteen and Arcade Fire - Keep the car running
Uploaded by trendwhore

I love how the posters misspelled Bruce's last name. And I apologize for the crappy sound, the crappy video and the posters' expletive-laden enthusiasm (but, really, who can blame them?). Hope a soundboard tape of this surfaces somewhere.


(h/t freakgirl & stereogum)

This Week's Guaranteed Time Waster

By way of the indispensable Beware of the Blog comes the LiveJournal Random Image Generator. Here's a sampling of what you might find by refreshing the link:



(Warning: Some images might not be SFW)

Our "Liberal" Media

The Daily Show beautifully demonstrates the mainstream media's role in our march to war:



(Click to watch)

(Video "courtesy" of onegoodmove.)

The REAL Rudy: Radios

Warning: This video will make you angry. It also should make you cry:



Because of our dogs (long story), my wife and I interact with our local firefighters almost everyday. "Our" firehouse alone lost 10 men on 9/11 (Firefighter David G. Arce, Firefighter Gerard Baptiste, Firefighter Brian E. Bilcher, Firefighter Michael Boyle, Firefighter Robert E. Evans, Firefighter Robert King, Jr., Firefighter Keithroy M. Maynard, Lieutenant Kevin J. Pfeifer, Firefighter John P. Tierney and Firefighter Jeffrey P. Walz). It sickens me to think that these men could still be alive if it weren't for the arrogance of America's so-called Mayor. This asshole spent more time trying to rid the city of squeegee men and ferrets then he did trying to protect the lives of firefighters and the citizens of New York.

(Video courtesy of therealrudy.org. Click the link to sign a petition for an investigation into Rudy's failure to provide adequate radios to New York City's firefighters.)

Gore v. Bush

The Rude Pundit takes a break from the usual rudeness with the best take I've seen so far on President Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize:

"Now that Al Gore has won the Nobel Peace Prize (along with the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), the clearest difference between the former vice president and the current president is placed into even starker relief. In essence, Gore has elevated the world as a whole above the United States as a single entity within it. George W. Bush has placed the United States above the world. And Gore's non-electoral ascension, concomitant as it has been with Bush's descent into the miasma of low poll numbers and a destroyed party and disgrace in the world, reveals just how untenable the Bush position is: a nation can no longer succeed in this world unless its ultimate goal is to be part of the world.

Or, to put it another way, Gore won. Again. When the books are written, in the long-term histories of this and other countries, Al Gore will be cherished and George Bush will be crushed like so much real manure on a fake ranch. Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize does in Bush's seeming obsession with his legacy. And that's due in no small part to the smallness of Bush's thinking compared to the expansiveness of Gore's.

The Bush administration's foreign policy can perhaps be described as interventionist isolationism. In other words, sure, sure, the United States'll invade other countries and create open trade and other actions, but the ultimate goals of those efforts are not to improve the world or the lot of other people. If that's a by-product of the action, then, sure, hell, at least that provides cover for what is, at root, self-interest and greed and the bald assertion of power to the end of propagating further self-interest and greed. Yeah, yeah, every nation's foreign policy has a degree of self-interest. It has to. But for the United States under the Bush regime, it is the primary, if not the sole, consideration, no matter what lies they tell about planting seeds of democracy or some such nonsense.

Back in 2000, because we didn't riot in the streets and shut down the country in the wake of the presidential election debacle, the nation essentially abandoned Al Gore. And while Al Gore didn't totally abandon the nation, he turned his focus to the effort to demonstrate that real leadership need not emanate from the false mandate of a corrupted electoral process. In his crusade for action on climate change, Gore not only remade himself, but he remade the way in which people think about the world at large. Here was not just a cause confined to a specific continent (like African hunger) or a fight against a tyrant like Hitler to catalyze large portions of the population. Here was a way of thinking of the Earth as a whole, a way of seeing the interdependence of each country, of each population, and Gore has shifted a generation's view of itself as part of something larger.

The great failure of the United States to lead on this issue, to be the place where we create solutions that benefit the globe, keep economies humming, and raise humanity up in a way that might, truly, do more for peace than all the pre-emptive wars ever, rests squarely on the shoulders of George W. Bush and his administration.

It's the difference between a man who traveled and studied the world by choice in his life and a man who has to be dragged to different countries like a particularly incontinent dog is dragged out to the sidewalk on a snowy day.

Gore's not gonna run. Give that up. To go from speaking out about melting icecaps to being asked what he thinks about, say, a flag-burning amendment would be a degradation of what he's worked for the last six years. And had that statewide recount in Florida happened and Gore had become president, Republicans would have simply worked night and day trying to destroy him, and his causes would have been washed away in a tide of worthless investigations of Buddhist monk phone calls and worse. And let's not even get into how Republicans would have exploded in berserk, ape-like rage over 9/11 if it had happened under a Gore presidency.




It's not that we're not worthy or that he's too good for us or any of that hyperbolic nonsense. We got the president we deserved, twice, and we realized too late that we didn't get the president we needed. As with so many things, our own temptation to that latent American selfishness has done us in."

Thank you, oh Rude one...

Neocon Gold!!!

I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth*

And you thought the original Vanity Fair cover was gross:



Well, at least they spared us from a naked Fred Thompson...


*For a discussion on the origins of this phrase (no, seriously), go here.

A World Full of Shiny, Happy Republicans and "Perfected Jews"

The dream of Ann Coulter:



(Click because it has to be seen to be believed)

Video "courtesy" of MediaMatters.

O.M.G.

Rev. Gary Aldridge: Found dead wearing "two complete wet suits, including a face mask, diving gloves and slippers, rubberized underwear, and a head mask" -- not to mention a dildo with a condom on it.



Details (if you can handle 'em) can be found here.

Coalition of the Unwilling

Stephen Colbert Interviews "A Living Legend"

Comedy Gold.

This is Way Cool

(Click Arcade Fire's Win Butler then be sure to click around)

Idiots

I'm speechless.

I Hate These People

I really do.

Bruce Springsteen: 60 Minute(s) Man

In case you missed the Boss interview on 60 Minutes this past Sunday:



(Click to watch)

"I guess I would say that what I do is I try to chart the distance between American ideals and American reality. That's how my music is laid out. It's like we've reached a point where it seems that we're so intent on protecting ourselves that we're willing to destroy the best parts of ourselves to do so," Springsteen says.

Asked what he means, Springsteen tells (reporter Scott) Pelley, "Well, I think that we've seen things happen over the past six years that I don't think anybody ever thought they'd ever see in the United States. When people think of the American identity, they don't think of torture. They don't think of illegal wiretapping. They don't think of voter suppression. They don't think of no habeas corpus. No right to a lawyer … you know. Those are things that are anti-American."

"You know, I think this record is going to be seen as anti-war. And you know there are people watching this interview who are going to say to themselves, 'Bruce Springsteen is no patriot,'" Pelley remarks.

"Well, that's just the language of the day, you know? The modus operandi for anybody who doesn't like somebody, you know, criticizing where we've been or where we're goin'," Springsteen says. "It's unpatriotic at any given moment to sit back and let things pass that are damaging to some place that you love so dearly. And that has given me so much. And that I believe in, I still feel and see us as a beacon of hope and possibility."

It was great that 60 Minutes gave Bruce this forum. Unfortunately, they chose a tool who is way too in love with his own "journalistic" style for the job:



The guy should be on The Daily Show...

Bush Leaves No Child Behind

"I've got your stinkin' government healthcare right here"

(from nephew Will; picture source unknown)

I Swear To The God I Don't Believe In, If It Weren't For Jon Stewart & The Daily Show I'd Kill Myself

Peace of Sh*t

More from artist Kenyon Bajus can be found here.

We've Come A Long Way

From today's New York Times:

When the Justice Department publicly declared torture “abhorrent” in a legal opinion in December 2004, the Bush administration appeared to have abandoned its assertion of nearly unlimited presidential authority to order brutal interrogations.

But soon after Alberto R. Gonzales’s arrival as attorney general in February 2005, the Justice Department issued another opinion, this one in secret. It was a very different document, according to officials briefed on it, an expansive endorsement of the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the Central Intelligence Agency.

The new opinion, the officials said, for the first time provided explicit authorization to barrage terror suspects with a combination of painful physical and psychological tactics, including head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures.

Gosh, aren't you proud of our country?

(Engraving "courtesy" of Tortures of an inquisition.)

George Bush Loves Childrens

Outraged? Sign the petition.

"What's Inside" - You're Best Friend

From the new Wired/PBS show Wired Science, hosted by Chris Hardwick of Hard 'n' Phirm "fame."



If only my high school science classes had been like this, I wouldn't have become such a science lame-o.

(h/t boingboing)

UPDATE: I guess if I really wanted to stop being a science lame-o, I could start "attending" Berkeley's YouTube lectures (Integrative Biology & Physics 10 - Physics for Future Presidents) but I've discovered (for me at least) that large lecture halls are even harder to take on a computer screen than they were in real life (I attended a school with 44,999 other students):



I think I'm gonna stick with the funny Wired guys even though this is a very cool thing for Berkeley to do.

I Really Thought I Couldn't Hate Our President Any More Than I Already Did

"Ha ha. One of you childrens aren't gettin' any coverage."

I guess I was wrong:

President Bush vetoed the children’s health insurance bill today, as he had promised to do, setting the stage for more negotiations between the White House and Congress.

Mr. Bush wielded his pen with no fanfare just before leaving for a visit to Lancaster, Pa. The veto was only the fourth of Mr. Bush’s presidency.

(snip)

Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said, “Today the president showed the nation his true priorities: $700 billion for a war in Iraq, but no health care for low-income kids.”

Too Soon for Comedy?

Perhaps. But this is brilliant:

"The message is what I love, and I do think that if everyone in New York was killed, it would bring the country together."


Country Music Stars Challenge Al-Qaeda With Patriotic New Song "Bomb New York"

Get an mp3 of the song here.

Update: The feelings expressed in this parody may be closer to reality than I thought. Boy do we live in a messed up country...

From "Phony Soldiers" to Suicide Bomber

Someone truly needs to go medieval on drug addict Rush Limbaugh:

On the October 2 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh denounced a recent ad by VoteVets.org that featured Iraq war veteran Brian McGough, calling the ad "a blatant use of a valiant combat veteran, lying to him about what I said, then strapping those lies to his belt, sending him out via the media in a TV ad to walk into as many people as he can walk into." Limbaugh went on to say that "[w]hoever pumped [McGough] full of these lies about what I said ... has betrayed him." Limbaugh denounced the ad despite admitting "I haven't watched the ad."

Here it is:



You know there's no way Rush would ever have the guts to talk to this real human being and genuine soldier face to face. He'll just continue to hide behind his Cuban cigars and big microphone.

Man, Freud would've had a field day with this little prick...







Update: Help get Rush dumped from Armed Forces Radio.

magic

in stores now (read all about it). if you're a bruce fan, you won't be disappointed. if you're not a bruce fan, who are you?!?

THE TRANSISTOR WIDOW (No. 019)

Untitled, Will McRobb (2007)

Kitty kat rave
Uploaded by stecker_show

Okay, so the first image in this video is pretty offensive and I guess so is the one of Pope John Paul George and Ringo and yet they are funny, proving once again the Spinal Tap adage, "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever."

Jack Cafferty on The Daily Show: Keeping his eye on "the clowns in Washington, D.C."

(Make sure you watch until the end: Jon gets in a classic line about Wolf Blitzer.)

mp3 monday

Today's tasty musical morsel is ridiculously fresh: It was literally recorded last night at The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza (yes, that is the venue's actual name).





In a deliciously perverse way to promote her latest album, Lucinda Williams has been performing five albums from her back catalog in their entirety over five consecutive nights, first in L.A. and now in New York City. Last night, my wife and I saw Lu perform what for us is her best album, Essence. She and her band were in terrific form and it was a treat to hear her talk about where the songs came from and/or what influenced them.

The song that truly blew me away last night was Bus to Baton Rouge, a song about returning to her family home in Louisiana and reliving the "dark family secrets that we don't want to talk about." During the course of the song, she explained just what some of those secrets are. To say the least, it was a powerful baring of the soul.

To listen/download, click the pic of Lucinda. To buy this entire concert and any of the other 9 shows, go to Lu's store.

"Rush Limbaugh is the right man with the right ass at the right time"

The Rude Pundit weighs in on Rush and his "phony soldiers."

Something Else To Cheer Me Up*

Bruce on the Today Show:



(Click for the MSNBC link to watch the entire performance)

*Although it is a little disconcerting to see people grinning and waving ("look at me, I'm on the teevee!") while Bruce is singing

Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake

Something To Cheer Me Up

Between the Mets, the Dems & Republicants, this illegal and unnecessary never-ending war, the Preznit and his SCHIP veto, the Jena 6 story, Myanmar and our dog Wahoo who just had a little surgical procedure and is pretty miserable (but fine, healthwise) -- well, let's just say I'm a tad depressed. Then I saw the following clips on fourfour and I cheered up immediately. Amy Sedaris is a national treasure:

"Your Season Has Come" and Gone

(image "courtesy" of metsgrrl)

Well, I guess if you're going to fail, you might as well fail spectacularly.

Oh, and I know "it ain't over till it's over" but even if the Mets somehow back their way into the playoffs, does anyone think this team's spotty starting rotation, abysmal bullpen, inconsistent offense and sloppy defense will get them past the first round? Seriously, what's the point?

With that said, as a lifelong* Mets fan, I of course will be root, root, rooting for the home team tonight, tomorrow and Sunday. That's because all Mets fans are Metsochistic.



*From 1966-1968 I was a Brooks Robinson-Frank Robinson-Boog (!) Powell Baltimore Orioles fan. In 1969 I switched over to the Amazin's and never looked back except for a brief fling with the 1982 Cecil Cooper-Robin Yount-Paul Molitor Milwaukee Brewers (hey, give me a break, I was living in Madison, WI at the time) and I of course rooted for the 1987 Kirby Puckett-Kent Hrbek Minnesota Twins in the World Series -- this had to do with both family and the fact that I got to meet Puckett and Hrbek that Spring as part of a Nickelodeon "Kids Day" shoot. Kirby and Kent actually let a lucky young kid "hit" in the batting cage. Wonder how many laws we broke by participating in that?

I Believe The Childrens Is Our Future

Good God:



(Click to watch)

(video "courtesy" of onegoodmove)

War, huh, yeah. What is it Good For? Absolutely nothi Making Lots of Money

"How is it done? How do you screw the taxpayer for millions, get away with it and then ride off into the sunset with one middle finger extended, the other wrapped around a chilled martini? Ask Earnest O. Robbins -- he knows all about being a successful contractor in Iraq."

Thus begins a must-read article on war profiteering from last month's Rolling Stone magazine. Read it and I guarantee it will make you angry and it will make you embarrassed to be an American. And the article doesn't even cover the atrocities of Blackwater USA -- although it goes into great detail about Halliburton subsidiary KBR which subcontracted Blackwater:

The discovery shows the dense world of Iraq contracting, where the main contractor hires subcontractors who then hire additional subcontractors. Each company tacks on a charge for overhead, a cost that works its way up to U.S. taxpayers. [...]

The hidden contract not only cost taxpayers money, it also might have been illegal. The Halliburton subsidiary's main contract for military support services prohibited hiring subcontractors to provide armed security. That job is left to the U.S. military, unless the theater commander decides otherwise.

The whole thing is so tragically comical that, if it weren't for all the dead bodies, it would make a great movie. Oh wait:

War, Inc. is set in the future, when the (fictional) desert country of Turagistan is torn by a riot after a private corporation, owned by the former US president, has taken over the whole state. John Cusack plays the role of a hit man, who suppresses his emotions by gobbling down on hot sauce and is hired by the corporation’s head to kill the CEO of their competitors.

Because it's Cusack (who co-wrote the film), because it's a kind of sequel (but not really) to the brilliant Grosse Point Blank and because the film was partially based on Naomi Klein's Harper's article Baghdad year zero: Pillaging Iraq in pursuit of a neocon utopia, I'm going to pretend that this film will not really be making money off of the war (if it makes any money) and obviously, even if taxpayers have to pay to go see it, they will be doing so willingly. The trailer looks good, not great, but the film reunites John with his wonderful sister Joan so that's probably worth $10 bucks right there:



(Click to watch. It's a big file so it might take some time to load.)

And now, back to the outrage:

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the State Department had informed the committee that State employees could not discuss potential corruption in the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki unless the information was treated as a national security secret. Blackwater USA, the North Carolina-based security contractor involved in the deaths of civilians in Iraq this month, has also claimed that the State Department had banned company communication with Waxman's investigators, the lawmaker said.

"I urge you to reconsider the unusual positions you are taking," Waxman wrote to Rice. "You are wrong to interfere with the committee's inquiry." The State Department said it was cooperating with the committee and is providing the information requested.

"Blackwater has been informed that the State Department has no objection to it providing information to the committee," said Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman. "We have offered to make available for testimony those officials in the best position to respond to the specific issues the committee has raised."

Waxman said his staff was told Monday that State Department officials with what he called "direct knowledge of corruption within the Maliki government" were barred from giving the committee "assessments which judge or characterize the quality of Iraqi governance," or Baghdad's ability to address corruption, unless the material was withheld from the public.

In the Blackwater matter, Waxman said the company claimed that the State Department insisted on reviewing and approving any documents the company gave to the committee. He also said Rice has refused to testify before his committee about the status of political reconciliation in Iraq, potential corruption or the Blackwater incident. Rice has ordered a review of security practices for U.S. diplomats in Iraq following the killing of 11 Iraqis this month while Blackwater guards were protecting a U.S. Embassy convoy.

Apparently, according to the State Department, the whole thing was a "misunderstanding." Of course it was. I mean, Condi has proven herself to be soooooo trustworthy.

"Mass Madness"

puppetgov's latest video, which borrows heavily from Paddy Chayefsky's Network, a film made over 30 years ago. And yet, after all these years and all the shit that has gone down, surprisingly few people are "as mad as hell." Wonder what it's gonna take...

Priorities

Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee can recite Republican talking points ad nauseum about MoveOn, The New York Times and the "General Betray Us" ad. But when Tucker Carlson substitute David Shuster asks her to name the last soldier from her district who was killed in Iraq, watch her get all flustered and draw a blank:



This is the type of thing we need to see on television every single day.

The "Windshield Cowboy"

We all know (except for "the stupids") that President Bush is "All Hat, No Cattle" -- but now we need to add "No Horsies" to the list:

Vicente Fox, the former president of Mexico, derided his political friend as a “windshield cowboy” – a cowboy who prefers to drive – and “the cockiest guy I have ever met in my life”.

He recalled a meeting in Mexico shortly after both men had been elected when Mr Fox offered Mr Bush a ride on a “big palomino” horse.

Mr Fox, who left office in December, recalled Mr Bush “backing away” from the animal.

"A horse lover can always tell when others don’t share our passion,” he said, according to the Washington Post.

By cockiest, I believe Fox meant that Bush doesn't have one, he just is the biggest cock Fox has ever met. Besides, everyone knows who the real cocksman is in the Bush Administration:



(thanks to reader g.m.)

Looks Like a Still From Ken Burns' Latest Documentary

This is Not an SNL Sketch

I repeat: This is not a sketch. It is real:



Sadly, Tina Fey has admitted that she secretly wants Giuliani ("one of the four or five best known Americans in the world") to be our next president. Does this mean I have to stop watching 30 Rock?

Elton John Talks Baseball

Yes, baseball. More specifically, the Atlanta Braves (with Braves general manager John Schuerholz, former second baseman Mark Lemke and Hall of Fame pitcher Phil Niekro, no less).



(Click to watch)

As a diehard Mets fan (and trust me folks, I'm dying hard this season), I find it hard to believe that anyone with half a brain could choose the Braves as "his team" -- especially a man who is married to another man. The Braves, of course, are the team of homophobic pticher John Smoltz ("What's next? Marrying an animal?" he said in reaction to the prospect of legalizing Gay marriage) and dumb-as-a-rock former relief pitcher/homophobic bigot John Rocker (''Imagine having to take the 7 train, looking like you're in Beirut next to some kid with purple hair, next to some queer with AIDS, right next to some dude who got out of jail for the fourth time, right next to some 20-year-old mom with four kids. It's depressing.'').

Perhaps Elton had some influence on the Braves' decision to disinvite Focus on the Family to future "Faith Day" events at their ballpark after the organization distributed anti-gay materials at what was called "the first promotion of 'intentional Christian ministry' in Major League Baseball." We'll never know. But one thing I'm pretty sure of: When John Schuerholz nodded his head in agreement with Elton's statement that watching baseball is "one of the most poetical things," Schuerholz had no idea that the producer of the interview was going to dissolve to a shirtless man doing an interpretative dance as Elton John sang

"Love is simple, hate breeds
Those who think difference is the child of disease
Father and son make love and guns "

Easily the most surreal baseball interview I've ever seen...

Olbermann Takes on President Pissypants

(Click to Watch)

...the President, behaving a little bit more than usual, like we all interrupted him while he was watching his favorite cartoons on the DVR, stepped before the press conference microphone and after side-stepping most of the substantive issues like the Israeli raid on Syria, in condescending and infuriating fashion, produced a big political finish that indicates, certainly, that if it wasn’t already – the annual Republican witch-hunting season is underway.

“I thought the ad was disgusting. I felt like the ad was an attack not only on General Petraeus, but on the U.S. Military. And I was disappointed that not more leaders in the Democrat party spoke out strongly against that kind of ad.

“And that leads me to come to this conclusion: that most Democrats are afraid of irritating a left-wing group like Moveon.org or more afraid of irritating them, than they are of irritating the United States military.”

(snip)

The Republican Hamstringing of Captain Max Cleland and the lying about Lieutenant John Kerry, those met with your approval? But a shot at General Petraeus, about whom you conveniently ignore it is YOU who reduced him from four-star hero to political hack, that merits this pissy juvenile blast at the Democrats on national television?

Your hypocrisy is so vast that if we could somehow use it to fill the ranks in Iraq you could realize your dream and keep us fighting there until the year 3000.

(Video "courtesy" of onegoodmove)

Why Do Joe Lieberman & the Republicans Hate America & Our Troops?

"I think we would demean their service if we were to say to them that there had to be a parity between the time in service out of the country and the time at home." - Florida Sen. Mel Martinez

via Salon:

"Hours after blocking a vote on restoring habeas corpus rights to detainees held at Guantánamo Bay, Senate Republicans and Joe Lieberman blocked consideration Wednesday of a bill that would have guaranteed U.S. troops as much time at home as they spend deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Both measures had bipartisan support, but not enough to get Senate Democrats over the 60-vote hurdle that a Republicans-plus-Lieberman filibuster would have presented. Republicans Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe, Chuck Hagel, Richard Lugar, John Sununu and Gordon Smith joined all Democrats in voting to move forward on the habeas corpus bill. The same group -- minus Specter and Lugar, plus Norm Coleman and Susan Collins -- joined all Democrats in voting to move forward on Jim Webb's troop bill.

After the remaining Republicans joined Lieberman in killing Webb's bill, the Senate considered whether to proceed with a watered-down, nonbinding "sense of the Senate" measure John McCain proposed as a way to provide cover for Republicans who didn't want to be seen as voting against the troops. Although Evan Bayh, Joe Biden, Tim Johnson, Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson and Bill Nelson crossed over to support what Webb called a "fig leaf" of a bill, enough Democrats stuck together in opposition to block McCain's measure from getting an up-or-down vote either.

Having thereby blocked actual consideration of three different measures aimed at addressing two of the most critical issues facing the United States today, the Senate adjourned for the evening."

Wouldn't it be nice if the people who are actually sacrificing their bodies, minds and lives in Iraq could have a say in these matters? Time for a TV Movie:



Adding insult to injury, today Republicans blocked a bill that would have cut off funds for the Iraq war by June. But the Senate did pass a bill condemning MoveOn.org's "General Betray Us" ad. Democrats Max Baucus, Evan Bayh, Ben Cardin, Thomas Carper, Bob Casey Jr., Kent Conrad, Byron Dorgan, Dianne Feinstein, Tim Johnson, Amy Klobuchar, Herb Kohl, Mary Landrieu, Patrick Leahy, Blanche Lincoln, Claire McCaskill, Barbara Mikulski, Ben Nelson, Bill Nelson, Mark Pryor, Ken Salazar, John Tester and Jim Webb and independent Joe Lieberman "joined every Senate Republican in voting for the measure." Glad everyone seems to have their priorities straight...

This is Exactly What Jesus Had in Mind When He Created Christmas

glumbert - Don't tell Mom you're an atheist

NSFW.

(h/t freakgirl)

Help Restore Habeus Corpus

Co-sponsor the bill and find out how to call your Senator here.

Support the Webb-Hagel Amendment

Go here to tell your Senators to "Support Our Troops, Not Endless War."

Have a Laugh

(thanks will!)

Dylan Video Mashup

(Click to Play)


Create Your Own!

What Fox Protected Your Poor, Defenseless Little Ears From Last Night:

“If mothers ruled the world, there would be no god-damned wars in the first place.” - Emmy winner Sally Field whose sound was cutoff after the word "no"

Apparently our upstairs neighbors understand freedom of speech a lot better than we do:

Fox's America:



Canada:

Here's someone who at least is big enough to admit that he was fooled by George Bush...

but he won't get fooled again:



Bring the Boys Home, now (the girls, women and men too). Stop this endless war.

This is Why I Cannot Ever Support Hillary for President

Bill Maher asked Senator Hillary Clinton, "Why should Americans vote for someone who can be fooled by President Bush?" Her answer was, to say the least, less than satisfactory (and her phony laughter was downright creepy):



For more of the Democratic Candidate Mashup, go here.

Failure = Success

If John Hodgman gets any more brilliant, Apple will have to recast him as a Mac.

9.11.06

"Today marks six years into the New Madness, with, I suppose, 94 more to go. At least. Warmongers from all sides worship this day, as well they should, for it gave the green light to mass murder, torture, theft, ceaseless misery, as well as the political/religious cover needed to keep the sick flames alive. Friends tell me that the cracks are showing, that the people are seeing more and more through the lies and chaos and are turning against the larger narrative. How I wish this was so. Apart from weariness with the Iraq debacle, faith in America's unique and unprecedented decency and goodness remains among the many, for without that faith, what do the powerless have left to imagine? And we are powerless -- powerless to stop the major players from launching fresh wars, from pushing more and more of us into debt, from turning what's left of this country into a banana republic strip mall with just enough distractions to make us feel, if not free, then somewhat amused until the next round of bills arrive, when the cycle renews itself, and round and round we go, again and again and again.

Of course, if we the people really wanted to, we could collectively pressure those who rule us into some kind of political concession, or at least irritate them enough to get their attention. But this isn't going to happen. Not anytime soon, anyway. So we stand slack-jawed, watching in slow motion the continuing carnage, listening passively to the lies spouted to justify it all, hands over hearts, misting up as Old Glory flutters above, pretending that we're not connected to the larger insanity." - Dennis Perrin

Our nation had the opportunity to become great again in the weeks following 9/11. So sad that our country was/is being run by a bunch of psychopaths rather than healers, diplomats and human beings.

(Courtesy of BoredStop; h/t to freakgirl)

All You Need to Know About Petraeus' Surge Report

It's (the) Politics, Stupid. ("Well, duh" as Richard Clarke says in this excellent short film.)

Audiences Are Raving About "The Surge"

(h/t AMERICAblog)

Internet People!

(and one Prairie Dog):



Dan Meth's animated tribute to the viral superstars of the internets.

Endless (Civil) War

"Should we start training our children now?"

Rudy Giuliani: Flat-Out Liar

Part one of Robert Greenwald's documentary, The REAL Rudy.

Do Ya Like Scratchin'?

Dennis Miller: Warmongering Hack

Dennis Miller can't wait until we stop killing innocent Iraqis so we can go and bomb the fuck out of innocent Iranians. When are these right-wing assholes going to realize that there's a huge difference between taking out despotic leaders and willy-nilly bombing their cities, villages, men, women and children?



What an unfunny, weakass douchebag. I bet he'd last less than 5 minutes in the military.

I Almost Forgot: R.I.P. Luciano

This is So Surprising!

From the Washington Post:

The U.S. military's claim that violence has decreased sharply in Iraq in recent months has come under scrutiny from many experts within and outside the government, who contend that some of the underlying statistics are questionable and selectively ignore negative trends.

Reductions in violence form the centerpiece of the Bush administration's claim that its war strategy is working. In congressional testimony Monday, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, is expected to cite a 75 percent decrease in sectarian attacks. According to senior U.S. military officials in Baghdad, overall attacks in Iraq were down to 960 a week in August, compared with 1,700 a week in June, and civilian casualties had fallen 17 percent between December 2006 and last month. Unofficial Iraqi figures show a similar decrease.

Others who have looked at the full range of U.S. government statistics on violence, however, accuse the military of cherry-picking positive indicators and caution that the numbers -- most of which are classified -- are often confusing and contradictory. "Let's just say that there are several different sources within the administration on violence, and those sources do not agree," Comptroller General David Walker told Congress on Tuesday in releasing a new Government Accountability Office report on Iraq.

Look, at this point, anyone with half a brain should not believe a single word that comes out of our Warlords' pieholes. I'll give you a perfect example:

On Sept. 18, 2002, CIA director George Tenet briefed President Bush in the Oval Office on top-secret intelligence that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction, according to two former senior CIA officers. Bush dismissed as worthless this information from the Iraqi foreign minister, a member of Saddam's inner circle, although it turned out to be accurate in every detail. Tenet never brought it up again.

Nor was the intelligence included in the National Intelligence Estimate of October 2002, which stated categorically that Iraq possessed WMD. No one in Congress was aware of the secret intelligence that Saddam had no WMD as the House of Representatives and the Senate voted, a week after the submission of the NIE, on the Authorization for Use of Military Force in Iraq. The information, moreover, was not circulated within the CIA among those agents involved in operations to prove whether Saddam had WMD.

Angry yet? No? Time for a rerun:


("How to Create an Angry American" by Billy Vegas)

Still on the fence, dumbass? Billy's got a new video for you:



In conclusion, they lie, people die or lose their rights. We need new leaders, we need to reinstate our Constitution and we need to get out of Iraq. But, you ask, don't we have an obligation to fix the mess we've made in Iraq? Excellent question. I'll let a Republican candidate for President, yes a Republican, tell us why we need to leave now:



Thank you and good afternoon.

A timely cartoon by an old pal, P.S. Mueller. For more Mueller, click the 'toon.

Project Grizzly

Excerpt from a documentary on Troy Hurtubise, a man on "a quest to build an invulnerable bear suit to study wild grizzlies":



Not sure if this is real but it sure is entertaining. Thanks Elaine!

What a Comedian!

Looks like our Preznit had a heckuva fun time Down Under while he continues to be hellbent on killing as many people in Iraq as possible:

George Bush is a man who likes a short sentence. Which is not to say the President of the United States reduces ideas to bite-sized chunks. Or maybe it is.

Either way, during the course of his first 24 hours in Sydney, there were plenty of efficient exclamations. Like the exchange on the tarmac as Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile inquired how things were going in Iraq. "We're kicking ass," he declared. In a similarly thrifty oratory bent yesterday, he telegraphed his lunch order — "I'm a meat guy". Then he buttered up his host — "I admire your courage" — and insisted he was not playing a double game by hinting at moves to start cutting US troop numbers in Iraq: "Whatever you do, don't call me cute."



He also managed to remain gracious in the face of further niggling about the inconvenience to the people of inner Sydney. At a joint press conference with John Howard, Bush played comic to the PM's straight man. He grinned. He winked. He made eye contact with journalists as he argued that the Iraq war could be won. He joked around, and congratulated the PM on "your … like … grandfatherhood".

But there were a few faint hints of impatience. As Howard's opening statement dragged on, Bush pursed his lips and shifted his weight from foot to foot.

The rest of the day was a giddy social whirl. A bit of local rump at a lunchtime barbecue with the troops, and an hour of mountain biking in the North Shore suburb of St Ives. By nightfall, it was back onto a pleasure cruiser for a trip across the harbour to sign the visitors book at Admiralty House and dine with the Howards at Kirribilli House. Janette Howard greeted Bush at the door, thanking him for bringing rain.

And Bush owned the second killer line of the day, as he drew US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice into a photo to make up the foursome. "You can be my date," he purred, an invitation most straight men would kill to issue.

I'm sorry, but this just cannot go on any longer. Patton Oswalt, a genuine comedian, has a theory and a solution that of course will never come to pass:



(Click Patton to listen)

You can get Patton's new CD Werewolves and Lollipops here.

I Wish I Had This On A Never-Ending Loop

President Liar

Keith Olbermann on President Liar's "playing" of the troops:



(Click to watch)

Olbermann: As he deceived the troops at Al-Asad Air Base yesterday with the tantalizing prospect that some of them might not have to risk being killed and might get to go home, Mr. Bush probably did not know that, with his own words, he had already proved that he had been lying — is lying… will be lying — about Iraq.

He presumably did not know, that there had already appeared those damning excerpts from Robert Draper’s book “Dead Certain.”

“I’m playing for October-November,” Mr. Bush said to Draper.

That, evidently, is the time during which, he thinks he can sell us the real plan.

Which is, to quote him: “To get us in a position where the presidential candidates, will be comfortable about sustaining a presence.”

Comfortable, that is, with saying about Iraq, again quoting the President, “stay longer.”

And there it is, sir. We’ve caught you.

Your goal is not to bring some troops home — maybe — if we let you have your way now;

Your goal is not to set the stage for eventual withdrawal;

You are, to use your own disrespectful, tone-deaf word, playing at getting the next Republican nominee to agree to jump into this bottomless pit with you, and take us with him, as we stay in Iraq for another year, and another, and another, and anon.

Everything you said about Iraq yesterday, and everything you will say, is a deception, for the purpose of this one cynical, unacceptable, brutal goal — perpetuating this war indefinitely.

War today, war tomorrow, war forever!

And you are playing at it!

Playing!

(Video courtesy of onegoodmove.)

The Rude Pundit has more on Draper's book (not for the easily-offended but then again, dirty words aren't nearly as offensive as the man we call President).

Yep, We All Suck

Workin' Like a Dog

Over the long weekend, my wife and I realized that basically our dogs lead the opposite lives that we do. Our weekends, in contrast to our hectic working weekdays, are all about doing a whole lot of nothing: Read, catch some rays, eat, drink wine, sleep. That's about it. For the dogs, weekday life is all about doing nothing: Sleep, eat, sleep, eat, sleep (don't worry, they get three walks a day). But on weekends, our dogs go to work: Digging holes, chasing after birds and frisbees, following me around all day pestering me to take them to the beach and, most importantly, barking at every single motor boat that passes by our house (sailboats, kayaks and jet skis do not interest them). Wahoo (the yellow lab) is basically the crew chief of this job. He's always the first to spring to action. Toast (the golden), simply follows his lead. Don't get me wrong, Toast is a good worker but Wahoo is the 125% guy. While Toast may be content to just run out of the house and bark from a safe distance, Wahoo always sprints to the end of our dock and let's every boater know who's the boss.

On Sunday, we closed our living room door (which faces the bay) because my wife and I wanted to take a boat ride, sans dogs. However, before we were fully ready to leave, we still had our bedroom door open which also leads outside. A boat came by and Wahoo, having been thwarted by door number one, simply turned around, ran into our bedroom and out door number two. We got him inside fairly easily and we closed the screen door in the bedroom (but not the glass door). Sure enough, another boat came by and Wahoo, remembering that the bedroom door was open, came charging through the bedroom and out the door. I heard a noise followed by the people on the boat yelling, "Oh man!" Yep, Wahoo tore right through the screen:



Didn't even phase him. Good work, boy...

Poop Today

I'm on day two of a five-day liquid cleansing fast. Too much information? Perhaps. But it seemed like a good way to introduce one of the best homemade videos I've ever seen:

Poop Today
Uploaded by Bajastud

(and don't worry, it's not gross)

Don't Ask, Don't Tell