I would like to extend my personal thanks to George Bush, Dick Cheney and the rest of the members of the outgoing administration for their efforts over the past few weeks in trying to define the last eight years on every media outlet with the possible exceptions of the Jim Rome Show and Howard Stern.
By doing so they have reminded us in ways those of us who have been writing about them, since what seems to be the dawn of time, could not. They have, point by point, word by word and image by image both reinforced and re-inventoried every evil deed and mistake they have made while in office.
Bush himself has re-affirmed the advanced extent of his mental illness. Cheney has given us reason to nod our heads and think, "Yes, he really is the most dangerous man in America." The rest of the cast has been wonderfully consistent in their roles, too. Thank you Ms. Perino.
Unless more is revealed about how they have done everything in their power to fuck up the United States of America (a good bet), this is the last weekend many of us will be forced to write about these chi-ractors.
I won't miss them, even though they are easy targets. The problem is that they do not and will not reap what they sow.
We do and we will.
That said, Tuesday is the real New Year's Day.
Happy new year, America!
Friday, January 16, 2009
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
The Bad Democrats Begin to Surface
A lot of people have done a lot of complaining about Congressional Democrats, especially Senate Democrats. Were they briefed about torture and illegal wiretapping? Did they know and do nothing? Are they complicit?
And who are they?
Today we know who two of them are. Dianne Feinstein and Jay Rockafeller came out of the closet and showed their true Blue Dog colors by opposing Leon Panetta, or at least opposing the manner in which his appointment was announced (or leaked).
We're going to be seeing more of this. And when some Democrats oppose people like Panetta, who was a strong opponent of torture and wiretapping, they identify themselves as the same people who secretly pushed the Bush agenda along in Congress, giving in at every turn.
President Obama is bound to piss off a lot of people, even those who support him. Rick Warren is a good example. I'll take a dozen Rick Warren's moose-like bellowing to God in public in exchange for Obama appointees Dawn Johansen, David Ogden, Elena Kagan and Tom Perrelli who will help rehabilitate the Justice Department.
Progressives cannot behave like right-wingers and begin to jump ship when Obama does something that steps on their own personal agenda. Your agenda is yours and Obama's is his.
So far he is living up to his campaign promises, pretty much.
The next time you find yourself getting pissed off at Obama, say these words out loud,"George Bush."
But Blue Dog Democrats be warned. We're watching you very carefully. Your butts are at stake.
And who are they?
Today we know who two of them are. Dianne Feinstein and Jay Rockafeller came out of the closet and showed their true Blue Dog colors by opposing Leon Panetta, or at least opposing the manner in which his appointment was announced (or leaked).
We're going to be seeing more of this. And when some Democrats oppose people like Panetta, who was a strong opponent of torture and wiretapping, they identify themselves as the same people who secretly pushed the Bush agenda along in Congress, giving in at every turn.
President Obama is bound to piss off a lot of people, even those who support him. Rick Warren is a good example. I'll take a dozen Rick Warren's moose-like bellowing to God in public in exchange for Obama appointees Dawn Johansen, David Ogden, Elena Kagan and Tom Perrelli who will help rehabilitate the Justice Department.
Progressives cannot behave like right-wingers and begin to jump ship when Obama does something that steps on their own personal agenda. Your agenda is yours and Obama's is his.
So far he is living up to his campaign promises, pretty much.
The next time you find yourself getting pissed off at Obama, say these words out loud,"George Bush."
But Blue Dog Democrats be warned. We're watching you very carefully. Your butts are at stake.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Finally: The Death of "Greed Is Good"
It's not all about the Benjamins anymore, baby.
Although it is still the defining principle in many people's lives, the concept that "Greed is Good," is dead. It rose to its despicable zenith in tandem with the rise of Reagan, and has been the guiding principle of industry, finance and government ever since.
Greed has been with us since the dawn of time and will remain, but in cyclical bursts, greed destroys enough to make those in the path of the inevitable result of unchecked greed take notice and do something about it.
Like regulations on how much greed is allowed.
Greed brought us to this place…unregulated, untrammeled, vicious greed. Greed has no morals or ethics. Greed has no regard for others. Greed feeds only the greedy and feeds on every thing and every one within grasping distance.
This Christmas Eve there will be no ghosts of the past, Christmas or otherwise, disturbing the sleep of the greedy. The greedy will be in danger of losing a percentage of their riches as a result of their greed. The rest of us feel a primal danger, one that most of us have never felt.
Yes, fear is upon the land. The fear of not being able to keep a roof over your head. Of not knowing where to turn when you watch your sources of income fall, one after another in the twinkling of an eye.
The week before the crash of 2008, I had been hired to write industrial presentation scripts for a company which was very successful at making them. They told me I could expect maybe five a week, if I could handle that. I assured them I could. That was on a Thursday, as the stock market crashed.
The following Monday went by without a word. Then Tuesday. I emailed them on Wednesday and got a worrisome replay on Thursday that said, "Stuff is hitting the fan this week. Clients are pulling out before the initial interview. Waiting for news, as far as what the fallout is., but things are much different than just two weeks ago. I’m sorry Tom… I’ll give you news as I get it."
I replied, "That was one chilling email." The reply? "Word."
On Thursday, I got an email which said that the company had lost so much of its upcoming business over the past week that would not need my services. Two weeks later another company, for whom I had been writing for a year-and-a-half fired my editor and was going to re-think its whole operation. I'm still waiting for my last check from them.
My story is being repeated over and over throughout America. The root of our misery is greed and the greedy.
And President Obama says it's going to get worse before it gets better.
The safety net is in place for the greedy who caused this mess. Where is the safety net for the rest of us? There is no place under the TARP for us to get out of the rain and cold.
The Greed Is Good pack are thieves. They've stolen our money, our hope and any sense of safety we had. And then we rewarded their greed with more money.
It's a cliché to some of us, other may have never heard it, but I will paraphrase Woody Guthrie who said, "Some will rob you with a shotgun and some with a fountain pen."
Or a handful of keystrokes.
For now, the concept that "Greed Is Good," has been discredited and for at least the next four years, we will have an executive branch of government which at least considers the rest of us.
Although it is still the defining principle in many people's lives, the concept that "Greed is Good," is dead. It rose to its despicable zenith in tandem with the rise of Reagan, and has been the guiding principle of industry, finance and government ever since.
Greed has been with us since the dawn of time and will remain, but in cyclical bursts, greed destroys enough to make those in the path of the inevitable result of unchecked greed take notice and do something about it.
Like regulations on how much greed is allowed.
Greed brought us to this place…unregulated, untrammeled, vicious greed. Greed has no morals or ethics. Greed has no regard for others. Greed feeds only the greedy and feeds on every thing and every one within grasping distance.
This Christmas Eve there will be no ghosts of the past, Christmas or otherwise, disturbing the sleep of the greedy. The greedy will be in danger of losing a percentage of their riches as a result of their greed. The rest of us feel a primal danger, one that most of us have never felt.
Yes, fear is upon the land. The fear of not being able to keep a roof over your head. Of not knowing where to turn when you watch your sources of income fall, one after another in the twinkling of an eye.
The week before the crash of 2008, I had been hired to write industrial presentation scripts for a company which was very successful at making them. They told me I could expect maybe five a week, if I could handle that. I assured them I could. That was on a Thursday, as the stock market crashed.
The following Monday went by without a word. Then Tuesday. I emailed them on Wednesday and got a worrisome replay on Thursday that said, "Stuff is hitting the fan this week. Clients are pulling out before the initial interview. Waiting for news, as far as what the fallout is., but things are much different than just two weeks ago. I’m sorry Tom… I’ll give you news as I get it."
I replied, "That was one chilling email." The reply? "Word."
On Thursday, I got an email which said that the company had lost so much of its upcoming business over the past week that would not need my services. Two weeks later another company, for whom I had been writing for a year-and-a-half fired my editor and was going to re-think its whole operation. I'm still waiting for my last check from them.
My story is being repeated over and over throughout America. The root of our misery is greed and the greedy.
And President Obama says it's going to get worse before it gets better.
The safety net is in place for the greedy who caused this mess. Where is the safety net for the rest of us? There is no place under the TARP for us to get out of the rain and cold.
The Greed Is Good pack are thieves. They've stolen our money, our hope and any sense of safety we had. And then we rewarded their greed with more money.
It's a cliché to some of us, other may have never heard it, but I will paraphrase Woody Guthrie who said, "Some will rob you with a shotgun and some with a fountain pen."
Or a handful of keystrokes.
For now, the concept that "Greed Is Good," has been discredited and for at least the next four years, we will have an executive branch of government which at least considers the rest of us.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Read Art Levine's Ecnomic Meltdown 101
My friend and Blogtalkradio co-host has put together a roundup of misery. He also posted this on huffington but it first ran on his blog.
November 17, 2008
Economic Meltdown 101: How We Got Here and How We Might Dig Ourselves Out
Here are some basic primers on the economic crisis:
This is the simplest presentation, with captioned pictures, one after the other:
here.
A clear explanation of how Fannie Mae wasn't the primary cause of the subprime crisis, but unregulated private sector loans subsequently packaged by Wall Street, has been done by McClatchy:
here.
If you hear this presentation from This American Life, or skim the transcript, it can bring home the issues home pretty clearly and in a personal way:
here.
Then here's a well-written lively overview in layman's terms:
here.
A video presentation of subprime mortgages, by PBS:, with props and an effort to make it clear:
here.
Paul Solman also uses simple cartoon images and other props to explain the screwy world of "credit default swaps" -- insurance policies on risky securities composed of risky subprime loans. Much of the world's leading economic institutions invested in assorted financial instruments that were built on the sandy of risk loans -- and no one factored in falling house prices as even a possibility.
Newsweek explains how credit default swaps became "The Monster That Ate Wall Street"
A mix of captioned pargraphs, with charts underneath, explaining how we got in this mess:
here.
Here's a detailed look in The New York Times how each deregulating or short-sighted institution and key player failed the public and the economy. Everybody with real power got it wrong, or did the wrong thing; others who tried to do the right thing were ignored or marginalized as greed and ideology triumphed:
here.
A more crisply written, anecdotal three-part series on the collapse of the subprime mortgage market and how it brought down Lehman brothers, etc was in The Washington Post in the "Bubble" series:
here.
You can keep up on economic news from a progressive perspective with Brad DeLong, among others, here:
here. And you can hear his explanation of our current crisis , the underlying shakiness of the economy, and why major domestic spending initiatives shouldn't be put off , heard in the second half hour of the "D'Antoni and Levine" radio show here, starting at 44 minutes, from mid-October:
here.
And NPR's Planet Money (useful if "objective") is also informative:, plus a daily podcast posted online:
here./
Finally, this month:
Michael Lewis takes us inside the world of those few analysts who realized what a flimsy house of mortgage-related cards the greedheads in the financial institutions had built their wealth on, how it was going to come crashing down, and few people in power bothered to listen. It's so long it's worth buying the magazine for it, but it's only for those who want a long narrative.
That's how we got here, and let's hope our leadership can dig us out.
How to get out of this mess? Read Paul Krugman , Brad DeLong, and the Center for American Progress for some sound ideas.
-- Art Levine
November 17, 2008
Economic Meltdown 101: How We Got Here and How We Might Dig Ourselves Out
Here are some basic primers on the economic crisis:
This is the simplest presentation, with captioned pictures, one after the other:
here.
A clear explanation of how Fannie Mae wasn't the primary cause of the subprime crisis, but unregulated private sector loans subsequently packaged by Wall Street, has been done by McClatchy:
here.
If you hear this presentation from This American Life, or skim the transcript, it can bring home the issues home pretty clearly and in a personal way:
here.
Then here's a well-written lively overview in layman's terms:
here.
A video presentation of subprime mortgages, by PBS:, with props and an effort to make it clear:
here.
Paul Solman also uses simple cartoon images and other props to explain the screwy world of "credit default swaps" -- insurance policies on risky securities composed of risky subprime loans. Much of the world's leading economic institutions invested in assorted financial instruments that were built on the sandy of risk loans -- and no one factored in falling house prices as even a possibility.
Newsweek explains how credit default swaps became "The Monster That Ate Wall Street"
A mix of captioned pargraphs, with charts underneath, explaining how we got in this mess:
here.
Here's a detailed look in The New York Times how each deregulating or short-sighted institution and key player failed the public and the economy. Everybody with real power got it wrong, or did the wrong thing; others who tried to do the right thing were ignored or marginalized as greed and ideology triumphed:
here.
A more crisply written, anecdotal three-part series on the collapse of the subprime mortgage market and how it brought down Lehman brothers, etc was in The Washington Post in the "Bubble" series:
here.
You can keep up on economic news from a progressive perspective with Brad DeLong, among others, here:
here. And you can hear his explanation of our current crisis , the underlying shakiness of the economy, and why major domestic spending initiatives shouldn't be put off , heard in the second half hour of the "D'Antoni and Levine" radio show here, starting at 44 minutes, from mid-October:
here.
And NPR's Planet Money (useful if "objective") is also informative:, plus a daily podcast posted online:
here./
Finally, this month:
Michael Lewis takes us inside the world of those few analysts who realized what a flimsy house of mortgage-related cards the greedheads in the financial institutions had built their wealth on, how it was going to come crashing down, and few people in power bothered to listen. It's so long it's worth buying the magazine for it, but it's only for those who want a long narrative.
That's how we got here, and let's hope our leadership can dig us out.
How to get out of this mess? Read Paul Krugman , Brad DeLong, and the Center for American Progress for some sound ideas.
-- Art Levine
Friday, November 14, 2008
This Week's Music Blog
I'm still unsure if this is going to go up on LivePDX.com, so in case it doesn't:
While waiting to hear what's up with this site and my blog…..
Just got in from the Stephanie Schneiderman CD release at Doug Fir. She had Keith Schreiner with her, of course. James Beaton joined on keys. She said her dress made her look like a slutty cupcake. Like there's something wrong with that?
They did pretty much all of the tunes on Dangerous Fruit and added a Pete Krebs tune and another with Keith on didgeridoo. Aside from the usual rude Portland audience, everything was lovely.
Ran into Mercy Corps' Laura Guimond at the show. She is a music maven. I remember when she used to help Pepe (and the Bottle Blondes) Raphael by working the merchandise table at the Crystal. She was a full-time fan at the Fir.
I had Stephanie on my KMHD show last Saturday night. She told me Keith has a new solo Auditory Sculpture album pretty much ready to go. And just when were you going to tell me, Mr. Sculpture?
Plans are shaping up for Mayor Sam's inauguration celebrations. I'm sworn to secrecy at the moment, but it sounds like (a) great party(ies).
There's a thing called Pecha Kucha. They tell me it's "Japanese for ‘the sound of conversation and has spread to over 100 cities world-wide, including Portland. It is intended to gather creative individuals, designers, architects and artists to meet, network, and to share and discuss their work in an informal, public environment."
There is one of these things on Tuesday, November 18 at The Plant, 939 SE Alder. The deal? "Presenters are allowed 20 images, shown for 20 seconds each - giving 6 minutes & 40 seconds per presentation. This allows the audience to experience a diversee group of speakers in a relatively short space of time. After the presentations, the evening continues with drinks and music."
I've been told to write blogs through the end of the month. After that, I have not been notified. I'm very sorry to see Liz Hummer, LivePDX's editor, get laid off. She's a fine editor and I've enjoyed working with her here and at PDX Magazine. I hope to get to work with her again sometime.
These are not good times for creative folks…musicians, writers….pretty much all across arts and entertainment….editors, too.
Singer Barry Hampton is at it again. He writes:
I don't usually run stuff like that verbatim, but I just did anyway.
I was talking with my friend and Blogtalkradio co-host
Art Levine the other night. He was on his way to a post-election party in D.C. He had investigative reporter Murray Waas in the car with him. Waas has broken many earthshaking stories, mostly about the Bush administration's criminal activities. Anyway, I had never talked to him before. He wanted to talk about music. Turns out he claims that his dad wrote the Mister Softee tune that has been annoying the hell out of me and a major portion of the universe for decades. He said his dad had sold the rights for $400 way back.
So now do you have that song in your head?
I have achieved my goal.
While waiting to hear what's up with this site and my blog…..
Just got in from the Stephanie Schneiderman CD release at Doug Fir. She had Keith Schreiner with her, of course. James Beaton joined on keys. She said her dress made her look like a slutty cupcake. Like there's something wrong with that?
They did pretty much all of the tunes on Dangerous Fruit and added a Pete Krebs tune and another with Keith on didgeridoo. Aside from the usual rude Portland audience, everything was lovely.
Ran into Mercy Corps' Laura Guimond at the show. She is a music maven. I remember when she used to help Pepe (and the Bottle Blondes) Raphael by working the merchandise table at the Crystal. She was a full-time fan at the Fir.
I had Stephanie on my KMHD show last Saturday night. She told me Keith has a new solo Auditory Sculpture album pretty much ready to go. And just when were you going to tell me, Mr. Sculpture?
Plans are shaping up for Mayor Sam's inauguration celebrations. I'm sworn to secrecy at the moment, but it sounds like (a) great party(ies).
There's a thing called Pecha Kucha. They tell me it's "Japanese for ‘the sound of conversation and has spread to over 100 cities world-wide, including Portland. It is intended to gather creative individuals, designers, architects and artists to meet, network, and to share and discuss their work in an informal, public environment."
There is one of these things on Tuesday, November 18 at The Plant, 939 SE Alder. The deal? "Presenters are allowed 20 images, shown for 20 seconds each - giving 6 minutes & 40 seconds per presentation. This allows the audience to experience a diversee group of speakers in a relatively short space of time. After the presentations, the evening continues with drinks and music."
I've been told to write blogs through the end of the month. After that, I have not been notified. I'm very sorry to see Liz Hummer, LivePDX's editor, get laid off. She's a fine editor and I've enjoyed working with her here and at PDX Magazine. I hope to get to work with her again sometime.
These are not good times for creative folks…musicians, writers….pretty much all across arts and entertainment….editors, too.
Singer Barry Hampton is at it again. He writes:
Come join us for a special evening of sounds featuring Nefasha Ayer, Gabriel Teodros, and of course, The Triple Grip.
Nefasha Ayer, loosely translated from Amharic as "the wind that travels", explores a sublime mixture of influences: Ethiopian, South Indian, and American jazz to create a colorful imagery that makes one remember the simple power of music.
Featuring Vocalist Meklit Hadero, Guitarist & Composer Todd Brown, South Indian Saxist Prasant Radhakrishnan, Drummer Sameer Gupta, and Bassist/Flutist Eliyahu Sills.
Gabriel Teodros will explain in quite simple terms his love of verse with a transcendent set of his honest and truly haunting style of Hip Hop. He is also a featured artist on the Nefasha set.
Barry Hampton and the Triple Grip offer the original soul style that rings true, yet truly different, as they sound off with harmonies and a groove for the mind, body and soul.
Monday, November 17th @ the Someday Lounge. 125 NW 5th. $6 9pm
I don't usually run stuff like that verbatim, but I just did anyway.
I was talking with my friend and Blogtalkradio co-host
Art Levine the other night. He was on his way to a post-election party in D.C. He had investigative reporter Murray Waas in the car with him. Waas has broken many earthshaking stories, mostly about the Bush administration's criminal activities. Anyway, I had never talked to him before. He wanted to talk about music. Turns out he claims that his dad wrote the Mister Softee tune that has been annoying the hell out of me and a major portion of the universe for decades. He said his dad had sold the rights for $400 way back.
So now do you have that song in your head?
I have achieved my goal.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Sarah, How Can We Miss You If You Won't Go Away?
They're missing the story again.
Remember when Hillary was a lock to win the Democratic nomination? And so was Romney? And watch out for Fred Thompson?
Obama winning? Not a chance.
Conventional media wisdom has been wrong much much more than it has been right.
So when 14 million people are out of work, the American auto makers are about to close up shop and Secty. Paulson appears to have lost his mind… When President Barak Obama is putting together his administration at a time of great emergency…why is it all I see is Sarah Palin?
I mean, I like watching Republicans make fools of themselves as much as the next guy, something they have, thankfully, not ceased for a moment.
I suppose she thinks she's saying things that people like her want to hear, but she looks like a polar bear on an ice floe, floating out to sea, bellowing on her way out.
Note to TV and radio news directors and producers:
We nevah liked her. When Peggy Noonan says, "It's over," upon setting her eyes on Palin... When Palin's negatives went so far South, you'd think they were in Brazil looking for Summer… Maybe you should consider covering something else. A demolition derby. A lost dog….
Or an Obama administration that is about to sweep away as much of the Bush administration as it can, as fast as it can.
Remember when Hillary was a lock to win the Democratic nomination? And so was Romney? And watch out for Fred Thompson?
Obama winning? Not a chance.
Conventional media wisdom has been wrong much much more than it has been right.
So when 14 million people are out of work, the American auto makers are about to close up shop and Secty. Paulson appears to have lost his mind… When President Barak Obama is putting together his administration at a time of great emergency…why is it all I see is Sarah Palin?
I mean, I like watching Republicans make fools of themselves as much as the next guy, something they have, thankfully, not ceased for a moment.
I suppose she thinks she's saying things that people like her want to hear, but she looks like a polar bear on an ice floe, floating out to sea, bellowing on her way out.
Note to TV and radio news directors and producers:
We nevah liked her. When Peggy Noonan says, "It's over," upon setting her eyes on Palin... When Palin's negatives went so far South, you'd think they were in Brazil looking for Summer… Maybe you should consider covering something else. A demolition derby. A lost dog….
Or an Obama administration that is about to sweep away as much of the Bush administration as it can, as fast as it can.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Grousing about Emanuel being "Too Tough?" Shut up and let the President work!
Why anybody would second-guess President-Elect Barack Obama (It's still thrilling to type that) is beyond me.
Has he not done everything right? Who knows better than him and his people about what to do next? When people were screaming for him to attack, attack attack, he played rope-a-dope, stayed on message and WON THE PRESIDENCY.
So when I read criticism that Rahm Emanuel is "too tough" for Chief of Staff, as Josh Marshall noted, calling it a Emerging DC Meme, all I can say is, shut up and let Obama do the work.
I remember the words of Gen. Tony McPeak (USF Ret.) who flew 269 combat missions in Vietnam and became a four-star general, serving four years on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. McPeak spent time with Obama on the campaign trail and was one of the generals lined up on the stadium stage before the acceptance speech.
He understands how tough Obama really is, and everyone who doubts it, from Republicans to pundits to heads of state of other countries better understand it too.
In describing Obama's toughness, McPeak was quoted as saying:
People better understand the difference between anger and toughness. Bush=anger. Obama=toughness. You don’t have to scream and act like a cowboy to be tough.
No, Emanuel is a good fit. I'm not surprised at all.
Has he not done everything right? Who knows better than him and his people about what to do next? When people were screaming for him to attack, attack attack, he played rope-a-dope, stayed on message and WON THE PRESIDENCY.
So when I read criticism that Rahm Emanuel is "too tough" for Chief of Staff, as Josh Marshall noted, calling it a Emerging DC Meme, all I can say is, shut up and let Obama do the work.
I remember the words of Gen. Tony McPeak (USF Ret.) who flew 269 combat missions in Vietnam and became a four-star general, serving four years on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. McPeak spent time with Obama on the campaign trail and was one of the generals lined up on the stadium stage before the acceptance speech.
He understands how tough Obama really is, and everyone who doubts it, from Republicans to pundits to heads of state of other countries better understand it too.
In describing Obama's toughness, McPeak was quoted as saying:
"He has gut-fighting sidewalk smarts that have allowed him to prevail when people said he couldn't. And he did it in a way that they didn't even know their throats were cut until they tried to smile."
People better understand the difference between anger and toughness. Bush=anger. Obama=toughness. You don’t have to scream and act like a cowboy to be tough.
No, Emanuel is a good fit. I'm not surprised at all.
Stephanie Schneiderman Charts New Course, Finds New World
By Tom D'Antoni
Stephanie Schneiderman and Keith Schreiner (aka Auditory Sculpture) may have re-invented the entire concept of singer-songwriters. Dangerous Fruit her new album, obliterates what had been fast becoming a stale genre. You may never think of singer-songwriters the same way again.
She is known for her Lilith Fair period, later a jazzier edge, and then several years with Dirty Martini.
He is known for being the electronics part of Dahlia, for the memorable Storm and the Balls remix Vastectomy, the hip-hop project Suckapunch, for Jazztronica and his own solo albums, all under the name Auditory Sculpture.
[Full disclosure: Keith wrote music for a documentary Greg Bond and I made. Rather than prejudicing this piece, it gives me insight.]
The result is a perfect marriage of her songs, his electronic soundscapes and his ability to bring out the best in female singers. He did it with Jen Folker, Storm Large and now…well, if you think you've heard Stephanie Schneiderman before, you haven't.
It all has to do with something he heard in his head.
"I sought her out," he told me. "I had approached her seven or eight years ago, when Dahlia was first popping and I was sniffing around for another project to work on." It wasn't until last January, when Dahlia played for Schneiderman's Voices for Silent Disaster concert series. (KPTV was a media sponsor.) He had an idea of doing some remixes of material she had previously recorded, and then possibly working up to an album of new songs.
"Her old style of music isn't something that interests me that much but a good song is a good song," he said. "I went over her house.. Instead of saying I want to do a remix I said, 'Screw it, I want to do an album. I have this radical idea of changing everything that you do, like your sound and I really want to get in there and rip your songs apart and put them back together,' and she was like, 'Yeah! OK!'"
"It was perfect timing," Schneiderman said over tea on Alberta St. "I wanted to do something different and I didn't know what it was. I just knew. I had this batch of songs. I had changed as a songwriter. I knew I wanted to push the edge, whatever the edge was for myself.
"I don’t' know if he knows this, but I was so inspired before our meeting,, I was gathering my songs together, finishing some things."
Things clicked for them on the first day in the studio. "It was pretty apparent from the second we started," said Schreiner, "that this style I had in my head, "and that she signed on to, and that we both worked together towards…was totally going to work."
Schneiderman adds, "We were both really blown away. He said, 'What I want do to is find the song in each of your songs.' That means to strip away the things that you don't realize you're doing…that emptiness is so nice. He wanted to keep things raw and open and let the vocals breathe in a different way and not fill every spot in."
The soundscapes he created for her, some close, intimate microphone work, plus not having to sing over a band allow for a quiet explosion of meaning in this collection of thoughtful, perceptive, sometimes seductive, sometimes loving, sometimes bitter songs "Twenty Slivers, changed from a sad, moody song…it worked to be more angry when I sang it," she said. "Maybe that song was really angry and I just didn't get there until he helped me get there.
"I felt like the other songs became more evocative because of the production. The words worked better."
Perhaps the most evocative song on the album is, When You Touch Me. Schreiner says, "It's the most honest marriage between my sound and her sound."She explains the line I've got this fire frozen in my heart, in the absolutely unforgettable chorus this way, "It's the idea of wanting something that you see and that you know is there but it's just a little bit out of reach."
I guarantee that you'll have that chorus in your head for weeks.
For all around musicianship, imagination, songwriting and pure inspiration, this gets my vote for best album of the year on any chart, in any genre.
CD Release:
Thursday, November 13, Doug Fir Lounge, with Kaitlin ni Donovan and DJ Dave Allen, 8pm door, $12
Stephanie Schneiderman and Keith Schreiner (aka Auditory Sculpture) may have re-invented the entire concept of singer-songwriters. Dangerous Fruit her new album, obliterates what had been fast becoming a stale genre. You may never think of singer-songwriters the same way again.
She is known for her Lilith Fair period, later a jazzier edge, and then several years with Dirty Martini.
He is known for being the electronics part of Dahlia, for the memorable Storm and the Balls remix Vastectomy, the hip-hop project Suckapunch, for Jazztronica and his own solo albums, all under the name Auditory Sculpture.
[Full disclosure: Keith wrote music for a documentary Greg Bond and I made. Rather than prejudicing this piece, it gives me insight.]
The result is a perfect marriage of her songs, his electronic soundscapes and his ability to bring out the best in female singers. He did it with Jen Folker, Storm Large and now…well, if you think you've heard Stephanie Schneiderman before, you haven't.
It all has to do with something he heard in his head.
"I sought her out," he told me. "I had approached her seven or eight years ago, when Dahlia was first popping and I was sniffing around for another project to work on." It wasn't until last January, when Dahlia played for Schneiderman's Voices for Silent Disaster concert series. (KPTV was a media sponsor.) He had an idea of doing some remixes of material she had previously recorded, and then possibly working up to an album of new songs.
"Her old style of music isn't something that interests me that much but a good song is a good song," he said. "I went over her house.. Instead of saying I want to do a remix I said, 'Screw it, I want to do an album. I have this radical idea of changing everything that you do, like your sound and I really want to get in there and rip your songs apart and put them back together,' and she was like, 'Yeah! OK!'"
"It was perfect timing," Schneiderman said over tea on Alberta St. "I wanted to do something different and I didn't know what it was. I just knew. I had this batch of songs. I had changed as a songwriter. I knew I wanted to push the edge, whatever the edge was for myself.
"I don’t' know if he knows this, but I was so inspired before our meeting,, I was gathering my songs together, finishing some things."
Things clicked for them on the first day in the studio. "It was pretty apparent from the second we started," said Schreiner, "that this style I had in my head, "and that she signed on to, and that we both worked together towards…was totally going to work."
Schneiderman adds, "We were both really blown away. He said, 'What I want do to is find the song in each of your songs.' That means to strip away the things that you don't realize you're doing…that emptiness is so nice. He wanted to keep things raw and open and let the vocals breathe in a different way and not fill every spot in."
The soundscapes he created for her, some close, intimate microphone work, plus not having to sing over a band allow for a quiet explosion of meaning in this collection of thoughtful, perceptive, sometimes seductive, sometimes loving, sometimes bitter songs "Twenty Slivers, changed from a sad, moody song…it worked to be more angry when I sang it," she said. "Maybe that song was really angry and I just didn't get there until he helped me get there.
"I felt like the other songs became more evocative because of the production. The words worked better."
Perhaps the most evocative song on the album is, When You Touch Me. Schreiner says, "It's the most honest marriage between my sound and her sound."She explains the line I've got this fire frozen in my heart, in the absolutely unforgettable chorus this way, "It's the idea of wanting something that you see and that you know is there but it's just a little bit out of reach."
I guarantee that you'll have that chorus in your head for weeks.
For all around musicianship, imagination, songwriting and pure inspiration, this gets my vote for best album of the year on any chart, in any genre.
CD Release:
Thursday, November 13, Doug Fir Lounge, with Kaitlin ni Donovan and DJ Dave Allen, 8pm door, $12
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
A Moment Which Will Last a Lifetime
How many I'll-never-forget-where-I-was-when's are happy memories? Think about it. From 9-11 on back to Pearl Harbor, since we've had instant mass communication, none of those moments are happy.
Last night was happy, and we'll never forget it.
We had some friends and family over last night. From 11 p.m., when I heard Olbermann announce that Obama had won, until the middle of the afternoon today, I have been speechless. Me! I get paid for words.
Obama had it exactly right. The night belonged to us. People of good will never gave up trying to make a better world and, in the words of Allen Toussaint's Yes We Can!:
I'm white. I know what this election means to me, but I was listening to national African-American talk radio this morning and one-after-another, callers were agreeing to a remarkable concept...maybe white folks weren't so bad after all.
Funny concept to some. Serious as death to others. Serious as lynching.
We're all looking at each other, and I mean everybody, in a new way today. Here in the People's Republic of Portland Oregon, there's a quiet sense of relief, although last night, on my block there were a lot fireworks exploded and much banging on pots. I know that these feelings are shared by people of good will all over the world.
How long will that last? Stay tuned.
But it's still fresh. And if feels good. And I'm beginning to be able to talk.
I can say this........WE WON!
Last night was happy, and we'll never forget it.
We had some friends and family over last night. From 11 p.m., when I heard Olbermann announce that Obama had won, until the middle of the afternoon today, I have been speechless. Me! I get paid for words.
Obama had it exactly right. The night belonged to us. People of good will never gave up trying to make a better world and, in the words of Allen Toussaint's Yes We Can!:
Make this land a better land
Than the world in which we live
And help each man be a better man
With the kindness that you give.
I'm white. I know what this election means to me, but I was listening to national African-American talk radio this morning and one-after-another, callers were agreeing to a remarkable concept...maybe white folks weren't so bad after all.
Funny concept to some. Serious as death to others. Serious as lynching.
We're all looking at each other, and I mean everybody, in a new way today. Here in the People's Republic of Portland Oregon, there's a quiet sense of relief, although last night, on my block there were a lot fireworks exploded and much banging on pots. I know that these feelings are shared by people of good will all over the world.
How long will that last? Stay tuned.
But it's still fresh. And if feels good. And I'm beginning to be able to talk.
I can say this........WE WON!
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Last Week's Music Blog
My editor at LivePDX.com has been laid off. I am not sure what the future of the site will be. They did not run my blog from last week, so I'm putting it up here.
We'll see what the future holds.
While discovering I don't need meditation to empty my mind of thought, It is a natural occurrence. So how come I feel stupid instead of enlightened?
So like, I know I had some news, but I just can't think of what it was. Or where I've been. I just deleted a sentence. It embarrassed me.
From the I've-never-heard-of-them-but-a-friend-says-they're-good department:
The
I never heard of them either, but as Bill Royston told me at the news conference when he announced that the Jazz Festival would return…well I don't remember his exact words, but he said that most of the really forward-looking music is coming out of Europe. That's something to think about, especially since we don't get to hear too much of it, hardly any.
Berghe is a pianist, in case you were wondering. I'm wondering.
Worth going to see.
As I wrote during the past summer in the O, "The microphone isn’t all that gets passed at the every-second-Tuesday “PasstheMic!” shows at Mississippi Pizza. Knowledge of what it takes to have a career in music is transmitted from pros to those just breaking in. That there’s a night of good music to hear is sometimes beside the point."
Not very often you get to steal from yourself. I used to be able to write before I emptied my mind of thoughts. Maybe I better go look in the recycling and see if my wife threw them out.
I would never use the phrase, "back in the day." And I might slap the next person who says to me, but back in the good old days, i.e. Before Bush, when Pepe Rafael was bursting on the scene with
Therefore, the 8th Annual
PP and the BB will play of course, also
I miss running into Pepe. Maybe I don't get out as much. Last Saturday, at 3 a.m., I was in an all night bingo parlor in Beaverton. Just to watch, mind you. No sign of Pepe.
One of my favorite images is of shooting Pepe in 2000 before that year's ball. He was frantically searching his wardrobe for just the right gown. He found it, of course.
Looking for a parade? How about an altar building? How about both? Someday Lounge's Second Annual Day of the Dead Procession & Altar Building Party will be held on Saturday, Nov 1 from 3-6 p.m. Mixing myth, superstition and art:
Sounds like fun unless somebody wants me to pray to a skull made out of sugar, although consumable gods sound kindof attractive. Beats having to do all that kneeling.
Tis is Ursula from
<3 Leg Torso,>
Crap, my mind's all cluttered again. Hope it doesn't last.
We'll see what the future holds.
While discovering I don't need meditation to empty my mind of thought, It is a natural occurrence. So how come I feel stupid instead of enlightened?
So like, I know I had some news, but I just can't think of what it was. Or where I've been. I just deleted a sentence. It embarrassed me.
From the I've-never-heard-of-them-but-a-friend-says-they're-good department:
The
I never heard of them either, but as Bill Royston told me at the news conference when he announced that the Jazz Festival would return…well I don't remember his exact words, but he said that most of the really forward-looking music is coming out of Europe. That's something to think about, especially since we don't get to hear too much of it, hardly any.
Berghe is a pianist, in case you were wondering. I'm wondering.
Worth going to see.
As I wrote during the past summer in the O, "The microphone isn’t all that gets passed at the every-second-Tuesday “PasstheMic!” shows at Mississippi Pizza. Knowledge of what it takes to have a career in music is transmitted from pros to those just breaking in. That there’s a night of good music to hear is sometimes beside the point."
Not very often you get to steal from yourself. I used to be able to write before I emptied my mind of thoughts. Maybe I better go look in the recycling and see if my wife threw them out.
I would never use the phrase, "back in the day." And I might slap the next person who says to me, but back in the good old days, i.e. Before Bush, when Pepe Rafael was bursting on the scene with
Therefore, the 8th Annual
PP and the BB will play of course, also
I miss running into Pepe. Maybe I don't get out as much. Last Saturday, at 3 a.m., I was in an all night bingo parlor in Beaverton. Just to watch, mind you. No sign of Pepe.
One of my favorite images is of shooting Pepe in 2000 before that year's ball. He was frantically searching his wardrobe for just the right gown. He found it, of course.
Looking for a parade? How about an altar building? How about both? Someday Lounge's Second Annual Day of the Dead Procession & Altar Building Party will be held on Saturday, Nov 1 from 3-6 p.m. Mixing myth, superstition and art:
We'll start with a 3pm sugar skull decorating session. We'll provide home- made sugar skulls and frosting to decorate. Participants are encouraged to bring additional decorating material.
We'll use these sugar skulls, and any other mementos brought by participants, to create community altars in the space. A true community art installation rooted in ancient cultural traditions.
As we create our altars, participants are encouraged to wear festive attire, and solicit the services of our house face painter. At 4:30, we'll meet in the North Park blocks to commence our procession through the Pearl and Oldtown. Banners waving, our party will be led by a marching band fit to rouse the dead. Then back to Someday Lounge for hot chocolate and movies.
Sounds like fun unless somebody wants me to pray to a skull made out of sugar, although consumable gods sound kindof attractive. Beats having to do all that kneeling.
Tis is Ursula from
<3 Leg Torso,>
Crap, my mind's all cluttered again. Hope it doesn't last.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Are You Suffering from Election Insanity?
Are you finding it hard to focus? When you think about the possibility of McCain winning next week do you feel lost and bewildered at what that would mean to your life? Do you feel like your head is about to explode?
Me too.
Are you hysterically ambivalent? Do you go between watching and reading every single word spoken and written about the election, following every poll and poll of poll and poll of poll of poll...and never wanting to hear another pundit ever again, even Rachel Maddow?
Me too. Well maybe not Rachel Maddow.
Do you go from one frame of mind to another? From envisioning an America which has just elected the first African-American in its history and is in the hands of someone who knows what he's doing...with some hope for the future...to envisioning an America who has just voted out of fear and hatred and believed all of the lies...again?
Me too.
It's a good thing I live in Oregon, where an Obama victory is assured. And if the worst happens, it'll be a good place to stay.
I usually have an election-night party at my house. I may not. In 2004, everyone came over enthused. Remember the exit polls? Remember how you felt when it went the other way?
Think of that times, oh say, a hundred million this year.
Get a grip on yourself, D'Antoni.
I voted last week. In Oregon we have vote-by-mail. I won't debate the merits of that method, but when I filled out the ballot, I didn't have the feeling I thought I would have voting for Obama. I mean, I cried during his acceptance speech in Denver, didn't you?
I made a mistake while voting. My wife and I were sitting at the kitchen table filling out our ballots and I accidentally signed her ballot envelope by mistake. Even though it had her name plainly printed on it.
After absorbing the deserved abuse, I suggested we take our ballots to the election board and make sure everything was Kosher. It was. But instead of handing them to the man behind the counter like I thought I would, the African-American man behind the counter pointed to a light blue plastic box with a slot in the top.
I suddenly realized what I was going to do. I turned to my wife and asked if she wanted to put he own in. She did. It was obvious why.
My action of dropping my ballot in the box was quick but it seemed like I was moving in slow-motion and I filled up and flushed with emotion. I just got the same feeling typing this.
I felt like maybe my life had meaning after all. Maybe in some minuscule way all of the things I had done...written...put on TV...said on the radio...to try to promote love and understanding had somehow paid off.
And now I think, if McCain wins, will that all be washed away and destroy any remaining hope I had for America?
Like I said, can somebody make this election be over?
You feel that way too?
Me too.
Are you hysterically ambivalent? Do you go between watching and reading every single word spoken and written about the election, following every poll and poll of poll and poll of poll of poll...and never wanting to hear another pundit ever again, even Rachel Maddow?
Me too. Well maybe not Rachel Maddow.
Do you go from one frame of mind to another? From envisioning an America which has just elected the first African-American in its history and is in the hands of someone who knows what he's doing...with some hope for the future...to envisioning an America who has just voted out of fear and hatred and believed all of the lies...again?
Me too.
It's a good thing I live in Oregon, where an Obama victory is assured. And if the worst happens, it'll be a good place to stay.
I usually have an election-night party at my house. I may not. In 2004, everyone came over enthused. Remember the exit polls? Remember how you felt when it went the other way?
Think of that times, oh say, a hundred million this year.
Get a grip on yourself, D'Antoni.
I voted last week. In Oregon we have vote-by-mail. I won't debate the merits of that method, but when I filled out the ballot, I didn't have the feeling I thought I would have voting for Obama. I mean, I cried during his acceptance speech in Denver, didn't you?
I made a mistake while voting. My wife and I were sitting at the kitchen table filling out our ballots and I accidentally signed her ballot envelope by mistake. Even though it had her name plainly printed on it.
After absorbing the deserved abuse, I suggested we take our ballots to the election board and make sure everything was Kosher. It was. But instead of handing them to the man behind the counter like I thought I would, the African-American man behind the counter pointed to a light blue plastic box with a slot in the top.
I suddenly realized what I was going to do. I turned to my wife and asked if she wanted to put he own in. She did. It was obvious why.
My action of dropping my ballot in the box was quick but it seemed like I was moving in slow-motion and I filled up and flushed with emotion. I just got the same feeling typing this.
I felt like maybe my life had meaning after all. Maybe in some minuscule way all of the things I had done...written...put on TV...said on the radio...to try to promote love and understanding had somehow paid off.
And now I think, if McCain wins, will that all be washed away and destroy any remaining hope I had for America?
Like I said, can somebody make this election be over?
You feel that way too?
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Is the McCain Campaign is Being Secretly Run by Democrats?
Seems that way.The Republicans appear to be following a script written by people who want to see them not only lose, but lose big and be humiliated and reviled at the same time.
What other explanation could there by for the sociopathic insanity of their campaign. One of these days a psychologist will write a book diagnosing the actions of John McCain, Sarah Palin, Rick Davis, Steve Schmidt and the rest of the bunch. Since psychologists don't deal with good v. evil, there will have to be a logical explanation of what seems to be pure insanity.
It can't be written off as "politics" or even "tough politics," as McCain likes to call it. It's more than that. What do you call constant lying? What name do you give to the attempt to destroy another human being's character? To paint him as a traitor? To play to hatred? Indeed, to stoke and cultivate hatred?
No, this is not to be forgiven. Barack Obama seems to be so convinced that nothing can be done without dragging the Republicans in with him and governing under an "American" umbrella, and an "Earth" umbrella. He must be much more forgiving than I am. Or perhaps he has something in store for the Republicans when he takes office. Like prosecutions of the Bush war criminals, for starters.
It appears that Americans have caught on. Only the haters are responding to McCain and Palin's lowest common denominator attacks, and those dimwits weren't going to vote for Obama anyway. Never has the word "base" been more apt. Other words for "base" are….dishonorable, ignoble, sordid, immoral, vile and corrupt.
That about sums it up, doesn't it?
Reap the whirlwind, Republicans.
What other explanation could there by for the sociopathic insanity of their campaign. One of these days a psychologist will write a book diagnosing the actions of John McCain, Sarah Palin, Rick Davis, Steve Schmidt and the rest of the bunch. Since psychologists don't deal with good v. evil, there will have to be a logical explanation of what seems to be pure insanity.
It can't be written off as "politics" or even "tough politics," as McCain likes to call it. It's more than that. What do you call constant lying? What name do you give to the attempt to destroy another human being's character? To paint him as a traitor? To play to hatred? Indeed, to stoke and cultivate hatred?
No, this is not to be forgiven. Barack Obama seems to be so convinced that nothing can be done without dragging the Republicans in with him and governing under an "American" umbrella, and an "Earth" umbrella. He must be much more forgiving than I am. Or perhaps he has something in store for the Republicans when he takes office. Like prosecutions of the Bush war criminals, for starters.
It appears that Americans have caught on. Only the haters are responding to McCain and Palin's lowest common denominator attacks, and those dimwits weren't going to vote for Obama anyway. Never has the word "base" been more apt. Other words for "base" are….dishonorable, ignoble, sordid, immoral, vile and corrupt.
That about sums it up, doesn't it?
Reap the whirlwind, Republicans.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Cindy McCain's Family Ties: Suds and Murder
We all know that Cindy McCain owns the beer distributorship that has made her a multi-millionaire, or rather that made her father a multi-millionaire. But do you know the sordid backstory of her father, James Hensley, and the scandals surrounding him?
Including the 1976 murder of reporter Don Bolles?
From: The Lonesome Trail: Cindy McCain's nontraditional campaign by Ariel Levy in the September 5, 2008 New Yorker
But there's a lot more backstory than that. For more on the sleaze surrounding Cindy McCain's father, here's a roundup of stories from other papers compiled by Sam Smith. It includes this from the Phoenix New times on Jim Hensley's partner and the murder of reporter Don Bolles:
Also read Beyond Booze: The Strange Roots of the McCain Family Fortune from July 2008 by Caitlin Ginley in Public Integrity.
Including the 1976 murder of reporter Don Bolles?
From: The Lonesome Trail: Cindy McCain's nontraditional campaign by Ariel Levy in the September 5, 2008 New Yorker
James--whom everyone called Jim--and his brother Eugene Hensley built their wealth on alcohol. After Jim returned from service as a bombardier in the Second World War, the brothers entered the wholesale liquor market and began operating two warehouses--United Sales Company, in Phoenix, and United Distributors, Inc., in Tucson--in partnership with Kemper Marley, Sr., a Phoenix businessman. (Police reportedly suspected Marley of having had a hand in the 1976 murder of Don Bolles, a reporter for the Arizona Republic who had written extensively about Marley's business and political machinations. Marley died in 1990.) In 1948, the Hensleys were convicted on federal conspiracy charges after filing more than twelve hundred fake invoices to cover up under-the-table sales of liquor to night clubs and bars throughout the state. Eugene was sentenced to a year in prison, Jim to six months, but, with the help of their lawyer, a former mayor of Phoenix, Jim had his sentence suspended.
Despite his criminal conviction, in 1955 Jim Hensley was granted a liquor license to start an Anheuser-Busch distributorship, which he called Hensley & Company.
But there's a lot more backstory than that. For more on the sleaze surrounding Cindy McCain's father, here's a roundup of stories from other papers compiled by Sam Smith. It includes this from the Phoenix New times on Jim Hensley's partner and the murder of reporter Don Bolles:
Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles wrote a series of stories documenting Marley's questionable performance in appointive posts he'd previously held. Bolles' stories doomed Marley's appointment, forcing him to resign soon after being named to the Racing Commission.
On June 2, 1976, Bolles was mortally wounded by a car bomb. Before lapsing into unconsciousness, Bolles uttered the words, "Adamson, Emprise, Mafia." He died 11 days later.
John Harvey Adamson confessed to luring Bolles to a Phoenix hotel parking lot and placing a bomb beneath the reporter's car. The bomb, Adamson testified, was detonated by James Robison, a Chandler plumber. Adamson testified he was hired to kill Bolles by Max Dunlap, a Phoenix contractor and close associate of Marley's. Marley had extended a $1 million loan to Dunlap, which had not been repaid. Adamson said Dunlap hired him to kill Bolles because Marley was upset over Bolles' stories.
Also read Beyond Booze: The Strange Roots of the McCain Family Fortune from July 2008 by Caitlin Ginley in Public Integrity.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Obama's Rope-a-Dope
The Republicans have been George Foreman, hitting Obama with everything they had in their evil arsenal over the past few weeks.
Obama let them punch themselves out and then tonight he hit them with a solid right and then another and then a straight left hand.
The fight isn't over, but McCain is on the canvas.
Don't these people ever learn?
Obama is smart and tough. Very tough. McCain didn't know how tough until tonight. He might get up and throw some more punches, but they will have lost their steam...while Obama is loading up that right hand again.
Obama bomaye!
Obama let them punch themselves out and then tonight he hit them with a solid right and then another and then a straight left hand.
The fight isn't over, but McCain is on the canvas.
Don't these people ever learn?
Obama is smart and tough. Very tough. McCain didn't know how tough until tonight. He might get up and throw some more punches, but they will have lost their steam...while Obama is loading up that right hand again.
Obama bomaye!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
"Get on board, you don't have any other choice," happens to be the truth.
That's what one Hillary Clinton supporter said today. She's right. Any rational human who decides to vote for John McCain deserves John McCain, George Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, Alberto Gonzalez, Condi Rice, John Ashcroft, Ronald Reagan, big oil, polluters, homophobes, wife-beaters, racists, anti-abortionists and those who have besmirched any moral authority America had left.
Is that what you want?
Really.
Did Barack Obama's campaign win because the Supreme Court decided so? Did it steal votes? Did it disenfranchise any voters? Did Obama call Clinton's character into question? Does Obama have a clear record of fighting against women's issues?
The answer is no.
He won fairly and with dignity, which is more than I can say for the sore-losers in the Clinton camp.
Clinton waged a dirty campaign, but she earned the right to have her recognition at the convention. Other than that, she lost.
L-O-S-T, lost.
If John McCain wins because of former Clinton voters' support…..
You know, I can't even imagine what's in the minds of these people. Four more years of Republican rule?
Come to your senses, people.
Is that what you want?
Really.
Did Barack Obama's campaign win because the Supreme Court decided so? Did it steal votes? Did it disenfranchise any voters? Did Obama call Clinton's character into question? Does Obama have a clear record of fighting against women's issues?
The answer is no.
He won fairly and with dignity, which is more than I can say for the sore-losers in the Clinton camp.
Clinton waged a dirty campaign, but she earned the right to have her recognition at the convention. Other than that, she lost.
L-O-S-T, lost.
If John McCain wins because of former Clinton voters' support…..
You know, I can't even imagine what's in the minds of these people. Four more years of Republican rule?
Come to your senses, people.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Gen. Clark & Joe Biden's Statements Pretty Much the Same. Why No Fuss Now?
"I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president," – Gen. Wesley Clark, June 29, 2008
"These times require more than a good soldier." – Sen. Joe Biden, August 23, 2008
There's not a whole hell of a lot of difference between these two statements. Perhaps if Gen. Clark hadn't been officially declared a pariah by the weaker, more politically-correct folks in the Obama campaign, Obama wouldn't be perceived as not hitting back at the vicious Republican attacks on his character.
The simple fact remains that the plain and honest statement by Gen. Clark is right on the money.
McCain was a failure at Annapolis and a failure as a pilot. Yeah, we're sorry he got locked up for five years, but how many innocent people have we locked up in jails all over America? And how many more have we put through the same kinds of torture McCain suffered? In Guantanamo and our franchise dungeons all over the world?
Let's not forget, McCain's voting record on torture. He was against it when he was being tortured, and for it when it was politically advantageous.
It's time to stop kissing McCain's red white and blue butt on the subject of serving in the military, especially since he has supported Bush in denying our current military the equipment it needed to fight and protect itself, and in the shameful manner in which it has treated the troops when they came home, dead and alive.
So, stop saying how much you respect his service. Tell the truth. Call him on his pandering on his Vietnam experience. Dig up some other ex-POW's who will call him on using his experiences for current political gain.
And anyway, his five years in a POW camp over thirty years ago apparently has nothing to do with the situation into which the Bush administration has put us. Wait, maybe it has everything to do with it…and getting rid of the last of the pro-Vietnam War leaders is a good thing.
Our military is not to be worshiped. It is to be used as a last resort, and to present a strong face to those who would attack us. Period. They do the job they applied for, just like everybody else. Cops and firemen are no less heroes. Garbage collectors and those who deliver the mail, also.
General Clark? There are many of us who applauded your statement. I'm sorry you won't be at the convention. It's a big mistake on the part of the Democratic Party (no strangers to big mistakes).
Tom does a talk show live Thursdays at 5:30pm ET with fellow Huffingtonposter Art Levine. Listen here.
"These times require more than a good soldier." – Sen. Joe Biden, August 23, 2008
There's not a whole hell of a lot of difference between these two statements. Perhaps if Gen. Clark hadn't been officially declared a pariah by the weaker, more politically-correct folks in the Obama campaign, Obama wouldn't be perceived as not hitting back at the vicious Republican attacks on his character.
The simple fact remains that the plain and honest statement by Gen. Clark is right on the money.
McCain was a failure at Annapolis and a failure as a pilot. Yeah, we're sorry he got locked up for five years, but how many innocent people have we locked up in jails all over America? And how many more have we put through the same kinds of torture McCain suffered? In Guantanamo and our franchise dungeons all over the world?
Let's not forget, McCain's voting record on torture. He was against it when he was being tortured, and for it when it was politically advantageous.
It's time to stop kissing McCain's red white and blue butt on the subject of serving in the military, especially since he has supported Bush in denying our current military the equipment it needed to fight and protect itself, and in the shameful manner in which it has treated the troops when they came home, dead and alive.
So, stop saying how much you respect his service. Tell the truth. Call him on his pandering on his Vietnam experience. Dig up some other ex-POW's who will call him on using his experiences for current political gain.
And anyway, his five years in a POW camp over thirty years ago apparently has nothing to do with the situation into which the Bush administration has put us. Wait, maybe it has everything to do with it…and getting rid of the last of the pro-Vietnam War leaders is a good thing.
Our military is not to be worshiped. It is to be used as a last resort, and to present a strong face to those who would attack us. Period. They do the job they applied for, just like everybody else. Cops and firemen are no less heroes. Garbage collectors and those who deliver the mail, also.
General Clark? There are many of us who applauded your statement. I'm sorry you won't be at the convention. It's a big mistake on the part of the Democratic Party (no strangers to big mistakes).
Tom does a talk show live Thursdays at 5:30pm ET with fellow Huffingtonposter Art Levine. Listen here.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
There's Something About Televangelists
I am reading "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins on the folly of religion.
Then I ran across this which proves it.
Then I ran across this which proves it.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Russia: Foreign Policy Issue #1---Or SHOULD Be
On June 16, 2001, with Vladimir Putin at his side, George Bush said of the Russian President, "I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. "
That part of the story we know.
The part we don't know for fact, but can make an educated guess about is what Putin thought when looked Bush in the eye. Given Putin's actions since then it was probably, "Jesus, this guy is a fucking idiot. I can put anything over on this fool."
And so he did.
U.S. relations, or lack of them, with Russia should be a hot campaign issue. I mean, is there another country in the world with a giant nuclear arsenal who has invaded a sovereign country in order to control the flow of oil? Well, besides us.
Yes, Obama made a typically nuanced statement when Russia invaded Georgia, but it didn't say a whole hell of a lot. And it certainly didn't assuage my concerns. Of course, it was vastly superior to McCain's war-mongering on behalf of his client.
Is this the first time in American history that one of an American Presidential candidate's chief advisors was in the employ of a foreign government. Is there any doubt that McCain's statements on the Russian invasion are a direct result of Randy Scheunneman's lobbying contract with Georgia? I have no doubts at all.
Clearly, McCain never met a war he didn't like, except one where he's getting shot at.
Still, when Russia goes running around invading other countries, especially ones which use to belong to it, (Georgia = Sudatenland) and threatening others nearby (Poland), I expect Obama to tell us what he's going to do. If he's going to be running the show come January 20, I'd like to know his plans for Russia.
This should be the major foreign policy question of this campaign. A few religious nuts in the mountains of Pakistan don't even come close.
Tom D'Antoni and fellow Huffingtonposter Art Levine do a talk show on Blogtalkradio live on Thursdays at 5:30pm ET. All shows are archived. Listen here.
That part of the story we know.
The part we don't know for fact, but can make an educated guess about is what Putin thought when looked Bush in the eye. Given Putin's actions since then it was probably, "Jesus, this guy is a fucking idiot. I can put anything over on this fool."
And so he did.
U.S. relations, or lack of them, with Russia should be a hot campaign issue. I mean, is there another country in the world with a giant nuclear arsenal who has invaded a sovereign country in order to control the flow of oil? Well, besides us.
Yes, Obama made a typically nuanced statement when Russia invaded Georgia, but it didn't say a whole hell of a lot. And it certainly didn't assuage my concerns. Of course, it was vastly superior to McCain's war-mongering on behalf of his client.
Is this the first time in American history that one of an American Presidential candidate's chief advisors was in the employ of a foreign government. Is there any doubt that McCain's statements on the Russian invasion are a direct result of Randy Scheunneman's lobbying contract with Georgia? I have no doubts at all.
Clearly, McCain never met a war he didn't like, except one where he's getting shot at.
Still, when Russia goes running around invading other countries, especially ones which use to belong to it, (Georgia = Sudatenland) and threatening others nearby (Poland), I expect Obama to tell us what he's going to do. If he's going to be running the show come January 20, I'd like to know his plans for Russia.
This should be the major foreign policy question of this campaign. A few religious nuts in the mountains of Pakistan don't even come close.
Tom D'Antoni and fellow Huffingtonposter Art Levine do a talk show on Blogtalkradio live on Thursdays at 5:30pm ET. All shows are archived. Listen here.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
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