"Where else would you go when you have an ax to grind?"

Friday, September 16, 2005

After all, Cajun is actually a derivation of Canadian
This despite the wingnut whining about how no one is helping the US. Note the date of the story. Sept,8. CBC News: Louisiana senator: Thank you Canada

Today's heroes
If this doesn't break your heart, you ain't got one.
Survivor Story: 6-Year-Old Leads Five Toddlers, Baby To Safety - News - MSNBC.com

a joke
A lobbyist, on his way home from work in Washington, D.C., came to a dead halt in traffic and thought to himself, "Wow, this seems worse than usual."


He noticed a police officer walking between the lines of stopped cars, so he rolled down his window and asked, "Officer, what's the hold-up?"


The officer replied, "The President is depressed, so he stopped his motorcade and is threatening to douse himself with gasoline and set himself on fire. He says no one believes his stories about why we went to war in Iraq, or the connection between Saddam and al-Qaeda, or that his tax cuts will help anyone except his wealthy friends. So we're taking up a collection for him."


The lobbyist asks, "How much have you got so far?"


The officer replies, "About 14 gallons, but a lot of folks are still siphoning

(courtesy of SSquirrel at Eschaton)

Thursday, September 15, 2005

A short note from the president



George W. Bush writes a quick note to Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice at the UN world leaders summit.

"I think I might need a bathroom break? Is this possible?"

The President of the United States of America ladies and gentlemen, the leader of the free world, is not sure if he needs to go to the toilet or not. He quite literally will not take a leak without Condi Rice's say so. And we wonder why the world is screwed up.

yes, the potty break note is real
Gelf Magazine: Bush's Bathroom Break: The Photographer Speaks

Nothing's as much fun as fishing with your dad


The Bushes spend some quality time together in New Orleans (stolen from the fine people at suckful.net)

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Attention citizens!

The U.S. government today announced that it is changing its emblem from a bald eagle to a condom because the latter more accurately reflects the government's political stance. A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks and gives you a sense of security while you're being screwed.

(someone brought this one into work today and I really had to share)

Sunday, September 11, 2005

"Things come apart"

Short of calling in airstrikes, could FEMA and the local authorities have made things much worse in New Orleans?
a quick collection of stuff:

Police wouldn't let evacuees out New Orleans

Drownie, you're doing a heck of a job

Toxic waters will make New Orleans unsafe for a decade

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain --- or else

It's the poverty and class warfare, stupid

mercenaries, not looters, rule the streets

and Krugman, as usual, is dead on correct

What are the wingnuts smoking?

The Liberal Avenger points us to the latest in wingnut outrage over the design of a memorial for the victims of the plane hijacked and crashed in Pennsylvania on 9/11. What's next, will they demand a patriotic boycott of crossiants?

IN YOUR EAR
Kevin Wood / Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer

ROLLING STONES
A Bigger Bang
Toshiba EMI, 2,548 yen

The day will eventually come--probably about three weeks after Keith Richards' funeral--when the Rolling Stones no longer rock, but their latest release, A Bigger Bang, shows that time has not yet arrived.

Bang is the best Stones album in at least a decade, harkening back to the band's golden era of Exile on Main Street and Sticky Fingers. While not quite in the same league as those earlier classics, Bang could almost be taken for a collection of early '70s B-sides.

Despite the ravages of time, Bang has the energy of a band a third the age of the Strolling Bones. Kicking off with the none-too-subtle barnyard double entendre of "Rough Justice" ("At one time/ you were my prairie chicken/ now you've grown into a fox/ Once upon a time/ I was your little rooster/ am I just one of your cocks?"), Bang has plenty of Mick Jagger strut, but the real musical impetus is the relentless, driving beat provided by Charlie Watts and the twin rhythm guitar attack of Richards and Ron Wood.

The Stones have never really had a strong instrumental soloist in the rock guitar hero mode since the tenure of Mick Taylor, but Richards can do more with a handful of power chords and some distortion than most musicians can with a full orchestra. He and Wood use slide guitar fills and crunchy rhythm riffs to excellent effect. Richards even gets to trade places with Jagger, taking the lead on two songs.

Standout tracks include the acoustic blues number "Back of My Hand" and the rocker "She Saw Me Coming." Politically inclined fans will enjoy the skewering of the White House cabal in "Sweet Neo Con."

The Stones take a lot of abuse from hipper-than-thou critics for their huge corporate-sponsored tours and relentless plowing of the same blues-based classic rock field, but it's a genre they largely invented and perfected long ago.


NEW PORNOGRAPHERS
Twin Cinema
P-Vine Records, 2,415 yen

On first listening to Twin Cinema, those unfamiliar with the New Pornographers might think they've stumbled onto some long-lost drug-inspired late-'60s collaboration between ABBA, Brian Wilson, Jefferson Airplane and Blondie.

The Vancouver supergroup (most of the members have had success with other bands or as solo artists) draw on a wide diversity of influences and abilities to craft incredibly layered, complex power pop that embraces '60s psychedelia, folk rock, New Wave and producer-driven progressive rock with trace elements of punk and a dozen other rock sub-genres. Despite the array of influences, the thoroughly postmodern Pornographers' sound is not so much derivative as it is distilled, and the heady mash of inspirations makes a potent brew.

The band makes excellent use of its wealth of vocal talent with alt.country songstress Neko Case trading lines with frontman and main songwriter A.C. Newman (Zumpano) and gruff-voiced Dan Bejar and the whole band chiming in on harmony backing vocals that add further energy and depth to the tuneful melange of sound.

Newman's hook-laden songs stray far from the typical verse-chorus-verse-chorus pop structure, yet manage to be catchy and memorable while following a form all their own. While maintaining a cohesive sound throughout the album, the cuts range from up-tempo indie rockers like the title cut to the more gentle, sunny-sounding acoustic-guitar tinged "These are the Fables" and the Beatlesesque "Sing Me Spanish Techno."

(Sep. 8, 2005)