Newly Renovated, Pt. 1

Just finished visiting the newly renovated Morgan
Library and are now having a stylish french lunch.
MoMA next!

Gastronomy

After a great French-Morrocan meal we are getting
hammered on Chimay on draught two doors down at The
Gingerman (not at all like the place next to the
Metro.
I see thisb as the last post of the day.

Love this burgh!

Fabulous!

Thanks to some sort of screw up our very reasonable
suite in Murray Hill also includes a 20 X 15 private
patio. No sneaking smokes in the bathroom this trip.

Let The Games Begin

We waiting for a cab @ Laguardia now.

How Can We Get Out Of Dutch?

Bumped off the first flight and done in by Uniteds
ever changing security procedures, we are scheduled to
tae off from OHare at the same time that we shouldLve
been landing in NYC.

We actually changed gates while I was writing this
post.

These situations do not bring out the best in me. So
of course we recld special attention from security.....

Next Stop New York

As promised earlier, GT12 is heading to NYC today, May 4. We will be attempting to post via e-mail so that this can become a real 'Hey! Look at my life' kinda blog. (Unfortunately, you may see a lot of blurbs for yahoo)

To Kick Things off, a few pictures of The Top of The Tower, my fave place in NYC. See those windows way at the top? That's the place.

The Last Thing That I'd Do....

Is remind everybody how good it was under Clinton. And Trying to blame a 32% popularity Administration's problems on 'failings' of a 60% popularity presidency seems a hard sell now.

On A side note, I know that Bill Frist is 'a surgeon' (though I hear never that active a one) but he always seems to remind me more of the guy that gets the body after the operation fails.....

Think Progress has the transcript:

COURIC: Let me ask you about another aspect of your plan, because I know the $100 rebate is just one component, that it’s tied to another controversial proposal, which allows oil companies to drill for oil in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. That has repeatedly failed to pass Congress. Some question the Republicans’ sincerity because they know in the view of these critics that this won’t pass.

FRIST: Let's talk about it. We passed it last month in the United States Senate. It has overwhelming - maybe you don’t support it — but it has overwhelming support. We passed it in the legislature back in 1996. President Clinton vetoed it. Unbelievable. Passed the House. Pass the Senate. And if President Clinton had not vetoed that, we would have more than a million barrels of oil coming here every single day. That’s more oil than we import from Saudi Arabia right now. It’s a matter supply and demand. Right now we would have increase supply if it had not been vetoed by President Clinton.

COURIC: I don't have a position on it.

It's Fun!!

After being scarred by "The Ghost of Tom Joad" (could we have just a little melody pleeeez Mr. S?) I avoided Devils and Dust like I avoid Bill Frist on TV news shows. But this album is different. This album is fun. And, unlike anything since Kitty's Back, it swings. A glorious racket. Get yourself a copy of The Seeger Sessions.

George Bush: Anti-American

From Think Progress:

President Bush, 4/28/06:

I think the national anthem ought to be sung in English, and I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English and they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English.

But in his book American Dynasty, Kevin Phillips notes that during Bush’s first presidential campaign, he would often sing the national anthem in Spanish. From pg. 142:

When visiting cities like Chicago, Milwaukee, or Philadelphia, in pivotal states, he would drop in at Hispanic festivals and parties, sometimes joining in singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in Spanish, sometimes partying with a “Viva Bush” mariachi band flown in from Texas.

People Who Go To Twelve

Well, this is a no-brainer. I've already gotten e-mails demanding this inductee receive his do. But, hey, I've been busy. Still am. And so I'll just give you some quotes, because if John Kerry or Al Gore had shown off the kinda of Testicles seen at last w/e's correspondents dinner one of them would be President today.

And NONE OF THIS WOULD'VE HAPPENED.

The following is Steven Colbert. And He Went to Twelve inches from the President.

...it's my privilege to celebrate this president. We're not so different, he and I. We get it. We're not brainiacs on the nerd patrol. We're not members of the factinista. We go straight from the gut, right sir? That's where the truth lies, right down here in the gut. Do you know you have more nerve endings in your gut than you have in your head? You can look it up. I know some of you are going to say "I did look it up, and that's not true." That's 'cause you looked it up in a book.
Next time, look it up in your gut. I did. My gut tells me that's how our nervous system works. Every night on my show, the Colbert Report, I speak straight from the gut, OK? I give people the truth, unfiltered by rational argument. I call it the "No Fact Zone." Fox News, I hold a copyright on that term

...Mr. President, please, pay no attention to the people that say the glass is half full. 32% means the glass -- it's important to set up your jokes properly, sir. Sir, pay no attention to the people who say the glass is half empty, because 32% means it's 2/3 empty. There's still some liquid in that glass is my point, but I wouldn't drink it. The last third is usually backwash. Okay, look, folks, my point is that I don't believe this is a low point in this presidency. I believe it is just a lull before a comeback.

I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message, that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound -- with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world.

But, listen, let's review the rules. Here's how it works: the president makes decisions. He's the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Just put 'em through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know - fiction!

Yeah Babay!!!

...

If You Can Read This, Then You Should Be Worried

A slightly obscure attack on how our beloved web works, thanks to the phone and cable companies. From The San Fran Chronicle

Panel dumps Net neutrality House committee drops amendment banning two-tier Internet

Internet carriers would have a free hand to charge the likes of Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and eBay Inc. extra for faster delivery of services to consumers under a bill approved by a House committee Wednesday. ....

...The Web companies had hoped to amend Wednesday's legislation, thereby enshrining the status quo of "network neutrality," the catchphrase that has come to represent a system in which all Internet traffic is treated equally. But the effort failed when an amendment introduced by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., was defeated 34-22 in a largely party line vote earlier in the day.

Internet carriers, including AT&T Inc., have been strident supporters of upending the Internet's tradition of network neutrality and have lobbied Congress to make it happen. They argue that Web sites, particularly those featuring video and audio that require significant bandwidth, should be able to pay extra so that users don't have to wait as long for downloads.

Suite Fightin' Man: The Series

Sir Mick one of the stars of a TV Pilot.... really.

.... If ABC does order the series, Mr. Jagger is expected to appear regularly, though not in every episode. "We'll work around his schedule," Mr. Burnett said. Not much has been worked out as to how successful the band of thieves might be in their heist, and like the serialized shows that inspired this one, a big question remains about how the series will continue after its first season.

I Can't Wait For The Spin On This

"... George Bush has become something of an embarrassment."

Tony Snow, newly appointed White House Press Secretary, 11/11/05.

Read the whole thing, which is mostly an analysis of how Mark Warner's chosen replacement won the Governorship of Virginia, here.

Suite Fightin' Man

Seldom have Republican's been so uniquely on the wrong end of the "Money=Power" equation.

• Mick beats George to suite
• PRESIDENT George Bush can’t get no satisfaction — after Mick Jagger grabbed his hotel room. The Rolling Stone splashed out £3,600 a night for the suite days before the US leader tried to book it.
• 
  Now Mick, 62, who has been a fierce critic of the Bush-led war in Iraq, is refusing to give it up.The veteran rocker hired the luxury Royal Suite at the five-star Imperial Hotel in Vienna, Austria, for June when the Stones are due to play a gig in the city.
• Bush’s aides then tried to book it to tie in with a summit meeting.
• 
  But Mick put his foot down and insisted he was keeping the booking.
• 
  A source close to the millionaire singer said last night: “White House officials had wanted to reserve the suite and all the other rooms on the first floor.
• 
  “But Mick and the Stones had already booked every one of them.

Yeah Baby! Read the rest here

Jean-Claude 1989 - 2006

After a year of marked by declining health, Jean-Claude (‘Cuteheart’) is no longer struggling with pain and disability. To the end she remained the best dog either of us has ever known.

Comfort Food Pt. II: Poising For Bigger Things?

The musical shock of this year for me is "The Believer" the new album by Rhett Miller. I have been quite un-moved by Miller's past efforts, which have all seemed professionally crafted, reasonably honest, and reliant on the fantasies of past-their-prime critics and fans who wanted to hear much more than was actually available in Miller's ouvre'. Inoffensive, but all hope, no dreams. Props of course for effort, but call me when you get something real.

I got the call. "The Believer" shares many of the joys of Nile's "Streets" mentioned below but with a suburban rather than urban life-force. This is much more Tom Petty than Tom Verlaine. Miller has found ways to hatch new life into some popular but over-fished ponds. His melodies zig and zag perfectly between familiar and unexpected but never fail to reach home with exhilaration and elan. This is not easy to achieve. And the bad part of me is totally unmoved by the failures, no matter how noble (you should never discuss band like Apples in Stereo with me).

This succeeds. Big Time. And, Boys and Girls, he's a looker too.

Comfort Food

It's been a long hard tax season. Lately I've found a few things to keep me interested in life. And I'd rather push my impeccable musical opinions than my faultless political snoopings.

One gets through marathons like tax season by having some clear goals, Mine has been to drink Basil Hayden's at The Top Of The Tower in NYC, savoring a thirty story view of the Big Apple and reflecting on the magnificence and poetry of urban life.

Providing some great inspiration and hope before this trip is veteran never-quite-a-hit Willie Nile's "Streets of New York". A really great comfort food album. Nothing strikingly new, but A+ post-Dylan-post-Springsteen-post-Clash singer songwriter Rock. Melodies that are at once reassuring but peppered with surprising turns. The lyrics are often semi-surreal but with great rhyme and meter. And the whole effort sounds fresh and full of joy, even at it's darkest.

I really really like this album, and if you find yourself synching w/what I like about Bruce, Bob and Joe Strummer I am sure you will like this one too.

Well, That's It Then. Illinois, Model For America?

I have to admit a fair amount of ambivalence here. Ryan's death-penalty moratorium and generally socially-progressive stances during his term made him the best damn liberal democratic governor I've ever had....

But, being a Republican, he could only be saved so much....

From CNN

Ex-governor guilty of racketeering

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Former Gov. George Ryan, who drew international praise when he commuted the sentences of everyone on Illinois' death row, was convicted of racketeering and fraud Monday in a corruption scandal that ended his political career in 2003.

Ryan, 72, sat stone-faced as the verdict was read and afterward vowed to appeal.

"I believe this decision today is not in accordance with the kind of public service that I provided to the people of Illinois over 40 years, and needless to say I am disappointed in the outcome," Ryan said.

Well, Maybe We Should Bring Back Some of That Thoughtful WWII Propaganda Art

Japanese. Blackface. R&B. Group. On Sony.

Help For Our Old Age?

The whole marriage legitimacy would be nice, but I'll be happy just to have the money.

Here's a most likely doomed shot accross the bow. Reported in The Advocate:

Federal legislation would give gay couples equality in Social Security

Legislation introduced in the U.S House of Representatives last week would amend the Social Security Act to afford same-sex couples the same benefits, responsibilities, and obligations as others who pay into Social Security. The Equal Access to Social Security Act, H.R. 5152, would add the term "permanent partner" to the Social Security Act in addition to the terms "husband" and "wife," which are already present in the legal code.

"Same-sex couples are denied more than 1,000 federal benefits that other taxpayers are entitled to," said Democratic congressman Jerrold Nadler of New York, who authored the bill.