I don't think That This Will Make It On 'Celebrity Trading Spaces'

Too bad the kids today don't have role models like this:

Most people use home equity loans to make repairs on their homes, or do a little construction. Other's take the money and blow it on a vacation which they pay back for the next fifteen years. Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones did a little of each. Back in the 1970's he got a home equity loan for $70,000 and did in fact paint his kitchen green and but some blacktop on his driveway. With the remaining $60,000 he had a wild six week one man party where he blew the entire amount on coke.

It got so bad at one point right after this one man party that "I would be on my hands and knees looking for crumbs that might have fallen out of the pipe. I even banned my children eating meringues in the house after I ended up smoking sugar, believing it to be cocaine."

Well at least Ronnie didn't smoke his dad's ashes like Keith Richards. Yes, I know Keith said it was a joke, but he only said it was a joke after the whole world gasped. If you don't think he wasn't capable of it, you didn't read the story above very closely.

As We Support Another Failure

Everyday I understand why the authoritarians hate the Democrats ... they hate spineless fools ...

Congress again has extended funding for a core abstinence-education program, sparking protests from sex-education advocates who want Democrats to pull the plug on such programs.”

A Little Bit On Rush's Latest

As usual, he comes off better 'out of context'

From ThinkProgress:

Last Friday, Limbaugh named anti-war Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), who earned the bronze star and two purple hearts during 37 years of service, as another example of a “phony soldier”:

I was talking about a genuine phony soldier — and, by the way, Jesse MacBeth is not the only one. How about this guy Scott Thomas who was writing fraudulent, phony things in the New Republic about atrocities he saw that never happened? How about Jack Murtha blanketly accepting the notion that Marines in Haditha engaged in wanton murder of innocent children and civilians?

As Gen. John Batiste (Ret.), who commanded the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq, said on MSNBC’s Countdown last week, Rush’s inclusion of Murtha and Morgan’s attack on Soltz, “dismisse[s]” the “validity” of their argument that Limbaugh’s comment didn’t apply to pro-withdrawal troops as a whole.

UPDATE: On MSNBC’s Hardball in August, retired Air Force Lt. Colonel Robert “Buzz” Patterson, who works with Morgan at Move America Forward, accused Soltz of “stabbing” his “fellow men and women in uniform” in the back because he supports withdrawal from Iraq.

The Danger Of Dynasty

NY Post's "Page Six":

LEE Iacocca is no fan of President Bush. "I campaigned for him because I knew his mother and dad for 30 years, and I figured he was from pretty good stock," the auto-industry legend tells Details magazine. "But Jeb was being groomed, too. They got the wrong kid. There's something wrong philosophically with how Bush's brain works. I feel sorry for him. I used to think [Al] Gore was nuts in his worrying about global warming, but he was ahead of his time."

Here's the link to the interview in Details.

Updates To The Casting Couch

Is this surprising to anyone?

Lou Pearlman - the hog-fat, boy-band honcho who created *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys and launched the careers of Justin Timberlake and Nick Carter - was a pervy pedophile who preyed on the young men he mentored, Vanity Fair reports.

"I would absolutely say the guy was a sexual predator. All the talent knew what Lou's game was," Steve Mooney, an aspiring singer who was Pearlman's assistant, told VF's Bryan Burrough. "Some guys joked about it. I remember [one singer] asking me, 'Have you let Lou [fellate] you yet?' "

Mooney said he once asked Pearlman, who was known as "Big Poppa," what it would take for him to get into a band. "I'll never forget this as long as I live. He leaned back in his chair, in his white terry cloth robe and white underwear, and spread his legs," Mooney told Burrough. "And then he said, and these were his exact words, 'You're a smart boy. Figure it out.' "

Read the rest here

Not Your Bitch

Isiah A-Black-Man-Can-Call-A-Black-Woman-A-Bitch Thomas apparently failed to convince anyone.

NEW YORK (AP) -- A jury ruled Tuesday that New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas sexually harassed a top team executive, subjecting the married mother of three to unwanted advances and a barrage of verbal insults.

But the jury also ruled that Thomas does not have to pay punitive damages to the women, giving him a partial victory after an ugly, three-week trial.

We Suck Less!!!

Salon helps us look at those awful approval numbers for 'The Democratic Congress'

Less popular than Bush? Not exactly

It's a standard talking point among Republicans and their allies in the blogosphere: The president's approval ratings may be low, but Congress' approval ratings are even lower.

... a new Washington Post/ABC News poll [is] out today. The poll puts President Bush's approval rating at just 33 percent, tied with his "career low" in the Post/ABC poll. The White House and its blogging allies can still take comfort in the fact that Bush's number is better than the 29 percent approval rating Congress gets, but only until they read the next paragraph in the Post's report:

"Despite discontent with Congress this year, the public rates congressional Republicans (29 percent approve) lower than congressional Democrats (38 percent approve). When the parties are pitted directly against each other, the public broadly favors Democrats on Iraq, health care, the federal budget and the economy. Only on the issue of terrorism are Republicans at parity with Democrats."

Short version: Congressional Democrats' approval ratings are, in fact, higher than the president's.

Now, a five-point lead over rock bottom is hardly reason to celebrate, especially in light of the fact that congressional Democrats' approval ratings have been dropping pretty steadily since they won control of the House and the Senate in November. But the Post/ABC poll does rebut the GOP talking point, and it sheds at least a little light on the more specific views underlying the general approval/disapproval ratings. Fifty-five percent of the public say that congressional Democrats haven't gone far enough yet in opposing the war in Iraq; only 35 percent say they've gone too far. And of the people who say that Congress has accomplished "not much" or "nothing" this year, 51 percent put the blame on Bush and the Republicans in Congress; only 25 percent blame the Democrats.

The Historians (and us) Win One

One of the first things the Connecticut/Texas Dauphin did after assuming the Presidency was to place all of his Father's soon-to-be-open-to-the- public Presidential papers back under lock and key.

W loses!

From The Guardian Online:

Former Presidents Can't Withhold Records

By MATT APUZZO
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Presidents don't have indefinite veto power over which records are made public after they've left office, a federal judge ruled Monday.
In a narrowly crafted ruling, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly invalidated part of President Bush's 2001 executive order, which allowed former presidents and vice presidents to review executive records before they are released under the Freedom of Information Act.

By law, the National Archives has the final say over the release of presidential records and Kollar-Kotelly ruled that Bush's executive order ``effectively eliminates'' that discretion. It allows former presidents to delay the release of records ``presumably indefinitely,'' she said.

The judge ordered the National Archives not to withhold any more documents based on that section of the executive order.

The ruling was made in a lawsuit filed by the American Historical Association and other organizations, which argued that Bush's Executive Order 13,233 was an ``impermissible exercise of the executive power.''

The judge dismissed most of the claims and sidestepped some of the loftier questions, such as whether the entire order was unconstitutional or whether former presidents can claim executive privilege as grounds for withholding documents.

BTW: Why am I finding this in a British paper and not one from the land of the free?

Joe Zawinul, 1932 - 2007

Was it writing 'Mercy Mercy, Mercy' for Cannonball? (And, Chicago's Buckinghams' say thank you too)

Was It Writing 'In A Silent Way' for Miles??

Was It Writing 'Birdland' for Weather Report???

This jazz guy was all over every major part of this Rock and Roll Fan's life.

From Wiki

In 1961, Zawinul joined the Quintet led by saxophonist Cannonball Adderley. During his nine-year stint with Adderley, Zawinul wrote the hit song "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy." He also composed "Walk Tall" and "Country Preacher," the latter a tribute to U.S. Civil Rights Movement leader Rev. Jesse Jackson. In this title cut to the quintet's popular 1969 album release, Austrian-born Zawinul demonstrated a sophisticated and intimate understanding of the African/African-American concept of cool, of motion and interval. When "Country Preacher" debuted at a live recording session in Chicago at Jackson's Operation Breadbasket, it elicited enthusiastic cheers of immediate recognition from the mostly African-American audience.

In the late 1960s, Zawinul recorded with Miles Davis's studio band and helped create the sound of the Jazz fusion. Among others, he played on the album In a Silent Way, the title track of which he composed, and the landmark album Bitches Brew, for which he contributed the twenty-minute track, "Pharaoh's Dance", which occupied the whole of side one.

Zawinul is known to have played live with Davis only once, on July 10, 1991, shortly before Davis' death.

Zawinul, along with other Davis sidemen Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock, was one of the first to use electric pianos and early synthesizers like the ARP 2600 in 1973's Sweetnighter. He was among the first to use a Fender-Rhodes with a Phasing effect and a Wah-Wah pedal. His creativity and attention to detail resulted in a very contemporary and modern sound. He also has played the kalimba on Weather Report's Mysterious Traveller and Mr. Gone.

In 1970, Zawinul cofounded Weather Report with saxophonist and Davis alumnus Wayne Shorter.Their biggest commercial success came from his composition "Birdland", a 6-minute opus featured on Weather Report's 1977 album Heavy Weather, which peaked at number 30 on the Billboard pop albums chart. [2]"Birdland" is one of the most recognizable jazz pieces of the 1970s, covered by many prominent artists from The Manhattan Transfer to Maynard Ferguson and Jefferson Starship. Even Weather Report's version received significant mainstream radio airplay — unusual for them — and served to convert many new fans to music which they may never have heard otherwise.

Here's Birdland - don't forget to watch Jaco!

Hughie Thomasson, 1952 -2007

One of my most cherished Rock and Roll Memories is the July 1976 night on Cape Cod when Hughie Thomasson first showed me how murderous a Stratocaster can be. The phrase 'tough enough to kill your mother' popped into my head that night and it's still there. What sound!

Hughie's Outlaws were opening the show that night for the ever tasteful Marshall Tucker Band (just months before MTB's commercial re-birth released Heard It In A Love Song). The headliners were great that night, but when it was all over It was Thomasson's Green Grass And High Tides that changed my life.

Hughie Thomasson (1952 – September 9, 2007) was a guitarist and singer best known for his work with Southern rock band The Outlaws. He wrote most of the songs for The Outlaws including their three biggest hits, "Hurry Sundown", "There Goes Another Love Song," and "Green Grass and High Tides." After The Outlaws disbanded in the early 1990s Thomasson joined Lynyrd Skynyrd as a third guitarist from 1996 until 2005. He left Lynyrd Skynyrd to reform The Outlaws. Thomasson died from a heart attack late on the night of September 9, 2007 at his home in Brooksville, Florida.

Here's a 1977 performance ins two pieces. You'll hear what I mean. Please watch it.

Pt. 1.



Pt 2.

116 million

The number of Americans -- 40 percent of the U.S. population -- for whom the president has always been named Clinton or Bush.

Time to Say Something Nice About California

Much As I Hate to ...

Effort to Change California Electoral Votes "All But Dead"

The Los Angeles Times reports that the controversial proposal to change California's electoral vote allocation from winner-take-all to by congressional district "that could have helped Republicans hold on to the White House in 2008 was a shambles Thursday night, as two of its key consultants quit."

"There remained a chance that the measure could be revived, but only if a major donor were to come forward to fund the petition drive. However, time is short to gather the hundreds of thousands of signatures needed by the end of November. And backers said Thursday that they believed the measure was all but dead, at least for the 2008 election."

Said Democratic consultant, Chris LeHane: "We want to to make sure this is not the Freddy Krueger of initiatives that comes back to life. We'll continue to monitor it."

If There Is A God ...

Cornyn is a special sort of fundy doofus

Cornyn May Be Vulnerable

A new Research 2000 poll found that Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) is currently leading a relatively unknown challenger -- Rick Noriega (D) -- 51%-35% in his 2008 reelection bid. However, only 40% of constituents said they wanted to reelect the Senator, while 35% said they were ready for someone new. This leaves a possible opening for Noriega to exploit. Cornyn is one of the more unpopular Republican Senators and has been made a target by Democrats for 2008.

Wait A Minute

Shake Up Coming in New Hampshire?

Interesting quotes from the Times of London:

"There is going to be surprise -- there always is. Someone leading now in the polls will not necessarily be leading in January."-- Ray Buckley, Chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party.

"The Democratic race is about to become more competitive here. People want to see a contest, they want to see candidates tested. They don’t like the idea that one of them is walking away with it."-- Fergus Cullen, Chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party.

Moving On ...

Clinton Expands National Leads

A new Fox News poll shows Sen. Hillary Clinton expanding her lead in hypothetical match ups with every Republican presidential candidate.Clinton now leads Rudy Giuliani, 46% to 39%, Fred Thompson, 48% to 35%, and Sen. John McCain 46% to 39%.

Sen. Barack Obama also leads each GOP candidate, but by lesser margins.

Bill Kicks Ass

No Torture and No Smart-Ass Catholic Boy Tricks Timmy

She's made me smile. An unthinkable possibility ...

"We'll be in Baghdad by the end of March."

G W Bush to José María Aznar, then the prime minister of Spain, in a prescient moment during a February 2003 , when 'diplomatic efforts' when our adventure in Iraq was still supposed to be only a last ditch effort.

Bush Makes Surprise Visit To Work

WASHINGTON, DC— Dressed in a special suit-and-tie uniform, Bush entered the East Room at about 3:30 p.m. and greeted an enthusiastic crowd of staff members.