Monday, June 30, 2008

Feels Just Like A Random Flickr Blogging Monday To Me

...and this is your Kate Moss on drugs. Any questions?
"Doctor Livingston, pediatrician, I presume."
When this guy showed up and told me he was going to be the one to perform open-heart surgery on me, I began to wonder... but he came highly recommended, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt...
...But then when the anaesthesiologist showed up, I really began to panic!
"I see red people."
"Of course you do, Mr. Shyamalan. We all do."
"I see red people."
"Uh... okay, good one, Mr. Shyamalan. Now let's go, shall we?"
"Redrum! Redrum!"
"Oh, for... that's just pathetic, Mr. Shyamalan. That wasn't even your movie!"

(Original images, #7994, posted here, here, here, here and here. The Random Flickr Blogging hospital presided over by Dr. Tom Hilton, here.)

Friday, June 27, 2008

Speaking Of Funny Video Clips...

Make McCain Interesting

This is screamingly funny. Seriously. Laugh out loud, tears down your cheeks funny. If Stephen Colbert is not an Absolute Fucking Genius, then the term has no meaning whatsoever.

Big thanks to If I Ran The Zoo commenter HumboldtBlue for the link.

Friday Random 10

Since Tom Hilton is off to the mountains (and here at The Generik Brand, we wish him a good trip and Flying Spaghetti Monsterspeed) this week without having left a Friday Random 10 post, I guess I'll just do my own here today and invite all comers to contribute their own.

If you're not familiar with the Random 10 rules, it's easy: Just put your iPod (or other MP3 player) on shuffle, and then record the first 10 songs (or more; usually we add in a bonus song or two) that come up. And don't cheat! It's the embarrassing songs on your list that make it that much more enjoyable (and revealing).

Here's mine for the week:

1. David Byrne – “Burnt By The Sun” – Feelings
2. Ben Folds Five – “Narcolepsy” -- The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Weege
3. Paul Thorn – “Crutches” -- A Long Way From Tupelo
4. Donovan – “Three King Fishers” -- Sunshine Superman
5. Little Walter – “Can’t Hold Out Much Longer” -- The Essential Little Walter
6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Maps” -- Fever To Tell
7. Love – “A House Is Not A Motel” -- Forever Changes
8. Kurtis Blow – “Basketball” -- The Best Of Kurtis Blow
9. Yes – “Your Move” -- The Yes Album
10. Neil Young – “Tired Eyes” -- Decade

**Bonus** Modern English – “I Melt With You” -- Pillow Lips

Pretty typical of my iTunes selections. Eclectic, and long on the old school and blues. What's yours like this week?

I’m In Love With These Answers, With The (Radio On!), or These Answers Have Been From Tucson To Tucumcari, Tehachapi To Tonopah

I been warped by the rain, driven by the snow
I'm drunk and dirty don't ya know, and I'm still, willin'
Out on the road late at night,
Seen my pretty Alice in every head light
Alice, Dallas Alice

I've been from Tuscon to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonopah
Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made
Driven the back roads so I wouldn't get weighed
And if you give me: weed, whites, and wine
And you show me a sign
I'll be willin', to be movin'

I've been kicked by the wind, robbed by the sleet
Had my head stoved in, but I'm still on my feet and I'm still... willin'
Now I smuggled some smokes and folks from Mexico
Baked by the sun, every time I go to Mexico, and I'm still

And I been from Tuscon to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonopah
Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made
Driven the back roads so I wouldn't get weighed
And if you give me: weed, whites, and wine
And you show me a sign
I'll be willin', to be movin’


-- Willin’, written by Lowell George

That’s just one hell of a good song right there, I don’t care who you are or what your musical tastes encompass (or ignore).

This week’s On The Road extravaganza proved to be rather a tough nut for many of you, with even the mighty Eric B missing #2-5, #9 and the first Bonus line (he does deserve props for correctly identifying the Extra Special Bonus Ten Years After line, though). But at least it wasn’t a totally stumpifying debacle like last week’s all-punk list, where nearly all of you were left cross-eyed and pained. Most of you knew at least one or two on the list.

Anyway, let’s roll out the answers and see where we are.

1. And I wished for so long, cannot stay… all the precious moments, cannot stay… The Long Road; Pearl Jam (also acceptable: Eddie Vedder w/Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, from the Dead Man Walking soundtrack)

2. I pulled out of Pittsburgh rollin’ down the Eastern seaboard… Six Days On The Road; originally recorded by Dave Dudley, but the version I prefer is by Taj Mahal. Also covered by many other acts, including Steve Earle, Sawyer Brown and The Flying Burrito Brothers.

3. One two three four five six. Roadrunner; The Modern Lovers

4. I been warped by the rain, driven by the snow, I’m drunk and dirty, don’t ya know… Willin’; Little Feat (also acceptable, but just barely: Linda Ronstadt)

5. Sittin’ in the kitchen, a house in Macon, Loretta’s singing on the radio. Car Wheels On A Gravel Road; Lucinda Williams

6. Here now, don’t make a sound. Say, have you heard the news today? Long Road To Ruin; Foo Fighters

7. I’m goin’ home, and when I wanna go home… Going Mobile; The Who

8. You jump in front of my car when you, you know all the time that ninety miles an hour, girl, is the speed I drive. Crosstown Traffic; Jimi Hendrix

9. Like a hurricane around your heart when earth and sky are torn apart… Freedom Rider; Traffic

10. Well we know where we’re goin’, but we don’t know where we’ve been… Road To Nowhere; Talking Heads

11. I’ve been drivin’ all night, my hand’s wet on the wheel… Radar Love; Golden Earring

**Bonus** I left New York in 1949 to go across the country without a bad blame dime, Montana in the cold, cold fall, found my father in the gambling hall. On The Road; Tom Waits

***Extra Special This Week Only Bonus*** Having a good time, baby, you’re having a ball. Your daddy don’t dig what you look like, don’t dig it at all. Sugar The Road; Ten Years After

We'll find a rest stop next Tuesday and see if we can't put together another one of these to test your musical reaction times.

Friends With Executive Privilege Benefits

This being Pride Week in SF and all, I thought it would be a good idea to celebrate the love.

(h/t to my bro M Otis for the image and the post title)

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Greenwald 1; Olbermann, Obama 0

Glenn Greenwald gets it exactly right in nailing Barack Obama on the FISA capitulation and on Keith Olbermann and others (like Jonathan Alter, for instance) on the left embracing Obama's decision simply because he's "our guy." No, Keith, and no, Barack, voting for this gift to the Worst President EVAR, this festering turd of a bill does NOT make you look "strong;" it does, in fact, do just the opposite.

As Jim Dempsey and Marty Lederman both note, not even the nation's most foremost FISA experts really know the full extent to which this bill allows new warrantless spying. Obviously, Jonathan Alter has no idea what he's saying, but nonetheless decrees that this bill -- now that Obama supports it -- restores the Fourth Amendment. Those are the Orwellian lengths to which people like Olbermann and Alter are apparently willing to go in order to offer their blind devotion to Barack Obama.

Moreover, Alter's own explanation is self-contradictory. In the course of praising Obama's FISA stance, he says that a politician looks "weak if you're flip-flopping" and "you look weak if you don't fight back against your political adversaries." But that's exactly what Obama is doing here -- completely reversing himself on telecom amnesty and warrantless eavesdropping, all in order to give the right-wing of the GOP everything it wants on national security issues in order to avoid a fight. By Alter's own reasoning, what Obama's doing is "weak" in the extreme, yet Alter bizarrely praises Obama for showing "strength."

...

What's much more notable is Olbermann's full-scale reversal on how he talks about these measures now that Obama -- rather than George Bush -- supports them. On an almost nightly basis, Olbermann mocks Congressional Democrats as being weak and complicit for failing to stand up to Bush lawbreaking; now that Obama does it, it's proof that Obama won't "cower." Grave warning on Olbermann's show that telecom amnesty and FISA revisions were hallmarks of Bush Fascism instantaneously transformed into a celebration that Obama, by supporting the same things, was leading a courageous, centrist crusade in defense of our Constitution.


What Glenn said. And this as well, though right now definitely is a time for that extreme criticism:

It isn't that difficult to keep the following two thoughts in one's head at the same time -- though it seems to be for many people:

(1) What Barack Obama is doing on Issue X is wrong, indefensible and worthy of extreme criticism;

(2) I support Barack Obama for President because he's a better choice than John McCain.


Yes, he is. But let's not lose sight of the fact that he is not a savior, he's simply a politician, and politicians need to know that they are -- or should be -- accountable for their actions. Voting for the current FISA bill granting the telecoms immunity is simply inexcusable and indefensible.

**UPDATE** The Senate has just delayed voting on the FISA bill until after the July 4 recess. Thank you, Senators Fiengold and Dodd. There is still a slim chance that this assault on the Fourth Amendment can be killed.

JPG Story

I've posted my first photo essay, about Carnaval in SF, on JPG Magazine. Check it out if you're interested.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Wednesday Joementum Blogging For Old Times' Sake

"A Wholly Owned Subsidiary Of Lobbyists"

Over at one of The Generik Brand's regular stops, If I Ran The Zoo, contributor aimai writes a Letter to an Acquaintance discussing why voting for McCain is such a bad, bad, really horrible idea. I have to say I agree with pretty much everything she has to say on the subject, and she puts it very well. Check it out, leave a comment, pass it on.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

More Carlin

Our good friend nashtbrutusandshort has an excellent tribute post, linking to a post on AlterNert by John Nichols, about the late, great George Carlin up that you should all go and read.

Really. Go on now and read it. I'll wait.

Whose Opening Line Is It, Anyway: Where Are We Going?

I'm a little late posting this, almost forgot today was Tuesday...

This week, because so few of you were able to answer the punk lines last week, The Generik Brand is presenting an extra big music quiz, with more lines for everyone to choose from! (Also, the fact that there are so many options for this particular theme gave me a surplus of songs from which to choose.) Even the most musically-disinclined among you are bound to get one or two of these... I think...

Okay, start 'er up and let 'er rip!

1. And I wished for so long, cannot stay… all the precious moments, cannot stay…
2. I pulled out of Pittsburgh rollin’ down the Eastern seaboard…
3. One two three four five six.
4. I been warped by the rain, driven by the snow, I’m drunk and dirty, don’t ya know…
5. Sittin’ in the kitchen, a house in Macon, Loretta’s singing on the radio.
6. Here now, don’t make a sound. Say, have you heard the news today?
7. I’m goin’ home, and when I wanna go home…
8. You jump in front of my car when you, you know all the time that ninety miles an hour, girl, is the speed I drive.
9. Like a hurricane around your heart when earth and sky are torn apart…
10. Well we know where we’re goin’, but we don’t know where we’ve been…
11. I’ve been drivin’ all night, my hand’s wet on the wheel…

**Bonus** I left New York in 1949 to go across the country without a bad blame dime, Montana in the cold, cold fall, found my father in the gambling hall.

***Extra Special This Week Only Bonus*** Having a good time, baby, you’re having a ball. Your daddy don’t dig what you look like, don’t dig it at all.

Answers Friday, just like always.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Why I'm Voting Republican

Vacated

As threatened promised, here are some pictures from our recent vacation in the Sierras. I know, I know, there's nothing more boring than being asked to look at someone else's vacation pictures. All I can tell you is... all a-bored!

The meadow along Twin Lakes Road, just outside of Bridgeport.
Sawtooth Ridge just above Upper Twin Lake at sunrise.
The cove on Upper Twin where we caught a whole mess of trout.
This particular car is probably the most photographed item in the ghost town known as Bodie.
Post and remnants of a wagon wheel in Bodie.
Aspens along Robinson Creek, Mono Village.
Another spot along Twin Lakes Road.
The Bodie Hotel. Cheap rooms if you can get in.
Bodie house and outhouse.
Abandoned mining equipment in Bodie.

The view west from Lower Twin Lake.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

RIP George Carlin

I just heard on the news that George Carlin died today. Damn. The world will miss his irreverence and unique humor. In George's honor, here are the Seven Words You Can't Say On Television:
Shit
Piss
Fuck
Cunt
Cocksucker
Motherfucker
Tits

So long, George, and thanks for all the laughs.

The Night Before Monday Random Flickr Blogging

The Generik Brand would like to apologize for this graphic depiction of exposed Republican genitalia.
Due to severe budgets cuts in the physical education department of the local high school, the Girls' Basketball program has been replaced by the weekly Girls' Run Around the Gym Holding Hands with an Opponent competition.
Ross Perot considers tossing his hat into the Presidential ring just one more time.
"If you listen closely, you can hear the sausage speaking Italian to the meatballs..."
Have you seen my lost piñata? Seven months old, answers to the name of Smacky. Last seen wandering alone in the vicinity of Yolanda's birthday party.

(Original images, #5584, posted here, here, here, here and here. If you haven't figured out what's going on by now, Tom Hilton happily explains it to you here.)

Woot!

My dad sent me a link to this site, which I had never seen before, and I liked it so much I'm passing along the twisted consumer goodness and snark to you, my gentle readers. The site is called Woot: One Day, One Deal, and the gist of it is that every day there's a new product being advertised for sale. Which, by itself, would not interest me much at all. What sets it apart is the ad copy, which is often very, very funny and clever.

Here's my dad's take on it:

They sell one item only each day. When it's gone you have to wait until the next day before you see what new item they are selling. It's always a good price, and each day the item is different.

Sometimes they have a woot-off and change the item about every ten minutes, and sometimes they have mystery bags of stuff. You pay $5.00 for a bag and wait to see what you get. My friend John says his son's friend got a flat-screen screen tv. No, it didn't fit in the bag, but there was a redeemable certificate in there.

Anyway, it isn't about the stuff - I find the ad-writer's prose to be laugh-out-loud material.


Plus, there are lots of other features there if you explore a bit, like this particular bit of what they call Flickr Roulette. And given how much I enjoy and shill for Flickr these days, I figured I had to include this link as well.

Shameless Vote-Trolling

If you scroll down this blog on the right side, you'll find this link with one of my photographs in it:













I signed up for a site that accepts submissions to JPG Magazine, and the link allows anyone who clicks on it to vote for that photo to be accepted for their upcoming Democracy-themed issue. The magazine publishes quarterly (the next issue comes out in August), and all the photos it publishes come from online submissions (so all you photographers out there, sign up!). The best part is that if an image is chosen for publication, the photographer receives $100. Not a huge sum, sure, but a nice acknowledgment, some good national exposure and enough to take Mrs. Generik to Cracker Barrel for dinner.

Speaking of photos, I may post some here in the next few days from my recent vacation in the Eastern Sierra. Or you can always visit my Flickr site to check them out at your leisure.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Answers

So apparently not too many of you who answered this week, other than George and of course Encyclopedia Eric B (who nearly ran the table, only missing #4, and that inexplicably, given that this is probably his favorite genre of music), are of the Punk Rock generation. The theme, as George and Eric figured out very quickly, was that all these songs are from seminal British punk bands circa 1977-78. Big props to those two for their mad skillz. All the rest of you gob-smacked geezers, poseurs and tossers are sentenced to a night of skanking and pogoing in the mosh pit while Johnny Rotten sneers at you in contempt and tells you how badly you're getting ripped off.

But before you do that, here are the answers. Read 'em and weep.

1. I’ve got a new disguise, look into my eyes, there is something you don’t know I want to show you. Your Number Is My Number; 999

2. Well, you tried it just for once, found it all right for kicks, but now you found out that it’s a habit that sticks. Orgasm Addict; Buzzcocks

3. He’s in love with rock and roll, whoa, he’s in love with getting stoned, whoa… Janie Jones; The Clash

4. Strolling along, minding my own business, there goes a girl and a half. Peaches; Stranglers

5. There’s no point in asking, you’ll get no reply, oh, just remember, I don’t decide. Pretty Vacant; Sex Pistols

6. She plays her mouth into a smile and offers that he stay a while. Plan 9 Channel 7; The Damned

7. I know your antiseptic, your deodorant smells nice, I’d like to get to know you, you’re deep-frozen like the ice. Germ Free Adolescents; X-Ray Spex

8. Looking from a hilltop, watching from a lighthouse, just dreaming… up here I can see the world. Life From A Window; The Jam

9. It’s just a habit when I reach to the packet for my last cigarette, until the day breaks, and then my hand shakes… Nicotine Stain; Siouxsie & The Banshees

10. Put the cheddar in the pocket, put the rest under the jacket, talk to the cashier, he won’t suspect. Shoplifting; The Slits

**Bonus** They customised their gear and synchronised, (they) flame out in the street with flame in their eyes. Guerilla operator ain’t heard of cool… One Hundred Punks; Generation X

Back at it next week, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

"My Mind Is Made Up, Don't Confuse Me With Facts"

From David Horsey in today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Proud In San Francisco

Yesterday as I drove home past the Civic Center in San Francisco, I couldn't help but notice that there was a whole lot of commotion there, with television trucks and fire engines and police and all sorts of people milling about City Hall in different groups. Of course it was Opening Day for marriage equality in California, and SF is the very frontest of the front lines on that skirmish. Once again, I was filled with pride at the people of my city and the long struggle for equal rights that they -- we -- have been engaged in all these years and are now, by any measurable gauge, winning.

One thing I noticed that marred the occasion a bit, though, was a huge banner being held up by two people right across the street from the City Hall steps. It read "Re-criminalize Sodomy." Rather than getting upset by that, I just thought about how nakedly it exposes the dearth of substance behind the argument against allowing committed couples of whatever gender to enter into a marriage contract. Really, all these people have left is an appeal to divisive bigotry, hatred and ignorance. What it comes down to, at least for the folks who rallied behind that banner, is that they just don't like other people performing certain sexual acts of which they don't approve. How in the world what other people do behind closed doors affects them and their lives, I have no idea. But they felt strongly enough about it to gather at City Hall yesterday (and many of them are probably there again today, and will continue to be there into the foreseeable future) simply to try and throw dirt on what was and will continue to be a series of joyous, historic moments.

"Re-criminalize Sodomy." How sad. Sad and pathetic and mean-spirited and morally and intellectually bereft of anything worthwhile or meaningful. Just as our society is doing metaphorically, I simply sighed and continued moving on past the small -- and small-minded -- crowd of protesters, leaving them and their ignorance in history's dust. Forget those idiots; yesterday and today and every day forward on which people who love each other can be legally married are good, good days, days to be celebrated forever.

(If you'd like to sign an online petition supporting marriage equality, go here. h/t to my bro M Otis for the link.)

Check It Out

One of our favorite BARBARian colleagues, the Freeway Blogger, has a new brief but effective photo essay on global warming posted at his place. This one is from Berkeley, but he promises to visit other major metropolitan areas with the message soon.

Whose Opening Line Is It, Anyway: Oi!

Without saying just what age that might be, allow me to speculate that you might have to be "of a certain age" to get this week's answers and theme. And no, these aren't all songs from the 1950s, though I reserve the right to do that one week. Given the make-up of my regular readers, this will probably be a fairly easy one to suss out. Then again, some of you might be completely flummoxed. Let's see which is which.

Ready, steady, go!

1. I’ve got a new disguise, look into my eyes, there is something you don’t know I want to show you.
2. Well, you tried it just for once, found it all right for kicks, but now you found out that it’s a habit that sticks.
3. He’s in love with rock and roll, whoa, he’s in love with getting stoned, whoa…
4. Strolling along, minding my own business, there goes a girl and a half.
5. There’s no point in asking, you’ll get no reply, oh, just remember, I don’t decide.
6. She plays her mouth into a smile and offers that he stay a while.
7. I know your antiseptic, your deodorant smells nice, I’d like to get to know you, you’re deep-frozen like the ice.
8. Looking from a hilltop, watching from a lighthouse, just dreaming… up here I can see the world.
9. It’s just a habit when I reach to the packet for my last cigarette, until the day breaks, and then my hand shakes…
10. Put the cheddar in the pocket, put the rest under the jacket, talk to the cashier, he won’t suspect.

**Bonus** They customised their gear and synchronised, (they) flame out in the street with flame in their eyes. Guerilla operator ain’t heard of cool…

Answers this Friday.

Monday, June 16, 2008

A Dollar's Worth Of Regular, Please

Very possibly the most expensive gas in the United States. Taken 06/11/08 in Bridgeport, CA.

Monday Just Back From Vacation Random Flickr Blogging

The 21st Century version of The Three Stooges was actually just about as funny as the original. Nyuk-nyuk.

(Original image, #0749, posted here. Random Flickr Blogging explained by the not at all addled by too much/too little vacation Tom Hilton here.)

Friday, June 06, 2008

G.I. McGeritol

More News That Makes You Go "Duh!"

The Bush administration misused intelligence to build a case for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Senate Intelligence Committee said in a report issued Thursday.

Why is that criminal sonofabitch still in office? Why can't we impeach and imprison him and the rest of his evil cabal?

The report also found that the administration misled the American people about contacts between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.

"Policymakers' statements did not accurately convey the intelligence assessments" about contacts between the then-Iraqi leader and Osama bin Laden's group, "and left the impression that the contacts led to substantive Iraqi cooperation or support of al Qaeda," the report said.

"Statements and implications by the president and secretary of state suggesting that Iraq and al Qaeda had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al Qaeda with weapons training, were not substantiated by the intelligence," according to the committee's exhaustive report on prewar intelligence.

When did the laws of this country become null and void for anyone occupying elected office? When did the Constitution disappear?

Oh, wait -- I think I know. Never mind.

Don't Stop Thinking About These Answers

Don’t, don’t, don’t let’s start, this is the worst part…

Okay, I knew this week’s would be easy, but I didn’t think it would be that easy. Still, no one – not even Eric B, who missed #1, #9 and #10 – ran the table completely. But between the bunch of you who responded, I think you got them all. So even though it’s unnecessary, here’s the key. We’ll be back at it a week from Tuesday, after the first Sierra adventure of the summer is over.

1. Think of you with pipe and slippers, think of her in bed, laying there just watching telly, then think of me instead. Don’t Marry Her; Beautiful South

2. There is freedom within, there is freedom without, try to catch the deluge in a paper cup. Don’t Dream It’s Over; Crowded House

3. In this proud land we grew up strong, we were wanted all along. I was taught to fight, taught to win, I never thought I could fail. Don’t Give Up; Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush

4. Agents of the law, luckless pedestrian, I know you’re out there with rage in your eyes and your megaphones. Don’t Take Me Alive; Steely Dan

5. I see the clouds that move across the sky, I see the wind that moves the clouds away… Don’t Worry About The Government; Talking Heads

6. Baby, do you understand me now? Sometimes I feel a little mad. Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood; The Animals

7. It ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe, it don’t matter, anyhow. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right; Bob Dylan

8. I listen for your footsteps coming up the drive, listen for your footsteps, but they don’t arrive… Don’t Pass Me By; The Beatles

9. Oh, tell me ‘bout the car I saw parked outside your door, tell me what you left me waiting two or three hours for. Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’; Allman Brothers

10. Slip inside the eye of your mind, don’t you know you might find a better place to play. Don’t Look Back In Anger; Oasis

**Bonus** Well, let’s talk it over, baby, before we start, I heard about the way you do your part. Don’t Lie To Me; Rolling Stones

I just don’t know what to do with myself. Guess I’ll go on vacation.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Recent Pics

The last two weekends I've spent taking a ton of pictures, and I thought I would share a few with you folks. Memorial Day weekend was very full, with the annual Carnaval parade and street festival in SF on Saturday and Sunday; then Monday, Mrs. Generik and I were lucky enough to get a chance to see the Subdudes perform on the lawn at Rancho Nicasio in west Marin.

This past weekend, Mrs. G and I drove down to Fresno to see our friends Joel and Katie get married. We had a great time, and it was good to see them and everyone at the wedding. For more wedding photos (including a few of your humble host), check out Lecram's gallery.

If you like these shots, and have any interest, there are more at my Flickr site.

I love the riot of color at the Carnaval parade.
There are many reasons to attend Carnaval each year...
You don't have to be in the parade to participate in the festivities.
Touching up before the parade starts.
There are many reasons to attend Carnaval each year...
Tommy Malone of the Subdudes and friend at Rancho Nicasio.
Steve Amedée of the Subdudes.
On the way home; open shutter, no flash. Clichés R Us!
For some reason, I got interested in taking pictures of mannequins while Mrs. Generik was looking for a dress in Fresno.
Joel before the wedding.
The happy couple.

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

GOTV

I almost forgot to mention -- if you're in California, GO VOTE today!!

Unless, of course, you've done so already. The biggest issue on today's ballot is Prop. 98, which is evil and must be destroyed. Fortunately the poll numbers have shown that popular sentiment is running well against its passage, but that's no reason to be complacent. And it will be good practice for the defeat of the proposition to strike down the recent state Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage that has just qualified for the November ballot. We all need to work very hard to keep that one from passing; might as well start now.

So go on, go, keep your voting chops in shape. Remember, if you don't vote, you can't bitch. I'll wait.

**UPDATE** Our esteemed colleague, Victor Shystee, has posted this BARBARian guide to help you through today's election. And I would be remiss if I didn't second the call to elect Mark Leno over Carole Migden and Joe Nation.

A Done Deal

It would appear the pie fight has finally come to a close. Barack Obama has secured enough delegates to claim the Democratic nomination for president. This is a momentous day (just as it would have been if Hillary Clinton had prevailed).

By some accounts, Hillary has let it be known that she would now be interested in a position on the undercard of the ticket. Quelle surprise. Wonder how that will play out?

In any event, it's now time to work toward the general election and the eventual outcome of Obama vs. McCain. I don't think I have to tell anyone which way I'm leaning.

Whose Opening Line Is It, Anyway: Dedicated To Hillary

A couple of these will be easy, a couple might be difficult, but if you don't get the theme, don't worry. Today's theme is actually kind of a two-fer, and I already gave you one part of it in the subject heading.

Also -- next week I'll be on vacation with no internet access, so no quiz, no Random Flickr Blogging, no nothing after this Friday. Woohoo!

Okay go, and don't hold back.

1. Think of you with pipe and slippers, think of her in bed, laying there just watching telly, then think of me instead.
2. There is freedom within, there is freedom without, try to catch the deluge in a paper cup.
3. In this proud land we grew up strong, we were wanted all along. I was taught to fight, taught to win, I never thought I could fail.
4. Agents of the law, luckless pedestrian, I know you’re out there with rage in your eyes and your megaphones.
5. I see the clouds that move across the sky, I see the wind that moves the clouds away…
6. Baby, do you understand me now? Sometimes I feel a little mad.
7. It ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe, it don’t matter, anyhow.
8. I listen for your footsteps coming up the drive, listen for your footsteps, but they don’t arrive…
9. Oh, tell me ‘bout the car I saw parked outside your door, tell me what you left me waiting two or three hours for.
10. Slip inside the eye of your mind, don’t you know you might find a better place to play.

**Bonus** Well, let’s talk it over, baby, before we start, I heard about the way you do your part.

I'll post the answers on Friday, unless I don't.

Monday, June 02, 2008

Beating That Dead Horse Until It's Glue

From the incomparable Glenn Greenwald:


Newest McCain official: President has "near dictatorial powers"

McCain reaches into the most deceptive propaganda organ in America to staff the highest level of his communications apparatus.

Glenn Greenwald

Jun. 02, 2008 | (updated below - Update II)

Bill Kristol today proudly announces that one of his Weekly Standard staff members, Michael Goldfarb, was just named the Deputy Communications Director of the McCain campaign. Last April, this newest McCain official participated in a conference call with former Senator George Mitchell, during which Mitchell advocated a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. Afterwards, this is what Goldfarb wrote about what he thinks are the powers the President possesses in our country:

Mitchell's less than persuasive answer [to whether withdrawal timetables "somehow infringe on the president's powers as commander in chief?"]: "Congress is a coequal branch of government...the framers did not want to have one branch in charge of the government."

True enough, but they sought an energetic executive with near dictatorial power in pursuing foreign policy and war. So no, the Constitution does not put Congress on an equal footing with the executive in matters of national security.

As I noted at the time:
Until the Bill Kristols and John Yoos and other authoritarians of that strain entered the political mainstream, I never heard of prominent Americans who describe the power that they want to vest in our political leaders as "near dictatorial." Anyone with an even passing belief in American political values would consider the word "dictatorial" -- at least rhetorically, if not substantively -- to define that which we avoid at all costs, not something which we seek, embrace and celebrate.
And the very idea that the Founders -- whose principal concern was how to avoid consolidated power in any one person -- sought to vest "near dictatorial power" in the President is too perverse for words. But that's been the core "principle" driving the destructive radicalism of the last seven years, and it's an extremist view that is obviously welcomed at the highest levels of the McCain campaign.

Kristol closes his boastful announcement by noting that the pro-dictatorial Goldfarb will return to the Weekly Standard after the campaign ends -- "unless he's appointed national security adviser in the McCain White House." Somehow, McCain continues to be depicted in the media as a "moderate" and the like despite the enthusiastic support of our nation's most crazed and unprincipled warmongers. But even more revealing is that McCain is now staffing his communications apparatus at the highest levels by reaching into Bill Kristol's The Weekly Standard -- one of the most deceptive propaganda organs of the Bush years. Does one even need to point out that there are few things more incompatible with one another than "straight talk" and The Weekly Standard?

UPDATE: Michael Goldfarb on waterboarding and other illegal interrogation practices internationally considered to be "torture" (h/t A.L.):

The Times indicts the Bush administration for exposing terrorists captured abroad to "head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures." Boo hoo.
McCain is a deeply principled opponent of torture and waterboarding which is why his new communications official's view of objections to those techniques is "Boo hoo."

UPDATE II: Last October, this is what Goldfarb wrote in arguing that telecoms deserve amnesty even if they broke the law in enabling warrantless spying on Americans:
[I]f federal agents show up at a corporate headquarters for a major American company and urgently seek that company's officers for assistance in the war on terror, the companies damn well ought to give it as a matter of simple patriotism, whether the CIA wants a plane for some extraordinary rendition or help in tracking terrorists via email. . . . [T]o expect a company to resist a plea from the government for help in a time of war is ridiculous.
So, consistent with his President-as-Dictator vision, McCain's new communications official believes that -- as I wrote at the time -- when "federal agents" come knocking at your door and issue orders, you better "damn well" obey -- you had better not "resist" -- even if the orders you're being given are illegal, even if they're designed to spy on Americans in violation of the law, and even if they're intended to facilitate the torture of detainees. That's what patriotic Americans do -- they obey the orders of their near-dictatorial Leader, so sayeth the heel-clicking Michael Goldfarb. That's a superb, and very mainstream, new addition to the maverick McCain team.

Another Reason Not To Vote For McCain

From last Friday's Salon.com:

McCain's scary economic advisor


Not only is former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm a shill for special interests, his deregulation policies helped spur the mortgage crisis, among other financial disasters.

By Joe Conason

May. 30, 2008 | Even as John McCain struggles to preserve his image as a reformer by dismissing a few of the Washington lobbyists who dominated his presidential campaign, the futility of that effort suddenly became painfully obvious. Dire bulletins in the financial media warned of many billions in rotting mortgage paper held by UBS, the financial conglomerate that just happens to employ former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, McCain's campaign chairman and chief economic advisor. Until two months ago UBS listed Gramm as a federal lobbyist on housing and mortgage issues.

So there at the shoulder of the Arizona maverick is perched yet another special-interest shill, in this instance not merely an errand boy for various dictators but the vice chairman of a Swiss bank whispering advice on how to cope with our economic woes. Or how not to cope, as in McCain's do-nothing approach to the foreclosure crisis, which displayed the strong influence of the financial lobby on his campaign.

Undoubtedly Gramm is promoting the agenda of those who subsidize him, as he has done ever since he entered politics as a servant of oil interests in his home state. He took hundreds of thousands of dollars from energy and financial interests as a congressman and then as a senator, rising to the chairmanship of the Senate Banking Committee, where he could really perform major favors. He is famed for slipping in an amendment desired by Enron Corp. back when his wife was on that doomed company's board. His employment by UBS, a company that recently warned some of its executives to avoid entering the United States for fear of criminal prosecution, demands fresh scrutiny of him as well as McCain.

But if Gramm's role as a banker and lobbyist is embarrassing to McCain, the greater harm is likely to be done by his economic advice. He and McCain have been friends since they were young congressional "foot soldiers in the Reagan revolution," as both like to say, and he is often touted (or was until lately) as a likely candidate for Treasury secretary should McCain win the White House.

Now that Gramm has resurfaced in national politics, he surely deserves to be arraigned for his long history of service to powerful interests, dating from the Enron scandal and beyond. But for most Americans, the dubious connections of McCain's lobbying pals, including Gramm, should be less worrisome than the likely results of yet another four years of Republican economic nostrums. Gramm's career stands for the false promises of right-wing ideology and the troubles that such schemes, embodied in legislation, have repeatedly inflicted on us.

The former Texas senator is less voluble these days than he used to be, perhaps unsurprisingly, but in years past he has boasted of his central role in key conservative legislation, especially in liberating major sectors of the economy and finance from public oversight and skewing taxation in favor of the wealthy.

So how has that worked out over the past few decades?

Back in the '80s, Gramm smiled upon the abrupt deregulation of the savings-and-loan industry, described by his idol Ronald Reagan as America's opportunity to "hit the jackpot" of growth. He used his political clout to protect the Texas operators whose crooked machinations eventually helped to bankrupt the S&L industry. In fact, the S&L debacle cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars.

Meanwhile, Gramm had lent his name and energy to passage of the first Reagan budget in 1981, whose sweeping tax cuts failed to prevent recession -- and eventually required a long series of tax increases, beginning in 1982, to stanch the enormous deficits they created. At the same time he coauthored the Gramm-Rudman Act, which supposedly placed sharp constraints on federal spending but in reality had little impact.

When Bill Clinton came into office and found that the Reagan and Bush administrations had left the nation in deep deficit, he got no help from Gramm in cleaning up their mess. When Clinton bravely demanded a tax increase on the wealthiest Americans, who had profited hugely from Reagan policies skewed to their benefit, Gramm and his fellow Republicans bawled piteously about the nation's impending doom.

"I want to predict here tonight," he said on the evening that Clinton's budget passed in the spring of 1993, "that if we adopt this bill the American economy is going to get weaker and not stronger, the deficit four years from today will be higher than it is today and not lower ... When all is said and done, people will pay more taxes, the economy will create fewer jobs, the government will spend more money, and the American people will be worse off."

Is it necessary to point out how utterly wrong that prediction turned out to be? Most Americans did not pay more taxes, the economy created millions more jobs, the deficit was sharply reduced, and people were better off by every measure of economic progress, from productivity and profits to homeownership and reduced poverty.

But Gramm was not the kind of economist whose convictions are shaken by evidence, no matter how compelling. So obsessed with protecting bankers from government oversight was he that when Clinton tried to place stronger controls on terrorist money laundering, Gramm opposed even that measure as a "totalitarian" incursion.

Before he retired from the Senate in 2002, he wrote the Gramm-Bliley bill, an act broadly deregulating the financial industry -- and now blamed by many economists for the epidemic of speculation and fraud that has shaken the global economy.

Touting those changes as a way to "modernize" American finance for a global future, Gramm said they would bring wonderful new efficiencies and savings to consumers. As with the energy deregulation that he sponsored -- which was supposed to bring lower prices and better service, but led to blackouts and price gouging -- those economic wonders never quite appeared. The damaging effects of banking deregulation took nearly a decade to be felt, but whether we have experienced the worst still remains to be seen.

Over and over again, from the savings-and-loan fiasco to the Enron shock to the global banking meltdown, the golden promises of deregulation have turned to leaden ruin. Perhaps nobody cares about the lobbyists surrounding McCain, but someone should ask him why he would cherish the advice of a man whose devotion to ideology has already done us so much damage.

Sunday, June 01, 2008

So Late Sunday It's Almost Monday Random Flickr Blogging

Melanie's overhand bowling style, while extremely unconventional, was nonetheless very, very effective. Also scary as hell to the other league members.
o/` Forrrrk in the water... a quartet standing by... forrrrrrk in the water... (voop-voop-voop, voop-voop-voop-voop, voop-voop-voop, voop-voooooo...) o/`
WILFORD BRIMLEY CAN HAZ OATMEAL-BURGER?
Talk to the foot... 'cause the rest of the body is insolent, rebellious, unresponsive and very, very, very stoned.
Meanwhile, on the male side of my family tree...
"So, Ernie... you ever dress up in sheep's clothing?"
*sigh* "Well... yeah. Yeah, I have. But just once."
*snicker* "Huh. I thought so."
"It was Fritz that told you, wasn't it? I knew he could never keep his trap shut."
"Forget it, Ernie. We all make mistakes."
"Yeah, but I-"
"We'll never speak of this again, Ernie. Never."

(Original images, #2790, posted here, here, here, here, here and here. Flickr Blogging of the Random persuasion explained by Tom Hilton here.)
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