Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Hoof beats: Horses or Zebras?

It is not the implausibility of not being able to say what she reads,
but the sincerity of her flailing around for some bullshit and coming
up empty answer. She doesn't read newspapers, but knows that she
should. She knows that she should be reading, but what? She didn't
know how to bluff her way out of that. What should a good rightwinger
read? What should a good rightwinger say they read? She didn't know.

No way this is an act. Or better yet, if this was an act on her part,
then Kudos to McCain/Palin; rule away. You are far superior in
anticipating whats around the corner, what people will think, what
people need to have laid out before them to form an opinion, what
people need to "go all in" being so confident in their position. If
they could construct such a brilliant strawman that in its disproving
everyone admits their mistake and comes around to what you wanted all
along, I'd be comfortable with the pair that could line that one up
and start knocking them down in such a precise order.

The sound of Zebras is that this is a brilliant "rope-a-dope"

The sound of horse hoof beats is that she's stunningly uninformed
about current events, history, and even Republican politics.

My bet is that one of her kids gets sick, and she needs to be home to
mother her child. You want to criticize that?

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Otis Taylor

Recently, I've started having some nostalgic hankering for a vintage Otis Taylor K.C. Chiefs jersey. Then I started looking around on the googles to see if I was wanting something that was too expensive.

I ended up on Taylor's modest Wiki page, and was intrigued by the unlinked passage, "After a famous "baby-sitting" incident, in which Taylor "escaped" from NFL scouts, he was signed for the Chiefs by their legendary scout Lloyd Wells."

I did a little more looking around and wondered why this story and what I presume are other AFL vs NFL scouting/signing war stories haven't been made into a movie. Otis' can't be the only intriguing tale.

It was assumed that because of increased opportunities for black players in the AFL, and knowing Wells since he was a kid, Taylor would sign with KC, and so Wells traveled to Prairie View A&M in Texas to complete the contract. However, Wells left when he felt that it was a done deal (but not yet inked). Off to try and sign another player, the NFL scouts snuck in and talked Taylor into going for a ride to discuss his options. They took him from hotel to hotel, making public entrances as a misdirect and leaving out the back on motorcycles to another hotel.

Wells, who had anticipated some skulduggery, developed relationships with bell boys, maids and cooks in the area hotels, and tracked him to a hotel in Dallas. Wells takes off to meet with Otis Taylor. Hearing that his is in the dinning area of the hotel, he attempts to make contact with Otis and was almost arrested as a "prowler". Not deterred, he came back at 3:30am and tapped on Taylor's window and talked him into sneaking out, coming to KC and signing. Which is what he did, bringing Seth Cartwright with him and having an illustrious career with the Chiefs and ensuring that at least one white kid would always call out, "I'm number 89" when playing street ball in the KC suburbs.

Now I really want the jersey.

Saturday, September 27, 2008




http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_vr.htm

Barack Obama: A mosaic of people


Barack Obama: A mosaic of people, originally uploaded by tsevis.

Found on flickr, via djempirical through google reader. Please click through and view on large: It's amazing.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

No One Could Have Anticipated.

People that wanted to vote for Al Gore couldn't, because a felon with a similar name tried to register to vote. They were scrubbed from being able to cast a vote. No one could have anticipated that. No one could have anticipated that elderly Jewish voters would vote for Pat Buchanan. George W. Bush was selected as President. This was a once in a lifetime anomaly in our otherwise proud democracy.

Then we heard these words from Condi Rice. "No one could have anticipated" some assholes flying airplanes into buildings. Except, as we found out later, it was anticipated, spelled out and put into a briefing memo that was ignored. This was a once in a lifetime event, but we had to quickly go to war against Iraq to ensure that we would not see mushroom clouds over our cities. We had to quickly approve a stunning roll back of personal rights called "The Patriot Act." We'll shock them. We'll awe them. They'll greet us as liberators. We were told that "No one could have anticipated" that citizens of a sovereign nation would object to our heaving ordinance into their cities, through their roofs and windows and would fight back when they started to see their countrymen die. The mission was accomplished.

Then, "No one could have anticipated," that the levies protecting New Orleans would fail. This was a once in a lifetime event. Except, yes, people did anticipate that one too. But those that warned us and urged us to invest in building stronger levies were diminished by the crowd that wanted to make government so small that you could drown it in a bathtub. Instead they drowned a city.

Now, our entire economy is in peril. These same fools that wanted to make government so small that you could drown it in a bathtub want to make you think that they had nothing to do with the looting of our fellow citizen's wallets, that these events were a once in a lifetime confluence of unrelated bad luck that no one could have anticipated. They want you to forget that they were the ones rolling back regulation after regulation and allowed the rich to pillage the people that make America great. They want you to capitulate and quickly approve a massive bailout to the same crooks that ripped you off.

Tell 'em no. Tell 'em that, in a once in a lifetime event, you'll elect a different guy to lead us out of this. They won't anticipate that.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Aftermath USA

Aftermath USA - Drive-By Truckers

Dear American:

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship
with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country
has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of
800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it
would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my
replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you
may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation
movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the
funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds
in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under
surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a
reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the
funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund
account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to
wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission
for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond
with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to
protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully Minister of Treasury Paulson

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Al Gore's new ad

Go here to put this ad on 60 minutes. Do it or Andy Rooney does the whole hour nude.


Monday, September 15, 2008

R.I.P. Rick Wright


R.I.P. Rick Wright, originally uploaded by freeloosedirt.

A lot of the reaction to Rick's death has been to promise a listen to
"A Saucer Full Of Secrets." There was a moment of promise with the Syd/Roger/Rick/Nick line-up, but that all quickly evaporated in the excess of Syd's drug use and mental illness.

After that, and before Waters took over with his excessive, navel gazing pompous concept albums that made you want to run for cover there were a few Pink Floyd records that were sweet, melodic and even quaint rock records. Here Wright's piano was key to some great songs.

A few songs:

From Obscured by Clouds:

"Wot's, Uh, The Deal" (I love this song, and it's a perfect
illustration of how Wright's piano was the best as a counterpoint to
Gilmour's guitar)

http://www.sendspace.com/file/l2spwz

"Mudmen" (bit more noodly)

http://www.sendspace.com/file/sl70pg

and from the 1972 Hollywood Bowl concert, "Great Gig In The Sky"

http://www.sendspace.com/file/wchdow

I'd also recommend listening to the first side of Meddle..

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Just on the other side of the Chatsworth tunnel


Man, God, originally uploaded by freeloosedirt.

This is a stone along the stagecoach trail above Simi Valley that still has the hole that they drilled to insert dynamite in order to blast sandstone apart and construct the Chatsworth railroad tunnel between 1898 and 1904.

I don't know if the cross was added as a memorial, or maybe it was just an "X" to mark this spot.

But today, the day after twenty or more people died at the other end of the tunnel, I found revisiting this picture poignant.




Chatsworth Tunnel

Monday, September 8, 2008

Balls


Balls, originally uploaded by freeloosedirt.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

South San Gabriel/Centro-Matic Set list


Great show, but too short.