Author Archives: oddmanout215

‘Who Do You Love?’

Posted on February 14, 2012 by oddmanout215

I walked 47 miles of barbed wire/Used a cobra snake for a neck tie/Got a brand new house on the roadside/And it’s made out of rattlesnake hide/I got a brand new chimney put on top/Made out of human skulls/Come on … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, pop music | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Isn’t it romantic?

Posted on February 14, 2012 by oddmanout215

The ad was shown during the Super Bowl, to make sure it reached the maximum number of sophisticates. The girl in the ad is a famous foreign model — “super-hot,” as they say on the sports radio stations. You know … Continue reading →

Posted in humor | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

‘Third Stone From the Sun’

Posted on February 13, 2012 by oddmanout215

Your people I do not understand So to you I shall put an end And you’ll never hear surf music again

Posted in arts, pop music | Tagged , | Leave a comment

CivilWarLand in bad denial

Posted on February 12, 2012 by oddmanout215

A must-read piece in today’s New York Times focuses on the declining fortunes of Chisago County, near Minneapolis, and examines an interesting paradox: The government safety net was created to keep Americans from abject poverty, but the poorest households no … Continue reading →

Posted in economic collapse, Great Recession, mainstream media, Mitt Romney, New York Times, Occupy Wall Street, The New Depression, unemployment | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Rats on sinking ship, no exit

Posted on February 12, 2012 by oddmanout215

Background: Danny Ciello (Treat Williams) has cooperated with a federal investigation into NYPD corruption, after being assured investigators wouldn’t go after his friends and fellow cops in the narcotics unit. He learns he made a deal with the devil as … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, movies | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Don’t trust MSNBC, either

Posted on February 11, 2012 by oddmanout215

What, if anything, did the federal government’s $25 billion “mortgage settlement” deal with the big banks do to help people who lost their homes, or are on the verge of losing them because of deceptive practices by the banks? The … Continue reading →

Posted in economic collapse, Great Recession, mainstream media, Obama, The New Depression | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Reagan’s wrecking crew

Posted on February 10, 2012 by oddmanout215

Where would America be without the two-term presidency of Ronald Reagan? Answering this question, Charles P. Pierce addressed the ghost of the Gipper on his 101st birthday: …You did more than anyone else to demolish the notion of a political … Continue reading →

Posted in campaign finance reform, economic collapse, Great Depression, liar, The New Depression | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

When he was good

Posted on February 8, 2012 by oddmanout215

From Rod Stewart’s first solo album (1969), released not long after he broke with the great guitarist Jeff Beck. This was before Stewart stopped singing songs about working-class misfits and turned into a Hollywood poof (“Do Ya Think I’m Sexy”). … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, pop music | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Naomi Wolf’s Madonna crush

Posted on February 8, 2012 by oddmanout215

Madonna is “that forbidden thing, the Nietzschean creative woman.” I didn’t know this until I read journalist Naomi Wolf’s complaint about reporters who diss the Material Girl whenever she “steps out of her pretty-girl-pop-music bandwidth” to make a movie or … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, humor, pop music | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Half-truths about the job market

Posted on February 7, 2012 by oddmanout215

Last week, news outlets were buzzing with happy talk about a dip in the unemployment rate in November. The problem is, anyone living in the real world knows that good jobs — i.e., jobs that pay well, or at least … Continue reading →

Posted in economic collapse, Great Recession, mainstream media, The New Depression, unemployment | Tagged , , | 3 Comments