Four more years of being punked? No thanks

Posted on August 14, 2011 by oddmanout215

So I saw this piece in The Hill with the headline “Al Gore for president” and I thought hmm, not my favorite choice but a smart guy with good ideas. Not exactly brave but certainly ballsier than Obama, although who isn’t. But then I read “Let me be the first to propose a national movement to draft Al Gore for president in 2016…” and thought whoa, fool, what about 2012?

I should have known better. The Hill promotes establishment politics and is loath to sacrilegiously suggest the Democratic Party do something sensible, such as dump Obama before he completely destroys the party of FDR by pandering to right-wingers.

According to Brent Budowsky, the writer of the piece,

It is understandable that those who worked the hardest for the great dream of 2008 are depressed. It is time for us to regroup, reassemble and renew the battle for what Ted Kennedy brilliantly called the causes that endure and the dreams that never die… If Gore runs in 2016 he would be the most qualified candidate for the presidency in a century.

But will there still be a recognizable Dem Party in 2016 if Obama is re-elected (by no means a sure thing)? Judging from his tone, Budowsky is the sort of guy who, if his office were burning down, would wait for written permission from the boss before fleeing the building.

I’m sorry Bernie Sanders would have no chance of being nominated, but I’m glad he still has a sliver of hope for 2012. Also in The Hill:

Sanders said he still supports the concept of a primary challenge for Obama, because, Sanders said, even Republicans have done a better job of keeping their campaign promises than Obama.

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Her fame was fleeting, but Jones’s songs endure

Posted on August 13, 2011 by oddmanout215

Mojo has been a better music magazine than Rolling Stone for a long time, and forget that there isn’t much good music to write about these days, that’s another story.

The July Mojo profiled singer/songwriter Rickie Lee Jones, who debuted in 1979 with a Top 5 album and the hit single “Chuck E.’s In Love” but soon after suffered a career-damaging meltdown sparked by heroin, failed love (with her mentor, singer/songwriter Tom Waits) and that reliable old villain, the pressures of fame.

Jones pushed herself to the limit on her second album, Pirates (1981), a boldly impressionistic effort that just barely fits into a pop music bag. It’s beautiful, but all the compositions ride a strong current of melancholy that might drag you under if you’ve already got the blues.

Here’s Mojo writer Bob Mehr on Pirates:

The eight-song LP remains an ethereal masterpiece of lost love and spiritual unrest… The spectral presence of Waits haunts the lyrics of “A Lucky Guy” and “Pirates (So Long Lonely Avenue)”; meanwhile the songs dissolve into one another, the strings and horn arrangements imparting a dream-like quality.

Anyway, the wankers at Mojo (it’s British) haven’t posted the article online, in case you’re wondering why there’s no link, so here’s a recent interview of Jones from Vanity Fair.

If you don’t know Jones’s work, seek out Rickie Lee Jones, Pirates, the jazzy Girl at Her Volcano (1983), The Magazine (1984), and Flying Cowboys (1989), all available online, some easier to find than others.

Footnote: I don’t mean to suggest that Jones’s story is Amy Winehouse-level sad. She’s very much alive, recording and touring, older and wiser. But sad.

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

God, Super PACs on Perry’s side

Posted on August 13, 2011 by oddmanout215

Rick Perry shows fans what makes him feel potent

At last, a real man in the presidential race — the God-fearing Texan with the designer cowboy boots and permanent wave who likes to be photographed holding guns to prove he’s virile, I guess because he suspects voters have their doubts.

Gov. Rick Perry is looking to take full advantage of the Bush Supreme Court’s disgraceful Citizens United decision, which allows candidates to accept huge campaign contributions from unnamed sources. Already, so-called “Super PACs” created to generate money for Perry are looking as dirty as the laws that allow for this sort of fundraising:

There are currently seven Super PACs — independent political committees that can accept unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations and unions — supporting Perry’s bid. The most recently formed is Make Us Great Again… founded by former Perry chief of staff and longtime associate Mike Toomey. Toomey is so close to the Perry inner circle he even co-owns a private island in New Hampshire with Perry’s campaign manager Dave Carney… The other pro-Perry Super PACs are no better in presenting themselves as independent. Jobs for Vets Fund and Veterans for Rick Perry were started by former Perry legislative director Dan Shelley. Veterans for Rick Perry even made a revealing error on their initial statement of organization by checking a box stating that the committee supported one candidate and listing Rick Perry as that candidate. Super PACs are forbidden from explicitly supporting one candidate… Another committee, Americans for Rick Perry, is run by California political consultant Bob Schuman, a former campaign consultant for former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), Perry’s political mentor.

Super PACs are supposed to operate independent of the candidates they support — a farcical notion, especially in a case like Perry’s, which almost screams for charges of collusion to be brought.

Footnote: Can this swaggering fraud legally run for president, given that he is on record as believing Texas could secede from the United States if it saw fit to do so?

Posted in God Squad, Great Recession, humor, Politics, The New Depression | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

If you prick corporations, do they not bleed?

Posted on August 12, 2011 by oddmanout215

“Corporations are people, my friend,” says Mitt Romney, who looks like a middle-aged Ken doll and acts like he has an industrial coolant coursing through his veins. Or maybe I’m just prejudiced against soulless enemies of the poor and jobless, even after these enemies stop wearing neckties and pretend to be regular Joes.

From ThinkProgress:

Romney’s antagonists are right that corporate money flows right into Romney’s pockets. Indeed, Romney has taken more money from corporate and other lobbyists than all the other GOP candidates put together, and this will likely only be the beginning for Romney if he becomes the GOP nominee.

Ever since the Supreme Court revealed that it shares Romney’s inability to distinguish between corporations and actual human beings, corporations have lined up to buy GOP victories in elections across the country. After Citizens United, conservative secret donors outspent progressives 8 to 1 in the 2010 election cycle.

Footnote: The New Bottom Line suggests sending this message to Romney on Facebook or Twitter: “Hey Mitt Romney, you say corporations put money in people’s pockets. We want to know, which people?”

Posted in economic collapse, globalization, Great Recession, humor, mainstream media, Politics, unemployment, Wall Street, world-wide economy | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

London looters bypass bookstores… Sign o’ the times?

Posted on August 12, 2011 by oddmanout215

Looter A: Listen, mate, two quid will get you ten boxes of the latest Franzen, in hardcover.
Looter B: Bollocks! What about the new Xbox 360 games?

Cutbacks in social services for the poor helped trigger riots this week in England, and good old consumerism kept enthusiasm high among participants. Interestingly, looters were quick to hit outlets that sold hi-tech toys, but they shunned bookstores. Were they put off because they don’t read or because books have little resale value?

From The Atlantic Wire:

Most people seem to be embracing the theory that the rioters simply didn’t want books, particularly in the digital age. “The only shop NOT looted down the road from where I live was Waterstones [bookstore],” British author Patrick French tweeted. “I guess the rioters have Kindles–bought or looted.” Martin Fletcher touched on a similar theme at the end of a report for NBC News. “A final thought that may say a lot about our times,” he concluded. “In this shopping center every store had been looted but one, the book store.” The “underlying message for bookshops,” The Economist adds, is “hardly front-page news: looters, like more conventional consumers, are all too happy to ignore their wares.”

Big Green Bookshop co-owner Simon Key, however, suggests the rioters may have been motivated more by economics than pure consumer desire. “The people who were doing this were mainly going for phone shops, high fashion shops and HMV, looking for stuff that they could sell on,” he told The Financial Times. “Bookshops weren’t top of the list.”

Posted in arts, economic collapse, globalization, Great Recession, humor, livable cities, mainstream media, The New Depression, unemployment | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

One reason so many current movies suck

Posted on August 11, 2011 by oddmanout215

Beware, paunchy whiners

The leading men are either pumped up and dim or paunchy whiners who still live with their parents. Hollywood actors used to have more range. Even in the hippie era there was Robert Redford, who could do romantic comedy then convincingly portray legendary Indian fighter Jeremiah Johnson. Now we have Zach Galifianakis, Jeremiah Johnson’s ugly brother, playing the type of guy who couldn’t fight his way up to the bar at happy hour.

It’s not only that the current crop contains few men who can play badass, heroic types. It’s that they apparently can’t even play strong, ordinary guys who have to deal with bad bosses, joblessness, poverty and other ordinary problems.

A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis recently wrote:

The male archetypes populating contemporary movies don’t line up with reality, yet they offer clues about what the men of our dreams look like, or at least what moviemakers are trying to sell us. What do men want? What does it mean to be a man? How does a man relate to other men? And perhaps above all, how does he relate to women, who increasingly occupy a separate sphere on the big screen…

OK, there are relatively young male stars with gravitas — Ewan McGregor, Jude Law, Matt Damon and a few others.

But look at most of them — Zach, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Steve Carroll, Ryan Gosling, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Kevin James, Shia LaBeouf, on and on — and tell me what there is that’s admirable or even interesting about the new “archetypes.” Do women really want see movies about homely guys who seem apathetic and lame? Or about guys who can’t assert themselves unless they turn into comic book superheroes? Or are such movies aimed only at male audiences?

Clarification: Yes, every generation thinks the next generation sucks, but in this case the evidence is too damning to allow for any other conclusion. Wanna fight about it? I didn’t think so.

For women readers: Who are your favorite male movie actors?

Posted in arts, humor, mainstream media, movies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Obama a liability in Wisconsin recall efforts?

Posted on August 11, 2011 by oddmanout215

To establish a majority in the state Senate, Wisconsin Democrats needed to defeat three of the six Republicans challenged in recall elections held Tuesday. They defeated two. A good day but not good enough, arguably because Barack Obama and other national Dem leaders make it hard for voters to distinguish between Dem and Republican philosophies of government.

From FDL:

The consistent message from the national Democratic Party and President Obama is that “this is the era of austerity…” Although [Obama] claimed to favor worker rights, he unilaterally froze federal worker salaries. And then he told the elderly that they needed to accept “adjustments” in their pensions and health care after extending tax breaks for the wealthy… With such a profoundly misguided and destructive message coming from the president and national leaders, it must have been particularly difficult for Wisconsin citizens to explain why voters should recall Republican state senators for taking positions their president and party were embracing in Washington. To be sure, Wisconsin’s Tea-Party Governor [Scott Walker] is a fraud, and his party’s actions have been abusive and excessive in slashing state programs and benefits. But Walker’s budget goals and methods are consistent with those of his national counterparts…

Posted in economic collapse, Great Recession, mainstream media, Obama, Politics, taxes, The New Depression, unemployment | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

SugarHouse workers to bet on unionizing

Posted on August 10, 2011 by oddmanout215

Sure, the SugarHouse Casino next to the Delaware River is an eyesore and a sick solution to the scarcity of good jobs in Philadelphia. However, casino workers deserve job security and a fairer share of the loot that’s not being sucked out of Philly by Chicago billionaire Neil Bluhm and others with large stakes in the gambling parlor.

A group of union leaders and preachers showed up in person at the casino Friday to officially inform management that a unionization effort was in progress. City Paper noted:

What will happen next isn’t clear: The workers could file for an election with the National Labor Relations Board, but that process would likely take months, if not longer. They could also ask SugarHouse to extend voluntary recognition.

Good luck, but watch out for Bluhm and the politicians in Philly and Harrisburg who used every dirty trick in the book to get SugarHouse up and running.

Posted in casinos, City Hall, City Paper, economic collapse, Great Recession, Philadelphia, Politics, taxes, The New Depression, unemployment | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Sexist-crazed NOW leader rips Newsweek

Posted on August 10, 2011 by oddmanout215

It’s “sexist,” says National Organization for Women President Terry O’Neill, in high dudgeon over Newsweek’s cover photo of crazy-eyed Michele Bachmann looking crazy-eyed. As if readers might look at the photo and suspect Bachmann is… you know, crazy. As if her on-the-record views don’t encourage this suspicion.

Bachmann said in 2004 that being gay is “personal enslavement,” and that, if same-sex marriage were legalized, “little children will be forced to learn that homosexuality is normal and natural and that perhaps they should try it.” Speaking about gay-rights activists, that same year, she said, “It is our children that is the prize for this community.” She believes that evolution is a theory that has “never been proven,” and that intelligent design should be taught in schools.

The above quote-out is from a recent New Yorker profile of Bachmann, carefully written and free of judgmental assertions. Guess what — she still seems crazy.

O’Neill also objected to Newsweek referring to Bachmann as “the queen of rage” and declared that no man would be labeled “king of” this or that. Maybe not, but mainstream media outlets (the New Yorker aside) routinely portray public figures in ways that reflect what they imagine their audiences think of these figures.

This has nothing to do with sexism. Howard Dean was toast in 2004 after that tape of him urging supporters to keep fighting was shown. The media portrayed him as borderline crazy, though he was anything but.

Would O’Neill have objected if Newsweek ran a flattering photo of Bachmann with a text that dishonestly portrayed her as well-educated, rational and tolerant? I doubt it.

My point is that O’Neill is wedded to tired old slogans and can’t see the forest for the trees. She should choose her battles more wisely instead of saying things that end up as talking points on Fox News.

Posted in humor, mainstream media, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Toomey = tax breaks for the rich, no new jobs

Posted on August 9, 2011 by oddmanout215

Don’t forget to turn out tomorrow to ask Pat Toomey where the jobs are, but don’t expect a straight answer. This guy toes the party line, as I found out during a recent back-and-forth with him or, more likely, with his e-mail flack.

From: Sen. Pat Toomey
To: David McKenna

Thank you for contacting me about the debt limit… As you know, the debt limit is an important issue before Congress right now. The current limit, which was last raised in February 2010, is $14.3 trillion… As you may know, total federal spending has doubled since 2000. In addition, recent deficits have grossly exceeded those that we were running only a few years ago… It is clear that Washington has a serious spending problem, and the American people want Congress to make the tough choices necessary to address it… I therefore value your input as I continue working with my Senate colleagues on the debt limit and restoring fiscal responsibility. Thank you again for your correspondence. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of assistance.

From: David McKenna
To: Sen. Pat Toomey

Yes, Washington has “a serious spending problem” in that it spent vast amounts of taxpayer money to salvage banks in 2008 rather than to put back to work the millions of people left jobless by the economic collapse… Most of our debt stems from the George W. Bush years and involves massive tax breaks for the rich and spending on foreign wars. Now, with so many people jobless and tax rates for the wealthiest at record lows, it is almost impossible to generate sufficient revenues to keep the deficit from skyrocketing… Your sudden interest in the “debt limit” would seem to have less to do with “restoring fiscal responsibility” than with trying to permanently install outrageously low tax rates… Thank you for your correspondence. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of assistance.

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