Thursday, February 28, 2008

Musical Bootprint #1

I was intrigued with a concept I ran across on one of the numerous mostly-politics blogs I browse. Doubtless I am way behind the curve on this as on so much else in life, but tell me are not absolutely jaded with the diversionary fun of pulling up ten random choices on your iPod or other listening device of choice. Sort of a non-fingerprint that reveals something of your (current) amalgam of tastes in music (or something).

Anyway, here was my first oeuvre in this genre:

Shameless (G. Brooks)
You Can Call Me Al (P. Simon)
No Woman No Cry - live (B. Marley)
Waiting in Vain (B. Marley)
Syeeda's Song Flute - alt take (J. Coltrane)
Street Fighting Man (Rolling Stones)
It's Over (G. Campbell)
Voodoo Child - Slight Return (J. Hendrix)
My Wife (The Who)
Warsaw Concerto (Misha Dichter)

for good measure, #11 was

Virgo Clowns (V. Morrison)

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Don't Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out, george

Oh the things we will remember in connection with one of the most picayune little petty insecure doofuses ever to con/cheat/lie their way into the White House. Doubtless his legacy will be different 50 years from now, as he suggests. Somehow it seems likely the difference will not be of the sort he so desperately hopes.

For one thing, he has dramatically undermined the implications and common public understanding of some long-standing national icons. One prime example is his overt pretense of involvement with "God" and religion. Not that sorry george actually acts out his supposedly enthusiastic Christian faith, mind you, but his obnoxious pandering and sickening gibbering of shibboleths taint the whole business of organized religion. Safe to say he has poisoned the well of organized religion for vast numbers.

And then there is the conspicuous display of the American flag (but never let a coffin be shown!) and other absolutely vacuous icons of "patriotism." The pathetic desperation of those who feel the need to festoon their bumpers with "support our troops" stickers, and apparently believe they can thereby prove their patriotism would be semi-comical if it were not so obviously in support of war-crimes. By now of course any conscious person who has not spent the last seven years licking the boots of the authoritarian neocons and is hence aware of the damage these mouth-breathing pre-neanderthals have done should be on the alert for the "unpatriotic" zinger. Obama had a good response recently, something to the effect that a lapel flag-pin means little and casually and routinely sacrificing American troops in an unjustified unprovoked war without the planning and materiel necessary to achieve a never-defined goal was truly unpatriotic. No argument possible there.

I recently ran across another example of this erosion by cheney/bush of formerly semi-established non-political vocabulary, in the form of an alumni magazine with "engineering security" as a cover title. The concept of "security" is now wholly corrupted by the Bush sickness too. First of all, the term has been widely used by the administration to thwart legally-mandated public access to government records, in what seem to be obvious efforts to cover up the corruption that is obviously pandemic in George's out-of-control non-government, populated largely by a combination of corporate shills, diehard industry lobbyists, and inexperienced fluff-heads. Secondly, "security" is a watchword for these neo-fascist thugs when they want to further enlarge the obviously dangerously accreding power of the executive/corporatocracy branch and non-coincidentally further erode our Constitutional rights. It's all part of the program of scaring the ignorant American populace. I hope we are getting smarter, but in the meantime, you say "security," I say "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite!" We collectively have one hell of a long road to restore the former republic of these states, and maybe regain our one-time status as an admired nation.

I know I have expressed and also heard from you sentiments akin to this post, namely that pathetic george at least was So Bad that there is evidence of a renaissance of political activism and hence hope. I do worry that the need here is way more than undoing sir pathetic. We actually have to go further back and take down much of Bill's absurdly regressive program (e.g., welfare "reform" and "free trade"), as well as Reagan's similarly anti-person pro-corporation regime.

I wouldn't go so far as to say thanks, but that's just me. Beth Quinn, in "A Thank-you Note to George W. Bush" is eloquent:

It’s time to give the devil his due.

And I’m here to do it. I’m here to tip my hat to George Bush.

That’s right. You heard me. We owe a debt of gratitude to this president, and I’m here to acknowledge it.

Mr. Bush, I’d like to say thank you.

Thank you for making such a thorough mess of your presidency that the citizens of this country want a change so vast, so enormous that we are willing to elect either a black man or a woman to the White House.

We needed a president as dismal, as greedy, as incompetent as you to pave the way for Barrack Obama or Hillary Clinton (although it’s looking as if Obama will take it).

Think of it! It’s a sea change in attitude. Seven years ago, I’d have said never in my lifetime will America be able to shake off its prejudices enough to elect a black guy or a woman to lead us.

But you changed all that, Mr. Bush! You and the other rich white guys who think money and power are your birthright. You and your ilk in Congress who have ignored us regular folks.
You guys are the best!


If you had been merely mediocre, sir, voters might well have accepted business as usual for the next presidency.

But you weren’t mediocre at all! You were stupendously, incredibly, magnificently terrible. And now we’re ready for a stupendous, incredible, magnificent change.

Because you ignored those living in poverty and without health insurance, we’re ready for a black man or a woman in the White House.

Because you ignored the sinking middle class and declared war on gay Americans, we’re ready for a black man or a woman in the White House.

Because you ignored corporate greed and the excesses of Wall Street, we’re ready for a black man or a woman in the White House.

Because you ignored global warming and the future of our good earth, we’re ready for a black man or a woman in the White House.

Because you ignored the Constitution and trampled our civil liberties, we’re ready for a black man or a woman in the White House.

Because you ignored those who said Iraq was no threat and squandered priceless lives and billions of dollars, we’re ready for a black man or a woman in the White House.

Because you ignored America’s history of honor and integrity and have lost our standing in the world, we’re ready for a black man or a woman in the White House.

You’re the best, Mr. Bush!

It’s been so easy these past seven years to make fun of you, sir. But behind that cynical humor have been such pain and disappointment. I’ve been so angry at the voters who put you into the White House. Twice. And I’ve had such fear for the future because those same voters will put the next president into the White House, too.

But my fears are being put to rest. My faith in the American people is being restored as I watch these primaries and caucuses. Men and women, black and white, Asian and Hispanic - people are coming together to hope and believe in the future again.

Occasionally, I hear from readers who denigrate Barrack Obama’s message of hope. Oh, he’s just selling hope, they say, as though it were something of little value.

Well, if he’s selling, I’m buying. It feels so good to be hopeful, and I haven’t felt good in so long. It’s like a wonderful breath of fresh air flowing through the land, cleansing the dirt of your administration, sir, and blowing away the stench of your greed.

I sometimes hear people console themselves when misfortune strikes by saying: There’s a reason for everything. God has a plan.

I don’t know if that’s true, really. I’d like to think so, but I don’t know.

But if it’s true - if there really is a reason for everything in the grand scheme of things - then I’m prepared to say this: Our misfortune in having you in the White House, Mr. Bush, has served us well in the long run.

And so I thank you.