Why on earth is the moustache of understanding-- he who has been profoundly wrong about everything from the nature of the free market-- still haunting my tee vee?
Crossposted with more and bigger.
Open thread below...
Pruning Shears: Steny Hoyer - Worst Democrat Alive, or Ever?
Beggars Cant Be Choosers: An American Progressive in Paris
MyDD: A Garlic Milkshake Recipe for John Boehner
Just An Earth-Bound Misfit: It may be too early yet
Home of the Urban Chameleon: How one black man defeated the Ku Klux Klan
Grits for Breakfast: World Prison Population List: All nations incarcerate at a lower rate than Texas
(City Boy - timing is the whole enchilada)
Somebody once told me that getting a movie made, no matter how bad it was, is a miracle - all the elements falling magically into place and hoping an audience finds it. And no matter how good a movie is, if there is no audience for it, nobody sees it.
The same is true with albums. The miracle of all the elements falling in place, the support and momentum of the record company - hoping an audience finds it.
In the case of City Boy, a folk outfit turned electric, their first several albums went nowhere, despite good reviews. 1975, when their self-titled first album came out, there was a change in the audience, and rock music was about to undergo a radical upheaval. Groups in Britain featuring lavish harmonies and progressive instrumentation just weren't cutting it with an audience who fell head over heels for all the raw viscera of Punk. And City Boy, during their first few outings sounded a little too much like Supertramp for comfort.
It wasn't until much later that their style changed and their audience changed its mind. They did score well with two hits, "5.7.0.5." and "The Day The Earth Caught Fire", but sadly things didn't work out and they broke up in 1982.
But whatever is to be said about timing, one thing is certain; City Boy were an excellent band who made some wonderful albums which, thanks to a recent reissue, are having a chance to be discovered all over again.
This track, (Moonlight) Shake My Head And Leave, opens their first album.
Good undiscovered albums, like good undiscovered movies are further evidence having an open mind has its rewards. Remember that next time you think you've heard and seen it all.
Sleater-Kinney's break just seems so... unnecessary. I watch clips like this and immediately stop understanding why on Earth bands ever have more than three people in them. Or boys.
Day
Kristol does TDS again. I'm not thrilled that this conservative hatchet man gets valuable air time on CC as much as he has, but Stewart does kick him around. Jon gets Bill Kristol to admit that the government run health care for the military is the best care on earth and then tells us that ordinary Americans aren't deserving of the best health care available. See, Bloody Bill does believe in rationing health care after all. So Kristolthat admits that government run health care is the best, but Americans should only have shitty health care plans with insurance companies making huge profits. (It starts around the eleven minute mark) rough transcript.
Stewart: Why no health care, Why no health care reform for Americans because the military fighting for us, gave it up. Why do you hate America?
Stewart: Why not? Why shouldn't the government provide some sort of care to the 50 million that are uninsured?
Kristol: No, well the military has a different health system than the rest of Americans.
Stewart: It's a public system, no?
Kristol: Yea, they don't have an option they're all in the military.
Stewart: Why don't we go with that?
Kristol: (Stupid look comes across his face.) I don't know. Is military health care what you really...first of all it's really expensive, they deserve it, the military...
Stewart: But people in public do not?
Kristol: No, the American public do not deserve the same...
Stewart: Are you saying Americans shouldn't have access to the same plan health care that we give the soldiers?
Kristol: Yes, to our soldiers? Absolutely.
Stewart: Really?
Kristol: I think the one thing if you become a soldier...
Stewart: So you just said, Bill Kristol just said that the government can run a first class health care system.
Kristol: Sure it can.
Stewart: A government run health care system is better than the private health care system. You just said that...
Kristol: I don't know if it's better.
Stewart: No, you just said it was better.
Kristol: I didn't say it was better all around.
Stewart: No, you said it was better. You said it's the best, it's a little more expensive, but it's better. I just want to write this down. The government runs the best health care...
Stewart: I understand that so what you are suggesting is that the government could run the best health care system for Americans, but it's a little too costly so we should have the shitty insurance companies health care.
Kristol: I'm suggesting our soldiers deserve better health care...
Stewart: They deserve the best. They have the best government run health care money can buy.
Nobody is denying that solders should have the best care available because they should, but why aren't Americans allowed to have the same benefits? I know Kristol has all that blood on his hands because he helped send the country into Iraq and so many innocents and soldiers have died or been injured because of that travesty. C&Ler Michael writes in via email:
When Stewart asked why the rest of the country couldn't have that, Kristol responded very quickly by suggesting that ordinary Americans didn't deserve it. I'm guessing that's in reference to the fact that the rest of us didn't serve in uniform.
While the statement itself is a little cringe-worthy, it struck me. Kristol seemed to float a notion that there's a tier system as far as American life is concerned. What's more, I realized that this is not a new notion.
Conservatives do seem to put forth a Social Darwinist attitude; but I usually see that coming out of hawks referring to the lives of the people who live in countries other than ours. Usually right before (or during) bombing, but that's beside the point.
Yes, it's easy to miss this point because Kristol blathers on so much. COnservatives want to choose who is deserving of what at all times.
Wonk Room: Black Chamber of Commerce CEO calls Barbra Boxer a racist
MAL Contends: What Economy? Let the financial inquest begin
Veterans Today: To Veterans Affairs Secretary Shensiki: Time To Take The Gloves Off
Jeff Blog: Sharecropping
Big Brass Blog: Late for the train to Clueville
Academic Earth: Here's one the birthers, bullet boxers, and tea baggers wont be visiting. Thousands of video lectures from the world's top scholars
From The Arizona Guardian:
Arizona state Senator Sylvia Allen (R) voices support for opening up uranium mining in the state. Sen Allen responds to statements by environmentalists by assuring them that the "Earth is 6,000 years old..." Twice.
(In lieu of an actual photo of the band, which may or may not have ever existed)
The United Fruit Company - "Yes, We Have No Bananas" - York Records 1967.
No doubt something someone put together on a whim, cashing in on the sort-of twenties/smoking bananas craze around 1967, this little ditty appeared briefly and was just weird enough to make for rather pleasant listening. Nothing much is known about the band, or the musicians who played on it if there actually was a band.
Let's put it this way - don't lose sleep trying to figure out the earth shattering historic importance of this disc. It's not there.
It's just another shade of cheerful goofiness that was part of the 60's.
And no, the bananas didn't get anybody high.
Okay, so it wasn't exactly earth shattering, but it sure was informative. Bill Clinton invited a group of bloggers (including yours truly, in the blue jacket) to meet with him this past Monday at the Clinton Foundation offices in Harlem.
Many of the bloggers who were there already wrote about it in great detail here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, but now you'll get my version.
First of all, he was late. (Since Bill Clinton is always late, this was not exactly a surprise.) So we all sat there in his conference room, plotting to turn the whole thing into an impassioned plea for health care reform. Well, that didn't work out because we didn't have enough time - because he was running late. (Did I mention Bill Clinton is always late?)
When he walked into the room, he went around the table and shook everyone's hand. When he sat down, he mentioned the main reason we were there: to talk about the Clinton Foundation.
He said their large corporate donations had fallen off after the market crash, and he was hoping to reach out to small donors through blogs. He talked about what a difference they'd made with worldwide AIDS: "Almost no one will die from lack of medicine for AIDS." But, as he pointed out, there's simply no formalized health care system in much of the world, and some AIDS victims are still dying because of that. That's one of the things the Foundation is doing: building networks of clinics in remote villages.
They also work on climate change and honest to God, he sounded more passionate than Al Gore (which I didn't expect). He was really enthusiastic about the just-announced energy retrofit of the Empire State building and the projected 40% energy reduction from putting in new windows.
"I know solar and wind energy sounds sexy," he began, but quickly made his case for concentrating on retrofits not just to save energy, but as global economic stimulus.
"For one billion dollars, you can get 870 jobs at a coal plant. For one billion dollars spent on solar, you get 1850-2000 jobs. For one billion on wind energy, 3300 jobs. But for a billion spent on retrofitting, 6000 jobs," he said.
"The low-hanging fruit is in fixing the buildings."
Nothing political this time, or urgent, earth shattering news of historic importance. Just a sampling of Mexican Radio in 1944. A program sponsored (somewhat endlessly)by Chicklets featuring singers Sofia Alvarez and Eduardo Solis and a wide range of tunes from Mexico City. Nice music, no English - and tons of commercials for Chicklets.
Mix up a batch of Margaritas, drag out the plato de Carnitas and Guacamole and relax.
