the defeatists!

No shit, Sherlock! Damned pterodactyls are coming home to roost in your attic!

From Jim Hightower, populist and Texan comes a moment of sheer brilliance illustrating why Quietism in the face the ongoing debacle of the end of the American empire is perhaps the only way to remain sane. Discussing the decaying infrastructure, Hightower puts it all in perspective:

Then there is the alarming inaccuracy of the National Bridge Inventory, which is compiled from state records. After the Minneapolis crash, federal authorities mandated an emergency inspection of all similar steel deck truss bridges. The inventory listed 756 of these. Wrong. Inspectors found that 280 were not that type at all. Indeed, 16 didn't even exist, 13 were wooden, and a Maryland bridge was actually in Pennsylvania.

"The data is not as good as we thought," explained the embarrassed man in charge. Obviously not, which leads to the more urgent question of how many bridges are misclassified as another type when they're really made of steel deck trusses, like the fallen one in Minneapolis. The feds don't know.

I'm not sure what the hell government is good for, but a rational person would probably say that building and maintaining roads and bridges is a big part of the reason it exists. Sarah Palin's comment about getting the infrastructure in Alaska taken care of while the congressional delegation has clout wasn't praise of the pork barrel so much as a realistic reflection of what the fuck it means to try and get things done in this country. Hightower bitchslaps Rick Perry, heir to George Bush just by quoting the guy --

The first report found that 20 heavily traveled Texas spans were classified "structurally deficient" by highway authorities. A year later, only one has been fixed. Oh, tut-tut rebutted sitting Texas Gov. Rick Perry, this is not an issue of importance, because "structurally deficient" is nothing but a "bureaucratic term."

As Bill Mahar pointed out the other night while interviewing the Governor of Virginia, it's frightening when you can get laughs by just reciting the facts.

While this may look seem like  more " AXE is a Democrat ergo Republicans are bad" stuff, my position is  fuckuava lot more complicated than that. I lived for ten years in Ectopia. I was in Seattle for the quake on Ash Wednesday, during my brief stint running a big nonprofit despite the board of directors. Anyway,we had a fleet of trucks out there in February 2001, and when the ground stopped shaking, I told my operations manager to get them in and off the roads. Several had been on the lower deck of the Seattle viaduct, a two decker elevated expressway when the quake hit. Dodging fallen hunks of concrete and feeling the thing shake, rattle and roll scared them enough that several quit rather than continue to drive. Over seven years later, and they still haven't figured out what they're going to do...dig a tunnel, build a new one, fix the old one, tear down the old one and let the choirs of angels carry the commerce from the port outwards...Democrats have been just as useless in this problem as Republicans. The Dems worry about pollution, noise, aesthetics while the Rs worry about the cost and who's going to pay for it? Well, any pristine scene is probably more pleasing and less polluting and quiter than a network of effective and efficient roads, bridges and associated stuff. As for cost, you get what you pay for, and it gets more costly over time. We the people are going to pay -- the question is how much and when. I suspect that we pay more in the long and short run by waiting. Republican Hobbits and Democratic Hobbits are still fucking goddamned Hobbits, scurrying around doing nothing but getting in the way. I'm not sure of much, but the only non-Hobbit on a national ticket at the moment is Sarah Palin.

So, here's a thought -- Do some goddamn things. A national referendum on whether or not we want to be efficient and effective in getting around or if we want to wait for miracles and the second coming before we get our asses in gear would be interesting. Spend the stimulous packages on building infrastructure. Fast-track repairs and replacements and improvements to existing roads, bridges, tunnels and so on. (Being on the viaduct was scary in good times let alone in an earthquake. Being in a fucking tunnel in what is largely undocumented fill next to a seawall that is leaking anyway during an earthquake scares the hell out of me sitting here in the Crossroads of Opportunity. Despite a Democratic governor, a Democratic Legislative Branch, a Democratic Mayor and a Democratic City Council, Seattle still hasn't figured this crap out. Being incompetent and ineffective and goddamned stupid has nothing to do with party affiliation. ) Alternatively,  announce  that with our debt, our crumbling infrastructure and our growing status as an exporter of raw materials and net importer of finished goods, we have become a third world country.

Some folks aren't so kind...even in her home town!

Downtown in Future VP's Home Town. The First Dude got drunk here...

Clusterdouche? Well, if the Palin thing were any more insane, then the AXE would have to counter with cluster snake fuck goat rodeo, which would be a great name for a Cowpunk band and pretty much sums this crap up. Aunt Bee's great granddaughter with a Winchester. Who loves Jesus, thinks gaydom is an abomination, T-REX probably   elped build the pyramids, polar bears should just get over it, and drill, drill, drill  all over Alaska but run the pipeline to Canada. I think she's really a Canuck Alaska-sized mole... the effete maple syrup swilling hypocrites are going after our precious body fluids, or something.

There were a lot of Boston Irish who hated the Kennedys  who voted for Jack, Teddy, Bobby and all the rest simply because they were Irish. Oddly enough, there are a lot of Alaska Republicans who are confused, dazed and basically wierded out by the whole thing.

The reaction wasn't so rosy elsewhere. State Senate President Lyda Green said she thought it was a joke when someone called her at 6 a.m. to tell her the news."She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? said Green, a Republican from Palin's hometown of Wasilla. "Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?"Green, who has feuded with Palin, brought up the big oil tax increase Palin pushed through last year. She also pointed to the award of a $500 million state subsidy to a Canadian firm to pursue a natural gas pipeline that's far from guaranteed.House Speaker John Harris, a Republican from Valdez, was also astonished at the news. He didn't want to get into the issue of her qualifications."She's old enough," Harris said. "She's a U.S. citizen."

I really, really, really, really want McCain to win now. Pelosi and Reid will eat them for lunch.  I'm really wondering if his strategy is run by the Monkees in one of their semi-tripped out moments? Isn't this something Mickey, Davy and Peter could have come up while they're loaded on robotussin and mentoes o or some goddamn teenybopper 60's drug substitute thing? Or, a group of radical right wing Christian end-timer True Believers , using this as a way of bringing about the end-times and the rapture quicker...Sarah Palin for Messianic Red Heifer! err, VP...err, uh, burnt offering? But, where in Alaska are they going to find hyssop. And, who's going to check all her hair to make certain it all has some red?

...I'm living in an empty room With all the windows smashed And I've got so little left to lose That it feels just like I'm walking on broken glass...

No way this ends well for one person -- Sarah Palin. Bill Mahar said it well last night -- "She goes from being Mayor Whastit, population 7000 to Governor of Alaska, population San Bernardino." I'm not entirely sure about how I feel on this one, and the whole qualifications thing. Just looking at the Republican side, who was more prepared, Bush or Reagan? Who was the more effective President?  However, this pick is odd on so many levels -- I'm just a dumb Irish guy from upstate New York who had to join  the Army to get his first pair of shoes, but what the hell?  Was it about pandering to women?  Gail Collins doesn't think so. Much...

It is conceivable that some people will think John McCain picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate because she is a woman. I know you find this shocking, but I swear I have heard it mentioned.McCain does not believe in pandering to identity politics. He was looking for someone who was well prepared to fight against international Islamic extremism, the transcendent issue of our time. And in the end he decided that in good conscience, he was not going to settle for anyone who had not been commander of a state national guard for at least a year and a half. He put down his foot.

I'm not sure what the hell this is all about -- since she's red meat for the base, what with the intelligent design mandated in Alaskan Zoos, drilling for oil any place any time any how, being pro-life (and in her case, living it herself with  her own family, which is a fuckofalot more meaningful than most babbling on the subject by both sides), pro-gun, pro-global warming, pro-third rate education through home schooling and so on, good chance she's was selected as an ideological soulmate...for Tancredo or Brownback. At least when she does the requisite hunting photo, she's look natural and probably drop a fucking elk with one shot. And, to steal a line from an old biker joke, she can probably suck start his snow mobile...

Crusader AXE has never been sure about the whole Washington Insider-Outside nonsense. Make Barney Frank VP, and he'd probably get a lot more done in so far as the VP gets things done. Collins points out that MacDemenia has never thought highly of the position, so maybe this is a bone both to the base who still aren't sure about him, and to all the little ladies out there. I just think it's an example of silliness and cognitive dissonance. I envision her huddled in the basement of the Naval Observatory, freaked out by all the crap coming at her. Is she capable of learning the job? Sure. Is she capable of putting up with the noise, the congestion, the nonsense, presiding over the Senate which is her only constitutional job, the travel, the demands on her family from the First Dude through the kids Dee, Dweezy, Dose, Dip and Track? Does she really want to? Probably not. Frankly, I see this as a continuation of McCain's somewhat disjointed approach to everything -- maybe he's dreaming of some hot woman on woman action with Sarah and Cindy while he and the first dude go trap shooting or something?

As for her, well, I think I'd probably enjoy having coffee with her and the First Dude. She's a lot more authentic a human being than what we're used to. I don't know if she violated her oath of office when she fired the cop who wouldn't fire her brother in law after he tasered his 11 year old daughter. But if she did, have her pay a five-dollar fine for littering and give her the Medal of Freedom. I seem to recall that McCain's concerns about domestic violence really were more along the lines concern for the lasting impact on the perp's career. Joe Biden pushed it. So, maybe Sarah should run as Veep with Biden.

Frankly, the worst thing that could happen to this woman is to win. I'm pretty sure she'd find the experience about like this one, only without the company of Hugh Laurie and John Malkovich.

Eurythmics sélectionnée dans Musique

If everything I signed up for was this worthwhile, life would be cool...

Maybe not worthwhile so much as enjoyable. I still can't figure out when I signed up for a daily video from the Frog version of YouTube, but like bread, cheese, and wine, it's something they seem to get right. Interestingly to me, most of the stuff I get is not in French...am I crazy, or is this either English New Wave stuff, or even better, the band that used to do Cleveland Rocks on the old Drew Carey show...

Workplace - Shake it - wideo
Vous vous ennuyez au bureau ? Faites comme nos amis outre-manche et faites votre clip au bureau ! Crédit musical : Metro Station - Shake it

Mots-clés : video musique clip music bureau buzz employés clerks lipdub shake it workplace metro station

Video de daftjb

Odd thoughts for a day off...

"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern."

I have decided that unless that prodigious prestidigitator and pudit, Crispin Dimebox Sartwell writes it, I am through with music criticism. There have been a lot of signs that the people writing that level of journalism are tonedeaf, and probably didn't listen to the stuff or read anything but each other's crap in a masturbatory orgy of self congratualtion. I think the end for me was a review in Slate describing T-Boone Burnette's influence on Robert Plant as bringing out his darker side. Darker side? Really? Owlsley, satanism, withcraft and kabbala aren't dark enough for you?   Exactly where is the sunlight in The Immigrant Song? What's so optimistic about Over the Hill and Far Away? Ramble On? Kashmir? Evermore?I love "Raising Sand," largely because of the contrast between personnas. If all you know of Allison Krause is the stuff that occasionally gets on to country radio, it's possible to think she's just a sweet little fiddle player. Plant, the rake and rambling boy who has experimented with a lot of stuff including types of music as well as other types or recreational things, seems like what Mick Jagger could have been had he a better and more interesting voice and hadn't wanted to be accepted by polite society. In fact, Plant's pretty reflective, well read and visionary, and Allison is talented and introspective talent who has that high lonesome thing going on -- which includes a lot of darkness, tragedy, and despair. I always get the feeling listening to Led Zepplin, the Plant-Page collaborations and some of his other stuff, that Plant is always on the verge of trying to break through to some other side musically and existentially. Allison Krause is similar -- there's always the feeling with her work both in collaboration with her own band, with others or the odd occasional thing she's done, the feeling is one of yearning and grasping and not quite getting there.

Probably the booze and crack and hookers and all that stuff...

A few years ago, Crusader AXE found himself in a coven of Unitarians who kept talking about "His Holiness." Finally figured out that they were babbling about the Dali Lama, since he had visited Seattle recently and John Paul hadn't. I politely decided that they had nothing I wanted if it involved Yak butter and prayer wheels, and made my excuses.

The idea of poor little Tibet standing against the Han Chinese is one of those annoyingly true things. It's improbable that the Chinese ever really exerted any great influence over Tibet and their rather fundamentalist Buddhist vision. We forget at our peril that China is a totalitarian country with a heritage of equal parts anarchy and despotism. I suspect the current regime would just as soon not have to deal with the guy and his people, but to paraphrase Gary P Nunn, "when the party says it's gonna take a chance, chances will be taken..." If they decided to let Tibet go, then they'd have to admit that not all of the great Helmsman's actions made any goddamn sense at all. They know it, of course, but what isn't said isn't real. The Tibet adventure has resulted in a train, a lot of bad press, and a place to put people out of mind.

I say that this annoyingly true because Tibet is theocracy, and I'm kind of opposed to theorcracies in general. The saffron robes and temple bells aside, the thought control in Tibet's history through their high Buddhist tradition is in it's way as totalitarian as Chinese Communism. I believe in freedom from religion as well as freedom of religion. So, I wish the Dali Lama all the best, but until both China and Tibet can get rid of their concerns with faith, dogma and being right, and find a way to be pragmatic, nothing will be resolved.   

The gooks are taking our oil...err...Iraqui Oil!(Grimmace) Good for them...

We really aren't very good at imperialism, are we?  As I recently explained to someone who use questioned my choice on something after soliciting feedback, Wwell, if you ask people for their opinions, you kinda have to pay attention to what they say." Since we're allowing Mullah Malaiki and the rest to have opinions, we have to listen to what they say; if they are a sovereign nation, they get to do what we want. But, I'm sure Cabal Haliburton of Dubai is burning the ether with satelite calls to their Man at the Bethesda Naval Observatory, deep in the cavernous bowels of the super secret bunker in the super secret mansion demanding answers. What do you bet Dick Cheney is making like Jim Carey in "Series of unfortunate events" and throwing stuff behind the scenes.

INTER-WEBS CONFAB AT DEFEATIST CENTRAL

My Comment on a comment on an IOZ comment and a long series of other comments...

"If Obama wins, I will feel better. I suspect he might actually lose the popular vote and yet win the electoral college. I am a Stoic a la Marcus Aurelius. My favorite quote, colloquially translated is something this. "Everything is incredibly fucked up. Any improvement, however small, is a major accomplishment." I liked Michelle's speech and I liked her comment about the "black enough" nonsense as well that Matthews and one of the talking heads referenced on MSNBC -- "Barry and I did everything the leaders of the Black Community wanted us to do -- we worked hard, we stayed in school, we got married, we're responsible adults taking care of our children, we didn't go to work for big law firms or Wall Street but came back to the community to work to make things better. If we're not "Black Enough," who is?" Kennedy's speech had some moments, but the fact that he was there at all indicates something.

"IOZ stakes out a radically obnoxious position in order to make the point. He knows, as do we all, that in his beloved France the police would be all over his gay ass if he wrote stuff about them like he does about us. In England, MI5 would have us all up against the wall with the cattle prods and making us drink what they call lager over there...room temperature piss, as I recall. And, the closed circuit security cameras really have Big Bro in place.

"If McCain wins, we are really no better than we were in 1866. We just have better plumbing."

Let me add that Hillary gave a helluva speech. Michelle Obama set the bar pretty high, and she took it up several inches. We'll see how Bubba Bill does tomorrow, and how Biden does. Obama better pack a lunch -- dynamic speaker that he is, he's not following anything easy to top. I do get a kick out of the Republican counter-convention and the attempts to respond to what's happening. I'd be very careful about pointing too much at Obama and his "lack of experience." He's got infinitely more experience in public life than Bush has even now. I'm still not in love with him, nor do I see him as the second coming of Jefferson/Jackson/Lincoln/Roosevelt/Kennedy. But, come on -- the guy is actually one of those pull themselves up by their own bootstraps kind of guys. As for the crap about his half-brother in Kenya, these guys need to be careful...a picture of McCain's first wife after the car accident when she was served with the divorce papers would be excellent fodder here. McCain is really vulnerable on the "ordinary guy" front. Anne Richards' comment about George Bush -- Poor George Bush, he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth -- fits here as well.

I'm not going to be happy whomever wins. If Obama wins, I'll feel better about the future as opposed to utterly depressed as I am now.

Well, it probably alleviates those aggravating clips, but what if something gets caught in the chain?

"It sounds like it's been a good lesson all around." Really? Do you think? You know the main reason for laws against this isn't to impede your civil liberties so much as to keep our eyes from melting. Granted, these folks are not all that aesthetically challenged but what if you bumped into K-Fed and Roseanne Barr doing their thing? Or, the average American... they show the slim, attractive ones, but you know they have the morbidly obese, the deformed and the anorexic just waiting to spring.

Find what you like and let it kill you

This is why I like Texas, Texans, and read Texas Monthy....

Don’t get me wrong. I’m no William Bennett, the guy who gave us The Book of Virtues and then reportedly proceeded to blow $8 million on the slots and video poker in Vegas. The only things I have in common with him are (1) we’re both slot players and (2) we both had the same girlfriend. (Hunter Thompson and I also once had the same girlfriend—poor girl—but I don’t think Hunter played the slots.)

The AXE is thinking about going to a professional conference in Vegas at Caesars. Since it will be on my own dime, I've been wondering if I really want to do it. GINORMOUS DEFENSE CONTRACTOR has a convoluted way of paying for training. At the level where the  company actually makes money, they don't. Since I used to work in the industry, I find casinos in general pretty despicable , but I enjoy the show. Sex, drugs, rock n roll, fulled by fear, alcohol and desperation. Yeah, excellent place to study humanity.

That said, I think this piece by bon vivant and failed politician Kinky Friedman has convinced me to take a pass on the whole thing. He likes it for some reason, the way some people like traveling the country on buses as opposed to airplanes or by car. "Planes might crash and we'd have to eat each other...and, you meet such interesting people on a bus." Yeah. He nails the dark side of the experience well. Since I consider slots to be crack cocaine, his addiction to $5 slots is apropos.

I sit there in the Champagne Slots at the Flamingo (located conveniently close to the dumper) smoking cigars, watching the lava flow, and drinking Mexican mouthwash until I’m walkin’ on my knuckles. The only interruption is that about every two minutes people come up to me and tell me they voted for me. Either they’re all pathological liars or the election was rigged.

Who better to sum up the despair in it all, but Lou Reed...