"I think they are all homosexual communists in Satan's army...I espect as well they all live together and bathe together every morning and have the anal sex with one another, with the fisting and the guinea pigs." - Manuel Estimulo
"I can never quite tell if the defeatists are conservative satirists poking fun at the left or simply retards. Or both. Retarded satire, perhaps?" - Kyle
"You're an effete fucktard" - Jeff Goldstein of Protein Wisdom
"This is the most pathetic blog ever..." - Ames Tiedeman
"You two [the Rev and el Comandante] make an erudite pair. I guess it beats thinking." - Matt Cunningham (aka Jubal) of OC Blog
"Can someone please explain to me what the point is behind that roving gang of douchebags? I’m being serious here. It’s not funny, and doesn’t really make anything that qualifies as logical argument. Paint huffers? Drunken high school chess geeks?" - rickinstl
"I think human consciousness, is a tragic misstep in evolution. We became too self-aware, nature created an aspect of nature separate from itself, we are creatures that should not exist by natural law. We are things that labor under the illusion of having a self; an accretion of sensory, experience and feeling, programmed with total assurance that we are each somebody, when in fact everybody is nobody. Maybe the honorable thing for our species to do is deny our programming, stop reproducing, walk hand in hand into extinction, one last midnight - brothers and sisters opting out of a raw deal."--Rust Cohle, True Detective
I have no idea why True Detective didn't take every possible or conceivable award at the Emmys...except that the Emmys are pretty irrelevant to everything. But the persona of Rust Cohle will probably follow Matthew McConaghey to his grace and he'll be fine with that. Not unlike the Duke and the Ringo Kid; Eastwood and Dirty Harry. And, he can have some fun with it as well...possible he's the new Eastwood for our times, burned out on bad X and imitation Don Perrignon, trying to maintain a certain level of gravitas despite knowing it's all a stupid game. Or the post-modern John Wayne, doing the "man's gotta do what a man's gotta do" for the world to wonder at.
If the only thing keeping a person decent is the expectation of divine reward then, brother, that person is a piece of shit. And I’d like to get as many of them out in the open as possible. You gotta get together and tell yourself stories that violate every law of the universe just to get through the goddamn day? What’s that say about your reality?--Cohle
So, the guy has some standards. Lots of people in entertainment and sports don't. When A-Rod first was a seeming hero for the 21st Century, i.e., before Texas and the contract, the only ad he got in the Seattle market was a series of spots for Yammi Yougurt, which he jumped at. Sets the bar kind of low for class and establishing a brand. McConaghey has probably done others, but he just made a few for Lincoln SUVs and while I'm not sure they'd sell me a Lincoln if I was thinking about a SUV, I'd definitely pay to have him drive me around and talk about stuff...important stuff, like God and Sin and Beauty and smoked brisket and stuff.
Fuck, I don't want to know anything anymore. This is a world where nothing is solved. Someone once told me, 'Time is a flat circle.' Everything we've ever done or will do, we're gonna do over and over and over again. And that little boy and that little girl, they're gonna be in that room again and again and again forever. --Cohle
Some of the dialogue in the top one ranks with the best cowboy poets and Shakespeare..."I speak bull...1800 pounds and can do whatever he wants...I can respect that...Take the long way...Thanks."On the other hand, it makes me realize something -- we're in a bold new world here that McLuhan saw coming. Soon, all meaning and art will be in the commercials, and the content will be static and Zipadeedodah. But, not just yet, at all times and in all places...but soon.
The problem with irony is that not everybody gets it. -- Ray Wylie Hubbard
]
John Oliver is a British expatriate doing satire in the United States. He'd been interesting on The Daily Show before subbing for John Stewart, and now he's got his own gig on Sunday nights for HBO. I realize that some of our readers will read "Jon Stewart" and "British Expat!" and rush to a default position blaming Zionists and the House of Windsor for everything. Don't do that, at least for a moment.
You see, Oliver has exposed a great truth of 21st Century existence -- if you want to announce something evil, make the announcement in the midst of something incredibly boring...and then discuss it only in talking points and make use of absolute bullshit in most of the talking points. Like it or not, musicians, poets, fiction writers, historians, satirists and some academics are the only ones in public life actually saying things that we should hear. And, because you might" not be able to dance to it", or "who wants to read some poetry" or "I'll wait for the TV shows"or" the books are too long or too complicated" we just read the commentary if that. Which is largely made up of talking points based on lies and absolute bullshit. One of my friends, economic analyst and musician Eric Garland tweeted recently that after reviewing Piketty and some of the complaints against him, he no longer believed that the complainers had read Capital in the 21st Century. I asked him if he had only recently learned that there was no Santa. Sshocked to hear that I didn't believe in Santa anymore.,Eric was concerned that I won't believe in the confidence fairy either. (I don't.)
So, if you don't like Healthcare and loathe Barrack Obama, don't complain about the affordable care act on its merits, but rail about the need to vote to repeal the "Job-Killing, Economy-Busting-Medicare-Killing Death Panel Obamacare Bill" which is a nice way of saying absolutely nothing. If you were to go into the Congressional Record and review the legislation introduced since 2010 in the House to repeal the Affordable Care Act, you'd find lots of such titles. Silly but that's what they've been doing; this is Karl Rove/Lee Atwater crap played out legislatively -- attack the other guy's strengths by denying them, and troll them downwards. It may or may not work in the short run, but if you're basically a spiritual ORC, it works well at degrading the public debate and making our civil society something more akin to the French Assembly of 1793 than Hamilton, Jay and Madison's vision of how a Democratic Republic is supposed to work.
The issue that got Oliver wound up as shown in the video above is Net Neutrality. As is typical with changes to Federal Rules and Regulations, the briefings are incomprehensible and full of jargon, acronyms and legalese. It's boring, violates all the rules of rhetoric, and makes about as much sense to most of us as four or five pages of organic chemistry. However, in this case it's fairly simple -- Net Neutrality requires that internet access by providers be equal. You put your stuff online, and it goes out at whatever speed your modem and network can handle and it gets downloaded and read at whatever speed your customers, readers or the NSA is currently handling. The current effort to change the rules is pretty simple -- you allow the providers of internet services to charge extra for premium speeds.
The big online providers contend that this will make the people paying for that additional speed get a faster connection to the consumer, but will not put those buying the basic distribution system at any disadvantage. To ensure this, we have the FCC which is now run by the guy who used to be head lobbyist for the CABLE and WIRELESS industries, and of course, we all know that we can trust lobbyists. And, the cable companies and internet providers...which already exist with monopoly basis and use all sorts of bizarre tricks to maximize profits while shafting consumers. We all have our horror stories about how lousy these firms are, and now we're going to trust them to do the right thing by us all. How bad could it be? (Very...extremely...totally!) What could go wrong? (Everything...)
Yeah -- problem is that in their Ayn Rand-derived world view, screwing us is not only their right but their civic duty. In the vulture capital world of cable-broadband-Wall Street-and big time politics, there should be no consumer protections, no truth in advertising protections, no guardians for the guardians guarding the rights and well-being of the people. The FCC does have a couple of problems though --it has to convince Congress and it has to get through the public rule review and commentary period. Frankly, this is a chance for those of us who complain about the failure of democracy to at least twist a few tails here. Oliver's piece reveals the address where you can email you comments on net neutrality. He has fun with that, addressing internet trolls and encouraging them to step up to the plate and tell this bunch of politicians, bureaucrats, thieves and whores that you're not happy about this. You will hold the agency and the elected officials responsible for this attempt to stifle competition and reduce freedom of expression through the use of money to deny access to free speech.
Now, the Cable-Broadband industry are major players in our dysfunctional political financing and politicianing whoring black market. So, both sides of the aisle are pretty vulnerable here. The only way this works is if we actually exercise that free speech and scare these people. Regulators and Congress-critters are shy, timid things when the voters actually make noise. As a progressive Democrat, Secular Humanist and Skeptic there are few things I can agree with some of my colleagues here at Vets. Vets by the way, is not so wealthy that we could pay the freight for high end access or else the editors have been kidding me. But, we can all get behind this idea -- the internet is one of the most democratic things we have in terms of leveling the playing field. Granted, one of the problems with democracy is the lack of quality control, but when left and right and moderate and downright scary extremists can agree on something, and make some noise, the bureaucrats and politicians tend to jump on the me-too train.
Be aware, of course, that eternal vigilance will be necessary to make this a permanent state of affairs, but that's OK. One thing that I've figured out is that if we want to protect liberty and freedom in the expanding chaotic democracy that is the 21st Century is that evil keeps coming back. Figuring out a way to banish it forever may well be impossible. But, that is no reason to accept it as inevitable. Actually, eternal vigilance is almost cliche these days-- protecting freedom and equality requires a rare level of being OCD...and, not boring.
While looking for some pictures to
tie this piece together, I discovered this – The Greek Christmas Goblins not to
be confused with Krampus. Krampus is there to screw with the bad children, but
the Kalikantzaroi
are there to screw with Christmas.
Who says Santa
Claus is the only one trying to come down your chimney during the
festive season? According to Greek mythology, a gaggle of goblin-like spirits
are trying to slide into homes -- and instead of presents they are intent on
leaving a trail of destruction. As the
Greeks tell it, it wouldn't be hard to confuse theTwelve
Days of Christmas with the Twelve Days of Hell. That is if you believe
in the Kallikantzaroi.
Well, there’s definitely reason when we think about it to
see this as a definite possibility. The
recent madness in Sandy Hook is a marvelous metaphor for the impact of reality
striking the sensibilities this time of the year. I spend a couple of weeks
before and after braced for the next bad deal – invade someplace?
Pestilence? Riots? Tsunami? Tiffany,
Goddess of the Defeatists and Malcontents, is definitely driven to
distraction by the all the sugar consumed and her consequent inability to fit
into her skinny jeans, so she wrecks havoc on the world around us…part petulant
teenage fit, part evil deity exercise program.
There’s a young artist up in Denver, Katey Laurel, who for some odd reason decided to
follow me on Twitter. Since we don’t actually know each other, I always
react to “Follows” like Henri the Cat would if he actually typed his tweets to
his peeps….I check out who they are. If they are interesting, I follow them.
Katey has a gorgeous voice, excellent guitar taste, plays very well and is very
much an upbeat and positive type of the sort that gets Henri and me feeling
nervous. But, talent, music and beauty cover a multitude of sins. In our
occasional correspondence, I referred to her as
“hippy Dale Evans” which she seemed to like. Snarky as that sounds, I
can’t see a downside.
However, AXE’s world does have some standards. One of them
is a vomit-reaction to anything approaching a sentimental attitude at Christmas
that could be mistaken for commercialism. When I was a practicing Catholic or actively
non-practicing Catholic, I felt that Christmas was a silly feast. If you buy
the whole Christian mythos – and a number of other mythos with similar stories
that pre-date Christianity – the true center is neither word becoming flesh nor
dwelling amongst us but the 36 or so hours between the death of Jesus on the
Cross and the stone rolling away on Sunday morning at dawn. The whole torture,
suffering and death thing serves as a horrible prologue for something outside
of human experience.
But, human beings love cuddly, warm and bright at least for the most part. I’ve
never had a Goth girlfriend, but I suspect that even they feel the need for
warmth, security and brightness in the night. So, Christmas evolved and despite
the best efforts of the Puritans and Roundheads and the Jansenists and bunches
of other people, Christmas is the center
of everyone’s world for six months of so. Good Friday and Easter get a token
nod, maybe some Lenten fasting and abstinence but there’s no real hysteria and
commercial upside to Easter. Eggs, chocolate and hats do very well. Not like
Christmas…
So, Katey decided to do a Christmas song every day.
Bleech…and post them on her blog. What is nice and authentic about them is that
she just turns on her web cam, sits down with the guitar and plays the song,
and then does whatever a Colorado-Hippy-Cowgirl type does for the rest of her
time. It would be a lot of fun to just sit around with her and play by the
way…she’s got a marvelous voice and an attractiveness in the purest sense that
would make her easy to accompany. What
wasn’t cool was her suggestion that she’d like to do a Christmas album for next
year. My immediate response, on Twitter, was”Are you changing your name to
Bambi?” She obviously got the joke, because she not only favorited it, she
re-tweeted it. However, after hitting send, I thought why not do an
existentialist Christmas album.
Objectively, Christmas is a really schizoid kind of holiday.
For six weeks or so, everything operates at a level of hysteria such that the
entire world is torn between glee, despair, love, hate, anger, angst, joy and
fear. The emotional roller coaster is shadowed by the looming debt, the stress
of “loved ones,” the joys of travel in the US today and so on. It’s
unavoidable…inescapable…insatiable. And then, of course, on the 26th
the post Christmas commercial blitzkrieg takes center stage, the toys don’t
work, the tree comes down, the crumbs are vacuumed, the cats come out of hiding
and every one gets ready for the cycle to begin again. Poorer, older, fatter
and more depressed…sugar high, crashing blood sugar low.
People die around Christmas. It’s not just the uptick in
suicides which may or may not be mythical. A lot of old and sick folks stop
fighting around Christmas and just go. It’s a time of ends and beginnings. The
coldest and darkest time of the year, 3 days into winter which is already
turning from darkness to light.
I fleshed out my
suggestion to Katey for a more Either/Or Christmas album. I could see this as a single
artist project, an ensemble or a larger collaboration. Do a traditional
Christmas song and then counterpoint it with a Christmas song of angst, anger,
despair or whatever that would model the dark side. Perhaps a Harlequin
Christmas although I like the Either/Or concept. I stole the title from
Kierkegaard, one of my favorite thinkers…and, for K at the end, there was an
effort to synthesize the aesthetic and the ethical realms into the religious
realm, the Both/And.
I sent her a tentative song list, and she said she was going to check out the
videos I linked. Now, it is probably not a terribly commercial idea – do you
think? – and I can understand it if she doesn’t jump all over it. Still, I
think Katey and a couple of other guitars, maybe a blues harp, maybe a violin,
some simple drums and a string bass, and Christmas would be honestly and
respectfully portrayed.
Although I never made it to the Stilge Nacht, Helige Nacht
church in Austria, I have attended Midnight Mass in small village churches in
Germany and Austria where the light was from candles and a fireplace and the
instruments were guitars, flutes and zithers. The starker, simpler arrangements
are special. At the same time, some of the greatest commercial songwriters in
the glory days of Broadway, Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley touched the Christmas
theme. So, why not…
So, here’s my partial play list, proposed from the Dark Side
of the Force for Christmas... The
Guardian has a marvelous piece on how Fairytale came to be. This is one of the most popular contemporary
Christmas songs, and one of the few Christmas songs I have ever bothered to
learn how to play. Part of it is the Irish part of it of course – an early
version has some lyrics beginning “it was a cold dark night in County
Claire/and I looked to the west and wondered what’s over there…” Part of it is of course, it’s America…”it’s
got cars big as bars, it’s got rivers of gold? but the wind blows right through
you it’s no place for the old/when you first took my hand on that cold
Christmas eve/You promised that Broadway was waiting for me”…Failure, loss,
despair and love gone bad: “I could have
been someone/Well so could anyone, You took my dreams from me when I first
found you…”and, maybe hope triumphant…”The Boys of the NYPD Choir still singing
Galway Bay and the bells were ringing out on Christmas Day!”
Robert Earle Keen is one of the non-Gonzo
Texas Alternative Country musicians, closer to Townes Van Zandt in substance
and Guy Clark in style with some Lyle Lovett tones. Which makes a lot of sense,
given that Clark and Lovett were roommates and band mates and fellow English
Majors at Texas A&M. Like Clark he confronts reality in a sort of
off-kilter way that is truer to the whole thing than fantasy or straight
reporting could be. The Robert Earle Classic, Merry Christmas from the Family
is so true to Christmas gatherings and families and family issues. This is the
other Christmas song I’ve bothered to learn. Now, if you love Texas, the song
is pretty whimsically real, but it doesn’t have to be Texas…I was the Irish
boyfriend at a Sicilian Christmas decades ago, and yes they were connected.
“Sister brought her new boyfriend/He was a Mexican/We didn’t know what to think
of him/ Until he sang Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad…”
A
Christmas
Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis is Neko Case singing Tom Watts...Despite
being an acquaintance of mine, Neko Case one of the most talented
singer-songwriters working these days or any days. Powerful voice, expressive
and alternatively yearning, defiant and reflective. Hell, simultaneously
yearning, defiant and reflective. Her twitter remarks are worth the price of
admission alone. She’s a unique talent, responding to a piece of my snark with
“Crusader AXE, if I wanted a father, I’d buy one.” However, she complains about
Christmas and indicates that this is just not her happiest time of the year,
she’s the kind of great soul, kind heart and love-filled spirit sheathed in a
protective coating of red-headed angst and cynicism that makes her perfect to
deliver this song. ”Everyone I used
to know is either dead or in prison/Came back to Minneapolis and this time I
think I’llstay…” Waits
version is perhaps more authentic, but less affecting and less humane. Valid
still, but Neko owns this song.
The
Hives are 90s garage-punk rock from LA and everybody knows Cyndi Lauper.
However, there is more happening here than it seems, and frankly, I’ve heard
arguments like this from lots of people. This is a lot realer than we’d like it
to be. I’m kind of amazed at Lauper – she’s gone a long way musically from
wince-producing to very interesting at times. This was part of the journey, and
I could see Katey laughing her ski boots off but never considering it as a
possible song for the album. Think that would be a mistake though…
When
I heard Dylan say he was going to do a Christmas album with new songs one
morning while listening to Theme Time radio while driving to work, I spit
coffee all over the dash board. And then he produced this…the guy remains
unpredictable and true to his own vision. He’s not unwilling to share it, but
we’ll never understand it in advance. That’s how a scrawny Jewish Kid from
Northern Minnesota was able to change the world – we never saw it coming. Steven
Van Zandt repeatedly tells the Al Cooper legend of how Koop ended up, a guitar
player overshadowed and intimidated by
Mike Bloomfield’s presence in the recording studio so fakinghis way on to the
Hammond B3 for the session that produced Like a Rolling Stone. While that may
define Chutzpah, Dylan gave an insight into the vision that day when he told
the producer to turn up the organ, he wanted to hear the organ louder. The
Engineer apologized and said basically that Cooper wasn’t an organ player and
wasn’t supposed to be there anyway. Bob
said, “I’ll tell you who’s an organ player and who isn’t. Turn up the organ.”
And the rest is rock history. While I
don’t envision rock and roll polka coming anytime soon, this is a helluva lot
better and definitely a subversive take on the whole Santa thing. And, how could it be a music recommendation from Crusader
AXE that didn't include Dylan?
There are dozens of other songs that fit this mold, but from
my point of view, these are probably the best fitting for me. There is an
underlying ethical and existential tension in the whole Christmas story – for
if Jesus was the son of God and fully God and fully man, he would know his
future, even while an infant. So, there is a bit of the dark side in all the
religious carols. Now for me, anti-theist but cultural Irish Catholic, I find
that so incredibly awesome and awful that I can’t approach it. Mr. Deity has fun with it
in the whole “Jesse is a quitter!” thing but it’s a philosophical and theological
problem that I don’t think has been addressed except in Kierkegaard’s Attack on
Christianity.
There are two iconic mainstream Christmas related songs that
I think could fit in this compilation on the dark side. The first is Bing Crosby’s “I’ll be home for
Christmas.” A 1943 release, the
whole I’ll be home for Christmas malarkey is actually a pretty good wartime
meme…wars are always expected to be done by Christmas, and they never seem to
end quite that way. I sense, and this is
probably just me reading into it, a connection thematically between this and
the country song, “The Green, Green
Grass of Home.” Still, I’ll be home for Christmas is all positive buildup
until the end, with “I’ll be home for Christmas if only in my dreams…”
The next one is another in Crosby canon, “White
Christmas.” Katey commented on Twitter
to how she can’t see how people in warm areas can get in the Christmas spirit
without snow. Well, Christmas is largely about Walmart’s bottom line these days,
so in SOCAL and similar locations, it
just removes a distraction from what it really important.
It would be possible on a concept album to use these two
numbers with a pretty simple arrangement to bridge the dark side to the cheery
sides. Thus, the Either/Or. Worth considering, I think.
So, in the proper spirit of the thing. Ok. Yesterday was our 36th anniversary. We are very fond of each other and have a reasonably complex financial life that would make disengaging difficult. We don't want to cause the other pain or even inconvenience. I rate this as a successful marriage. We don't hate each other, wish the other grevious harm, and try not to act contrary to our mutual best interests.
That said, we got married on Friday the 13th. My thought, being a strategic thinker, was that this way I would not forget both Valentine's day or the Anniversary and hopefully, one would key my brain as to the other. Generally has worked...I see the Valentine's bullshit in the stores, and it triggers the response that I need to do something to commemorate the day so as not to violate the "first, do no harm or cause unnecessary pain" part of my ethic. It does not make me happy. This makes me happy...
I hate Valentine's Day. It is part of the conspiracy of the consumer society that begins in pre-school to make us all ready for a life of disappointment and conspicuous consumption.
If my cousins across the sea can get their act together and do this, maybe there's hope for us. Notice that the demographics of the people angry at the banks and rest is the same as that of the Tea Party in the United States. Says something about having good schools and making people learn math...and, note the anger at the interest rate.They've done the math...and why the hell should Greece get a better rate than Ireland? Of course, the link should take you to the Guardian's page that also has the interest rate for 30 year mortgages through the Royal Bank of Scotland...we've been robbed.
Builder Mick Wallace, who has had to lay off 100 of his workers due to the crash in the construction industry, said it was time the Irish became more militant. "We are far too quiet. We should be more like the French and get onto the streets more often. Because our politicians go over to Europe and tell the EU that our people do not demonstrate, they don't take to the streets. It's time we changed that and openly opposed what is going on," he said.
Jimmy Purdy, 77, from Dublin's Ringsend area, was at the demonstration outside Dublin's GPO – the scene of the 1916 Easter Rising. "I have lived through three recessions and I think this could be the worst one yet," he said. "I'm here because I'm angry that the EU are telling us to cut euros off the minimum wage and boss Irish workers around while the people that caused this crisis get off scot-free."
Now, Ireland has a parliamentary form of government; we do not. We're not where we are at because of Barrack Obama; we are where we at because of Alan Greenspan, Phil Graham and the election of 1994. Clinton supped with the devil and as perhaps the most sophisticated politician of the 20th and 21st centuries, used a long enough spoon that we didn't hate him as much as we should for rubbing brass cleaner on parts of the safety net. However, Obama is a political science savant -- he gets the governing part, he just doesn't get the political part. He'd be great in a Parliamentary system. He'd be like Churchill, clawing his way back into power when the other side overreached while doing the Tony Blair thing when in office. But, in our system, he forgot about the political reality -- as President, the world goes topsy turvy every two years when the Congress changes. Instead of audacity and thinking big about politics, he decided to focus on a three corner offense and a zone defense. And, he's where he is not because of Nancy Pelosi -- he's where he is because of himself, and Harry Reid.
Of the two houses, it was more critical to maintain the House than the Senate. The House is where the action is; the Senate is not. While more involved than Lords versus Commons, the filabuster and general rules of order in the Senate favor the minority unless there's a super majority. But, the House can create all sorts of havoc, and then the Senate has to stop it. Or the President has to veto it.
In a Parliamentary system, a vote of no confidence is pretty simple -- start defeating bills and the whole mess gets redone in six weeks. The Irish can go to the streets, cause panic and dismay, and something will happen. Remember that the roots of the IRA and the roots of the struggle in Ireland has a strong anti-capitalist branch...here, we've been stupid most of the time. The Republic feel in Rome not because of the populares but because of the overreaching of some of the optimates. Caesar and the boys of the XIII Legion just found it all ripe for picking, kicking and rolling over on its back...
Well, get ready for the return to the 19th Century...After all, the federal government shouldn't really be involved in clean water or anything like that...
The 80's produced a surprisingly large amount of decent music, once you got past the hair and the disco remnants. Unfortunately, Gibson's panel has selected a list that Crusader AXE thinks is challenged by reality -- unless, of course, they were requiring rotation on FM radio. Best riffs that includes nothing from Bruce Springsteen, J.Geils Band, and one from the Stones. Which came in at number 2. No Bryan Adams, which I can sort of understand. But, come on...
For example, the Stones have "Start Me Up" as number 2. Well, that is an incredible riff, and I have no problem with it at the top end. However, AC/DC is number 1 with "Back In Black". What the fuck? "Cuts Like a Knife" or "Summer of '69" are pathetic, and far, far better. The 80s brought us the Honky Tonk rock of Dwight Yoakum -- the riff from "Guitars, Cadillacs" sets the stage for a lot to come, and --oh yeah -- Yoakum was considered a cowpunk.
Start Me Up is great, but some of the riffs from Steel Wheels were superb. I'm very partial to "Mixed Emotions," for example.
Springsteen. Ok, some of the stuff on The River -- most of it, I guess -- was left overs from Darkness at the Edge of Town and so was recorded prior to the 80s. But, "Born in the USA?" Seriously, people went nuts to things like the title track, and "Glory Days"...Why is there no Southern Rock...this was the glory days for .38 Special and Molly Hatchet? "If I'd Been the One" or "Back Where You Belong" should get a mention.
I've got no issue with the Clash, although I think they could have more than one entry -- "Train in Vain", maybe as well as "Should I Stay". Hell, "Rock the Casbah" would have been fine. They even stuck a Michael Jackson song on the list -- yeah, there was a Van Halen guest appearance, but what the hell? Where's the Van Halen?
If Randy Rhoades sat in on "Hit Me Baby One More Time", would that make the list from the 90s? Or whenever the hell that tripe came out...Well, the purpose of these lists is to excite discussion, and it certainly happened with this mess.
Again, it's confusing. Not many a lesser demon appears from the fiery depths of hell with a penchant for human food. You'll usually find a hell-beast hell bent on devouring souls. Or babies. Or baby souls. Rarely do you find one who wants sandwiches. And when you do, if you're in Washington D.C. to protest taxation (is that why they're here?), well then for some reason the sandwichery strikes a menacing chord.
Well, the demon found the teaparty people he met fairly generous, getting so many sandwiches he fed a bunch of them to ducks. He did not get his ass whipped, although there were some people who discussed it with him. He appears to be David Cross, comedian and cast as a possible homosexual opposite Portia de Rossi in Arrested Development.
At the same time, there was a case of exploitative violence at the George Washington University Deli. Yokels in Tea Bagger regalia supposedly came in, got incensed that the District was going to tax the paper bags that they wanted the sandwiches in, and got so angry one of these fine Americans threw the sandwich in the face of the kid behind the counter...who was probably a student trying to pay the incredibly overpriced tuition and costs associated with going to school in DC, so he can get a good job and live the American dream...which does not include dealing with outoftown assholes. And, the kid was probably from Wyoming or some other goddamn place. If they'd thrown the sandwich at Marion Barry, that might have made sense, cosmicly.
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