Friday, April 07, 2006

An Appreciation of Bob Dylan

There's this great thread going on over at Blondsense where people are sharing their favorite Bob Dylan lyrics, and I realized that, hell, I could blogjam over there and tie up the entire thread with mine, or I could roll my own.

So roll away.

My favorite lyrical pieced of all time is Idiot Wind....

I can't help it if I'm lucky.

Sweet lady.

Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your mouth,
Blowing down the backroads headin' south.
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth,
You're an idiot, babe.
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

After losin' every battle.

Blood on your saddle.

Idiot wind, blowing through the flowers on your tomb,
Blowing through the curtains in your room.
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth,
You're an idiot, babe.
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

You're on the bottom.

I can't remember your face anymore, your mouth has changed, your eyes don't look into mine.
Slowly into autumn.

Idiot wind, blowing like a circle around my skull,
From the Grand Coulee Dam to the Capitol.
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth,
You're an idiot, babe.
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

I followed you beneath the stars, hounded by your memory
And all your ragin' glory.

And it makes me feel so sorry.

Idiot wind, blowing through the buttons of our coats,
Blowing through the letters that we wrote.
Idiot wind, blowing through the dust upon our shelves,
We're idiots, babe.
It's a wonder we can even feed ourselves.
You can feel the anger and remorse practically in the same line. It astounds me.

Another of my favorite songs is Tangled Up In Blue. I guess because I know the places he's talking about in the Village and have my owm memories of them, this one really strikes hard...
Early one mornin' the sun was shinin',
I was layin' in bed
Wond'rin' if she'd changed at all
If her hair was still red.
Her folks they said our lives together
Sure was gonna be rough
They never did like Mama's homemade dress
Papa's bankbook wasn't big enough.
And I was standin' on the side of the road
Rain fallin' on my shoes
Heading out for the East Coast
Lord knows I've paid some dues gettin' through,
Tangled up in blue.

She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam, I guess,
But I used a little too much force.
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out West
Split up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best.
She turned around to look at me
As I was walkin' away
I heard her say over my shoulder,
"We'll meet again someday on the avenue,"
Tangled up in blue.

I had a job in the great north woods
Working as a cook for a spell
But I never did like it all that much
And one day the ax just fell.
So I drifted down to New Orleans
Where I happened to be employed
Workin' for a while on a fishin' boat
Right outside of Delacroix.
But all the while I was alone
The past was close behind,
I seen a lot of women
But she never escaped my mind, and I just grew
Tangled up in blue.

She was workin' in a topless place
And I stopped in for a beer,
I just kept lookin' at the side of her face
In the spotlight so clear.
And later on as the crowd thinned out
I's just about to do the same,
She was standing there in back of my chair
Said to me, "Don't I know your name?"
I muttered somethin' underneath my breath,
She studied the lines on my face.
I must admit I felt a little uneasy
When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe,
Tangled up in blue.

She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe
"I thought you'd never say hello," she said
"You look like the silent type."
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century.
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin' coal
Pourin' off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you,
Tangled up in blue.

I lived with them on Montague Street
In a basement down the stairs,
There was music in the cafes at night
And revolution in the air.
Then he started into dealing with slaves
And something inside of him died.
She had to sell everything she owned
And froze up inside.
And when finally the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn,
The only thing I knew how to do
Tangled up in blue.

So now I'm goin' back again,
I got to get to her somehow.
All the people we used to know
They're an illusion to me now.
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenter's wives.
Don't know how it all got started,
I don't know what they're doin' with their lives.
But me, I'm still on the road
Headin' for another joint
We always did feel the same,
We just saw it from a different point of view,
Tangled up in blue.
Thanks, Jersey Cynic!

Please Pilot, Rev The Engine, Just Once?

An Offer To The President

Libby: Bush OK'd leak


April 7, 2006







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Thursday, April 06, 2006

Ladies, Have At It!

Nominate and Vote For the Sexiest Male Blogger

Unfortunately, I was forced to nominate myself, since a certain someone...who shall remain nameless but her initials are Miss C, forgot to post this link earlier this week AND didn't nominate me, so y'all can put in seconds for me, and then the voting will commence tomorrow.

I better see some votes up there for me! I know where some of you live!


I REALLY Hate Being Right All The Time...

Remember this little tidbit?
Sunday, April 02, 2006
File This Away For Future Reference...

Rice, Straw in Iraq to break deadlock

That's all I'm saying...until the inevitable failure.
Now comes this:
Iraqi Says Visit by Two Diplomats Backfired

Published: April 6, 2006


He added, "They shouldn't have come to Baghdad."


[....]The visit by Ms. Rice and Mr. Straw appeared to grate even on politicians who oppose Mr. Jaafari. "They complicated the thing, and now it's more difficult to solve," said Mahmoud Osman, an independent member of the Kurdistan Alliance, speaking Wednesday about Ms. Rice and Mr. Straw. "They shouldn't have come, and they shouldn't have interfered."

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And Your Bird Can Sing...

UK confirms first deadly bird flu case: report
Thu Apr 6, 2006 8:16 AM ET

By Ian MacKenzie
EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Tests have shown a wild Mute swan found dead in a Scottish coastal town had the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu -- Britain's first case of the disease, Sky television reported on Thursday.

Officials from the Scottish Department of Environment said they had not yet received the test results from the bird, found last week.

The discovery in the swan of the highly pathogenic strain blamed for 108 human deaths elsewhere since 2003 would make Britain the 14th country in the European Union to find the disease on its territory.
Now, one thing I will say for England: they do seem to have an inordinate fondness for birds. The Tower of London keeps ravens under royal decree (one of the Henrys, I think) and of course, the famous pigeons of Trafalgar spring to mind.

So clearly, avian flu is of the highest concern in United Kingdom, and once it's in Scotland, it's literally a hop, skip and jump, across Greenland and Iceland, to Nova Scotia and the Maritimes and Canada, to the US.
However, Bob McCracken, past president of the British Veterinary Association, said contact between wild birds that may be infected and poultry should be kept to a minimum.

"We also have to work on the assumption that there is some spread among wild birds. "There is no doubt we are getting closer to the day when moving birds indoors will be necessary," he said.

Scientists said they were confident that surveillance for possible cases of the disease was good enough.
Translation: we have no clue what we can do, and so you're on your own, Jack...but see, this isn't the news that scared me. The article that scared me...
Nigerian H5N1 bird flu outbreak spreads to Lagos

By Estelle Shirbon
ABUJA (Reuters) - The deadly H5N1 bird flu virus has been found in backyard poultry and at a commercial farm in Lagos, Africa's largest city which is home to about 13 million people, health officials said on Thursday.

The latest discovery of the virus hundreds of miles from Nigeria's first infection indicates the disease is defeating measures to contain it and raises the prospect of much wider human contact with infected birds.
13 million humans and goodness knows how many rats, cats (which have now been included in the list of animals that will need protecting from the avian flu), dogs, livestock (it may be a city, but goodness knows what's there), and other transient critters. A highly contagious (and therefore widespread) virus that has defeated all efforts to contain it (Vietnam reported yesterday that chickens infected with the virus had been imported from China, which had claimed to have their outbreak under control), with very good odds of mutating to an infectious form in mammals, and all these mammals around Lagos as incubators.

All this occuring in the place where humans first evolved, and where some basic DNA mutations have not occured that many in the rest of the world have obtained. Any mutation to mammalian form will strike hard at the basic blueprint of humanity, if it happens in Africa.

Now THAT'S scary...


Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Republican Family Values

(Hat Tip once more to Miss C)

U.S. official held in Polk sex-sting case

Amy C. Rippel
Sentinel Staff Writer

April 5, 2006

A U.S. Department of Homeland Security official was arrested Tuesday after he had sexually explicit conversations with a person he thought was a 14-year-old girl, authorities said.

Brian J. Doyle, 55, the federal agency's deputy press secretary, was actually talking to an undercover Polk County Sheriff's Office detective. Investigators said he sent pornographic movie clips to the "girl" over the Internet, used instant messaging to have explicit conversations with her and encouraged her to purchase a Web camera so they could exchange graphic photos.
As disgusting and personally repugnant as this story is, there's a *snark* element to it:

Secretary Ridge Announces "Operation Predator"

March 16, 2006: AG Gonzalez Announces International Child Pornography Ring Busted (hmmm....guess he missed Doyle...)

Now, you'd LIKE to think that the party of family values and religion would be upright and moral and would shun this guy like the plague.

Apparently, the Republicans have a problem with the shunning and the shibollething, and the boingyboingy mit the underage children...macht leben!
Republican Neverland ranch

Posted by: Brad Watkins
Thanks to Merritt for sending me this....yikes...

This list isn't speculation or conspiracy...sadly its a matter of public record.

Please send this out to whomever you deem necessary.



































* Republican candidate Richard Gardner admitted to molesting his two daughters.











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Thank YOU, Mr. Obvious!

Giuliani: Another terror attack in U.S. likely

By Josh Noel
Tribune staff reporter

April 5, 2006

Speaking in Chicago today at an urban affairs forum, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani warned another large-scale terrorist attack on U.S. soil was likely.

"It's better to assume we will be attacked again and go from there," Giuliani said during a speech at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Ya think?

Ya think the failures of the administration that you so whole-heartedly have supported, in stark contradiction to your years of battling fellow Republicans when they simply were wrong, *might* come back to bite us in the ass?

Ya think it's any wonder that the cities and areas with the largest and most dense populations voted for Gore and Kerry ahead of these jackasses?
"It would be irrational not to be afraid of another attack," he said. "But the fear should lead you to do what a police officer does or a firefighter or a soldier or what Mayor (Richard M.) Daley did: prepare."
Oh? You mean terrorizing the shit out of nation whenever you fall behind in the polls is not a good idea? That maybe, eventually, you end up being Chikcken Little, and people ignore you?

What is it with these bozos in the Republican party that they think it's OK to manipulate people until it isn't such a good idea (like, say, after a devastating flood) because it draws attention to their failures?

Why not do what every President should do: be honest with us.

No one expected another 9-11 attack right after the first, even if many of us were scared of one. We sensed that Osama had shot his wad for a while, and guess what? It took him 911 days to attack again, and even then, he had to attack closer to home. And then 7/7/05 happened in London. A little further away.

NOW is the time to have been preparing all along for an attack, but calmly, rationally. We had a terrorist attack, and the best this administration could do was give us a rainbow. And sell duck tape and plastic sheeting, produced, I note, by some heavyweight campaign contributors.

Rudy, as a side note, I really hope you run for President. And get clobbered, which is likely from both sides, because maybe, just maybe, the truth of your mayoralty will become evident to everyone: you are an unprincipled jerk who only knows how to promote yourself at the expense of those who suffer your ego.

(hat tip to Miss C for the're forgiven, officially :-) )

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Check Out The Time On This Post...

That's right...01:02:03 04/05/06!

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

A Whole New Meaning To The "Rubber Chicken Circuit"

Dear Carl,

Tom DeLay announced he's quitting Congress today because he's afraid of losing his seat to a Democrat.

Democracy for America has dogged DeLay for years. With TV commercials and billboards, at rallies and online, DFA has been on the front lines of the battle to clean up Congress. But we didn't think DeLay would "cut and run" like he did.

If he did nothing wrong -- as he claims -- then Tom DeLay shouldn't be afraid of a re-election campaign in a district he drew for himself. But he is quitting by mid-June.

Let's help send Tom DeLay the rubber chicken award he so richly deserves:

For every $50 Democracy for America raises today, we'll send Tom DeLay an authentic rubber chicken for his mantle. It'll be our goodbye present.

If you can't donate today, you can still sign the "Thanks for the Memories" card that will go along with the chickens being delivered to his office in Texas:

My favorite memory is when DeLay called my brother, Howard, "a cruel and extremist demagogue."1 I bet you have a favorite DeLay memory too. Maybe the lobbyist funded golfing trip to Scotland; or the time he spouted, "I AM the federal government," in a Washington restaurant while chomping on a cigar.2

Send Tom DeLay a rubber chicken and a goodbye note today:

In 2006, with your help, the chickens will come home to roost.


Jim Dean
Chair, Democracy for America



Next Time A Fundie Right Winger Gets On Your Case About "Values"...

...remember this quote.

"On Wednesday, March 1st, 2006, in Annapolis, Maryland, at a hearing on the proposed Constitutional Amendment to prohibit gay marriage, Jamie Raskin, professor of law at AU, was requested to testify.


Raskin replied:
The room erupted into applause. "

A Quote From Bill Maher




"On your watch, we've lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the City of New Orleans. Maybe you're just not lucky. I'm not saying you don't love this country. I'm just w ondering how much worse it could be if you were on the other side.


Remember When?





























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Sunday, April 02, 2006

File This Away For Future Reference...

Rice, Straw in Iraq to break deadlock

That's all I'm saying...until the inevitable failure.

illegal McImmigrants

I found a few interesting facets of the undocumented worker debate in the following story:
A brogue gets heard in debate

Newsday Staff Writer

April 2, 2006

Tony emigrated from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland in 1996, overstayed his tourist visa when it expired and set up a thriving floor installation business on Long Island.

For a decade now, the New Hyde Park resident has been living in the shadows - an undocumented immigrant who can't even get a driver's license. He hires someone to take him around.
Interesting tidbit #1: Notice that this is someone who's creating jobs (at least one, his driver, but I've installed flooring and unless you're working with tile, you need helpers) and after ten years, can't get a green card despite this fact.
O'Dowd, a Syosset resident who is publisher of the Manhattan-based Irish Voice newspaper, estimates that half the nation's 50,000 undocumented Irish immigrants live in the tri-state area, with the others in cities including Chicago, Boston and San Francisco. Many of the men work in construction, while the women are nannies.
Gee...nannies I get. It's hard to find native-born American women to work as nannies. But construction workers are hard to come by? Considering what union jobs pay (my dad was a carpenter) and the benefits, I'm shoc--...oh, right, union labor costs real money!
Most have come because Ireland's thriving economy is growing mostly in high-tech areas and excluding many low-skilled workers from the boom.
America, Third World country.

Seriously, we have it ass backwards on our immigration policy. We should be begging for low skill workers to come here, for a couple of reasons.

1) They're here. They're going to continue to come, legally or illegally, and anyone who believes we can seal off the entire border between the US and Mexico AND the US and Canada isn't paying attention to a few facts, not least of which is you would have to seal off the coastlines as well AND inspect each and every cargo container coming into our ports. That's how much people want to come in and work here.

2) They really DO the jobs we won't. Try hiring a teen to mow your lawn, and you'll see what I mean. Maybe if you live in a backwater town in rural America, where odd jobs can actually add up to a living, but not in the suburbs and certainly not in urban America. It's why McDonald's routinely pays higher than minimum wage now in those areas.

3) Let's be honest about this: low wage jobs are the backbone of this nation, like it or not, no matter your delusion about our economy. While Xboxes may put a bump into things, it's the folks who assemble computer parts, bullets, and mops that are the base of the economy. I hold no illusions that, because I move paper around my desk and earn a few bucks off finding discrepancies between what something costs and what it's worth, that I've contributed to the economy. I've merely tweaked it and fine tuned out some of the fat, and as business becomes more and more mechannized, my job will be obsolete soon enough: a computer does most of my number crunching now, and it's left up to me to try to find niches where I can exploit its talents.
Tony said his wife's driver's license expires next year, and they may have to move back to Ireland if immigration laws don't change.

"We have a great life. We love this country," he said. But "the noose is tightening around our throats every day. It's like we're squeezed and squeezed and squeezed slowly out of the country."
Final interesting point: you thnk the next wave of illegal immigration is going to be as dedicated and hard working as Tony?

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