 
Liberals go live. This morning marks the debut of the liberal talk radio network Air America, kickstarting with Al Franken's morning show. Their signal streams live over the web, and so far they're on the air in these markets:
New York - WLIB 1190 AMThe server was so jammed I had difficulty getting through for a while, and I guess that's a good sign. Enjoy!
The artisanal diet, part one. In the ever-excellent food weblog Sauté Wednesday, Bruce Cole writes about what he calls "the artisanal diet", one that "derives immense satisfaction from the pleasure of eating and drinking only the finest hand-produced foods available, anywhere. Yeah, ok, so it's a food snob diet. Whatever." The first article is on artisanal coffee, in which he assures you that finding artisanal coffee roasters, grinding your own beans and making your own coffee beats the living crap out of your $800 per year mediocre latte habit from your local nationwide coffee chain, "he one that burns, er, roasts their beans beyond recognition, just so they can call it a Full City Roast." Having grown up on dark French roast coffee and chicory au lait in New Orleans and preferring that, I more or less gave up on coffee when I moved to California. I'm a tea man now, for the most part, having been forcibly addicted to strong tea on my first trip to Ireland in 1988. ("Would you like a cup of tea, Chuck?" is not a request that can be refused, even if I've already had ten cups of tea that day. "Oh you will, now, just a drop. Will you not just have one cup?" It was not unlike the scenes in "The French Connection II" when they tied Popeye Doyle down and forcibly addicted him to heroin, except without the irony.) Consequently, I'm particularly fond of Irish tea (Barry's is my favourite, Gold Blend, loose if I can get it, bags if I can't), a monstrously strong blend of Kenya, Assam and other teas that will kick your arse so that you'll know it's been kicked. I love it. We've now got a proper teapot with a rigid, copper cosy and always keep a selection of loose teas from the Bamboo Tea House in Pasadena -- currently we've got a black Zimbabwean tea, a slightly vanilla-scented Mauritius blend that's really lovely, and a few flavoured ones -- coconut, ginger-peach and Indian chai (I like flavoured teas, as long as it's not iced tea and especially not Paradise Tropical Tea, feh.) For a buck you can also get a nice metal container with a rubber seal for storing your tea and keeping it fresh. The difference between brewing up a cup or pot of these teas and using a teabag of third-rate powdered Lipton's tea-leavings is like day and night. If you like tea, give artisanal tea a shot as well. It's easy -- just about any loose, full-leaf tea of good quality will fit the bill -- relatively inexpensive and very much worth the effort. I really enjoy having a nice, proper cupán tae, and I highly recommend the experience.
How E-voting threatens democracy. A long, fascinating and scary special report from Wired magazine. Kim Zetter reports:
Electronic voting is supposed to streamline the process and rid us of the hanging chad. But the technology is rife with problems, creating the specter of botched returns and deliberate election rigging. Although many election officials defend the system, e-voting still can't be trusted. Nor, apparently, can many of its more ardent boosters.Its more ardent boosters include, oddly enough, all the manufacturers of electronic voting machines, all of which contribute heavily to the Bush campaign, and one of whom has even promised to deliver his home state to Bush in the next election? (God, it reeks like an unrefrigerated fishmonger's in here ...)
[ Link to today's entries ]
Condi the patsy. Well, whaddaya know. She's testifying! (About feckin' time, too.) Thing is, there are strings attached (of course). White House counsel Alberto Gonzales sent a letter to the commission, giving them the terms under which she'd be allowed to testify (via Lyn):
Second, the Commission must agree in writing that it will not request additional public testimony from any White House official, including Dr. Rice. [...] Other White House officials with information relevant to the Commission's inquiry do not come within the scope of the Commission's rationale for seeking public testimony from Dr. Rice.Which means, she takes the fall in public, and Bush/Cheney never have to face their nation. (They'll be "meeting" the Commission in private, and not under oath.) Brave, brave, brave Bush and Cheney. Gee, that sounds like that Neil Innes song from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" about brave Sir Robin ...
When danger reared its ugly headBut what's he afraid of, I wonder?
Thou shalt not criticize the President. MoveOn.org report that the Republican National Committee is pressing the Federal Election Commission to adopt new rules that would cripple and silence any group "that dares to communicate with the public in any way critical of President Bush or members of Congress." (Apparently the First Amendment is beyond these people ...) Here are MoveOn's talking points regarding this issue:
- These rules would shut down the legitimate activities of nonprofit organizations of all kinds that the FEC has no authority at all to regulate.These rule changes have been put forth for public review and comment until April 9. Make your comments to the FEC at politicalcommitteestatus@fec.gov. Let your Senators and Representatives know how you feel, too. Republicans ... go to the top of this weblog and read the fucking quote. This is further confirmation of what I've come to believe with every passing day since this administration took office -- the Republican Party does not want to govern, it wants to rule. First duty of a despotic ruler -- quell dissent.
Oh yeah ... I want me a Trunk Monkey! (Via August)
[ Link to today's entries ]
Cocktail of the day. My new issue of Saveur just arrived, the April '04 one. In it you'll find a nice little article about single barrel and high-end bourbons (with a tasting guide), plus another about the island of Curaçao in the Netherlands Antilles, which lends its name to the orange-flavored liqueur also known as triple sec (Cointreau being perhaps the best, and certainly the most expensive, example). Curaçao suffers in reputation a bit from many brands being cloyingly oversweet, but now the island has its own line of liqueur. "Senior & Company is the only producer making curaçao from real Curaçao-grown [bitter] orange peels, and its version of the liqueur is now available in the United States for the first time." Dale DeGroff provided the editors with a recipe suggestion for showing off this liqueur, a mid-20th Century concoction named after the grandsire of the famous racehorse Seabiscuit. Looks like it has a nice balance, and I'll give it a go soon.
Man O'WarSenior & Co.'s line of curaçaos appear to come in a rainbow of colors, including orange, red, green and two shades of the ubiquitous blue. There's also apparently a really nummy-looking chocolate curaçao as well. For more information, visit their distributor, Preiss Imports.
Quote of the day. "As long as war is regarded as wicked it will always have its fascinations. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular." -- Oscar Wilde
A new era in Ireland. As of today, the Republic of Ireland institutes a ban on smoking in all public buildings and workplaces, and this includes pubs. "Smoke spies" will be sent around to check as well. Hoo-boy.
The smoking bans worked like a charm in California -- people now routinely go outside to smoke, and it's a joy to be able to go to a club or bar or concert and not be choking on smoke, and having to have my jacket cleaned. This could be one of the tricker institutions of this ban, though. Smoking is such an ingrained part of pub culture, though, that we'll just have to wait and see how it goes. Ádh mór libh. (Good luck to yis.) Some thoughts from locals, from the Irish magazine Hot Press:
* "As somebody who started smoking when he was 12, I am looking forward to the ban. Anytime I have tried to quit I have done grand until about 3 hours in a pub. I can drink at home or in mates' places if there are no smokers about, without a problem. But after a few pints the will power gets put to the test. A test which I never could pass.I must confess, my attitude is one of "it's about time," but I'll be quietly encouraging to anyone who wants to quit smoking. I know, it's hard. I might not ever truly understand just how hard it is, but I know it's hard. If you're quitting, you've got all my encouragement. Well done you, says I to meself.
Good question,
Q: Mr. Secretary, a group called the Center for American Progress has posed this question ... "If as the administration claims, the White House did make terrorism a priority, why did Vice-President Cheney wait five months to establish a terrorism task force, which then never met?"I'm looking forward to a future scenario where questions like these are asked to people like Powell and Rice by a judge, grand jury or Congressional committee which is legally empowered to say, "The witness is directed to answer the question."
You've got to be feckin' kidding me. <rant>First off, in the interest of full disclosure, I don't watch "American Idol". I have friends who do, and who are almost obsessed with it, and fair play to them -- I'm glad they enjoy it. However, on Friday I checked into the iTunes Music Store to see what was new, and I was greeted on the front page by the new album by that silly engineering student who humiliated himself on that program, William Hung -- the kid whose fifteen minutes should have ended a long time ago.
Yes, he's plucky and indefatigable, and
didn't let his humiliation on national television get him down. He's the
dictionary definition of the fifteen-minutes-of-fame thing, and good for
him. However, what in the name of all that's good gave him the idea that
anyone actually wanted to spend money to listen to him sing? He got
signed to KOCH Records (a label that I normally respect), and I suppose
they're doing it so that they can cash in on his fifteen
minutes.
He's said that he's just being himself, that
he won't change himself for anyone's sake, for the sake of his newfound
William, be an engineer. I bet you'll be
great at it. But unless you're going to be honest and say you're only in
it for the money, trying to cash in on your fifteen minutes, put a cork in
the singing and feck off back to class, will you? (Good Gawd.) About the
only actual use I can think of for such an audible assault is that
"The Annoying Music Show"
needs song fodder, and that said, I'd listen to Nimoy sing before I'd
listen to this. (I don't buy the "it's so awful it's great" argument,
either. It's just awful.)
Then again, if someone's stupid enough to
pay money for this stuff, then fair play to him -- take the money and run
while you can. Still, It offends me that this eejit was given a record
contract when there are so many struggling and far more deserving
musicians out there who can't get signed. I've had it up to here with the
fifteen-minutes thing ...</rant>
What is it? Why, it's KCSN's new transmitter!
I've been allowed to talk about it publicly
since at least two pledge drives ago, but then it was still a big,
expensive piece of vaporware. Now it's here. All the red tape has been
vanquished. All the money is in. All the licenses and permits are taken
care of. Consequently, I think I can safely say that KCSN will go live
on the west side of Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Hollywood, Silverlake and
points beyond (we hope) between April 1 and April 15. (This is, of
course, not official and I do not officially speak for the station. This
is just a heads-up.)
The new transmitter will be referred to as a
"booster", and it fills in a gap in our legally mandated broadcast
footprint that's blocked by the annoying presence of the Santa Monica
Mountains and Hollywood Hills. Rather than having those things torn down,
we decided it would be cheaper and more environmentally friendly to put a
new transmitter up on top of a building in West Los Angeles, in order to
fill in the shadow.
It's no ordinary transmitter, either.
We'll be one of the first public radio stations in the area to be
broadcasting in Digital High Definition radio,
as part of a special pilot program partially funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Here's a bit more about it, from our Chief Engineer Mike Worrall:
KCSN is the home of truly eclectic radio for
music lovers in Los Angeles. Our broadcast schedule consists almost
entirely of music programming, featuring classical, opera, bluegrass,
classic and alternative country, blues, R&B, roots, Americana, Latin,
folk, traditional, Louisiana and Irish, jazz, swing, film scores and
soundtracks, Broadway, cocktail and lounge, surf, New Age, alternative
rock and hip-hop, as well as shows devoted to The Beatles, The Grateful
Dead and 1960s and '70s British Invasion rock. There's something for
almost everybody.
We also feature KCSN's multiple
award-winning student-produced news program "Evening Update" plus arts,
cultural and public affairs programming weeknights from 6-7pm, and the BBC
World Service from 2-6am weekdays, 3-6am weekends.
For public radio listeners (especially those
on the Westside) ... we offer a lot of music that you just don't hear on
KCRW or KPCC anymore. Those of you who were fans of shows past on those
stations will be happy to find programmer/DJs like Ann the Raven, John
Minnicucci, Kat Griffin, Betto Arcos (formerly of KPFK), "Cowboy Nick"
Stahl (formerly of KXLU) ... oh, and lil' ol' me. (Okay, I will allow
myself to toot my own horn every now and again.)
You can already hear us worldwide via our
live audio stream in
both dialup and broadband flavors. Now ... get ready to set 88.5 on your
car stereo presets, if you're an L.A. resident. Within the next two
weeks (or so, pending successful testing).
We're coming ...
Wes has some rare, out-of-print art prints
by American impressionist and Western artist G. Harvey
for sale. A little bio:
His original paintings and bronze sculptures are in collections of major
corporations, prestigious museums, the United States Government, American
presidents, governors, foreign leaders, and captains of industry. He has
been the recipient of innumerable awards and the subject of three books.
G. Harvey grew up in the rugged hills north of San Antonio, Texas, and
graduated cum laude from North Texas State University. He began painting
full-time in 1963 and just two years later won acclaim for his first show,
The Grand National Exhibition in New York, and for winning the New
Master's Award from the American Artists' Professional League.
Since then, Harvey's art has intrigued and captivated a generation. His
skilled use of light in dramatic settings, his considerable talent and
persistent quest for perfection have placed him and his work at the
forefront of late twentieth century American art.
We now return you to your regularly
scheduled weblog.
New Orleans: The Canal Streetcar Line
Okay, I'm shamelessly huckstering again.
This time, though, it's on behalf of an old friend and might well be of
interest to residents and fans of the Crescent City.
Ed Branley, whom I virtually got to know way
back in the olden days when he ran the New Orleans Mailing List, has
a new book out about the history
of the Canal St. streetcar line. This is very cool, given that the
streetcars are a living, working symbol of the city's history, and that
new streetcar lines along historical routes are under reconstruction.
Check it out, and if you buy one tell him I sent ya.
So long, and thanks for all the glassware.
On the heels of Wednesdays article and post
about Riedel glassware vs. upstart Spiegelau, we sadly note that Claus
Josef Riedel, the glassmaker who developed Riedel's first line of stemware
tailored to different wine varietals, has died at age 79.
In 1957, Claus began experimenting with different shapes and sizes of
stemware, and discovered that the aroma and taste of a particular wine
could be altered -- and deliberately enhanced -- by the design of the
glass. A year later, he released the Sommeliers Burgundy Grand Cru stem, a
37-ounce whopper of a glass, which was jokingly referred to as the
"goldfish bowl." It is now part of the permanent collection at the Museum
of Modern Art in New York City.
That design became the first in Riedel's Sommelier collection, which hit
the market in 1973 and consisted of 10 different glass shapes, each
fashioned to enhance a particular varietal. Although initially greeted
with some skepticism, the collection has since grown to include 31 styles
and is widely used by wine connoisseurs and professionals in the wine
industry.
I think there's plenty of room on Sundays
for both worship services and watching a football game or going to
the cinema. People work hard during the week, some of them working
six-day weeks, and the weekend is important to sanity (I'd be in a rubber
bedroom without my weekends, believe me). I don't believe God intended
everyone to spend every minute of their spare time on their knees.
Nat talks about the "R" zins -- Ravenswood,
Ridge, Rosenblum, Rafanelli and Rochioli as being some of the big ones,
but don't forget another favorite: Renwood. Mmmmm.
I'm still stunned by the Edmeades 2001 Zeni
Vineyards Zinfandel we picked up a while back, at a stunning 17.1% ABV.
The guys at Chronicle Wine Cellar in Pasadena (one of our favorite wine
shops) said, "Better be sitting down when you drink this one ... It'll
knock you on your butt." Indeed. Huge, jammy cherry, berry and spice,
and a feeling that you're almost drinking a nice big ruby Port rather than
a California Zin. And of course, when we finished the bottle we fled to
find more ... and of course, there isn't any more. The whole supply seems
to be sold out. Ah well. We've still got a Ciapusci Vineyards and a Late
Harvest Zin from them in that year. Plus, we found some of their regular
Mendocino Zin still available. If you can find that Zeni Vineyards stuff,
though ... get it now. It ran us about $18 a bottle.
Mr. Foster said he had shared his cost estimates with Doug Badger, the
president's special assistant for health policy, and with James C.
Capretta, associate director of the White House Office of Management and
Budget. But he said that Thomas A. Scully, who was then administrator of
the Medicare program, directed him to withhold the information from
Congress, citing orders from the White House in one instance.
A while back a cocktailian and longtime
reader sent in a recipe that I'd never seen anywhere else, but which he
said was the preferred cocktail of Rat Packer Peter Lawford, who'd talk
Vegas bartenders through it. I love finding stuff like this, and the
drink, called the "Preview", was pretty darn good. I substituted Irish
whiskey for the gin, brought the liqueur proportion down and thought of a
perfect name. As for those other cocktails with similar ingredients ...
well, they'd be far more difficult to talk a bartender through these days
due to general lack of some of the ingredients, plus I think that anyone
who garnishes an Irish whiskey-and-liqueur-based cocktail with an olive is
a mad feckin' eejit.
This drink isn't terribly sophisticated in
flavor, but is actually quite nice and might be a way for people who find
Irish whiskey to be a bit pungent to enjoy it in a lovely drink. Let's
raise our glasses to Van the Man ...
2 ounces Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey.
Shake a few dashes of pastis into a cocktail glass, then swirl around to
coat. Pour most of it out, leaving a little puddle of it in the bottom of
the glass. Combine the whiskey and liqueur in a cocktail shaker with
cracked ice, stir for no less than 30 seconds and strain into the coated
glass. Twist the peel over the drink and garnish with the peel.
It was his worst moment at the mike. Commissioner Richard Ben-Veniste ran
through a list of at least a dozen cases of foiled plots using commercial
airliners to attack key targets in the U.S. and elsewhere. Mr. Ben-Veniste
cited the "Bojinka" plot in 1995, which envisioned blowing up Western
commercial planes in Asia; that plot was foiled by the government and must
have been on the mind of C.I.A. director George Tenet, who was having
weekly lunches with Mr. Rumsfeld through 2001. In 1998, an Al
Qaeda-connected group talked about flying a commercial plane into the
World Trade Center.
"So when we had this threatened strike that something huge was going to
happen, why didn't D.O.D. alert people on the ground of a potential
jihadist hijacking? Why didn't it ever get to an actionable level?" the
commissioner asked.
Mr. Rumsfeld said he only remembered hearing threats of a private aircraft
being used. "The decision to fly a commercial aircraft was not known to
me."
Mr. Ben-Veniste came back at him: "We knew from the Millennium plot [to
blow up Los Angeles International Airport] that Al Qaeda was trying to
bomb an American airport," he said. The Clinton administration foiled that
plot and thought every day about foiling terrorism, he said. "But as we
get into 2001, it was like everyone was looking at the white truck from
the sniper attacks and not looking in the right direction. Nobody did a
thing about it."
Mr. Rumsfeld backed off with the lame excuse, "I should say I didn't
know."
He said that on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, he was "hosting a meeting
for some of the members of Congress."
"Ironically, in the course of the conversation, I stressed how important
it was for our country to be adequately prepared for the unexpected," he
said.
It is still incredible to the moms that their Secretary of Defense
continued to sit in his private dining room at the Pentagon while their
husbands were being incinerated in the towers of the World Trade Center.
They know this from an account posted on Sept. 11 on the Web site of
Christopher Cox, a Republican Congressman from Orange County who is
chairman of the House Policy Committee.
"Ironically," Mr. Cox wrote, "just moments before the Department of
Defense was hit by a suicide hijacker, Secretary Rumsfeld was describing
to me why I Congress has got to give the President the tools he needs to
move forward with a defense of America against ballistic missiles."
At that point, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, the Secret
Service, the F.A.A., NORAD (our North American air-defense system),
American Airlines and United Airlines, among others, knew that at least
three planes had been violently hijacked, their transponders turned off,
and that thousands of American citizens had been annihilated in the World
Trade Center by Middle Eastern terrorists, some of whom had been under
surveillance by the F.B.I. Yet the nation's defense chief didn't think it
significant enough to interrupt his political pitch to a key Republican in
Congress to reactivate the Star Wars initiative of the Bush I years.
(Emphasis added)
"Out of the loop"? He was the
loop.
In order to find out, the pertinent PDBs
leading up to 9/11 need to be declassified (with sensitive information,
such as individual sources, etc., blacked out). However, as Thomas Blanton
points out in Slate, "Releasing the PDBs would tell us what Dubya
knew and when he knew it. That's the real reason you won't see them anytime soon."
I know nothing about Terry Holt. I don't know whether he ever served in
the military, or whether he was even old enough to have served in
Vietnam. But I thought it was a very revealing quote -- a kind of political
Freudian slip, so to speak. Because it revealed the degree to which the
Republicans no longer feel it necessary to pander to (or even show much
respect for) those who served in Vietnam.
This is a big change from back in the day -- my day, the early '80s, when
I first came to Washington. Then the war was still a fresh wound, and the
Republicans were gouging it for all it was worth. Fawning over the vets
(rhetorically at least), and attacking the left's supposed contempt for
them, proved an incredibly effective tactic for the New Right. It allowed
them to attack liberals for opposing the war without, at least initially,
defending the war itself -- which was still very unpopular.
[more]
I have a dream that we will one day live in
a nation where people will be not be judged by whom they love, but rather
by the content of their character ...
Wes adds, "Be sure to note, if you haven't
already, Republican Senator Chuck Hagel's stern observation: 'This is a
serious book written by a serious professional who's made serious charges,
and the White House must respond to these charges' [rather than merely
question his credibilty]. Much more reasonable than any of McClellan's
ridiculous statements, particularly his lame, embarrassing attempt to
connect Clarke's book to Kerry's campaign. And suddenly Condi Rice is
making appearances on all five of the major morning shows?
Methinks the lady doth protest too much." Indeed.
Incidentally, responding to the charges
should mean something more substantial than a stupid American Bandstand
pun, or quickly disprovable claims that Clarke, a thirty-year civil
servant under Republican presidents as well as Democratic ones and the
national coordinator for counter-terrorism activities, was "out of the
loop" (or, as Kos put it,
"the administration is reduced to calling in Rush Limbaugh to plead their
case. Cheney [said] our top counter-terrorism official was 'out of the
loop' on terrorism matters. And that's their defense!)" Clarke
sounds mighty credible to me, particularly in light of all these
non-denial denials.
Clarke testifies before the 9/11 Commission
tomorrow. I can hardly wait. (Billmon's right, though --
after tomorrow, the squealing from the right-wing stuck pigs is going to
be deafening. That's okay; I've got good earplugs.)
WASHINGTON, January 21, 2003 -- Bush administration officials today denied
allegations that the White House lacks a coherent policy-making process
and is dominated by a small clique of conservatives aides known as the
"Mayberry Machiavellis."
The charges, reported in the current issue of Esquire magazine, were made
by John DiIulio, Bush's former top advisor on faith-based initiatives.
However, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said DiIulio was "not in the
loop."
WASHINGTON, January 14, 2004 -- Bush administration officials today
criticized comments from former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, who
claimed in a recent 60 Minutes interview that President Bush and his top
aides began planning for an invasion of Iraq within days of taking
office.
O'Neill was "not in the loop," White House spokesman Scott McClellan
said.
WASHINGTON, March 22, 2004 -- White House officials reacted with anger
today to charges by President Bush's former top counter-terrorism advisor,
Richard Clarke, that the president has badly bungled the war on
terrorism.
Clarke, who blasted the Bush administration in a 60 Minutes interview
Sunday, "wasn't in the loop," Vice President Dick Cheney said in an
interview Monday with radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh.
WASHINGTON, May 7, 2007 -- Top aides to former President Bush reacted with
scorn to his claim that he was manipulated by top administration
officials, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President
Dick Cheney, into invading Iraq.
In an emotional 60 Minutes interview Sunday, Bush blamed the disastrous
war (now in its fourth year) on a small cabel of neo-conservative
officials, who played upon his ignorance of world affairs and his
obsessive desire to destroy the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Former administration officials derided Bush's claim, saying the former
president was in an alcoholic stupor through most of the period in
question, and couldn't possibly have detailed knowledge of the key
decisions that led to war. "He was out of the loop," said former Vice
President Dick Cheney, currently serving a 20-year sentence in federal
prison for his role in the Carlyle Group scandal.
President Kerry pardoned Bush for his role in the affair last year.
Bush/Cheney '04: Don't change horsemen mid-apocalypse.
Bush/Cheney '04: Malice in Blunderland!
Bush/Cheney '04: Because the truth just isn't good enough.
Bush/Cheney '04: Compassionate colonialism.
Bush/Cheney '04: Putting the "con" in conservatism
Bush/Cheney '04: This time, elect us!
That makes this site ten years old now,
which is eons in Internet time. I'm flabbergasted that it's lasted this
long, and still going strong, due in no small part to this weblog (and to
my fairly high rankings in Google; when you're around this long, people
have had lots of time to link to you). In fact, thanks also to Google and
their AdSense program, the
site's actually making money for me now, for the first time
ever.
For all you web paleontologists:
Unfortunately I didn't save any mirrors of what the site looked like back
when its URL was the horribly unwieldy "ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/ea/eamon/welcome.html",
although there is a screenshot of the old image back in a (presumably)
out-of-print book called Food and Wine Online, by the late Chef
Gary Holleman. The oldest version that's still in the Wayback Machine is
from March 29, 1997,
which is still interesting-looking for its très
early-to-mid-1990s look.
So anyway, thanks for the ten years, y'all.
Feel free to break out into a chorus of that "Happy Anniversary" song from
"The Flintstones". Let's see what happens after another ten. (Jeez, I'll
be in my fifties then. Let's not think about that, actually ...)
It's unlikely to make it over here except as
an import, but if you want it now, you can order it directly from Christy
or ... I suspect you'll get a better price if you order it from my friend
Mike Larkin at Mulligan Records
in Galway city. Drop him a note at mulligan AT indigo DOT ie, and tell
him I sent you.
My friend Paul is picking it up for me in
Galway this week, then posting it to me this weekend when he's in New
York. I should have a full report not long after. He's also kindly
provided a song list, for ye fanatics like me:
Disc 2: January Man, Poor Old Earth, Tippin' it up, Poitín,
1945, Little Musgrave, Johnny Jump Up, Radcliffe Highway, John O'Dreams,
Cold Blow, The Raggle Taggle Gypsy, El Salvador, Jack Doyle, Joxer
(Original), Lawless.
Disc 3: Different Love Song, Changes, Ballindine, Anne Lovett,
Dalesman's Litany, Farewell to Pripchat, The Lakes of Pontchartrain,
Cricklewood, Strangeways, Wise and Holy Woman, Veronica, Cry Like a Man,
Viva La Quinte Brigada, The Auld Triangle, Brown Eyes (for Joe Sheeran),
Johnny Connors.
Disc 4: Lay with Me, This is the Day, Among the Wicklow Hills,
Aisling, Grey Lake of Loughrea, All I Remember, Someone to Love, Trip to
Carnsore, Danny Boy (Derrylondon Air), Ships in the Forest, 100 Miles from
Home, Smoke and Strong Whiskey, The Way Pierce Turner Sings, The Hamburg
Medley, Tyrone Boys.
Disc 5: Hey Paddy, On the Blanket, Southern Winds, Don't Hand Me
Over, Shoot Out The Streetlights, The Bridge of Killaloe (Scariff
Martyrs), North and South, At the G.P.O. 1980, 90 Miles to Dublin, Wicklow
Boy, Ballinamore, At the Rialto in Derry: January 1993, Armagh Women, On
The Bridge, Scapegoats, They Fouled the Ball Daddy, No Time For Love, On a
Single Day.
Let the music keep your spirits high...
Three months go by.
April 2001: Meeting without the president or cabinet. Was
with the number twos in each relevant department.
Two months go by.
June 2001: Still no cabinet level meeting. U.S. intelligence was
picking up an unprecedented level of ominous chatter. The CIA Director
warned the White House.
Three months go by, including a month-long Bush vacation from early August
until early September at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
September 4, 2001: Cabinet level meeting. Clarke proposed a plan to
bomb al Qaeda sanctuaries in Afghanistan and to kill Osama bin Laden.
September 11, 2001: World Trade Center destroyed, Pentagon attacked.
Further news, via Atrios:
The documents, from the FBI, OMB and Justice Department, confirms the
picture counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke painted last night on CBS'
60 Minutes. The documents can be found online here.
The combined might of Jesus and Mel Gibson was no match for a plague of
ravenous zombies at the weekend box office in North America.
"Dawn of the Dead," a remake of George Romero's 1978 cult horror, grabbed
the No. 1 slot in its first weekend by selling a better-than-expected
$27.3 million worth of tickets, according to studio estimates issued on
Sunday...
-- Gabriel Damast, age 13.
It is something I always wanted. I've always been around people saying,
'Oh, my parents' anniversary is this week.' It's always been the sight of
two parents, married, with rings. And knowing I'd probably never
experience it ever. The atmosphere was just springing with life, I just
couldn't hold myself in. It was oh my god oh my god oh my god. I felt so
happy I wanted to scream.
Alex Morris, age 11
It's nonetheless important to remember that none of this might have
happened if we had known then what we know now. No matter what the
president believed about the long-term threat posed by Saddam Hussein, he
would have had a much harder time selling this war of choice to the
American people if they had known that the Iraqi dictator had been reduced
to a toothless tiger by the first Persian Gulf war and by United Nations
weapons inspectors. Iraq's weapons programs had been shut down, Mr.
Hussein had no threatening weapons stockpiled, the administration was
exaggerating evidence about them, and there was, and is, no evidence that
Mr. Hussein was involved in the 9/11 attacks.
In the short run, the invasion of Iraq and the toppling of its leader have
done virtually nothing to stop terrorism...
As ever, CocktailDB
came to my rescue with an interesting idea. I like cocktails with a good
apricot brandy (I use Marie Brizard Apry), and instead of curaçao
I'll use Cointreau, as it's somewhat drier. It tasted good in my head
when I did a mental mix; tonight we'll see how it really tastes.
2 ounces rye whiskey.
Stir and strain, garnish with a stemless cherry.
Kwasniewski told a small group of European reporters, "I feel uncomfortable
[about Iraq] due to the fact that we were misled with the information on
weapons of mass destruction." The remarks come just a few days after
the House Government Reform Committee released a comprehensive database of "237 specific misleading statements"
before the war about weapons of mass destruction and Iraq.
The series was wonderful (unfortunately,
only a "condensed" version is available on Region 2 DVD, and I understand
the quality isn't good). The soundtrack album, a 2-CD set, is essential,
however. Mary Black, Dolores Keane and Emmylou Harris singing "Sonny"
together. The Everly Brothers, doing an old Irish balled called "Rose
Connolly" that made its way to Appalachia, accompanied by Liam O'Flynn on
the pipes. Ricky Skaggs, along with a bluegrass band from Spiddal, Co.
Galway. Need I go on? Get this record!
No, that's not necessary ... apparently Iraq
already has a new constitution. And good lord, what group of
America-hating traitors wrote this document? You'd think it was a bunch of Democrats or progressives,
or something, as Jack Balkin points out. Some excerpts:
|
I can't say I'm against it, because I think
smoking is vile (and I wouldn't have a problem with it, if smokers simply
declined to exhale, and were able to prevent their dangling cigarettes
from trailing smoke). Yes, I know that everyone should be able to choose
their own bad habits -- I drink (although in moderation), and I eat pork
and rich food (nowadays, also in moderation), but those habits generally
remain within my bubble. I don't spit my drink at your table, so I'd
appreciate it if you didn't blow your smoke at mine.
Gerald Harvey Jones, the celebrated impressionist, better known to his
peers and patrons as G. Harvey, is a modest man whose humility belies his
unqualified success. 
Anyway, it occurred to me that after putting
a list of my radio show playlists in an FTP directory on my old Netcom
shell account starting back in October of 1993, and then reading all
about Mosaic (remember that?) and simple HTML and things like that, and
then getting tired of having to constantly write down and then later on
keep printing out my Creole food recipes and list of recommended New
Orleans restaurants, I decided that a web site was what I needed. The
exact date is obscure, but I put my first web page up sometime in
mid-January of 1994 and named it after my then-radio show ... and so was
born The Gumbo Pages (which, before long, had this neatonifty
logo designed for me by my pal Lee Williamson, followed by the
