 
Surprise! From The Borowitz Report:
INSPIRED BY IRAQI HANDOVER, BUSH HOLDS U.S. ELECTION FOUR MONTHS EARLYAndy Borowitz rules. However, for something slightly more sobering, read below a couple of posts.
I got yer slogan right here. Suzanne sent in a link to a tribute to the late, lamented "Sloganator" that once appeared on the Bush/Cheney campaign website, which they quickly yanked when they realized how much fun we were having with it. A little Googling revealed that someone has posted a free-standing successor to the Sloganator, in which you can add your own patriotic slogan to a B/C 2004 campaign poster and print it out yourself! For once, I think I'll rally 'round the Preznit. I can't offer him any financial assistance, since I'm a little tapped out after this week's contribution to the Kerry campaign. My own contribution is a new slogan for them. It honors the Vice-President by quoting him; said quote seems to perfectly sum up their attitude toward the world, toward the citizens of this nation, and certainly toward anyone who disagrees with them or asks them substantial questions about their doings.
And it begins... (Via Atrios) Right now it might not be much more than tinfoil hat fodder, but for the first time someone connected to BushCo has actually uttered the words.
WASHINGTON -- The government needs to establish guidelines for canceling or rescheduling elections if terrorists strike the United States again, says the chairman of a new federal voting commission.Y'know (he said, donning tinfoil hat), if something happens and they actually do try to pull this, I don't even think the lunatic Freepers will stand for it. This country had elections in the middle of World War II, and in the midst of the Civil War. If (God forbid) there is an attack before Election Day, the one thing we will need to do to hold ourselves together as a nation is to continue with elections as planned. While playing with The Sloganator yesterday, our friend Rick came up with another B/C campaign poster that's certainly apropos.
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Culinary excess to the levels of near-obscenity exists in the palace of North Korea's psycho nutjob leader Kim Jong-Il, a "gourmet" who is perhaps the most pampered eater in the world, while the majority of the people he rules are quite literally starving.
While his countrymen scrounge for food in barren forests, Kim has spent an incalculable chunk of his nation's limited wealth feeding himself.Fascinating, and a further indication of something we pretty much knew already -- Kim Jong-Il is batshit crazy.
Bonehead diplomacy. Batshit crazy though he is, however, Kim is crazy like a fox -- certainly cunning enough to have played George Bush like a violin, and for a fool.
This week, after 20 months of doing nothing about North Korea's drive to build nuclear weapons, President Bush finally put a proposal -- a set of incentives for disarmament -- on the negotiating table. The remarkable thing is, the deal is practically identical to the accord that President Clinton signed with Pyongyang in 1994 -- an accord that Bush condemned and scuttled from the moment he took over the White House. (For more on this tale, click here and here.) Gettin' the hell outta Dodge. Bob Harris, on the Iraq handover:
So. Um. Paul Bremer got the hell out of Dodge two days early, admittedly because of security concerns. ("Other than the handful of senior officials participating in the handover ceremony, which was not broadcast live on television, Iraqis had no knowledge of it as it was happening. The ceremony was so secretive that even members of Bremer's senior staff did not know about it until two hours before it began, the official said.")Neither can I.
[...] What's going on right now is obviously nothing but an attempt by the Bush White House to set up someone else to take the blame for the ongoing shitstorm. Remember the American domestic politics is the only reason June 30th was ever chosen in the first place -- the date was fixed before any plan for even forming the new "government" even existed, or we had the slightest clue whom we were handing power to.Three Marines were killed on the very first day after the handover. As Lyn asked, "What do we do now? Invade them again?"
Coalition: Vast Majority of Iraqis Still Alive. Our administration's optimisic view, reported last Wednesday, in preparation for the scheduled handover of "sovereignty" to Iraq, which of course occurred two days early:
BAGHDAD, JUNE 23 -- As the Coalition Provisional Authority prepares to hand power over to an Iraqi-led interim government on June 30, CPA administrator L. Paul Bremer publicly touted the success of Operation Iraqi Freedom.(Via The Onion)
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Carole Coleman responds. The RTÉ journalist says, "The policy of the White House is that you submit your questions in advance, so they had my questions for about three days." In response to White House
More outrage. BushCo continue to attempt to politicize science.
Administration Tries to Rein In ScientistsNo no no, can't have any scientists offering actual science that's in opposition with BushCo agenda now, can we?
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What a gobshite. Here's the capper to yesterday's story about the RTÉ interview with Shrub:
The White House has lodged a complaint with the Irish Embassy in Washington over RTÉ journalist Carole Coleman's interview with US President George Bush.Jesus. This is what she gets for doing her job and doing it well, instead of asking Shrub fluff questions like oh my jaysis, didn't Bertie have the most fabulous outfit on at G8? Pathetic.
Busy day! We're off early this morning to line up to see "Fahrenheit 9/11" (our friend Rick said that yesterday there were already 60 people in line an hour and a half early; "All of the evening performances at the first screen had already sold out. They had added a second screen at the mall and a couple of those performances were sold out. By the time I got out of the theater all of the additional showings had sold out and they were adding midnight and 1am screenings at the other theaters nearby. I talked to the theater manager briefly and he said they were scrambling to get additional prints and more screens before the weekend was up ..." Wow.), then Italian food for lunch, then dash back to Pasadena for a cooking demo of Tuscan food and then dinner. Whoo! Meanwhile, the rest of youse go see Michael's movie.
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Gore: "Democracy itself is in grave danger." Here is the complete text of Al Gore's speech yesterday to the American Constitution Society at Georgetown University. Read it.
George W. Bush speaks to Ireland. Yesterday RTÉ News in Ireland featured an 
exclusive ten-minute interview with the President of the United States,
conducted at the White House by their Washington correspondent Carole
Coleman (RealOne player required).It was ... unbelievable. Yet, depressingly, completely believable. And infuriating. He proceeded right out of the gate to blame Abu Ghraib on "a few soldiers", was incredibly rude and condescending to Ms. Coleman (who was asking pointed, incisive questions, none of which he answered), and was visibly annoyed when she declined to accept the platitudinal bullshit and tried to call him on the facts. He was on the defensive, was not cogent, and was not responsive. I was embarrassed for all of us. I showed the interview to Wes, and he responded with a list of points that articulated what I was thinking exactly, probably better than I was planning to say it. Make sure you watch the interview first, then read his response below:
Here's my list of things about this interview that piss me off:I can only think that anyone in Ireland who already hated him and who watched this is going to hate him now even more than before. Anyone who was sitting on the fence certainly fell off. My Jaysis ... I'm sorry. The majority of us didn't vote for him.
Major league asshole. From the Los Angeles Times, Vice-President Dick Cheney, ever the class act, while on the Senate floor yesterday told a liberal Democratic senator to go fuck himself.
Leahy, a liberal Democrat, had greeted Cheney in a lighthearted way and that the vice president criticized him for Democrats' attacks on Cheney regarding ethics matters, such as alleged improprieties in Iraq military contracts awarded to Halliburton, a company the vice president once headed.Although the Washington Post is reporting that Cheney said "Fuck yourself" rather than "Go fuck yourself", the exact wording is less important; it's the thought that counts, right? Major league asshole? Yeah, big time. P.S. -- Billmon has two wonderful posts on this delightful little sentiment from the man who's a heartbeat away from a pacemaker-driven presidency; the latter is hilarious.
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Cocktail of the day. Because what the world needs now is more rye cocktails. Because what the world needs now is more Liberals. Because I don't think a "Conservative Cocktail" would taste good. (I don't stock vitriol in my bar, anyway.)
This is a really good drink. If you're serious about cocktails, I once again highly recommend picking up a bottle or two of Torani Amer. It's a wonderful product, and even though some esteemed and learned friends will disagree with me, I use it for cocktails that call for Amer Picon. It's not exactly the same as the Picon of old was, but it's close enough (and it it's close enough for all those California Basques for their Picon Punch, it's close enough for me).
Perverse Polarity. Paul Glastris writes in Washington Monthly:
About a decade ago, national news organizations regularly swooped in to various university campuses to report on the ideological battles then brewing there. Faculties and student bodies were bitterly divided over affirmative action, speech codes, and academic freedom. Archetypes of right (a musty old professor or a white male young Republican) and left (jargon-spouting activists or faculty members) could be found to represent the ideological poles, mutually hostile and philosophically uncompromising.Make sure you read the entire article.
The ire of the Irish. Shrub arrives in Ireland tomorrow. The Boston Globe, the daily read for what's perhaps the heart of Irish-America, writes, "Ireland is bracing for huge anti-American demonstrations as Bush arrives for the US-EU summit. Has the long Irish-American friendship finally soured?" (Via The Green[e]house)
Twenty years ago, when Ronald Reagan visited his ancestral village in County Tipperary, most Irish people -- uncharacteristically -- bit their tongues.While I don't expect the Taoiseach [Prime Minister] to tell him to feck off, the Irish Examiner reports that the Tánaiste [Deputy Prime Minister], Mary Harney, said that the Irish government's disagreements with US foreign policy "would be made clear to the US president at the weekend." (As if he'll care.) Greg Greene observes in his above-referenced post on the subject, "That's right: we've fallen so far that we're hated by the Irish. Put that four-leaf clover in your pipe and smoke it." Actually, I don't think that's true. I think the Irish people are well aware of the difference between Americans and the current American government. On my most recent travels to Ireland, when the subject came up the outrage and criticism was directed entirely toward BushCo, not to me. As Christy pointed out in his RTÉ interview the other day, being against George W. Bush doesn't make you anti-American. That said, the anti-Bush sentiment is palpable. I'm intensely curious to see what the turnout will be for the demonstrations across Ireland tomorrow night. Besides the main ones in Dublin and Clare, there are smaller protests organised in Galway, Waterford, Tralee (Co. Kerry), Sligo and at Shannon Town. I'm registered at a number of Irish news websites, and I'll post a few updates when I can.
From the Index. I really enjoy "Harper's Index", from the venerable Harper's Magazine. Here are a few excerpts from their May 2004 index:
Number of blank votes recorded by touchscreen machines in a January election for Florida's House of Representatives : 137'Round and 'round it goes ...
Quotes of the day. (Via Uggabugga) Let's all sing ... lie la lie ... lie lie lie lie, lie la lie, lie la lie ...
"Face the Nation", March 14, 2004Lie la lie lie lie la lie, la la la la, lieeee ... (apologies to Simon and Garfunkel). Oh, by the way, Dick ... it hasn't been "Czechoslovakia" since January 1, 1993.
Holy crapola, could I really be finished? A week ago Friday I submitted the umpteenth edit of the sequenced song list for the New Orleans box set I've been working on since last August. All things considered, I'm pretty damn happy with it. Inevitably with collections like this compromises have to be made (e.g., the band where the song of theirs I really wanted was too long, and had to be substituted for a shorter one to fit on the disc, plus a bunch of songs for which we simply couldn't get licensing), but in just about every case any substitution made ended up being the perfect substitution. Last Friday I handed in the last revision of the liner notes, and I think I'm actually done with this thing.
The official title of the box is: The guys doing the graphics, cover art and packaging design are currently hard at work. I can't wait to see what they come up with; I worked with them on severeal ideas for packaging and was very happy with all their ideas (and happy that they slurped up a lot of my ideas too). There's nothing on the Shout! Factory site yet -- they've only got upcoming releases listed through the end of July so far, and this puppy's due out on October the somethingth. Actually, I'm a lot more than pretty damn happy -- I'm ecstatic, incredibly excited, for this box to come out. Needless to say, I'll keep y'all informed. Maybe later, as the release date approaches, I'll post a track listing.
Cocktail of the day. Heavens, I've got three cocktails of the day backed up. Ah well, it was a busy week last week, what with hectic days at the day job, the radio show and having to finish up the liner notes at the end of the week. I did have time for a few libations, but not much for anything else. We had this one of the evening of Bloomsday, chosen solely for the syllable "Blooms" in its name and not because it has a single thing to do with Ireland, James Joyce or Leo Bloom; for all I know, it could be named after J. K. Rowling's publisher (I'll have to ask Robert sometime). Speaking of whom, this is a DrinkBoy original from 2003. Licor 43 (or "Cuarenta y Tres") is from Spain, a rather sweet liqueur with a citrus-vanilla flavor and a supposedly thousand-year-old recipe of fruit juices, herbs, spices and vanilla.
Christy Moore press conference -- RTÉ provides a RealAudio report on Christy's press conference about the "When Bush Comes to Shove" anti-war concerts (which happened in Dublin last weekend; haven't seen any reviews yet) and the new single by himself and Damien Rice, due out in Ireland on Friday.
Have you seen "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"? If so, then read this immediately. It's feckin' funny. (I share in author Cleo's disclaimer; I loved the movie too, but this parody is still funny.)
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Happy 100th Bloomsday! Today is the 100th anniversary of the events of James Joyce's novel Ulysses, the single day during which his characters Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus took their respective journeys through Dublin. There's a lot going on, including a five-month ReJoyce Dublin festival, a scholarly symposium, plus on the other hand lots of grousing from people like author Roddy Doyle, who finds Joyce's work overlong, overrated and unmoving. Only you can decide. Now that I'm in my forties, older and presumably wiser (ha!), I'll have to take another crack at Ulysses. I tried it in college, and I couldn't manage it. I do love Dubliners (I just got a six-CD unabridged reading of it by Irish actor Jim Norton (a.k.a. Bishop Brennan from "Father Ted"), and ultimately enjoyed A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man when I was a senior in high school. Even though Roddy can't be bothered, I think this year might be a good time to give Leo and Molly another crack.
Marco Mannino, 1952-2004. I was shocked to read in the Times-Picayune that one of my old music teachers in high school passed away a week ago last Friday. He was primarily a substitute when I was there, rather than a full-time teacher (his dad, Frank J. Mannino, was our band director and one of my best music teachers), but I do remember him well. Multiple myeloma is a terrible way to go, and it was far, far too soon. My heart and condolences go out to his entire family. So long, Marco ...
Cocktail of the day. Yesterday was Wes' turn, and once again he came up with a classic that neither of us had ever gotten around to trying. This is a wonderful old chestnut, and back in the day it even called for its own glass, the Delmonico glass. They're rare as dodo's teeth nowadays, but a whiskey sour glass is pretty much the same thing. The combination of the two main base spirits might sound unlikely at first, but it was really delightful. Make sure you get a nice lemon twist with lots of oil in the skin, and express that oil onto the surface of the drink when you twist -- that flavor component is important.
But of course, we already knew this. In spite of the never-ending stream of falsehood from Cheneybush, the 9/11 Commission finds that there was "no credible evidence" of a link between Iraq and al Qaeda in the attacks against the United States. Quel surprise, for the thousandth time.
"When Bush Comes to Shove" change of venue. News from Damien Rice's mailing list ... the new single "Lonely Soldier", a new song about peace by Christy Moore and Damien Rice, will be out next Friday 25th June, Ireland only. If you're interested, email or ring Mulligan Music in Galway and see if they'll let you pre-order or something. Tell Mike I said hi. You can also order directly from Damien's website.
Also, more importantly ... for those of you reading in Ireland (there are probably at least three or two of you) who are planning to go to the Irish Anti-War Movement's "When Bush Comes to Shove" concert (featuring Christy, Damien, Kíla, The Revs, Katell Keineg and more) this Saturday, in case you hadn't heard, it's moved form the Point Depot to Vicar Street. (I wonder how they're going to manage that ... apparently it's already sold out, and the Point seats 8,500, and Vicar Street seats only about a thousand. Hmm.) Anyway, whoever's going, ya lucky feckers, have a great time. I wish I was going with you.
The Fairy is free! You may wish to take a moment to interpret that header as you will, but you're likely wrong. The fairy to whom I'm referring is La Fée Verte, the Green Fairy, the old nickname for absinthe. Nearly a century after starting the anti-absinthe hysteria by unjustly blaming the powerful spirit for a murder, the Swiss parliament voted 142-13 to re-legalize absinthe. This is good news. Now, maybe Swiss absinthes like La Bleue won't cost two-feckin'-hundred dollars a bottle.
Shameful. The Los Angeles Times featured on its front page today an article about former soldier Spc. Sean Baker where he recalls the beating he received at the hands of his fellow soldiers in Guantánamo, and how he's been "abandoned by the military."
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Cocktail of the day. This is a variation on Johnny Mitta's Rose Cocktail. As much as I liked it, I knew that I'd like it better if I changed a major ingredient. With certain exceptions, like Martinis and Vermouth Cocktails, I tend to prefer Lillet blanc to dry vermouth more often than not. With that substitution, I added one more ingredient to help balance the drink now that the herbal tang of the dry vermouth is no longer there. And yes, it looks almost just like a Rose cocktail (perhaps a little redder), but since it's a new and separate drink it gets its own picture. We don't want any of our cocktails to get jealous, now, do we? I am not fond of royalty (certain water polo players excepted), so this drink is not named after any actual people whose primary occupation seems to be to think that they're better than everyone else. (As the song says, "I cry out 'Republic!' and allegiance to no crown.") It is, however named for figurative royalty -- Wes' first niece, who was born two weeks ago last Thursday. They're her initials.
That's just ...revolting. I love hamburgers. Properly done, well-grilled with good beef and the right toppings, a burger rise above lowbrow food and becomes one of the comforting delights of American cuisine. Unfortunately, the hamburger has been sullied by the likes of McD*n*ld's and most of the rest of the fast-food chains that contribute their artery-clogging, gut-expanding offerings to this increasingly obesogenic society. Still, I'll always go for a good burger, within the confines of my diet and in definite moderation. I love 'em. There are limits, though. There are lines one crosses in which a nice, friendly, good ol' hamburger becomes something so over-the-top as to be grotesque. For instance ... ladies and gentlemen, I present you ...
I've been seeing and hearing commercials for these, extolling the alleged virtues of not only the product but of the people who can eat "A POUND OF ANGUS BEEF!!" (A pound? What idiot would eat a pound of beef at one sitting? A proper serving would be three or four ounces.) Extolling the alleged virtues of it being as big or bigger than four McD*n*ld's Quarter Pounders with Cheese, or seven of their plain regular cheeseburgers. It's just as big or bigger, so it must be better! (Seven of those cheeseburgers? I'd puke, probably.) Just about everyone I know who's seen or heard one of these commercials is appalled. I'm still trying to decide if this is worse than their nauseating "If it doesn't get all over the place, it doesn't belong in your face" campaign.
These monstrosityburgers are the product of
the fevered minds in the Their marketing department is hard at work trying, though. "The 1 lb. Double Six Dollar Burger was designed specifically for our core hungry, young guy target audiences," says Brad Haley, executive vice-president of marketing for Carl's Jr. (Um, yeah Brad ... soon to be your core, hungry young fat guy with heart disease target audience.) Let's look at the nutrition information for this behemoth, shall we?
Calories: 1,420.Carl's should hire the characters from that movie where an ad agency hired mental patients to write their slogans, and they were honest, direct and effective. This burger's slogan would have to be, "Are you a big fat pig? Wanna be one? Boy, have we got the burger for you!!" If you saw the wonderful film "Super Size Me", you watched Morgan Spurlock eat a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese and a Super Size Fries, and then about 40 minutes later barf it up through his car window. This burger is supposedly twice the size of that. Who on earth would actually want one of these? What's behind this? Feederism? Mere gluttony? I don't get it. Even more appalling, in a way, is Carl's Jr.'s attempt to capitalize on the low-carb diet craze with their latest offering, pornographically depicted in all its cheese-oozing glory on signs outside every one of their outlets ... the Low Carb Breakfast Bowl! It consists of:
... from bottom to top, includes two scrambled eggs, a sausage patty, a slice of Swiss cheese, and a "Loaded Omelet" made with sausage, crumbled bacon, diced ham, and cheddar cheese. The product is topped with more crumbled bacon and shredded cheddar cheese -- all packaged conveniently in a 20-oz plastic bowl.Well, it is certainly as advertised, only 5 grams of nasty, awful, Satanic carbs! First the good news, now the not-so-good ... it weights in at 315g, almost three-quarters of a pound of food. A mere 2 grams of dietary fiber. Nine nundred calories, 660 of which are from fat (that's 73%, if you don't want to do the math). Fat content is 73 grams, 33 of which are saturated fats (that's 45%, better than that burger but still too much). Sodium content, 2,050 mg. I don't care what the late Dr. Atkins says, this isn't good for you. There are too many calories and too much fat for one meal. Don't be suckered in by this kind of advertising bullshit. Fast-food chains like this don't care about your health, they want to separate you from your money. If you're on a reduced-carbohydrate diet, do it and be well; be healthy and eat real food!
Just how bizarre have things become? Take this quiz from BuzzFlash.com and find out. Here's a cheat sheet on how to ace it -- for most of the questions just pick the most bizarre, absurd, mindbogglingly unlikely answer, and that'll be the right one. (To be fair, the subject of #7 applies to every president, wherever he or she goes, and has since the 1950s. The irony and incongruity of the scenario is unaffected, however.)
Oh, the scandal. Quel surprise. The Knight-Ridder reportage has a better headline: GOP refusing to allow testimony on Halliburton spending. I'm shockeditellyoushocked.
Mike West arrived in Iraq last September as a labor supervisor, one of legions of workers hired by oil services giant Halliburton Co. to help rebuild the battered country. And at his boss's direction, West filled out timecards saying that he worked 12-hour days, seven days a week, in camps with evocative names such as Anaconda and Al Asad.From the second story link:
Halliburton Inc. paid high-priced bills for common items, such as soda, laundry and hotels, in Iraq and Kuwait and then passed the inflated costs along to taxpayers, according to several former Halliburton employees and a Pentagon internal audit.And would you believe ... Rep. Thomas M. Davis, the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, decided not to include this testimony in today's hearing about contracting in Iraq. It only came to light because of one Democrat. Henry Waxman is my hero.
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Irish artists to record anti-war protest song. It's been too long ... I think we need to have protest songs back once again. I can't think of a better bunch to bring it about than these folks ...
Irish artists young and old have joined forces to record song in aid of protests against US President George Bush's forthcoming visit to Ireland, it was announced today.Can't wait to hear it. In the meantime, give a first or repeat listen to Christy's brother Barry (aka Luka Bloom)'s song, "I Am Not At War With Anyone".
Cocktail of the day. It was a bit hot this weekend, and we had been out running errands and dragging crap out of the garage all day Saturday. I decided something extra-refreshing was in order. I can't remember where I first heard of this variation of the Brazilian classic, but I got the inspiration to make one when someone gave us a pile of beautiful little kumquats the other day. It was mighty, mighty good.
If you haven't seeded the kumquats, now would be a good time to fish out all the floating pips with a spoon before serving. Since the whole kumquat is edible, you can also fish out the crushed kumquat shells and snack on them after you finish your drink. Tangy and delicious!
It ain't just me, babe. Top story, yesterday's Los Angeles Times:
Retired officials say Bush must go.Yeah, no kidding. I'm sure that the statement will be described by the Bush campaign as something akin to blasphemy.
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Cocktail of the day: Cocktailian redux. This evening (after a nine-hour day of home improvement shopping and clearing crap out of the garage) we made Dave Wondrich's recent recommendation, the 1920s-era Rose cocktail, as featured in last week's "Cocktailian" article. Oh my. It's exquisite. You simply must try it. We find this drink to be far superior when you use raspberry syrup made by either Smuckers or Knott's Berry Farm. We like the Torani product, but it's blown away by the jellymakers' products.
Yum yum yum!!
Quote of the day. Hee hee.
"I blame gay marriage."Way to uphold those family values.
Quote of the day, part deux. Day before yesterday, in an email from a friend:
Finally, it might just be as I said to [my husband] when Reagan died: "I'm having trouble summoning up how mad I was at him for all those years. Compared to what we have now, he just doesn't seem that bad."It's come to that. As Wes said, "And that, you know, is one of the saddest commentaries I've heard on The State of Things As They Are Now."
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Today, let's have a national day of mourning for Ray Charles. (1930 - 2004) R.I.P.
Lucky Old Sun(Thanks for sending that, Dave.)
Fantastic new Uncle Tupelo site debuts. This one was |
'lonely soldier'
Up in the mornin'