Nine For a Lost God
Y'know, I'm never gonna make the big time in the blogosphere unless I start doing what all the cool kids do -- namely, find clever ways to tie in song lyrics to my posts.
Consider this bit of genius from mistermix over at BJ -- he takes the "left at the altar" quote, riffs from there to Billy Idol's White Wedding, and then picks a lyric from that song that actually has some relevance to the story as his post title.
Had I done that with my last post, the one about April Fool's Day stories being redundant from the corporate media, I would have gone with the line "They do it all the time" as the post title, from the Violent Femmes' "Kiss Off". Oh well, too late now. I'll try to be clevererer next time.
What's So Special About Today?
Last night I get home fairly late from karaoke (started at 244, ended at Czehoski). I check my email and such before going to bed.
From her bedroom, my roommate is also on teh innertubez. She suddenly exclaims "Holy crap!" I ask her what's going on.
"Canada bought half of Hawaii!"
My response is less than politic: "Ummm, no."
"Yes! I'm reading the article right now. We bought half of Hawaii to help them with their debt. It's on sympatico.ca!"
I try to tell her you can't just buy half of a state, or even a whole state. She'll have none of it. "They bought Alaska from the Russians! And New York! What about New York?"
I try to explain that those areas didn't exactly have governments when they were purchased, they were just big chunks of functionally empty land. I do a Google search, and tell her no one else is reporting this monumental news. She'll have none of it.
"I'm trying to read the article! Go to sympatico.ca! It's... oh, crap, what day is it? Crap! Crap crap!"
Now, I'd like to say I knew it must have been an April Fool's Joke, but frankly it never even occurred to me that it was after midnight and therefore April 1st. I'm just so used to having to filter out bullshit being peddled by the media, that this story was just one more log on the fire, so to speak.
I'm not claiming I never fall for April Fool's pranks. I'm just saying that, relatively speaking, 'Canada buys half of Hawaii' isn't really all that far off from the usual spew we get from Fox or CNN or WaPo.
The "news" has all but become one year-round April Fool's joke.
From her bedroom, my roommate is also on teh innertubez. She suddenly exclaims "Holy crap!" I ask her what's going on.
"Canada bought half of Hawaii!"
My response is less than politic: "Ummm, no."
"Yes! I'm reading the article right now. We bought half of Hawaii to help them with their debt. It's on sympatico.ca!"
I try to tell her you can't just buy half of a state, or even a whole state. She'll have none of it. "They bought Alaska from the Russians! And New York! What about New York?"
I try to explain that those areas didn't exactly have governments when they were purchased, they were just big chunks of functionally empty land. I do a Google search, and tell her no one else is reporting this monumental news. She'll have none of it.
"I'm trying to read the article! Go to sympatico.ca! It's... oh, crap, what day is it? Crap! Crap crap!"
Now, I'd like to say I knew it must have been an April Fool's Joke, but frankly it never even occurred to me that it was after midnight and therefore April 1st. I'm just so used to having to filter out bullshit being peddled by the media, that this story was just one more log on the fire, so to speak.
I'm not claiming I never fall for April Fool's pranks. I'm just saying that, relatively speaking, 'Canada buys half of Hawaii' isn't really all that far off from the usual spew we get from Fox or CNN or WaPo.
The "news" has all but become one year-round April Fool's joke.
March Travesties
34 different songs sung this past month. The Whole of the Moon is likely to become one of my staples, as much as I have staples. What a glorious song to belt out.
Ain't To Proud To Beg - Temptations
Baba O'Riley - Who
Big Bottom - Spinal Tap
Cult of Personality - Living Color
Dead Souls - Nine Inch Nails
Domino - Van Morrison
Don't Dream It's Over - Crowded House
Everlong - Foo Fighters
Fairytale of New York - Pogues (duet w/Lily)
Family Affair - Sly & the Family Stone
Girls On Film - Duran Duran
Go With the Flow - Queens of the Stone Age
Heat of the Moment - Asia
Heroes - David Bowie
If Venice Is Sinking - Spirit of the West
It's the End of the World As We Know It - REM
Jeepster - T-Rex
Johnny Come Home - Fine Young Cannibals
Life In One Day - Howard Jones
Little Red Corvette - Prince
Love and Happiness - Al Green
Midlife Crisis - Faith No More
Night They Drove Old Dixie Down - The Band
November Rain - Guns n Roses (duet w/Mathew)
Rio - Duran Duran
Seven Seas - Echo & the Bunnymen
She's Electric - Oasis
Sister Christian - Night Ranger
Six Months In a Leaky Boat - Split Enz
Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
White Room - Cream
Whole of the Moon - Waterboys
Wicked Game - Chris Isaak
Wouldn't It Be Good - Nik Kershaw
Ain't To Proud To Beg - Temptations
Baba O'Riley - Who
Big Bottom - Spinal Tap
Cult of Personality - Living Color
Dead Souls - Nine Inch Nails
Domino - Van Morrison
Don't Dream It's Over - Crowded House
Everlong - Foo Fighters
Fairytale of New York - Pogues (duet w/Lily)
Family Affair - Sly & the Family Stone
Girls On Film - Duran Duran
Go With the Flow - Queens of the Stone Age
Heat of the Moment - Asia
Heroes - David Bowie
If Venice Is Sinking - Spirit of the West
It's the End of the World As We Know It - REM
Jeepster - T-Rex
Johnny Come Home - Fine Young Cannibals
Life In One Day - Howard Jones
Little Red Corvette - Prince
Love and Happiness - Al Green
Midlife Crisis - Faith No More
Night They Drove Old Dixie Down - The Band
November Rain - Guns n Roses (duet w/Mathew)
Rio - Duran Duran
Seven Seas - Echo & the Bunnymen
She's Electric - Oasis
Sister Christian - Night Ranger
Six Months In a Leaky Boat - Split Enz
Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
White Room - Cream
Whole of the Moon - Waterboys
Wicked Game - Chris Isaak
Wouldn't It Be Good - Nik Kershaw
Masochism Alert
DougJ picks another fight, this time with Glenn Greenwald over the Hamsher PAC nonsense. Consider yourself extremely fortunate if you don't know what that is.
John Cole needs to kick Doug's ass to the curb before he ruins an otherwise great blog.
John Cole needs to kick Doug's ass to the curb before he ruins an otherwise great blog.
No Fair
Why can't this be a real movie?
Seriously, why not? Just because Walk Hard kinda bombed a little...
Seriously, why not? Just because Walk Hard kinda bombed a little...
The Desert Beckons
Reading Sully's roundup of reactions to David Frum's departure from AEI got me to thinking, specifically this passage from Josh Green:
Think about that timeline. Peters started pushing what became known as neoliberalism in 1969, but it wasn't until Clinton took office in '92 that it really gained any political teeth. That's a 23 year gestation period.
Similarly, Goldwater's failed presidential bid in '64 needed 16 years before it burst forth in full flower with Reagan.
That's the kind of stint conservatives are probably looking at in the political wilderness -- two decades, give or take a few years on either side -- but that clock won't even start ticking until an actual movement starts forming counter to the current rabid Tea Party madness. So far, all they have is a few heretics running loose: Sully, Conor, now Frum, a handful of others. Nothing yet that can really be called a movement.
Not only are we looking at a two-term Obama administration, we could be looking at two terms for his successor, whoever they are.
I'm reminded more and more of my old boss, Charlie Peters. Charlie founded The Washington Monthly magazine in 1969, and undertook to reorient a liberal movement that he felt had become hopelessly lost and inward looking. Charlie believed in a liberal vision for society--just not the means by which the Democrats of the 1970s and '80s were pursuing it. His philosophy became known as neoliberalism.
Think about that timeline. Peters started pushing what became known as neoliberalism in 1969, but it wasn't until Clinton took office in '92 that it really gained any political teeth. That's a 23 year gestation period.
Similarly, Goldwater's failed presidential bid in '64 needed 16 years before it burst forth in full flower with Reagan.
That's the kind of stint conservatives are probably looking at in the political wilderness -- two decades, give or take a few years on either side -- but that clock won't even start ticking until an actual movement starts forming counter to the current rabid Tea Party madness. So far, all they have is a few heretics running loose: Sully, Conor, now Frum, a handful of others. Nothing yet that can really be called a movement.
Not only are we looking at a two-term Obama administration, we could be looking at two terms for his successor, whoever they are.
Move Along
Nothing to see here, climate change deniers, move it along.
No, literally -- nothing to see here.
(via Sully, who also posted my JCS pun today. Huzzah!)
No, literally -- nothing to see here.
(via Sully, who also posted my JCS pun today. Huzzah!)
Me Me On the Radio
Well, internet radio, anyway. I'll be back on Blog Talk Radio in about 20 minutes to gab about the Nationals.
LOLERZ
DougJ, who increasingly proves he's the weak link among BJ's posters, gets schooled by Jake Tapper (jump down to comment 47 for Jake's response, or scroll down at your own pace if you want to read all the knee-jerk responses first).
I'm no fan of Tapper's, and I enjoy the schadenfreude of watching the Hindenburg that is corporate media burn as much as the next fella, but DougJ simply isn't a reliable witness. He's more Les Nessman than Herbert Morrison, and this kind of guilt by association bullshit is tiresome and unnecessary.
If Laura Ingraham had done a segment railing against Tapper for appearing on Rachel Maddow's show and saying non-commital things, DougJ would have been the first person to attack Ingraham for it.
I'm no fan of Tapper's, and I enjoy the schadenfreude of watching the Hindenburg that is corporate media burn as much as the next fella, but DougJ simply isn't a reliable witness. He's more Les Nessman than Herbert Morrison, and this kind of guilt by association bullshit is tiresome and unnecessary.
If Laura Ingraham had done a segment railing against Tapper for appearing on Rachel Maddow's show and saying non-commital things, DougJ would have been the first person to attack Ingraham for it.
Getting the Band Back Together
A while ago I suggested that a very shrewd plan on Obama's part, geared towards driving GOTv efforts for the 2010 midterms, would focus on three things:
1. passage of some form of health care reform
2. significant movement on the DADT / DOMA front
3. significant movement on immigration reform
We've now seen #1 happen. #2 continues grinding forward, and while you can debate whether there's been 'significant' movement so far, there's definite momentum.
#3 remains up in the air. Tens of thousands of people marched on Washington in support of immigration reform on Sunday (depending on which estimates you trust, they may have outnumbered the tea party HCR protesters about 7:1) but the Congressional calendar could be tight in '10, given that a jobs bill or two plus financial industry reform are pretty much givens.
boo suggests putting it off until 2012 and using it as a wedge issue against the Pubs (suggesting a climate change bill in its stead) but I personally think that's bad strategy for two reasons. One, even though we're two years out and it's impossible to predict what the landscape will be like, I find it really hard to believe the Pubs will be able to mount any kind of credible challenger to Obama unless the economy has bottomed out, in which case no wedge issue is likely to save him. Two, if the Dems don't minimize their losses in the midterms there's a good chance of complete gridlock in Congress, which means their best shot of getting anything done in the second half of Obama's first term is to maintain control over both chambers -- which means immigration reform will only be useful as a wedge issue, since it'll have no chance of passing.
Just to give some concrete numbers on why I think those three items are key to a successful GOTV effort in November:
1. Voters worried about being able to afford health care broke for Obama 60%/38%, and represented about 2/3rds of the population
2. LGBT voters broke for Obama 70%/27%
3. Hispanic voters broke for Obama 67%/31%
Those are solid Obama voters, and big parts of the coalition that got him into office, but they need a reason to head to the polls without Obama on the ballot to provide some coat-tails.
We already know the Pub GOTV effort will be big. The tea partiers are howling for liberal blood, and sadly that's not just a metaphor. Dem success in November (or, at least, minimizing the usual midterm damage) could depend a great deal on getting those voting blocs energized and organized.
1. passage of some form of health care reform
2. significant movement on the DADT / DOMA front
3. significant movement on immigration reform
We've now seen #1 happen. #2 continues grinding forward, and while you can debate whether there's been 'significant' movement so far, there's definite momentum.
#3 remains up in the air. Tens of thousands of people marched on Washington in support of immigration reform on Sunday (depending on which estimates you trust, they may have outnumbered the tea party HCR protesters about 7:1) but the Congressional calendar could be tight in '10, given that a jobs bill or two plus financial industry reform are pretty much givens.
boo suggests putting it off until 2012 and using it as a wedge issue against the Pubs (suggesting a climate change bill in its stead) but I personally think that's bad strategy for two reasons. One, even though we're two years out and it's impossible to predict what the landscape will be like, I find it really hard to believe the Pubs will be able to mount any kind of credible challenger to Obama unless the economy has bottomed out, in which case no wedge issue is likely to save him. Two, if the Dems don't minimize their losses in the midterms there's a good chance of complete gridlock in Congress, which means their best shot of getting anything done in the second half of Obama's first term is to maintain control over both chambers -- which means immigration reform will only be useful as a wedge issue, since it'll have no chance of passing.
Just to give some concrete numbers on why I think those three items are key to a successful GOTV effort in November:
1. Voters worried about being able to afford health care broke for Obama 60%/38%, and represented about 2/3rds of the population
2. LGBT voters broke for Obama 70%/27%
3. Hispanic voters broke for Obama 67%/31%
Those are solid Obama voters, and big parts of the coalition that got him into office, but they need a reason to head to the polls without Obama on the ballot to provide some coat-tails.
We already know the Pub GOTV effort will be big. The tea partiers are howling for liberal blood, and sadly that's not just a metaphor. Dem success in November (or, at least, minimizing the usual midterm damage) could depend a great deal on getting those voting blocs energized and organized.
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