Music tip

Found this online radio station out of Switzerland. They play a pretty good mix and they tell you what they are playing, which is always a nice touch. Nothing worse than hearing a cool song and not knowing who performed it. It's acid lounge. The way they describe it is "ENJOY THIS LIGHT SUMMER-PLATE CONSISTING OF FRESH BEATS OF NUJAZZ - DIPPED INTO THE WARMTH OF BRAZIL ELECTRO AND FINALLY SERVED WITH A BREATH OF AMBIENT." So check it out, if you want to.

Identity Politics

I've been thinking about identity politics. It's an inelegant term, but one that does contain some meaning (which puts it one up on many other political cliches). If I understand correctly it applies to how who we are plays in the political sphere. It's why starting an African-American studies program in a local college is a political issue. It's also how being both an church-going member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons) and being a moderate liberal Democrat creates a certain amount of conflict.

For those who don't know, Mormons tend to be conservative and Republican. Utah and Idaho, our two states with the highest percentage of Mormon Population, went overwhelmingly for President Bush in the last election. And of course the perception of liberal Democrats is that we aren't religious.

So there is a perceived conflict in my life. And there are dozens of conservative pundits who want to widen this perceived gap for political gain. The President and Karl Rove have also played off this gap as well. Conservatives would love it if we would all just accept that being a liberal Democrat automatically divorces one his or her religious beliefs.

To be fair there are Democrats who do the same thing from the other side (To be a real liberal you can't be a believer), but they are far fewer in number and are not taken nearly as seriously.

This "divorce" makes me furious, on a number of levels. Suffice to say that I am both a liberal Democrat and a church-going Mormon and I see no great conflict between the two. And anybody who wants to suggest such a conflict should exist or does exist can kiss an unpleasant part of my anatomy. I haven't decided which one yet--possibly my elbow, I rarely wash it as well as I should.

Round the Horn Part M, In Which We Learn that the Martian Invaders are just a Metaphor and therefore Doubly Dangerous

And here we go.

And Then . . . has a piece on the type of candidate we apparently need to run next time to even have a chance of winning.

blogAmy had a treatise on intellectual diversity. The common Republican wisdom is that our diversity makes us weak; that may not necessarily be the case.

Chris "Lefty" Brown has a think-piece on the term Christian and whether it applies to him.

Collective Sigh has an account of grand-fatherly service in remembrance of Veteran's Day.

Mercury X23 has some extremely big news, for which we congratulate him profusely.

Rooks Rant has some thoughts on redoing the electoral college.

Steve Gilliard's News Blog has an article on who Bush is pushing for the new head of the RNC and his sexual orientation (or lack thereof). I'm not sure I buy the argument, but it's worth considering.

Words on a Page has a section on how we can get past this election and cheer up.

Yellow Doggeral Democrat has a discussion of the current round of "Fuck the South" posts going around.

Scrutiny Hooligans takes stock of the landscape in the wake of President Bush's reelection and the nominee of Alberto Gonzelez to the Attorney General.

And that's it for this week. Come back later when I may or may not post.

Holy Thursday

Two poems by William Blake

The first from Songs of innocence.

Holy Thursday

'Twas on a Holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean,
The children walking two and two, in red and blue and green,
Grey-headed beadles walk'd before, with wands as white as snow,
Till into the high dome of Paul's they like Thames' waters flow.

O what a multitude they seem'd, these flowers of London town!
Seated in companies they sit with radiance all their own.
The hum of multitudes was there, but multitudes of lambs,
Thousands of little boys and girls raising their innocent hands.

Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song,
Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of Heaven among.
Beneath them sit the aged men, wise guardians of the poor;
Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.

The Second from Songs of Experience.

Holy Thursday

Is this a holy thing to see
In a rich and fruitful land, -
Babes reduced to misery,
Fed with cold and usurous hand?

Is that trembling cry a song?
Can it be a song of joy?
And so many children poor?
It is a land of poverty!

And their sun does never shine,
And their fields are bleak and bare,
And their ways are filled with thorns,
It is eternal winter there.

For where'er the sun does shine,
And where'er the rain does fall,
Babe can never hunger there,
Nor poverty the mind appal.

Low Posting

Haven't posted much today. So I thought I'd post a post on how I wasn't posting very many posts. Pretty interesting, eh?

The President has got a Mandate

Remember how I said that it didn't matter if the President had an electoral mandate or not? Well it turns out he did get an electoral mandate. The "liberal" media, in their helpful way, have declared that Bush did get a mandate from the election. Unfortunately this declaration isn't as open and shut as one might wish.

USA Today headlined a Nov. 4 story "Clear Mandate Will Boost Bush's Authority, Reach," which said that Bush "will begin his second term with a clearer and more commanding mandate than he held for the first." (The first being when he lost the popular vote to Al Gore.) The Boston Globe asserted that Bush's victory grants him "a clear mandate to advance a conservative agenda over the next four years," while MSNBC's Chris Matthews insisted, "To me the big story is the president's mandate. The president has a mandate."

But as Al Hunt noted in the Wall Street Journal, Bush's victory was "the narrowest win for a sitting president since Woodrow Wilson in 1916." (Presidential reelections in recent decades have all come with comfortable margins of victory attached.) In fact, Bush's final margin was almost identical to Jimmy Carter's win over Gerald Ford in 1976, when there was very little discussion of a mandate for the Democrat. And it's hard to imagine that if Kerry had bested Bush 51 percent to 48 percent and collected just 15 more electoral votes than needed to win, the press would be so liberal with talk of a mandate.

Hmmmm. Seems like sometimes the "liberal" media plays on the other side. Who would have thought it?

From the Bright Ideas File

Got this from Democratic Underground although I understand both Atrios and Daily Kos have it as well.

The truth is, America is not just broken--it is becoming irreparable. . . .

That is why the unthinkable must become thinkable. If the so-called "Red States" (those that voted for George W. Bush) cannot be respected or at least tolerated by the "Blue States" (those that voted for Al Gore and John Kerry), then the most disparate of them must live apart--not by secession of the former (a majority), but by expulsion of the latter. Here is how to do it.

Having been amended only 17 times since 10 vital amendments (the Bill of Rights) were added at the republic's inception, the U.S. Constitution is not easily changed, primarily because so many states (75%, now 38 of 50) must agree. Yet, there are 38 states today that may be inclined to adopt, let us call it, a "Declaration of Expulsion," that is, a specific constitutional amendment to kick out the systemically troublesome states and those trending rapidly toward anti-American, if not outright subversive, behavior. The 12 states that must go: California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland, and Delaware. Only the remaining 38 states would retain the name, "United States of America." The 12 expelled mobs could call themselves the "Dirty Dozen," or individually keep their identity and go their separate ways, probably straight to Hell.

A little Red State Triumphalism?

The sad truth there is a significant part of the Conservative movement that would like something along these lines. Some way of getting rid of liberals forever. I don't know why this is a desirable thing.

The Real America

What is the real America? What makes a real American? What do you get when you cross an elephant with a rhinoceros?

Which brings us to a quote from my favorite political website (except of course all the wonderful Liberal Coalition sites), the Daily Howler.

We think people are basically the same in all fifty states, and we think those states are all red white and blue. We find it amazing that Dem politicians-Barack Obama excepted-don't know enough to say so. We think Massachusetts is a great state-and we think Alabama is a great state too. We think the president's endless, sneering attacks on Massachusetts were a sign of his low, inept character. And we think those attacks played hard on foolish voter prejudice-voter prejudice that ought to be challenged. And oh yeah-we think the president shows his "contempt" for red-state voters when he panders to them in this way.

He also covers the not so-surprising fact that the blue states are generally the net losers in the budget games. In other words, if you take those states and work out the ratio of dollars contributed in taxes to dollars received within the state--well, a lot of red states are getting more than they are giving and a lot of blue states are giving more than they are getting. Don't know exactly what that means.

Anarchy Now! (please)

I really am having a hard time finding anything to write on this morning. I've been looking I assure you. But nothing sparks my interest.

Listening to old time radio shows more lately. Particularly the Goon Show out of the UK and Broadway is my Beat, the most lyrical cop show ever.

Broadway is my Beat starred Detective Danny Clover, who solved crimes with the help of Sergeant Muggavan (the serious one) and Sergeant Gino Tartaglia (the ethnic comedy relief, in this case, Italian comedy relief). Poor Detective Clover lives in a relentlessly dark and oppressive world, but he also has the soul of a poet. The episodes were filled with impressively poetic monologues, which sound even more poetic coming out of Larry Thor. Here's one show opener.

In the sunlight of an October morning, Broadway stands on its street corner and breaths deep of the autumn filtered air, presses out of its lungs the taste of the night past. This is the time of the day when neon is silent, spectaculars doze. The shadows have not yet found their final shapes, and the pavement is flecked with glints of sun fragments. Doorways are opened on the October day and the night dreams are swept into the gutters. It's the time of the coffee and cakes, and break from the starting gate. And the odds? Even up, you never come in.

And where I was the sunlight filtered through Italian damask, swiftly caressed Grecian fragments; a torso in black marble, a head in stone, clocked with antiquity. A glass case with golden coins, hermetically sealed against corrosions and desire. And impervious to it all, the man who leans fastidiously against a Grecian column, then lifted his glass of champagne, silently toasted the bust of Plato. Then let the realization flow over him that a policeman was there, among his treasures.

A very interesting radio program. You can listen to one episode here.

Anyway hopefully I'll get more inspired later.

Amazon Reader Reviews by Idiots

My favorite idiotic review was to the wonderful Nuggets Compilation. For those who don't know, the Nuggets albums contained a bunch of proto punk, garage rock and psychedelic one-hit wonders of the late 60s. Bands like the Chocolate Watch Band, the Strawberry Alarm Clock, the Electric Prunes and so on and so forth. Anyway read this brain-dead review.

it said on the box that it was original punk rock...this is not punk it sounds like stuff my dad like. i know alot about punk and it wasn't in the 60's... it happened a few years ago when green day came out don't be fooled if you want to here real good punk, by the new blink 182 take off your pants and jacket cd or the mark tom and travis show cd by blink it really good and much better than this...

That's hard to top, and today's idiotic review doesn't top it. Sorry to get your hopes up. But it is pretty stupid. It's in a review of the latest John Lennon release (well one of them) of acoustic songs.

This CD is horrible. I'm not a Lennon or Beatles fan mind you so maybe I'm biased, but I had to listen to this tripe in the car the other day and it was the worst thing I've ever heard. I don't understand why people don't just move on. Music has a time and a period in which it should be listened to. John Lennon died over 20 years ago, meaning his music expired well over 20 years ago as well. This music was lame then, and it's lamer (not sure if that's a word, but you get the point) now. Please do not continue to purchase the albums of long dead idiots. Buy something new, because 20 years from now what you just bought will be old and washed up, and you don't want to have some album of songs by some dead guy recorded 40 years ago taking up space in your precious home.

How many of you are making a list of dead guys that made brilliant music? Bob Marley. Miles Davis. Janis Joplin (not technically a guy, but dead, and brilliant). Beethoven. Jimi Hendrix. Kurt Corbain. George Gershwin. Louis Armstrong. Jim Morrison, Billie Holiday. Ian Curtis. Lots of others I'm not thinking of.

And John Lennon was never lame. And to prove it here are the lyrics to Working Class Hero.

Working Class Hero

As soon as you're born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religion and sex and tv
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

There's room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

If you want to be a hero well just follow me
If you want to be a hero well just follow me

Hillary in 2008?

Josh Marshall takes on this question over at Talking Points Memo and he comes to the same conclusion that I have, namely that it would be a bad idea. He brings up the dynasty problem (we really don't need to have all our presidents coming from a few families), and also suggests that Hillary will be a polarizing figure (true). But he also makes a statement I have to admit I disagree with.

Let's be honest, Hillary Clinton is a deeply divisive figure. And if there's one thing Democrats have learned in this and the previous election it is the danger of going into a national election with a candidate who cannot even get a real hearing over a large swath of the country.

The problem with this statement is that it discounts the ability of the Rush Limbaughs and the Ann Coulters to tar any prominent democrat. How long is it going to take, for example, for Barak Obama, one of the most exciting Democrats to come along, to be portrayed as five kinds of evil by the Republican Party? Every potential candidate from Dennis Kucinich to Joe Leiberman has a past that will be exploited by Karl Rove or his surrogates.

I do agree that Hillary's past has calcified to the point that it would be a lot easier for them to do it to her.

Having a Stake

Last week I posted a post on Rush Limbaugh talking about the wisdom of the founding fathers in making sure only property owners could vote because only property owners had a stake in the system.

Well that argument piqued Random Goblin's ire, so much that he posted a comment and then e-mailed me his comments as well. The thing is, he makes some good points, so I am going to give them a more prominent position.

I've been thinking about what Rush Limbaugh said (you printed it on your website) for a couple of days, and it's really been ticking me off. Here's why:

He says that only property owners have a stake in the system, and that poor folks don't, so they shouldn't be able to vote. Basically, right?

But poor people live their lives in the system and directly affected by the system. They have children who will grow up shaped by the system.

Yet, this does not qualify as "a stake."

Essentially, what Rush is saying is that property and wealth are more valuable and important than human lives and children's futures.

And you're going to have a hard time finding something that's going to piss me off more than that.

This is hard to dispute, and it is very annoying to me as well.

Of course on another note, the "system" always disproportionately helps the poor and the working class. Frankly that's what it supposed to do, protect those who can't protect themselves. This shouldn't come as any great surprise, but the wealthy can protect themselves pretty well. It's the poor and working class and middle class who need a system to protect them. Anyway, well worth considering.

New Format, New Quote, New Blog Title

And yes after many suggestions we narrowed it down to two new blog titles. One was my personal favorite "Stupid Enough Unexplanation." The other was suggested by Random Goblin, "Legal Daisy Spacing." So in the interest of fair play and also so I can save the other title for future ventures, for this week and this week only we will be known as "Legal Daisy Spacing." Those who link to this blog, there is little need to change your link, as I will be going back to Make me a Commentator in exactly 7 days time.

Oh and in all the hullabaloo we also have a new quote and a new Quotes Page.