Saturday, January 30, 2010

Relativity & Politics by Albert Einstein

"All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field"  ~Albert Einstein
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Justice Alito's mugging for the camera was no better than Joe Wilson's outburst

A quick note from Pablo Fanque,
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

Wasn't Justice Alito's scowl & mouthing "not true" at the camera maybe even worse than Rep. Wilson's "You lie" earlier this year? Step down, you contemptible, windbag and take Scalia with you...preferably feet first.
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Palin fans wait on line to meet the Ex-Governor


Palin fans line up to meet Ex-Governor at the mall (from America's Finest News Source). 
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Friday, January 29, 2010

Travel shots: getting poked for health



I stopped in at the Dr. yesterday for eight shots in preparation for my trip to India in March (Mumbai, Aurangabad, Pune, Hyderabad, and Udaipur). I was pocked with eight various vaccines: Polio, a seasonal 'flu shot, H1N1, Diphtheria, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Typhoid, Whooping Cough, and Tetanus. And I still have to go back for a couple of booster shots before I leave, and fill two prescriptions, one for Malaria, and another antibiotic for intestinal disorders.

You gotta wonder just a little what your body really thinks about the eight new vaccines swimming around in your system. Are there other cooties in there, going oh man, I can't even remain dormant with this stuff coming at me? Is there actually like a war of he bugs going on in your body? I mean the vaccines have to have something to do, right? Or do they just keep a benign watch, waiting for a polio or tetanus virus to sneak in?
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Thursday, January 28, 2010

The Best Obama Speech Yet

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor



I liked BHO's speech last night; it was his best speech yet, because it was the hardest. I liked the plaintive (as opposed to soaring) tone, liked that he hit at what he inherited, ripped into the GOP leadership, as well as the Democrats and the bi-party electioneering/posing and factionalism. Change 2.0. We could still get it right.

From another President's state of the union:

"Shit. I know shit's bad right now, with all that starving bullshit, and the dust storms, and we are... running out of french fries and burrito coverings. But I got a solution."


- President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho, in Idiocracy
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Raucous/picaresque/books that always make me laugh and smile

Here are some of the books I return to over and over in the moments when I need a laugh.

Henry IV, Part I - William Shakespeare
A Cool Million - Nathaniel West
Gargantua and Pantagruel - Francois Rabelais
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman - Laurence Sterne
Amerika - Franz Kafka
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
Ball Four - Jim Bouton
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
Moo - Jane Smiley
The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle - Tobias Smollett
Bonfire of the Vanities - Tom Wolfe
The Good Soldier Schweik - Jaroslav Hasek
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson
Rivethead - Ben Hamper
Blue Movie - Terry Southern
Most books by Carl Hiassen
Trout Fishing In America - Richard Brautigan
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972 - Hunter S. Thompson
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David Dees' Takes on Politics, Economics, and Conspiracies

David Dees is an iconoclast. I don't really know if he is trolling, or serious. He's brilliant in either case. Kind thanks to David Dees for permission to reprint some of his work here...




















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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Obama brings Teleprompters to VA elementary school & avoids being tripped up by the tricksy 6th graders



By Jack Brummet

[ed's note: by Jack, largely because Pablo Fanque refused to have anything to do with this story. Is he getting soft on POTUS?]

This just seems so, uh, lame? Last week, BHO visited an elementary school class in Falls Church, Virginia. The sixth graders must have been a tough crowd. . .The President brought along two TelePrompTers.

I am probably reading too much into all this. There has to be some reason other than wanting to deliver a perfectly nuanced and cadenced speech. When you think about it, I bet George W. Bush would have skipped the prompters and fumbled through as best as he could (the autocue machine never did make him sound like an orator). With President Bush, you could understand teleprompters, but with President Obama, you know he could get through whatever speech he was delivering at the elementary school. On the other hand, no speech a President gives is confined to that room, as the press photos show. Even the most casual speech has the potential to end up broadcast to millions on the airwaves and cable networks...
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Photo: The Beatles fishing in Seattle

The Beatles fishing from their hotel window at Seattle's Edgewater Inn. You can still fish there. Led Zeppelin famously dropped a line, and Frank Zappa wrote his song "Mud Shark" about fishing there. . .


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My personal hero, Mr. Fenton


click to enlarge & actually be able to read it
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Sunday, January 24, 2010

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Friday, January 22, 2010

The transit and eclipse of Ex-Senator John Edwards (thank God!)

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor


The Ex-Senator with his daughter

A couple years ago, Ex-Senator John Edwards was a serious presidential contender; a nice guy who spoke passionately for the poor and disenfranchised middle-Americans. [ed's note: Pablo Fanque was an early supporter of John Edwards] He was good looking, sunny even, optimistic, ran a clean campaign, didn't take cheap shots, and never ambushed or smeared anyone. He was an asset in the Kerry presidential campaign, particularly stacked up against Darth Cheney.

After years of prevarication, delusion, and denials, Edwards now admits he’s the father of an almost two-year old daughter and that he has been--as we all know--supporting his daughter and baby momma Rielle Hunter. He has not 'fessed up that he tried to get his pal and employee Andrew Young (not the Carter cabinet member/ambassador/pastor ) to take the fall for paternity. But that's OK. After being seriously burned by Edwards, Young decided to let the world in on just what went down. Yes, has his own axes to grind, but his story seems verisimilitudinous.

Edwards made his tawdry announcement in a press release (he’s in Haiti right now!). The country now knows he left his cancer-stricken wife at home and was on the campaign trail playing hide the salami with his videographer. When he was exposed, he spent the next two years engaged in an almost laughable cover-up. In 2007, the National Enquirer reported on Edwards' affair with Rielle Hunter. The mainstream press barely touched the story until they had been scooped by the Enquirer and the story blew up in their faces.




"Game Change" describes Ex-Senator John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, as the couple from hell. Tim Rutten, reviewing the book in the Chicago Tribune wrote: "As reported in these pages, he is delusional, megalomaniacal, self-absorbed and breathtakingly irresponsible; she is condescending, viciously insulting and shrewish -- Lady Macbeth with magnolias. It's hard to imagine two people whose public personas have been more at odds with the private reality than apparently has been the case with these people."

Even the bright and long suffering "St. Elizabeth" is on the griddle in the book. As far as I know, these are new revelations. . .at least people have kept the lid on them in the last couple of years.

The aide, Andrew Young, sold a book proposal to St. Martin’s Press for an undisclosed price late last summer (the book is coming out in Feb. 2010). The proposal promised to blow the lid off Edwards' deception. Mr. Young quotes Mr. Edwards, the Dem's 2004 VP nominee who ran for president in 2008, as begging him to confess to fathering Ms. Hunter’s baby. If he did, Edwards promised, "he would be taken care of for life."

Following John Edwards' mea culpa, we wish him the best of luck personally, and hope he can balance his families, wife, and Rielle Hunter. Politically, good riddance, and R.I.P.
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Thursday, January 21, 2010

Faces Drawing No. 147 - by Jack Brummet

Drawing No. 147 finished last night
pen and ink on 24x24" muslin
by Jack Brummet





click to enlarge
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Faces Drawing No. 86

Faces Drawing No. 86 by Jack Brummet

Pen, ink, and acrylic on 24x24" muslin




click to enlarge
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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

A huge G.O.P.victory & bad news for BHO on his first anniversary as President


"BOSTON – A year to the day after his inauguration, Barack Obamaand his Democratic allies are suddenly scrambling to save his signature health care overhaul and somehow rediscover their political magic after an epic loss in the Massachusetts Senate race.

"Republican Scott Brown rode a wave of voter anger to beat Democrat Martha Coakley. The loss was a stunning embarrassment for the White House. It also signaled big political problems for the president's party this fall when House, Senate and gubernatorial candidates are on the ballot nationwide." Read the grim Associated Press story here

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Ex-president George W. Bush denounces Rush Limbaugh



President George W. Bush laid into Rush Limbaugh quite nicely yesterday.
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A Call To Action: It may be time to take it to the streets

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

"One man one vote
Now is that really real?
The name of the game
Is let's make a deal."

- Sen. Jay Billington Bulworth

[thanks to Jack Brummet for pointing out this quote, along with Arianna Huffington's far more eloquent call to action. /PF]

Can we save health care if Martha Coakley loses to Scott Brown in Massachusetts tomorrow? Maybe. Both houses have already voted...they have a big stake in all this. If we lose our "filibuster-proof" majority things become much trickier. But I think there will be hell to pay for both parties. And both parties will pay in November.

The way it could work is if the House passes the Senate bill, and then launches a reconciliation bill to iron out the kinks. This is probably the quickest way to get a bill passed. And it would short-circuit having to jam a bill through the Senate again. This will be very hard to swallow for House Democrats, who've made clear recently that they won't go along with every piece of the Senate's version.


If things go the wrong way tomorrow in Mass. (which now seems likely), the GOP and insurance companies will have us right where they want us--dead in the water. Next time, or next week, it's probably time to take it to the streets. There's something to be said for uncivil unrest.

Maybe the only way left to effect massive and real change is to take to the streets by the millions. It worked during the Vietnam War. It's probably time to see if it can work again, and if we can really set the stage from outside the Beltway for Real Change.
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Sunday, January 17, 2010

Painting: Parts by Jack Brummet

Pen and ink, and acrylic on muslin, 24" x 24" by Jack Bummet 2010.


click to enlarge
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Saturday, January 16, 2010

Mount Rainier's three summits

Mount Rainier is 54 miles southeast of my house. This photo is not the more traditionally beautiful and rounded face we see on clear days in Seattle, but a great view of its three summits (Liberty Cap, Columbia Crest, and Point Success).


click to enlarge
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Friday, January 15, 2010

Our two favorite letters from George W. Bush

By Pablo Fanque (National Affairs Ed.) and Jack Brummet (Arts and Social Mores ed.)


As you may or may not remember, we (Jack and Pablo) have corresponded periodically with the Presidents (we've only had two since All This Is That started five years ago). Our letters to them ranged from out and out trolls to respectful invitations. One letter we received--that we cannot find!--came from a staffer and basically said "are you crazy? We're not giving this to The President."

But in response to some of our more, shall we say apparently positive and supportive letters?, we did hear back from The Boss himself.

Click the letters to enlarge.




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A salute to Rev.Pat Robertson


I have a zero tolerance for sanctimonious morons who try to scare people.
- Pat Robertson



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Thursday, January 14, 2010

Mount Shuksan

A photo of that most gorgeous mountain Mount Shuksan. Shuksan is a glaciated peak in the North Cascades, north of Seattle, near Mt. Baker, and just below the Canadian border. It is 9,127 feet tall, and 'though it is 5,000 feet lower than Rainier, it one of the most photographed of the Cascade Mountains. I've always thought this was a beautiful mountain.




click to enlarge

by David et Magalie from Vancouver, Canada
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
You are free:
to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
to remix – to adapt the work
Under the following conditions:
attribution – You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).

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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Fun With Dick Nixon's Ghost



If you're a friend, or a blog follower, you probably know that LBJ and Nixon are the presidents I've studied most. With Nixon, it has been a life-long fascination. When I lived in NYC, I often brought friends over to pay homage at his townhouse on the Upper East Side--and where the Secret Service never hassled us, although we rarely arrived there before 2 AM, or even closing time (which in NYC then was 4 AM). I wrote a while ago about visiting him here. Or check here.


Anyhow, yesterday, I spent a half hour at his grave site, communing with the shade of Richard Nixon, who has fascinated me for forty-some years, and a couple more hours at his library, and birthplace. Despite being a Gorbachev Democrat, I still like the guy, and despise about 90% of his politics. He was a treacherous sneak, but managed to pull off some pretty stunning accomplishments before he was driven to the sea.
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Monday, January 11, 2010

Adlai Stevenson quote on Republican lies




By Pablo Fanque
National Affairs Editor

Adlai Stevenson wasn't very good at winning Presidential elections, but he was a very wise man.

"I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends... that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them.”

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I don't know if it's safe to make cop jokes again (is it too early?) after recent events


click to enlarge
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Brummet Island


click to enlarge

Brummet Island is located in Carroll County, New Hampshire. The island sits in Lake Wentworth, and has an elevation of 535 feet. Latitude: 43-35'18'' N Longitude: 71-08'31'' W.




To get there from Seattle:

1. Check your tires, wipers, and gasoline.
2. Pack some food.
3. Merge onto I-5 S via the ramp to Seattle 6.0 mi
4. Take the exit onto I-90 E toward Bellevue/Spokane
Passing through Idaho
Entering Montana 824 mi
5. Continue onto I-94 E
Passing through North Dakota
Entering Minnesota 824 mi
6. Continue straight onto I-694 E 11.7 mi
7. Slight right at US-10 E (signs for I-35E S/US-10/St Paul) 0.6 mi
8. Merge onto I-35E S 4.8 mi
9. Continue onto US-10 E (signs for US-52 S/US-10 E/I-94 E) 0.5 mi
10. Merge onto I-94 E
Entering Wisconsin 255 mi
11. Continue straight onto I-90 E
Partial toll road
Passing through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania
Entering New York 950 mi
12. Continue onto Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway/New York State Thruway (signs for I-87 N/Newyork/Boston) 1.0 mi
13. Continue onto I-87 S 13.5 mi
14. Take exit 21A toward I-90 E/Mass Turnpike/Boston 1.1 mi
15. Merge onto Berkshire Ext Ny Thruway 0.7 mi
16. Continue onto Ny St Thruway Berkshire Extd 5.6 mi
17. Continue onto I-90 E
Partial toll road
Entering Massachusetts 107 mi
18. Take exit 10 to merge onto I-290 E toward Worcester
Partial toll road 21.2 mi
19. Take exit 26B on the left to merge onto I-495 N toward Lowell
Partial toll road 56.1 mi
20. Merge onto I-95 N
Toll road
Entering New Hampshire 15.1 mi
21. Take exit 5 toward US-1 Bypass/Portsmouth Cir 0.5 mi
22. Continue straight 0.1 mi
23. At the traffic circle, take the 3rd exit onto NH-16 N/Spaulding Turnpike/US-4 W 5.3 mi
24. Continue onto NH-16 N
Partial toll road 14.5 mi
25. Continue onto US-202 E 2.2 mi
26. Continue onto NH-16 N 16.8 mi
27. Turn left at NH-109 N/Wentworth Rd 1.2 mi
28. Turn left at Govenors Rd 0.4 mi
29. Take the 2nd right onto Moose Mountain Rd 0.8 mi
30. Slight right at Tumble Down Dick Rd 3.2 mi
31. Tumble Down Dick Rd turns left and becomes Pleasant Valley Rd 1.5 mi
32. Turn right at Point Breeze Rd 0.4 mi

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Drawing: Faces No. 30: Multiples


click to enlarge
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Sunday, January 10, 2010

Analog art: Painting--Justice at work

Painting: Justice at work by Jack Brummet



click to enlarge
I painted this at least 12 years ago, and I think someone bought it or I traded it. Anyhow, all I have left is this low resolution photo. This was done with acrylic and pen on canvas, and was about two by three feet. One thing I notice is that is the ensuing years, my drawing skills have remained utterly static. Either I am a complete dolt, or found my "style" early on.
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Drawing: Faces No. 32

Drawing by Jack Brummet


click to enlarge
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