Dick Cheney Arrives In Iraq To Straighten Out The Warring Factions

According to a Reuters report from Baghdad, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday (today) on an unannounced visit, at a time when pressure from Washington is growing on the Iraqi government to heal sectarian divisions.

The Veep is there to reooncile warring Iraqi factions, now that he sort of understands there is a difference between the Sunni and Shiite branches.

Who else would you send but The Great Healer and God of Conciliation?

I understand that President Bush may not be the right guy for the job. But on the other hand, why would a person almost universally reviled in America be tapped for this task?

A little over a year ago, we covered the attempted resignation of the V.P. Click here to read this article.

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Video--Koko The Clown--With A Score By The Beau Hunks

Max Fleicher's Ko-Ko the Clown in "Ko-Ko's HYPNOTISM" is a silent cartoon to which a You-tuber added sound, and the music of The Beau Hunks.

I own about 8 albums by The Beau Hunks, a Dutch musical group, who play absolutely vintage instruments, and have resurrected music from Laurel and Hardy, the Little Rascals, and other old popular music sources. The Beau Hunks are particularly known (and appreciated) for popularing the music of Leroy Shield.

Incredibly enough, the Beau Hunks don't even have a listing on The Wikipedia. You can learn more about them on Amazon.com.


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The Frog Vote, Continued

I did enjoy some of the late campaign posters in the French election. These posters come from a really interestiung blog on that electiom--The French Election 2007 blog, covering the story from an American perspective. Because that's the one we'll listen to. Heh Heh.

Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (his birth name) and Le Pen came up with a poster that sems to deny charges that he is a racist, proto-fascisct, or whatever. . .with a hot looking young woman (who may or not be French, and who is demiographically not a likely Sarkozy supporter) showing a few millimeters of panty on her peekaboo midriff.

la 1ère affiche de campagne de Ségolène.

Le Pen's poster has the slogan "Nationality, assimilation, social elevator, secularity. Right/Left: They have broke!" Apparently he is trying to shed his racially tinged reputation by placing an immigrant on his signs. Tough luck.

Royal's poster, well. . .you get it, they're looking for a change. It's usually a safe gambit, but this time around change took an ass-whuppin' to retrenchment.

Alas, another potential MILF politician bites the dust.

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Poem: The Icarus Factor

I wrote this as I was approaching John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California tonight. I'll get the chance to do a lot of descents over the next three days, as I go from Orange County to Berkeley, CA to Portland, OR to Eugene, OR and then back to Seattle.

The Icarus Factor

As the plane begins to descend
My anxiety evaporates

Whatever happens from here on
Is all good

It's a paradox
The closer the ground

The better I feel
And while the ground itself

Is most apt to do me harm
The nearer I get to mother earth

The sweeter

Life is.
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Is the world going redneck?

Conservative candidate Nicolas Sarkozy trumped Segolene Royal in the hotly-contested French presidential election, 53% to 47%. And 85% if the eligible voters hit the polls. . .the frogs may be little misguided, but they turn out to vote in numbers that make America look pathetically apathetic.

The White House has to be celebrating this one. With Stephen Harper as the PM in Canada, and now Sarkozy in France, The White House may have some friends. . .especially now that Tony Blair is hitting the bricks. And those pesky frogs have caused President Bush nothing but trouble over his adventures in the middle-east. You do have to wonder, when do the riots in France begin?

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Sheryl Crowe Reiterates And Tells Us The Toilet Paper Thing Was Actually. . .A Joke

Sheryl Crowe gives us all a scolding in The Huffington Post. She also says that the whole toilet paper brouhaha was a "joke."

"It's been well over a week since our little run in with the adviser to our president. I am just now processing all that took place during the last few days of the Stop Global Warming College tour and a few concerns still hang heavy on my mind and heart. "

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Mission Accomplished: Day 5 (Mission Accomplished Souvenir Poster)

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A great Devo video & lyrics for Come Back Jonee

I recently picked up a couple of Devo albums (a twofer: Duty Now For The Future/New Traditionalists) and have been enjoying renewing my acquaintance. You'd think Devo would be the most dated of all the bands from the 70s/early 80s. They sound amazingly good; they've aged well. One of my favorite tunes from their early albums is Come Back Jonee. . .a version--it's not quite a cover (I wonder if they had to pay Chuck Berry royalties?)--but a transformation of Johnny Be Good (similar in spirit to maybe Anne Sexton's Tranformations). They pack a lot of drama into one small song.

Gerald Casale, who co-wrote much of Devo's material, along with Mark Mothersbaugh, said that Come Back Jonee uses 50s rock and roll metaphors to mourn the passing of John F.Kennedy.

On a side note, 23 seconds into the video, you'll see and hear the loudest mike bump I've ever heard. It such a weird sound, it could almost be Foley'd in...it's a clank sound--I'm used to mike bumps sounding pretty percussive with a lot of bottom end...





Come Back Jonee

jonee went to the pawnshop
bought himself a guitar
now he's gonna go far
you gotta love 'em and leave 'em
sometimes you deceive 'em
you made her cry
jonee you're bad
you're gonna make her sad
jonee jumped in his datsun
drove out on the expressway
went head-on into a semi
his guitar is all that's left now
he made her cry
now she calls his name
jonee you're to blame
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More photos commemorating MISSION ACCOMPLISHED week

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The Unknown Hitler, Partly Unveiled

In The Unknown Hitler: His Private Life and Fortune by Wulf Schwarzwaller, Herr. Schwarwaller suggests that Hitler's persuasive powers were based on lessons he learned from Sufiism, Gurdjieff, teachings of Tibetan llamas, and Zen Buddhism.

“In Berlin, Haushofer had founded the Luminous Lodge or the Vril Society. The Lodge's objective was to explore the origins of the Aryan race and to perform exercises in concentration to awaken the forces of "Vril."

"Haushofer was a student of the Russian magician and metaphysician George Gurdjieff. Both Gurdjieff and Haushofer maintained that they had contacts with secret Tibetan lodges that possessed the secret of the "Superman." The Lodge included Hitler, Aalfred, Rosenberg, Himmler, Goring and Hitler's subsequent personal physician Dr. Morell.

He also writes that:

"Alister Crowley and Gurdjieff sought contact with Hitler. Hitler's unusual powers of suggestion become more understandable if one keeps in mind that he had access to the "secret" psychological techniques of Gurdjieff which, in turn, were based on the teachings of the Sufis and the Tibetan lamas and familiarized him with the Zen teaching of the Japanese Society of the Green Dragon.”

BTW, I have heard the book this quote comes from described as "a tabloid in hard covers," and even harder to put down than a juicy tabloid. Alas, the book is out of print, but you can find used copies on the net.
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Photo: "Mission Accomplished!"/Day Four Of Mission Accomplished Week

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Day Three Of All This Is That's MISSION ACCOMPLISHED WEEK

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