Full body scanners cranking up at Baltimore, Denver, Albuquerque, JFK, Dallas, Detroit, LAX, Vegas, Miami, and Wash., D.C. airports

Courtesy of the TSA, body-scanning machines that scan beneath your clothing are installed or are being installed in 10 of the nation's busiest airports. Los Angeles, Reagan National Airport, Baltimore, Denver, Albuquerque and JFK airports are already checking out random travelers. Dallas, Detroit, Las Vegas and Miami will be added this month.

"It's the wave of the future," said James Schear, the TSA security director at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, where two body scanners are in use at one checkpoint.
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The Pros and Cons of Hillary as the Veep

MSNBC has a cogent aticle on the pros and cons of a Hillary VP candidacy. Check it out here.

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Forty years ago today, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated

Forty years ago today, just after midnight, 42-year old Senator Robert F. Kennedy, a presidential candidate (who was on fire, with the most exciting, hope-filled campaign of my lifetime so far), was shot three times in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Five other people were wounded. The senator had just finished his speech after his win in the California presidential primary.

The shooter, a Palestinian, Sirhan B. Sirhan, is still in prison in California today, and will again be eligible for parole in 2011.

Senator Kennedy fought for his life over the next day, but died on the morning of June 6th. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, not far from his assassinated older brother, JFK.

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Red Wine: the fountain of youth?

"Red wine may be much more potent than was thought in extending human lifespan, researchers say in a new report that is likely to give impetus to the rapidly growing search for longevity drugs," according to an article in the Herald-Tribune.

Serious scientists have long derided the idea of life-extending elixirs, but the door has now been opened to drugs that exploit an ancient biological survival mechanism, that of switching the body's resources from fertility to tissue maintenance.

A promising recent study is based on dosing mice with resveratrol, an ingredient of red wines. "Some scientists are already taking resveratrol in capsule form, but others believe it is far too early to take the drug, especially using wine as its source, until there is better data on its safety and effectiveness."

In my own research on the subject, conducted over the last 30+ years, I would have to concur that red wine's salubrious effects on the homo sapien have been largely underestimated, if not outright ignored.

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John Prine video: Jesus, the missing years

As you probably know, no one really knows what happened to Jesus from the time he was 12 to around 30. The Bible records his birth and follows His life up to about 12years old. But from around the time he would have had his bar mitzvah to age 30 is a blank. The Gospels that say at the age of 12, Jesus was at the Temple, and the people marveled to hear Him. So he was already preaching. . .and then Pffffft! One of my favorite singer-songwriters, John Prine, took some guesses. Here they are (see the lyrics). This is a later recording, in the last few years. I first saw John play at Western Washington University in 1974, and he was awesome (see Shows I have seen 1966-2006).






Jesus, the missing years

by John Prine

(spoken)
Jesus.... the missing years

It was raining. it was cold
West bethlehem was no place for a twelve year old
So he packed his bags and he headed out
To find out what the worlds about
He went to france. he went to spain
He found love. he found pain.
He found stores so he started to shop
But he had no money so he got in trouble with a cop
Kids in trouble with the cops
From israel didnt have no home
So he cut his hair and moved to rome
It was there he met his irish bride
And they rented a flat on the lower east side of rome...
Italy that is
Music publishers, book binders, Bible belters, money changers,
Spoon benders and lots of pretty italian chicks.

Chorus:
Charley bought some popcorn
Billy bought a car
Someone almost bought the farm
But they didnt go that far
Things shut down at midnight
At least around here they do
Cause we all reside down the block
Inside at ....23 skidoo.

Wine was flowing so were beers
So jesus found his missing years
So he went to a dance and said this dont move me
He hiked up his pants and he went to a movie
On his thirteenth birthday he saw rebel without a cause
He went straight on home and invented santa claus
Who gave him a gift and he responded in kind
He gave the gift of love and went out of his mind
You see him and the wife wasnt getting along
So he took out his guitar and he wrote a song
Called the dove of love fell off the perch
But he couldnt get divorced in the catholic church
At least not back then anyhow
Jesus was a good guy he didnt need this shit
So he took a pill with a bag of peanuts and
A coca-cola and he swallowed it.
He discovered the beatles
And he recorded with the stones
Once he even opened up a three-way package
In southern california for old george jones

Repeat chorus:

The years went by like sweet little days
With babies crying pork chops and beaujolais
When he woke up he was seventeen
The world was angry. the world was mean.
Why the man down the street and the kid on the stoop
All agreed that life stank. all the world smelled like poop
Baby poop that is ..the worst kind
So he grew his hair long and thew away his comb
And headed back to jerusalem to find mom, dad and home
But when he got there the cupboard was bare
Except for an old black man with a fishing rod
He said whatcha gonna be when you grow up?
Jesus said god
Oh my god, what have I gotten myself into?
Im a human corkscrew and all my wine is blood
Theyre gonna kill me mama. they dont like me bud.
So jesus went to heaven and he went there awful quick
All them people killed him and he wasnt even sick
So come and gather around me my contemporary peers
And Ill tell you all the story of
Jesus...the missing years

Repeat chorus:

We all reside down the block
Inside at ....23 skidoo.
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Is Bill Clinton, as Luke Burbank said on TBTL, on "a one-way ticket to Crunktown?"

Luke Burbank pegged it on Too Beautiful To Live (TBTL). He called the tale appearing in Vanity Fair, about which Bill Clinton is apparently livid, "A one-way ticket to Crunktown."

The fast-paced, depressing, and pretty danged interesting story with the subtitles "Bubba Trouble" and "The Comeback Id" appears here."

After reading this story, I just want to give a shout out to Scooter, a long time reader. It's almost a crime you didn't write this VF story! You've been ranting about this for years now, most of it, as it turns out, depressingly spot on. I don't know how much a smear piece the Vanity Fair piece is. . .or if it is 100% verifiable, but. . .whew! Party on Mister President!

At least Dick Nixon went on to write eight books, advise every single President who followed him, and for one thing, in office, helped pry open the doors to China and Russia. Dick Nixon helped our world get just a little bit closer even in "retirement", and you waded into your wife's ill-fated Presidential campaign with anger and racially coded messages, and angry outbursts all along the campaign trail, from cocktail parties, to rally to $5,000 a plate dinners, and apparently some extremely "fast company."
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Does Hillary End it tomorrow?

Interesting, after earlier in the week when Obama seemed to leak that we would absolutely not offer the VP-ship to Senator Clinton (but was considering a cabinet post). . .now she is willing to talk about it! Let's see what tomorrow brings.

For all the talk of the overpowering Obama juggernaut, it took him until the last vote in the last state to finally clinch enough delegates to actually win. OK. Now we begin the dismantling of John McCain.
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The Graduate, Claire Brummet exits the University of Victoria

Claire and Keelin in Berkeley, 1985



Bobbins, Juack, Hari, Cobbles, and Moochie, California 2005

I never told her to get into plastics...that's so The Graduate. I don't think we pushed her to ever take up one line or the other because it would make her rich or famous or put her on top. We've watched Claire Brummet wend her way through a few possibilities: software development, English, Film, and finally, where she found her home, Philosophy. Keelin and I both majored in English in college, and we ended up just fine. I have to assume Philosophy is the same. . .it's one of those majors where you learn to think and write and as life goes on, you translate what you know to what you need to do. In any case, and whatever she makes of it, this is a personal high...to see your child graduate from college is a moving and intensely personal high.

Claire with BF, Colin, 2007, Victoria, BC, Canada

In my case, at least, the curse is broken. I was the first--and only--Brummet to attend college, and certainly the only one to graduate. On my other, Jones, side, only my cousin David finished college. So Claire is the first second generation Brummet to beat the hillbilly curse. The Joneses have managed to get a few more through. And I love her for that. I wasn't just an anomaly! She may even best me by getting her J.D., M.A., or PhD.

Claire and Jack, Pike Place Market, 1986

I am travelling in a few hours to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, to watch her graduate. And I am so happy and proud, it's really hard to articulate. Yeah, we've done a lot of stupid things, and venerated a lot of bad behavior over the years, but come on. . .is this a great country or what? Congratulations Moochie! We just love 'ya.
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Video: Dylan Plays Like A Rolling Stone in England, 1966, with The Band

This video is a gnarly 1966 performance of Like A Rolling Stone in City Hall, Newcastle. Dylan is at his screaming best with a catalog of facial contortions. Some members of The Band are in his band that night. All I can see for sure are Rick Danko (for one second) and Robbie Robertson. I know Levon Helm quit that tour, because he hated all the booing.



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Alien Lore No. 132 - The Alleged Alien Video

The alien video Jeff Peckman showed to the press Friday turned out to be somewhat less than convincing. To no one's great surprise, the video showed a Grey straight from central casting, looking much like the greys in Dark Skies and other filmed and televised representations of greys. Peckman prohibited photography during his presentation Friday (for more details, see Alien Lore No. 130 and Alien Lore No. 131). Although the presentation was "secure," this video has been floating around for a while. Here is a clip, that pretty much tells the whole story:



The video showing the alien has now been shown to the press, the Denver Post reports. The grainy three-minute-long video, shows a creature with big eyes looking through a window into a house, the Post said. But it was unclear if it was a puppet or an alien, or even an animation created in Maya and then blurred and "filmed up."

Peckman, who wants Denver to create an 18-member extraterrestrial affairs commission, screened the video for the media Friday at Metropolitan State College. The video was taken on July 17, 2003, in Nebraska by Stan Romanek, according to Alejandro Rojas, the education director of the Mutual UFO Network, who spoke at Friday's press conference.
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Painting: The Devil in disguise

click the devil to enlarge

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What's wrong with Bill Clinton?

Bil and Belinda Stronach, an often written-about friendship

A fascinating, long, and detailed study of what went wrong with Bill Clinton, it the current Vanity Fair. The entire article is here....
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