The Long Winters and Grand Hallway

Saw a great show at the Crocodile last night.  It's the first time I'd been since the rehab/reopening.  It's so much better now for viewing shows--we were in the balcony...a small bar overlooking the stage.  Nice.

The Long Winters, particularly John Roderick were good, and Roderick, as he always is, was hilarious.  They play a hard driving kind of power pop, and very few downtempo tunes.

Grand Hallway

I was really knocked out by Grand Hallway.  A really interesting, energetic, and different band that;s been getting a lot of buzz, and great notices at South by Southwest.

Meth, Porn on the taxpayer's nickel, "free" tickets and other graft: how would the off-shore drilling watchdogs ever find time to regulate?

By Pablo Fanque

National Affairs Editor

The Inspector General released a report today that details major abuses, graft, and corruption at the agency that "oversees" off-shore oil drilling.    The Minerals Management Service abuses are shocking but hardly surprising.  As we've seen in dozens of other cozy relationships between government employees and vendors, the lines rapidly become blurred as the employees *cough* regulators nestle snugly in the pockets of the dirtbags they were hired to control.   Interestingly the IG, Mary Kendall notes that "we discovered that the individuals involved in the fraternizing and gift exchange both government and industry have often known one another since childhood."

Curiously, the MMS is located in Denver--about as far as you can possibly be from the sites you are charged with overseeing. 

None of this is new.   The previous Inspector General--Earl Devaney--in 2008 reported a "culture of ethical failure" and numerous conflicts of interest at the minerals agency.

You can read the entire story of the new Inspector General's report here, on WKRG.com.

"Staff members at an agency that oversees offshore drilling accepted tickets to sports events, lunches and other gifts from oil and gas companies and used government computers to view pornography, according to an Interior Department report alleging a culture of cronyism between regulators and the industry.

"In at least one case, an inspector for the Minerals Management Service admitted using crystal methamphetamine and said he might have been under the influence of the drug the next day at work, according to the report by the acting inspector general of the Interior Department.

"The report cites a variety of violations of federal regulations and ethics rules at the agency's Louisiana office. Previous inspector general investigations have focused on inappropriate behavior by the royalty-collection staff in the agency's Denver office."
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We're almost there--$300 will push us over the top!

Wow. Thanks to everyone for your generous donations to the MDA, and to keeping my out of jail. I'm already on the home stretch--it's not too late if you still want to kick in a few sheckels or piastre...

https://www.joinmda.org/MyLockup/MyHomepage/tabid/154711/Participant/jack/Default.aspx

We only have three hundred dollars to go...step on up!

jack

Help me stay put of jail--donate to the MDA today!

MDA fundraising update: 

As you may recall, I have just been arrested and will be going to jail (I know, some of you are thinking "what took so long?") for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Executive Lock-up.   Don’t bother asking what crime I have committed – it’s not really that important. And most of you probably have a good guess. If I raise bail of $2,400 before the Lock-Up, they will go easy on me, but I need your HELP to post my bond. Don’t let them haul out the rubber hoses, or “tase me ‘bro!”

Your donation will help MDA continue research into the cause and the possible cure of the 43 neuromuscular diseases they cover. Your support of the MDA Lock-Up will also help MDA provide medical equipment, clinic visits, support groups and a much-needed week of MDA Summer Camp for the families served by the Association.




If my FB pals, blog readers, friends and family each kick in a few bucks, we'll make my bail. Please donate $5, $20, $100, or even $1,000. It's 100% tax deductible. If we all pull together, I can avoid bunking with cellmates like Tiny, Psycho, or El Cuchillo.

Jump to the link  https://www.joinmda.org/MyLockup/MyHomepage/tabid/154711/Participant/jack/Default.aspx and donate heavily and often!

If you donate $500, I'll come to your house with a staff of three and make and serve a four-course dinner with wine and beer pairings for you and seven of your friends--Paella, North Carolina barbecue, Mexican Nayarit/Jalisco, Italian, Vietnamese, or NW cuisine--you name it--carnivore, gluten-free, vegan...whatever works for you.   This offer will expire after two people take advantage of it--so hurry!

Thank you ever so much. I know you’re going to push me over the top. And, hey, Jerry Lewis thanks you too. /jack

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Adios, Senator Eject Arlen Specter

by Pablo Fanque
National Affairs Editor

Adios Senator Arlen Specter. His desperate Hail Mary, of course, failed.

We haven't much cottoned to the Senator since his relentless hectoring of Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. But in the end, no one really likes a turncoat/rat and Specter was sent packing...

Welcome to the new Senator Elect, and a not so fond farewell to the Senator Eject.
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The Carpenters - Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft

By Jack Brummet
All This Is That Paranormal and Alien Lore Editor

This is certainly the kookiest song The Carpenters ever performed.  And it's interesting.  Even for the year in which it came out, its subject matter was out there. As for The Carpenters--I was not a fan at the time, but in the last few years I came to realize what an really amazing voice Karen Carpenter had.  And this tune...it's still wack all these years later. 



Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft
In your mind you have capacities you know
To telepath messages through the vast unknown
Please close your eyes and concentrate
With every thought you think
Upon the recitation we're about to sing
(*) calling occupants of interplanetary craft
Calling occupants of interplanetary most extraordinary craft
Repeat (*)

You've been observing our earth
And we'd like to make a contact with you
We are your friends
Calling occupants of interplanetary craft
Calling occupants of interplanetary ultra-emissaries

We've been observing your earth
And one night we'll make a contact with you
We are your friends
Calling occupants of interplanetary quite extraordinary craft

And please come on peace, we beseech you
Only a landing will teach them
Our earth may never survive
So do come, we beg you
Please interstellar policeman
Oh, won't you give us a sign
Give us a sign that we've reached you

With your mind you have ability to form
And transmit thought energy far beyond the norm
You close your eyes, you concentrate
Together that's the way
To send the message
We declare world contact day

Repeat (*) twice
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Six photos of Ernesto "Che" Guevara

Six pictures of Ernesto "Che" Guevara.  I am reading a long and excellent biography of him right now--Guevara, Also Known as Che by Paco Ignacio Taibo II.  A fascinating story and an excellent read.

The last picture is the one that has become the face of Che everywhere (including t-shirts, posters, etc.).  Some people say it is the most famous photograph in the world.  It was taken at a funeral, following the (CIA-assisted) bombing of a ship in Havana.   

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Harry Porter's Relay Computer - what a beautiful analog labor of love

Wow.  Check out the story, video, and photos of  Harry Porter's home-made relay computer here.
















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Help spring Jack Brummet from jail!!

I have just been arrested and will be going to jail (I know, some of you are thinking "what took so long?") for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Executive Lock-up.

Don’t bother asking what crime I have committed – it’s not really that important. And most of you probably have a good guess.  If I raise bail of $2,400 before the Lock-Up, they will go easy on me, but I need your HELP to post my bond. Your donation will help MDA continue research into the cause and the possible cure of the 43 neuromuscular diseases they cover. Your support of the MDA Lock-Up will also help MDA provide medical equipment, clinic visits, support groups and a much-needed week of MDA Summer Camp for the families served by the Association. If my FB pals, blog readers, friends and family each kick in a few bucks, we'll make my bail. Please donate $5, $20, $100, or even $1.000. It's 100% tax deductible. If we all pull together, I can avoid bunking with my cellmates Tiny, Psycho, or El Cuchillo.

Jump to the link

https://www.joinmda.org/MyLockup/MyHomepage/tabid/154711/Participant/jack/Default.aspx

and donate heavily and often!

If you donate $500, I'll come to your house and make a four-course dinner with wine and beer pairings for you and seven of your friends--Paella, North Carolina barbecue, Mexican Nayarit/Jalisco, Italian, Vietnamese, or NW cuisine--you name it--carnivore, gluten-free, vegan...whatever works for you.

Thank you ever so much. And, hey, Jerry Lewis thanks you too.
 
/jack

The last photos from India - the Ajanta Caves

The Ajanta Caves, in the Aurangabad District (the same area where we saw the Ellora Caves) in Maharashtra, India are 30 rock-cut cave monuments created during the 1st BC and 5th century AD.  They contain paintings and sculptures considered to be masterpieces of Buddhist religious art.

I skipped this excursion, so there aren't too many pictures (I don't take good photos, but I take a lot of them!).  I have not succeeded in getting one of my fellow travellers to write about them. 

Keelin and Colin with a monkey and someone who wanted a photo.

These next two photos were taken at the house of our driver (who ferried us out to the country outside Aurangabad)...actually his sister's house.  They were a large extended Moslem family

The sleeping Buddha, carved into a wall at Adjanta, and for perspective,
see the photo below, where the Buddha dwarfs Claire

Common Ground between Ernesto "Che" Guevara and the Tea Party Movement

By Jack Brummet
Poetry, Pranks, and Paranormal Editor
filling in for National Affairs Editor Pablo Fanque on assignment in Louisiana

"The people are never in the wrong; we make the mistakes and need to be corrected by them." - Ernesto 'Che' Guevara

Members of the Tea Party Movement would embrace this statement whole-heartedly if they didn't know the author.  Guevara, however,  was actually referring to a majority, and the will of the people, and not to a splinter movement of cranky, hard-right factionalists.

With the Tea Party's first victory today, you have to wonder .just what their de facto front-runner has in mind. . .
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Matt Smith: Nature Walk With Chuck from Almost Live

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nowZ4pkarbE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozSuRlq7sB0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMCv3cLUTzU

Three espisodes of my friend's Matt Smith's Nature Walks With Chuck, from the Seattle sketch comedy show, Almost Live.
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