Music that matters: Neil Young

My favorite albums by Neil Young. I am, in particular, a fan of Crazy Horse, so you may not find so much of the gentler, tuneful, sylvan, or more mellow Neil here:

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (w/ Crazy Horse)
After the Goldrush
Harvest
Time Fades Away
On the Beach
Tonight's the Night
Rust Never Sleeps (with Crazy Horse)
Live Rust (with Crazy Horse)
Ragged Glory (with Crazy Horse)
Arc Weld (with Crazy Horse)
Harvest Moon
Sleeps With Angels (with Crazy Horse)
Year of the Horse (with Crazy Horse)
Greendale (with Crazy Horse)
Living With War
Live At Massey Hall 1971
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Must see video: Mashup of Downfall with the McCain-Palin campaign

The New York Times had a great article on Sunday about people using footage from the German film Downfall to create all sorts of mashups and confabulations. . .

This YouTube video mashes up the doomed McPalin team with our long-vanquished enemy, Der Fuhrer. The writing is strong, and funny. . .


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Good news/bad news: Feds break up Obama assassination plot

From Chris Matthew's Daily Hardball Briefing (which arrived a minute ago):

Breaking News - In the last hour we learned that federal agents have broken up a plot they say to assassinate Barack Obama and then go on a murder spree and kill about 100 African-Americans. We'll talk to NBC News Justice Department correspondent Pete Williams, who is covering that story tonight.

I haven't seen any other articles or posts on this yet, but The Hardball Briefing can be trusted.

Sad news, but good news that the plot is broken...
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POTUS 22 and 24: President Grover Cleveland, the man who was President twice

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The New York Times obituary of Grover Cleveland on 6-25-1908 is full of praise from all quarters and in 1908, many people placed Cleveland at the very top of Presidents, right up there with the men on Rushmore (which, of course, didn't exist yet).

From his stint as mayor of Buffalo, to his time as Governor of New York, he was considered a hard working and honest man known for his sense of duty. He took on Tammany Hall when it was risky to do so, and despite the machine having backed him for Governor. He was one of the good guys.

President Cleveland had a sex-scandal or two to live down: he was accused of fathering a son out of wedlock--a charge that he admitted might be true (!), because of his affair with Maria Halpin in 1874. By 'fessing up, Cleveland pulled off what we might think of as a "Bill Clinton" and won the election by a slim margin.

After two years as a bachelor President, Cleveland announced his marriage to his twenty-one-year-old ward (I thought only Batman had a ward!), Frances Folsom, the daughter of his former law partner. The press had a field day satirizing the relationship between the old goat and the recent college graduate, who soon became the most popular first lady since Dolley Madison.

Cleveland would lose his re-election bid, and is the first and last president to bounce back from a loss to retake the White House.

Historians consider him a President who strengthened the executive branch, but made no dramatic accomplishments, and had no real vision for the future. He is most remebered as being a bridge to the modern strong presidency as it would be practiced by Teddy Roosevelt and those to follow.
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John McCain: Blowin' In The Wind

Senator John McCain, whose campaign has become riddled with finger-pointing and back-biting, devastating leaks, increasingly glum news from the pollsters, and rifts with Sarah Palin, said he "trusted his senses," which told him the opinion polls were wrong.

Yesterday on NBC's Meet The Press McCain said: “Those polls have consistently shown me much farther behind than we actually are.”




“We’re doing fine. We have closed [the gap] in the last week. We continue to close this next week. You’re going to be up very, very late on election night.”

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FameStar biopic: The rise and fall of Jack Brummet

My famestar biopic. This is pretty interesting. It makes you realize we can all be Zeligs one day. You'll have to click here to see the video. It doesn't work quite right on blogspot (playing when the page loads, etc).
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Alien Lore No. 143 - The UFO we couldn't shoot down

Thanks to Jeff Clinton for this tip...for a rationalist, he sure comes up with a lot of these!

Every since Great Britain opened up their UFO files to the public, researchers have been mining some fascinating nuggets from the vaults. This story tells about a joint American-British attempt to shoot down a UFO. Most of this comes from an account that was published by Britain's National Archives last week. A few details come from an Associated Press story by Raphael G. Satter.

In the 1950's, an American fighter pilot was ordered to attack a UFO moving erratically over the North Sea with rockets. As he was about to launch his rockets, the UFO sped up mightily. . .and disappeared.

The story appeared in England's Daily Star newspaper but has never been confirmed or denied by the military authorities. An account of this was included among many released in the first 1,500 pages of UFO archives published in the internet.

The American pilot said he and another pilot were scrambled in May, 1957 to intercept a "bogey" seen on radar at the Manston Air Force Station Manston, 75 miles from London.

"This was a flying object with very unusual flight patterns," the pilot said, according to a typed manuscript of his account mailed to Britain's Ministry of Defense by a UFO enthusiast in 1988. "In the initial briefing it was suggested to us that the bogey actually was frequently motionless."

The pilot was given an order to fire a volley of 24 rockets at the UFO. "To be quite candid I almost s**t my pants!" the pilot said, saying he asked for confirmation—which he received.

Long retired U.S. flier Milton Torres told Britain's Sky News last week that he was the pilot and has spent the last 51 years trying to figure out exactly what happened. Torres never saw the UFO with his naked eye, but watched as it appeared on his jet's radar and sped off before he had chance to fire. "All of a sudden as it was coming in, it decided to take off and leave me behind ... The next thing I know it was gone," Torres told Sky News. "It was some kind of space alien craft. It was so fast, it was so incredible..."

As he locked on the UFO to prepare for combat, the object began to move wildly (sensing the lock-on?) before fading off his radar. The mission was scrubbed.

"I had not the foggiest idea what had actually occurred, nor would anyone explain anything to me," the pilot said. He said he was led to a man in civilian clothes, who "advised me that this would be considered highly classified and that I should not discuss it with anybody not even my commander."

Britain's military said it had no record of the incident. Neither did the U.S. military (what a surprise). According to the Associated Press story, "David Clarke, a UFO expert who has worked with the National Archives on the document release, said it was one of the most intriguing stories he had culled from the batch of files released Monday."
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POTUS 21 - President Chester Alan Arthur, Pres. Chester Alan Arthur - Accidental, Partial One-Term President, Owner Of Some Impressive Muttonchops

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Chester Alan Arthur was catapulted into the Vice-Presidency and Presidency on the basis of a pretty thin resume. Arthur had been Collector of Customs for the Port of New York, an important and powerful position. He was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant but was fired by Grant's successor, Rutherford B. Hayes, under (probably false) suspicions of bribery and corruption.

Arthur is remembered as one of the most society-conscious presidents, earning the nickname "the Gentleman Boss" for his dandy dress and courtly manner.

Chester Alan Arthur was elected Vice President of the United States on the Republican ticket with President James Garfield. His term as VPOTUS only lasted a few months.

Following President Garfield's assassination, he became President of the United States on September 20, 1881. He was often seen in the company of the socially prominent in Washington, New York, and Newport.

To the outrage of stalwart Republicans, the onetime Collector of the Port of New York and dispenser of political patronage became, as President, a champion of civil service reform. Public pressure, heightened by the assassination of Garfield, forced an unwieldy Congress to heed the President. He lost the few friends he ever had in the party, and was not nominated for his own full term in office, which he likely would not have completed. Early in his Presidency, he had contracted Bright's Disease, a fatal kidney disease, from which he died in 1886.
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Painting: self-portrait No. 26

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A useful blog - Today on the interwebs

I have been enjoying the blog, Today On The Interwebs for a while now. As the author writes: "Every day, the interwebs is filled with an interminable supply of crap and one cool thing. Like a jet-powered bloodhound, this blog seeks out and posts that one thing."
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Alien Lore No. 141 - The psychic Sasquatch and their connection with The Greys

An interesting book just came to my attention via Jeff Clinton (the book is nearly ten years old): The Psychic Sasquatch: And Their UFO Connection by Jack Lapseritis.

Lapseritis contends that Bigfoot are "psychic and multidimensional," able to slip in and out of an unseen dimension, thus explaining how hard they are to pin down, shoot, capture, or photograph. Evidence is presented from first-hand accounts that Bigfoot works as a some sort of foot solder on earth, working with Extraterrestrials, as guards and scouts. The author is a UFOlogist and field investigator/scientist who has studied this issue for many years.

"In 1979, Mr. Lapseritis was first telepathically contacted by a Sasquatch and ET simultaneously, which was the shock of his life. To further complicate matters, the contact changed him and he developed psychic ability overnight, which triggered a spiritual transformation. At the time, he was Assistant Director of an urban Indian agency, worked as a hypno-therapist and had been lecturing at the Medical College of Wisconsin and was ill-prepared for such a happening. "

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Painting of soon-to-be former Senator Barack Obama

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Potus 20: President James A. Garfield - President for 200 days

President James A. Garfield, (POTUS 20) is another short-timer, whose Presidency ran from March-September, 1881. He was President for about 200 days when he was shot by a deranged lawyer. President Garfield survived but was finally killed, 80 days later, by his team of doctors.

Garfield is probably best remembered today as one of the four assassinated Presidents. His assassin, attorney Charles Guiteau, believed that God had ordered him to kill the President. Guiteau stalked the President for weeks, and passed up one opportunity to shoot Garfield because his wife was present.

James Garfield was the first left-handed President. And--is this cool, or what?--he sometimes entertained friends by simultaneously writing Latin with one hand and Greek with the other (woah!). He was the last president born in a log cabin; farewell to our prairie days.
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POTUS 19 - Rutherford. B. Hayes, a/k/a Rutherfraud

Rutherford B. Hayes, as the 19th President, began implementing policies to heal the nation after the Civil War. He had a reputation reputation for integrity as a soldier and politician. His election was the lengthiest , most bitterly contested, and corrupt presidential election in history. . .until the year 2000, when George Bush would make it look like a ramble in a sunny meadow.

After the Civil War, Hayes served as a governor and congressman, and by 1876, Republicans recognized that the scrupulous Hayes--a swing state war hero--was potential Presidential timber. His opponent, Democratic opponent Samuel J. Tilden of New York rolled up a plurality of 250,000 votes, but the vote in three southern states was close enough for both Republicans and Democrats to contest them. Congress set up a special commission which awarded the disputed electoral college votes. The outraged Democrats called Hayes "Rutherfraud" and "His Fraudulency."

As President, Hayes believed that military occupation bred hatred among southerners and prevented a national healing. Reconstruction was nearly over when Hayes took office in 1877. Federal troops were stationed only in New Orleans, Louisiana, and South Carolina. The federal occupation ended early in his administration. Alas, by the 1890s, the racist Democratic hold on the South resulted in a complete denial of voting rights for blacks until the 1960s.

Hayes ran for only one term. In retirement he worked for equal educational and prison reform.

President Hayes was the only President whose election was decided by a congressional commission. He was the first president to travel to the West Coast as president and the first to have a telephone and typewriter in the White House.
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Keeping hockey mom/pit bull Sarah Palin presentable: Clothes: $150K; Hair: $36K; Make-up: $18K

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According to an article by Michael Luo in today's New York Times, the highest paid person on John McCain's campaign staff in October is Steve Schmidt, Rick Davis, Mark Salter, Charlie Black, Jill Hazelbaker, Amy Strozzi, Sarah Palin's make-up artist.

Yes, it costs money to put lipstick on a pitbull! Amy Strozzi, the Emmy Award [for So You Think You Can Dance?] winning makeup artist, was paid $22,800 in October.

Managing that famous head of hair isn't cheap either: Angela Lew was paid $10,400 as a communications consultant in October. Ms. Lew works out of the Hair Grove in Westwood Village, the very same place Cindy McCain gets her hair "done." That makes Ms. Lew the 4th highest paid person on the campaign.

Make-up artist Strozzi and hair stylist Lew were also paid around $22,000 total in September (for lipstick application "communications consulting," and hair-combing "GOTV" consulting).

The tally so far to keep ah-shucks hockey mom Governor Sarah Palin presentable:

Threads, shoes, accessories: $150,000
Hair: $36,000
Makeup: $18,000
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