Poem: Sailing To Naxos, or, The Vortex

By Jack Brummet

Sailing the poly-blue Aegean
On a hot day in a steamy haze,
Our ship makes a wide looping turn
A few kilometers off
The white house-dappled shore
Of Naxos, parked in the sea
Like a gem in a finding,
The houses and villas
Strung along the shore
And two layers above
Like a three strand pearl necklace
On the stout and broad neck of a Cyclops,
Waiting to leap from the sea,
And use our ship to beat the sea
Into a churning and foaming
Soup of whirlpools and funnels
That suck everything in sight
Into a sapphire blue vortex,
The water cooling each meter,
As it swirls down and cascades
Into Neptune's drain and picks up speed
As it descends into the dark
And lonely bottom of the sea.
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Digital Art: Frunobulax from Zeta Reticula

click to enlarge

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Up in smoke: Republican Gov, Mark Sanford's Presidential Dreams and another nail in the coffin of "Republican Family Values"

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That
National Affairs (and we do mean affairs) Editor


The beleaguered governor and the Ex-President

That wacky Republican, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, 'fessed up Wednesday to an affair. Not only an affair, but an affair with a foreigner. He also just resigned his position as chair of the Republican Governor's Association. All this follows a strange week in which he dropped off the map, and his staff was lying about his whereabouts. During this period, when he could not be located, he was actually south of the border, playing hide the salami with his "girlfriend."

A local newspaper, The State, obtained and reprinted one of his emails to "Maria":

"You have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself ... in the faded glow of the night’s light ... despite the best efforts of my head my heart cries out for you, your voice, your body, the touch of your lips, the touch of your finger tips and an even deeper connection to your soul.”

Sanford and his no doubt soon to be filing for divorce wife

“I have been unfaithful to my wife. I developed a relationship with what started out as a dear, dear friend from Argentina,” Sanford said in a rambling and often emotional news conference at the state capital in Columbia.

“I’m a bottom line kind of guy I’m just gonna lay it out. It’s gonna hurt and I’m going to let the chips fall where they may,” said Sanford, who, until today, has often been mentioned as a 2012 presidential hopeful.

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Sex for (not with) chips?

An Oklahoma City woman has been fined $1,142 after pleading no contest to prostitution charges.

She was accused of accepting a box of chips for sex. The 36 year old, Lahoma Sue Smith, was busted in southeast Oklahoma City after cops found her in flagrante in a car with a man.

The john told police officers that he knew there were prostitutes in the neighborhood.

The man didn't have any money, Lahoma Sue Smith told officers, so she agreed to accept a $30 case of chips in barter. The man was not charged and, unfortunately, they did not release his name.
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Poem: Limits

Poem: Limits
by Jack Brummet


We like to believe
We could endure anything for five minutes

But that theory, cooked up
In your hermetic study or bedroom,

Comes apart at the seams instantly
When you imagine being on fire

Or having crows feast
Upon your eyes.
---o0o---

Music video: The Young Fresh Fellows play The Kinks' Picture Book

The Young Fresh Fellows have been on my mind after seeing their most excellent show, and buying the just released CD--here is a bent video of their Kink's Picture Book cover. Note: the segment on the steep stairs was shot near my house...it's the stair portion of the walk to the beach at Golden Gardens.



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The best special effects. Ever.

The end of this short TV commercial is instructional--a tour de force by a special effects dynamo. Note: that whatever knucklehead posted this video assumed it was fior a mattress store! Is this a great country, or what?


Worst Special Effects Ever - Watch more Funny Commercials
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Atul Gawande - a thoughtful article on health care that BHO has made required reading in the White House

Atul Gawande has written an insightful and thoughtful article on health care, that since its publication, is purportedly required reading in The White House. Check it out here in the New Yorker.

"Providing health care is like building a house. The task requires experts, expensive equipment and materials, and a huge amount of coördination. Imagine that, instead of paying a contractor to pull a team together and keep them on track, you paid an electrician for every outlet he recommends, a plumber for every faucet, and a carpenter for every cabinet. Would you be surprised if you got a house with a thousand outlets, faucets, and cabinets, at three times the cost you expected, and the whole thing fell apart a couple of years later? Getting the country’s best electrician on the job (he trained at Harvard, somebody tells you) isn’t going to solve this problem. Nor will changing the person who writes him the check."

---o0o---

Video of the Young Fresh Fellows' Tractor Tavern Show

Here is a reasonably lucid ('phone?) video of the Young Fresh Fellows from the show I saw Friday night. They play "Taco Wagon" and a great cover of The Kinks' "Picture Book."


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District 9 Poster

I am looking forward to the District 9 movie. Crossing my fingers...


click to enlarge
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digital art: Zombie double portrait

click to enlarge

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Happy Father's Day to all my fellow progenitors...

Hey Liz! Someone mistakenly called Elizabeth Becton, my Congressman, Jim McDermott's, assistant by the wrong name. There was hell to pay.

[Don't call me Liz Becton]

This sad and pathetic exchange took place between my Congressman Jim McDermott's chief aide, and another functionary. If Liz worked for me, she would no longer be employed. I'm pretty sure that we, the people/taxpayers/voters are not exactly getting much bang for our buck from Elizabeth Becton. The back-and-forth went on for 19 e-mails, with the assistant apologizing six times because she had inexplicably “offended” the obviously deranged and megalomaniacal Becton. . . I'm not being feceitous here--hey...I minored in psych, which on this blog's budget, puts me in the top tier of world authorities on psychology and behavioral science.

Liz Becton is literally off her rocker, and should be immediately be transported to the rubber room at the nearest laughing academy.

From: XXX
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 11:38 AM
To: Becton, Elizabeth
Subject: JPMC Meeting Request


Elizabeth,

Attached is a meeting request for JP Morgan Chase who will be in DC June 3rd-4th and would like to request a brief meeting with the Congressman.

Let me know if you need any additional information.

Thank you!

Best,
XXX

________________________________

From: XXX
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:05 PM
To: Becton, Elizabeth
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request


Hi Liz,

just checking in on whether the Congressman is available next week. [REDACTED] can confirm a meeting time for you - she is available at [REDACTED].

Thank you!

Best,
XXX


________________________________

From: Becton, Elizabeth
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:07 PM
To: XXX
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request
Importance: High


Who is Liz?

Elizabeth Becton
Executive Assistant/Office Manager
Office of Congressman Jim McDermott
XXXX Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
XXX phone
XXX fax
________________________________


From: XXX
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:07 PM
To: Becton, Elizabeth
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request


Hi Elizabeth, I thought you went by Liz - apologies if that is incorrect. Best, XXX



________________________________

From: Becton, Elizabeth
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:08 PM
To: XXX
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request



I do not go by Liz. Where did you get your information?
________________________________


Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:10 PM
To: Becton, Elizabeth
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request


Hi Elizabeth, I'm so sorry if I offended you! I thought you had gone by Liz at Potlatch, this was my mistake. Best, XXX

________________________________
From: Becton, Elizabeth
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:11 PM
To: XXX
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request


NEVER. I hate that name.


________________________________

From: XXX
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:13 PM
To: Becton, Elizabeth
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request


Hi Elizabeth, I'm so sorry if I offended you! I must have mis-heard. My mistake! Best, XX

________________________________

From: Becton, Elizabeth
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:20 PM
To: XXX
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request
Importance: High

XXX:

If I wanted you to call me by any other name, I would have offered that to you. I think it's rude when people don't even ask permission and take all sorts of liberties with your name. This is a real sore spot with me. My name has a lot of "nicknames" which I don't use. I use either my first name or my last name because I row with a lot of other women who share the same first name. Now, please do not ever call me by a nickname again.

As for your meeting request, who is the point of contact for this meeting? If it's not you, then I need to know who because it's very time-consuming to deal with a lot of people for one meeting.

Thanks,

________________________________

From: XXX
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:23 PM
To: Becton, Elizabeth
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request


Hi Elizabeth, I'm so sorry I offended you! My mistake!

XXX can confirm a meeting time for you - she is available at XXX XXXX.

Thank you!

Best, XXX


________________________________
[UNRELATED EMAILS REDACTED]


From: XXX
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:33 PM
To: Becton, Elizabeth
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request


Of course! Again, I am sincerely sorry for offending you. I must have mis-heard and it was in no way my intention to make you upset. I always enjoy working with you and seeing you at the WSS events J

Best,
XXX


________________________________


From: Becton, Elizabeth
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:37 PM
To: XXX
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request


Sounds like you got played by someone who KNOWS I hate that name and that it's a fast way to TICK me off. Who told you that I go by that name? They are not your friend...


________________________________



From: XXX
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:38 PM
To: Becton, Elizabeth
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request


Hi Elizabeth,

Again, I am sincerely sorry for offending you. I don't want to cause trouble as I clearly must have mis-heard the person at Potlatch. It was in no way my intention to make you upset.

Best,
XXX

________________________________

From: Becton, Elizabeth
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:41 PM
To: XXX
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request
Importance: High


I REALLY want to know who told you to call me that.



________________________________

From:XXX
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:44 PM
To: Becton, Elizabeth
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request


Hi Elizabeth,
Again, I am sincerely sorry for offending you. I don't recall who I overheard. It was in no way my intention to make you upset.
Best,
XXX

________________________________
From: Becton, Elizabeth
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 6:04 PM
To: XXX
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request

Let me put it this way, they don't know me and perhaps they were PRETENDING to know me better than they do and pretended that I go by Liz. They did YOU a disservice.

In the future, you should be VERY careful about such things. People like to brag about their connections in DC. It's a past time for some. It's also dangerous to eaves drop, as you have just found out.

Quit apologizing and never call me anything but Elizabeth again. Also, make sure you correct anyone who attempts to call me by any other name but Elizabeth. Are we clear on this? Like I said, it's a hot button for me.

And please don't call the office and not leave a message. My colleague told me you called while I was away at the Ladies' room. I do sometimes leave my desk.

The return of The Young Fresh Fellows

The Young Fresh Fellows roared back to life Friday night in my neighborhood--at Ballard's Tractor Tavern. Scott McCaughey[1] was in fine form, wearing his usual sunglasses and a big fur hat. He was just as hilarious as ever, and has written a new song album of funny, tight, rocking tunes. The show focused on their new album released that day--I Think This Is. They did play their great tune "Amy Grant" as an encore, and performed an excellent cover of "Hang On Sloopy." I have only listened to "I think This Is" once so far, but it is excellent, and about as good as anything YFF have ever released. A track listing only hints at the genius contained in this new album:

The Guilty Ones
Lamp Industries
Suck Machine Crater
Let The Good Times Crawl
Never Turning Back Again
New Day I Hate
Go Blue Angels Go
Used To Think All Things Would Happen
YOUR Mexican Restaurant
Shake Your Magazines
After Suicide
If You Believe In Cleveland
Ballad of the Bootleg

Everyone was in fine form, especially Kurt Bloch, the longtime band member and former lead guitar in Seattle's Fastbacks. It was great to see them again, and I hope we get the chance again soon. I suspect we'll get to see Scott's other band (with Peter Buck, Ken Stringfellow, Wilco, and various other rotating members) soon--they also have a new album coming out shortly. I just heard their cover of Little Black Egg--wow.

Photo by Dean Ericksen from The Tractor show - click to enlarge

[1] Scott's Wikpedia listing:

As a singer and songwriter, Scott McCaughey is the leader of the Seattle-based bands The Young Fresh Fellows and The Minus 5.
He is also bassist for Robyn Hitchcock's most recent touring band, The Venus 3, along with Bill Rieflin and Peter Buck.

In 2008, McCaughey formed the side band The Baseball Project with Buck, Steve Wynn and Linda Pitmon. Their first album, Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails, celebrates many aspects of baseball culture, and includes a song in tribute to Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Harvey Haddix.

Since 1994, he has worked with R.E.M. both on stage and in the studio. While originally brought on as a second guitarist for the Monster tour, McCaughey has remained with R.E.M. in various capacities since then, contributing to the band's studio albums New Adventures In Hi-Fi, Up, Reveal, Around The Sun and Accelerate. Additionally, he has received credits for his work on the R.E.M. Live album as well as their 2003 greatest hits collection, In Time. When working with R.E.M., McCaughey plays guitar, bass, keyboards, and adds backing vocals.

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Poem: Ephemeral Communication

Ephemeral Communication
by Jack Brummet

Native American smoke signals
May be the most transitory
And ephemeral communication of all,

Next to the voice
—A Jiminy Cricket whisper
In your ear—

That transmogrifies instantly
Into memory,
While a smoke signal

Takes its own sweet time,
Rises in a langorous backstroke
And drifts slowly and inexorably

Toward Heaven,
Achieving evanescence
Somewhere in the troposphere.
---o0o---

[revised June, 2009 - originally published on the poemsNOWpoems web site]