Saturday, March 31, 2007

The Cars: Just What I Needed - Song, Photomontage and lyrics


click 2x to play the vid

Just What I Needed


I don't mind you coming here
and wasting all my time
'cause when you're standing oh so near
I kinda lose my mind
it's not the perfume that you wear
it's not the ribbons in your hair
I don't mind you coming here
and wasting all my time
I don't mind you hanging out
and talking in your sleep
it doesn't matter where you've been
as long as it was deep
you always knew to wear it well
you look so fancy I can tell
I don't mind you hanging out
and talking in your sleep
I guess you're just what I needed
I needed someone to feed
I guess you're just what I needed
I needed someone to bleed
---o0o---

Illustration: Attorney General Gonzales' Hand Caught In The Scandal Meat-grinder


Click illustration to enlarge
---o0o---

Two More Blows Against The King: Another Rough Week At The White House


click the George flag to enlarge

1) An Ex-Aide Loses Faith in the President. Matthew Dowd joined George W. Bush’s in 1999, jumping from the Democratic Party. He believed in George Bush, and was one of the top aides who built the flip-flop strategy that tarred John Kerry throughout his Preidential bid. He was Bush's 2004 chief campaign strategist. In an interview, Dowd called for a withdrawal from Iraq and expressed extreme disappointment with The President. Dowd has even considered writing an editorial "John Kerry was right."



2) D. Kyle Sampson calls A.G. Gonzales a liar, and by extension, The President. Gonzales' credibility is already in the toilet due to changing stories, and damaging document disclosures. Now, he may have taken a fatal hit when Sampson told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the attorney general had been long and deeply involved in an action that Gonzales has said he knew little or nothing about.





3) At least five other stories surfaced this week depicting mayhem in The White House. The President is slowly becoming President in name only and his bellicose sabre-rattling has become just irritating background noise. The mood of the country seems to be "let's just get through this next 21 months with as little damage as possible."
---o0o---

Friday, March 30, 2007

We're Pulling For You Tony Snow And Elizabeth Edwards!





I have dumped on Tony Snow quite a few times here, both "editorially" and in a couple of parodies. I disagree with probably 89% of everything that comes out of his mouth. When he was on the radio (I caught his show when I could), he was far more rational than he could ever be in his role as President Bush's Number One Defender, flak catcher, and information vector. Frankly, I still don't know why he took on this role, which must be at least a million dollar pay cut. But to his credit, he had done a good job for a bad President. Even before the White House, Tony Snow was one of the good guys. Our hopes are with him as he battles a recurrence, and spread, into his liver, of the cancer he first fought three years ago.



I have been a big fan of Elizabeth Edwards since I saw a speech she gave in the last campaign when John was running as Vice-President. She is probably my second favorite political spouse (just behind Bill Clinton). I believe her husband will emerge from the pack as the democratic front-runner. I don't know how the recurrence of her cancer, that is now "incurable," will affect his standings. It doesn't seem to hurt in the polls so far, but what people say to the pollsters and what they do in the voting booth are two different things. I don't know. People have been blogging, writing and talking about the ethics of the Edwards' decision to go ahead with the presidential race. But isn't really up to them? Reading between the lines, it sounds like it will be an uphill battle. I am pulling for her.
---o0o---

Poem:: Changes 50/The Caldron




1.
Easau sold his birthright to his brother Jacob
for a caldron of lentils.
That is serious hunger.

2.
As Confucius said
Weak character coupled
With honored place

Meager knowledge with large plans
Limited powers with heavy responsibility
Will seldom escape disaster.
---o0o---

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Video and Lyrics: The Rolling Stones' Sympathy for the Devil


You may need to click 2x to play this video

Unfortunately, this 1994 video is the oldest one I could find. In my booklet, The Stones by 1994 were about twenty years past their prime. This is unquestionably one of their greatest songs. Also unfortunately, they did not sing my favorite part of the song--the woo woo choruses--and left that part to the organ. I remember what a drill-job it was when this tune originally appeared. The first time I heard it I was floored. And I still dig the tune nearly forty years later. Aside from the blitzkreig references, I don't think an American could have written such a literate tune. A first person narrative and commentary from a sly and sophisticated Lucifer! The lyrics outline some of the greatest outrages we (e.g., humanity) have performed against each other over the centuries.

The Stones got off the hook from the fundamentalists and others when a song from the same album, Street Fighting Man, was linked to The Watts Riots and other street actions of the late 60s.

Rolling Stone was right on this one. They placed the tune at No. 32 in their list of the 500 greatest rock songs. I might have put it a little higher.

Sympathy For The Devil

by Jagger-Richard

Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man's soul and faith

And I was 'round when Jesus Christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game

I stuck around St. Petersberg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the Czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain

I rode a tank
Held a general's rank
When the Blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
What's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game,

I watched with glee
As your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the Gods they made

I shouted out
"Who killed the Kennedys?"
When after all
It was you and me

Let me please introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadors
Who get killed before they reached Bombay

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's confusing you
Is just the nature of my game

Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me Lucifer
'Cause I'm in need of some restraint

So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politics
Or I'll lay your soul to waste, um yeah

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, um yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, um baby, get down

Woo, who
Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Oh yeah!

Tell me baby, what's my name
Tell me honey, baby guess my name
Tell me baby, what's my name
I tell you one time, you're to blame

Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Oh, yeah

What's my name
Tell me, baby, what's my name
Tell me, sweetie, what's my name

Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Oh, yeah
---o0o---

Painting: The circle game


The Scariest Looking Public Figure We Know Endorses Rudolph Giuliani For President

Ex-Republican mayor of 9/11, Rudolph Giuliani, was endorsed by Steve Forbes today in his 2008 presidential bid. The billionaire publisher, failed Presidential candidate, and flat tax proponent will also help co-chair the campaign according to the Giuliani Campaign.

So now, the scariest looking politician of the late 20th century throws in with Rudy. As if Giuliani doesn't have trouble enough! It couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.
All This Is That has been in contact with Charles Manson in Corcoran State Prison in California, in hopes we can induce him to also endorse the former mayor.
Giuliani is perhaps best known as being Mayor of New York City the day of the September 1, 2001 WTC attack. He is also widely-known as the man who kept his mistress on one floor and his family on another floor of the mayor's home, Gracie Mansion. Since leaving office, Giuliani has exploited his popularity--and enriched his bank balance--through a security consulting firm where he markets his expertise in being attacked.
The Republican front-runner, who has amazingly yet to lose his temper in the early race, has about six weeks left before his candidacy implodes. With Senator John McCain's shockingly anemic performance, it will only be about two months before Ex-governor Mitt Romney surges into the lead.
---o0o---

Poem: Changes 49/Revolution



Times change
And with them the demands
Of time

There is a spring and autumn in
The life of people and countries
There is a fire below and a lake above

With the forces of light
And the forces of darkness
Always at war in different guises.
---o0o---

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

A Michael Jackson Replica Robot To Roam The Desert?

According to an article yesterday in Music-news.com "Michael Jackson is in discussions about creating a 50-foot robotic replica of himself to roam the Las Vegas desert, according to reports. "

Jackson has apparently moved back to Sin City from Dubai, and is contemplating yet another comeback attempt.

The article says "If built, the metal monster would apparently be visible to aircraft as they come in to land in the casino capital. " The robot will also include numerous lasers that should look fantastic, firing into the dark desert skies.
---o0o---


Identikit sketch of a unisex suspect


Click sketch to enlarge
---o0o---

Another rough day at the White House, Part 98—Tony Snow's cancer has returned


Tony Snow, the White House Press Secretary who beat colon cancer two years ago, revealed Tuesday that the cancer has returned and spread to his liver, delivering another jackhammer blow to family and friends, and of course, to a White House already staggering from a stunning barrage of bad news.

Tony Snow's cancer was the latest in a never-ending torrent of bad news for The President: the conviction of a former White House aide, a guilty plea by another former official, mass defections from within his own poltical party, resignations of other functionaries, and a shotgun blast of revelations of lying and skullduggery that now jeopardize the attorney general's job.

Studying the odds, it is bizarre that so much has bad luck has befallen this White House. But, alas, The President seems unable to catch a break. His house of cards is about to hit the deck.
---o0o---