Poem: Birdwatching

An owl sits in the plum tree
And she doesn't know
I'm glad she's here.

This is as good as it gets
And it gets this good
Every day.
---o0o---

Poem: Dragons

1.
You may be a bottomless chasm.
But every bucket needs a bottom.

You may be receptive.
But every bucket soon fills up.

2.
The earth's factory setting
Is receptive

She takes on everything we dish out.
So far.

3.
Dragons fight in the meadow
Their blood is black and yellow.
---o0o---

Poem: Surviving

Your salvation lies
In remaining unblinded

To the treachery

Massing around you:

The enemy without,

Calculating your fall

And the traitor within,
Beating in your chest.

---o0o---

The Moondoggies tonight at Neumo in Seattle

click to enlarge

If you live in Seattle, you should try to see this show tonight. There seem to be a lot of great rock bands in Seattle right now---like Fleet Foxes, Spook the Horse, Band of Horses, and the MD's are right near the top. They are playing at Neumo Friday night, and the White Eagle Tavern in Portland tomorrow. Check out their tunes on their MySpace page or just go out and buy their record on your lunch break.

The band: Tishiro mifune on jug,caleb quick,kevin murphy,robert terreberry, carl dahlen, and sometimes jon pon(genepool). Rolling Stone loves 'em, and NPR called them one of the top debuts of 2008. I have been playing their album nonstop for the last couple of weeks.

Their record company--Hardly Art--has a great write-up on their website (see below). See you there tomorrow night, where they will be playing right after The Maldives.

"There is a popular chapter of American mythology that pertains to The Highway. It tells of a two-way ribbon of blacktop running endlessly through our past to our future, linking city to country, offering escape and motion and freedom to travel anywhere the imagination might wander. In this chapter, The Highway is both means and end, metaphor and reality.

"And down that mythical Highway there is a Bar. Inside that Bar is a Stage. On that Stage is a Band. That Band is the Moondoggies.

"The Moondoggies are a four-piece band from Seattle that plays timeless American music. Warm three-part harmonies, gothic Rhodes organ, and wanderlust guitar mark a sound rooted in boogie blues and cosmic country; whip-smart songwriting leads to hook-heavy tunes that bristle with originality. Led by 22-year-old singer/guitarist Kevin Murphy, the Moondoggies are intent on artistic balance. They're a serious band with a silly name. They play music that speaks of travel but is strongly connected to its place of origin. They're young musicians continuing a legacy that goes back generations. Songs that unravel over seven sinuous minutes are somehow catchy and compact.

"Murphy and his band mates—Robert Terreberry on bass, Carl Dahlen on drums, and Caleb Quick on keys—started making music together as teenagers (all but Quick graduated from Cascade High in Everett, a Seattle suburb). The Familiars, their first band, was a noisy, garage-rocking outfit that gained minor notoriety locally, but the boys soon realized their passion lied in vocal harmonies, not power chords.

"Seeking the inspiration of new surroundings, Murphy lit out for Ketchikan, Alaska in the summer of 2005. It was there, in a dusty attic with an acoustic guitar and four-track recorder, that he zeroed in on the Moondoggies' sound. Upon his return to Seattle, the band took up residence at the Blue Moon Tavern, a notorious University District dive that for over 70 years has boozed up a rogue's gallery of writers, poets, artists, student radicals, and other drunks. The Moondoggies and the Blue Moon were made for each other. Before long they accrued a dedicated following drawn to the band's woozy, spirited live shows and a new Northwest phenomenon was born.

"That same spirit shows up on Don't Be A Stranger, the Moondoggies' debut. Shades of gospel, blues, rock, and country commingle; wall-of-sound harmonies radiate joy and passion; songs remain in the mind long after the record ends. The influence of the Band, the Byrds, and especially early Grateful Dead is evident, though the Moondoggies’ lyrical economy and compositional sensibility render these 13 tracks fresh and unique. From the hard-charging garage boogie of "’ol Blackbird" to the mournful, hand-clapped spiritual "Jesus on the Mainline" to the anthemic rock 'n' soul of "Changing" to the rollicking, bar-room singalong "Bogachiel Rain Blues," each of these songs earns a slot in the great American jukebox.

"I don’t think sitting down and playing guitar is an old-time thing," Murphy recently told The Seattle Times. "Our sound is what seems to happen when we sit around and sing and play. It's never going to get old. People will always do that."There will always be a Band that sings the song of The Highway. For us, for now, that band is the Moondoggies."
---o0o---

All This Is That Hero of the Year: Sully! Chesley Sullenberger's amazing qualifications for pulling off a miracle

The Pilot who landed his disabled jet in the Hudson yesterday and then helped get everyone off the plane (even walking up and down the plane twice and looking under every seat) is truly an American Hero. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger, III is a captain for American Airways with over 40 years of flying experience. But get this. . .of all the people who could have flown that plane, he may have been singular in that he was the best trained of almost any pilot for an emergency. He is a scholar of air disasters, and even has a company that teaches and consults on air safety.

From the SRM web site, read his amazing qualifications:

SRM Founder Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger, III is a captain for a major U.S. airline with over 40 years of flying experience. A former U.S. Air Force (USAF) fighter pilot, he has served as an instructor and Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) safety chairman, accident investigator and national technical committee member. He has participated in several USAF and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accident investigations. His ALPA safety work led to the development of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Advisory Circular.

Working with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientists, he coauthored a paper on error inducing contexts in aviation. He was instrumental in the development and implementation of the Crew Resource Management (CRM) course used at his airline and has taught the course to hundreds of his colleagues. Sully is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy (B.S.), Purdue University (M.S.) and the University of Northern Colorado (M.A.). He was a speaker on two panels at the High Reliability Organizations (HRO) 2007 International Conference in Deauville, France May 29-31, 2007. He has just been named a Visiting Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley.

---o0o---

Prince solos wth Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, etc. on While My Guitar Gently Weeps

This solo is effortless and unbelievable. Prince starts soloing at around 3:30 or so and it is just unbelievable. He blows the doors off the hall and probably sucker punches every other guitarist on stage (and there are plenty). A real mind-F’er of a solo, and in general, a great performance of the tune by the gang, including Harrison's old Wilbury bandmates Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne.




---o0o---

Obama Stumbles, Again, and the F-ups are beginning to accumulate

click BHO to enlarge [painting by Jack Brummet]

By Pablo Fanque,
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

I am as happy as the next person, hopeful, excited, and re-energized,--exhilarated even--over the prospect of our new President. I love the man and what he stands for, but there have been some disturbing snafus lately. . .violence in Pepperland, so to speak.


"I love you, man!"

Not only does Barack Obama suck at choosing ministers (notably the Reverends Wright and Rick Warren), but he has performed a few pratfalls with his cabinet as well. Obviously the upcoming Obama Administration got caught with their pants down on the failed Bill Richardson nomination (which was just a consolation prize for being passed over for SoS in any case), and now it seems as though his nominee for Treasury secretary is in trouble as well. Not deep trouble perhaps (about which, more later), but trouble nonetheless [1].

One question I have for the transition team: did you bother to read and vet any of the 64 page "job applications" you required of all incoming senior staff members? It seems like none of the other prospective Cabinet Members had to undergo anything like the microscopic vetting Senator Clinton endured. Or did you spend all your time on that application and cross your fingers on the rest?

Timothy Geithner had a nanny problem, similar to the one that disqualified Zoe Baird eight years ago, as well as several years of underpaying taxes, some of which were discovered by Obama's vetting team, and some later, by a Senate committee.

Luckily for Geithner, and Barack Obama, he will probably be confirmed sometime in February. Why, you ask? As it turns out--and this comes from people on both sides of the aisle--we have no choice! Geithner is virtually only person in the world who actually understands the whole bailout, and the banks involved, since he is one of its chief architects. He would probably still be confirmed even if someone discovered a terabyte of kiddie porn on his hard drive! As it is he will not be confirmed by opening day--the guy we need more than almost anyone to hit the ground running. Hillary Clinton survived her mild grilling and will be confirmed right around inauguration day. She also has her hands full, but at least she will be able to begin work immediately.



Finally, we must consider the Blagojevich matter. Obama's "campaign's" first statements about his and his aides communication with Blagojevich were feeble at best and misleading, or worse, at worst. We know he was not involved, but they attempted to cover it up in any case. Does this remind you of any previous President?

This really makes me wonder about the wisdom of choosing Rahm Emmanuel as the White House Chief of Staff. At the first whiff of trouble, Rahm immediately raised the power shields around Obama, and began what almost smacked of Nixonian-Haldeman evasions and bobs and weaves. I get that Obama needs a strong CoS. . .but what he most explicitly does not need is a Haldeman style Iron Curtain drawn between the White House and The People to whom Obama promised something entirely different.

[1] Did BHO never read A.E. Housman's Eastern Hymn? Excerpt:

The thoughts of others
Were light and fleeting,
Of lovers meeting
Or luck or fame;

Mine were of trouble
And mine were steady,
So I was ready
When trouble came.


Recent, related articles on All This Is That:


http://jackbrummet.blogspot.com/2009/01/obamas-first-f-upbill-richardson.html

http://jackbrummet.blogspot.com/2009/01/in-defense-of-ignorancebarack-obama.html

The League of SuperPresidents ® Power Breakfast

Another One Bites The Dust: Demo Governor Blagojevich of Illinois arrested for trying to sell Obama's Senate Seat

BFF: Best Friends Forever? Hillary and Barack start down the road of world affairs

Senator "Crazy" Joe Lieberman lives to see another day

Barack Obama: "Off to a good start" says Republican leader
---o0o---

Cure Sleepiness Right Away- suitable for long-distance driving, drunk-driving, and night driving

a closeup of a stenciling on the device--click to zoom it up


click to zoom it up


click to zoom it up


Here are two different packages of this fine product. Various people bought these for $1-4 in dollar stores, auto parts stores, and convenience stores. None of the purchases of these units people have written about were for more than $4 dollars. I have yet to stumble on a review of the device. I am not feeling that intrepid on this one...

Could something so cheap actually even have an accelerometer like it seems to claim. . .or do they use mercury like old fashioned light switches to detect the neck snap/head bob as you descend into Wunda Wunda Land?

[Transcribed from the instructions of this curious device]

CURE SLEEPINESS RIGHT AWAY

FUNCTIONS:
To ensure driving safely and to avoid traffic accidents caused by sleepiness

TIME TO USE:
Long-distance driving, drunk driving, and night driving

USED FOR OTHER PURPOSE:
Reading or working late at night

HOW TO USE:
1. Before long-distance driving, drunk driving or night driving, put the "Cure Sleepiness Right Away" on the right ear, or the left ear and at the same time, move the switch to the location of "ON" and the " Cure sleepiness right away" will begin to work. Easy to put on like an hearing Aid.

2. If drivers feel tired or fall asleep while driving, there heads will usually fall forward. The "Cure sleepiness right away" will then produce warning sounds like "BI---BI---"Which will effectively warn or stimulate the drivers and wake them up immediately. After use just switch off ready for the next late night drive home.
---o0o---

painting of Pete Curran

click to enlarge
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Painting of Kevin Curran

click to enlarge

---o0o---

Sarah Palin for President in 2012!

Click to enlarge

Now that we are less than a week away from the ascendancy of Next President Barack Obama, it's time we started lining up the 2012 contest. Who better to lead the Republicans and run against BHO in 2012 than Governor Sarah Palin? Maybe we can even recruit Sean Hannity, Rev. Rick Warren or David Duke as her running mate?
---o0o---

The Robot Vs. John Coltrane - Playing Giant Steps

This is a video of a robot in Japan playing John Coltrane's amazing "Giant Steps." To hear John Coltrane play the same tune, see the post immediately below this one (or, go here). The robotic version, is of course, rote and totally lacking in the dynamics and variety--and maybe, especially, the insane energy--of 'Trane's incredible solo. Clearly, they used the notation from Trane's solo, and it is more or less in the same rhythmic time, It shows both how great John Coltrane actually was, and how far automated music still has to go.



---o0o---

John Coltrane: an unbelievable video of Giant Steps

Giant Steps is an early John Coltrane song. This video by Dan Cohen matches the notation to his actual playing in real time. I don't know if it's software, or hand-done.

It's interesting at the head of the song, but when John takes his solo, it becomes completely insane, and beautiful. I never really thought about it before, but this tune is just one hairy solo, bracketed by a short beginning and end (well, a little piano soloing too). Giant Steps is, as I said, early Coltrane, before he put his incredible quartet together. This is a must see video!


---o0o---

Covers and Videos of Dave Wakeling's great English Beat song Save It For Later

Pete Townsend:




Pearl Jam (fragment):



Ivan Katz performs SIFL on a Martin Backpacker:




Harvey Danger (A Seattle band who had some big hits in the '90s):

Best Friends Forever? Obama: "I can't quit you Rick Warren!" Shame on the Saddleback quid pro quo.

"Do we rock, or what, Barack?"

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor

All This Is That News Service

The abject disgust among the electorate (including my segment) over Next President Obama's choice to deliver the inaugural invocation is a dark cloud hovering over the inauguration "festivities." Reverend Rick Warren, leader of the Saddleback megachurch in Southern California, strongly supported and worked for the state constitutional amendment that bans gay marriage in California.

It is impossible to grok Obama not getting the symbolism of making Warren part of his swearing-in. I didn't even write about this until now because I was sure that, after a decent interval, Obama would come to his senses and uninvite Warren. It is particularly galling after the success of Proposition 8 in California. Didn't Warren and his crowd get what they wanted? How is it Obama gives his blessing to rub salt into the wound using the White House as a platform? I shouldn't be surprised. We know from the debates and other statements that Obama also does not support gay marriage. Why are we shocked when he embraces a theologian who thinks likewise?

"Man, if I'm elected on November 4th, you are going to

be my sky pilot Inauguration Day."

What does the Presidential transition team say about Obama's choice of a reactionary bigot to lead the prayers on His Big Day? Basically: "You press creeps are making a mountain out of a molehill. And besides, we're also going to have a gay marching band."

As foolish as this is, and as insensitively as Obama is behaving toward one of his key constituencies, we all know the reason for Obama's invitation: this is a quid pro quo for Rick Warren standing him in front of his conservative congregation during the Presidential campaign.

"You slay me, dude!"

In return for a little consideration during the campaign, BHO, in turn, sent an arctic blast at gay citizens, despite his oft-repeated promise during the campaign, that gays were a part of his America, too. He left off the last part of that promise: "as long as they don't get uppity."

Obama insiders mention the gay marching band (you've got to be f***ing kidding me), and point out to anyone who asks that the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, a civil rights veteran and supporter of gay rights will close the inaugural ceremony. By that line of reasoning, we could have a Nazi deliver the invocation as long as we closed it with a Jew. By appointing a minister who has compared same-sex marriage to incest, pedophilia, and polygamy to speak, Obama has sullied this day, which we thought was about inclusion and bringing everyone into the big tent.

"You and I can work together, pal."

The whole shameful episode is inexplicable. It makes you wonder, who will be the next old friend thrown under the bus when it becomes expedient?

---o0o---

Painting: The Lonely Sea

click to enlarge

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Painting: Danger

click to enlarge

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Video Clip - A wonderfully overacted shootout from The Big Racket

This B Movie, The Big Racket, has slipped into the public domain. It includes this action sequence, with some of the funniest over-acting I've ever seen in any movie. This film has bathos to spare. I wish I could find a copy of the entire movie. . .(hint, hint, all you DIVX hackers). . .

From GraphJam: People you meet on the web

http://graphjam.com/

---o0o---

This Week's F.B.I. Ten Most Wanted Fugitive: James G. Bulger (Bonus: video)

As you know from previous posts, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has embraced the internet, and now offers multimedia Most Wanted Posters. While I always enjoyed the ones in the Post Office, these new digital versions include audio, video, maps, and even photoshopped photos showing how a fugitive might look in disguise, or many years later. Today's fugitive is clearly a mobbed-up guy, JAMES J. BULGER. The flyer and a surveillance video appear below:

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

---o0o---

Some [fairly] new Seattle bands I like - The Moondoggies, Throw Me The Statue, Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes

Here are some new (to me) bands from Seattle I have been listening to in the new year (along with My Morning Jacket and Jamey Johnson).

The Moondoggies. A new Seattle band, who are playing at Neumo's next week. I can only find clips of them playing nearly a capella on the ferry. Here is a link to their myspace page, which has a few songs. The clip below gives a little taste. They are a serious roots band, with a touch of what a lot of people describe a mix of Grateful Dead, The Band, and The Byrds. Not a bad lineage!

[Ed's note: A late update by Jack Brummet:] I am updating this article the next night, and wanted to note that the more listen to this band, the more I love them. I am absolutely attending (Dave Hokit just offered me a ticket). If anyone wants to do a meet-up at or during a Pre-Func, let me know! With all due respect to Fleet Foxes/Throw Me The Statue/Band of Horses, all of whom I like very much, The Moondoggies just seem to transcend a lot of the ca-ca and you get the feeing listening to their songs that the band is much less trying to make a cohesive album than putting their feet down on the first leg of something that like it might just be An Incredible Journey.




Throw Me The Statue - a video of their tune Lolita:




The Fleet Foxes - A recent video on YouTube:




Band of Horses - We saw them in Memorial Stadium last summer, where they had no trouble managing a stadium, and what had to be their biggest crowd ever. This is a video of their tune The Great Salt Lake:



---o0o---

Seattle postcard: The Evergreen Point Floating Bridge

Click to enlarge the floating bridge, ship canal, and Lake Washington.

I have driven from my home in Seattle over this pontoon bridge every day for nearly 20 years. At the top of the card, just off to the right, is where Bill Gates would build his mansion on the water years after this photo was taken.

---o0o---

People Who Deserve It - a blog dedicated to "socially responsible reasons to punch someone in the face."

People Who Deserve It is a website devoted to documenting "socially responsible reasons to punch someone in the face." Some gems:

#2 - Woman Who Talks on Cellphone at Holocaust Museum
#73 Inaccurate Wikipedia Contributor
#59 Passive Aggressive Emoticon User
#65 Cheapskate Landlord
# 9 Sexual Innuendo T-Shirt Guy
#6 Loser Who Laments About Turning 25
#29 Douche Who Wear Sunglasses Inside (aka Corey Hart)
#27 Incessant Facebook Status Updater
#72 - No Clean Up Nail Clipper
---o0o---

Poem: The Curtain

1
There are pockets of sanity
Scattered among us

And light years between those
Shimmering Seas of Tranquility.

2
The puzzle we face every day
Is keeping our tiller

Aimed away from
The Sea of Madness.

3
The silver rain

Is drawn like a curtain

Between us

And God.

---o0o---

Painting (analog, even!): Karl Marx

click to enlarge

This is an acrylic and ink on silk. . .the foundation is an old banner from Communist China that I found at a surplus store. I painted this a few years ago...

---o0o---

Old Seattle postcard - Battleships in Elliott Bay

Click to enlarge
---o0o---

This postcard must be from the '40s. The only skyscraper appears to be The Smith Tower. . .

We know from rain. . .and this is rain: 22 rivers flooding in Western Washington

click to enlarge this brain surgeon's pickup

On top of the still melting snow, we've been hit with massive--even for here--rainfall and by 22 rivers flooding in Western Washington. In our immediate vicinity, the Tolt, Cowlitz, Nooksack, Skagit, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Cedar, Nisqually, Puyallup, Carbon, and Skookumchuck rivers, as well as dozens of creeks are flooding. They've closed Interstate 5 to the south and north, as well as the Stevens, Snoqualmie (I-90), Bluett, and White Passes over the Cascade Mountains. Western Washington is an island at the moment, cut off from the rest of the west coast, anything east of the mountains, and Canada.

It could be worse of course; those 22 flooding rivers are only a fraction of the waterways in the Puget Sound/Western Washington Region (and we do have some cool river and creek names..I don't even think Jumpoff Joe Creek is listed!):


Fraser River (BC)
Chilliwack River
Nooksack River
Samish River
Skagit River
Baker River
Sauk River
Suiattle River
White Chuck River
Cascade River
Stillaguamish River
Boulder River
Snohomish River
Pilchuck River
Skykomish River
Sultan River
Wallace River
Beckler River
Rapid River
Snoqualmie River
Tolt River
Raging River
Pratt River
Taylor River
Pipers Creek (within walking distance of Jack's House)
Lake Washington Ship Canal/Lake Washington (within walking distance of Jack's House)
Taylor Creek
Thornton Creek
Sammamish River
Kelsey Creek
Coal Creek
Cedar River
Rex River
Juanita Creek
Duwamish River
Black River
Cedar River
Green River (which runs a block from where I grew up)
White River (feeds into the Green River)
Fauntleroy Creek
Puyallup River
Stuck River
Clearwater River
Greenwater River (childhood fishing spot)
Carbon River
Mowich River
Chambers Creek
Clover Creek
Nisqually River
Mashel River
Deschutes River
Skokomish River
Hamma Hamma River
Duckabush River
Dosewallips River
Big Quilcene River
Strait of Juan de Fuca
Dungeness River
Gray Wolf River
Elwha River
Lillian River
Lost River
Haynes River
Pysht River
Hoko River
Sekiu River
Lyre River
Sooes River
Ozette River
Big River
Quillayute River
Dickey River
Bogachiel River
Calawah River
Sitkum River
Sol Duc River
Hoh River
Queets River
Clearwater River
Solleks River
Salmon River
Sams River
Raft River
Quinault River
Moclips River
Copalis River
Humptulips River
Hoquiam River
Chehalis River
Wishkah River
Wynoochee River
Satsop River (scene of a great rock festival I attended)
Canyon River
Black River (now subsumed into the Whote and Green rivers)
Skookumchuck River
Newaukum River
Johns River
Willapa River
North River
Fall River
Palix River
Canon River
North Nemah River
Middle Nemah River
South Nemah River
Naselle River
Columbia River
Grays River
Elochoman River
Cowlitz River (the river where my Uncle Guy of the fabled wooden leg ran a one-car ferry)
Coweeman River
Toutle River
North Fork Toutle River
Tilton River
Cispus River
Ohanapecosh River
Kalama River
Lewis River
Muddy River
Lake River
Washougal River
Lacamas Creek
Wind River
Little White Salmon River
White Salmon River
Klickitat River
Little Klickitat River
Walla Walla River
Touchet River
Snake River
Palouse River
Cow Creek
Union Flat Creek
Rock Creek
Tucannon River
Asotin Creek
Grande Ronde River
Yakima River
Toppenish Creek
Naches River
Tieton River
Bumping River
American River
Little Naches River
Teanaway River
Cle Elum River
Cooper River
Waptus River
Kachess River
Crab Creek
Wenatchee River
Chiwawa River
Napeequa River
Little Wenatchee River
Entiat River
Mad River
Chelan River
Stehekin River
Methow River
Twisp River
Chewuch River
Lost River
Okanogan River
Similkameen River
Nespelem River
Little Nespelem River
Sanpoil River
Spokane River
Little Spokane River
Hangman Creek
Colville River
Little Pend Oreille River
Kettle River
Pend Oreille River
American River
Baker River
Big Quilcene River
Bogachiel River
Bumping River (childhood fishing spot)
Calawah River
Carbon River (childhood fishing spot)
Cedar River (childhood fishing spot)
Chehalis River
Chelan River
Chewuch River
Chiwawa River
Cispus River
Cle Elum River
Clearwater River (Queets River)
Clearwater River (White River)
Clover Creek
Coal Creek
Columbia River
Colville River
Cowlitz River
Crab Creek
Deschutes River
Dosewallips River
Duckabush River
Dungeness River
Duwamish River
Elwha River
Entiat River
Fauntleroy Creek
Gray Wolf River
Grays River
Hamma Hamma River
Hoh River
Hoko River
Humptulips River
Indian Creek (Elwha River)
Juanita Creek
Kachess River
Kelsey Creek
Kettle River
Klickitat River
Lacamas Creek
Lewis River
Little Pend Oreille River
Little Spokane River
Little White Salmon
Mad River
Mashel River
Methow River
Muddy River
Naches River (childhood fishing spot)
Naselle River
Newaukum River
Nisqually River
Nooksack River
North River
Okanogan River
Palouse River
Pend Oreille River
Pilchuck River
Puyallup River
Queets River
Quillayute River
Quinault River
Raging River
Rex River
Samish River
Sammamish River
Sauk River
Sol Duc River
Skagit River
Skokomish River
Skookumchuck River
Skykomish River
Snake River
Snohomish River
Snoqualmie River
Spokane River
Stehekin River
Stillaguamish River
Stuck River
Sultan River
Taylor Creek
Teanaway River
Thornton Creek
Tieton River
Tilton River
Tolt River
Touchet River
Toutle River
Tucannon River
Twisp River
Walla Walla River
Washougal River
Wenatchee River
White River
White Salmon River
Willapa River
Wishkah River
Wynoochee River
Yakima River
---o0o---

In defense of ignorance/Barack Obama once again embroiled in a no-op "controversy"

This is really Pablo Fanque's Turf, but anyone who doubts Leon Pinetta seriously underestimates both Leon and B.H.O. Yeah, Obama's handlers/operatives may have tried to slipstream this CIA nomination by the two ranking Democrats, but after an initially cranky outburst, even Di-Fi appears to be on board. And they're not wrong. Pinetta is also one of the good guys, and let's face it, the only reason Obama did an end run around Feinestein was that she had been playing footsy with the Bush Administration on the torture issue. There have been a few enablers among the Democrats, and the time is coming when they may need to account for that. Kind of like when Carlo had to account to Michael Corelone on his son's baptism day. /jack

---o0o---

Video; The Beach Boys' Darling

CLICK THE BEARDED ONES TO ENLARGE

This is a nice uptempo performance of an uptempo song by the Beach Boys. This YouTube video is from the Knebworth Festival, and had to happen sometime prior to 1983, since Dennis Wilson appears in the video, still alive and well. The great vocalist Carl Wilson gives a true blue-eyed soul performance here. The lyrics are weak, but they are well-propelled by the tune.

Darlin'
(Brian Wilson/Mike Love)

Ohh darlin'
My darlin' you're so fine
Ohhhh-hhh-hhh

Don't know if words can say
But darlin' I'll find a way
To let you know what you meant to me
Guess it was meant to be
I hold you in my heart
As life's most precious part

Oh darlin'
I dream about you often my pretty darlin'
(Darlin' you're so fine)
I love the way you soften my life with your love
Your precious love uh huh oh

I was living like half a man
Then I couldn't love but now I can
You pick me up when I'm feeling sad
More soul than I ever had
Gonna love you every single night
Cause I think you're too outta sight

Oh darlin'
I dream you often my pretty darlin'
(Darlin' you're so fine)
I love the way soften my life with your love
Your precious love uh huh huh

Woah oh oh oh

Every night darlin'
Gonna love you every single night, yes I will
Cause I think you're too doggone outta sight

Oh darlin'
I dream you often my pretty darlin'
(Darlin' you're so fine)
I love the way soften my life with your love
Your precious love uh huh huh
Oh

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Video: Bob Dylans Love Minus Zero/No Limits, performed with a few pals - Leon Russell, Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, George Harrison and Ringo Starr

Love Minus Zero/No Limits one of Bob's great love songs, is performed at the excellent Concert for Bangladesh (and film)...not a bad backup band: George Harrison, Leon Russell, Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, and Ringo on drums.



Love Minus Zero/No Limit
by Bob Dylan

My love she speaks like silence,
Without ideals or violence,
She doesn't have to say she's faithful,
Yet she's true, like ice, like fire.
People carry roses,
Make promises by the hours,
My love she laughs like the flowers,
Valentines can't buy her.

In the dime stores and bus stations,
People talk of situations,
Read books, repeat quotations,
Draw conclusions on the wall.
Some speak of the future,
My love she speaks softly,
She knows there's no success like failure
And that failure's no success at all.

The cloak and dagger dangles,
Madams light the candles.
In ceremonies of the horsemen,
Even the pawn must hold a grudge.
Statues made of match sticks,
Crumble into one another,
My love winks, she does not bother,
She knows too much to argue or to judge.

The bridge at midnight trembles,
The country doctor rambles,
Bankers' nieces seek perfection,
Expecting all the gifts that wise men bring.
The wind howls like a hammer,
The night blows cold and rainy,
My love she's like some raven
At my window with a broken wing.

Copyright ©1965; renewed 1993 Special Rider Music
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Northern Explosure? A chairlift mishap in Vail.

click to enlarge

A half naked skier was left dangling upside down last week, after a bizarre chairlift accident Friday morning at Vail's Blue Sky Basin. The man partially fell through a gap in the chair's seat, his right ski got jammed in the chairlift, and he was upended. This photo was snapped by a fellow skier. They got him down 15 minutes later, safe and sound, except for his dignity.

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Photos: The Raccoon In The Sycamore Tree

A raccoon ambled through our yard this weekend. You don't often see raccoons in the daylight; This may have even been a first. I see them most nights, lumbering in and out of the shadows as they mosey around the neighborhood.

My wife said, "He's probably sick. Or hurt."

"I don't know," I said to Keelin, "Maybe he's just thinking outside the box."

When Del went outside to investigate closer, the raccoon scrambled over to, and climbed up, an Aspen tree in our backyard. There was a time in my ancestor's pasts, when a treed raccoon would have meant one thing: dinner.

Photography by Del Brummet. Click all photos to enlarge.








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Obama's first F***-up/Bill Richardson weasels on the Commerce cabinet position

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor, All This Is That News Network

Obama may still have his hands clean, but now, a second pay to play stink has settled around his new administration. The beloved New Mexico Governor, Bill Richardson announced yesterday that he was withdrawing his nomination to be President-elect Barack Obama's Commerce Secretary. He said (approximately), "thanks, but no thanks. . .I think this grand jury investigation into some of my political donors who won a sweet $$$ state contract will hamstring the administration."

The company in question, CDR Financial Products [does that sound like another Ponzi scheme, or what?] was paid a total of $1.48 million in 2004 and 2005 for its work on a transportation program. CDR and its CEO, David Rubin, have contributed at least $110,000 to three political committees formed by Richardson, according to an Associated Press review of campaign finance records. Looking at this crassly, one and a half million dollars is not a bad return on a $100,000 "investment."

Richardson's bugging out is the first real disruption of Obama's Cabinet juggernaut, and the second "pay-to-play" investigation that has landed on Obama's team. The first was the messy case of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich attempting to sell Obama's vacated seat.

A federal grand jury is at this moment investigating how a California company that contributed to Richardson's Presidential bid won a transportation contract worth more than $1 million.

Richardson--in a statement issued by the Obama transition office--said the investigation could take weeks or months. And, as they do every time, he expressed confidence the probe will show he and his administration acted properly.

"The ongoing investigation also would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process," Richardson's statement said. "Given the gravity of the economic situation the nation is facing, I could not in good conscience ask the president-elect and his administration to delay for one day the important work that needs to be done." Cough cough.

Governor Richardson did say that he would remain in place as governor. At least until the investigation turns up something really hairy.

Unfortunately, Bill Richardson is one of the good guys. He is an excellent governor. He did great work internationally in the Clinton administration, and in my booklet, was fully qualified to have become President (probably more qualified than the guy who never quite became his boss), and, certainly, Secretary of Commerce. He probably should have been the nominee for Secretary of State. But he got caught with his testicles in the vice. Or maybe he hasn't; it doesn't matter, really--just the whiff of impropriety is enough to sink a fledgling cabinet member. It's the old Caesar's Wife dictum playing itself out once again.

Naturally, Soon-To-Be-President Obama accepted his resignation "with deep regret" and said "Bill Richardson is an outstanding public servant and would have brought to the job of Commerce Secretary and our economic team great insights accumulated through an extraordinary career in federal and state office. It is a measure of his willingness to put the nation first that he has removed himself as a candidate for the Cabinet to avoid any delay in filling this important economic post at this critical time. Although we must move quickly to fill the void left by Governor Richardson's decision, I look forward to his future service to our country and in my administration."

And you know what really sucks? Bill wouldn't have even needed to shave his beard!

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Robert Crumb predicted The Internet, Twitter, Facebook, and Too Much Information 40 years ago. Here's the proof.

Robert Crumb predicted The Internet, Twitter, Facebook, and Too Much Information 40 years ago. Here's the proof.


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Poem: Snow Day In Kirkland, Washington

Silhouetted against blue bisque skies,
Crows bounce on snow-draped tree branches,

Shaking powder to the ground.
They survey the valley

For their prey, now in stark and dreaded relief
Against the glimmering white fields.
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Video: Bob Dylan riffs on a sign

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Cary Grant on taking LSD

I was watching a Cary Grant movie today (Hitchcock's North by Northwest) and remembered the story about him trying LSD. Well, of course, the story's on the interwebs.

From Cary Grant's autobiography, Chapter 14:

I underwent a series of controlled experiments with Lysergic Acid, a hallucinogenic chemical or drug known as LSD 25. Experiment is perhaps a misleading word; to most people it signifies patronization and objectivity. For my part I anxiously awaited their personal benefits that could be derived from the experiences, and was quite willing to be less than objective. Any man who experiments with something that cannot benefit himself, or add to his happiness, and that of his fellow man in turn, is a fool and a menace to society. I’ve heard that a man here and there died during LSD25 sessions; but then I’ve heard that men died during poker games and while watching horse racing; but that didn’t seem to stop such occupations. Those men might have died anywhere while doing anything. Men have also died testing airplanes and parachutes, vaccines and common cold cures. In attempting to traverse the next step into progress and knowledge, men have always died. But there is a difference between the man who knows what he’s about with a high-powered airplane, and an idiot who puts wings on a bicycle and takes off from the edge of Niagra Falls.

LSD 25 is a psychic energizer and the exact opposite in reaction to the addictive drugs and opiates. Indeed, Seconal, or similar sedative, is usually given as an antidote, to quell and offset the effects of LSD 25, if necessary. The action of the chemical releases the subconscious so that it becomes apparent to yourself. So that you can see what transpires in the depth of you mind — and what goes on there you wouldn’t believe, ladies and gentlemen — and learn which misconceptions, guilts and fears, with their resultant repressions, inhibitions and insecurities, have formed the pattern for your past behavior. A successively recurring pattern since childhood.

The feeling is that of an unmarshaling of the thoughts as you’ve customarily associated them. The lessening of conscious control, similar to the mental process which takes place when we dream. For example, when you’re asleep and your mind no longer concerned with matters and activities of the day, your subconscious often brings itself to your attention by dreaming. With conscious controls relaxed, those thoughts buried deep inside begin to come to the surface in the form of dreams. These dreams, since they appear to us in symbolic guise, are fantasies and, if you will accept the reasoning, could be classified as hallucinations. Such fantasies, or hallucinations, are inside every one of us, waiting to be released, aired and understood. Dreams are really the emotions that we find ourselves reluctant to examine, think about, or meditate upon, while conscious.
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Video of Elvis Costello's great tune "New Amsterdam"

Video of Dylan's My Back Pages - The classic performance at BobFest by Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, George Harrison,Neil Young,Tom Petty,and Roger McGuinn

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Our thoughts on bi-partisanship after reading Krugman's editorial in yesterday morning's New York Times

By Pablo Fanque,
National Affairs Editor

I had planned to write a long, learned, disquisition on Krugman's Op-ed piece in yesterday's New York Times. This is one of the most depressing essays I've ever read. . .mainly because it was all true. And these are the people with whom we are supposed to forge a bond of cooperation? I don't think so. The G.O.P. should be happy with the fact we aren't about to embark on a massive Necktie Party, or pogrom, or a nation-wide Party Cleansing; God knows, they've earned it. As far as cooperating, I think we should "just say no," unless it is most specifically in our best interest. This collage by fellow editor Jack Brummet captures my feelings, exactly, on how to proceed with bipartisanship in today's climate:


click to enlarge
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Painting: downstream

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It's a mystery to me: dog locks

Last night, at the Ballard Market, I saw (and not only saw, but thought about) a locking dog-leash for the first time. I know people like their pooches, but I was a little baffled. Someone is going to snatch this St. Bernard? Will people actually steal something as troublesome as a dog?

For me, at least, the very dog-ness of a dog functions as a virtual lock. But I guess people really do steal dogs? And even if they don't, their owners love them enough that they want to make sure.
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Photo: Althea and Otis in a milk crate

click to enlarge

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Painting: Double portrait of Dr. Che Guevara/Happy 50th Birthday to the Cuban Revolution

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Since it was 50 years ago today that the Cuban Revolution succeeded in replacing one dictator with another, here is a painting of one of Fidel's right hand men, the Argentine Marxist Dr. Ernesto "Che" Guevara. The Cuban Revolution led to the overthrow of the dictatorial government of Cuban President General Fulgencio Batista on January 1, 1959. The Cuban Revolution also refers to the ongoing implementation of Marxist social and economic programs by the new government since the overthrow of the Batista dictatorship. Some of it worked and some of it didn't. Dr. Guevara was assassinated in Bolivia in the 60's when he was captured with the help of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
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