Poem: Tethers

Your tenuous hold on earth
Is disguised in your shadow,
Tethered to the ground
By the soles of your feet
And a theory of gravity.
---o0o---

Video: The Beatles play Please Please Me, warts and all

I am always fascinated by The Beatles live performances, using PAs and guitar amplifiers far less powerful than what we see in 100 person clubs now. They couldn't usually overmatch the screaming. When I saw them in '66 in their second to last show, it was a murky jumble of sound, and the girl's screams won. And yet, it is amazing how good they were live, with the deck totally stacked against them...

Drawing: The 'Bot Master

click to enlarge

---o0o---

Sean Penn's Oscar acceptance speech

I know some of my right-leaning friends don't much cotton to Sean Penn for his extra-vehicular, globe-trotting activities. But I love this guy--he's smart, loud, and talented. His personal life has been amusing to watch. Mostly, 'though, his heart is in the right place, and you have to admire someone who Stands Up. I liked his speech.





From Jeff Spicoli to Harvey Milk is a serious leap. . .but with Sean Penn, I like the extremes, and the passages in between.



---o0o---

Painting: 44

click to enlarge
---o0o---

A Street Sign In San Pancho

This photo shows a street sign in San Pancho a/k/a San Francisco, Nayarit in Mexico. San Pancho is maybe ten miles from Bucerias, where we've stayed many times. . .I could live there.



click to enlarge
---o0o---

Five Tattoos people may live to regret

Statististically, and otherwise, we are in the midst of one King-Hell tattoo boom. From 1995-2005, more tattoos were needled on than ever before, and more tattoo parlors opened than in any ten year span.

A Harris poll conducted in 2003 found that 16% of all adults in the U.S. have at least one tattoo. [1]

From 2005 on, it has possibly even increased...I just can't find any data past 2006. In late 2006, Flumesday.com collected the ten most pathetic categories of tattoos:

• The tramp stamp - the tat above the buttocks that skyrocketed to popularity with the rise of thongs and low-rise jeans.
• The Jailhouse tat.
• The teardrop
• Anything on the ankle
• Barbed wire "Nothing says, "I got a tattoo in the late '90s" like the barbed wire arm band."
• Anything on Mike Tyson's body. He has a Maori face tattoo and a picture of Mao on his arm.
• Something tribal
• Something misspelled (awsome for awesome for example)
• Your lover's name
• Chinese characters

Flumesdat also mention in their article that, unlike horn-rim glasses, beehive hairdos, and other fashion statements, tattoos are a bit more permanent.



Where do these folks even work? I mean, we're used to seeing 7-11 clerks and baristas duded up with tats and piercings, but not quite to this extent. . .

[1] I'm pretty sure the number approaches 100% in prisons:


---o0o---

President Clinton tells President Obama "Speak up!"

click to enlarge POTUS 42

By Pablo Fanque,
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

Former President Bill Clinton spoke to ABC News' Chris Cuomo this week, giving President Barack Obama a grade of A on his first month in office, but also told him Obama needs to put on a more positive face when speaking to the American people about the economy, and perhaps even more importantly, must turn up the heat on the Republicans trying to derail his plans. [Ed's note (JB): This has to be a little weird for BHO, Pablo. . .I know how I've felt in the past, when the spouse of one of my employees told me how to run my business. But, then, none of those spouses were President for eight years either.]

"Look, the American people, I think, know The President has tried to reach out to Republicans."

Clinton said "it takes two to tango. I think there are some of them who really believe that just-say-no politics is good politics." He added "sooner or later, I think if he just keeps chugging along, just keeps the door open, invite 'em to every economic conference, invite 'em to every meeting, eventually, he'll start getting some votes [in Congress]."


click to enlarge BHO

In a showdown vote this week, only three Republicans in the Senate and none (!) in the House of Representatives voted for the Obama-endorsed $787 billion economic stimulus proposal.

Clinton said, "I like the fact that he didn't come in and give us a bunch of happy talk. I'm glad he shot straight with us."
---o0o---

Alien Lore No. 149 - "Fireball" spotted over Dallas and Austin

A large fireball was spotted by hundreds Austin and Dallas citizens on February 15th, but local authorities have found no evidence as to exactly what the falling object might be.

Police from Dallas to Austin were barraged with calls describing a large egg-shaped fireball in the sky. Sonic booms were also reported. but authorities claim to have not been able to locate any debris on the ground.

Authorities confidently state that the "fireball" was "not a result of last week’s US and Russian satellite collision." No authority has, so far, come out and said the object was NOT of extra-terrestrial origin.


---o0o---

Talking Heads and Laurel & Hardy mash up Slippery People

This is an incredible mashup of the Talking Heads playing Slippery People, mashed with video clips of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy dancing. Who'd have thunk?

The Tom Tom Club play Genius of Love

The Tom Tom Club (Tina and Chris from Talking Heads, and friends and family) play Genius of Love at a Talking Heads show (this may well be from Demme's Stop Making Sense film). When I lived in NYC, we saw the Talking Heads many times at CBGB, at the short lived CBGB Second Avenue, and in Central Park. I always loved watching Tina play bass. And she had great legs.


---o0o---

Exclusive: Bombshell transcript leaked in Bush-Cheney dogfight over Libby pardon that never happened

Today's New York Times expands upon details of the deep rift we first learned about in a NY Daily News article yesterday:

"Dick Cheney spent his final days as vice president making a furious last-ditch effort to secure a pardon for his onetime chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr., leaving him at odds with former President George W. Bush on a matter of personal loyalty as the two moved on to private life, according to several former officials.

"The officials said Tuesday that Mr. Cheney’s lobbying campaign on behalf of Mr. Libby was far more intense than previously known, with the vice president bringing it up in countless one-on-one conversations with the president. They said Mr. Bush was unyielding to the end, already frustrated by a deluge of last-minute pardon requests from other quarters.

“The biggest myth of the presidency is that Vice President Cheney always got his way.”

"[Cheney believed] Scooter Libby was ill-served by a president who, in their view, failed to return Mr. Libby’s loyalty and sacrifice. And it points up the distance said to have grown between the two men as their worldviews, once largely in sync, seemed increasingly to diverge in their second term as Mr. Bush took a less hawkish stance.

". . .in an interview with The Weekly Standard last month [Cheney said] that “I strongly believe that he deserved a presidential pardon,” and that “I disagree with President Bush’s decision.”

Last week, Pablo Fanque, the national affairs editor of All This Is That received a transcript--from a GOP political operative who worked in the West Wing until January 20th--of a phone conversation between the former President and Vice President on January 18th, two days before they left office. We reprint the conversation here:

Cheney: You just about have things wrapped up George?

Bush: We're getting there Dick. Honestly, I'm ready to get on that plane and remember what life is really like.

Cheney: Mr. President, I am calling about what I feel is some unfinished business.

Bush: Jesus F***ing Christ! Again? The Libby bulls**t? We've talked about it. We've talked about it again. Nothin's changed Dick. The answer is no. I commuted his sentence. And you both should be happy about that.

Cheney: I am talking about loyalty here George.

Bush: Don't you DARE f***in' lecture me about loyalty. I've considered it and I've reconsidered. The answer is still no. I commuted his sentence. You and your pack don't even give me credit for that. You know what kind of heat I took on that one, Dick?

Cheney: Do you think it's going to hurt your g**d***ed legacy to pardon an old and loyal friend? What that man did for us. He could have thrown us all under the bus. And now in his time of need, you turn your back.

Bush: Enough! You bring this up every f***in' time we talk now. I am The President. And the answer is no. I am not going to change my mind. I've taken plenty of motherfu**in' heat for you over the last last 7 years and 363 days. Shootin' your buddy. And that c***suckin' Haliburton mess. And all the rest of it. Now give it a f***in' rest Dick. I don't want this to cost us our friendship. I don't want this to mess up all that we have accomplished here! Let it go.

Cheney: But Mr. President, no one was ever more loyal to us.

Bush: G**da**it! Shut the f**k up and drop it. From what I read in the briefings, your little buddy brought in millions this year. He doesn't need a f***in' pardon. And he's not getting a f***in' pardon.

Cheney: But George. . .

Bush: Don't you f***in' remember what kind of s***storm he brought down on us? Enough![click]

Cheney: G**damnit! Nobody hangs up on me! [aside to aides: "Who the f**k does he think he is? Well, that's all she wrote. I don't know who or what got to him, but he's hung Scooter out to dry."]
---o0o---