Painting: Obama makes a point

Click Obana to enlarge...

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Huckabee Apologizes to Romney Over Mormon Comments/Clinton Apologizes To Obama Over Aide's Drug Remarks

Huckabee Apologizes to Romney Over Mormon Comments

Clinton Apologizes To Obama Over Aide's Drug Remarks

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George Bush sees ghosts

Thanks to Jeff Clinton for pointing out this nugget. Robert Draper's new book, "Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush," unloads a few bombs on the stumbling President, but perhaps the most interesting one had to do with spooks. No, not the C.I.A. kind; the apparition kind!




"On this particular evening, Poppy and Bar were away for the evening. For the first time in his life, [George W.] Bush had the run of the White House. The Secret Service detail gave the president's son a few pointers on their way out the door. There's some security downstairs. And the steward's on call. Otherwise, he was on his own.

"Bush had the steward bring him an early dinner. He intended to catch a baseball game on the tube. But the emptiness of the third floor only jostled his preternatural restlessness, so he changed into his grubby attire and headed to the small exercise room in the southeast wing.

"Bush turned on the TV, mounted the stationary cycle, and proceeded to burn through the fidgets. Eventually he got tired of that as well. Sweating, he stepped out into the hallway in his T-shirt and gym shorts with a towel around his neck.

"The usher had turned out most of the lights. Bush took a few strides down the hallway and found his steps slowing. At the entryway to the Lincoln bedroom, he froze. What had he just seen? Something. No. Nothing. No!

"Ghosts. He saw ghosts -- coming out of the walls! Or were they portraits? Or ghosts coming out of the portraits? Rubber-legged, he retreated to his bedroom and shut the door."
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Mitt Hits Huckabee: Values

This is a video response by Stranahan on YouTube to Mike Huckabee's Message to Iowa . I like it. Thanks to Dean Ericksen for suggesting it.



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Clinton Hints Obama Drug Use::::::maybe Kev was right & I should switch my allegiance to the guy I liked in the first place: Senator Biden

I have, of late, been dodging some the barbs hurled my way by Kev, claiming the Clinton campiagn is coming apart at the seams and devolving into a jumbled one-ring circus of mud-slinging, obfuscation, innuendo, outright prevarication, and cheapjack skullduggery launched like a desperate Hail Mary as the campaign drifts downward in the polls.

Maybe he's right. She may have crossed the line on this one. Maybe it's just hardball, but I don't think so. This one kind of has an air of savage desperation. Remember when they floated ominous and unsubstantiated rumors about something dark in Barack's past? The Associated Press reported from New Hampshire yesterday that the Clinton campaign has once again begun dropping sinister hints about Obama remarkable for their lack of proof and specificity:



"A top adviser to Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign said Wednesday that Democrats should give more thought to Sen. Barack Obama's admissions of illegal drug use before they pick a presidential candidate.

"Obama's campaign said the Clinton people were getting desperate. Clinton's campaign tried to distance itself from the remarks.

"Bill Shaheen, a national co-chairman of Clinton's front-runner campaign, raised the issue during an interview with The Washington Post, posted on washingtonpost.com.

"Shaheen, an attorney and veteran organizer, said much of Obama's background is unknown and could be a problem in November 2008 if he is the Democratic nominee. He said the Republicans would work hard to discover new aspects of Obama's admittedly spotty youth."

Kev would have me switch allegiances to Senator Barack Hussein Obama. I'm not ready for that yet. If I had to vote my heart, my choice would be Senator Joe Biden. But I am a pragmatist, and if Clinton falters I'm not quite sure which way I should turn. Not that it matters much in this heavily front-loaded primary season. By the time my caucuses roll around, the matter will have been decided. All the contestants want from me is a check.


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Seven years ago today, The Supreme Court put the screws to the American people

Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000), is the United States Supreme Court case heard on December 11, 2000. Do you remember we had to wait over a month to find out who "won" the election? It only took the court one day to render a decision.

In a per curiam opinion (ed's note: A "per curiam" decision is delivered in an opinion issued in the name of the Court rather than specific justices. In short, I think it means no one personally wants the stink upon themselves of their almost criminally partisan decision) by a vote of 7-2, the Court (to at least one of their rumored later regrets) held that the Florida Supreme Court's scheme for recounting ballots was unconstitutional, and by a vote of 5-4, the Court held that no alternative scheme could be established within the time limits established by Florida Legislature.

The decision ended the whole circus—thousands of lawyers and observers, fixers, and spin-meisters, bagmen, horse-traders, and talking heads flown in to the swampy scene of massive voter fraud and election board malfeasance—and allowed Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris's previous certification of George W. Bush as the winner of Florida's electoral votes to stand. Florida's 25 electoral votes gave Bush, the Republican candidate, 271 Electoral College votes, defeating Democrat Al Gore, who had won the majority of the popular vote. Al Gore went on to become a crusader for the environment, and win the Nobel Peace Prize. George Bush presided over an unpopular war, episodes of criminality in the White House, and numerous domestic disasters, economic setbacks, and an enemy attack on U.S. soil, and will probably be remembered best for the war he fomented, and his cure for all that ails the country, and world—widespread retrenchment of civil liberties.

Supreme Court of the United States
Argued December 11, 2000
Decided December 12, 2000

Full case name: George W. Bush and Richard Cheney, Petitioners v. Albert Gore, Jr., et al.
Docket #: 00-949

Citations: 531 U.S. 98; 121 S. Ct. 525; 148 L. Ed. 2d 388; 2000 U.S. LEXIS 8430; 69 U.S.L.W. 4029; 2000 Cal. Daily Op. Service 9879; 2000 Colo. J. C.A.R. 6606; 14 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 26

Prior history: On writ of certiorari to the Florida Supreme Court

Argument: Link to Oral Argument

Holding: "In the circumstances of this case, any manual recount of votes seeking to meet the December 12 “safe harbor” deadline would be unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. "

Court membership: Chief Justice: William Rehnquist; Associate Justices: John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer

Concurrence by: Rehnquist
Joined by: Scalia, Thomas
Dissent by: Stevens
Joined by: Ginsburg, Breyer
Dissent by: Souter
Joined by: Breyer; Stevens, Ginsburg (all but part C)
Dissent by: Ginsburg
Joined by: Stevens; Souter, Breyer (part I)
Dissent by: Breyer
Joined by: Stevens, Ginsburg (except part I-A-1); Souter (part I)

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President Lyndon Baines Johnson orders trousers from Joe Haggar

Thanks to Bill Schneider for pointing this out. It's been a while since we've written anything about LBJ. It's not The Johnson Treatment exactly, but LBJ puts the Haggars through their paces! It's classic Lyndon--at once imperial, demanding, profane, and fawning. If you'd like to hear the fascinating audio tape of this call, click here.

Earlier articles on LBJ appearing on All This Is That:

The Johnson Treatment

LBJ and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King meet up

LBJ howls like a dog

Another good LBJ photo

And another. . .

One of the heroes and villains paintings

LBJ In A Characteristic Pose

Running Mates: Senators Lyndon Johnson And JFK

The Johnson Treatment, Part 6: The Hump and Senator Russell get the treatment

The Johnson Treatment, Part 5: Senator Richard Russell (Dem., Georgia) Undergoes The Treatment

The Johnson Treatment, Part 4: President Johnson Gives The Treatment To Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas

The Johnson Treatment, Part 3: LBJ Gives Eartha Kitt The Treatment

The Johnson Treatment, Part 2: Richard M. Nixon, Republican Presidential Front-runner Gets The Treatment

He's Not Close Enough To Give Him The Johnson Treatment, But LBJ Appears To Be Answering A Pointed Question From Dan Rather

This is the White House transcript of an Aug. 9, 1964 conversation between President Lyndon Johnson and Joe Haggar:


Operator: Go ahead sir

LBJ: Mr. Haggar?

JH: Yes this is Joe Haggar

LBJ: Joe, is your father the one that makes clothes?

JH: Yes sir - we're all together

LBJ: Uh huh. You all made me some real lightweight slacks, uh, that he just made up on his own and sent to me 3 or 4 months ago. There's a light brown and a light green, a rather soft green, a soft brown.

JH: Yes sir

LBJ: and they're real lightweight now and I need about six pairs for summer wear.

JH: yes sir

LBJ: I want a couple, maybe three of the light brown kind of a almost powder color like a powder on a ladies face. Then they were some green and some light pair, if you had a blue in that or a black, then I'd have one blue and one black. I need about six pairs to wear around in the evening when I come in from work

JH: yes sir

LBJ: I need...they're about a half a inch too tight in the waist.

JH: Do you recall sir the exact size, I just want to make sure we get them right for you

LBJ: No, I don't know - you all just guessed at 'em I think, some - wouldn't you the measurement there?

JH: we can find it for you

LBJ: well I can send you a pair. I want them half a inch larger in the waist than they were before except I want two or three inches of stuff left back in there so I can take them up. I vary ten or 15 pounds a month.

JH: alright sir

LBJ: So leave me at least two and a half, three inches in the back where I can let them out or take them up. And make these a half an inch bigger in the waist. And make the pockets at least an inch longer, my money, my knife, everything falls out - wait just a minute.

Operator: Would you hold on a minute please?

[conversation on hold for two minutes]

LBJ: Now the pockets, when you sit down, everything falls out, your money, your knife, everything, so I need at least another inch in the pockets. And another thing - the crotch, down where your nuts hang - is always a little too tight, so when you make them up, give me an inch that I can let out there, uh because they cut me, it's just like riding a wire fence. These are almost, these are the best I've had anywhere in the United States,

JH: Fine

LBJ: But, uh when I gain a little weight they cut me under there. So, leave me , you never do have much of margin there. See if you can't leave me an inch from where the zipper (burps) ends, round, under my, back to my bunghole, so I can let it out there if I need to.

JH: Right

LBJ: Now be sure you have the best zippers in them. These are good that I have. If you get those to me I would sure be grateful

JH: Fine, Now where would you like them sent please?

LBJ: White House.

JH: Fine

LBJ: Now, uh, I don't guess there is any chance of getting a very lightweight shirt, sport shirt to go with that slack, is there? That same color?

JH: We don't make them, but we can have them made up for you.

LBJ: If you might look around, I wear about a 17, extra long.

JH: Would you like in the same fabric?

LBJ: Yeah I sure would, I don't know whether that's too heavy for a shirt.

JH: I think it'd be too heavy for a shirt.

LBJ: I sure want the lightest I can, in the same color or matching it. If you don't mind, find me somebody up there who makes good shirts and make a shirt to match each one of them and if they're good, we'll order some more.

JH: Fine

LBJ: I just sure will appreciate this, I need it more than anything. And uh, now that's a..about it. I guess I could get a jacket made outta that if I wanted to, couldn't I?

JH: I think that - didn't Sam Haggar have some jackets made?

LBJ: Yeah you sent me some jackets some earlier, but they were way too short. They hit me about halfway down my belly. I have a much longer waist. But I thought if they had material like that and somebody could make me a jacket, I'd sent them a sample to copy from.

JH: Well I tell you what, you send us this, we'll find someone to make it

LBJ: - ok

JH: We'll supply the material to match it

LBJ: Ok, I'll do that. Uh now, how do I - can you give this boy the address because I'm running to a funeral and give this boy the address to where we can send the trousers - don't worry, you'll get the measurements out of them and add a half an inch to the back and an give us couple of an inch to the pockets and a inch underneath to we can let them out.

JH: What you 'd like is a little more stride in the crotch

LBJ: Yeah that's right. What I'd like is to give me a half a inch more then leave me some more. Ok here he is.

JH: Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the others

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Video: Bob Dylan with The Rolling Stones Playing his "Like A Rolling Stone" (wth lyrics)

An odd pairing, with Bob and the Stones around the turn of the century, playing one of Bob's greatest tunes.



Like A Rolling Stone, by Bob Dylan


Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all kiddin' you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin' out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it
You said you'd never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And ask him do you want to make a deal?

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things
But you'd better lift your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
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Poem: But you can't

You can withdraw it
Marginalize it
Forget it
Hide it
Lie about it
Or deny it three times before the cock crows.

You can laugh about it
Weep about it
Shout about it
Hide it under a bush (oh no)
Sing the blues about it
Or sweep it under the rug.

You can get an ulcer over it
Commit suicide over it
Lose your family over it
Lose your shorts over it
Lose your mind over it
Or pretend it never happened.

You can dream about it
Run away from it
Rationalize it
Explain it away
Or drink it away
But you can't take back love.
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This week's photographic update on Jeri Kehn Thompson

There were few interesting Jeri Kehn photos from the campaign this week, so instead we put up a few of her miscellaneous photos we have kicking around. Who knows how much longer anyone will even be interested as the Thompson campaign sags. The incredible surge of Mike Huckabee has been mainly at the expense of Ex-Senator Fred Thompson. In the meantime, if Fred was smart--and anyone watching his campaign has to question that--he'd send Mrs. Jeri Kehn Thompson to even more campaign appearances.

Some other recent pages of Jeri Kehn photos on this blog:

Photomontage: Jeri Kehn pressing the flesh (includes one photo of her husband) and links to Jeri Kehn photo motherlode

Latest Jeri Kehn sightings and photographs

Two more Jeri Kehn Thompson Photos

Latest Jeri Kehn sightings and photographs

Jeri Kehn Thompson photo update No. 12--eleven new Jeri Kehn photographs

Two more Jeri Kehn Thompson Photos

A Jeri Kehn Thompson cameo appearance in a Fred Thompson campaign video, four new Jeri Kehn photographs, and a Mrs. Fred Thompson photo roundup

Three additional photos of Mrs. Fred Thompson a/k/a Jeri Kehn

Meet the Thompson Twins: Fred Thompson's wife, Jeri Kehn (with photos)

One More Jeri Kehn Thompson photo

Jeri Kehn Photos, Part 3: Three more photos of Mrs. Fred Thompson

More Jeri Kehn photos--> A follow-up to "Meet the Thompson Twins: Fred Thompson's wife, Jeri Kehn (with photos)

Not Jeri Kehn: people who are not Mrs. Fred Thompson, yet who often turn up in search engine searches on "Jeri Kehn"

Three new Jeri Kehn photos; links to Jeri photos; and Fred Thompson describes the beauty of having a hot first lady;"

New photographs of Jeri Kehn Thompson on the campaign trail (and a couple of her husband Fred too)

Where All This Is That readers come from...

click to enlarge

Every once in a while, I check into Site Meter's tracking of people who end up on All This Is That. On Sunday, just under 400 visitors came here. Most were from the USA. A handful hail from Canada, Europe, Australia, and a couple of people arrived from Africa, Asia, and Australia and New Zealand.

The US map is interesting. The west coast has a line of people stretching from Victoria, British Columbia to Tijuana, Mexico. It's fascinating how this line hugs the Pacific Coast, but then there is no one until you get to Denver, and Austin, Texas, and a few other cities sprinkled in the middle of the country. There is a swath of people running down the industrial rust belt, in Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, and other cities, and then a cluster around the east coast, mostly in the NYC metro area. Clearly, we're not hitting that middle-west demographic, nor our brothers and sisters in Canada!
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War is over for The Brits?

According to The Sun, war is over for the British troops. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has saidhe wants his troops home. Soon. Click here to link to the full article.


click to enlarge
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27 years ago today, John Lennon was assassinated

John Lennon was assassinated by a deranged fan outside his home 27 years ago today. We lived in the neighborhood at the time, and could hear the sirens. I was listening to Vin Skelsa that night on WNEW when he broke in in tears, to tell us the news about his friend. Lennon had just released Double Fantasy (his best record in years) two weeks earlier. It was an incredibly depressing time, especially in New York City. Hostages were being held in Tehran, Jimmy Carter had just been trounced in the election, and Ronald Regan would be sworn in as President in a few weeks. For months fans gathered across the street from The Dakota, in what would become Strawberry Fields in Central Park.
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Poem: Stages

I am no one's grandchild
Or nephew or great nephew
I've never been a great grandson

I am still a son
Still a brother and uncle
Son- and brother-in-law
First second and third cousin
Daddy and husband

I am still to be a grandfather
Great uncle and father-in-law

And always have been
And always will be God's boy.
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Happy Birthday, Washington Monument!

In 1884, 123 years ago today, the Washington Monument was completed as workers placed a nine-inch aluminum pyramid on the tower of white marble. The city's (and my state's) namesake, George Washington finally had a fitting monument. 100 years earlier, Congress decided a statue of the great Revolutionary War general should be placed near the site of the new Congressional building, wherever that ended up being. It wasn't until 1832, 33 years after Washington's death, that much really happened on the monument front. After holding a design competition and choosing an elaborate Greek temple-like design by architect Robert Mills, the society began fundraising money for the statue's construction. These efforts raised some less than a fourth of the the $1 million needed. Construction began anyway, and on July 4, 1848, they laid the cornerstone of the monument: a 24,500-pound block of pure white marble.

By 1854, with funds running low, construction was halted. Around the time the Civil War began in 1861, author Mark Twain described the unfinished monument as looking like a "hollow, oversized chimney." In 1876, President Grant ordered the construction to be completed.


another phallic monument,
known locally as "The Brick
Dick"in Ypsilanti, Michigan

At the time of its completion in December 1884, those 36,000 blocks of marble and granite stacked 555 feet in the air, were the tallest structure in the world. A city law passed in 1910 restricted the height of new buildings to ensure that the monument will remain the tallest structure in Washington, D.C.
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Alien Lore No. 119: The Holloman AFB meeting between President Ike Eisenhower and The Greys

Thanks to Jeff Clinton for pointing this one out. Holloman, of course, has always loomed large in the alien lore world. This is the first time I ever heard about Ike's involvement (the story reminds me of the episode in Dark Skies were President Truman meets with The Greys and then orders the army to shoot down with departing "UFO").

According to Clark C. McClelland, once with the U.S. Space Shuttle Fleet, a UFO landed in front of former U.S. President Eisenhower and other officials at Holloman Aair Force Base. Holloman looms nearly as large as Roswell or Area 51 in Alien Lore.

The old Alamogordo airfield (aka Holloman) had been a training base for heavy bombers. But one day, to the surprise of almost everyone, President Dwight D. Eisenhower landed there.

There was no band or parade--only a few birds calling in the distance. Everyone wondered "why is Ike here? What's going on?" The civilians and military were told that while the president was here, this would be a "business as usual" day.

Whatever was happening would happen was as far away as it could be from the base. Little could be seen unless one had a vantage point and binoculars. Soon, the radar officers gave instructions to shut off all radar. He had turned base operations over to his deputy base commander as long as the President was here. He felt it his duty to be with him with no distractions.

A phone rang in the tower with a report of two UFOs passing over Range Road 12. A minute later, the bogies were over Range Road 7, just a few minutes from the runway. Men in the tower swung their glasses to the north in the morning haze.

Something glinted in the sun, and then something else just below it. Now, a report came in of a third bogie five minutes behind the first two. The tower personnel who did not know what these were, were stunned. The objects had no tails, no wings, and no motors. They were just round objects heading toward the president's plane. They reported the objects, logged them and did their job which was "business as usual." The two objects stopped 300 feet over Air Force One, and then one touched about 200 feet ahead of the plane.

The other UFO hovered above the buildings over the tarmac. The disc had a good vantage point of anything that might come towards the president's plane and the UFO on the ground. Most people who saw or heard about the two craft at the base that day did not believe they were ET, but possibly new Russian or German innovations.

After the UFO landed in front of Air Force One, a man (whom people assumed was the President), came to the doorway of the plane, and approached the saucer on the ground. The man walked up the ramp, stood at the opening, shook hands with someone, and went inside.

Observers thought the President was inside the UFO about 45 minutes. When he emerged from the craft, he walked towards Air Force One. Most observers believed it was President Ike. Many of the witnesses recognized that famous bald pate and his stiff military walk.

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Video: a sylvan car ride

I don't know who made the video (if it was you, contact me!), but I like it. A nice little sylvan ride in the boondocks. . .

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Senator McCain Senior Moment (video)

Senator McCain loses his place.


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Idaho Statesman unearths more dirt on Senator/chocolate thief Larry Craig (with bonus audio clips)

Two months after Senator Larry Craig weaseled on his promise to resign, his old nemesis, The Idaho Statesman is back with interviews (and audio clips) of some of the randy Senator's pickups and victims. It's not just foot tapping this time, friends.

Five men came forward with lurid tales of Senator Craig, most of them were offended by Craig's vehement denials, including his now famous "I am not gay, I never have been gay." [1] Yes, it's a case of he said/she said, but four of the men are willing to make their names and accusations public:

David Phillips, a 42-year-old IT consultant in Washington, says Craig picked him up at a gay club in 1986 and that they subsequently had sex. Audio clip: David Phillips talks about oral sex with the Senator. Audio clip: David Phillips talks about the Senator performing anal sex on David Phillips.

Mike Jones, a former prostitute (who you may remember also told the world he had sex with another Republican, the Rev. Ted Haggard, last year). The former evangelist denied it but later 'fessed up and went off to be "cured." Audio clip: Mike Jones explains why the Senator's backing out of resigning drove him to go public.

Greg Ruth was hit on by the Senator in 1981 at a Republican meeting in Idaho. Audio clip: Greg Ruth describes a bathroom encounter with Larry Craig at the Republican convention.

Tom Russell, now 48, a former Nampa resident had an encounter with Craig in the early 1980s.

An anonymous fifth man from Boise who declined to be named said he was in a restroom at Denver International Airport in September 2006 when the man in the next stall moved his hand slowly, palm up, under the divider. Freaked out, the man said he waited outside the restroom and identified his stallmate as Craig, whom he had met once in Idaho.
______________________________________

[1] Craig's denials are now also available in a Talking Senator Larry Craig Action Figure.
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Beaten to the punch? A disgruntled Jimmy Dean sausage customer

My fierce competitor Dean Ericksen has beaten me to the punch again. Jump here to Dean's blog to hear one of the very best viral audio files of all time. . .a disgruntled Southern Man, a Texan actually (Randy Taylor), unloading on the Jimmy Dean Pure Pork Sausage complaint line.

An excerpt:

"You've got three men who weigh over 200 pounds apiece, a woman that's a little plump--Scotch girl--and a daughter who's 13, and you're going to try to take a 12 ounce roll of sausage and a couple dozen eggs and feed that, it ain't going to work. And I'm not going to purchase your product anymore or ever again. And as far as your 16 ounce maple and sage, I don't eat that. I'm not from the North. I'm a Texas man. Jimmy Dean sausage is for southern people to eat with their breakfast with their fried eggs and their T-bone steak."

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The Mission To Unreached Peoples

I have passed by this sign on 85th Street in Greenwood, Seattle, every day for years. Last night I decided to snap a picture of it. Without actually looking up what The Mission To Unreached Peoples do (obviously something to do with Christian missionary work), it is evocative. Well, now I've looked it up, and yes, indeed, they are out there spreading The Word.


Whenever I see this sign, it makes me wonder whether I am one of the unreached peoples, or if I have been reached to the breaking point? Good question.
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Huck-a-mania! Ex-Governor Huckabee nipping at the heels of the "front-runners" who laughed at him weeks ago

click to enlarge Mike Huckabee

Ex-Governor Huckabee continues to surge in the polls. Sure, he may come back down to earth, but it seems like he is having one of those "Howard Dean" moments of political Midas Touch. In the first full round of tracking polls since last week’s “debate” among G.O.P. Presidential hopefuls, Huckabee pulled within three points of Rudy Giuliani. Before that debate, Giuliani was ahead of Huckabee by twelve points.

New polling data released today shows that Huckabee has pulled within 1% of Hillary Clinton in a general election match-up. Huckabee is leading in Iowa and tied for second in New Hampshire. The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows Giuliani with 20% support nationwide, Huckabee at 17%. Fred Thompson 14%, John McCain 13% and Mitt Romney, 11%. Ron Paul is pulling 7%.

The G.O.P. is experiencing some disequilibrium over the last week, between the debate, the Chuck Norris endorsement of Huckabee, and the apparent flowering of Huck-a-mania! Some of the frontrunners are gasping for air like goldfish on the sidewalk.

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Painting: Shark!

click to enlarge

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The Geek Hierarchy (or, at least one version...I could come up with a dozen other geek scenarios)

click the hierarchy to enlarge

The Geek hierarchy, from Brunching Shuttlecocks, a no longer active web site that remains more or less intact. The funny thing about this geek hierarchy is that it's not too far from reality. . .I work with people who more or less fit into every box on this "org chart," and most of them would admit it...at least about the people in the other categories. Yeah, there are replica sword collectors, renaissance faire folks, comic book fanatics, role players, Wizards gamers, Trekkies, and you name it.
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Notes on lying

By Jack Brummet
Social Mores Editor

I've read a couple of books on the psychology of lying.  I didn't retain a lot, but. . .in general, liars don't gesticulate.  They avoid eye contact and excessive arm and hand movements; they mostly keep their limbs close to their bodies.  Liars often touch their face, throat and mouth, or scratch their noses, or behind their ear.  The timing of their emotes is skewed, you know, just off a normal pace. . .their rhythm plods.

Liars are often like a stranger in a strange place--their emotions are delayed, and stretch out, or stop suddenly in mid-laugh or mid-sentence.  Their gestures and words do not quite sync, or even make sense.  A liar might frown saying "I love you," or smile at your bereavement.

A liar will often focus their efforts on the mouth instead of the whole face.  Only the mouth expresses
emotion and their eyes might just stare back at you in a cold reptilian glare.

They are on guard-- interactions and reactions, move and countermove.  They are always alert to painting themselves into a corner. 

The guilty person is usually defensive, while the innocent will often go on the attack, rightfully pissed off.

A liar and may turn his head or body away from The Questioner (or mark, or dupe); he or she may  unconsciously place objects (a book, a briefcase, a coffee cup) between themselves and you as a little psychological shield. 

If you ask a liar “Did you eat the last cookie?” they will answer, “No, I did not eat the last cookie.”  As we all know by now, “ I didn't do it” instead of “I did not do it” tends to be truthful.  A couple of famous examples are President Bill Clinton: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman," or President Richard Milhous Nixon: "I am not a crook."

Liars often avoid the direct by implying answers instead of denying or confirming something directly.
A guilty person may speak more than natural, and add in unnecessary details just to close the deal, and help to convince you; they are often not comfortable with lacuna, or pauses, in the conversation.

A liar may leave out pronouns and speak in a monotonous tone. When a truthful statement is made the pronoun is emphasized as much or more than the rest of the words in a statement, and their sentences are far more likely be muddled than emphasized.

If you believe someone is lying, do a complete u-turn in conversation.  The liar comes along with you and relaxes, happy the conversation has veered away.  The liar wants the subject changed while the innocent person is confused by the sudden change in topics and wants to go back to the previous subject.

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Skanking with The English Beat at Antone's in Austin, Texas

"skank (skāngk) noun. A rhythmic dance performed to reggae or ska music, characterized by bending forward, raising the knees, and extending the hands."

I spent the night at Antone's in Austin, skanking with Dave Wakeling and The English Beat. It was an amazing show. Dave's voice, warmth, and enthusiasm haven't changed a bit in the years since TEB broke out in 1979. They played songs from General Public and The English Beat, and some of Dave's solo work, but focused on The English Beat. For two+ hours Ska rocked the house.



They played a couple of Motown covers (including a masterful Tears of a Clown), Rotating Heads, Mirror in the Bathroom, Acklee 123, Can't Get Used To Losing You, I Confess, Tears Of A Clown, Save It For Later, Hands Off She's Mine, Doors Of Your Heart, Ranking Full Stop, Best Friend, Rough Rider, Click Click, Get A Job/Stand Down Margaret, Best Friend (with its awesome guitar lines), and probably a dozen more.

The seven piece band was lock-step tight, and clearly enjoyed themselves. The sax was piercing, the organ/piano was good, but mainly functioned as part of the rhythm section (hey, The Beat never did go much for soloing other than those signature sax lines). Dave's vocals and vocal sound effects were perfect, the drums thundered, and the chiming guitars sounded gorgeous. The new "toaster" (a kind of Ranking Roger replacement who sang and functioned as cheerleader, poet, and rabblerouser) was excellent. Over the years, I've sometimes forgotten just how great this band really is, and what a talented singer and songwriter Dave Wakeling is. And it really hit home that a huge part of the English Beat sound is just Dave's voice and accent.



This band rocked, and I mean rocked, from the first chord to the last. Unlike any show I've seen since, say, The Grateful Dead's last Seattle show in May, 1995, every single person in the audience was on their feet and dancing for the entire two+ hours. Antone's throbbed and pulsed. . .the beers were flying everywhere while people skanked and danced, and the band sucked up all the love and energy and turned it back on us. This show is officially up there in my top ten of all time.



I was again struck by the love and positivity [1] that band was always about, while not ignoring their boho (and Birmingham working class) side. They just moved up a couple of notches in my rockpile pantheon. . .and they were already high up on the mountainside.
__________________________

[1] Interestingly, I had to look up the word positivity to verify it is indeed a word and it has a meaning I vaguely knew: "the state or character of being positive: a positivity that accepts the world as it is." That second definition sounds pretty Buddhist to me, but it also applies to Dave Wakeling. He accept things as they are and his music celebrates the sweep of life, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want to change it. And from what I know know of his various charitable works, he's doing it, One Smile At A Time.
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The New York City Sewer Guy

click to enlarge


My boss brought me back a great canvas from New York City on a recent trip there. As you can see from the photo, it matches my own canvases that are hung in my office. The Sewer Guy creates these on top of those gigantic manhole covers all over the city, using paint and a rubbing technique. I love it!

Mark Nilsen has a web site here. If you ever bump into him on the street, he'll whip up a canvas for you either pre-made, or right on the spot on top of a manhole cover...
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Back In Austin, Texas

I've had a great 24 hours in Austin so far. Last night we went out to "fancy barbecue" at Lambert's in the 2nd street district (right next to the warehouse district). I've never had barbecue with cloth tablecloths, napkins, and wine goblets. There was a great piano player, and we had a very good golden ale local beer (great for a beer wimp like me) Real Ale Firemans No. 4 and excellent green chili grits. I had some coffee and brown sugar rubbed and oak smoked brisket, and a great iceberg wedge salad.

I was so dog tired that I fell asleep within two minutes of arriving back at The Austin Motel. I fully intended to rest my eyes five minutes, and go across the street to the Continental Club to hear some music. I woke up fully clothed, contacts still in at 4:15. I wish I was here next week: The Knitters (John Doe, Exene, etc) are playing two nights at the Continental.


Tonight I'm off off t0 see The English Beat/The specials/Special Beat/General Public/Fine Young Cannibals at Antone's in the warehouse district.
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Heading to Austin...

Long time reader, friend for thirty-nine years, and someone who makes my year every time I get to see him [1], wrote suggesting I quit using the image of the crashed monoplane when I write about traveling, and instead use the cover of the Special Beat Service album by the English Beat. And he's right. As it happens, I and The English Beat will both be in Austin, Texas tomorrow, and we will be in the same room at Antone's. Oddly enough, it was Kev who introduced me to The English Beat, and their final album, Special Beat Service. I became a fan, and followed the careers of their offshoots and motherlodes, The Specials, General Public, and Fine Young Cannibals. And now it's all come full circle. And Kev, God bless his soul, said I should post the SBS album cover because "they all arrive safely as you always do."



Who'd have ever thought I would fly all around this world? Or that I might become discombobulated when I hadn't flown anywhere for a couple of weeks? I remember back to a time when an 84 hour bus or train trip was preferable to boarding a 'plane for a four hour flight.

I am still sorting this all out. Somehow I have moments when I miss being petrified about flying, and wonder if I haven't just been hypnotized by the Great Corporate Snake?

Anyhow, I will endeavor to write more from Austin in the next few days...and, of course, give a show report on my happy reunion with The English Beat.

Love,

Jack (boarding the 'plane for San Francisco and on to Austin in five hours)

[1] Like I did this June, when I reconnected with NYC and had a ball with Kev and our familial entourage stalking our old haunts, and new ones, in the East Village, Times Square, The Upper West Side, and Brooklyn, and marveling about the changes in us, and New York, and the world.
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Aviophobia, Part 26

As December approaches, I am taking stock of my last year. Incredibly, in the last year, I have traversed America on 70 different airplanes. You may recall, in the early weeks of the year, I was locked in the throes of acute chronic aviophobia.

Even when I lived in New York City, and San Francisco, it was all I could muster to get on a 'plane at all once a year to travel home to Seattle. Now, I routinely take multi-legged trips all over the map, switching 'planes, and hopping on turbo-props from one airport to the next.

Only a year ago, I needed Xanax, Vallium, or any sort of phramaceutical psychic soother to get close to an aiport. And those aids were often bolstered with a bloody mary, screwdriver, or glass of wine. The weeks leading up to a flight were filled with dread, and an increasing sense of doom the closer I got to boarding the "aircraft." Today? I barely even think about it until the night before I depart. Yeah, I usually only sleep a few hours that night before, but I have become sanguine about the flights. On the 'plane, I bring a load of distractions: whatever book I am currently reading, a Nintendo DS to play games, a laptop computer (that I almost never use in flight), a sketch pad or canvas to draw on, and a notebook for stories and poems.

It mostly works. I don't even think about my stainless steel hip setting off alarms and the subsequent indignity of friskings and patdowns. It's just part of the deal now. I am extremely uneasy in flight, but I've mostly sorted it out. I'll be traveling to England and Pune, India in the next couple of months, so I shouldn't get too cocky. . .but for the moment, I've tamped down the extreme anxiety and fear of flying to a level that's at least tolerable. And oddly enough, I am happiest on a turbo-prop, flying close to the ground, with the propeller whirring about five feet from my head. What's the deal with that?
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Poem: Narcissism

"They all sound the same," shouts someone in the audience. "It's all one song," replied Neil Young.

It's all about me
Who are we spoofing
When we pretend otherwise?

It's all one story
It's all one poem
It's all one song

Like it or not.

---o0o---

Another random poetry generator

I've always been fascinated by poetry generators. I wrote one in the Prolog language in the 1980's and fiddled around with it forever, never able to get it quite right. This one, Rob's Amazing Poetry Generator, looks at a URL (in this case All This Is That) and comes up with a poem. Well, it's not much of a poem, but what I found fascinating was the way it grabbed snatches of this blog from two and three years ago and attempted to incorporate them into the poem. This actually makes me want to attempt to write another one. For what it's worth, here is what Rob's generator came up with:

All This song The
United States of bitters; 2 07 with
his nadir in
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Republicans, The Pope favoured the
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along with drugs, or less .Rhizoma Polygonati
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of without taking another breath.
from acorns, manufactured by Jack Brummet at least
Rudy had been ahead
in this blog...

Using the blog about the life of my friend Philip Kendall, it came up with this one:

In hand, over and this was
crawling across this is not jokes, all
of him fight once, although they camped out the
last time. you put them and
did have a guy name. u003d\\\>\
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the teachers loved his death
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anyone we decided to
ride a whistle.
I would suggest popcorn,
Story Kevin Curran would respond
with Hobart when Dad pulled up, again,
What are wasting your game.
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Photomontage: Jeri Kehn pressing the flesh (includes one photo of her husband) and links to Jeri Kehn photo motherlode

Jeri Kehn has been busy on the campaign trail once again. This week, we find her pressing the flesh and posing for photo ops in four different states. That wrinkly guy in the upper left hand corner is ex-Senator Fred Thompson, who is running for office, or something.


click Jeri to enlarge

The Jeri Kehn photo motherlode:

Latest Jeri Kehn sightings and photographs
Two more Jeri Kehn Thompson Photos
Jeri Kehn Thompson photo update No. 12--eleven new Jeri Kehn photographs
Two more Jeri Kehn Thompson Photos
A Jeri Kehn Thompson cameo appearance in a Fred Thompson campaign video, four new Jeri Kehn photographs, and a Mrs. Fred Thompson photo roundup
Three additional photos of Mrs. Fred Thompson a/k/a Jeri Kehn
Meet the Thompson Twins: Fred Thompson's wife, Jeri Kehn (with photos)
One More Jeri Kehn Thompson photo
Jeri Kehn Photos, Part 3: Three more photos of Mrs. Fred Thompson
More Jeri Kehn photos--> A follow-up to "Meet the Thompson Twins: Fred Thompson's wife, Jeri Kehn (with photos)
Not Jeri Kehn: people who are not Mrs. Fred Thompson, yet who often turn up in search engine searches on "Jeri Kehn"
Three new Jeri Kehn photos; links to Jeri photos; and Fred Thompson describes the beauty of having a hot first lady;
"New photographs of Jeri Kehn Thompson on the campaign trail (and a couple of her husband Fred too)
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Alien Lore No. 118 -- Video and lyrics: The Carpenters' Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft

Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft is unquestionably the nuttiest song The Carpenters ever recorded. . .so out there it qualifies as an Alien Lore entry on All This Is That. Aside from Sun Ra, not a lot of modern music has focused on "visitors" alien lore, or close encounters, and for the clean-cut mainstream Carpenters to perform this song was, even in those wacky times, a real mind-f***er!

Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft is a song by Klaatu, originally released in 1976. It was covered by the Carpenters with a crew of 160 musicians.

John Woloschuk, a member of Klaatu and one of the song's composers, said:
The idea for this track was suggested by an actual event that is described in The Flying Saucer Reader, a book by Jay David published in 1967. In March 1953 an organization known as the "International Flying Saucer Bureau" sent a bulletin to all its members urging them to participate in an experiment termed "World Contact Day" whereby, at a predetermined date and time, they would attempt to collectively send out a telepathic message to visitors from outer space. The message began with the words..."Calling occupants of interplanetary craft!"




Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft

In your mind you have capacities you know
To telepath messages through the vast unknown
Please close your eyes and concentrate
With every thought you think
Upon the recitation we're about to sing

Calling occupants of interplanetary craft
Calling occupants of interplanetary, most extraordinary craft

Calling occupants of interplanetary craft
Calling occupants of interplanetary craft
Calling occupants of interplanetary, most extraordinary craft

You've been observing our earth
And we'd like to make a contact with you
We are your friends

Calling occupants of interplanetary craft
Calling occupants of interplanetary ultra emissaries

We've been observing your earth
And one night we'll make a contact with you

We are your friends
Calling occupants of interplanetary quite extraordinary craft

And please come in pace we beseech you
(Only of love we will teach you)
Our earth may never survive (So don't come we beg you)
Please interstellar policemen
Won't you give us a sign give us a sign that we've reached you

With your mind you have ability to form
And transmit thought energy far beyond the norm
You close your eyes, you concentrate, together that's the way
To send a message we declare World Contact Day

Calling occupants of interplanetary craft
Calling occupants of interplanetary craft
Calling occupants of interplanetary, most extraordinary craft

Calling occupants
Calling occupants
Calling occupants of interplanetary, anti-adversary craft

We are your friends
---o0o---

Newsweek looks into what makes Rudy Rudy

If you're a regular reader, you know we think The Mayor of 9/11, Rudolph Giuliani, is not specifically the best choice for President of the United States of America. Far from it. From the Republican column, we would even give the nod to that dingbat Dennis Kucinich, or the plodding but charming Fred Thompson (bonus: knockout first lady) before we'd give the nod to Rudy. If I was a Republican I'd probably vote for Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney. Note: I've only voted for two republicans in my entire life, and I'd be glad to do it again if they could just quit sounding like, well, Nazis, toothless hillbillies, imbeciles, reactionary toads , whores to the establishment, Republicans.

Giuliani unquestionably has done some good in his life. He completely turned around the town I lived in for five years (NYC), and as a federal prosecutor, he broke the strangle-hold of the mob on NYC and elsewhere. But then there were other problems, with his trigger-happy police, who seemed to feel like they had a standing shoot to kill order on anyone who breached the peace, or with his personal life where he felt no compunction about housing his girlfriend and wife and children in Gracey Mansion at the same time. And then, at his nadir in public opinion as he was about to leave office, 9/11 happened, and he walked around with a hardhat and megaphone issuing sound bites to a ravenous press, and he was suddenly transmogrified into an expert on Islam, terrorism, and national security. The policemen and women and the firefighters do not agree. And neither apparently do many other people. Under this logic, I should probably be the police commissioner of New York City, since I was mugged three times while I lived there.

In their December 3 issue, Newsweek publishes a fascinating article on just what made Rudy Rudy:

"On Sept. 16, 1992, the police in New York City held a rally that spun out of control. The cops wanted a new collective-bargaining agreement, and they were angry at Mayor David Dinkins for proposing a civilian review board and for refusing to issue patrolmen 9mm guns. More than a few of them tipsy or drunk, the cops jumped on cars near city hall and blocked traffic near the Brooklyn Bridge. According to some witnesses, they waved placards crudely mocking Mayor Dinkins, the first black mayor of New York, on racial grounds, while at the same time chanting "Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!" to welcome Rudy Giuliani, the crime-busting former U.S. attorney who had arrived in their midst to shore up his political base.

"It is not clear Giuliani knew exactly what he was getting himself into—he later denied that he did—but video shows him wildly gesticulating and shouting a profanity-laced diatribe against Dinkins. The next day the New York newspapers were sharply critical of Giuliani (a Daily News editorial called his behavior "shameful"), and Dinkins, years later, accused him of trying to stir up "white cops to riot." At the time, Giuliani refused to back down or apologize for his remarks, saying only: "I had four uncles who were cops. So maybe I was more emotional than I usually am." Giuliani's performance that day lost African-American voters, some permanently, but it guaranteed the informal backing of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the policemen's union, which helped him get elected mayor in 1993."

---o0o---