I Just Had to....

Lord have mercy did this make me laugh. So cute.

I had a hard time not stealing my friend's title for this picture: Swine Flu-Patient Zero.

Its Time To Get Excited, People!

The Spocks have aligned! The time is almost nigh!

Long Black Veil

On my way home from work yesterday a local radio station (now that I've been forced to surf stations, damn you Indie!) was playing Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison straight through.

First of all, I had never heard it before. What a good record! 25 Minutes to Go, written as I found out later by my favorite childhood author Shel Silverstein (I never knew he wore so many hats? Shel and Kris Kristofferson, for example? Never knew!) is an awesome song. Now that I know who wrote it I can totally see it's in his style. In between the songs you can really tell that Johnny's enjoying his time playing for them just as much as the prisoners are enjoying the show.

But, as usual, I digress. Good god. In the parlance of our times, I think I have ADD. :)

Okay. So what I'm slowly getting to is the song Long Black Veil, which Johnny sang right after 25 Minutes.

I first heard this song on Mike Ness's Cheating at Solitaire album.

Then on a Dave Matthew's album.

Then on The Band's Music from the Big Pink.

I also have a Bob Dylan version I got from somewhere.

So I looked at my i-pod. Turns out I have FIVE different versions of the song. 5.

I checked it out on the god of all information, wiki, and turns out that everybody and his brother has covered this song.

The lyrics are basically the story of a man who dies for a crime he did not commit and the woman who mourns him.

A man is accused of murder. He won't provide an alibi for where he was at the time of the crime because he is having an affair with his friend's wife. So, for her honor, he goes to the gallows and dies for the murder he did not commit. All cuz he didn't want his friend to know his wife and he were cheatin'. The cheatin' wife goes and mourns her lover's death at his grave site at night.

Do they just like the idea of a woman secretly mourning this dude who hid her indiscretions? I can't quite figure out why this song catches the ear of so many artists. I mean, its a good song, but damn! Why no covers of 25 Minutes?

I think I gotta go and read Where the Sidewalk Ends. Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout would not take the garbage out!

A Step In The Right Direction

Horray!

The City of LA is FINALLY implementing water restrictions.

Residents can only water their lawns two days of the week, and even on those two days, watering is restricted to before 9am and after 4pm.

I realize these are not the most restrictive measures, but every bit helps. This is a step in the right direction.

Maybe in just a short 30-50 years from now Los Angeleans will realize they don't need to have big green lawns in the middle of the desert!

Good God Every Single One of Them Is Dirty Filthy Bastard

So have you heard yet? There's great news! Politicians in Washington DO reach across the isle. Bipartisanship is alive and well!

Of course, they only seem to cooperate when its (1) covert, (2) illegal, and (3) for the purposes of ensuring more and more power for themselves.

I'm referring, in case you haven't heard, to the lovely Congresswoman Harman, from right here in Southern California. One of my good buddies drew my attention to this story.

Basically Harman was approached by two pretty powerful Israeli lobbyists that were in some legal trouble for espionage. They asked for her help with getting the charges either dropped or reduced, and exchange would lobby Nancy Pelosi to give the House Intelligence chair to Harman following the 2006 elections. Harman agreed to help.

It gets even better. This is where the real bipartisan cooperation comes in.

The Justice Department found out what was going on as it was wiretapping (with court approval) these Israelis' calls. They began an investigation of Harman but were stopped by Alberto Gonzales himself. Actually they did more than began an investigation, they concluded that Harman had broken the law. I'm sure your asking yourself (as I did): why would the super-Republican torture and Bush-loving Gonzales be protecting Harman?

Because Harman was on the House Intelligence Committee and the Bush Administration needed her help as the media had just broke a big story concerning FISA.

You know, FISA, the "national security measure" that allows the government to spy on its own citizens without a warrant. Because if you're not a terrorist you shouldn't mind having your calls and emails monitored.

So because the Bush Administration needed some big gun Democrats to back them on the unconstitutional and wholly dispicable FISA, they wanted to let Harman off the hook and make sure she owed them a favor.

I gotta say this is ringing some bells with me. I few years ago I wrote to my lovely Senator, Ms. Dianne Feinstein (unsurprisingly, another big wig Democrat backing FISA), demanding that she vote against FISA as it is repugnant to the true values of American. The email I received in response basically said that she knew intelligence information that we (the public) did not, and that it was in the best interest of the national security of our country that we continue FISA. With congressional oversight, because I guess we need that more than, you know, actual warrants.

I wonder what Feinstein got from Gonzales? Or vice versa?

I Can Dig It

Touch Me I'm Going To Scream, Part 2





You guys know My Morning Jacket? I had heard of them a few years ago, but I frankly brushed them off as one of those My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy kind of bands. Probably because of the name.

But dude. These guys are good. They got a little Eagles in 'em. A little Floyd. They're a little jam-y, but I dig that kind of music.

Unfortunately I don't know how to embed just audio cuz I'm a techno-idiot that can barely blog, but I did find at least one of their videos that's pretty cool.

And they got this song, Knot Comes Loose, that's beautiful. It's on their 2005 album, Z. I highly recommend checking that shiz out.

I Think He Misspelled "Bunch of Idiots" as "Christian Nation"

Maybe I just don't get it.

America was founded on the separation of church and state. We all learned the basics in elementary school. Religious prosecution in England. People wanted religious freedom. Came to New England. Puritans. Quakers. And so on and so forth. So yeah, the first Europeans that came here were Christians. This much is true.

When it came to establishing the country of the United States, our wise founding fathers did not want us to have to go through what happened in England. So they came up with the separation of church and state.

Thomas Jefferson himself, drafter of the Declaration of Independence (which I think might qualify him as a founding father) and a contributor to the Constitution and Bill of Rights stated:

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."

Those "Americans" who believe that this country is for "them," meaning white Christians, are the most repulsive and confused people. These are by and large the same "Americans" who think that all Muslims are terrorists or who think that all Hispanics are illegal aliens. They are bigots hiding behind their religion.

America was founded by Christians for the most part. Most of us are Christians. But we are NOT a Christian country.

How can we (theoretically) point our righteous finger at countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran for religious extremisms with these ya-hoos running around? Doesn't it pretty much make us just as bad as them?

The beauty of this country is that even these ridiculous illustrations of American culture are allowed and tolerated. Again, because of the First Amendment. Jesus these people make me crazy! (Pun intended).