Friday M-Vloggin' . . . With The Kinks!

I really hate having favorite lists of anything. And especially so when it comes to music. There are so many bands and songs that have left lasting impressions on me in my 46 years on this planet it wouldn't be fair to single any one of them out for special recognition. But if I were forced to to do so, I would definitely include this 1970 song by The Kinks - 'Lola'. I think I probably heard it the first time around 1974, 1975 just coming into my teen years. Being that young and ignorant about the wonders and weirdness of the world beyond my midwest upbringing, I really didn't quite understand the lyrical content of this song initially. All I knew was I loved the rock tempo of the song and the great guitar riffs in it. It was only a few years later that I found out it was all about some guy's unwitting, drunken misadventures with a transvestite - lol. While semi-shocking to my senses, the latent discovery of that little tidbit of information didn't put a damper on my love of the song, as a matter of fact I think it actually endeared it even more to me (and no -- I've never had a drunken encounter with a transvestite -lol- best I can recall anyway) . Regardless, it's still a kick-ass tune and The Kinks are still one of the best bands to ever prowl a stage and practice the life-affirming art of music.

Enjoy.

----k

The Government and Media - - A Criminal Enterprise?

Constitutional law specialist Glenn Greenwald has an important post on his blog about the corporate media and their past and present role as willing accomplices in covering up for the criminal activities of our government. In one excerpt from this provocative essay Greenwald posits:

"As I pointed out more times than I can count during discussions of the warrantless eavesdropping debates, we don't have a country where political leaders are free to commit crimes and then, afterwards, claim that their doing so produced good outcomes."

If I may, I'm going to expound upon and garnish that observation. First off Glenn - I would argue that indeed WE DO have a country where political leaders are free to commit crimes and then, afterward, claim that their doing so produced "good outcomes." The United States didn't become the empire it is by piously adhering to the rules of it's own laws as we roamed the planet spreading the messages of militaristic democracy and free-market capitalism. The unadulterated historical record indicates that those messages were either spread by written treaty, to those nations that were receptive, or by the end of a gun barrel and point of a bayonet for those who weren't. But that's a whole other discussion so I'll leave that sleeping dog lie for the moment. Suffice to say, America is the super-power it is today precisely because our political leaders have indeed worked above, behind, under and around our own laws and it goes without saying that that activity has transcended partisan political affiliations.

But getting back to Greenwald's assertion -- as I was reading that excerpt a stark analogy popped into my ahead which I believe fairly sums up this unholy partnership that exists with the mainstream media elites enabling and running interference for the government criminals because they are sympathetic to the argument that the crimes of their equally elite political brethren justify the ends.

My analogy of this perverse synopsis is this: Imagine if you will a thug, who during the commission of a convenience story robbery, purposefully shoots the clerk, and the bullet severs the poor clerk's spinal cord leaving him a paraplegic. The thug is subsequently captured and at trial he stands up and eloquently and earnestly proclaims his innocence before the judge and jury by stating that by virtue of his criminal actions the paraplegic clerk is now better off in life because he is now receiving a huge monthly disability check and free medical benefits from the government instead of having to work his hands to the bone with the measly minimum wage, no benefits convenience store job he had. It's a pretty fucking sick and demented state of affairs when you get right down to the nuts and bolts of what is transpiring here with the media/press in this country not doing it's goddamn job by reporting the truth of what our government is doing in our name.

The sad fact of the matter is this - the doe-eyed concept that many Americans have of "no one is above the law" is nothing more than a self-medicating placebo that the masses ingest to convince themselves that their venerable institutions (the government and the press) aren't actually being run by corrupt, evil sons of bitches. Is that observation blunt enough? Sorry - right or wrong (which I doubt) I call it like I see it.

Ultimately, I'm not holding my breath that the American people will tire of this loathsome situation and rectify it in my lifetime. But when it does finally occur, here's hoping that whatever the solution turns out to be, it will be painful and bitter enough to deter these detestable people from ever wanting to incestuously mix the elements of governing power and the press again.

----k

A Torturous Journey . . . To Sanity

I've been searching around for a good single panel cartoon that succinctly sums up what this issue of the Bush administration's embrace of state-sponsored torture looks like to the rest of the world and this cartoon fits the bill perfectly.

I honestly do not believe that most Americans have realized just yet how much damage these soulless, knuckle-dragging neo-cons have inflicted upon this country and it's moral standing in the world.

All I can say is -- thank the invisible cloud beings that be that the sane members of our society decided to implement their own version of "regime change" last November. It won't be an easy task repairing 8 years of colossally incompetent fuck-uppery, but I feel pretty damn good that the right man is in charge of doing just that.

----k

Fear and Lying in Wingnuttiaville . . .

The right wing banshees are spanking their monkeys in frenzied unison over this photo of U.S. President Obama shaking the hand and smiling while meeting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the recent Summit of the Americas conference in Trinidad and Tobago.

O'Reilly, Hannity, Limpballs and the rest of the conservative lie machine are going beserk self-flagellating themselves over the photo and basically have taken en-masse to the conservative airwaves to propagate their fevered interpretation that this public photo is the long sought after proof that Obama is a closet communist who's intent on transforming America into one giant socialist hippie commune.

Setting aside the rank absurdity that permeates the bed-wetting paranoia that courses through the ranks of the right-wing patriot brigades, what's even more disturbing is their blatant attempts to historical revisionism (a polite way of calling them fucking liars) by stating no other U.S. President has ever met with, much less shaken the hand, of an American enemy. Bill O'Reilly is just the latest to belch out this odious lie:



It amazes me that the wing nuts are just so brazen with their lying at times. It's both an exhilarating and frightening thing to watch when one of their spokesliars is in full form like Mr. O'Reilly was in that clip. Funniest part is I only need 4 little words to completely demolish O'Reilly's lie --- LOOK AT THESE PICTURES:








































Sigh . . . It's hard work making right-wing nuts look like fools.

----k

The Limpball Speaketh ..... Sigh...

How anyone can listen to this fucking doofus and believe he has anything remotely resembling an intelligent thought in his head is beyond my comprehension.

I mean .. I love my conservative friends...but please guys -- get more knowledgeable spokespeople for your side!!! Fuck!