GOOD JOB, BARNEY!

You've probably seen this by now, but I must post it. Congressman Barney Frank stands up to the lunatic fringe opposing health care reform. Finally, someone responds to these ludicrous claims with candor instead of kid gloves.

Do you get your "facts" on health care from this asshole?

Already, the right wing blowhards have attacked Frank in full force. Hannity, O'Reilly, and Rush Limbaugh have been shocked, shocked, shocked at Frank's behavior. Limbaugh even surfaced from an Oxycontin daze long enough to sling a gay joke at Frank, who is openly homosexual (which is beside the point). These pudgy pundits have consistently fanned the flames of ignorance and fear sweeping across the dumber parts of the nation. In effect, they've sent in their dupes with half-baked ideas and misinformation to disrupt an important national dialog. Half-cocked and fully loaded (some with guns, mind you) these sheep repeat what they've been told by these TV personalities. I'm sure these wealthy pundits can afford private health care, but their minions with their swastika signs are clearly working against their own interests.

But you've read some history, right? We've always had reactionaries opposing progress. In another age, the Limbaughs would be railing against abolishing slavery (bad for business--let's not rush things) or siding with mine owners against radical "Reds" working to remove children from the coalmines. A while back, Fox News headlines might have looked like this:

Obama going too far? Socialist plan hurts business by removing children from the coalmines! What is happening to our America?

HITLER FINDS OUT ABOUT PALIN RESIGNATION

A powerful film clip from "The Rise and Fall of the Republican Party."

THE NIXON TAPES

Richard Nixon, the Archie Bunker of Presidents

The Nixon Tapes provide a rare glimpse into the mind of a small, sweating "unindicted co-conspirator" whose paranoia proved his undoing. Some of the tapes are chilling, with Nixon railing like Captain Queeg in "The Caine Mutiny," while others yield unintentional humor.

In this clip, Nixon discusses homosexuality and the liberal bias of "All in the Family" with his henchmen John Erlichman and Bob Haldeman.



"All in the Family" was a situation comedy that was originally broadcast on CBS from January 12, 1971 to April 8, 1979. Produced by Norman Lear, the show broke ground depicting issues of class, race, politics, religion, homosexuality, rape and feminism. Carrol O'Conner played Archie Bunker, a conservative working stiff who despised the hippies and liberals and adored President Nixon.

a scene from the liberal situation comedy "All in the Family"

ART, TRUTH AND BEAUTY

Goodbye, Harold Pinter.



Nobel Prize-winning playwright, screenwriter, actor and activist, Harold Pinter died Christmas Eve. In his plays people clash and search for meaning, as well as territorial dominance over one another, themes that carry through The Birthday Party (1957), The Caretaker (1959), The Homecoming (1965), and Betrayal (1978).

Although Pinter disliked the term "political theatre" he began writing overtly political plays in the 1980s. Like many highly intelligent people, he disliked Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair (whom he called "a deluded idiot") and characterized Blair's Great Britain as "pathetic and supine," a "bleating little lamb tagging behind [the United States] on a lead." He called the Bush Administration "a bunch of criminal lunatics" and compared them with Nazi Germany.

Anything else, Mr. Pinter?

“It's a scintillating stratagem. Language is actually employed to keep thought at bay. The words 'the American people' provide a truly voluptuous cushion of reassurance. You don't need to think. Just lie back on the cushion. The cushion may be suffocating your intelligence and your critical faculties but it's very comfortable.”

OK!
Harold Pinter (1930-2008)

HOW CONSERVATIVES RULE

Thomas Frank talks about his latest book, The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule. Frank is the author of What's the Matter with Kansas: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America.

Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and President George W. Bush

"Fantastic misgovernment of the kind we have seen is not an accident, nor is it the work of a few bad individuals. It is the consequence of triumph by a particular philosophy of government, by a movement that understands the liberal state as a perversion and considers the market the ideal nexus of human society. This movement is friendly to industry not just by force of campaign contributions but by conviction; it believes in entrepreneurship not merely in commerce but in politics; and the inevitable results of its ascendance are, first, the capture of the state by business and, second, all that follows: incompetence, graft, and all the other wretched flotsam that we've come to expect from Washington." -Thomas Frank

Frank spoke at Powell's Bookstore in Portland, and was filmed by PDX Justice; check out their site for a wonderful archive of political and social thinkers. To read an excerpt of the book, click HERE.

WAITING FOR THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD

Here's old punk rocker Billy Bragg live in Seattle at the Triple Door. This song is political folk and like the man says, it ain't American Bloody Idol.

LIBERAL is only a dirty word to the greedy creeps who've screwed things up so badly, maybe people will start using the word again proudly.

MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD

Matt Taibbi is a whipsmart political writer with a wonderfully nasty streak who is being hailed as the new Hunter S. Thompson -- meaning irreverent and beholden to no one, not addicted to booze and pills and handguns. He gleefully takes on the powerful and greedy Republicans with surgical precision, as well as the bloated old Democrats who don't keep their promises. His targets vary, and he focuses on the familiar flag-waving ogres of the military-industrial complex, but he doesn't stop there, and lately he has infiltrated conservative Christian fundamentalists, and angered the cottage industry of the so-called "9-11 Truth Movement." He writes regularly for Rolling Stone, where his stories have been accompanied by great illustrations by Victor Juhasz.
Taibbi's latest book is The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story Of War, Politics, & Religion At The Twilight Of The American Empire.


On the presidential election:

I think we're in a situation now where the Bush people have done so much damage to so many different aspects of our society that this is an important election just in that respect...Bush in particular has done a lot of damage to our ability to have a national discussion about things, because they have so frequently insisted upon having their own reality when it suited them. Remember that famous quote, 'We're in the reality-making business,' from one of his aides? When it suited them, they just changed the facts and told their supporters 'Stick with us,' and 'We want you to subscribe to this faith-based politics where what we say is true because we say it is.' That's an enormously damaging way of operating the White House. You really need to have appeal and try to talk to the entire country, and not just your constituents. I think Barack Obama—as little faith as I have in his ability to actually change the system—he does at least have the opportunity to repair that aspect of things, and to talk to the whole country, and bring us back to reality. That would be a huge step. I think John McCain is a guy who's got his own psychological problems that would prompt him, for instance, to continue this war under very cloudy, illogical circumstances, and that would be very destructive."


On the 9-11 Truth Movement:

"I love when you ask them, 'Okay, so let's just say for instance that it wasn't collapsed by the fire. Why would you demolish Building 7? What would be the propaganda purpose of doing that?' They're like, 'Oh, you know, they're hiding the evidence.' I'm like, 'They need to blow up a whole building to hide the evidence?' It's just crazy. But whatever. I mean, once you jump on board that train, you're on it for life."

The A.V. Club just spoke with Taibbi about Christian fundamentalism, blowing up buildings, patriotism, change, Joseph Heller, and the death of Tim Russert. To read the interview, follow this LINK.

An archive of Taibbi's stories on AlterNet are located HERE.

JESSE HELMS FINALLY DEAD

Jesse Helms (1921-2008) lifelong bigot and segregationist, homophobe, anti-arts funding philistine, all -around racist, and five-term Senator from North Carolina, finally died on the 4th of July. And not a moment too soon. It's nice to leave this primitive, ignorant, fear-mongering, backwards good ol' boy behind as we attempt to move into a more enlightened age.

Here are some classic quotes from Jesse Helms:

"Your tax dollars are being used to pay for grade-school classes that teach our children that cannibalism, wife-swapping and murder of infants and the elderly are acceptable behavior."

When a caller to CNN's Larry King Live show praised Helms for "everything you've done to help keep down the niggers," Helms responded with a salute to the camera, and said "Well, thank you. I think." -Wilmington Star-News, 9/16/95

"The New York Times and Washington Post are both infested with homosexuals themselves. Just about every person down there is a homosexual or lesbian."

"The Negro cannot count forever on the kind of restraint that's thus far left him free to clog the streets, disrupt traffic, and interfere with other's men's rights."

"Homosexuals are weak, morally sick wretches."

"They should ask their parents if it would be all right for their son or daughter to marry a Negro."
-- in response to Duke University students holding a vigil after Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968

A closing statement:

Just to make Jesse spin a little, let's give the last word to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, his arch-enemy. Dr. King is shown here in his first extensive TV interview in 1957.

Yes, maybe only the good die young.

For more, read this Washington Post article, Jesse Helms, White Racist, HERE.

MICHELLE OBAMA ON THE VIEW

While Cindy McCain was busy getting her batteries changed, Michelle Obama showed up on "The View" to chat with the ladies. After weathering Republican attacks that were both personal and just plain weird -- I loved the one where conservatives were sure her "fist-bump" to husband Barrack was some secret terrorist handshake -- Michelle came to hang out. It must have reassured nervous voters, though I doubt it helped with mouth-breathers who seem to dislike both women and blacks. Still, it was a positive move. It turns out she's smart (another strike against her in Stepford World) and not a bomb-throwing Nee-grow that might appear in nightmares in America's Heartland. And for those who need to know, yes, she is quite capable of handling a vapid daytime television show with good grace and charm.

COLBERT SUPPORTS O'REILLY

Bill O'Reilly is an ass. That's not exactly a secret. The right wing blowhard has a total meltdown, and rants and raves like a tiny dictator. Who could possibly defend this guy?

Stephen Colbert, that's who. Colbert defends his hero in this hilarious segment of the Colbert Report.

HILLARY AGONISTES

Barrack Obama found himself on the defensive in his debate with Hillary Clinton Wednesday night. She hammered away at his lack of experience, his patriotism, his lack of a flag lapel pin, his remarks about the bitterness of small town America, and his association with bomb-throwing 1960s radicals, the Weathermen.

For his part, Obama didn't get down and dirty. He defended himself, but didn't aggressively attack Hillary. He acted like an adult. It can be argued that this wasn't his strongest debate, but it's hard to tell how it played in the heartland.

For her part, Hillary pandered to gun nuts and churchgoers, something politicians have always done. If this is an example of the "change" she is promising, I'm not convinced. In both style and content, it sounds like more of the same.

Here is an interesting column from the Chicago Sun-Times about Hillary's use of polarizing politics.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/mitchell/894548,CST-NWS-mitch15.article

DANCE OF THE SUPERDELEGATES

Democracy, be damned! According the the Associated Press, one delegate, one vote doesn't apply to the superdelegates.

"These prominent Democrats can name additional superdelegates, giving them control over multiple convention votes, and that could be the difference in a race that may not be decided until the August convention."

While Barack Obama has been leading the popular vote, Hillary Clinton has more superdelegate committments -- though that lead is shrinking. Still, the race could be decided by "important party-members" rather than the public, which would not bode well for peace at the convention. Remember Chicago 1968?

Can superdelegates thwart the will of the majority? Evidently so, according to Democratic National Committee Chairman, and declawed firebrand, Howard Dean, who says superdelegates should not feel compelled to reflect the popular vote. He also said superdelegates were free to weigh the disputed primary results in Florida and Michigan, primaries where Obama didn't campaign, and in the case of Michigan wasn't even on the ballot.

That's good news for Hillary. With recent reports that the former First Lady was privately telling senior Democrats that rival Obama is unelectable, a new light is cast on the power of superdelegates and the way they are lobbied. Are these powerful citizens -- and they are still only citizens, after all -- really the equivalent of the House of Lords, a safeguard against commoners having too much decision-making power? Are they good for us?

The whole thing stinks, if you ask me. Why should we be stuck with the will of the people when it makes mistakes (i.e. sides with powerful interests) and denied that will when there is a progressive grassroots movement for change (i.e. a challenge to powerful interests). You know why, right?

One more thing. Superdelegates can spawn more superdelegates. From the AP: "The clout of the nearly 800 superdelegates is unprecedented in this year's race because neither Obama nor Clinton can clinch the nomination with only the delegates won in state primaries and caucuses. Largely overlooked in the arcane process, though, is the power of a select few to complete the superdelegate ranks by naming 76 newbies, and Clinton and Obama are fighting hard over every one of those from state conventions to back rooms."

9 POUND SHOWCASE: THE FUGS

Keeping our promise to offer offbeat, beat, non-conformist, non-commercial, visionary and downright strange acts of creativity to our readers, we bring you this 9 Pound Hammer Showcase highlighting the uncle beat poets from the East Village, The Fugs. Brilliant avant-folk provocateurs, these guys sang truth to power with a wicked sense of humor, satire, irony, high level stuff that could get you arrested (and did) in the Land of the Free.



The Fugs formed back in 1964, when Ed Sanders rented the former Kosher meat store on East 10th, and transformed it into the Peace Eye Bookstore. He met poet Tuli Kupferberg. They named themselves after a Norman Mailer-coined euphemism from "The Naked and the Dead," a wartime novel written when soldiers were free to kill but not say the word "fuck," at least in print. They played in cafes and theaters in the Village, and headlined a cross-country tour opposing the Vietnam war in its early days, playing folk and rock and basically blowing minds in the Heartland.



We drew inspiration for the Fugs from a long and varied tradition, going all the way back to the dances of Dionysus in the ancient Greek plays and the "Theory of the Spectacle" in Aristotle's Poetics, and moving forward to the famous premier performance of Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi in 1896, to the poèmes simultanés of the Dadaists in Zurich's Cabaret Voltaire in 1916, to the jazz-poetry of the Beats, to Charlie Parker's seething sax, to the silence of John Cage, to the calm pushiness of the Happening movement, the songs of the Civil Rights movement, and to our concept that there was oddles of freedom guaranteed by the United States Constitution that was not being used.
- Ed Sanders


They first recorded in 1965, and put their show on vinyl to the delight of far flung fans and connoisseurs of beatnik irreverence. This wasn't the frail, anemic poetry of your timid schoolbooks, but some rough beast vexed to nightmare, it's hour come at last, playing electric guitars and invoking the gods. They freaked the squares out. The grey flannel Chamber of Commerce types didn't dig this crazy pagan humor, and the crewcut cops were notified, but the children -- at least, some of them -- thought it was great to spit in Goliath's eye.

The Fugs became a cult favorite, secretly traded among fans like contraband, passed like a joint between outstretched fingers, popping up all over this great land. Yes, soon the Feds would be pounding at the door, and the FBI would try to crush this communist conspiracy of "free thought," but the damage had been done. Songs like "Kill for Peace" had already gotten out to undermine the war effort and corrupt the youth of Athens, er, I mean America.

You will enjoy this, I'm sure. For those who think the 1960s were all Austin Powers and the Monkees, this is a good antidote. Just don't take it and operate heavy machinery, okay kids?


For more information, check out the official History of the Fugs here. An interview with Ed Sanders is here. For more tales of beatnik glory, check out Ed Sanders' Woodstock Journal here.

THE NEW SPRING FASHION

It's the economy, stupid.
Click button to hear "No Depression" by Uncle Tupelo.

MEASURING THE LIMBAUGH EFFECT

Stop me if you've heard this one. What's the difference between the Hindenburg and Rush Limbaugh?

One is a huge Nazi gasbag.

The other is a dirigible.

Okay, this is an update on a story we ran a while back about Rush urging Republicans in Texas to cross over and vote for Hillary in the primary, thereby stopping the Obama momentum and insuring the Democratic Punch and Judy Show continues. The New York Times political blog gives us this report here.

1968 CAMPAIGN AD: DEMOCRAT BOBBY KENNEDY

The Democratic ad from liberal Bobby Kennedy.

1968 CAMPAIGN AD: REPUBLICAN RICHARD NIXON

Conservative Republican ad for Richard Nixon from the 1968 campaign. Here, Tricky Dick tries to get "psychedelic" to reach youth. Notice the shot of a young, beardless Jerry Garcia near the beginning, when Nixon mentions "American youth today has it's fringes..."

BIG FAT IDIOT TAKES CREDIT

Conservative gasbag Rush Limbaugh claimed some credit today for Hillary Clinton's victories in Texas and Ohio.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, "Limbaugh spent much of his show Monday exhorting Republican listeners to cross over and vote in the Democratic primary for Hillary Clinton to prevent Democrats from unifying around Barack Obama as Republicans have done around John McCain.

'What we did, if we did anything, is to create a bunch of chaos in the Democrat Party and it worked,' Limbaugh said."

For more, see the Sun-Times article here.

FIDEL CASTRO RESIGNS

After surviving invasions, assassination attempts, and embargoes, old age has forced Fidel Castro to announce his retirement. For nearly fifty years, the tiny island ninety miles off the coast of Florida has remained a socialist country, ever since a small band of rebels led by Castro overthrew the US-supported dictator, Fulgencia Battista, on New Years Day, 1959.


President Bush predictably called for "democracy," a word he doesn't seem to fully understand worldwide (since the US picks and chooses which dictators to support) and certainly doesn't understand in regard to Cuba, where the US controls Guantanamo military prison (see map); in "our" Cuba, prisoners wait years for secret "trials," experience torture at secret CIA "black sites," and systematically lose rights guaranteed by the Geneva Convention.

I'm just saying, if you live in a glass house...

Photograph: Castro and friend, Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who was killed by the Bolivian Rangers directed by the CIA in 1967.

BILL CLINTON: "SCREW IT, I'M RUNNING!"

CHARLESTON, SC—After spending two months accompanying his wife, Hillary, on the campaign trail, former president Bill Clinton announced Monday that he is joining the 2008 presidential race, saying he "could no longer resist the urge."

"My fellow Americans, I am sick and tired of not being president," said Clinton, introducing his wife at a "Hillary '08" rally.

For the rest of the article, visit the satirical newspaper, "The Onion." Click HERE.