Little Thom's Blog

"The Wild Holiday Goose"

2011-12-23T16:33:00.001-08:00

Dal Carver, owner of the Wild Goose Cafe in Ashland, Oregon, and an extraordinarily gifted piano and keyboard player, and I, a ne'er-do-well folkie, came up with the idea for this album in 2005 or so. In October. With the help of a mindblowingly great group of musicians and recording people (Tom Freeman), it was finished in six weeks. We sold a thousand or so, gave all the profits to local schools for art programs. Bonus: I only sing one song on it. You're welcome.

No lie: this is a really great album. Try "Jingle Bells" first and you'll understand.

The Wild Holiday Goose by Little Thom

I'll get all the track info soon.

And why someone in Germany is selling one I do not know.

Sailing From Sydney to Hobart, Tasmania

2011-11-14T19:05:00.001-08:00

I mentioned the other day that I may be going on a sailing trip. Well, the details have been worked out, and tomorrow or Thursday (Australia time) I'll be headed to Hobart, Tasmania, on a 38-foot sailboat. Skipper: Craig. Crew: Me. (Home, gnawing fingernails on walls, ceiling: Christine.)

Short story shorter: Craig, friend of Christine's who lives in Hobart, bought a sailboat on the internet a few months ago. It's here in Sydney, so he flew up last Thursday to get it ready and sail it back home. I had expressed interest in tagging along when I first heard about this some months ago, but Craig said he had had a close friend going back with him, and said no. I forgot about it. On Thursday, when Craig got here, he said that his friend had backed out. There ya go.

It's take up to two weeks. Highlight of the trip: the Bass Strait.

I'll be out of internet and phone range for much or all of that time. Hobart is way down there: Nothing but open water between us and Antarctica. I will of course have much to post here when I return.

The route is the same as taken in a what is a very famous race here, the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, held every year stating Boxing Day.

Did I mention I've never sailed before? (I have been on the sea, as I said in that other post.)

Here's the boat (second one out). Best I could do for now:

Here's Craig showing Christine around, up on the bow:

Skipper Craig and Christine on the Southern Ocean.

My FaceBook Music Store

2011-11-06T14:20:00.000-08:00

I've got a CDBaby FaceBook Music Store where you can listen to and buy my songs. You lucky devils.

Stephen Colbert's Super PAC

2011-11-05T17:20:00.000-07:00

Stephen Colbert - he of of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report - is doing something extraordinary to American politics, through the forming of his Super PAC, "Making a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow." It is not often that you get to witness someone of Colbert's stature pull off a stunt like this: using a law (or in this case Supreme Court rulings) to highlight the absurdity of said law. The whole thing is downright Mark Twainian.

To get a proper idea of what Colbert is doing, look at it this way: If the U.S. Supreme Court made a ruling that said it was perfectly legal for really rich people to designate their homes as foreign countries - thereby making them off-limits to U.S. police organizations - Colbert would right now have a mansion next to the White House with a 24-hour-a-day, Las Vegas-themed, gangster/biker party going on, complete with drug-fueled machine-gun target practice contests, strippers in every window, and dogfights in the front yard. And possibly live kitten barbecues on the veranda.

And there would be nothing the cops could do, because Congress made it legal for really rich people - and Stephen Colbert is definitely one of those - to designate their homes as foreign countries. (Colbert's would probably be called "Colbertistanistan.")

Except Colbert wouldn't be doing because he's a rich asshole - he'd be doing it to show how horribly unDemocratic and morally perverse the Supreme Court ruling was. And that's exactly what he's doing here.

The Supreme Court ruling Colbert is lampooning is actually two recent rulings, and they concern one thing: the role money plays in political campaigns in the U.S. In this case by the way of the "Super PAC."

What's a Super PAC? It's a brand new kind of "political action committee" (see last link for more on them), an organization that raises and spends money on advertising for or against candidates for public office. If you want to spend money on political candidates - apart from contributions directly to a candidate or a political party (these have their own rules) - it has to go through a PAC. It's the law. PACs have been around for a while, but they used to have restrictions: Corporations, unions, and individuals used to have strict limits on how much money they could give to PACs; and PACs were only allowed to spend so much money. Why? Because it was believed that allowing extremely wealthy corporations, unions, or individuals to spend enormous amounts of money on political advertising gave them an unfair advantage over us regular schmoes who don't have yacht-loads of cash to spend on such things - which isn't exactly rocket science.

As of the Summer of 2010, those restrictions are gone. Thanks to those recent Supreme Court rulings. (Well, some restrictions remain, but many are gone.) What effect did it have? 84 Super PACs were quickly formed, and, over the course of only a couple months, they spent $65,326,957 on the 2010 midterm elections. $65,326,957. That's four times as much as was spent on the 2006 midterms, and while election spending has been rising for a long time, that was a very unprecedented jump. (How much did you spend on the 2010 elections? Did it have the effect you wanted? And read this, about the current election cycle, which is just getting started. Or don't.)

Stephen Colbert looked at all of this and thought it was just nuts. Which it of course is. And he decided he was going to show just how nuts it was. How? By forming his own Super PAC. And he did it. Stephen Colbert can now hold the equivalent of drug-fueled machine-gun target practice contests, with strippers in the windows and dogfights on the lawn - right in the middle of the American political election process, and there's not a damn thing anyone can do about it. (He'll probably spare the kittens. He seems like a nice guy.)

An excerpt from Colbert's viictory speech after getting the okay for the Super PAC from the FEC:

Sixty days ago today, on this very spot, a young man petitioned the FEC for permission to form a super PAC, to raise unlimited monies and use those monies to determine the winners of the 2012 elections. Moments ago, the Federal Election Commission made their ruling. Ladies and gentlemen, I’m sorry to say … We won!

"Sorry to say" is exactly right.

It's going to be a very interesting 2012 election year. Maybe some of it will be the good kind of interesting - thanks to Stephen Colbert.

• All 2012 Super PACs.

• Making a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow

[pic]

Fukushima Much Worse Than Previously Thought

2011-10-30T13:49:00.001-07:00

In other words - of course they were lying:

The Fukushima nuclear disaster released twice as much of a radioactive substance into the atmosphere as Japanese authorities estimated, reaching 40 percent of the total from Chernobyl, a preliminary report says.

The estimate of much higher levels of radioactive cesium-137 comes from a worldwide network of sensors. Study author Andreas Stohl of the Norwegian Institute for Air Research says the Japanese government estimate came only from data in Japan, and that would have missed emissions blown out to sea.

The study did not consider health implications of the radiation. Cesium-137 is dangerous because it can last for decades in the environment, releasing cancer-causing radiation.

High School Teacher Faces Fines For Registering Students to Vote

2011-10-25T19:11:00.000-07:00

Things that make me want to bite a moving train Number Googelty-million:

The teacher who heads up New Smyrna Beach High School's student government association could face thousands of dollars in fines. Her transgression? Helping students register to vote.

Prepping 17-year-olds for the privileges and responsibilities of voting in a democracy is nothing new for civics teachers, but when Jill Cicciarelli organized a drive at the start of the school year to get students pre-registered, she ran afoul of Florida's new and controversial election law.

Among other things, the new rules require that third parties who sign up new voters register with the state and that they submit applications within 48 hours. The law also reduces the time for early voting from 14 days to eight and requires voters who want to give a new address at the polls to use a provisional ballot.

Northern Lights Visible in Southern U.S.

2011-10-25T15:32:00.000-07:00

Of course this happens after I move to the Southern Hemisphere:

A baffling solar storm pulled colorful northern lights unusually far south, surprising space weather experts.

TV stations in Georgia and Kentucky reported people calling about the sky show Monday night. And NASA posted a photo from Huntsville, Ala. Southerners normally don't get to see the vibrant red and green aurora borealis.

They even saw them in Texas! I saw a green curtain effect aurora in Alaska when I worked there in the 1980s - but in the Lower 48? Never. Lucky.

MSNBC has a few shots that people sent in. One, from Wisconsin:

The Electric Bonsai Band

2011-10-09T17:24:00.000-07:00

Good gads, I was just persuing Twitter when Will Wheaton - yes, the kid in Star Trek: The Next Generation, who is a funny and sharp dude - made a comment about becoming his father. That blasted me back to seeing The Electric Bonsai Band - not electric, not a bad - in, where? Portland, Oregon? so many years ago, maybe even the 80s. My god he was good. Fast, smart, scary smart, and just as funny as hell.

I am so happy to have found him (Andrew Ratshin) on Napster. Please go, listen. "I am My Dad" is so good - although it is much better live.

Ratshin also played in Uncle Bonsai.

The Drug War, Explained

2011-10-08T17:25:00.000-07:00

The Los Angeles Times today:

As a student of history and a retired deputy chief of police with the Los Angeles Police Department, I can attest that the damage that came from the prohibition of alcohol pales in comparison to the harm wrought by drug prohibition. In the last 40 years drug money has fueled the growth of violent street gangs in Los Angeles, from two (Bloods and Crips) with a membership of less than 50 people before the drug war to 20,000 gangs with a membership of about 1 million across the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Justice. These gangs serve as the distributors, collection agents and enforcers for the Mexican cartels that the Justice Department says occupy more than 1,000 U.S. cities.

Sabet, a former advisor to the White House drug policy advisor, ignores these prohibition-created harms, making no mention of the nearly 50,000 people killed in Mexico over the last five years as cartels have battled it out to control drug routes, territories and enforce collections. When one cartel leader is arrested or killed, it makes no impact on the drug trade and only serves to create more violence, as lower-level traffickers fight for the newly open top spot.

U.S. law enforcement officials report that as much as 70% of cartel profits come from marijuana alone. There's no question that ending today's prohibition on drugs -- starting with marijuana -- would do more to hurt the cartels than any level of law enforcement skill or dedication ever can.

Much more at Glenn Greenwald's place.

This subject is another of the vital sources of cynicism in the U.S. today. We are so far from being able to even talk with some sense about this issue, much less act on it, that it's hard to not come to thee conclusion that common sense is actually a wrong force in this world, that's how fucked up it is.

1 in 3 American Vets Sees Iraq, Afghan Wars as Wastes

2011-10-05T13:29:00.000-07:00

Wow.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- One in three U.S. veterans of the post-9/11 military believes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not worth fighting, and a majority think that after 10 years of combat America should be focusing less on foreign affairs and more on its own problems, according to an opinion survey released Wednesday.

Chris Chandler and Occupy Wall Street

2011-09-27T01:29:00.000-07:00

Someone put a great Chris Chandler song on YouTube:

More Chris here.

New Widget for My CD, "Bottomfeeders"

2011-09-21T15:48:00.001-07:00

Buying LT songs just got easier, and only 99 cents a pop.

My favorite on this is probably "Sigh." Although Bob Evoniuk's National Reso-Phonic guitar on "You Can Use My Bathtub" is something to behold, too.

If you're not with CDBaby, they have links to many more digital music sites, including iTunes and Rhapsody.

Posted Without Comment

2011-09-21T14:51:00.000-07:00

REM.

Criminals Ask Judge For Help Attacking Victims

2011-09-16T15:51:00.000-07:00

The question is, will they get it:

The Metropolitan police are seeking a court order under the Official Secrets Act to make Guardian reporters disclose their confidential sources about the phone-hacking scandal.In an unprecedented legal attack on journalists' sources, Scotland Yard officers claim the act, which has special powers usually aimed at espionage, could have been breached in July when reporters Amelia Hill and Nick Davies revealed the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone. They are demanding source information be handed over.

This is some really sick business. The Guardian exposed these bastards' links to the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, and now they want use espionage law to cripple them. Just horrible.

Peg the One-Footed Cockatoo

2011-09-15T15:32:00.001-07:00

Wild, one-footed cocky that comes to visit several times a week, on a chair on the veranda. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Mornings at the Little Australia household.

Playing "The Shack" on Saturday, September 3

2011-08-29T15:07:00.000-07:00

The Shack is a very cool Northern Beaches venue. You're even encouraged to bring your own snacks and drinks:

The bio:

Little Thom sings wickedly funny songs about medical procedures, bikinis, an obscene dog, whiskey, and whether or not life is really all it's cracked up to be. And some other stuff. He has written hundreds of songs in his three-decade-long career, and has released three recordings, the latest of which, Bottomfeeders, contains no hits whatsoever, including the tender, "I Can't Wait (To Do a Tracheotomy)."

Federal Agents Raid Gibson Guitar Co.

2011-08-26T17:54:00.000-07:00

It's about the wood they're using, apparently:

Federal agents swooped in on Gibson Guitar Wednesday, raiding factories and offices in Memphis and Nashville, seizing several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars. The Feds are keeping mum, but in a statement yesterday Gibson's chairman and CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, defended his company's manufacturing policies, accusing the Justice Department of bullying the company. "The wood the government seized Wednesday is from a Forest Stewardship Council certified supplier," he said, suggesting the Feds are using the aggressive enforcement of overly broad laws to make the company cry uncle.

Jef Fretwell and the Detractors

2011-08-18T15:31:00.000-07:00

There's four of my best buds right there:

Rock on, boys, rock on.

Music to come later...

Email From a Fan in Thailand

2011-08-15T14:53:00.001-07:00

Just noticed an email in ye olde email receptacle. I thought it was spam, naturally, but turns out it wasn't:

Dear Little Thom,

Hi. This is Kiattisak from Thailand. I found one of your songs 'Inside Joke' from a podcast of The Word Nerds, and liked it very much. I bought the song from iTunes Store last year, so it's been a while but I can sing along only roughly. May I ask you for its lyrics, please?

Best Wishes,
Kiattisak

Kiattisak is in Thailand, singing along with one of my songs, if unintelligibly at the moment, possibly right now. Take that, Bob Dylan!

Oh, wait...

Thank you Kiattisak. (And yes, I sent him the lyrics.)

8 Deployments, 1 Suicide

2011-08-14T15:59:00.000-07:00

Good god in heaven:

A soldier's widow says his fellow Army Rangers wouldn't do anything to help him before he took his own life - after eight deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Army found Staff Sgt. Jared Hagemann's body at a training area of Joint Base Lewis McChord a few weeks ago.

[...]

Ashley says her husband Jared tried to come to grips with what he'd seen and done on his eight deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"And there's no way that any God would forgive him - that he was going to hell," says Ashley. "He couldn't live with that any more."

This coming on the heels of the news that that U.S. Army set a record for the most suicides in one month in July.

I Miss Michael Hedges

2011-08-06T17:49:00.000-07:00

Went to an open mike last night (at the Terrey Hills Tavern). A guy there played Michael Hedges style guitar, and quite well, surprisingly. I saw Hedges two or three times, at the Oregon Country Fair, in the early 1990s. I have never seen anybody glow the way Michael Hedges did when he played. Just unbelievable power, palpable, incandescent joy in his performances. (And when I first saw him I said, "He does this standing up? No way!") Such a rotten loss when he went, in such an awful way.

This is my favorite song of his:

Morning Bird Calls

2011-08-04T13:22:00.000-07:00

Morning in Sydney, here.

White-faced Heron, Tide Pools, Cowries

2011-07-17T17:25:00.000-07:00

Some pretty cool pics and a new animal for me - the cowry - over at the other blog.

The Basement Gig

2011-07-14T20:49:00.000-07:00

I played The Basement last night, opening solo set before three local bands. It was all very exciting, and it got my stomach bouncing a few times in the days leading up to the show, but, well, I was great. What can I say? I mean, for me, it's all about getting people wrapped up in a story or a laugh...before they notice how badly I play the guitar and sing. And that ain't easy! But I did it last night, from right out of the gate, and it was a damn good feeling. They liked me. They really liked me.

The Basement is truly a nice place. It's located in Circular Quay, very close the the famous Harbour Bride and Sydney Opera House. For all the hype about it, and everyone I've talked to has heard of the club - it has a bit of legendary status here - it is a very warm and altogether unintimidating room. It seats around 120, at tables, with service, and claims room for another 150 standing, but it's hard to picture than many people in this little space. The stage is small, only a foot high, tables surround it very intimately - you could easily be sitting at a table and be only six feet or so from a performer - there is wood everywhere, there is nowhere in the place where you couldn't see, and feel basically pretty close to, the stage, so, again, it's just a hell of a nice place. It is billed primarily as a jazz club, but they go way outside of that, too. Just a few of the acts that have played there:

Bill Evans
Dizzy Gillespie
Herbie Hancock
Johnny Rawls
Muddy Waters
Kinky Friedman
Prince
Ralph McTell
Taj Mahal
Bruce Cockburn
Daniel Lanois
Todd Rungren
Niel Diamond
Loudon Wainwright III

I mean, come on. Herbie Freaking Hancock played here! And Niel Diamond! And Prince! Holy crap! And my own personal hero - Loudon! And now me! Holy even more crap!

And they recorded last night's show, so fingers crossed that that comes out alright.

I took some photos. And the vivacious and whimsical Christine, who came to the show even though she has a bronchial crapitis thing going on - thank you, sweetness - took some photos, too, and some video as well.

This is the green room, as it were. It's full of gear, and the walls and ceiling are lined with posters and signatures and graffiti. (Click to enlarge):

A couple posters from the walls of the club:

And, finally, the star:

Old friend Denise, new friend Chris, and a well deserved drink for the star. Ahem.

Two songs. The first. "The Bass Player." For my old friend Marty Ruddy.

The second comes with a warning: Kids, this song is for adults. And not even for all of them. So don't listen to it. Or You'll get me in trouble.

Big thanks to Sydney song and gig giant Russell Neal for setting up the show (and for use of his guitar! the electronics on mine crapped out), and thanks to everyone at The Basement (especailly engineer Chris for the help), and to the three bands: Kooyeh; The Raw Tide (can't find a website!); and Bones and All—who were really fantastic.

*Also posted at that other place.

Peter Falk Sings

2011-06-24T18:59:00.000-07:00

So long, Mr. Falk.

The Vancouver Hockey Riots 2011

2011-06-17T15:48:00.001-07:00

Someone was inside with a video camera:

* I can't believe I had hockey "rights" up there for a week. Idiot.

Cheb Mimoun El Oujdi

2011-06-05T15:22:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous.

Performing live here:

Mimoun El Oujdi by aomya

"The Burger Song"

2011-06-02T21:17:00.001-07:00

I have nothing to say about this.

Robin Williamson: "For Mr. Thomas"

2011-05-28T15:30:00.000-07:00

"I HOLD your photo to the mirror upside down."

You just do not hear enough about Robin Williamson these days, years. Here's his and his partner Bina's page. That site directs you here to find old albums, including the one this song is from, 1981's Songs of Love and Parting:

Originally released on the Irish Claddagh label in 1981, 'Songs Of Love And Parting' was Robin's first solo album after the amicable demise of the Merry Band. All songs were written by Robin (with a few traditional tunes thrown in for good measure!) and are now regarded by many as his finest compositions.

The album contains the classics 'For Mr Thomas' (a tribute to the Welsh Bard), which was later covered by Van Morrison, 'Fare Thee Well Sweet Mally' and 'Flower Of The Briar'.

"For Mr. Thomas":

Oh, Seve Has Left Us

2011-05-07T16:13:00.000-07:00

I first blogged about Seve Ballesteros being diagnosed with brain cancer shortly after it was reported in October 2008. I've updated those posts several times, and now the story has sadly come to an end.

Seve Ballesteros, the charismatic Spanish golfer who won the Masters twice and the British Open three times and helped propel Europe’s rise in the Ryder Cup competition with the United States, died early Saturday at his home in northern Spain, where his struggle with brain cancer had gained wide attention in the sports world. He was 54.

The story resonated with me for a few reasons: I remembered watching him as a kid with my dad, and how calm and cool and smiling he was—a sportsman who actually deserved his fame; I was playing golf a little at the time the news came out; and, most importantly to myself, my sister Nancy had died of the very same disease four years earlier. She was just 42, and I spent a lot of the eighteen months she lasted after diagnosis with her, and hers and our family, so I actually know a lot more about this particular form of cancer than I'd like.

Anyway, Seve kept a great spirit throughout this, as the times he spoke publicly or sent messages to his fans show, and he lasted much longer than the disease usually allows. And I'm just sad he's gone. Much warmth and condolences to his family and his many, many friends.

So long, Seve Ballesteros.

Atlas Shrugged II

2011-05-03T16:29:00.003-07:00

Oh good god this is funny.

From Second City.

"TRAINS!" just might become the new "WOLVERINES!"

"How to Make Your Lie Go Mainstream in 26 Easy Steps"

2011-04-29T18:39:00.000-07:00

Hee-freaking-larious.

One American on Trump and the "Long Form"

2011-04-28T17:35:00.000-07:00

This needs to be watched, carefully, by a really lot of people.

An excerpt:

It was during my viewing of this video [Trump’s remarks in New Hampshire] that I began to cry. I thought of my ancestors, both direct and collective, who had fought and died so that I might be treated as an American. I then thought of this fetid, smug, hate-filled, wealthy white man taking credit for the release and yet still not being satisfied. It does not matter how long we’ve been in these United States. We will never be American.

So, tears in my eyes, pain in my heart and rage in my soul, I composed this video message. More than written text, it comes close to expressing my full pain at witnessing a white man who was handed everything call the President of the United States (and me) a nigger.

Limb Regeneration...in Humans?

2011-04-26T17:05:00.001-07:00

Can we do like the tadpoles do?

"Ooh ooh child"

2011-04-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

At the other blog.

Two Firefighters Dead: How Greed Kills

2011-04-21T16:45:00.000-07:00

A depressing but illuminating example of what the "small government," "anti-regulation," "John Galt" crowd means for America.

The End of Medicare

2011-04-19T19:15:00.000-07:00

Funny.

Avalon, New South Wales, and Three Generations of Artists

2011-04-17T15:39:00.001-07:00

I've got a new post up (as well as several others I haven't linked to back here), at my other gig.

"Go Ahead and Say It"

2011-03-27T15:00:00.000-07:00

It's been years since I posted this song. One of my very favorites.

Is This a Game of Risk?

2011-03-23T16:23:00.001-07:00

So weird:

At sea, news reports said six NATO warships started patrolling off Libya’s coast Wednesday to enforce a United Nations arms embargo, but Germany, which has opposed military intervention in the Libya crisis, said it was withdrawing four of its ships in the Mediterranean from NATO command. To offset the impact of its action on other NATO allies, Germany said it would send 300 more troops to Afghanistan to help operate surveillance aircraft, German officials said.

Bigots Complain to UN About Bigot-bashing

2011-03-22T18:34:00.000-07:00

What assholes.

The Naked Eye

2011-03-21T17:18:00.000-07:00

At the other place.

Six Ways Fukushima is Not Chernobyl

2011-03-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

One list here; my list here:

1. The Chernobyl disaster took place in the Ukraine, in what was then the USSR. The Fukushima disaster is taking place in Japan, a much more densely populated country than the Ukraine.

2. The Fukushima plant's reactors have containment units, Chernobyl's didn't. (If containment units at Fukushima fail, please see "Five Ways Fukushima is Not Chernobyl.")

3. There wasn't a major catastrophe already happening in the region around Chernobyl.

4. Fukushima is on an ocean. Chernobyl wasn't.

5. Everybody already knew long before the Chernobyl accident that the people running the plant there dangerously skirted safety rules.

6. Fukushima starts with "F." Chernobyl starts with "C." Other words that start with "F" include fucked, fuuu-huuuu-ck!, FAIL, and four-year-olds.

The Message From Fukushima

2011-03-14T15:07:00.000-07:00

News agencies have been bantering about the real message that should be learned from Japan's ailing nuke plants. Here it is: Nuclear energy would be awesome…if there were no such thing as earthquakes. Or tsunamis. Or humans.

Air pressure inside the No.2 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, located 250 kilometres north of Tokyo, rose suddenly when the air flow gauge was accidentally turned off, its operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said.

Japan's Nuclear Plant

2011-03-11T14:48:00.000-08:00

I'm just going to say that calling this Japan's Chernobyl has to be overblown. The USSR's nuke plants were nowhere near as safe as plants in Japan (and in many other countries) today.

But, that said, this guy knows a bit more about it than I do:

“The electrical grid is down. The emergency diesel generators have been damaged. The multi-reactor Fukushima atomic power plant is now relying on battery power, which will only last around eight hours. The danger is, the very thermally hot reactor cores at the plant must be continuously cooled for 24 to 48 hours. Without any electricity, the pumps won’t be able to pump water through the hot reactor cores to cool them. Once electricity is lost, the irradiated nuclear fuel could begin to melt down. If the containment systems fail, a catastrophic radioactivity release to the environment could occur.”

Are we supposed to believe that they can't pretty easily get replacement generators in there? Why?

Maddow: Michigan GOP bill would allow takeover of local governments

2011-03-11T14:17:00.000-08:00

The sick part about this: they'll still have people who believe them when they call themselves the party of "small government."

Governor Walker: "In my heart I know I am funny."

2011-03-09T18:50:00.000-08:00

I finally found Walker's equal from the movies:

The moment beginning at 5:34 pretty much sums up where Scott Walker is going to be one day. Hopefully one day soon.

The Proper Way For Americans to Think

2011-03-01T14:09:00.000-08:00

Professional political-religious-asshole Mike Huckabee was on a radio show yesterday talking about how African President Obama is, because it's what professional political-religious-assholes do. In the course of the conversation he said this:

.

..one thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya, his view of the Brits, for example, very different than the average American ... his perspective as growing up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and grandfather, their view of the Mau Mau Revolution in Kenya is very different than ours

"Ours." Our way of viewing the world, history, liberty, truth - all that jazz. Because, you see, there is only one proper way for YOU, American, to think. And Mike Huckabee knows it. Exceptional.

Bottomfeeders!

2011-02-25T20:33:00.000-08:00

Every time someone buys one of my songs, someone in hell kicks Mussolini in the nuts. http://bit.ly/fnExEr

Hero For the Day: Wisconsin St. Rep. Gordon Hintz

2011-02-20T12:50:00.000-08:00

Every second of this is worth watching.

Killing Peaceful Protestors in Bahrain

2011-02-18T15:36:00.000-08:00

You don't have to watch this—I actually don't recommend it—but news of it has to be seen all over the world. Just suicide-inducing awful.

Joe Klein Thinks "Freedom of Assembly" is Anti-Democratic

2011-02-18T15:13:00.000-08:00

Good god, what an idiot:

I mean, Isn't it, well, a bit ironic that the protesters in Madison, blocking the state senate chamber, are chanting "Freedom, Democracy, Union" while trying to prevent a vote?

No, it's not ironic, you clown. It's democracy. It's protest. It's in the constitution for god's sake. And it's protest of a lying governor.

Honestly, Joe Klein has been wriiting about politics for decades. How can he be this dense?

Obama Administration Does Good Thing

2011-02-18T14:28:00.000-08:00

Political Carnival:

The Obama administration rescinded most of a federal regulation Friday designed to protect health workers who refuse to provide care they find objectionable on personal or religious grounds.

The Health and Human Services Department eliminated nearly the entire rule put into effect by the administration of President George W. Bush during his final days in office that was widely interpreted as allowing such workers to opt out of a broad range of medical services, such as providing the emergency contraceptive Plan B, treating gay men and lesbians and prescribing birth control to single women.

Milwaukee Archbishop: "Respect the Legitimate Rights of Workers"

2011-02-18T13:25:00.000-08:00

Hell yes, Archbishop Listecki:

Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki on Wednesday said in a letter to lawmakers that workers should not be "marginalized," in a reference to Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to limit the rights of public employee unions.

He said in the letter there is a "moral obligation each of us has to respect the legitimate rights of workers.”

Go Wisconson workers.

My First Blue Bottle Jellyfish Sting

2011-02-17T22:16:00.000-08:00

And info on the colony of creatures that is a blue bottle jellyfish.

The Changing Middle East -> U.S.

2011-02-16T15:38:00.001-08:00

Via that other blog:

It just occurred to me: If a good chunk of the Middle East makes a dramatic move toward democracy over the next few months or years, the U.S. is going to have to change dramatically, too.

Just saying.

"ROONEYYYY!"

2011-02-12T15:21:00.001-08:00

Good god in heaven just listen to the sound of this first. Close your eyes and listen to the first seven seconds. Listen to the announcer shout the name, and go speechless, and listen to what they mean when they say a crowd "explodes." This is a moment that explains why there is such a thing as "sport."

UK court: You're Too Dumb to Have Sex

2011-02-08T17:24:00.000-08:00

BRITney Spears inconsolable.

My Personal Quest for a New Australian Word

2011-02-03T16:38:00.000-08:00

From my American-Aussie blog, Little Australia:

So I'm in a local mall the other day when I asked Christine if we were going to the "newsie," short for newsagent—a shop that sells newspapers, magazines, candies, fishing licenses (so I found out) and assorted sundries.

She looked at me like I had just said something really stupid. In Bulgarian.

"It's a newsagent, it's not a "newsie." She said it just like that, all snotty.

I was sure I'd heard her call it a newsie, and told her so. She insisted I had not.

We go into the not-newsie, and the clerk says the woman who just left had left something behind. I went and found a woman who I thought I'd seen in the shop and asked her, "Were you just in the newsie?" It just slipped out.

She looked at me like I was stupid, and Bulgarian, and said, "Do you mean the newsagent?"

Christine has told anyone who will listen about this minor event, every time while pointing and laughing at yours truly.

Now here's the thing: Australians shorten everything, either by adding an "ie," a "y," or an "o." A fisherman is a "fisho." Chewing gum is "chewie." A mosquito is a "mozzie." A present is a "prezzy." A car registration is a "rego" (soft g, just like in registration). If something is expensive it's "exy." A freaking fireman is a "firie," for god's sake. They shorten, in short, everything.

But not "newsagent." The one Australian word I decide to use on my own, that I take out for a little linguistic test run—no no no no no. Not that one. Wrong.

"If it was going too be shortened," said Christine's sister, Shannon, "it'd be news-o, not news-ie." Everyone agreed with her.

There's a rule, apparently, in Australia, regarding the shortening of words, and whether you shorten it with an "o" or "ie." Everyone, apparently, knows this rule. And so I have been informed that not only did I shorten a word that is one of the only words in the entire English language that is not under any circumstances to be shortened, I shortened it in a way that it would not be done if it were to be done at all. I was wrong, and I was wrong wrongly.

Well, enough is enough.

I will henceforth be using the word "newsie" whenever I approach, enter, mill about in, leave, or just think about a newsagent. I will speak about "newsies" to my friends, to relatives overseas, to strangers that I meet on the street. "Do you know where the nearest newsie is? Is that a good newsie? Does the newsie have chewie? Is the chewie exy at the newsie? Have you ever been spanked in a newsie? I have. Delicious good fun, being spanked in a newsie..."

I will shout "newsie!" into the windows of sleeping children, so as to infiltrate their dreams with this brand new word.

I will hire small airplanes to drag banners through the sky saying, "Get the latest news—at the newsie—you bastards!"

I will write letters to the editor of every newspaper in the country, and I will mention "newsies" in said letters at least fifteen times each, even if it makes no sense at all to do so. I will newsie the freaking newsie out of all the newsiest newsies in newsie-dom.

I will use the word "newsie" so often that Australians will start using the word themselves, thinking that it's a perfectly natural word, that they've been using it all their lives, never knowing that it was me, it was me that planted that word in their minds, in their language, in their country.

This is my personal quest for one simple and perfectly sensible short word: "newsie."

Mohammed's Radio

2011-01-31T18:59:00.000-08:00

I hear it louder than ever these days.

You've been up all night listening for his drum

Hoping that the righteous might just might just might just come

I heard the General whisper to his aide-de-camp

"Be watchful for Mohammed's lamp"

Shooting in the Streets

2011-01-30T12:43:00.000-08:00

A tweet from Cairo:

I am hearing more gunfire outside tonight. Neighborhood watch told me last night they shoot sometimes to keep people alert

Egypt

2011-01-28T15:18:00.000-08:00

Unbelievable.

Good Egypt Twitter feed here, so I've heard.

Obama Can't Back Democratic Forces in Egypt?

2011-01-28T14:23:00.000-08:00

The fact that a Dem president cannot just come out and call Mubarak a dictator who should be overthrown is just so incredibly depressing. I understand that Mubarak is "our son-of-a-bitch," but good god, if Dem president can't do this, what hope do we have for any president ever truly promoting democratic government around the world?

None. That's fucking depressing.

Mubarak is speaking now. And saying nothing.

Tea Party News Brief

2011-01-27T16:30:00.000-08:00

Via Maddow, if this isn't the strangest thing you've ever seen you've eaten way too much acid.

I am too confused to speak. Honestly.

Cancer News

2011-01-24T12:22:00.000-08:00

The disease that we all know way too well may have just gotten a small kick in the teeth:

British scientists have discovered a "rogue gene" which helps cancer spread around the body and say blocking it with the right kind of drugs could stop many types of the disease in their tracks.

Researchers from the University of East Anglia said their findings could lead within a decade to the development of new medicines to halt a critical late stage of the disease known as metastasis, when cancer cells spread to other parts of the body.

The culprit gene, called WWP2, is an enzymic bonding agent found inside cancer cells, the researchers explained in their study, published in the journal Oncogene Monday.

It attacks and breaks down a naturally-occurring protein in the body which normally prevents cancer cells from spreading.

In tests in the laboratory, the UEA team found that by blocking WWP2, levels of the natural inhibitor protein were boosted and the cancer cells remained dormant.

If there's anything more perfectly sickening and terrifying than how bits of our own bodies can attack us—and travel around to attack us again and again—I don't know what it is. Nor do I want to know.

Little Pied Cormorant, Cat's Eye Sea Shell

2011-01-20T14:35:00.001-08:00

Over at my Aussie site.

Boiling down the RW response to Loughner

2011-01-18T14:17:00.000-08:00

Joe Scarborough of all people finally helps me to boil down what's so wrong the RW response to the Tucson shooting. What they all are really saying:

The fact that I'm an irresponsible and offensive asshole doesn't make me responsible for the Tucson shooting!

Yeah, well, they may be right.

"The educated ruling class"

2011-01-15T12:57:00.000-08:00

One well known commentator, on Obama's speech at the Tuscon memorial:

It was, it was all the things the educated, ruling class wants their members to be and sound like.

"Educated" is a bad thing, apparently.

Haate crime

2011-01-14T13:48:00.000-08:00

The Washington Post had a word contest years ago in which they invited readers to take a word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition for the word. Here's one:

Haate crime: What Dutch Nazis get charged with.

Opossums, Possums, and the Art of Photoraphy

2011-01-12T18:28:00.001-08:00

A post at my other place.

"Blood Libel" Experts, Table of Two Million!

2011-01-12T12:13:00.000-08:00

Today is going to be another stupid day in media world.

What I Want on my Gravestone

2011-01-11T15:15:00.000-08:00

If I actually planned to have one:

[sic]

That oughta do it.

GO DUCKS!

2011-01-10T18:23:00.000-08:00

They don't have the game on the telly in Sydney, but I'll be keeping tabs online.

Oh well. Hell of a try.

Rage Against the Dying of Lead Paint

2011-01-06T14:17:00.000-08:00

This guy would protest government regulation off uranium in children's toys.

My Own Best Friend (The Dog Song)

2011-01-03T23:45:00.000-08:00

"My Own Best Friend," the video. (Warning: Contains words that cause cancer in laboratory mice.)

Happy Birthday: Long Tough Blog!

2010-12-31T17:16:00.000-08:00

This lesson in internet distraction began on New Year's Eve, 2005. Happy Birthday to us, and a sincere Happy New Year to anyone passing by.

It's New Years Day in Australia, we had a fabulous time on Collaroy Beach watching the fireworks and families with Tin and her friend Di, had a few beverages, watched the fireworks at the Harbor Bridge on TV. Had a swim this morning - it's about 90° F - got some work down, now Im having a beer and listening to Penguins on a Rock.

I love my life.

The zombies: "Time of the Season"

2010-12-26T12:42:00.000-08:00

I woke up with this song in my head and it will not go away. Maybe I dreamed about listening to the radio when I was four.

I love this song, for childhood memory reasons, and for that opening riff: "dum dum dum (tick) ahhh! dum dum dum (tick) ahhh!" But: "Time of the season"? I'm as relaxed as the next guy about lyrics and odd usages of phrases, but that just seems lazy. Might as well say "period of the period of time." Then the "Who's your daddy"" business. Never did quite get that. But hey, we'll let that pass.

Because this, my friends, is a legendary video (go here if it doesn't play):

The Zombies - Time of the Season
Uploaded by peakers. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

Australia: Where Even the Turds are Alive [update]

2010-12-21T22:19:00.000-08:00

My Australia blog has a new post about turds.

I've moved to Australia, and I've got a new blog about it

2010-12-15T22:32:00.001-08:00

Take a look: Little Australia.

Announcing: a Leak!

2010-11-30T08:16:00.000-08:00

Why does Wikileaks announce that they're going to release leaked material they have? Doesn't it at least kind of defeat the purpose of the leaks? Especially in the case of a private entity like "a big U.S. bank"? Doesn't it give those being leaked from time to fix the damage that might be caused? In the case of the government, if the leaks could actually put people in danger, this is understandable, but even then you wouldn't have to announce it publicly. I don't get it.

Trying to Touch and Reach You...

2010-11-24T09:41:00.000-08:00

Just for that one line, a beautiful George Harrison folk song for my beautiful far away girl.

Richie Havens: "License to Kill"

2010-11-13T06:42:00.000-08:00

This song has possibly the weirdest line Bob Dylan ever wrote: "man has invented his doom, first step was touching the moon..." What, Neil Armstrong let loose the curst of the moon sphynx? Or is it space travel? Or am I missing something?

Probably missing something.

Anyway, it's a beautiful and haunting song, and the odd and slow tempo for some reason suits Richie Havens'guitar style in a very nice way.

It was legal "because the lawyer said it was"

2010-11-09T09:12:00.000-08:00

You know, we really needed another one of these:

Thank you, George W. Bush. Thank you.

Twenty-Nine Dollars (and an Alligator Purse)

2010-11-08T09:27:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure how I feel about this song on the cassette player for the ride to work on an early morning. I may not be right all day:

Tracheotomy

2010-11-06T17:23:00.000-07:00

I wrote a song many years ago called "I Can't Wait to do a Tracheotomy." It's a love song. Some of my friends here might know it. I was just thinking about that song, and about my father, while looking out over a wide expanse of our Rogue Valley from the deck of my friend Eric's house - he's in Argentina - smoking a Seneca brand filterless cigarette that I bought on the Tonawanda Indian Reservation in Western New York recently. I was in Western New York to visit my father, and various other wonderful elements of my family.

My father, it turned out, actually had a tracheotomy some years after I wrote that song. Some years after that he presented me with the metal tracheotomy contraption that he'd had to wear during that episode. The grandkids tell me he blew bubbles through it now and then. Dad gave the device to me because I'd written a song called, "I Can't Wait to do a Tracheotomy," and he thought I might like to have it.

I still have that metal tracheotomy contraption; I saw it recently while going through my possessions in preparation for our move to Australia. I found it in a sandwich bag. Still shiny as ever. I think I'll take that contraption with me to Australia. Why not?

I tell you this only because: There are some moments, some events, some memories, some combinations of moments, events, and memories, that make this weird painful thing called Life worthwhile. For me, that's one.

Thought for the Morning: Tax Cuts II

2010-11-05T09:56:00.000-07:00

America, if Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Kobe Bryant, Alex Rodriguez, and David Beckham have to pay a bit more in taxes, they'll only have hundreds of millions of dollars left—and America will be destroyed.

This has been another Thought for the Morning.

Thought for the Morning: Tax cuts

2010-11-04T09:10:00.000-07:00

What we need now in America - what we really, really need the very most - is for people with secret bank accounts in Switzerland to pay less taxes. That would make everything perfect. It would be especially good for the unemployed.

Redux: Health Care Reform SAVED Money

2010-11-04T08:44:00.000-07:00

Because it's being said again, and louder now that Republicans have taken the House, I have to go back to this post from last January:

Democrats have done a terrible job countering the "It costs too much!" screams from the teabaggers and other Republican miscreants regarding health care reform. How difficult is it to get this across:

• Passing a health care bill, say the Senate bill, which will cost $849 billion over ten years, SAVES money- billions and billions - because the government would spend MUCH MORE than $849 on health care over the next ten years without the bill.

• Again: The government already spends money on health care. We just do it horribly. Passing the bill would save billions and billions of government dollars.

• Passing the bill would save money - while providing thirty million more Americans with coverage, and ending the odious practice of denial of coverage due to preexisting conditions.

How hard is that to get across to the "It costs too much!" crowd?

More here: How Health Care Reform Reduces the Deficit in 5 Not-So-Easy Steps; here: Budget office says health care bill saves money; and this is just interesting.

Thought for the Morning: King George III thinks Obama is a socialist!

2010-10-29T11:05:00.000-07:00

This has been another "Thought for the Morning."

What Makes You Vote the Way You Do?

2010-10-14T09:35:00.000-07:00

People too often appear to vote as if some time in the past their feelings were hurt by someone or something, and that that hurt and humiliation never quite went away. They vote for people who prey on those feelings, and who clearly do not have their interests in mind whatsoever. It's a real shame. The ballot box is no place for such immature crap. We have a country to fix and run.

Not John

2010-10-09T08:13:00.001-07:00

I'm Moving to Australia

2010-10-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

Me and my other 5/8 are selling off most of what we own, putting a wee bit more in storage, heading off to New York to see and say goodbye to the dozens of members of my wonderful family, then, in December or so, we're headed to Sydney. Tin Tin is from there, and has wanted to go home for some time. I've already received a five-year permanent resident work visa. (I know that's an oxymoron, but that's what it says.)

I'll be writing still, only now as a freelancer rather than a staff writer. Tin Tin will be looking into acting, waking up her old agent skills, and making documentaries. And we will be making some books together, too.

After 20 years in little town, Oregon, this is a very big deal. A very big, very good, very exciting, downright freaky deal. (I'm going to go find me some platypi!)

On a very related note: Need a couple songs for the old electronic music device? This would be an exceptionally good time for a few thousand people to buy a song or two from my CD, Bottomfeeders. Please do go give a listen, I think you'll find something you like. (Over in the right sidebar there are many places to go for songs, including iTunes and Rhapsody.)

Thanks very much in advance.

P.S. Blogger has done some strange things with photos - it decided the center location and the size for that one. Oh well. It's a shot I took coming into Sydney in 2006. You can click to enlarge, and can see the harbor bridge and opera house right to the right of the bridge.

Seve Calls the European Ryder Cup Team

2010-10-03T06:51:00.000-07:00

Seve Ballesteros called the European Ryder Cup team this week to tell them what life's really about. Looks like it worked. 14 1/2 -13 1/2 - wow! Wish I'd seen it.

Congratulations, E-Team. And well played, Americans, what a comeback.

P.S. For several posts on Seve, who has been battling brain cancer for many months, hit the "Seve Ballesteros" tag just below this post.

"Going to jump off the GW Bridge. Sorry."

2010-09-30T12:15:00.000-07:00

We need a better understanding of cruelty. And shame. Just horrible.

The World Needs More Anne Feeney

2010-09-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

Folk-singing unionmaid and all around ass-kicking hellraiser Anne Feeney is experiencing some medical difficulties, I'm very sorry to say. Purchases of her songs are especially helpful right now, as you can imagine. You can help out by buying a song or three here, here, here, and here at iTunes. (The first link, CDBaby, has several more places to buy Anne's songs.)

Here's Anne's Facebook page, and you can join Anne's Caring Bridge group here.

We're thinking of you Anne, and Julie, and all your family and friends. We are thinking of you.

Marijuana Growers Join Teamsters Union

2010-09-15T06:17:00.000-07:00

Ho-lee crap:

The workers are trimmers, gardeners and cloners. Cloners clone different strains of marijuana, depending on its medical needs, said Lou Marchetti, the business agent for Local 70, which organized the workers and negotiated the contract. Marjyn Investments provides medical marijuana used by patients suffering from cancer, HIV and other life threatening illnesses.

[...]

Under the two-year contract, the company will pay for the workers’ health care costs. The workers will receive pensions under the Western Conference of Pensions Fund, and their wages, currently at $18 an hour, will increase to $25.75 an hour within 15 months. They also get 10 paid holidays and 60 hours of personal time per year.

The times they are a-changin'...

What a Jerk!

2010-09-15T05:24:00.000-07:00

Ahem.

And evil to boot!

Now TPM has unearthed a 1997 C-SPAN video that shows O'Donnell voicing concerns that a drag queen ball "celebrates the type of lifestyle which leads to the disease," objecting to terming those with AIDS "victims" and calling AIDS a consequence of a certain "lifestyle which brings about this disease."

What an asshole.

George Washington: "I Cannot Tell a Lie. Glenn Beck Can, Though."

2010-09-01T08:07:00.000-07:00

America's Creepy Uncle lies to his "restore honor" crowd. Yep. Sounds about right.

I'll hide behind a smile
and understanding eyes
and I'll tell you things that you already know
so you can say
I really identify with you, so much
and all the time that you're needing me
is just the time that I'm bleeding you
don't you get it yet?
I'll come to you like an affliction
and I'll leave you like an addiction
you'll never forget me
you wanna know why?
cause I'm a liar

Another Kind of Courage

2010-08-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

Veterans of the Iraq War protest more over-deployed soldiers being sent to that mess.

Hitler Was a Black Jew

2010-08-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

Neo-Nazis around the world: Suck. On. This.