Campanastan

The First Two Things We Saw When We Left the Versailles Train Station

 

And next door there was a subdued-looking McDonald's complete with high-tech ATM-like ordering machines when you enter.

 

"Lafayette, we are here!." -- Charles Stanton, 4 July 1917

Can You Hear Me Now? The PFL Gets Some Assistance

 Your President-For-Life just returned from the audiologist (shown to the left) only to learn that he needs two hearing aids instead of one. Fortunately, the PFL has good health insurance.

No worry, though; Campanastan's audiologists are on the cutting edge of enhanced hearing technology.

The PFL will now find it more difficult to ignore his advisors, or the people as they whine about their miserable lives. He will also be able to hear their screams as the secret police politely question them.

On the other hand, the PFL can simply turn the damn things off and ignore everything.

"A fearful man is always hearing things." -- Sophocles

Sarah Pale Ale: The Right Brew With a Bitter Aftertaste

Colleague Bill Battaglin turned his back on us to display this beer ad featuring the likeness of a certain ex-governor of a kleptocratic petro-state:

 

"Never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence." -- Hanlon's razor

"How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it's about country." —Sarah Palin, quitting as governor, Wasilla, Alaska, 3 July 2009

Portlandia: The Dream of the 90s Is Alive in Portland!

Portlandia is a hilarious send-up of life in Portland, OR. It's a six-part series on IFC. Here is a trailer.

 "Like San Francisco and Santa Fe, Portland suffers from terminal pretension." -- Unknown

Honoring King, Remembering Dixie

Today we honor Dr. Martin Luther King,Jr , who would have turned 82 earlier this month. I have come to appreciate and admire him (and all the civil rights workers) by reading Taylor Branch's brilliant  trilogy of the civil rights era: Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63; Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-65; and At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years 1965-68.

What thoroughly amazes me were the toughness, resiliency, and resolve of the civil rights workers, and how they honored King's insistence upon nonviolent resistance. Along with King, the names of heroes such as John Lewis, Ralph Abernathy, Hosea Williams, Rosa Parks, Coretta King, Septima Clark, James Meredith, Andrew Young, Marian Wright, Diane Nash, Fannie Lou Hamer, James Bevel, Bob Moses, et al., are forever burned in my mind. Similarly, I shall not soon forget place names like Selma and Montgomery, or people like Lester Maddox, George Wallace, Bull Connor, Orval Faubus, Strom Thurmond, and their ilk.

As I read the aforementioned books, cringing at what humans can do to each other, one thought haunted me: what would I have done had I been a Southern white person during that time (I am actually half-North Carolina Scots-Irish WASP)? I've concluded that I probably would not have been one of the segregationist ringleaders, but certainly would not have risen to the defense of the oppressed. I probably would have (very quietly) supported their cause, but not done anything to jeopardize my comfortable middle-class lifestyle (see the quote below). Certainly Northerners were no better than Southerners when it came to desegregation; recall the Boston busing "incidents" of the 1970s.

Another thing also amazes me: how much the Southern poor whites ("poor white trash") and blacks had in common. Both were horribly oppressed, but skillful politicians kept the poor whites riled about the "uppity Negroes". If the two groups had united, there would have been hell to pay.

Here is King's "I Have a Dream Speech":

 

I do have a few interesting memories about that period, as I was a student in Virginia (College of William and Mary) from 1966-1970. Just after I arrived in Virginia, Sen. Harry F. Byrd died - he was the scion of the infamous Byrd (members of the FFV) political dynasty in Virginia, and the whole state mourned his death. What I remember most about that time is the characterization of Byrd by a local columnist:

"Never was there a man who so dragged his feet through the sands of time."

Can't Ask. Can't Tell

A powerful cartoon from Jeffrey Koterba. Wow!

Glad the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' was passed.

 
"You don't have to be straight to shoot straight." -- Barry Goldwater

O! Canada! Whither Goest Thy Sovereignty?

Interesting article in the 7 December 2010 - 7 January 2011 print edition of The Week. It is based on articles by Steven Chase and others in The Globe and Mail.

So what's the problem? Well, since the 9/11-motivated USA border crackdown, Canada has suffered economically, more  so than the USA. Our friends in the Great White North have been encouraging the USA to lighten up, but the USA has said that in return, it wants more control over who can enter the USA from Canada.

What this translates into is a draft agreement that says: if someone is inadmissible to the USA, s/he would be inadmissible to Canada as well. In such a case, Canada would be surrendering control over its immigration policy; only those acceptable to the USA could enter Canada. 

The draft agreement contains other provisions as well, such as joint screening of cargo at points of origin. But you can bet the immigration control issue will be a sore point with many Canadians.

"Poor Canada. So far from God, so close to the United States." -- apologies to Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz

Target Practice? Congressional District Crosshairs Map from Sarah Palin's PAC

I have heard so much about the Congressional district 'crosshairs map' produced by Sarah Palin's PAC that I thought I would post it. The map was originally posted about 10 months ago.

Did they really have to use crosshairs? Just imagery, right?

Reliable Sources showed a clip of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) commenting on this - the use of crosshairs - last March.

 
"Every revolution evaporates leaving behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy." - -Franz Kafka

"Character is doing what's right, even if no one is looking." -- Unknown

A Conversation Aboard the Other USS Enterprise...

From Jeffrey Koterba of the Omaha World-Herald.

 

"Stupid is as stupid does." -- Forrest Gump

Are Your Cojones Big Enough to be RNC Chair?

I think that was the only question that was not asked of RNC Chair candidates during their recent debate.

Another gem from Jon Stewart.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Top of the GOPs
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> The Daily Show on Facebook

 "Republicans understand the importnace of bondage between parent and child." -- former Vice President Dan Quayle (R)

No Longer Stuck in the Middle of Baker Street: Gerry Rafferty Checks Out

I was saddened to hear that Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty, 63, died today after a long illness caused by liver problems. 

Rafferty became a huge star with the haunting Baker Street, a song that, buoyed by a superb saxophone solo by Raphael Ravenscroft, was a worldwide hit in 1978. It reached #2 in the USA and was from his album City to City, which reached #1.

Rafferty first hit the charts with his and Joe Egan's band, Stealers Wheel, who struck it gold with Stuck in the Middle With You in 1972-73, a song that was a parody of Bob Dylan. The song became a hit again almost 20 years later when Quentin Tarantino used it in Reservoir Dogs. Now, whenever I hear it, I conjure images of Michael Madsen mutilating a cop with a straight razor.

Rafferty had a tough life. He battled alcoholism and former bandmates. But this troubled soul sure made some great music.

Rest in peace, laddie.

“The best plans of men and mice often go awry." -- Robert Burns

"Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right
Here I am
Stuck in the middle with you.'
-- Stuck in the Middle with You, written by Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan

Norwegian Icebreaker Heads Up Mississippi River

 
This picture was taken just downstream from Cairo, IL. Olaf has a ways to go yet.

Thanks to Ari Michelsen.

"If you poop in the drawer, you have to empty it." -- Norwegian proverb

Geezers Gone Wild, or Baby Boomer Bullshit

Welcome to 2011!

My God, it has started already - stories about the first cohort of Baby Boomers turning 65 this year. Here is something from the NPR story:

"There are 7,000 boomers a day who will be turning 65 in 2011, which is a significant birthday for sure," says Steve Cone, executive vice president of AARP.

Cone and the rest of the AARP folks. must be licking their chops, imagining all that wonderful insurance and other stuff they can hawk while pretending to have altruism at heart. But they've actually been trying to catch me for the past 12 years, ever since I turned 50. After all, they are just AARP now, not the American Association of Retired Persons.

Yes, I'm a Baby Boomer, but I'm already tired of hearing about the AARP and my self-absorbed generation. I can imagine how the other generations must feel.

Please, spare us a year of this stuff.  

Oh, yeah - Happy New Year!

Think I'll go listen to The Kinks or Steppenwolf.

"The hippies wanted peace and love. We wanted Ferraris, blondes and switchblades." -- Alice Cooper

"Ponytail: a hairstyle worn by middle-aged and older men who wish to delay the onset of dignity." -- Unknown