Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley yesterday became the third Democrat to enter the race for the party's 2016 Presidential nomination. O'Malley has strong progressive credentials and will offer youthful good looks and exuberance to potential Democratic voters.
Unfortunately for O'Malley, Bernie Sanders is already in the race running to Hillary Clinton's left (one supposes should Jim Webb enter the race he will run to Hillary's right--and good luck with that in Democratic primaries) which leaves O'Malley the unpalatable option of claiming he's more electable than Sanders. That ought to go over really well with the die-hard Liberal base.
Don't get me wrong--I like O'Malley and would have no problem voting for him. I just think he has very long odds considering he has to beat electoral behemoth Hillary Clinton and left wing darling Bernie Sanders, both of whom are far ahead of him in name recognition as well. He also has one big caveat: as Mayor of Baltimore, his hardcore policing tactics have many believing his leadership on crime prevention played a large role in the recent strife in the city following the death of Freddie Gray, and O'Malley will certainly face hard questioning in regard to said role.
On the coolness quotient, though, O'Malley is a shoo-in. He'd be the first President who can play guitar (that I know of) and he's actually pretty damn good at it:
For the second time in three weeks we're going to the Great White North for this week's tune....
My oldest son turned thirty-two this week, which struck me as kind of amazing since it seems like he was only born yesterday. In addition to the thoughts about the vagaries of time, his birthday also brought back memories of late Saturday nights when he and his sister would come over and we'd channel surf until the wee hours of the morning. On one such night we discovered MuchMusic, the Canadian version of MTV. At the time, MTV was turning into dreck (a trend which continues to this day--though in fairness, old farts like me aren't exactly their marketing target), and MuchMusic was like a breath of fresh air. Even better, they featured a lot of Canadian bands unfamiliar to us--some of which turned out to be quite good.
One such group was the Matthew Good Band, which we discovered due to their exceptionally good video of this week's featured song, "Apparitions." Released in 1998 on their Underdogsalbum (which was voted the 18th greatest Canadian album of all time by Chart--Canada's Billboard--magazine), the single would also garner a Juno nomination (again--Canada's Grammy) for Best Single.
While my son went on to become quite the fan of Matthew Good, my knowledge of the band and the man is pretty much limited to "Apparitions." But if you're going to like but one song by a performer, best it be an exceptional one--and this one is. Oddly enough for a song titled "Apparitions" the song is otherworldly--there's an overarching eeriness to both the vocals and the melody. There's also a disjointed nature to the way the lyrics are sung--a note held long before a quick transition to a short phrase that only adds to listening experience. Add in guitars both acoustic and electric, some fear and anger, a little angst, and you have yourself a hell of a Canadian tune.
So...Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker told an interviewer this week that a bill he signed requiring women seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound before the procedure would enlighten such women to the fact that the process was a "cool thing out there."
One wonders if a bill was signed requiring Governor Walker to have an anal probe every time he opened his mouth and said something extremely callous just how "cool" he would think it was to have a very private part of his body violated for his supposed own good.
So...I'm watching The Rachel Maddow show last night and she puts up a graphic that shows all of the republican contenders for the republican nomination in 2016 and in the lower left hand corner is a guy I don't recognize at all. Not sure I've ever seen him in my life.
Turns out, it's former New York Governor George Pataki. That's right--the George Pataki.
Who today became the eighth republican to announce his candidacy for the U. S. Presidency. Whose only real qualification for becoming our 45th President is that he was the Governor of New York on September 11, 2001. Granted, it's better than anything I've got, but it's pretty fucking thin.
And while I don't claim to be an expert on American politics, I do follow them about 25-30 hours a week--and if I couldn't pick him out of a lineup of other old white guys, what do you suppose the chances are that your average American, who'd rather watch paint dry than pay attention to politics, has the slightest idea of who he is? Or cares?
Yes, indeed--Rick Santorum has decided that he, too, has a shot at being the next President and today announced his candidacy for the 2016 republican nomination. Considering that Santorum a) got crushed in his U.S. Senate re-election bid in 2006 by current U. S. Senator Bob Casey, b) finished second to Willard Romney in the 2012 republican primaries for the Presidency and Willard proceeded to get drubbed by President Obama, and c) puts the looney in Looney Tunes, one has to wonder if Santorum has taken one too many swigs from the happy juice jug.
Either that or there must be a shitload of money to be personally gained by running for the U. S. Presidency.
Regardless, Rick Santorum joins a long list of previously announced candidates who are both fucking nuts and have a poorer chance than I do of being the next President of the United States and I'm not even running (yet...).
Seems the national media is having a hissy fit because Hillary Clinton is choosing at this point in her campaign to talk to regular folks like us instead of famous journalists.
And the problem with this is...?
Leaving aside the fact that it's unlikely the journalist vote is going to sweep Secretary Clinton into the White House, one need only look at the republican Presidential candidates botched responses to see why at this juncture perhaps it's best to stick to everyday people. I mean, Christ, republicans have already seen Jeb Bushand Marco Rubio fall all over themselves to appease their base while denying what's obvious to those of us who aren't a few slices short of a full loaf of bread--the Iraq War was a disaster from beginning to end. We've also seen the spectacle of Mike Huckabee trying to defend a child molester.
Frankly, I think it's a fine piece of strategy to avoid the chickenshit circus that is the beltway media while earning her props from the citizens who will have the most to do with the success of a Hillary Clinton Presidency.
And it's just another contrast between the competency of the Democrats and the nincompoopery that is ingrained in the republican party.
Because no one ever wrote a song about a lost love....
Back when I was still a young man, Hall and Oates were my introduction to what is known as blue-eyed soul and while there are artists whose work I have followed more closely through the years than Hall and Oates (Van Morrison, Rod Stewart, Boz Scaggs) there is still a soft spot in the heart for those early lessons. They pretty much lost me after their Voices album (like they cared--they enjoyed massive popular success thereafter), but I can still put on any of their songs from 1974-1980 and be mesmerized.
Such is the case with "She's Gone," a beautiful ballad about losing the love of your life. Originally released in 1974 on their Abandoned Luncheonettealbum, the song was a mediocre hit (#60 on the Billboard Hot 100--with a bullet!) until Hall and Oates had their first top ten hit with "Sara Smile" (also a wonderful song) in 1976 at which time "She's Gone" was re-released (capitalism at its finest!) and became their second top ten hit. Little did they know that some forty years later they would be inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.
Daryl Hall would later say that he thought "She's Gone" was the best song he and John Oates wrote, and I wouldn't disagree. Often overlooked when it comes to rock's great vocalists, Hall's vocals (concurrent with Oates' background vocals) are really what make the song. There is a back and forth between the two that is magical and stretches the boundaries of white boy soul (and turns me into a split personality every time I hear it as I try to sing along to both parts). Throw in a dandy little guitar solo from Oates, a touch of saxophone, and an eerie intro and a couple of kids from Philadelphia had one hell of a song.
Rick Santorum thinks we should bomb Iran back to the 7th century.
Marco Rubio thinks hunger and homelessness are the least of our problems--they won't matter if for the, oh, second time in our 239 year history some idiots decide to try to blow something up in the United States. Because starving and the brutal elements of nature never killed anyone.
Lindsay Graham is desperately trying to relight John McCain's pretty much permanently snuffed out torch which would call for war in the Antarctic if a penguin farted.
It's beginning to look like the republican strategy for foreign policy in 2016 will be war, war, and more war--there's nothing like calling for the killing of people in foreign lands to excite the GOP base.
And this should be the Democrats response:
Good God, y'all--didn't you bozos learn anything from Iraq and Afghanistan?
Mitch McConnell, the brains behind the GOP strategy to make President Obama a one term President, this week praised Obama's recent efforts on behalf of the TPP.
Hey Obama--remember the last time Mitch McConnell passed a bill that helped workers in America?
Every now and again a song comes along that reminds you that sometimes the best music is the simplest music. A guitar, a harmonica, and some heartfelt vocals and you're listening to pure pop gold.
Such is the case with Canadian singer/songwriter Hayden and his song "Bad as They Seem." Originally released on his album Everything I Long Forin 1995 in Canada and in 1996 for the rest of us poor bastards, the song might best be described as alternative folk. The critically acclaimed album launched quite the bidding war for Hayden's talents, made him a very rich man, but also a very miserable man. He eventually walked away (well worth the ten minutes it takes to read) from fame and has quietly continued to make music for the past twenty years.
"Bad as They Seem" is ostensibly a song about a young man whose life, amazingly enough, is as bad as it seems. Stuck in a dead end job, still living at home, longing forlornly for the love of his life--and all of it tied around some low string heavy acoustic guitar playing, a harmonica break that's reminiscent of fellow Canadian Neil Young (who was among those involved in the aforementioned bidding war), and it's all delivered in an almost monotone vocal that manages to find the right inflections just when they're most needed. The song manages to convey a hopeful hopelessness--not sure if that's possible, but when I hear the chorus it's as if the protagonist is singing "it ain't gonna happen...but it might." And sometimes that's enough.
Anybody out there think your company's CEO is worth 374 times more than you are?
If you aren't a CEO of an American corporation, there is a rock solid chance you answered no to both of those questions (especially the first one).
And yet, the AFL-CIO in its yearly Executive Paywatch report revealed that while the rest of us were making do with less than a 3% increase in our pay, American CEOs enjoyed a 15.6% increase in 2014. And in the midst of growing concern over income inequality, American CEOs went from a 313-1 ratio to their workers pay to a 374-1 ratio.
What the fuck? At a time when we can't even get our (republican) Congress to consider a raise in the minimum wage to just ten bucks?
If there were ever statistics that proved the game is rigged, these are probably those statistics. Maybe I've just been unlucky, but I've yet to work for a company where the CEO wasn't at best a competent leader and businessman--and yet such executives are worth that much more than their workers? Frankly, these sums are arrogance and egotism personified--sating the psyche of people who aren't nearly as good at what they do as their fantasies would have you believe.
Gonna make it kind of hard to have a lot of empathy for these folks when those pitchforks start a-swingin'....
Think there's any correlation? People who view themselves as middle class are declining precipitously while we lag markedly behind the rest of the world in paying a living wage. And there's not a lot of hope right now that either of these numbers will improve.
And, eventually we will learn (to steal a line from "The Second Coming" by W. B. Yeats): the center cannot hold.
Rick Snyder, our not so courageous nor very successful governor this week became only the second republican politician (Willard Romney being the other) to announce he would not be seeking the party's nomination for the Presidency in 2016.
Considering that the record he would be running on would be bad jobs, bad roads, and bad policy (rape insurance, right to work for less) and that Snyder has all the charisma of a sandy piece of driftwood, this really isn't all that surprising.
In fairness, though, none of the other candidates has much to offer, either:
Ted Cruz--Let's turn America into a theocracy
Rand Paul--Let's pretend we're not racists
Marco Rubio--Anybody got a bottle of water?
Ben Carson--I'm fucking nuts
Carly Fiorina--I failed at business and I can fail at government, too
Mike Huckabee--Let's keep hatin' on the gays
Seems republicans in the Wisconsin legislature have little better to do than make the lives of poor people even more miserable. Despite the fact that they have no power to control SNAP purchases by the needy, a public benefits committee in the Badger State legislature took it upon themselves to ban food stamp recipients from purchasing lobster, crab, and shrimp.
Because those are the items you look for when you have five bucks a day to spend on food.
It gets better--the committee also managed to limit the amount of cheese the poor can buy.
In Wisconsin.
Up next, Florida republicans try to limit the amount of oranges the poor can buy with their food stamps.
Look, I get that Obama has been all over the place when it comes to the economic security of everyday Americans--from his grand bargain seeking on Social Security and Medicare to his speeches decrying income inequality it's been a veritable back and forth as to how much we should trust the man. That he's trying to push the Trans Pacific Partnership? Pretty much par for the course.
But attacking Elizabeth Warren over her opposition? That's like a huge bitch slap to the left for what? A trade deal that will not be a signature issue, that at best will be a wash and at worst another disaster a la NAFTA for America's workers? And calling her just another politician? What's he want--to be as hated on the left as he is on the right?
Can anyone explain how any of this makes sense? Who the hell does he think is going to support him for the last 20 months of his Presidency?
Sometimes the smartest guy in the room can be awfully obtuse.
In a recent study by Save the Children, when it comes to the best countries to be a mother, the U. S. ranked...thirty-third. A woman in the United States has a 1 in 1800 chance of maternal death--the worst among developed nations.
So much for American exceptionalism.
Amazing how so many Americans will talk about the sanctity of life--at least until we're actually born, that is.
One of the last memories I have of my father is him sitting in the kitchen of his and my Mom's home in Ohio, smiling and swaying to Eric Clapton singing "San Francisco Bay Blues" from Clapton's Unpluggedalbum. By that time, chemotherapy had taken most of his hair, left his cheeks puffy, and made him feel like vomiting every time he moved. Still, the joy he felt as he listened was palpable, and I could tell from the glow on his face that music was an old and trusted friend that he was going to miss dearly when his time was done.
Had my father lived, he would have been eighty-one years old today. More importantly, because he lived a love of music was imbued in all of his family and will remain with us until our time here on earth is done as well. My family, my sister's family, my brother's family--music is as much a part of our lives as our toes and fingers. There's nothing like a "You've gotta hear this song!" e-mail from my kids, or my brother, my brother-in-law, and myself playing our half-assed version of Name That Tune, with my nephew playing the emcee.
When my father passed away I was the very lucky recipient of his record collection. My father loved God, his family, America,and Ray Charles, in that order. While the ranking for Ray Charles may be a bit of hyperbole, by my count I own better than fifty Ray Charles albums--ninety-nine percent of which were purchased by my father. I had the pleasure of seeing Brother Ray in Decatur, Illinois in 1983, and I can tell you it is still one of my fondest concert recollections.
Here's all you need to know (though I'll have more to say for certain) about "What'd I Say": If an alien came down to earth and asked, "What is this 'Rhythm and Blues' of which you speak?" all you would have to do is play "What'd I Say" and by song's end the alien would understand (and presumably beg you for more). Released in 1959, the song is considered Charles' signature tune, was his first gold record, and is listed at #10 (with a bullet!) on the Rolling Stone list of the five hundred greatest songs ever.
Part I is one of the longest and funkiest instrumental intros you'll ever hear as Charles' fingers dance all over the piano, and Part II is some of the most soulful vocals you'll ever hear, with a touch of fun thrown in with the back and forth "Ohs" traded between Charles and his backup singers, the Raelettes. Frankly, if you're not shakin' all over when you hear this song, you're either tone deaf, in a coma, or dead. "What'd I Say" is a true piece of musical genius by a true American musical icon.
Fun Factoid #1: My father was a hell of a dancer. At my first wife and I's wedding, after my parents had cut a wicked rug, one of the guests came up to me and said, "I never knew your parents before today, but after watching them dance, I'll never forget them." Some years later my mother would tell me that when my father was young, they would clear the dance floor for him (a la John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever) to watch him dance--though she was quick to point out that he had a partner, too, because their generation wasn't quite as self-centered....
Fun Factoid #2: "What'd I Say" was released the same year I was born. Coincidence? I think not....
Here's where I usually find some pithy way to tie in a link to the lyrics, but this time I'll just tell you the lyrics are here, and say Thanks, Dad--your love for music is ensconced in our DNA and it has given us immeasurable joy. And it's something we'll all miss dearly when we're gone, too.
Mike Huckabee, the surprise winner of Iowa's 2008 Caucus and wise man for not running in 2012 (it's hard to beat an incumbent), has become the latest to hop on the Bozo Bus that is the republican race for the Presidential nomination for 2016. Huckabee, a pastor and former governor of Arkansas, is hoping to ride his evangelical cred and governing experience to the nomination....
Not so fast there, Mike. Huckabee has a penchant for saying really dumb things, so together with Dr. Ben Carson he should provide much fodder for stand-up comedians and snide columnists until at least next January or so. In fairness, Huckabee is somewhat of an economic populist (at least until Wall Street and Big Business start writing their checks as per usual for republican candidates) and vowed in his kick-off speech to keep Social Security intact.
Huckabee is unlikely to win the nomination (think climbing Mt. Everest--you might be able to do it, but chances are you never will), but I honestly think if he does that unlike Cruz, Paul, Rubio, Fiorina, and Carson that his loss to Hillary Clinton in the general will only be embarrassing rather than mortifying.
And that's really something for republicans to look forward to, ain't it?
How many more will come forward to plead their case for losing to Secretary Clinton? Time will tell....
Say what you will about Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio (none of whom will be the next President of the United States) but at least all of them have won elections to the U. S. Senate. The latest two to join the republican race to get crushed by Hillary Clinton in the Presidential election of 2016 stand out quite a bit because neither of them has done much of anything to be considered a viable candidate for the republican nomination--unless you consider failing miserably or being cuckoo for cocoa puffs two solid qualities for a U. S. President.
The first to declare today was Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, best known for failing as their CEO and being one of the few republicans to get crushed (by Sen. Barbara Boxer) in the republican wave of 2010 (she lost by double digits). Her big claim is that she is the one candidate who can look good criticizing Hillary Clinton because she's a woman, too. Unfortunately, Fiorina is just as anti-woman as any other republican and there's a better chance that President emaycee will be taking the oath of office in January of 2017 than there is that Fiorina will be doing anything other than watching Secretary Clinton take the oath on television on that same date.
The second was former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who, for lack of a better term, is fucking nuts. Carson's claim to fame is that he compared Obamacare to slavery--because so many people who didn't sign up were whipped or had appendages chopped off. Other than that he appears a lot on Fox News, I can think of no other reason Carson is in the race. On the bright side, if Carson ever says, "You know, running for President isn't neurosurgery" he'll be the only person in the race who really knows it isn't neurosurgery....
The only way either of these two dodos get anywhere near the oval office is if the Clinton Administration hires them to paint its walls.
If not, you will after watching this young man school Geraldo Rivera and Fox News:
A young American speaking eloquently and passionately about his city and the bullshit that too often passes for news reporting on Fox News. There seems to be those who think the young man was indicting all of the media (Chris Hayes chased this theme last night as here on Daily Kos) but I've watched it four times now (the young man is that good) and I will guarantee you he isn't talking about anyone but Fox News. And he's right--Fox News doesn't care about Baltimore, about the poverty, about the joblessness, about the hunger, about the good that these folks do, about the hopelessness they fight every day while still trying to keep hope. Fox News is only there to scare their white republican viewers--the thugs are coming to get you! The thugs are coming to get you!
No, they aren't. They're too damn busy trying to survive to worry about your ignorant asses.
In late 2007, Rolling Stone had an alternative band sampler that the Beautiful Girl was kind enough to both download and burn onto a CD of for me so I could listen to it as I drove to and from work. And during the second go round, I was about halfway to work one day when I noticed this song where the lead singer was wailing away and all of a sudden this bass drum goes off like a cannon and the background singers start screaming "HOO HOO!" again and again and it's like I'm watching some horror movie where the psychopath is ready to begin his blood bath--and I thought, "This is unbelievable--who the fuck is singing this?"
Turns out it was Okkervil River, the alternative rock fan's alternative rock band, unleashing their single "Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe." And I can honestly say that some eight years later every time I hear it the song still sounds unbelievable, an utter marvel.
Released on their The Stage Names(#62 on Billboard's Hot 200--with a bullet!) album (which my oldest son was kind enough to burn a copy of for me), the song is a play on the often mundane existence of a band, despite the hype of being rock and roll stars. Will Sheff's vocals vacillate from a false calmness to a knowing screech, the drums bounce from tapping to booming, the guitars are a whirlwind of sirens, and Sheff sprinkles on some worthy of a wordsmith lyrical phrasing ("serenely dribbling" "flickering pane")--and you have one of those moments where you think, "Yes, it's songs like this that make it all worthwhile...."
The average American gets paid just enough so he doesn't quit his job, and works just hard enough so he doesn't get fired.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." Source unknown
Uncle emaycee Wants You For the Coming Class War! Enlist today....
Capitalism: Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you can exploit his labor, become filthy rich, and keep the poor bastard living paycheck to paycheck for the rest of his life.
