Ever wonder how average Donald Trump voters are created? I have the answer!
I don't watch much local news--actually I don't watch any local news, but this morning while I was getting dressed for work the Beautiful Girl had our local Fox News affiliate on so she could get the weather report for today. The first three stories I saw--one, two, three!--were about a) a local African-American man accused of corruption, b) a local African-American man accused of sexual deviance, and c) a local Muslim man suspected of being a terrorist. All stories delivered by lily white reporters in that shocked yet condescending way that Fox News does so well.
Never mind that our very white Governor, Rick Snyder, has presided over the poisoning of thousands of our children in Flint. Never mind that our very white republican dominated Michigan legislature is slowly chipping away at Democracy in the Wolverine State. The main problems we have here are all because of what brown people do!
It's like raw meat for lions.
Peace,
emaycee
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Principles
If you're like me, there are few things in this world more cringe worthy than watching celebrities discuss their political views. They spend a whole lifetime honing a craft--music, acting--to perfection and it doesn't really leave a lot of time to become an expert on politics.
And it usually shows, oh, the minute they open their mouths.
Such was the case last night when liberal stalwart and Academy Award winning actress Susan Sarandon appeared on the Chris Hayes show on MSNBC stumping for Bernie Sanders and announced she wasn't sure she would vote for Hillary Clinton if she won the Democratic nomination. She also defended those Sanders supporters who are claiming they won't vote for Secy. Clinton, either, as standing up for their principles.
As one who lives in Michigan, who has seen children poisoned in Flint, our prisoners sexually assaulted and fed maggot infested food by private companies hired by our government, our mothers, wives, and daughters forced to buy rape insurance, and our schools crumble while our "leadership" implemented their "run state government like a business" ideals to disastrous effect, I'm pretty sure I can honestly say that there is nothing principled about standing on the sidelines while republicans win all three branches of government and make life markedly, horridly, and disastrously worse for ordinary Americans.
You might say it's a real world Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Peace,
emaycee
And it usually shows, oh, the minute they open their mouths.
Such was the case last night when liberal stalwart and Academy Award winning actress Susan Sarandon appeared on the Chris Hayes show on MSNBC stumping for Bernie Sanders and announced she wasn't sure she would vote for Hillary Clinton if she won the Democratic nomination. She also defended those Sanders supporters who are claiming they won't vote for Secy. Clinton, either, as standing up for their principles.
As one who lives in Michigan, who has seen children poisoned in Flint, our prisoners sexually assaulted and fed maggot infested food by private companies hired by our government, our mothers, wives, and daughters forced to buy rape insurance, and our schools crumble while our "leadership" implemented their "run state government like a business" ideals to disastrous effect, I'm pretty sure I can honestly say that there is nothing principled about standing on the sidelines while republicans win all three branches of government and make life markedly, horridly, and disastrously worse for ordinary Americans.
You might say it's a real world Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Peace,
emaycee
A really BFD
It's hard to stress enough how big of a deal this really is--Gov. Jerry Brown of California reached a deal with his state's labor unions to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022.
California is home to 40 million Americans and has the largest economy of any U.S. state and ranks eighth in the world. While the outcome of such a raise in wages is unknown at this point, if it works you can bet that it will carry over to the rest of the country.
And if the rest of the country doesn't follow? My guess is California's ability to attract the best the brightest will only grow.
Open up that Golden Gate, indeed.
Peace,
emaycee
California is home to 40 million Americans and has the largest economy of any U.S. state and ranks eighth in the world. While the outcome of such a raise in wages is unknown at this point, if it works you can bet that it will carry over to the rest of the country.
And if the rest of the country doesn't follow? My guess is California's ability to attract the best the brightest will only grow.
Open up that Golden Gate, indeed.
Peace,
emaycee
Friday, March 25, 2016
Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LXV--The Mountain Goats: Love Love Love
It's not often you'll find a pop song that references Raskolnikov from Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, the tragic life of boxing great Sonny Liston, and the suicide of Kurt Cobain--and all three in two minutes, 49 seconds. But the Mountain Goats do it "Love Love Love" and throw in biblical references to King Saul falling on his sword, Joseph being sold by his brothers, and St. Paul's "Love Chapter" (1 Corinthians 13) for good measure.
While the Mountain Goats have evolved into a three piece band, they originally began in 1991 as the brainchild (and sole band member) of John Darnielle. In the beginning Darnielle's efforts were largely of the DIY sort, but through the years grew and developed into the band's current incarnation. Though the band has never quite achieved mass success, they have developed a devoted following and in 2015 released their fifteenth album.
I came across "Love Love Love" in the way so many of us who devote too much of our lives to music do--completely by accident. I was actually searching the web for a song I'd heard called "This Year" (it's a semi autobiographical song dealing with Darnielle's abusive step-father--a great tune in its own right), when I read a comment saying that "Love Love Love" was an even better song. Never one to let a challenge such as that to go by without at least checking it out, I gave it a listen and it was love love love (so to speak) at first hearing.
Released in 2005 on what's considered to be their best album, The Sunset Tree, the most striking thing about "Love Love Love" to me is its sparseness and its simplicity--it's basically Darnielle's vocals (wonderfully sedate), an acoustic guitar, and some slight background music which may or may not be a synthesizer. Darnielle sings in an understated falsetto, runs through both the nobility and the dark side of love all the while showing a talent for turning a phrase--I try not to put too much stock into lyric writing, but this is one of those instances when I just throw that caveat out the window. When he sings, "Some things you'll do for money and some you'll do for fun/But the things you do for love are going to come back to you one by one," it's hard not to smile in wonder. While the song closes with a a picture of Kurt Cobain's suicide and warnings about both the futility of love and its ephemeral nature, in the end it's still a paean to what a great man (Lou Reed--from "Coney Island Baby" for those who may be interested) once called "the glory of love."
Had my mother not passed away last August, she would have been eighty-one today--and though Mountain Goats to her were little more than critters high up in the hills, this one's for her because she taught me most of what I know about "Love Love Love..."
Enjoy:
Peace,
emaycee
While the Mountain Goats have evolved into a three piece band, they originally began in 1991 as the brainchild (and sole band member) of John Darnielle. In the beginning Darnielle's efforts were largely of the DIY sort, but through the years grew and developed into the band's current incarnation. Though the band has never quite achieved mass success, they have developed a devoted following and in 2015 released their fifteenth album.
I came across "Love Love Love" in the way so many of us who devote too much of our lives to music do--completely by accident. I was actually searching the web for a song I'd heard called "This Year" (it's a semi autobiographical song dealing with Darnielle's abusive step-father--a great tune in its own right), when I read a comment saying that "Love Love Love" was an even better song. Never one to let a challenge such as that to go by without at least checking it out, I gave it a listen and it was love love love (so to speak) at first hearing.
Released in 2005 on what's considered to be their best album, The Sunset Tree, the most striking thing about "Love Love Love" to me is its sparseness and its simplicity--it's basically Darnielle's vocals (wonderfully sedate), an acoustic guitar, and some slight background music which may or may not be a synthesizer. Darnielle sings in an understated falsetto, runs through both the nobility and the dark side of love all the while showing a talent for turning a phrase--I try not to put too much stock into lyric writing, but this is one of those instances when I just throw that caveat out the window. When he sings, "Some things you'll do for money and some you'll do for fun/But the things you do for love are going to come back to you one by one," it's hard not to smile in wonder. While the song closes with a a picture of Kurt Cobain's suicide and warnings about both the futility of love and its ephemeral nature, in the end it's still a paean to what a great man (Lou Reed--from "Coney Island Baby" for those who may be interested) once called "the glory of love."
Had my mother not passed away last August, she would have been eighty-one today--and though Mountain Goats to her were little more than critters high up in the hills, this one's for her because she taught me most of what I know about "Love Love Love..."
Enjoy:
Peace,
emaycee
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Placing blame where it belongs
In lieu of the poisoning of thousands of their children, new reports are showing that the residents of Flint have lost their trust in government.
It would behoove the Democratic Party to explain to these beleaguered folks that the problem isn't government, but rather republican leadership of it.
Peace,
emaycee
It would behoove the Democratic Party to explain to these beleaguered folks that the problem isn't government, but rather republican leadership of it.
Peace,
emaycee
Not buying it
The half-wit republicans that make up the Kansas legislature, in partnership with their dunce of a governor, Sam Brownback, passed a law last week that forbids recipients of welfare and food stamps from using their government assistance to buy, among many other things, concert tickets, tattoos, movie tickets, lottery tickets, and visiting swimming pools. In republican bizarro world, punishing the poor will lift them off government assistance, rather than, oh, say, good jobs with good wages.
Though a good case could be made for allowing those in need to buy lottery tickets which have an exponentially better chance of improving their lives economically than republican policies (see also, Bush, George W.), what this proves is that republicans continue to have absolutely no fucking idea what it's like to be poor. Do they really believe with the piddling amount of money these folks get every month they're really going to risk their families' rent payments or their electric bills on a trip to Disneyland? They're poor, not stupid.
I work for a grocery chain in an impoverished section of Detroit. Some days, we do 70% of our business in food stamps, and contrary to what some republicans think, they are not buying lobster and foie de gras. Their SNAP cards get filled once a month and they are buying five packages of the chicken breasts we have at $1.49 a pound. They're buying two bags of the Malt o'Meal equivalent of Froot Loops for $1.99 because it will last a lot longer than one box of the actual Froot Loops. They're buying three packs of hot dogs for .99 each. They're being frugal because the food they're buying today has to last the entire month.
Just because poor folks don't spend as lavishly doesn't mean they don't love and want to take care of their families any less than those people who are a lot better off financially.
Peace,
emaycee
Though a good case could be made for allowing those in need to buy lottery tickets which have an exponentially better chance of improving their lives economically than republican policies (see also, Bush, George W.), what this proves is that republicans continue to have absolutely no fucking idea what it's like to be poor. Do they really believe with the piddling amount of money these folks get every month they're really going to risk their families' rent payments or their electric bills on a trip to Disneyland? They're poor, not stupid.
I work for a grocery chain in an impoverished section of Detroit. Some days, we do 70% of our business in food stamps, and contrary to what some republicans think, they are not buying lobster and foie de gras. Their SNAP cards get filled once a month and they are buying five packages of the chicken breasts we have at $1.49 a pound. They're buying two bags of the Malt o'Meal equivalent of Froot Loops for $1.99 because it will last a lot longer than one box of the actual Froot Loops. They're buying three packs of hot dogs for .99 each. They're being frugal because the food they're buying today has to last the entire month.
Just because poor folks don't spend as lavishly doesn't mean they don't love and want to take care of their families any less than those people who are a lot better off financially.
Peace,
emaycee
Monday, March 21, 2016
#Pathetic
“Tamir Rice should have been shot and I am glad he is dead,” wrote Jamie Marquardt, a supervisor for Cleveland’s Emergency Medical Service, according to Cleveland’s Fox 8 TV station. “I am upset I did not get the chance to kill the little criminal.”
Leaving aside the fact that you have to be incredibly stupid in this day and age to post such a horrid thought on Facebook (Mr. Marquardt was deservedly fired for his actions), how pathetic must your life be to wish that you had killed a twelve-year-old child for the crime of carrying a toy gun.
Were Dante alive today, his Inferno would have to have a special circle in Hell added for the likes of Mr. Marquardt.
Peace,
emaycee
Leaving aside the fact that you have to be incredibly stupid in this day and age to post such a horrid thought on Facebook (Mr. Marquardt was deservedly fired for his actions), how pathetic must your life be to wish that you had killed a twelve-year-old child for the crime of carrying a toy gun.
Were Dante alive today, his Inferno would have to have a special circle in Hell added for the likes of Mr. Marquardt.
Peace,
emaycee
Saturday, March 19, 2016
You cannot make this shit up
After the city of Birmingham, Alabama passed a law giving its citizens a $2.85 an hour increase in the minimum wage, republican Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signed a bill prohibiting cities in Alabama from setting their own minimum wage. Unbeknownst to the people of Alabama, while Bentley was taking food out of the mouths of those living in poverty and those living around the corner from it, he was also giving four of his staffers a $70,000+--you read that right, $70,000+--per year raise, or almost an 80% increase.
For fuck's sake, how do these people even manage to get a single vote?
Or sleep at night?
Because you have to be one cold-hearted, cretinous son of a bitch to pull a bullshit stunt like that.
Peace,
emaycee
For fuck's sake, how do these people even manage to get a single vote?
Or sleep at night?
Because you have to be one cold-hearted, cretinous son of a bitch to pull a bullshit stunt like that.
Peace,
emaycee
Pop quiz...
...is the above an ostrich burying its head in the ground, or the official republican response to President Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court?
Peace,
emaycee
Friday, March 18, 2016
Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LXIV--Us3: Cantaloop
"Dip trip flip fantasia..."
Not exactly sure what the above is supposed to mean, but every time I hear "Cantaloop" by Us3 it's damned near impossible not to put on my dancing shoes, even if they, uh, don't really work all that well.
Jazz-rap (and how often do you hear those two genres used in cojunction) group Us3 was formed in 1992 in London by producer Geoff Wilkinson, who has remained the lone original member for better than twenty years now. Backed by various musicians, vocalists, and rappers, the band has released nine albums throughout its existence, though most of their fan base and what little commercial success they've had has been overseas. Their album Hand on the Torch is the only one that charted in the U.S., and "Cantaloop is their only top 40 hit here as well, peaking at #9 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100. As always, if you're going to only have one hit, might as well make it a good one.
"Cantaloop" samples Jazz great Herbie Hancock's 1964 song "Cantaloupe Island" (I'm hardly a Jazz connoisseur, but it's a real nice cut) which features the funkiest piano playing I've ever heard accompanied by a thumping bass and drums which gives it its underlying funkmaster groove. Add in some well punctuated trumpeting (it's actually a cornet, but who the hell knows what a cornet is?) and you have a soundtrack for even the most rhythmically challenged, such as myself. What Us3 adds to it are some of the funnest lyrics you'll hear, rapped in an understated fashion in three different verses each of which is separated by more cornet playing and spliced with the line "Diddly-diddly bop, diddly-diddly bop, Funky, Funky!" Not going to make anyone forget the word styling of T. S. Eliot., but guaranteed to put a smile on your face--and "Cantaloop" isn't the kind of song to inspire you to cure cancer, but it will get you to shake your booty and there ain't nothin' wrong with that.
Rap sheet: "Brace yourself as the beat hits ya/Dip trip flip fantasia...."
Enjoy:
Peace,
emaycee
Not exactly sure what the above is supposed to mean, but every time I hear "Cantaloop" by Us3 it's damned near impossible not to put on my dancing shoes, even if they, uh, don't really work all that well.
Jazz-rap (and how often do you hear those two genres used in cojunction) group Us3 was formed in 1992 in London by producer Geoff Wilkinson, who has remained the lone original member for better than twenty years now. Backed by various musicians, vocalists, and rappers, the band has released nine albums throughout its existence, though most of their fan base and what little commercial success they've had has been overseas. Their album Hand on the Torch is the only one that charted in the U.S., and "Cantaloop is their only top 40 hit here as well, peaking at #9 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100. As always, if you're going to only have one hit, might as well make it a good one.
"Cantaloop" samples Jazz great Herbie Hancock's 1964 song "Cantaloupe Island" (I'm hardly a Jazz connoisseur, but it's a real nice cut) which features the funkiest piano playing I've ever heard accompanied by a thumping bass and drums which gives it its underlying funkmaster groove. Add in some well punctuated trumpeting (it's actually a cornet, but who the hell knows what a cornet is?) and you have a soundtrack for even the most rhythmically challenged, such as myself. What Us3 adds to it are some of the funnest lyrics you'll hear, rapped in an understated fashion in three different verses each of which is separated by more cornet playing and spliced with the line "Diddly-diddly bop, diddly-diddly bop, Funky, Funky!" Not going to make anyone forget the word styling of T. S. Eliot., but guaranteed to put a smile on your face--and "Cantaloop" isn't the kind of song to inspire you to cure cancer, but it will get you to shake your booty and there ain't nothin' wrong with that.
Rap sheet: "Brace yourself as the beat hits ya/Dip trip flip fantasia...."
Enjoy:
Peace,
emaycee
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Over it
Can I just say that I'm officially over the candidacy of Donald Trump? I can't turn on a program on MSNBC that doesn't waste at least half of its hour on him, or read a political blog that doesn't devote half its posts to him.
For fuck's sake, this is really simple: he's going to be the republican nominee, he's going to be lambasted by either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, and then he's going to be relegated to the dustbins of American Presidential election history.
There are literally thousands of news stories and critical issues that are much more worthy of our time.
Peace,
emaycee
For fuck's sake, this is really simple: he's going to be the republican nominee, he's going to be lambasted by either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, and then he's going to be relegated to the dustbins of American Presidential election history.
There are literally thousands of news stories and critical issues that are much more worthy of our time.
Peace,
emaycee
Only in America
So I'm driving home from work yesterday on (Eminem's famed) 8 Mile Road, stuck at a red light behind a semi, wall to wall cars, and feeling pretty pissed about all the other assholes who are in my way, when I look to my right and I see a sign in big, bold, red letters: Oumy's African Braiding and...Tax Services.
How cool is that? I can stop in and while I'm getting my weave I can have my taxes done, too.
You know, our conservative friends talk about making America great again but if you ask me, Oumy's is proof that we still are.
Peace,
emaycee
How cool is that? I can stop in and while I'm getting my weave I can have my taxes done, too.
You know, our conservative friends talk about making America great again but if you ask me, Oumy's is proof that we still are.
Peace,
emaycee
Friday, March 11, 2016
Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LXIII--David Gray: Babylon
True story: I don't like to dwell on it much (for obvious reasons), but I was treated for severe depression in the late 90's. For those who have never had the pleasure, after a lot of medication and a little therapy you reach a point where you can see a little light at the end of the tunnel. It's as far away as fucking Pluto, mind you, but that little speck gives you hope that maybe you can again lead a somewhat normal life. Thing is, though, that you just don't know. You can be cruising along for three weeks feeling good and--snap of the fingers--that quick a bad day makes you bone crushingly numb again.
Flash forward to a very early (as in six a.m.) Saturday morning in May of 2001. I'm driving to work, to open the store at a Kmart in Fort Wayne. The last year of my life has been one of upheaval--moving from a place I loved (St. Louis), leaving my kids behind, being a zillion dollars in debt, living with my Mom at the age of 42, and massively failing at a dream. Winter is coming to a close and it's warm outside so I've got the windows down and I'm cruising down the road when "Babylon" by David Gray comes on the radio. I've heard it a couple of times before and I think it's got a lot of potential so I crank the radio and pretty soon I'm singing along to "Babylon" like I've actually got a talent for singing. When I pull into the parking lot I park my car in the back 40 and begin my trek to the front door. For whatever reason I can't stop singing and about ten steps in I raise my hands in the air--a la Andy Dufresne after he climbs out of the sewer in The Shawshank Redemption--and I'm singing the chorus nice and loud while I'm sashaying through the lot and when I hit the front door I stick in the key and I realize, down to my very soul, that despite everything that's happened I'm going to be okay, that I'm going to make it.
And I did--and such can be the power of music.
Mercifully for those of you reading this, David Gray has had a quiet if quite successful (at least in his native England) music career so I can keep the rest of this short. His career started in 1993 and was without much fanfare until he released his fourth LP, White Ladder, in 2001 (whence came "Babylon"). It became a huge success in England (#1), had a modicum of success here in the States ("Babylon" hit # 57--with a bullet!--on the Billboard Hot 100), and over the course of the next several years he'd have two more #1 LPs in England. He's released over 10 LPs to date, and is still recording and peforming.
What captures me most about "Babylon" is the imagery of the lyrics--Gray paints a picture of a man chasing love, and on Friday he's driving around town thinking of her and "the lights are changing green to red", Saturday he's still driving but the "lights are changing red to green," and by Sunday he's still chasing her but now it's the entire sky that's changing. They're just lovely metaphors for the way your heart fluctuates when you're trying to figure out that whole being in love thing. Gray's vocals are incredibly heartfelt, the music is catchy as all hell, and the chorus is repeated often (an emaycee fave). It's probably a lot more personal to me than most, but it's still a hell of a single--and I can guarantee you there's a Babylon out there for all of us.
Words and music: "Let go your heart/Let go your head/And feel it now...Babylon...."
Enjoy:
Peace,
emaycee
Flash forward to a very early (as in six a.m.) Saturday morning in May of 2001. I'm driving to work, to open the store at a Kmart in Fort Wayne. The last year of my life has been one of upheaval--moving from a place I loved (St. Louis), leaving my kids behind, being a zillion dollars in debt, living with my Mom at the age of 42, and massively failing at a dream. Winter is coming to a close and it's warm outside so I've got the windows down and I'm cruising down the road when "Babylon" by David Gray comes on the radio. I've heard it a couple of times before and I think it's got a lot of potential so I crank the radio and pretty soon I'm singing along to "Babylon" like I've actually got a talent for singing. When I pull into the parking lot I park my car in the back 40 and begin my trek to the front door. For whatever reason I can't stop singing and about ten steps in I raise my hands in the air--a la Andy Dufresne after he climbs out of the sewer in The Shawshank Redemption--and I'm singing the chorus nice and loud while I'm sashaying through the lot and when I hit the front door I stick in the key and I realize, down to my very soul, that despite everything that's happened I'm going to be okay, that I'm going to make it.
And I did--and such can be the power of music.
Mercifully for those of you reading this, David Gray has had a quiet if quite successful (at least in his native England) music career so I can keep the rest of this short. His career started in 1993 and was without much fanfare until he released his fourth LP, White Ladder, in 2001 (whence came "Babylon"). It became a huge success in England (#1), had a modicum of success here in the States ("Babylon" hit # 57--with a bullet!--on the Billboard Hot 100), and over the course of the next several years he'd have two more #1 LPs in England. He's released over 10 LPs to date, and is still recording and peforming.
What captures me most about "Babylon" is the imagery of the lyrics--Gray paints a picture of a man chasing love, and on Friday he's driving around town thinking of her and "the lights are changing green to red", Saturday he's still driving but the "lights are changing red to green," and by Sunday he's still chasing her but now it's the entire sky that's changing. They're just lovely metaphors for the way your heart fluctuates when you're trying to figure out that whole being in love thing. Gray's vocals are incredibly heartfelt, the music is catchy as all hell, and the chorus is repeated often (an emaycee fave). It's probably a lot more personal to me than most, but it's still a hell of a single--and I can guarantee you there's a Babylon out there for all of us.
Words and music: "Let go your heart/Let go your head/And feel it now...Babylon...."
Enjoy:
Peace,
emaycee
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Pull your head out of your ass, Hillary!
I happily voted for Bernie Sanders yesterday and was genuinely glad he won the Michigan Presidential Primary, but I still think Hillary Clinton is going to be our nominee come November and that she's going to win the general election easily regardless of which bozo the republicans choose to be their candidate.
That being said, it does fill me with just a little doubt to watch what happened in Michigan and to read that, frankly, Secy. Clinton just got outworked and outmaneuvered here and lost what was an imminently winnable election for her. In fairness to her, Michigan polling is notoriously awful, but still she had to know that Sen. Sanders campaign is an extreme grassroots operation and that he'd have half the college kids in the state out knocking on doors for him. Christ, she didn't even open an office in Ann Arbor, which is only the third largest city in the state and a Democratic stronghold (she carried Democrats 58-40).
Now perhaps this is only a bump in the road that will keep Sanders in the race to keep pushing Clinton leftward so we can hold her feet to the fire once she's in the White House; perhaps it's a much needed wake-up call; perhaps the Clinton campaign is already focusing on November's opponent (rhymes with "dump"); as for myself, in an election this important, against in all likelihood an extremist republican candidate, I'd really hope that our presumed nominee and her staff are crossing all the t's and dotting all the i's.
Because failure is not a fucking option.
Peace,
emaycee
That being said, it does fill me with just a little doubt to watch what happened in Michigan and to read that, frankly, Secy. Clinton just got outworked and outmaneuvered here and lost what was an imminently winnable election for her. In fairness to her, Michigan polling is notoriously awful, but still she had to know that Sen. Sanders campaign is an extreme grassroots operation and that he'd have half the college kids in the state out knocking on doors for him. Christ, she didn't even open an office in Ann Arbor, which is only the third largest city in the state and a Democratic stronghold (she carried Democrats 58-40).
Now perhaps this is only a bump in the road that will keep Sanders in the race to keep pushing Clinton leftward so we can hold her feet to the fire once she's in the White House; perhaps it's a much needed wake-up call; perhaps the Clinton campaign is already focusing on November's opponent (rhymes with "dump"); as for myself, in an election this important, against in all likelihood an extremist republican candidate, I'd really hope that our presumed nominee and her staff are crossing all the t's and dotting all the i's.
Because failure is not a fucking option.
Peace,
emaycee
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
I voted for Bernie Sanders today...
This is how I felt after I voted for Bernie Sanders this morning:
I'll gladly support Hillary Clinton in the fall, but for today I can honestly tell you that happiness is indeed the truth.
And Bernie won the Wolverine State, to boot.
Peace,
emaycee
I'll gladly support Hillary Clinton in the fall, but for today I can honestly tell you that happiness is indeed the truth.
And Bernie won the Wolverine State, to boot.
Peace,
emaycee
Monday, March 7, 2016
Um, about that...
I started a new job this past week, and as such, I was required to watch a series of training videos covering numerous workplace topics. One of the videos was "[Company Name] Is Pro Associate" in which we newbies were treated to the company telling us that they weren't really anti-union but that we should talk to a manager before signing a union card. Heck, unions mean a third party in our negotiations, union dues, and more rules and regulation for you. And did we mention you have to pay union dues? Forget that it's a fact that union members make considerably more money and have much better benefit packages--you have to pay dues. Dues, people, dues!
Want to know the best part of it, though? The people voicing the company's nonunion talking points were actors and actresses who in all likelihood belong to the Screen Actors Guild--a union that fights for better wages and health benefits for actors and actresses.
Sometimes in this world the irony can be overwhelming.
Peace,
emaycee
Want to know the best part of it, though? The people voicing the company's nonunion talking points were actors and actresses who in all likelihood belong to the Screen Actors Guild--a union that fights for better wages and health benefits for actors and actresses.
Sometimes in this world the irony can be overwhelming.
Peace,
emaycee
Sunday, March 6, 2016
Yuuuuge
For all of our hand wringing over republican obstructionism concerning President Obama's upcoming nomination of a new Supreme Court justice, I truly believe that eventually it will be considered one of the biggest political blunders in American political history.
For one, as the republican party implodes it's looking more and more like we're going to have a Democratic administration come January 2017. Anyone who thinks Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders is going to appease republicans with a moderate candidate (as President Obama perhaps might if republicans would meet him halfway) is absolutely kidding themselves. I'm guessing we're talking someone in the mold of Ruth Bader Ginsburg when Clinton or Sanders make their choice to replace Scalia.
Second, the American people have an innate sense of fairness, and very few of them--even republican voters--aren't seeing through the republican bullshit. Barack Obama was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2012 and he serves through January 2017 and most Americans believe the choice for the next Supreme Court Justice is and rightfully should be his.
This may well have a huge impact on who controls the Senate come next year--republican Senators are taking a beating over their obstructionism and even republican Senate stalwarts like John McCain and Chuck Grassley have seen their approval numbers plummet. While I doubt either McCain or Grassley will find themselves unemployed next January both could easily lose the crossover Democratic voters they usually garner which would make their races considerably tighter--and the tighter the races the more money republicans are going to have to spend on Senate campaigns that could have been won easily. And that means less money for Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Hampshire, and Illinois--races where Democrats are probably even money (if not better) to win.
And that's before Democratic Senate candidates start hammering their opponents with ads over their Supreme Court obstructionism.
Mark my words: republicans will long rue the day they took this track.
Peace,
emaycee
For one, as the republican party implodes it's looking more and more like we're going to have a Democratic administration come January 2017. Anyone who thinks Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders is going to appease republicans with a moderate candidate (as President Obama perhaps might if republicans would meet him halfway) is absolutely kidding themselves. I'm guessing we're talking someone in the mold of Ruth Bader Ginsburg when Clinton or Sanders make their choice to replace Scalia.
Second, the American people have an innate sense of fairness, and very few of them--even republican voters--aren't seeing through the republican bullshit. Barack Obama was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2012 and he serves through January 2017 and most Americans believe the choice for the next Supreme Court Justice is and rightfully should be his.
This may well have a huge impact on who controls the Senate come next year--republican Senators are taking a beating over their obstructionism and even republican Senate stalwarts like John McCain and Chuck Grassley have seen their approval numbers plummet. While I doubt either McCain or Grassley will find themselves unemployed next January both could easily lose the crossover Democratic voters they usually garner which would make their races considerably tighter--and the tighter the races the more money republicans are going to have to spend on Senate campaigns that could have been won easily. And that means less money for Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Hampshire, and Illinois--races where Democrats are probably even money (if not better) to win.
And that's before Democratic Senate candidates start hammering their opponents with ads over their Supreme Court obstructionism.
Mark my words: republicans will long rue the day they took this track.
Peace,
emaycee
Saturday, March 5, 2016
A very real silent majority
I happened to be watching some news story about a Donald Trump rally and in the background you could see some bozo holding a sign which proclaimed that he was part of the "silent majority." If you're a student of politics, you know this silent majority bullshit was first expressed by noted psychopath and only American President to resign in disgrace, Richard Nixon, and is a republican rallying cry for idiots who really are too ignorant to realize that the majority of Americans actually don't fucking agree with them.
Anyhoo, I was thinking about it because my wife, who is the least political person I know (she only votes in Presidential elections and really doesn't spend more than two minutes a year thinking about politics) nearly knocked me out of my chair the other day when she told me that she couldn't believe people were actually stupid enough to vote for Donald Trump and that she found these people quite disconcerting.
Methinks Donald Trump and his minions are going to be mighty surprised this November to discover that the real silent majority in America is going to be folks who think a lot more like my wife than those who gobble up what passes for wisdom uttered from the lips of the Donald.
Peace,
emaycee
Anyhoo, I was thinking about it because my wife, who is the least political person I know (she only votes in Presidential elections and really doesn't spend more than two minutes a year thinking about politics) nearly knocked me out of my chair the other day when she told me that she couldn't believe people were actually stupid enough to vote for Donald Trump and that she found these people quite disconcerting.
Methinks Donald Trump and his minions are going to be mighty surprised this November to discover that the real silent majority in America is going to be folks who think a lot more like my wife than those who gobble up what passes for wisdom uttered from the lips of the Donald.
Peace,
emaycee
Friday, March 4, 2016
Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LXII--The Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter
The Rolling Stones--ever heard of 'em?
I'm going to dispense with the brief weekly band history--there are many writers much more talented than I who have chronicled the Stones in books and articles numerous times over. Suffice it to say they have been around longer than the majority of the people in the world have been alive (1962) and have won pretty much every accolade and honor that a band can win. For me, they are in the triumvirate of greatest rock bands of all-time, which would be The Who, The Beatles, and The Stones in that order (and, oddly enough, considering that we Americans invented rock and roll, they're all English bands). Three of the original band members--Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Charlie Watts--are still performing, and a fourth, Bill Wyman, is still with us but just got tired of the rock and roll grind after a mere thirty years.
Written by The Glimmer Twins (Jagger/Richard--and what a great epithet that is) as the lead track for their 1969 Let It Bleed LP, "Gimme Shelter" was never released as a single surprisingly enough. Considered by some (myself included) to be their greatest song, "Gimme Shelter" also may be the song most emblematic of the 60's--it's hard to think of another song that better encapsulates the assassinations, the Vietnam War, the race riots, the chaos and tumult, and eventually the hope that came out of that era.
"Gimme Shelter" opens with a guitar solo from Keith Richards that could best be described as sounding like what your reflections looks like in a House of Mirrors (wouldn't surprise me at all if the Breeders got their inspiration for the guitar work in "Cannonball" from Richards' stunning guitar work on this song)--it is otherworldly. Jagger throws in a quick harmonica bit before opening with his ominous vocals: "Ooh a storm is threat'nin'/My very life today...." Nine words in and it already has greatness written all over it. The song continues with more dire imagery as the guitar grows bolder and bolder and is joined by Charlie Watts' background gunfire drumming before the creme de la creme of the song--career background singer Merry Clayton joins in for easily the greatest backing vocals in the history of rock and roll (think Aretha Franklin on steroids). And as the two wail, "War, children, is just a shot away" again and again and you begin to think it's all doomed, it's all said and done, Jagger cuts in with this "Love, sister, is just a kiss away...." How fucking fantastic is that? No matter how bad it gets, love is always right in front of you.
It's a once in a lifetime song from a once in a lifetime band.
Lyric sheet: "Gimme, gimme shelter/Or I'm gonna fade away...."
Enjoy:
Peace,
emaycee
I'm going to dispense with the brief weekly band history--there are many writers much more talented than I who have chronicled the Stones in books and articles numerous times over. Suffice it to say they have been around longer than the majority of the people in the world have been alive (1962) and have won pretty much every accolade and honor that a band can win. For me, they are in the triumvirate of greatest rock bands of all-time, which would be The Who, The Beatles, and The Stones in that order (and, oddly enough, considering that we Americans invented rock and roll, they're all English bands). Three of the original band members--Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Charlie Watts--are still performing, and a fourth, Bill Wyman, is still with us but just got tired of the rock and roll grind after a mere thirty years.
Written by The Glimmer Twins (Jagger/Richard--and what a great epithet that is) as the lead track for their 1969 Let It Bleed LP, "Gimme Shelter" was never released as a single surprisingly enough. Considered by some (myself included) to be their greatest song, "Gimme Shelter" also may be the song most emblematic of the 60's--it's hard to think of another song that better encapsulates the assassinations, the Vietnam War, the race riots, the chaos and tumult, and eventually the hope that came out of that era.
"Gimme Shelter" opens with a guitar solo from Keith Richards that could best be described as sounding like what your reflections looks like in a House of Mirrors (wouldn't surprise me at all if the Breeders got their inspiration for the guitar work in "Cannonball" from Richards' stunning guitar work on this song)--it is otherworldly. Jagger throws in a quick harmonica bit before opening with his ominous vocals: "Ooh a storm is threat'nin'/My very life today...." Nine words in and it already has greatness written all over it. The song continues with more dire imagery as the guitar grows bolder and bolder and is joined by Charlie Watts' background gunfire drumming before the creme de la creme of the song--career background singer Merry Clayton joins in for easily the greatest backing vocals in the history of rock and roll (think Aretha Franklin on steroids). And as the two wail, "War, children, is just a shot away" again and again and you begin to think it's all doomed, it's all said and done, Jagger cuts in with this "Love, sister, is just a kiss away...." How fucking fantastic is that? No matter how bad it gets, love is always right in front of you.
It's a once in a lifetime song from a once in a lifetime band.
Lyric sheet: "Gimme, gimme shelter/Or I'm gonna fade away...."
Enjoy:
Peace,
emaycee
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