From our next Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos:
“I have decided to stop taking offense,” she wrote, “at the suggestion that we are buying influence. Now I simply concede the point. They are right. We do expect something in return. We expect to foster a conservative governing philosophy consisting of limited government and respect for traditional American virtues. We expect a return on our investment.”
“People like us,” she added archly, “must surely be stopped.”
And what American virtues would those be? Racism? Misogyny? Homophobia? How about unfettered greed? Or psychopathy? What about elitism? And Nazism? The War on Women? The War on Workers? The War on the poor? How about hate crimes? Lying? Or plain old hatred?
I'll give DeVos credit for at least being right on two points: First, billionaires like her and her husband, Dick DeVos, are definitely trying to buy our country, and second, even though it was said in sarcasm, she and her disgusting ilk must surely be stopped.
Democrats looking for a personification of all that is wrong with Trumpism would do well to start with the Wicked Witch of the White House, Betsy DeVos.
You know, it's one thing when some numbnuts like Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh makes some outlandish statements about political protesters with whom they disagree, but it's a whole 'nother ballgame when the President-elect of the United States says people who burn the flag should spend a year in jail or be stripped of their citizenship.
And just how long, do you suppose, it is before Mr. Trump starts declaring that not just flag burners, but anyone who disagrees with him or his republican enablers should be sent to jail or stripped of their citizenship as well?
Dissent is the backbone of democracy, and the punching bag of fascism.
Apparently jealous because of the recounts being proposed in a number of states that are taking attention away from his fragile ego, Donald Trump took to Twitter this weekend to claim he actually won the popular vote because of the many, many people who voted illegally in New Hampshire, Virginia, and California.
Idiot alert! To wit:
New Hampshire ranks 41st in the U.S. in total population--approximately 700,000 voters were cast there in November of which Hillary Clinton got slightly less than half, so unless virtually every single fucking Democrat voted illegally, it really wouldn't have made a shit's worth of difference in the 2.2 million votes Donald Trump is currently losing by.
Even if you take away the fact that Tim Kaine is very popular in Virginia and went a long way toward ensuring Hillary Clinton's victory there, it's the same as New Hampshire--the number of Democratic votes that were illegal would have to have been in 30-40% range to really make much of a difference and that's really stretching it even for a republican moron.
And last but not least, California...Hello! McFly! Jesus H. Christ, California might be the bluest state in the union and has given the Democratic candidate nearly sixty percent of its vote in the last three elections. It's akin to Democrats claiming the vote was rigged in fucking Alabama.
Trump should have stuck to states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania--oops, guess he doesn't really want to go there either...
Looking for a silver lining in the disaster that is the election of Donald Trump? How about this:
In 2003, California elected an idiotic, grope happy celebrity (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to be its Governor. While he would win re-election (gasp), at the end of his second term he had an approval rating of 23%, and in the five years since he left office, California has become, arguably, the bluest state in the nation.
Here's hoping Americans figure out in four years what Californians discovered in eight: republican leaders are straw men whose only best interest concern is their own.
I've pretty much, since the get-go, thought all the talk of recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania to be nothing more than a lot of noise. I remember reading a few years ago that in the history of elections in the United States there has never been a recount that overturned an electoral difference of 500 votes or greater. As Trump won the three previously noted states by a lot more than five hundred votes...what's the point, right?
While I'd still bet on the recount(s) being a good waste of Democratic (and Green Party as it's lead by Jill Stein) time and money, I have to admit to having my interest piqued just a bit in Donald Trump's reaction to the recount. I mean, I know Trump is an utter fucking idiot, but if Hillary Clinton had won and republicans were pissing away time and money on a fruitless recount, I'd be thrilled. Less time and money for opposition to our agenda, no?
As I said, likely much ado about nothing but you do have to wonder why the soon to be most powerful fuck-up in the world is so touchy about it.
As it's a holiday weekend and folks are most concerned with a) eating, b) spending time with family, c) shopping, or d) just chillin' the fuck out, and especially considering that this week's featured tune will set an FNJ record (that will probably never be beat) for longest song ever (clocking in at a little over eighteen minutes), I'm going to keep this week's feature mercifully short.
Though not a hit single in the traditional sense (most top 40 songs don't last five or six minutes let alone eighteen), Arlo Guthrie (son of folk legend Woody Guthrie) has nonetheless pretty much built a career out of "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" (though he did have one top 40 hit in his career with "City of New Orleans"). Since its release in 1967, Guthrie has released another 29 albums (with nary another hit in the bunch) and toured consistently, though he chooses to perform "Alice's Restaurant" now at only ten year intervals.
The first song on his aptly titled Alice's RestaurantLP (and it takes up the entire first side), "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" is one part satire, one part stand-up routine, and one part war protest song (though Guthrie claims it's more of an anti-stupidity song than an anti-war song, I disagree and since it's my blog, he loses). Loosely based on actual events in Guthrie's life, it's a humorous monologue with some spiffy acoustic guitar that tells the story of how Guthrie got arrested for littering and how the draft board later deemed him unfit to serve in the military for being a litterbug. Though Guthrie himself has taken a rightward turn politically and become a libertarian (and I'm sure his father is vomiting in his grave at his embrace of unfettered capitalism), the song is a potent reminder of a time when the left fought back and won, and in oh so many ways changed our country for the better.
Lyric sheet: "And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said fifty people a day walking in singin' a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. And friends they may think it's a movement..."
For
all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause
endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.—
Ted Kennedy
Apparently not content with running the state of Michigan, the DeVos family is now setting its sights on the entire country as family matriarch Betsy DeVos today was nominated to be Secretary of Education by Donald Trump despite having no qualifications for the job other than being rich.
For those not familiar, the DeVos family is known for being virulently anti-union and big supporters of the privatization of our kids education (this piece by Mother Jones is truly eye-opening--you're probably safer with Charles Manson as your next door neighbor than with the DeVos family located anywhere within 100,000 miles or so of the United States). They're also known for having the cleanest asses in the state--Governor Rick Snyder (you probably know him better as the man who oversaw the poisoning of thousands of children in Flint) and republican members of the Michigan Legislature have their lips locked permanently to the butt cheeks of each individual DeVos family member.
Our governor is currently being sued by seven children in Detroit because his wonderful emergency manager plan has failed to fund education so miserably that they have no other recourse but to sue just to get educated. Governor Child Poisoner's response? Kid don't have a constitutional right to an education, even though our state constitution expressly grants them that right.
For those wondering what else your kids are in store for under Hitler's choice for Secretary of Education, the city of Detroit currently has a 47% rate of illiteracy, the city of Pontiac has a 34% rate of illiteracy, and the city of Southfield has a 24% rate of illiteracy, all of which are a direct result ofrepublicans running the state of Michigan (they've held the governor's mansion for 18 of the last twenty-six years and both houses of the legislature all but four of those years) with their usual policies surrounding we don't give a shit about you if you're poor.
Do not underestimate the disaster this is for our kids education.
By the way, it also signals that the institutions of our government are now officially for sale to the highest bidder (which ain't you and me).
Yesterday, members of our national media met with Donald Trump to ostensibly discuss access to Trump's Presidency. Instead they were treated to a diatribe in which Trump called them liars and said they should be ashamed of their coverage of him (they should be ashamed but not for the reasons Hitler thinks).
Can anyone imagine the outrage there would have been had President Obama done this in 2008? Or had Hillary Clinton won and done this?
And the outrage over Trump's attack was all over newspapers and TV...exactly where?
William Lloyd Garrison, Ida Tarbell, Edward R. Murrow, and Walter Cronkite are all simultaneously rolling over in their graves.
No, they took their scolding like good little boys and girls and their Corporate Media overlords are overjoyed.
With each passing day it is becoming clearer and clearer that our national media is a complete and total fucking joke and will be no help whatsoever in stopping the most dangerous man to ever lead the free world.
Well lookee here--I don't know if they're coming out of shock (I learned these past few days that I can still laugh) or developing a spine, but Democrats had a good weekend:
Rep. Keith Ellison--and pretty please can he be the next chair of the DNC?--said ten days in and we've already given Trump his chance. He appointed a Nazi to his inner circle (Bannon), an avowed racist to be his Attorney General (Sessions), and an Islamaphobe to be his National Security Adviser (Flynn). In a nutshell, fuck Trump already.
When speaking to a liberal group this past weekend, Sen. Elizabeth Warren vowed Democrats will not compromise on their basic principles surrounding inclusion and diversity. She also invoked Martin Luther King, Jr. to remind them that economic problems are not solved by racism, misogyny, or homophobia.
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi promised Greg Sargent of The Washington Post that like they did against George W. Bush's plans to privatize Social Security in 2005, Democrats were already united against Paul Ryan's plan to turn Medicare into a voucher system, and weren't going to stand idly by while healthcare for Americans in their golden years is turned into a Corporate America crapshoot.
Even ol' Chuck Schumer got into the act--sort of. While still being under the delusion that we might be able to work with Hitler, Schumer did acknowledge that the Senate's Democrats would be the last barrier to Trump and republicans' excesses. Of course this was largely offset by Trump praising Schumer , and learning that every single member of Trump's family at one time donated to Schumer's re-election campaigns. Jesus H. Christ was Schumer a piss poor pick at a piss poor time...
While I'd still prefer a kick 'em in the balls kind of obstructionism, at least it's a start.
"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."--George Orwell
Like many Liberals, I've been doing a lot of soul searching since Hitler got elected. I'm fifty-seven years old, and though I'm in good health, I know that I've lived a lot more of my life than I have left to live. Chances are good that in the next 20 to 30 years (if I should be so lucky) I'm going to say my goodbyes to this earth and if my fortune really holds, that my three kids will be able to get together at some point after my death and dump my ashes into the Pacific Ocean (seems like a hell of a final resting place). As such, I've spent a lot of time these past ten days or so looking at the three to four hundred books in our spare bedroom that I've yet to read, the hundred or so TV shows that I've got recorded on the DVR (not to mention the entire Sopranos series I have on DVD) and have yet to watch, and the fifty or so movies that I either have also recorded on the DVR or been fortunate enough to receive as gift DVDs that I haven't seen yet as well, and have been wondering to myself, if not now, when? Not to mention that I love sports and I couldn't begin to tell you when was the last time I just sat down to watch a game and wasn't trying to read some political piece or blog or working on this blog as I watched.
And then there's the reality of our political landscape right now--the republican party is the strongest political party in the history of the United States right now. They control all three branches of the federal government, and an overwhelming majority of the state governments. In all likelihood, my ashes will be floating in the Pacific before we see a Liberal majority on the Supreme Court again. Voter suppression is going to get worse--a lot worse. It took a generation to undo Reagan's assault on the economic well being of the poor, the working class, and the middle class (and we're still not close to being done) and it will probably take a generation to fix the utter economic catastrophe that Trump, Pence, Ryan, and McConnell are going to foist upon us.
And you can forget about getting any help from the utterly useless national media. They've already begun normalizing the election of a neo-Nazi, misogynistic, bigoted sexual predator whose designs on the Presidency are beginning to appear to be little more than a way to bolster his business's bottom line.
And the loyal opposition, the Democratic Party? Two words: Chuck Schumer. About the only thing he'll be good for is helping the party play dead until the next economic catastrophe sweeps us into power (see also Clinton, Bill 1992 and Obama, Barack 2008).
So I've been wondering if the 25-30 hours I spend a week reading about politics, writing congressman, signing petitions, and writing this blog wouldn't be better spent during my golden years catching up on everything I've missed the last twenty years or so (at least since the bogus impeachment of Bill Clinton in the 1990's).
And over the last day or two it's dawned on me (and here you can picture me banging my head against the desk my computer sits atop) that I have absolutely no idea how to stop fighting for political beliefs I've had since I was sixteen years old. I justdon't know how. And the world will be no worse a place if I don't read every Ian McEwan or Cormac McCarthy novel, or see every episode of The Sopranos or Breaking Bad, or ever get to view All About Eve or The Descendants. But the world will be a much worse place if I don't punch back as republicans try to run roughshod over everything that makes America great and I hold dear.
And scream. Lots of screaming.
I will lose a lot more than I win. I probably won't live long enough to see the worm turn. Better that, though, than letting the bullies win without putting up a fight.
A revolutionary act a day keeps the fascists away...
As I've noted a time or two here on FNJ, I grew up on what back in the day we used to call top 40 radio (and thanks Corporate America for fucking up another good thing and bringing us stale regurgitated tripe--all the same, all the time--as its replacement) wherein AM radio stations played the living shit out of Billboard's top forty or so singles, and spliced that with what used to be called oldies but goodies and a few songs that, someday when they grew up, just might make the top 40, too. It had its drawbacks--really big hits would get played hourly and there's only so many times you can hear "You Light Up My Life" before you're looking for an ice pick to pierce your eardrums. But one of the real thrills--and so much different than now when you can hear a favorite song instantly, and again and again, without waiting until the next time Mom and Dad went to the mall so you could get that 45 single at the record shop--was driving to school, or listening while you did your homework, or just killing time in godforsaken Kokomo, Indiana and waiting, waiting, waiting, until that song that you really loved finally came on WLS 89 out of Chicago and you savored every second because you just didn't know how long it would be until you might hear it again.
As you may have guessed, one such song for me was this week's tune, "Chuck E.'s in Love" by Rickie Lee Jones. Truth be told, I was twenty when it was released and could have driven myself to the mall, but I was engaged to be married in less than a year and if I was going to justify to my fiancee spending $3.99 (yes, you read that right kids, $3.99 for a brand spanking new LP) for an album, I needed to make sure it was really worth it. "Chuck E.'s in Love" most certainly was (well, at least to me, not so sure about my fiancee).
Rickie Lee Jones burst onto the music scene in 1979 with her aptly titled debut LP Rickie Lee Jonesand a star making appearance on Saturday Night Live. Her album would go on to reach #3 on the Billboard 200 and she would win the Grammy (her first of two) that year for Best New Artist. Her second album, Pirates, would reach #4...and that was pretty much the end of Jones's commercial success. Much like Joni Mitchell, Jones ventured heavily into jazz and some experimental music, neither of which has much captured the hearts of the music buying public. Still, as noted above, Jones did secure a second Grammy, and is still releasing LPs and touring thirty-seven years later.
"Chuck E.'s in Love" had its genesis in a phone call--in the late 1970's Jones was dating singer/songwriter/actor Tom Waits and making music with both Waits and his friend Chuck E. Weiss. Eventually Weiss up and disappeared only to call some time later and tell Waits that he'd moved to Colorado because he was in love with his cousin--as he listened, Waits turned to Jones and said, "Chuck E.'s in love" and voila, a song was born. It would go on to to reach #4 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains one of my all-time favorite songs to this day.
A pop song with jazz overtones and not just a little soul, "Chuck E.'s in Love" documents the transformation of Chuck E. from a confused young woman's dork friend to a man in love and Jones chronicles this with some touching little descriptions ("He don't stutter when he talks" "Christ, I think he's even combed his hair"). Musically, the song is acoustic guitars, some bass, and some drums with some nice dramatic pauses and the melody is catchy as all hell, but the true and absolute wonder of the song is Jones's vocals. She nails the young girl who's wondering just what the hell is going on with Chuck E. and does so with a drawling jazzy style that I'm not quite sure I've heard before or since (even by Jones). And when you get to the end, and realize--spoiler alert!--that son of a gun, Chuck E. just happens to be in love with the "little girl singing this song"...well, let's just say I've been listening to it for thirty-seven years and never fail to get a lump in my throat. Jones vocals captures both the confusion and sheer joy of youth and new love, and turns what could have been just another love song into a one of a kind love song.
Rap sheet: "It's true! It's true! He sure is acquired a cool and inspired sorta jazz when he walks..."
Near as I can tell, the Democratic Party plan for the next 2018 mid-term election is to hope Donald Trump falls flat on his face and we get swept back into power.
How else to explain the election of Chuck Schumer to be our Senate Minority Leader? As a man whose slogan could be "If it's good for Wall Street, it's good for Chuck", it's very hard to see how Schumer will inspire voters who don't turn out in non-Presidential election to turn out in 2018--hell, we couldn't get them to turn out in 2016 in an election against Hitler, and somebody somewhere thinks Schumer will help change that? What the fuck?
Schumer has already said that he doesn't see voters supporting an obstructionist party in 2018 which already shows his utter lack of paying attention to the last several elections--voters supported republicans quite nicely in 2010, 2014, and 2016 even though they accomplished nothing except obstructing any chance at progress for millions of Americans.
Never fear, though, Schumer has made Joe Manchin a part of his inner circle--the same Joe Manchin who said he wouldn't rule out siding with republicans before the election and called Harry Reid (the only Democrat who has shown any spine at all since November 8th) an "absolute embarrassment" for ripping Hitler after the election. Why this is is anybody's guess--Manchin resides in the reddest of red states and even if he switches parties, there's not a potential opponent in West Virginia who isn't salivating at the commercials they can run against the father of Miss I Made Millions Off The Suffering Of Those Who Need Epi-Pens. Apparently Democrats learn nothing from history as it's pretty darn easy to see the comparisons between Joe Lieberman and Manchin--and look what that got us: a big fat nothing.
We also got Debbie Stabenow, my own Senator here in Michigan, whose lone accomplishment in 12 years as a Senator has been to gut food stamp benefits.
They threw a sop to the base with Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Sherrod Brown, but none of them will wield any power and it's really nothing more than giving a lollipop to a crying kid to get him to shut up. It won't solve the problem and will just serve to anger the kid even more when it's gone.
Keep in mind that it took a majority of Americans six years to realize George W. Bush was a bozo--and a Democratic Party strategy of waiting for epic republican failure in two years is a pipe dream (just ask the national media, who completely blew the election--and the Iraq War, and the economic collapse of 2008--and are now blowing the transition).
And that pipe dream is going to take millions of Americans down with it.
I've often felt that the three organizations that have done the most damage to ordinary Americans are the republican party, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Catholic Church. Right on cue, in its never ending quest to prove me right, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops this week announced they "were looking forward to working with President-elect Trump..."
Fucking seriously?
Though I shouldn't be surprised--it's well documented that the Catholic Church while never openly supporting Hitler or Mussolini (the Church was officially "neutral" in WWII--and a big WTF to that) turned a blind eye to fascism in ways they never did with communism.
Can someone explain to me how groping women is covered by "love thy neighbor as thyself"? Can someone explain to me how the love of Christ is reflected in calling Mexicans rapists and drug dealers? Can someone explain to me how hating Muslims is God's work? Or gays? Or women?
Frankly, it's far past time to call the Catholic Church what it is--the world's most powerful hate group.
In the end, it would help to remind everyone that the Catholic Church, for all its claims to moral superiority, over the course of several decades chose its bottom line and land holdings over children who were raped by its leaders.
And that should be enough to discredit it forever.
Is this one, by The Sovereign Investor, which purports that Donald Trump will be the greatest President ever, even greater than Washington, Lincoln, Reagan, and Kennedy (note they left out probably the second greatest President, FDR), because he understands some new digital technology that will improve our GDP by 8000%.
As bad as the media has been thus far about accepting the unacceptable, it is nothing compared to what the business world and Corporate America will do. I've already received an e-mail from Linked In telling me how great Donald Trump was going to be for women workers (I promptly unsubscribed)--assuming, of course, they don't mind having their private areas groped by men who, thanks to the election of a sexual predator, now will feel even more emboldened to treat women like sex toys.
No, the only people Trump will be the greatest President ever for are bigots, misogynists, sexual predators, white nationalists, and neo-Nazis.
When I write Friday Night Jukebox each week, the song I've chosen was picked months ago. I keep a notebook by my computer that lists each week and what song will be written about for that week (I currently have songs lined up through February of 2018)--and there's really no order to how a song is chosen. I hear it, or remember it, and I think, "Man, that'd be a great one to write about..." and I log it in my FNJ notebook.
Little did I know when it was originally chosen that "The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow)" by The Jam, would pop up in the same week as the single most disheartening election of my entire existence. And let me tell you, the election of Donald Trump was one mother fucking bitter pill to swallow--though I have to admit I'm hoping this trend of FNJ songs reflecting current happenings continues and I win the Powerball jackpot the week I highlight "Money (That's What I Want)" by Barrett Strong....
In 2002 Virgin Radio did a poll and eventually a countdown of the top 100 English music acts of all time and the top five in order were Queen, The Beatles, Oasis, David Bowie, and...The Jam. I note this because the first four had substantial, though to somewhat varying degrees, success here in the States, and The Jam had none. Their most successful album here was Sound Affects which peaked at a celestial #72 (and probably not with much of a bullet either). Nonetheless, The Jam would probably make my top five favorite bands of all time (and their greatest hits package Snap! is the greatest greatest hits package ever, bar none), and I can honestly say I've met exactly one person in my life who liked them--and that was a hundred years ago when I was in my early twenties.
And here's where I go full on fan boy: heavily influenced by my all-time favorite band The Who and the band I think is the most underrated group ever, The Kinks, The Jam musically were a mix of sixties pop, Rhythm and Blues, punk, and new wave, and lyrically were political, poetically English, and never lost sight of their working class roots. Paul Weller's vocals varied from anger to matter-of-fact to sorrow and never sounded false or contrived. And, as an added bonus, they dressed super snazzily. Sadly, the band lasted all of five years (1977-1982) before a bitter break-up (Weller and bassist Bruce Foxton didn't speak for twenty years and though now reconciled, Weller said he and his children would have to destitute and living in the streets before he'd ever consider a reunion), releasing only six albums, but leaving dorks like me a host of songs to marvel at into our old age. Weller would go on to form the Style Council (not for me) and have some solo success; his band mates did what lesser talented band mates usually do: form lesser talented bands that have as many hits records as I do: zero.
Released as a single in 1982, "The Bitterest Pill" surprisingly enough is not about disappointing election results but rather about love lost and the ensuing heartache when said love finds their soul mate who in no way whatsoever resembles you. I don't want this post to turn into a novel (well on its way!) so suffice it to say that the song combines the best of sixties soul with vocals that fluctuate between heartbreak and, unsurprisingly, bitterness, and all the while it's catchy as all hell, because, what the fuck, just because you're miserable doesn't mean you can't dance.
Lyric sheet: "For the bitterest pill is hard to swallow/The love I gave hangs in sad coloured, mocking shadows..."
Anybody who thinks the election of Donald Trump was about bucking the establishment is an utter fucking idiot. Ninety percent of incumbents won re-election. This election was about racism and misogyny, with a little homophobia on the side.
Best of all, the fucking idiots who elected Trump have no clue what they've unleashed. To wit:
Obamacare is toast. 20 million Americans are going to lose their health insurance, but on the bright side, they won't have to worry about rising rates. No health insurance, no rising rates! By the way, have a pre-existing condition? Feel free to die shortly and penniless.
Republicans aren't stupid enough to completely do away with Social Security, but they will gut it and raise the retirement age. You'll also be forced to gamble your retirement on Wall Street, which is unfortunate because it would probably be safer to invest it in lottery tickets. Also, hope you enjoy Friskies and Purina Cat Chow! That's all you're going to be able to afford after republicans finish cutting the benefits you spent a lifetime paying in to.
Medicare is toast also--you'll get to spend your golden years sicker, in more pain, and broke. On the bright side, you'll die younger so it'll be a few less years having to eat that cat food.
Hopefully you'll have a good paying job. One of the first things they'll do after repealing Obamacare is cut food stamps and welfare. Yeah, a few of their white folk supporters will go hungry and homeless, but there's no way we can have those pesky brown and black kids eating and having a place to live. Hell, they might grow up to be President--we don't want to make that mistake again!
Jobs! You elected a man who specialized in outsourcing American jobs and you can kiss a bunch of those goodbye. The economy has been a disaster under every fucking republican President for the last fifty years. Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and both Bushes combined had less jobs created in 28 years than President Clinton and President Obama created in sixteen. And the jobs they'll create? You can start practicing now: "You want fries with that?"
And you can turn the lights out on Roe v. Wade. While American woman will still get to choose what they do with their own bodies, chances are good that every hilljack, redneck state run by descendants of the incest kid from Deliverance will outlaw it. So hopefully you can afford to fly to New York or California, and if not, I'm pretty sure Dry Cleaners still use wire hangers. And since 70% of abortions are chosen by women who live in poverty, there'll be lots more hungry and homeless kids for the rich folks to tsk, tsk over.
Finally--guns! They'll be allowed everywhere and lots more Americans will be dying from gunshot wounds. And since the vast majority of gun killings are done by family and friends, we'll get to spend more time with our kin at funerals! Also, it'd be a good idea to invest in funeral homes and coffin manufacturers--business will be booming!
A number of years ago, I read a piece about pop music in which the writer (it may have been Dave Marsh , but I won't swear to it) said that pop song lyrics were nonsense and we listened again and again because of the music. I found myself somewhat ambivalent about his opinion--while I've never believed that Bruce Springsteen was on a par with T.S. Eliot as a wordsmith (Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize notwithstanding), "Born to Run" wouldn't be nearly the song it was if it had been an instrumental.
I've always thought, though, that this week's tune proved both sides--the lyrics to "Debaser" by the Pixies are so completely nonsensical and so completely brilliant that the song would be unimaginable without them. But still it's the music that keeps you coming back for more....
Formed in 1986 in Boston, Massachusetts, the Pixies may have been the Velvet Underground of their generation--they didn't sell a whole hell of a lot of records but they influenced the hell out of so, so many bands (including Nirvana, Blur, Weezer, The Strokes, and Radiohead). Their first incarnation lasted seven years before a bitter breakup--they reformed in 2004 and are still together today (though without original bassist Kim Deal, also of The Breeders fame). Amazingly, in all that time they've only released six albums, but it's been enough to keep them touring regularly and made for a hell of a greatest hits package.
Released in 1989 on theirDoolittleLP, "Debaser" was based on a film by Luis Bunuel called Un Chien Andalou (An Andulusian Dog for those who Spanish is either rusty or nonexistent), a film which is supposedly about nothing. Basing it on the film was a brilliant move by songwriter Black Francis, as "Debaser" is also pretty much about nothing. It's truly nonsensical lyrics matched with frenzied guitars and maniacal vocals...which makes it a perfect song for dorks like me who have devoted far too much of our lives to pop music but haven't regretted a minute of it. It's two minutes and fifty-six seconds of unadulterated rock and roll, two minutes and fifty-six seconds of joyous celebration, and two minutes and fifty-six seconds of riotous vocals amped by driving guitars with a funky as all hell bass and electric drumming.
In short, in case you're wondering, it's a hell of a song.
Lyric sheet: "Don't know about you, but I am un chien Andulusia!"
This is why, when it's all said and done, Democrats will be goddamn glad they voted for Hillary Clinton:
I think all Democrats are sick and tired of republicans and their divisive and extremist bullshit, and Hillary just isn't going to take it in the name of partisan"shit".
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.
