He Really Is That Stupid

Washington Post tells me:

With a fight brewing for this fall, Bush has yet to build a groundswell for his proposals to shift a portion of Social Security payroll taxes to individual accounts for younger workers and to address looming gaps in the government retirement program by trimming future benefits for high and middle-income earners.

Interest groups and lawmakers on all sides are using the program's 70th anniversary as an occasion to kickstart a debate begun last winter when Bush made Social Security the centerpiece of his State of the Union address.

That debate had faded by summer, but House Republicans still hope to vote on some version of the revisions this fall.

Bush really is pathologically incapable of learning from his mistakes. With 63% disaproval on Social Security Privatization, he might want to focus on something that more fits his strong suit. Like codpeice reform

Southern Hospitality

This is disgusting.

Love the war, hate the troops. Fuckers

Ain't Gonna Let That Elevator Break Us Down

To hear the party line from the media and the Republicans, asking John Roberts his opinion on anything is akin to slapping his grandmother. And so if you want to know anything about a guy who's headed for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, you either need Dion Warwick or maybe a nice reputable phrenologist. But after repeated protest (and probably some significant editing) the National Archives have released thousands of pages of his writings done as part of the Reagan and Bush I administrations.

The line that really hit me was:

The memo was among more than 5,000 pages of documents released yesterday. Some of the data also offered further insights into Roberts's views on such matters as equal pay for women in the workplace, the rights of terrorists, and even the merits of Michael Jackson and Prince
[emphasis mine].

Yeah, forget privacy and property rights, someone needs to stand up and ask this guy, does he really think "Musicology" is the comeback it's made out to be, or is Prince merely a shadow of his former self?

Other tidbits include:

Rehnquist has argued that the Constitution does not demand absolute neutrality or even ''hostility" to religion. O'Connor has been more skeptical, particularly in cases such as school prayer and displays of the Ten Commandments on government property. The documents released yesterday suggest that Roberts's view may be closer to Rehnquist's than to O'Connor's.

In his files, Roberts kept a copy of Rehnquist's dissent from the 1985 ''moment-of-silence" case, espousing the future chief justice's oft-stated view that the Constitution only prevents Congress from declaring an official national religion.

...

Memos released earlier showed him writing skeptically about race-conscious affirmative action programs.

The 1984 memo shows him similarly critical of a court ruling that intended to address a pay gap between men and women.

In 1983, a federal judge had ruled in favor of a group of women who said they had been paid less than men for work of equal worth. The judge based his ruling on a study that indicated that traditionally female jobs, such as secretaries, and traditionally male jobs, such as truck drivers, each produced the same ''worth" of work product, but the secretaries were paid less.

Three Republican congresswomen at the time -- Olympia Snowe of Maine, Claudine Schneider of Rhode Island, and Nancy Johnson of Connecticut -- wrote to the White House, urging the Reagan administration not to suppport the company's appeal of the judge's ruling.

Roberts's memo strongly disagreed, dismissing their argument of a ''comparable worth" disparity between men and women.

The legislators' letter, Roberts wrote, pointed out that women still made 60 cents for every dollar for men, while ''ignoring the factors that explain that apparent disparity, such as seniority, the fact that many women frequently leave the workforce for significant periods of time, etc."

He added: ''I honestly find it troubling that three Republican representatives are so quick to embrace such a radical redistributive concept. Their slogan may as well be, 'from each according to his ability, to each according to her gender.' "
[emphasis mine]

Read the whole thing

Jingoism Day- It's like Easter but with war instead of colored eggs

This really is disgusting.

Anyone reading this, really, go do what John says and send an e-mail to the Washington Post. Hell, even Fox News is steering clear of this one. What the fuck!

The Subterraneans

Finally finished reading that last night. Okay, I know it's only 106 pages. And I started reading it 6 years ago. But I found it and started fresh from the begining and read it in about a day. What poetry! If you've ever read Mexico City Blues you'll know why Kerouac was always more thought of for his prose, but in The Subterraneans, he finds an exhilerating crevase between the two to squeeze into fill up, growing to percolate through the sylables until with wild abandon.

I was talking to my friend Neil last night, and he was telling me that he didn't really enjoy the book, nothing happens, but I don't think that's the point. Here he discovers a third way! Hybrid prose-poetry. Remember high school English class, these two estranged twins could only be defined in the negative. Poetry was whatever was not prose. Okay, so what is prose? Whatever is not poetry. But this book, perhaps more than any other in the english language (and lets remember that Kerouac was French-Canadian, and you have to wonder if, when he read Rimbaud and Baudelaire in their original french, where they experimented with inter-breeding the two). This wasn't just free-form, train of thought, this was a kind of extended literary ejaculation. 6-page spurts, at time not even words.

(and Charles Bernard, the vastness of the name in the cosmogony of my brain, a hero of the Proustian past in the scheme as I knew it, in the Frisco-alone branch of it, Charles Bernanard, who'd been Janes's lover, Jane who'd ben shot by Frank, Jane whom I'd lived with, Marie's best friend, the cold winter rainy nights when Charles would be crossing the campus saying something witty, the great epics almost here sounding phantom like and uninteresting if at all believable but the true position and bigburn importance of not only charles but a good dozen others in the light rack of my brain, so Mardou seen in thsi light, is alittle brown body in a gray sheet bed in the slums of Telegraph Hill, huge figure in the history of the night yes but only one among many, the asexuality of the WORK-- also the sudden gut joy of beer when the visions of great words in the rhythmic order all in one giant archangel book go roaring thru my brain, so I like in the dark also seeing also hearing the jargon of the future worlds - damajehe eleout ekeke dhdkdk dldoud, ----d, ekeoeu dhdhdkehgyt -- better not a more than lther ehe the macmurphy out of the dgardent that which strangely he doth mdodudltkdip --baseeaatra-- poor examples because of mechanical needs of typing, of the flow of river sounds, words, dark, leading to the future, and attesting to the madness, hollowness, right and roar of my mind which blessed or unblessed is where trees sing -- in a funny wind-- well-being believes he'll go to heaven-- a word to the wise is enough -- "Smart went Crazy," wrote Allen Ginsberg.)

Reason why I didn't go home at 3 A.M. -- and example.

I know you're corrupt but what am I?

Doug Forrester, poulist. On the one hand:

"The top two issues we're concerned with in New Jersey are property taxes and corruption," Forrester said.

...

"I'm a small business man myself," said Forrester, who went on to add that "taxation and regulation are running small businesses out of the state. We need to bring some good business practices to the state."

And then, on the other hand:

TRENTON — A surrogate for Democratic gubernatorial candidate U.S. Sen. Jon S. Corzine demanded full disclosure Friday from Republican candidate Doug Forrester about the dozens of no-bid contracts his insurance companies have with public entities in New Jersey.

Forrester, who is running on an ethics platform, including pledging to end no-bid contracts that benefit career politicians, has at least 100 business contracts with municipalities, school boards and utilities, according to a published report. He estimated that 80 percent of his companies' $200 million annual revenue comes from public contracts that do not require public bidding.

"Mr. Forrester has positioned himself as an expert of no-bid contracts during the campaign. Now, we know why," said U.S. Rep. Robert A. Andrews, D-N.J., a co-chairman of Corzine's campaign.

Forrester amassed his fortune by co-founding BeneCard Services Inc., a prescription drug management firm, in 1990. In 2003, he started Heartland Fidelity Insurance Co., based in Washington, D.C.; it insures the prices BeneCard offers.

Personally, I'm a little bit wary of Corzine. He's got a pretty good voting record in the Senate, but lets face it, the guy's an real politician, an insider, monied, part of the system. He's not going to be the maverick to come in an shake up the system. But I think the legislature doesn't trust him because of his DC and NY credentials, and I get the feeling that

Forrester, on the other hand, seems to be truely corrupt. To his very core. This is a guy who's been cozying up to Karl Rove even after he called Democrats traitors, and after it was revealed that he outed a CIA agent for political gain! He's just another cog in the Tom Delay/Karl Rove money machine.

Like Mother, Like Son

Found via Digby, George:

President Bush, noting that lots of people want to talk to the president and "it's also important for me to go on with my life," on Saturday defended his decision not to meet with the grieving mom of a soldier killed in Iraq.

Bush said he is aware of the anti-war sentiments of Cindy Sheehan and others who have joined her protest near the Bush ranch.

"But whether it be here or in Washington or anywhere else, there's somebody who has got something to say to the president, that's part of the job," Bush said on the ranch. "And I think it's important for me to be thoughtful and sensitive to those who have got something to say."

"But," he added, "I think it's also important for me to go on with my life, to keep a balanced life."

The comments came prior to a bike ride on the ranch with journalists and aides.

Barbara

What could be behind the Bush Administration's decision to censor the photographs of flag-draped coffins returning from Iraq? Could it really be, as the government says, to respect "the privacy of the families?" Or is it to hide the realities of war for political reasons? Or is it to protect the delicate sensitivities of the ruling class as Americans die to build them an empire?

As the argument over this censorship continues, I hope people remember a widely-quoted remark made by the president's mother, Barbara Bush, last year during the build-up of the war - the lying time.

"Why should we hear about body bags and deaths," Barbara Bush said on ABC's "Good Morning America" on March 18, 2003. "Oh, I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"

The Junior

And more about that Dolls show...

Steve Conte had gotten himself a Les Paul Junior so he could do his Thunders bit somewhat more covincingly, and he had it when he played Randalls Island, Irving Plaza, and even when he played with Casino Evil at the Court Tavern. It was red because, lets face it, every wanna-be Thunders has snapped up all the TV Yellow ones years ago.

But on friday, he just had some big old fat Les Pauls. Didn't have that sound, you know, P-90's pushed to they're on fire. Wonder if it got stolen. Fuck, maybe he decided he couldn't play that thing right anyway.

New York Dolls blogging

It's been a while since I've seen a real rock and roll show like that. Raw and loud and just up there because it needs to be done. The star of the show was Sylvain Sylvain. I had heard that before Morrisey got the Dolls back together, Sylvain was driving a cab in NY just to make ends meet (not a huge market for Sylvain Sylvain solo records I guess, which is a shame because (sleep) baby doll is a great record).

So this is kind of his last chance. Rock and roll was life or death, for them up there as much as for the kid in the audience who's working in the mall for just enough money to still have to choose between cd's and dinner. It's a real thing, the Greek calling in your debt, and maybe this next one will be it, and every chord is double or nothing, guitar strings pulled taught, and it's tightening 'round your neck.

If you heard Pre-Crash Condion and thought maybe the reunion wasn't going to be much, let me tell you, this band was tight, full of piss and vsop, and they found just the drummer they were looking for. David Johansen played his part perfectly. He's not a front man, but he plays one great on stage.

Thunders couldn't have been there on account of having croaked almost 15 years ago. His side of the stage was conciderably darker, less sparks. Steve Conte may be a douch-bag, but he worked as a place holder, and there were times when Syl was hamming it up you almost forgot Johnny wasn't over there having a smoke and a laugh.