It's The Thought That Counts

Watch the video.

BTW, dictionary.com defines "sacrifice" as:

1. 1. Forfeiture of something highly valued for the sake of one considered to have a greater value or claim.
   2. Something so forfeited.

Keep that in mind, especialy during this part at the end:

One thing you're missing the point on... there are some people..and you need to be more sensitive to it... there are some people here tonight that would like to serve our country, and would like to do it. But, for one reason or another they're unable to. You need to realize there are people out there who would do that, people right in this room. But they can't do it... you're not being sensitive to those people who do not have the opportunity to do that for one reason or another.

(found via atrios)

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Frothing

Read "Rotten Elites". Damn media whores. Who do they think they are, Bushes?

Update: Atrios has more

Right Direction

Montana gov Schweitzer has a plan to build a Fischer-Tropsch conversion plant, which basically takes coal, turns it into natural gas, and then into gasoline. Which is good for Montana, seeing as it has some of the largest coal reserves in the country. Apparently this process becomes cost effective after oil hits about $30 a barrel (although I seem to remember a little thing called the laws of thermodynamics that state that every time you convert energy from one form to another you lose energy in the process).

According to this article

The governor estimated the cost of producing a barrel of oil through the Fischer-Tropsch method at $32, and said that with its 120 billion tons of coal -- a little less than a third of the U.S. total -- Montana could supply the entire United States with its aviation, gas and diesel fuel for 40 years without creating environmental damage.

Sounds great if true. For one thing, it's great to see one of the rising stars of the Democratic Party on the cutting edge of energy independence. Make the Republicans play catch-up. It's also an idea that could bring lots of jobs to his state.

Of course, there are downsides. $1.5 billion to build a plant that can produce about 22,000 barrels of oil a day. A drop in the bucket compared to the roughly 20 million barrels we go through every day. So start up costs will be enormous. Who's going to pay for that? Most likely taxpayers, through heavy subsidies and tax credits to oil companies.

And I think that, Americans being as short sited as we are (remember around 1999 it seems everyone collectively said "Gas is at $1.12 a gallon! Now I can afford to buy an SUV that gets 5 miles to the gallon because there's obviously more gas than we can ever use"). So I think the biggest danger here is that we'll think of this as a practically permanent solution. Even if we could access the proposed 40 years worth of fuel in Montana, that's going to free up demand from middle eastern and other sources of oil, which will lower prices, which will cause the excess oil to be soaked up by the developing 3rd world (especially China and India) which would land us in an even bigger mess at the end of our sabbatical, because now you've got the 2 billion or so people in east Asia who will have become as addicted to black tar as we've become, and practically exhausted reserves. And as much as I'd like to think that we'd use that time constructively to perfect renewable fuels, our track record on foresight is not exactly stellar.

Stones, opening night

I'll spare you the puns about how they "kept rolling" or some such nonsense. Lets cut right to the bone:

Start Me Up- a little tentative, everyone finding their place on stage. Just the Stones, no backing singers or horns. Couldn't even really hear them over the crowd.

You Got Me Rocking - Suprise second song, everyone really into it. Keith nailing the riff, prowling the stage.

Shattered- Almost sounded a little sparse with just the band up there, Keith playing the main riff, Mick holding back a little bit.

Tumblin Dice- Best version I've ever heard, the b/u singers and horns come out for this, Keith alternating between main riff and little fills. Great groove to it.

Rough Justice- Back to just the Stones, Ronnie on Slide guitar, this is a great tune! The whole place was moving to this one.

Back Of My Hand - Mick channeling Muddy Waters, even playing slide guitar, almost sounds like something off Hard Again.

Beast of Burden- Keith and Ronnie dueling solos, Mick and Bernard dueling vocals.

She's So Cold- Loose but rocking.

Heartbreaker - Do do do do do.

Nightime Is The Right Time- Ray Charles tribute, Mick and Lisa Fisher dueting, Keith playing snakey blues solo.

The Worst- Keith singing with Bernard. Heartbreaking. Claronet solo in the middle.

Infamy- New Keith song, grinding mid-tempo, love this song.

Miss You- Here part of the stages moves out into the crowd, Mick's playing guitar, everyone's dancing.

Oh No Not You Again- Great new punk tune by the band that started it all.

Satisfaction - On the small stage, brutal!

Honky Tonk Woman- The stage moves back, not one of my favorite tunes, bit too much spectacle.

Out Of Control- Jammy, Mick on Harp, Keith playing Les Paul Jr, Ronnie playing wah-wah. Nice to see it live. Big surprise.

Sympathy- Keith on lead cigarette. More moody than usual. I really enjoyed it.

Jumpin Jack Flash- Keith kicking and flailing, almost fighting this riff. Holy Shit! Vicious.

Brown Sugar- All rhythm. Keith nudges Ronnie, some kind of inside joke. Always a fun song.

Encore:

YCAGWYW: Great version

It's Only Rock and Roll: Keith plants himself and just grinds out the rhythm. He was really the backbone of the band again and I couldn't be happier. Charlie was almost jumping out of his seat. He looked glad to be back.

It's late, more thoughts tomorrow.