John's Blog

Blues historians report that Delta blues, an early blues form that arose in the Mississippi Delta region, is poised for its biggest revival since 1915. "Death, loss, heartbreak, isolation, hard luck—that's what the blues have been missing for decades," said music critic Joel Kushner. "But now, even the most sheltered, derivative Delta blues musician should have enough material to cut an album." The revival is heralded by the recent singles "FEMA Don't Come 'Round No More," "Category Five Woman Done Me Six Kinds Of Wrong," and "Talkin' Drownded Kin Blues."

"The legacy of the Bush administration may well be that government can no longer be entrusted to business people....Many of the most prominent CEOs in the current administration aren't real business people at all, but faux CEOs who after a lifetime in politics cashed in on brief stints as trophy CEOs at Fortune 500 firms before returning to public life in George W. Bush's White House....

Just the same, future historians will make the connection between the most CEO-heavy administration in memory, headed by the first MBA president (Harvard, no less), and a White House of unsurpassed fiscal recklessness, flawed strategic thinking, failure to execute even on its best ideas (its unrealized goals of education reform and energy self-sufficiency, for instance), and a stubborn unwillingness to change course when conditions dictate...

If only the U.S. were run more like a business, was the Bush/Cheney mantra in 2000; then America would be a more contented kingdom. But a sustainably prosperous business doesn't hand vital tasks to cronies, fail to vet its suppliers, starve essential employees of job fulfillment, or blame its shortcomings on bogeymen. It's a pity the GOP running mates didn't say what kind of business they had in mind — the managerial prowess of a General Electric Co., or the train-wreck of Enron Corp.

As grossly incompetent as our current administration is, they seem to be really good at getting away with that incompetence. And the last few weeks, I've realized how it is they do that. It's actually really simple, but complex in its simplicity. It seems that the strategy, or strategery, if you will, is to do so many things so badly that it's impossible to focus on just one...

There's nothing more pathetic than watching someone who's out of touch feign being in touch. On his fifth sodden pilgrimage of penitence to the devastation he took so long to comprehend, W. desperately tried to show concern. He said he had spent some "quality time" at a Chevron plant in Pascagoula and nattered about trash removal, infrastructure assessment teams and the "can-do spirit." "We look forward to hearing your vision so we can more better do our job," he said at a briefing in Gulfport, Miss., urging local officials to "think bold," while they still need to think mold.

Mr. Bush should stop posing in shirtsleeves and get back to the Oval Office. He has more hacks and cronies he's trying to put into important jobs, and he needs to ride herd on that...

Mr. Bush's "Who's Your Daddy?" bravura - blowing off the world on global warming and the allies on the Iraq invasion - has been slapped back by Mother Nature, which refuses to be fooled by spin. When Donald Rumsfeld came out yesterday to castigate the gloom-and-doomers and talk about the inroads American forces had made against terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq, he could not so easily recast reality.

In Afghanistan, the U.S.'s handpicked puppet president is still battling warlords and a revivified Taliban, and the export of poppies for the heroin trade is once more thriving. Iraq is worse, with more than 1,900 American troops killed. Five more died yesterday, as well as four security men connected to the U.S. embassy office in Mosul, all to fashion a theocratic-leaning regime aligned with Iran. In Basra, two journalists who have done work for The Times have been killed in the last two months.

The more the president echoes his dad's "Message: I care," the more the world hears "Message: I can't."

Katrina stripped away any image of competence and exposed to all the true heart and nature of this administration. The truth is that for four and a half years, real life choices have been replaced by ideological agenda, substance replaced by spin, governance second place always to politics. Yes, they can run a good campaign -- I can attest to that -- but America needs more than a campaign. If 12 year-old Boy Scouts can be prepared, Americans have a right to expect the same from their 59 year-old President of the United States....

Katrina is a symbol of all this administration does and doesn't do. Michael Brown -- or Brownie as the President so famously thanked him for doing a heck of a job - Brownie is to Katrina what Paul Bremer is to peace in Iraq; what George Tenet is to slam dunk intelligence; what Paul Wolfowitz is to parades paved with flowers in Baghdad; what Dick Cheney is to visionary energy policy; what Donald Rumsfeld is to basic war planning; what Tom Delay is to ethics; and what George Bush is to “Mission Accomplished” and "Wanted Dead or Alive." The bottom line is simple: The "we'll do whatever it takes" administration doesn't have what it takes to get the job done.

This is the Katrina administration.,,

Today, every American knows the name Katrina -- and once again we know our government was undeniably unprepared, even as Americans have shown their willingness to sacrifice to make up for it. But in these uncertain weeks of Katrina's aftermath, we must ask ourselves not just whether a great country can be made greater -- the sacrifice and generosity of Americans these last weeks answered that question with a resounding yes.

No, our challenge is greater - itÂ’s to speak out so loudly that Washington has no choice but to make choices worthy of this great country - choices worthy of the sacrifice of our neighbors in the Gulf Coast and our troops all around the world. What's in it for all of us? Nothing less than the character of our country - and your future.

Farewell o verse
along the road.
so sad to see
you're out of mode.

On the phone number, Al Franken (Air America) also thought it was pretty cheesy not to have a toll-free no. that spells out something mnemonic, such as “1-877-Katrina.” So he called that number to see if it was available and got a phone sex line with a woman who calls herself “Katrina.” Undaunted, Al gave the operator his credit card info and waited ’til she came on. The whole thing was funnier than my summary, but the gist is that he told her who he was and asked if she’d be willing to give her number up so the government could use it.

Turns out she’s in Louisiana herself — and further, she had no sympathy for the hurricane victims! By her lights, her hard-earned tax dollars were going to be used to make the victims better off than she is. It sounded a bit like the lightly-coded racism of the old Reagan-era canard about “welfare queens” with their big TVs and Cadillac’s.

It also developed that she doesn’t own the phone number: the porno company she works for does (big surprise). Al asked her to stay on the line after the conversation so the producer could get the company’s name and contact info, but my impression is that she didn’t.

So, why don’t we have a contest to come up with the most appropriate and easily-memorized toll-free number...Here’s a start:
1-800-FAILURE
1-800-UP YOURS
1-800-I BLEW IT
1-TOO LATE NOW
1-800-EAT CAKE

Take a look at this street sign from my neighborhood. It caught my eye as we were taking a walk the other day. Notice anything odd about the kid? The outfit, perhaps?

What I'd most like to know is this - why are there kids from the 1930s playing in my neighborhood? Or is this a special play area for all those kids who constantly get told your momma dresses you funny?

Either way, I know why the kid's running. If you're wearing that, you're going to get your ass kicked. It's more of a Children Kicking Other Funny Clothes-Wearing Kids' Asses Zone.

There's a third possibility - elves. We could very well be living around a hidden pocket of elves without knowing it. And if there are elves, I wanna know. We got a score to settle.

Whether it's child or elf, I'm slightly distrubed at its apparently detatchable head.

Many years ago, I was so innocent I still considered it possible that we could become the humane and reasonable America so many members of my generation used to dream of. We dreamed of such an America during the Great Depression, when there were no jobs. And then we fought and often died for that dream during the Second World War, when there was no peace.

But I know now that there is not a chance in hell of America’s becoming humane and reasonable. Because power corrupts us, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Human beings are chimpanzees who get crazy drunk on power. By saying that our leaders are power-drunk chimpanzees, am I in danger of wrecking the morale of our soldiers fighting and dying in the Middle East? Their morale, like so many bodies, is already shot to pieces. They are being treated, as I never was, like toys a rich kid got for Christmas.

You Are a Boston Terrier Puppy

Aggressive, wild, and rambunctious. Deep down, you're just a cuddle monster.

Gee; I was hoping to be a cuter breed. But then again, that's the story of my life. Not that bulldogs aren't cute, but I'm kinda partial to my own flufster. Here's a picture of her after yesterdays' bath (bucking the Friday petblogging trend):

"OK...now where's my treat?"

I suspect that if she could use the computer,she'd surf to sites like this or this.