grey houn' depot

Today I'll just list a few of my favourite hits.

Such as "Got to get You into my Jeezny." (Beatles)

"When a veck loves a Ptitsa." (Percy Sledge).

"I fall to Lomticks," and "Bezoomny." (Patsy Cline)

"Move that veshch." (Memphis Jug Band)

At the grey houn' depot (the real one, not the retired folks's park where I live & which I sometimes refer 2 as "the grey houn' depot.")

Waitin on z bus 4 Tucson 2 pull in2 la Mesa depot. Scheduled 2 leave in 0:15.

Grey Houn' depots never change.I've been riding the buses almost 60 yrs.  & they're Only marginally betta. They promise wi-fi, but that's a joke. If their wireless connection was about 4 times more powerful, passengers might B able 2 use it. As it stands, interstate wireless on z bus is jus' another bus', another council tenancy w/ a PTA mtg on the side. A nodder gyp.

We R pritty far south pf Phx now. I think in the far distance I see the cat-a-mount, the mountain by the side of the road that looks like large, predatory, catt.

I'm goin 2 Tucson 2 meet a gril, of course
a lovely gril as it turned out, w/ big, blue eyes and a long, slender body. Also 2, she'  got a voice like melting chocolate. I love the sound of mature pretty womens' voices. 

& who could forget the ever-popular "The 1st time ever I saw yr Litso"?

These & many other old chestnuts rattle through the metal storage bin of my mind this morning as I prepare  2 board the 11:10 4 Tucson.

plutocratic oligarchy

First, I apologize 4 my uncharacteristic absence this week. I was sick.

I wanted to ask all of you if there's any doubt in your mind that the United States 2day is a plutocratic oligarchy. We'll begin by defining terms:

Plutocracy is  government by the richest people.

Oligarchy is government in which all power is vested in a dominant class or clique.

Now, read this piece by the tireless blogger who  calls herself Digby. 

Monday, April 06, 2015

Rahm's Rich Guy Mandate

by digby

If liberals care about nothing else, they should at least care about education. We'll know tomorrow if Chicago Democrats do:

Rahm Emanuel’s refusal to seriously pursue any meaningful, progressive revenue solutions for Chicago Public Schools (CPS) funding needs will without question lead to further mass school closings in the city’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods if he wins re-election on April 7. As Emanuel’s economic policies prioritize the financial interests of billionaire campaign donors like Ken Griffin and other big business supporters, at the expense of public education in Chicago, the mayor is making a clear choice to drive the district into even further dire financial straits that he will use to justify additional school closings.

Griffin, one of the top contributors to Emanuel’s re-election campaign and the richest man in Illinois, has accused Chicago’s mayor of being “lackluster” for not closing 125 schools instead of 50, and recently reiterated to the New York Times that the number of closings, which disproportionately affected African American and Latino students and their families, “should’ve been 125.” Griffin also has claimed that the top 1 percent of income earners have too little influence in politics, which is seemingly why he has backed Emanuel with more than $1 million in campaign contributions. As Griffin’s influence on City Hall grows, future school closings are inevitable if Emanuel is re-elected.

“Rahm’s pledge not to close additional schools for five years, which he refused to put into writing or pass into law, will conveniently run out if he wins a second term,” said CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey. “In Ken Griffin, who is among the top donors to both Emanuel and his friend, Bruce Rauner, he has a billionaire puppet master for whom he’ll have to do a lot of dancing if he is fortunate enough to retain his office.”

In return for Griffin’s generosity, Emanuel has rejected holding the city’s most wealthy accountable for their growing untaxed income while he simultaneously fleeces working class families with regressive taxes. Emanuel also has committed millions of dollars in tax increment financing to one of Griffin’s hotel investments and remains silent on suggestions for a millionaire tax that nearly 2/3 of the state of Illinois voted to support.

That's the tip of the iceberg.

The election is tomorrow. If you have friends in Chicago give them a call tonight and urge them to vote. If you live there and are reading this blog, I'm pretty sure you already have or are planning to.

Emmanuel is the perfect representation of everything that's wrong with the Democratic Party. If his rival Chuy Garcia were to pull off an upset tomorrow it would reverberate all the way to the presidential campaign. It can happen if the progressives can get their turn-out. And if mainstream Democrats don't fall back on their idiotic reflex to run into the light. Rahm Emmanuel is the greater of two evils. They have a clear choice on this one.

digby 4/06/2015 04:30:00 PM

friday cat blogging

hairy reed will b replaced by shroomer

Unfortunately it looks like Hairy Reed will be replaced by another mediocrity -- Charlie Shroomer, Sen. from the grate state of NY.

I've had this guy's namba since 2013, when I wrote this little piece about him. Needless to say, lots has changed since then, mostly due to the collapse of global oil prices, & the realization that the global economy is contracting because of the unfinished business of 2007-08. But Shroomer's one o those oblivians who doesn't change -- he never learns or forgets anything.

"He Must be High on Something," Someone Said

Yesterday our illustrious senator Charlie Shroomer, shown here preparing to examine a witness, ate a buncha shrooms and then had hard words for the popular Russian dictator, Vlad the Inhaler, re: the latter's date with Edward Snowden.

"If you do this there will be serious consequences!" the indignant legislator growled with a growl.

But despite the threats of Sen Shroomer, or the shrieks of Sen Huckleberry Graham, or the towelmouthed mumblings of Mike Lee, the senator from Toxic Waste, the czar of all the Russias was not seen shakin like a dog shittin peach pits. In fact, he didn't even seem to notice.

Why should he? Putin is the immensely popular, democratically elected dictator of the biggest oil producing country in the world. He's in the catbird seat, while the United States is in deep kim chee, over money, endless war, accelerating inequality, Stalinist surveillance, and on and on.

Meanwhile in Russia, life is good. The money from western Europe to pay the bill for all that Russian oil and gas keeps rolling in, and it's party time. Putin doesn't have to deal with a crackbrained legislature trying to starve poor people, or idiotic arguments over abortion, guns, Terry Schaivo, the flag, and praiyer in our skewels. At the same time the material underpinnings of life in the US are strained to the breaking point, and the future here is very uncertain.

This is an astounding reversal of historical fortune. The Russians have suffered more than perhaps any other people on earth, having endured autocracy, Bolshevism, the worst war ever visited on any country in history, followed by a bloody repression which likewise set world records. But he who is last shall later be first, and vice versa, and as the great Yogi Berra once said, "History ain't what it used to be."

Have another helping of mushrooms, Chuck. Lindsey Graham is about to turn his underwear around backward and give a stern if somewhat falsetto lecture to Vladimir the Czar, who has recently gone Czarinaless. No matter, this veck will never truly be on his oddy knocky, for he has a high functioning gulliver on his pletchoes, and therefore need not deign to slooshy the grazhny slovos of bezoomny shroomer, nor the creechy goloss of Sen Huckleberry.

--June, 2013

friday cat blogging

Sammy likes her new recliner.

criminal intent

In the New World we find the origins of modern-day racism. Racism originated in greed, & began because greedy planters all over the colonies (in the north too) wanted to steal labor. They found very early that Africans couldn't effectively defend themselves. Once the habit of stealing people out of Africa and then stealing their labor was established, various rationalizations had to be manufactured to justify such evil practices. They weren't long in coming.

Who hasn't heard the myth of the "happy darkies?" That narrative was demolished  by Nat Turner and Denmark Vesey, but persisted just the same. How many people have you heard say that we did the Africans a favor, by converting them 2 Christianity?

Racism is mostly a function of guilt. Tell white folks they're guilty and you'll get a hysterical and angry denial, nearly every time. They combine iniquity with stupidity by doing so, since People who commit terrible crimes are objectively guilty. Anybody who thinks I'm talking about people's fee-fees is way off. I'm speaking of the actual condition of literal guilt.

For example:

The 18th and 19th centuries white Americans practiced murder, kidnapping, and imprisonment of their victims for life.

In the 20th and 21st centuries we refined things a little. Now we send unstable & racist white po-lice into our central cities for the purpose of terrorizing the population by randomly shooting young black men. Some of these R armed & dangerous, but most are harmless & docile. All the police, on the other hand, R armed and dangerous. Even worse is the gulag we've constructed for young men of color & quite a few women 2. Millions are currently warehoused & serving excessively punitive sentences on overblown drug charges. The "war on drugs" is a war on young black guys. It's been going on long enough now that denying it is futile.

It's getting worse, not better. Every timeI I think about this situation, I wonder how people can be  so unaware of what they're doing. They stay unaware by constructing elaborate racist schematics, and by becoming totally obsessed with "the other." 

Self-justification is everyone's chief refuge from awareness of how horrible they've become. From the "peculiar institution" to the "war on drugs," the history of whites in the USA has been characterized by denial, avoidance, euphemism, and failure to deal with the monsters in their own past and their own psyches.

The "peculiar institution" was a methodical mass kidnapping for purposes of stealing labor by force. It's noteworthy that the best estimates of mortality on the vessels transporting Africans to their New World bondage run about 1/3, whidh means genocide has to be factored into rthe equationan as well. In rough figures, it would mean roughy 14 million made it to their new lives as prisoners, and about 7 million died at sea. The genocide was unintentional, but nonetheless real, and occurred over a period of 200-plus years

It was a record unmatched until modern times, when Hitler brought mechanization and railroads to the science of murder, and accomplished in a few short years what it had taken western Europeans 200 years 2 get done. Maybe "accomplished" is the wrong word.

Some will be offended by what I've written here, but I can back up every word, Sometimes the truth is a blunt instrument.

Portrait: Denmark Vesey in 1822, the year of his execution.

friday cat blogging

Hi kidz! It's already time 4 another episode of the Friday Cat. I dug out this old pic of beautiful Sammy on the deck railing of her second home, in Port Ludlow, WA.

We hope you like eet.

friday's cat

Sammy's fave place in her old home was the back of this recliner.

She likes her new one here just as well

diet of worms, pt 3

The Worm Moon

"What a state you're in,"
They say as a stray
Tear dribbles off my chin.
I say, "Pay it no mind."

"You have offended the gods,"
The Priestess says,
"You are banished from the temple
To wander beneath the Worm Moon."

Cast adrift in an eyeless desert,
I sit alone on a metal bench,
A cup of coffee and a cigarette,
Staring at the blank hills,
And they stare blankly,
Eyelessly back.

This is how it ends:
Not with a bang,
Or a clang,
Or a "hot dang,"
But with a faint hiss
As the air leaks out.

Nothing remains but a marionette;
A ridiculous figure as I trot
Across the empty parking lot,
Clutching a box of laxative
To lubricate the fading bones and skin.

(Photo: red compost worms)

As the temperature begins to warm and the 

ground begins to thaw, earthworm casts,

appear, heralding the return of the robins. The 

more northern tribes knew this Moon as the 

Full Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows 

signaled the end of winter; or the Full Crust

Moon, because the snow cover becomes 

crusted from thawing by day and freezing at 

night. The Full Sap Moon, marking the time of 

'tapping maple trees, is another variation. To

the settlers, it was also known as the Lenten 

Moon, and was considered to be the last full 

Moon of winter. 

phoenix moonshine

La full Worm Moon of March.

Photo: Kit Wood

The kardashian buttocks and the venus of willendolrf.

Even if U have little acquaintance with the poisonous cloud called the National Media, I'm sure you've heard about Kim Kardashian's ass. Probly seen it too.

     Kardashian's unique & expertly crafted & sculpted hindquarters convince me that in terms of ethical progress, humankind is going Neolithic. Devo's message back in the 70's (if there was a message) was that humans have devolved and are devolving -- Think of it as evolution in reverse.

That's a wrong take only because whatever develops is evolution by definition. But I understand & agree with what they said, way back thar in tha semnie's.

I'm afraid not of the image of Kim Kardashian's botuffin glutei, but of what it says about us. It seems we have reverted to worship of the Venus of Willendorf:  

                   

Ever wonder what old Venus W. looked like from behind? Just like Ms. Kardashian.

 C'est vrai! 

frIday cat blogging, saturday edition

Couldn''t get on line yesterday Bcuz I was between internet providers.Got me a new modem & finally got back into the world of internet tubes this morning. 

Yesterday there wasn't much to do except take a nap, in z chair, with z katt.

ole hick'ry

This rigamarole this country is in right now over the teaching of history might come down to a debate about the relative virtues and defects of the guy on the $20 bill. 

Andy's victory over the Brits at New Orleans in 1815 touched off the nation's first period of true greatness -- the "Era of Good Feelings." His massacre of the Creek Nation at Horseshoe Bend, Alabama the year before New Orleans cleared the deep south for settlement -- my slave-owning ancestor Francis Brice was able to buy land formerly occupied by the Creek Nation as a result.

The crimes visited on the Cherokee people mentioned by Esdraelon were solely the fruit of Mr. Jackson. The Supreme Court tried to stop it, and Andy's comment was (Chief Justice) "John Marshall has made his decision -- let's see him enforce it."

We're talking about a tiny little guy of 5'6 or 7", 120# tops. He was all sucked up and skinny due to lead poisoning; carrying lead in inaccessible places in his chest and left arm, from several duels. In at least 2 of these he was shot badly, but got off the ground & coolly shot his opponent to death.

You must understand of Jackson that rage was his default setting. He had a life-long penchant for the relief provided by ragegasms. 

Jackson did away with the First Bank of the US, and had absolutely no understanding of modern  economics. The First Bank, of course, was the great-grandfather of the Federal Reserve. Was he right or was he wrong? Was he a great hero or a bloodthirsty bully? A visionary or an ignoramus? A man of the people or a racist dog?

Or was he -- and this is what I think -- all of those things simultaneously? How is that possible?

Life is strange, & very complicated. Never more so than in the US, a great and dreadful country.

All the contradictions and flaws and virtues of the young republic were wrapped up in the person of Jackson, the founder of American democracy, and the real originator of the Democratic Party.

Sometimes historical reality is too complex to be expressed in words. All I know for sure is at this stage, & quite by accident, Andrew Jackson is the perfect person to be immortalized on our primary, hence most important currency, the $20 bill.

SANDERS-WARREN 2016

Photograph of Andrew Jackson by Matthew Brady, 1845. Jackson died on June 8, 1845. within weeks of the photo sitting, at 78.

portrait

          Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

five jacksons walk into a bar...

Mr. T wrote "is the purpose of a union to help equalize wealth?"

Not really. The purpose of labor unions in the 1940's, 50's, & early 60's was to get a good, sound, living wage for those under union protection, to offer the benefits (medical coverage and a pension) commensurate with that lifesyle, and to insure decent working conditions.

"Equalization" isn't possible or desirable. In the process of accomplishing the above, unions of the 1940's & 50's did somewhat make incomes not anywhere near equal, but less unequal.

I know where you're going with this, Mr. T, so in anticipation of what you've probably already said, What we have today in America is a class of people so rich they've bought the gov't.

They're a plutocratic oligarchy, or as George Carlin put it, "The assholes who run things."

"It's a big club" Carlin said, "And you ain't in it.

"That's right -- you and I are not in the Big Club."

And here's the hard part to get your head around, only if you want to deal with reality, you must:

WE NEVER WILL BE.

friday cat blogging

Bib bob

I got an intresting writing prompt @ F___B___. a few days ago, I forgert from whom. The idea of it is to characterize each of your nine most frequent F___B___ friends -- the  9 pictures in the left sidebar in a box/  The prompt suggests a few words 4 each, in order, starting at top left and moving horizontally.

Here's what I came up with.


1. Bib-Bob -- Ciggy-smokin roundup expert, inventor of carbonated beef suet.

2-Terry G -- Tequila-soaked intellectual, radical good timer, former colleague of Ed Norton, now retired. 

3- Ellen -- cabaret chanteuse, yogini, co-author of the song "Reggalar Guy" (& I'm not schizophrenic).

4- Pam - yogini, former varsity cheerleader at PU (Cal. state @ Pismo Beach)

5- Meredith -- prolific blogger, author of the memoir, "My life on the Intenet Tubes" theraminista.

6- julie F.A. -- Graphic artist extraordinaire, graphic, world-class joneser, long-winded raconteur (See Twains "Jumping Frog..."

7. Bobadilla -- Mexican Peacelord, political wonk, author of "Howard & Me."

8. Jennifer -- femme fatale, former roadie 4 the Rolling Stones, everybody's fantasy 2nd wife.

9. Chris --Former Nun, lives with Tom Trailmaster, clmbs mountains, trees, rocks, & rooves.

Mystic City

Liv'd there in the Mystic City of the Empire that's unseen...

So, what's the deal? The wingers are all pissed at Obama (so what else is new?) cuz he doesn't like the term Islamic terrorism. I always say "What's in a name? A Rose by any other name smells just as sweet..." (OK, Bill the Bard said it first). And if you call garbage cordon bleu? 

Of course it's not religious in origin.

How many people refer 2 the KKK as "Christian terrorists?"

But I sorta kinda in a way see the wingers' point on this, so here's something 4 our "friends on the other side of the aisle" 2 chew on: The Christian hate group League of the South is planning big party on April 15 to celebrate the sesquicentennial of Abe Lincoln's assassination, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. (SPLCenter.org/blog/)

And as long as this flap is going on, I'll never speak or write "KKK" without saying "The Christian terrorists of the Ku Klux Klan.

Also, calling them the Christian terrorists of the KKK fits in with their self description, as "Christian, gentile, native, white men."*

All I'm sayin is it's a 2-way street. If their terrorists R motivated by their religion 2 do the things they do, so R ours. But if they're motivated by racism or ethnic chauvinism...who can make such fine distinctions, and where's the profit in doing so? 

*From the song "Mystic City," released in 1927 on the KKK label (Indianapolis). 

friday cat blogging: how safe is your pussy?

Is yr pussy safe & secure? U should know that if she wanders outdoors a lot she's prey 2 coyotes, raccoons, & the dreaded Giuliani monster!


This pussy is safe & secure, Not only is she in a box, but once she pulls that paw in she'll be completely secured, in a box in the house (It's not 4 nothing they call me "Catboxxer"). Some folks might laugh at this, and say "Why worry about the Giuliani monster? He's in NewYork City, amirite?"

Wrong! The monster was sighted here in AZ a week ago, complaining about Obama & claiming he LOVES all pussies, without mentoning he loves em with a side of cole slaw.

Don't  let your sweet little pussy outside, even though this monster is back in NYC right now. He gets around amazingly quickly. You may B in Arizona or Washington state, but I'm sure you don't want your little beast exposed 2 STD's or worse. I'd rather be killed and eaten by a dozen coyotes than fall into the claws of this thing.

mim

Yesterday we visited the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix & were overwhelmed. We saw maybe a quarter of it, but it was only our first time there. We kind of grazed thru the African & Mideastern rooms 4 a couple hours, then took a cursory look at the rest.

Here's a shot of the section of wall devoted 2 a Yoruba masquerade (carnival?). The Yoruba live on the landward corner at the bottom of West Africa's bulge, today part of Nigeria. The display is typical of the Museum's set-up -- a ritual costume and a plethora of instruments, and best of all, each  features a monitor playing a tape loop which shows the instruments in the display being played, in ensembles and by soloists. You're wearing headphones and quickly become immersed in the music and the sight of the instruments.

Turkey gets a comprehensive treatment, with an urban wall (left) and a rural space on the right. The dress looks like the one the Dervishes wear, but it might just as easily be a female costume. Even tho I read all the descriptions, I can't remember what any of them said. I think it's called "Sensory overload."

Some of the most rhythmically complex, passionate, and inspiring music in the world comes from the Balkans, and you can hear several exuberant samples at Bulgaria's space, in the Mideast section if I remember. The bagpies made from half-goatskins are beautiful to look at, and the eerie sound they make frightens some. Bulgars, Romanians, Albanians, & others in the region sometimes play goat bags with 2 pipes, enabling highly-skilled musicians to play real counterpoint.

Speaking of double spout bapipes, I can't sign off tonite without showing you this thing, played with a bellows. I'm not sure how many hands it takes to operate this monster, and don't remeber where I saw it, although I'm reasonably certain it was somewhere in the Balkans.

Click on these little thumbnails 2 C the pix in full size.

pizza pizza

Best Pizza Ever! (& actually good 4 U!) Very 

thin scratch crust w/ 1. King Arthur 

unbleached flour.2. Lots of Kit's homemade 

vegan red (spaghetti) sauce (Lots of it!) 3. 

VERY LITTLE cheese (Monterey jack, 

Asiago, Parmesan), 4. topped with Kalamata 

olives, sautéed mushrooms, scallions, & fresh 

basil. Is "health pizza" a contradiction?

oral flatulace losing its fragrance

We've known 4 quite some time that Rush is in financial trouble, due 2 a campaign 2 get him defunded run by Media Matters & others.

But a story in the Wall St. Yurnal last week

points out that the trouble brought by Rusty has now spread, involving the entire hate radio sector.

According 2 the Yurnal, "More than 50 million people in the U.S. tune in each week to news-talk radio.

"But" the Yurnal continues, "many national advertisers have fled from such situations in recent years, seeking to avoid associating their brands with potentially controversial programming. As a result, advertising on talk radio stations now costs about half what it does on music stations, given comparable audience metrics, according to industry executives." 
             
           The damage hate radio's violent language & its tendency 2 champion stupid opinions have done 2 us politically, socially, spiritually, & ethically is impossible 2 calculate. 

friday cat blogging

A.M. The cat creeps stealthily
along the side of the house.

Click pic 2 embiggen.

marshawn the magnificent

Marshawn Lynch, running back, Seattle Seahawks

(Photo by Carlos Serrao 4 ESPN Magazine's 2014 Body Issue