June 30, 2006
BLUE
The Man With the Blue Guitar
I.
The man bent over his guitar,
A shearsman of sorts. The day was green.
They said, “You have a blue guitar,
You do not play things as they are.”
The man replied, “Things as they are
Are changed upon the blue guitar.”
And they said to him, “But play, you must,
A tune beyond us, yet ourselves,
A tune upon the blue guitar,
Of things exactly as they are.”
II.
I cannot bring a world quite round,
Although I patch it as I can.
I sing a hero’s head, large eye
And bearded bronze, but not a man,
Although I patch him as I can
And reach through him almost to man.
If a serenade almost to man
Is to miss, by that, things as they are,
Say that it is the serenade
Of a man that plays a blue guitar.
III.
A tune beyond us as we are,
Yet nothing changed by the blue guitar;
Ourselves in tune as if in space,
Yet nothing changed, except the place
Of things as they are and only the place
As you play them on the blue guitar,
Placed, so, beyond the compass of change,
Perceived in a final atmosphere;
For a moment final, in the way
The thinking of art seems final when
The thinking of god is smoky dew.
The tune is space. The blue guitar
Becomes the place of things as they are,
A composing of senses of the guitar.
IV.
Tom-tom c'est moi. The blue guitar
And I are one. The orchestra
Fills the high hall with shuffling men
High as the hall. The whirling noise
Of a multitude dwindles, all said,
To his breath that lies awake at night.
I know that timid breathing. Where
Do I begin and end? And where,
As I strum the thing, do I pick up
That which momentarily declares
Itself not to be I and yet
Must be. It could be nothing else.
--Wallace Stevens
...
no posts until next week (probably).
Happy Birthday, America.
June 29, 2006
FACE THE FACE
...an original from the 1960s...
...a pretty red reissue...
...for all the complex tone it produces, a rather simple simple circuit...
...the heart and soul of the device: germanium transistors...
...a fine update on the original design from a leading boutique brand...
...another reworking--this one has caused me severe gearlust...
...this one went out of business and out of production, so it has increased in value for no apparent reason other than scarcity and naivete...
...the bloke who started this mess...
Today let's look at some pictures. It's been quiet around here, and I suppose that the dog days, the dolldrums, the dank languid days of summer are finally here. So I've been feeling a bit quiet, just taking it all in, playing some guitar, hanging out, watching the rain fall. and fall. and fall. and fall......
New DIY project, stemming from a passion that simply refuses to die down and leave me in peace with my stratocaster. The now-ancient sound effect known as "fuzz" is a severe clipping caused by two stages of amplification generated by running the signal through germanium transistors and then letting it fly out through the overdriven tubes of a marshall stack or some other fire-breathing guitar amplifier. or something like that. I'm no technician. I couldn't tell you the difference between a transistor and a capacitor, don't know the meaning of "farad" and think of "ohm" as a chant that buddhist monks recite. Still, I have no interest in spending $300 on a box that I can build for a fraction of the cost--provided I figure out how it works inside and get the parts together. as I've learned from building my own guitars, this approach makes it possible to get something that is better than most of what is available commercially, and you can indeed end up with something that is personalized, with unique, one-of-a-kind design elements that make it all your own. and when it comes to touchy tactile things like guitars, that's a good thing.
I've placed an order for a "kit" from this place. I'm hopeful that if I can assemble their idiot-proof prefab kit, and learn from it, one day I'll be able to get my head around most of the technical aspects involving the fuzz face and join the geek squad. and hey, now that my eyesight is beginning to go, why not take up a hobby that involves tiny tiny things?
...
tonight: final sanding/polishing stages begin on the telecasters...see related posts here, here, here, here, here, and here...the red one will be assembled first, since that one is a body replacement...the butterscotch blonde is being assembled from scratch, and all parts orders, as of yet, are not in. pictures will be posted...
...
June 28, 2006
BURNING UP
...Mr. President, would you autograph my burning flag for me please?...
I don't have the real thing with me at the moment, so a picture will have to do. Still, it's the thought that counts. and since you can't burn an idea--it's the concept of freedom that gives the american flag its meaning--then this is the same exact thing. Right? Right.
If you place limits on the first amendment, you might as well just go ahead and burn them all...
I hate it when people can't get their tiny minds around the concept of metaphor. What a sad, pointless life to be living without it....
...
June 27, 2006
AT MY JOB
"Technology is not an image of the world but a way of operating on reality. The nihilism of technology lies not only in the fact that it is the most perfect expression of the will to power... but also in the fact that it lacks meaning.”
--Octavio Paz
June 26, 2006
AFTERNOON DELIGHT
...make it so...
the cable guy from comcast is scheduled to arrive today and restore my life to normalcy. the lack of cable tv has actually been rather pleasant (though I missed my one show Deadwood), but no internet is a bummer.
...
June 23, 2006
ERASE TODAY
...incommunicado temporarado...
the stalwart service providers at comcast have dropped south on me, and with no cable tv or internet service for the weekend, I'll be forced to rely on books, conversation, and my winning smile to while away the hours...
and quite obviously, there won't be any updates to the site, nor replies to emails.
tech support arrives monday evening. I'll miss you too...
...
June 22, 2006
PLUG TUNING
...up your wake....
just learned of an old college chum's brand new project--a new independent record label...
now this is just the sort of thing that warms the cockles of stratcat's heart--the punk-approved DIY ethos brought to bear in the making and disseminating of new music...using technology and smarts to get things done. totally self-made, entirely idiosyncratic, and very local. boo-yah.
...
midday update: I was just walking back from some lunchtime errands and came upon a plaza where a bandstand was set up and an elvis impersonator in full-on fat elvis regalia was singing a rousing, off-key rendition of "america the beautiful"....god I love this town!
...
June 20, 2006
MILESTONES
today this web site blog arguetron thingy received its 4,000th hit.
4,000 hits in two whole years. I'd probably get more traffic with porn, but I wouldn't want to risk losing my extremely tiny family values audience.
Maybe I should just load up on popular search words to get my numbers up. Here goes:
Tits! Bugger! Asian Midget Transvestite Wrestling!
Yep. That oughta do 'er....
...
June 19, 2006
WORLD PARTY
...see the ball, kick the ball...
Top 10 Reasons why the World Cup is better then the Olympics:
No Jamaican Bobsledding. Since the sport itself is the only type of event, and the sport’s popularity establishes its presence in most civilized countries, there isn’t any need to watch skiers with rifles on their backs and ponder the event as a quasi-anthropological phenomenon. So, it’s a lot less political.
Need to know basis. No cutting away to do an “up close and personal” piece. Do we need to know what the Ukrainian striker’s home life is like? No. We do not. We want to see him kick the ball into the net. That’s it. So, it’s a lot less political.
No creepy cronies. Thus far, Mayor Bloomberg hasn’t spent dollar one on using one of his panting cronies to try and get the World Cup to be played in New York City. So, it’s a lot less political.
No superpowers. I’m not against the USA team doing well, but it certainly is a refreshing difference when a small country like Ghana can humble a mighty world power…and where’s China in all this? Nowhere. The sport is an excellent leveler of built-in supermacies. You can’t throw money at it to increase your advantage. So, it’s a lot less political.
Less hype. Because of the idiotic medal count, and the complicated schedule, and the pageantry, it seems as if the Olympics broadcast is literally mandated to conjure Mt. Olympus and its attendant mythologies. What is with that torch, anyhow? The “eternal flame that never goes out” is such a bunch of malarkey—the modern Olympics wasn’t even taken up until the early 20th century, and so it would seem that the genuine Olympic flame had been extinguished for, oh, about 3,000 years or so. So, is it a flame that’s been burning for 100 years? What’s the fuel? I mean really now, why not have its antithesis—water—memorialized too? We have this “Olympic” water which has been around for eons—we call it the Atlantic Ocean. Except nobody is trying to swim across it. Such nonsense. The World Cup doesn’t force the big opening ceremony on us, no marching, no fireworks. Just soccer. They lose their shit when they score a goal, not when the cirque du soleil sideshow gets their skirts up in a bunch. So, it’s a lot less political.
Germany. Remember 1936? Jesse Owens? The Jew-hater with the strange moustache and one testicle? Yeah, that went well. This month: World Cup. In Germany. With nary a speck of genocide. So, it’s a lot less political.
Doping. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, but it would seem that a sizable percentage of Olympic track & fielders are on the juice. I’ve yet to hear the merest blurb about a World Cup player using steroids or HGH…and therefore, no need for a bogus “committee” to “look into the matter.” So, it’s a lot less political.
Payola. Similarly, nothing being reported about the huge sums of money and gifts being bestowed (or illegally funnelled) upon the “committee” to select the host country. So, it’s a lot less political.
Nameless, faceless. Regardless of how much you might enjoy Bob Costas when he gesticulates with glib discernment over the athletic minutiae within his broadcasting purview, when he is paid to go announce the various Olympic events, he is reduced to an overpaid event planner. The ESPN/ABC guys aren’t famous, and I imagine nobody senior is clamoring to call the 10am & 3pm weekday games. Thus far, the big names have not been missed. The games are played, they talk about it. And when it's over, they announce the winner and move on to the next game. Simple. So, it’s a lot less political.
No judges. Soccer contests are decided by which team scores more goals in the time allotted. Simple as that. There does not exist a panel of invisible gnomes whose job it is to allocate points for subjective ambiguities such as how well the players spin in the air, or the degree to which some players possess the ability to enter the water without making splashes. Just kick the ball, try to put it in the net. And run like hell. So, it’s a lot less political.
...
June 16, 2006
PAPA DON'T PREACH
...Royal Albert Hall, 1963 (thanks, Slate)...
Father's Day is artificial. It is trite. Fatherhood is quite the opposite. We celebrate the things that matter with silly little rituals--for the genesis of our very existence, we bake a cake; to acknowledge our true love, chocolates; to honor the death of a loved one we say the things we ought to have said when they were alive.
I don't need Father's Day. Every day that I wake up and see that my daughter is happy and healthy, is good enough for me.
Still, no reason not to enjoy the weekend. And I'll gladly accept the extra hugs. And maybe a trip to the zoo...
...
Vulcanic lake, the dead sea: no fish, weedless, sunk deep in the earth. A dead sea in a dead land, grey and old. Old now. It bore the oldest, the first race. The oldest people. Wandered far away over all the earth, captivity to captivity, multiplying, dying, being born everywhere. It lay there now. Now it could bear no more. Dead: an old woman's: the grey sunken cunt of the world.
--James Joyce, from "Ulysses"
...
June 15, 2006
JAMS RUN FREE
...iggy in a skirt?...
For those of you less fortunate than I, inasmuch as you weren’t at the Sonic Youth CBGB gig the other night, photographic evidence herein as to the colossal uber-cool of Kim Gordon. The rest of the band are great too, with their unique approach to guitar tunings, the great drumming, the songs, the noise jams, the discography of great (and a few not-so-great) albums, but if there was ever any doubt as to the phosphorescence of Mrs. Thurston Moore’s celestial manifestation, it was laid waste utterly by Tuesday evening’s performance. Kim Gordon is the secret in the sauce. She is Patti Smith without the bad poetry/sloganeering, Madonna without the bad music/chorus boy choreography/PR/kabballah nonsense, Joan Jett without the doltish power chord/lesbian strutting…she’s quite simply the coolest chick in North America, despite being a mom pushing 50… a bona fide rock star…
A word on CBGB: as I walked out, probably for the last time, I fought an overwhelming urge to kiss those besotted walls. I did a lot of growing up, and had a helluva lot of fun at that club. Trodded the boards pf its stage at least a dozen times, and always felt that I was part of the history of indie rock, playing the same stage that had birthed the careers of the ramones, blondie, talking heads, television, richard hell & the voidoids, patti smith, the dead boys, etc. And it is/was impossible for a guitar band not to sound great there. You still have to have good songs, and perform well, but the sound is there—the best PA system in New York City.
However, --and I’ve had this experience in other, lesser venues—as I watched the Sonic Youth set, I was surrounded by these kids with their digital cameras and camera/phones, incessantly taking pictures of the show. This is wrong and stupid on so many levels that I wonder if it’s even instructive or worthwhile to list them all here. This should be so obvious, and I am hesitant to offer advice to anyone under the age of 30, but here’s one: it’s a LIVE show. WATCH it. LISTEN. Your crappy little device won’t capture it—photography demands appropriate lighting, and the fact that there was a large video tower constructed for what I can only assume is an upcoming SY video would lead me to believe that your own feeble videography is completely pointless.
Shouldn’t this be a no-brainer? Isn’t it obvious? This isn’t musical appreciation, it’s masturbation. It is as if one entered a bedroom with one’s beloved, but instead of making love, you watch a video of two other people making love.
So, I used to feel bad about losing CBGB. I wanted to pass it on to the next generation, maybe even pop down for a show now and again, hear some loud guitars, and get that rush. But I don’t feel bad anymore. Not for CBGB and not for this generation. They don’t deserve it, don’t know what to do with it. They don’t have the first clue…too busy capturing pixels for their lame myspace accounts. CBGB was our place, for a lot of us, performer and music fan, where we gathered to play our music, do our thing, to fucking rock out our way. It was a place of love. So burn it down—these navel-gazing idiots wouldn’t know the difference.
…
Since I missed a day or two with home construction obligations, I had a little time to do something I rarely do anymore—watch TV. Big ups and a tip o’ the stratcat cap to V for Vendetta…a fine film on several levels—a comic book/superhero/morality tale/special fx blockbuster…with a heart…and a message…and a streak of Shakespeare, world history, including a fine performance from Natalie Portman, whom I’d rather avoided because of all that Star Wars blather, as well as Hugo Weaving, who is, behind the Guy Fawkes mask, the guy who played Agent Smith in the Matrix flicks ("V" was written by the Wachowsky Bros)… a great movie, a little long, but definitely check it out…it has something to say, and says it well—entertaining and engaging…
…
and in other movie news.....
...saw this poster the other night down in the east village...what it's about isn't important...what is particularly noteworthy to me, is that after all these years of whiskering and whitening, it can now be said:
Donald Sutherland IS SANTA CLAUS...
...
postscript: if you've never tuned into "Rescue Me" on FX (Tues. 10pm), then now would be a good time to begin doing so...unlike other quality tv programs currently on the air, this one hasn't peaked yet, and each week is a freshly-minted glass darkly teleplay on the sardonic aspects of the human condition. and right now, it is firing on all cylinders. highly recommended.
as is Deadwood. Unless you're a fan of Desperate Housewives, in which case forget it--the density and poetry of the language will fly right past...as you were...
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June 13, 2006
I FOUGHT THE LAW
innocent.
innocent.
innocent.
innocent?
...
tonight: sonic youth @ cbgb !!!!!!!!!!!!
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June 12, 2006
COME ON IN MY KITCHEN
TODAY'S TONE TIP:
...got one of these?...
...feed it some of these...
todays' informational submission is simple. I won't belabor it. The instruction to use heavier strings for better tone is now beyond being a cliche--it's an ancient truism that has been adopted or ignored by generations of guitarists by now. I only offer this today because I've been looking for years for a heavier string set that has the good tone but also doesn't give away too much in playability. Heavy bottom/medium top...why didn't I think of it myself? the clever lads over at D'Addario did, and I thank them. this is particularly crucial on stratocasters...given my adopted sobriquet, it should be self-evident that I take this junk seriously. and while I'm happy to enjoy this small feat of toneful enhancement all on my lonesome, I do hope that this particular set (it's new) becomes popular enough to stick around for a while. for the strat, and particularly for blues playing, it works great.
...
June 09, 2006
BODY AND SOUL
To say that these men paid their shillings to watch twenty-two hirelings kick a ball is merely to say that a violin is wood and catgut, that Hamlet is so much paper and ink. ~J.B. Priestley
THE BEAUTIFUL GAME IS BACK!!!!!
...
June 08, 2006
RUMOURS
THIS JUST IN: I have no idea if there is any truth to this, but it certainly is a delicious rumor....and isn't it interesting that it will probably fly way under the radar for a while due to this alleged killing of Al-Zarqawi?
The lowdown: Laura Bush allegedly checked into the Mayflower Hotel in Washington this week, due to her unhappiness over a 'relationship' between President Bush and Condoleeza Rice.
As the Scoob would say: Zoinks!
this is WAY better than that old Jeb Bush - Katherine Harris rumor....
more here. and here. and here.
...
p.s. on Al-Zarqawi. anyone seen the video of the two 500-pound bombs that they allegedly dropped on him? I'm no ballistics expert, but clearly anybody under those bombs would be obliterated. my question is--how come the pictures of zarqawi show a face that is completely intact? there's a scratch on his cheek, perhaps some bruising, but after watching the footage, I'd have expected something more along the lines of liquification. identification via dental records, DNA, video of him entering the building right before it got blown away, that sort of thing. not a neat & tidy (and custom-framed!) photo of the alleged villain...
subquestion: do you really believe that al-zarqawi, if such a person ever truly existed, was actually killed? if so, why?
...
REVOLUTION
if you're interested in my thoughts on this bogus gay marriage amendment brouhaha (and why wouldn't you be?) I would refer you to my post of April 7, 2005. my position has not changed one iota since then...of course, I'm a cynical bastard, and most of the gay couples in my suburban new jersey neighborhood behave just like married couples do anyway--two income households with kids, paying their mortgages, picking their kids up from daycare, throwing the occasional bbq, etc. they in fact might be even less prone to hurling sarcasm at the bulwark of the institution of marriage than I am, since there's some rule somewhere that says they can't call themselves married, even when they are...
I will add this observation: there are two social phenomenon that eradicate any "difference" that might otherwise appear to the casual hetero observer: marriage and parenthood. if you get married, or have children (or both), it stops mattering how you happen to prefer to get your groove on in the bedroom. because you're freaking exhausted. got the time & energy for a multi-position multi-orifice hour-long polygasmic lovemaking session? then I guarantee you, you ain't got kids...
and that's what the medieval superstition wing of the republic party doesn't understand--it doesn't matter a good goddamn. my daughter has several daycare friends with same-sex parents. once the observation is made that janie has two daddies, or billy has two mommies, everything else is exactly the same...in fact, we know a two-daddy household in our town with FOUR children. they are obviously crazy about each other--the dads, the kids, each other--and are one heck of a family.
what is so wrong about that? and why not let those kids' have two parents whose relationship has been formalized?
it is obvious to me that the "gay rights movement" has (at least partially) migrated from the fulminating mobs of ACT UP and so forth, out to the unglamorous suburbs, where they are quietly engineering a revolution in our society. they get no press, nor do they want it. they just want to live their lives, as fully-committed spouses, and parents. and they are doing so, with or without the approval or endorsement of those ignorant, highly-divorced, so-called "christians"...
and one final point, before we get to the photographs of ecstatically happy children: years ago, when I was working at a famous financial magazine owned by a stupefyingly wealthy family of Scottish descent, there was a woman who announced that she was taking some time off to travel to Kazhakstan, of all places, because she was going to (and here's where, in the big wood-lined conference room, the tears began to flow) become a mommy....I remember thinking, why does one need to travel all the way to Kashakstan? then it dawned on me--easy pickins of the white babies, with probably less bureaucracy or red tape (apparently the Romanians have gone legit). yet the gay couples I've seen, for some reason, are simply not discriminatory...black kids, asian kids, hispanic kids, all together...and again, it doesn't fucking matter...they're just kids, and dads. and moms. the children don't have a clue that their household is "diverse" or that their parents have a certain "lifestyle." nope. too busy enjoying the shelter, the refrigerator full of food, and the endless reservoir of love and care...
I wonder what it is that their teachers will need to say, when they begin the lesson on the US Constitution, and the phrase "we the people" is introduced to their nascent lexicons...
...
June 07, 2006
YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL
...I wrote a simple song...
He played with the Beatles and the Stones. And Aretha. And Ray Charles. And Little Richard. And Clapton. George Harrison. Bob Dylan. The Jackson Five. Barbara Streisand. Quincy Jones. Sammy Davis Jr. John Lennon. Ringo Starr. Sly & the Family Stone. Joe Cocker. Steve Winwood. And in recent years, Neil Diamond and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And he had a career as a hitmaker/solo artist, with several top 40 singles during the 1970s. A rare musical personality who had the ability to work with world-class artists and improve what they did. And a keyboard virtuoso....and a superb vocalist...and a multi-platinum songwriter/performer...
He is part of the firmament, a keystone element of pop music during the latter half of the 20th century. If there is a rock 'n' roll heaven, then he has dozens of friends waiting to greet him when he arrives.
Billy Preston was 59 years old.
...
June 06, 2006
THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST
...hail satan?...
11 Then I saw another beast which rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.
12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed.
13 It works great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of men;
14 and by the signs which it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast, it deceives those who dwell on earth, bidding them make an image for the beast which was wounded by the sword and yet lived;
15 and it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast should even speak, and to cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.
16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead,
17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.
18 This calls for wisdom: let him who has understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number, its number is six hundred and sixty-six.
--Revelations, Book 13, chapter 11
"To the extent that there's any discussion of religion's role in America, it's a biblical flood of mumbo-jumbo from one side meeting a crumbling dike of condescension and self-censorship on the other. We see proponents of competing superstitions killing each other and conning their kids into killing each other, and we call it "religious tension" or "sectarian violence" or some other sanitized phrase that doesn't reflect the truth: nonsense kills."
--Davis Sweet
""The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality."
--George Bernard Shaw
"There is, in fact, nothing about religious opinions that entitles them to any more respect than other opinions get. On the contrary, they tend to be noticeably silly."
--HL Mencken
"Then again, considered as the climax to such a vast process, we do not really seem to me sufficiently marvelous. Of course, I am aware that many divines are far more marvelous than I am, and that I cannot wholly appreciate merits so far transcending my own. Nevertheless, even after making allowances under this head, I cannot but think that Omnipotence operating through all eternity might have produced something better."
--Bertrand Russell
"Blasphemy? No, it is not blasphemy. If God is as vast as that, he is above blasphemy; if He is as little as that, He is beneath it."
--Mark Twain
"The word atheism sounds negative; let me call it rationalism. It[Atheism] is a
rational view of the world where you stand up proudly, in your humanity, you
look life straight in the face, you look the universe straight in the face,
you do your level best to understand it, to understand why you exist, what
the universe is about, you recognise that when you die that's it, and
therefore life is very, very precious and you devote your life to making the
world a better place, to leading a good life so when you die you can say to
yourself I have led a good life. Now, that seems to me to be a worthwhile
goal to put in place of the medieval superstition which is religion. Belief
in God doesn't have to be a bad thing, but I think it's a very demeaning thing
to the human mind to believe in a falsehood, especially as the truth about
the universe is so immensely exciting."
--Richard Dawkins
...hail satan...
...
June 05, 2006
YOU NEVER GIVE ME YOUR MONEY
...pork you say?...
I took a shine to Anthony Weiner during the last NYC mayoral race--he comes across as a total pain in the ass--in the best possible way--for example, his (congressional) office has released a report on how some of those Homeland Security Anti-Terrorism dollars are being spent in other parts of the country. Not that I wish to deprive the sanitation workers of our nation's capitol from becoming more adept, confident public speakers, but in light of the extreme cuts in anti-terror funding to NYC announced last week, the items speak for themselves:
Columbus, OH
Program: Urban Area Security Initiative
Amount: $7,348 for 11 vests
Year: 2005
Use: Bulletproof vests for police and fire department dogs
Madisonville, TX
Program: State Homeland Security Grant Program
Amount: $30,000
Year: 2004
Use: A custom trailer to be used during the annual October Mushroom Festival.
Westlake, TX
Program: State Homeland Security Grant Program
Amount: $3,350
Year: 2005
Use: Two defibrillators to be placed in elementary school.
Navarro County, TX
Program: State Homeland Security Grant Program
Amount: $159,000
Year: 2004
Use: Mobile command bus that has yet to be used in an emergency.
Texas (unnamed municipality)
Program: State Homeland Security Grant Program
Amount: $50,831
Year: 2005
Use: Communications equipment purchased from a company owned by county commissioner.
South Dakota
Program: State Homeland Security Grant Program
Amount: $29,995
Year: 2005
Use: On-site paging system to be used at State agricultural fair.
Montgomery County, MD
Program: Urban Area Security Initiative
Amount: $160,000
Year: 2005
Use: Eight large screen plasma television monitors
Hall County, NE
Program: State Homeland Security Grant Program
Amount: undetermined
Year: 2004
Use: Splints, two drills, protective coveralls
Lake County, OH
Program: State Homeland Security Grant Program
Amount: $30,000
Year: 2003
Use: Truck purchased to tow hazmat disposal trailer instead being used by county emergency management employee to commute to and from work.
U.S. Virgin Islands
Program: State Homeland Security Grant Program
Amount: $1,178
Year: 2002
Use: Reimbursement of the same travel expense three times.
Converse, TX
Program: State Homeland Security Grant Program
Amount: $3,000
Year: 2004
Use: Trailer used to transport lawnmowers to lawnmower drag races
Prince George’s County, MD
Program: Urban Area Security Initiative
Amount: $500,000
Year: 2003
Use: Digital camera system used for mug shots
Washington, DC
Program: Urban Area Security Initiative
Amount: $100,000
Year: 2003
Use: Dale Carnegie public speaking training for sanitation workers
...
June 02, 2006
SITUATIONS AT HAND
This morning we were scheduled to do a follow-up interview with our friend and mentor, show biz legend Paul Williams, but his people called to say that he got caught up in traffic and might not be able to make it. So we were sitting here waiting, wondering if we’d have to head back to the office empty-handed. Just then, we were visited by a ghostly apparition, the spectral visage of deceased punk legend D. Boon.
This was scary. Ghosts scare us.
But he quickly put us at ease, and sat right down with a seemingly endless cup of coffee in his hand. So, we had our list of questions…why not?
Good morning, and welcome back to Mr. Paul Williams! Er…I mean D. Boon…
Manifesto on my window and my fruit...rotation...admiration...outline my root...
OK. There have been a variety of reactions to the news of the Haditha massacre…who’s to blame here? The soldiers who did the deed, or the people like Rumsfeld who put them there, and obviously didn’t take into account issues like battle fatigue when decisions were made regarding multiple tours of duty in a hostile guerrilla warfare environment?
It was learned in a game that was played by us. All who held the top of the hill from the rest was called the King and I can't believe it was all good for humankind. Is it peace to point the guns? Is it war to fire the guns? We would run with all of our might, push the king off to take the hill and to learn who was king and who made the better serf. Believe in this: "We are part of a whole we call the Earth." And I can't believe it all was good for human kind and I have to read the lines between the lies.
Immigration reform seems to be stalled in a logjam. No compromises reached. What do you think they should do?
Sometimes with people I think I've seen movies to run off the edges. Subset of history, I lose my identity, start bumming at parties. Prop up their tents with one piece of rope from a curtain inside me. Purging reform would admit that you fail, start bumming at parties. Chasing a reason, refusing to reason by listening to reason.
Chasing a reason, refusing to reason by listening to reason.
New York City just had its Homeland Security funding slashed, yet places like Fort Lauderdale are now lining up at the trough. Is this fair? You’ve toured the country, so maybe you know—is there anything worth blowing up in Fort Lauderdale?
world war three, I'm gonna grab me a girl and go and fuck her, yeah-yeah world war three...
Barry Bonds is coming to Shea Stadium this weekend. Some Mets fans will boo him, while others will simply doze off amidst contemplations of their own morbid obesity. You’re a California boy. Bonds fan?
past: will the nation grow? Prosperity may last. Can we look at the problems ahead? With our heads in the sand, we might as well be dead! Cheer him on: "The Leader Of The Team." He'll push on through at all cost to win! But are we free to think for ourselves or doomed to repeat our mistakes? Can you hear them call your name? Can you count the lives they take? Do you have to see the body bags before you make a stand? Just a little bit too late. Watch the cheerleaders call our their names on the sidelines. They can feel the players sweat. I wonder if that is all they see? All the rallies will never set them free.
And finally, there has been some communication between the US and Iran over their nuclear weapons program. Do you have a sense of hope that this will help to prevent more war?
A hundred thousand years ago before legends were ever told Homo Sapien stood erect, mind empty and mind fresh. Created Love and Hate. Created God and Anti-God. Human slaughtered human slaughtered human slaughtered human. First with stone, then with metal, now with heat. It was all for power.
D. Boon, by whichever calendar interval you now follow in your spectral, timeless reality, we’d like thank you and wish you a great weekend…..
WAIT!
Look who just arrived! Paul, what's kept you?
I've been lost, I've been broken, beaten by the road, searching for a willing hand, arms to share my load. I am a true believer, I hope to find my way, Hold me faith ... it may not be today…
Have a great weekend everybody…
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June 01, 2006
THE ROAR OF THE MASSES COULD BE FARTS
...sometimes I help George with some of the big words...
"Were we to choose our leaders on the basis of their reading experience
and not their political programs, there would be much less grief on earth.
I believe ... that for someone who has read a lot of Dickens to shoot his
like in the name of an idea is harder than for someone who has read no
Dickens."
-Joseph Brodsky, writer (1940-1996)
I'll just jump to a conclusion here ... Bush is familiar with "A Christmas Carol" but does not know the name of the author. Other than that, the name Dickens probably only bears a passing ring of familiarity for him, as it was perhaps the name of one of the many pubs he used to get drunk at. "Yea, heh...The Dickens Pub, sports bar...loved that place..."
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