avast! ye evildoers ~ ~ pclef.net

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

...for the children...please spread the word...

I realize that it's friday, and I don't mean to be a bummer, but this just came to my attention, and as a responsible parent and citizen I felt it was my duty to post this right away, in the hopes that as many of my readers will watch it and spread the word...if we all act together, perhaps we can stop this menace before it gets out of control...

thank you for your attention...please pass this on to as many people as you can...spread the word...ignorance is the enemy....

happy friday....

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SOME SUPER NEWS FOR THE UNINFORMED AND THE GULLIBLE

Bush says US not headed into a recession

By TERENCE HUNT and JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writers (sourced from yahoo! news)

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Thursday the country is not recession-bound and, despite expressing concern about slowing economic growth, rejected for now any additional stimulus efforts. "We acted robustly," he said.
"We'll see the effects of this pro-growth package," Bush told reporters at a White House news conference, acknowledging that some lawmakers already are talking about a second stimulus package. "Why don't we let stimulus package 1, which seemed like a good idea at the time, have a chance to kick in?"

Bush's view of the economy was decidedly rosier than that of many economists, who say the country is nearing recession territory or may already be there. "I'm concerned about the economy," he said. "I don't think we're headed to recession. But no question, we're in a slowdown."

TRANSLATION: WE ARE FUCKED.

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POSTSCRIPT (2/29, THE FOLLOWING DAY):

Stocks Dive on New Signs of Economic Chill

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM (NY TIMES)
Published: February 29, 2008

Stocks were sharply lower on Wall Street on Friday after a painful dose of weak economic data reignited fears that a recession may be imminent. A new round of woes in the financial industry also contributed to the sell-off.

The Dow Jones industrials dropped more than 100 points right after the opening bell, and a half-hour before the close the decline was nearly 300 points, or more than 2 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index fell by a similar amount.

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MEMO TO DUBYA: SAYING WON'T MAKE IT SO....

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CLEESE ON RELIGION

"Here's what I think in a single sentence: I think that the real religion is about the understanding that if we can only still our egos for a few seconds, we might have a chance of experiencing something that is divine in nature. But in order to do that, we have to slice away at our egos and try to get them down to a manageable size, and then still work some practiced light meditation. So real religion is about reducing our egos, whereas all the churches are interested in is egotistical activities, like getting as many members and raising as much money and becoming as important and high-profile and influential as possible. All of which are egotistical attitudes. So how can you have an egotistical organization trying to teach a non-egotistical ideal? It makes no sense, unless you regard religion as crowd control. What I think most organized religion—simply crowd control. "

--John Cleese

[hat tip to the onion av club...]

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THEM CHANGES

...Buddy is the one smiling...

Saddened to learn today of the passing of Buddy Miles, the great drummer whose powerful backline horsepowered both the Electric Flag and Band of Gypsys with Jimi Hendrix. I loved the BOG phase of Hendrix's career and still listen to it often, as I believe it was the next logical step toward a destination that was never reached, due to Jimi's early departure...Buddy brought to the party an earthy downbeat and a fat low end. As a self-described power drummer he was a contrast of steady backbeat after the busy yet virtuosic paradiddling of experience drummer mitch mitchell...and he was also an occasional vocalist--very soulful--I heard some southern church/gospel feel in his singing, and it meshed nicely with Jimi's thing...and once in a while it was nice to just let Jimi play the guitar...

Likewise his contributions to the Electric Flag were noteworthy in that he also brought a second vocalist element to the group. And once again he was working with one of the great guitarists of the day in Michael Bloomfield.

later he did some sessions (p-funk, for one) and the inevitable hendrix reunion/cover bands, but what would you have done? the man had to put bread on the table. I mean, shit, he was in Band of Gypsys!

RIP Buddy....one of the good guys...

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MR. BUCKLEY YOUR TABLE IS READY

...we should all be remembered with pictures from when we are young and beautiful, rather than old and battered, don't you think?...

music.

sailing.

language.

literature.

argument.

contrarianism.

humor.

the name "Buckley".

these are a few things with which I find myself in accord with the recently-deceased William F. Buckley (I'm a Buckley on my mother's side, though slim chance we were ever related...who knows?). I don't exactly recall my first exposure to "Firing Line" but I was certainly a boy watching it on PBS/channel 13...the level of language deployed in those conversations was something the likes of which I'd never heard before, and I was fascinated by the ramblings of the host, whose comments and repartees seemed to require decoding or even translation before I could even make out what he was saying (this task only became marginally easier with advancing age). but I also noticed the unbridled delight he took in pronouncing them, and the confidence that came from his real or concocted mastery of the topic at hand. true, he was a harpsichordist in a time of the Beatles, and his choice of leisure activities (sailing yachts, skiing in Gstaad, etc.) were the passions of someone who was born into a multimillionaire's household, the sorts of folks whose tables I used to bus, or whose golf balls I used to run over with a turf-cutter, but nevermind all that. his politics and mine would never cross paths in a million years. he's dead now and I can only offer the respect of someone who also likes to argue, and who respects anyone who holds firmly to personal ideals. I believe he was an idealist, of a sort, so that's cool. I just wish he'd more often turned his mercurial intellect toward more worthy missions. I'm not convinced that Senator McCarthy needed defending, nor will I ever be part of that privileged and deluded circle who consider Reagan to have been a great leader, or for that matter a great man. And I can't overlook that he actively opposed civil rights legislation in the sixties. But I will certainly give Buckley credit for taking the wind out of the sails of the John Birch Society back in the sixties, for opposing the Iraq War fairly early on (at this point anyway), for advocating decriminalization of marijuana (which ought to be a conservative position involving freedom, instead of, say, mass-ingesting oxycontin), and...ok that's it.

I once saw him in person, at Penn Station. He was a much larger man than I'd expected, certainly well over six foot-one, much more imposing than his slouched posture on Firing Line would have suggested. I'm sure there will be many column inches in the coming days from the conservatives in the movement he helped spawn (the word "giant" will no doubt be employed), but it will be a decidedly futile effort if you hope to find a single one with even a soupcon of the literacy, eloquence, or downright linguistic gymnastics that his great brain was capable of.

So long, worthy adversary...

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TAKING THE POLITICAL TEMPERATURE WITH PAUL WILLIAMS

Today we're featuring an interview with this site's favorite pundit/commentator/knower-of-things/love source...legend of stage and screen, Mr. Paul Williams...

Hi Paul. Welcome back. Say, what do you think of Hillary Clinton? Do you think there's any chance for her candidacy to survive Ohio & Texas?

She's the kind who says goodbye to houses when she's leaving them for good...thinks about the beauty of the forest when she burns a piece of wood...she's the kind who lays awake and worries when the headline tensions grow...Thinks about the unborn generations and a time she'll never know...

Wow. That is deep. So I guess you're not counting her out yet, eh? But really, can anyone stop the apparent juggernaut of Barack Obama?

Don't call it love. I have used that word before, and I sometimes mean it, though it's never made me cry until tonight. Although I've heard it sung in songs and thought I'd tasted special feelings in a line, you and I aren't questioning the ages or the generations past. But in the time we've known we've discovered feelings of our own--if it hasn't got a name, no one can claim it. It will always be our own, to wander free. And no one will dare to tame it. We can share it and then watch how it grows, but let's not call it love...

I see. You're mildly enthusiastic, but wary of believing too much in the grand talk of "hope" and so forth. Also, it sounds like you've maybe got a little bit of a man-crush, yes?

One last time I'll be a part of you, until our feelings have a taste. And when my time is through, whatever becomes of you, never let a feeling go to waste...

Yes I see, but still, I don't see anyone rising to this sort of inspiration from John McCain. Even when they said he might have had an affair with some lobbyist, everybody just sort of looked the other way, as if to say that sure we can picture Bill Clinton with his shirt open getting serviced by this one or that one, but that old McCain fossil, well now THAT is an image we can surely live without! What are your thoughts on the candidacy of John McCain?

Older than all our years, I have seen in strange young eyes, familiar tears...
A new life to live and learn, some time to touch old friends and still return...
We need never fear goodbye, a kiss when I must go, no tears, in time, we kiss hello...

I have to say that's a much more compassionate viewpoint than most of the major media have adopted. It sounds like you are actually celebrating the prospect of McCain falling in love with the lobbyist...such an incurable romantic, you are...

the lovers, the dreamers and me.

indeed. now I know that you're just coming off a big concert tour...any immediate plans?

Going home where my sweet lady comforts me. Laughing as she runs to me, and I'm sure once again in the evening, that I found a rose...

as usual, our time together has proven to be an emotional serpentine...you have lived so much paul williams! ... thank you for blessing us with your wisdom and guidance...final thoughts?

Let's take some time and get to know one another. We'll solve our problems if we do. We may be different, but we won't know 'till we try. You can learn from me, and I'll learn from you...

Obama in 2008!!!...

ladies and gentlemen, a warm round of applause for the galactic lovegiver, mr. paul williams...

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THE GREAT AMERICAN SUCK UP

...I'd like to thank...

Last night Mrs. Stratcat and I had planned on finally getting around to watching a movie, in this case it was "Michael Clayton," the nominated George Clooney vehicle...then we were reminded that last night was the awards show itself...so we did both--the movie on the laptop while the show was on low volume in the corner on the tv...now I haven't watched the oscars in a few years--the last one I remember was the chris rock one where they'd hand out awards in the aisles and stuff...I still don't understand why this thing is such a big deal. other awards organizations tend to pick better, more deserving winners, and as is the case with the golden globes, with stars and money people sitting around eating and drinking, the atmo is quite a bit more lubricated and fun--and didn't the academy awards used to be run similarly? but what I took away more than anything this time around is just what a major league olympic-level demonstration of ass-kissing and brown-nosing and sycophantic up-sucking that the oscars are...the most typical are the no-name effects or costume people who act indignant if they aren't allowed sufficient time to remember every single vice president at their crappy little movie company...I'm just saying--is this what the country cares about? the people who "believed in" some movie? some movie that they "believed in" to make money? is this some great act of altruism? nothing wrong with making a buck, but why act as if they're performing a public service? I mean, let's face it--the only awards anybody gives two shits about are the four acting awards, best director and best picture. that's it. that's a tidy little one-hour program, even with all the clips...and no need to continue asking the joan rivers question 'who are you wearing?'...now that the great plastic one seems to have moved out to pasture (along with her shrewish camera-hostile little spawn) can't we just go back to peeping cleavage and noting whether the gown is red or black? well I guess that bell can't be unrung...nor will humans ever tire of sycophancy...yet one wonders when it all became considered entertainment...

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ITS' AN HONOR JUST TO BE NOMINATED...

The point is not whether there are bad motion pictures or even whether the average motion picture is bad, but whether the motion picture is an artistic medium of sufficient dignity and accomplishment to be treated with respect by the people who control its destinies. Those who deride the motion picture usually are satisfied that they have thrown the book at it by declaring it to be a form of mass entertainment. As if that meant anything. Greek drama, which is still considered quite respectable by most intellectuals, was mass entertainment to the Athenian freeman. So, within its economic and topographical limits, was the Elizabethan drama. The great cathedrals of Europe, although not exactly built to while away an afternoon, certainly had an aesthetic and spiritual effect on the ordinary man. Today, if not always, the fugues and chorales of Bach, the symphonies of Mozart, Borodin, and Brahms, the violin concertos of Vivaldi, the piano sonatas of Scarlatti, and a great deal of what was once rather recondite music are mass entertainment by virtue of radio. Not all fools love it, but not all fools love anything more literate than a comic strip. It might reasonably be said that all art at some time and in some manner becomes mass entertainment, and that if it does not it dies and is forgotten.

--Raymond Chandler, 1948

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BLUES BOX

...for days...

time for a little geekery...

something I've been wanting to do for a while now...re-install my pedals on a new, smaller pedalboard...the one I got years ago is friggin huge and when fully loaded it weighs as much as an amp...and I guess since I've been practicing more jazz and getting into the possibilities of high-end solid state amps, simpler setups, and since I've been auditioning these various pedals for years now (the companion post on the "rejects"--those fine effects units which for one reason or another were either too-specialty-purpose, or took up too much real estate--might be more interesting or instructive than this one--the time-based board in progress is going to be straight-up trippy), I wanted to steamline the rig down the basic essentials, leaving out most time-based effects and the samplers I use, which will stay on the big frig...

starting at upper left, which is the voodoo labs pedal power supply (with velcro on top for the tuner), it runs thus:

wicked red lady ... tricked out fuzzface circuit ... the first of several fedronas custom units I am lucky enough to own (my brother-in-law could be printing his own money with these things but to this point is still pretty much an underground phenomenon)...basically does anything that a good fuzzface will do--woof, scream, grind, etc. cleans up amazingly with the volume pot, so it comes first...

cramtone...another fedronas tone staple...not sure which exact model it's supposed to be cloned after but it has something most of the vintage ones didn't--three settings, fast/med/slow...which are some amazingly crisp/subtle/chiming nuances you can use...makes it versatile amongst different guitars and probably great for bass too...and it is the must-have tool for the telecaster chicken-pickin' thing...

analogman blues driver (bd-2)...one of two boo-teak pedals here...this is an absolutely brilliant mod by a really nice guy in connecticut who I think takes a rather ho-hum boss model and turns it into a thing that does subtle to very crunchy in a very musically-pleasing, harmonics-enhancing way...it's a cliche but it truly does not have a bad setting...I like this instead of a typical tube screamer...

the quine yardbox (prescription electronics)...from the robert quine estate...amazing fuzzbox...I've already opined on the unfortunate reality that you probably can't get these anymore...but if you can find an older one used, it absolutely screams...chirp, sustain, snarl, it's a really gone gone box...naturally it is perfect for getting the yardbirds tele/esquire overundersidewaysdown violin tone...but I also believe that this pedal is the tone for the lead guitar in matthew sweet's "girlfriend"...I mean the pedal used...I know what you're wondering and the answer is yes I do own a stratocaster...I mean it's spot-on...and how cool is that?

upstairs to the pclef fuzzface...I bought this as a DIY fuzzface kit from the build your own clone guys, and it's a nice snarly little fuzzface circuit...along with custom psychedelic/glitter glue graphics courtesy of my daughter, age 3...it doesn't have the extra controls like the fedronas unit, no radical mods, but it has a lot of volume boost, and the tone is a random result depending on the meteorological/barometric situation that day... (these particular germaniums seem particularly sensitive to temperature, so it sounds different on different days...random is good, happy accidents and all that)...basically it's great for turning up full blast, and then just playing feedback with the whammy bar...kinda like having a hendrix button...

fulltone supa-trem...as much ink as this guy's pedals get (and rightly so IMHO), not too many folks sing the praises of his very happening little tremolo pedal...love what it does to the signal...even with the mix at zero, it adds a nice little presence thing...I had not expected this one to fit, given its size...glad I was able to squeeze it in...

thus far, four different units that do subtle to extreme clipping, why not one more?

blackstone mosfet overdrive...this great device from east village resident Jon Blackstone is an old favorite: a great, unique overdrive, with two very sweet channels--a 'brown' that kinda feels like a jcm-type marshall at mid-breakup; a 'red' channel that feels more like a very heavily overdriven fender, that screaming throaty thing...smaller than most tuners, it does a lot for its size...I'd originally thought of doing two boosts at the end (the fedronas silicon boost will come in handy on the time-based board), but this one's inputs/outputs were better logistically...hadn't played through it in quite a bit...this one always suprises...I have a bad habit of forgetting how useful it is...now that it's installed more or less permanently, that probably won't be the case any longer...

last in the chain is the classic germanium-based dallas rangemaster clone, but wait--two knobs instead of one...it's...it's...another fedronas classic...germanium boost...a snarly glassy single coil optimizer (with blend-able fullrange cut knob) that sounds great alone or in combo with any and all of the previous...

what you do not see is a fulltone clyde wah pedal, which will travel in the zipped pocket of the gigbag and run on batteries...standing alongside a short distance to the left...many years ago I learned wah playing wrong on purpose...had some crazy notion that since the right side of my brain was the creative side that perforce the opposite hemispheres controlling the appendages (e.g. right side controls left foot), then I ought to play the wah left-footed...which isn't really the case but there you go...left foot/left side...force of habit...

also, the spaghetti is tamed...all extra leads coiled and velcro'd to the base...this is where the super geek anal-retento side of me gets a little moist...but yeah it's a clean layout...

small, portable, lots of great tones, ready to gig, and a fraction of the previous one's footprint...everything brand-new all over again...

me happy....

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ANONYMOUS

...john mccain with yet another woman with whom he did not reportedly have sex with..."I did not apply the campaign sticker to her young bosom"....yes we know senator...calm down now, your liver spots are quivering...

I think today's NY Times story is a piece of shit. [and to think that just this morning I was praising the experience of the NYT in the a.m....] I lean left, have proclaimed my support for Barack Obama in this space without qualification, but I think this sort of "anonymous staffers suspected..." story basis specious at best and journalistic malpractice at worst...if this is true I want to see the motherload of documented evidence in the paper TOMORROW... if the substance is not there by the sunday talk shows, then this is a dark day for journalism in this country, and those of us who care about integrity in the news...if it is true and the grey lady has documented evidence, people on the record, anything to confirm it without the mountain of doubts now extant, it will be a shitty day for John McCain, and only a marginal victory for the press--if they can actually manage to connect something he did for a lobbyist (and prove that he wasn't going to do it anyway) and place his penis at the scene of the lobbyist's vagina, which I highly doubt, they will only have succeeded in returning us to the same prudery and anti-sexual (and unrealistic) sorts of discussions that leave little opening for more sobering discussions of less sexy topics like education policy, funding for medical research, veterans rights, marriage rights, fed policy, global warming, that little war they've got going on, and so forth...

I mean really now...who gives a shit? senators get laid, don't they? lobbyists get laid, don't they? senators grant audiences to lobbyists every day, don't they? they work together sometimes, as our vice president (president of the senate btw) has so aptly demonstrated with his approach to pharmaceutical regulations, energy policy, and the high efficiencies achieved in our ongoing rape of the environment...so two unattractive people have sex in DC...even if true, I really and truly do not care...and if the Times had this information ready before now, it's a fair question to ask--did those in charge of the editorial page have anything to say about holding up the story until less-attractive candidates like Romney and Giuliani had dropped out?

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HOPE FOR THE CULTURE

Sometimes a brief look at the NY Times in the morning can put one in a cheerful mood for the rest of the day...(excerpts in bold are my doing)

NY Times (excerpt):
February 21, 2008
More Americans Are Giving Up Golf
By PAUL VITELLO

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. — The men gathered in a new golf clubhouse here a couple of weeks ago circled the problem from every angle, like caddies lining up a shot out of the rough.

“We have to change our mentality,” said Richard Rocchio, a public relations consultant.

“The problem is time,” offered Walter Hurney, a real estate developer. “There just isn’t enough time. Men won’t spend a whole day away from their family anymore.”

William A. Gatz, owner of the Long Island National Golf Club in Riverhead, said the problem was fundamental economics: too much supply, not enough demand.

The problem was not a game of golf. It was the game of golf itself.

Over the past decade, the leisure activity most closely associated with corporate success in America has been in a kind of recession.

The total number of people who play has declined or remained flat each year since 2000, dropping to about 26 million from 30 million, according to the National Golf Foundation and the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association.

The industry now counts its core players as those who golf eight or more times a year. That number, too, has fallen, but more slowly: to 15 million in 2006 from 17.7 million in 2000, according to the National Golf Foundation.

The five men who met here at the Wind Watch Golf Club a couple of weeks ago, golf aficionados all, wondered out loud about the reasons. Was it the economy? Changing family dynamics? A glut of golf courses? A surfeit of etiquette rules — like not letting people use their cellphones for the four hours it typically takes to play a round of 18 holes?

Or was it just the four hours?

Here on Long Island, where there are more than 100 private courses, golf course owners have tried various strategies: coupons and trial memberships, aggressive marketing for corporate and charity tournaments, and even some forays into the wedding business.

“When the ship is sinking, it’s time to get creative,” said Mr. Hurney, a principal owner of the Great Rock Golf Club in Wading River, which last summer erected a 4,000-square-foot tent for social events, including weddings, christenings and communions.

But golf, a sport of long-term investors — both those who buy the expensive equipment and those who build the princely estates on which it is played — has always seemed to exist in a world above the fray of shifting demographics. Not anymore.

Jim Kass, the research director of the National Golf Foundation, an industry group, said the gradual but prolonged slump in golf has defied the adage, “Once a golfer, always a golfer.” About three million golfers quit playing each year, and slightly fewer than that have been picking it up. A two-year campaign by the foundation to bring new players into the game, he said, “hasn’t shown much in the way of results.”

“The man in the street will tell you that golf is booming because he sees Tiger Woods on TV,” Mr. Kass said. “But we track the reality. The reality is, while we haven’t exactly tanked, the numbers have been disappointing for some time.”

Surveys sponsored by the foundation have asked players what keeps them away. “The answer is usually economic,” Mr. Kass said. “No time. Two jobs. Real wages not going up. Pensions going away. Corporate cutbacks in country club memberships — all that doom and gloom stuff.”

In many parts of the country, high expectations for a golf bonanza paralleling baby boomer retirements led to what is now considered a vast overbuilding of golf courses.

Between 1990 and 2003, developers built more than 3,000 new golf courses in the United States, bringing the total to about 16,000. Several hundred have closed in the last few years, most of them in Arizona, Florida, Michigan and South Carolina, according to the foundation.

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BETTER THAN MCCARTNEY

...but hey, who isn't?...

one wonders if they wear the same brand of diapers though...

about to begin a week off...my employer terms this "paternity leave"...the dads get a week home with baby too...I'll take it!

intermittent blogulating in the meantime...happy presidents day....

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LOVE STINKS

LOVE, n.
A temporary insanity curable by marriage or by removal of the patient from the influences under which he incurred the disorder. This disease, like caries and many other ailments, is prevalent only among civilized races living under artificial conditions; barbarous nations breathing pure air and eating simple food enjoy immunity from its ravages. It is sometimes fatal, but more frequently to the physician than to the patient.

--Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

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The famous 'Portuguese Letters', written in 1667-8 and first published in 1669, from Mariana Alcoforado, the daughter of a wealthy merchant being raised in a convent, to the Frenchman M. de Chamilly, her first lover who had now left her:

"It seemed I did not love you enough."

Miriam Cyr, Letters of a Portuguese Nun, Miramax, 2006, pp. 89-115.

[hat tip to the fine folks at delancey place dot com...]

O poor Mariana! nestled in the churchyard for centuries now, the lonely nun didn't know what hit her...and neither do most of us. it is a torture, and a prison, this love. only to be shirked upon death, which is why most poetry involves thoughts of death and lost love. We dress it up and take it out on the town as a shiny heart or a well-shaped chocolate, but only because the raiment of ritual is the best protection we have from such a noxious and paralyzing brainstate. the instinct is to procreation, a ballast against extinction, and in the animal throes of this grist we develop an attachment, and cojoin it with companionship. but in so doing have we really learned anything at all about the ones we select and call our own? should we? there are no straight answers on valentine's day. not even on the martyred saint himself, of whom little is known. the day's association with lovers is actually attributed originally to a work of Geoffrey Chaucer's...

here's to the lonelyhearts...grant them peace...

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BEST IN SHOW

...give some love to the saints!...

...I sure do love spotted danes...

...the winner, uno...congrats to the beagles and beagle lovers everywhere...I'll only add that I think it's a good thing there isn't a written portion to the exam...

anyone who knows me knows that I am a big fan of canines and do have something of a rapport with most dogs that I really can't explain...dogs love me...and I loves 'em right back...which is rather why I've never been a fan of the dog shows or dog show culture in particular (though christopher guest's "best in show" takedown is a fave of mine)...I tend to give dogs more credit for personal dignity and yes I know that they lick their own balls in public and will chomp on an old turd if it smells right but still--if someone can explain to me why oh why do they cut the poodles coats like they do, and how that isn't a baby step away from jon benet ramsey-type aesthetics, I'd appreciate it. it wasn't until much later in life when I met a real standard poodle that I realized what a great breed they are and that the haircuts are inexplicably false advertising for a breed with more than a little muscle and attitude.

so why do we do it? like so many other things that humans love and enjoy, we overdo it, in this case our love of our pets. we overdo it just like we all will tomorrow, in that other beauty contest, valentine's day. my wife and I, we really don't do valentine's day. and really, nothing is missed. we don't shave our dogs' asses, and we don't exchange hothouse flowers or russel stover chocolates or any other manner of fakery. but hey, that's just us. and we are happy to help our 4-year old get cards made for her classmates, and for that matter, are happy to perpetuate this harmless custom, until she gets old enough to realize that, just like santa claus, the ritual of valentine's day is a symbol that plays on weak-minded emotions and produces little result on its own. if it wasn't there to begin with, there's nothing that the artifice of the day can do for you....

then again, our son was born exactly nine months to the day after last valentine's day, so maybe I should just shut up about it. go ahead, get some chocolates. knock yourselves out...just be a sport about it and go to a proper chocolatier and get some of the real stuff...

still, 2,600 some odd dogs appeared at westminster last week. I contend that they were ALL beautiful...and further, that perfection is rarely what it's cracked up to be...

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NO HE CAN'T PART 2

...q: funny ha-ha or funny strange?...

a: neither. both.

if a seemingly decent guy like McCain (ok, he also seems a little bit crazy and I can't really get used to how he throws out those stubby little arms as a public speaking technique) is getting this sort of oppositional creativity now, just imagine what they'll come up with over the summer when the real campaign is underway?

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LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY

...don't listen to the post office; today is abe lincoln's birthday...

"I am not a Know-Nothing. That is certain. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that "all men are created equal." We now practically read it "all men are created equal, except Negroes." When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read "all men are created equal, except Negroes and foreigners and Catholics." When it comes to this, I shall prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty - to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure and without the base alloy of hypocrisy." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume II, "Letter to Joshua F. Speed" (August 24, 1855), p. 323.

"At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide. The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume I, "Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum,of Springfield, Illinois (January 27, 1838), p. 109.

"I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume VI, "Proclamation of Thanksgiving" (October 3, 1863), p. 497.

"I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts, that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours, to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume VIII, "Letter to Mrs. Lydia Bixby" (November 21, 1864), pp. 116-117.

"It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: 'And this, too, shall pass away.' How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!" The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume III, "Address Before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, Milwaukee, Wisconsin" (September 30, 1859), pp. 481-482.

"We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others, the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name - liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names - liberty and tyranny." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume VII, "Address at Sanitary Fair, Baltimore, Maryland" (April 18, 1864), p. 301-302.

"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861.

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country." Lincoln's Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862.

"My friends, no one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of the Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell." Lincoln's Farewell Address at the Great Western Depot in Springfield, Illinois, February 11, 1861.

"In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free - honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just - a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless." Lincoln's Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862.

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan - to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations." Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865.

"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other." Lincoln's 'House-Divided' Speech in Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858.

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NO HE CAN'T

in the interests of equal time and fairness (anybody remember that?), here is a youtube video in the style last week's "yes we can" pro-obama feature, except this one uses the words of senator mccain...not quite exactly the same takeaway as the first one, but definitely more laughs...

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SITTING IN WITH SONNY STITT

Bill Cosby on sitting in with some jazz greats...very funny, and a lot of truth in what he's saying....cherokee is indeed a mofo of a tune...

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SEXY SADIE

...something to meditate about: the maharishi is dead...

Sexy Sadie what have you done
You made a fool of everyone
You made a fool of everyone
Sexy Sadie, ooh, what have you done

Sexy Sadie you broke the rules
You laid it down for all to see
You laid it down for all to see
Sexy Sadie, ooh, you broke the rules

One sunny day the world was waiting for a lover
She came along to turn on everyone
Sexy Sadie the greatest of them all

Sexy Sadie how did you know
The world was waiting just for you
The world was waiting just for you
Sexy Sadie, ooh, how did you know

Sexy Sadie you'll get yours yet
However big you think you are
However big you think you are
Sexy Sadie, ooh, you'll get yours yet

We gave her everything we owned
just to sit at her table
Just a smile would lighten everything
Sexy Sadie she's the latest
and the greatest of them all

Ha, She made a fool of everyone
Sexy Sadie
Ha, However big you think you are
Sexy Sadie

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[recorded 1968; written in India just as the Beatles were about to return home; after their face-to-face meeting with a genuine charlatan, it is fair to say that John Lennon was nonplussed; three years later he was singing "imagine there's no heaven"...]

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SUPER FAT TUESDAY

He didn't win my state, but he did win my county! Essex County went to Obama, who got 57% of the votes there...out of 127,111 total votes (98% reporting), to be precise. Hillary got 42%. Edwards got 1%.

Elsewhere, down in the great city of New Orleans, Mardi Gras got underway, it also being Fat Tuesday (laissez les bon ton roulet!), and so today we find ourselves looking at a split decision on the democratic side, and it would appear that the nice white-haired old man with the pearl necklace wife is going to be the republican nominee.

Obama's speech last night was about rejecting identity politics and uniting the country. Hillary talked about her mom and how women didn't have the right to vote and wuh-wah-wuh-wah-wuh-wah...sorry, couldn't make it to the end, the dull throb of her oratory put me under like a hit of sominex...the fact is that her status as a female is the sole point of interest in her entire candidacy. she voted for the war, supported the patriot act, and tippy-toed around the torture issue. I can't get around that--she has name recognition and is famous and played those hot-button issues close to the vest so as to improve her electability, instead of using her smaller bully pulpit to rally against these things--"strong and wrong" being the clinton's preference when it comes to political positioning. not to mention her bloviating husband, whom I wish would go back to his global do-gooding, Bush I golf outings and occasional Charlie Rose interviews. His political chops aren't quite the same when he's arguing that he be let back in through the side entrance...

And today is Ash Wednesday. Even though I think the sponsoring religion thereof is for the birds, I've always liked the idea of the sentiments expressed on this day, minus the primitivist death fear subtext... It uses a metaphor, applied liberally to one's forehead, with the reminder that we are mortal. And that's the connect--the faint ring of affirmation to this secularist--as this is the real point: we're going to die and then we'll be nothing but dust. And that's OK... Not dust plucking a harp on a puffy cloud, nor dust sitting around a table with dead relatives (Q: "so! great grandma, what've you been up to?" A: "not much..."), nor dust locked into a perpetual slavery of worship. Rather, we die, that's it. Best get on with it.

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PRETTY SOON NOW YOU'RE GOING TO GET OLDER

...I'm with Henry*...

I voted in the New Jersey primary this morning. Back when I registered, they asked my party affiliation, and when I said independent, they reminded me that I wouldn't be able to vote in any primaries. So, while I do NOT consider myself a democrat (or a member of any other party) I registered as one so that I could vote on this very day. I am very proud to support Barack Obama for president, and I've never said the words "very proud" about a single politician in my entire life. Forget anti-Bush, he is the anti-Nixon. He is seemingly capable of eliminating cynicism (which may or may not pan out, but right now it feels pretty damn good). I haven't seen this commented on in any of the media coverage, but I think, as one of many who grew up with the specter of Watergate, that he is a possible antidote to the underlying cynicism about politics that has been with us our entire lives. I was ten years old when President Nixon left office in the summer of 1974.

Hillary Rodham worked for the congressional impeachment inquiry committee at the time. That one fact is enough to make me tired all over.

Barack Obama. President. 2008.

* photo credit: NY Times (a young man named Henry, age 9, at a Boston rally for Barack Obama)

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SI SU PUEDE

...yes we can....(Eli said so)...if your state is in play tomorrow, please vote...

What a weekend...amazing music---keith jarrett, gary peacock and jack dejohnette at NJPAC were sublime...taking my daugher to her first theatrical production (I'm not counting Dora the Explorer at Radio City) at the local middle school--beauty and the beast--was an experience I wouldn't trade for a headline gig at MSG...and I finally got the rough mix cranked out of my friend Kevyn's new single...I think I've figured out how to work with a stereo bus finally...and oh yes if someone up in New England can get a note to Belichick, there's still a second on the clock left in the Super Bowl...

ha. ha. ha.

NY Giants baby--not my team, I'm a Jets fan--but that was a great football game (and you might have guessed-correctly-that I was rooting against NE--and I/we would still like to hear what the real story is with all the allegedly destroyed "evidence" regarding the Pats' videotaping practices, that apparently goes back quite a few years...if true, there's a word for that, and it ain't sportsmanship). and yes it was the greatest upset in the history of NFL sports. No question. Eli Manning, no matter what else he ever does, had his day of glory. But who is to say he can't go on and have a Brady-like (or even Montana-like!) career? It's just a matter of resources, and I believe that the brothers Mara and Tisch are enjoying the feeling of basking in Kraft's would-be corporate klieg lights...

But I'll also say what I would have said if the Giants had lost. So, since we didn't lose, let's be clear--it's just a game. to my non-sports friends who don't get this super bowl mania I'll just suggest that it's just a harmless little secular holiday that gets families together for a nice meal and a little harmless root-tootin'...sure it's mega corporate and more than a little bit tacky, artless and grandiose, but if you can ignore the suits (as a New Yorker I must say that I protest the very employment of Joe Buck--every Giants advance was described as in spite of some alleged deficiency and every Patriots success was described as inevitable--he is a true representative of the Fox brand, playing it up to the ignorati) you might actually have a bit of fun. Tom Petty's set was fun, for one thing. But there are simply way too many people in this land who are going through life with nothing but the storyline provided by professional sports. Hey Sports Fans! Grow up. Get your own storyline.

Tomorrow, we can all share one. Vote the future. Vote Obama.

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...spotted this one on amazon...whoops...

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THAT CLEVER IRISHMAN

...don't get on the wrong side of daniel plainview...

Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will Be Blood" is one of the most amazing film performances I have ever seen from a film actor. period. This role will go down in the annals of cinema like marlon brando in on the waterfront and robert deniro in raging bull. or should...

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HE GOT AWAY WITH IT

...this man raped children...

you might as well get used to this sort of obituary--just as many notable baseball players of the 80s-90s-00s will be remembered, at least in part, for their use of steroids, so too will many and various clergy of the 20th and early 21st century (and let's hope it ends here, though I can't imagine why we should) will be remembered for their fondness for fucking innocent young children.

in the obituary you will read of the heinous allegations regarding Father Maciel, followed by the halting, deliberate and vacillating steps taken by the church hierarchy, which eventually, at long last, asked an old man to retire to a life of "prayer and penitence." Why, I ask, would they order such a thing? Is it not an admission of guilt? And if he is guilty of these acts, should he not have been brought to justice in a court of law?

yet he wasn't. even the eventual investigation and decision to retire the old pedophile was undertaken by pope-to-be ratzinger, not the then-ailing JP2.

in the end, he wasn't even expelled from the priesthood.

now, I can have an honest discussion with any believer regarding the various merits of religion, faith, god, the cosmos, whatever. but this man's behavior has nothing to do with any of that. it had to do with human beings in this time on this earth in this society--a society of laws (one pauses here to note that the good father lived his life in Mexico, a country still dominated by a stultifying obeisance to mother church--just as in days of yore when Europe was populated by ignorant peasants and ruled by the church, or even in present day the overarching influence of militant Islam in impoverished uneducated Middle Eastern countries, see how a religion-based power structure treats its subjects!). and he was guilty enough to be censured by a church hierarchy that had been woefully hesitant to let any of its many clergy be exposed to the harsh light of law enforcement, so why would the allegations not have been suspicious enough to merit an indictment? I believe he was guilty as charged, and I will believe to my dying day that he was protected by the church hierarchy because he was a leading figure in the church. which means that, just like mother teresa, the "saint" who raised millions yet never built a single hospital, he was adept at raising money--like her, he started an order. I ask: at whose expense?

If Hell existed, he'd be on the express train to eternal torment. But of course it doesn't. He's just rotting in the mud like the rest of us will one day. Perhaps while we're still above ground, we can remember villains like this one and remind ourselves that whenever one of our fellows dons magical garments and starts spouting off about what's right and what's wrong, that we ought to cast an extremely critical lens on just what sorts of actions are being performed to accompany those honeyed words. And until we receive different evidence, we should keep them extremely far away from our (or anyone else's) children...

...it's ok....you're a good earner...(november 2004, ten years after allegations surfaced about the man he called an “efficacious guide to youth” )...

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