Caught My Eye

So, there I was... going through the overnight mail, a piece-part o' same bein' a missive from Amazon concerning new music releases.  Which is where I saw this:

Doncha miss album cover art?  I mean real, big-ass vinyl albums, not CD jewel boxes.

That's the cover art from a new Pink Floyd album due to be released in November.  Here's an excerpt from the Amazon editorial review:

In 2014 David Gilmour and Nick Mason re-entered the studio and, starting with unreleased keyboard performances by Richard Wright, who sadly died in 2008, added further instrumentation to the tracks, as well as creating new material. The result is The Endless River, including 60% of recordings other than the 1993 sessions, but based upon them. The title is a further link, '... the endless river...' being part of the closing phrases of High Hopes, the final song of the previous Pink Floyd album. 

Interesting, but I'm not sure I'll lay down 31 Yankee Dollars for the 2014 Floyd.  But I MIGHT.

In other news... what's Sunday without an EIP re-run?  I was curious about how many times I've mentioned Pink Floyd here at EIP and it turns out that I've posted quite a bit about them.  Not too surprising, eh?  Here's one such mention, which is pretty much a throw-away when it comes to Pink Floyd:

Friday, December 01, 2006

Hey! It's December!

I watched a re-run of Frontline’s Secret History of Credit Cards on PBS last evening, and absorbed some distressing facts on how Americans use credit cards, and much more distressingly, how banks exploit credit consumers. “Exploit” is a pretty loaded word, but it fits. I would say that, as a capitalist, I’m somewhat conflicted about this exploitation, but I’m not. The principal of Caveat Emptor should apply here, in other words, an intelligent individual would avoid the exploiters and do business with banks that are on the up and up. But they’re all in the consumer exploitation business. When it comes to credit cards, the contract language banks provide you is so opaque and so lengthy and so fraught with legalese that no one, and I mean NO one, short of a contract law attorney, can understand the damned things. And nearly no one reads ‘em, either. According to Frontline, anyway, and I tend to believe the assertion because, well, I’ve never read mine.

Some “fun facts:”

145 million Americans carry credit cards

55 million pay off their balance in full every month

90 million Americans carry a balance. These folks are known as “revolvers.”

35 million of the revolvers make only the minimum payment every month.

The average balance…average…is $8,000.00. Per card.

And worst of all, there is nearly NO limit on the interest banks can charge on credit card accounts. You may thank the Supreme Court’s Marquette Bank decision, which effectively eliminated usury laws, for that. (Details here.)

What allowed Wriston to make good on his threat to leave New York was a little-noticed December 1978 Supreme Court ruling. The Marquette Bank opinion permitted national banks to export interest rates on consumer loans from the state where credit decisions were made to borrowers nationwide.

So by early 1980, with New York refusing to go along, Citibank set out on a search for new place to base its credit card division. The pickings were slim. Usury laws were still on the books in the vast majority of the states. And federal banking rules required that before banks could set up operations outside their home state, a formal invitation had to be issued by the legislature of the state they wanted to enter. Local bankers had prevented any state legislature from ever extending such an invitation.

[…]

In an effort to stimulate the local economy, South Dakota was in the midst of eliminating its usury laws. Mr. Wriston told Mr. Janklow that if South Dakota would quickly pass a bill inviting Citibank into the state, he would bring 400 jobs. To preempt concerns from local banks about new competition, Citibank also promised to open only "a limited" bank. "We'll put the facility in an inconvenient place for customers and we'll pay different interest rates," Mr. Wriston recalled telling Mr. Janklow. "All we want to do is use it to issue cards.''

I learned my own personal credit card lesson back in the early ‘70s, before the Marquette decision. I’ll not point fingers or anything, but I cut up three or four cards at that point in time and paid off the balances, slowly but surely. It took me over five years to pay the bastards off, and that was at extremely modest interest rates, compared to today. I’ve not paid a penny in interest since. Well, not entirely true. I’ve paid interest once or twice. But it’s REALLY a rare occurrence. I know one thing, though. I’m awfully damned glad I’m not in the same credit card debt situation today as I was back in ’72.

I know another thing, too. The banks need to clean up their act when it comes to credit cards. It’s way past time. If they refuse, then it’s time for the government to step in. As I said in the beginning, as a good capitalist I should be conflicted on this issue. But I’m not. Wrong is wrong. Period.

This is The Weather Channel…and this is The Weather Channel On Drugs… So, I’m standing in the kitchen around 2030 hrs last evening, finishing up the dishes and just generally cleaning up. I have the Tee Vee tuned to the WX Channel, “Your Local on the 8s” comes on, and my head just whipped around. Nothing to see but the familiar blue screen with WX data, but what’s this? Pink Floyd’s “One of These Days?” Yes, it most certainly is! I’ll be damned…

You may have heard the song before, even if you’re not a Pink Floyd fan. For instance:

"One of These Days" is the song playing over the end credits of the Sopranos episode "The Fleshy Part of the Thigh".

"One of These Days" is featured in "The Lives of the Stars" episode of Carl Sagan's television documentary Cosmos.

And now The WX Channel. On drugs. A one time good deal, perhaps, or a momentary lapse of reason? Because the next and subsequent “Local on the 8s” had the usual innocuous, unidentifiable, guitar soft jazz background muzak music. I like Floyd better.

Speaking of weather…The storm that cut its teeth over the High Plains night before last through yesterday morning is kicking butt and taking names as it moves east and north. We only got a burst of bone-chilling cold and a dusting of snow, but the intersection of that cold front and moisture from the Gulf has dropped anywhere from eight to ten inches of snow on northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas. The St. Louis area was suffering from a pretty good ice storm, with the usual mass power outages ice storms bring. And it ain’t done yet. Not by a long shot. Look out, East Coast…here she comes!

It definitely could have been worse here on the High Plains.

When Terror Strikes… My propane tank went to “empty” overnight, as I strongly suspected it would. After all, our high yesterday was only 35 degrees and the low last night was in the mid-teens. In other words, maximum furnace run-time. The interior gauge LEDs indicate empty, but there’s probably a gallon or so left in the tank. So, at 0800 this morning I make the call to the propane company in order to get in at the front of today’s queue. The nice lady on the other end of the phone sez: “OK, I’ll tell Albert to stop by, but it’ll probably be late this afternoon or early tomorrow morning. He had to go to Roswell this morning to get the truck inspected.”

Aieee!

After I told her I was “on empty” she assured me Albert would be by this afternoon. Good thing we’re warming up today. My brand new little ceramic heater should be able to hold the heating front until the heavy artillery arrives.

Speaking of ceramic heaters... I bought a new one yesterday, the fourth such in six years time. The danged things seem to get less and less efficient as time goes on, until they reach the point where you generate more heat by passing gas than the heater does running on full-stroke. In other words, they wear out. Faster than I think is acceptable, but that’s just me. I switched brands this time, moving from a Holmes heater to one made by Honeywell. In China, of course. Don’t get me started on that subject.

Today’s Pic: The interior of one of our local watering holes: The bar in The Roosevelt Restaurant. This bar is a great example of those old mahogany bars one found throughout the US in the 19^th century. This particular example was found in an old abandoned bar near Roswell, disassembled and trucked to Portales, where it was lovingly and beautifully restored. The Roosevelt is the one place in P-town where you can get a good single-malt or small-batch (read: boutique) bourbon. January, 2003.

Ah, Former Happy Days, part IV or V... which is to say when we were still in El Casa Móvil De Pennington and when we were generating blog posts that actually had some content.  The Roosevelt is also a memory at this point in time but that magnificent bar still exists in the Italian restaurant that took The Roosevelt's place.  We're happy about that, dontcha know.

Hey! It's December!

I watched a re-run of Frontline’s Secret History of Credit Cards on PBS last evening, and absorbed some distressing facts on how Americans use credit cards, and much more distressingly, how banks exploit credit consumers. “Exploit” is a pretty loaded word, but it fits. I would say that, as a capitalist, I’m somewhat conflicted about this exploitation, but I’m not. The principal of Caveat Emptor should apply here, in other words, an intelligent individual would avoid the exploiters and do business with banks that are on the up and up. But they’re all in the consumer exploitation business. When it comes to credit cards, the contract language banks provide you is so opaque and so lengthy and so fraught with legalese that no one, and I mean NO one, short of a contract law attorney, can understand the damned things. And nearly no one reads ‘em, either. According to Frontline, anyway, and I tend to believe the assertion because, well, I’ve never read mine.

Some “fun facts:”

145 million Americans carry credit cards

55 million pay off their balance in full every month

90 million Americans carry a balance. These folks are known as “revolvers.”

35 million of the revolvers make only the minimum payment every month.

The average balance…average…is $8,000.00. Per card.

And worst of all, there is nearly NO limit on the interest banks can charge on credit card accounts. You may thank the Supreme Court’s Marquette Bank decision, which effectively eliminated usury laws, for that. (Details here.)

What allowed Wriston to make good on his threat to leave New York was a little-noticed December 1978 Supreme Court ruling. The Marquette Bank opinion permitted national banks to export interest rates on consumer loans from the state where credit decisions were made to borrowers nationwide.

So by early 1980, with New York refusing to go along, Citibank set out on a search for new place to base its credit card division. The pickings were slim. Usury laws were still on the books in the vast majority of the states. And federal banking rules required that before banks could set up operations outside their home state, a formal invitation had to be issued by the legislature of the state they wanted to enter. Local bankers had prevented any state legislature from ever extending such an invitation.

[…]

In an effort to stimulate the local economy, South Dakota was in the midst of eliminating its usury laws. Mr. Wriston told Mr. Janklow that if South Dakota would quickly pass a bill inviting Citibank into the state, he would bring 400 jobs. To preempt concerns from local banks about new competition, Citibank also promised to open only "a limited" bank. "We'll put the facility in an inconvenient place for customers and we'll pay different interest rates," Mr. Wriston recalled telling Mr. Janklow. "All we want to do is use it to issue cards.''

I learned my own personal credit card lesson back in the early ‘70s, before the Marquette decision. I’ll not point fingers or anything, but I cut up three or four cards at that point in time and paid off the balances, slowly but surely. It took me over five years to pay the bastards off, and that was at extremely modest interest rates, compared to today. I’ve not paid a penny in interest since. Well, not entirely true. I’ve paid interest once or twice. But it’s REALLY a rare occurrence. I know one thing, though. I’m awfully damned glad I’m not in the same credit card debt situation today as I was back in ’72.

I know another thing, too. The banks need to clean up their act when it comes to credit cards. It’s way past time. If they refuse, then it’s time for the government to step in. As I said in the beginning, as a good capitalist I should be conflicted on this issue. But I’m not. Wrong is wrong. Period.

This is The Weather Channel…and this is The Weather Channel On Drugs… So, I’m standing in the kitchen around 2030 hrs last evening, finishing up the dishes and just generally cleaning up. I have the Tee Vee tuned to the WX Channel, “Your Local on the 8s” comes on, and my head just whipped around. Nothing to see but the familiar blue screen with WX data, but what’s this? Pink Floyd’s “One of These Days?” Yes, it most certainly is! I’ll be damned…

You may have heard the song before, even if you’re not a Pink Floyd fan. For instance:

"One of These Days" is the song playing over the end credits of the Sopranos episode "The Fleshy Part of the Thigh".

"One of These Days" is featured in "The Lives of the Stars" episode of Carl Sagan's television documentary Cosmos.

And now The WX Channel. On drugs. A one time good deal, perhaps, or a momentary lapse of reason? Because the next and subsequent “Local on the 8s” had the usual innocuous, unidentifiable, guitar soft jazz background muzak music. I like Floyd better.

Speaking of weather…The storm that cut its teeth over the High Plains night before last through yesterday morning is kicking butt and taking names as it moves east and north. We only got a burst of bone-chilling cold and a dusting of snow, but the intersection of that cold front and moisture from the Gulf has dropped anywhere from eight to ten inches of snow on northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas. The St. Louis area was suffering from a pretty good ice storm, with the usual mass power outages ice storms bring. And it ain’t done yet. Not by a long shot. Look out, East Coast…here she comes!

It definitely could have been worse here on the High Plains.

When Terror Strikes… My propane tank went to “empty” overnight, as I strongly suspected it would. After all, our high yesterday was only 35 degrees and the low last night was in the mid-teens. In other words, maximum furnace run-time. The interior gauge LEDs indicate empty, but there’s probably a gallon or so left in the tank. So, at 0800 this morning I make the call to the propane company in order to get in at the front of today’s queue. The nice lady on the other end of the phone sez: “OK, I’ll tell Albert to stop by, but it’ll probably be late this afternoon or early tomorrow morning. He had to go to Roswell this morning to get the truck inspected.”

Aieee!

After I told her I was “on empty” she assured me Albert would be by this afternoon. Good thing we’re warming up today. My brand new little ceramic heater should be able to hold the heating front until the heavy artillery arrives.

Speaking of ceramic heaters... I bought a new one yesterday, the fourth such in six years time. The danged things seem to get less and less efficient as time goes on, until they reach the point where you generate more heat by passing gas than the heater does running on full-stroke. In other words, they wear out. Faster than I think is acceptable, but that’s just me. I switched brands this time, moving from a Holmes heater to one made by Honeywell. In China, of course. Don’t get me started on that subject.

Today’s Pic: The interior of one of our local watering holes: The bar in The Roosevelt Restaurant. This bar is a great example of those old mahogany bars one found throughout the US in the 19^th century. This particular example was found in an old abandoned bar near Roswell, disassembled and trucked to Portales, where it was lovingly and beautifully restored. The Roosevelt is the one place in P-town where you can get a good single-malt or small-batch (read: boutique) bourbon. January, 2003.

Late Night EIP

A lot of new music has made its way into El Casa Móvil De Pennington in the past month or so. Most of it isn’t necessarily new but rather falls into the category of “new to me” and/or CDs to replace an album in my long-lost (not really lost; just in storage) and greatly lamented vinyl collection. The one exception is Carlos Santana’s "All That I Am," which is a misnomer if I’ve ever seen one. I’m a BIG fan of Carlos; both "Supernatural" and "Shaman" seem to reside permanently in the car Green Hornet…and that is a high compliment, indeed. “All That I Am” is destined to go up on the shelf and rarely, if ever, come down. There’s just one track that I’d call “catchy” ("My Man"), and that’s due more to Mary J. Blige than Carlos. A major disappointment, this. "All That I Am" isn’t, in a word.

But…it gets better. “A Twist of Motown” is a bunch of…you guessed it…Motown covers by Big Name soft-jazz artists like Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin, and Bob James, just to name three. Deliciously smooth and wonderfully arranged jazz takes on Motown standards such as “Never Can Say Goodbye,” “The Tracks of My Tears,” and “Just My Imagination.” Which is not to say these arrangements would ever, could ever, supersede the originals. Nope, far from it. It’s just a very pleasing album. In the “for what it’s worth” department… there are only four customer reviews on Amazon, but every single one is a five out of five. Amazing, that. On the other hand, I’m half-way expecting to hear one of these tunes as background music for “Your Local on the Eights” any day now.

Two other recent acquisitions include “Martin Scorsese presents The Best of the Blues” and “The Rolling Stones Project,” another collection of jazz covers, all Stones this time. The former is quite good (I’ve rarely, if ever, met a blues album I didn’t like), the latter a (minor) disappointment. One saving grace on “The Rolling Stones Project” is Norah Jones’ breathtaking reading of “Wild Horses.” Nothing… repeat, nothing… will ever eclipse the Stones’ version of “Wild Horses,” but Jones comes as close as one could ever get. As I said, breathtaking. I’ve loaded this CD into the player and put “Wild Horses” on repeat and listened to it six times in a row. It’s that good. “Waiting For A Friend” also deserves favorable mention, as well.

But…I saved the best for last. The new addition getting the most airplay is “Echoes,” a two-disc, 26-song best-of collection of Pink Floyd. While the collection is heavy on cuts from “Dark Side of the Moon” and “The Wall,” there’s enough variety from the other albums to make this collection more than worthwhile. What’s MOST impressive, though, are the seamless segues between cuts from disparate albums. As an example, the last four cuts on disc one are arranged into one flowing piece reminiscent of Abbey Road’s second side (An obvious vinyl LP reference. If you only own the CD you won’t “get it.”). The segue goes like this:

“Money” (from Dark Side – 1973)
“Keep Talking” (from Division Bell – 1994)
“Sheep’ (from Animals – 1977)
“Sorrow” (from Momentary Lapse of Reason – 1987)

That’s a time span of 21 freakin’ years…and the songs all fit together like one piece. Of course, that could be taken as a left-handed compliment…i.e., “I like PF, but the songs all sound the same”… but it’s certainly NOT intended as such. And the songs do NOT sound the same. As if I had to say that… The customer reviews at Amazon are worth a read, if you have a mind to go there.

There’s one drawback to listening to a lot of Pink Floyd, much like listening to a lot of Led Zep: it makes me one want to do drugs. And lots of ‘em. (Insert smiley-face here)

Anyway. Radio Paradise has taken a back seat in my listening habits of late. For good reason. (Note: you can click each album cover for the larger version)

A Harley I could see myself on…favorably reviewed. Unless your name is Buck, Sam, or (perhaps) Dan, you don’t…can’t… understand the magnitude of the statement I just made. Buells are an exception. Those bikes are better described as “powered by Harley-Davidson.” Along with “lust object.”

Ah, Spring! And an Ol’ Geezer’s thoughts turn to…motorcycles!

My Part o' the Country

TimeScapes: Rapture from Tom Lowe @ Timescapes on Vimeo.


h/t: SN1 on G+.

Update, 1030 hrs:  OK... just one more and then we'll go.  This time it's the best use of Pink Floyd in a video I've ever seen:

Timescapes Timelapse: Learning to Fly from Tom Lowe @ Timescapes on Vimeo.

"Learning to Fly" just might be my favorite Floyd tune and these images are just perfect.  Watch in full-screen if ya can.

Your Wake Up Call

That would be the music piped in to your cabin to wake you up... assuming you're on board STS-133, launching on or about November first.  Choosing that music is a participatory thang, too, in that the public gets to vote on the wake-up tunes NASA will broadcast to the sleeping astronauts.  Here are the vote leaders at the moment (sorry about the formatting... I suck at HTML):

NASA's Top 40 Votes Results (1,021,571 Total Votes)

The two songs with the most votes will be announced during the mission. Updates of the exact dates and times that the winning songs will be played will be provided as launch of the mission draws closer. STS-133 is currently scheduled to launch on November 1, 2010.

Star Trek Theme Song  (by Alexander Courage) 351,327 Votes- 34.4%   Magic Carpet Ride  (by Steppenwolf) 308,027 Votes - 30.2%   Countdown  (by Rush) 214,460 Votes - 21.0%   Blue Sky  (by Big Head Todd) 59,276 Votes - 5.8%   Enter Sandman  (by Metallica) 10,655 Votes - 1.0%   Beautiful Day  (by U2) 9,180 Votes - 0.9%   Theme from the Star Wars Trilogy  (by John Williams) 8,368 Votes - 0.8%

My choice... Pink Floyd's "Learning to Fly"... ain't on the list, although a couple of other variations on the "Learning to Fly" theme by Tom Petty and the Foo Fighters are there.  But seriously... doesn't this FIT?



"There's no sensation to compare with this... suspended animation, state of bliss..."

h/t for the NASA link:  Dave Bry, writing for The Awl.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

Bowie, from his Diamond Dogs period:

Rebel Rebel, how could they know?
Hot tramp, I love you so!

Ah, "hot tramp" would be the story of my love life with the exception of the two Mrs. Penningtons.  Wait.  Didn't they choose ME as their consort?

Never mind.  Tramps it is, then.  In a manner o' speaking.

―:☺:―

Apropos of not much... the Keith Richards station is THE most eclectic station I've defined on Pandora, evah.  Today's Happy Hour has featured selections from Bowie, the Stones, Keith hisownself, Waylon Jennings, Pink Floyd, Foo Fighters, Cream, Ozzie, the Allman Bros, and AC/DC just to name a few, and that's just today.  I defined this station back when I began reading Keef's autobiography and it's become The Only Station I Need.  HIGHLY recommended.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

Pink Floyd...

It's true:  I wish you were here.  A day like this, while not wasted, would surely benefit from convivial conversation and shared libations.  But here we are, self-satisfied and content in our solitude with bell beer, book, and candle cigar:

Such a beautiful day!

Not Everything Deserves a Title...

Now THIS is really cool: Sunrise Earth. A new layer on Google Earth, and here are the instructions on how to use the feature from within Google Earth. I’ve only watched the sunrise over Stonehenge, but that’s just because my network connection is so danged slow. Broadband. Someday. So I’m told.

Via Lex…some great plane pr0n from the Nellis AFB air show. Absolutely stunning high-res photography; so good, in fact, that I now have new wallpaper. The guy that took these photos is a pro!

Ahhhh! RP is just SO good this morning… Here’s a set that was particularly pleasing (the times are PST):

9:43 am - Pink Floyd - Money
9:40 am - Warren Zevon - Lawyers, Guns And Money
9:34 am - Ry Cooder - The Very Thing That Makes You Rich

Been peeking at my vinyl again, eh, Bill? {sigh} I wish I could take a peek, too…

A week ago today I posted a link to a longish but very thoughtful piece on the British Left by Nick Cohen. Well, The Guardian (UK) got a huge response, and I quote:

Last week, we printed an extract from Nick Cohen's provocative new book, What's Left?, a searing account of how the British liberal-left has lost its way and, in the process, turned a blind eye to Islamic fascism. Cohen's piece sparked a huge response both online and in print.

And they proceed to publish some of that response plus comment in other venues, such as this:

Christopher Hitchens
The Sunday Times

'An exemplary piece of political satire, in which the generally amusing and ironic tone should not lull you into ignoring the deadly seriousness of the argument. It is not necessary to have a personal stake in a discussion like this, but it does help. Cohen started out trying to defend the honour of the left and attempting to appeal to its better traditions. He swiftly found that this made him the target of the most hysterical slander, from people whose hatred of liberal democracy has a long and sordid ancestry. He then lowered his head, clenched his teeth, steered into the storm and embarked on the toughest struggle an old leftist can ever undertake: a confrontation with former comrades who suspect him of "selling out"... Cohen's is an admirable example of self-criticism and self-examination, using intellectual honesty as a means of illuminating a much wider canvas.

Hitch knows all about “confrontation with former comrades who suspect him of "selling out".” His whole life has been like that for the past six years or so. I’m somewhat familiar with this phenomenon, as well, but on a much reduced scale, of course. Changing your political stripes can be both painful and exhilarating. I suspect Mr. Cohen is finding that out, too.

After you read the reactions of Cohen’s critics in The Guardian, you might want to go over and read what Norm Geras has to say on the subject. Excerpt:

A final point. One confirmation of the fact that Nick Cohen's target is a real one wider than the SWP, is the intense hostility there has been, way beyond that organization, towards the pro-war left. Dip into any relevant comments thread on the Guardian's Comment is Free for a dose of such poison; note that there is a mini-industry in the blogosphere obsessed (some of its denizens to the point of appearing half-crazed) with those they contemptuously call 'the decents'; give some time, if you can bear it, to re-reading through the comment and opinion pages of the liberal press for the last four years. That you were of the left and supported regime change in Iraq has just been unthinkable, unassimilable, for many - hence the hostility and the anathemas. It could not be that there was a difficult issue and a difficult choice, with weighty reasons on both sides. If, on the other hand, you consider what volume of critical animus and commentary has been directed from the same quarters at the rank apologists in the anti-war movement, you'll find that it pales by comparison.

What he said.

Today’s Pic: Apropos of something… I noticed this small detail in the picture to the right while browsing my photo directories for today’s suitable upload. That song played on RP at 0934 hrs (PST), “The Very Thing…?” Well it just might have been playing when this pic was snapped. That’s the cover of “Bop ‘Til You Drop” propped up on the top shelf of the stereo cabinet. I’m really missing the vinyl today. Really.

Photo: January, 1999. Webster, NY.

The Sunday Funnies

About the following… file under “Stupid Stuff I Thought Was Funny.”  At the time.  Maybe ya hadda be there.  OTOH, what follows could be the result of 12 hours of non-stop football, in various and sundry forms.

I’ve had similar encounters with my printer.

I think I may have hit bottom with these two vids.  But I’m curious… do ya think the Dobie likes Pink Floyd?  Or should we call PeTA?

―:☺:―

File this under “Stupid Stuff That ISN’T Funny:”  “Welcome to the final stages of the coup...”  Yep, I’ve been playing in the mud again.  If you don’t want to get your Sunday-Go-To-Meetin’ clothes dirty… not mention your psyche… here’s about all you need to know:

In 2000, the long fought for and long admired democracy of the United States of America began a slow and steady decline toward fascism - a Bush family tradition - with the installment of a president - a man the citizens overwhelmingly rejected (although the funny math told a still believed myth) - by a few corrupt judges on the US Supreme Court. That coup is now nearly complete and checkmate is all but unavoidable.

[…]

It seems this time around, the Bush family is trying the more subtle approach to open bloodshed:  first create a crisis, then  under the guise of addressing that crisis, overthrow democracy. Yes, it does sound terribly conspiracy-theory-esque when explained just this way. But what else does one call a criminal conspiracy to destroy Congressional powers permanently, alter Judicial powers permanently, and steal public funds?

As I see it now, we have but two options and I have long alluded to hoping against hope that one of these options would not be the only one left to a peaceful people. The first and frankly most preferable option is for Congress to immediately begin impeachment proceedings against the members of this latest Business Plot.

[…]

The other option, the one I have long prayed we would never need to even consider, is a total revolution. But, If Congress won't act in its own self-defense, in the defense of democracy, in defense of us - the people who have elected them to protect us from this very danger - then what is left for us to do? I don't want to see it come down to this, but I fear that it will. Put your party politics aside right now. We are in a crisis so dangerous that should these people succeed in their coup, your party affiliation will no longer matter, your American flag will be a nice collectible item of something that once was, and your version of God will be worshiped in secrecy because your freedoms will be owned by the few.

I left the links in the excerpt intact.  The Beeb link is “old news” and the other link is a compendium of Leftie snit pieces enumerating the countless reasons AlGore won the 2000 presidential election.  About which: the veritable source of Bush Derangement Syndrome.  All that’s missing from the second link is the identification of Patient Zero and the pathology of BDS transmission.  The Left just never got over losing that election and it drives their paranoid ravings to this very day.  The lovely (I’m sure) Ms. Alexandrova probably can’t write her mom without including links such as these.  Yet I digress.

Here’s a sampling of what the Fellow Travelers have to say about Ms. Alexandrova’s deranged ravings:

MoniqueF

We should have taken the streets a long time ago -not that we did not protest this administration but obviously nothing has come out of them. Bush is getting away with crimes, abuse of power all wrapped with such audacity that yes, considering that Congress has be so complaisant and God knows what else this administration 's October surprise(s) will be, it is time for a revolution. As long as Bush is in power our ride is not over.
Posted 12:01 AM on 09/21/2008

missjabez

I am ready and willing to "take it to the streets", particularly if the election is stolen from Obama. We Americans have tolerated enough.
Posted 10:28 PM on 09/20/2008

insanityfollows

When people don't watch the news, don't study history, etc... and gets apathetic, humanity finds itself in these pinches. People think it can't happen now or here. It can. Lipstick on a pig and all of that. When you really start looking at it it's a little scary.
Posted 09:29 PM on 09/20/2008

It’s never been more appropriate to say this:  “You can’t make this stuff up.”  Simply appalling.  I'm as serious as the proverbial heart attack when I say this:  Ms. Alexandrova is in need of an intervention.  "Normal" people, however you define the term, don't think like this... let alone make their rantings and ravings public in such an embarrassing manner.  One hopes that her "significant other" (I don't know, nor do I care, about her personal relationship status), her parents, or a concerned friend steps up and gets her the professional help she needs.  Paranoid schizophrenia, aside from being an ugly thing to observe, is dangerous to the person so afflicted and to those around them.  The woman needs help.

―:☺:―

I’ve been remiss in not telling ya that SN2 has resumed posting on his blog after a two-weeks-shy-of-a-year hiatus.  It’s good to see him back. 

So.  Can the world possibly stand three Pennington men blogging?  Which, of course, is a rhetorical question if there ever was one.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack: Shine On!

Pink Floyd, with advice to geezers who MIGHT be feelin' their age today:

Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
 
Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
You were caught on the crossfire of childhood and stardom,
blown on the steel breeze.
Come on you target for faraway laughter,
come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!
 
You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
 
Well you wore out your welcome with random precision,
rode on the steel breeze.
Come on you raver, you see'er of visions,
come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine! 

Well, OK.  I shall.  I said (the post below) that I was feelin' rather old today but that was just a fleeting moment in time coz we're much better as we type.  That said, the "advice" above is well-taken.

In other news... I mentioned last evening the heat and humidity had returned to this neck o' the woods.  That remains true today:

The humidity hereabouts is in the mid-80s but life on the verandah is quite bearable, given that SN1 has a couple o' ceiling fans on the porch, which I set to "tornado" speed before launching Happy Hour.  It's all good, Gentle Reader.

Tuesday

One pays a heavy price, at my age, for staying up all night and half-way into the following day. And what might that price be, Buck? Tell us! Tell us! (says the imaginary audience in my head) OK, since you asked… Fee Number One: You must repeat the process, i.e., you stay up all night, sleep most of the following day and stay awake into the wee hours again. Fee Number Two: Persistent lethargy on the day following your excess. And that was the story yesterday. I was up until 0500 Monday morning, slept until around 1100 and went through the rest of yesterday listing to port about six degrees. I think I’m all better now. I awoke at 0900 or thereabouts this morning and felt pretty good. I will get something meaningful accomplished today. And finally…there was a time when I could (a) stay out all night getting riotously drunk (or righteously, you decide), come home, shower, change clothes and go to work and put in a credible performance or (b) pull a succession of all-nighters at work towards the end of a project and (c) feel no pain on either count, relatively speaking. Ah, nostalgia.

So, I’m listening to Radio Paradise this morning at the exact moment they met their February fund-raising goal. The goal was pretty ambitious, too, as they successfully raised $62,000.00 during the month of February. Good on ‘em. I can rest assured the current soundtrack to my life will continue unabated for a while. But that’s not what I wanted to say… After announcing the goal had been met, followed by the de rigeur thank-yous, Bill plays the following set (chronologically reversed, as indicated):

9:01 am - The Psychedelic Furs - All That Money Wants
8:55 am - Pink Floyd - Money
8:52 am - The O'Jays - For the Love of Money
8:46 am - Todd Snider - Easy Money
8:44 am - Steve Miller Band - Take the Money and Run

Cute!

I haven’t put up a song of the day recently. And that’s because I haven’t been doing much listening these last few days; it was all-hockey, all weekend. And then there was the post orgy let-down, as described above. Life will be getting back to normal now. One item on my agenda today is to bring in all the CDs currently in the car, review, and re-stock. Restocking the car with music will probably result in at least one musical re-discovery. It happens all the time, to me, at least. I’ll let ya know…

It’s the last day of February and there’s a much better than even chance I’ll have to run the air conditioning this afternoon. Our forecasted high, believe it or don’t, is 88 degrees. It’s 76 as I write and it’s decidedly warm inside El Casa Móvil de Pennington. The balmy temps are accompanied by brisk winds (23 mph steady, gusts to 30 mph) unfortunately, and that means lotsa dust, and that, in turn, means I keep the windows and roof vents closed. More’s the pity. A warm day without the freakin’ wind would be much appreciated. S’funny how I can find something to complain about, ain’t it? I definitely should keep my mouth shut, coz the WX Channel’s web page tells me it’s 19 degrees, wind chill of 6, with light snow in Ra-cha-cha at the moment. I’ll take the wind and be glad about it, thank you.