All the way with EPA

If sacrosanct Private Enterprise works so well all the time, why did it take Dwight Eisenhower's personal intervention to get the Interstate Highway System off the ground? The Free Enterprise System (a total misnomer; it's neither free nor a system - more like a patchwork) wasn't ever going to get those roads constructed. If "Free Markets" are ALWAYS so blasted successful in the realm of public transportation, why did privately-owned passenger rail go bankrupt just before the "Gub'mint" stepped in and created Amtrak? (Pennsylvania Road, for instance; it filed for bankruptcy June 21, 1970). Why did Chrysler get government bailouts in 1979 and again in 2008-2009? Why did GM also need to be rescued by taxpayers four years ago? And I seriously doubt it was the good will of America's greed-obsessed CEOs, ratther than a vigorous regulatory regime (EPA established by Nixon, 1970) coupled with decades of de-industrialization, that changed the look and smell of the skies over our big cities. http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/12/smog-photos-1970s-america

One milimeter's distance

On the one hand, you have the virulent GOP mouth-breathers: Rand Paul, who wants to obliterate bank robbers with drone technology, and Ann Coulter, the dragon lady of the Reprehensible Right. On the other, you have the Obama adminstration, which only wants to forgo reading Dzhokhtar Tsarnaev his Miranda rights, claiming a Public Safety Exception. All in all, a pretty good indication of the difference of opinion with respect to civil liberties between our nations's "tough liberals" and "apeshit-crazy extremists." There is a clear distinction to be made. If you hold your thumb one milimeter distant from your index finger, you'll perceive the aforementioned ideological chasm. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/23/ann-coulter-on-bombing-suspects-wife-she-ought-to-be-in-prison-for-wearing-a-hijab-and/

Terror, if not Terrorism

Here's a kind of terror, if not Terrorism, that few Americans seem to concern themselves with. Not making any commentary on the propriety of joining the military. Certainly not making any critique of the loss of foreign lives as a result of our military adventurism - I've come to recognize a "Non-issue," where it exists, in the minds of most of my fellow countrymen and women. But for Hell's sake, these victims are suffering - next time folks want to obsess overmuch about the deplorable bombings in Copley Square, maybe they should keep in mind what goes on, largely unreported and unpunished, in the ranks of our supposedly heroic, and very peculiar institutions. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-rape-of-petty-officer-blumer-20130214 "The Rape of Petty Officer Blumer Inside the military's culture of sex abuse, denial and cover-up" P.S: Not trying to draw a DIRECT parallel. Just had to comment in some meaningful way on this sick and sickening phenomenon.

KRUD-FM

I've listened to this exactly 12,428 times, just in the last two years. They play it pretty frequently on KRUD-FM. I do love the song. I tried, and tried, time and again, to "Be the Change." Then I got completely sick of trying to be something I ain't, stuck my head out the 1974 Ford Galaxie's (with rust all over the body) window, and jeered at a power walker all decked out in spandex as he shimmied by. Forgive me Jesus! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtzIWPeun7c Styx Fooling Yourself Lyrics Written by tommy shaw Lead vocals by tommy shaw You see the world through your cynical eyes You're a troubled young man i can tell You've got it all in the palm of your hand But your hand's wet with sweat and your head needs a rest And you're fooling yourself if you don't believe it You're kidding yourself if you don't believe it How can you be such an angry young man When your future looks quite bright to me How can there be such a sinister plan That could hide such a lamb, such a caring young man You're fooling yourself if you don't believe it You're kidding yourself if you don't believe it Get up, get back on your feet You're the one they can't beat and you know it Come on, let's see what you've got Just take your best shot and don't blow it You're fooling yourself if you don't believe it You're killing yourself if you don't believe it Get up, get back on your feet You're the one they can't beat and you know it Come on, let's see what you've got Just take your best shot and don't blow it

"What's With The Weather!?!"

"Sunday Telegraph, August 28, 1977: WEATHER MEN AT A LOSS... 'What is happening to the British weather? That seemingly innocuous question has suddenly become a major question for research. Even the meteorologists are cautiously echoing the man in the street's opinion that something distinctly odd has been affecting our climate to give us the extremes of the past two years... Many countries have experienced strange weather phenomena over the same period. Mr. Edwin P. Weigel of the United States Weather Bureau in Washington told me: - We don't know what's hit us. California and other western states have had two years of drought which have smashed all-time records. Water is being rationed in some parts... There are several shades of opinion on how ominous it all is and there is only a very shaky consensus on how unusual such extremities really are...' The official attitude, however, was still guarded. Experts who knew the real truth were anxious not to provoke mass panic. Kevin Miles of the Meteorological Office's 40-strong climatic research team at Bracknell, Berkshire, was quoted in this Sunday Telegraph article as saying: 'We must agree that what we have been experiencing is unusual. Reports from all over the world have confirmed our own picture of increased variability. But we have learned not to over-react to what might be seen as odd in several small parts of the globe.'" (P. 103) http://www.amazon.com/Alternative-003-3-Leslie-Watkins/dp/0380446774/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1366591604&sr=8-3-fkmr0&keywords=alternative+three+leslie+watkins+1978

Clear as an Azure Sky but Questions Remain

IT would seem some clarification is in order after things I've written recently. The hyper-militarization of American police agencies, coupled with a draconian intensification of statutory law, makes me uneasy. My sense of the current attitude prevailing toward the present US civil liberties climate, is this: "Hey, go ahead and take away our freedom; we weren't really using it much, anyway." And so you wouldn't have found me on the streets of Watertown, cheerleading and applauding the SWAT teams that took the young man into custody. He's still supposed to receive the presumption of innocence, BTW; yet all the media sources I saw/heard yesterday instantly jumped on the opportunity to shout: "They got him - we're safe now!" I really doubt the entire Boston Metropolitan Area needed to be locked down during the manhunt; that seems grossly disproportionate to the actual threat. I also dread that eventuality becoming a commonplace and shiver a little when I imagine that strategy migrating from The Coast to our Heartland. Actually, Chicago was locked down a couple years ago in anticipation of peaceful protests when the NATO Summit met there. I am enough of a realist to recognize it's just a matter of time before even a relative backwater like Madison gets equal treatment. Yet it wouldn't do not to add: I'm appalled, and yes, angered by the bombing at the Boston Marathon. No doubt I haven't done enough to mourn the loss of three innocent lives, and the wounding of 180. But I can't help but wonder why a couple of young Chechen brothers, one of whom, anyway, whose friends and acquaintances described as an affable, low-key individual, would target such an innocuous event. The typical "terrorist profile" all too often just doesn't hold water these days and many times it seems the FBI has gone far out of their way to entrap an unsophisticated young person. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/20/boston-marathon-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-mirnada-rights

Downtown Madison, and its Bright White Exurbs too

I'm on a roll tonight, had multiple cups of caffeinated bliss earlier. So here's an extension of an earlier theme, re-christened: "Downtown Madison, and its Bright White Exurbs too:" A free-speech violating "anti-panhandling ordinance" in effect that covers all of State Street and the Capitol Square. A formerly liberal mayor who proposes buying Madtown's homeless a bunch of one-way bus tickets to anywhere else. A popular frat-boy pastime: kicking and yelling at people sleeping on cardboard boxes just after bartime. And thousands of understandably insecure college students, mostly looking over their shoulders with a worried expression, lest they should commit the slightest transgression against the new National Security Paradise we all inhabit. Or, to end up right where we started from, anticipating someone may be lurking in an alley or bus shelter, with sinister thoughts of stealing your I-Phone. Other than that, a pretty civil place. And of course, the homeless aren't even left in peace when they occupy our frozen tundra county parks, miles from the nearest bus stop, or the privately-owned cornfield of a good man, threatened with $17,000 in fines merely for trying to help out people in need. Then there are those upstanding, respectable multitudes of well-scrubbed, law-abiding, "grown-up" working stiffs, who know better than before that if you "work hard and play by the rules," all will be well. That's what Bill Clinton told us. But keep in mind: All the Rules. All the Time. Never stretch the slightest little regulation, and if so, be prepared to suffer the gravest consequences. In your scared little mind, at least. After all, if you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about. Not even The PATRIOT Act. You, unlike the Congress who passed it, actually read it; you bend over backwards daily to abide by its terms. When you get out there in the Upscale World, make damn certain you limit your socio-political agitation to that which receives total judicial approval, and will, as far as can be presently envisaged, never be legally proscribed. Portray yourself as the Great Humanitarian during your Sunday prayers or nightly Yoga session. They don't break down your door in the middle of the night for THAT kind of escapist engagement. Hesitate not to call the Police at the slightest hint economic discord may be breaking bottles in a street near you, Oh Ye of the formerly anti-authoritarian persuasion. Ms. Officer Friendly is now YOUR friend, since you've come to comprehend that your own personal safety is the ultimate measure of what creates a livable, breathable Culture World. Snug as a bug in a gated community's Rug, you feel ecstatic, euphoric. Mr. Assistant District Attorney is no longer "The Enemy," but rather, "On The Other Side." That is, if truth be told, YOUR side. And what could be more natural, now that you've used his High Office as a political weapon against those of just a tad lower Monetary or Academic Class than you conveniently find yourself these days. This is directed at Everyone in particular and No one in General. Goodbye forever, Mifflin Street Block Party; I loved you.

"Yusef! Yusef!" "Central Park! Central Park!"

I was in New York City on Hitler's 100th birthday, April 20, 1989. I woke up, and it was like at least 50% of white New York had become one vast electronic-media directed lynch mob. This is why the presumption of innocence is so vital to maintaining the last vestiges of our phony democracy. http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/centralparkfive/ Then, as if in response that August: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Yusef_Hawkins

Hasta la Vista Hotmail

Hotmail is no more, and all the stuff I wrote and all the pictures I took and a whole lot more besides I had stored "there" are now down the memory hole without a trace. So long Hotmail. RIP. Thanks for all the free clicks.

Zimmerman's Warning

Oh sure, I like to jest. But there ARE witches, the Zimmerman Telegram was genuine, and the Lord of Hosts is REAL, right down to his generous application of fire and brimstone. HE is every bit as authentic as Santa Claus, The Boogeyman and Bigfoot. Fear God, follow God and remember Tituba!

Fewer Wars, More Peter Sellers

I LOVE Boston. Some people I know grew up there, and had unhappy childhoods. I didn't, and both my visits were superb. And MEMORABLE. But I must add... and I feel bad about having to say it... On the way to the library I was wondering... "Well, what new repressive measures will be implemented as a result of these deplorable acts?" Most of us are inclined to remember April 1995 and September 2001 - how could we forget? Especially the (apparently) permanent negative impact of those events. "Dude, where's my Bill of Rights?" Let us travel no further in the wrong direction. We need more democracy, not less. Fewer wars, and more Peter Sellers movies. (I'd say "No War," but in America the very idea is preposterous). We need more Linus Paulings, Fannie Lou Hamers, Benjamin Spocks, Cindy Sheehans and Medea Benjamins. No more Lyndon Johnsons, Hillary Clintons, Richard Nixons, Ronald Reagans and Barack Obamas. Yes, I now favor impeaching the incumbent, but not for the same reasons the Right Wing Nuts do. Mr. Obama has become a fully naturalized war criminal. I regret, but do not disown, this digression. But I am sorry anyway.

Arsewipe

Toilet paper, napkin and paper towel pilferage - the last frontier of the essentially risk-free five-finger discount. Just DO IT.

Murk David Chumpman

"Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I'll be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first—rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me." John Lennon, 1966 Here's a look back in anger, for me. Read it in two nights, up till dawn both times. A somewhat amateurish effort, but it brought back a day I'd never forgot anyway. And I learned a few choice facts I didn't before. http://books.google.com/books?id=7UKCnjSx5dAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=dec+8+1980+the+day+john+lennon+dies+google+books&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MQ9rUcr3JOLh4APeiYCAAg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Fearsome Freitag; I would like this but I hate it. I LOVE it.

Today is a haughty GRIM and DIM, with much GLOOM and DOOM. A floundered Fiend's reeking Redoubt, made impossible by Din and Sin. In Cheapskate Marshes, our Laddy of the mean and lean, Ultra-Gothic Wisconsin. I rode a reedy ride out to Goodland County Part; everythang was so untoward it was as a trip to Alucard's Castle of the High Carpathians. Then I stooped into my favorite Jesus Store, but it was closed for the up-and-coming Apo-Calypso Festival. So allow me to share with all and sundry my Motto in the Grotto: Welcome to the Sourpuss Memorial Library Theme Park, home to the Super-Dooper-Long-Faced Lesbian Thespian. Or, as Judas Priest would have it, "Any Port-a-Potty in a Shitstorm!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e8TGVMYfxk

Tax the rich MORE, just like Ike did

It's that time of year again, so I just want to say.... I oppose the "Tea Party's" mindless, destructive, unconditional opposition to the idea of paying one's fair share - and yes, that includes paying one's taxes. This is particularly true for the rich, who should actually pay far MORE taxes than they have been, especially since the bad old days of the Reagan administration. In terms of practice, how many adherents to the Tea Party's extreme "Free Market" ideology drive exclusively on their own private highways? Or walk exclusively on their own private sidewalks? Among city-dwelling Tea Partiers, how many exclusively use their own private sewage treatment facilities? Fanatical dedication to a hypothetical utopia based on an economic model of near-total private enterprise just isn't a realistic option in an age of complex, "advanced" societies. And the US is (at least arguably) an "advanced" society. Despite all the exagerrated "individualistic" rhetoric that gets thrown around at Tea Party rallies, we ultimately do depend on one another in many ways. An old-school Republican like Dwight Eisenhower would be appalled by the idea that the rich should pay even less, as the Tea Party's filthy-rich benefactors would prefer. Under Ike, top marginal income tax rates in the USA were above ninety percent. Yes, the tax code should be made more fair, more progressive. Let's tax the rich till it hurts them right in their bloated offshore accounts.