The AFL-CIO rift: what does it mean?

All Worked Up and Wondering Why - New York Times. I think anything to shake up the status quo is probably a good thing for the labor movement, which has been in a tailspin for some time.

Random Ten, Saturday Edition

Since I was on the road criss-crossing Pennsylvania yesterday, I couldn't post my Friday random ten list. Here goes:

Honky Tonk Blues - Hank Williams

Town Cryer - Elvis Costello

Eno sagrado en vigo (Cantigas de Amigo) - Sinfonye

In the Ghetto - Mac Davis

First Episode at Hienton - Elton John

Michael, Andrew and James - Mimi & Richard Farina

Peaceful Easy Feeling - The Eagles

Get Off My Cloud - Rolling Stones

Sometimes a Fantasy - Billy Joel

The Circle Game - Joni Mitchell

Steps towards a new philosophy of life

1. Break the law at least once per day. Violate the inane or senseless rules in acts of creative disobedience, in ways that do no harm to others. The more you do this, the more self reliant you will become. "To live outside the law, you must be honest." (Bob Dylan)
2. Piss somebody off at least once per day, someone who deserves it, and do it with a smile, in such a manner as to encourage that person to question the stultifying habits they unthinkingly pursue, or at least to make them a smidgen more miserable for hating you and your kind, thus confirming their sadly wanting social identity wallowing in thoughtless and casual bravado. Become the person nagging inside their otherwise forgettable dreams. Run interference into the predictability of habitual living. Cf. Socrates.
3. Converse with people outside your comfort zone each day. This means people of varying skin shades, belief systems, social classes, nationalities, ages, genders, persuasions.
4. Catch yourself doing something incredibly stupid, and then laugh at yourself for it, preferably in the company of others. The stupid part shouldn't be difficult at all. Recognize that you will always do stupid things, and the stupidest people of all are those who think they can reform themselves out of this species-level attribute.
5. Make room for the contradiction, the paradox, the oxymoron. You don't always need to speak in complete sentences. The daylight, the evening, a series of fragments.

Genocide is news

Ask the TV networks why they aren't covering crimes against humanity such as the genocide in Darfur: Be A Witness.

friday random ten - 7/22/05

Casino Boogie - Rolling Stones

It Ain't Me, Babe [Live] - Bob Dylan

Somewhere in the Night - Barry Manilow

Battle Hymn of the Republic - Joan Baez

When the Power Goes Out - Smog

Debussy: Images 2_2 Et la lune descend sure le temple qui fut - Pascal Roge

Into Temptation - Crowded House

Never Again - Richard and Linda Thompson

Drunkard's Special - Coley Jones

John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man - The Carter Family

Condoleeza Rice Angry About Sudanese Treatment of Her Aides

The New York Times

ABU SHOUK, Sudan, July 21 - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's official visit with President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan turned angry today after Sudanese security officers pushed and shoved members of her delegation and the news media as they tried to enter the meeting site at the presidential palace.

Maybe this will prompt Rice to "demand an official apology" for the state sanctioned crimes in Darfur. I doubt it. This little episode certainly demonstrates the type of people in control in Sudan.

Doublespeak Headline of the Day

Am I missing something? This report from Forbes.com about the health of our nation's children carries the headline Health of America's Kids Continues to Improve. Sounds pretty happy and healthy, no? Well read a few paragraphs down into the article, and then decide if Forbes.com has lost their head somewhere inside their back pocket (near the wallet).

Iraqis are worse off now, resident says

A professor for the University of Baghdad spoke recently in San Diego. In her words, "It's hell."

Frank Rich on Rove Stink

Follow the Uranium says Frank Rich in a well wrought perspective piece in the NY Times.

"Here" by Grace Paley

Nice Grace Paley poem about old age in The Massachusetts Review - Vol. 40 No. 4.

Usury update

Since the bankruptcy bill passed earlier this year, I read the letters from my credit card companies with alacrity, to uncover how draconian their agreements have become. Today's usury update features a latter from Citi: "these charges are imposed in connection with your account." (Love that use of the passive voice.) Purchase rate up to 18.24, Cash advance up to 21.24, and importantly, if you default, your APR "may increase up to 23.990% plus the Prime Rate." Which currently would hike the penalized APR to 30.230% !! Houston, we've topped 30 percent....

What constitutes default? Failing to pay by the due date the Minimum Amount Due, for one. Also filing for bankruptcy or bouncing a check. Late fees are rising too. If you balances is under $100 bucks, they'll charge you $15.00. (Do the math). From $100 to $1000 the late fee is $29, and over a thousand it's $39. And the new agreement imposes binding arbitration, which waives the right to class action suits going to court, and trial by jury.

That Lee Greenwood song just popped in my head..."proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free..."

Misc. sucky band names

Everybody these days is in a band it seems or is in the process of forming a band. Coming up with a novel band name can be tough going. Back in 1998, I formulated a list of band names for the identity-challenged and have decided to repost an edited and expanded list to this blog. I'm sure some of these have been used already. Should you opt to take one of these names, give me some credit in your CD liner notes or send money. In fact, whether you take a name or not, send money anyway.

Here goes: The Heathen, The Infidels, The True Believers, The Mannikans, The Boogie Monsters, The Electric Squids, The Restless Androids, The Second Coming, The Pookas, Shmuckazoid, Schmoe Pack, The Body Slammers, The Horse Thieves, The Throats, A Quinn Martin Production, Uncertainty Principle, The Negative Square Roots, The Lacksadaisicals, The New Neons, Fast Food Junkies, Counting Money, The Pencil Pushers, The Clunks, The Stiffs,
Mumble, Flavor 58, The Sneakers, The Mellotrons, The Second Place Finishers, The Honorable Mentions, The Almost Famous, The Really Likeable Guys, The Chattering Rhesus Monkeys, The Tree Stumps, The Popes, Active Noise Control, The Ripening Glands, The Awful Suckmonsters, Herbal Remedy, The Newts, Tribulation Fist, The Troop Supporters, The Pump Handles, The Fat Morons, The Moby Dicks, The Hominids.

What makes for a good band name? I don't think using one's own name generally makes a lot of sense. The country is littered with mediocre acts like "The Don Washington Band". And most people could never get away using their real names in such contexts: "The Maury Lefkovitz Singers" or "The Alexander Gzzetfeldtgunsterich Group". So if you can't use the real name, what identity do you mask yourself with? Something humorous, punny, clever, ironic, catchy, allusive, cryptic? I'd like to hear your best and worst band names, preferably of actual groups....

turk's head review

Friday random ten

Baltimore - Randy Newman

Souvenir - Paul McCartney

Staring at the Sun - U2

Rio Grande - Brian Wilson

Invitations to the Blues - Tom Waits

Gone From This Place - John Lennon

The Hangman and the Papist - The Strawbs

Are You Tired of Me Darling - Nanci Griffith

Hold On - John Lennon

We Can Stop the Hurtin - Chicago

Add this to my Christmas list...

The Penguin Classics Library Complete Collection, a steal for only $8000.... !

War Made Easy

Norman Solomon's new book War Made Easy covers how wars get promoted and spun by American presidents. You can read a sample chapter (pdf) for free.

New Sappho

The Times Literary Supplement publishes translations of newly discovered poem by Sappho on growing older.

Ricky Gervais... Obviously.

Don't miss these Ricky Gervais clips from BBC's Live8 coverage.

Ricky Gervais update

The Observer Magazine interviews The Office star Ricky Gervais, whose new series Extras (co-written w/ Stephen Merchant) starts on BBC2 this month.

Friday Random Ten 7/8/05

from my iTunes list...

All You Need is Love - The Beatles
Never is Enough - Barenaked Ladies
Mama Liked the Roses - Elvis Presley
The Wind and the Wheel - Nanci Griffith
Living Without You - Randy Newman
The Swiss Maid - Del Shannon
That'll Be the Day - John Lennon
Nowhere Man - Paul Westerberg
Here, There and Everywhere - The Beatles
Stolen Car - Beth Orton

Recording Your Podcast in Garageband

Apple support has a nice primer on recording your podcast in garageband.

I Want my MTV Live8 coverage

Kudos to MTV for their wonderful coverage of the Live8 concerts yesterday. I particularly loved the editing. You know, when Stevie Wonder was playing that emotional peace ballad on the electric piano, singing with soulful passion as only Stevie can do, the crowd silenced, drinking in the special moment... really didn't need to see the rest of the song, so I'm really glad they cut away to the live shot of the twentysomething hosts with microphones off stage. The commentators really helped to give context to the concert. It really helped to be told how great Stevie Wonder was. I think I preferred it to actually seeing and hearing the artist perform his song in its entirety. It was a special moment, and I'll never forget it. Yes, each and every MTV head was so informative. I also particularly thought it was great how they stuck with Pink Floyd through part of Money, most of Wish You Were Here, and significant portions of Comfortably Numb...almost all the way through that is. You know the part in Comfortably Numb where one of the greatest and saddest guitar solos in the history of classic rock comes in? That's where they cut to some more talking heads. Perfect timing. Impeccable. Who needed to see Gilmour play a heartfelt solo to a crowd of half a million in the lit up London night? That would have been too much for anyone to handle, I'm sure. It was much better, so much better, to have the moment explained and contextualized for me by the smart and sassy announcers, who it must be admitted, were stylin' in such a way that I really wanted to hoof it over to my local shopping mall so I could buy apparel to make me look just like them. It was so cool, the MTV coverage. How they'd cut away before the end of every song. It was just like being at the shows. I felt virtually a part of a worldwide event. In fact, I felt like I had been split into nine pieces, carved and parsed like an Internet transmission -- so many disparate packets of infotainment -- and scattered among the nodes, my heart carved, arriving in London to catch some of Mariah, my feet dancing for 30 seconds to Green Day in Berlin, my stomach churning with Velvet Revolver in Philly, all at once, like a 21st century schizoid man. You couldn't top this coverage if you tried. More proof that MTV hasn't lost its touch. MTV really has its finger on the pulse of pop music. Man, I was impressed. Wow. I'm in heaven. Like totally, virtually breathless.

Behind the Virgin

BBC NEWS reports on the discovery of a drawing behind da Vinci's Virgin of the Rocks painting. Click the "Enlarge Image" link to see the sketch, found via infra-red.

Supreme Court Action Plan

Bye bye, Sandy. Won't miss you a bit. Time to gear up for a fight: Daily Kos: Supreme Court: What You Can Do RIGHT NOW