I Kinda Like The Way You Dot Your J's...

Sometimes you need to hear a pop hook so strong it simultaneously punches you in the face and puts a smile on it:



Or, if you prefer a video:



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The Forgotten Word In a Famous Phrase

The Famous Phrase: "military-industrial complex", from President Dwight Eisenhower's 1961 farewell address.

It's too bad Eisenhower dropped "congressional" from the draft of his farewell address. You can poke around the web for more specifics on why he did that, but it's easy to imagine that a desire to go out on a high note and not toss a grenade at another branch likely prompted such a choice.

In any case, today my man Glenn Greenwald chronicles a textbook case which illustrates what Eisenhower warned about.*

It didn't have to be this way.

It doesn't have to stay this way.

*Unlike many (most?) of my posts on politics, this one isn't partisan at all: there are guilty motherfuckers on both sides of the aisle.
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The Litany

This post is making the rounds today on the googlewebs, as is evident by the fact there is so much traffic I can only link to the blog and not to that specific post. You're looking for "An open letter to conservatives".

I link to this not because the guy says or thinks anything new, but because he does an absolutely herculean job of cataloging all of the right wing hot-air/hypocrisy/exaggeration/outright lies that have been repeated ad nauseum over the past few years. The bullshit that floods the airwaves, dominates the conversation, and becomes part of what some people believe. The bullshit that those who know better almost never disavow and are quick to rely on to chase their constituents to the polls when they've got nothing else to offer.

That shit might win some elections, and keep some people in power, and make some other execrable fucks a whole lot of scratch, but it is bad for the soul, corrosive, and ultimately a dead-end. Prominent conservative thinkers knew this 50 years ago. William F. Buckley and his cohorts had no problem pushing the John Birch Society nuts and the Communist-in-every-corner paranoiacs into the fringes where they belonged. This, in part, allowed the modern conservative movement to grow, thrive, and, for lack of a better word, be respectable.

It would be nice to tangle with some respectable thinkers. It would make Democrats and others on the political left think harder and work harder and, most important, produce smarter, better considered decisions to benefit all of us.

Obviously this dude is preaching to the choir, but maybe, just maybe, like former Bush speech writer David Frum did a few days ago, other conservatives will sack up and speak up.
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Newsflash: You Suck

That's right. You do. Some of you know it without me telling you why or how, but that's a topic for another day.

Today, you suck for a specific reason: You Don't Listen to Gil Scott-Heron.

I'm going to go against my better instincts and allow you to remedy this by picking up his greatest hits--The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. Some things are so important I'll act against said better instincts, dig? Oh, you say you've heard of that song, have you? Good for you, you saw that mid-'90s Nike commercial. You still suck, perhaps even moreso.

And when I suggest you "pick up" his music, let me be clear: purchase that shit. Do. Not. Steal. I only reserve this highest of accolades for artists who haven't been properly recognized. Sure, most of the money goes to a dying record company infrastructure, but when Mr. Scott-Heron has to grovel for his next record deal, he can point to sales one record higher than before. Trust me, you owe him that.

Because this world is cruel and unfair, this greatest hits remains un-remastered and kinda sounds crummy. But don't let that stop you, Norberto. Consider subjecting your ears to this sub-par sonic presentation as a form of penance for your acute failure-to-recognize. Perhaps there are other, better-sounding compilations? Perhaps, but then you'll miss out on the cover art, which should bother you even if you can't recognize that Mr. Scott-Heron, as depicted, looks like a douchebag roommate I had in my senior year of college. On behalf of that lanky fuck I apologize to you, Mr. Scott-Heron.

But I really haven't told you anything about him, have I? Ah, better he remain a mystery. Or better you read his All Music Guide biography because I am lazy. Either one works, really.

Should you remain unconvinced:



Should you still remain unconvinced, have someone call the coroner because you are dead to me.
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You're Welcome

Maybe this is old news; stuff one finds on the internet often is. But I've been scrolling through this site for over an hour and laughing my balls off. A perfect storm of internet comedy. People with no clue catalogued by someone who is mean and funny--the classic internet comedy recipe.

And then there's this, which I can't believe I hadn't heard before. I'm speechless.

[Ignore "Read More"]
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