March 12, 2008 archive

Right Wing Haiku

You know what’s missing on the Intertubes?  (well, if you read my title the cat is already out of the bag)  

Haiku written for the right wing!  

For some inexplicable reason the right has not yet embraced this literary form.  Maybe that’s because right-wingers can’t use the left half of their brains.  Or is it the right half?  OK, they generally don’t use either half.  So being a generous soul, I’m offering some haiku written from a right-wing perspective to get them started.

Peace Love and Rock’n’ Roll – Go see 127

start shill/

Hey fellow Texans and sorted Californites, want to see the Beatles of the near east? Wanna see a band that has to practice underground because the mullahs no likey a band with a full horn section? Want to see the best rock and roll out of Tehran? This might be your only chance.

Yep, I am shilling for my boy Sohrab in 127 again. They are in Texas and soon to be in Cali on tour, and I know some of you have a hankering for the rock and/or roll. Go see why we should not bomb Iran:

Texas

Mar 7 2008 11:00P

Dean’s Credit Clothing Houston, Texas

Mar 8 2008 10:00P

Super Happy Fun Land Houston, Texas

Mar 9 2008 10:00P

TBD San Antonio, Texas

Mar 11 2008 8:00P

Friend’s Bar Austin, Texas

Mar 12 2008 1:00P

Peacock Lounge Austin, Texas

Mar 13 2008 1:00P

United States Art Authority Austin, Texas

Mar 13 2008 9:00P

Habana Annex Austin, Texas

Mar 14 2008 1:00P

TBD Austin, Texas

Mar 15 2008 1:00P

The Rhisome Collective Austin, Texas

Mar 16 2008 1:00P

DMI Headquarters Austin, Texas

Mar 16 2008 1:00P

Friends of Sound Austin, Texas

Mar 18 2008 10:00P

TBD Denton, Texas

Mar 19 2008 10:00P

TBD Denton, Texas

Mar 20 2008 10:00P

TBD Forth Worth, Texas

Mar 21 2008 10:00A

TBD Dallas, Texas

Mar 22 2008 10:00P

Club Dada Dallas, Texas

Mar 23 2008 10:00P

TBD Dallas, Texas

Mar 27 2008 8:00P

vault350 Long Beach, California

Mar 28 2008 8:00P

Fat City San Francisco, California

Mar 30 2008 8:00P

Blake’s Berkely, California

Mar 31 2008 8:00P

Elbo Room San Francisco, California

Apr 2 2008 8:00P

The Fun House Seattle, Washington

Listen, you might be pleastantly surprised:

http://www.myspace.com/127band

/end shill

Right, left unite against the war

Lest we think that opposition to the war and occupation of Iraq is limited to the left in this country, consider the lineup of speakers for a March 16 Iraq Moratorium event in San Francisco:

Several of the usual suspects: Sean Penn; Cindy Sheehan; the Rev. Gregory Stewart, senior minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church; Matt Gonzalez, ex-president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and rumored vice presidential candidate on the Green Party ticket.

And one Justin Raimondo, libertarian and paleoconservative (look it up; we did) author who also runs the website Antiwar.com, where he writes things like:

Our foreign policy has put us in mortal danger, and not only because it empowers the worldwide Islamist insurgency that aims to attack the American homeland, but also because the “Iraq recession” is fast threatening to become the Iraq depression. The U.S. is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, and the $3 trillion war is going to sink us if it isn’t stopped.

It’s an interesting mix, to say the least, and helps explain how Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich could at least agree on one thing – that the invasion of Iraq was a terrible mistake, and we should bring our troops home now. (It was interesting, at the Oct. 27 regional antiwar march in Chicago, that Ron Paul’s was the only presidential campaign represented, with signs, campaign material and even an airplane flyover with a banner.)

When I posted this on another unnamed blog, some commenters pointed out that Raimondo’s politics leave a little to be desired, and that I probably wouldn’t agree with him on much besides the war.  OK, granted.  My whole point here (aside from some shameless promotion of the Moratorium) is that if antiwar sentiment in this country includes nearly two-thirds of the population, the Iraq Moratorium must be a big tent — or big umbrella, if you will — that brings together people who have the common cause of ending the war and occupation of Iraq.  That single issue unifies us.  I met a Ron Paul enthusiast at our March Iraq Moratorium vigil in Milwaukee, so it’s not just hypothetical; people are uniting to end this war.

Details on Sunday’s event, sponsored by the Iraq Moratorium-SF Bay Area, are listed in the March events on the Iraq Moratorium website .

Midnight Thought on the Arc of the Sun

Excerpted from Burning the Midnight Oil for the Arc of the Sun, in the Burning the Midnight Oil blog-within-a-blog, hosted by kos, though to the best of my knowledge he doesn’t know it.

What if They Threw an Empire, and Nobody Came?

Sometimes there is nothing more tedious than an argument over the meaning of terms. It often gets called an argument over semantics but semantics … that is meaning … is what is important arguing over.

The trivial argument that brings “arguing over semantics” into disrepute is which meanings to attach to which word. And, of course, if you want to call that an “argument over semantics” and leave the “of words” implied, be my guest … if I can work out what you are trying to say, that’s good enough.

One of those words that spark endless argument is “Empire”. Is there an American Empire? Well, like what Empire? Like the British Empire? Like the Austro-Hungarian Empire? Like the multiple Chinese Empires? Like the several Roman Empires? Like the Zulu Empire?

Whether we call it an Empire or Empire-ish or The Natural and Automatic Consequence of Being the Latest Greatest Country on the Face of the Earth … is there an alternative?

Pony Party, a fun fact

Yahoo!News link

If Eliot Spitzer resigns his governorship, David Paterson will take his place.  

If David Paterson becomes governor of New York, he will be the first african american governor for that state, as well as the first blind governor in America.  Wow.

The Morning News

The Morning News is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Fallon resigns as Mideast military chief

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

1 hour, 15 minutes ago

WASHINGTON – The Navy admiral in charge of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan announced Tuesday that he is resigning over press reports portraying him as opposed to President Bush’s Iran policy.

Adm. William J. Fallon, one of the most experienced officers in the U.S. military, said the reports were wrong but had become a distraction hampering his efforts in the Middle East. Fallon’s area of responsibility includes Iran and stretches from Central Asia across the Middle East to the Horn of Africa.

“I don’t believe there have ever been any differences about the objectives of our policy in the Central Command area of responsibility,” Fallon said, and he regretted “the simple perception that there is.” He was in Iraq when he made the statement.

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

The muses are ancient.  The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them.  Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward.  In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.

It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse.  Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets.  Others have been suggested throughout the centuries.  I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts.  And maybe there should be many more.

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

BREAKING: Obama Campaign Attacks Geraldine Ferraro Because She’s White

TPM is covering this shocking development, which has stunned white people everywhere and produced an outpouring of love and compassion for the victim, who is not going to tolerate this outrage:

Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says let’s address reality and the problems we’re facing in this world, you’re accused of being racist, so you have to shut up,” Ferraro said. “Racism works in two different directions. I really think they’re attacking me because I’m white. How’s that?

Stir of Echoes: Haunted Hearts and Healing Melodies

For over a month now, I’ve been trying to assemble a piece in tribute to Mumsie that tied together some music with some of the memories that those tunes invoked.

I’ve finally completed it, in two parts:

__________

Stir of Echoes

and

Musical Deconstruction of a Life’s Worth of Memories.
__________

Many of you “remember” Mumsie — my mother-in-law who suffered and ultimately died from Alzheimer’s Disease. The tribute I’ve been working on has been my small effort to help you all get to know her even better.

Focus On… War (March 16-22)

First, let me say that this is kj’s brainchild.  She has been talking about doing week-long collaborative projects on our blog – to focus on key issues and actions we can all take part in.

Buhdy, what about an action a week?  simple stuff… NENA, Iraq Moratorium, we’ll need two more…. a big pot with a big label on it for anyone to toss something in on their way through, or for others to stop and and form a circle around, or for others to create art or essays or, you know, just walk by and say, “Yeah, gotta do that!” and then promptly forget because their life sucks that very moment, but maybe they’ll remember next week or next month. ~ kj

I enthusiastically support the idea/experiment and have been thinking about ways to implement it within the framework of Soapblox … at least to start with.  Tonight I’m just here to throw out some ideas to start the organization efforts and facilitate whatever needs to happen behind the scenes on the blog.      

Focus On … War

This is the Center Post for War

Featured post schedule:  (all posts 9PM)

Sun 3/16 _______

Mon 3/17 _______

Tue 3/18 _______

Wed 3/19 _______

Thu 3/20 _______

Fri 3/21 _______

Sat 3/22 _______

Links to:

Action Items

Artwork

Blogroll & Resources

YouTube Gallery

IGTNT: Missing Marine Found { Updated }

I’m not one of the IGTNT Posters, that do such a Great Honor for those who have lost their lives to this Countries Failed Policies. And I doubt they’ll mind me using the initials for I bring Sad News!

Back on Febuary 21st I posted an Alert about a missing Marine, Eric Hall {that link takes you to my site}.

I started that off with this:

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