The Owl's Nest

Son of Even More Band Names

2009-03-14T08:18:00.000-07:00

Still need a name for your band? Try these:

Full Frontal Limbaughtomy

Lepracauhn Bill-O

Cure For What Ailes Ya Rupert

Bleached Blonde Factory

Trained African Hornets

12 Angry Marketing Geniuses

Communist Martyrs High School Marching Band

Accordion Violence

From Nothing to Luxury

Gratuitous

Gratuitous Knockout Gas

Approved Violence

Municipal Trombones

Reliably Bad Memory

Decaffeinated Coffee Tables

Afraid of Widths

Akron Needs Tires

Dick Cheney Hunting School

Shatnerisfaction

The Grim Narrators

Discount Knockout Gas

Oatbran Psychosis

Let's Run for Mayor!

Wooden Acting School

Producing Quinn Martin

Absinthe Ballot

Third Person Bob

Woody Costanza

Newman's Eyes

The Hannity Defense

One Hour Martin

Penguin Insurgency

What Do You Want For Free?

Hot Air Enthusiast Club

The Clean Cut Hagmans

Police Donuts

Mal O'Propism

Oxy-Limbaugh

Lunesta Death Moth

Esoteric Jihad

BIFF! (A WHAM! tribute band)

Wanker Justice

What A Long Hilarious Memorable Explosive Creative Autumnal Partially Air Conditioned Strange Trip It's Been!

2008-09-29T08:10:00.000-07:00

Welcome one and all to a LONG post involving some recent travel, namely to upstate NY by way of Greyhound!

Those who know me well are very familiar with my utter disgust at what air travel has turned into these days, between the invasive security, out of control fees, dodgy service and very UNCOMFORTABLE planes. But undaunted, I decided to try a method of travel that I used to love the commercials for as a kid (Continental Trailways, Greyhound etc). For the most part, Greyhound seems to have lived up to that, certainly one of the last refuges from Big Brother. (Amtrak up until recently was that too),

One thing's for sure, this Owl BADLY needed a vacation, between the craziness of work and just feeling psychologically and creatively drained (hence, at least one reason for very sparse posting of late) and preoccupation with other matters and pursuits. SO, on Sept 20, 2008, yours truly carrying a suitcase, a carry-on bag (loaded with reading material, MP3 player and travel pillow/blanket) and bass guitar in heavy duty flight case boarded a Greyhound in Atlanta headed for Albany NY where I would be met by former musical compatriot/long-time friend Tony Scotto to be whisked away to a cozy little burg in the Catskill Mountains known as Gilboa NY located in Schoharie County, about 60 miles SW of Albany NY, population approximately 1200.

After an hour delay, we were finally on the road, winding through scenic North GA, then SC (stopping twice) and the first actual layover in Charlotte NC. I must say, I very much enjoyed the bucolic and distinctly Southern scenery of these states immensely.

As the sun set, then came another layover in Beautiful Downtown Richmond VA, looking all the more like someone stole part of New Joizey and transplanted it there! After re-boarding, I finally settled in for the night after taking 2 Tylenol PM's with Benadryl (went out like a light pretty quick).

A couple tidbits of Greyhound travel wisdom I'll impart to you:

Tylenol PM or anything with Benadryl in it will enable you to sleep much easier
Greyhound seats are far more comfortable than plane seats!
Minimize cell phone use on board
Bring plenty of books and/or music to amuse yourself, it takes longer than flying. In my case it was on the player:

Jonas Hellborg/Shawn Lane/V Sevalgenesh: Good People In Times of Evil

Santana: Borboletta

Duke Ellington: Ellington Uptown

Back Door: Back Door

Crime Jazz: Music In The First Degree (Various Artists)

Some Reading

Ian Shoales Perfect World - Ian Shoales (aka Merle Kessler) - HILARIOUS!

Conservatives Without A Conscience: John Dean

Most Greyhound terminals have CNN piped in so you can at least somewhat keep informed on world events
Road/Rest Stop food ain't always the greatest so choose carefully, pack your own if possible

Bring a small pillow and blanket for long trips and even a lower lumbar cushion, your back will thank you.
Allow for occasional delays, you are after all traveling by road, not air.
Budget well with extra.
Drink lots of water, use gum and/or mouthwash in consideration of your fellow passengers
Using the facilities on a moving bus is NOT as easy as it might look
Enjoy the scenery you would miss with flying, well save for most of New Joizey, Philly and Delaware.

Woke back up and we were about to hit the border of 'Joizey, oil refineries and all. After what seemed like an eternity through Paramus, I could make out the Manhattan skyline through the oil-refinery induced smog. We finally hit The Lincoln Tunnel straight into the Port Authority terminal (right near Madison Square Garden). Made it with 20 minutes to spare before my connecting bus to Albany would leave. And let me tell you, the PA terminal is NOT easy to navigate! By some miracle of divine intervention, I found my gate and we were off, AGAIN to brave the oil-refinery strewn vastness of 'Joizey by way of Route 17. One other NJ quirk of note, this is the ONLY place I've ever seen that names highway rest areas after famous people (there's even a President Grover Cleveland Rest Area, who knew?). And where else would ou see a billboard advertising" TOXIC AVENGER - THE MUSICAL"? (I'm NOT making this up!) http://site.thetoxicavengermusical.com/blog/2008/09/03/toxic-avenger-musical-cast/

Before too long, a beautiful mountainous vestige came into view, and much to this Owl's relief it was THE NEW YORK STATE BORDER!!!! From that point, no more shopping malls or oil refineries, just beautiful country scenery as far as the eye could see. The New York Thruway (Route 87) is indeed a beautiful drive!

And wouldn't you know it, I arrive in Albany 20 minutes early! Meanwhile, poor Tony got stuck in traffic about an hour away (one of those large riding mowers they cut grass with along the highways flipped over). Eventually he made it, we threw everything into his Toyota pickup and off we sped for the mountains, stopping along the way to grab some groceries for the week.

I couldn't help but grab a few random road shots of upstate NY's scenic elegance:

Before long we were at The Cabin!

The first 2 days were pretty much don't do a whole lot of anything days, as a vacation should be! The weather, high 60's during the day and just beautiful with high 40's at night (best sleeping weather ever). On two nights, we did have to light the wood stove to warm the cabin. And believe me, this stove does its job very well, a little too well sometimes (necessitating opening 3 windows and turning on the ceiling fan to balance it out).

I did however get to watch Tony practice his impeccable marksmanship with a high-tech bow and arrow. And I thought this kind of stuff only happened in cartoons, but he actually managed to literally split an arrow in 2 with another shot!

During the course fo the week, the lake area was under the grip of a Red Menace, that is, The Red Squirrel Menace. It wasn't unusual for Tony, with his finely attuned ears to pick out the distinct raspy chirping of Red Squirrels, and before I could bat an eyelid, he's grabbing a .22 hunting rifle (with a serious scope on top) and picking off one or two at a time with sniper like stealth and precision. Why pick off Red Squirrels? Very simple THEY'RE PUNKS I TELL YA, PUNKS!! These destructive rodents literally chew their way into people's houses through the wood and cause lots of structural and property damage (not to mention stealing food). Not only that, these vermin harass and beat up on harmless Grey Squirrels who are good to have around. WORTHLESS RED BUSHY TAILED PUNKS!!!!

However, come Wednesday, the pace picked up a bit

That evening, Tony and I decided to grab a pint at Clark's, a little pub/diner that has the most resolutely unhealth but incredibly delicious breakfast you could ever want! It was here that among other things, I hung out with one of the local women who liked the old KOLCHAK: The Night Stalker TV series as much as I did, imagine that! We even watched an episode and laughed our heads off (it was the one with the zombie attacking gangsters). To cap it off, a VERY intoxicated, but very friendly blonde made me promise to send her a GA postcard when I got back home. Samantha, our hilarious bartender (who also has a thing for film making, even producing a documentary about Gilboa, and consequently being hit upon by said film's narrator until her dad scared the blowhard off, he was already married fer cryin' out loud!) kept us laughing all night.

And no, you're not imagining things, that stuffed rooster really is mounted sideways!

Twice within the week, I got to have venison (deer meat) in burger form, and let me tell ya, when it's prepared properly and smoked with apple wood, it is positively the TASTIEST meat you'll ever have, plus it's actually far healthier than red meat owing to it's amazing leanness.

On Thursday, a lot of shooting took place. As it got past lunchtime, Tony and I were having a conversation somehow pertaining to useless advice books on "making it in the music biz". Well, before long he pulled a few such volumes from his bookshelf (like "The Platinum Rainbow", "Sound Advice", The Complete Handbook of Songwriting" and others), and we both contemplated what possible uses there could be for said books. Next thing you know, I'm pulling out the 'ol camcorder and we subject them to a number of grueling tests like cleaning kitchen stains, withstanding assaults from a vampire stake (real big problem in the Catskills), a hunting knife and yes, even Tony's high-tech bow and arrow (cue up Paul McCartney song here) with book attached to a fake target deer. We even "frisbeed" one and used another for a wheel chock.

However, the real fun came as we realized that a short improvised film was coming together (we considered it the kickoff of the One-Day Film Club, where the object is to shoot a film in just one day). Another mysterious entity took on a life of its own, The Gilboa Institute for Hillbilly Research. Before you could bat an eyelid, Tony is gathering up an assortment of hunting rifles and 2 pistols (.22 Ruger and a Smith & Wesson .41 Magnum), ammo and hearing protection. About 10 minutes down the road, we arrive at the The Gilboa Institute for Hillbilly Research Testing/Firing Range (actually a state forest). After locating a suitably tall log (how convenient) and setting it upright, the real fun began. Setting each book on the end (with just enough "splinters" to hold it in place), they were no match for the vast weaponry (both at close range AND a couple distant sniper shots with a .308 rifle).

After filming the closing comments, yours truly got to fire off the Ruger .22 (6 out of 10 rounds hit the black area of the target board we bought along in addition) and the real treat, the .41 Magnum, and yes, I re-enacted a famous scene from a Clint Eastwood "Dirty Harry" flick. My target was a can, and I managed to nail that 2 out 3 shots. One thing with the Magnum, it has more kick than you see in the movies and it's louder than hell!

Feelin' lucky, PUNK?????

That night the BBQ once again got a good workout as we laughed and discussed ideas for the film. What we decided was for us both to edit and piece together our own versions and get 2 unique perspectives so to speak.

On Friday, the beautiful weather took a turn for the cold and rainiy, so it was an indoor day perfect for some creative activity at the Funkyard Dog recording studio. Having bought one of my 5-string basses (a Schecter), I laid down 3 short completely improvised solo bass pieces, which turned out just beautifully due to Tony's ace engineering and agility with Apple Logic Pro recording software (which in my mind stomps all over Pro-Tools for user-friednliness and efficiency). Tony over the course fo the week also played me some brand new material he's been writing (and re-writing) for his second CD, for now to be titled "St. Antler's Day", with a loose theme incorporating a lot of local stories, characters and cultural quirks.

Dinner that night was with a MAJOR Italian flair as only Tony could do. Simmering red peppers, hot suasage, onions, olive oil and minced garlic for several hours yielded a bountiful feast enjoyed by us, Tony's frined Ellla and her daughter Veronica, however, "Diamond", Ella's dog couldn't partake (canines don't do very well with spicy food).

And alas, it was Saturday and time to head back home. Let me tell ya folks, getting back home to Atlanta was quite an adventure unto itself.

Tony drove me back to Albany, along the way we stopped off for a resolutely unhealthy (but VERY delicious breakfast) in Wyndham NY, another very beautiful locale. We arrived in plenty of time to hang out until my Greyhound arrived. It did, about an hour late!!

Despite that, the sailing was smooth, until somewhere in 'Joizey, we hit bad traffic snarls. Finally pulled into NYC's Port Authority terminal and my connecting coach had been long gone for a half hour--GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! This necessitated biting the bullet for $15 to get my tickets changed and waiting 2 hours for the next one. The woman behind the counter busted me up though, I could've sworn she said, "Just one human travelling?". We looked at each other and just busted up laughing! Much needed after that first missed connection. And seeing a fellow passenger who bore a strange resemblance to MSNBC's Keith Olbermann provided some mild amusement as well (wasn't him though, DANG!)

About 7:30 pm we're rolling out the Lincoln Tunnel and into 'Joizey once again (this is the only road trip I've ever taken where I crossed New Joizey twice in the same day, both ways!). So far so good and on schedule to make a connection in Raleigh NC (then going through Fayetteville, Augusta GA and finally home a different route. Somewhere between a late night stop in Baltimore MD and Beautiful Downtown Richmond VA, the coach;s AC unit bit the dust! Our driver radioed ahead for a new coach with functional AC. Finally pulling into Richmond about 2 am, I managed to summon up enough consciousness to watch some CNN and catch up with some current events and news.

About 3am, with a new coach, we're rolling again. But not even 5 miles out, the danged AC unit bites the dust again, turning our AC-ed coach into Hell On Wheels (in terms of temperature). Our quick-thinking driver pulls over, immediately opens the roof hatches, and after a brief poll of us passengers, decides to loop back to Richmond to get another coach, that hopefully has AC. About a half hour or so later, we pull out of Richmond again and wouldn't you know it, THE BLOODY THING ACTUALLY WORKS!! Imagine that! I finally managed to get a small amount of snooze time (probably just shy of 3 hours).

Finally make it into Raleigh NC (pretty nice scenery along the way, even when it's grey and drizzly). Completely missed my connnection AGAIN!! But wouldn't you know it, the driver being the good hearted soul he is, let me stay onboard to Charlotte NC, where I could change to an Atlanta bound bus and they would honor the ticket. So far so good.

At Charlotte I finally managed to grab something resembling a decent meal with a good hour or so to stretch out. Finally line up for the last leg of the trip home, and HOLY CRAP, that coach was PACKED!!

Despite that, the remainder of the trip to Atlanta went pretty smooth, made more bearable by a coupple of seatmates (one woman headed for Alabama, the other, a trucker bound for Texas) that made hilarious and deadly accurate observations about topics as far flung as local wildlife and panhandlers in different cities (the trucker's descriptions of the behavior of Atlanta panhandlers were dead-on accurate! There are indeed some who don't stop at money, some even try to hit you up for your nice shoes and other items, and often ask, "Are you the po-leece?") .

Finally pull into Atlanta about 6pm, about 5 hours later than originally planned but still at a decent hour, and in one piece, luggage intact (even if a bit punchy and sleep-starved). Well, I knew I was in downtown Atlanta alright when right at the entrance to the MARTA station I'm greeted by 2 panhandlers! Thanks for the welcome guys!! And sorry, I'm not an ATM machine and I WISH I was the po-leece!

That notwithstanding, it was good to be back in sunny Atlanta, getting home to both cats giving me the royal welcome (especially "Beaumont" yapping away) and telling some of my stories to Brian and his girlfiriend Lindsey. All told, it was a GREAT trip I wouldn't trade anything in the world for. Despite the AC-incidents, it's agood bet Greyhound will see more of my business. Looking forward to the next road epic

Hoo Hooooooooo!

Friday Follies Revisited!

2008-08-12T09:05:00.000-07:00

1) Reasons That Republicans Should Be Rounded Up and Permanently Expelled From This Country # 55,237: Our esteemed Attorney General Michael "I Have A Portrait Of George Orwell In My Office Because of His Writing Only" Mukasey has announced that there will be no prosecutions of any Justice Department personnel in regards to NUMEROUS violations of hiring laws, in which none other than Alberto Gonzalez underlings Monica Goodling and others BLATANTLY violated hiring laws by asking potential Justice Department employees about their political beliefs and affiliations. Questions like "Why are you a Republican?" and "Why would you like to serve President Bush" were routine from this bunch of lying miscreants, such questions are SPECIFICALLY illegal to ask as they are by nature, discriminatory. Not only that but these are clearly symptomaatic of a hopelessly compromised, fraudulent and politicized Justice Department (dare we even call it that anymore?). And of course, ANYONE who was NOT a Republican or a die-hard Bush loyalist was either fired or passed over for employment and/or promotion. Nice going geniuses! Story HERE.

2) Meanwhile, Some 240,000 Miles From Here: Our Moon is slowly but certainly revealing itself as something far more than just some cratered ball of rock with cool craters that gives us tides and fuels legends and myths. Scientists have found that lunar soil is rich in an isotope, Helium 3 that could provide a vital piece of the puzzle in having practical nuclear fusion for power generation. Being a non-radioactive isotope, unlike deuterium or tritium (isotopes of hydrogen), Helium 3 if fused together would not only release copius amounts of energy, but the result would be able to convert directly to electrical power, eliminating the need for an inefficient steam-turbine setup. The other benefit being, that unlike fusion hydrogen isotopes and their resultant emissions (that would rapidly degrade the walls of a reactor), fusing Helium 3 would be a lot easier on the reactor's structural integrity, meaning lower operating costs. Of course, all this is theoretical at the present time, but if it could be made to work, the results would be nothing short of phenomenal. A mere 40 tons of Helium 3 could take care of the electricity needs of the US for about a year it's estimated. Stuff like this just makes me look forward to the day when we can REALLY tell the Saudi Arabian government and OPEC to go screw themselves and the camel they rode in on. More details from Live Science HERE

3) They Just Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To #555,187: In Phoenix AZ, one man and a few of his neighbors got a rather unpleasant surprise at 5:30 in the morning when his water heater shot out of the garage like a missle and landed about ablock away. Thankfully, no injuries, just some rattled nerves. Investigators first thought it was a gas explosion until they realized it was an electric water heater. Very likely a faulty pressure relief valve. Amazing how much power there is in heated water! Video HERE

4) I Wish It Was A Joke #8821: Justice denied again. A Federal court ruled against a number of families of victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks who were set to bring lawsuits against at least 4 Saudi Arabian princes, rightly taking them to task for their long-standing material/financial support of terrorists that led to the tragedy.. The grounds, these spoiled rich kid punks have sovereign immunity or something along those lines. Must be nice to be that rich and get away with anything you want, including supporting mass murderers! If I was their dad, I'd have them beheaded! Story HERE.

5) Don't Compromise, SHATNERIZE!!!: Me and video editing software and a thing for William Shatner's "singing", a VERY dangerous combination! For a long time, I pictured Shatner giving his unique treatment to the old Rolling Stones chestnut, "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" (in my mind, one of the VERY FEW times The Stones got even close to writing a decent song). Armed with not only that but a home recording studio and a bunch of instruments, I proceeded to fiendishly decontruct said ditty and "Shatnerize" it if you will. The end result can now be seen on You Tube, CLICK HERE, I DOUBLE DOG DARE YA!!!!!!!!!!!

ON THE PLAYER

Thelonious Monk: Big Band and Quartet In Concert (1964)

There'll never be another Thelonious Monk, that's for absolute certain. This has been spending a lot of time in my player of late. A rare foray for Monk into big band territory (a "smallish" big band of about 10 players including his regular quartet at the time in the 60's) with arrangements crafted by Hall Overton , Monk spins forth some of his most witty and utterly unpredictable jazz compositions with even more twists and turns, colors and shades. This was originally taped on December 30, 1963 at Symphony Hall in New York to a very appreciative audience. Highly recommended!

Happy Friday everyone!

Jail Is Like--A--Series Of Bars----------

2008-07-30T07:21:00.000-07:00

This just made my week!!!

Alaska Republican Senator Ted "The Internet, It's Like A Series Of Tubes" Stevens was formally indicted on 7/29/2008 after a years long investigation into his rather questionable realtionship to VECO, a very powerful oil industry contractor in his native Alaska. He is charged with accepting and concealing illegal gifts and services over a value of $250,000. Uh, let's call it for what it really is folks, B-R-I-B-E-R-Y!

His buddies at VECO were paying him off in goods and services (including extensive and pricey renovations on a home of his in Alaska) for legislative favors. And of course, being the true-blue die-hard Republican he is, he took it without the slightest thought that what he was doing was not only illegal but downright sleazy and a slap in the face to those citizens who voted for him. And predictably, his Republican buddies are calling him a hero, a brave man and other implausible nonsense. You guys honestly think ANYONE is going to believe that BS anymore? And I can just see the Fox News crowd saying that he;s the victim of a plot by commie liberals. Oh if ONLY the government was competent enough to pull off such a thing.

And at 84 years old and having been in Congress BEFORE Alaska became a state, you have to wonder, didn't he make enough money already on our dime? And the fact he's running for re-election to the Senate against the Democratic mayor of Anchorage in the midst of this represents delusional thinking at its most comical! He REALLY thinks he'll just cruise to an easy victory like before. Don't think so Ted, if there's any justice you'll at least be soundly defeated. And better still, sped the rest of your useless life behind bars, where you can entertain your cellmates with your utterly HILARIOUS analogies and descriptions about the Internet.

Nice try Teddy Boy!

Story HERE

The Lottery and Fictitious Parasites From Outer Space

2008-07-29T07:07:00.000-07:00

Thinking of buying a lottery ticket? WHY???

You know, you have FAR BETTER chances of being eaten by The Blob, you know, that fictitious overgrown Jello dessert from outer space than you do winning the lottery. So be smart, save your money and buy a CO2 fire extinguisher, it's the only thing that'll stop the Blob, and you never know folks, it might actually exist after all.

RIP: The Fourth Amendment September 17, 1787 - July 9, 2008

2008-07-10T06:45:00.000-07:00

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. Bill of Rights, Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution

July 9, 2008, a date that SHOULD live in infamy. It was on this date that a spineless, corrupt and utterly incompetent and cowardly Congress ONCE AGAIN, gave into the outrageous fear-mongering and unconstitutional demands of George W. Bush and the Republican Party by passing the FISA bill (which Bush WILL sign into law) expanding the powers and ability of the Executive Branch and the government in general to conduct ILLEGAL domestic spying against its own citizens under the pretense of "fighting terror" (the secret warrantless wiretapping program initiated by Bush after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Bush and his underlings DELIBERATELY broke the law by carrying this out bypassing oversight of the FISA court which must approve and give warrants for such actions), and just as odious, giving telecom companies (like Verizon, AT&T et al) immunity from civil lawsuits for cooperating in such nefarious activity (although maybe it's possible to prosecute a CRIMINAL lawsuit), the likes of which might've made the Nixon administration blush. Congress once again has proved its inherent worthlessness time and time again just mindlessly giving in to Bush's demands. Sadly, only a tiny literal handful of people in Congress (Dennis Kucinich, Henry Waxman, Ron Paul (a Republican) and Patrick Lahey) have opposed Bush and the Republicans (and fellow Democrats) on these issues. The Democrats won a major coup in the 2006 on a heavily-hyped promise of change and reform. With the exception of these 4 individuals (and maybe one or two I'm missing), the Democrats showed that they WILLINGLY LIED just to get elected, and since then, they've been nothing but enablers and willing accomplices to the criminal behavior of the Republicans in their attempts to destroy the Constitution and the very values this country was founded on. Traitors and cowards all of em! I also lost a MAJOR amount of respect for Barack Obama for his all-too-easy switching viewpoints on this bill, yes folks HE VOTED FOR IT (I'm sure in an attempt to woo Republican voters).

I dare say the one hope we have may be if a Federal or the Supreme Court strikes down this law as inherently unconstitutional (as a Federal court did with provisions of the Patriot Act),

To Congress, the Democrats AND The Republicans (save for the 4 afforementioned individuals I cited), I say that the only fate befitting you right now is either your execution (by firing squad or beheading) or your PERMANENT EXPULSION from this country altogether and I dare say that The Republicans AND the Democrats are deserving of such punishment as well for their willful and REMORSELESS assaults on the Constitution and our values as Americans. OFF WITH ALL OF YOUR HEADS!

Uhhh, What Kind of Music Is That--?

2008-06-30T11:21:00.000-07:00

June 29, 2008, armed with two five-string bass guitars (fretted and fretless), a digital camera and not much else, I met my friend and drummer Jeremy DeRamus for a recording session at Earthshaking Music in East Atlanta Village .

With the aid of our brilliant engineer Scott Trihn at the controls, Jeremy and I proceeded to explore the outer frontiers of improvised music, trying a number of different groves and styles, ranging from slow smoldering cop-show jazz/swing to edgy angular funk, psychedelic and even a spacey percussion improv from Jeremy utilizing a marimba, tablas, bongos, a 20" gong and more.

Ultimately, the aim of these guided improvisations is to sculpt music around them (in my case for a new CD to be released next year, for now entitled, The Complete Radio Free Antarctica Tapes), and for Jeremy he may even devise some visual accompaniments as well as musical ones. The idea was to have a solid foundation to sculpt actual music from (be it ever so obtuse and RAGINGLY "uncommercial") as opposed to senseless random flailing/thrashing.

All told, I was very happy with the 5 pieces that resulted, and of course with further editing, teaking and adding instruments on at my home studio, The Owl's Nest, I'm sure some very colorful and challenging (to say the least, I ain't getting any more commercial folks LOL) We weren't producing the next Brittany Spears atrocity or vying for hit singles. A HUGE thank you to both Jeremy and Scott for humoring my unorthodox methods and making these little sketches and vague thoughts come to life. 100% real, in the moment and NO Pro-Tools was employed at any time.

Several Things The Bush Presidency Makes A Good Case For---

2008-06-28T09:36:00.000-07:00

1) George W. Bush's Trial and Execution By Firing Squad For Treason: Namely for KNOWINGLY allowing Osama Bin Laden to escape and for conspiracy to commit treason by way of planning to ram through the Dubai Ports World sale of several of our ports operation to an Arab terrorist-supporting state, namely Dubai. And to say nothing of his too-cozy relationship with the terrorist-supporting Saudi Royal Family. And then there's the matter of a really half-a$$ed job in Afghanistan where the Taliban were merely chased off, as opposed to ANNIHILATING and mercilessly destroying them as they should've been before they could do any more harm. In all these things, Bush remorselessly sold us out to the enemy.

2) A Mandatory Intelligence/Competency Test For Federal Office Seekers/Holders: ANYONE seeking Federal office should be subjected to a rigorous intelligence/competency test before even being allowed to run for office and NOBODY with an IQ below 140 would be allowed to run for ANY office or hold any office, period! Brainless morons like Bush have NO place in the White House or ANY office, period! Haven't we had enough?

3) A Federal Law That Prohibits ANYONE With The Last Names of Bush or Clinton For EVER Running For Office Anywhere At Any Time: Haven't we had enough incompetence, stupidity and lawless shenanigans from these two infamous families already?.

4) A Federal Law That Prohibits ANYONE With Ties to Oil/Energy, Pharmaceutical or Banking Industries From Running For Office: Enough said!

5) The Mass Arrest and Permanent Deportation Of The Republican Party: The last 18 years have seen the Republican Party go from bad to worse in terms of rampant corruption, wanton criminal behavior (see http://www.republicanoffenders.com/ for just a partial listing of their shenanigans) complete abandonment of conservative principles, lust for power, offering up incompetent and vacuous candidates (like BOTH Bushes and Bob Dole) isn't it time we stopped giving these amoral morons a free pass? Remember, the turn to evil began with George HW Bush.

6) The Complete Removal of Our Armed Forces From ALL Foreign Countries: Let's face it folks, our military has been overextended and stretched PAST the breaking point. We NEED our troops right here to defend OUR borders. My concern is that if we are attacked again, can we defend ourselves and even retaliate? I dare say, in our present state, we're screwed (NO THANKS to Clinton/Gore AND Bush/Cheney and Rumsfeld's total incompetence). The very idea that we should should fight every country's battles for them is just plain foolish and stupid. We CANNOT be everyone's parent. Our military needs to be ready to defend US first. America First! Pat Buchanan had it right from Day One!

7) Shutting Down the Department of Homeland Security: This utterly worthless agency has not only wasted millions of our tax dollars but created a climate of fear in its overreaching violations of our constitutional rights, placed odious regulations and burdens on air travelers by treating all air travelers as presumed terrorists, and just simply being a bunch of paranoid Gestapo-wannabes. OFF WITH THEIR HEADS I SAY!

8) Elimination Of The Two Party System: Between the Republican's rampant criminal behavior, disrespect for the Constitution and the rights of Americans and the Democrats all-too-pronounced Socialist leanings, we NEED a real choice going forward. It is INHERENTLY undemocratic and UNAMERICAN that only two well-heeled and long entrenched parties bankrupt of ideas or decency u are allowed to rule. It's WAY PAST TIME that the Libertarians, The Constitution Party , The Populists and Independent people were allowed to take part in the democratic process.

At Least ONE Branch Of The Government Is Working Right--

2008-06-26T09:27:00.001-07:00

As one AP correspondent Mark Sherman put it, the Supreme Court of the US started its term quietly and ended with a growl, for which this Owl for the most part is VERY happy about. It does my heart good to see that at least ONE branch of our government is actually doing its job and very well I might add.

After deciding a number o flower-grade cases, it came time to decide 3 very MAJOR contentions which were:

1) Treatment of Guantanamo Bay Detainees: Here, the justices in a close 5-4 decision gave Genius-Boy George Dubbaya a well-deserved bashing over the head. Their decision maintained in essence that detainees cannot not be held indefinitely without being informed of charges against them, without trial, without counsel or without hearings. This simply just reiterates what is already stated in the Constitution, international law as well as just plain decency and common sense (something the Republicans and Bush completely lack altogether).

2) Reaffirming Second Amendment Rights: Although it should be no mystery to anyone with half a mind, the Second Amendment of the US Constitution clearly states:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

In a very historic 5-4 decision, after many years of near silence on the issue, the justices essentially reaffirmed our constitutional right to bear arms for home and individual protection. This was precipitated by a legal challenge to Washington DC's draconian handgun ban. Predictably, the gun control crowd is running scared, whining that it'll be like the Wild West all over again. Personally, I don't buy that bit of hogwash when it has been shown many times over that an armed citizenry does in fact take a bite out of crime. At least SOME people are getting the message (The Supreme Court namely), that we DO NOT need gun control, but rather, we need CRIME CONTROL (a whole different ballgame altogether). More commentary HERE

3) Prohibition of Death Penalty for Child Rape: Here's where I VEHEMENTLY disagree with the justices. Although it may be legally and technically correct, morally and ethically, I just cannot get behind this one decision. The damage done to a child by sexual assault is lasting and very deep. To me, the ONLY fitting penalty for this or ANY kind of rape is death.

But #3 notwithstanding, I am really proud of our justices and their willingness to tackle some tough issues head on, again, their courage has COMPLETELY put to shame the Executive and Legislative branches of our government. This Owl salutes and thanks all nine of you, your summer break is well earned indeed!

Poetic Justice # 6698: Kanye West Gets Rapped

2008-06-17T07:59:00.000-07:00

This is something that a musician/music fan like myself couldn't help but love.

Rapper/Egotist/Professional Dumba$$ Kanye West got a rather mild dose of what's coming to him very recently at the annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. First off, the Bonnaroo people did make a rather questionable judgement in having him perform in the first place, given Bonnaroo 's reputation for presenting some wildly ecclectic and genuinely creative music on its many stages. Creativity is something that Kanye West could definitely NOT be accused of.

After requesting numerous delays and postponements, Mr. West settled on a 2:45 am time slot after Pearl Jam wrapped up their fiery set. Next thing you know, more delays, and the crowd is getting pretty danged restless and impatient by this point (at least the ones who were still awake). Meanwhile, Mr West's entourage is building this massive and over-the top stage set, first red flag. Next red flag, NO BAND, it would be him (allegedly) performing to computer generated Pro-Tools tracks. And at 4:25 am, Mr Dumba$$ finally takes the stage, ego on display as usual, but what he didn't figure in (naturally, an overfed ego does not allow for rational thought or foresight) was this crowd's justified annoyance and even anger at his shenanigans. And you thought Guns 'n Roses was bad? And worse yet, the eventually rising sun washed out the light show (BOOOOO FREAKIN' HOOOOOO!)

Before long, the crowd is telling him in no uncertain terms that he sucks and pelts him with plastic glow sticks. He should consider himself pretty danged lucky, it could've been bottles or worse. I side with the crowd on this one, I mean, you pay good money, put up witha lot of aggravation and uncertainty at an outdoor festival to start with, but man, being jerked around by someone with an ego the size of Texas and the brain of an amoeba just ain;t worth it, especially when it's a bunch of dumbaSSed, lame gangsta rap? That goes beyond unacceptable. Who in their right mind would pay premium prices to see karaoke? Sorry Kanye, people are waking up and seeing how lame you really are, and I honestly hope that people will one day wake up to the fact of how utterly lame Rap is as a whole.

An MSNBC story HERE

RIP: Tim Russert 1950-2008

2008-06-13T14:07:00.000-07:00

The journalism world today lost one of its best and brightest, Tim Russert, succumbed to a fatal heart attack at the age of 58, doing what he loved best.

Tim since the early 90's took over hosting NBC's "Meet The Press" and bought a depth and willingness to ask pointed questions that few dared to. In addition, he was reknowned for his election coverage work with NBC and moderating many a political debate. Though staunchly Democratic, Russert never let that compromise his objectivity or journalistic integrity. Originally a lawyer, Russsert eventually turned to journalism with the same excellence and success he pursued with law previously.

For more on Tim's life and career, see HERE

RIP Tim, this Owl definitely will miss your hard-hitting and reliable journalism, good humor and wit.

Who's The Real Terrorist? #592 Michelle Malkin

2008-06-11T08:16:00.000-07:00

Michelle Malkin, a name that right now sends me into near apoplexy or a barely controllable rage!

This empty-headed blowhard/ignoramous sure loves to get on people's bad side and perpetuate Republican Party/Fox News fear-mongering like few I've seen (excepting of course the UNHOLY trinity of O'Reilly, Limbaugh and Hannity) , and of course, the latest of her outrages being accusing Dunkin' Donuts and Rachel Ray of "selling terrorism" by way of A PAISLEY SCARF that Rachel was wearing in an ad, of course, Malkin immediately just had to start something by publicly implying that the scarf was a garment worn by Jihadists (FACT: It was NOT), and next thing you know, Dunkin' Donuts, in a glaring moment of spinelessness and acquiescence to these fear-mongering pinheads, pulls the ad and issues an apology that was completely unnecessary. What they should've done was stand their ground and confront Ms Malkin on her ignorance of facts, her remorseless bullying and her morbid need to stir fear, paranoia and suspicion for her own gain, harassment and possibly even slander, not to mention her journalistic incompetence! But then again, expecting journalistic competence, ethics and integrity from ANYBODY associated with Fox News (she was until late 2007 on the "O'Reilly Factor" show) is like expecting a caveman to do brain surgery.

Another thing that gets me is that Ms Malkin is labeld a "Conservative Commentator", which is factually inaccurate. The Republican Party is labeled "Conservative" but nothing could be further from the truth. The GOP and people like Malkin are about as conservative as Stalin.

To Ms Malkin, I say SHUT THE HELL UP YOU BRAINLESS IDIOT!!!! Someday, your asinine pronouncements will come back and bite you, hopefully in the form of a lawsuit or two or three and hopefully the end of your career! If you are drummed out of ANY media arena and publically called out for the incompetent, ignorant fraud you are, I'll throw a party!

And my sincerest condolences to Rachel Ray for all the BS you've had to endure from these cretinous idiots like Malkin et al. I feel your pain and completely sympathize with you.

25 Years In The Slammer for Boy Band Creator

2008-05-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

Can you sense my joy, my overwhelming euphoria and glee?

It's official folks, Lou Pearlman, the low-life swindler/con-artist and purveyor of such musical abominations as The Backstreet Boys, N'Sync et al got himself 25 years in Federal prison for swindling individual investors and banks out of some $300 million since the 1980's.

U.S. District Judge G. Kendall Sharp, if perchance we meet in person, I'd not only like to shake your hand but also buy you dinner to thank you for putting away this arrogant, greedy lowest form of pond slime! Not only for the swindling/bilking part, but for inflicting that God-Awful Boy-Band crap on us as well! This dumba$$'s sentence is well deserved!

A St Petersburg Times story HERE

Extremely Thin Books / Books That'll NEVER Be Published

2008-05-19T11:28:00.000-07:00

1) Brilliant War Strategies by Donald Rumsfeld

2) Hypocrisy Is Profitable by Newt Gingrich

3) The Return to Marital Faithfulness by Bill Clinton, Ted Kennedy and Newt Gingrich

4) Prepare for ANY Emergency by Michael Brown

5) The Pursuit of Intellectual Greatness by George W. Bush and Kanye West

6) Ethics and Integrity In Journalism by Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch

7) More Profiles In Courage by George W Bush and Ted Kennedy

8) The Power of Hot Air by Rush Limbaugh

9) The Art of Conversation and Listening by Bill O'Reilly

10) The Power of Indecision by George HW Bush

11) The Constitution? OVERRATED! by John Ashcroft

12) Shrew Is For You by Hillary Clinton

13) Under Oath: How I ALWAYS Told The Truth by Alberto Gonzalez

14) Self Control and Civil Behavior by Foxy Brown and 50 Cent

15) How To Talk English Real Good by Dan Quayle

16) Non-Violent Justice by Janet Reno

17) A Guide to Kindness and Humiliy by Karl Rove

18) How To Outrun Angry Mobs by Sean Hannity

19) Increase Your IQ by Jessica Simpson and Mariah Carey

20) Secrets Of A Lasting Marriage by Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown

Still Thinking of Voting Republican?

2008-05-14T11:12:00.000-07:00

Still thinking of voting Republican this fall? Well, you might want to get a look at a certain website before doing so. Now to be fair, the Democrats have had their share of criminals on parade too (most notably Bill and Hillary), but I honestly think we've been giving the Republicans a free pass for far too long. This is the party that STILL claims to be the good guys, the ones who stand for morality, decency, American values and The Constitution.

In reality, their words and actions could not be further apart. Besides the obvious high profile criminals and traitors like the entire Bush administration, Jack Abramoff, Tom Delay, Scooter Libby, Bernard Kerik, Mark Sijander (the MI congressman who is now under indictment for money laundering for terrorists) and such, there's plenty more at various levels of Federal, State and Local government who have permanently sullied their own reputations but that of the Republican party as well, all beyond any repair. And in doing so, have damaged the reputation of the US as a nation, all without the slightest bit of remorse.

But don't take my word for it, facts speak for themselves, take some time and browse through http://www.republicanoffenders.com/ and see for yourself.

Star Trek Fights A Lot Like----BATMAN?

2008-05-02T08:24:00.000-07:00

You know, the more I watch old reruns of the original Star Trek series with William Shatner and the whole crew, I cannot help but notice some of the fight scenes, and how much they resemble the hilariously goofy fight scenes of the old 1960's Batman TV show.

Well, wanting to become a little more familiar with my new video editing software, I put together this little montage of Star Trek fight scenes, the way they should've been, click HERE to watch. Not responsible for coffee, soda or other liquids or solids spewed on keyboards.

The Owl Predicts #3581: Al Gore and The Blob

2008-04-24T10:48:00.000-07:00

This Owl predicts that Al Gore, in his desperation to win new and gullible converts to his junk-science and factually questionable crusades, will try to convince us that The Blob really exists, and if we don't stop driving cars and manufacturing things, the polar ice-caps will melt, the Blob will thaw, get loose and devour the whole planet, killing us all.

Well Al, I'll bet you read THIS article and thought it was real, didn't ya 'ol boy? But then again, can someone soooooo important as the Nobel Prize-winning Al Gore be bothered with such details like, uhhhh, FACTS? After all, this is the same guy who claimed to "take the initiative in creating the Internet" and that Erich Segal's "Love Story" was based on Al and Tipper's dating relationship (an assertion that Segal is very quick to debunk). Maybe if we're somewhat lucky, somewhere there might be a real Blob and Al could try negotiating with this mindless protoplasm. But then again, I shouldn't have said this, it's an insult to mindless protoplasms everywhere.

My Inevitable Anti-Smooth Jazz Rant

2008-04-21T13:46:00.000-07:00

This so-called "Smoooooooooth Jaaaaaaazzzz" stuff to me is nothing more than product, a lot like cheez-wiz or McDonalds. It's real smooth alright but I ain't hearing ANYTHING resembling jazz there.

Besides the fact that 99% of sounds so danged much alike and EASILY could be generated by computer (and I suspect about that much of it is) , it completely lacks some of the fundamental characteristics that make jazz what it is:

1) Improvisation (as opposed to just playing reprtitive stock pentatonic licks)

2) Harmonic sophistication and extended harmonies while retaining some grounding in the blues (even the more abstract and experimental avant jazz has this to some extent)

3) Rhythmic variation or even swing

4) Risk taking in general or any kind of originality

5) The intangible quality of soulfulness is completely missing.

The thing that gets me is that some of these smooth jazz guys are actually pretty good musicians that took the easy path to riches, and then there's complete talentless hacks like Kenny G who are very limited to this specific niche', doing the musical equivalent of talentless actors like Keanu Reeves, Lucy Liu or J-Lo geting by on their looks. To call it smooth jazz to me is intellectually and artistically dishonest from the jazz side of it. Why not just say it's instrumental pop and leave it at that? Smooth Jazz? How about more like SNOOZE-jazz.

Monday Madness Strikes Again!

2008-04-20T14:13:00.001-07:00

1) Odd Pairings That Actually Work #521: This is going back a ways, but this actually happened on national TV, Oct., 28, 1970. Johnny Cash had a much loved TV show going at the time, and his guest that night, none other than Louis Armstrong! Most would think, how in the world could they possibly pull off something given they came from 2 completely different musical worlds? Well, hear it for yourself, they tore into an old Jimmy Rogers country-blues number "Yodel #9", seen HERE. This had to have been one of Satchmo's last performances before his death in 1971.

2) You're Joking, RIGHT?: While campaigning in PA this week, Barrack Obama in this Owl's opinion made one of the WORST mistakes a presidential candidate could make this early in the game. He might even be right to some degree but man, talk about shooting yourself in the foot! Obama has said that John McCain would be better than Bush, a rather stark reversal from his earlier position that a McCain presidency would be like giving Bush a third term. Even as McCain himself tries to distance himself from the last 8 years of Bush's incompetency, not many are buying it, this Owl among those who just ain't buyin' it either. To paraphrase a friend's comment, saying McCain would be better than Bush would be like saying that "Joe Blow running for police commissioner would be better than Jack The Ripper". Barry, I hope you grasp the implications of what you just said as it relates to your own candidacy, the story HERE

3) Is It Just Me Or----:

a) Does Karl Rove bear at least a casual resemblance to Mr. Freeze or Egghead on the old Batman TV show?

b) If you were a career journalist, wouldn't having ANY mention on your resume' of employment with Fox News be a sure fire career killer?

c) Does not ABC set the pace on its handling of news in terms of sheer vacuousness and insipidness?

d) It really is true that American Idol has contributed to the progressive dumbing down of our country, along with the Bush administration?

4) Batcave Home Theater: See it for yourself, by way of Gizmodo.com, an actual home theater setup very much like the Batcave, has to be seen to be believed HERE!

5) Cursing The Yankees: This has got to be the most HILARIOUS thing I've heard in the last couple weeks, a construction worker involved in building the new Yankees stadium in NYC is actually a rabid Boston Red Sox fan, and attempted to curse the Yankees by burying a Red Sox shirt in the complex, which was later unearthed. Keith Olbermann had a bit to say about this to rather amusing effect HERE.

Monday Moonlight Madness

2008-04-10T17:43:00.000-07:00

Here we are again, after a short absence (namely because of work related insanity and a burgeoning addiction to creating twisted, humorous music videos), Monday Madness is back again in full hoot, talons bared (and my eyes are hurting from all this #$@% pollen!):

1) I'm Not Alone #8824: Does my heart good to know there is someone who shares my barely controllable outrage and disgust at Islam, its extremism and its misogyny, intellectual backwardness and complete intolerance of others uniqueness, the right to be secure in their persons, the right to think for themselves and the right to live a peaceful, productive life if they don't agree with Islam's tenets (dang, it's starting to sound like the present day neo-con dominated Republican Party and Fox News). Well, British commentator/comedian Pat Condell has BEAUTIFULLY summed up what I'm sure a lot of us have been thinking despite these politically-correct times we live in. Pat, with his characteristic wit, humor, insight and just plain no-nonsense bluntness takes the Muslim world at large (and yes folks, I DO know and believe that there are peace-loving/law abiding Muslims in the world, just not enough of them I'm afraid) to task for its duplicity, hypocrisy, murderous ways and utter audacity in demanding that everyone else bow down to them for fear of being blown up. Watch the full commentary on video HERE and see if you don't at least understand the outrage. Pat's official site HERE

I don't necessarily agree with ALL of Pat's viewpoints, but this one really struck a chord for me personally.

2) No Surprises Here: Yep, it's official, Dick "The Penguin" Cheney and many below him did in fact approve the use of harsh interrogation/torture methods against "suspected" terrorists in complete defiance of things like The Geneva Convention, the U.S Constitution etc. Cheney took great pains to insulate Idiot-Boy Bush from any meetings/discussions concerning these particular matters (what a pal, I tell ya!). Sure makes a lie of Bush's repeated assertions of "We do not torture". AP story HERE

And of course, rather belatedly in this Owl's opinion, the Democrats are howling over Bush's excessive use of Executive Privilege as an excuse to not be accountable for his reckless and irresponsible decisions and actions (and I agree, Bush is making Nixon look honest and humble by comparison). All well and good, but, ahem, you really needed to be a lot more vocal on this earlier on and actually get off your lazy, mediocre a$$es and investigate, and yes, even initiate Articles of Impeachment. Would you, Of course not, you Dems have ZERO guts, intestinal fortitude, principles and sufficient outrage to do ANYTHING that you were elected to do by a large number of voters in November of 2006. You conned your way into office so that you could simply give Idiot-Boy Bush everything he demanded without question rather than fight for actual change, drawing a paycheck on OUR dime anyway. Oh, yeah, and it IS campaign season too let's not forget. Well, now that I've ranted, I refer you to the story HERE

And of course, General David "Really, I'm Not Running For Office" Patreus went before Congress this past week to make a case for the continuing presence in Iraq that to date has accomplished little to nothing of worth (save for Saddam Husein getting hanged, but in reality, that should've been the responsibility of native Iraqi's to rise up and execute him, but that's another discussion). Along with Congress were our 3 presidential hopefuls, who asked some pretty pointed (but to my estimation, not quite pointed enough) questions of Patreus and Ryan Crocker (what useful purpose does he serve anyway?). Patreus's complete inability to give an honest, straight answer on even the most fundamental questions concerning Iraq was very telling (why doesn't he go into politics?). A REAL military man would've been far more honest and forthcoming than Mr Patreus was. His convoluted, cryptic riddles/double-talk (much like Idiot-Boy Rumsfeld's blathering of years past) only reinforced the idea that someone is NOT telling us the truth. A piece from Energy and Capital HERE gives food for thought. The only case that this Dynamic Duo has made is for Bush's impeachment/execution and Patreus's court martial.

3) More Welcome News On Two Fronts: A significant advance in cancer research AND protecting people in the event of a nuclear/radiation induced incident has recently occurred. In short, a pill that could block radiation damage and protect people exposed to normally lethal or potentially doses of radiation. This ironically, was learned from how some cancers seem to resist radiation treatments. Far more lucid details are found HERE

4) Bravery In The Courtroom: 61-year-old Brooklyn stenographer Ron Tolkin went absolutely Jack Bauer on a psychotic defendant on defendant Victor Wright after the convicted drug felon started choking federal prosecutor Carolyn Pokorny (who thankfully, outside of some bruises wak otherwise OK). Tolkin jumped to her defense, baiting the felon to try attacking him instead. Victor Wright then produced a razor and attempted to slash Tolkin but failed (he dropped the weapon), Tolkin, a lawyer (the defendant's lawyer no less), and 2 Marshalls finally subdued this piece of human trash. Tolkin also happened to have a small digital recorder going which captured the whole ordeal. Shortly after, Tolkin submitted a complete transcript of the whole incident and it can be seen HERE. Tolkin not only displayed great bravery in dealing with this psycho but also unleashed a torrent of cursing that would strip paint.

5) Secrets Of The Magic 8-Ball: One of the most durable and long-lived novelty items/toys, the Magic 8-Ball apparently shows no signs of going away any day soon. Have you ever wondered just how those things were made and how they worked? Well, one person launched a full out investigation into the mysteries of The Magic 8-Ball, and you can see the end result HERE!

On The Player
Steuart Liebig/Tee Tot Quartet
Always Outnumbered

Imagine if you will, someone like Ornette Coleman or Charles Mingus getting a real hankering to play old-timey blues/jazz and country. Sound crazy? Sound impossible? Not if bassist/composer Steuart Liebig has anything to say about it. Combining forces with drum,mer Joe Berardi, cornetist/trumpeter Dan Clucas and Dobro player Scot Ray, the Tee Tot Quartet pulls off the above hybrid and something more with great wit, humor and emotional depth. DO check this out, it can be found on CD Baby HERE with samples. Also, check out Steuart's own site: www.stigsite.com

Hell Freezes Over - I Just Did My First Music Video!

2008-04-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

Amazing, ain't it. I swore for years and years that I would NEVER make a music video . Well, time and circumstances have a way of changing one's mind. After months of good natured prodding and goading from some friends, I bought some video editing software (uLead/Corel Video Studio 11) and set to work on creating a twisted and hilarious video for one of my original songs from my most recent CD "Guaranteed To Be 100% Free of Hit Singles". In just over a week, The song is chose was "It Takes A Village to Raise An Idiot". I managed to get something together that I was reasonably happy with and had me cackling like a mad scientist at work.

It's full of things tha tamuse and delight me, Duke Ellington, Buddy Rich, flying saucers, mad scientists, slapstick, train wrecks, Batman fights, lions running a mok in movie theaters, the usual.

It's now posted on YouTube and you can watch it HERE

Hitlary's Long History of Ruthless Lies and Deceit

2008-04-03T09:15:00.000-07:00

You know, 'ol Hillary Clinton's most recent bout of "misspeaking" shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone really.

No matter how much Hitlary tries to paint herself as having integrity and being a great leader, one cannot avoid the disturbing facts.

Jerry Zeifman, a former Chief Counsel on the Judiciary Committe fo the US House of Representatives remembers one Hillary Rodham-Clinton very well in fact. Even at the age of 27, Hillary was one scheming, conniving ruthless witch during the Watergate investigation, unethical and deceitful as could be. Such that when the Wateragte investigation was over, Zeifman outright FIRED Hillary from the committee and even further, REFUSED (again to his credit) to write a letter of recommendation for her.

What bought this on? Hillary and several colleagues on the committee conspired to deny then president Richard Nixon the right to legal counsel, Nixon's counsel, one E. Howard Hunt, if put on the stand, definitely had the goods on Senator Ted Kennedy and some nefarious misdeeds of his. It was Kennedy's counsel Burke Marshall who got Hillary the job on the Judiciary Committe in the first place. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I knew Hillary was a no-good lying snake from the start, I just didn;t realize the true extent, and there are more details on Jerry Zeifman's site HERE

More Reasons You Should STOP Watching Or Listening to Fox News:

2008-04-01T11:00:00.001-07:00

1) In August of 2006, the locale was Largo Florida. A police officer pulls over an SUV for speeding, but to add to the drama, the vehicle's stereo was BLASTING enough to rattle windows of nearby houses. Obnoxious Gansta Rap? NOPE, it was Bill O'Reilly! And that poor cop wound up getting a fusillade of undeserved verbal abuse from this mindless O'Reilly-worshipping dumba$$. I'd bet anything Belligerent Genius Boy there was afraid he'd have to go before a liberal judge that would throw the book at him. Ya know, I HOPE that's exactly what happened to him. Story, complete transcript of the exchange AND video HERE

2) Also, in September of 2006. Several high profile individuals, one of them being MSNBC anchor/commentator Keith Olbermann recieved rather suspicious letters in their mail, that when opened, spilled out a white powder, and of course, the natural assumption is that it was Anthrax. Along with this was a menacing note that read "DEATH TO ALL DEMAGOGUES". Quite wisely, Keith called the FBI and police, and then went to the nearest hospital to make sure he was OK. To add to this drama, despite being told to NOT report on it until given the OK by law enforcement officials, the Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post of course, defied authoriities and went to press anyway, and wrote a shrill, factually innacurate and hateful story (no surprise here coming from Mr Murdoch,practically endorsing terroristic threats against anyone who doesn;t agree with them and openly MOCKED the police and FBI for their work. Keith got a clean bill of health hours later and returned to work. The powdery substance turned out to be soap powder. Keith's story HERE

But wait, there's more! The same nutjob who sent these fake Anthrax letters struck again, exact same targets. Eventually, in November 2006, police arrested one Chad Castagana, then aged 39 of Woodland Hills CA, a loser who at his age STILL lived with his parents and, ready for this, worshipped, drooled and obsessed over not one but THREE women associated with Fox News (Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin and Laura Ingraham. Honestly, 3 horrid people I wouldn't be seen dead with) A Reuters news account HERE. Keith Olbermann's perspective and comments on such sick individuals HERE.

Mr Castagana was later convicted on 14 felony counts and sentenced to five years probation and confinement at the Gateways Community Corrections Center in Los Angeles, CA where he is to receive psychiatric treatment and medication.

Parents, if you keep Fox News and The New York Post out of your home and away from your kids, you're doing your job well indeed. We don't need more belligerent and mentally disturbed degenerates like these two examples running around under the influence of a network that could only be described as "Fairly Unbalanced"

Friday Frights and More

2008-03-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

1) The Occasional Dumba$$ Rapper Roundup: Shouldn't surprise anyone, but yet another rapper just got their ass handed to them by the justice system and rightly so. One Remy Ma of New York was pronounced guilty of assault, illegal posession of a weapon (.45 calibre with hollow point bullets) and attempted coercion (shouldn't that read, attempted robbery?) after shooting a woman near a nightclub in 2007. Remy claims that she meant to shoot someone else, a friend (HUH?) she suspected of stealing $3000 from her. Sadly, someone else just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ms Remy is staring down the barrel of 25 years in the slammer (GOOD I say!), though somehow, she was acquitted of witness tampering and gang assault charges (how did THAT happen?). I know, some people probably think I'm stereotyping unfairly, but dang it, this kind of thing happens WAY TOO OFTEN to be a coincidence or some unjustified stereotype, this is a real serious problem people, and the Hip-Hop/Rap culture shares more than a little of the blame for such stupid, violent and criminal/anti-social behavior. Story HERE

And while we're at it, Atlanta rapper TI finally saw there was no way he could beat the rap so he pleaded guilty to illegal weapons charges (which SHOULD'VE gotten him 10 years easily) but because of a plea agreement, he just might get a lighter sentence (his first installment is 1000 hours of community service effective now). Formal sentencing willl take place March of 2009, which could mean if he lives up to his deferred sentencing agreement, he will be sentenced to one year in prison, pay a $100,000 fine, spend three years under supervised release, including a year of home detention, and perform a total of 1,500 hours of community service, this according to U.S. Attorney David Nahmias. Story HERE Another account in the AJC goes on to say that if TI blows it (which he most likely will), it's 8 years in the joint for him.

2) Hillary's Delusions of Grandeur: Poor Hillary Clinton, can't seem to catch a break, especially since many documents regarding her time as First Lady (and to me, "Lady" is stretching things) were made public. In her desperate bid to claim "foreign policy experience" it seems that she recalled a trip to Bosnia, claiming to be under heavy sniper fire when she landed, but in reality, she made the trip 3 months after the war in Bosnia was officially over, taking along her daughter Chelsea and two entertainers. Ands that's not even the half of it, as at least from thsi list on Fact Check.org indicates, she, shall we say LIES or EXAGGERATES HER ACCOMPLISHMENTS, OOPS, I'm sorry, that should read, "Misspoke". More here on FactCheck.org

3) World's Earliest Sound Recording?: Clocking in at a whopping 10 seconds but no less significant, US researchers have found a recording of someone singing "Claire De Lune'". A French inventor, Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville was responsible for this significant first step in recording technology in the year 1860 with a device known as the phonautograph, which scratched sound onto a sheet of paper coated by the smoke of an oil lamp. This was 17 years BEFORE Thomas Edison invented the phonograph. The interesting twist is, that de Martinville had NO intention of playing back the sound, he simply wanted a visual representation of sound waves to study. News story HERE, and even more amazing, the recording itself can be heard HERE

4) Outrageous Rockstar Demands: From time to time, I've wondered how some of these intelligence-deficient but ego endowed rock stars got their demands met or what they were to begin with (out of some morbid curiosity I admit), well, The Smoking Gun has aspecial secton on its website specially dedicated to rockstar/entertainer backstage demands, some relatively benign, others enough to want to call the Happy Wagon and stage an intervention, read 'em HERE

ON THE PLAYER

King Kong: Jean Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa

From the year 1970 comes this quirky gem by an up and coming violinist from France who paid his dues initially in the classical world before developing a jones for Coltrane and other jazz greats. Ponty had played on Frank Zappa's groundbreaking "Hot Rats" LP and good 'ol Frank wanting to showcase the violinists talents more visibly (though he'd already been making albums since the mid 1960's) put this session together utilizing some of L.A.'s top jazz players (like Ernie Watts) and even some from the classical world. Here, Ponty re-interprets several of Frank's songs to great effect (the jaunty title track, the HILARIOUS "America Drinks and Goes Home", and even the haunting balladry of "20 Small Cigars" for example) and even contributes an odd half-blues/half Latin original, "How Would You Like To Have A Head Like That?". The real challenge comes with Zappa's "Music for Electric Violin and Low Budget Orchestra" (named so because Frank couldn't get the necessary funds for a full orchestra for the piece, so he had to settle for a smaller chamber ensemble. The piece hits a lot of terrotory from Stravinsky to jazz to whatever with Ponty weaving his way through it masterfully and with great wit. Highly recommended

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!!!

Dana Perino,, Worlds DUMBEST White House Press Secretary!

2008-03-22T12:17:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, the unenviable job of being White House Press Secretary, the OFFICIAL job description is to be a liaison between the President and the press, HOWEVER, we all know the REAL job description is to lie, spin and obfuscate on behalf of the president. Well, looks like Bright Boy Bush currently ties the record for most press secretaries (4 currently, along with Bill Clinton and Harry Truman), the previous being Ari Fleischer, Scott McLellan and Tony Snow. And since Snow's resignation in 2006, Dana Perino occupies the slot. Without question, Ms Perino is the DUMBEST, most incompetent, vacuous and utterly useless and clueless Press Secretary to reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in this, or ANY administration. As much as I cannot stand Tony Snow (mainly because of his association with False News), at least he had something of a brain. Ms Perino actually gives "ditzy blondes" a bad name to put it kindly.

Time after time, Dana really outdones herself and proved once again that the Bush Administration is a dangerous carrier of contagious stupidity, incompetence and ignorance. One particular incident occurred October 26, 2007 when a reporter quizzed her regarding the missile defense shield proposed for Eastern Europe and how it compared to the Cuban Missile Crisis, she of course was a deer in the headlights, trying desperately to concoct an answer, the best she could do was a "they're not the same thing" reply with little or no substance to it. A short time later, she appears on an NPR Radio quiz show called "Wait--Wait--Don't Tell Me", she FINALLY admitted she had NO idea what the Cuban Missile Crisis was at all (she had to ask her husband about it, he was shocked to put it mildly). HERE is a written transcript of her appearance, One news story HERE. Another incident on March 20, 2008 involved her spectacular bungling about how Bush and Cheney disregard opinion polls, and in the end, Genius Girl winds up painting the picture that Bush strives to be unpopular. Hmmm, quite interesting considering Bush is too damned lazy to strive for much of anything in the way of humility or common sense. The details HERE

And MSNBC commentator Keith Olbermann has featured her MANY incompetencies on his Countdown broadcasts, among some of them were his "Worst Person In The World Award", the "Cuban Missile Crisis incident"and the lies regarding the National Intelligence Estimate Part One and Part Two

Not a big deal you might say? Well, let's face facts, this kind of ignorance of history, inexcusable stupidity, bungling and intellectual shallowness is sadly de rigeur for the Bush Administration as a whole, completely antithetical to what this country stands for. No wonder our credibility as a nation is zero to none in many countries, because we ALLOW idiots free reign! This just should not be! It's things like this that make a compelling case for a MANDATORY IQ Test for anyone that runs for national office and anyone that is appointed by said candidates if they win the office. And ANYTHING below 130 should be considered a FAILING grade. George Walker Bush, you're going to stay after school young man!!!

And an interesting fact about Dana Perino, she was on A DEBATE TEAM at Colorado State University-Pueblo!!!!????????

RIP Arthur C. Clarke - 1917-2008

2008-03-18T18:29:00.000-07:00

A true original, visionary and well-loved author took leave of the planet this week, one Arthur C Clarke at the age of 90 suffering breathing problems and the long-term effects of Post-Polio Syndrome at his home in Sri Lanka.

The English born Clarke had a long and varied career, originally educated at King's College attaining a degree in Physics and Mathematics after WWII. He served with the British Royal Air Force, during which time he wrote a now highly regarded memo predicting the idea of communications satellites. He became a prolific author of both science fiction and science fact, and after a series of explorations and writing about his adventures in The Great Barrier Reef, he permanently relocated to Sri Lanka in 1956. Although encumbered at times by Post-Polio Syndrome on land at times, Clarke found himself "perfectly operational" underwater, and he scuba-dived well into old age.

Among his most loved works were short stories like "The 9 Billion Names of God" and "The Sentinel" (originally written in 1948, this became the basis of Stanley Kubrick's classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey), novels like "Rendezvous With Rama", "Childhood's End" and "The City and The Stars" and of course, his novelization of the 2001 screenplay in collaboration with Stanley Kubrick. He was also very active as a lecturer, teacher, television commentator on science (I even remember him being part fo the on-air commentary of the first Apollo moon landing in 1969).

His final wishes included:

Launching hair with strands of his DNA into space, for Sri Lanka's raging civil war to end, for the world to embrace cleaner sources of energy and for evidence of extraterrestrial beings to be discovered.

News story HERE, and an excellent Wikipedia article on his life and career.

A Little Monday Madness

2008-03-17T17:47:00.001-07:00

Well folks, due to an insanely busy workday, and a rather harrowing Friday night (3/14/2008), complete with an F-2 twister ripping right through the center of Atlanta, I just couldn't get to writing a Friday Follies, maybe this week. So instead, I'll regale you with some Monday Madness, hopefully you'll find this an acceptable substitute.

1) The King Gets Crowned (or is that OWNED!): I LOVE these kinds of stories, where some shyster lawyer gets theirs with interest! Richard Scruggs,, otherwise known as The King Of Torts could be looking at 5 years in the slammer, and in this Owl's opinion, that is an obscenely light sentence given the magnitude of his crime, . Scruggs and another lawyer in his firm, Sidney Backstrom, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud for offering a $50,000 cash bribe to a Mississippi judge for a favorable ruling in a dispute over legal fees from a Hurricane Katrina insurance lawsuit. Scruggs son Zach has also been implicated and will go to trial himself. And of course, he's facing the possibility of disbarment to boot. Serves 'em right! Story HERE

2) The King Gets Crowned Part 2: Robert Soloway at the tender age of 28 has become the King of Spam and in doing so, inviting a number of well-deserved civil suits against him. This unscrupulous bastard boasted of being sued for hundreds of millions of dollars and not paying a dime and of course having been in his particular racket 10 years running. Well, after being arrested in May 2007, he finally realized there was no way in Hell he could win or beat the rap and very recently pleaded guilty to the charges, and now staring down the barrel of 26 years as a guest of the Federal government. Now THAT"s my kind of justice! All Hail The King of Dumba$$es! Story HERE

3a) Principles Are Good Things #4561: General William Fallon, now former commander of our military's Central Command in the Middle East resigned this past week over principle, and this Owl salutes you as a rare patriot for having the guts and intestinal fortitude to oppose our Smiling Buffoon In Chief's insatiable and senseless desire to attack Iran (an innately stupid idea to start with given that our forces are over-extended already) and his senseless failed policies in general. With our armed forces already in bad shape because of the combined stupidity of the Clinton AND Bush administrations, one can see how stupid and near suicidal such an idea is. General Fallon certainly saw it, in much the same way Colin Powell, after pleading with Bush to NOT invade Iraq, saw the writing on the wall and resigned. The GOP might brand you many things, but this Owl says you did the right thing in opposing one who genuinely has turned out to be The Worst President of All Time.

3b EDITED TO ADD) Heard Straight From The Horse's A$$ #6701: Our Batman Villain of a VP Dick "The Penguin" Cheney, while making a trip through Iraq has the utter audacity to STILL insist that Iraq and the 9/11 terrorist attacks were connected when it's VERY common knowledge the two had ZERO to do with each other I mean,. how TERMINALLY clueless. moronic, stupid and out of touch with reality can one get? Further proof that haging around with George W Bush (or ANY member of this odious Bush family) WILL lower your IQ exponentially. Story HERE

4) Incredible Penetrating Insight and Eloquent Erudition #8245: Who've thought it was possible, Mariah Carey publicly admits that "I understand that people think I am a ditzy moron." WOW!!!!! Stop the presses!!! This is truly HISTORIC!

5) Weird Coincidences #5151: Ever notice that a rather disproportionately high number of serial killers and other psychotic felons have the middle name of Wayne?

John Wayne Gacy - Serial murderer
Eric Wayne Kelley — sex charges
Nathan Wayne Green — kidnapping and beating, homicide
Ronald Wayne Spencer, Jr. — triple homicide
David Wayne Rhodes — 10 years for practicing nursing without a license
Larry Wayne King — homicide
Paul Wayne Mitchell — Theft
Michael Wayne Hills — theft
Jeremy Wayne Hopkins — homicide
Garry Wayne Carriker — knowingly having unprotected sex when HIV positive
Bruce Wayne Potts — homicide
Joshua Wayne Jones — assault of officer
Billy Wayne Sinclair — homicide
Billy Wayne Boyer — assault
Billy Wayne Miller — attempted murder and robbery
Kenneth Wayne Downs — sex assault
Jerry Wayne Lucas — attempted homicide
Tony Wayne Swinnie — aggravated assault of grandmother in front of her grandchildren, robbery
Larry Wayne Dacy — home invasion
Richard Wayne Miles — police standoff
Charles Wayne Thomas — homicide

Many of these come from The Dallas News from February 2006 to the present, as given to NY Times writer Stephen Levitt , who wrote THIS post on said subject., and a News Of The Weird article on this phenomenon too.

6) Just How Efficient Can A Car Be? Well good 'ol Shell Oil of all people every year has this competition for car builders to see just how much mileage they can squeeze out ofa gallon of gas by any means necessary. And the winner?A team from St. Joseph La Joliverie in France went 7,148 miles on a single gallon of fuel, NO JOKE!! Story HERE

7) Top Gear: Ya gotta hand it to those Brits, who else could pull off a car-centric TV programme with such humor wit and style as our 3 hosts Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond? These three put you in the drivers seat of thrilling test drives of the latest high-performance cars, laugh their arses off at top Brit celebrities in interviews and as they attempt to get their 4-wheeled mojo going in the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment. And there's a mysterious test driver who never speaks and who listens to anything from prog-rock to self-help and language instruction CD's while he test drives, the inimitable The Stig!

And it just gets wackier and better. Our three free-wheeling hosts attempt insane stunts (for instance, one segment about how to properly drive a Rolls Royce into a pool), and even more insane challenges (like driving across the North Pole, motoring across the salt flat in Namibia in nothing ore than skeletal Mercedes, Lancias and a 1963 Opel!. And there's my favorite, converting a Toyota pickup, a VW van and a Lotus 2-seat sports car into amphibious vehicles and cross The English Channel)

The Top Gear magazine is well loved among car enthusiasts but there's just something about taking the magazine into the TV world that just gives it something extra cool, go to the website and see for yourself, or watch it on BBC2. Fun stuff for sure!

Please Say It Ain't So Elliot!

2008-03-10T12:43:00.000-07:00

Talk about irony and shock, HOLY CRAP!!!!!

Elliot Spitzer, former NY state Attorney General and now governor has confessed to and publically apologized for his involvement in a prostitution ring!!!! ???????

I'm not taking this particularly well right now, especially in light of the fact that Elliot had numerous successes particularly as Attorney General in going after corrupt corporations for unlawful practices (as a musician, I especially applauded his going after several major labels for price fixing, payola and withholding royalties), and now, irony of ironies, he turned to the dark side himself. I guess it's the nature of politics, even the most noble and honorable ones get lured into places they just shouldn't even consider going. It ain't the first time a public figure of this stature has taken a fall over something inexcusably stupid, but man, this one hurts!

Elliot, though I am more than a little furious at you and very saddened by these revelations, I hope that you will get the help you need and regain your self-respect and get back to being what I and others have admired you for, a crusader for the interests of the average person.

Story HERE

Putting A Shine On Fridays!

2008-03-06T20:42:00.000-08:00

Is this a real coffee table book?, Nyahhhh, but you never know, they've got coffee table books for just about everything these days. And thus my first object of illumination:

1) Other Coffee Table Books You'll Probably NEVER See In Your Friendly Neighborhood Barnes and Noble:

And HERE is a CNN feature on some REAL weird coffee table books.

And last but certainly not least, Amazon carries THIS volume on, you guessed it, COFFEE TABLES!

2) Passing The Torch #2994: This week, syndicated Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts wrote a very cool column of his experience in passing words of wisdom to an aspiring high-school age journalist. The basic gist was this, that STILL, by some miracle in an age of unreason and when people like Bill O'Reilly and their ilk labor under the foolish notion that one wins an argument based solely on the volume level or viciousness of said argument, that some are persuaded by actual words and logic. This young journalist had written a column taking to task the wearing and display of Confederate flags (something referred to as some as The American Swastika) and of course he was expecting flack but wasn't quite prepared for threats to his person. Leonard counseled him very compassionately and in such a manner that encouraged him to keep going and stick to his principles. Better still, one person that read that column saw the light and "retired" his wardrobe. The complete column HERE

3) The Old Bush Magic: Well George Dubbaya's gone and done it, he officially endorsed his former rival John McCain for prez. So, will the old "Bush Magic*" work for Insane McCain this fall? One could hope! (*Bush Magic = A well known quirk of George Bush Senior and Junior that when they say someone's doing a great job or endorse a person in ANY capacity, it's a sure fire kiss-of-death to that person's career and/or reputation)

4) Admitting It Is One Thing--: But when will our ever so vigilant FBI (Federal Bureau of Incompetence) show the proper remorse over recent revelations that it KNOWINGLY obtained personal information on innocent Americans improperly and WITHOUT ANY just cause whatsoever for FOUR YEARS RUNNING!!? William Moeller, I know a good sackcloth and ashes dealer just down the street from you-- (STORY HERE) And wouldn't you know it, the FBI has had 39% FEWER referrals and prosecutions since 2001, you're slipping here guys! Story HERE.
And it's not looking too good for the White House Clowns either,Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has just bought before a Federal court allegations that the White House has made numerous false and misleading statements regarding e-mails that it was under legal obligation and orders from a Federal judge to preserve but deleted anyway. All I can say is this, there HAVE to be special circles or places in Hell for people like the shamelessly lawless and amoral Bush Administration, one could hope anyway. The story HERE

5) Comedy Changing Culture? A fascinating new book has surfaced recently that has my interest, a profile of a number of innovative and cutting-edge comedians and how they've served to alter our culture, and have us laughing at and even confronting once taboo subjects. Starting with George Carlin's rise to prominence in the late 60's, "Comedy At The Edge" examines how a slew of comics in the late 60's through early 80's stripped away the sugar-coating and got us to not be so uptight with certain subject matter. Richard Zoglin did his research alright, delving into the workings and psyches of folks like George Carlin, Robert Klein, Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Albert Brooks, Andy Kaufman (who started to lean more towards performance art in many ways) and the rise of a young upstart by the name of Jerry Seinfeld by the early 80's. Wondering why you laugh at and WHO you laugh at sometimes, take a look at this book, the insights and answers just might surprise you.

HAPPY FRIDAY Y'ALL!!

RIP William F Buckley: 1925-2008

2008-02-28T06:34:00.000-08:00

At the age of 82, while doing what he loved (writing) William F Buckley departed the planet this week.

Buckley was truly an original and someone who stuck to his principles no matter what. Very likable, witty and approachable, simultaneously outspoken and someone that conservatives looked up to and even his detractors/opponents felt a genuine respect for the man. His talent for commentary, principle and outspokenness manifested itself early in his life when at age 6 he wrote a letter to the king of England demanding that it repay its war debt. Buckley had an amazing command of the English language and his "Buckley-isms" are iconic and legendary.

After Army service in WWII, and getting an education from NYU, in 1955, Buckley founded The National Review magazine, a leading journal for conservative thought, which he oversaw until 2004 (unfortunately, the magazine was hijacked by the Neo-Cons). He was a prolific commentator and author writing everything from spy novels to memoirs of those he knew and respected. In addition, he created and hosted the long running "Firing Line" political debate program that went from 1966 to 1999.

Buckley's views and commentary were tempered by deep thought and being able to differ respectfully, something that so many of the current bunch of so-called "conservative pundits" have absolutely ZERO cognition of (certainly the Fox News bunch like Limbaugh, Hannity and O'Reilly need to repeat first grade on this one, as well as insufferable blowhards like Glen Beck and Michael Savage). Buckley lived his life to the fullest, enjoying time on a yacht occasionally and other pursuits.

This man is truly irreplaceable in the marketplace of ideas.

An excellent Wikipedia article HERE

And a few classic Buckley-isms HERE

The Cult of Fox News (Monkey See, Monkey Do)

2008-02-26T13:10:00.000-08:00

Oh how we love to hate Fox News, let us count the ways. Many charge that Fox News is biased to the GOP and "conservative" positions. I do have to take issue with the pundits on one point, that the GOP AND Fox News's viewpoints are NOT really conservative to begin with but that's another discussion by itself.

1) The Sheer Hypocrisy: "Fair and Balanced", "We Report, You Decide" trumpet their marketing taglines. Sounds good might say the casual observer, that is until you get a generous (or I would call it, mind numbing) dose of their programming. For instance, a 2006 study conducted by the Project For Excellence In Journalism of their programming has shown that their news stories contain a whopping 68% personal opinion, as opposed to, say 27% for NBC and a surprisingly low 4% for CNN. In this VIDEO CLIP from the excellent documentary "Outfoxed - Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" Note at the 7:12 mark, the countdown of days until Bush is re-elected, I mean, if THAT isn't one sign of obvious bias, I don't know what is, let alone everything else that comes to light in this one clip. I HIGHLY recommend either buying or renting this excellent documentary/expose' on Fox news' rather suspect ethics and practices.

2) Information Control: The very fact that Fox News went out of its way to ban and exclude presidential candidate Ron Paul from one of its sponsored presidential debates and the resulting public uproar says volumes by itself, let alone NUMEROUS incidences of people like Rush Limbaugh cherry picking and "editing" quotes from those he opposes (for instance, a recent Bill Clinton quote regarding greenhouse gases and economies. In essence, Clinton stated that slowing down an economy is one way of thought, but that it would not work. Limbaugh chopped up the wording to make it sound as if Clinton advocated slowing down an economy to fight global warming, when in fact he didn't) to make it say what Fox News wants it to. MSNBC"s Keith Olbermann called him out on it on one of his "Countdown" segments. I am NO fan of Bill Clinton (and don't intend to ever be) but fair is fair, and what Rush Limbaugh (among others) did was typically Fox News and an example of sensationalism driven fake journalism at its worst..

3) "Some People Say": Normally, a technique in journalism to advance a story while citing an anonymous and ACTUAL source of information. However, Fox News is INFAMOUS for its OVER USE of this tactic not to mention MISUSE, in that it is more often than not, a prelude to n all-out attack on an interviewee or an opportunity to put forth more official/personal opinion and advance the party line.

4) Journalism Schmournalism!; It may well be safe to say that FEW TO NONE of those in Fox News' employ in the visible realm have ANY real journalism experience, training or knowledge. We certainly know that to be true in the case of Sean Hannity (whose previous claim to fame was a local college radio show in Santa Barbara CA where he ran his yapper (and failed miserably), and later bamboozled his way into a Fox News gig based on his PERSONALITY and presentation (which one Roger Ailes rather liked), in addition to hyping and spinning his college radio experience, and in typical FN fashion, they bought it hook line and sinker! Rush Limbaugh, another example of a radio DJ/yapper who with ZERO actual journalism experience/knowledge/training conned his way into the gig at FN. And don't get me started on Bill O'Reilly, professional blowhard/loudmouth/punk kid in an adult's body whose idea of a journalistic credential is that he was born in humble circumstances and came from Levittown NY (he DID however bother to get a degree in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University, a lot of good it did!) .

5) The Memo From On High: It's NOT a rumor, EVERY MORNING without fail, electronic memos come down from the top brass at Fox News dictating what stories will be covered and HOW they will be slanted. And no matter WHO appears on Fox News and no matter what time of day it is, THE EXACT SAME story and its slant, nearly word for word is repeated ad-nausem. Very cultish, very creepy.

6) If They Had Shred of Honesty of Integrity--: They would change their name to something like GOP TV or The Republican Channel, at least you'd know what you were in for up front.

7) Other Obviously Cult Like Traits: A very insular mentality, NOT wanting to interview of give voice to opinions different than its own, the insistence that they're the only ones giving you the straight story or being "Fair and Balanced", rigid control of presentation of stories, demonizing/shouting down ANYONE who disagrees with their opinions even over small things (the classic reactionary, simplistic binary "Anyone who disagrees with us is an evil liberal communist terrorist supporter" rhetoric). And the EXCESSIVE veneration/adoration of one person, in this case George Dubbaya Bush. It was SICKENINGLY obvious during the 2004 presidential campaign, that just about EVERY DAY Fox News would either cut to a live appearance by Bush somewhere, or show him doing something somewhat notable (or at least having the APPEARANCE of such). And to cap it off, the slick, flashy attention getting graphics are a rather convenient distraction, and not to mention the sensationalist/over-the-top alarmist headlines it employs and runs on it's on-screen ticker are quite typical of cultish organizations. And of course, the whole enterprise was founded and presided over by a fiercely partisan megalomanaical control freak by the name of Rupert Murdoch who put his lapdog Roger Ailes in place as its CEO. See HERE for a list of traits of a cult.

8) Oh Really O'Reilly?: This is just ONE instance of Mr O'Reilly's abject dishonesty and Fox News' condoning of such. In 2005, Bill O'Reilly did what SHOULD'VE gotten him fired and public ally disgraced, but as is typical of Fox News, they gave him a free pass. In a heated discussion with General Wesley Clark over wartime atrocities and mistreatment of prisoners of war (O"Reilly was actually DEFENDING it) good 'ol Bill completely revised history for the gullible. Referencing the Malmedy Massacre of WWII, Bill not only revised history but defecated on the memory of a number of American soldiers who gave their lives fighting the Nazis. O'Reilly told the story completely WRONG (and KNEW IT!) saying that American soldiers massacred Nazi troops, when in fact THE EXACT OPPOSITE was true! Nice going genius! He has YET to make any kind of a REAL apology for his blatant act of journalistic, historical and intellectual dishonesty. This Wikipedia Entry lists just a few of the ways Bill has gotten himself in hot water with his ignorance, egocentric bluster and outright dishonesty. I'm sure there are many more chronicled from various sources.

What I have put forth here just barely scratches the surface of why Fox News cannot and SHOULD NOT be taken seriously or at face value. I'm not an acedemician/media analyst but I do know one thing, I HATE being intentionally lied to by a so-called "news channel" whose sole reason for existence is to push the hopelessly bankrupt and incompetent agenda of a GOP completely beyond redemption (as I've said many times, it's NOT the same GOP we once knew as the Party of Lincoln. I dare say, Lincoln and Ronald Reagan both would have VERY HARSH words for the current GOP), I would hope that you the reader would be prompted to do your own research and investigation into whether Fox News is giving you the real story or is it pushing an agenda. The danger of relying on only ONE news source to begin with should be clear to ANYBODY with half a mind, but the sheer stupidity and folly of relying only on Fox News should be clear to nearly anyone.

Some Monday Madness--------------

2008-02-25T10:39:00.000-08:00

1) Rethinking One Of My Own Maxims: One principle I've held dear is this, "Never drink anything that you can run a car or airplane on". Well, I think one Richard Branson, maverick entrepreneur, founder of Virgin Records and Virgin Atlantic Air and visionary about to make sub-orbital flights available to the public, has made a mockery of that maxim and done something again very pioneering. This past weekend, one of Branson's Virgin Atlantic Air 747's made a historic flight from London to Amsterdam utilizing bio-fuel (in this case, a mix of coconut and babassu oil). And yes, it worked just fine, no modifications needed to the engines whatsoever. Don't expect a major retooling just yet but it does hold promise if in fact a way can be found to grow the necessary crops to produce these kind of fuels without detriment to the human food supply (but after all, if the oil companies had HALF a brain and could kick their addiction to Arab oil wouldn't it make sense to start special farms and grow your own?). Bravo and kudos once again to Richard Branson! If only more CEO's had your vision! London Daily Mail story HERE

2) I DID NOT watch the Academy Awards, and my world did NOT collapse, the sun set and rose as usual and better still, Mariah Carey DID NOT make another movie! Quite frankly, awards shows in general bore the hell out of me.

3) People I'd Like To See Appear On "Dancing With The Stars"

William Shatner - Question is, will he tango--- like--- he TAAAAALLLLKKS?
Former US Atty. General Janet Reno: About 2001, there was a club/dance hit out called "Murder On The Dance Floor" by Brit Sophie Ellis Bextor (now is THAT a screamingly British name or what?), well, if Janet Reno takes to the wood, that will LITERALLY come true, scorched wood, NO SURVIVORS if she has anything to say about it.
Bob Dole: Can he loosen up with the aid of Viagra? Will he constantly resort to referring to himself in third person? You make the call!
David Byrne: Former Talking Heads mastermind I bet would come up with some very interesting and quirky moves, a lot like he did onstage during the Talking Heads' heyday.
David Letterman: 'Nuff said!

No Joke, It's Friday!

2008-02-22T06:26:00.001-08:00

Yaaaayyy! It's Friday at last, and things are NEVER dull:

1) Sound Disturbingly Familiar?: John McCain hasn't even been officially crowned king , 'er I mean nominated for the GOP and already he's on shaky ground, this time over an alleged improper relationship with a telecomm lobbyist (is there any other kind?) whose company later benefited from McCain's doing favors. Well folks, keep this in mind, McCain was part of the original Keating Five, a bunch of miscreant Senators that acted illegally on Charles Keating's behalf during the Savings and Loan Crisis of the late 80's and early 90's and if the current allegations are true, it shows that Insane McCain hasn't changed one iota! McCain did serve his country nobly as a soldier but that does NOT mean that he is fit to be President. Quite frankly, my opinion of McCain is that he'll be a COMPLETE Bush clone, granted with more brain cells, but we CANNOT afford another GOP presidency riddled by unhinged and shameless brazen incompetence, idiocy, corruption, arrogance and undue influence by lobbyists, corporations and unfriendly foreign interests like Saudi Arabia or China. Story HERE Another one where McCain defends his lobbyist ties HERE GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

2) Meanwhile, On Safari With George Bush--: Our Hapless Buffoon In Chief is currently on a five country swing through Africa, and as you can guess, he's VERY out of his element. Coming to Liberia, good 'ol GWB thought that they'd welcome him like a conquering hero. First thing he sees, a good number of people with "Obama '08" signs (ROTFLMAO!!). And as that wasn't enough, check out this VIDEO of GWB trying to "bust some moves" (or more like busted moves).

3) Vote For World's Oddest Book Titles: It's down to 6 finalists in the British publishing industry magazine "The Bookseller" contest for world's oddest book title,, for example, "Cheese Problems Solved" by P.L.H McSweeney; or "If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs" by Big Boom; see HERE for more details.

4) Bizarre Ironies #687: In Ottawa Canada, a notorious drunk driver saved his local police department a fair amount of trouble and expense by actually parking his car RIGHT AT THE POLICE STATION and wandering into the nearly empty lobby! This is CLASSIC, see story HERE

5) RIP Teo Macero 1926-2008: A jazz composer, saxophonist but most notably, a record producer like no other. Teo will be best remembered as the producer of a number of groundbreaking recordings from the late 60's to early 70's by Miles Davis. Teo and Miles worked together in a fashion that outraged some jazz purists but was truly original in the jazz realm. That is, Miles and his cohorts would record voluminous improvisations, sketches and ideas, then, with Mile's vote of confidence would edit, reassemble and reconstruct these recordings into a cohesive whole., essentially using the studio as a compositional device. Teo died after a long illness, more details HERE.

6) Further Proof The GOP As A Whole STILL Doesn't Get It: Republican Rep. Rick Renzi of Arizona got himself a nice little 26-page indictment today on extortion, wire fraud, embezzlement, money laundering, kickbacks and other charges relating to a land swap scam in AZ. OK, now let me see, this guy gets paid beau coup bucks for supposedly representing the electorate and that's STILL not enough for him? Just add him to the lengthy list of GOP criminals, miscreants, traitors and losers we've all come to know and expect. Story HERE. And a side note, I am NOT a fan or defender of the Democrats either (who I find equally as corrupt and largely amoral as the Republicans), it's just that I come down a lot harder on the Republicans because they STILL loudly and FALSELY boast that they're the good guys who stand for morality and decency. Yeah sure, and oil mixes with water.

7) The Special Circle In Hell Award-- Goes to Karl Rove, the icy, amoral, ruthless, arrogant, manipulative pile of horsecrap that was often called "Bush's Brain" (the results speak for themselves) and now, a pundit/commentator for good 'ol False News of late (not unexpected by any means). Karl has proven himself the near complete embodiment of evil time and time again between getting away scot-free in the Valerie Plame case (he was in danger of facing obstruction of justice charges among other things), his closed door speeches to college students where no media coverage is allowed whatsoever (the students and parents alike are largely reported to be none too impressed with Rove on much of anything), his hateful and arrogant reply to a question that singer Sheryl Crow asked at a White House event ("I don't work for you, I work for the American People"), and more recently, allegations surfaced from a former Republican campaign worker that Rove demanded that she get photos of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman (currently incarcerated on bribery and corruption charges) in a compromising sexual position, going to desperate lengths to prove that Siegleman was having an extramarital affair. Rove of course denies this, and no evidence of an affair was ever found. All this came to my attention by way of an AP News report by Ben Evans dated 2/22/2008. Whether Siegleman was guilty or not is not really the central issue here, but rather, the issue is that one such as Karl Rove seems to feel that it's his God-given right to manipulate, control and interfere with criminal investigations and other undertakings that could produce a favorable outcome for his whims or that of the hopelessly corrupt (and in my mind CRIMINAL) GOP. For this he definitely deserves A Special Circle In Heeeeeelllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!! More HERE

8) OK, You Can Put Your Umbrellas Away Now: Late Wednesday/early Thursday, our boys in the Navy succeeded in blasting to smithereens, the dead bus-sized spy satellite that was threatening to plummet Earthward. Great work everyone and thanks for making our skies just a bit safer! Story HERE

HAPPY FRIDAY Y'ALL!

Meet the REAL Robo-Cop

2008-02-21T11:06:00.000-08:00

And right here in Atlanta GA no less!

No,, it's not like in the movie but it is a mechanical device, weighing about 300lbs, remote controlled and comes in real handy for getting rid of drug-dealers, shiftless panhandlers, car thieves and other miscreants at close range. Rufus Terrill , owner of O'Terril's pub in downtown Atlanta is an engineer by training, and being outraged enough at crime seeping into his neighborhood and the police either understaffed or unwilling to deal with it, channeled his anger into building a machine from a 3 wheeled scooter, a meat-smoker and equipping it with spotlights, a speaker system (utilizing a walkie-talkie) and a water-cannon, all tied to a remote control box. Late at night, he sends out the robot to patrol the area surrounding the pub and a local day care center (that gave him written authorization to do so),

People for the most part have been very appreciative of his efforts to control neighborhood crime, the Atlanta PD, somewhat hesitantly though (a spokesperson saying that using the water-cannon on anything other than a low setting could constitute an assault, which in this Owl's opinion is COMPLETE BS!), I'll bet at some point the ACLU (American Criminal Liberties Union) and not to mention that Dynamic Duo Sharpton & Jackson will pounce and come in playing a full deck of race cards.

Regardless, I have to tip my hat to this man for doing what the police are either unable or unwilling to do. I hope more and more people do things like this, or that even a line of security robots could be devised. I 'll even be so bold as to suggest a few additions:

A taser and/or knockout gas for incapacitating criminals, making it easy for the police to bag the miscreant
A specially modified .44 Magnum for extreme emergencies, save the taxpayers a few bucks by putting some of these punks 6 feet under.

As far as I'm concerned, anyone or anyTHING that injures maims or even kills a criminal in the act deserves a medal and our deepest thanks!

See the story HERE, along with PIC's and VIDEO

Have They No Decency?

2008-02-19T07:56:00.000-08:00

Leave it a bunch of warped, hateful and utterly misguided sorts like the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka KS to do something utterly cruel, tactless, crass and uncalled for as picketing the funerals of recent victims of a series of senseless shootings at Northern Illinois University last week.

The first thing I'd like to know is what in the workd do they think can be accomplished by their actions, and what good could possibly come of it? This Owl believes, NONE WHATSOEVER!

This group is really NOT a legitimate Baptist (or ANY kind of) church (in fact, many Baptist conventions have condemned them), but rather a cult of warped, misguided hate-mongers who have ZERO compassion for those who are hurting or are in need. These fools were brazen enough to picket military funerals and such with their hateful propoganda.

First Amendment aside, these people have gone over the line so many times that even some localities have justifiably passed specific legislation ordering them to keep their distance from funerals and such.

Founded and presided over by the unhinged Fred Phelps , a once disbarred lawyer, this group feels there's no depth low enough to plunge to in order to inflict misery and pain on others,

To Fred and his bunch of loonies, you might try ACTUALLY READING A BIBLE, the answers may shock and unnerve you and make you quiver with fear, as well they should. Story HERE

Shivering Icebergs, It's Friday- QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK

2008-02-15T07:23:00.001-08:00

No, it's NOT Dick Cheney in the picture, it's just good 'ol Burgess Meredith as The Penguin (from the old Batman series).

It is Friday though, and time to look at a few oddities and absurdities:

1) Life Imitating Art # 555,128: A Swiss automotive firm took a cue from a certain James Bond movie ("The Spy Who Loved Me"), and has created an actual submersible sports car called the sQuba. So far, able to achieve a maximum depth of 33ft, it is propelled underwater with 2 rear props and water-jets up front (all electrical). Don't hold your breath for a regular production model just yet, and speaking of which, it's NOT an enclosed cabin, you have to wear scuba gear when going down under, more HERE and a video from the Auto Channel HERE and another HERE

2) And Speaking Of Amphibious Cars: There was the ill-fated German Amphicar produced from 1961 to 1968. Not exactly a great success (though a novel idea), between it's whopping 43 horsepower engine and rather inadequate waterproofing and a bad tendency for water to get in the engine compartment. However, to this day, there are a number of car collectors the world over who still have a jones for this quirky little hybrid. You can see some video footage HERE of one of the beasts in action.

3) Kudos For Keith Olbermann, The Anti-O'Reilly: Nothing like some commentary that will have you laughing your ass off and thinking about events at hand at the same time. Special kudos go to the ferociously funny and ever insightful Keith Olbermann now on MS-NBC for his "Countdown" segments of news and commentary. Originally making his reputation as a sports journalist for a number of networks (ESPN, Fox Sports, the ABC radio network and more), Keith evolved into one the most incisive, witty and brilliant commentators I've seen in years. I admire him for actually researching his facts, having a no holds barred/take no prisoners approach in his commentaries (peppered with TONS of humor and wit) sticking to his guns and maintaining a sort fo integrity rather foreign to a lot of US media anymore. Plus, ANYONE who can routinely skewer False News with as much style and biting wit like Keith does is VERY cool in my book! One of my favorite parts of his "Countdown" segment is the "Worst Person In The World" segment where he profiles a well-known buffoon deserving of his brand of ridicule (like "comedian Rush Limbaugh" for instance). He doesn't play favorites (although Fox News does get the lions share of ridicule, and rightly so for its rather pathetic attempts at journalism) liberals and GOP-er's (I DARE NOT call them conservatives) alike will feel his humor-laced wrath (with JS Bach's "Tocotta & Fugue in D Minor" playing in the background). His "BUSHED" segments are priceless too! But don't just take my word for it, check him out yourself, tear yourself away from Fixed News long enough to get a good dose of laughs and biting commentary. Keith has a blog called The News Hole HERE, and of course, you can watch him online HERE. Also a good article on his life and career HERE

4) Hilary Is Losing Support In Droves: I LOVE THIS!! Hitlary Clinton is on the ropes about now in this nail-biter of contention for the Democratic party nomination. In the grand scheme of things this Owl opines, that could only be a good thing. Where once she looked like a shoo-in for the Dems, now the tide is turning in Obama's favor so far. She has two crucial primaries in Texas and Ohio to win if she has even a slight hope of coming out on top. However, I think her power-hungry nanny-state message and her still icy/domineering manner and of course the baggage of her trailer-trash ex-pres husband aren't helping her case terribly much (one could hope at least). One perspective HERE

5) Beware Of Falling Spy Satellites: Gotta love this, a bus-sized spy satellite, completely non-functional and carrying an incredibly toxic type of fuel onboard (hydrazine) is wobbling out of orbit. This has caused enough concern for our Smiling Idiot In Chief to give the order to shoot it down with a missle. So about this Wednesday or so, a modified missle will be launched from an aircraft carrier, on orders from George Dubbaya. Hooo Boy! So then, does this mean that the Space Station will get shot down instead? Will the missle fall back to Earth and hit New Jersey? Whooo knows. In any case, get out your umbrellas folks (it worked for Wile E. Coyote, didn't it?). More details HERE

But despite that, HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!

Is Someone In Congress Growing Some Cajones?

2008-02-14T13:34:00.000-08:00

Let's hope so! In this late-breaking development, after MONTHS of threatening, the House is moving to issue Contempt of Congress Citations against Josh Bolton and the eminently incompetent Harriet Miers (who praised George Dubbaya as the smartest man she's ever met, HAHAHAHAH!) in regards to their stonewalling and refusal to testify before Congress and hand over subpoenaed documents relating to the rather suspicious firings of 8 US Attorneys last year. Predictably, House Republicans (or is that Replicants as they ALL have an unquestioning adoration of George Dubbaya) threw a temper tantrum about like that of a 10 year-old and walked out. Add to this, the fact they're in a snit over their fellow legislator's reluctance to grant the Bush administration unlimited powers of surveillance and spying on American citizens. WAAA WAAAAA WAAAAAAA WAAAAAAAA. IT'S NOT FAIR MOMMY!!

If anything, this Owl hopes they'll not only follow through on their threat, but that they absolutely FLAME BROIL these two Bush-worshiping miscreants

More details HERE

Science and Fairy Tales

2008-02-13T08:06:00.000-08:00

I NEVER put it past the scientific community to investigate the oddest most preposterous and most unlikely of phenomenon, which is a VERY good thing. Looks like the fairy tales we heard as kids are under the microscope of late, or at least certain aspects of them.

Could carpets fly? According to some, they could if thin enough and had air pulses vibrating underneath them at the right frequency.

Could a witch mute a mermaid? Possibly if she was able to surround the victim with certain materials that would bend sound waves around and redirect ehm.

These and other phenomenon are examined in this ARTICLE on Live Science.com

Never Fear, Friday's Here!

2008-02-08T06:12:00.001-08:00

What a week folks, what a week, between Super Tuesday and the near coronation of John "I'm NOT A Liberal" McCain, Bush's bank-busting budget proposal and much more, never a dull moment in this country;

1) Further Proof That There Is A God: The Spice Girls cut short their reunion tour. Hmmm, could it be due to extreme lack of interest or the rather limited shelf-life of talentless pre-manufactured pop bands? Nyaaahhhhh, the usual "family and personal committments" they say, story HERE

2) She Just Can't Catch A Break: Poor Cynthia McKinney, first she gets national headlines for slugging a Capitol police officer, then gets soundly defeated in here home district (Fulton County GA) by another Democrat in a runoff election, then she angrily leaves the Democratic Party for the Green Party, moves to San Francisco, only to be dealt ANOTHER humiliating blow, she LOST the Green Party's nomination for President to none other than Ralph Nader. Hooo boy, you can bet she'll be spewing her usual high-volume/no content inflammatory racist/anti-Semitic invective and epithets. More HERE

3) The Never Ending Farewell: What is is with Cher? After a nearly 3 year Farewell Tour, she supposedly "retired". Well, in the world of extreme-glitz spectacle entertainment, retirement is just a code word for " coming up next, a slickly marketed comeback for the 50 thousandth time. Appears that Cher is taking a cue from the Sireen Dijon playbook and doing a run of show in Las Vegas, promising to be even more over the top than her previous spectacles that almost dwarf Ringling Bros! Well, as long as those surgeries and such work, more power to her. But wait, is it REALLY Cher or an Animatronic one? See video HERE (she's still her smart-ass self as always, would you have it any other way?)

4) McSweeny's Lists: This is some HILARIOUS stuff! A compilation of humorous lists on far flung subjects like "James Bond Movies for the George W Bush Era" (ex - "You Only Have to Show Your Boarding Pass Twice") , "If Alan Ginsberg Wrote Popup Ads", "Rejected Introductions to Days of Our Lives" and so much more hilarity ensues, http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/lists/

5) Tough Love #251: This ABC News story was a real attention getter for me. A mother, having disciplinary problems with her second-grade son gave him a stern yet humane punishment he'll likely remember for a long time, She forced her son to stand in public with a sign admitting that he behaved badly in school and that he promises to make better choices next time. I dare say that Bill Cosby would get a kick out of this one, the kind of purposeful discipline he talks about in his recent book "Come On People". This Owl applauds the mother 100%! See video HERE

ON THE PLAYER:

Nostalgia 77 Octet: Weapons of Jazz Destruction

This 2007 release is from 8 feisty young Brits (4 horns, piano, bass, drums and guitar plus an occasional vocalist) that combines the grit of funky old-school R&B with equally gritty old-school 60's Blue Note style jazz with a number of twists that will surely grab your attention. "Journey Home" with it insistent rhythm, snaky melody line and colorful horns is a real highlight.

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!

George WMS Bush: Financial Wizard (or 2+2=5 on alternate Wednesdays)

2008-02-05T11:13:00.000-08:00

Ever grasping at straws, our Smiling Idiot In Chief is sending a 2009 Federal Budget to Congress that to put it mildly is just nightmarish! Such that ONLY a complete moron like Bush could've dreamt it up.

All told, it's for the staggering amount of 3.1 TRILLION dollars, and you can bet a good chunk will be for this continuing pointless fraud of a war that he's still pursuing in Iraq. Of course, there's that proposed bailout of people caught up in the morass and aftermath of the sub-prime mortgage debacle (which I hate to say, a lot of people got into this mess because they weren't using their heads to begin with), and of course, there's money wasting entities like Homeland Security, Dept. of Education and others like that. Worse yet, Bright Boy proposes this outrageous amount AND THE INCOMING REVENUE IS FAR LESS! (approx 2.7 trillion) Do you see the inherent idiocy here?

Yes, I do think that tax cuts are good and necessary to stimulate our economy, no argument there. But the GOP are so damned stupid because they DON'T cut unnecessary spending which incurs these obscene deficits in the first place! Part of me I admit is mad as hell for the Nixon administration's braindead decision back in the 70's to start printing money with NOTHING to back it up, which certainly has NOT helped any and gave us odious inflation.

'Ol George seems to think he's Lyndon Johnson, who presided over a whopping 39% increase in government spending in his 1 term presidency. George's LBJ-wannabe tendencies sure came out when he was first running and promised big budget SURPLUSES by 2010 and abalanced budget EVERY year of his presidency. Only thing that happened is we got a huge surplus of BS, lies and inexcusable waste and fraud. Plus, Bright Boy again has the dubious honor of having his administration start and end in the shadow of a recession (to be fair, he didn't start it, it was already happening in the tail end of the Clinton administration).

The irony is, 'ol George blasts the Dems for excessive taxaton and spending (no denying that) but dang, the GOP are determined to outdo them at every turn. COnservative? Not on your life!

A story HERE

Storming The Mad Scientist's Castle

2008-02-04T08:57:00.000-08:00

You GOTTA love this, in late January, one of False News's resident blowhards, Sean Hannity got a dose of justice, New Hampshire style. Bright boy made the mistake of entering a restaurant full of Ron Paul supporters and found himself being chased out of the premises by an outraged mob of Paul's supporters (keep in mind that Ron Paul himself DID NOT endorse this or have anything to do with it), who are understandably angry at False News's blatant attempts at censorship and information control, not to mention their pathetic and reprehensible attempts to manipulate and control the outcome of the presidentiaol elections this year. It's a lot like a famous scene in the original Frankenstein movie where the villagers, angry and fearing for their well-being, take up torches and pitchforks and go after Dr. Frankenstein and the monster.

I'm not sure I can completely get behind mob-justice (though it IS certainly understandable and deserved in some cases), I do applaud this crowd for their collective outrage and taking a VERY visible stand. See Keith Olbermann's commentary and the actual footage HERE,

Another bit of footage HERE

Longer version HERE with a feature about False News blowhard Bill O'Reilly getting a bit of much deserved outrage thrown at him too.

EEEEEEEEK IT' S FRIDAY!!

2008-02-01T07:13:00.001-08:00

Yes, it's back again, The Dreaded Friday Follies!

1) 105 Stories of Complete Uselessness: Ya gotta love Kim Ill Jong and his ever whacked parade of wonders in Communist North Korea. As quite the showpiece, a 105+ story Ryugyong Hotel was built in the capital city of Pyongyang financed with 2% of the gross national product. To this day, the 105 story monstrosity REMAINS unfinished, unnocupied, unopened and will most likely NEVER, EVER open. Nice going there geniuses, you've given us yet another reason to believe that Communism/Socialism really DOES NOT WORK! More sordid details HERE

2) Notes From The CamPAIN Trail: My thoughts on the Republican debate this past week hosted at the Reagan Library by CNN:

I'd LOVE to punch Anderson Cooper in the nose for his excessive control of the whole affair, namely that Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul got extremely little time to speak and articulate their points. I couldn;t help but cheer when Mike Huckabee quipped, "Thanks, I'd really like to be here tonight".

McCain and Romney could invoke the name of Ronald Reagan all they wanted but their stances on most things strike me as obviously VERY liberal, I'm just not buying their act. Their playground taunt/sniping didn't exactly enhance their credibility in my eyes either.
Ron and Mike both deserve extra kudos for making the best of a dismal situation, being that when their turn came up, they did it for all it was worth, cutting through the BS and getting to the issues in the limited time they were allowed. At least CNN allowed Ron Paul to take part in a debate, Fox (False) News should be pilloried, pelted with tomatoes and lynched for their pathetic efforts to exclude Ron Paul from the previous debates, he's got just as much right to be there as anyone.

I particularly liked Mike Huckabee's quip about Rush Limbaugh's routinely idiotic pronouncement that Huckabee is dumbing down conservatism (when in reality, I tend to think it's idiots like Rush, the GOP and the whole False News mafia that are doing that). Got news for ya Rush, the GOP has been dead since Ronald Reagan, the last ACTUAL GOP conservative left public life. After he retired, the GOP just went straight to Hell in this Owl's opinion when the Neo-Con liberal punks moved in. Personally, I think the GOP needs to change it's nickname to the LID, Liberals In Denial.

Besides Huckabee and Paul, I thought Nancy Reagan was a true class act the whole night. Her beloved Ronnie definitely married smart that's for sure!

And of course there was George Dubbaya's Annual State of The Onion Snoozefest this past week, just more irrelevant rambling from a clearly generic script trying to paint himself as the Good Guy, not much in the way of gaffes and Bush-isms (wait, was that ACTUALLY Bush or an Animitronic one?). and of course ZERO in the way of any substance whatsoever. I watched the thing on a local PBS affiliate (kudos for keeping the chatter to a minimum BTW), and I could not help but notice that Hitlary Clinton looked absolutely bored out of her skull, and Nancy Lugosi alternated between looks of abject despair, wanting to cry in her drink and "PLEASE GOD, KILL ME NOW! while Dick "The Penguin" Cheney did not blink and hardly even moved (although I was half expecting him to whip out an umbrella loaded with sleeping gas, put Congress under and quacking maniacally about taking over the country, QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK).

And in a rather amusing plot twist, the New York Post SNUBBED Hitlary (for VERY good reasons) and endorsed with some reservations, Barack Obama, see HERE

3) My Kind of Sheriff: Well, they don't get any more old-school and tough on criminals than in Maricopa County AZ. Sheriff Joe Arpaio is definitely a MUCH NEEDED return to tough law enforcement and incarceration of criminals of all sorts. He's definitely looking to bag more than a few miscreant celebrities that the LAPD routinely allows to get away with murder since the Superbowl is taking place in his jurisdiction this year (Phoenix to be exact). You get busted by this man's boys in blue, here's what you can look forward to:

NO square meals a day, ONE baloney sandwich is all you get per day, PERIOD!

Chain gang duty

If the jail is crowded, you're camping out in a HOT tent in the parking lot, HEAVILY GUARDED.

You steal prison issued underwear, you'll be wearing PINK underwear as punishment.

He LOVES vintage clothing, which means prisoners WILL wear the old-fashioned black and white striped prison duds of yore!

Even though the criminal-coddling liberals hate this guy, Joe has gotten elected FIVE times because he just won't take any crap from criminals, period, which is how it should be. Wonder if he'd have any qualms about using Brian Nichols for target practice? The story HERE

4) Amazing What You Can Do With Lego's #5823: This particular Lego project has become the stuff of legend, someone actually went to the trouble of building a somewhat playable harpsichord out of Lego's. It has to be seen to be believed, but the sound, GOOD GAWD, it's enough to scare Lurch! See HERE

5) Could It Be That NYC's City Hall Is Cursed?: Rudy Guliani is just the latest victim of an ancient curse on NYC"s city hall, or so some would have you believe. But one has to wonder given that EVERY SINGLE former NYC mayor who ever ran for president, governer or other higher office got knocked out of the race pretty early on, a story HERE.

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!

Son of Am I The Only One that Thinks That-------

2008-01-29T09:21:00.000-08:00

The BIGGEST threats to our democracy are Republicans, Neo-Cons, The ACLU, Department of Homeland Security/TSA, The IRS, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Big Foreign Oil, Foreign Investors buying up our country, The FBI (Federal Bureau of Incompetence) AND Liberal Democrats alike?
That Bill Clinton should be NEITHER SEEN NOR HEARD FROM at any given time, EVER!

The Bill Clinton Presidential LIEbrary needs the Airstream logo plastered on it's side for all the world to see (that monstrosity looks EXACTLY like an Airstream double-wide!)

The Reality Show craze just might start to hit its death throes before long due to over-exposure bought on by the writers strike?
That CNN (Clinton News Network) and False News (Fox) are just two sides of the same coin, Lou Dobbs and Jack Cafferty notwithstanding?
That the Atlanta police officers who arrested Brian Nichols after his 36-hour rampage of murder and violence should be severely punished for dereliction of duty, that is, for FAILING TO SHOOT THIS MURDEROUS CRETIN DEAD when they had the chance, sure would've saved us taxpayers the however many millions of dollars that've gone down the drain for his lawyers, and NO TRIAL has taken place yet?
John McCain really is NUTS (evidenced by his calling for a 50 to 100 year military occupation of Iraq. AND FOR WHAT??)?

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree in the Bush family, all of a sudden, George Dubbaya cares about the economy and proposes an economic stimulation package that's just a bit too late in the game to make that much of a difference, just like the previous Bush administration (GWOMSB now has the dubious honor of being the first president to begin and end his tenure in a possible recession,, bet that looks good on the mantle!) ?

Ron Paul should say to hell with the Repubs and run independently. He could teach 'ol Ross Perot a few lessons on how to do it right (in retrospect, I'm glad Perot lost BTW but that's another discussion)

The ONLY things you'd find in a George Dubbaya Bush Presidential Library are a few copies of "My Pet Goat", other picture books and ALL taped Fox News broadcasts since 1999 (everything else would've been shredded)?
That Wolf Blitzer, Sean Hannity, Chris Wallace, Bill O'Reiily, Rush Limbaugh (though I do find him oddly entertaining sometimes) and Glen Beck should ALL get a good punch in the nose for being such arrogant, simple-minded self-important blow-hards.
That John Stewart (The Daily Show) and Stephen Colbert should run for president next time around?

MROS - Morbid Rush Obsession Syndrome, A Most Insidious Disease

2008-01-24T11:32:00.000-08:00

SYMPTOMS MAY INCLUDE:

In drummers, an insatiable desire to accumulate as many toms, bass drums, cymbals and other percussive paraphenelia as possible

In drummers, the compulsion to execute gratuitous rolls down the toms as often as possible, to an extent that even Neal Peart himself would abhor.

In bassists, the morbid desire to exactly replicate Geddy Lee's bass sound and stage rig to the last detail, not to mention his playing style. Severe stages of the disease may even cause the sufferer to vocalize something like an injured vulture as well as trying to play EXACTLY like Geddy Lee, or worse yet LOOK like Geddy Lee. Even worse, buying a vertical chicken roaster, a sandwich vending machine and a Maytag washer/dryer combo to use onstage

In guitarists, a similar morbid desire to replicate Alex Lifeson's rig, sound and playing style to the letter.

In listeners, having to acquire EVER SINGLE LAST thing ever released by Rush, as well as bootlegged shows and associated merchandise.

The delusional belief that Neal Peart's Ayn Rand inspired lyrics have some deep, hidden meaning that will unlock the secrets of the universe, solve the listener's personal problems or at the very least, good sources of authentic Canadian Maple Syup.

Sitting in one's room for days at a time listening to EVERY detail of epics like "2112" , making copious notes etc. Attempting to recreate by any means necessary the wardrobe that Rush utilized on the "2112" tour.

Spending DAYS on Rush fan forums trying to delineate what color of socks Geddy wore at a particular show or session, what brand of toilet paper Neal Peart prefers or how Alex Lifeson fixes his eggs at home.

Extreme irritability or offense easily taken at even the SLIGHTEST bit of humor, criticism or satire directed at Rush individually or collectively

TREATMENT:

No sure fire treatment exists at this time but sufferers have been know to have long-term remissions with psychotherapy and the assuming of personal responsibilities outside of a local Rush fan club and gradual reacclimation to the outside world.We're a long way from a cure but there is hope, and The MROS Foundation wants to do its part to wipe out MROS in your lifetime.

http://www.morbidrushobsessionsyndrome.org/

IT' S ONLY A BAND, GET A LIFE!!!!

No Surprise Here-----

2008-01-23T06:22:00.000-08:00

Gotta love the Bush Administration, something that'll be talked about decades from now, however, I dare say NOT in very complimentary terms.

Just recently, TWO completely independent journalism organizations have released a study that shows that our Smiling Idiot In Chief and his stable of dumba$$e$ combined made no less than a staggering 935 false statements, half-truths, distortions and outright lies regarding Iraq and it's risk to us. Within a two year period, all this served to galvanize public opinion in a manner not unlike Group-Think that drives cults and multi-level marketing organizations. In other words, everyone jumps ona bandwagon WITHOUT even thinking to question, evaluate or disagree. Frightening really. In short, we were sold a lie, and led to believe that invading Iraq would combat terrorism. As we all well know, it did the EXACT OPPOSITE! And we fell for it. Meanwhile, Bush ALLOWED Osama Bin Laden, the undisputed mastermind behind 9/11 to get away with murder 3000+ times over, and of course, allowed terrorist coddling/supporting Saudi Arabia a free pass.

And this Owl asks;

1) Where's the outrage?
2) Why has NO ONE in Congress called for criminal proceedings against these remorseless, amoral doofuses?
3) Why aren't more people calling for Bush and Co's trial and execution for treason?

More details HERE

More VERY Good Reasons To Burn Your Republican Party Membership Card

2008-01-16T17:53:00.000-08:00

Soooo, the Republicans are out to fight terrorism and all, eh? And the Republicans are the Good Guys, right? Well, I'd seriously rethink that position if I was you. It's NOT the same Republican party as when Ronald Reagan was in office.

In yet ANOTHER flagrant display of typical latter-day Republican hypocrisy, extreme stupidity and complete lack of morals, conscience or decency, former Michigan Republican Congressman and former UN Ambassador Mark Deli Siljander, is now under the gun with a 42 COUNT indictment that includes money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for allegedly lying about lobbying senators on behalf of an Islamic charity that authorities said was secretly sending funds to Al Queda and the Taliban. Nice going there genius!!! An AP story HERE

Meanwhile our Smiling Idiot In Chief, Traitorous George is partying with his buddies in the Saudi government/royal family and trying to solve the Mideast conflicts (while he couldn't be bothered with affairs in his own country unless it involves illegal surveillance of American citizens) and of course, making a $20 billion dollar arms sale deal with the Saudis, who you know darn well will turn around and give said arms to terrorists for the right price. And all I can say is WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE? Story HERE

Whoooooooo Says Fridays Can't Be Funny?

2008-01-11T06:27:00.000-08:00

Oh man, this has been a week or so of at least a couple comedy classics;

1) Delusional George: Our Smiling Idiot in Chief was in rare form this past week or so, for one, while touring through Israel, good 'ol Dubbaya takes the opportunity to play armchair general in the past tense, saying the US should've bombed Auschwitz during WWII. (story HERE ). Well George, I'm thankful for one thing, that you WEREN'T president during WWII, otherwise we'd all be speaking German by now. And as if that weren't enough, Genius Boy honestly believes he'll solve the Mideast conflicts by the end of his term. Uhhh George, greater people than yourself have tried and failed to address that same thing. And with your incompetent bumbling and just plain STUPID incursion into Iraq, what makes you think you'll get 'er done? Story HERE

2) Meanwhile, On The CamPAIN Trail: In New Hampshire, at a coffee shop, Hitlary was just pouring on the fake crocodile tears about people not giving her a chance (after losing just ONE primary, SHEEEESH!!!, There's 48 more to go yet, get over yourself!), and of course, she wins NH for the Dems, while McBush, er I mean McCain took it for the Repubs. One thing I'm honestly hoping for is for Rudy Giuliani to drop out, especially after some of his latest words of wisdom that reveal his true authoritarian colors. It ain't over yet folks, hold onto your seat, then hold your nose come Election Day.

3) As Hollywood Burns-------: Can you just feel the pain, the angst and the sheer misery of millions who won't get to see new episodes of their favorite TV shows due to the writers strike, and how reality shows have COMPLETELY taken over. Well, as far as I know, NOBODY'S been holding a gun to your heads to watch in the first place. And if you feel you HAVE to spend that much time in front of a TV, here's a suggestion for y'all, GET A FREAKIN' LIFE!!!!

4) On A More Serious Note, RIP Sir Edmund Hilary: The man who was the first to climb to the top of Mt Everest against great odds and considerable risk to life and limb has left our midst at the age of 88. Apparently a very gentle and humble soul (in addition to being brave and crazy), Edmund Hilary also led many expeditions through the South Pole among other notable accomplishments. A BBC story with more details HERE

5) Homeland INsecurity Rearing It's Ugly Head Again: Amazing, these guys are really pinning the Stupidity Meter in the red zone! Now they've just unveiled a bunch more odious and unnecessary regulations regarding use of ID"s for air travel, the REAL ID law (hotly contested by civil liberties advocates and lovers of common sense alike) are going to make air travel even MORE hellish for us. Don't you just love these Bush-worshiping idiots who are determined as hell to punish anyone for buying a plane ticket at all (these dolts seem to think that ANYONE who buys a plane ticket is a potential terrorist, LOVELY!) , more gory details HERE

6) Band Names: Need one? Here ya go:

The Acerbic Polyannas
Radio Face
Steve Howe of The Undead
Onion Headlines
Iron Rat Poison
The Dead Undertakers
Cashless Superheroes
Vanilla Train Wreck
Lawrence Welk Straightjacket
The No Green Lantern
Hungry Silicone
The David Lynch Mob
Disneyland Uber Alles
Xerox Atrocities
Crashing Kecksburg Acorns
Premeditated Donuts
Creflo's Last Dollar
Po-Leece Balloon
Gomez's Trains
Who Wants To Go To The Electric Chair?
The Mad As Hell Party Vote
Jello Viagra
MONDALE!!!!
The Dukakis Excuse
Weapons of Mass Stupidity
Sam Peckinpah's Garden Party
Oppenheimer Mushroom Garden
Angry Wooden Shatners
Elaine Benes Dancing Academy
Extreme Moderation

Mattress Tag Police
The Leona Helmsley Happy Hour
Dog Catcher Election
The Professional Victims
When Actuary’s Attack
The Mute Carvilles
The Horror of Lincoln Logs
Blank White Comedy
We've Been Shatnered!
Airline Bags Orbit Saturn
Televised Paint Drying
Drive-by Trombone Solos
Pangean People’s Liberation Front
Dryer Hypnosis
Strip Mall Farm
The Postal Tourists
One-Minute Control Freak
The Neal Sarazin Story
Ancient Mayan Spud Relics
Angry China Doll
Unlawful Gravity
Desmond Doomsday
Cardboard Cutout Museum
A History of Wax
Headless Fiberglass Cows
Janet Reno's Dance Party
Premedicated Donuts
Cosell Sells!

And a belated happy Friday to one and all!

HIlarious Irony #4545: FBI Gets Owned By The Phone Company!

2008-01-10T11:31:00.000-08:00

Yet another bust up laughing uncontrollably moment at what goes on in Washington DC these days.

Turns out the FBI (stands for Federal Bureau of Incompetence) just got bit in the a$$ by the phone company, FOR NOT PAYING IT'S PHONE BILL ON TIME! Now is this delicious irony or what? The FBI in its debaucherous love of wiretaps ran up quite a tab with Ma Bell, such that even a foreign wiretap in progress literally had the plug pulled on it!

And this of course begs at least one question, WHERE WAS ALL THE TAX MONEY WE SUPPORT THESE BOZO'S WITH DISAPPEARING TO?

More details HERE

Happy 2008 and Many More Follies!

2008-01-03T11:32:00.000-08:00

Happy 2008 my loyal readers and loyal detractors alike!

Lots seems to be worthy of curmudgeonly scrutiny this week, so here goes;

1) You're Kidding, RIGHT?: Just as you thought the TSA/Homeland Security/FAA Axis of Asinine couldn't get any more so, these bozos foist upon us a whole slew of ridiculously complex and totally UNNECESSARY regulations regarding taking BATTERIES on a plane flight! Seems these intelligence deficient dimwits are sooooo paranoid that a lithium-ion battery might explode (a'la Sony), so just because of something that were isolated incidents, these uber-doofuses have nothing better to do than punish and frustrate air travellers even more than they already have been. Read more HERE and of course, the full text, straight from the horse's a$$.

2) Have The Pod People Invaded?: What have you done with the REAL George WMS Bush? In the past week, our Smiling Idiot In Chief had a RARE moment of intelligence and signed into law, a bill that actually TOUGHENED the Freedom of Information Act, for instance requiring that ALL FOI requests be addressed within 20 days, establishes a hot line for problems, an ombudsman and a system to track the progress (or lack thereof) of their requests. This was done without much fanfare and no comment from GWB, but I bet at close range you could hear him cursing under his breath as he held the pen. He realized all too late that his demands for increasing government secrecy and going against the Constitution are starting to bite him in the ass, you can bet this was PURELY a desperate last-ditch political move on Bush's part. If he had his way, the Freedom of Information Act would've been repealed altogether. The AP story HERE. OK George, what's the REAL story here?

3) The Central Incompetence Agency Strikes Again: No doubt you've heard the recent flap over the CIA's willful destruction of videotaped evidence of harsh interrogations performed on suspected terrorists using waterboarding and maybe other forms of torture (and I thought we were supposed to be the good guys), in CLEAR WILLFUL VIOLATION of a Federal court order and warnings from Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif. and others. Their excuse, that the identity of the interrogators would be revealed, utter and complete BS!!!! I honestly believe the REAL reason is to cover Bush's ass so he can continue lying about how "We don't torture---" which is pretty obvious that he is lying. Well guys. your little scheme FAILED, just like nearly everything else the CIA does anymore (and that's what you get for letting a Clinton-era sniveling weasel like George Tenet continue to head the CIA for ANY length of time. Even now he's gone, the CIA is STILL screwing up right and left). I honestly get the impression that the old "Get Smart" TV series wasn't far off. Well now, I'm sure much to Bush's utter horror and chagrin, the Justice Department under Michael Mukasey's leadership is conducting a criminal investigation into the whole matter, seeming at least to live up his promise of an independent Justice Department that will say NO to the president if need be (one could hope). I just hope Bush doesn't try pulling a Richard Nixon and re-enact the infamous "Saturday Night Massacre" of October 1973 that led to his downfall. But then again, he just might, given his rather, shall we say suicidal tendencies. More HERE

4) The Office: OK, you'd think that an Americanized version of a hit British TV series would be lame city, right? Nope, quite the opposite in this instance. The American take on The Office is pure comedic gold!! With a brilliant ensemble cast headed by comedic actor Steve Carrell, this NBC series shows in merciless detail the hijinks and extremely hilarious dysfunctionality of a number of employees of the Dunder-Mifflin paper products company in Scranton PA (also home of the phenomenal Police tribute band Scrantonicity, which later, a lot like Germany's Amon Duul, split into 2 factions, the other being Scrantonicity II), and Carrell's hapless boss character Michael Scott, regional manager of Dunder-Mifflin's Scranton PA branch. One episode for example has Michael accidentally hitting the office drunk with his car. Ridden with artificially induced guilt, he cajoles his co-workers into doing a 5K run to fight, RABIES! (complete with giant check made out to "SCIENCE"). I don't even have time to write of all the hilarious sub-plots that weave in and out fo each other but suffice it to say, especially ANYONE who works in the corporate world, watch this and see if there's not a least a little something that you can relate to and laugh at. Odd trivia notes,

a) Creed Bratton is played by Creed Bratton himself, who was a member of the late 60's hit pop band The Grass Roots

b) The catchy piano-based theme song is written by none other than Jay Ferguson, former lead singer of the great late 60's/70's psychedelic band Spirit. Which inevitably leads to:

ON THE PLAYER
Spirit - Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus

With a few hits already under their belt (I Got A Line On You, 1984, Mechanical World etc), in 1970, Spirit turned out its undisputed masterpiece, combining the catchy songwriting of Jay Ferguson and the rest of the band, the Hendrix-esque guitar pyrotechnics of Randy California (who previous to Spirit's formation actually gigged with Jimi Hendrix in New York), elements of jazz, folk and psychedelic rock plus relentless studio experimentation. A veritable feast of many flavors that unfolds new details every time out. Tracks like "Nature's Way" and "Mr Skin" (a tribute to their bald drummer Ed Cassidy, who was Randy California's step-dad) became hits as well.

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

More Reasons To Hate Fox News

2007-12-29T07:48:00.000-08:00

Oh believe me,this Owl has a number of reasons to utterly detest Fox News, among which are;

1) Fair and Balanced? HAH!!! You're kidding, right? These guys are nothing more than an unthinking, unquestioning propaganda machine for the desperately incompetent Bush administration. And I tell ya, Sean Hannity alone makes me want to punch his lights out for being such an egocentric obnoxious Bush-worshiping blowhard! And don't even get me started on Bill O'Reilly-------. The only thing fair and balanced about this joke of a network is that it allows a number of pro-Bushites to present their OPINIONS as indisputable gospel truth, as opposed to actually OBJECTIVELY reporting news, sadly, something that seems to have gone the way of The Twist and rotary dial phones. And then there's CNN, the Clinton News Network-- (however to their credit, they have Jack Cafferty, something Fox News doesn't have the stones to even contemplate)

2) The Barbie & Ken Syndrome: Just like CNN and pretty much ALL American networks, there's the requisite vacuous, plastic and utterly obnoxious on-air personalities that have the personality of, well, a Barbie or Ken doll, all looks, ZERO substance and go on forever and ever about NOTHING!! If these vacuous pretty boys/girls had to report REAL news, they'd be up a creek!

3) Those Damned Drug Company Ads!!: Another reason I absolutely CANNOT watch Fox news, for every say 15 minutes or so of their neo-con blathering, there's at least 7-10 minutes of these gratuitous, idiotic and UNBEARABLE drug company ads. If you pay attention to a typical Fox News broadcast over an hour or so, you'll see what I mean. Doesn't this strike you as just more than a little suspicious?

4) The Latest Outrage - More Information Control: Now these Bush-worshiping knuckle-dragging Neanderthals (Fox AND the Republican Party) are sponsoring a forum/debate in New Hampshire for the Republican presidential hopefuls, and get this THEY'VE EXCLUDED RON PAUL!! The reasons are screaming obvious, Ron Paul goes totally contrary to the party line (big government, reckless spending, disregard for the Constitution, interventionist foreign policy, supporting dictators and allowing terrorists to get away with it etc). So Fox thinks it's fair and balanced? OH PUHLLLEEEEEEZE!!! This is BLATANT information control, media and political manipulation at its worst, the kind normally occurring in Communist and Islamic dictatorships. A brief story HERE and more HERE.

Fair and balanced? About as fair and balanced as fox guarding the hen house.

National Holidays I'd Like To See

2007-12-26T19:28:00.000-08:00

Holidays are indeed wonderful things, good for the soul, mind and body to rest and celebrate something important and meaningful. Of course, many (including myself) celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ yesterday.

Given where we are as a nation right now, I would LOVE to see these national holidays and good excuses to fire up the BBQ take place;

1) Sovereignty Reclamation Day: Where we as a country FOREVER withdraw our membership from the UN and REVOKE ALL trade treaties with foreign countries for good! And then we BANISH the UN from this country altogether, and the Grand Finale would be the implosion and razing of that infernal UN building in NYC, and it would be broadcast on national TV! What a BEAUTIFUL sight that would be!!

2) Constitution Day: The day that George WMS Bush, Dick "The Penguin" Cheney, " Donald DUMBSfeld, John A$$croft, Alberto "Not So Speedy" Gonzalez, Janet Reno and William Jefferson "Slick Willie" Clinton are all EXECUTED BY FIRING SQUAD ON NATIONAL TV for heinous acts of treason, abuse of power and violation of oath of office. After which, we start reclaiming our Constitutional rights and making sure that NEVER AGAIN will we allow unscrupulous traitors like the Bushes and Clinton's to ever ruin our country again. And it will be a Federal offense from that point on for ANYONE with the last name of Bush or Clinton to EVER run for ANY kind of elected office.

3) Energy Independence Day: A GLORIOUS day, well hey, let's make it A MONTH LONG PARTY!! Where we tell Saudi Arabia to go straight to Hell and take their oil with them! After an ambitious plan to get ourselves off of foreign oil over the period of a decade or so (just like the Brazilians did) and move to other sources of energy, it'd be just DELIRIOUSLY BEAUTIFUL to tell the Saudis and their ilk they aren't needed or wanted around anymore after all their shady dealings, financing terrorism and playing havoc with world oil markets. After this day, we TERMINATE ALL RELATIONS WITH SAUDI ARABIA FOREVER, and with a stern warning, "Mess With Us, We'll Turn Your Country Into A Radioactive Parking Lot!"

4) Fair Tax Day: The day we ANNIHILATE the IRS forever by act of law, institute the Fair Tax system and for the finale, have a nationally televised public burning of the ENTIRE US Tax Code in front of the Capitol Building. After this, the top honchos of the IRS will be marched off to a plane and banished to Antarctica.

It's Friday and Time To Hibernate (I Wish)

2007-12-21T18:48:00.000-08:00

Due to the onset of winter, insanity at work, the insanity of the impending holiday season, the delightful insanity of a recent CD release, and various other factors, the regularly scheduled Friday Follies will not be seen for about 2 weeks, simply to allow me to recharge, take a short vacation in the Catskills in upstate NY, turn a year older, record bass parts for my friend Tony Island's next album, get some rest/brief hibernation, envy bears for their ability to hibernate, listen for owls, count my blessings, watch Batman re-runs, take up fretless bass, engage in debates regarding pale ale vs. stout, ponder the meaning of Steely Dan lyrics and various other pleasures. But fear not loyal reader, the Friday Follies WILL be back, with an ever lovin' fangs-bared vengeance!

There Oughta Be A Law--------

2007-12-19T10:38:00.001-08:00

I think about this every once in a while, and it's the subject of if I was in the position to do so, what kinds of corrective legislation would I pass. Well folks , here's a few from yours truly;

1) It would be ILLEGAL for ANYONE with the last name of Bush or Clinton to run for ANY kind of elected office, PERIOD!

2) Rappers would be forced to wear "I Am A Violent Impulsive Dumba$$, Keep Back 200 Feet" signs when going out in public at all times.

3) The 16th Amendment of the Constitution would be repealed (the income tax one).

4) ANYONE who seeks to run for House, Senate or Presidential office MUST take a Minimum Competency Standards Exam and the minimum passing score is 95%, NO EXCEPTIONS and NO EXCUSES. The No Bush or Clinton Law would go DOUBLE here! Anyone caught cheating would be mercilessly paddled and then banished to Antarctica.

5) ALL ballots will have a "None Of The Above" option.

6) All relations with Saudi Arabia will be IMMEDIATELY terminated, FOREVER!

7) ALL US military personnel would be withdrawn from ALL foreign countries., period. The only exception being is if we're threatened or attacked, then we'll go BALLISTIC! After it's over, we'll gladly leave, clean up after yourselves.

8) Convicted non-violent criminals should be given a choice of jail or mandatory 4 year military service. NO PROBATION, NO PAROLE!!

9) An under performing president should be removed from office for gross incompetence, just like a bad CEO would, by DIRECT national referendum vote.

10) One should feel free to blow away an intruder entering one's house, a robber or other miscreant if sufficiently armed with NO fear of prosecution or lawsuit. The criminal's family should also be punished for having him/her in the first place with HEAVY fines and/or jail time (the fines of course should go directly to the victim of the crime or their family) Anyone who injures/kills a criminal should be given a medal of valor. The criminal should be told "Tough Luck", not the victim.

11) No more foreign aid, PERIOD!! You can't manage your money? TOUGH!!!

12) Welfare cheats would be sentenced to hard labor doing highway maintenance, construction, cleanup, sanitation and the like until they've paid off the money they've ripped off John Q Taxpayer for, WITH INTEREST!

13) Legislators who author ridiculous, bizarre, money and/or time-wasting laws would be arrested, jailed and forced to listen to the complete recorded works of Ethel Merman, or they could make it easier on themselves and do hard labor on the highways and what not.

The New Owl Watches CD Is Released!

2007-12-17T12:54:00.000-08:00

Sound the siiiirreeeens, get the canned goods, record-biz execs BEWARE!!!!!

After nearly a year of labor, my new CD, "Guaranteed To be 100% Free of Hit Singles", is now out! It is currently available to the world at large on CD Baby (in both CD and MP3 formats):

www.cdbaby.com/cd/owlwatches3.

Sound samples on this page too.

And for local Atlanta GA folks, you can find it at
Earthshaking Music
543 Stokeswood Ave, Atlanta, GA 30316 -
888-978-2500 - Local (Atlanta): 404-577-0707

This CD may well represent a slight change of direction for The Owl Watches. Here, the humorous element of my muse gets free reign for the most part. This is my instrumental poke in the eye at the record industry and all its attendant idiocy and folly. At this point in life, I KNOW I have about a snowball's chance in Hell of getting signed to a label (too old, no commercial potential, not photogenic enough for MTV, you know the drill). I chose the path of maintaining my artistic integrity and having some fun with it at the same time. Hopefully you the listener will find moments here that will make you laugh, cry and call out for Chinese food. Again, it was me playing all manner of guitars (electric and classical), basses and keyboards and percussion, with some very special guest drummers in Tom Scotto (Tony Island), Philip Hart (Z-Axis), Jim Dunn (Lord Only) and the mysterious Cass Eo. Also appearing are members of The Busted Brass and The Long Winds.

Read a review HERE

This album is dedicated to the memory of Ahmet Ertegun and Tom Dowd.

Recorded for the most part at The Owl's Nest South studio in Atlanta GA with parts of "It Takes A Village To Raise An Idiot" done at Funkyard Dog in upstate NY.

Mastered by Scott Trihn and Dave Strohauer @ Earthshaking Music in Atlanta GA

Hoot Hoot, It's the Friday Follies!

2007-12-14T06:24:00.001-08:00

And under the Owl's watchful eyes this week are:

1) People Who Should Just Shut Up and Stay AWAY From Microphones #6621: None other than former Atlanta mayor, former UN Ambassador and now perpetual blowhard Andrew Young. Who could forget his 2006 tirade in response to a question about Wal Mart running Mom and Pop stores out of business, “Well, I think they should; they ran the 'mom and pop' stores out of my neighborhood, ... But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging us selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans, and now it's Arabs; very few black people own these stores". Sound more than a little condescending and racist to you? And this gem from September of 2007 (from an interview on NewsMakersLive.com) it gets even more loony;

“I want Barack Obama to be president,” Young said, pausing for effect, “in 2016"

Regarding Hillary's husband Bill Clinton: "--every bit as black as Barack, He's probably gone with more black women than Barack"

I rest my case.

2) Of Canoes and Faked Deaths: Gotta love this one, a London man faked his own death in a "canoe accident" and hid out for 3 years in a family apartment before being found out (his claims of "having amnesia" just weren't flying for local police when he walked into a police station to tell his story), more details HERE. I give him some points for originality.

3 What Price Loyalty?: What caused it? A better offer? The aftermath of the Michael Vick drama? Well in any case, Rick Petrino has decided to jump ship from the Atlanta Falcons team, much to the horror, chagrin and outrage of his now former team, after promising to stay. Guys, you WILL live through this but I do sympathize with you on the betrayal end of it.

4) Can Our Wimpy Congress Do ONE Right Thing?: This week, the House passed a bill banning waterboarding and other forms of torture by the CIA and military. Predictably, George WMS Bush is threatening to veto. My question is, can the Senate AND House get off their lazy a$$es and summon up a modicum of courage to override a veto. IIRC, we DID NOT use torture during WWII, Korea, Vietnam or the Persian Gulf War of 1990. And also, will Congress get a clue and take action on the much-despised (and rightly so) Alternative Minimum Tax? A guy can dream, can't he? Circular firing squad anyone?

5) Further Proof That Working For The Bush Administration Is Professional/Career/Personal Suicide: The list goes on of those whose careers, professions, reputations and maybe even very lives have been ruined by even the SLIGHTEST association with the hapless, amoral and hopelessly incompetent Bush administration. The most high profile of course are Alberto Gonzalez, Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, Harriet Miers, Tony Snow, John Ashcroft, Donald Rumsfeld among others. And HERE is a list of even more but lesser-known Bush Administration inflicted casualties and the circumstances under which they occurred. More commentary on Democracy Now.

6) How NOT To Do A Cover Song: Aspiring bands take not, DO NOT EVEN THINK of going onstage anywhere if you sound even REMOTELY like THIS (click if you dare)

AND ON THE PLAYER:

A Charlie Brown Christmas

It's hard to improve on a classic like this, a PERFECT soundtrack by the late jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi and his nimble trio for that wonderful animated Peanuts special about Charlie Brown finding the real meaning of Christmas despite all the crass commercialism and superficiality around him. Great cartoon of course, and the PERFECT soundtrack for it!

HAPPY FRIDAY Y'ALL!

More Disturbing Signs Of A Police State Attempt In the USA

2007-12-12T14:06:00.000-08:00

If nothing else, the Bush Administration has served as a very SCARY and graphic example in how NOT to govern or run a country. In some ways, this train wreck of an administration reminds me of Barney Fife on the old Andy Griffith Show taken to a horrific extreme. While Barney's incompetence, fear-mongering and out-of-control reactionary tendencies were hilarious on a TV show, they're NOT funny in real life, especially where our country, the Constitution, The Bill of Rights and the well being of Americans in general are concerned.

1) How can we continue to claim a moral high-ground when ALL THREE branches of government in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions and international law approve, condone and encourage the use of torture (waterboarding for example, which was also used by the Spanish Inquisition and The Nazis), Especially in light of events this week surrounding a revelation that the CIA destroyed taped evidence of a torture/interrogation session. Bush has sure been quiet on this one, you think that Bright Boy George WMS Bush (WMS = Weapon of Mass Stupidity) might have something to hide. Especially since he VEHEMENTLY denies that we use torture, lying right ot our faces just like Bill Clinton did many times duuring his reign of error. Sure, the Democrats are putting on their usual "staged outrage" over this, but of course, these are the same spineless dolts who let the Protect America Act, The Patriot Act and other assaults on the Constitution go through.

2) The Department of Homeland Insecurity headed by Michael Chertoff now have started to implement this brilliant idea straight out of George Orwell's 1984 which involves firemen doing double duty as domestic spies. Say if your house catches on fire, they can go in, rifle through your stuff and report ANYTHING (no matter how ridiculous or insignificant) they deem "suspicious" You KNOW it's only a matter of a very short time before people who read books critical of the Bush administration will be put on the FBI's watch list, as well as anyone who dares to disagree with ANY administration policy, not to mention people who LEGITIMATELY own firearms. Here's a Fox News VIDEO (ironically enough) about this program. The fact that this can be carried out WITHOUT a search warrant is profoundly disturbing to me!

3) VIOLENT RADICALIZATION HOMEGROWN TERRORISM PREVENTION ACT OF 2007, Senate Bill 1959. Probably the MOST BLATANT assault on our Constitutional rights to date. This bill wold allow a presdient to arbitrarily declare ANYONE he wanted toa terrorist or subversive organization and bypass due process of law among other forms of unconstitutional police-state tactics. And get this, it was sponsored by a Dumb-O-Crat (the same ones who get all outraged for show at George WMS Bush's attemtps to throw the Constitution in the garbage, and of course do the exact same things themselves) by the name of Rep. Jane Harman [D-CA] (TRAITOR!!!!). Read the full text of the bill HERE and see if this doesn't get you more than a little hot under tha collar!

4) Quote of Note: "...Of all the men who are the most loathsome, it is those who will sell their friends and comrades for the purpose of conciliating their enemies..."
- Sir Edward Carson

Hellooooo, NEWMAN!!!!!

2007-12-08T15:27:00.000-08:00

It's not just a character on Seinfeld anymore. Looks like NYC has at least one totally EVIL Newman-like mailman, one who happens to have a thing for stealing people's greeting cards and pilfering the cash or checks contained within. Was he trying to emulate the ways and philosophies of Newman on Seinfeld, or had he listened to a certain song by the Dead Kennedys ("Stealing People's Mail") a few too many times? We don't know yet,. but one thing's for sure, this Grinch, if convicted might not get out of Federal prison for a little while. The method which caught him was ingenious, a tiny transmitter hidden in a greeting card. The story HERE

Friday Follies Calling, Please Deposit $0.50 For The First Three Posts

2007-12-06T10:09:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, and welcome to yet another edition of Friday Follies, and under examination this week;

1) Change Is Inevitable #55413: Yes folks, there are many mainstays and icons of American life that are passing by the wayside nowadays, and here's but a short list:

a) The Phone Booth / The Pay Phone: As cell phones have become more affordable and plentiful, the pay phone/phone booth is officially obsolete, to the point that telecom giant AT&T is getting out of the payphone business altogether in just a few weeks. While cell phones are certainly more convenient (and you don't have to fumble for change or worry about the person behind you waiting to use the booth), their disappearance just BEGS one question, WHERE WILL SUPERMAN CHANGE INTO HIS OUTFIT?

b) Crank Windows In Cars: Not sure what to think here, OK, yeah they're convenient, but what if the motor or mechanism breaks, YOU'RE SCREWED!

c) Carbon Paper: The seriously old-school way to make multiple copies of typed/written documents without a Xerox. Nasty, crinkly and just plain obnoxiously messy, don't think even the most nostalgic person will miss these things. Gone the way of ditto/spirit duplicating . And you know, I wonder how many people used to get high off the fumes from those ditto machines.

d) Lickable Stamps: No tears shed here, self-adhesive rules! Never liked the taste of glue.

e) Film: Digital photography does indeed have MANY advantages, among which are unrivaled editing ability, clarity, convenience, lower operating overall costs and versatility. Even better, no nasty chemicals involved with digital photography. But still, it just isn't quite the same as, for some diehards anyway as fumbling in a darkroom with an enlarger and the pungent aroma of developer, fixer etc.

f) Original Ideas From Hollywood: Ever since CGI effects, remake-fever, hack writers, gratuitous violence, misogyny and profanity, and brainless stars that CANNOT act (like Keanu Reeves and Lucy Liu for instance), Hollywood has yet to turn up anything really worthwhile anymore. As far as the writers strike goes, takes as long as you want guys, not many are whining right now for your return.

g) Musicianship In Mainstream Rock Music: I remember there used to be a time when more mainstream rock music had a certain level of musicianship that was expected from its participants, but sadly it seems that nowadays, the worse you play/sing and the more marketable you LOOK, the more likely you are to hit it big (and of course, don't even think about trying to get signed if you're over 20). There will always be exceptions, granted but it just ain't like the 60's and 70's when musicianship and creativity was the NORM, not the exception. There'll really never be another Beatles, Steely Dan, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Who, Black Sabbath, Yes etc.

h) The Holiday Inn As We Knew It: In the ever evolving world of hoteliers, needs do change, for good or ill. And in this case, the old open style Holiday Inn motels we grew up with are going by the wayside (with the possible exception of those that overlook coastlines) . One of the concerns has been security. Another has been declining business at the old style motels due to wildly varying quality and other issues. Holiday Inn is still a viable company alright, but it seems that the enclosed style motel is the preference nowadays. More details HERE

2) Don't Confuse Me With Facts: AAAAWWWWWWW Poor George Dubbaya, what's a Smiling Idiot In Chief to do when he wants to bomb Iran sooooooo badly, yet reality and intelligence reports tell him that Iran gave up on its nuclear weapons program at least 3+ years ago. Is Iran our friend now? HELL NO!! Should we keep an eye on them, YES! But ya know George, we've got FAR MORE important things to be doing right now than getting into MORE pointless, stupid acts of aggression against countries that had NOTHING to do with 9/11 just to vindicate your amazingly insecure ego. If you're a real man at all (which this Owl does NOT believe you are), why didn't you declare war on Saudi Arabia and go after Bin Laden and not stop until he was DEAD! ?? Wait, don't tell me, he'll invade and/or bomb states that don't vote predominantly Republican. Invade Greenland or Baffin Island maybe?

3) De-Commercializing The Holidays: As "The Holidays" descend on us (I STILL like Christmas, thank you very much you ACLU types, and I WILL say Merry Christmas over your protests), it seems to bring out the best AND worst in people. This time of year brings together families, friends and the like, giving, feasting, children having the time of their lives etc, On the flip side, it seems to do things like drive up incidences of suicide, depression, substance abuse, excessive debt and consumption. For some, it's a time of blissful remembrances and things to look forward to, for others a time of dread, disappointments, expectations gone awry and the like. One thing I DO love about this time of year is the giving part. Sure, we can bemoan the commercialism all we want, but if you really want to combat that whole thing, start by giving of yourself, be it volunteering to help the less fortunate, being there for a friend or loved one, doing ANYTHING to better the human condition in some way. And HERE is a small list of ideas.

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!!

Things I'm REALLY Glad I Didn't Say

2007-12-04T13:05:00.000-08:00

Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances." -- Dr. Lee DeForest, "Father of Radio & Grandfather of Television."

"The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives." - - Admiral William Leahy , US Atomic Bomb Project

"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom." -- Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1923

"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." -- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers ." -- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year." -- The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957

"But what .. is it good for?" -- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

"640K ought to be enough memory for anybody." -- Bill Gates, 1981

" This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us," -- Western Union internal memo, 1876.

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" -- David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible," -- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)

"I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper," -- Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With The Wind."

"A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make," -- Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out," -- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible," -- Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.

"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this," - - Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads.

"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy," -- Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.

"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." - - Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University , 1929.

"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value," -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre , France .

"Everything that can be invented has been invented," -- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899.

"The super computer is technologically impossible. It would take all of the water that flows over Niagara Falls to cool the heat generated by the number of vacuum tubes required." -- Professor of Electrical Engineering, New York University

"I don't know what use any one could find for a machine that would make copies of documents. It certainly couldn't be a feasible business by itself." -- the head of IBM, refusing to back the idea, forcing the inventor to found Xerox.

"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction." -- Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse , 1872

"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon," -- Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873.

And last but not least...

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." -- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

OH YEAH??????!!!

It's Got A Good Beat and You ABSOLUTELY CANNOT Dance To It!

2007-12-03T07:00:00.001-08:00

Well folks, it's been a long, never-a-dull-moment journey but it's nearly over now!

As things stand, the new Owl Watches album, "Guaranteed To Be 100% Free Of Hit Singles" will be coming out of the mastering studio today, getting printed up and will be released officially on December 15, 2007! In the meantime, there are mp3 streaming audio samples of some of the new album HERE for you to check out (just keep in mind these are the UNMASTERED versions).

So far, it will be available on CD Baby, but in the ensuing weeks and months, it will also become available on iTunes and other digital outlets as well. For local Atlanta folks, you'll be able to find it at Earthshaking Music come December 15.

In its final form, it will be 10 tracks instead of the original 11, this only due to some technical issues with one track, but with the appropriate software, it can be remedied and put on the NEXT Owl Watches disc, which is already starting to form, this will be "The Complete Radio Free Antarctica Tapes".

Special thanks are in order for Dave Strohauer and Scott Trihn at Earthshaking Music for doing an AMAZING mastering job and making the songs really jump off the disc. They were able to bring out more details than I thought possible, give the music a vivid 3-dimensional spatial image and a crisp clarity that darn near reminds me of recordings on the famed ECM label (most notably on the 3 acoustic tracks "Sign With Disappearing Ink", "Hydrogen and Stupidity" and "Don't Do The Mime If You Can't Do The Time").

If you like instrumental music along the lines of, say King Crimson, Frank Zappa or other oddities, and if fyou like your instrumental music dripping with more than a little sarcasm directed at the music biz star-making machinery and peppered with gratuitous gong usage and even more gratuitous voiceovers, I think you'll find this a very enjoyable listening experience. Will be available in CD, mp3 and 8-Track Tapes (well, just kidding about the 8-track tapes).

WARNING, WARNING, IT'S THE FRIDAY FOLLIES!

2007-11-30T06:35:00.001-08:00

No, my arms aren't exactly flailing like the Lost In Space robot, but regardless, it's Friday and time to examine a few things:

1) Is It Any Wonder? Is it any wonder why Islamists blow themselves up on a regular basis:

No Jesus, No Christmas, No music, No television, No cheerleaders, No baseball, No football, No hockey, No golf, No tailgate parties, No Wal-Mart, No Home Depot, No pork BBQ, No hot dogs, No burgers, No chocolate chip cookies, No lobster, No shellfish or even frozen fish sticks, No gumbo, No jambalaya, No Beer, No wine, Rags for clothes and towels for hats, .Constant wailing from the guy next-door because he's sick and there are no doctors., Constant wailing from the guy in the tower, More than one wife, You can't shave. Your wives can't shave. You can't shower to wash off the smell of donkey cooked over burning camel dung. The women have to wear baggy dresses and veils at all times.Your bride is picked by someone else. She smells just like your donkey.but your donkey has a better disposition. Then they tell you that when you die it all gets better????! I mean, really, is there a mystery here?

And some recent Islamic outrages:

A British school teacher in Sudan is convicted for blasphemy, FOR NAMING A STUFFED BEAR MOHAMMED??????!! (and NUMEROUS Islamic adherents are now clamoring for this teacher's death now. Lovely!)

A Saudi woman who was cruelly and horribly gang-raped got sentenced to jail herself and 200 lashings, FOR BEING IN THE COMPANY OF UNRELATED MEN????! (I tell ya, Islamic justice is really something else!) And of course, her assailants got off real lightly.

2) In Memoriam: Evel Knievel 1938-2007: Wow, this took me by surprise! The notorious daredevil on a two-wheeler who cheated death hundreds of times over, succumbed to the ravages of diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis today at the age of 69. Like him or not, you had to admire the man for his originality, style and sheer fearlessness. More details HERE

3) To Any Nano-Technology Researchers That Are Reading: Could you PLEASE come up with a way for laundry to do itself?

4) Bizarre/Hilarious Ironies #19007: In Palermo Italy, a Mafioso, Michele Catalano was arrested at his house, get this, while watching a mini-series on TV about a Mafioso getting busted by the police!! The story HERE

5) And Lastly: I apologize for this rather brief and LATE edition of The Friday Follies, I've been juggling a few things here, mostly related to getting my upcoming CD ready for release very shortly, a separate blog post will cover that.

Happy Belated Friday Everyone, and as George Clinton and the P-Funk Mob exhorted us a few decades ago, THINK, THINK, IT AIN'T ILLEGAL YET!

Somebody's Gotta Say It Award Goes to Mike Huckabee!

2007-11-26T10:45:00.001-08:00

I'm back, after a delightful Thanksgiving Weekend (with LOTS to be thankful for) and enjoying a tryptophan induced semi-comatose state which kept me from giving into the temptation of "Black Friday", The rest did me tons of good.

Three HUGE cheers for presidential candidate/former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee this past week. In completely unflinching terms, Mike Huckabee expressed his outrage and embarrassment at the fact that we are enslaved by Arab oil, and not to mention the fact he's just as outraged at the Saudi government's perversion of justice, more specifically, a Saudi court sentencing a VICTIM of a horrible gang rape to jail and lashings (for get this, being in the company of unrelated males, some horrific taboo according to Islam). The perpetrators, you guessed it, got off VERY lightly. And in relation to the oil thing, Mike said, if elected president would go after having us energy independent in 10 years, so we could tell the Saudi's you can keep your oil and your sand, we don' t need either. A TIME article HERE

And of course, the Bush administration has been notoriously silent on both issues (owing to Bright Boy's being buddy-buddy with the Saudi Royal Family, a relationship that if he had ANY decency or guts, he would TERMINATE IMMEDIATELY).

And it is this Owl's not to be quiet opinion that we DO NOT NEED SAUDI ARABIA, PERIOD!! We need to COMPLETELY and FOREVER terminate ALL relations with them, stop trading with them and do not give them one more red cent of our money so they can use it to train terrorists and violate the basic human rights of their own citizens so routinely while the Bush idiots look the other way. Yeah, you heard me right! We don't need them, they were NEVER our friends, they are NOT an ally and never have been. Saudi Arabia is an Islamic-terrorist state, period and must be dealt with as a terrorist state. Personally, I think we should've bombed them IMMEDIATELY after 9/11 occurred!

It does my heart good that at long last, people are starting to wake up to reality and see Saudi Arabia for the enemy they really are. We need more people like Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul who have the guts to challenge this disgusting status-quo.

What Is A REAL Conservative?

2007-11-20T08:07:00.000-08:00

A REAL Conservative holds dear the rule of law, the principles laid out in the US Constitution and will DEFEND them, NOT UNDERMINE THEM, even in time of war. After all, the undermining of Constitutional liberties is EXACTLY what our enemies want, and unfortunately, we're giving it to them with ribbons and fancy wrapping paper.

A REAL Conservative believes that our military is first and foremost DEFENSIVE, must be in a constant state of readiness, properly armed and equipped with state of the art gear and MORE than adequate manpower and as much early warning as is possible. Anything less than this is NOT ACCEPTABLE. The idea of intervention in the affairs of other nations when we were not attacked or threatened by them is NOT ACCEPTABLE. As the Founding Fathers laid out and admonished us, be friends with other nations, trade with them BUT DO NOT GET INVOLVED IN THEIR AFFAIRS and avoid entangling foreign alliances, PERIOD!

A REAL Conservative believes in LEAN, manageable-sized government, personal liberty and the concept of personal responsibility for one's own actions. A real conservative abhors the idea that the government should manage and run every detail of our lives. It DID NOT work for Communist states and it WILL NOT work for us. Over-regulation kills innovation, economic and personal development and nothing good can come from it. The old saying is true, "Those who would trade freedom for security deserve NEITHER freedom nor security." It is the height of stupidity to think that the government should be our parents. The Constitution was written to RESTRAIN GOVERNMENT, NOT PEOPLE! This is at least one area where the Republicans went horribly wrong and STOPPED being conservative.

A REAL Conservative realizes that the idea of confiscating a portion of people's income under the guise of "taxation" is inherently Communistic. True, for an orderly government to function, it needs a source(s) of tax revenue (which could easily be accomplished with a simple flat-rate consumption tax on goods sold, tariffs, user fees etc.) but punishing people for their hard work is just WRONG!

A REAL Conservative abhors the idea of irresponsible government spending and "living beyond one's means". Deficit spending is the road to ruin. A real conservative holds dear the idea of living within one's means and managing what resources one actually has. The idea of printing money with NOTHING to back it up is just plain inexcusable stupidity to a real conservative. A real conservative would embrace the gold standard.

A REAL Conservative believes in the right of individual states to make their own decisions, laws and such as situations require.

A REAL Conservative believes that the punishment should fit the crime, and that criminals SHOULD NOT get special privileges, and that people should be responsible for their own actions, period and face the consequences of such, be they ever so harsh. Personally, i believe in reinstating the death penalty nationwide!

A REAL Conservative holds dear the idea of self-sufficiency, NOT DEPENDENCE on foreign oil, goods etc. The gas crunches of the 70's should have been a wake up and call to action for us. Sadly, we still choose to be dependent on Arab oil, sold by countries at exorbitant prices who DO NOT have our best interests in mind. A real conservative would be OUTRAGED at knowing a significant chunk of Arab oil profits fund terrorism and oppression and would move to cut off. We need to take a lesson from Brazil and how it has essentially achieved energy independence.

A REAL Conservative upholds the idea of a free-market system, and ABHORS the idea of regulatory overkill (not that we shouldn't have safeguards, but there is such a thing as EXCESSIVE, counterproductive and unnecessary regulation). A real conservative also holds to the idea that this should be a land of equal OPPORTUNITY, but also realizes and is OK with the fact that equal results and outcomes CANNOT and should not be guaranteed.

A REAL Conservative respects the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, upholds the idea of free speech, religion and press, plus the right to assemble, even if they don't agree with what's being presented. A real conservative realizes that free speech is NOT treason.

A REAL Conservative respects the 4th Amendment of the Bill of Rights guaranteeing that NO search is to be conducted without a warrant and that citizens have the right to be secure in their persons. A real conservative would be calling for the absolute annihilation of the Department of Homeland Security, which is just mere steps away from being the next Gestapo or KGB.

A REAL Conservative would be outraged at our questionable at best relationship with the Saudi Royal Family, knowing that this regime still supports terrorists by financial and material means, as well as brutal oppression of its own people. In addition to our unfortunate history of supporting dictators or other parties who in the end prove hostile to us. Is this not treason by definition? A real conservative would NOT TOLERATE the idea of supporting such evil when we claim to stand for all that is good and right. Again, the Founding Fathers STRONGLY warned us to stay out of other country's affairs completely for VERY GOOD REASONS!

A REAL Conservative examines all sides of the issue, reads, has intellectual curiosity, listens, investigates and researches, and gets their facts and such from more than one source, and doesn't look to get their ego stroked by the myopic Fox News or the equally myopic CNN for example, or worse by sycophants and clueless yes-men.

A REAL Conservative humbly goes about doing their duty, NOT grandstanding and constantly wondering about "their legacy" or where to build their presidential library

A REAL Conservative doesn't shy from honest in-depth discussion or debate but embraces it.

A REAL Conservative NEVER EVER says "Mission Accomplished" before the facts are in.

A REAL Conservative fights the real enemy headfirst, and DOESN'T get distracted by "shiny objects" or let themselves be swayed by misguided notions of "easy victory" over someone that had NOTHING to do with attacking you in the first place.

A REAL Conservative stands for and adheres to moral principles, and DOES NOT throw them out the window for the sake of expedience or a "win at any cost"

A REAL Conservative is man enough to learn from a defeat now and then and apply the lessons. IMO, if George Dubbaya gets his a$$ royally kicked on Iraq, it could be the best thing that ever happened in terms of lessons learned and hopefully NOT REPEATING an inexcusable debacle like Iraq. If the Democrats won in a landslide, it might be a blessing in disguise.

A REAL Conservative realizes that principle and conviction are best coupled with discernment and wisdom. It's one thing to be principled, but to be WILLFULLY ignorant, stubborn and ego-driven is quite another.

A REAL Conservative REJECTS the whole Neo-Con thing as spineless, weak and liberalism in denial. There's no such thing as being sort-of-dead or sort-of-pregnant, likewise, there's no such thing as being sort of conservative.

A REAL Conservative realizes that when going into war, one does NOT win by selective little bombings here and there and minuscule troop strength. Learn from WWII, the Germans and Japanese did not surrender because of selective bombing and little operations with a minimum number of troops, they surrendered because they got bombed back to the stone age (and in Japan' case, it took not one but TWO nuclear bombs) and superior forces.

The Random Owl

2007-11-19T11:31:00.000-08:00

1) Sireeeeen Dijon Strikes Again: Does anyone find it more than a little crass and a bit of marketing overkill that Celine Dion is putting tickets to her, rather ironically titled "Taking Chances' tour on sale OVER A YEAR IN ADVANCE????!!!!! Advance reviews of the album seem to hold that Celine does anything BUT take any chances with her safe, calculated, glossy and sappy power-ballad thing. She's been packing 'em in at Vegas for the last several years at her own theater and now she's rarin' to hit the road. No, that's NOT an air raid siren you're hearing folks, it's just Celine caterwauling about L-O-V-E at the top of her lungs.. Yeah, she can yowl, wail and swoop 5 octaves at full air raid siren volume, change costumes and fly, but the real question is, CAN SHE SING?????????

2) Wise Old Owl Saying #95: Never drink anything that you could run a car or airplane on.

3) RE: The GA Drought: It's no secret that my state of GA and much of the Southeastern US is in a MAJOR drought. Our governor, one Sonny Purdue (no relation to chicken icon Frank Perdue), actually held a prayer gathering at the GA State Capitol Building to pray for rain. All well and good, but FWIW, I think the thing they REALLY should've been praying for was the wisdom and foresight to take PREVENTIVE measures before another drought strikes (things like building desalinization plants on GA"s coast, conservation measures, more aggressive pursuit of getting the Army Corps of Engineers to stop draining so danged much water from Lake Lanier, making arrangements with other states to import water in case of a drought, continuous airborne water drops on Lake Lanier, cloud seeding, ANYTHING!!! etc). Hindsight is 20/20 but foresight is immeasurable. I think God Himself is trying to teach us a lesson here.

4) Wise Old Owl Saying #25: If your company says there'll be no more layoffs, THEY'RE LYING!! It'll be a full out massacre!

5) Wise Words from The Gipper: "I don't believe in a government that protects us from ourselves" Ronald Reagan

More Friday Follies Than Humans Should Be Allowed

2007-11-16T07:14:00.001-08:00

Happy Friday Everyone! Thought I'd do something slightly different this time out, no political rants and such, just some good old fashioned oddities and absurdities from different corners of this great and unique country of ours

1) 1960's Batman Absurdities: OK, I admit it, I LOVE the 1960's Batman TV series (how could you NOT love the thespian artistry of Adam West and Burt Ward?). But I must say, there's TONS of stuff in that series that makes even the casual observer go HMMMMMMMMM:

Everything being labeled to death with the prefix "Bat----"

Commissioner Gordon never noticing that Batman and Bruce Wayne had the exact same voice

It's always fall when the Batmobile roars out of the Batcave, and it's always summer when they pull up in front of Police Headquarters.

Ever notice that there's no one driving by when the Batmobile roars out of the Batcave?

Ever notice that no Batman stories take place when it's raining or during the winter? Do criminals take the winter off?

A major police force that couldn't solve a parking ticket.

Aunt Harriet never got suspicious of the electronic beeping of the Batphone, and never went into the study.

Villains get out of prison very quickly, even after committing major crimes.

The Bat-Computer only confirmed what Batman knew anyway, so why did he need a Bat-Computer in the first place?

There was a sleazy hotel right across the street from Police Headquarters (The Funny Feline Felonies/TheJoke's on Catwoman). Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Aunt Harriet never got suspicious of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson's extended absences

It seems odd that no on ever got suspicious and put 2+2 together when the Batmobile came out of a cave directly below Wayne Manor.

Commissioner Gordon never got suspicious that Alfred worked for both Bruce Wayne AND Batman, and that he sometimes answered the Batphone.

Impossible gadgets like the Automatic Tire Repair Device, Anti-Blast Powder, the Joker's Time Control Box, The Alvino Ray Gun(that turned Batman, Robin, and Batgirl into two-dimensional cardboard cutouts), The Three Dimensional Bat Restorer, The Joker's Surfing Knowledge Transferometer and Vigor Reverser, and the Bat-Memory Recollection Cycle Restorer, among others.

Batman and Robin going through a crowded room thinking that they would be unnoticed, or Batman thinking that by just standing at a bar (Hi Diddle Riddle/Smack in the Riddle) that he wouldn't attract attention.

Always having a really specific gadget or device for every situation or possible deathtrap.
A Batfight in complete darkness with invisible villains (The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra),Batman, Robin and Batgirl hitting the villains and not each other.

In the '66 Batman movie, after the big Batfight on the Penguin's sub, Batman and Robin, climb back onboard out of the water. When they enter the sub, their outfits are completely dry.

Funny, Batman said nothing about a Bat-Instant Clothes Dryer or Instant Drying Bat Outfits.

Amazing how Batman's ever ingenious butler Alfred always knew just what to pack in their Utility Belts that particular day, or do things like acid proofing the costumes (wonder how he knew that Batman would be in danger of being dipped in acid that day?) or inventing the Three Dimensional Bat Restorer!

Isn't it funny, in the 1966 movie, when Bruce Wayne and Miss Kitka/Catwoman were taking the carriage ride in the park, that she didn't notice that they were being followed by the Batmobile with its turbine engine whining full tilt?

In the 1966 Batman movie, during the big Batfight on the Penguin's sub, if you look carefully, you'll notice that one of the Penguin's goons went flying, and NOBODY hit him!!! Fighting by telekinesis maybe??

Commissioner Gordon never noticing that Batgirl and his daughter Barbara had the exact same build and voice

2) Taste The Vrooooommmmm!: I LOVE this!!! If you can't find a convenient outlet or extension cord, there's always gas power, and blenders are NO exception. See this bunch on this VIDEO put that principle to work with a gas-powered blender.

3) Bringing Back The Age of Steam: In Saskatoon Canada, one man decided to return to a simpler time and constructed his own steam-powered bicycle, modeled on the old Victorian era ones (yes, such beasts existed back then). Watch the NEWS STORY here for more info, pretty cool this Owl thinks.

4) Talk About Irritating The Neighbors: I don't think you'll hear the phrase "Every Home Should Have One" applied to having one of these any time soon. A man in Moorpark CA just happens to own a fully functional previously decommissioned Federal Signal Thunderbolt air raid siren and has it set up on his back porch. And for kicks, on one Friday a month at noon, he hits the button and let's that thing roar with its ominous "all Hell is breaking loose" sound. Watch it HERE.

5) A Piano Playing Cat: The VIDEO EVIDENCE iIS HERE. There is this cat named Nora who has been repeatedly filmed by her owner actually banging out audible figures on a piano, this is SCREAM to watch!

Holy Cutting Edge Science Batman!

2007-11-15T07:12:00.000-08:00

This just made my day!

Some folks on the 1966 Batfan Message Board are discussing how the Bat-Instant Clothes Changer could possibly work. One theory has it that it was similar to the transporter on Star Trek, in which it would dematerialize just their clothes an rematerialize their Bat outfits on them. Another theory has it that it was Bat-Nano Technology in action, that the "costumes" were actually nano-robots controlled by a signal from the Bat Cotume Changer.

Still another theory has it that the Batpole was actually in 2 segments and that they went into adressing room (but if that's true, why them have the "Instant Costume Change Lever" at the bottom of the batpoles?

But in any case, read on HERE for a thought provoking discussion

A Few Improvements-----

2007-11-13T13:49:00.000-08:00

Do ya feel lucky? Well do ya, GEORGE? In a VERY surprising turn of events at the Department of Justice, newly confirmed Attorney General Michael Mukasey and his staff have re-opened a long dormant and MUCH NEEDED investigation into the legality of George Dubaya's warantless domestic spying program, directed against American citizens who so much as make a phone call or write an e-mail to a foreign country.

Under the previous incompetent leadership of Alberto "Not So Speedy Gonzalez", those officially involved in the investigation were denied the proper security clearances to carry it out (presumably on orders from Bush). Now, in almost no time, they were given these clearances. And I bet 'ol George Dubbaya is shaking in his cowboy boots and will probably try to go Nixon on these guys.

My view, FWIW, it's about time that Bush's Constitution-shredding shenanigans came under investigation. The thought of a Bush prosecution/impeachment is delicious, but probably unlikely knowing how GUTLESS and wimpy Congress is.

In any case, hats off to Mr Mukasey and his staff for doing the right thing! The AP story HERE

You Mean It's Friday Already???????

2007-11-09T06:54:00.000-08:00

Good Gawd Y'all!!! This Friday sure snuck up on me real fast! And it was not an uneventful week:

1) Attorney General Michael Mukasey Confirmed: Despite reservations by some in both houses of Congress, former judge Michael Mukasey was confirmed to be the US Attorney General for the remainder of the Bush administration's disaster-riddled existence. Overall, my view, FWIW is this; he may not be perfect but he's a VAST improvement over the WORST THREE Attorney Generals this country has been cursed with, the utterly incompetent and bloodthirsty Janet Reno, the self-righteous, sanctimonious and Constitution-shredding John A$$croft and the even more incompetent and utterly UNQUALIFIED Alberto "Not So Speedy" Gonzalez. AG Mukasey has never had previous associations with Bush (a HUGE plus!), nor has he been involved in Washington politics (an even BIGGER plus!). On top of it all, he is publicly promising to be an INDEPENDENT Attorney General, which if he really means it, is what the incompetence-riddled Justice Dept. needs right about now. (cue up soap opera organ music here) Will the Attorney General stay independent? Will George Dubbaya lose his last line of defense?, Will Dick Cheney dress as The Penguin at next year's Halloween party? Tune in next week for another exciting episode of Dubbaya's World! News story HERE

2) Holy Legalese Batman, Another Reason To Hate Lawyers: While so many vintage TV series have made it to DVD, why, oh why has the 1966 Batman series been kept in legal limbo for all these years? I hear so many possible reasons why, among which, having fair and equitable terms for $$ with the estates of many of the now deceased cast (Adam West, Burt Ward, Yvonne Craig, Lee Merriwether, Earth Kitt and Julie Newmar are still among the living though), Time-Warner's thinly veiled hatred of the 60's style Batman and probably a thousand other things. What's wrong with these guys, don;t they know that not only is there a large and enthusiastic fanbase, but the fact they'd make TONS of cash with DVD sales. C'mon you greedy swine, cut us fans a Bat-break here!

3) Further Proof That Pat Robertson Really Is Nuts: When he isn't pronouncing hellfire, brimstone and damnation on everything that moves, Pat seems to have REALLY gone off the deep end, he endorsed Rudy Guliani for president! WTH???????!!!!! The thing is, Guliani is the EXACT OPPOSITE of Pat on so many issues and his ohhh so liberal morals (or lack thereof) would send normal "conservatives" that align with Pat into raging, sputtering fits. Not here. Well Pat, all I can say is, have you been taking your meds?

4) Wise Old Owl Saying #23: Never eat anything you cannot pronounce the name of!

5) Favorite Quote from The Tick cartoon: "Crime has a bossa-nova beat!"

ON THE PLAYER:

Stan Getz/Eddie Sauter: "Mickey One" - Original Soundtrack

A gem from 1965, the soundtrack to an Arthur Penn film (starring Warren Beatty back when he could actually act) an Americanized French art-film if you will, about a Polish comedian who changes his name to "Mickey One" as he's on the run from the Mob for indebtedness and hanging around with the wrong blonde. The movie actually bombed at the box office, but strangely enough, due to the presence of Stan Getz, the soundtrack is still available. Combining Stan's amazing gift of melodic improvisation in nearly ANY musical setting, with the detailed colorful and WILDLY eclectic composition of Eddie Sauter (running the gamut from Bossa Nova to Polka, Stravinsky or Charles Ives-like jarring dissonances and even Las Vegas-Schlock to rock & roll, blues and tender balladry), this thing is a wild ride for the listener well worth taking.

10 Most ABSURD Laws In Great Britain EVER!

2007-11-07T06:22:00.000-08:00

Just about died laughing at these, the 10 most ridiculous and absurd pieces of loony legislation that Parliament has ever enacted:

1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament

2. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside-down

3. In Liverpool, it is illegal for a woman to be topless except as a clerk in a tropical fish store

4. Mince pies cannot be eaten on Christmas Day

5. In Scotland, if someone knocks on your door and requires the use of your toilet, you must let them enter

6. A pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman's helmet

7. The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the king, and the tail of the queen

8. It is illegal to avoid telling the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing

9. It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament in a suit of armour

10. In the city of York it is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow

3 Cheers for Jerry Seinfeld (or The Emperor Has No Suspenders)!

2007-11-06T10:26:00.000-08:00

Jerry Seinfeld, long a favorite of mine in the world of comedy, (especially for his pointed observational style of the comedic arts) earned 10,000+ extra bonus cool points this week for showing once and for all how inept, incompetent and utterly USELESS Larry King really is as a journalist and cultural observer (Mr King knows as much about journalism as a demolition expert knows about delicate brain surgery). While on the Larry King Live travesty, Jerry was asked one of the STUPIDEST questions to come from Larry King's trap, this regarding whether his top-rated series "Seinfeld" was cancelled. Unless you've been hiding under a rock, most folks know that Jerry decided to end the series while it was still doing well both creatively and ratings-wise. The last thing Jerry wanted was for his pride and joy to become an embarrassment or an anemic parody of itself. Jerry, more than a little indignant at King's utter ignorance of well-known facts ripped him a new one on live national TV, and as the camera cut away to a commercial, Jerry requested a copy of his resume for King to look over. Watch the VIDEO here for yourself and try not to laugh at this absurd spectacle, truly one for the ages. LK himself was like a deer in the headlights!

It just makes the absurdity of it all the more obvious, how does someone as shallow, egocentric and utterly ignorant and incompetent as Larry King get paid a gazillion dollars a year to singlehandedly destroy journalism (as if self-important blowhards like Dan Rather, Connie Chung or Sam Donaldson weren't enough)?

The world may never know-------

Batteries To Power, Turbines To Speed-------

2007-11-06T08:18:00.000-08:00

This could quicken your commute, fry a couple unsuspecting pedestrians or poodles (when you kick the afterburner on), or maybe even get you labeled a threat to national security.

And no, VW does NOT offer it as an extra option either. Nope, this is NOT the work of some terrorist or malcontent, this is the work of a very well-adjusted individual by the name of Ron Patrick.

About 2004 or so, Ron got the idea to give his VW Beetle a little extra "kick" if you will. Relying on his considerable engineering skills to mount a jet engine in his VW (it was a Navy surplus 1350 horsepower turboshaft engine from a helicopter that was converted to a straight turbojet). After successful completion and tests, Ron took nearly ANY available opportunity to let 'er rip. In fact, he even got himself an appearance ( via satellite) on the David Letterman Show, and here is the VIDEO footage of this feisty VW in action at a small airport in Northern California. This has to be seen to be believed.

And at Ron Patrick's WEBSITE, he takes you on a guided tour of how he put this little marvel together.

Just one question, how's the braking on this thing? Is there an ejection seat?

Bizarre Ironies #5656

2007-11-05T13:38:00.001-08:00

OK, so Hitlary, uhhh, I mean Hillary's looking like the front runner for the Communists, errrr, I mean the Democrats, and yet the femnists have mixed support for her (story HERE).

OK, could it be that's because of the rather public knowledge of her hubby Slick Willie's terminal case of wandering eye, skirt chasing and serial womanizing is coming back to haunt her? Is it an "affirmative action" vote? Hmmmmmm---

But you know what REALLY perplexes me, is that during the Clinton travesty, UHHHH, I mean presidency, why is it the normally EXTREMELY vocal and OBVIOUSLY man-hating feminist contingent was rather mysteriously silent at the constant revelations of Bill's inability to keep his pants on and control a certain part fo his reproductive anatomy.

Hmmmmmmm, the clot thickens.

Saturday Follies (or Asleep At The Switch)

2007-11-02T08:47:00.001-07:00

Lock up the wimmen an chillun, get the canned goods, sound the air raid siiiiiiiirrrreeeeeeeennnns! The Friday Follies IS BACK, a day late though!

1) Source of PHONY Pre-Iraq War Intelligence Found: Amazing!! An Iraqi defector who was failing miserably in his Chemical Engineering major in college AND never even the prominent chemical engineer he tried to pass himself off as, became an "intelligence source" with the intent of seeking asylum in Germany. So, he just started making up stuff to get himself to safety. And our ever so insightful and discerning Bush Administration fell for it. Worse yet these phony reports were passed along second hand by German intelligence officers who fell for this guys nonsense. More details here, and this will also air on "60 Minutes" this coming Sunday night (11/4). Just confirms again how much of a gullible dolt George Dubbaya really is.

2) Bring Down The Curtain on Telemarketing?: Could it be? Maybe, just maybe now that we've had the Do Not Cal List for a few years, and now there looks to be a DO NOT TRACK list for the web, could annoying telemarketing be seeing its final days? One could hope at least, watch this VIDEO for another perspective.

3) In Memoriam: This past week or so we lost Robert Goulet (Broadway/Stage singing star) and country singer Porter Wagoner. The weird thing was, Porter Wagoner's death attracted SO LITTLE media attention, rather odd considering that he was the one who was instrumental in launching Dolly Parton's career. And also, Paul Tibbets, the brave pilot who took the controls of the B-29 "Enola Gay" that dropped the A-bomb on Japan bringing WWII to a close, flew from the planet this week. RIP

4) More Washington Stuff: Condi Rice is about to be subpoenaed in an espionage case, George Dubbaya's pick for Attorney General is barely treading water after his refusal to answer a simple question, is or is not waterboarding a form of torture? Nice going guys!!! Throw out the shovels and switch to a mega-sized diesel powered excavator, you're gonna need it! And under-secretary of state Karen Hughes is handing in her resignation. Good lordy, the body count just rises exponentially with this administration as the train heads for the cliff.

5) Wish I Said This #2281: "King Crimson is the only band I know that can play in 17/8 time and still stay in nice hotels". Bill Bruford

6) More Busted Rhymes: So you think that Rap/Hip-Hop and violent crime aren't connected still? Well check this out, Atlanta based rapper Da Brat just got herself busted for a ANOTHER VIOLENT ASSAULT, this time against a waitress in a nightclub using a rum bottle. You just can't take these rappers anywhere without violence breaking out, can you? (side note, it's not the first time this moron has gotten herself busted for such things, for instance, a pistol-whipping of a club patron in 2000, real class act this girl is).

AND ON THE PLAYER

Stan Getz -The Steamer

A classic quartet session recorded in ONE DAY in 1956 (a shame they don't make records like that anymore) with Lou Levy on piano, Stan Levey on drums and Leroy Vinnegar on bass. Stan's BIG tenor sound is in full evidence as he not just merely states the melody and solos, but really reconstructs the melody as he goes, not to mention his solos are melodic compositions unto themselves. "Too Close For Comfort" is worth the price of admission alone!

21 Ways To Be A Good Neo-Con

2007-10-31T09:31:00.000-07:00

Not just reserving my scorn for the Ultra Liberal Democrats alone, I also will lay out a number of ways to be a good Neo-Conservative (or Neo-Con for short). As far as I'm concerned, GOP Neo-Con's are really crazy ultra-liberals in denial and there are NO MORE real conservatives in the GOP anymore.

1) You have to believe that it is acceptable and normal for someone who is inarticulate, ignorant, dimwitted and just plain stupid to hold high office.

2) You have to believe that like fallen kings and monarchs past, that it is OK to disregard the laws of the land by way of Signing Statements

3) You have to believe that it is OK to spy on your own citizens without warrants (in DIRECT violation of the 4th Amendment of the Bill of Rights) and presume each and every one to be a potential terrorist just because they buy a plane ticket or make an overseas phone call, yet it's not OK to go after foreign governments (Like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emerates and Pakistan) that actually facilitate, support and perpetrate terrorism.

4) You consider the ways of a crow that is easily distracted by bright shiny objects, in this case the bright shiny object was Iraq, when the crow should've been mercilessly pecking at Afghanistan and annihilating the Taliban, not just sending them packing.

5) You have to believe that Fox News is completely fair and unbiased in its reporting, just like the Democrats think the same of CNN.

6) You have to believe that is OK to detain "suspected terrorists" indefinitely with no charges, trial or anything in direct violation of International Law, the Geneva Convention and The US Constitution.

7) You trumpet "Family Values" yet you cover up for disgusting perverts in your own party like Mark Foley and defend Larry Craig, and that Newt Gingrich cheating on his wife was "not hypocrisy" while Bill Clinton doing the same was.

8) You claim to be a party of ethics and law, yet an ALARMING amount of your number are under investigation or have been prosecuted and imprisoned, or are suspected of unethical/illegal activity.

9) You claim to be a party of fiscal responsibility, yet have participated in far more uncontrolled spending than most Democratic administrations. You cut taxes (good) yet don't cut spending (BAD!!!!).

10) You have to believe that invading a country that had NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with terrorist attacks on the US and justifying it with doctored and false intelligence is perfectly OK , yet it's NOT OK to go after the REAL enemies who were responsible for it (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia).

11) You claim to be a party that wants competent qualified people in important positions, yet your president appoints people that are GROSSLY incompetent, unqualified, under investigation and/or just plain spineless yes-men (just ask Harriet Meiers, Alberto Gonzalez, John Ashcroft, Michael Brown etc).

12) You have to believe that having a near incestuous relationship with the Saudi Arabian government who have KNOWINGLY facilitated and supported terrorism is in the best interest of the US.

13) You have to believe that attempting to sell several US seaports to an Arab country (UAE) that has KNOWINGLY supported terrorism and the Taliban is in the best interest of the US.

14) You have to believe that disagreeing even SLIGHTLY with George Dubbaya or Dick "The Penguin" Cheney is treason, yet agreeing in principle that being buddy-buddy with terrorist states like Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates isn't.

15) You have to believe that ANY alternative energy source is not acceptable and that only Arab oil should be used by our country and that energy self-sufficiency is for commie-liberals.

16) You have to believe that the US Attorney General must ALWAYS defer to the Presidents wishes especially when it is in clear violation of all Constitutional law and moral principle.

17) You have to invoke the name of Ronald Reagan while campaigning, yet you totally abhor his type of ACTUAL conservatism, dismissing anyone like him as a right-wing nut job.

18) You have to believe that having morals is for right-wing nutcases and that having them makes you homophobic, judgmental and just plain crazy.

19) You claim to be all for the Second Amendment, yet you oppose the idea of arming airline pilots against terrorists/hijackers.

20) You have to believe that it's OK to order subordinates to ignore Congressional subpoenas in major investigations and that it's OK to lie and obfuscate while accusing the Democrats of the same.

21) You have to believe that having fake staged press conferences without reporters and using fluffy throwaway questions is OK (just ask FEMA).

22 Ways To Be A Good Democrat

2007-10-31T09:28:00.000-07:00

No, I DID NOT write this but I thought it worthy of passing on to you my readers. And coming shortly, a list on how to be a good Neo-Con, stay tooned!

22 Ways To Be A Good Democrat

1. You have to be against capital punishment, but support abortion on demand.
2. You have to believe that businesses create oppression and governments create prosperity.
3. You have to believe that guns in the hands of law-abiding Americans are more of a threat than U.S. Nuclear weapons technology in the hands of Chinese and North Korean communists.
4. You have to believe that there was no art before Federal funding.
5. You have to believe that global temperatures are less affected by cyclical documented changes in the earth's climate and more affected by soccer moms driving SUV's.
6. You have to believe that gender roles are artificial but being homosexual is natural.
7. You have to believe that the AIDS virus is spread by a lack of federal funding.
8. You have to believe that the same teacher who can't teach fourth graders how to read is somehow qualified to teach those same kids about sex.
9. You have to believe that hunters don't care about nature, but loony activists who have never been outside of San Francisco do.
1 0. You have to believe that self-esteem is more important than actually doing something to earn it.
11. You have to believe that Mel Gibson spent $25 million of his own money to make "The Passion of the Christ" for financial gain only.
12. You have to believe the NRA is bad because it supports certain parts of the Constitution, while the ACLU is good because it supports certain parts of the Constitution.
13. You have to believe that taxes are too low, but ATM fees are too high.
14. You have to believe that Margaret Sanger and Gloria Steinem are more important to American history than Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison, and A.G. Bell.
15. You have to believe that standardized tests are racist, but racial quotas and set-asides are not.
16. You have to believe that Hillary Clinton is normal and is a very nice person.
17. You have to believe that the only reason socialism hasn't worked anywhere it's been tried is because the right people haven't been in charge.
18. You have to believe conservatives telling the truth belong in jail, but a liar and a sex offender belonged in the White House.
19. You have to believe that homosexual parades displaying drag, transvestites, and bestiality should be constitutionally protected, and manger scenes at Christmas should be illegal.
20. You have to believe that illegal Democrat Party funding by the Chinese Government is somehow in the best interest to the United States .
21. You have to believe that this message is a part of a vast, right wing conspiracy.
22. You have to believe that it's okay to give Federal workers the day off on Christmas Day ..........but it's not okay to say "Merry Christmas."
23. You have to believe that it's okay to give an 11 year old girl birth control pills without parental consent, but it's not okay to give a child aspirin.

You're Just Asking For A Spanking and No Dinner Young Man!!!

2007-10-29T14:54:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe, but ONE person in all of Congress, our wimpy, spineless "I Hear And Obey Master Bush" Congress has dared to take a stand on this illegal and immoral proposed legislation that aims to give telecom companies retroactive immunity from prosecution or lawsuit for complying with George Dubbaya's warrantless domestic spying program. Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd went out on a limb and is determined come Hell or High Water to block this odious bill that in essence legitimatizes criminal behavior, so typical of the Bush gang to do just that (but then again, what do you expect from a bunch of incompetent, amoral and greedy people like this?).

For even more details, check out this ARTICLE. And if Chris Dodd shows up at your neighborhood pub, please remember to buy this man a beer and thank him.

Yeah Man, It Really DID Go To Eleven!

2007-10-29T11:53:00.001-07:00

Bang-A-Gratuitous-Gong, Smash A Power Chord On An SG Through A Marshall, Crack Open The Champagne, Hoot and Holler!!!

Yes, it's official folks, I am DONE recording and mixing the upcoming Owl Watches release "Guaranteed To Be 100% Free Of Hit Singles". This past Saturday night, to the thunderous peals of gongs and a cranked up tube amp, I completed the last song "Just What Did My Royalties Pay For?"

Now. all that has to be done is first the mastering (which will be done by Earthshaking Music), and then duplication. If all goes well, I should have the album available for public consumption in early December, just in time for the dreaded Christmas rush!

All told, it was worth the almost year-long process to put it together and get it happening. A number of people were very helpful to me along the way, and I'd like to thank Brian King, the guys at Earthshaking Music, Tom and Tony Scotto, Philip Hart from Z-Axis, Jim Dunn, Dave Condra and more for EVERYTHING you contributed to this project. THis Owl thanks you to no end!

And here's the FINAL track list:

The Lawyers Made Us Do This---
Did They Even Sing?
Sign With Disappearing Ink
It Takes A Village to Raise an Idiot
Hydrogen and Stupidity
A Brew for Elliot Spitzer and The Minutemen
How To Sell Out and Eclipse The Spice Girls In Sales
Don't Do the Mime If You Can't Do The Time
And Your Point Is--- (for Miles Davis)
WARDROBE!!!
Just What Did My Royalties Pay For?

Stay tuned for more details as they unfold!!!

Something Different - One Nation Under An Owl

2007-10-25T21:36:00.000-07:00

Somehow, due to a writers block and/or lack of anything worthy of ridicule this week, The Friday Follies will not appear today, but will be back next week at its regularly scheduled time.

However,, inspired by, of all things, an article on CMT.com by music journalist Chet Filipo titled "If I Ran Nashville" (highly recommended reading BTW), I will venture forth with "One Nation Under An Owl" (or If I Ran The USA). and here's what I'm a fixin' to do if it were EVER to come about:

1) Bring Back Law and Order to Washington, NOT lawlessness and incompetence that currently overruns Washington. First on the agenda would be to restore the checks and balances called for in the US Constitution. This would involve breaking out a new VETO stamp every so often (not for gratuitous vetoes mind you, but at least Ronald Reagan had the right idea of using it when needed, and often). It would also involve severely curtailing a vast amount of power that the Bush administration has erroneously conferred on itself, in short the office of Presidency is NOT a license to do anything one wants with complete impunity. ANY repeat of the Bush or Nixon administrations is just plain UNACCEPTABLE! There will be NO MORE signing statements (as I believe this violates the oath of office to "faithfully execute the laws of the land" and "protect and defend the Constitution". I would make absolutely certain that ALL signing statements done under the Bush Reign of Terror were rescinded for good. I would then approach Congress with legislation to make signing statements ILLEGAL! Supreme Court justices would be selected on the basis of adherence to Constitutional principles, NOT personal loyalty or an activist agenda. Same would apply to appointing an Attorney General. Personally, I would rather appoint someone I never knew in my entire life (to minimize the possibility of personal loyalty getting in the way of impartially enforcing the laws of the land) yet had good strong moral and Constitution based principles. I would also lobby hard to make it a criminal offense (under penalty of removal from office) to make "recess appointments", a tactic that George Dubbaya used quite often to put grossly incompetent and unqualified people in positions they had NO business being in at all. NO MORE under this Owl's watch. And finally, I would have George Dubbaya arrested and put on trial (along with his buddy The Penguin and Donnie Dumbsfeld) for abuse of power, repeated violations of the Constitution, invading a sovereign nation under false and deceptive pretenses and conspiracy to commit treason (regarding the Dubai Ports World deal). There would be NO PARDON issued for this bunch of war criminals . These three clowns would get their choice of banishment from the US altogether or going in front of a firing squad or the gallows, to be televised nationally.

2) Law and Order Part 2 - LAWYERS BEWARE!: The death penalty would be reinstated nationwide for the following crimes with NO exceptions: Murder, Kidnapping, Rape, Child Molestation, Armed Robbery, Home Invasion, Treason, Membership in a terrorist organization, street gang or Mafia family and production/distribution of Meth, Cocaine and Heroin. Next would be a MAJOR crackdown on the law profession and its numerous abuses, There will be NO MORE loopholes or technicalities, ALL evidence will be admissible, period! Criminal defense lawyers will be compelled by law to present an honest and TRUTHFUL defense, or face a MANDATORY 10 years in jail and permanent revocation of their law license(s) for perjury, obstruction of justice and being an accessory to a crime after the fact. Likewise, prosecuting attorneys will be compelled to present a TRUTHFUL case under similar penalties. It will ALSO be a MAJOR FELONY to file a frivolous lawsuit, the perpetrator AND their lawyer both will be charged with extortion, fraud and/or blackmail, and both will face a MINIMUM of 10 years in prison (plus the lawyer will lose their law license FOREVER! NO EXCEPTIONS!) . Also, in law schools. ALL students will be REQUIRED to take personal ethics training and learn proper social behavior and proper courtroom behavior, or else, NO FREAKING LICENSE, PERIOD!. And I think its high time we untie the hands of our police and STOP criminalizing them as is the typical unthinking liberal thing to do. They need support and the freedom to do their primary job, which is protect and serve.

3) Bring In The Cranes: With a wrecking ball attachment that is! This government in its present form is FAR TOO BIG AND INTRUSIVE, completely contrary to what the Founding Fathers laid out. So, this Owl would ELIMINATE FOREVER the following useless bureaucracies to start (I'm sure there'll be more):

Department of Homeland Security: A useless money-wasting abomination is just a few steps from becoming our version of the KGB or the Gestapo. It's Orwellian tactics and such will NO LONGER BE TOLERATED in a free society. We have an FBI and a CIA already and they darn well better learn to do their job efficiently and with actual intelligence.

Department of Education: The states alone should be handling this end of it WITHOUT unnecessary interference, micromanaging or agenda pushing from the Feds.

The IRS: I'm squarely with Neal Boortz and the Fair Tax crowd on this one! This corrupt organization wastes so much money, causes headaches for EVERYONE and can't even make sense of its own hopelessly convoluted tax code that by itself is inherently unfair to all. I'm all for a flat rate "sales tax" of sorts but NEVER AGAIN must we perpetuate an inherently Communistic idea like our current tax system that confiscates people's earnings and throws them down the drain to boot.

The Electoral College: An idea whose time has long gone!

In general, I am a HUGE advocate of states rights and allowing them to make local decisions as necessary.

4) Get Out and Stay Out!! - Part One: In order to regain our sovereignty as a country, I would pull us out of the UN in no time flat. And to make it VERY official, I would have that worthless UN building RAZED and imploded, have it shown on national TV an declare that day a national holiday! The UN is good for nothing except appeasing and acquiescing to ruthless dictators and trying to form a one-world government. I'll also have us pull out of ALL treaties like NAFTA and the like.

5) Get Out and Stay Out!! - Part Two: The illegal immigration issue has clearly shown just how GUTLESS and unprincipled both the Republicans and Democrats are! I'd have us sealing up our borders, and cracking down but good! Illegal immigrants with criminal records would be the first to be PERMANENTLY deported. And ANY company that hires illegal labor would be PUNISHED SEVERELY! We CAN'T go on like we have, we've got to say NO MORE!!! We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore! NO AMNESTY, NO EXCEPTIONS, NO EXCUSES!

6) Give Our Armed Forces A Fighting Chance: It ENRAGES me what both the Clinton and Bush administrations have done to our armed forces, namely cut them down to a bare minimum level, left them ill-equipped and hurt their morale. We need a strong DEFENSE (NOT an intervention force but a DEFENSIVE force above all). We need to have more than adequate troop strength and up-to-the-minute technology to enable our men and women in uniform to defend us when the occasion calls. It might mean reinstating a draft of some sort for a time, hopefully it wouldn't come to that unless we were attacked like in WWII. I'd have us rebuilding our armed forces to a state of readiness should we be attacked again. Personally, I would NOT tolerate the idea of invading a foreign nation in pre-emptive fashion without just cause nor will I tolerate the idea of nation-building and trying to impose or values where they are not wanted. Clinton, Gore, Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld should ALL be hanging their heads in shame (and they should also be hanged, period) for the mess they've made of our armed forces and foreign policy. And once we have a robust set of armed forces again, I think we should MERCILESSLY punish those responsible for 9/11, namely Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Afghanistan, something that George Dubbaya was just too much of a brainless coward to do.

7) We Don't Need Your Damned Oil Anymore!: We definitely need to take a lesson from Brazil, starting with an ambitious piece of legislation (sorry folks, there is just no other way, as our gutless Congress and last two sorry excuses for Presidents have shown), Brazil went to bio-fuels and now, ten years later is in the position to tell Arab oil producers and the like to get lost! I personally would insist on attacking this dilemma on a number of fronts, namely giving tax-breaks and necessary help to push along alternate energy research and production (bio fuels, fuel cells, hydrogen, solar, wind, fusion etc). The oil companies need to get smart, start thinking ahead, and the government should no longer give them handouts and a free pass. they've either got to smarten up and branch out or they'll face the wrath of a lot of people who are sick of being lied to and ripped off. We need to become completely energy self-sufficient, and be able to tell Saudi Arabia to go screw themselves, they've done it to us long enough!

8) Get Out and Stay Out!! - Part 3: One doesn't need much convincing that the Bush foreign policy and a fair amount that came before it has been a miserable failure. The Founding Fathers had it right all along. Their take, trade with other nations, be their friend (if they'll have us) BUT DO NOT GET INVOLVED IN THEIR INTERNAL AFFAIRS, EVER!!! AVOID ENTANGLING FOREIGN ALLIANCES. This "interventionist/nation building" delusional nonsense has blown up in our faces many times over, propping up ruthless dictators like The Shah of Iran, Saddam Hussein, Manuel Noriega, Augusto Pinochet and not to mention supporting Osama Bin Laden in the late 70's/early 80's among others. Some would call it isolationist, but I disagree. It's called being smart, something the Democrats AND Republicans know NOTHING about. America First!

9) Bring Our Jobs Back Home: What more needs to be said? This outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries is just plain WRONG, shortsighted and detrimental to our overall economy. Companies should have the incentive to keeping jobs here. Liberals take note, your EXCESSIVE taxation and overkill regulation is driving business out of the country, GET A CLUE!! CEO's, GET A BRAIN and start thinking long-term, and get your damn hands out of the cookie jar young man or there'll be a spanking and NO dinner for you! Personally, I would call for more pro-business initiatives, of all sizes. Along with it, the need for companies to be good corporate citizens is all too clear, we CANNOT HAVE another Enron or the likes of it!

10) Tax Cut AND Spend Cut!!: Self-explanatory, cut WASTEFUL unnecessary spending, allow people to keep what they earn (investment and such will surely follow), You can;t have one without the other. Tax increases have a nasty way of grinding the economy to a halt! What George Dubbaya FAILED to do (among many things) was cut spending and use his VETO stamp when he needed to, allowing Congress to spend recklessly! NO MORE! Although he was not able to put government spending increases into negative numbers (after all, who could?), Ronald Reagan had a MAJOR victory in the LOWEST increase of government spending EVER during his presidency (about 3.6% IIRC) despite loyal opposition.

11) Take Back Our Second Amendment Rights!! Liberals, we've tried it your way and it HAS NOT worked! You Republicans and your mediocre wimpy neo-con trip have failed miserably too! A secure nation is an ARMED one! EVERY citizen is given the right to bear arms by the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights (but I do agree that SOME individuals should NOT be allowed to own weapons, namely those with a history of mental illness and/or a criminal record). In any case, we need to strike back at the criminal element. I would propose a law once and for all reinstating Second Amendment rights, AND as part of it, a national "Stand Your Ground Law" that says that if your well-being or that of your loved ones is threatened by a criminal/intruder, that you have EVERY right to protect yourself by ANY means necessary, INCLUDING lethal force without fear of prosecution or lawsuit. Personally, i think its time we bought back some SERIOUS frontier justice! It's about time we got mean as hell with the criminal element and start putting a lot of these degenerate punks 6 feet under! Its about time we untied the hands of our police and started letting them give these punks the thrashing they deserve! I'd also move to overturn the Miranda ruling and start taking away some of these so-called "rights" that shyster lawyers think that criminals should have. No more country club jails! NO MORE TECHNICALITIES!!!

12) Start Respecting The First Amendment Too!: Just one example, I am so ticked at how the Republicans AND Democrats monopolize and control public discourse and do not allow other parties and persuasions to have a voice. What is wrong with these mediocre morons that they don't allow people like the Libertarians or the Constitution Party to participate in the democratic process? The Constitution DOES NOT even mandate political parties in the first place! I CANNOT ACCEPT THIS! The two-party system MUST GO!!

13) Start Respecting The Fourth Amendment As Well!: Both the Nixon AND second Bush administrations will go down in history as being the most paranoid and contemptuous of the Bill of Rights ever, especially when it comes to the 4th Amendment of the Bill of Rights. I WILL NOT tolerate things like warrantless surveillance/spying and wiretapping against US citizens. I WILL NOT TOLERATE capricious J Edgar Hoover like tactics being exacted against those who hold different views and WILL NOT TOLERATE the capricious abuse and misuse of personal/confidential information that the government has NO BUSINESS knowing anyway. This is at least one reason I would ANNIHILATE the Department of Homeland Security in a New York minute! What the Bush administration is doing is COMMUNIST and TOTALITARIAN! Period! There will be HELL to pay for the responsible parties of this oppressive and indecent lunacy!

14) Iz R Prezidintz Lurning?: I would happily sign into law a requirement that ANYONE who seeks the office of President or other high office would be REQUIRED to take and pass a Minimum Competency Standards Test to determine their fitness for office, it would both a written and a psychiatric examination. Those who test below minimum standards on both would NEVER be allowed to run for high office, period! We CANNOT EVER have another George Dubbaya Bush in office (or ANY of his kinfolk for that matter) or ANYONE that has about the intelligence of a box of rocks, INCOMPETENCE IS NOT ACCEPTABLE! We cannot afford any more embarrassment and disgrace than this dolt has bought on us already.

And that my friends is how I'd run the USA

More Unbelievable TSA Idiocy

2007-10-23T11:14:00.000-07:00

Good 'ol Michael "Gut Feeling" Chertoff. As if the Dept of Homeland Insecurity (a USELESS money-sucking communistic bureaucracy if ever there was) and it's associated TSA weren't hell-bent on making flying anywhere for any reason even more odious than ever, out comes a revelation (cited in an LA Times article by Patt Morrison) about the TSA under Chertoff's direction requesting even more data on flyers that just simply FLY OVER the US (without even landing here) from places like Canada for instance. It's a little-heard-of program called SecureFlight. What do they want to know? Get this, union membership, sex-life, political opinions, books they read and even more along those lines! Good Lord!! Have these idiots no decency. Oh yeah, I forgot, this numskull is yet another unthinking intelligence-deficient Bush loyalist.

To say this is outrageous is an understatement of epic proportions! First off, what does ANY of that stuff have to do with someone being a potential terrorist on a plane? Isn't it already bad enough that ANYONE who buys a plane ticket is presumed to be a potential terrorist by these clowns to begin with? Haven't you dumba$$e$ ever heard of the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution or the Bill of Rights? So, if this gets any more out of hand, could I be put on a no-fly list for carrying ANY book that is critical of the Bush administration, for wearing the wrong T-shirt or unknowingly going against some unwritten airline dress code? For my opinions? I sure hope not, but if these clowns are continually given blank checks by Bush AND our gutless amoral congress, we are royally screwed. This is yet ANOTHER reason the Founding Fathers emphasized LIMITED government. If they were around now, I'm sure they'd be tearing Geaorge Dubbaya and his buddy The Penguin a new one.

And this Chertoff clown? I say send him on a one-way plane flight to Antarctica and LEAVE HIM THERE!! Because of the fact that he was a co-author of the illegal and immoral Patriot Act is all the more reason to banish him from the US altogether! I'm sure the penguins would befriend him pretty easily, being flightless birds and all. (quacking like The Penguin on Batman)

Tribute Albums - Worthwhile or Waste of Time?

2007-10-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

Something that has gnawed at me for a while but finally I decided to vent on the subject, for good or ill.

In the last two decades or so, tribute albums (that is, albums by collections of various artists using another artists work as it's source material) have become oh so fashionable. But the very existence of these things begs a number of artistic and aesthetic questions I'm sure. Are "tribute albums" artistically valid and refreshing new looks at an artists work or just a grand display of laziness or a complete lack of respect for an artists work?

For me, I have, at best, VERY strong and VERY mixed feelings about these things. The thing that I just VEHEMENTLY DESPISE about 99.9% of tribute albums is the fact that they don't INTERPRET an artists work so much as mindlessly replicate it note-for-not, sound-for sound, even solo-for-solo where instrumentalists are concerned. A perfect example of this mindless copying is "Working Man" (pictured above), a Rush tribute album. Yes. I've listened to this thing (and I"m not even a Rush fan at all), and dang it, this thing is just outright POINTLESS!!! Each contributor just exactly mimics the original Rush record and adds NOTHING at all to the proceedings, good or bad, just rather indifferent. I've heard tribute albums for folks like The Eagles, Genesis, and GAG, even Britney Spears (not voluntarily mind you). THE SAME DANGED THING HAPPENS EVERY TIME, MINDLESS COPYING, not interpretation, THERE IS A DIFFERENCE PEOPLE!! If you want to hear the Eagles, Rush or (GAG) Brittney, GO BUY ONE OF THEIR RECORDS and don't waste your time and money with intellectually and creatively lazy xerox copiers. Sure, there's short-term money in them thar "copiers", but will they be remembered years hence? In a similar vein, you have these guys like Harry Connick Jr., Michael Buble' and their ilk trying to emulate Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett et al, and just falling flat on their faces with lifeless COPYING. Sorry guys, you just don't get it!!!

On the other hand, there are occasional gems where the spotlighted artist's work is INTERPRETED, that is filtered through another artists particular set of sensibilities, life experiences, perceptions etc. and the end result is something very uniquely different yet captures the spirit and heart of the original artist somehow. A few examples of this would include:

1) Livin', Lovin' Losin': Songs of the Louvin Brothers: Various Artists: A first class re-examination of the country singing duo, The Louvin Brothers and their unique work.

2) Amarcord Nino Rota: Various Artists A very creative and haunting look at film composer Nino Rota's Fellini film music by people as far flung as guitarist Bill Frissell and Blondie's Deborah Harry. Produced by Hal Willner, who this Owl holds in very high regard for his incredibly creative tribute projects. He's also helmed and facilitated unique re-examinations of the music of Disney, Kurt Weill, Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk for example. One of Willner's trademarks is to have people completely outside the spotlight artist's realm of music altogether take a stab at reinterpretation (say for instance, Elvis Costello doing Charles Mingus), with often amazing results.

I'm sure that there are a good number out there that aspire to and reach the level of artistry that these two previously mentioned albums do, but sadly, they're still in the minority. The rest just seems to be a vast spewage of mindless copying, playing it too safe and cheap exploitation. I believe in some instances, that some things were just NOT meant to be copied or reinterpreted to start with. But hey, that's life, that's Hollywood, that's rock & roll, etc.

Friday Follies, Purloined Prose, Playground Taunts and-------

2007-10-18T10:49:00.000-07:00

Yup, it's that time of the week again, the workday will wind down, the pubs and restaurants will do a booming business and folks will go somewhere for the weekend. And of course, your friendly neighborhood Owl will highlights some foibles, milestones, follies and oddities, like this for example:

1) Taking A Pointer From Abbie Hoffman: Some may recall that 60's radical/activist/author Abby Hoffman wrote a rather interesting volume called, "STEAL THIS BOOK" in 1971, a guide on how to virtually live for free. Well, in Frankfurt Germany, apparently some folks STILL take that to heart. The Frankfurt Book Fair has found a novel way of gauging best selling books by which ones get stolen the most from . They publish their un-official list every year. This time around, it was none other than Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth". You'd think if people were going to go out of their way to steal a book from a major annual multi-national publisher's convention they'd at least purloin something GOOD! Geez! More HERE

2) My Dad's More Conservative Than Yours-Nyah Nyah Nyah Nyah Nyah: Meanwhile on the camPAIN trail (yes, the altered spelling is intentional), the Republican LID (Liberals In Denial) candidates seem to be descending towards the level of playground taunts in calling each other's "conservative credentials" into question (there's NO question in this Owl's mind that this bunch of weak mediocre neo-con nanny-state types have about as much to do with conservatism as building demolition does with brain surgery) . I shudder to think where these particular discussions will go next (more details HERE) All I can say is this, if you want to listen to and watch a REAL debate (as in one that deals with actual issues, no holds barred), watch the Canadian Prime Minister elections next time they come around. Those things get into actual discussion of issues, and get pretty heated too (almost borderline fisticuffs, a lot like Boston City Council meetings of decades past). Needless to say, Abe Lincoln AND Steve Douglas would have some pretty excoriating words for these mediocre statist clowns.

3) Last Of Their Breed: Legendary Scottish actress Deborah Kerr and the last Rat Pack-er, comedian Joey Bishop have departed the planet this week after long rich lives and bringing a smile to the faces of millions worldwide. RIP.

4) 3 Cheers For The Cos! : I thank God for people like Bill Cosby, who are not only great entertainers (my favorite TV show of his was his first Bill Cosby Show that ran from 1969-1971, a HILARIOUS look at the life of High School gym teacher Chet Kincaid as he dealt with hilarious situations and real issues) but really take an active interest in and want to do their part to improve the condition of the world around them. Bill's outspokenness on issues that deeply affect African-American society and the world at large do not go unnoticed or unappreciated by this Owl. Bill has been a tireless activist for a return to taking personal responsibility for one's own life, being responsible involved parents, being a life-long learner, being responsible to others and to stop blaming others for one's own self-inflicted problems. And he's joined an ever-growing chorus of total opposition to the vacuous, violence/misogyny/crime loving hip-hop/rap culture.

In short, what Bill's been saying all along flies right in the face of the divisive, race-baiting and victim-mentality perpetuating rhetoric of shysters like Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton. For that alone, Bill deserves a medal and a university founded in his honor. As you can bet, there's plenty of people out there that have latched onto what he's been saying, as well as some who would be quick to (quite WRONGLY) accuse him of "acting white" or "co-opting to The Man" (whoever this mysterious entity The Man is). Bill, in collaboration with Dr. Alvin Poussaint has written a wonderful new book called "Come On People". In this book, the two authors explore a number of issues and dilemmas vexing African-American society and examine a number of workable solutions (addressing area like parenting, education, discipline, and more), in addition to illustrating with true stories of people who have overcome adversities and found personal solutions to these dilemmas. One of the roots that seems to come up is the dilemma of mass hopelessness and perpetuation of the victim mentality, which shysters like Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson make big $$$$ from. This book is a challenge, a call-to-arms and a message of hope all in one volume, No matter what ethnicity you are, I HIGHLY recommend you read this!

5) Perusing the Osgood Files: I got turned onto this a few years ago while still living up North, before I'd hit the shower, I'd get to listen to a brief segment of commentary called The Osgood File, presided over by CBS newsman Charles Osgood. The coolness of The Osgood File lay in the fact that he would comment on a breaking or current news event and to top it off, more times than not, would devise an ofttimes HILARIOUS series of verses, poetic waxing or limerick-like coda to the story. He has now become, officially or otherwise, the CBS network's poet in residence. Check out his website, The Osgood File and you'll get to hear/read his up to the minute wit and prose.

And A Happy Friday To All!!!!

Antarctica - Next Frontier In The War On Terror?

2007-10-18T07:55:00.001-07:00

Latest "Intelligence" Gathered

By Way of

"Rumors On The Internets"

(read in George Dubbaya voice)

"Well, it was uninevitable, while we were in Iraq, the penguins in the Antarctic have been in cahoots with Al Queda, hatching a plot to infilterate the US by way of our zoos. The Department of Homeland Security is now taking measures to secure our zoos and aquariums for all Americans, so from now on, ALL visitors to US zoos and aquariums will be required to wear special tracking bracelets to monitor their whereabouts during their visits. All penguins will be subject to interrogation upon entering the country too. Like I've said, our enemies are innovative and resourceful, So are we. They constantly think of ways to attack and harm our people, so will we.

At the same time, I am calling on Congress to act quickly and indecisively, I am asking for full funding and authority to invade Antarctica, in the hope of stopping this new threat before it makes its way to our shores. If we are successful, we won't run the risk of a successful attack. We hope, for the good of all Antarctica that a new democratic government will be installed soon after. It'll be schlock and awe I tell ya.

It WILL NOT be a pointless quagmire, it WILL NOT be a repeat of Viet Nam. If anything, I hope it'll be a---, that is--I hope I, uuhhhh----- won't repeat myself. "

Random Tuesday Stuff

2007-10-16T10:51:00.001-07:00

1) Dumba$$ Rapper Bust Bonanza: When it rains it pours folks, these rappers just can't get through a week without having to prove to the world at large their complete lack of upbringing, intelligence and self-control. This was a bonanza week alright;

a) TI, an Atlanta-based purveyor of busted rhymes just landed himself in Federal custody for possession of 3 unregistered MACHINE GUNS and two silencers, not to mention possession of weapons by a convicted felon charges (he was already once in prison on serious drug charges). Irony of ironies, he was arrested just hours before he was supposed to receive a BET award for his latest collection of busted rhymes about such heartwarming subjects as guns, killing whites and po-leece, degrading women and doing lots of drugs. More details HERE. The smart money says that he wasn't exactly going deer hunting in upstate New York.

b) Sean P-Diddy Combs: Meanwhile in NYC, this guy AGAIN gets himself busted for assault at a Manhattan nightclub. Geez, this guy keeps repeating the same crime over and over again, not an original thought in the guy's head, just like his lame albums that rip off EVERYONE in varying degrees. Wondering if he'll repeat his usual pattern of changing his name every time he gets busted for something? More lurid details HERE

c) Foxy Brown: This one is darn near comical!!! She's just racking 'em up like a pool hustler, assault (violently throwing her cell phone at anieghbor who had a legitimate complaint about her car stereo's excessive volume), skipping court mandated anger-management classes, not showing up for hearings, probation violations revolving around a violent incident at a manicurists shop 3 years previous, not to mention other violent incidents. She's currently serving a year in NY's Riker's Island prison. Worse yet, she's planning to relase another disc of busted rhymes this November, Can't wait---------. She sounds like a real peach. More HERE

EDITED TO ADD: A very worthy opinion piece from AJC columnist Cynthia Tucker that pulls no punches can be read HERE.

2) We Grows 'Em Big In These Parts: After nearly 2 years of embarrassing delays and other plot twists, Aerospatiale' is finally rolling out their new super-jumbo jet The Airbus 380! Their first customer to take delivery was Singapore Air, and I'm sure more to follow. This new entry into the long-range airliner arena is the first to have a double deck layout with the capability to accommodate up to 525 people in standard 3-class seating and 853 people if the whole plane is Coach class. And yes, it actually dwarfs a 747. Powered by 4 outrageously huge and powerful (yet unbelievably quiet as jet engines go) Rolls-Royce Trent 900 or Engine Alliance GP7000 engines, this huge bird lifts off with more grace and ease than most people would think. Watch one take off HERE (LOVE the sound of those engines!)

ON THE PLAYER

Happy The Man (1977)

This largely instrumental gem from 1977 has been in my collection in some form or other since it was first released. This insanely talented fivesome from Harrisonburg VA first met at James Madison University in the early 70's. And yes, the music is as colorful and surreal as the cover. Happy The Man really were one of the last from the original 70's progressive rock era to have a sound uniquely their own, combining elements of jazz, late 19th/early 20th century classical music, rock and music from Saturday morning cartoons (and you think I'm kidding, take a listen to pieces like "Stumpy Meets The Firecracker In Stencil Forest" dang, these guys must've got some real good mushrooms that day). The pieces can feature unexpected twists and turns, navigating perilous time and meter changes, crazed saxophones, angular guitars, colorful keyboards, while going from dream-like pastel beauty ("Starborne", a song that I'll long remember as I once enjoyed a very beautiful romantic moment to it with a woman I fiercely loved) to HILARIOUS cartoon-like mayhem ("Knee Bitten Nymphs In Limbo") and unpredictable little mini-suites (the songs on here are by prog-rock standards, fairly short). My personal favorite is "NY Dreams Suite" which closes the album, runs from a whimsical beginning to a HILARIOUSLY frenetic cartoon chase-scene like section to close with an emotion charged ending of sublime beauty that at least will have you misty-eyed. The only "weak" tracks here are the 2 with vocals, but even then the instrumental portion is STILL good. Check these guys out at their website: http://www.happytheman.com/