Dig Deep to Donate

Here's a note from Patterson regarding the Nuci's benefit. The raffle is still going. Even though I'll not be at the show, I'm in for 2 raffle tickets today. Anyone want to match me?

Nuci's Space.

Y'ALL:

HAPPY DAMNED NEW YEAR.

We hope everyone out there has an amazing and prosperous 2009.

Remember we are on the home stretch for time to bid on the set list for our annual Nuci's Space Benefit.

Remember, the highest bidder gets to pick 12 songs for the show on Thursday Jan. 15th at The Fabulous 40 Watt Club.

That auction ends on Jan 4th.

Or if you prefer, you can buy a chance on a raffle, the winner of which gets to pick 8 songs for same show.

The raffle is on Jan. 7th.

As a little added incentive, we've invited our original bass player / vocalist Adam Howell to be at the show, which means thatthe song he and I co-wrote LATE FOR CHURCH is eligible for the set list that evening.

This will be only the second time since 1998 that we have performed that song.

We hope everyone has had a safe and wonderful Holiday Season.

Santa came to see me and brought me a new turntable, a couple of books and DVDs and a copy of the new Deerhunter album (which I have been playing non-stop).

Hope he brought all of you what you wanted also.

Get those bids in and See You at The Rock Show(s)

Bah Humbucker,

Patterson Hood

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Let's get back into the political swing of things, shall we.

I've long hammered the point that why would one ever vote for a party that believes that governing is the problem, not a solution?

Oh, and the race bating is kind of an issue too. Will be interesting to see the Republicans attempt an Extreme Party Makeover. Even more interesting will be those who will buy their tripe.

Lip stick on a pig, indeed.

Op-Ed Columnist - Bigger Than Bush - NYTimes.com:

"The fault, however, lies not in Republicans’ stars but in themselves. Forty years ago the G.O.P. decided, in effect, to make itself the party of racial backlash. And everything that has happened in recent years, from the choice of Mr. Bush as the party’s champion, to the Bush administration’s pervasive incompetence, to the party’s shrinking base, is a consequence of that decision.

If the Bush administration became a byword for policy bungles, for government by the unqualified, well, it was just following the advice of leading conservative think tanks: after the 2000 election the Heritage Foundation specifically urged the new team to “make appointments based on loyalty first and expertise second.”

Contempt for expertise, in turn, rested on contempt for government in general. “Government is not the solution to our problem,” declared Ronald Reagan. “Government is the problem.” So why worry about governing well?"

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I'll go with 'douche-bags'.

Looking for a word - Paul Krugman Blog - NYTimes.com:

"Unusually, I’m having a vocabulary problem. There has to be some word for the kind of person who considers his mild discomfort the equivalent of torture, crippling injury, or death for other people. But I can’t think of it.

What brings this to mind is this from Alberto Gonzales:

"I consider myself a casualty, one of the many casualties of the war on terror".

This reminded me of Laura Bush’s remark on carnage in Iraq:

"And believe me, no one suffers more than their president and I do when we watch this".

Remember this. And remember, too, that for long years these people were considered heroic patriots, defenders of the nation."

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Voluntary. Yeah, we'll see how long that last.

Lipitor stick on a pig.

No More Goodies for Doctors From Drug Makers :

"Starting Jan. 1, the pharmaceutical industry has agreed to a voluntary moratorium on the kind of branded goodies — Viagra pens, Zoloft soap dispensers, Lipitor mugs — that were meant to foster good will and, some would say, encourage doctors to prescribe more of the drugs."

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I don't know anything about this guy, but I'm glad to see a non-career politician jump into the fray.

Often, the best individuals to govern this country never get the opportunity or decide that they don't want to deal with the 'politics' in order to 'govern'. That, or they're simply priced out from ever seeking office.

The Associated Press: Colo. gov names schools chief for Senate vacancy:

"That's what colleagues are saying about the Yale-educated lawyer, a quick study who won't need long to navigate Congress, even though Bennet has never held public office. Bennet was named Saturday by Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter as his choice to fill the remaining two years of the Senate term of Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar, who is awaiting confirmation as interior secretary for President-elect Barack Obama."

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The future governor of Alabama. He's got my vote.

TMZ.com:

"This may be the very best police report of 2008. When Charles Barkley was busted in Arizona early this morning for DUI, he told cops he ran a stop sign because he was in a hurry to get some oral sex.

According to the officer who wrote the report, 'He told me that he ran the stop sign because he was in a hurry to pick up the girl I saw get in the passenger seat.'

The officer continues: 'He asked me to admit that she was 'hot.' He asked me, 'You want the truth?' When I told him I did he said, 'I was gonna drive around the corner and get a b**w job. He then explained that she had given him a 'b**w job' one week earlier and said it was the best one he had ever had in his life.'"

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Perfect Timing?

Conn. man's last lotto ticket wins $10M for widow:

"On the day that Donald Peters died, he unknowingly provided financial security for his wife of 59 years and their family.

Peters bought two Connecticut Lottery tickets at a local 7-Eleven store on Nov. 1 as part of a 20-year tradition he shared with his wife Charlotte. Later that day, the 79-year-old retired hat factory worker suffered a fatal heart attack while working in his yard in Danbury."

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