DBT Week in Review - 8/14/09

DBT!

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Drive-By Truckers - New October Tour Dates!

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Patterson on Playboy.com's 'Uncovered'. Thankfully, he is covered.

Patterson plays an acoustic version of 'The Range War'.

Uncovered: Patterson Hood

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Drive-By Truckers @ Cannery Ballroom, Nashville, Tenn. 8/6/2009 | American Songwriter

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Aww. Start 'em young.

NineBullets.org - Message Board • View topic - Cooley Dale modeling DBT

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Slobberbone

I'd be in Green Bay right now if it weren't for the stupid economy.

St. Louis Music - Slobberbone gets the band back together for another twang-punk trek - page 1:

"B-Sides: Slobberbone has re-formed. Is this your attempt to divert attention from the blink-182 reunion tour?

Brent Best: Is there a blink-182 reunion? Oh my God! I need to call my booking guy. I don't want to interfere."

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Will Johnson and Jason Isbell

Just because I'm obsessed with this song:

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Dexateens

Dexateens - "Grandaddy's Mouth" - HearYa Live Session 5/20/09 from HearYa.com on Vimeo.

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Music

Les Paul, Guitar Innovator, Dies at 94 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com:

"Les Paul, the virtuoso guitarist and inventor whose solid-body electric guitar and recording studio innovations changed the course of 20th-century popular music, died Thursday in White Plains. He was 94."

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David Byrne Makes London Building Into Musical Instrument

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Next Week on 'Death Panels'......

What Duncan says:

Eschaton:

"Deep Thought

Nobody could've predicted that electing a black man president would drive this country completely fucking insane."

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This is hilarious and point on. Must read.

Commie Countries 101.

FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: Not All Socialist Countries are Alike:

"The really weird thing about Canada is, even though the government is paying the bill, they aren't actually providing the health care itself. Instead, they have private doctors for that, just like we do here.

I know this might be confusing for some of you, so let's try an analogy. This is a VISA card:"

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Yup. Damn Limey Commies killing their genius cripples. Just like our death panels will do.

Man, I sure would like the head job on that 'death panel'. I could do some real good for the world.

Stephen Hawking: "I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS.":

"When Investor's Business Daily attempted to scare readers away from 'socialized medicine' by claiming Stephen Hawking wouldn't be alive today if he relied on the British health care system, they neglected a couple of things. 1) Hawking does rely on the British National Health Service. 2) Hawking can speak for himself.

'I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS,' he told us. 'I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived.'"

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Well, then, VPILF seems to have been creating her own 'death panels' in that job she just upped and quit on .

Troubled Alaska health programs face federal restriction: Health | adn.com:

"State programs intended to help disabled and elderly Alaskans with daily life -- taking a bath, eating dinner, getting to the bathroom -- are so poorly managed, the state cannot assure the health and well-being of the people they are supposed to serve, a new federal review found.

The situation is so bad the federal government has forbidden the state to sign up new people until the state makes necessary improvements.

No other state in the nation is under such a moratorium, according to a spokeswoman for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services."

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For it before he was against it.

Matt Taibbi - Taibblog – Newt Gingrich Changes What’s Left of his Mind on End-of-life Care - True/Slant:

"He’s pretty unequivocal here. Well, what happens when suddenly the Republican party decides it wants to scare the shit out of a bunch of old people by telling them the new health care bill is going to include a provision in which “death panels” ask them “when they want to die”? Now all of the sudden Gingrich is violently against the same programs he was so windily praising earlier this year."

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4 B4 against.

Daily Kos: Dubya's 1999 Texas "death panel"

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Neat.

NASA Spacecraft Reveals Mysterious Object Punching Through One Of Saturn's Rings:

"What is going on with Saturn's rings? It appears that recent images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft reveal what seems to be a small object that has ripped through one of the planet's otherwise flat rings. The purpose of the NASA mission, the BBC explains, was to observe 'an equinox on Saturn, in a bid to learn more about the gas giant's ring system.'

Discover Magazine's take on it:"

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Research iz Hard

Research iz Hard.

Must be because Hawkin failed to give his computer voice an English accent.

Broken tubes - Paul Krugman Blog - NYTimes.com:

"And just as an illustration: a number of people have pointed this out, but here’s the latest in the “Obama’s health reform will kill people” news: Investor’s Business Daily — which poses as a reputable source of financial information — opines that

People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn’t have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.

That would be Stephen Hawking, British professor, who was born in the UK and has lived there for his whole life."

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Death Panels!!! So Scary.

Olbermann’s ‘Special Comment’ on Sarah Palin and conservative scare tactics:

"'Finally as promised, a special comment on this terrible moment in American history and those unfortunate and irresponsible Americans who have brought us to it. 'The America I know and love,' the quitter governor of Alaska Sarah Palin began, 'is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down's Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's death panel so his bureaucrats can decide based on a subjective judgment of their level of productivity in society whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.'

Course it is, Ms. Palin. And that is why is does not exist, has not existed and would never under this President nor any other President ever exist in this country.

There is NO death panel. There is no judgment based on societal productivity. There is no worthiness test. But there is downright evil, Ms. Palin, and you just served its cause. You shouted 'Fire!' in a crowded theatre, a hot theatre, and then today, tried to roll it back with 'no, no, sorry, not fire, I meant flashlights.' Too little, too late, too obvious. Madam, you a clear and present danger to the safety and security of this nation."

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Duh

Whistleblower: Insurance firms ‘very much’ behind town hall disruptions:

"Health insurance companies deserve “a great deal of the blame” for the sometimes violent disruptions to town hall meetings on health care, says a former health insurance company executive turned whistleblower.

Wendell Potter, a former executive with health insurer Cigna who now works as the senior fellow on health care at the Center for Media and Democracy, told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that health insurance companies “are very much behind the town hall disruptions that you see and a lot of the deception that’s going on in terms of disinformation that many Americans, apparently, are believing.”

On her show Monday night, Maddow cited statistics from the Securities and Exchange Commission showing that profits at the US’s ten largest health insurance companies skyrocketed more than 400 percent between 2000 and 2007, from $2.4 billion in 2000 to $12.7 billion in 2007.

“Apparently while they quadrupled their profits, the number of Americans without health insurance grew by 19 percent,” Maddow said."

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As rare as the Mammoth. Actual reporting by a traditional news source.

Shocking. Watch it.

The Washington Monthly:

"Last night, ABC News' Kate Snow tackled the vile right-wing demagoguery on end-of-life care, and while she refrained from calling Palin and her ilk 'liars,' she made it very clear that the accusations about euthanasia are completely wrong. It wasn't a he-said/she-said report; it was just reality.

Better yet, the ABC report noted that former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey (R), whose propensity for misinformation is practically limitless, was responsible for starting this insane attack in the first place.

The more major news outlets run pieces like these, the better off the public will be."

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What would we do with out thee, Jon.

Jon Stewart Vs. Town Hall Crazies (VIDEO)

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China or Bust

At least we'll have health care under our future overlords.

China plans universal health care - The New York Times:

"BEIJING — China announced that it intended to spend $123 billion by 2011 to establish universal health care for the country's 1.3 billion people.

The plan was passed Wednesday at a session of the State Council, the Chinese cabinet. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao presided.

Xinhua, the state news agency, said the authorities would 'take measures within three years to provide basic medical security to all Chinese in urban and rural areas, improve the quality of medical services and make medical services more accessible and affordable for ordinary people.'"

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Or, hell, just move to it.

The air sucks, but the food is the best.

Shut Out at Home, Americans Seek Opportunity in China - NYTimes.com

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Ammo to fight Teh Stoopid.

Daily Kos: ACTION: Stop Health Care Town Hall Disruptions In Their Tracks

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Yup.

Op-Ed Columnist - Averting the Worst - NYTimes.com:

"So it seems that we aren’t going to have a second Great Depression after all. What saved us? The answer, basically, is Big Government."

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Great viral email being passed around at the moment:

This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy.

I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water utility.

After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank.

On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.

And then I log on to the internet -- which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right.

I'm a conservative Shithead.

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American Idiots

Must read:

Bill Maher: New Rule: Smart President ≠ Smart Country:

Or take the health care debate we're presently having: members of Congress have recessed now so they can go home and "listen to their constituents." An urge they should resist because their constituents don't know anything. At a recent town-hall meeting in South Carolina, a man stood up and told his Congressman to "keep your government hands off my Medicare," which is kind of like which is kind of like driving cross country to protest highways.

I'm the bad guy for saying it's a stupid country, yet polls show that a majority of Americans cannot name a single branch of government, or explain what the Bill of Rights is. 24% could not name the country America fought in the Revolutionary War. More than two-thirds of Americans don't know what's in Roe v. Wade. Two-thirds don't know what the Food and Drug Administration does. Some of this stuff you should be able to pick up simply by being alive. You know, like the way the Slumdog kid knew about cricket.

.................
"And these are the idiots we want to weigh in on the minutia of health care policy? Please, this country is like a college chick after two Long Island Iced Teas: we can be talked into anything, like wars, and we can be talked out of anything, like health care. We should forget town halls, and replace them with study halls. There's a lot of populist anger directed towards Washington, but you know who concerned citizens should be most angry at? Their fellow citizens. 'Inside the beltway' thinking may be wrong, but at least it's thinking, which is more than you can say for what's going on outside the beltway.

And if you want to call me an elitist for this, I say thank you. Yes, I want decisions made by an elite group of people who know what they're talking about. That means Obama budget director Peter Orszag, not Sarah Palin."

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Even better:

Daily Kos: Idiot Nation

Ugh. I just have to highlight this again, as perfect example of Everything. Sarah Palin, determined to battle healthcare reform:

"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's "death panel" so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their "level of productivity in society," whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil."

Seriously? I mean, come the flying monkey hell on. How is it that this hollow-headed dimwit doesn't get run out of town for statements like that? Obama's going to come murder her son?

The whole Republican party can absolutely make stuff up, no question about it, 100% lies, no factual basis whatsoever, outrageous, known false stuff about euthanasia and "death panels" and denying care to people that are no longer "productive", stuff that's right out of the most venomous propaganda playbooks around, weird-assed, depraved, paranoid stuff that would be perfectly at home in a Henry Ford tract about the secret methods of the evil Jews or the like -- and not a goddamned news outlet on the planet is making a story out of the fact that these supposed leaders of their party are gleefully lying through their teeth about all of it, or that the "teabaggers" carrying these selfsame lies into public meetings aren't just angry Americans with a different point of view, but people spreading known, 100%-goddamn-freaking-false-and-false-from-the-very-first-time-it-was-uttered bullshit, and intentionally doing it so loud that they hope nobody can possibly shout them down.

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No shit.

Republicans Propagating Falsehoods in Attacks on Health-Care Reform:

"The recent attacks by Republican leaders and their ideological fellow-travelers on the effort to reform the health-care system have been so misleading, so disingenuous, that they could only spring from a cynical effort to gain partisan political advantage. By poisoning the political well, they've given up any pretense of being the loyal opposition. They've become political terrorists, willing to say or do anything to prevent the country from reaching a consensus on one of its most serious domestic problems."

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Widening Gyre | TPM

We had a number of emails last night discussing how much of what we're hearing from the right now should be considered incitement. There are numerous instances of anti-reform advocates explicitly comparing President Obama's health care plan to the Holocaust, for instance -- jumping from the hideous and outrageous claim that reform means euthanasia and going from there. We get desensitized to this stuff. But it's worth taking a moment to give that a long think -- comparing the president's reform plan to the Holocaust.

Most significant here is not the right-wing liars and demagogues making this stuff up but the fact that they've convinced a significant number of their followers that this stuff is true. That's a very dangerous situation.

We should also keep in mind that the birther-mania, as comical as it is on one level, is all part of the same fabric with the Hitler and Holocaust comparisons, an aggressive process of denigration and dehumanization, dressed up around claims about paperwork and places of birth, but all escalating and churning the belief of a minority of Americans that President Obama is not a legitimate president but rather a usurper.

It's always important for us to remember what the last eight years have again taught us, which is that America has a very strong civic fabric, one that can withstand, absorb and conquer all manner of ugly behavior. It can take in stride a lot of angry rhetoric, townhall fisticuffs and more.

But as this escalates we should continually be stepping back and thinking retrospectively from the vantage point of the future about where this all seems to be heading.

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Working from the same playbook going on 40 years.

Op-Ed Columnist - The Town Hall Mob - NYTimes.com:

"Does this sound familiar? It should: it’s a strategy that has played a central role in American politics ever since Richard Nixon realized that he could advance Republican fortunes by appealing to the racial fears of working-class whites."

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Can you trust bing? - The Inquirer:

"IT SEEMS THAT Microsoft tinkers with its Bing search algorithms to push its own marketing.

According to PC World, if you tap in the phrase 'Why is Windows so expensive?' you get as a top link 'Why are Macs so expensive?'

The rest of the links on the first search page answer everything including the price of windows you can see through and little about the price of the Windows OS.

There are a few entries about why Windows hosting providers are so expensive, and one about fish! The five other links on page one are about the expensive price of Macs. The Windows client OS is not even mentioned.

If you do the same search at Google, you get a long list of links about whether the Windows OS is expensive.

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Yeah, Australia rocks.

Australian Sex Party gets all-clear:

"Sex and politics have officially come together, with the Australian Sex Party obtaining approval from the Australian Electoral Commission for registration as a political party."

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DBT Week in Review - 8/7/09

DBT/Patterson Hood

Our own Lurleen (Beth) McQueen produced a great interview with the lovely Shonna Tucker. Excellent interview and some really interesting responses from Shonna.

Great work both!

Jackson Free Press: Jackson, Mississippi - Music - Music Features - ‘Southern Female Attitude’

I've got a huge garden this year.

• What all are you growing?

I'm about to go pick okra right now. It's an everyday thing. I've got okra, onions, garlic, carrots, tomatoes—they are awesome right now—peas, beans, cucumbers, watermelon, six different lettuces. … I've got 11 chickens, so I kind of work and play in the dirt all day outside with my animals."

On music:

"It) makes people feel good sometimes to hear somebody say something that they wanna say and can't."

On valuing the fans:

"• The Drive-By Truckers often stick around after shows and give autographs. How would you describe your relationship with your fans?

Well, I hope it's great. I think that just relating to people is very important. You can't get up on stage and think, 'I'm gonna put on a great show tonight,' and then just walk away from these people who came out here and dropped everything and bought a ticket and drove forever and got a babysitter and whatever to see you play your guitar. You can't forget how lucky you are to be able to play music as your job. It blows my mind, still to this day. It's crazy that I can say that, and it's all because of fans. … I don't think any of us try to do it, or try not to, it's just I like to talk to people and see what's happening with them. I think it's very important."

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Patterson Hood and the Screwtopians: Collateral Damage And Then Some recorded Aug 6, 2009

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Someone on the Nine Bullets board caught this.

How weird.

Music Listings | Jackson Free Press | Jackson, Mississippi:

"Hal & Mal's Big Room - The Dexateens, Drive-By Truckers 9 p.m. 18 , $20 drivebytruckers.com

Reed Pierce's - Adam's House Cat 9 p.m. free"

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Isbell/Truckers

Isbell and Drive-By Truckers get us closer to real country - ESPN:

"Strange, then, that country music is making a resurgence in my life. For that, I blame the Drive-By Truckers."

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Music I Like

Check out these boys from the Shoals.

PLANET INK on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads:

"LOUD, CROWD PLEASING, FURIOUS, BLUES INJECTED MUSIC IS WHAT WE'RE ALL ABOUT. Planet Ink, from the legendary music scene in Muscle Shoals Alabama, has developed their own unique sound echoing riffy 60's groove, psychedelic, electric blues, and vintage rock flavor. Energetic, foot stompin’, head jolting live performances are all part of the Ink experience. The trio comprised of brothers Alexander and Micheal Bowling, and cousin James Sherrill has been providing audiences with slamin’ tunes and solid performances since the late summer of 2006. Thanks for checkin out our music, we hope you enjoy it"

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Music

Both sides of the argument:

Op-Ed Contributor - Radio Free America - NYTimes.com:

"WHEN I hear great American standards on the radio, I think of all the songwriters, artists and musicians whom my father, brother and I have worked with over the years. It reminds me that every recording has two parts, the composition and the performance. It also reminds me how many wonderful artists and musicians have not been paid fairly for their work."

NoPerformanceTax.org: Oppose the Record Label-Led Performance Fee on Radio.

What is a performance tax?
A performance tax is a fee that record labels want the government to impose on local radio stations simply for airing music free of charge for listeners.

In recent years, the record labels have seen sales of albums decline as more listeners opt for digital downloads. However, radio remains the number one promotional vehicle for music – it’s not responsible for the label’s resistance to the digital age, and it shouldn’t be on the hook to fix it. Radio already provides between $1.5 to $2.4 billion dollars annually in music sales for artists and record labels. By pushing a tax on local radio, record labels are biting the hand that feeds them.

Where does the money go?
In short, the money would flow out of your community and into the pockets of the record labels – the great majority of which are foreign-owned. The record labels would like for you to think this is all about compensating the artists, but in truth the record labels would get at least 50% of the proceeds from a tax on local radio.

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Very cool.

Sacramentan buys old vinyl 45s, finds out they were his mom's - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

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Pee 4 Change

I've tried to pair my articles today like a fine wine with a piece of cheese.

Categories: Lying Liars, Health Care, Assholes, Birthers, Pee, and a one-off San Francisco.

Here we go....

Fool me once.... Can't get fooled again:

Maddow: GOP is using the ‘Brooks Brothers Riot’ playbook:

"The angry mobs that have been shutting down town hall meetings called to discuss health care reform have reminded many people of an episode during the 2000 election generally known as the Brooks Brothers Riot.

“I think it is very similar,” Washington editor of The Nation Chris Hayes replied on Tuesday to a question from MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow about whether he thought the same strategy is being used currently by Republican-backed corporate lobbying groups.

A few weeks after the November 2000 election, when the outcome of the presidential race was hanging on the Florida recount, a raucous and unruly group of young Republican aides — some of whom were actually on the Bush recount committee’s payroll — rioted outside the room where over 10,000 ballots were being recounted in Miami-Dade County and forced the cancellation of the recount."

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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Fight back and hard this time.

Daily Kos: The Ten Health Care Talking Points EVERY DEM MUST REPEAT

HCAN Prepares Pro-Health Care Reform Activists For Responding To Town Hall Disruptions, Plans To Disrupt The Disrupters | TPMDC

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Now, you too can be birf'd a Kenyan!

Salon's handy-dandy guide to refuting the Birthers | Salon News

Kenyan Birth Certificate Generator - Make your own! Invalidating legitimate presidencies since 2009!

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Religious whack-job asshole. Jail isn't bad enough for this fucker.

Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder

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Good luck with that, asshole. Only the technically ignorant would pay... especially for Murdoch's tripe.

Quality journalism is not cheap? Murdoch planning on getting into the 'quality journalism' biz?

Asshole.

Rupert Murdoch plans charge for all news websites by next summer:

"'Quality journalism is not cheap,' said Murdoch."

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Gotta go.

The Thin Green Line : Pee in the shower to save the rainforest

Web site helps time mid-movie bathroom breaks

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Neat, because I use to watch the sun set over Seal Rock from my balcony but the rocks were sealless because the seals moved to pier 39 after the earthquake in 88.

Not neat because they are coming back due to a big ass El Nino that is forming.

Sea lions swarm long-abandoned Seal Rocks

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Bill Clinton Walks into a Dic...tatorship

Bill Clinton takes a trip to Korea and returns with two AZN chicks?!?

Hillary is going to be pissed.

But, seriously, folks. This cost the U.S., what, 50,000 grand total? And we didn't have to blow any shit up... specially our men and women in uniform?!?

Diplomacy. What a concept.

N. Korea Says Two U.S. Journalists Have Been Pardoned - washingtonpost.com:

"North Korea announced Tuesday that it had pardoned two detained American journalists, hours after former president Bill Clinton met in Pyongyang with reclusive dictator Kim Jong Il as part of an unannounced and highly unusual diplomatic mission to win their freedom."

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Shit the pool. That's all Republicans know how to do.

Doggett undeterred by unruly right-wing mob, says he remains ‘more committed than ever’ to health reform.:

"This mob, sent by the local Republican and Libertarian parties, did not come just to be heard, but to deny others the right to be heard. And this appears to be part of a coordinated, nationwide effort. What could be more appropriate for the “party of no” than having its stalwarts drowning out the voices of their neighbors by screaming “just say no!” Their fanatical insistence on repealing Social Security and Medicare is not just about halting health care reform but rolling back 75 years of progress. I am more committed than ever to win approval of legislation to offer more individual choice to access affordable health care. An effective public plan is essential to achieve that goal."

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Amazing that the traditional media is picking up on this thuggery.

Maddow does a great job reporting on the ThuGOP Life.

"Corporate lobbyist are organizing far-right hooligan tactics to disrupt civic meetings about health care reform"

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And damn glad Dems are pushing back hard. Check out some of the push back in this DK diary:

Daily Kos: Calling Out the Right-Wing Noise Machine:

"This is the kind of pushback we need to hear from all Democrats.

And kudos to the reporters who have recognized what has been happening and are asking questions about it. But of course the question is, will they aggressively report on it or will they follow the lead of the New York Times and CNN's Candy Crowley and either ignore or dismiss it?"

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Interesting. In America politicians trust prostitutes more than their wives... and constituents for that matter.

Chinese Trust Prostitutes More Than Politicians, Scientists

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Alabama gone wild.

Troops may be deployed to Alabama county

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Here's to Your Health

Blue Dogs bought by the Health Industry?!?

Shocking, I tells ya. Shocking.

'Centrist' = 'Sold to the Core'

Blue Dogs Receive More Health Industry Backing Than Other Democrats - washingtonpost.com:

At the same time, the group has set a record pace for fundraising this year through its political action committee, surpassing other congressional leadership PACs in collecting more than $1.1 million through June. More than half the money came from the health-care, insurance and financial services industries, marking a notable surge in donations from those sectors compared with earlier years, according to an analysis by the Center for Public Integrity."

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'Republican support' and 'bipartisanship' shouldn't even be part of the equation.

Amen, Kos. Amen.

Daily Kos: Too bad Dems are the problem:

"Remember, Democrats have the White House and dominant majorities in Congress. Any problems passing a health care bill are self-inflicted. Were the tables reversed, Republicans wouldn't have any problem pushing through their agenda unimpeded by an irrelevant minority."

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Heartening... if it actually occurs.

Dawn Teo: President's Field Team Targets Blue Dogs' Districts Over Health Care Battle:

"As members of Congress head home for an August recess, Barack Obama's former campaign arm, Organizing for America (OFA), is gearing up to target Blue Dog districts with old-fashioned, election-style, on-the-ground operations."

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The GOP: Bringing lynching into the 21st century.

Astro-turfing motherfuckers.

Right-Wing Harassment Strategy Against Dems Detailed In Memo: ‘Yell,’ ‘Stand Up And Shout Out,’ ‘Rattle Him’:

"The lobbyist-run groups Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, which orchestrated the anti-Obama tea parties earlier this year, are now pursuing an aggressive strategy to create an image of mass public opposition to health care and clean energy reform. A leaked memo from Bob MacGuffie, a volunteer with the FreedomWorks website Tea Party Patriots, details how members should be infiltrating town halls and harassing Democratic members of Congress:"

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Slimy bastards.

NAACP-Forgery Group, Bonner & Associates, Has A Decades-Long History Of Astroturf Tactics

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Art... reality. Reality... art.

It is a strange, Dobbsian world in which we exist.

Daily Kos: The Birthers: A Short Play

In my new tradition of summarizing major political stories in the form of short plays, may I present: The Birthers...

Conservative: I don't believe you were born in the United States. I demand you show me your birth certificate.

Liberal: OK, here it is.

Conservative: I'm not going away, damn it. I demand to see your real birth certificate.

Liberal: I told you, it's right here.

Conservative: I demand you put it on the web, so everyone can see it.

Liberal: I already did. You can see it right here. Just look at it.

Conservative: Some guy in Mississippi says it looks fake. I demand you show me your secret birth certificate.

Liberal: I don't have a secret birth certificate. This is it. I put it on the web.

Conservative: Conspiracy! Conspiracy! I can see now you're hiding something! I demand to see your birth certificate!

Liberal: It's Right. F---ing. Here. Ten thousand people across the planet have printed it out.

Conservative: Those are copies. I want to see the original.

Liberal: Lots of reporters have seen the original. I can't bloody send it around to every conservative nutcase in America, one at a time, like a birth certificate chain letter.

(long pause)

Conservative: I don't believe you have a checking account. I demand to know your account number, routing number, pin number, and that you give me a blank check made out to "cash".

Liberal: Go to hell.

and, SCENE.

Thank you. I am happy to announce that Lou Dobbs has agreed to attend the off-Broadway premiere.

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But then they forgot what it was...

Scientists find cannabis trigger for forgetfulness

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Cool pictures of the rescue.

Beluga whale saves drowning diver's life | The Sun |News

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Patterson Hood and the Screwtopians - San Francisco - 7/8/09

The long version of this tale got 86'd as too much time has passed and much of my notes didn't make sense anymore.

So, short version:

Perfect day in San Francisco:

Lunch with hairy hero guy (who shall henceforth be referred to as 'HH'). And, I can write 'hero' with the knowledge that it will be read, but I'd never, ever state this in person due to an unwritten Northern Alabama code which prevents effusive praise regardless of the success. One must always leave room for ball busting.

I digress. Lunch with HH along with Ken Zankel, owner of The Grove on Fillmore Street, and all around super nice guy. Ken pointed out a DBT sticker that resides on the front of his restaurant. I've passed this place hundreds of times and never noticed it. Ken also is a big supporter of Nuci's Space (as we all should be). Ken kicks ass.

Next, cab ride to the TransAmerica building (or whatever hell company owns the place now) and a stroll through Jackson Square for some San Francisco history, with a stop to read the Hotaling placard.

"If, as they say, God spanked the town for being over-frisky,
Why did he burn the churches down and spare Hotaling's Whiskey?"

Then a nice, lazy wander through City Lights. City Lights in an amazing bookstore. Lots of history.

Another cab ride brings us closer to the venue and a Stella at the Fly Bar where The Hold Steady plays on the bar stereo.

After a short stroll to The Independent all kind of sound was thoroughly checked by Matador and Damon.

This was the first time I really got to tune into a sound check and really watch Matador at work. He's a damn professional and I was awed by his ability to simply get shit done.

Damon is pretty badass too I noticed him fiddling with a guitar strap. I walked over and he was McGyvering a beer cap into a snap to hold the strap on the guitar. Genius.

Sound check led to dinner with HH, Barbe, Neff and EZB. Dinner conversation dominated by Ted Turner/TBS/Braves/CNN... and even Bill Tush was conjured from the ether. I hadn't thought about Bill Tush in decades. Also, I should have gotten a cup of the white bean soup.

The show was incredible. The band was really tight. All was nailed to the wall. Crowd was very good for a Wednesday.

Another perfect San Francisco day. Always great to get to hang with talented friends.

Let's look at some pictures, shall we....

Are you ready to rock!

But first a word from our sponor, Beefcake!

Ever wonder how DBT/The Screwtopians stay in tip top shape during the rigors of touring?

Not only is EZB the rythym keeper he's also the trainer for all band members and crew.

EZB has developed a grueling 5 minute program which combines weight lifting with oxygen restriction. He's perfected this technique over the past many years on the road.

Be on the look out for a video and instructional book coming soon.

Beefcake!

Sound checking

Damon Towers

The opening act, The Stone Foxes, learning some tricks or two.

I only caught the last song of their set, but they were tearing it up. I'd definitely go see these guys again. They sport serious skills.

Met Will J. for the first time. What an incredible talent.

He killed Just to Know What You've Been Dreaming.

I'm an even bigger fan now.

Patterson had the best drunk girl heckle response ever.

Anna McCarthy from SF Weekly sums up the even nicely:

San Francisco - All Shook Down - Last Night: Patterson Hood and the Screwtopians at The Independent:

"Thank you Patterson Hood for finally telling the token drunk and loud girl in the crowd to, 'kiss someone, darlin.' Sweetest shushing ever."

Thanks for a great day, guys. Always a pleasure. See some of y'all in October for the Hardly Strictly Festival.

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