The Raw Story | Obama addresses House Democratic retreat in prime time speech

The Raw Story | Obama addresses House Democratic retreat in prime time speech

Warped Sister

Pitchfork has posted one of the songs from the upcoming Booker T/DBT/Neil Young collaboration "Potato Hole"

Via Jenn

"Warped Sister" [Stream] | Pitchfork:

"For Potato Hole, his first solo album in a really, really long time, Stax house organist and MGs frontman Booker T. Jones recruited the Drive-By Truckers and Neil Young as his backing band. Wisely, they don't shoot for the in-the-pocket grooves of the MGs: Very few groups, instrumental or otherwise, have ever sounded so preternaturally tight. Instead, on 'Warped Sister', the scratchy guitars churn steadily while the rhythm section chug away reliably. Trucker drummer Brad Morgan is crucial here: His beat is unflappable, and his cowbell guides the song through its false ending and out the other side. Despite the high-profile support players, Booker T. clearly takes the lead, opening with gigantic chords before coaxing out a surprisingly catchy melody from his organ. He gets so much texture and nuance out of his instrument that it sounds like it's actually forming words."

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This probably interests no one but me, but....

Woot!

'They got a name for the winners in the world....'

Alabama wins another recruiting national title:

"When it was crunch time, Alabama coach Nick Saban pulled out the Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer and pounded his way to his second consecutive Rivals.com recruiting national championship."

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Krugman is about the only Traditional media type that's worth reading these days.

Bipartisanship is for suckers.

Never saw the media so concerned with 'bipartisanship' during the BushCo years.

Bipartisan bromides - Paul Krugman Blog - NYTimes.com:

"But the part that really got me was Broder saying that we need “the best ideas from both parties.”

You see, this isn’t a brainstorming session — it’s a collision of fundamentally incompatible world views. If one thing is clear from the stimulus debate, it’s that the two parties have utterly different economic doctrines. Democrats believe in something more or less like standard textbook macroeconomics; Republicans believe in a doctrine under which tax cuts are the universal elixir, and government spending is almost always bad.

Obama may be able to get a few Republican Senators to go along with his plan; or he can get a lot of Republican votes by, in effect, becoming a Republican. There is no middle ground."

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Geez, nobody could have predicted that this conservative kiss-ass give away would never work.

They're building freakin' ramps to jump over the wall. Made a game of it.

So stupid.

What did Reagan say about 'tearing down' some wall?

US border fence found remarkably ineffective and difficult to complete

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Horrible story. But that's not what caught me eye. After 7 or so paragraphs detailing the horrors this boy endured, the article ends weirdly:

Shackled Tracy boy stumbled on means of escape:

"Among the items seized from the home were knives, bottles of Jack Daniels and Southern Comfort, and chains attached to a sports punching bag hanging in the garage, where the boy also apparently stayed, authorities said."

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Julio is a good friend of my old roommate. He use to come over for house parties and Tommy's is probably my favorite Mexican restaurant in San Francisco.

Tommy's has more different types of tequila on hand than any other SF restaurant.

Bay Area distillers play around with Tequila:

"Julio Bermejo, a Tequila expert who runs the bar at Tommy's Mexican Restaurant in the Richmond District, has an entirely different plan that involves regular travel south. He's almost done building a distillery that he expects to open by the end of the year in Jesus Maria, a town near Arandas in the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico."

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No further comment needed.

Hippo Swallows Dwarf!

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24, 24 Hours to Go.....

Agreed, Kiefer, but your show is/was produced by a rabid NeoCon and the story line follows Republican talking points on 'torture'.

And both jumped the shark a long time ago.

Insist all you want but about 30% of the public thinks its a damn documentary and 90% of the press does too.

I'm not saying it should be taken off the air. People can do like I do and not watch. Simple as that.

But while your premise is correct, your conclusion is off. '24' is part of the problem along with all of the morons who swallow its tripe.

24's Kiefer Sutherland Insists On Distinction Between Television And Reality:

"'First off, I'm just going to tell you outright, the problem is not 24. To try and correlate from what's happening on a television show to what the military is doing in the real world, I think that's ridiculous.' Does he mean he doesn't believe the reports of 24's influence? 'Well I haven't read all those reports. But if that's actually happening, then the problem that you have in the US military is massive. If your ethics in the military, in your training, is going to be counterminded by a one-hour weekly television show we've got a really big problem.' His growl grows heavy with contempt. 'If you can't tell the difference between reality and what's happening on a made-up TV show, and you're correlating that back to how to do your job in the real world, that's a big, big problem.'"

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Speaking of jumping the shark.

They make it so, so hard to make fun of them when they do it themselves so damn well.

Joe the unlicensed plumber - GOP Adviser.

HA!

Joe the Plumber advises GOP-ers - Alex Isenstadt - Politico.com:

"Fresh off his stint as a war correspondent in Gaza, Joe the Plumber is now doing political strategy with Republicans.

When GOP congressional aides gather Tuesday morning for a meeting of the Conservative Working Group, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher – more commonly known as Joe the Plumber — will be their featured guest. This group is an organization of conservative Capitol Hill staffers who meet regularly to chart GOP strategy for the week."

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You don't arrest two women kissing. You tip them.

Women say S.A. mall cops arrested them for kissing

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Who in the hell did the survey for this study. Tivo is King. Commercials not needed. Only the pause button.

Just not clear on how they applied the law of diminishing returns to watching commercials.

Study: Ads make watching TV more pleasurable

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Trippy.... and really not that long ago.

Imagine.

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Prison Hooch

I can't even... Just.... fuck.

Open Left:: Wall Streeters "Can't Live on $150,000 to $180,000 a Year":

"Another snippet for the I Shit You Not File: In the New York Times, a head hunter for banks defends the $18 billion in taxpayer-subsidized bonus payouts to Wall Street executives and traders by insisting that those executives and traders can't be expected to live on $150,000 to $180,000 a year - I shit you not:"

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This is why skydiving holds absolutely no lure for me.

Soldier lands safely after skydive instructor dies:

"CHESTER, S.C. – A Georgia-based soldier says his military training helped him land safely on his first skydiving jump after the instructor strapped to his back died from an apparent heart attack.

Daniel Pharr says he knew something was wrong when George Steele stopped answering his questions after their parachute deployed Saturday afternoon above South Carolina. They jumped from 13,500 feet.

Pharr says he didn't panic because of his Army training, and he knew from watching television to use the parachute toggles to steer.

The 25-year-old, stationed at Fort Gordon, Ga., says the nonmilitary jump was a Christmas gift from his girlfriend.

Pharr says he tried unsuccessfully to revive Steele with CPR when they landed."

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Jesus prevented a review of the last play.

Snarkilicious.

Daily Kos: Kurt Warner: "God Is To Blame For This Loss":

"Tampa, FL (KE) -- Kurt Warner, the 37-year-old veteran quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, blamed the Christian God for the team's heartbreaking loss to the Pittsburg Steelers in Sunday night's Superbowl XLIII. Speaking to a pool of gathered reporters outside the team's locker room, Warner stated, 'I always credit God for my victories and earlier this week I said I had an advantage in tonight's game because of the power of Jesus. Clearly, however, Jesus let me down. And so I am not responsible for tonight's loss. If you want someone to blame, this one is 100% on the man upstairs.'"

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Now THIS is a half-time show I could get into.

Porn Clip Interrupts Super Bowl Coverage In Arizona

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Because prison knowledge is power:

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Slumdog Millionaire

I made a rare foray into an actual movie theatre this weekend. Not big on going to the movie theatres these days but I've been dying to see Slumdog Millionaire.

Hands down, this movie gets my vote as Best Picture.

Beautifully shot, rock solid 'Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back' classic Hollywood story line with perfectly seasoned dashes of Bollywood goodness. (If you go see the flick in the theatre, stay for the ending credits)

Can't find the soundtrack anywhere, though, because they seem to be flying off the rack. M.I.A. and A R Rahman kick all kinds of ass with the S.T.

Go see this movie. Ye shall not be disappointed.

I'm off to find Jamal to battle him to the death for the love of Latika.

Danny Boyle's Wins DGA For `Slumdog Millionaire':

"While 'Slumdog Millionaire' started as an underdog that nearly went straight to DVD, it has emerged as the Oscar favorite. Audiences have embraced Boyle's tale of a poor boy rising to fame and fortune from the streets of Mumbai, and the film triumphed at the Golden Globes and Producers Guild of America Awards, while taking the prize for best ensemble cast from the Screen Actors Guild.

'Slumdog Millionaire' originally was to be released by Warner Independent, but its fate went into limbo after Warner Bros. closed down that arthouse banner. After a brief prospect of going right to DVD, the film found a theatrical home with Fox Searchlight, which has had success with such smaller films as 'Little Miss Sunshine' and 'Juno.'"

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Bipartisanship sucks!

Daily Kos: Splitting the difference between good ideas and bad ideas:

"So if you've got two parties that fundamentally disagree on how to solve our nation's problems (including one that created said problems), it's not better to take the good ideas, take the bad ideas, and somehow 'meet in the center'. That doesn't make the 'good' ideas any better. In fact, it makes them worse. It's simple logic anywhere but inside the Broder/Halperin world.

Bottom line, there is nothing inherently good about 'bipartisanship'. The only thing that matters is whether a solution is good or not. Consider that two of Bush's biggest disasters -- his tax cuts and Iraq -- were 'bipartisan' affairs. Getting votes from the opposite party doesn't make the underlying legislation any more likely to succeed. If anything, our nation would've been better served with more partisanship during those times."

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SuicideGirls- News - Politics - Obama is a two-faced liar. Aw-RIGHT!:

"Obama is a two-faced liar. Aw-RIGHT!

Republicans are right. President Barack Obama treated them like dirt, didn't give a damn what they thought about his stimulus package, loaded it with a bunch of programs that will last for years and will never leave the budget, is giving away money disguised as 'tax refunds,' and is sneaking in huge changes in policy, from schools to health care, using the pretext of an economic emergency.

Way to go, Mr. O! Mr. Down-and-Dirty Chicago pol. Street-fightin' man. Covering over his break-your-face power play with a 'we're all post-partisan friends' BS.

And it's about time.

Frankly, I was worried about this guy."

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Kerry: Ignore Republicans if they'll vote no anyway:

"Sen. John Kerry says Democrats should ignore Republicans’ demands about the stimulus plan if they’re going to vote against it anyway.

Reacting to Wednesday night’s vote in the House — where not a single GOP member supported the stimulus package — Kerry told Politico that “if Republicans aren’t prepared to vote for it, I don’t think we should be giving up things, where I think the money can be spent more effectively.”

“If they’re not going to vote for it, let’s go with a plan that we think is going to work.”"

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Trickle up.

No one could have predicted.....

Income of 400 richest Americans doubled during Bush era:

"And during the first six years of George W. Bush's presidency, the average income of those 400 people actually doubled to $263.3 million, according to the data.

Between 2005 and 2006, those 400 Americans saw their income rise nearly 23 percent, and through the first six years of the Bush administration their average tax rate fall by a third, to 17.2 percent, Bloomberg reported.

That 17.2 percent tax rate was the lowest the group has paid on average since the IRS began keeping track of the country's 400 biggest taxpayers in 1992, the agency's data shows."

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So the fuck what! God, I hate what gets labeled as 'discourse' in this country.

Look, homie trained a large portion of his youth away in the quest to become the very, very best at something. He accomplished this goal. If he wants to duct tape a bong to his chest and walk around with his dick hanging out he should have every right to be left in peace about it.

And his sponsors can go to hell with their hand wringing over image. Hell, I'm MORE likely to buy a product Phelps is pimping now.

LEAVE MICHAEL ALOOOOOONE!

Michael Phelps Bong Picture: Olympic Champion Caught With Marijuana Pipe: Report

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DBT Week in Review - 1/30/09

DBT! DBT! DBT!

DBT is going to the land down under. Where the women glow and the men plunder:

Drive-By Truckers Tour Dates

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Words from the Hood:

Drive-By Truckers:

"Y'ALL:

Just a quick note to thank everyone who helped make our 2009 get off to such an amazing start.

All 3 nights of our Athens GA 40 Watt Homecoming SOLD OUT (1st time ever) as did Baltimore and Richmond.

THANK YOU!!!"......

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Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers digs on Levon : Boombox : Metro Pulse:

"Patterson Hood’s Drive-By Truckers are still touring in support of their eighth album, Brighter Than Creation’s Dark, released in January 2008, and the Athens, Ga., alt-country/Southern rock combo has found a new way to keep themselves entertained. “We just got a new turntable for the bus and have been hitting the stores on this run and playing records non-stop,” Hood says. “Here is a sample of what’s been spinning in the back lounge.”"

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Let there be Truckers - Variety:

"There's a young lady passed out in the men's bathroom. Somebody should call her friends.'

Realizing that I was in slightly over my head, I directed the gentleman to the nearest staff member. It was 10 o'clock, and the night was just getting started. Already there had been casualties. The crowd was starting to stretch their drinking muscles, for the hometown heroes had returned. Drive-By Truckers was playing tonight."

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Check out Righteous Path

Austin City Limits - Drive-By Truckers followed by Ryan Bingham

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Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

Now THIS is an interesting interview. Not your usual pap.

Jason Isbell < 20 Questions | PopMatters:

"2. The fictional character most like you?
Probably Newman’s Eddie Felson from The Hustler. I drink a lot and I play a lot of pool, and it’s interesting to note the similarities between a road player and a traveling musician. I also sympathize with the idea of chasing a singular, seemingly unattainable goal, only to realize the costs once you’ve accomplished that goal."

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MySpace.com Blogs - Tickets for the Florence, AL CD Release - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit MySpace Blog:

"Tickets for the Shoals Theater show on Valentine's Day are now available at DP's Classic Grill on North Montgomery Avenue in Sheffield AND at Pegasus Records in Florence. Please buy some.
-Jason"

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Baxendale

Some nice pics of Colfax.

Colfax Guitar Shop

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Film

Wherein my very first acting agent gets name checked by very none the less (none lesser) than Perez Hilton.

And Tonya ain't a 'newcomer'. She was my agent when I was 17. She's been at this a while. "Over night sensation after 25 years" and all.

Perez Hilton: Faye Dunaway Puts Hilary Duff On Blast!:

"Upon hearing of a Bonnie and Clyde remake directed by newcomer Tonya S. Holly and starring Hilary Duff, the original film's star, Faye Dunaway, reportedly said, ''Couldn't they at least cast a real actress?'"

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Music I Like

Diggin the Howlies especially 'Angeline'

Howlies on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

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Music

Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboardist dies at Florida home:

"Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboard player Billy Powell, who played on such hits as 'Sweet Home Alabama' and survived the 1977 plane crash that killed three band members, died Wednesday. He was 56."

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Obama's Secret Record Collection : Rolling Stone:

"When Barack Obama moved into the White House on January 20th, he gained access to five chefs, a private bowling alley — and a killer collection of classic LPs. Stored in the basement of the executive mansion is the official White House Record Library: several hundred LPs that include landmark albums in rock (Led Zeppelin IV, the Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed), punk (the Ramones' Rocket to Russia, the Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols), cult classics (Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, the Flying Burrito Brothers' The Gilded Palace of Sin) and disco. Not to mention records by Santana, Neil Young, Talking Heads, Isaac Hayes, Elton John, the Cars and Barry Manilow."

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Great video

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Super Hippies

Excellent read:

Daily Kos: What We Need Are More Hippies

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Mmmmm. Brains.

MRIs reveal possible source of woman's super-memory - USATODAY.com:

"A Southern California man employed in the entertainment business is the fourth person verified by scientists to have an ultra-rare memory gift: He recalls in detail most days of his life, as well as the day and date of key public events, says Larry Cahill, who co-leads a project on people with super-memory."

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Not good.

Trees dying in the West at record rate:

"01-22) 11:30 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- Trees are dying faster than ever in the old-growth forests of California and the mountains of the West, a phenomenon scientists say is linked to rising regional temperatures and the destructive forces of early snowmelt, drought, forest fires and deadly insect infestations brought on by global warming."

Also, not good.

Clearer skies over Europe as fog halved in 30 years

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You are what you eat.

2008 Food Products Hall of Shame

Foods You Can Trust Hall of Fame

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Poison Pork Chops

Check this out. 60% of Alabamians support President Obama.

60%. For Real.

Amazing.

I guess Bama really does heart Obama.

SurveyUSA News Poll #15066

Geography: Alabama

Data Collected: 01/20/2009 - 01/21/2009

Release Date: 01/22/2009

Sponsor:

WKRG-TV Mobile-Pensacola

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Again with the 'Amen'.

Why, why, why.

Op-Ed Columnist - The Same Old Song - NYTimes.com:

"When the G.O.P. talks, nobody should listen. Republicans have argued, with the collaboration of much of the media, that they could radically cut taxes while simultaneously balancing the federal budget, when, in fact, big income-tax cuts inevitably lead to big budget deficits. We listened to the G.O.P. and what do we have now? A trillion-dollar-plus deficit and an economy in shambles.

This is the party that preached fiscal discipline and then cut taxes in time of war. This is the party that still wants to put the torch to Social Security and Medicare. This is a party that, given a choice between Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, would choose Ronald Reagan in a heartbeat.

Why is anyone still listening?"

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Not just plain old blowfish. Blowfish balls.

Blowfish poisoning sends 7 to hospital in Japan:

"Blowfish testicles prepared by an unauthorized chef sickened seven diners in northern Japan and three remained hospitalized Tuesday after eating the poisonous delicacy.

The owner of the restaurant in Tsuruoka city, who is also the chef, had no license to serve blowfish and was being questioned on suspicion of professional negligence, police official Yoshihito Iwase said.

Blowfish, while extremely poisonous if not prepared properly, is considered a delicacy in Japan and is consumed by thrill-seeking gourmets.

Iwase said the seven men ordered sashimi and grilled blowfish testicles at the restaurant Monday night."

Something like this should never happen.

Didn't the lessons of Homer teach these people anything.

"Fugu Me!

"I've never heard of a poison pork chop"!

The Simpsons - Poison Blowfish Sushi

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Uber NY Giants fan loses it after his team doesn't make the Super Bowl this year... and his good friends caught it all on tape to show to the world.

I love the chick that comes up behind him and calls him a pussy.

Some naughty language so NSFW.

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Regardless of what you think of the actual song, this video is pretty bad ass.

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Bailout Recipients Hosted Call To Defeat Key Labor Bill

Bailout Recipients Hosted Call To Defeat Key Labor Bill: "Three days after receiving $25 billion in federal bailout funds, Bank of America Corp. hosted a conference call with conservative activists and business officials to organize opposition to the U.S. labor community's top legislative priority.

Participants on the October 17 call -- including at least one representative from another bailout recipient, AIG -- were urged to persuade their clients to send 'large contributions' to groups working against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), as well as to vulnerable Senate Republicans, who could help block passage of the bill."

Too Easy to Find

I want to party at Obama's house. I call DJ!

Obama's Secret Record Collection : Rolling Stone:

"When Barack Obama moved into the White House on January 20th, he gained access to five chefs, a private bowling alley — and a killer collection of classic LPs. Stored in the basement of the executive mansion is the official White House Record Library: several hundred LPs that include landmark albums in rock (Led Zeppelin IV, the Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed), punk (the Ramones' Rocket to Russia, the Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols), cult classics (Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, the Flying Burrito Brothers' The Gilded Palace of Sin) and disco. Not to mention records by Santana, Neil Young, Talking Heads, Isaac Hayes, Elton John, the Cars and Barry Manilow."

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Sometimes it seems we are getting a little too connected.

I Am Here: One Man's Experiment With the Location-Aware Lifestyle:

"To test whether I was being paranoid, I ran a little experiment. On a sunny Saturday, I spotted a woman in Golden Gate Park taking a photo with a 3G iPhone. Because iPhones embed geodata into photos that users upload to Flickr or Picasa, iPhone shots can be automatically placed on a map. At home I searched the Flickr map, and score—a shot from today. I clicked through to the user's photostream and determined it was the woman I had seen earlier. After adjusting the settings so that only her shots appeared on the map, I saw a cluster of images in one location. Clicking on them revealed photos of an apartment interior—a bedroom, a kitchen, a filthy living room. Now I know where she lives."

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"What good is the truth if you can't tell a lie, baby"

Lies Take Longer Than Truths:

"A new technique that separates truth from lies finds it takes about 30 percent longer to fib."

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Finally!

3D porn to revolutionise industry; World; LIVENEWS.com.au:

"Hong Kong film makers are preparing to leave filmgoers goggle-eyed by releasing the world's first pornographic movie in 3D, a news report said on Sunday."

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Now, THIS is a wrestling move. This guy would kick Mickey Rourke's ass.

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