'Best of TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
United 93
By Baron Dave Romm
United 93 isn't a documentary but isn't quite a standard thriller. You know what happens, and you get to see how it plays out. Almost in real time. Yes, it's fiction but it's probably as accurate as we're going to get. You should see the movie to remind yourself of who we're fighting and why our current efforts haven't led to closure from the attack of 9/11.
I was really impressed that so many people played themselves. We find this out in the credits at the end: Many of the FAA and military were the actual people on the job during 9/11. This adds verisimilitude as the events unfold. I'm sure they've airbrushed out some of the blemishes, but we get to see real professionals remembering how they really acted that day.
In retrospect, I think the movie shouldn't have had music. There's not much music, and what there is dramatically heightens only a few scenes. And I'm not sure those scenes needed heightening. The real events and real background noises would have been sufficient. It would have been easy to squeeze tears from the audience and I congratulate the producers' restraint.
I don't know if it's capital-I Important, but United 93 presents one piece of a large picture with which we are still grappling. We've gone to war with two countries, and the events of that day have dominated US politics ever since. Films like United 93 are long overdue. I hope similar recreations of that tragic day are as thoughtfully produced.
I'm not going to give United 93 any sort of rating. It's not that kind of film. I recommend that you mentally brace yourself, then go see it.
America is being attacked from without and within. We know how our foreign enemies want to hurt us, and our response has been military. Inside, the sphincter conservatives have made corruption a way of life. The Republicans who control Congress, the White House and the Supreme Court have screwed up, bigtime, and they're scared of being outed. Stephen Colbert proved that with his performance at the Correspondents' Association dinner. In a timely fashion, The Capitol Steps celebrate their 25th Anniversary with a new CD, I'm So Indicted. They tackle Jack Abramoff and the K Street Project, how Tom DeLay is helping the Democrats retake Congress,
The Capitol Steps' can be considered political filk. They take popular songs and write new lyrics. They skewer everyone they can make a rhyme for. Cuts include Here's To You Reverend Robertson, I'm So Indicted, What A Difference DeLay Makes, This is the House that Jack Bribed and God Bless My SUV. Sometimes the entire song leads to a punchline; sometimes they just pile it on. There are no Kurds in the way. My favorite cut on almost all of their albums is Lirty Dies, a spoonerism-filled oration detailing dirty lies and the people who tell them. In this case, writer Bill Strauss has loads of fun talking about Ecret Sagents, Ack Jabramoff, Chick Daney (I'm going to use that one), Yubble-Doo and the Storrible Horm.
The Capitol Steps rip their humor from today's headlines. All too often, their material becomes dated all too quickly. The ephemeral nature of their humor means you should leap on the CD now. Highly recommended, as are all Capitol Steps CDs. Get 'em while they're hot.
Pete Seeger turned 87 on May 3. He is a survivor of the last time the ultra-right abused the political process during the McCarthy Era. Later, Pete was a family friend and I was a charter member of the Hudson River Sloop Restoration Society in the late 60s. Pete's a tremendous person, and an exceptionally nice guy. While it's been 30 years since I last attended one of his great performances, I've probably seen more Pete Seeger concerts than anyone else. The prettiest sound I ever heard was Pete Seeger getting 1500 people in the Middletown (NY) High School auditorium to sing Kisses Sweeter Than Wine in two-part harmony. An amazing musician, a brave outspoken political observer and a major influence on American culture. He wrote, co-wrote or introduced songs including: We Shall Overcome, Where Have All The Flowers Gone, Turn, Turn Turn, and The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Others have written about Pete Seeger, so for now I'm just going to give the great Pete Seeger a shout out.
Hey Pete Seeger: Thanks!
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. To receive the show as podcasts go to Shockwave Radio Theater Podcast or paste the following string in your podcast software: http://www.romm.org/podcast and if that doesn't work try the link from Podcastalley.com's listing. All podcasts also on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air. --////
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Chevron Memo Raises Suspicion (msnbc.msn.com)
A Chevron memo is raising suspicion that oil executives intentionally reduced refining capacity in an effort to boost profits. The 1995 memo, obtained by Consumers Union, reads: "If the U.S. petroleum industry doesn't reduce it's refining capacity, it will never see any substantial increase in refinery profits." In the last 20 years, 18 of California's 32 refineries have shut down. The industry is now seeing record prices and profits at the pump.
Paul Krugman: Our Sick Society (The New York Times)
Is being an American bad for your health? That's the apparent implication of a study just published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Dennis Ayers: Ambivalent Gay Viewer Wants More From the Ambiguously Gay Duo (afterelton.com)
Fans of the Ambiguously Gay Duo cartoons rejoiced when NBC announced they would be hosting the April 29th, Saturday Night Live Best of TV Funhouse episode. Just in case you've never seen them, superheroes Ace and Gary are a pair of absurdly homoerotic cartoons patterned after Batman and Robin. But where the homosexual subtext was always under the surface with the Batman comics, the Ambiguously Gay Duo cartoons puts that gay subtext into hyper-drive.
Jim David: In defense of Jay Leno (advocate.com)
As one comedy writer to another, Advocate contributor Jim David asks Avenue Q creator Jeff Whitty whether his letter complaining about Jay Leno's gay jokes was really warranted. Making someone the butt of a joke isn't the same as bashing them
Shauna Swartz: Stepping Into Jane's World with Paige Braddock (afterellen.com)
"I really wanted to go to art school but my parents were afraid I'd turn into this flaky artist, so they made me go to a state school so I'd get a well-rounded education," says Paige Braddock, who became a comic book artist.
David Wolpe: Strong Medicine for an Ailing World (beliefnet.com)
Great Britain's Chief Rabbi takes an unflinching look at what's troubling humankind and finds the remedies in Jewish ethics.
Fr. James Martin: The Saint of the Sock Drawer (beliefnet.com)
When I got to be a teenager, I hid my favorite statue of St. Jude in my bureau. He kept on praying for me anyway.
Self-Publishing (lulu.com)
Hubert's Poetry Corner
SEXUAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY?
Formerly known as the Central Intelligence Agency.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sun broke through around lunchtime.
Raccoons got under the house last night. They kept scratching on the bottom of the bathtub, driving the cats nuts.
Got a piece of spam dated Monday, Jan. 18, 2038. Maybe the future is now...
Added a new page - Stephen Colbert - White House Correspondents' Association Dinner Transcript.
No new flags.
Sings Praises Of Barack Senator Obama
Neil Young
Rocker Neil Young may want Senator Barack Obama to run for president, but the freshman Democratic senator from Illinois isn't having any of it - at least not yet.
In his latest album, Living With War, Young mentions Obama in the song Lookin' for a Leader. In it, Young sings of America's need for a new leader, singing, "Yeah maybe it's Obama, but he thinks that he's too young."
The 44-year-old Obama said at a news conference before a fundraiser Saturday that he has read the lyrics. But despite being name-checked by a rock 'n' roll hall of famer, Obama said he has no intention of running for president in two years.
Neil Young
"Letting Go of God"
Julia Sweeney
You might think coming out as an atheist would be no big deal in 21st Century America.
Wrong.
When Julia Sweeney performed excerpts of her solo play "Letting Go of God" on the popular public radio show "This American Life," response from listeners flooded in.
Sweeney mended fences with her family, but stuck to her new-formed views. And she says "Letting Go of God," which debuted in Los Angeles in 2004, has drawn so much interest it may resurface soon in a Broadway run, and get turned into a feature film.
Julia Sweeney
from Orion Magazine
Monsanto Wheat
On a crisp, windy November day, Leake reflects on the events that turned him into a thorn in the side of the agribusiness establishment, especially the Monsanto Company. He gestures toward two symbols. The first, just visible through his kitchen window, is the outline of the North Dakota Mill, the only grain-handling facility owned jointly by the citizenry of any state. "Sort of the epitome of farmers cooperating," he notes.
The other symbol offers a less inspiring vision, one of farmer fragmentation and disempowerment. It is a simple refrigerator magnet inscribed with the words, "MONSANTO CUSTOMER SUPPORT 800-332-3111."
"They call it customer support," says Leake. "It's actually a snitch line, where you report that your neighbor is brown-bagging. Or where somebody reports you, and a week or two later you find a couple of big guys in black Monsanto leather jackets standing in your driveway."
Brownbagging is an old term in rural America. It refers to replanting seed from your own harvest, rather than buying new seed. Lately the term has come to possess a second meaning, that of a crime, a consequence of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1980 decision in Diamond v. Chakrabarty
For a great read - Monsanto Wheat
Hospital News
Fats Domino
Fats Domino, who became a symbol of survival for this year's New Orleans jazz festival, was taken to hospital on Sunday, forcing him to cancel a headlining appearance at the event.
Domino, 78, had been scheduled to close the show on Sunday to mark the end of the first post-Katrina Jazzfest.
R&B star Lionel Richie was scheduled to perform in Domino's place.
Fats Domino
Wedding News
Spelling - McDermott
Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott got married Sunday on a private tropical island in Fiji, People magazine reported.
The non-denominational ceremony was attended only by the bride and groom, who were both barefoot and wearing white, the magazine said on its Web site.
Spelling - McDermott
Banned From NYC Parks
Artworks
Two days after city parks officials shut down a Brooklyn College exhibit that included sexually explicit images, the school said Saturday that it would move the students' artworks to campus.
The exhibit opened Wednesday at the city-owned Brooklyn War Memorial, displaying watercolors depicting gay sex and sculpted male genitalia illuminated in a box. Another work featured a white pet rat.
The memorial is used as gallery space by Brooklyn College, which is part of the City University of New York. The city Parks Department said in a statement that an agreement with the college stipulated that its art exhibits at the memorial be "appropriate for families."
Artworks
Big Perch
Best Moment?
U.S. resident George W. Bush told a German newspaper his best moment in more than five years in office was catching a big perch in his own lake.
"You know, I've experienced many great moments and it's hard to name the best," Bush told weekly Bild am Sonntag when asked about his high point since becoming president in January 2001.
"I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound (3.402 kilos) perch in my lake," he told the newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.
Best Moment?
Melt Leading To Sandstorms In China
Tibetan Glacier
Melting glaciers in Tibet are triggering more droughts in China and expanding the deserts. One of the effects of this seen recently is the sandstorms in Beijing.
Global warming is melting glaciers in China's Tibetan region at a rate of 7.0 percent annually, triggering drought, desertification and sandstorms in other regions, state press reported Tuesday.
About 47 percent of China's glaciers are on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau in the Himalayas, where the Yangtze, Yellow, Brahmaputra, Mekong and Salween rivers all originate.
Tibetan Glacier
Construction Reveals Roman Houses
Paris' Left Bank
Deep beneath pavement pounded by tourists on Paris' Left Bank lies an ancient path - a 2,000-year-old Roman road recently excavated during construction work.
Remnants of private houses rigged with baths and ingeniously heated floors were among the findings, now on view in a stunning dig. Over the next few weeks, however, archaeologists will rip up the ruins to make way for a research center.
The discovery, during construction work on the Pierre and Marie Curie University near the famed Sorbonne, offers a window onto one of the many layers of history underpinning this bustling capital.
Archaeologists said it was the first such site discovered in the city - known as Lutetia in pre-Roman and Roman Gaul - from the reign of Roman emperor Augustus (63 B.C.-14 A.D.).
Paris' Left Bank
Second Egg Hatches
Bald Eagle
Wildlife officials are celebrating the birth of the second bald eagle to hatch on Santa Cruz Island in more than half a century.
The birth was discovered after parents of the chick were spotted bringing food to a ground nest on Wednesday, said Yvonne Menard, a spokeswoman for Channel Islands National Park.
Wildlife officials have been trying for four years to rebuild the population by transplanting birds bred in captivity. About 30 bald eagles now live there.
Bald Eagle
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