There's a boatload of great reports and posting on the situation in Pakistan (suggest you visit Memeorandum and use their Archives feature, pulling up the posts over the past few days; And there's a new-kid-on-the-block, Megite you can check out) - and the reaction to it here, by our media, and the dwarfs, finks, phonies and frauds running for President.
"Suddenly, everyone's an expert on Pakistan, or at least a mourner of Benazir Bhutto, who, for some, is swiftly becoming the Princess Di of the Near East ..."
It gets even funnier, in an awful sort of way, when you consider that even though Pakistan matters it doesn't matter because Hillary Clinton clinked glasses with Benazir Bhutto or John McCain spoke with her a few times. It certainly doesn't matter because Rudy Mussolini wants us to live in perma-post-9/11 fear. And it really doesn't matter because shameless American politicians' first instinct is to bask in what they see as the reflected glory glistening in a pool of Pakistani blood.
We're literally being told, "See, things happen in this world-- which is exactly why I should be in charge of it! How much clearer can this be made to you?"
Then, there is, arguably, the best, deadcenter and most poignant, post that, in its' succinctness, sums up perfectly the warped, phony Bush Grindhouse (and the Condoleezza Rice Ballroom Dancing & Charm School) Pakistan/U.S. Foreign Policy (historically), Democracy-In-A-Box (no assembly required) from Dennis Perrin; Pakistan's Shame
Both are good, insightful posts and worthy of adding to your reading list.
Barry Crimmins: I'm surprised we haven't seen one of the candidates reprise the Iowa-based Music Man. Friends we've got TROUBLE -- right here in River City. TROUBLE with a capital 'T' and it rhymes with 'P' and it stands for 'PAKISTAN!'
Today's a day where you can expect to be bombarded by "Year-End" lists, and such, growing out of newspapers, magazines and the World Wide Web like The Blob.
Enjoying the after-glow of the New England Patriots run to perfection (though, the media, in the post-game coverage should have been able to come up with something better, that repetitively, over-and-over, asking "What's it feel like to be 16-0?" ... If the producers were on top of it, they could have cashed in with Alzheimer drug commercials), a nice lazy, Sunday, the lull before the storm (another 7" inches+ of snow due to come tonight) ...
Copeland says that "the true story of Charlie Wilson's War, Mike Nichols' best feature film in decades" and, in his crosspost of it on The Reaction notes"As it so happens, I was planning to post on my film blog today a review of Charlie Wilson's War, which now proves particularly timely in the wake of Benazir Bhutto's assassination ..."
Even though I, long ago, stopped being a die-hard, life-revolving-around, sports fan (hey, after the "it's only a game", it becomes really big business) it is, nonetheless, very sweet to see the New England Patriots and their 16-0 perfect season.
I am just old enough to have sat in the bleachers set up in leftfield (in front of the Green Monster), to watch the Boston Patriots, of the AFL, led by Babe Parilli, Jim "Bo" Nance (whose main rival was Buffalo Bill fullbackCookie Gilchrist - "Lookie, Lookie, Here Comes Cookie"), and Gino Cappelletti, at Fenway Park, in the early 60's ... I was at the preseason game in 1969 (or 1970), played at Boston College, when the stands caught fire ... I was at the opening game of 1970 season, played at Harvard Stadium (the year before they moved to Foxborough), when Bob Gladieux, sitting in the stands, drinking and smoking dope, was paged over the PA system to report to the locker room, where he suited up moments before the kickoff.
For much of my youth, and into early adulthood, the word "hapless" was often attached to the Boston/New England Patriots.
And with that experience, it's almost impossible to comprehend the achievements and success of the current team.
While it would be cool for any team to go undefeated, it is rather sweet to watch the Patriots do it.
A great deal of Bush Grindhouse water has pooled up since Judy Miller left, so the NYT had a need for another water carrier, someone with a big bucket, someone with "Big Lying" credentials.
Renault: By the way Monsieur, last night, you evinced an interest in Signor Ugarte Laszlo: Yes Renault: I believe you have a message for him Laszlo: Nothing important, but may I speak to him now? Strasser: You would find the conversation a trifle one-sided. Signor Ugarte is dead Ilsa: Oh ... Renault: I am making out the report now. We haven't quite decided whether he committed suicide or died trying to escape.
And now, The Little Dictator Who Could, and his Pakistani Government, is giving its' citizens their own, and what will be just as enduring, conspiracy, along the lines of Oswald's Magic Bullet, on how Bhutto died.
Perhaps, they are looking to avoid being dragged into court, and giving Bhutto's family an out, to sue the manufacturer of the vehicle she was in, for faulty design.
Along with funding The Little Dictator Who Could, they must be giving the Pakistanis PR lessons - Blame The Victim.
Just as it was the people of New Orleans suffered for up to five-days, stranded on rooftops, and going without food or water, wasn't due to an obtuse government, they just didn't get out of the way when they were told to ... Bhutto, trying to get out of the way, dies because she ducked, as if to say, if she didn't duck, she would still be alive today ...
Ohhh boy! ...
One thing not going ducking or going down, is The Little Dictator Who Could, Pervez Musharraf.
He is the poster boy for Bush Grindhouse brand of democracy.
And I would love to be a fly-on-the-wall the next time Condi makes one her "Democracy Calls". Perhaps the Bush Grindhouse will have to add body armor - and safer sunroofs - to their all-in-one Democracy-In-A-Box kits.
As has been the hallmark of the Bush Grindhouse, it comes down to the "appearance" of doing something, not actually doing it that counts.
It was been playing out more like a reality TV game show, with the money question being "What would you do if you were President?" ... Answer it correctly to get a big bounce into the final round, being next weeks' Iowa caucus ...
I'm sure all the depressed and bereaved Pakistanis have dollops of hope filling their hearts, knowing that next weeks' Iowa voting will aid moving their country forward, solve all its' problems and, by George, institute all that democracy like it was an episode of Extreme Makeover.
About the only thing the Talking Heads on Cable News didn't indulge in, if it was Colonial Mustard, or Miss Scarlet, who killed Benizar Bhutto ... But the time is young, and it there's still plenty of on-air hours to fill, at least before they drop the story to roll into their canned, New Years' Eve specials.
What a boon for Cable Television ... The lazy, slumbering days between Christmas and New Years, with all those nauseating "Best Lists" and montages who kicked the bucket this year could be shuttered aside - We have HOT News!
It wasn't their standard "missing white woman" but the did apply the "Anna Nicole Smith" principles, so they could roll out all the heavy equipment just the same, to go wall-to-wall with its' coverage.
And with such the controversy over how Bhutto died, it will only be a matter of time, before we see a big, SUV in-studio, on either Wolf Blitzer's monitor-laden set (is he moonlighting for Circuit City?), or MSNBC (we should see a new Doc-Bloc Special, probably, within a month - "Sunroof Deaths"), complete with a Bhutto-sized rally crowd of experts, to dismantle the SUV's sunroof, and roll out a bushel of theories on how it all happened, the angle and speed in which she would have fell, the confusion if the sunroof lever was metal, metal alloy or plastic, only extending the exercise to bring in even more Talking Heads.
For now, we'll just have to wait and see how bad it gets - in Pakistan - and, on our television sets, as to just how far over-the-top they take this.
All those glamor boys, like Anderson Cooper and Matt Lauer, to dispatch to Pakistan ... Brian Williams, all decked out in his best L.L.Bean khakis, doing stand-ups "from the scene, where democracy was attacked" ... Katie Couric's grinning puff pieces, probably getting all her content directly from The Little Dictator Who Could, so we'll know she has the connections, to get the dirt, like a good little tough anchorwoman.
So, for all those expert Presidential candidates, here's some advise, despite what happened to Bhutto, if someone comes running at you while campaigning, wearing a bomb belt and firing a gun, for God's Sake, duck!
Meantime, The Little Dictator Who Could has given the order; "Round up the usual suspects."
I suppose, Juan Cole has already started taking notes for next years' list, which will probably be "Top Ten Myths About Democracy In Pakistan".
This hit on Wednesday, before all the news stopped so our media, and presidential candidates, could bloviate about the events in Pakistan, and on Benizar Bhutto's murder, so it probably didn't get as much play as it should have.
And unlike Iraq (or Iran), Pakistan does have nuclear weapons (Psst ... We helped them get them), so as much as the Neocon choir sings the Iraq aria, the hip-hop-blaring boom box is sitting in Pakistan, and it's only going to get louder.
This sad news got somewhat muted due to the Christmas holiday.
I can't say much more that I am every so grateful I got to see Oscar Peterson perform his art, live, a handful of times.
On top of the countless hours I have listened to his recordings, no doubt, I will add significantly more in the coming future.
The team of goodness in the world lost one of its' greats... Take a spin through the links and videos below, and, as you can, share them with someone you know, the joy of Oscar Peterson.
The Oscar Peterson Trio performing in the Berlin Philarmonie on July 2, 1985. Oscar is accompanied by the great late Niels Henning Oersted Pedersen on bass and the great Martin Drew, a long time member the Ronnie Scott Quintet on drums. This is a trio that delivers big time.
Ella Fitzgerald Sings "Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin", UK TV 1961, with the Oscar Peterson Trio, Oscar Peterson, piano, Ray Brown, bass, Ed Thigpen, drums.
Very few players could match Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis when he locked this jaw on the tenor's mouthpiece. Add to that the fine company of Oscar Peterson on piano, Ray brown on bass and Jimmie Smith on drums, and you've got a sure-fire recipe for a swing feast of gargantuan proportions. The place is Montreux, Switzerland, the time is July 15, 1977 and the host is Norman Granz, but I believe you know the drill by now, just sit back and enjoy.
Well, coming off the, seemingly, long holiday break (and being freed from cooking and baking for nearly two-straight days), it's back to posting ... But, we go gently this day, warming up the engine and defrosting the windows, so to speak ... Think of it like stretching before a run or workout ...
While you were unwrapping gifts, downing the eggnog, and otherwise kickin' back, The Garlic was on-duty, taking a stroll through the blogosphere, checking up on who was naughty and who was nice ...
Plural, as is two, rip-roaring, well-written, hysterical posts ...
James Wolcott's, on his Vanity Fair blog, Distinguished Poet Confronts the Ghost of Christmas Pus, is a fall-on-the-floor laughing dissection of an NYT Op-Ed of Christmas Day (and after you read it, after reading Wolcott, Wolcott's take is even funnier, so pad your floor for the second fall) ...
The op-ed page of The New York Times dropped quite a meatball into the Christmas stocking this morning--a poem by Paul Muldoon titled Myrrh that syrrh was awful. If I didn't have a touching faith in human nature, I'd suspect a put-on, and yet I fear the poem and poet are sincere. It begins:
At CNN they even squeezed in their Chief Pentagon Apologist Barbara Starr (you know her, she 's the one with a face that warns: don't lie or you'll end up looking like this) filing her annual report concerning NORAD's heartwarming 'tracking' of Santa's Christmas Eve journey. (He's currently over Australia!). What a charming way for the military to endear itself to impressionable children it can't start openly recruiting until junior high school.
Starr told us the military was tracking the "intruder" but she assured us that Santa's movements would only be monitored. How magnanimous of Pentagon brass not to scramble jets to shoot down St. Nick! Do we ever stop benefiting from a strong military? God bless us, every one!
3. We're sorry, Mr. Libby ... The best we can do is allow you to exchange your gift, give you a store credit or cash ... We can't issue you a Pardon...
2. We are now following the policy of the Vice President. The Returns Department isn't an entity of the store, therefore we don’t have to accept your returned item
So, pay attention to our daily feature - Garlic History ... On This Day - sitting over there in the right sidebar. We came up with a few goods last year and you can revisit those posts, or, if you are a new reader, it's your lucky day.
So, have yourselves a very Merry Christmas, with your family and friends and here's hoping peace and love fill the air.
Little Billy Kristol is all plump-in-the-crotch with this one.
"We are now winning the war. To say this was not inevitable is an understatement ..."
"Petraeus pulled it off. The war is not over, of course. Too quick and deep a drawdown--which some in the Pentagon and elsewhere in the Bush administration are, appallingly, pushing for--could throw away the amazing success that has been achieved. Still: It is as clear as anything can be in this world, where we judge through a glass darkly, that General David H. Petraeus is, in fact, America's man of the year."
Or they don't like a certain Iraqi politician? Or they don't like what's being served for lunch at the local deli?
Sounds like Little Billy Kristol is pushing for a Mission Accomplished II (which I suppose we get both Bush and Cheney in flightsuits) and a Wall Street-Ticker-Tape parade for the Golden Boy General.
I'm sure this will be a heavily-buzzed topic of conversation on the next Weekly Standard cruise (the Ad hanging over Little Billy's love note) and, who knows, maybe the victorious General will be on-board as well.
Can't you just see The General pulling some aging neocon out of the audience, one poured into the tuxedo bought thirty-years ago, to give some razzle-dazzle demonstration of "the surge"?
The neocons, freakshow and dittoheads on board will eat it up like happy soup. There'll be shouts from the crowd for Petraeus to run for the Senate, run for President. Surely, if he can "win Iraq", he can easily knock some sense into Washington.
Quickly, the crowd will begin foaming, delirious that are in the same room with the Golden Boy General, and it won't be long before the catcalls come for a "surge into Iran".
And Little Billy Kristol crashes through the swinging doors, all dolled up in his little cheerleading uniform and ... Well, let's not go there ... It would take us into a Russ Meyer-Meets-Tim Burton-Meets-David Lynch-Meets-John Waters-thing and that is too sick and twisted to conjure up, even for a satire piece ...
"Consider that work the secret thirteenth companion to Solnit's 12 book choices below -- her "secret library of hope" -- which offer a reader encouragement not to curl up in despair when faced with a grim world. And here's a bit of small-scale synergy that brightens my own life. My favorite bookstore on the planet, City Lights in San Francisco, is putting up a "Secret Library of Hope" window display of Solnit's suggestions, with most of the books specially stickered and available inside (along with this essay).
While I am tempted to quote more, better you go and read for yourself.
"Seemingly lost in the woods of deceit and banality, bereft of hope, we are confronted by Rebecca Solnit and her astonishing flashlight. In a jewel of a book that is poetic in substance as well as style, she reveals where we were, where we are and the step-by-step advances that have been made in human rights, as we stubbornly stumble out of the darkness." --Studs Terkel
It is well-timed, and very much needed, the bolstering of hope in the times we live in (and we will have another "hope" or "hopeless" post in the upcoming days).
In what will likely become an annual tradition, The Garlic has had its ear to-the-ground, wide and far, to bring to you the Sounds of Christmas. Who's listening to what to get into the holiday spirit (and I do realize, using the phrase "holiday spirit" versus "Christmas spirit" may bring upon me Bill O'Reilly's war machine)
Okay, it's five-days out, and you're starting to panic.
Even though - this year - you started your Christmas shopping back in June, there's still a few names on your list (certainly, at this date, the "borderline" friends or family).
Now, you could cop-out, and give one of those ubiquitous gift cards (you know, the one's that lose value after a certain period of time, or penalize you if you misuse it in some fashion), but that's not your cup of tea.
You want something cool, something hip, something obscure, that only YOU could fine, something that will make you a star in the eyes of the receiver.
Well, you've come to the right place.
For the first time, The Garlic is entering the fray, with some clutch recommendations, items that will surely look swell under someone's Christmas tree.
You can never go wrong giving a book, and the first tome from America's greatest political satirist is waiting for you.
“Barry Crimmins uses his sharp sense of irony as a political weapon. In his hands, the subversive joke is the first small act of resistance.”—Billy Bragg
“Like a mixture of Tom Paine and Mark Twain, Crimmins mixes politics and humor with savage results.”—Michael Blowen, Boston Globe
“He breaks down reality in a hilarious way. He seems ticked off at everything, and when you hear him, you agree. One of the few political comedians who are really good.”—Steven Wright
This product is not endorsed by Tiger Woods (Just wanted to take care of the housecleaning first off).
If your Holidazed shopping leans towards the bizarrely funny, unique, or unusual, old Ding Ho buddy and Boston comedian, Mike McDonald, and his comedygolf.com present, “The World’s Funniest Golf Balls”.
McDonald, a 25 year Funnyman and contemporary to Denis Leary, Steven Wright and Lenny Clark has been seen on Showtime, HBO and the Comedy Channel and entertained our troops in 40 countries while touring with the USO. This year, Mike has applied his comedy Super Powers to a gift you can give America’s 27 million golfers, and these hilarious hip packages spare no duffer on your list from a laugh.
Fans of the Soprano’s can Whack the Hitman Golf Balls. The Axis of Evil lets you to “Take your favorite Dick-tator for a Drive”,...or get a special Christmas “Package” filled with Gay golf balls that “Cannot be hit straight”. Give your freshly divorced friends some “Swing Therapy” with Ex-Wife and Ex-Husband golf balls while Catholics can “Resurrect their Games” and receive “Deliverance from Sand Traps” with Miracle Balls. Chanukah fans are not left out in the cold. They can grab a sleeve of the “Chosen Balls”….
Everything is made in the USA and USGA approved so we’re sure they’re not filled with Chinese lead and Plutonium
Perhaps you would prefer to give the Gift of Music? ... Well, we've got two tremendous recommendation for you
Laszlo Gardony
Larry Gordon has often said that "when God was ready to make the first, perfect, jazz pianist, along came Laszlo Gardony".
Banging the keyboard in his native Hungary at five-years-old, it didn't take long for Gardony to grow into a much-sought player, working with a who's-who of Jazz, and other genres, including the Boston Pops, the Danish Radio Big Band and The Wayfaring Strangers.
You can't go wrong with Laszlo Gardony, be it standards, or his impressive body of original compositions.
If you never had the opportunity to catch Ella, Sarah, Carmen McRae, Betty Carter, et all, than you should make all effort to indulge in their torch-carrier, vocalist Shawnn Monteiro.
Shawnn Monteiro is the real deal.
Let me restate that - Shawnn Monteiro is THE REAL DEAL!
Born of Jazz royalty (her father, bassist Jimmy Woode, played with Duke Ellington, among others; And her godfather is the legendary Clark Terry), Shawnn can hit it with the best of them. Be it scat, standards or knocking out a ballad, you will be enthralled listening to Shawnn Monteiro, instantly knowing you are listening to a future legend.
It will soon be time to get hip to The Savvy Girls of Summer, two ladies from Seattle, who will be taking the country by storm in 2008, with the publication of their book, "Are Diamonds for Everyone?".
Deidre and Jackie merge baseball and life, in their own, unique way, and you can share in it as well.
Whether you just want to spiff-up your own work, of, perhaps you have a business and need a professional graphics artist, to build or upgrade a website, layout a book or magazine, or create a unique logo, perhaps cartoon character.
If so, give yourself the gift of Sean Collins, and his Tenten71 graphic services.
Tenten71 provides affordable graphic design services in print design, web design, Flash, and illustration. If you're looking for a professional artist who can take your ideas and turn them into a creative, beautiful and productive result, you've found him.
J. Thomas Duffy created and lauched 'The Garlic in 2005.
Mr. Duffy is an accomplished writer, with experience as a newspaper reporter, radio writer, comedy and stand-up writer, the author of three children's books (unpublished, so far) and, and, through a good number of his writing experience, actually received payment for it.
Mr. Duffy is also a Contributing Editor on the blog, 'The Reaction' and a Contributing Writer to the blog 'The Moderate Voice.
In his spare time, Mr. Duffy likes to promulgate that is actually the dog salivating that caused Pavlov to ring the bell.
