Sorry, Garlic Fans, we're a bit under-the-weather this evening.
We've been battling against a nasty cough/cold thing the past week, and thought, with some meds from the Doc, and mucho rest, we turned the corner and left it behind two-days ago, but it has made a sneaky return today, leaving us less then feeling tip-top ready to dive into the boatload of juicy news.
We will touch on one here, the 33-Ring-Circus happening down in New Orleans, with Flying Monkey, Acorn-Bashing James O'Keefe, and his band of junior Flying Monkeys pulled a "WTF-we're-they-doing" in the offices of Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, playing, what else, monkey-business with her phones.
James O'Keefe, as you may remember (or, if you went out on the World Wide Web today, discovered), was the phony pimp who, on the sly, recorded ACORN officials in some convoluted brothel scheme, solely so he could hawk edited footage to Faux News and his mentor, Flying Monkey Andrew Breitbart, bringing the wrath of the Right Wing Freak Show down on ACORN, and, I guess, proving that President Barack Obama is a socialist illegal alien.
In reality, all O'Keefe did was fuck hundreds-of-thousands of poor people, who depended on ACORN for all sorts of assistance and services, but that was just some of that "Compassionate Conservatism" in action.
I'm with Steve M, over on No More Mister Nice blog, that something is stinky fishy here.
Initial reports had these PartyofNoican Nitwits possibly wiretapping Landrieu's phones, but now, the meme is that they were just looking to get evidence, record her staff dissing conservatives trying to call the office, to register their complaints about Landrieu supporting Healthcare Reform.
Say What?
This is like a Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, "Hey gang, let's put on a show", on illegal, cheap steroids.
It smells of a late night, brain fart session of "Duh, what do we do if we get caught?"
Lots more to play out on this, but we do have to throw one out, to this worthy-of-Ignorant-Dolt-status gang.
I think we'll go with the Mongo Santamaria (con the Fania All Stars) version.
Mongo SantamarÃa - Smooth Operator
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Smooth Operator
This Date ... On The Garlic
28 January 2009... On The Garlic
Pennies from the Heaven
28 January 2007... On The Garlic
Top Ten Cloves: Things Overheard During The Presidents State of the Union Address
We Looked In the DIY Section, But Bob Vila Didn't Have A Handbook On It ...
Hey, Dems, Let'em Veto It! ... Here's All The Ammunition You Need!
28 January 2007... On The Garlic
Weekend Special - Sautéed Cloves
No, Really, I Do Want To Be President ... Really, I Do ... The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
A Cement Pond of Trouble
There have been growing reports, the past few days, on the upcoming Teabagger Convention, a seething unrest that it is turning into a shit train.A Tea Party convention billed as the coming together of the grass-roots groups that began sprouting up around the country a year ago is unraveling as sponsors and participants pull out to protest its expense and express concerns about “profiteering.”
Interesting ...
[snip]
The convention, to be held in Nashville in early February, made a splash by attracting big-name politicians. (Former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska is scheduled to deliver the keynote speech.) But some groups have criticized the cost — $549 per ticket and a $9.95 fee, plus hotel and airfare — as out of reach for the average tea partier. And they have balked at Ms. Palin’s speaking fee, which news reports have put at $100,000, a figure that organizers will not confirm or deny.
After all, so far, all these feces-throwing, flying monkey Teabaggers have had to do, is show up at public spaces, with their own, hand-made, racist, slurring, defaming signs, at rallys supported by Faux News, and other PartyofNoican shadowy operations, and, on-cue, start foaming at the mouth, and make noise.
Boy, these Teabaggers sure don't get around.
Have they never attended a convention before? For work, as members of a trade association, and such?
As a former producer of trade shows, which included managing shows for associations, the fee structure for the Teabagger bash were not so far out-of-line.
And this faux outrage that the producer of the event is going to make a profit?
That's the entire reason for producing a show, whether you are a "For-Profit" entity, or a "Non-Profit" entity!
The producers' hard costs would include the renting of the exhibit space, breakout rooms, large hall/auditorium for keynotes, and dinner, which go in the range of anywhere from .50-cents, to $2, or $3/per square foot (typically, the more space your rent, the lower the cost).
Then there's the decorating company, to manage the logistics of said space, exhibit space booths, setting up, and cleaning, the breakout rooms, servicing the exhibitors, drayage, etc (this could also be done by the hotel, as a package deal). Also, depending what city (and/or venue) you are in, you may be mandated to use Union labor for this work, which adds a bit to bill.
And the hotel, as to per/night cost for attendees, the producer has to book/guarantee, X-number of rooms, to get the lowest rate. The size of the Room Block will determine the fee (and, depending what city you are in, there could be additional fees, surcharges, that cities like to levy, to raise revenue).
The dinner doesn't just magically appear, either.
The producer, based on what they are serving, can, pretty much, plan on a price range of $5-to-$10, per plate, which may, or may not, include beverages, coffee, etc (some halls, that is a separate deal). And, if you are serving alcohol, more fees, and, possibly, a insurance charge with it.
And, it varies, from show-to-show, as to the presenters, speakers, getting paid.
Frequently, it is done via an honorarium, or "corporate gift", but, as we all know, "celebrities" charge.
The bigger the "celebrity", the bigger the fee (we produced a show, where, for just a 15-minute video welcome from Tom Peters, cost us in the neighborhood of $75K).
So the Teabaggers are sagging that Mommy Moose is milking the event for a, reportedly, $100,000-plus.
Surprised?
Why do they think The Wasilla Whiz Kid, abruptly, abdicated her office, to go out and do charity work?
Pretty weak tea, to find out your hero is not much more than a greed-head.
As to getting to the event, some producers may, or may not, work out a deal with a specific airline, to offer a discount, usually done on an "Early-Bird", time-limited basis.
The way to lower the cost for the attendees, is via Sponsorships, everything from Presenting Sponsors, your various levels of "Gold, Silver, Bronze" deals, signage, Registration area, attendee badges, Show Bag (and charging exhibitors to have their items placed in bag), room key/other special deliveries to room, Breakout Room sponsorship, Program Guide advertising, early mailings to attendees, the above-referenced dinner, and, just about anything and everything you can think of, or, that has a flat surface.
Some of these sponsorships cover your hard costs, others are pure profit-makers.
So, while the feces-throwing flying monkey Teabaggers are feeling ripped off, it goes more to their unenlightened view of the real world, which, considering their ideology, doesn't have you falling down in disbelief.
The producer of the event has just done a shitty job in selling it, not knowing his audience.
He's got Beverly Hills dollars in his eyes, while his attendee base is, intellectually, a step, or two, below the Clampetts.
No Claude Raines moment here, of the PartyofNoicans exploiting a situation.
This Date ... On The Garlic
27 January 2009... On The Garlic
Mirror Mirror
27 January 2008... On The Garlic
Bush Fatigue Alert - Monday's SOTU
Neocon Dolphins? ... Say It Ain't So, Flipper!
27 January 2007... On The Garlic
New Liz Cheney Op-Ed!
27 January 2006... On The Garlic
Iraqis Wake-Up To Their 'Dewey Beats Truman' Snafu With Hamas Upset
Disgraced Author Frey Claims Kidnapped and Beaten By Oprah, Staff
Top Ten Cloves: Things Overheard In The Hamas Election Headquarters
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Reconciliation, For Dummies
That be you, President Obama, and the entire Democrat Caucus!
You guys have been acting like old ladies, standing on a chair, because a mouse came into the room, all because some bozo PartyofNoican won an election nobody thought he would (and, in fairness, he campaigned, and took victory, without mentioning he was a PartyofNoican), and, suddenly, the sky is falling.
This is what we wrote last week;However, as to the bigger picture, unless something remarkably uncanny happened, and all kinds of state and federal laws were, suddenly, abrogated, and changed, today, newly-elected Teabagger Senator Scott Brown only won one Senatorial seat, not 18-20, and, unless something else has changed, Brown will come to a dead stop, after he runs-like-the-wind, to get to DC, and join the rest of the PartyofNoicans, in doing nothing
Since you seem to be having trouble growing a pair, Paul N. Van de Water and James R. Horney have handed you some, and laid it all out for you today;
[snip]
What the Dems need to do is, along with growing a few pairs, start governing, start using their majority in Congress, to govern, much as the PartyofNoicans did (when they were known as "Republicans"), during the The Bush Grindhouse years, where they, without a majority, handed The Commander Guy everything he wanted.
Using Reconciliation Process to Enact Health Reform Would Be Fully Consistent With Past PracticeConclusion
Because rising health care costs represent the single largest cause of the federal government’s long-term budget problems, fundamental health care reform must be part of any budget solution.[15] The foregoing examples indicate that using the budget reconciliation process to enact health reform in 2010 would be consistent with the ways in which Congress has used reconciliation in the past. Many major policy changes, including welfare reform, large tax cuts, and new health programs, have been included in past reconciliation bills. Moreover, if health reform is pursued through the reconciliation process this year, the resulting legislation — unlike the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 — will need to be designed so it does not add to the deficit. Any legislation also is likely to include provisions, such as an independent Medicare Commission and demonstration projects to identify ways to deliver health care more efficiently, that could lead to further reforms that slow the growth of health-care costs and contribute to longer-term deficit reduction.
Back in the old days (early 70's) on the "Point-Counter" of '60-Minutes', Nicholas von Hoffman called disgraced President Richard Nixon a "dead mouse on America's kitchen floor ... And it was time for Congress to come in and sweep it up ..."
This is your moment, this is what you are there for.
So, climb down off your chairs, grab a broom, sweep away those pesky, minority PartyofNoican mice, and get to work passing legitimate, benefiting-the-citizens-not-the-corporations, Healthcare Reform (and, with a Public Option, or Single-Payer, thank you, very much).
No Wonder He Was So Hunched Over
Holy Cow!
Now we know why Pope John Paul II was so hunched over!
Book: John Paul II used belt to whip himselfPope John Paul II whipped himself with a belt, even on vacation, and slept on the floor as acts of penitence and to bring him closer to Christian perfection, according to a new book by the Polish prelate spearheading his sainthood case.
[snip]
At a news conference Tuesday, Oder defended John Paul's practice of self-mortification, which some faithful use to remind them of the suffering of Jesus on the cross.
"It's an instrument of Christian perfection," Oder said, responding to questions about how such a practice could be condoned considering Catholic teaching holds that the human body is a gift from God.
In the book, Oder wrote that John Paul frequently denied himself food — especially during the holy season of Lent — and "frequently spent the night on the bare floor," messing up his bed in the morning so he wouldn't draw attention to his act of penitence
Bonus Pope Riffs
Vatican Discounts "Bonfire Pope"; Says Flames "Not Hunched Over Enough" ... Late Pontiff's Bend Was Measured "Religiously"; Never Used Contingency "Roller Skate Gloves"
Top Ten Cloves: Things The Vatican Has Done To Make Good Friday Even Better
Top Ten Cloves: Possible Problems With Suing God
Breaking News! Pontiff In Major Spread, Popemobile Giveaway ... Oprah Lands Pope Benedict XVI For Huge Tell-All Over Muslam Flap ...Either Apology or Conversion To Islam Promised In Teasers; Pontiff Turned Down By CBS News Free Speech
Know Thy Pope
That Is Why You're Overweight
In the event, you're sitting in front of your computer, reading this, while stuffing your face with a donut, or piece of pizza, you, very likely, won't recall reading this, or remember very little of it.
Don't worry, it's not you, it's your brain, and you're in company with an overwhelming amount of people on the planet.
H/T to Juan Cole, for posting this;
Willpower And The 'Slacker' BrainAccording to British psychologist Richard Wiseman, 88 percent of all resolutions end in failure. Those are his findings from a 2007 University of Hertfordshire study of more than 3,000 people.
Click the link, and go to the piece, as we didn't snip the fascinating part, the experiment.
How come so many attempts at willpower lose both their will and their power?
[snip]
It turns out, Jonah explains, that the part of our brain that is most reasonable, rational and do-the-right-thing is easily toppled by the pull of raw sensual appetite, the lure of sweet. Knowing something is the right thing to do takes work — brain work — and our brains aren't always up to that. The experiment, after all, tells us brains can't even hold more than seven numbers at a time. Add five extra digits, and good sense tiptoes out of your head, and in comes the cake. "This helps explain why, after a long day at the office, we're more likely to indulge in a pint of ice cream, or eat one too many slices of leftover pizza," Lehrer writes.
And, we have the perfect soundtrack for this, an old gem, from Eddie Harris;
Eddie Harris - That Is Why You're Overweight [1975] [HDTV]
This Date ... On The Garlic
26 January 2009... On The Garlic
Yes, Virginia, Even A Stopped Clock Is More Accurate Than Little Billy Kristol
26 January 2008... On The Garlic
Na-Na, Na-Na-Na ... Obama Wins ... And Gets The Keys To Camelot!
26 January 2007... On The Garlic
Breaking News! Hagel Speech Causes Havoc; Payless Shoes Flooded With Job Seekers, Resumes; Applicants Looking For " The Safe Jobs Senator Hagel Talked About"; Tancredo Offers Threats
Top Ten Cloves: Reason President Bush Is Now Only "The Decision-Maker" And Not "The Decider"
26 January 2006... On The Garlic
Bush Says Palestinian Elections Not Valid; "No Official Purple Fingers Verified
Top Ten Cloves: Reasons Kayne West Posed As Christ For Cover of Rolling Stone Magazine
Monday, January 25, 2010
Breaking! ... Super Bowl In Doubt, As Obama Considers Bailout For Jets
Sources tell The Garlic that, in his State-on-the-Union address Wednesday evening, President Barack Obama will lay out steps to a program that will delay the Super Bowl, scheduled for February 7th, so that a bailout plan for the New York Jets can be worked out.
Obama will cite that the "hopes and dreams" of New York Jets fans are "too big to fail", and that it is imperative for the government to step in, a prevent a complete meltdown.
The Jets lost yesterday, to the Indianapolis Colts, in the AFC Championship game, giving them the berth in the Super Bowl, against the New Orleans Saints, who beat the Minnesota Vikings, in the NFC Championship game.
Additionally, unnamed Administration officials were looking for a "Katrina-Sept 11th Super Bowl", to augment other metaphorical imagery the President will have in his SOTU speech;"We need to build a bridge, from Namath, to New Orleans, so that the engine of passion, held so dearly by Jets and Saints fans, two cities badly scarred in our recent history, can continue to rumble, to resonate, and be a beacon to our continued economic growth.
Details of the Jets Bailout plan are sketchy, and it is not clear if it will contain oversight, or regulations, limiting bonuses of team executives.
A spokesperson for the NFL indicated the league is in discussions with the Obama White House, and, should the Super Bowl be delayed, the plans would be to continue with celebrity-filled parties, and television programs highlighting Super Bowl commercials.
I Hope This Doesn't Give The Commander Guy Any Ideas
A word, first, on that "rear-view mirror" thing, then, the hijinks
Why, on earth, would you, President Obama, bring in The Commander Guy, to the Haitian Relief Effort?
Is there a Convention Center in Port-au-Prince, filled with desperate people, that you can put him in charge of ignoring?
Will you have him just do a few "fly-overs"?
When Hurricane Katrina hit, I believe, he was delivering a birthday cake to Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain.
Did you dispatch him to Haiti to deliver cakes?
Did Harold Ford convince you, that it would be good to hear his voice
on this?
Maybe, Mr. President, you need to check out, and look into deeper, the interview of Amy Goodman, with Randall Robinson, to see how boneheaded it is to have him anywhere near this, and how insulting it is to the Haitians.
Heck of a job, there, Obama...
And, on another front, we'll put our bets on this kid, doing way more for Haiti, then Mr. Ek-A-Lec-Tic;
Boy, 7, raises $160,000 for Haiti appealHe's no Wyclef Jean or George Clooney, but that hasn't stopped seven-year-old Charlie Simpson from raising more than £120,000 ($195,000) for the Haiti earthquake.
Oh, no, bicycles ...
Simpson from Fulham, west London had hoped to raise just £500 for UNICEF's earthquake appeal by cycling eight kilometers (five miles)around a local park.
"My name is Charlie Simpson. I want to do a sponsored bike ride for Haiti because there was a big earthquake and loads of people have lost their lives," said Simpson on his JustGiving page, a fundraising site which launched his efforts.
"I want to make some money to buy food, water and tents for everyone in Haiti," he said.
The Commander Guy might get in his head that "Hey, I can do something like that."
As history goes, no, no he can't
- Bush bruised after bicycle bang
- Bush collides with police officer during bike ride
- Bush bruised in bicycle crash
What's next Obama, have the former Shadow President Cheney take some Haitians out hunting?
NYT Editorial Endorses The Garlic!
This happened a few days ago, and, as always, it's nice when some giant of the MSM gives a nod to The Garlic.
That being, since early last year, we took to referring to the former Republican Party, as the "PartyofNoicans".
Ah, New York Times Editorial, you want to step up front here;
The Party of NopeUnabashedly feckless, the Republican Party aims to rise from the Congressional minority by brandishing a political agenda of just saying no. As in no to health care reform. (Their new senator-elect from Massachusetts, Scott Brown, ran outright on a promise to be the latest to shoot down health care.) No to global warming repairs; no to real reform of Wall Street; no, in fact, to any act of creative opposition.
[snip]
Sooner or later constituents must wonder how far Republicans can take pure opposition as a political philosophy without offering believable program alternatives. The party should remember how Speaker Newt Gingrich got into a fight with the Clinton White House over the budget and debt limit, and then played a game of political chicken in which he precipitated a government shutdown in 1995. He did not fare well.
Speaking of Newt Gingrich, he's trying to assault the country - again - his big plans, a "new contract", unveiled on the lowly, feces-covered Right Wing Freak Show perch of NewsMax.
And, for all their crowing, about how "we're back", following the election last week, of a man who went to great pains not to identify himself, during the campaign, and his victory speech, as a "Republican", the PartyofNoicans have a long, long way to go;
Only 19% Of Americans Are Happy With The Direction Of The GOP
This, in the vernacular, would be classified, as a "Gimme", or more commonly, a "No-Brainer".
If the Democrats can't capitalize on this, exercise their power, as the majority, and do the right thing, heaven help us.
We've called on him often, Mister Wizard, but we will refrain ...
For now.
This Date ... On The Garlic
25 January 2009... On The Garlic
For Me, It's John Denver ...
25 January 2008... On The Garlic
Does He Get A New Girlfriend With This Job Too? ... Does The Job "Pay For Itself?
Wanted Dead Or ... Ahh, The Hell With It .. I'll Let The Next President Get'em ...
Good Post Alert - Martin Lewis's "Ads The GOP Would Run Against Obama - #1 "Ooops!"
25 January 2007... On The Garlic
News In Brief - Watergate Plumber Chief Passes Away; E. Howard Hunt, Watergate Figure, Dead At 88; Nixon's Chief of Dirty Tricks Was Ex-CIA; Hand In Everything From Guatemala To Bay of Pigs
25 January 2006... On The Garlic
White House: "We Know No Such Person Named Jack Abramoff"
Top Ten Cloves: Ways Google Tried To Avoid Censorship Of New China Search Engine
Friday, January 22, 2010
Special Announcement - Help Needed!
As to posting today, this comes at an opportune time.
We've been battling a major cold all week, and a considerable, ass-kicking cough, and we are giving in to taking it easy, and seeing if the meds we acquired today for it, do any good.
Numerous times, over our soon-to-be-five-years, we have attempted to bring your attention to others, usually by the way of a "pointer-post", a "Good Post Alert", what-have you, as a means to highlight some other great writing, or, a good cause, something you should be aware of, or look at.
Tonight, we are going to ask you to pony up.
Earlier this month, on his Facebook page, Barry Crimmins appealed to his readers, for good vibes, prayers, anything positive in the way of thoughts, for a "young lady" who was going through a life-threatening crises.
Even before we talked, I knew this was something extraordinary, though, not unusual, as Barry, typically, is the one leading the charge, often unasked, to help someone else.
Privately, Barry confided that this "young lady" was his 34-year-old niece, who, while on Christmas vacation, in Texas, visiting relatives, fell seriously ill, and at the hospital, cancer was discovered, an aggressive, massive amount of cancer.
The initial prognosis was not good, casting a fearful grimness throughout the family, with its' shuddering finality.
However, additional testing, and further consultations, a short time later, offered a way to deal with the situation, a course of treatment that would save this young, single mother of a 5-year-old "superhero" and deliver her to a healthy life, again.
(In talking with a small circle of friends, privately, as word got around, a special Hat-Tip goes out to Tom Kenny, known to the small fry generation as SpongeBob SquarePants, who, on his own, put together a special, customized audio message to Vanessa's little 5-year-old, from SpongeBob SquarePants, that would knock your socks off)
Barry lifted the curtain today, with a "new" news announcement;The young woman I've been asking you to support with good thoughts and prayers is my darling niece, Vanessa. Her friends have put up a website and they're planning a benefit @ The Oakland Metro Operahouse: The Oakland Metro Operahouse: 6303rd St. in Oakland California FRIDAY FEBRUARY 5TH 8PM..! There's a DONATE button on the site. Any help sincerely appreciated! Thanks so much and please keep the good karma coming!
The site is VanessaFightingCancerVanessa Smith of San Francisco, Oakland, New Orleans, Austin, Dallas, and Black Rock City.. rock & roll musician, artist, dancer, healer, student, single mother of a 5-year old superhero.. during a Holiday visit to her family in Dallas Texas was admitted into the hospital where she underwent emergency surgery and diagnosed with Advanced Colorectal Cancer.
The doctors are saying that her cancer is aggressive, however, it is currently localized and they are hopeful for a full recovery.
They have a PayPal button you can make a donation with, and are asking;Hit the Paypal Donate button. Under donation amount: "$2.00" Put in the subject: ".. ♥ ..fight..!..win..!..we love you..!.. ♥ .."
If you can donate more than $2.00, please do so.
As D.A. of Black Rock (aka Dominic Tinio), who put up VanessaFightingCancer, says, "Until our world can figure out the whole Health Care mess..it looks like we're just going to have to take care of each other the best we can ..."
And, even though he is a super-hero, the 5-year-old is gonna need some help.
(In an effort to give this maximum exposure, we will resume posting to The Garlic on Monday)
This Date ... On The Garlic
22 January 2009... On The Garlic
Doc Bloc Death Knock? ... MSNBC Climbs Into the Big Yellow Taxi
How Did This Crack Through?
22 January 2008... On The Garlic
Ring A Bell Today For John Edwards ... Let's Give Him Some Wings To Carry On Good Fight With ...
Oh... people will come Hillary ... People will most definitely come ... The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll
22 January 2007... On The Garlic
Editor's Note - Battling To Get Back To Form
Will The Jury Be Sequestered? ... The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Not Brilliant!
Holy Chuck Cooper, Batman, is this guy dribbling, without the ball?
A Birther basketball league?
Basketball league for white Americans targets AugustaA new professional basketball league boasting rosters made up exclusively of white Americans has its eyes set on Augusta, but the team isn't receiving a warm welcome.
Hey, Don Moose Brains, this movie has already been made!
"Only players that are natural born United States citizens with both parents of Caucasian race are eligible to play in the league," the statement said.
[snip]
Don "Moose" Lewis, the commissioner of the AABA, said the reasoning behind the league's roster restrictions is not racism.
"There's nothing hatred about what we're doing," he said. "I don't hate anyone of color. But people of white, American-born citizens are in the minority now. Here's a league for white players to play fundamental basketball, which they like."
Lewis said he wants to emphasize fundamental basketball instead of "street-ball" played by "people of color." He pointed out recent incidents in the NBA, including Gilbert Arenas' indefinite suspension after bringing guns into the Washington Wizards locker room, as examples of fans' dissatisfaction with the way current professional sports are run.
"Would you want to go to the game and worry about a player flipping you off or attacking you in the stands or grabbing their crotch?" he said. "That's the culture today, and in a free country we should have the right to move ourselves in a better direction."
Like 24-years ago - Hoosiers!
You're deal doesn't sound anything like 'Hoosiers'.
'Hoosiers' was about redemption, and, was loosely based on a real event.
Your deal sounds, very much, like xenophobic racism
And, regular Garlic readers may be wondering, why aren't we rolling out the "Ignorant Dolt" carpet for this?
The reason is, we wouldn't want to sully our dubious Hall of Shame with the likes this cretin.
He goes way, way beyond being an Ignorant Dolt.
Sad News Today ... The Passing of Kate McGarrigle
I can't properly convey the profound sadness I felt, when scanning through the paper today, passing over the Obits, and seeing that folk singer Kate McGarrigle, of the famed McGarrigle Sisters, passed away.
It's not that I was a devoted fan, and follower, of the McGarrigle Sisters, or Folk Music, overall.
Yet, I had some unusual awareness of them.
They came through Boston, fairly regularly, and with that, I would hear them on NPR, or local radio.
And, it always struck me, on how the McGarrigle Sisters had something beyond cool, something so special, beyond their talents.
Imagine having a career, with your sibling, with something you love, something you had engaged in, virtually, your entire life ...
How many people can claim that?Born in Montreal and raised in St.-Sauveur-des-Monts, a small town about 50 miles north, Ms. McGarrigle absorbed a range of musical traditions around a musical hearth. Her father, Frank, was of Irish-Canadian stock and steeped in Stephen Foster and turn-of-the-century parlor songs; from her mother, Gaby, she and her two elder sisters — the oldest McGarrigle sister, Jane, was a church organist — learned old songs in French.
“Music was always there at home,” Kate McGarrigle said in a 1997 interview in Sing Out! magazine. “At parties, somebody would get up and sing, and my father would accompany them and sing the harmony. There were lots of friends and uncles and each would get up and give their big song.”
[snip]
Love and family life were central themes in both women’s music, and their songs often addressed romance’s place in the quotidian details of life. Kate McGarrigle’s 1990 song “I Eat Dinner” contemplates love lost among the leftovers, and both sisters’ “Matapedia,” from 1996, is based on a real event in Kate’s life, when an old flame saw her 17-year-old daughter, Martha, and mistook her for her mother.
Martha, like Rufus, has become a noted singer and songwriter. Their father is the singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III, who was married to Ms. McGarrigle in the 1970s.
So sad, as Kate McGarrigle was only 63.
Kate and Anna McGarrigle : Ce Matin
Kate and Anna McGarrigle : Cool River
Kate and Anna McGarrigle: Petite Annonce
You can visit the McGarrigle's website here
This Date ... On The Garlic
21 January 2009... On The Garlic
Before You ... On The DL, Again
21 January 2008... On The Garlic
“Who Let The Dogs Out?” ... Mitt, Did You Check The Roof of The Car?
Top Ten Cloves: Ways Chuck Norris Will Keep Mike Huckabee From Getting Old In The White House, If He's Elected
21 January 2006... On The Garlic
Weekend Special - Sautéed Cloves
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Love Means Never Making Me Read That Book Again
We remember, oh, so well, the mania that erupted, when the book, soon followed by one of the sappiest movie ever made, came out, the buzz, the hosannas for the work ...
And, if you had sisters, holy cow, it was 24/7, over-the-moon, heart-clutching anguish, bemoaning the wait for their "Oliver" to come driving up in a little MG.
You couldn't escape it.
So, we pose a query to you out there.
Who else has gone so far, with so little?
Erich Segal, 72; authored hugely popular ‘Love Story’He had originally written “Love Story’’ as a screenplay about the star-crossed love between a working-class Italian girl from Radcliffe and a Harvard boy from an old family. The 1970 film, which starred Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal and became a huge hit, was in production before Dr. Segal reworked it as a novel. When “Love Story’’ was released in paperback, it had the largest print order in publishing history at the time, with 4,325,000 copies.
Although Dr. Segal’s work resonated with the public, critics almost uniformly lambasted it. The judges for the National Book Award threatened to resign unless “Love Story’’ was withdrawn from nomination.
“It is a banal book which simply doesn’t qualify as literature,’’ said novelist William Styron, the head judge of the fiction panel.
But thrust into the limelight, Dr. Segal made weekend jaunts to Paris and London, returning to Yale for his classes on classical civilization. Dr. Segal also parlayed his love of running and knowledge of ancient Greece into a job as an ABC TV commentator for the Olympic Games.
If that was today, he'd have his own Reality television show, by now.
What love really means is never making me read that book again
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Martha Chokely
Oh My!
It really hasn't been, oh, that long ago, that fervent, boiling, in-your-face expectations have been thoroughly crushed, decimated, blown to smithereens.
Just two years ago, when local icons Tom Brady, and Bill Belichick, walked off the Super Bowl field, 18-1, as opposed to the expected 19-0.
Paging Martha Chokely!
Oh boy, did she blow it ... big time!
She took a Ned Lamont-siesta, after winning the primary, and never got into the game.
State Senator Scott Brown is now U.S. Senator Scott Brown, and the first thing he should do, in the morning, with a bouquet of flowers, send a "Thank You" note to Martha Chokely.
- He needs to thank her, for being such a enormously pathetic candidate
- Thank her for settling into the mindset of entitlement, that winning the primary was, essentially, all she had to do
- Thank her for not driving a pick-up truck
- Thank her for not knowing about sports
It will be like a Looney Tunes, with Chokely being punched, kicked, anvil-hit-over-the-head, shot, thrown off a cliff, before crawling to her feet, and being plowed over by the speeding truck.
Most of it, deserved.
However, as to the bigger picture, unless something remarkably uncanny happened, and all kinds of state and federal laws were, suddenly, abrogated, and changed, today, newly-elected Teabagger Senator Scott Brown only won one Senatorial seat, not 18-20, and, unless something else has changed, Brown will come to a dead stop, after he runs-like-the-wind, to get to DC, and join the rest of the PartyofNoicans, in doing nothing.
Amazingly, some three-+ hours ago, Tweety was showering the crowd at Doyles with spittle, foaming over Brown, and all but coronating him the Presidential winner in 2012.
And, that was before the polls closed.
You can expect more of that, when the Flying Monkeys of the Right Wing Freak Show pick up on it, soon followed by the projected pairing of Teabagger Senator Brown with Teabagger MoneyRaker Mommy Moose, the former half-term governor of Alaska.
There'll be endless blabbering about "recalibration", with all the discussion about how the Democrats, for losing one Senate seat, will have to "change" and the calls will grow for them to bend over, and give the PartyofNoicans whatever they want.
What the Dems need to do is, along with growing a few pairs, start governing, start using their majority in Congress, to govern, much as the PartyofNoicans did (when they were known as "Republicans"), during the The Bush Grindhouse years, where they, without a majority, handed The Commander Guy everything he wanted.
As far as governing, drafting up, and passing new laws, polices, etc, Brown's election is but a blip.
The PartyofNoican Leadership (yeah, we know, an oxymoron) will exploit Brown, new red meat to throw out there, and recycle the Obama slurs and distortions, generate headlines on the house rag, The Politico, Matt Sludge, etc. and become the new darling guest Talking Points stand-in, over on Faux News.
So, in sum, more of the same.
No game changer here.
Balls in your court, Obama, Reid, and Pelosi.
Just remember, in any interviews you do in the next few days, Curt Schilling is not a Yankee fan.
This Date ... On The Garlic
19 January 2009... On The Garlic
First Day of School...5 years from now
19 January 2008... On The Garlic
"The morning after always looks grim if you happen to be wearing last night's dress"
19 January 2007... On The Garlic
New Bush Spying Expanding! Nod To FISA May Signal Surge In Wiretaps, Experts Say; Bush Turns To Marx Brothers Policy Once Again; Signs Point To Coordinating Mail Reading and Eavesdropping
Top Ten Cloves: What It Will Take For President Bush To Brief Congress On New Wiretap Plans
Editor's Note
19 January 2006... On The Garlic
Breaking News! Bin Laden Surfaces With New, Wide-Ranging Audio Tape, Triggering Swift Boat Vet Action
Google To Fight DOJ On Record Search Subpeona
Top Ten Cloves: Reasons That Should Give Mitt Romney Pause As To Running For President
Monday, January 18, 2010
Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition
Nice to find out, that when we were using The Koran for target practice, the guns and rifles our soldiers aimed, and shot, at the Muslim Holy Book, carried little mini-tweets of Christianity.
The Political Carnival calls them "Guns for Jesus".
U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With Secret 'Jesus' Bible Codes ... Pentagon Supplier for Rifle Sights Says It Has 'Always' Added New Testament ReferencesCoded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found.
The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.
U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious "Crusade" in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.
More, from Justin Elliott, at TPM;The company is not shy about its belief system. It confirmed to ABC that its scopes have the Biblical codes. Trijicon's Web site even says under a section titled "Values" that, "We believe that America is great when its people are good. This goodness has been based on biblical standards throughout our history and we will strive to follow those morals."
[snip]
This is hardly the first time the Pentagon has come under fire for using religious messages in the course of conducting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. GQ reported last May on Donald Rumsfeld's presidential briefing folders that were peppered with Biblical quotes ("Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him...To deliver their soul from death.") printed on images of war.
Good thing this started during The Bush Grindhouse days.
Could you imagine the feces-throwing the Right Wing Freakshow Monkeys would be doing, if this came out of the Obama Administration?
They would, immediately, disregard that the little "LOL Jesus" messages, and claim it was a "Muslim code", confirming, once-and-for-all, that Obama is an illegal-alien-socialist-terrorist, intent on enslaving the entire country.
What's old, is new, again
PRAISE THE LORD AND PASS THE AMMUNITION
Blame Paul Blart
It will be a profound shame, if the Segway's lasting memory is the horribly unfunny 'Paul Blart: Mall Cop'.
I would hate to think of Dean Kamen, the Segway's inventor, sitting on a porch, up there in New Hampshire, staring, zombie-like, into a lake, the image of the corpulant Kevin James in his head, quietly mumbling, droning, on-and-on, "Paul Blart: Mall Cop ... Paul Blart: Mall Cop ..."
Word recently seeped out (talk about a news dump, it was announced on Christmas Day) that Segway was sold to a British Millionaire, an investor in the Segway's U.K dealership.
And, without, the soaring image of millions of people, darting around town, doing errands, going to work, getting coffee (you just know, had they become ubiquitous, Starbucks would have rolled out new stores, geared towards the Segway, perhaps scooping up out-of-business car washes, retro-fitting them to grab your coffee, without having to slow down).
Which leads us to Chris Smith, on SiliconValley.com last Saturday;
O'Brien: Segway reminds us that even the best get it wrong sometimesToday, when we think of the Segway, it seems like a self-contained joke. When it appears in popular culture, like in a movie such as "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," it's for comic effect. The Segway has managed to enter the pantheon of novelty items, albeit on the more expensive end of the scale.
It's hard to remember just how much hype greeted its arrival in 2001. The Segway's inventor, Dean Kamen, had a strong reputation in engineering circles, having invented the AutoSyringe, a mobile dialysis system, and the iBot, an all-terrain electric wheelchair. People waited eagerly to see what mysterious wonder he was concocting next.
Interest was so intense that the Segway was unveiled in December 2001 — on ABC's "Good Morning America," a product launch to die for. Not long after, Jay Leno was demonstrating one on "The Tonight Show." In a Time magazine story, Doerr predicted Segway would be the fastest company to reach $1 billion in sales.
[snip]
But the revolution failed to come to pass. For as Wired magazine wrote last month in a retrospective on the Segway: "With a price tag that started around $5,000, the Segway PT pretty much doomed itself to a niche market: rich guys who aren't afraid to embarrass themselves in public."
Yes, rich guys embarrassing themselves.
