Hipster Beaux-Arts Bing Crosby

Although I don’t think I’ll read the new Keith Richards biography, I am enjoying reading about it, especially this piece by Tom Watson (via), which describes Keef as looking like a “hipster Beaux-Arts Bing Crosby”.

Everyone seems to want to write about this, and it makes me sad that the book came out so close to the election, because otherwise Bobo or Ruth Marcus or some other conservative culture scold might write a “this is everything that sucks about 60s liberalism” type column. The best part would be the “I hitch-hiked to see the Stones back when I had more hair and less disposable income” part. (It’s also possible that someone at NRO has already written a “Keith Richards: Conservative?” column or that Bobo will ultimately do so.)

The strange Village hatred of the Colbert/Stewart rally comes from the same place: pundits desperately want to be seen as hip, so they’re not going to like a rally devoted to making fun of the media.

All of this gets me thinking…at some point, is there going to be another attempt soon to make conservatism “cool again”? We’ve seen a few tentative steps: Meghan McCain’s tweets, Nick Gillespies attempts to look good in leather, Peter Suderman’s desire to tell the world he’s meh about Gorillaz, this strange piece in The American Scene, but it seems kind of directionless to me. Is John Thune going to go on SNL and say “sock it to me” to capture the youth vote in 2012?

Update. Nobody does it like an English conservative (via):

The guitarist Keith Richards is perhaps most famous for having constructed a short and very simple rhythmic musical phrase, over the top of which his colleague Mick Jagger expressed an increasing irritation at being unable to acquire, in both general and specific terms, any kind of ‘satisfaction’ — despite, as he proceeded to explain, repeatedly attempting to do so. Or, at least, that’s what he should be most famous for. That almost insultingly simple ‘riff’, plus a slightly more complex one a few years later, over the top of which Mr Jagger, in a more ebullient frame of mind, expounded upon the pleasures of whipping black women at midnight. Both of these songs were perceived as being ‘counter-cultural’ and therefore, de facto, of the left. I suppose you might argue that ‘Satisfaction’ was in essence a plea for more stringent regulation of the advertising industry, perhaps via a quango rather than direct legislation — which is a slightly leftish position. But it is hard to stretch the lyrics of ‘Brown Sugar’ to resemble something which approaches those of the ‘Internationale’.

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Steelers/Saints Open Thread

Go Stillers!

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Straight Pride Night Open Thread

Dan Savage likes to say that the reason breeders don’t have a pride parade is because they already have Halloween, so I’m getting my drink on to celebrate our special day.

Also, too: 215K, bitches.

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Big Suckers

Why is anyone, and I mean anyone, paying attention to anything these clowns have to say? I’m serious. How stupid do you have to be to believe anything featured at that website?

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How We Love A Man In A Uniform….

Lost in the general haze of stupid/evil that hangs over Sarah Palin was a grace note in her recent speech supporting indictment-in-waiting Joe Miller, her cherished anti-Murkowski senatorial candidate.

In a sparsely attended rally for the fading Teabagger senatorial candidate, Palin recalled Miller’s military background, and asked “are we even fit to tie his combat boots?”

Are we fit?

Seriously?

Well yes – and what makes this so dangerous is not just that Palin is once again being Palin, but that after a decade of warrior worship, this kind of nonsense is staining more and more of our national fabric.

The end point of such hagiography is pretty well mapped out.  If people persuade themselves that the military offers a unique reservoir of virtue—and especially if the uniformed officer corps come to believe it…then the next move is obvious.

…which brings me to an article published last month that I don’t think got enough attention.

Writing in the National Defense University’s Joint Force Quarterly,  United States Marine Corps Lt. Colonel Andrew Milburn found within himself the courage to say exactly what he thinks:

“There are circumstances under which a military officer is not only justified but also obligated to disobey a legal order. [italics added]

And there you have it:  a claim that the US military should take the hard duty of deciding national policy when – in the view of the officer corps – the civil powers are incapable of doing so properly.

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NFL Open Thread

Your team sucks.

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Hey Now!

This was one of my favorite shows when it was on, so I’m glad to see the Larry Sanders Show will finally be available on DVD.

Rip Torn was genius.

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PSA: Firesheep

If you use wireless in public location (like Starbucks), it’s possible that someone else can use a Firefox extension called Firesheep to “sidejack” your Amazon, Facebook, Twitter or Google account (among others). This allows them to do things in your name on those accounts, and perhaps even steal your password (under rare circumstances).

Though the vulnerabilities exploited by Firesheep have been around for a while, once an easy-to-use tool is released, it’s pretty common for jackasses to make heavy use of those tools for malicious purposes. The simplest cure is this tool from the good people at EFF. Here’s a more lengthy explanation of how Firesheep works and what it can do.

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Fear and Self-Loathing

I’m glad he finally pointed this out:

President Obama deflected heckling by AIDS protesters during a Saturday rally, suggesting they take up their cause with “the other side” that’s opposed to funding.

A group of people interrupted Obama’s speech before 9,000 in Connecticut chanting “Fund Global AIDS.”

The president was quick to respond to the chorus of protesters saying, “You’ve been appearing at every rally we’ve been doing. And we’re funding global AIDS. And the other side is not. So I don’t know why you think this is a useful strategy to take.”

Obama was in Bridgeport as part of a four-state swing during the final days before the midterm elections, stumping for Rep. Jim Himes, who is in a tight re-election race, and the state attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, who is seeking the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Chris Dodd, who is retiring.

“I think it would make a lot more sense for you guys to go to the folks who aren’t interested in funding global AIDS and chant at that rally,” Obama said. “Because we’re trying to focus on figuring out how to finance the things that you want financed, all right?”

That led to chants of “Obama, Obama” as the crowd stirred and the president tried to calm emotions as the protesters were escorted out of the rally.

I’ll never figure out why left-leaning activists spend so much time protesting the people who vote their way while basically ignoring the Republicans.

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Carter

Bill Maher’s entire interview with Jimmy Carter has been posted at HBO, and it’s worth watching just to remember the disconnect between the view of Carter that’s been cemented into pundit’s brains and the reality of the man, who was a smart, pragmatic and effective president. This interview spends a little time on Ted Kennedy’s role in undermining Carter’s presidency and giving us 8 years of Ronald Reagan, including Ted’s spiking of a healthcare bill that he felt didn’t go far enough. (Here’s the other side of that historical argument.)

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Early Morning Open Thread: Lucky

From commentor Gemina13:

In 2004, I lived in Brea, CA… I took the 110 (Harbor) Freeway to work and back home each day. Traffic at rush hour was usually slow torture. On July 26th, 2004, it was the hottest day of the year, with temperatures in the 90s and relative humidity. I had just mentioned to a friend that my current cat, a peach tortie named Precious, was growing old and I wanted to find a kitten to help revive her spirits (and mine) a little.

I was driving south at about 5 mph, approaching the shoulder near Exposition, when I saw a kitten sitting on the asphalt, mouth open in a scream. I pulled over and tried to coax it into my arms, but it dove behind my rear passenger wheel. It took a big rig rolling past at 3 mph to scare the kitten into running back to me. I picked it up, and almost at once it laid its head on my chest and started to purr. I got it in the car. I checked—yep, a male. Maybe 3 to 4 weeks old. So thin his ribs showed through his fur, which was crawling with fleas. Asphalt was tangled in his coat. His eyes were almost shut due to a tarry discharge, which also covered most of his nose, and when he mewed it sounded like a rusty screen door being opened. And he would not stay in the passenger seat. I put him there and started the car up, and he wailed until I picked him up and put him in my lap. Well, I told myself, I’ll take him to the no-kill shelter near my place. Somebody’s gonna adopt this little guy. He’s just too cute and sweet.

Was he ever. He crawled up on my shoulders, purring in my ears. Two police cruisers pulled up beside me as I drove home—both times, the LAPD’s finest burst out laughing when they caught sight of the kitten riding on my shoulder. I was just grateful not to be pulled over and ticketed for distracted driving.

So I got to the shelter. Unfortunately, it was closed—it was only open on weekends, something I’d forgotten. Dejected, I headed for the Banfield Pet Hospital, and was met by two vet’s assistants, teenaged girls. All I said was, “I need someone to look at this—” and was met by eager squeals of, “Oh, look at him! He’s so gorgeous! He’s adorable!” Then they looked at me and said, in tandem, “You’re keeping him, right?”

I couldn’t say anything but, “I guess I am now!”

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A simple voter’s guide to the Arizona elections

I’ll confine my advice to the state-wide propositions. You can basically assume that anyone you vote for in Arizona with an® next to their name is going to be well to the right of Barry Goldwater and most Democrats are going to vote similarly to your moderate Northeast Republicans. Arizona is far from the reddest state – despite our rumblings to the contrary lately, and despite the fact that we reelect Sheriff Joe year after year – but our political class is generally kooky.

Anyways, as a rule, if the Proposition in question has been sponsored by the state legislature: vote No. If it is a voter initiative, you’re probably on much safer footing (think medical marijuana). When in doubt – and I hate to say this, but if you haven’t bothered to read up on the Propositions – when in doubt, just vote No on everything. That’s the lesser evil. Here’s a quick guide to the Propositions if you actually want to know a bit more about just what the AZ legislature has up its sleeve, and go to the polls Tuesday a tiny bit better informed.

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What Al said…

Back in 2007 and 2008 there were two people who seemed consistently correct in their pre-election analysis in the long primary season and then the General. One of them was Nate Silver and his 538, but his analysis was (and is) mostly about the numbers and very little about the why. The better analysis to me always came from Al Giordano over at The Field.

Perhaps it is his time living outside of the US that gives his work insights that most folks just miss as they get swept up in CW gasbag talking points. Or maybe it is his work as an organizer. Whatever the reason, he is just a hell of a reporter, observer and analyst of our political system.

A couple of days ago he had a solid post that should be required reading. Al gets straight to the massive uncertainty, why it is happening and who will be at fault if the massive GOP wave comes to past:

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I Don’t Have the Energy

To properly tear into this Pat Caddell piece in the WaPo, so if someone else would like to, I’ll gladly post it. It really is the most breathtakingly shameless thing I think I’ve ever read in the WaPo. I’m sure Breitbart will quote it in his new gig at ABC news. Heckuva job, media.

Also, do we have any reports from the rally?

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The Very Definition of a Clusterfuck

This WaPo piece on the foreclosure crisis and the complete and total mess the banks have made of things is infuriating:

Kevin Matthews, a Gulf War veteran, was initially rejected when he applied to his lender, USAA, for a modification of the mortgage on his Baltimore rowhouse. But when a housing counselor contacted USAA on his behalf, the lender invited him to reapply, Matthews said. The counselor filled out a 70-page application for Matthews in early May.

The lender did not respond to this new request until after his home was taken away in a foreclosure sale two weeks later, he alleged. He was evicted in June while he was away on school-related travel.

Roger Wildermuth, a USAA spokesman, said his firm was no longer responsible for Matthews’s loan because it had been sold to GMAC, though GMAC employees in his case would have identified themselves as USAA workers “to create a seamless customer experience.” James Olecki, a GMAC spokesman, said his firm “put forth every effort to pursue all alternatives in this case.”

Matthews is now suing the foreclosure attorneys. If he loses, the tab for his defaulted loan would fall on taxpayers because his mortgage is guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

No one knows who owns what.

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