Still got a royal pain in the neck, which makes it really hard to sit and type, so this’ll have to be quick.

On Press the Meat, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and the Committee’s Ranking Asshole Member, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III. Then three CEOs: Google’s Eric Schmidt, Xerox’s Anne Mulcahy and Caterpillar’s Jim Owens and a roundtable with BBC America’s Katty Kay, Richard Wolffe, and NBC’s Brian Williams.

At Faze the Nation, it’s Jon Kyl, Dianne Feinstein, Bob Woodward, and David Brooks.

On Fux News Sunday, Weaselface Wallace has Arlen Specter, Lindsey Graham, Mitt Romney, and a bunch of fuxheads.

At the Goebbels network, George Snufalufagus has Chuck Schumer and John Cornyn. Then it’s an expanded version of the Roundtable with George :jerk: Will, Jan Crawford Greenburg, Paul Krugman, PBS’ Gwen Ifill and former Bush adviser Ed Gillespie.

That’ll have to do for now. Have a good one.

I wish my old friend Phil Elwood was still around to write this but Jesse Hamlin is a good substitute.

Benny Goodman’s music still swings

Jesse Hamlin, Special to The Chronicle

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Seventy years later, that music still makes your head spin, feet move and spirits rise.

The sound of Benny Goodman – the blazing clarinet soaring above a riotously rocking big band or dancing with thrilling fluency through improvised trio and quartet numbers – set off the swing fever that helped millions through the Depression and brought jazz to the forefront of American popular music.

Goodman, who would’ve turned 100 on Saturday, was a clarinet virtuoso who played Mozart and “Moonglow” with equal brilliance. Nobody blew jazz clarinet with more fire and finesse than the quixotic Goodman, a remote celebrity who often seemed oblivious to other people…

:cake: :cake: :cake: :cake:

Benny

This is kind of hard to believe, but Texas Republican (and all-around douchebag) John Cornyn has repudiated the attacks on Sonia Sotomayor by Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich. I guess the fact that there are an awful lot of Hispanics in Texas must not be lost on the good Senator. Let’s just hope the rest of the Republicans remain oblivious. They’re the party of angry white guys, and I think they ought to just run with that.

Dubya emerged from Dick Cheney’s bunker (I wonder if that means the Dickster will be going back into seclusion) to defend the use of torture, claiming it “saved lives” in a speech before 2,500 members the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan (in other words, all the people in Michigan that still have jobs). Bush even earned a standing ovation when asked what he’d like his legacy to be:

“Well, I hope it is this: The man showed up with a set of principles, and he was unwilling to compromise his soul for the sake of popularity,” he said.

Um, OK. Principles, yeah. When I think about Bush, “principles” is the first thing that come to mind. Now, tell us about the rabbits again, George.

I don’t know about where you guys are at, but here they’re still giving us daily updates on the Swine Flu cases in the county. We’re up to 18 now! :omg: It’s gonna be a long, long winter if they’re gonna report every time some kid gets the flu around here.

Today is Bob Hope’s birthday. Seeing as he was 100 when he died, he’d be really old today – 106, in fact. The other big birthday today, of course, is JFK. He’d be 92 today, if he was still around (though if he hadn’t been shot, he probably wouldn’t have lived much longer anyway).

Time to head on out. I Can’t wait to get this week over with, personally. I tweaked my neck somehow the other day, making it painful to sit and type, since I have to look at the keyboard (which sucks when you sit an type for a living), and damn near impossible to look to the left (which makes driving a little on the hazardous side).

Well, it’s not Friday, but it’s getting there. Not a lot to say today, but I think we can all rest easier knowing that scientists have created marmosets with green glowing feet, and the marmosets are passing the trait to their offspring. The scientists are clearly excited, because now they figure they can breed animals with human diseases and torture them in the name of research. How very human of them (fuckers better stay away from our baby woodchucks, though).

But whattya expect? We’re just doing unto animals the way we do unto each other. Actually, the monkeys are in Japan, where they’re probably treated better than humans would be by us freedon-loving ‘mericans (assuming you consider a-rabs and mooslums human, of course).

Hopefully the scientists at least won’t rape the monkeys, or sexually abuse them “with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube.”

I think I’ll go look for a youtube video of Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American.”

So, pretty much as expected, President Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to be the next Supreme Court Justice. Republicans, of course, are overjoyed to have an actual person to express their rage (in the same way that dogs express their anal glands, only not as pretty) over. They’re calling her a “Harriet Miers” pick, and Pat Buchanan says she’s “not very bright” (I suspect the actual quote was more like “dumb spic”). This, despite the fact that she graduated Summa Cum Laude (and #2 in her class) from Princeton, and received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1979 (where she was an editor at the Yale Law Journal).

She worked as an Assistant DA in New York City (I think she was the one between Jill Hennessey and Angie Harmon – which conjures up an interesting image in my brain), and was nominated to the U.S. District Court by that bleeding heart liberal, George H. W. Bush, and then by Bill Clinton to the U.S. Court of Appeals (and was under consideration for the Supreme Court in 2005, when dubya eventually picked Sammy Alito).

She’s no Clarence Thomas, that’s for sure.

But never mind all that. The reason I’m backing Sonia is because her brother the doctor, Juan, lives here. And when she visits, she takes his kids out for a bite to eat and a movie a Carousel Mall. Case closed. I just hope I can manage to avoid hearing most of the hate and venom that’s going to be spewed forth over the next few months. It’s so tiresome. You really can’t get a more middle of the road pick. Republicans want another Fat Tony Scalia, but tough shit. Personally, I want another Ruth Bader Ginsburg (or Maxine Waters).

I just had a chance to catch yesterday’s Rachel Maddow Show. She started out by making a really stupid comparison of SCOTUS to a whiskey sour or something. This was ostensibly to explain to us what role an ideological mixture plays in the Court and for the country (presumably because we’re all idiots or something).

I also watched the Marc Maron/Colin Firth (I don’t actually know who he is, but I gather he’s famous) interview yesterday, and was shamed into ordering a couple pounds of Fair Trade coffee. Sure, it’s more than twice as expensive (not counting the $7 shipping) as what I buy locally, but it helps assuage my liberal guilt. And if an apparently famous person tells me I should do something, I try and do it. Hopefully the coffee at least won’t suck.

Speaking of famous people, Brooke Shields has announced that she lost her virginity at 22 (and regrets not doing it sooner). Really? Is this information we’re supposed to feel entitled to (or care about)? Brooke, please. No offense, but unless you have video, I don’t really care. And, as long as we’re sharing, I regret not losing mine when I was in third grade. I’m not quite sure I actually had all the details down at that time (I pretty much had my side of things worked out though), but I sure did lust after our student teacher, Miss Le Freight :hubba: (talk about summa cum loudly). It’s a shame that hot teachers having sex with minors wasn’t fashionable back in my day.

If you don’t follow lacrosse, well, you missed one hell of a game yesterday. Otherwise, not much else going on, other than trying to reconcile myself to the idea of going back to work again today. Not that I really mind going to work, but there’s something about a three-day weekend that makes it tough to go back again (especially when you haven’t had an “extra” day off in, well, in longer than I can remember; not since New Years Day, I think).

A court decision on Prop 8 is expected in California today. That won’t end things, of course. If the homo-haters don’t get their way, they’ll take it all the way to the Supreme Court. And gay rights supporters will put a proposition on the ballot in 2010 or 2012. I’m hopeful that the gay marriage legislation introduced in NY will make it though the State Senate. It’s already passed the Assembly, but it’ll need a east a few Republican votes in the Senate. It’d be nice to see the NY State legislature do something I can be proud of for a change. Their cowardice goes all the way back to 1776 when they abstained (twice) from the vote for independence. Way to take a stand.

Speaking of taking a stand, SEIU is taking one against CA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and President Barack Obama, as a new series of ads are set to run Wednesday. This is because the Obama Administration, in what is becoming a rather frequent occurrence, has decided to cave in to pressure from the right.

When Schwarzenegger decided to cut pay for home health care workers and cut $750 billion healthcare programs for the poor, the Obama administration threatened to withhold $6.8 billion in federal stimulus funds unless the California legislature revoked the wage cut. But then the right got all pissy, and Obama caved in. I wonder if this is the same strategy Obama will use in dealing with the North Koreans? Not that that would necessarily a bad thing.

Turns out that North Koreans saber rattling and missile launching has caused the value of the Japanese Yen and US dollar to increase. Go figure. If a World War breaks out, we could be back in black in no time. Or at least on a permanent 3-day weekend.

Ah, Memorial Day, when politicians pretend to honor the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, and then continue to treat them like the disposable pawns of global corporate interests. Never mind not sending them to their deaths halfway around the world for no good reason, and forget about giving them the proper equipment to keep them as safe as possible. We aren’t even willing to give them shower facilities that won’t electrocute them (note to the no-bid contractors out there: electricity and water is not a good mix).

Memorial Day is also the day when those of us who haven’t lost any loved ones in the military have barbecues, plant flowers, maybe visit the graves of our parents, catch a fighter jet flyover or two (this will be the last year for that here, as our National Guard unit will soon be trading in its F-16s for unmanned drones), and basically kick back and enjoy a day off. Oh, and watch the NCAA Division I lacrosse championship game, of course.

Just in case you didn’t think the “Democrats” suck, Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson (a “Democrat”) threatened to join the Republicans in filibustering “Democratic” President Obama’s Supreme Court pick (uh, when he actually picks somebody). Pretty funny shit, huh?

I find it rather ironic, personally. You may recall that, during the Alito nomination process, Obama was pressured into voting against cloture, though before the vote he declared that it was a bad idea, wouldn’t work, and he would vote for cloture in any subsequent vote. Now his own party is threatening him with a filibuster to be certain he doesn’t nominate a progressive. Not that he will, of course. He’ll appoint some middle of the road “safe” pick that will be vilified by the Republicans and their media lackeys as a godless Communist, and then turn around and bit us all in the ass after her confirmation.

This is why Harry Reid has to go. He’s a worthless piece of crap, and needs to be replaced. The Democrats need a Majority Leader that will run the Senate with an iron fist. Ben Nelson’s office should be moved to a janitor’s closet in the basement of the Senate Office Building.

But, that won’t happen. Not with spineless Harry at the con.

Oh well, have a happy Memorial Day. And let’s go Orange!

This is shaping up to be a pretty good Memorial Day weekend here in Central New York. First up, Syracuse destroyed Duke 17-7 in the first NCAA lacrosse semifinal game. It was Duke’s worst NCAA loss ever. SU heads to the finals for the 16th time, and will try for its second straight national championship (11th overall, since lacrosse playoffs began in 1971) on Monday against Cornell, who killed #1 seed (even though SU finished #1 in both lacrosse polls) Virginia 15-6 in the second semifinal game. For those keeping score, Central New York 32 – Atlantic Coast Conference 13. So, it’s my Alma Mater vs. Keith Olberman’s on Monday. And, as previously mentioned, today’s Division II and III lacrosse championship games feature Central New York teams as well.

Next, our very own Dinosaur BBQ has been voted the best barbecue in the nation. Rather fitting, as The Dinosaur, which doubles as a Blues club, is a featured sponsor of today’s Blue, Brews, and BBQ event at the NYS Fairgrounds.

Former Orangeman Carmelo Anthony unfortunately couldn’t help the Denver Nuggets over the LA Lakers last night. Oh well, they’re only down 2-1.

OK, now for the stupid boobbleheads. Excuse me if I can’t get too excited over these people. It always seems to be the same old assholes yacking to and about the same old douchebags.

Case in point, Press the Meat, with Dick Durbin on against corrupt old asshole Newt Gingrich. There’s no reason for Gingrinch to be given the time of day from the homeless guy on the corner, yet he gets trotted out every week on national TV and presented as an “expert,” but really just there to parrot Republican talking points. Then there’s a roundtable with the National Review’s Rich Lowry, NPR’s Michele Norris, The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson, and NBC’s Chuck Todd.

On Faze the Nation, it’s Colin Powell and psychiatrist Alvin Poussaint.

Over at Fux News Sunday, Weaselface Wallace has Jon Kyl and Ben Nelson. Plus a whole buncha fuxheads.

At the Goebbels network, George Snufalufagus has Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and an “Obama-Cheney” roundtable with George :jerk: Will, Donna Brazile, asshole David Brooks, and E.J. Dionne from the Washington Post.

Have a good one.

If you didn’t catch Bill Moyers’ show on single-payer healthcare last night, you can view it online. One of my favorite parts was video of a 2003 speech by a certain Illinois State Senator who claimed to favor a single-payer healthcare system. We might not be able to do it right away, he said, because we had to do three things first: take back the White House, take back the US Senate, and take back the US House of Representatives.

Gee, if only we could do all that, single-payer advocates would at least get a seat at the table alongside the insurance industry lobbyists. Right?

I don’t know who that 2003 Illinois State Senator was, but I sure wish he was still around today. We could use him.

In the meantime, if you’re not feeling well, don’t fret. No need for healthcare or insurance. Just have a cuppa tea.

(Better version here, but they won’t let me embed it).

We just need to get through today, and then the big Memorial Day weekend (celebrated big-time in Waterloo, NY, officially designated the “birthplace” of Memorial Day by LBJ in 1966, though it’s one of a couple dozen communities to claim the distinction), which seems like it’s coming a lot earlier than usual, will be upon us. Not that I’m complaining; it’s been a long time since I’ve had a day off.

Memorial Day weekend, of course, means the Lacrosse Final Four, which is a big deal to me, at least, and to the 100,000 or so folks who’ll be heading to Boston this weekend. Sunday is “Brews, Blues, and BBQ,” emceed by Dan “Elwood” Akroyd, with performers including John L. Hooker Jr., The Radiators, Edgar Winter, Roomful of Blues, and The Blind Boys of Alabama. Sadly missed will be local blues legend Roosevelt Dean, who lost a lengthy battle with cancer last month.

For those of you don’t know (and why would you), former Secretary of State William Seward (we’re going way back, here, to Abe Lincoln and Andrew Johnson) lived most of his adult life in Auburn, NY. Seward, you may recall (if you were paying attention in school), arranged for the purchase of Alaska from Russia (which you can still see from Alaska, from what I understand) in 1867. Seward’s Folly? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

This is somewhat convoluted, so try and stay with me here. Alaska became the 49th State 50 years ago, in January, 1959. Every year, Auburn has its Founder’s Day, and this year, they’re celebrating the Alaskan statehood anniversary (rather than celebrating Auburn’s founding in 1793; I guess once you’ve celebrated the Underground Railroad and the fake inventor of baseball a couple dozen times, you have to get creative). So, naturally, Sarah Palin is coming to Auburn on June 6th to take part in the celebration. Yes, the home of Harriet Tubman and Abner Doubleday will now be sullied by the presence of Sarah Palin.

Activities scheduled for the Governor no doubt include tours of the Bass Pro Shop and Auburn’s maximum security prison (a rather impressive looking fortress – complete with guard towers and gun turrets – right in the middle of the “city”). Attica gets all the publicity, but the Auburn Penn is really bad ass, so Sarah should love it. And perhaps they’ll cap the visit off with a trip to the Auburn zoo to shoot some wolves.

I’m kidding, of course; Auburn doesn’t have a zoo.

Anyways, not only does Barbara Boxer send me e-mails, now her son, Doug, is writing to me too. Yesterday he wrote,

It’s been an incredible few months since the progressive majority you helped deliver to President Obama last November has been in session.

Really? There’s a progressive majority? So why the frack aren’t we closing Gitmo, ending military commissions, prosecuting torturers, enacting singlepayer healthcare (speaking of healthcare, tonight on Bill Moyers, Bill has “Heathcare NOT Warfare” co-chair Donna Smith (you may remember her from “Sicko;” she and her husband had to move into their daughter’s basement after – despite being fully insured – they lost everything due to illness and surgeries) of the California Nurses Association on to talk about how our broken system is hurting ordinary Americans, plus physicians Sidney Wolfe of Public Citizen and David Himmelstein of Physicians for a National Health Program are on to discuss the political and logistical feasibility of enacting a single-payer system during these economic times, and within a government bought and paid for by lobbyists. 9:00 EDT on PBS, check you local listings, or read more and join the discussion), and investigating the people who lied us into war (among other things)? Oh and why isn’t Al Franken the junior Senator from Minnesota?

Speaking of Al, his son wrote to me yesterday, too, asking me to wish his dad a happy 58th birthday, and donate $58 to his campaign (or whatever it is you call when you win an election but still have to keep campaigning in the courts). Happy Birthday, Al! Hey, one out of two aint bad.

OK, now let’s get this day over with.