Saturday, June 18, 2005

The Devil's Disciple 2:  A Ralph Reed Update   I was embarrassed that Ralph Reed announced he was running for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia in February, and I came so late to the dance in writing about him.  But evidently I am not the only one.  Since my post on Ralph Reed, the AP has noticed his campaign; and so has Wonkette.  Admittedly, Reed had an eye-grabbing fundraiser and rally Friday, with special guests Sean Hannity and retired lunatic Senator Zell Miller.  For an extra $1000 you could get a picture taken with Hannity and Miller (it's just too easy...insert your own Zell Miller joke here).  Georgia state Senator Casey Cagle may be a more formidable primary opponent for fallen Christian crusader Ralph Reed than I had realized.  Yes, Ralph Reed is a fundraising monster.  Yes, Ralph Reed's name recognition vastly outstrips Cagle's, but so do his negatives.  And Reed's grip on the party activists is surprisingly weak.  At the biennial Republican state convention last month, Senator Cagle recruited 323 volunteers from the over 1500 attendees, while Mr. Reed recruited only 249 volunteers.  Ralph Reed's defense for accepting millions and millions of dollars from gambling interests is that he didn't know where the money was coming from.  Basically, he seems to be saying, if someone handed you millions of dollars, would you ask where it came from?  Well...fair enough.  Ralph Reed's answer to the question "What Would Jesus Do?" appears to be, whatever it takes to keep up the yacht payments. Since announcing his campaign for Lieutenant Governor, Ralph Reed has taken on a new client, the Cable Television Broadcasters Association, on whose behalf he is lobbying against requiring cable TV stations from having to adhere to any standard of decency.  The freedom to broadcast movies set in Sodom and Gomorrah is safe in Ralph Reed's hands.  Just another blow for Christian values struck by Ralph Reed.  (Mind you, I'm not for censorship; I just find the taste of hypocrisy...cloying.)  Gambling, Enron, and porn:  this is the holy trinity behind Ralph Reed's income in recent years. 7:59:37 PM    comment []

Saturday's Playlist #1   Are you ready to rock?  I said, ARE YOU READY TO ROCK???  Because if you aren't, you can come back later.  It's no problem, really.  This is a blog.  This list will still be here.  I occasionally sound off on bands, so it's only fair I provide some examples of music I like.  From now on, I'll post a list of songs I like that are available for free download every Saturday. This is my inaugural playlist; these songs have little in common other than being uptempo tunes.  They're pop songs.  These songs are fun; they're songs for speeding down the road with the top down, or dancing to on the dance floor, or kung fu fighting.  They are not my idea of brain surgery.  But then, you probably don't want someone rocking out while they're operating on your brain anyway. Without further ado:   10 Songs   1.  Contort Yourself-James Chance  The greatest song from the coolest man from New York City's late '70s No Wave musical movement. 2.  Gay Bar-Peaches  A spunky cover of the funny and cool Electric Six song. 3.  Jersey Boot-Mollycuddle  The guy in Mollycuddle's voice always sounds a little strained; the girl has an effortlessly pop voice. 4.  The Girl Who Stole The Eiffel Tower-The Deathray Davies  A few years ago, when Ray Davies was at South by Southwest, I heard that this band's name made him fear for his life. 5.  Most People Are DJs-The Hold Steady  The new band of the ex-lead singer of the defunct Minneapolis band, Lifter Puller, they are taking New York City by storm.  But that's really no surprise, since you know what they say, if you can make it in Minneapolis, you can make it anywhere.  Wait.  They don't say that?  Anyway, you'll probably like this song even if you aren't a DJ. 6.  Bells-Hey Mercedes  You may well have heard of Hey Mercedes, and if you haven't, it's not my fault. 7.  Hope for Us-The Jealous Sound  The Jealous Sound is the follow-up band of singer Blair Shehan, late of Knapsack.  His voice is very cool.  Knapsack was very good, and if The Jealous Sound has a bit more polished...well...sound, I like them anyway. 8.  Kool Kid-Medication  Jon Hunt led the bands Lunar 9 and Medication around the turn of the millennium, and can still be caught around the Twin Cities playing keyboards in Landing Gear. 9.  Danger! High Voltage-Electric Six (available at Better Propaganda...at BP, first you have to add a song to your playlist, then you can download it from the playlist)  This song is so much fun and so electric, that, yes, it's dangerous. 10.   Ivanka-Imperial Teen  I first heard of this band through "Yoo Hoo", the song of theirs that was the highlight of the soundtrack of the forgettable teen movie Jawbreaker.  The times it played during the movie were pretty much the only parts of the movie I enjoyed.  "Ivanka" was actually in the movie Thirteen, a much better movie, even if the song isn't (quite) as good. 4:50:32 PM    comment []

Quote for the Day, 6/18/2005   "Sure, I could take the easy road.  I could conceal my blunders or have them passed on to the courts for prosecution.  But that would be wrong.  So I must tell you tonight that I clung far too long in my loyalty to Adlai Stevenson, believing him to be the last, best hope until the day he collapsed and died on a London street.  I thought for a while the hippies had the answer, that flowers stuck in gun barrels just might work.  After that, I took to carrying my gas mask in search of a demonstration.  I thought that Jimi Hendrix was a genius who would live forever.  I believed that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone, and ditto for Sirhan Sirhan.  I thought the ghettos would keep burning until racism was acknowledged as the nation’s first, most immediate problem.  I thought I'd grow old like my grandfather, saying, If only I were young today!" "All of these notions have proved to be false or irrelevant. "Mea culpa."   -Barry Farrell, How I Got To Be This Hip, "Some Notes on the Last Twenty Years"   My list of blunders would be substantially different, longer, and frankly more embarrassing, but for his era, this is a pretty good list.  Every day people are dying for the wrong beliefs, and wouldn't that be a drag? 4:50:30 AM    comment []