Thursday, March 24, 2005

Enjoy this little song

The name of the band is Li'l Cap'n Travis. It's the name of the band, not a person.

This is "Steady as She Goes" a little break for you in your hectic day.

They are on Glurp records, whose website can be found here.

Nouvelle Vague - I Melt with You

Sorry about the lack of posts lately, couldn't be helped. Start sending those checks in and we'll talk about changing up priorities.

Anyway, dig this song here. Groovy in a sorta Richard Cheese Way, but it's also done well. As the Fluxblog said " they rescue a beautiful love song from I Love The 80s kitsch and Burger King commercials by toning down the intensity and putting the focus squarely on the lyrics and melody"

Enjoy.

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Cal Thomas is a craphole

From Media Matters. This entry here:

In his March 14 column, nationally syndicated columnist Cal Thomas attacked the "religious left" for attempting to "sway evangelicals into embracing its social agenda" and drew a parallel between "liberal churches" who preach "a doctrine of salvation through works" and Satan's "tempt[ing] to do what seems good."


Ok. I get it now. I don't know either way whether works are required for salvation or not. I can argue either way. The literature supports both views.

But I do know it seems awfully convenient for sanctimonious hate-mongers and ignoramuses like Cal Thomas to deny works-based faith and/or salvation because if he believed otherwise, then he and those finger-pointers like him would be laid bare for the world to see what greedy, hateful hypocritical fear-peddlers they really are.

I think Cal Thomas and homophobes like him take that position precisely BECAUSE it gets them off the hook for NOT doing good deeds for others. They can bask in the glow of their own personal salvation, made warmer by the heat they can spew on those not so lucky in the salvation department, castigating all those do-gooders into the pit for all eternity. Meanwhile, they can wipe their own addled consciene clean, proclaim themselves "saved," while they drive their fleeced SUVs with the dual-well DVD players to their country clubs and McChickFil'a Kings and complain about how liberals are destroying America.

Like I said, I can argue works are required, I can argue they're not. Reasonable people can disagree on this point. Reasonable people can think that works are not required for salvation but are a necessary part of evangelization and/or a pretty good thing to do NO MATTER WHAT THE MOTIVE.

What reasonable people CAN'T do is liken the other guys, the guys with whom they disagree, to Satan. Then you'd be Cal Thomas ya see, and, well, it's pretty clear he's not reasonable.

Ye Olde Librul medier

Yep, take a look at this bastion of liberalism in the mainstream media, CNN. They are all over the big issues of the day, the hot button liberal issues, they are REALLY doing the liberals' bidding over there at CNN.

Geez.

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Lucero at My Space

has new tunes streamed here.

Ben Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama

a little gospel for ya here mid-week.

Download "Take My Hand."

Daily Dose of Arrested Development

G.O.B.'s sexual harassment speech:

"Please refrain from discussing or engaging in any sort of interoffice bleeping or bleeping or finger bleep or bleepsting or bleeping or even bleep. Even though so many people in this office are begging for it. And if anybody does anything with my sister Lindsay, I’ll take off my pants, I’ll shave bleep. And I’ll personally bleep..."

Hear it here. (right click, save and listen)

So Just Who Exactly is "out of the mainstream"?

From a WaPo poll:

"Fifty-three percent of Americans said the war was not worth fighting, 57 percent said they disapprove of the president's handling of Iraq, and 70 percent said the number of U.S. casualties, including more than 1,500 deaths, is an unacceptable price. "

But WAIT, there's MORE. Bush's approval ratings on Iraq:

AP/Ipsos poll. 3/7-9. MoE 3.1%

Approve 45
Disapprove 53

Gallup. 2/25-27. MoE 3%

Approve 45
Disapprove 53


So if you objected to the war in the first place, you were "out of the mainstream," a Deaniac, hippie peacenik...but you were also, um, RIGHT.

And if you criticized how it was being conducted, why it was being conducted, when it was being conducted, and how the war was sold, you were a traitor, a "freedom-hater" but you were also, um, RIGHT.

I still can't believe these guys won.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Cornholing

"Lucille: Everyone’s laughing and riding and cornholing except Buster."

If it were not so sad....

it'd be funny. Headline in today's Clarion Ledger Fugitive arrested, freed by JPD

"Jackson police arrested and then released a man on Hinds County's "Wanted by the Law" list.

And here I am worrying about whether a speeding ticket will show up on my record for insurance purposes. Geez.

Ryan Adams live October 20th, 2002, Denver, CO

check out a live Ryan Adams download, free, here. It's a good show, Source: SBD > DAT > CD > EAC(secure) > WAV > SHN.

Also, Bright Eyes covering Feist's "Mushaboom" here. Interesting.

Ray LaMontagne

Ray LaMontagne - Trouble (live).

This guy is at Bonnaroo this year, as well. Check him out.

Poor Ole Bernie - Aw Shucks

Turns out his "aw shucks" and blame game didn't work. I guess now Bernie'll blame his lawyer, or the judge, or the......

Guilty on all counts. Counts include: one count of conspiracy, one count of securities fraud and seven counts of false regulatory filings.

Let's all remember, shall we, Bernie's remarks shortly after everything collapsed and finger after finger started pointing his way:

“I just want you to know you aren’t going to church with a crook,” he began. “I don’t know what all is going to happen or what mistakes have been made. No one will find me to knowingly have committed fraud. More than anything else, I hope that my witness for Jesus Christ will not be jeopardized.”

Jesus to Bernie: You can't cease witnessing now, thank you.

Here's a sorta inside perspective from a former WorldCom employee.

Finally, for a good review, the Clarion-Ledger's excellent trial archive is here.

Bush Crashing and Burning on Social Security

Talking Points Memo has all the details, referencing a WaPo article outlining the ins and outs of Bush's failing social security push. Bush's crass appeal to the lowest common demoninator is failing. Turns out enough people care enough about people other than themselves to see through his cynical and self-serving political games.

Good!

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Riviera

Head on over to Songs:Illinois to get some good stuff by Riviera.

I particularly like Blue Eyes

More information on Riviera here.

Go Rebs Go

SEC Tourney, 1st round result: Rebs 53 - 52 South Carolina. Box score here.

Rebs play Alabama tomorrow at noon CST.

And, in football news, another OM assistant runs afoul of the law for partaking of Satan's spirits.....

The Religious Left

Amy Sullivan discusses the religious left here. Amy has some really good insights.

RANA - Replacements

Courtesty of The Big Ticket MP3 blog, here's a nice song by RANA called "Replacements". A nice lead melody. I'll try to learn more about this band, but I sure like that song.

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Good for Gene Taylor

Gotta like Gene Taylor from the Coast. Often accused of being too aligned with Republicans, he gets it right here.

Taylor said: "Taylor focused much of the meeting on the country's $7.7 trillion deficit, calling it "immoral." People talk about morals; well, it's immoral to take people's money and it's immoral to stick our children with the bill."

FWIW, that's pretty much what Howard Dean said during his visit to Jackson last week.

Monday, March 07, 2005

Bankruptcy Bill - Just Awful

Scumbags. Scumbags scumbags scumbags.

Here's the crux of the bankruptcy bill:

• Debtors will have to pay more to creditors, both in bankruptcy and after bankruptcy, so that a bankruptcy filing will leave a family with more credit card debt, higher car loans, more owed to their banks and to payday lenders.

• Makes it more expensive to file for bankruptcy by driving up lawyers’ fees with new paperwork, new affidavits, and new liability for lawyers, so that the people in the most trouble can’t afford to file.

• Makes more hurdles and traps, with deadlines that a judge cannot waive even if someone has a heart attack or an ex-husband who won’t give up a copy of the tax returns, so that more people will get pushed out of bankruptcy with no discharge.

• Makes it harder to repay debts in Chapter 13 by increasing the payments necessary to confirm in a repayment plan, so that more people will be pushed out of bankruptcy without ever getting a discharge of debt.

For a bit more detail, you can go here for a good treatment of the bill. If you read this in-depth treatment of the bill, it could very well make you sick to your stomach.

TPM is keeping up with the developments here. I'm afraid this thing is gonna pass.

Poor Ole Bernie - Update March 7th PM

So the Ebbers jury has asked to review again the video where Bernie tells WC's shareholders:

"We have been a sound financial company," Ebbers says in the interview, given to CNBC in February 2002. "We have been very conservative in our accounting."

That doesn't sound good for Bernie, it being, you know, a LIE and all.

In another potentially discouraging development for Ebbers, the jury also asked for a videotape of President Bill Clinton asserting "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."

More to follow I'm sure

Secret Machines - Nowhere Again

Ok, let's try this again. Here's "Nowhere Again" by Secret Machines. This is a solid song.

These guys will be at Bonnaroo this year (as will yours truly). If the rest of their stuff is this good, I'll probably make it a point to see 'em.

Get it quick, not sure how much longer the tune will be up.

William Elliot Whitmore - Real Good Stuff here

Hey, swing on over to Songs:Illinois, a really tasty MP3 blog. The most recent entry covers a William Elliot Whitmore.

I'm really diggin the songs the blog is offering from this artist and will likely seek out more.

Check em out:

Diggin My Own Grave and

Porchlight

Enjoy

P.S. If you can't get them from here, just go to here and scroll down a bit.

Munk - Kick Out the Chairs (Who Made Who Mix)

Hey, some of y'all might dig this song.

The song has some profantiy. So if after hearing it, you and/or your children who might hear it are unable to carry on as functioning adults, and/or lose the will to live, you've been warned.

But you can still dance to it.

Saturday, March 05, 2005

Bush the Bully

Indeed. Josh Marshall gets it just about right. Bush has no ideas, he has no plan, he rules with and by fear. He inspires only fear and hate and consistently appeals to the lowest common denominator.

Anyway, Josh says it better than I could, so click on over.

Friday, March 04, 2005

Barry Gibb Talk Show

Saw this last night on SNL rerun. Could NOT stop laughing. I usually don't like Jimmy Fallon, but I could NOT stop giggling, particularly at the closing song...

(To the tune of "Nights on Broadway"):

We.. have.. bee-en..
Talkin' it up
On The Barry Gibb Talk Show!
Talkin' about chest hair
Talkin' about crazy cool medallions!

could NOT stop laughing.

P.S. Along the same lines, here's the "Glen" Starbucks commercial with Survivor and Triumph the Comic Insult Dog at a Star Wars premiere. Both are pretty funny.

And for the truly obsessive, here's where you can hear or download a sound clip of the closing theme music on WKRP in Cincinnati.

Mainstream Values

Yes, what she said. Right on.

Best Part:

"A good many people are Democrats not despite their faith but precisely because of their faith. I don't want to read "religious" when what you mean is "right-wing." I don't want to read "evangelical" when what you mean is "conservative evangelical." And I don't want to read "moral values" when what you're really referring to are hot-button, right-wing sexual morality issues. "

Right on.

What a stupid idea

So Greenscam wants to implement a national sales tax.

What a stupid idea. I'm just a schmo with a mediocre blog, so I don't have to explain WHY I think it's a stupid idea, but I do think it's stupid.

Go here for a pithy summary of my opinion on this.

UPDATE: The Clarion Ledger sounds off on the impact of a national sales tax on Mississippi here.

Lucero - Crystal Blue

This is one of my favorite Lucero songs. This was recorded in a small coffee shop in Memphis called "The Map Room" which is about 1/2 the size of a Starbuck's (which is a moderate coffee company chain found in a number of cities) and this was, I believe, before Lucero added Roy on drums and Stubblefield on bass. Brian Venable, the lead guitarist (the non-singing guitarist) gave me a cassette tape of this show (about 6 songs) a couple of years ago, and told me someone just plopped a cassette walkman down on the stage and taped it. I took the cassette, gave it to my friend Trey Woodruff, who burned it to a cd, it was converted to an MP3, then I sent to the admin of the site.

It's a great simple little song and a good example of Ben Nichols' songwriting prowess. Hope you enjoy. (Just right click on the link to download it).

BONUS "Grandaddy" by Patterson Hood

SEC Instant Replay

Ok, so the SEC has resoloved to use instant replay on an experimental basis next season.

Can I be the first in line to say "Phooey"!? This is just so stupid. I like college football. I really like college football. But it is, after all, just football. It's a game. I scream and cuss and get mad and do and say stupid things before/during/after games because I care more than I should, but in the calm and reasoned months of the year (and March is certainly a reasonable month, you know, with Lent and all, keeping it all in perspective, but I digress), I recognize that it's a game and it's supposed to be fun. This is not surgery. So WHAT if the refs get a call wrong? The law of averages would dictate that, unless you're Alabama, for every game lost because of a refereeing decision, there is a game won because of a refereeing decision. And again, unless you're Alabama, for every call that goes against you, in the great cosmos of karma and goodwill, there will be one that goes for you at some point. NOTE: (For any obnoxious Bama fans who accidentally stumble by this board on their way to the website for the John Boy and Billy program (or the Nascar website), please note that almost all reasonable and intelligent fans of schools other than Alabama believe that Alabama gets the benefit of all refereeing decisions and that this is evidence of an anti- Ole Miss/ MississippiState/ LSU/ Auburn / Arkansas/ Tennessee/ Georgia/Kentucky/Florida/Vandy/South Carolina conspiracy in the SEC (note that SEC's offices are located, I think, in ALABAMA...Coincidence? I think not....))

Can't we just let bad refs be a part of the game, like weather or crowd noise? Are we going to make it so the wind blows in exactly the same direction at exactly the same pace for exactly the same amount of time for each of the teams in every game? Gotta be fair, right? (terrible example, I know, but when we break out into our individual discussion groups we can each come up with better ones. Post better examples in the comments section. If you don't know how to use the comments section, then mumble it under your breath).

And what about the length of the game? Between television time outs, real time outs, commercials after punts, etc. many games now last nearly four hours. With instant replay, the games will now be even longer.

Perhaps most importantly, if you're one of the people who actually attend games, there will now be 5 - 10 minute delays where NOTHING happens. Since, according to that article, "[w] do know that coaches will have no ability to request a review," MSU athletic director Larry Templeton said, "[t]hat comes from upstairs", during those times, after some shadowy character will push the button or make the call and rectify some wrong done to Alabama (c'mom, you don't really think Ole Miss is gonna benefit from this rule, do you?), as a fan who attends the game (and, you know, provides the "atmosphere" and "spectacle" all those good folks in the comfort of their barcalounger tune in for), you get to stand around and do, essentially, NOTHING, while the home viewer can go for a snack, or check his stocks or, better yet, watch other football games (assuming that the other games are not in an interminable television replay mode). As a fan attending the game, here's yet another inconvenience (parking, commercial breaks and even radio time outs. There ARE radio timeouts! Time outs for RADIO! My indignation knows no bounds!) added to your game experience for the benefit of those slobs at home who love the game so much they can't actually be bothered to, you know, get up off their lazy $%#$% to actually ATTEND the game.

An esteemed colleague of mine emailed me the following this morning, and I think we would all be wise to write this down and revisit it come the first of December:

The questions to be asked at the end of the season are:

1. How many favorable calls for AL/TN were overruled by review?

2. How many favorable calls for AL/TN's opponents were overruled by review?

3. How many favorable calls for AL/TN were reviewed at all?

Indeed.



P.S. My sincere apologies for quoting Larry Templeton in a manner in which he was not being ridiculed.

Thursday, March 03, 2005

About the name of the Blog

As noted in (somewhat confusing) fashion below the name of the blog, it is named "Unless Round is Funny." What's the signficance you ask? Well, it's from the movie Raising Arizona. After kidnapping Nathan, Jr., Evelle Snoats, played ably by William Forsythe, enters a convenience store to purchase some diapers for the kidnappee. When he stops at the counter, he notices some balloons nearby and....

[Evelle picks up a pack of balloons]

Evelle: Do these blow into funny shapes and all?

Grocer: Well, no, unless round is funny.

listen to it here

Soon thereafter, Evelle is questioned by his brother, Gale Snoats (ably played by John Goodman ) concerning same said balloons:

Evelle: I got me some baby grub, baby wipes, diapers, then disposable kind. I also got a package of balloons.

Gale: They blow up into funny shapes and all?

Evelle: No, just circular.

Hope that explains it sufficiently.

Swandiving

Ok, here's another song I can't get enough of recently by The Glass . They're linked on the right over there, and I found them initially after I bought a copy of one of the Makeshift Music (Memphis music label) samplers at Shangri-La Records in Memphis a couple of weeks ago (while up there for the Wilco show).

Anyway, the song combines a nice sad melody (with a good slide guitar whine) with a pretty plaintive lead vocal. The production is clean and simple and the tempo drives ahead to a satisfying conclusion which includes some rising crescendos and a bit of screaming. A little bit Interpol, a little bit Lucero with a touch of Jay Farrar and Son Volt thrown in.

Anyway, check it out, I think you might like.

The Social Security Mess

I don't know enough to argue one way or the other about the social security mess. Josh Marshall has done, is doing, and will continue to do an excellent job detailing all the ins and outs of the arguments. Big picture?

1. The Bushies are simply lying. There is no crisis. The same #s they use to trump up the "crisis" they conveniently ignore when calculating the extent (not the existence) of the mounting deficits created by their irresponsible borrow and spend approach to (limited) government

2. Private accounts (which are not necessarily a bad thing but I'm NOT gonna go into all that just now) do NOTHING to address the (nonexistent) "crisis."

And, finally, on a political level, messing around with social security is just plain stupid. If it ain't broke, don't fix it and if it ain't broke, don't go breakin it or sayin it's broke (sing along with Kiki Dee if you will).

And why on earth do the Dems want to save Bush's tail when he's at a stunning 29% approval rating on social security?

Bush's boat is sinking fast and Dems like Joe Lieberman want to throw him a life preserver. Seriously, just step aside and let the plan die. It will be #1,245 of Bush's miserable failures.

Howard Dean in Jackson, Mississippi

So I got to see Howard Dean the other night here in little ole Jackson, Mississippi. Attended a reception, thanks to Rita Royals of the Mississippi Democratic Club of Jackson (thanks also to Marianne Royals Wynn), at a private residence. He gave a little speech in the backyard and took some (pretty good) questions.

He noted that there were some places in America where being a Democrat was socially unacceptable and he wanted to change that. Expected characters were there (Wayne Dowdy, Gov. Winter, Gov. Musgrove) along with some of the money people I presume.
The big dinner, at the Clarion Hotel, was packed with ravenous Democrats! It was like a rock-n-roll show. Very encouraging for local Dems (of which I am one). The dinner sold out (I think they could have charged more than $75 a plate actually), some people were in the lobby listening and eating pizza. Gov. Winter made Howard's introduction and did just an excellent job. Huge roar from the crowd when Dean said Dems are gonna run in every state.

Anyway, you can listen about it here or read about it here.

Marshall Ramsey has a marginally funny cartoon here and the Jackson Free Press has a good interview with the man here

One in Four DimWits Agree!

So, let me get this straight. (Shaking head). Out of every 4 people you run into today, one of them wants to use a NUKE on terrorists? A nuke? A nuclear weapon? Hiroshima redux? Blowing up a town or a province, wiping it to the ground, thousands (millions) of people suffering endlessly into the horizon with fallout (and other scientifically sounding bad stuff)?

I understand the glass is almost empty here, that this means that 3 of 4 Americans think it's unacceptable to drop the big one to stop terrorists.

Let's also keep in mind that, according to the article "Experts agree that the power of today’s weapons, their range of damage and the peril of drifting radioactive fallout far exceeds the bombs used against Japan."

So I wonder where we would drop this (more than 1?) bomb.....I've never been over there, so I don't know what the (as Rumsfeld remarked) attractive targets would be.

Wouldn't dropping a nuke on terrorists (and wouldn't they have to be called "suspected" terrorists, particularly if we are dropping the nukes on them preventively?) increase the chances that a terrorist (maybe the suspects' friends or well-wishers) would want to use a nuke somewhere on us (spare me the argument that the terrorists want to nuke us already. It's boring)?

And we're the good guys? The clear moral force in the world? Doing the good things?

I'd look VERY CAREFULLY at every fourth person you bump into....you never know.....

Jump Into the FiYAH!!!!

I downloaded and now CANNOT stop listening to LCD Soundsystem's "Jump Into the Fire". You can find it here:

Actually, the above may not work. If it doesn't, go here and then just right click on the LCD title banner at the top of the post. It'll likely only be posted there for a week or two. When I figure out how to post/host MP3s myself, I'll do it for songs like that.

Scenestars, which is linked on the right side of the page, features a good many Memphis musical acts and has a pretty good variety of musical tastes represented on its site, which is updated daily. It is a really good MP3 blog. I hope I can one day emulate part of scenestar's approach, posting an occasional MP3 from an obscure band and, maybe, just maybe, some people will stop by and actually download them.

If anyone knows of any other good MP3 blogs or any other good sites to find and/or download (legally) good music, let me know.

Poor Ole Bernie

So, the jury will soon get to decide poor ole Bernie Ebbers' fate. What a stand up guy, Bernie. Take charge, march forward, but what about when the #$%#$ hits the fan?

Well, then, just start pointing fingers! Waaaah!!!! It wasn't me!!! It was the OTHER guy, not me!!!!! Waaahh!!!!

Yep, ole Bernie says he don't know nothin bout runnin no compny! Aw shucks, he's just an ole PE coach who done got caught up in high finance. It was my CFO's fault! It wasn't me! Not too long ago, the world looked to Ebbers for moral and ethical guidance and he stood outside the steps of his church and pontificated to anyone who would listen:

The humble servant of Christ bemoaned at the time: "More than anything else, I hope that my witness for Jesus Christ will not be jeopardized."

Irony, meet Bernie. Bernie, meet irony.

UPDATE: According to this poll, 77% of folks think Bernie will be found guilty. (FWIW, as of March 4th at 9:30, that number has increased to 79%. What do those 2% know?) We shall see!