Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Advertisement of the day

This probably isn't your father's Oldsmobile or Betty Crocker commercial. But it does grab your attention.


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None of the above: the top Republican Presidential candidate


Lanky Link is turning triple axels in his grave, considering the
shambles into which his beloved party has fallen

A recent A.P./Ipsos poll found that nearly a quarter of all Republicans are unwilling to back any of the top four hopefuls—Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, John McCain or Mitt Romney—and that nary a candidate is a clear front-runner among Christian evangelicals. The top vote-getter in the G.O.P., so far, is "none of the above."


The moribund G.O.P. not only can't make up their minds about a candidate, but they seem to he hanging onto their shekels, piastres, and pesos. The Democrats have thus far raised far more cash--$80 million against a meager $50 million in the most recent quarter, as they also did in the previous period (Jan.-March 2007).

"Democrats are reasonably comfortable with the range of choices. The Democratic attitude is that three or four of these guys would be fine," David Redlawsk, a University of Iowa political scientist. "The Republicans don't have that; particularly among the conservatives there's a real split."


More Republicans have become apathetic about their options over the past month. 23 percent can't or won't say which candidate they would back, a jump from the 14 percent who took a pass in June.

Interestingly for the party of "the family," the three-times married Giuliani was still at the top of the polls, followed by Fred Thompson and John McCain, who have each been married twice. Mrs. Giuliani was even recently forced to admit thatRudy was actually her own third marriage. The candidate--Mitt Romney--who actually remained married for 30 years was at the bottom of the polls, in the single digits.
---o0o---

Monday, July 30, 2007

Video and lyrics: The Kinks' Celluloid Heroes

This is a concert video of one of The Kinks great tunes. I always liked the early Kinks songs, but it was this song and this album that turned me into a late and rabid fan. In my first year in college--1973--this album, along with The Grateful Dead's Europe '72, Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will The Circle Be Unbroken, a Deep Purple album I can't remember, Humble Pie's Rockin' the fillmore, Yes's Close To The Edge, and the MC5 were in constant rotation.

I was lucky enough to see The Kinks when I lived In New York City--we rented a car and drove out to see them play in Asbury Park, New Jersey (a town with a serious rock patina, thanks to The Boss, Little Steven, and The Asbury Jukes) in 1977...




Celluloid Heroes

Everybody’s a dreamer and everybody’s a star,
And everybody’s in movies, it doesn’t matter who you are.
There are stars in every city,
In every house and on every street,
And if you walk down hollywood boulevard
Their names are written in concrete!

Don’t step on greta garbo as you walk down the boulevard,
She looks so weak and fragile that’s why she tried to be so hard
But they turned her into a princess
And they sat her on a throne,
But she turned her back on stardom,
Because she wanted to be alone.

You can see all the stars as you walk down hollywood boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you’ve hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.
Rudolph valentino, looks very much alive,
And he looks up ladies’ dresses as they sadly pass him by.
Avoid stepping on bela lugosi
’cos he’s liable to turn and bite,
But stand close by bette davis
Because hers was such a lonely life.
If you covered him with garbage,
George sanders would still have style,
And if you stamped on mickey rooney
He would still turn round and smile,
But please don’t tread on dearest marilyn
’cos she’s not very tough,
She should have been made of iron or steel,
But she was only made of flesh and blood.

You can see all the stars as you walk down hollywood boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you’ve hardly even heard of.
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.

Everybody’s a dreamer and everybody’s a star
And everybody’s in show biz, it doesn’t matter who you are.

And those who are successful,
Be always on your guard,
Success walks hand in hand with failure
Along hollywood boulevard.

I wish my life was a non-stop hollywood movie show,
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes,
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die.

You can see all the stars as you walk along hollywood boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you’ve hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.

Oh celluloid heroes never feel any pain
Oh celluloid heroes never really die.

I wish my life was a non-stop hollywood movie show,
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes,
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die.
---o0o---

Code Pink bare their breasts again, this time protesting against Hillary & Speaker Pelosi


click to enlarge the photograph of the protest outside the Speaker's office



Code Pink and Breasts Not Bombs whipped them out this week, protesting Senator Clinton and Speaker Pelosi's inaction on ending the war, and on the impeachment issue. “We want to invoke for them the feminine priorities of nurturing, safety, and justice,” explained Sherry Glaser of Breasts Not Bombs. “The American people are tired of the rising body count and spending $1.8 billion a week on the war in Iraq, and they have made clear their priorities are the health and well being of this nation.”


The radical activists staged a surprise mammary protest to publicize their anti-war message on July 23. As The Hillary Clinton for President Campaign celebrated San Francisco headquarters launch party on July 23, 2007, the activists hit. Earlier in the day, they held a similar demonstration outside the offices of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.


The protest continued even after the protesters were ejected from
Clinton HQ - click to enlarge


A curious sidebar: one Democratic Senate aide asked: "Why do all the hot naked protesters just do stuff for PETA?"



Link: sevenload.com - Video of the topless protest at Hillary HQ
---o0o---

All This Is That callback: President Bush's new Press Secretary Tony Snow lambasts Bush "off the record"



From All This Is That, April 2006: President Bush's new Press Secretary Tony Snow lambasts Bush "off the record"
_____________________________________

WASHINGTON, DC—With an administration in shambles, hounded by criminal allegations, a plunge in approval ratings that shows no signs of ending, and bi-partisan calls for the resignations of various cabinet members and advisors, the President this week named Tony Snow of Fox TV and radio, as his Press Secretary/Spokesman. The choice is considered both odd and bold by many Beltway insiders.

An anonymous White House source disclosed to us that the night before Snow's appointment was announced, he lambasted Bush and his henchmen at a private party celebrating his ascension to the White House.


"Look around the White House, " Snow told his friends, "Rumsfeld, Rice, Rove and Cheney are crippled! They've been shunted off into the shadows. The President is showing signs of battle fatigue. And worse. And you guys ask why I'd want this job! With this gang of f***-ups, I'll practically BE President! How could I miss that? On the Q.T., and I mean don't even tell your wives, Bush is a basket case. They just shuffle him in and he reads the TelePrompTer as best he can. It doesn't matter if he agrees or understands it or not. That's no longer an issue. He is no longer a functioning member of the government. And let's face it, he wasn't all that swift to begin with. You still ask why I'd do this? OK. Yeah, I'm losing a million or so a year. It's not like I won't make that up the first month after I leave office. But most importantly, I can basically run this f***ing country. And the rest of these sycophants, ass-kissers, and thugs can't say jack s**t. They're so petrified they'll be the next on the chopping block that I can do whatever the f*** I want! Whatever I say becomes White House policy and none of these fools, cowering in their offices with their lawyers and shrinks will dare make a peep."

Snow also told his assembled friends "I can't tell you everything, but some of the stuff I've been hearing about Bush would shred your minds. He makes Captain Queeg look rational. As Huxley said 'In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.' Well, pals, I have two fine f***ing peepers. This is gonna be a sweet f***ing ride."
---o0o---

Saturday, July 28, 2007

The drunk astronauts


Click to enlarge this photo of Baker, a squirrel monkey who
rode a Jupiter IRBM into space and back in 1959.
(photo courtesy of the U.S. Army)

According to the Associated Press: "After drinking heavily, an astronaut flew on a Russian spacecraft and another was cleared to launch on a space shuttle, according to interviews by a panel of outside experts, the panel's chairman said Friday.

"In the case of the shuttle, the mission was delayed for mechanical reasons and the astronaut wanted to fly a jet from Florida back home to Houston, said Col. Richard Bachmann Jr., head of the panel, created to assess astronaut health. He said he didn't know the outcome.

"In none of these can we say factually they did or did not occur," he added, speaking by telephone to a news conference held in Washington. He said it was not the panel's mission to investigate allegations and that NASA would have to ferret out details.

"The independent panel was created by NASA after the arrest of astronaut Lisa Nowak in February on charges she tried to kidnap her rival in a love triangle.

"NASA said it is unaware of any astronauts who were drunk before a flight but that it is investigating. Deputy Administrator Shana Dale said the panel provided no details and did not verify the troubling revelations and promised the space agency would pursue the truth. "
______________________________________________

OK. So what? If you read The Right Stuff, by Tom Wolfe, or any of the other many accounts of America's space program, you know that being drunk is not much of an impediment to being an astronaut. It's not like they drive the shuttle. They're passengers! Remember in The Right Stuff, how the astronauts complained that they were trained for years as astronauts, but when it came time to launch those early rockets, they were essentially strapped in for the ride? And that they were really just public-friendly versions of the chimps and other primates launched in the early space rockets.

So why all the outrage about astronauts flying drunk? If you're a regular here, you know I suffer from a case of aviophobia. Now, if you were an astronaut about to fly on what is essentially a gi-normous airborne rocket fuel bomb , are you telling me you might not want a touch of the gargle too? We've watched two of these things blow up right in our faces on TV! I'm not sure I could even get on the shuttle unless I was fried to the hatline.
---o0o---

The Blog War, continued

The blog Almost There In No Time recently posted this follow-up:

"Q: Is the blog war with Jack Brummet still active?

A: I think about it all the time. In cyber-terms, he is no better than Pol Pot and/or Idi Amin. He's a shoddy cook too, constantly over/under-spicing food."


In fact, Almost There In No Time, rolled over almost exactly like the French have in every smirmish they've become involved in in modern times. Almost There In No Time talked a great blog war, but when push came to shove, they hoisted the white flag immediately, all the while declaiming their valor and righteousness. This particular blog war ended weeks ago. After the initial volleys were launched, the proprietor of Almost There In No Time scampered off like a scared jackrabbit into the infamous Marxist stronghold of Nicaragua.
---o0o---

Friday, July 27, 2007

The final frame of The Sopranos


click Tony to enlarge
---o0o---

The McCain campaign meltdown picks up steam

According to dozens of media outlets, Sen. John McCain's media team has resigned--an indication that the campaign's firings two weeks ago have resulted in a hellish blowback that threatens to sink the one-time frontrunner's moribund campaign.

Political ad-jockeys Russ Schriefer and Stuart Stevens (vets of the '04 and Y2K Bush campaigns) emailed the new campaign manager--to say that they were quitting (nice touch, you gutless pansies). The campaign manager, lobbyist Rick Davis has not exactly won friends on the campaign staff. Schriefer and Stevens told friends they had considered leaving for days because they had not been paid and it was not clear when, if, or how much they might actually be paid.


The Schriefer and Stevens resignations follow close on a story in The Wall Street Journal Monday about Rick Davis's business and lobbying activities. McCain campaign advisers say those activities involving a business he started, and another launched by an acquaintance of his, risked embarrassing the senator. I'm not so sure they would do anything he hasn't already done to himself. At this juncture, it looks like McCain could f**k up a two-car funeral procession. He has perfected the Reverse Midas Touch. Who'd have thunk this a short four months ago? I was sure it was Giuliani who would implode; we still have that to look forward to.
---o0o---

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Poem: Dawdling



Walking up to the crosswalk
I think about dawdling & how it drives
Keelin mad when I slow down to gawk or miss a turn.

The light turns green and before I step
From the curb, I stop one second
And think about Winnemucca, Saksatoon, and Walla Walla

And how those dawdling episodes
Are precious moments
That may have saved our bacon,

Keeping us seconds away from the car
That blew through the red light
The rock dropped from the overpass,

Or the one in a billion
Gargoyle that peeled from the tower
And tumblied on to the sidewalk.

Walking on the other side of the street,
I think about William Blake coloring prints.
I stop to look in the junk store window

With two mannequins propping each other up,
Old telephones, movie projectors and motherboards.
I wonder if those moments are lost at all,

But lifetimes gained exploiting synchronicity—
Where all this is that and every step
Taken or not taken counts—

Because everyone I love is here,
In one piece, with a smile in our hearts,
A pulse, and a steady heartbeat.
---o0o---

Alien Lore No. 110: UFO Invasion at Shakespeare's birthplace


Thanks to Jeff Clinton for pointing out this story...

Last Saturday the pubs emptied out, and crowds stared up at the sky, where about five UFOs seemed to hover in formation in the sky for about half an hour above Stratford on Avon. Air Traffic Control, of course, reported no unusual activity, but witnesses believe they saw an extra-terrestrial visit.

The lights hovered over the town before three of them formed a triangular shape with one positioned just to the right. Minutes later, a fifth object came into view, racing towards the others at breakneck speed before slowing down and stopping.

The usual skeptics dismissed the UFOs as nothing more than hot air balloons, or fireworks. Others, however, claimed the speed and agility of the objects was unlike any known object and that the odd movements, lack of noise and the length of time ruled out these objects being terrestrial.

"The objects were there for about half an hour. It was very eerie because they didn't make any sound and they stayed still before moving slowly beyond the horizon. There were no stars in the sky, just them."

Hillary Potter from The British Earth Aerial Mystery Society (BEAMS) said they received many calls from across the country and that it was rare for purported UFOs to be witnessed by so many people.
---o0o---

The final scene from The Sopranos (and a remixed version)

I already miss the show. As for the "controversial" ending. . .I loved it. I thought it was apt, and great, down to the last detail. Here is the last scene, followed by a remixed version of the last scene.




And the remix:


Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Dean Ericksen's realtime travelogue continues to unfold


...Click Mary to enlarge...

My brother and sister in law, Dean and Mary, and their youth Declan, Althea, and Augie, continue their two month journey through Nicaragua and Costa Rica, as reported in the blog Almost There In No Time. The trip has ranged from the harrowing to the sublime, at least from an outsider's viewpoint. There is no question they have been battling with bugs, that is, cooties and microbes, leavened with moments of tropical bliss.
---o0o---

Video: Elena James & Band play the song 24 hours a day

A video of Elena James playing "24 hours a day." (I just saw her in Austin last Friday night: The Save Town Lake benefit: Elana James, Bob Schneider, Dale Watson, Stephen Bruton, Jimmy LaFave, and Kinky Friedman).


---o0o---

Photograph: Jack & Bobby Kennedy deep in conversation


click Jack and Bobby to enlarge
---o0o---

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Lady Bird Johnson, Austin hero missed and praised




I know quite a bit about Lady Bird Johnson. I've read her diaries, and many books about her husband. I didn't realize how great her stature was in Texas, or at least in Austin, until I arrived in town, just one week after her funeral. Everywhere in Austin are posters, banners, and signs commemorating her life. Here is a snapshot of one I saw at La Pena on Congress Street:



At the Concert to Save Town Lake, many of the speakers praised her efforts to beautify Texas. In particular, Lady Bird loved Town Lake and was instrumental in having all the hike and bike trails, and gardens built there. In fact, it sounds like they are considering naming Town Lake after her. In any case, speaker after speaker praised her for her charm, wit, warmth and envionmental activism. She is indeed missed.

Town Lake is actually the Colorado River, or rather the Colorado River between two dams. It is a huge park, with 10 miles of trails, and lots of wildflowers, and really the centerpiece of Austin.
---o0o---

Newt calls the G.O.P. Presidential slate a "bunch of pygmies"

Newt Gingrich yesterday called the GOP presidential field a "pathetic bunch of "pygmies," and said he may very well step in to take on Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

"If, in mid-October, it's quite clear that one or more of the current candidates is strong enough to be a serious alternative to a Clinton-Obama ticket, you don't need me to run," the former House Speaker said at a breakfast sponsored by the American Spectator. "If it becomes patently obvious, as the morning paper points out, that the Democrats have raised a hundred million more than the Republicans, and at some point people decide we are going to get Hillary unless there's a radical change, then there's space for a candidate," he added. "So you'll know by mid-October one of those two futures is real."

Gingrich mocked Republican presidential candidates for subjecting themselves to a May debate hosted by Chris Matthews of MSNBC's Hardball. Newt didn't much cotton to "The idea of 10 or 11 people standing passively at microphones," where you "shrink to the level of 40-second answers, standing like a trained seal, waiting for someone to throw me a fish."

A passel of quotes of the day

Sex is like a game of bridge - if you don’t have a good partner, you’d better have a good hand.
- Mae West

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
- Congressman, Senator, and President John F. Kennedy

Always run from a knife and rush a gun.
- Jimmy Hoffa

This life's dim windows of the soul
Distorts the heavens from pole to pole
And leads you to believe a lie
When you see with, not through, the eye.
-William Blake

Kinky is using a feather. Perverted is using the whole chicken.
- Author Unknown

It was a pleasant café, warm and clean and friendly, and I hung up my old waterproof on the coat rack to dry and put my worn and weathered felt hat on the rack above the bench and ordered a café au lait. The waiter brought it and I took out a notebook from the pocket of the coat and a pencil and started to write.
-Ernest Hemingway

Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.
- Leonard Cohen

Poets are soldiers that liberate words from the steadfast possession of definition.
- Eli Khamarov

It is the job of poetry to clean up our word-clogged reality by creating silences around things. ~Stephen Mallarme

Anybody who believes that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach flunked geography. ~Robert Byrne

No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.
-Abraham Lincoln

There is nothing wrong with going to bed with someone of your own sex. People should be very free with sex, they should draw the line at goats.
- Elton John
---o0o---

Monday, July 23, 2007

Poem: Landing, or, Aviophobia, Part 26



The plane eases down from 36,000 feet
And as the ground rises up,
My aviophobia dissipates.

The closer we get, the better I feel
Even though earth, and not the air
Is most likely to do me in.

I could maybe handle falling 36,000 feet
In a screaming jet moulting its parts.
It's that last foot that does you in.

The landing plane could flip head over teakettle,
And burst into technicolor flames
As it cartwheels to a stop down the runway,

When I'd use my lifeless seatmate's
Head as a stepstool to vault
From the twisted wreckage,

And I would still sigh
With relief when my ankles broke
As my feet touched mother earth.
---o0o---

The Save Town Lake benefit: Elana James, Bob Schneider, Dale Watson, Stephen Bruton, Jimmy LaFave, and Kinky Friedman


Save Town Lake Benefit Friday night at Stubb's in Austin

Jack, writing, back in Seattle:

You may remember from an earlier posting that I was going to attend the Concert to Save Town Lake at Stubb's in Austin. Wow. It was very cool. A nice night. The Lone Star beer was cold, and the music was great. Kinky Friedman, a musician in his own right ("The Texas Jew-boy"), and recent candidate for governor, emceed the proceedings. I saw Elana James, Bob Schneider, Dale Watson, Stephen Bruton, Jimmy LaFave, a folkie whose name I missed, and a couple of people who did tributes to Lady Bird Johnson (whose funeral was in Austin last week). I fell out at about midnight, so I don't know if any of the surprise guests appeared (people were speculating Willie, and a few other luminaries).
In addition to a salute to Lady Bird, Kiniky also gave a moving eulogy to his friend, the great Texas (and New York Times) pundit Molly Ivins, who who would have been at the benefit had she still been with us. Elane James, Jimmy LaFave, Stephen Bruton, Dale Watson, and Bob Schneider all put on great shows. This night was a showcase of Austin singer-songwriters, and in the case of Bruton, a great guitar player.

Elena James, EJ and Band

Elena James can fiddle--both traditional and in more of a rock mode. And she can sing. She sang a lot of originals with a bass player and guitar player--both of who could really smoke. She has a good voice, but her fiddling is absolutely astounding. And she took up the fiddle late in life, after earlier careers as an editor and graduate school. Amazing. If that wasn't enough, she wasn't hard on the eyes either.


What endeared me most was a cover of Cotton-eyed Joe, an old folk song that's been around forever, but a song that Bob Wills and Tommy Duncan own as far as I am concerned...although it has been covered by many others, up to and including the Kinkster himself--Kinky Friedman, Nina Simone, and the Rednex. Go see her when she comes to your town. If you happen to be going to the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan at the end of July, she'll be there for three days. As a side note, she played fiddle for Bob Dylan extensively a couple years ago. Not a bad recommendation in itself... It would be great to see her at The Tractor in Seattle.


Dale Watson

Dale Watson! Great patter, and tunes. He has a good website too. You get a good feeling just listening to him talk. He doesn't like to be called country, preferring a word he coined "Ameripolitan." But this is roots country at its best. A fascinating sidenote on Watson: He is featured in the Zalman King documentary Crazy Again, that documents his mental breakdown after his girlfriend Terri Herbert died in a fatal car accident in September 2000. There are rumors that he will star in King's next film, Austin Angel, due out this year. Dale often plays at a place in Austin called Ginny's Little Longhorn. . .often on "chicken shit Sunday." On chicken shit Sunday, they play chicken bingo. You buy in, and you get a $100 if the chicken poops on your number on a board on the floor. Side note: Dale Watson looks a little bit like Paulie Walnuts.

Bob Schneider

Bob Schneider, an Austin legend--when people in Austin find out I see a lot of music, they always ask if I've seen him--is basically a rock and roller, albeit rock with major tinges of funk, country, folk, even a little R & B and rap. He has released a ton of albums on Universal/Vanguard, and prior to going solo was in several other bands. Outside Austin, he seems to be best known for having been Sandra Bullock's boyfriend for a couple of years. People speculate that it was that link that brought him national attention. Having seen him, I can state that he definitely has the goods. At times, he reminded me of the late 70's Bruce Springsteen...not the music so much as the energetic stage show (and the passionate vocals). He tours all the time, and plays regularly at Antone's and the Saxon Pub in Austin. I like this guy a lot. And he was clearly a hunk in the eyes of many of the women at the show, just in case you thought my mentioning Elana James looks was, uh, piggish...



Jimmy LaFave playing with Lucinda Williams and Kevin Welch at Austin's Hole In The Wall (one of my favorite Austin dives, and where Roger Wallace plays regularly)

Jimmy LaFave performed a solid, rootsy-bluesy, wistful set. Like others on the benefit bill, Jimmy is not so much country as residing somewhere in that amorphous roots rock genre that encompasses a lot of territory. One review of LaFave's recently released Cimmaron Manifesto says: "Delivering his most realized recording to date, LaFave solidifies his place as on the truly great American songwriters." And he did indeed have songs! I have this CD, and in addition to his own original tunes, he also covers: Bob Dylan (Not Dark Yet), Donovan (Catch The Wind) and Joe South (Walk A Mile In My Shoes). . .what a strange trio of songs to cover (not shocking 'though, since he has earlier recovered San Francisco...you know, "if you're going to San Francisco/be sure to wear some flowers in your hair"). The reading of Catch The Wind is especially interesting, because I never much liked the song, at least when it came out 39 years ago, or whatever it was. His reading of the song was moving; maybe it was just not having that quavering Donovan voice that makes what was actually a good tune. Thumbs up on LaFave too! If Lucinda sits in with him in a dive with forty patrons, that in itself tells you this guy has something serious going on.

Stephen Bruton, Singer-songwriter and guitarist par excellence

Stephen Bruton is a singer-songwriter,
actor, buddy of Kris Kristofferson and T Bone Burnett, and most of all, a smoking guitar player. His tunes were great too--he's written songs for Willie Nelson, Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Bonnie Raitt and others. But it was was mostly great to watch him play the guitar. We saw a lot of good players Friday, but he stood out on the guitar.

How often do you see a convergence of talent like this at one show? Not often, and it could only happen in one town. I now have five new people to see anytime I am in Austin, or they venture up north to Seattle.
---o0o---

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Jeri Kehn Photos, Part 3: Three more photos of Mrs. Fred Thompson


Another photo of the happy couple, this one tracked down by the Beldar Blog, a trial lawyer's web log

For whatever reasons, the two sets of photographs here—Meet the Thompson Twins: Fred Thompson's wife, Jeri Kehn (with photos) (June 26, 2007) and More Jeri Kehn photos--> A follow-up to "Meet the Thompson Twins: Fred Thompson's wife, Jeri Kehn (with photos) " (July 16, 2007)— featuring Jeri Kehn photos account for almost half the traffic to this blog. I mentioned previously that Jeri Kehn Thompson (or her handlers) have kept a pretty good cap on information about Ms. Kehn Thompson. . .so we're left with a handful of photographs, and not a lot of biographical information.

Here are a couple more recently found images:


This photo of Jeri Kehn seems to be real, although compared to other photos, she seems less photogenic. On the other hand, the Senator has that same beaming smile we see when he is with her in other photographs


This photo is allegedly also Jeri Kehn, wearing—apparently—hand-tooled shitkickers. I really doubt this is her. But it appears on several web sites identified as her. In none of the other photos is her hair this short. In none of the other photos, is she dressed so informally. And her hair seems far more blonde than in other photos. Ed Note: a reader, confirms that this is indeed not Jeri Kehn: "Regulator"wrote: 3rd photo is of Lorrie Morgan, country singer.Get your act together before you post!" Hey, Reg...K.M.A.! Love, Jack

Mark Levin, in the National Review makes a very good point about the uproar over Jeri Kehn. And he is basically correct (not something I usually think about the National Review):

"The Left likes to lecture us about sexism and gender discrimination. But when it comes to Republican women, they’re all for a glass ceiling. The truth is that if Jeri Thompson was the wife of a leading liberal Democrat candidate, or spent her life working for liberal causes, they would fall all over her with adulation. They’d fawn over her good looks, grace, and charm. They’d praise her for balancing family and public life. The age difference between Fred Thompson (64) and Jeri Thompson (40) would go unmentioned — as it has with Chris Dodd and his young wife. And in the case of JFK, his marriage to the younger Jackie was said to be a huge asset. It unquestionably was."
Links on All This Is That to Fred Thompson:

Senator Fred Thompson Responds To Michael Moore's Call For A Debate On Cuba
Senator Fred Thompson swamps The Mayor of 9/11 Rudy Giuliani
More Jeri Kehn photos--> A follow-up to "Meet the Thompson Twins: Fred Thompson's wife, Jeri Kehn (with photos) "
Meet the Thompson Twins: Fred Thompson's wife, Jeri Kehn (with photos)


---o0o---

All This Is That Squad Car


click the car to enlarge
---o0o---

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Poem: The eyes have it

Do amoeba have eyes?
Or electrons, or neutrinos, or quarks?
I'm sure oysters don't.
I don't know about bottom fish.
Does God only issue
Eyes on a need-to-have basis?
And which of us have souls?
When an electron fades away—
If electrons and atoms ever fade away—
Are they also issued a harp and wings?
I could find all of this out
In five minutes, except the soul part,
For which I must wait until I die,
If then.
---o0o---

Friday, July 20, 2007

The concert to save Town Lake


click the poster to enlarge

I have tickets to a benefit at Stubb's Barbecue tonight--the concert to Save Town Lake (town lake, a/k/a The Colorado River as it runs through Austin). A lot of great music all at once: Bob Schneider, Jimmy Lafave, Dale Watson, Stephen Bruton, Bob Livingston, and some surprise guests. This should be great! /jack from Austin (btw, on a Sleep Number tm bed, I dialit all the way up to 100...rock hard)...
---o0o---

Another pathetic travel day

Jack writing in from Austin, Texas. Getting here was not easy. . .There were thunder storms all over the tri state area, hundreds of planes were cancelled, and the ones that weren't were stacked up waiting to land and take off.

My plane from Boston was two hours late, and I was about to miss my connection in Newark. So, our assistant in Seattle rigged up a plan where I would wait at the airport until 9:30 (my original plane was at 5:30), grab a plane to Cleveland that would take me to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where I would wait two hours and hop on a plane to Dallas and then another plane to Austin and arrive in the morning around 10:30. But at the last minute they found a seat on another plane heading to Newark, and I made my connection--because it was two hours late. And I finally arrived in Austin at 1:30.



Of course, I was too wired to go to bed, so I walked over the warehouse district and had a beer. And now I am back in another grim corporate hotel. Hoping to sleep five hours. But all that aside. . .it doesn't matter, because I am here in one of my favorite cities in the world, albeit for about 36 hours. I am going out for music tomorrow night. About which, see the next post. And this one was supposed to be about hobo drawings...so let's get started!
---o0o---

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Hobos! A Link to a great art site: 700 hoboes

Even though they form the plural of hobo as hoboes [sic], this is a great site! When I was growing up, dozens of hobos tramped through our town, bracketed as it was between the Northern Pacific and Burlington Railroad lines. They would often come to the back door, offering to work for food. The 700 hobos project enlisted 700 artists to each draw a hobo picture.





From the web site: "In the beginning, there were hoboes. Then, a notable non-historian wrote some lies about them in his wonderful and wholly inaccurate almanac. That man was John Hodgman. The book was The Areas of My Expertise. Amongst the lies was a comprehensive list of notable historical hobo names, numbering 700. After Hodgman read the list into a music flattening device, one Mr. Mark Frauenfelder of the Boing Boing teletyped a suggestion that 700 cartoonists volunteer to draw one hobo each as a public service or for no particular reason. And so it was, more or less, and here they are. "

About the website - In March of 2006, 65 years after the end of the Hobo Wars, several members of the 700 Hoboes project decided to build a new, majestic home for these noble hoboes. Check this one out! Love, jack (I'm going to sleep).
---o0o---

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Elvis reprises his Radio Radio performance

Jack writing in from Boston, Mass:

You remember the wonderful Saturday Night Live appearance when Elvis Costello burned Lorne Michaels and played Radio Radio? He stopped in the middle of the song Michaels wanted, and started over, playing Radio Radio. This video is a callback to that episode, performed with the Beastie Boys on a Saturday Night Live anniversary show.

The original performance is also here on All This Is That: Video (and lyrics): Elvis Costello performs Radio Radio on SNL after a false start on Less Than Zero



Bonus video, since were here: Oliver's Army. Weak videom great song.



Other Elvis Constello links on All This Is That:

Elvis Costello And The Attractions Play "I Don't Want To Go To Chelsea (lyrics included"
The Elvis Costello Benefit—Seattle Does Elvis For David Egger's 826 Seattle
My five favorite Elvis Costello albums
Video and Lyrics: Elvis Costello Performs Nick Lowe's (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, And Understanding?
Video (and lyrics): Elvis Costello performs Radio Radio on SNL after a false start on Less Than Zero
Elvis Costello interviews Joni Mitchell
My ten favorite albums: Elvis Costello & The Attractions' Get Happy
Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint Seattle Set List
Elvis Costello and the Presidential action figure
Rock show of the year (so far):::::::Elvis Costello & The Impostors with Allen Toussaint
Beyond Belief Lyrics by Elvis Costello
Favorite Rock And Jazz Shows (1966-Last Weekend)
Heroes And Villains No. 22---> Elvis Costello & Billy The Kid (a/k/a Declan McManus & Wiliam H. Bonney)
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Bill Gates flips his wig/orders cancellation of the XBox

According to Microsoft insiders, Robbie Bach will announce in August that Microsoft is pulling out of the game console business. Sources blame sluggish sales and massive losses accumulating from replacing defective XBox 360s, as well as extending the warranty on all XBox 360s. One program manager estimates that, in the worst case, Microsoft will need to replace around 30 million XBox 360s. Although the 360 has sold just shy of 12 million units, Microsoft now expects most of those replacement units to fail as well, and in some cases, fail multiple times.



The decision to jettison the XBox 360 was made after a heated meeting between the part-time executive/full-time philanthropist billionaire and the XBox "team."

Three slides into the Powerpoint presentation of XBox financials, Bill Gates stood up and began screaming:

"What the f*** are we doing here Robbie? All I ever hear from you a**holes is how fantastic the XBox is! How you're so much better than the PS/3 or the f***in' Wii! And look at this! We're f***ing hemorrhaging money on this g**damned thing and now you tell me it will cost ONE BILLION dollars to fix the f***ing things because you had to make it FASTER! You just had to make it the hottest thing and now the motherf***ing things are blowing up and catching on fire! S**t! What the f*** were you thinking, a**hole? Tell me when you're going to turn the corner on this! They make a profit on every f***ing Wii they sell! And they're kicking our asses all over Redmond. So what the f*** are you genuises going to do? How do you fix this? You know how many orphans I could immunize with the g**damned money you lose every single hour on this thing?! You better have an answer in the morning. And you tell Ballmer I'm going to kick his ass all over Medina the next chance I get. How do you think it looks for Microsoft to be getting its ass kicked like this!? Maybe you a**holes think that motherf***ing Zune is going to make up the difference? Take your f***ing Powerpoint and get the f*** out of here!"



Robert J. Bach, President, Microsoft Entertainment
& Devices Division in happier days


Sources say Microsoft will continue to support the XBox and XBox 360, mainly to prevent the flood of class action suits sure to follow the cancellation. All hardware development on the 360 has now been ended. Software titles still under development will be released, however, all game titles that have not reached an "alpha" stage may be cancelled. Some insiders told us that Microsoft is exploring porting 360 games under development, as well as top selling titles like Halo 2, to both the PS/3 and Wii platforms in a move similar to Sega's strategy when it pulled out of the hardware market.
---o0o---

The Curran and Ericksen family in Nicaragua


click to enlarge

My brother and sister-in law, Dean, Mary, and their young children Declan. Althea, and August are on a two month trip to Nicaragua. Read his harrowing and endlessly fascinating account of life in Central America in his sporadic dispatches right here on BlogSpot.



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Senator Fred Thompson swamps The Mayor of 9/11 Rudy Giuliani



It's been a bad month for Rudy Giuliani. First the firefighters come out swinging, blaming Rudy's decisions for causing deaths and health problems following the World Trade Center collapse and cleanup, and now Fred Thompson leaps in and surges to the top of the field.



Senator, Reagan wannabe, and husband to Jeri Kehn, Fred Thompson has soared to the top of the Republican presidential nominees in national polling done by John Zogby.

For the first time since February, the former mayor no longer leads the Republican field. Thompson's support comes at the expense of Giuliani and John McCain, who has fallen to fourth place after losing massive support over his positions on immigration and ther Iraq war. Only a short year ago, McCain was the presumptive nominee.

The Republican Fred Thompson has grown his lead with support in his homeland, the South, and the Midwest. And maybe just a little bit because of Mrs. Thompson.
---o0o---

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Armed Forces: Jack's parents in World War II

Click all the photographs to enlarge.



Jack, Sr. in the army, shortly before World
War II, clowning with a serious looking buddy


Jack, Sr. in "dungarees" displaying his
rifle and bayonet at boot camp, in
about 1940.


Jack, Sr. a/k/a John Newton Brummet II
clowning with Navy buddies in about 1943.
World War II began just after he was
discharged from the army. He immediately
enlisted in the navy. I'm not sure the army
wanted him back. He served in the Navy
for the duration of the war.


Betty Echo Jones Brummet, with her twin brother
Bill a/k/a William Raymond Jones. Bill enlisted in
the Navy the day after Pearl Harbor. He was a
senior in high school. This picture was taken in
the spring, when the Navy allowed him to return
to Ballard High School to graduate with his class, and
sister.


Betty Brummet on leave from her post in
the Marine Corps. Betty worked for a while
during the war as the iconic Rosie The Riveter
at The Boeing Company in Seattle. During
the war she enlisted in the Marine Corps and
served in Santa Ana, California, and Cherry
Point, North Carolina. She followed my
Grandfather, William Jennings Bryan Jones
into the Marine Corps. Grandpa Bill served
in the Marines in both World War I and World
War II. In this photo, she is walking in
downtown Seattle with my step-grandma
Sally Jones.
---o0o---