The Palin-Bachmann Juggernaut Picks Up Steam

click images to enlarge

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

People rarely agree (except Mona Goldwater) when I say that Ex-Governor Palin is a force to be reckoned with in 2012, either as a candidate, or as king-maker. Note: it's not like I WANT this to happen. Their logic is usually something like "The American people are no way that dumb," or "It can't happen here." But what happens when you put the two tea-party poster gals together into one rolling, perhaps unstoppable juggernaut? We have proved at least twice in the last decade that intelligence is not one of the job requirements for the Presidency. But then, again, perhaps there are limits to that theory and the voting public does have some sort of floor on the qualifications of POTUS?




Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann--the two Tea party favorites--rallied together
recently in Minnesota. "I knew that we'd be buddies when I met her when she
said, 'Drill here, drill now,'" Palin said. "And then I replied, 'Drill baby drill,'
and then we both said, 'You betcha!'"




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Big Star Videos & Slideos-->In The Street - Thank You Friends - September Gurls

And thank YOU, Alex, Jody, Andy, Chris, Ken, and Jonathan for all the great music...

Wow. As they say, "Slap my ass and call me Sally!" -- Apple shovels out big bucks in a Nano-pod Class Action settlement

OK, I'm used to getting these class action settlements for various things. I know I've received, as part of other settlements, five dollar coupons, good for a discount on (what, the $350?) MS Office, money off Jiffy Lube oil changes, a voucher for two free cans of tuna fish,
and rebates of $3.00 for some government group that miscalculated something.





This time, however, Apple sent me a check for $37.50 for scratches on a nanopod. Thirty-seven dollars! If I got $37.50, just how much did the attorneys get to keep? And how many thousands or millions of us joined the class? The lawyers deserve it this time, for a magnificent performance! We didn't just settle with a $10 iTunes or iPhone App Store credit. They had to fork over actual truckloads of real dollars! Is this a great country, or what?


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Five Years Ago Today On All This Is That: Hillbilly Cred - A photo of Jack that he says proves his claims of "Hillbilly Cred." It is a photograph of him at one year of age, teething on his Grandpa Dell's hook arm

Click to enlarge - Jack and Dell Galvin, 1953

To prove that I do have Hillbilly cred, I submit this photo. It's 1953 and I am teething on my step-grandfather Dell's hook arm. He lost his hand at a sawmill or on the railroad (there was another missing limb in the family and I can't remember which was which).  [published on All This Is That, April, 2005]
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A sad day for Ballard, and most of all, the friends and families of Kellen Jones, Spenser Millard, and Mike Turner

Kellen "Bobo" Jones is my second cousin, the son of my cousin Dave, and his wife Kelly Jones (I am half Jones), and brother of Dylan. He died tragically, with two of his best friends in Ballard on Easter. Kellen was a football legend and well-loved boy about Ballard. . .the guy everyone likes, and about whom people always have something nice to say. My heart goes out to Dave, Kelly, and Dylan. This is heartbreaking. But it is also a time to celebrate how many lives he touched, and read and listen to the many testimonies of people who loved him and were touched by his generous heart.

We're all in this together, but there is no way we can know or really share the depth of loss this great family feels.



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George Harrison video: "Awaiting on you all" performed at The Concert For Bangladesh (with lyrics)

Another great performance from the Concert For Bangladesh. One of the great songs from George's "All Things Must Pass" album. . .I assume the "chanting the names" he sings is a reference to Krishna, because they do indeed believe that chanting the names of the Lord over and over leads you to the celestial gates. I heard them just doing that recently in Udaipur...



Awaiting On You All
By Geogre Harrison


You don't need no love in
You don't need no bed pan
You don't need a horoscope or a microscope
The see the mess that you're in
If you open up your heart
You will know what I mean
We've been polluted so long
Now here's a way for you to get clean

By chanting the names of the lord and you'll be free
The lord is awaiting on you all to awaken and see
Chanting the names of the lord and you'll be free
The lord is awaiting on you all to awaken and see

You don't need no passport
And you don't need no visas
You don't need to designate or to emigrate
Before you can see jesus
If you open up your heart
You'll see he's right there
Always was and will be
He'll relieve you of your cares

By chanting the names of the lord and you'll be free
The lord is awaiting on you all to awaken and see
Chanting the names of the lord and you'll be free
The lord is awaiting on you all to awaken and see

You don't need no church house
And you don't need no temple
You don't need no rosary beads or them books to read
To see that you have fallen
If you open up your heart
You will know what I mean
We've been kept down so long
Someones thinking that we're all green

And while the pope owns 51% of general motors
And the stock exchange is the only thing he's qualified to quote us
The lord is awaiting on you all to awaken and see
By chanting the names of the lord and youll be free---o0o---

Painting: Just Spring

click to enlarge.

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In Pune, Maharashtra: the Aga Khan's palace/Gandhi's prison where he lost his best friend and wife, but left behind his artifacts and a half-pipe

The Aga Khan Palace - click all pictures to enlarge

It was here, in the Aga Kahn's palace in Pune where Kasturba Gandhi and Mahatma Gandhi's long time aide (whom he thought of as a son), Mahadeobhai Desai died. The palace that once belonged to the Aga Khan (whose son became the President of the League of Nations), served as lodging for the imprisonment of Gandhi and his wife Kasturba as British rule in India drew to a close. The Gandhi exhibits housed there are very homey and casual, and yet it is a thoughtful and moving collection. Seeing Gandhi's artifacts made him and that era resonate--we saw his cooking pots, letters and books, his sandals, photos, his Bhagavad Gita, even his bathtub, and a memorial with his ashes, in the garden near where his wife and friend's ashes are buried.

This is something to see if you're ever in Pune. This 1892 palace was built by Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah Agakhan III and was donated to India in 1969 by Aga Khan IV. It became the Gandhi Memorial.

I loved this place. It was a funky and moving tribute to, as Lord Buckley called him, "The Hip Gann." The Mahatma's presence and vibes reverberated in the palace and grounds like a celestial choir.



A pretty moving story about Gandhi's close aide dying
within a week of their imprisonment. Click to enlarge.


A memorial where at least some of Gandhi's ashes
rest.




The curved brick wall we began calling Gandhi's half-pipe

A folky painting, kind of in the Soviet tractor style of

propaganda art

The sandals Gandhi wore in prison

detail from a painting of Gandhi and his wife

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analog-->digital art: Namaste: the rickshaw driver

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Jack Brummet drawing: Scratchboard Spooks

Four scratchboard drawings done in Aurangabad, India March, 2010. Click the images to enlarge. . .

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jack scratchboards done from Korea--> Seattle

click them to enlarge



click them to enlarge
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An elephant ambles over to share Colin Whitchelo's breakfast in Udaipur

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