buzz twang

Am deep in the middle of the latest and greatest David Blaine event. He is going to live inside a giant sphere filled with water for seven days. We tested the sphere this past week, did an overnight test of sleeping, feeding and breathing apparatus and it went well. Now, onto the big show. If you are in New York City, stop by Lincoln Center and check it out. It will be on ABC on May 8.

For a couple of years, all over the island, I’ve caught Susan Cagle’s act. Times Square, Union Square. She’s just great. The type of music that makes you stop, listen and groove. A bit of folk, pop, rock. The first time I saw her in the Times Square station, I thought: “This woman is going to be a star.” No doubt. It’s very pop oriented, but still, extremely well done.

And, after a couple of years, it seems that she has landed a deal with Columbia. Congrats.

Listen here.

… the rotten apples fall first…

Avedon has posted the following: TIME: Bush’s five point plan to ‘rescue’ his presidency:

Propaganda is fun! And, now for the non-Newspeak speakers, a translation:

1) Deploy guns and badges – Hide behind armed services, police and rescue workers. Piggyback on their courage and hard work. Embrace it as your own. If you hang with heroes, you are a hero. Some of it will rub off. Right?

2) Make Wall Street Happy – Those who write the biggest GOP campaign donation checks get that money back. Cause then they can donate it again and again! And, of course, any serious consideration of fiscal responsibility is just too hard. It’s work! And, who’s got time for that?

3) Brag More – When it comes down to tooting your own horn, lest if not be tooted… Well, maybe it’s not being tooted for a reason. Besides, Miles Davis was a horn player. The GOP from Bush down are kazoo players. Barely. And, they only know one tune. Barely. But, they play it over and over and over again, until everyone sort of starts to hum it out of sheer boredom and being worn down. You know, sorta like people who don’t hear their kids screaming and fighting in the same room anymore and they smile that dumb complacent smile? It’s like that. Only with nukes and billions and billions of dollars at stake. Sh*t. That’s friggin’ depressing.

4) Reclaim Security Credibility – “That guy, you know, the one who tells you to hold your hands over your belt buckle when you go through the metal detector at the airport? You know how he says: ‘Put your hands over your belt buckle please.’? That was my idea.”

5) Court the press – Two words. Free food.

It’s oddly reassuring to see that even with a new Chief of Staff, the Bush White House is still being run as the definitive example of the S.N.A.F.U. Principle. It would be a shame to have to rename this place after I painted it and all.

Billmon excerpted and posted the quote, which I’ll copy here:

The new White House chief of staff told President Bush’s aides today that there will be changes in their ranks and that anyone who is thinking of leaving before the end of the year should do so a lot sooner than that.

The chief of staff, Joshua Bolten, told the staff members that “this is a time to re-energize and renew our commitments to help the president advance his agenda,” said the chief White House spokesman, Scott McClellan. Nor did Mr. McClellan rule out changes at the cabinet level.

“The president hopes we can get any changes out of the way long before the snow falls,” McClellan said. “We don’t want anyone to think he’s being railroaded, but they should understand that government service isn’t a private treasury for secretaries who think they’re as important as Alexander Hamilton.

“I trust I’ve made myself clear,” McClellan added.

Crystal. Nothing like a good house cleaning from the bottum up… except this spring cleaning stops before you get to the bats in the bellfry. Lord knows that if they actually found an ounce of competence that the world would implode when matter met anti-matter.

Basically, what they are saying is: “Leave before you are fired.” to those who will take the hit for the lifers who actually have to feed the Dubya his daily dose of happy gruel.

Rule of thumb: If you get to see the Chimp in the Oval Office on a regular basis, your job is safe. More or less. If you have to read your own emails as well as someone else’s (your boss) and it’s not out of your job description to: fetch coffee, read mail, write mail, or generally do someone else’s job for them in one way or another, then you are going to be choosing fonts and paper for a resume soon.

Wonder what the job prospects are like for someone who worked in the office for the man who destroyed a once great nations reputation, economy and unity. What’s that worth? Like 90K a year?

From the beginning, the tactic of the Bush White House has been one of deception and manipulation, of fear and obsfucation, of placing public relations and politics before solid policy. And, as noted previously, the chickens always come home to roost. To wit, from Robert Parry’s article George W. Bush IS a Liar:

The White House is taking umbrage over new press reports that George W. Bush misled the American people on a key justification for invading Iraq. But Bush’s latest excuse – that he was just an unwitting conveyor of bad information, not a willful purveyor of lies – has been stretched thin by overuse. [...] But the truth is that Bush has been caught, again and again, relying on lies and distortions to confuse the American people about the Iraq War. Sometimes, he can blame U.S. intelligence agencies for the false information, but other times, he simply lies about facts that he personally knows.

Read the full article for a list of those abuses.

And, from US News:

Day after day, the president’s credibility has been under assault, even when the facts are in dispute. Last week, the Washington Post reported that in 2003 Bush declared that U.S. troops in Iraq had captured two trailers outfitted as mobile biological weapons labs even though a secret intelligence report at the time found the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons. White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan attacked the Post report as “reckless,” saying it was a preponderance of intelligence, now seen to be erroneous, that led Bush to make the statement about the Iraqi trailers, not a desire to mislead anyone. In another episode, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reported in the New Yorker that Bush has accelerated Pentagon planning for attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites, including potential use of nuclear “bunkerbuster” bombs, a story the administration tried to shoot down as “speculation.”

All this came on the heels of the disclosure that Bush authorized the declassification and release of information about prewar Iraq’s nuclear capabilities in order to discredit critics like former Ambassador Joe Wilson. Democrats quickly condemned Bush as a hypocrite because he has been a longtime critic of leaks. Even more damaging is news that a growing number of retired senior military officers have turned against Bush’s Iraq policy–which has become the biggest political millstone around his neck–and are calling for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s replacement.

Amazing it took this long if you ask me.

….a little of this, a little of that…

Maintanance… A few annoying issues have been fixed. The comments link now goes directly to the Blogger comments interface, rather than to the archive page (previously requiring a second click to post comments. annoying.) The archive pages now also have links back to the main page. Annoying. And, added an emial to frineds button. And there was much rejoicing.

Can’t say I’ve ever been a fan of the Dixie Chicks. But, everyone is linking to this, (AOL Video plug in required) and it just makes me grin. Very punk. Very cool. It needed to be said. And, it’s going to be a huge hit.

For those who are AOL challenged, here’s the YouTube version…

Mimus Pauly at Skippy links to a timely smackdown of “persecuted Christians”. Amen indeed.