buzz twang

Where does the year go? Seems like just yesterday we were fighting the war on Christmas, and here we are… another year, another war on Christmas. Get cracking soldier! There’s a war on!

Time to brush off your Liberal Agenda, shine up your secular beliefs, anti-Christmas rhetoric and do whatever it is you do and get on with it. The right wing Christianists wanted a war, so they got a war!

The very definition of “what if they had a war and no one came?”

Tower of Song…

Well my friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play
And Im crazy for love but Im not coming on
Im just paying my rent every day
Oh in the tower of song

I said to hank williams: how lonely does it get?
Hank williams hasnt answered yet
But I hear him coughing all night long
A hundred floors above me
In the tower of song

I was born like this, I had no choice
I was born with the gift of a golden voice
And twenty-seven angels from the great beyond
They tied me to this table right here
In the tower of song

So you can stick your little pins in that voodoo doll
Im very sorry, baby, doesnt look like me at all
Im standing by the window where the light is strong
Ah they dont let a woman kill you
Not in the tower of song

Now you can say that Ive grown bitter but of this you may be sure
The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor
And theres a mighty judgement coming, but I may be wrong
You see, you hear these funny voices
In the tower of song

I see you standing on the other side
I dont know how the river got so wide
I loved you baby, way back when
And all the bridges are burning that we might have crossed
But I feel so close to everything that we lost
Well never have to lose it again

Now I bid you farewell, I dont know when Ill be back
There moving us tomorrow to that tower down the track
But youll be hearing from me baby, long after Im gone
Ill be speaking to you sweetly
From a window in the tower of song
Yeah my friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play
And Im crazy for love but Im not coming on
Im just paying my rent every day
Oh in the tower of song

Poor Dubya has boxed himself in…

He declared victory:

Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. – George W. Bush – May 1, 2003

But, since the war isn’t actually over, he moved the goalpost:

With vigilance, determination, courage, we will defeat the enemies of freedom, and we will leave behind a more peaceful world for our children and our grandchildren.- George W. Bush – September 7, 2006

So, what do you do when that “peaceful world” is blowing up before your eyes every day in Iraq? Improvise:

“There’s one thing I’m not going to do, I’m not going to pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete…[...] We can accept nothing less than victory for our children and our grandchildren.” George W. Bush – November 28, 2006

A milestone, of a sort, has been reached: The US has been in Iraq longer than it was in World War II.

Personally, I think it’s only a milestone worth mentioning because the right wing used World War II as a propaganda tool, insinuating that WWII was the bar by which the current war should be measured, over and over again. Of course, they did absolutely nothing to actually unite the nation… but that’s another story.

The reaction from the right is as one would expect. Moronic. Shorter Red State: The Iraq War isn’t as bad as WWII because not as many soldiers have died. Which is true, but then World War II was the deadliest war in history. Over 200,000 US soldiers died in combat in that conflict, of over 2.5 million who saw combat, of a 15 million total in the US armed forces at that time. A total of 400,000 US soldiers died during WWII, from combat, accidents and associated. Nearly 25 million soldiers worldwide died. 62 million people total, soldiers and cvivilans, died by that conflicts end.

So, comparing the US deaths during the Iraq War, a barely 130,000 man combat force, with those of WWII, a 2.5 million combat force, is statistically a fool’s game. One which the folks at Red State are well equipped to play, and play well! Keep up the good work! Wankers.

Oliver Willis has a more nuanced view in “The Folly of Iraq”.

The sound is pretty shitty on this TV appearance from 1992 of Matthew Sweet performing “Girlfriend”. But, that’s Robert Quine on lead quitar, (doing his best to fade into the background) which more than makes up for the bad audio in my book.

Will be light blogging for a few days… but will post some music… See a Little Light…

Will post on my thoughts on the Douglas Rushkoff and Daniel Pinchbeck dialogue soon… but, for now…

It’s interesting. Of all the music I’ve listened to over the years, for many reasons too boring to go into here, The Who has always been the real soul of my love of music.

In 1982, much was made of what at that time seemed the breakup of the band. I went to the show at Shea, it was loud, amazing and sad. And, it seemed fitting at the time that they should not continue. Of course, they have come back to play their old hits often enough the past 20 odd years, but they had never made another studio album of new music. And, part of me was content with that, since, truth be told, I’ve thought that most of the newer material from their contemporaries was not the best, and I rather blithely put the Who in that category as well.

My mistake. I really should have known, since I’ve been following Townshend’s music, both with the Who and as a solo act, the past 20 years or so and it has always been amazing stuff.

So, the Who have put out a new album, and… it’s pretty great. Here’s a sample: The Man in the Purple Dress…