buzz twang

Auld Lang Syne from Waterloo Bridge with Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor. For all those we’ve lost this year. Good bye. To the New Year ahead. Welcome.

The great Ben E. King tune, from around the world. Brilliant. From playingforchange.com
Enjoy.

(Chosen by the bloggers themselves)

Jon Swift asked a bevy of bloggers to send him their best post of the year. My self anointed best entry is in there too, amongst the kitty kat komedy.

A few of my favs:

GOP vampires want to suck you til yer cold meat over at Welcome Back to Pottersville.

Tbogg rids the Earth of needless ideas…

Rude Pundit votes to gloat after voting.

Happy New Year. See ya next year.

Via Ari Wallach… ever wonder what it would look like if a planet killing asteroid hit the Earth? Well, now you can watch a CGI rendering of it, accompanied by Pink Floyd’s The Great Gig in the Sky. Beautiful, terrifying. Love it.

Happy holidays! Happy Xmas (War is over)

The Jakeneck Archives. An oldie but goodie from June 12, 2003:

The problem with public relations spin, deception and lying is it will come back to haunt. You’d think that the Bush White House would have learned that lesson from the Clinton experience. But, no.

In the spirit of “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.“, the current administration has worked assiduously at priming the public relations pump, spreading the word, insisting that the once over and now continuing war against Iraq is not about oil. The sound bite rhetoric is familiar to us all: “This is not about oil. This is about a tyrant, a dictator, who is developing weapons of mass destruction to use against the Arab populations.”

The problem is twofold: 1) the intelligence used in the failed attempt to convince the world that Iraq had viable WMD’s is suspect, the search effort is slowing down, and all of this is creating great trouble for British Prime Minister Tony Blair. 2) The truth is hard to ignore. Statistics are brutal in their logic. The economic/oil situation is not a constant one at all. It is in flux. And, at risk.

The fact that it was always about oil is becoming much more clear. Especially since members of the Bush administration and advisors own words regarding Iraq and Hussein don’t shy away from mentioning oil as a primary concern. As stated in a “Letter to the President” dated January 26, 1998, signed by Elliott Abrams, Richard L. Armitage, William J. Bennett, William Kristol, Richard Perle, Peter W. Rodman, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and several others: “It hardly needs to be added that if Saddam does acquire the capability to deliver weapons of mass destruction, as he is almost certain to do if we continue along the present course, the safety of American troops in the region, of our friends and allies like Israel and the moderate Arab states, and a significant portion of the world’s supply of oil will all be put at hazard.” (Italics mine.)

That seems pretty clear doesn’t it? But, the massive PR push the past few years had a very specific task- to convince the populace both in the US and abroad that the war was over more palatable issues- terrorism, human rights, spreading democracy. Things that make us feel good about invading another country. Anything except oil. Because, there is always the great possibility that, as stated in “The Trouble with Powell“: “the American people do not want their young dying for $ 1.50 a gallon oil.” But, deception is deception. And, it would appear at this juncture that it may have gotten out of control. And, investigations on the WMD problem are coming. Even if the Bush White House and Republicans don’t want it.

Which begs the question: Would they investigate the possibility of cooked Intel if the WMD’s were wearing a blue dress? That old double standard is a drag, isn’t it?

Yes it is.

Some changes are afoot. The S.N.A.F.U. Principle is being laid to rest and up rises buzz twang. More soon.

What I see in NYC. empty cafe in the park.

The great Odetta passed away. Her impact and her talent is pretty difficult to quantify in mere words. So, I won’t try. Best to just let the music do the talking.

Was lucky enough to catch her a couple of times. Great simply doesn’t suffice. Here’s Water Boy from a 60’s television appearance.

The New York Times has a nice retrospective up… worth watching.