tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post1829239342824007671..comments2024-01-02T22:01:12.976+00:00Comments on Avedon's Sideshow: If I had my way I would tear this building downAvedonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702100335744054401noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-45885018340309823492014-03-19T04:54:09.371+00:002014-03-19T04:54:09.371+00:00Avedon would like that very much, CMike, if you re...Avedon would like that very much, CMike, if you really feel up to doing it. Those were some good comments. Except for the spam ones, of course.Avedonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04702100335744054401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-75602505606400370912014-03-17T20:43:56.602+00:002014-03-17T20:43:56.602+00:00Looks like if you go to archives in the right hand...Looks like if you go to archives in the right hand column of the homepage the comments are intact from the January 26 <i>Sideshow</i> post back. As it happens, I've just noticed my Bloglines account has a <i>Sideshow</i> comments feed that's archived everything from here back to the January 15 post. It would take a little work to get things in order and code the links back in but I would do it if Avedon has enough of a trace of OCD to want them re-posted for posterity. CMikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13481861530761114492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-1882662045907068102014-03-16T23:06:08.068+00:002014-03-16T23:06:08.068+00:00Hmm. Not sure how, but apparently I screwed up the...Hmm. Not sure how, but apparently I screwed up the link. Let's try that again.<br /><br /><a href="http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2014/03/1507-clown-award-rep-paul-ryan.html" rel="nofollow">Paul Ryan is a clown</a>.Lotushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16774266443353774752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-47696723388815439182014-03-16T23:03:14.893+00:002014-03-16T23:03:14.893+00:00On another front, the Senate Intelligence Committe...On another front, the Senate Intelligence Committee and the CIA: Dianne Feinstein has been <a href="http://whoviating.blogspot.com/2014/03/1506-spying-fan-dianne-feinstein.html" rel="nofollow">the biggest bootlicker of the national security state</a> in the entire damn Congress. She has repeatedly defended NSA spying - "It's called protecting America" - and has called Edward Snowden a traitor.<br /><br />But when <i>her</i> committee is what’s being spied on, when it's <i>her</i> people that are monitored, when it's <i>her</i> computers that are the target, suddenly such spying is “Illegal! Unconstitutional! Outrageous!”<br /><br />The whole story will soon be online at WhoseOxIsGored.com.<br /><br /><b>Footnote</b>: No need to follow the link unless you want to show me some love. It goes to my post where I say the same thing as here, just at somewhat greater length.Lotushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16774266443353774752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-23636161554690640662014-03-16T22:55:03.126+00:002014-03-16T22:55:03.126+00:00Just FYI, speaking of Paul Ryan, his blather and b...Just FYI, speaking of Paul Ryan, his blather and b.s. about poverty - including his CPAC speech about the little boy who had an "empty soul" because his poverty got him a free government-paid school lunch - won him <a rel="nofollow">my world-famous Clown Award</a> this week.Lotushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16774266443353774752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-80737665608827825122014-03-16T22:41:34.965+00:002014-03-16T22:41:34.965+00:00Re: "Talk of peace is catching on." Did ...Re: "Talk of peace is catching on." Did you ever read <b>Report from Iron Mountain</b>? It still ranks as one of the great satires of modern times.Lotushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16774266443353774752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-47676271463451883872014-03-16T00:31:57.288+00:002014-03-16T00:31:57.288+00:00Tony Benn’s calcified view of the US as an imperia...<i>Tony Benn’s calcified view of the US as an imperialist force left him on the margins of mainstream opinion during the cold war, but a voice of reason to many after the invasion of Iraq in 2003.</i><br /><br />So, maybe the Guardian writer means "consistent" rather than "calcified", unless calcified has come to mean "not shifting with the prevailing winds."ksixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15406854618914127269noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-4724530620753321142014-03-15T20:24:37.368+00:002014-03-15T20:24:37.368+00:00It's always nice to know that someone is still...It's always nice to know that someone is still reading those transcripts. It's been years. I even forget exactly how I got involved in doing number 3 ... somebody's old blog, around the time those films first aired, and back when I still had some energy for this stuff. As though it made any difference.<br /><br />Anyway, enjoy!mtconleyukhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10024439466435501936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-35454530123373944612014-03-15T06:00:08.584+00:002014-03-15T06:00:08.584+00:00Thought Avedon might be interested in a better loo...Thought Avedon might be interested in a better look at the subject of an Ian Welsh ReTweet. In tracking it down I was tipped by Mike Spinelli at <a href="http://jalopnik.com/" rel="nofollow">Jalopnik dot com</a> in the direction of some steam tech reality. In this passage <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Motor_Carriage_Company#Specifications_and_design" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia recalls:</a><br /><br /><i>>>>>>A Stanley Steamer set the world record for the fastest mile in an automobile (28.2 seconds [i.e. 2.13 miles per minute]) in 1906. This record was not broken by any automobile until 1911, although Glen Curtiss beat the record in 1907 with a V-8 powered motorcycle at 136 mph [2.27 miles per minute]. The record for steam-powered automobiles was not broken until 2009.<<<<<</i><br /><br />As far as I can tell, the illustration is from the updated 1918 edition of <a href="http://www.oldimprints.com/pages/books/46151/howard-benjamin-grose-in-chief/our-wonder-world-a-library-of-knowledge-in-ten-volumes" rel="nofollow">this intended to be read by children encyclopedia.</a> Scroll down below the larger reproduction and click on the thumbnail for <a href="http://www.infomercantile.com/-/Image:Unbelievable_Time_Required_To_Cover_Immense_Distances_of_Space%2C_1918.jpg" rel="nofollow">the highest resolution image.</a>CMikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13481861530761114492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-41952873267887150062014-03-14T16:37:56.270+00:002014-03-14T16:37:56.270+00:00Sad. And perhaps even sadder that Tony Benn and R...<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/14/tony-benn-dies-establishment-insider-turned-leftwing-outsider" rel="nofollow">Sad</a>. And perhaps even sadder that Tony Benn and Ralph Miliband's sons were allied with Tony Blair.ksixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15406854618914127269noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-63919580646509559852014-03-14T01:48:33.620+00:002014-03-14T01:48:33.620+00:00I thought The Trap was a bit of a slog but I am qu...I thought <i>The Trap</i> was a bit of a slog but I am quite surprised you haven't seen the <i>Power of Nightmares,</i> Avedon's linked to it a couple of times and it and I can't recommend it highly enough. Over at the <i>Daily Howler</i> Bob Somerby got on the subject of the song <i>Baby It's Cold Outside</i> a few months back and I used it as an excuse to link that series <a href="http://dailyhowler.blogspot.com/2013/12/salon-has-itself-creeped-out-little.html?showComment=1387593069513#c2674666338737637675" rel="nofollow">[Spoiler Alert]</a> because I had been in the habit during the Bush 43 years of taking every opportunity to ask, "Have you heard the bad news?"<br /><br />Here's a link to an <a href="http://www.wanttoknow.info/war/power_of_nightmares_transcript_1" rel="nofollow">outstanding transcript</a> for Part 1 with links there to parts 2 & 3. I never could have gotten some of those names and the terminology right. But do try to make the time to watch the video, it makes the case in more powerful fashion.<br /><br /><a href="http://dotsub.com/view/949fcc7b-c966-4aef-9081-9114317c73ca" rel="nofollow">Part 1</a> without any BBC voice over during the credits at the end to interfere with the haunting<br /><br /><a href="http://dotsub.com/view/4233a5cd-c4d3-4faf-ac62-9fdc13e52593" rel="nofollow">Part 2</a><br /><br /><a href="http://dotsub.com/view/53b8e7df-fa03-4e44-a47a-c27f70f276f5" rel="nofollow">Part 3</a>CMikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13481861530761114492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-14079179153100219772014-03-13T22:44:40.032+00:002014-03-13T22:44:40.032+00:00Happy I'm not the only one forgetting names--I...Happy I'm not the only one forgetting names--I used to be the guy who could play a kick ass game of 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon. Anyway, a follow up thanks to you, CMike, for alerting me to Adam Curtis. Watched All Watched Over By... last weekend. Some really good content in there though I agree with one commenter who thought her cat was sitting on the remote while watching. I'd say he should draw connections more clearly for less in-the-know viewers but that's a quibble. <br /><br />The day after I finished I saw a comment by nihil obstet about The Trap. Seen that one? Also want to get to the Power of Nightmares at some pt. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-20541993572283626032014-03-13T20:48:06.066+00:002014-03-13T20:48:06.066+00:00You're probably right that it's Germo, and...You're probably right that it's Germo, and I'm a bit surprised I didn't catch that Title IX mistake. I used to be up on that issue when it was raging and did remember a Roman numeral was involved but I see I've lost track of which numeral. (Along the same lines I'm having trouble coming up with names of authors, actors, and historical figures these days when I'm in conversation, a neurologist told me that's one of the first things to go.) CMikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13481861530761114492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-67269396210601885592014-03-13T16:09:19.636+00:002014-03-13T16:09:19.636+00:00Yeah, I like Sam because he makes me laugh and get...Yeah, I like Sam because he makes me laugh and gets some great interview subjects, even if he garbles the points they've made afterwards, but he's not the most incisive thinker in the world. And of course it's Title IX, it established gender equity in all aspects of education, not just sports, and it caused a backlash among men who thought funding for their college sports (the non-football ones) was unfairly cut to support women who supposedly didn't want it anyway.<br /><br />I always thought it was Germo, short for Geronimo, but I'm not sure how I came to think that.ksixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15406854618914127269noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-49551749568035819162014-03-13T16:07:40.396+00:002014-03-13T16:07:40.396+00:00Versions of "If I Had My Way" (aka "...Versions of "If I Had My Way" (aka "the Samson and Delilah song") were recorded as early as 1927, and as far as I know it's generally regarded as "traditional", with no known author, but I'm not familiar with a T-Bone Walker version, and T-Bone Burnett is way too young to have been involved - and his "I Would Tear This Building Town" is so different from other versions I've heard that it is almost another song.Avedonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04702100335744054401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-63074192333880405902014-03-13T03:29:16.944+00:002014-03-13T03:29:16.944+00:00Jermo: Boy that's really interesting and in de...<b>Jermo:</b> Boy that's really interesting and in depth. There's so much to it. But just real quick, you know how much I really enjoy how much women's sports in college and high school-- how a law had to be more or less, I believe there was a law that said women deserved equal...<br /><br /><b>Sam Seder:</b> Title X<br /><br /><b>Jermo:</b> ...opportunity, right?, in sports...<br /><br /><b>Sam Seder:</b> Yeah<br /><br /><b>Jermo:</b> ...money, coaches, and they got it, and there was no big uproar about that.<br /><br /><b>Sam Seder:</b> Yeah, it's true.<br /><br /><b>Jermo:</b> You follow my point?<br /><br /><b>Sam Seder:</b> It's- Arguably- It's a little less of a zero sum game, those funds have to come from somewhere but yeah, you don't hear people complaining about that as much, you'd hear it more if it was women, and I believe there's some of that, there's some statutes that allow for that, but if women were taking the place of men on these teams then you'd start to hear about it more.<br /><br /><b>Jermo:</b> Great to talk to you Sammy...<br /><br /><i>CMike here: Yeah, Sammy missed out on posing a tough one to Adolph Reed, "Should Democrats spend another fifty years concentrating on creating a color blind society or, without having achieved that goal, should Democrats turn some of their attention to addressing the concerns of the working class even if that means advancing the interests of white people who have no idea just how good they, and their own working class forefathers, have had it?"<br /><br />And oh, i loved this one, just earlier at 1:11:51:</i> <br /><br /><b>Sam Seder:</b> ...I think that it was the case, there was a certain inevitability that as you provide some means of remediation of the sort of historic subjugation of people in our society, whether they were African-American or immigrant or women that there was going to be some losers but to the extent that they lost something, it was built on a foundation of some measure of privilege and so there was a certain inevitability.<br /><br /><i>CMike again: Yeah, the costs of remediation had to fall on working class whites the last thirty-five years. Who else was left for it to fall upon, the job creators?</i>CMikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13481861530761114492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-76811968705139603202014-03-13T03:08:49.119+00:002014-03-13T03:08:49.119+00:00During the Better Half ® of that Majority Report w...<i>During the </i>Better Half<i> ® of that <i>Majority Report</i> which featured Adolph Reed they included another installment of that running series, "Here's why if Sam Seder and Janeane Garofalo didn't exist the Koch brothers would have had to invent them."</i><br /><br /> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0rd8Ygnqqc#t=70m03s" rel="nofollow">1:10:03</a> <b>Sam Seder:</b> Let's go to the phones, calling from a 914 area code, who's this?<br /><br /><b>Jermo:</b> Oh.<br /><br /><b>Sam Seder:</b> Hello?<br /><br /><b>Jermo:</b> Hi Sammy.<br /><br /><b>Sam Seder:</b> Ah, Jermo! How are you Jermo?<br /><br /><b>Jermo:</b> I'm good Sammy. Sammy, you know, I think what I remember most from the 60's and 70's was what really hurt liberals was the Affirmative Action and the ruling with the Supreme Court. And then the word coming up, "quotas" cause I remember my father, he just, you know, "That's discrimination. You're discriminating against me." What do you think about that?<br /><br /><b>Sam Seder:</b> Well, there are two different arguments. That guy we had on - Tanner Colby was it? - has an argument that things like that, and particularly busing, were problematic but for a different reason. But yes, I think that folks like your father were upset at that notion of Affirmative Action because they felt like, well, "I'm not, I didn't have slaves. I was not responsible for discrimination, institutional discrimination. Why should I, in any way, be punished or why should these people get a leg up?"<br /><br />And I think it was a, I mean frankly, it was simply a lack of understanding of just how much benefit you got just by being white in society. and I think there was a certain inevitability, the bottom line is that as more people get to participate, as more people get a slice of the pie, you know it's a zero sum game and that means, and you can't do it with precision, I mean who knows what part of my success is a function of my being white, my being born to parents who are upper middle class, who, you know, etc., etc., all the privilege that's sort of baked into the cake. It's impossible to know, and it's impossible to know to what extent anybody who doesn't have those things is going to not achieve because of it.<br /><br />And there's no way to granular-ly figure that out so, yeah, I think that it was the case, there was a certain inevitability that as you provide some means of remediation of the sort of historic subjugation of people in our society, whether they were African-American or immigrant or women that there was going to be some losers but to the extent that they lost something, it was built on a foundation of some measure of privilege and so there was a certain inevitability, in fact <b>the one question I would have, it just occurred to me that I didn't get to with Adolph Reed is, "Do we need to get to the other side of that before we can really push economics to the forefront again? Do we need to get to the point where society has progressed in terms of social emancipation, but do we need to get to the point where we are just that much more socially emancipated to where people begin to identify and see their politics in the context of, or less in the context of race or of gender, or of sexual preference to where the lines of-- the economic lines become more prominent?" That's the question I forgot to ask him but I saved one for the next time he's on.</b><br /><br /><i>continued...</i><br /><br />CMikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13481861530761114492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-14159157906997031452014-03-13T02:11:54.612+00:002014-03-13T02:11:54.612+00:00Apropos of the Deep State, I found the following q...Apropos of the Deep State, I found the following quote in the book, "JFK and the Unspeakable: why he died and why it matters" (recommended!). U.S. News and World Report is reacting to the possibility of a Test Ban treaty.<br /><br />"This question once again is being raised: If peace does come, what happens to business? Will the bottom drop out if defense spending it cut?...Talk of peace is catching on. Before shouting, however, it is important to bear some other things in mind."<br /><br />According to the author, the magazine goes on to reassure its readers that tensions with Cuba, the war in Vietnam, and the possibility of war with Red China will keep defense spending high.<br /><br />My favorite reader of Obama's character, <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175816/tomgram%3A_david_bromwich%2C_the_leader_obama_wanted_to_become_and_what_became_of_him/" rel="nofollow">David Bromwich</a>, has further refined his assessment of who Obama is and what we can expect from him. (Not that it will stop some people from wishing and hoping.)<br /><br />"More than most people, Obama has been a creature of his successive environments. He talked like Hyde Park when in Hyde Park. He talks like Citigroup when at the table with Citigroup. And in either milieu, he likes the company well enough and enjoys blending in. He has a horror of unsuccess. Hence, in part, his extraordinary aversion to the name, presence, or precedent of former president Jimmy Carter: the one politician of obvious distinction whom he has declined to consult on any matter. At some level, Obama must realize that Carter actually earned his Nobel Prize and was a hard-working leader of the country. Yet of all the living presidents, Carter is the one whom the political establishment wrote off long ago; and so it is Carter whom he must not touch."<br /><br />ksixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15406854618914127269noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-26493548761547171672014-03-11T15:10:30.885+00:002014-03-11T15:10:30.885+00:00Read and posted at Bartcop for a long time, but he...Read and posted at Bartcop for a long time, but he and I finally parted company over the uses and efficacy of torture. He could be prickly and irascible online, but on the phone he was gracious and friendly. Besides, with a post title from a song by the Mighty T-Bone (and if you know where that liner note credit comes from, you might be a very old friend of mine), I just had to post.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13915218191089016825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-79688417862662833112014-03-11T02:38:16.217+00:002014-03-11T02:38:16.217+00:00Bartcop taught me that the name Cubby could be fra...Bartcop taught me that the name Cubby could be fraught with evil connotations That if David Koresh was a hero of the right and claimed to be the messiah, then swearing by his name really meant something.<br /><br />I see echoes of Bartcop.in a lot of the writing around the net. Maybe not specific phrases, more in the style and rhythm. There are a lot of little hammers out there. Kinda nice to know..<br />Buzzcookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10466134753394910191noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-64845294800201681452014-03-11T00:23:05.986+00:002014-03-11T00:23:05.986+00:00I did something incredibly stupid and deleted a pa...I did something incredibly stupid and deleted a page of comments when I was just trying to delete a bunch of spam. I don't see an undo button for that. :(Avedonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04702100335744054401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598883894140893389.post-46645625606190278832014-03-11T00:22:05.234+00:002014-03-11T00:22:05.234+00:00What happened to all your comments Avedon?What happened to all your comments Avedon?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com