STEAMPUNK ROCK & ROLL? (Somehow I doubt this is the new Elvis)

Our pal TPG sent the following report from The Guardian of London. Seems like a steam punk version of rock & roll has evolved over in the old country, which – even though promoted by the offspring of Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren – I must confess appears a little behind the cultural curve. Steam punk was the science fiction big thing some years ago, but then rather wore itself out. I even tried it myself – at the strict instigation of Tor books – and while kinda fun, it didn’t end well, although in one of the books I did feature a steam punk band with huge acoustic metal speakers.

"You can define steampunk as visions of the future that never was, as seen through the technology of the Victorian era, when things were made of pistons and steam rather than silicon and transistors," says Slater, who is dressed in a ruffled white shirt, pegged trousers and spats. "It's an aesthetic, a geek culture, a craft culture." It's certainly all those things; steampunks take pride in their ability to make 19th-century-style clothes and gadgets from found objects, creating intricate gizmos from brass, leather and rivets. A London-based American musician called Thomas Truax even makes his own instruments: there's one called the Hornicator, made from a gramophone horn; another, known as Mother Superior, emits steam when played.” (Click for the whole confusing story.)

OUR WHACKY UNCLE BILL

Uncle Bill drives the kids off his lawn with extreme prejudice.

(Pic lifted from Sibling Shot)

SATURDAY MORNING FUN CLUB

Inanimate pornography!

The secret phrase is Think About It

PADDY CLAIMS IT’S A DONE DEAL

Elf Hellion sent this report of mixed portents…

"DUBLIN, Ireland - The race is over as far as Ireland's biggest bookmaker is concerned. Paddy Power PLC says it is so sure Barack Obama will win the U.S. presidential election next month that it paid off Thursday on all bets it had taken backing the Democratic candidate. It said it shelled out more than euro1 million, about $1.35 million. "We declare this race well and truly over and congratulate all those who backed Obama — your winnings await you." Paddy Power has a long tradition of winning free publicity by paying off early, particularly on political contests — and it also has a recent record of getting the result spectacularly wrong. In June, the company paid out early in favor of people who bet Irish voters would approve the European Union's latest treaty in a referendum. The next day, a "no" result sent shock waves across the 27-nation EU, and cost Powers a hefty sum since it ended up paying off both sides of the bet.The same thing would happen to Powers if it guessed wrong about the U.S. election. The pro-Obama bettors would keep the winnings paid out Thursday, while John McCain backers would cash in, too. Powers said the biggest winner among the Obama bettors was someone who gambled euro100,000 and got back a total of euro150,000. The most visionary bettor, though, was the "punter" who put downeuro50 on Obama in 2005. At the time, Obama was listed at 50-to-1, sothe bettor got euro2,550. Despite calling the contest, the Dublin-based bookmaker said it is still taking new bets on the race. A John McCain victory Nov. 4 on a bet placed Thursday would pay off euro5 for every euro1 bet. By contrast, each euro1 bet on Obama would net just 11 euro cents."

Of course, whatever Paddy has decided, you Americans STILL HAVE TO VOTE!!!

The secret word is Vig

HIDE THE KRYPTONITE

As today’s news cycle progressively revealed that perhaps Joe the Plumber (Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher) is not quite the Joe Six Pack entrepreneurial paragon lauded by John McCain, the ugly possibility looms that John McCain has been evilly hoodwinked by (yes, you guessed it) none other than arch-criminal Lex Luthor.

“What do you mean there's a depression and you can’t afford to give me a goddamned cracker?”

RAY LOWRY -- RIP

Gene Vincent by Ray Lowry.

Bernard Slater wrote...

"Sad news Mick, used to buy NME for you , Kent, Charlie Shaar and Lowry."

All I can say is goodbye, mate.

For a gallery of Ray's work click here.

And click here for a Mojo obituary.

JUST THINK OF IT AND IT HAPPENS

Click here





(And now I go watch the final debate.)

GLOBAL WARMING OKAY, BUT...

…this is absurd.

The secret word is Phew

DOC'S PAPERBACK CLASSIC'S # 49

People have been asking how come the free download of my ancient rock novel The Tale Of Willy’s Rats (with it’s hideous cover) hasn’t been available lately on the Funtopia site. The answer is that the server died, but it’s back now. (Thanks Rich) Just click here.

MY SPACE IS NOT THE PLACE

Every few days, I get an email telling me I have a message on My Space. The problem is that I don’t have any truck with My Space. I did have an account but I ripped it out by the roots. I loath My Space. It’s cumbersome, it’s invasive, it’s silly, it leaks data, and it’s owned by Rupert Murdoch. If you want to get in touch just use Byron4d@msn.com. (And the Doc40 fundraiser is still going on if any kind soul wants to make a PayPal donation.)

AT RISK OF SEEMING TO SUPPORT TERRORISM

In the middle of all the propagandist furor over Bill Ayres, maybe a little background wouldn’t be amiss.
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy had been assassinated. Chicago police had brutalized demonstrators and media at the Democratic Convention. Black Panthers Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were murdered in a Chicago police raid. George Jackson was shot by prison guards. The war dragged on with hundreds of thousands of young Americans being shipped out to the jungle as Cong-fodder. The Weathermen formed as a splinter group believing that only violent action would grab the nation’s attention to the ongoing horror. Later, after a nod and a wink from Richard Nixon in a speech referring to anti-war protesters as “campus bums”, Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on unarmed demonstrators on the Kent State campus, killing four, while two more were slain at Jackson State. The Weathermen – named for Dylan’s line, “You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows," formed as a splinter group, believing that only violent action would grab the nation’s attention. In contrast to the official body count – which, in addition to those already mentioned, included tens of thousand of Vietnamese civilians killed in saturation bombing raids in which John McCain participated – the Weather Underground caused no fatalities, except when three Weatherpeople blew themselves up in the basement of a Manhattan townhouse. While not wholly supported by the counterculture, their actions were at least understandable to many of us in those terrible times when it seemed that Nixon was prepared to prolong the Vietnam war as long as it suited his historical vanity. As Weatherperson Naomi Jaffe put it…

“We felt that doing nothing in a period of repressive violence is itself a form of violence. That's really the part that I think is the hardest for people to understand. If you sit in your house, live your white life and go to your white job, and allow the country that you live in to murder people and to commit genocide, and you sit there and you don't do anything about it, that's violence.”

Ultimately, after nearly two decades underground Bill Ayers turned himself in 1980, Charges were dropped, and he was rehbilitated.

More terrorists?

The secret word is History

AT RISK OF BEING ACCUSED OF STALINISM

I've never previously removed a link from Doc40 except where a website had vanished or was out of business, but I don’t feel inclined to keep the link to People’s Daily Brief. During the 2004 election, PDB was an energetic and valuable asset. Lately, though, it seems to have gone off on some weird, a-pox-on-all-their-houses tangent that I find wholly negative and destructive, and I’ve been shocked and dismayed by recent posts like these quoted below…

“That foul skank of duplicitous, disingenuous ordure that is Barack Hussein Obama. How anyone at this dark hour could pull the lever for this arch insider is truly and completely beyond me.”

“So voters for evil, after your fairy godmother Barack Hussein "Afghanistan" Obomber voted to help bush loot The People's Treasury, his boy blunder Diamond Joe "Drug Bust" "Bankruptcy Reform" Plagiarizin' Biden followed the same with some more lies from the dark heart of Camp Manchurian.”

And the scarcely believable...

“Palin may be flawed, but she was fresh as a daisy, strong, competant, and youthful. No wonder coastal women can't stand her. They'd kill to have half of what she has.”

Okay, fine. PDB has every right to make its point. I just don’t feel inclined to steer Doc40 readers in its direction at a time when I feel we’re fighting for our cultural, if not actual survival.

(Shit, but this is a grim day. And I’ve got no reefer.)

BE PARANOID, BE VERY PARANOID

It may actually be a one of the natural laws of high anxiety. When things start looking good for a change, we cast around for reasons for it all to go wrong. Such is the nature of paranoia. (The following story was sent by Peromyscus.)

“Here is the latest big-picture conspiracy theory, which has been gathering strength on the blogosphere the way a hurricane feeds on Caribbean waters: It is widely believed, both online and, increasingly, offline, that the Bush administration intends to declare martial law and postpone next month's elections. To prevent Barack Obama's inevitable ascension to the Oval Office, obviously.
This theory/rumor/delusion dates back almost a year and a half, with the appearance on the White House website of National Security Presidential Directive 51, which outlined a policy for "continuity of government" in the event of a national emergency. Such emergency is defined as "any incident . . . that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the US population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions." (Click for the full story)

On the other hand, Ireland's largest bookmaker, Paddy Power, is now laying 20-1 that the American election will be postponed, odds which have shortened from 40-1 in just one week. We can only pray (to paraphrase The Pioneers) this longshot kicks the bucket. There will be no weepin' and wailin'.

The secret (and venerable) phrase will be Rising Up Angry

DRAGGING ME BACK IN (and on the 13th of the month no less)

I keep trying to ignore the demagogue Palin, the big noise from Wasilla (meth capital of Alaska.) But stuff keeps happening that I just can’t resist, like the above graphic, or this ad that was posted on Craigslist LA, but then withdrawn after 24 hours…

“Sarah Palin look-alike for an adult film to be shot in next 10 days. Major adult studio. Please send pix, stats etc. ASAP Pay: $2000-3000 No anal required.”

OUR WHACKY UNCLE BILL

Uncle Bill orders a Manhattan, but insists on selecting his own Maraschino cherry.

THE ADVENTURES OF MARILYN (Part 999)

In which Marilyn, emerging instrument-blind. and with arms bared, from the Null Void of Xlnwr, after completing the Challenge of Dormandu, finds herself in a heavily distorted, blind-alley time variation in which Amazon Treen refugees from the Mekonta purges shoot Zoms for sport from magno-ornithopters, and where the only subsistence industry is the mass production of pornographic garden gnomes, and the sole means of mass communication are rumpled and folded copies of The Hollywood Reporter in which the news is always bad. Then a crescent formation of Adamski discs, possibly under the command of the Dread Xpbcqwzpuc, appear overhead. “Quick Marilyn,” cry the Tree Wenches, “look up before it’s too late!”

THEY DON'T STAGE SHOWS LIKE THIS ANY MORE #8

But we still go out walking after midnight.

THIS IS A BARRICADE

This is a barricade. It may be our only recourse should the election fall in the favor of McCain/Palin due to fraud. corruption, vote rigging, voter intimidation, racism, or any other chicanery that prevents an honest count. Early warning signs of Republicans generating a smokescreen to cover their own varied malfeasance came today in the form of orchestrated accusations against an urban voter registration group called Acorn leveled by not only McCain and Palin, but also poison pushers like Michelle Malkin. Click for more (Pic from Valerie)

THE PARABLE OF THE MONKEYS

“We’re a goddamned political parable?”

The following came from Doug the Bass. It was written by his buddy Armen. I’m not sure I wholly agree with it, but it does make a point.

“Once upon a time, in a place overrun with monkeys, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each. The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest, and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10 and as supply started to diminish, they became harder to catch, so the villagers stopped their effort. The man then announced that he would now pay $20 for each one. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. But soon the supply diminished even further and they were ever harder to catch, so people started going back to their farms and forgot about monkey catching. The man increased his price to $25 each and the supply of monkeys became so sparse that it was an effort to even see a monkey, much less catch one. The man now announced that he would buy monkeys for $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now buy on his behalf. While the man was away the assistant told the villagers, 'Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has bought. I will sell them to you at $35 each and when the man returns from the city, you can sell them to him for $50 each.' The villagers rounded up all their savings and bought all the monkeys. They never saw the man nor his assistant again, and once again there were monkeys everywhere.
Now you have a better understanding of the Bush financial bailout.”

The secret words is Nuts

WOULD YOU BELIEVE...

…this is James Bond, Daniel Dravot, Captain Marko Ramius, William of Baskerville, Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez, Jimmy Malone, and Indiana Jones’ dad?

Pic lifted from Tom Sutpen

THE WHALES NEED YOUR HELP

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) needs your immediate help to turn back the U.S. Navy's latest assault on whales off the coast of California. Last year, the California Coastal Commission ruled that the Navy must follow common-sense safety measures while using high-intensity sonar off southern California. The Navy refused to comply with those recommendations, even after two subsequent court orders. Now, the Navy is asking the Commission for an even more expansive use of sonar in the area. Tell the Commission to reject the Navy's request, unless it commits to simple safety measures to protect marine life. Getting the Navy to stop injuring and killing marine mammals is a formidable goal, one that could take years to achieve. By making your voice heard, you are helping the NRDC move one step closer toward the day when whales will be safe from dangerous high-powered sonar systems.

To read more and act simply click here.

AND SO DOES DOC40

Just like PBS, politicians, and the non-surreal political blogs, Doc40 is holding a fundraiser. Times are hard and we’re putting out the begging bowl with the message that all contributions will be gratefully received and help to generate highly levels of cynicism and craziness. PayPal donations to byron4d@msn.com is one way to express appreciation in these hard times.

The secret word is Thanks

IN THE WAKE OF THE DEBATE...

...I found this on BuzzFlash

“Rolling Stone reporter Matt Taibbi’s depiction of Sarah Palin at the GOP Convention as “Gidget addressing the Reichstag” is becoming more apt by the minute. Palin's attacks against Obama incited of verbal violence at a rally in Clearwater, Fla., when a Republican voter in the crowd shouted, “Kill him,” in reference to Barack Obama. At the same rally, the crowd singled out an African American on a news crew, shouting a racial epithet and yelling at him, "Sit down, boy.”

This BuzzFlash story crystalized a thought that was gnawing at me through the whole of the debate. Barack Obama articulated his vision for the nation, while McCain sniped and snipped and outright lied, and never summoned the courage to call Obama a “terrorist” to his face, but, meanwhile, the word was a mantra for the unbelievable Palin as she harranged the baying mobs at her increasingly ugly mass rallies, whipping up the bigots with all the responsibility of a drunk with a Glock, and totally risking the unleashing of the dark and disturbed Travis Bickle that lurks in the heart of America. The McCain campain will do anything to win. They do not have the scruples to hold office.

THIS JUST IN...

From our pal Faux Smoke,
(This email arrived hot on the heels of the debate, and is raw and uncut.)
"Feel free to post this or share it with whom you'd wish.. I figure it is important that people know the truth, even if it was about the most brief of lies that took place during this most recent debate.

This son of a bitch tried to insinuate that he had done something good on behalf of the American people in regards to a DOD & USAF tanker bid... when the truth is, John McCain had actually tried to take American based contract jobs & work for the USAF & send them over seas...

John McCain wanted to sent the contract over to Airbus [a European aerospace company] where the DOD & Air force would get a worse product for more money [an incomplete product at that, one the USAF would have to put together themselves… even though nobody knew how they would manage to put it together themselves, McCain insisted that this was the plan to go with] instead of contracting to Boeing [an American company, that regularly does fair & equitable contracts with the US gov. such as a little thing most folks know as Air Force One] and getting the best product for the least cost [which, the money from would be going directly back into the American market & some of it would technically go back to the American government as tax revenue]...

My local state senator, Patty Murray, went to fight McCain's proposal & exposed what is now called the "tanker scandal" by most that followed it... Employees of Boeing, all across the country, like my father, rallied against that proposal McCain is trying to claim was doing something good for us...

John McCain is a fucking liar, he didn't do anything for the American people, he was vested in the interests of foreign lobbyists & was going to give away not only American jobs & tax dollars to over-seas companies, though, he was going to do military contract business with a non-American company for the first time in our country's history...

This contract was cancelled by the Pentagon in the face of an oncoming scandal, to be re-evaluated at a later date… go figure, McCain proposed something so fucked up it had to be cancelled all together, yet, not only that, though, he tried to say that he had done something good in the process. This story was local & had a direct concern to friends & family... it might have only been a brief moment that McCain commented on the issue, though, that brief moment was a horrendous lie of monumental proportions.

Here's a link of dated comments & responses from my governor, Patty Murray, on the tanker bid, dating back to 2001... http://murray.senate.gov/tankers/tankers_news.cfm

A link about McCain's involvement...
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/06/mccain_hit_on_t.html
& A link about McCain's advisors having lobbied on the side of the EADS side of the deal: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/11/business/lobby.php

McCain lied about this, he is corrupt to the pit of his terrible soul & the man doesn't give a flying fuck about the American people, most especially the working class in this country."

McCAIN AFTER DARK

While waiting with less than eager anticipation for today’s presidential debate, my mind wandered to the not unfamiliar combination of sex and trivia. When the story surfaced how, in Rio de Janeiro, way back in 1957, the young John McCain while had a torrid affair with former beauty queen and dancer Maria Gracinda Teixeira de Jesus, it didn’t mean much beyond peripheral election fluff when it quoted Maria as recalling McCain as "tasty, loving and romantic." Maybe someone in the McCain campaign thought it would make their candidate seem like a real red-blooded American boy, but, being of a perverse mindset, I couldn’t help but think about McCain’s taste in ex-beauty queens, and his general use of women in his career. We all know about how he dumped his first wife for the fabulously wealthy Stepford Cindy, and we have seen how he now parades the inexplicable Palin around, more like some third proxy spouse rather than a genuine running mate, in order to draw curious (and going-on-rabid) crowds. I may be a little crazy, but my only conclusion is that McCain, perhaps subconsciously, is not running for president at all, but for Patriarch of the United States, and the last thing we need, as the American Empire declines and falls, is a another bloody patriarch (Click for the whole tale of Maria.)

THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR LYING THROUGH YOUR TEETH AND NOT ANSWERING QUESTIONS

And still on the subject of sex, it has already been mentioned, here and elsewhere, that the Palin aura of weirdness has included the faintest whiff of sado masochism. I noticed yesterday (the aforementioned perverse mindset) that, in news footage of the monstrous and mendacious Alaskan, getting on and off her private jet, had now adopted the kind of high-heeled dom boots once notably favored by Condoleezza Rice. This probably would not have signified if I hadn’t just been exposed to the hot and bothered fever fantasies of Palin-lusting neocons like Rick Lowry of Fox News and The National Review who gushed, “I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me." Will we survive this election with a single psychological button un-pushed?

The secret word is Worm

FOR THOSE WHO DON'T READ COMMENTS

In yesterday’s Doc40 comments, Slothman gave us a link to a scary and important story about polar methane emissions.

IN THE CURRENT NEWS CLIMATE THERE’S SOMETHING VERY COMFORTING ABOUT A SIMPLE STONER SCHOOLGIRL SCANDAL

While America tanks, the economy continues in desperate freefall, and Fannie Mae forecloses on the Akron, Ohio, home of Addie Polk, causing the ninety year-old woman to shoot herself, the insane McCain campaign attempts to distract us by trying to link Barack Obama with Al Qaeda on account of his middle name, and Palin supporters scream “Terrorist!” and “Kill Him” at the mention of his name. Thus it came as momentary relief when aeswiren sent us the following, noting in passing that teaching assistants were a great deal more hip in his day…

GIRL FED SCHOOL STAFF HASH CAKES

"Two teaching assistants at a school in Leeds were taken to hospital after eating cannabis in "hash cakes" given to them by a pupil.
The schoolgirl was suspended from Wortley High School after she took the cakes to school on 10 September.
A spokesman for Leeds City Council said the girl had since been moved to a different school. No police action was taken over the matter.
Leeds City Council said neither staff members made formal complaints.
The council spokesman added: "Wortley High School does not condone drugs and was disappointed this incident took place.
"The school works hard to educate its pupils about the dangers and implications of drug abuse and will not tolerate any behaviour of this kind."

The secret word is Keating and the secret number is 5

HE’S NOT A DRUG LORD, HE’S MY BROTHER

Aeswiren also sent a more serious drug story from Truthout that claims Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of Afghani President and Bush puppet Hamid Karzai, is major player in his country’s heroin trade. Click for the lowdown.

THE ADVENTURES OF MARILYN (Part c-1-22)

In which Marilyn, although know for her unpunctuality, lives to adventure yet another-day. Ramp-amping her super-wiles in the Room-With-Chequered-Wallpaper, she easily distracts and overpowers a slack-faced Bob-Dobbs simulacra, sent by the Pink Boys to restrain her from serving the invertebrate-satisfaction of Mr. Squid. The simulacra foolishly betrays himself by leaving his dark-hat in plain-sight on the smooth-couch. And also neglecting to bring his briar-pipe. What him worry? The rare-aphides all cry, “Return to the time-stream.” And Marilyn obliges as they knew she would.

THEY DON'T STAGE SHOWS LIKE THIS ANY MORE #7

You had better believe it!

GO TO JAIL. DO NOT PASS GO. DO NOT COLLECT $200

Karma tests out?

I WORRY ABOUT THE PENTAGON

I mean, what infantile general decided he wanted his boys to have Batman outfits? And how the hell much did this fantasy cost us? Gizmodo reports…

"This Gryphon Single-Man Flying Wing is a parachute system whose 4.9-foot Delta wing has two jet engines on board that can carry a paratrooper 110 miles on a half gallon of jet fuel. The device will be tested in an third quarter of next year. The mission starts when the brave soul wearing this birdman outfit takes a flying leap out of an airplane at 33,000 feet—hopefully equipped with warm clothes and oxygen—and flies the jet wing wherever he's going until he gets to an altitude of about a mile. At that point, somehow our intrepid hero sheds his wing and opens a parachute, letting that wing dangle below him as he floats to the ground."

The secret word is Budget

Mr. Squid says, “It’s Sunday. Where the hell are The Adventures of Marilyn?”

“Rednecks, crackers, hillbillies, hausfraus, shut-ins, pea-pickers - everybody that's got to jump when somebody else blows the whistle. They're mine! I own 'em! They think like I do. Only they're even more stupid than I am, so I gotta think for 'em. Marcia, you just wait and see. I'm gonna be the power behind the president.” – Lonesome Rhodes from the movie A Face In The Crowd (sorry Face)

Click for clip

I COULDN'T SAY IT BETTER

Of course I’m disappointed that Gov. Perky didn’t fall off her high heels during last night’s VP debate and exit the political stage forever, but this chart from Andrew Sullivan in The Atlantic (thanks AK) says it all. It’s more concise and to the point than any morning-after comment I can right now conceive, except that I’ve learned that the word “folksy” has been redefined as "nasty, incurious, ignorant hick."

The secret word is Rearguard

GOODBYE AND THANK YOU FOR ALL THE FISH

In a few hours I will watch the VP debate in which Gov. Palin will face Joe Biden on my TV. I can only hope that she will make such a damned fool of herself that she will depart from our consciousness forever, except maybe for a spot on Dancing With The Stars in some distant future, and that the electorate with will not demonstrate a collective idiocy by buying her line of junk and inability to construct a spontaneous sentence.

As Bob Herbert put it in The New York Times…
"The McCain campaign has done its bizarre best to shield Ms. Palin from any sustained media examination of her readiness for the highest offices in the land, and no wonder. She has been an embarrassment in interviews.
But the idea that the voters of the United States might install someone in the vice president’s office who is too unprepared or too intellectually insecure to appear on, say, “Meet the Press” or “Face the Nation” is mind-boggling.
The alarm bells should be clanging and warning lights flashing. You wouldn’t put an unqualified pilot in the cockpit of a jetliner. The potential for catastrophe is far, far greater with an unqualified president." (Click for more)

Or click here to see CNN news veteran Jack Cafferty lose it over how Palin is “pathetic.”

The secret word is Dismissal

(But here’s an odd thing. Sarah Palin has only a fraction of the Google hits logged by Sarah Connor or Sarah Michelle Gellar.)

IS IT TIME TO START LEARNING WOODY GUTHRIE SONGS?

Yes, as through this world I've wandered
I've seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen.

And as through your life you travel,
Yes, as through your life you roam,
You won't never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home.

The USA needs a new New Deal to survive the incalculable damage done by eight hideous years of GWB. And it will be socialism that get us through, my friends. Maybe a new socialism, but socialism, any way you slice it.

ALLEY OOP WAS FOR REAL?

Doug the Bass sent over this new revelation about the inept Gov. Perky.

“Soon after Sarah Palin was elected mayor of the foothill town of Wasilla, Alaska, she startled a local music teacher by insisting in casual conversation that men and dinosaurs coexisted on an Earth created 6,000 years ago -- about 65 million years after scientists say most dinosaurs became extinct. Wasilla resident Philip Munger asked the young mayor about her religious beliefs. Palin told him that "dinosaurs and humans walked the Earth at the same time," Munger said. When he asked her about prehistoric fossils and tracks dating back millions of years, Palin said ‘she had seen pictures of human footprints inside the tracks.’”

WORD UP WALL STREET. GREED WASN’T GOOD AFTER ALL. SEPPUKU IS NOW MANDATORY

That’s right. Jump from the roof you speculating scum, and no golden parachute. The long dive goes with the territory and better people than you have taken it. (Pic supplied by Munz.)

The secret word is Remorse

SOCIALISM! SOCIALISM! TAKE TO THE HILLS!

All the thunderers on the right protest in furious chorus. The US government shall not intervene to save the global economy for that would be the godless abomination of socialism. Oh yes? Oh no! Not for nothing did our fathers and grandfathers chant the mantra “better dead than Red.” The holy tenets of free-market capitalism shall be preserved even though the heavens fall and the whole world fall with them, for thus is the will of the Almighty. What next they cry, universal healthcare?

Michael Moore comes at it from a slightly different angle.

“Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies -- who must soon vacate the White House -- are looting the U.S. Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as they can on their way out the door.” Click for more.

Or, by way of a bonus, click here for the entire second Tina Fey-as-Palin clip from last Saturday’s SNL.

IT SLIPPED MY MIND, HONEST

I totally forget that I rant on about The Fugs on Mojo Online. Click here to read.

BEATING BACK THE McPRESIDENCY

After a weekend of despondency over Barack Obama’s debate performance, it maybe starts to emerge, even from polls and other imprecise indicators, that I was wrong and his showing wasn’t as weak as I though it was. Voters did not eat up McCain’s bombastic and mendacious bullshit. I was especially taken with two comments on the Talking Points Memo website that suggest viewer evaluation of the two men went to deeper levels that I ever suspected.

“As a psychotherapist and someone who treats people with anger management problems, we typically try to educate people that anger is often an emotion that masks other emotions. I think it's significant that McCain didn't make much, if any, eye contact because it suggests one of two things to me; he doesn't want to make eye contact because he is prone to losing control of his emotions if he deals directly with the other person, or, his anger masks fear and the eye contact may increase or substantiate the fear.”

Monkeys were also invoked…

“I think people really are missing the point about McCain's failure to look at Obama. McCain was afraid of Obama. It was really clear--look at how much McCain blinked in the first half hour. I study monkey behavior--low ranking monkeys don't look at high ranking monkeys. In a physical, instinctive sense, Obama owned McCain tonight and I think the instant polling reflects that.”

Yes, the secret word is still Perception

IT AIN'T OVER 'TIL IT'S OVER