MARILYN SEZ,,,

“Does that mean I get time off from all the smartass one liners?”

SUNDAY BREAKFAST

But how long are we going to be able to afford it? Let’s not forget that US food prices effect us all.

“The record drought gripping half the US will help push food prices up by 3 per cent to 4 per cent next year, according to the US Department of Agriculture. "In 2013 as a result of this drought we are looking at above-normal food price inflation. ... Consumers are certainly going to feel it," USDA economist Richard Volpe said on Wednesday. The drought has sent corn, soybean and other commodity prices soaring in recent weeks as fields dry out and crops wither across much of the country's midsection. Meteorologists are predicting that conditions behind the drought will continue, putting crops at risk and raising food prices as well as the specter of a food crisis. "This drought was a surprise for everybody," Volpe said. "The USDA was forecasting a record year for the corn crop until this drought materialized. Now we're not going to get that." "The drought isn't merely bad because the crops are parched. Climate change has nudged the temperature more than a degree higher than the previous record-breaking US drought in the 1950s,” says author, economist and food policy expert Raj Patel.” Click here for more

Click here for The Band

The secret word is Dire 

MARILYN SEZ…

“Am I real or am I Photoshop?”

THE FROZDICK FAMILY

Liam Frozdick took his anonymity to extremes.

A LOBSTER DINNER

SPACE OPERA

(Image by Raccoon-Nook)

I DON’T MIND WINDMILLS

The Olympics start today. Will I turn on the TV and watch what Danny Boyle has been up to or will I try to think about something else despite the UK media barrage? One thing that’s grazed my brain of late is the way that I turn on the local news and find groups of middle-aged folk – seemingly both conservative and green – protesting the building of windfarms. Frankly I don’t get it. Okay, so birds do fly into the blades, but I have to figure that there will be a Darwinian solution to this, and also the number of birds killed by windmills is a fraction of a percentage point of the number of birds killed by cats. The other complaint is that they are unsightly – ugly even – but I find them rather beautiful. When I lived in Los Angeles, the windfarm out along the I10 near Palm Springs was a joy to behold.   

Click here for All Angels, about the scariest cover of Bob I have ever encountered.

Click here for the GTOs by way of an antidote.

The secret word is Gust

DOES ANYONE, ANYWHERE, STILL DOUBT THE CATAPOCALYPSE?

AND IF THE CATS HOOK UP WITH THE DOLPHINS, HUMANITY IS TOAST

GRATUITOUS KRISTEN STEWART

…since she currently graces every celeb gossip medium I happen across.

42 YEARS AGO TODAY...

Russell emailed me this morning reminding me that today is the 42^nd anniversary of Phun City. I had totally forgotten, but my memory for dates is nothing compared with his. Above is a shot of Brother Wayne Kramer at full power on the day.

Click here for MC5 – probably the stars of the show excluding the naked Pink Fairies 

The secret word is Edward

AN APT QUESTION?

GRATUITOUS PINK FAIRIES (at Phun City)

HOWDY NEIGHBOUR

Did you ever have one of those days when you needed some distance from reality? American homicide, capitalist corruption, Syrian tyranny – please gents, could I take the day off? Seemingly we have a new hot nearby planet.

“Scientists have discovered what appears to be an alien planet just two-thirds the size of Earth, a heat-blasted world perhaps covered in molten lava, a new study reports.

Astronomers discovered the newfound alien planet, known as UCF-1.01, using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The diminutive world is just 33 light-years away, making it a near neighbor of Earth in the cosmic scheme of things. "We have found strong evidence for a very small, very hot and very near planet with the help of the Spitzer Space Telescope study lead author Kevin Stevenson, of the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando, said in a statement. "Identifying nearby small planets such as UCF-1.01 may one day lead to their characterization using future instruments."

Click here for Scientist

The secret word is Galaxy

MARILYN SEZ…

“What happened to Sunday breakfast?”

THIS IS MORGAN FREEMAN – HE’S COOL

“Marijuana! Heavens, oh yeah. It’s just the stupidest law possible, given history. You don’t stop people from doing what they want to do, so forget about making it unlawful. You’re just making criminals out of people who aren’t engaged in criminal activity. And we’re spending zillions of dollars trying to fight a war we can’t win! We could make zillions, just legalize it and tax it like we do liquor. It’s stupid.”

FLY TO DIE FOR

GRATUITOUS MILA KUNIS

WTF?

I imagine the academics will soon be on TV with a whole slew of spurious theories and explanations. Right now, I wouldn’t hazard a guess at the reality of the madness, except to note that Aurora and Columbine are both suburbs of Denver,

The secret word is Insanity 

IT’S HAPPENING AND IT’S HAPPENING NOW

While the oil industry continues to pump millions into climate change denial, our pals at Common Dreams bring us this bit of scary intelligence.

“A massive iceberg twice the size of Manhattan has broken off one of Greenland's major glaciers -- a development which scientists say is due to alarming warming in the region.

The iceberg, measuring 46 square miles, is the second of its nature to break from Greenland in just two years. In 2010 an iceberg twice its size, one of the largest ever recorded in Greenland, broke free. "It's dramatic. It's disturbing," said University of Delaware professor Andreas Muenchow, one of the first researchers to notice the break. "We have data for 150 years and we see changes that we have not seen before. It's one of the manifestations that Greenland is changing very fast." "This is not part of natural variations anymore," said NASA glaciologist Eric Rignot, referring to the vast changes the glacier has seen in the past three years. Scientists are concerned about rising sea levels due to melting ice in the north. The Arctic had the largest sea ice loss on record for June, scientists reported this week, and Northern Greenland and Canada are warming five times faster than the average global temperature. "The Greenland ice sheet as a whole is shrinking, melting and reducing in size as the result of globally changing air and ocean temperatures and associated changes in circulation patterns in both the ocean and atmosphere" 

Click here for Tiny Tim

The secret word is Wet

CRUMB

THE FROZDICK FAMILY

Luther Frozdick was inordinately proud of his bomb collection.

CHRISTIAN TRAMP STAMP

GRATUITOUS FRIDA KAHLO

WILL I SURVIVE THE OLYMPICS?

They increasingly encroach on my TV. They delay traffic as their absurd torch passes through the town. London public transport may collapse under the strain. Helicopter gunships are promised, cruising overhead like we were still in Saigon waiting for a mission. Warships are parked in the Thames. Residents’ protests are ignored as SAM missiles are mounted on the roofs of tower blocks. 3,500 squaddies have been recalled from leave to bail out G4S after the security giant failed to complete a contract with the wholly inept Tory Home Office to train and deploy the 10,000 security staff. But, on the other side of the cluster-fuck, corporate goons in purple uniforms – with the power to enter shops and offices near Olympic sites and hand out $31,000 fines for the 'misuse' of words such as "gold", "silver" and "bronze", "summer", "sponsors" and "London." – will prowl the streets of East London protecting the sponsorship rights of McDonald's, Coca-Cola, BP Oil, General Electric, Adidas, Dow Chemical, Procter & Gamble and the rest. These manifestations of the 2012 Olympic spirit seem just a tad too shamefully  reminiscent of 1936 and the picture above. And maybe I’ll be arrested for writing this under one of the new Olympic laws we don't know about.

Click here for Velvets

The secret word is Run


Kitty Wells – RIP 

AND WHILE WE’RE ON THE SUBJECT…

BREAK ON THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE

Click here for Jim

DO YOU STILL DOUBT THE CATAPOCALYPSE?

(Pic supplied by HCB)

GRATUITOUS KRYSTEN RITTER

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WOODY

Today is Woody Guthrie’s 100^th birthday.

Click here for Bob

The secret word is Organize

THE END IS AT HAND ALL OVER AGAIN

A few months ago archaeologists supposedly laid to rest the idea that time, the universe, and everything would come to end when the Mayan calendar runs out on December 21^st of this year. Unfortunately we have another set of researchers who now claim the end may be at hand after all. For my part I’m hoping some of us might come together to stage some kind of event on the last day, either to go out all together, happy and loaded, or laugh at the stupidity of it all. 

“Now, researchers exploring the Maya ruins of La Corona in Guatemala have unearthed another reference. On a stairway block carved with hieroglyphs, archaeologists found a commemoration of a visit by Yuknoom Yich'aak K'ahk' of Calakmul, the most powerful Mayan ruler in his day. The king, also known as Jaguar Paw, suffered a terrible defeat in battle by the Kingdom of Tikal in 695. [...] In an effort to tie himself and his reign to the future, the king linked his reign with another 13th cycle — the 13th bak'tun ending on Dec. 21, 2012. David Stuart, a professor of art history at the University of Texas at Austin, recognized the reference to the date among 56 glyphs that were carved on the stone block. "It was a time of great political turmoil in the Maya region, and this king felt compelled to allude to a larger cycle of time that happens to end in 2012," Stuart said in a statement released by UT.”

Click here for Elvis’ opinion on the matter.

The secret words are That’s, All, and Folks

AND WHILE WE’RE WAITING FOR THE END LET’S NOT FORGET…

“The goal of the future is full unemployment, so we can play. That’s why we have to destroy the present politico-economic system.” This may sound like the pronouncement of some bong-smoking anarchist, but it was actually Arthur C. Clarke, who found time between scuba diving and pinball games to write “Childhood’s End” and think up communications satellites.”

AND LET’S ALSO NOT FORGET…

The UK Nation Health Service may not be perfect and is also being constantly strangled by Conservatives but in comparison to the USA – where socialized medicine is treated like an abomination of Satan – it’s a near miracle and the only reason I’m still alive. In the US I would have died along with over 100,000 others without health coverage. Check these figures…

“Just this year, Families USA's report, “Dying for Coverage,” found that…

26,100 people between the ages of 25 and 64 died prematurely due to a lack of health coverage in 2010

2,175 people died prematurely every month in 2010

Between 2005 and 2010, the number of people who died prematurely each year due to a lack of health coverage rose from 20,350 to 26,100

Between 2005 and 2010, the total number of people who died prematurely due to a lack of health coverage was 134,120.”

GRATUITOUS MAMIE VAN DOREN

A PICTURE SAYS IT ALL -- SPANISH MINERS CONFIRM ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

ART ON THE BARRICADES

As the fabric of capitalism disintegrates before our very eyes we may have to move and fast. We have often posted the apt and timely rants of our comrade Chris Hedges. Here’s another one… 

“Cultures that endure carve out a protected space for those who question and challenge national myths. Artists, writers, poets, activists, journalists, philosophers, dancers, musicians, actors, directors and renegades must be tolerated if a culture is to be pulled back from disaster. Members of this intellectual and artistic class, who are usually not welcome in the stultifying halls of academia where mediocrity is triumphant, serve as prophets. They are dismissed, or labeled by the power elites as subversive, because they do not embrace collective self-worship. They force us to confront unexamined assumptions, ones that, if not challenged, lead to destruction. They expose the ruling elites as hollow and corrupt. They articulate the senselessness of a system built on the ideology of endless growth, ceaseless exploitation and constant expansion. They warn us about the poison of careerism and the futility of the search for happiness in the accumulation of wealth. They make us face ourselves, from the bitter reality of slavery and Jim Crow to the genocidal slaughter of Native Americans to the repression of working-class movements to the atrocities carried out in imperial wars to the assault on the ecosystem. They make us unsure of our virtue. They challenge the easy clichés we use to describe the nation—the land of the free, the greatest country on earth, the beacon of liberty—to expose our darkness, crimes and ignorance. They offer the possibility of a life of meaning and the capacity for transformation.” (Click here for the rest)

Click here for Third World War

The secret word is Act

AN INTERVIEW WITH UNCLE BILL

Click here

POSTED WITHOUT COMMENT

POSTED WITH EVEN LESS COMMENT

SPACE OPERA

THE CRO MAG GOT A KNIFE

While Russian punks challenge the system and go to jail, in New York they just stab each other. (This is from the ever-reliable New York Post.)

“A former member of the hard-core punk band the Cro-Mags attacked two of the group’s current members with a hunting knife in a dressing room before a show at Webster Hall yesterday— biting one and slashing both The band was about to take the stage about 8:15 p.m. when tattooed rocker Harley Flanagan, 42, barreled through the East Village venue’s VIP section toward the Cro-Mags’ dressing room, sending nearly 30 guests on the balcony into a frenzy, law enforcement sources and witnesses said.

“Someone was yelling, ‘Get his hands, get his hands, he’s got a knife!’ ” witness Dave Gustav said. “Everything went nuts.” Several beefy security guards rushed to contain Flanagan, who seemed about to boil over before he entered the East Village venue. “I talked to him outside minutes before it happened and I knew something was going to go down,” a witness said, according to the Horns Up Rocks website. “He was like a lunatic outside. Next thing I know he’s in the VIP area stabbing people!” Flanagan, the band’s former bassist and founder, suffered a broken leg by the time security finally pinned him down, witnesses said. Cops handcuffed him to a chair and took him out. “People started booing him and throwing stuff at him,” eyewitness Justin Brannan said. “His hands were handcuffed but he still gave everyone the finger.”

A comment adds extra insight...

“The Cro-Mags are a true group of psychopaths founded upon the principles of the Hare Krishna movement (LOL, it's true... Both Flanagan and Joseph will tell you about how they're all for Krishna and Vishnu). John Joseph and Harley Flanagan have hated each other for years. Harley has always talked a bunch of trash on his Myspace and Facebook accounts about how he wants to fight certain ex-members of the Cro-Mags in MMA style matches. John Jospeh is a conspiracy theorist who believes The Illuminati are out to get him and all this other crap. Harley needs a trip to the insane asylum and John Joseph needs to quit buying that nasty weed at the ISKCON center.”

Click here for the noise of the nasty bastards

The secret word is Pointless

Ernest Borgnine – RIP 

THE FROZDICK FAMILY

Buzz Frozdick believed most things could be achieved with a bottle of Jack Daniels and a gun.

ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK

(For our non-Euro cousins the name of the bank is Santander.).

DOC’S PAPERBACK CLASSICS # 104

PUSSY RIOT (It’s not only rock and roll)

While our own rockers either luxuriate in their own narcissism, sell their tunes for TV commercials, or complain all the way to the bank, in Russia punks are still right there seriously risking life and liberty on the barricades.

“Three members of Pussy Riot, the Russian feminist punk-rock band, began a hunger strike Wednesday after a Moscow court suddenly told them they must prepare their defense for trial by Monday. Maria Alyokhina, Yakaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were taken into custody in March, after the group's February performance of “Virgin Mary Put Putin Away,” an anti-Putin song, inside the Russian Orthodox Church's main cathedral, asking the Virgin Mary to chase President Vladimir Putin out of power. The three women were arrested over four months ago and have been held without bail on charges of criminal hooliganism  — which carry a possible seven-year prison sentence. Two other female members of the band have avoided arrest thus far.

"I announce a hunger strike because it is unlawful," said Tolokonnikova, wearing a T-shirt with the famous slogan of the Spanish Civil War, "No pasaran!" ("They shall not pass"), emblazoned across it. "Until July 9 is not enough (time) for me. I think it is absolutely unlawful," she said in the Tagansky district court. "I am categorically against it and I announce a hunger strike," Alekhina also said after the court delivered a separate ruling on her and another one on Samutsevich. As the case generates media attention, activists all over the world are advocating for Pussy Riot’s release. Over 100 Russian cultural figures, including some known for pro-government views, have signed a letter calling for the release of the trio. "We see no legal basis or practical reason for the further isolation of these young women, who do not pose any real danger to society," the letter said.”

Click here for the video.

The secret word is Courage

NOT EVERYTHING IN TEXAS IS BAD

A couple of days ago I was slagging off Texans, but, to be fair, they all not all vicious Republican bumpkins. Check this anonymous mural of Charlie Bukowski in Austin. And don’t forget what Charlie told us. “Some people never go crazy, what truly horrible lives they must live.”