WHAT’S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?

Gil Kerlikowske, the new director of the White House Office of Drug Control Policy sat down with The Wall Street Journal for his first interview since his confirmation last week. It was published two days ago. Here’s an excerpt…

“The other part of breaking down the barrier is to completely and forever end the war analogy, the war on drugs. Since I used to stand in front of the helicopter for President Nixon who brought the term in vogue, it's fitting that I'm almost back in the same spot and trying to put an end to the war analogy. Regardless of how you try to explain to people it's a war on drugs, or a war on a product, people see a war as a war on them, a war on individuals and we're not at war with people in this country so I think we need to be more comprehensive. If we're not successful in improving on the addiction rate we have in this country and how we get people treated for drugs and return them back to the streets, it paints a very dark picture in the future, especially with the economy where it is.” (Click here for the whole thing.)

It all seemed like a breath of fresh air until the obvious question came up…

WSJ – Do you support legalization?
Kerlikowske – No. I've never advocated legalization and certainly the president has made it clear that's his position.

And, with that, it all went back to square one.

The secret word is Rebranding
The secret message is 53616d65206f6c6420736f6e672e20

Barbara Birdfeather – RIP

FLIPBOOK FETISH

Click here for one of the best flip books I’ve ever seen. (Supplied by our pal Wendy)

A BRIEF HISTORY OF RABBIT EARS Part 1

Gloria Steinem wearing the classic Hefner-Rotwang BE Mk1

VIRTUAL APOCALYPSE

Ever wonder what might happen if a massive online-world game like World of Warcraft came to an end? This what went down with a game called Tabula Rasa. The online world was shut down in on Feb 28, 2009 when, hit by the hideous economy, it failed to attract enough subscribers to survive, but at least it went out with a bang.

“So many players got wind of the impending badass finale that the servers slowed down under the load. You got trippy time distortions, teleportation, and direct communications from the actual Creator. Some players tried to predict what exactly would happen when the event began, and where it might be focused. Some seemed to want closure, frantically attempting to obtain the final pieces of certain equipment sets or to finish uncovering all areas of the world. By the afternoon, the West Coast server Hydra was the last server standing. As more and more of its citizenry logged on for the last hurrah, and foreign players from dead servers poured in to squeeze a few more hours out of the game, it became increasingly congested, buggy, and lag-ridden. The intended scenario was indeed playing out not just in the game and the fiction but as a metagame: the active duty population swelled as humanity prepared to make its final stand.” (Click here for more)

THE MIND BOBBLES

This has to be the most absurd toy to be marketed this century.

OUR WHACKY UNCLE BILL

A reality string becomes tangled aboard the alien space craft as it transits a brane, and Uncle Bill is less than happy with the result. The bubble helmet is too small. His leg hurts, and who the hell is the child wearing what are clearly a pair of original Rotwang rabbit ears?

SPACE OPERA

THE LAST SANE REPUBLICAN

This is Charlie Crist. He’s the governor of Florida, he has a hot wife, and is maybe the last sane Republican left standing as the Raving Looney Shotgun Hillbilly Jesus Party has their way with the rump of the GOP. Crist has a 66% approval rating in his state, and is now preparing to run for the Senate. He has broken with extreme right orthodoxy on the environment, and how to deal with the economy. To the horror of the Shotgun Hillbillies, he has even appeared with Barack Obama in support of the economic stimulus plan. Taking all this into account, it will be interesting to watch how swiftly he’s destroyed, or maybe forced to become a Democrat.

THE NEW FACE OF SPOCK

Star Trek (and therefore Spock) is always with us. It has been with us for all of my adult life. Even though it’s been a while since we had a new TV series, the current and heavily promoted movie keeps the franchise alive. Our pal Hipspinster has told us all (maybe more) that we need know about the movie. Click here.

The secret word is Ears
The secret message is 4c697665206c6f6e6720616e642070726f737065
722e

THE FROZDICK FAMILY

The designer of the Frozdick family’s rabbit ears was the notorious Dr. Rotwang who once made ears for Adolf Hitler. (See Monday)

THE CULMINATION OF A VERY BAD IDEA

THE FALL OF MISS CALIFORNIA

There’s little to beat the satisfaction of watching the enemy fuck up, especially when the fuck up is all down to the enemy’s own rank stupidity. Thus the case of the born again, but increasingly disgraced Miss California, Carrie Prejean, makes me exceedingly happy. Okay, so you want to insert a wingnut ringer into a major beauty pageant so she can spout homophobia every chance she gets. The trick is to make damned sure that your ringer is on solid ground with all of the pageant rules and regulations, and maybe even send in some mean and burly, Robert Mitchum-looking continental op to make damn sure the dingy broad hasn’t been contravening said rules by posing topless or participating in any other forms of porn, and getting gestapo intense on her ass if she doesn’t check out. I mean, isn’t all this cloak and Uzi stuff what fascists find fun? But, as John Belushi used to put it, no. The fools pick this Prejean idiot to be their shill and she’s hung out to dry in a matter of days on the strength of half a breast and a pair of pink panties. And then, just to cement the absurdity, Ms Prejean spouts the following Pentecostal psychobabble when confronted with her past.
“I felt as though Satan was trying to tempt me in asking me this question. And then God was in my head and in my heart saying, ‘Do not compromise this. You need to stand up for me and you need to share with all these people ... you need to witness to them and you need to show that you’re not willing to compromise that for this title of Miss USA.’ And I knew right here that it wasn’t about winning. It was about being true to my convictions.”
The Raving Looney Shotgun Hillbilly Jesus Party advances to oblivion.

The secret word is Implant
The secret message is 41206c6f6e67207269666c652c20612074616c6c
206275696c64696e672c20616e64206120666966
7468206f66204a61636b2044616e69656c73

THOUSAND-HAND GUAN YIN

As a departure from out usual pervert cynicism, click here for something that’s simply nice. (And nicer when you’re high.) Supplied by Marjorie, who passes on the startling information that “all 21 of the dancers are complete deaf-mutes, relying only on signals from trainers at the four corners of the stage.”

John Michell --RIP

DOC'S PAPERBACK CLASSIC'S # 55

We haven't done this in while but who could resist "new frontiers of lust" or "deviate desires"?

DEATH OF JOURNALISM (continued)

Following on from Friday’s post, here’s what Frank Rich wrote about the death of journalism in yesterday’s New York Times. I would note, however, that Frank still has a job and a paper to give him one, and maybe that’s why he soft-pedals the idiocy of management…

“IF you wanted to pick the moment when the American news business went on suicide watch, it was almost exactly three years ago. That’s when Stephen Colbert, appearing at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, delivered a monologue accusing his hosts of being stenographers who had, in essence, let the Bush White House get away with murder (or at least the war in Iraq). To prove the point, the partying journalists in the Washington Hilton ballroom could be seen fawning over government potentates — in some cases the very “sources” who had fed all those fictional sightings of Saddam Hussein’s W.M.D.

“Colbert’s routine did not kill. The Washington Post reported that it “fell flat.” The Times initially did not even mention it. But to the Beltway’s bafflement, Colbert’s riff, went viral overnight ultimately to have a marathon run as the most popular video on iTunes. The cultural disconnect between the journalism establishment and the public it aspires to serve could not have been more vividly dramatized.
“The bad news about the news business has accelerated ever since. Newspaper circulations and revenues are in free fall. Legendary brands from The Los Angeles Times to The Philadelphia Inquirer are teetering. The New York Times Company threatened to close The Boston Globe if its employees didn’t make substantial sacrifices in salaries and benefits. Other papers died. The reporting ranks on network and local news alike are shriveling. You know it’s bad when the Senate is moved, as it was last week, to weigh in with hearings on “The Future of Journalism.” (Click here for more)

The secret word is Obsolete

MONDAY MOVIES

For a start, here’s the full version of Barack Obama’s address at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Despite yesterday’s debate, I can’t help but like the guy. He’s gotta be the funniest president since Jack Kennedy. Click here.

And click here for the Stephen Colbert appearance at the same dinner three years ago. (See above)

Click here for a German banking commercial that maybe says more than it intended. (Supplied by Noudela)

Click here for Rock Hudson and Bea Arthur singing “Everybody Today Is Turning On” (Supplied by HCB)

And, finally, click here for the trailer to the highly steampunk movie “9”

EVEN ADOLF HAD HIS LIGHTER SIDE

Two images of Hitler since Friday? People will call us the History Channel.

SUNDAY MORNING

For some deep and atavistic reason, Sundays, more than any other seventh part of the week, make me think about breakfast. At other times, I have posted images of fried eggs, sausages, bacon, tomatoes, and heaven only knows what else straight from the hot grease. This image is not quite the same thing. I guess I posted it for the aesthetics, as I am most unlikely ever to breakfast on grapes, rice cakes(?), and a glass of milk. But, then again, the young lady is equally unlikely to sit upon my table.

The secret word is Grapefruit

POT AND THE PRESIDENT

The following arrived from our pal Roldo…

“I find myself moved to explain to you why I've absented myself from the Doc40 club lest any misunderstanding cast a shadow on any future crossing of paths.
Fact is I totally disagree with you on two most salient points - which doesn't mean I think you're wrong! shit, I've found myself wearing my sphincter for a collar too many times to fall into that but I do see these two scenes quite the opposite to your view.
The really important one is the legalization of Marijuana, which I think would be the worst possible disaster. I'll attach a blog I wrote under one of my many altered-egos in case you're interested in my take on that subject.
My primary disagreement with your stance is the idea that the taxes from Pot would be used to cure economic ills whereas I figure they'd far more likely go buy more bombs for the War On Whatever and pepper-spray for the folks at home.
The second thing is Obama. Man, I just can't buy his act. Everything about this guy screams of the grifter. I'd love to trust him...people I admire and respect trust him - you. Ed Sanders, lots of others...but I just can't.
So I split Doc 40 'cause it seemed impolite to argue with you in your own house as t'were - its your blog site, not a forum - and since these are matters dear to my Head, I figured best if I remove me... like it says in the Texts, "One should never be where one does not belong". But don't, please, take this as any animosity towards you personally. Fuck - I genuinely hope you're right.”

After Faux Smoke’s input of yesterday it does seem like it’s forum time at Doc40, and that’s how it should be. Debate is always better than a soapbox. It also saddens me that our good friend Roldo should feel he needs absent himself from the general fun because he disagrees with some of the positions I adopt.
As to trusting Barack Obama, I have to say again that the brevity of a blog does allow the essay that I probably need to write about my reservations about Obama, but also his basic strengths that I sensed as early as the 2004 Democratic Convention. I can only reply that, first and foremost, Barack Obama is a politician, a lawyer, and a capitalist, and I have lived far too long in this wicked world to thrust any single part of that particular combo. On the other hand, I would have unreservedly supported Jack the Ripper if I thought he had a chance of unseating the asinine evil of Bush-Cheney and would prevent it being perpetuated by the blundering McCain and the idiot-psychotic Palin.
Trust is an odd concept. Would I trust (say) Bob Dylan, Miles Davis or Keith Richard? I’ve always trusted them to play the music and keep me entertained. But that’s the limit of it. In the same way, I trust Obama to attempt to clear up the mess left by blind cowboy madness of George Bush. My expectations are limited, but as long as he doesn’t seriously let me down, he will have my support. He is not a socialist or a revolutionary. I don’t expect him to be either. After the last eight years, an adequate and intelligent president will be more than enough.
I don’t perceive the aura of the hustler, but maybe Roldo has seen something I haven’t. Barack Obama is the product of democracy. As a process for selecting leaders, democracy is certainly better than the right of inheritance, or simply slaughtering all your rivals to power. And democracy is a popularity poll, and Americans apparently like their leaders with a certain trace of the hustler and the used car dealer. Maybe I’m naïve, but if Obama is the ultimate grifter, my hopes are still he’s grifting for us.

The question about marijuana is more complicated. I may be overly hopeful, but I feel that dope is closer to becoming legal right now than it has ever been in my lifetime. I sense the nation is undergoing a long overdue sea change. Gay marriage is suddenly happening, almost without comment, one state at a time, and pot could easily go the same route, while an Obama-led Fed looked the other way. If such is the case, though, we have to face some hard realities. Legal marijuana is a very cheap crop to produce. Prices running to hundreds of bucks an ounce are the product of illegality. Legalization could cut prices by as much as 90% and I’m sure there are growers in Humboldt and BC who would hate to see that happen.
I support legalization and taxation – while far from perfect – as the best chance of maintaining some kind of level playing field for both consumer and supplier – and maybe doing something positive for all the victims of prohibition and the War on Drugs. I would fight like a maniac to keep Pfizer or RJR from taking over the dope supply, but, at the same time, I have major misgiving about some nebulous condition of decriminalization, which seems tailor-made for racketeering and abuse. I’d like to see dope treated as a commodity no different from gin or gasoline (which are both taxed and regulated), and if those taxes go to military industrial repression, it’s a citizens responsibility to stand up and scream. I could, of course be wrong, but, hell, if legal dope doesn’t work out we can always turn to weed bootleggers without losing a damned thing.
So come back Roldo. Argument is strength.

WHO YOU GONNA CALL?

Clint in his Bruce Weber period.