Katrina and the Waves
I need something very happy after posting about Darfur which seems to suck the live right out of me.
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Darfur
This video is almost too sad to post. This video comes with a warning of graphic scenes. I think that they were tastefully done. The Bush administration has had so many failures it is hard to single out the best, worst, biggest. Darfur must be in the top 2 or 3.
Fixing this crap would be relatively easy. We need the will and the money. We don’t have either but we can ask our kids for a loan. We go in with overwhelming force (Powell doctrine) and restore order. Criminals go to the Hague. Set up a temp government. Deliver basic services. Set up democracy institutions. No, really, democratic, not the faux thing that we set up in Iraq. 3 - 5 year commitment for the good of humanity. Not for oil or for profit. No Halliburtons. Just because it is the right thing to do. Damn it.
Senator McCain - The Sad Talk Express
There was a time in a Galaxy far, far away, when I had some respect for John McCain. He desperately tired to pull the Republican party away from the Religious Right back in 2000. He stood up campaign reform but that was a long time ago. He is now a sad caricature of himself. The “straight talk” express has been derailed.
This is really sad to see. I know that for me it is hard to watch. This seemed to be a proud man who had serviced our country well who was forced to bend over and kiss King George’s ring. Once he did that he was stuck. He really couldn’t take back the things that he said before. He really couldn’t erase the image that he had before. So, he is catch in his game of twister as he tries to conform to whims of a changing Republican party. If he would have stood his ground. The Republican Party would have come to him.
For more videos, like this one, go to www.therealmccain.com.
North Korea agree to shut down reactor
This is good news for the Bush administration after nothing but bad news day after day for months. Alberto, Cheney, Iraq, Scooter Libby, Iraq, Iran, the environment the list is almost endless. This may be something that the Bush Administration can cheer about.
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From CNN.com:
Pyongyang and Washington have agreed on a three-week timeframe for shutting down the North’s plutonium-producing reactor, a top U.S. nuclear envoy said Saturday after returning from a rare visit to the reclusive state.
Christopher Hill — the chief U.S. negotiator at international talks on North Korea’s nuclear programs — said they were looking at a three-week timeframe for shutting down the Yongbyon reactor, when asked by reporters on his arrival at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. (more..)
Prince - Cream
Prince may be the greatest pop musician of my time. He has written thousands of songs. They have been sung by just about everyone from Tom Jones to Shelia E. Some sound similar but most do not. Cream is one of those that don’t sound like Little Red Corvette or Purple Rain. Enjoy.
Quincy Jones - I’ll be Good to you
It is hard to know where to start in discussing this song. In the mid-70’s, Quincy Jones had found a couple of guys, brothers, George and Louis Johnson. George had an interesting voice and played the guitar. Louis has a new way to play the bass. He got a funky sound out of the bass that had not really been heard before. They became the Brother Johnson. On their debut album, yes they had albums back then, was this cool tune called I’ll Be Good To You. This tune became their first hit. It also proved that Quincy Jones could find and produce talent.
Roll the clock forward about 15 years. Qunicy Jones had found great success producing albums for Michael Jackson, the Brothers Johnson and Donna Summer to name just a few. His friend for over 40 years, Ray Charles, is enjoying a revival of his long and productive career. Jones discusses their friendship - here. I don’t know why they decided to make a record together. I have never heard that story. And I don’t know why Quincy decided to make I’ll be Good to You a duet. He chose Chaka Khan who I hadn’t heard from since her days with Rufus. Anyway, what a great duo. What a great song!
Countdown - Closing Gitmo
The Bush Administration has tried every way that it can think of to put these people in a place where they will never be seen again. The US Supreme Court has no on a number of occasions. So, the Bush Administration is trying to figure out what to do. There is the same internal battle going on. So, of the players have changed, but the battle is the same. On one side of this fight is Dick Cheney. He stands for the president’s ability to do anything that he wants at anytime. Condoleezza Rice and Secretary Gates are on the other side. They appear to believe that Gitmo is a problem and we need to fix the problem.
Keith Olbermann has a solid interview with Neal Katyal, Georgetown law professor and lawyer representing one of the detainees, Hamdan.
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From NYT:
The Bush administration acknowledged Friday that its top officials were once again actively debating recommendations about how and when to close the detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, but officials said they thought it could be weeks or months before a decision was made.A central recommendation, but not the only possibility, would be to move the terror suspects from Guantánamo to military prisons in the United States, the officials said.
The revival of a bitter, long-running debate behind closed doors in the Bush administration comes only a few months after the Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told President Bush that they believed that Guantánamo’s continued existence was undercutting American foreign policy efforts around the world, and would ultimately prove a stain on Mr. Bush’s legacy. (more…)
Weekend Reading
At the top of the weekend reading list this week is Songs of the Kisaeng: Courtesan Poetry of the Last Korean Dynasty. I’ve got a busy weekend here in Houston and all I’ll have time for is some poetry.
Here is a poem by a person named Kungyo who lived maybe 500 years ago. It’s called Who Caught You?
Who caught you, fish, then set you free
Within my golden pond?
Which clear northern sea did you leave
for these small waters?
Once here, with no way to flee,
You and I are the same.
Glenn Beck - worst person in the world
John Travolta comes in second. Glenn Beck, who I believe, just says horrible stuff to improve his ratings, wins the worst person for today.
Vice President - Not in executive branch?
This is a continuation of this story. In the last 6 years, I haven’t seen a side of Cheney that has anything to do with compromise. Our government requires all parties to compromise. Without compromise, nothing gets done, unless to believe that you can do anything that you want.
There’s a great take on this story from the Carpetbagger Report.
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From WaPo:
The White House defended Vice President Cheney yesterday in a dispute over his office’s refusal to comply with an executive order regulating the handling of classified information as Democrats and other critics assailed him for disregarding rules that others follow.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Cheney is not obligated to submit to oversight by an office that safeguards classified information, as other members and parts of the executive branch are. Cheney’s office has contended that it does not have to comply because the vice president serves as president of the Senate, which means that his office is not an “entity within the executive branch.”
“This is a little bit of a nonissue,” Perino said at a briefing dominated by the issue. Cheney is not subject to the executive order, she said, “because the president gets to decide whether or not he should be treated separately, and he’s decided that he should.” (more…)
1st born clearly the smartest
Please. We spent money on this. Clearly, the first born is the smartest.
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Errington C. Thompson, MD, is a surgeon, scholar, fulltime sports fan and part-time political activist. He is active in a number of community projects and initiatives. Through medicine, he strives to improve the physical health of all he treats...
