The day cannot pass without mention of today’s excellent Google Doodle – an animated nighttime street scene, set to the music “Claire de Lune” by Claude Debussy:
A nice effort, very well made.
Month: August 2013
Music For The Day
The first and second movements from Symphony no. 2 by Jean Sibelius (1902).
Performed here by Leonard Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
It’s a good version, albeit alternately overwrought and halting on occasions, and not a patch on the LSO/Davis recordings and performances, which remain the best available to date.
Share this:
Somebody Stop Bill Kristol
Apparently not content with having helped to inflict Sarah Palin on an unsuspecting, unprepared world back in 2008, unabashed neo-conservative Bill Kristol is now actively cheerleading for Palin to run for the US Senate in 2014, in the hopes that she can defeat incumbent Democratic Senator Mark Begich.
Kristol says:
I think the way Palin would possibly resurrect herself, if that’s the right word or rehabilitate herself, I guess is a better way of putting it — run for Senate in Alaska in 2014. I’m not urging that. I’m just saying, if I were her adviser, I would say, take on the incumbent, you have to win a primary, then you have to beat an incumbent Democrat, it’s not easy. But if she did that, suddenly, imagine that, Sarah Palin, freshman Senator in 2015 in Washington, having beaten an incumbent, that’d be pretty interesting.
Interesting? Really? How anyone with as little intellectual firepower as Sarah Palin occupying a seat in the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body (TM) could be seen as “pretty interesting” is almost unfathomable. Awful, certainly, but not interesting in any way. Even otherwise intelligent and sane Republicans, such as Marco Rubio or Rand Paul, are set dead against the idea of compromise or governance of any kind. How would adding another entity with similar views (ObamaCare = worst thing ever, immigration reform must be stopped, let’s cut taxes but raise spending on defense and benefits for old people who vote) but no brain to justify them help matters at all?
Someone needs to get Dick Morris to predict a landslide Palin victory in a potential Senate contest with Mark Begich so I can sleep easier at night again.
Share this:
Glenn Beck Analyses Reza Aslan
By now you have probably already watched the toe-curlingly, excruciatingly embarrassing car crash of an interview between Fox News host Lauren Green and her guest, the author and religious scholar Reza Aslan:
Every website, commenter and pundit has already said their piece, most to the tune of “what do you expect from Fox News, they are the unabashed mouthpiece of the religious, fundamentalist Christian right wing in America”. After awhile, watching and reading the variations-on-a-theme commentary became tiresome.
Until I discovered Glenn Beck’s alternative analysis on Reza Aslan and his book, “Zealot”:
Apparently, Aslan is a phony Muslim and a phony scholar. His true identity – of course – is that of a radical progressive. This is made clear by the fact that Beck sticks the logos of various liberal groups (and, of course, archvillain George Soros) tenuously associated with Aslan on his rotating blackboard:
Oh no! MediaMatters! The Center for American Progress! Beck has torn apart Reza Aslan’s shadowy liberal secret life in only nine minutes.
Because of course in Glenn Beck Land it is impossible to be a Muslim, a scholar and a liberal all at the same time. To acknowledge that fact would be to undermine his entire fear mongering, super profitable worldview.
Share this:
5 Reasons Why Anthony Weiner Would Still Make a Great Mayor
Some of the best darn analysis on the Anthony Weiner – NYC Mayoral race that I have read to date, from a fellow WordPress blogger that I just discovered. As she correctly states: “A little evidence of his disgusting perversion does not bring down the quality of his leadership. It doesn’t erase the fact that he was the smart and determined representative and councilman from New York who helped revitalize Sheepshead Bay, pushed for affordable heath care, improved the condition of developments, and became an active supporter of gay rights.” And: “When it comes to the government, sometimes we have to settle. If we, the American people, keep holding savior-like expectations for our country’s leaders, we’ll be left with very boring news and a lot of disappointment.” Amen to that.
Recently, NYC mayoral candidate and the face (penis) of sexting-gone-wrong, stated that his rough and controversial campaign represents the city’s renowned fighting spirit and ability to bounce back from tough situations. If anything, his situation helps him identify with “many New Yorkers who wake up everyday with a pretty tough day ahead of them.”
I can make fun of Weiner like everybody else but that’s not the type of person I am. Always pulling for the little guy, I am going to defend him on this one.
And yes, “little guy” is a euphemism for penis.
Besides, I think when a politician named Weiner gets involved in a sex scandal like this, it’s simply too easy. It’s a gift from the comedy gods that should not be abused.
We thank you for this truly disturbing gift.
So here is a list I composed, after taking a couple doses of 5…
View original post 748 more words
Semi-Partisan Politics 