"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler
by Smitty (h/t Kottke)
As someone who occasionally gets some time on the instrument, I can appreciate the playing here, to a degree:
The fingering is articulate at ludicrous speed, and the peel-offs are way beyond my own meager skill. However, one is officially required to assume a reactionary stance about any non-traditional pieces on the instrument.
But would SFU tell him to STFU (silence the foolish unpleasantness)?
ABINGDON, Va. — Thursday night, in pursuit of the inside story of the VA-9 congressional campaign, I met with Republican sources at a saloon on State Street in Bristol.
When we walked in, the jukebox was playing some toneless heavy metal noise that was getting on my road-frayed nerves. “Obviously,” I told my companions, “these people don’t know how to operate a jukebox.”
With a few dollars’ worth of quarters, I then gave a lesson in proper jukebox operation. There are some songs that are great jukebox tunes, guaranteed to put saloon-goers into a happy mood, get the ladies dancing and make the pool-shooters start playing air-guitar on their pool cues. Pretty much anything by Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top or the Allman Brothers, for example. Or this all-time singalong classic:
Here is a photo of my Republican sources and some of their local grassroots juke-joint constituents:
Research demonstrate that good juke-joint music inspires grassroots constituents to join the Axis of Fedora:
My Republican sources assure me that they plan to continue their grassroots outreach program, to make sure that these constituents vote for Morgan Griffith on Tuesday.
by Smitty
Here is mine:
Show me your apolitical goods, people.
Update: Props to Cubachi on Twitter, who points to Static Cycle, with Bristol Palin in their video.
by Smitty
Of course, Klavan was really re-iterating material explored by Dan Riehl back in his relatively slender pop days:
You knew their was something creepy about Justin Bieber:
Justin Bieber Found To Be Cleverly Disguised 51-Year-Old Pedophile
(Via Ace of Spades HQ headlines.)
Her Web site is here. She sent this to me via Twitter.
Cultural criticism in Broward County, Florida:
Declaring that white people “shouldn’t be listening to rap music,” a 14-year-old Florida boy allegedly assaulted a man Monday night in what police say was a racially-motivated attack. The teenager was arrested after he allegedly struck the 22-year-old victim, who is white, in the face. According to a Palm Bay Police Department report . . . the victim was on a sidewalk listening to rap music when he was confronted by the boy and other teenagers. The suspect told the man to turn off his music, adding that he was “white and he shouldn’t be listening to rap music.” When the victim replied that he “could listen to whatever he wants,” the suspect “repeatedly” punched him in the face.
“That cracker had it coming, your honor.”
On this date in 1965, the second Beatles movie, Help! premiered in London:
Of course, I found out about this on Twitter. Something else I saw on Twitter was this article by my young friend Chris Moody:
With the turn of a phrase, Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann seemed to sum up last weekend’s RightOnline conference, an annual gathering of conservative activists.
“The sleeping giant is awake,” she declared, drawing a thunder of applause and cheering that could be heard across the fifth floor of the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, where the two-day event was held.
For years, the progressive Netroots Nation conference had monopolized the discussion about online activism. Republicans held the White House and Congress until November 2006, a reality that sparked a fury on the left and motivated them to dominate the online world.
The election of Barack Obama, however, turned much of that on its head.
For the first time ever, conservative blogs hold the top two slots in Technorati.com’s politicsl blog ranking, pushing The Huffington Post, the long-reigning champion, to the fifth slot. Conservative blogs also make up half of the top ten political blogs on the Web, while the distinctly liberal blogs only claim two spaces.
I had written a long post connecting these two thoughts, but the computer ate it. I blame Erik Telford.