The Garlic

Let The Heavenly Clouds Tickle Your Bare Feet, Cesaria Evora ...

2011-12-19T13:00:00.003-05:00

Well, I'm not doing much better with the illness I am afflicted with, however, I had to come off the DL for this.

I heard news this weekend that, certainly, put a damper in, if any, holiday spirit hovering around.

That being that the wonderful, and talented, Cape Verdean singer, Cesaria Evoria passed away, at the not-terribly-old-age of 70.

Man ...

Listening to her was such a pleasure, for she carried you off into a world, flooded and filled, with the most beautiful sounds, a world you may not know existed, just floating along, listening to her, lost in the beauty, thinking, hoping, it would never end.

I was fortunate to see her perform, twice, back in the mid and late 1990's, and it was awesome.

Coming out of those shows was like having seen something outside your own understanding, something miraculously divine and good, a refreshing of your soul.

From Jon Pareles at the NYT;

Ms. Évora’s music was in a style called morna, which is sung in taverns on the Cape Verde islands: slow, pensive ballads with an underlying lilt, suffused with sodade, the Cape Verdean creole term for a nostalgic longing that pervades music across Portugal (where the word is saudade) and its former empire.

Ms. Évora sang about love, sorrow and history, including slavery, in a husky, dignified, unhurried contralto that brought warmth and gravity to songs by Cape Verde’s leading poets. She also sang in her country’s more upbeat styles, coladeira and funaná, but her serenely sorrowful mornas were her legacy.

She always performed barefoot, a gesture of solidarity with poor women. A concert review in The New York Times described her as “a Yoda of melancholy” onstage.

And Barry Hatton at SF Chronicle-AP

Her singing style brought comparisons to American jazz singer Billie Holiday. "She belongs to the aristocracy of bar singers," French newspaper Le Monde said in 1991, adding that Ms. Evora had "a voice to melt the soul."

Ms. Evora's international fame came late in life. Her 1988 album "La Diva Aux Pieds Nus" ("Barefoot Diva"), recorded in France where she first found popularity, launched her international career.

Her 1995 album "Cesaria" was released in more than a dozen countries and brought her first Grammy nomination, leading to a tour of major concert halls around the world and album sales in the millions.

She won a 2003 Grammy in the World Music category for her album "Voz D'Amor."

Xeni Jardin, over on Boing Boing, also has a nice tribute to check out.

As does the BBC - Cesaria Evora, the voice that put Cape Verde on the map

So long Cesaria Evora ...

Try not to make the angels cry, with your so, so sweat voice ....

Cesaria Evora - Sodade (HD,16:9)

Cesaria Evora - Besame Mucho

Cesaria Evora - Carnaval De Sao Vicente ( Live In Paris )

Hey, Madison Ave!, Get A Glove, Get In The Game!

2011-11-29T17:00:00.003-05:00

With still being on the DL (see HERE and HERE), and in copious pain, we were on the outlook for some comic relief.

Herman Cain, seemingly, in the wrong race (He, apparently, wants in the "President of the United States of Love" contest), doesn't quite make it.

Nor, the foot-in-mouth of Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, for Brownback's browbeating of a high school teenager (Gotta plug into that "Stick and Stones" thing, there, Sammy).

And, with the recently-completed Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, today seems to be the unannounced "Justify OccupyWallStreet Day", with the cascading news of;

Super Secret Bank Bailout awarding the crooks and cronies billions

A Federal Judge telling the SEC and Citicorp, of their wrist-slap-with-a-paper-ruler agreement that "Homey don't play that game"

And today, Heistin Hank Paulson playing Mr. Inside Tipster to his former Wall Street pals.

This all plays out as more ironic, than humor.

No, we have to turn to a segment we heard on radio this past weekend.

It was from PRI's 'The World', on the South African fast-food chicken outfit, Nando's.

Seems they have a history of putting out creative, and, at times controversial, advertisements, like the one from about 10-years ago, having a Seeing Eye Dog lead a blind woman into a pole, so the dog could wolf down the Nando's chicken.

From Wikepedia:

Nando's is known in South Africa for its humorous but often controversial adverts. One such television advert from 2000, involved a blind woman being led into a pole intentionally and knocked unconscious by her guide dog, which then proceeded to eat the chicken that the woman had just purchased. This caused an uproar from people who were concerned that the blind would be offended. The South African Advertising Standards Authority called for the withdrawal of the advert. Several blind people were quoted in the media as finding the advert amusing

You can view that ad HERE or HERE

Their latest ad, the one catching some flak (and buzz) is no disappointment;

Nando's: Last dictator standing

Here's a few more;

Nandos Chips

Nandos "Ramadan" advert

Nando's Viral - Did he just eat his dog?

After watching these Nando's ads, it's disappointing how Madison Avenue bombards us with juvenile cellphone, and moronic beer ads.

Wake up guys, get a glove, get in the game ...

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T10:15:00.004-05:00

Just want to pass on Best Wishes to one, and all, on this Thanksgiving Day Holiday!

However you celebrate it, whatever is on your menu, may you be pleased with peace and happiness.

And of course, count those calories ...

Ain't that so, Mr. Eddie Harris?

Eddie Harris That's Why You're Overweight.wmv

Bonus Retro Garlic Riffs

Shop Until You Drop ... Dead!

Happy Bird Day!

Well, She Could Have Been Shooting Them From A Helicopter ...

Top Ten Cloves: Uses For The Cancelled O.J. Book On Thanksgiving Day

Top Ten Cloves: Things About Thanksgiving This Year

Everyday People ... Stand!

2011-11-21T19:30:00.003-05:00

Sly and the Family Stone - Everyday People

Totally Outrageous!

Police pepper spraying and arresting students at UC Davis

And sorry, to those Police State Mouthpieces, who are endorsing this, saying it would prevent worse injuries.

I call BULLSHIT!

Look at the above, now look, when the shoe is on the other foot.

UC Davis Chancellor Katehi walks to her car (higher quality)

To you, Officer Pike (the cretin pepper sprayer) and to you Chancellor Linda Katehi, the world IS watching!

So is Will Bunch, over on Attytood

This much is clear: The campus cops 3,000 miles away have offer a blueprint of what not to do. The swelling tide of police violence against peaceful demonstrators comes after 10 years of citizens’ passive acquiescence toward the Patriot Act and expanded government snooping, waterboarding terror suspects, and giving urban police departments more high-tech firepower than many Third World nations. Now our security-state-on-steroids is being turned against non-violent protesters here in the “homeland.” Talk about blowback!

Take us out, Sly ...

Sly and the Family Stone - Stand!

Breaking News! ... Vatican Dispatching Cardinal Bernard Law To Penn State

2011-11-10T14:00:00.009-05:00

Sources tell 'The Garlic', that after an all-night session, Pope Benedict XVI is dispatching Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major Bernard Law to Penn State, to offer The Vatican's assistance in the burgeoning sexual abuse scandal.

Last night , Pennsylvania State University President Graham Spanier, and the school's legendary football coach Joe Paterno were fired by the Board of Trustees, over their handling of former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse of, at least, eight young boys.

"Lights were burning all night ... Cars coming-and-going," offered one observer.

In a brief statement, Pope Benedict XVI said he "sympathized" with the Penn State officials, and is offering the Vatican's "complete playbook" on how to obfuscate and deny any knowledge or responsibility for sexual abuse.

"We know, and especially with this happening at a university, the Hippie Culture of the 1960's is to blame ."

The Pope added that "Bernie Law is just the guy they need at this time."

Unconfirmed reports say that Law is authorized to offer any, and all, Penn State officials caught up in the sexual abuse scandal, sanctuary at The Vatican, where they can benefit from the lack of Extradition, from any criminal charges that may come from this case.

More, as this story develops.

Bonus Riffs

Alyssa Rosenberg: The Shame Of Joe Paterno

John Cole: Paterno Out

Bob Ryan: Immediate removal was the correct step

Eric Wilbur: State of idiocy

My Boy Lollipop

Beyond Repugnant

Retro Garlic: "We Got An Eight-Page Layout With Viceroy ... The New Pope Is A Thinking Man ..."

Update Bonus Riffs

John Scalzi: Omelas State University

Steven L. Taylor: Witness to Assault Still on Penn State Coaching Staff

Daniel Strauss: Pa. senators no longer support Joe Paterno for Medal of Freedom

Let The Sainthood Begin!

2011-11-07T17:30:00.004-05:00

Well, the fix is in, they have their Fall Guy.

We speak of the former medical practitioner, the prescription-pad-to-the-stars, Dr. Conrad Murray, who, when receiving his sheepskin from whatever matchbook medical warehouse he come out of, surely couldn't have envisioned he would wind up on the Shit Train running out of Never Never Land.

Jackson's doctor found guilty of manslaughter - Conrad Murray faces up to four years in jail, will be sentenced Nov. 29

The jury deliberated less than nine hours ...

What pikers!

They're sitting on the Entertainment Trial of the new millennium, and they only suck out one lunch from it?

That's barely enough time for TMZ, or People Magazine, to nail down the Exclusives!

So, gird up for a new round of Jacko Worship.

See, the drug-addicted, un-convicted child molester didn't kill himself, it was the big, mean money-whore of a doctor that did it ...

Let the Sainthood begin!

Bonus Never Never Land Riffs

The Tsunami To Come

Unconvicted Child Molester Summoned For His Judgement Day

Top Ten Cloves: What The Michael Jackson Jury Will Talk About When They Get The Case

Wild Motion Overshadows Jackson Trial Final Arguments ...Jackson Offers To Sequester Jury At Neverland; Invites Jurors To "Bring Their Children"

Top Ten Cloves: Things Larry King Would Have Said If He Had Testified In Michael Jackson Trial

Jacko Bombshell! ...Jackson Offers Embattled West To Be Mayor of Neverland ...Needs Experienced Help; 4-Year Contract, Regardless of Either Trial's Outcome

Top Ten Cloves: Possible New Fees Banks Will Start Charging

2011-11-03T13:30:00.004-04:00

News Item: Banks likely to try range of new fees

10. The Kardashian Charge - Get divorced after 72-days, fees, fees, fees ...

9. Don't have your own Deposit or Withdrawal Slips? ... Just rent one of the banks, for a fee

8. ATM's will have "Coin Slots" (like old public pay phones) if you want to use them

7. HuffPo Model: You can work at the bank, not get paid salary - and get charged with a fee

6. Need to speak to the Bank Manager? ... You can book time with him, for a fee ...

5. Fee for just walking into the bank

4. Don't have a pen to write out deposit/withdrawal slip? ... Bank has one, for a fee ...

3. The Jeopardy Fee; You didn't phrase your transaction request in the form of a question

2. Car loans, instead of based on amount/time/years/, will be based on cars' weight

1. Groucho Marx Fee - Don't know the Secret Word, it will cost you a $100 fee

(Image courtesy of Tom Priest at "In a Nutshell")

Bonus Riffs

Will Oremus: Fee-Market Capitalism - Bank of America learns it has to be more subtle about screwing its customers.

Lauri Apple: More Banks Scrap Debit Card Fee Idea

Even The S.E.C Thinks Goldman Sucks!

Top Ten Cloves: Things To Look Forward To With Apple's TV

2011-10-27T17:15:00.001-04:00

News Item: Analysts: Apple likely to release television set within two years

10. Vegas taking bets first prototype television will be found in bar in Redwood City

9. In nod to early television, instead of rabbit ears, it will have two Apple stems

8. Nano version of Apple Television only lets you watch three channels

7. Receive discount if if wearing black turtleneck when purchasing television

6. Extra commercials programmed in, pitching the Steve Jobs bio

5. Power source on television runs low; Must lug TV into Apple Store for new power sources

4. Any music in TV programming will be automatically loaded, and billed, to your iPod

3. Must purchase all your programs via Apple Apps Store

2. Siri will refuse to let you watch Fox News Channel

1. Kids finger smudges on television screen will drive you crazy

Bonus Riffs

Dan Frommer: Here’s how Apple could finally put the “TV” in Apple TV

Slash Lane: NYT: Apple expected to release Siri-powered television by 2013

Adam Satariano: Apple TV Project Is Said to Be Led By ITunes Creator Robbin

Steve Jobs Announces "Klaatu barada nikto!", New iBuilding

Apple, Belatedly, Launches New iLocater

iToy

Top Ten Cloves: Possible Reasons Moammar Gadhafi Is Not Being Buried At Sea

2011-10-21T15:30:00.001-04:00

News Item: Gadhafi body stashed in shopping center freezer

10. Secret plan to just dump him in Zuccotti Park, and blame OWS crowd

9. Can't find a Sea that will take him

8. Libya doesn't have a Navy anymore

7. Not sure if there were enough Front Page Death photos to warrant it ...

6. Conflict with the World Series

5. Everybody too busy reading new Bio on Steve Jobs

4. Waiting to see if Groupon issues a discount coupon for it

3. Negotiating with Will Ferrell to just do a cheap dramatization of it

2. Talking with the Head of The Charles Regatta, to see if they can handle it

1. President Obama has already used up his "Frequent-Burial-At-Sea" miles for the year

Bonus Riffs

BBC: Row over Muammar Gaddafi's body delays burial plans

Mary Hockaday: The challenges of reporting Gaddafi's death

Craig Silverman: The Story of the Gaddafi Story - How news of the Libyan leader’s demise spread on Twitter

Top Ten Cloves: Possible Places Muammar Gaddafi Is Hiding

Top Ten Cloves: Possible Disney Navy Seal Team 6 Movies To Be Release

Top Ten Cloves: Things Ex-President Hosni Mubarak Might Do When He Steps Down

Straighten Up and Fly Right

2011-10-20T17:00:00.008-04:00

Perhaps, a great many of you have seen, or, at minimum, heard, about the tragic events that have taken place this week, in Zanesville, Ohio.

Due to human greed, and ignorance, as well as Ohio's lax laws regarding the ownership of exotic animals, fifty-plus animals were slaughtered.

Tragic, sad, and utterly depressing.

So, here's a "Shout-Out", to all those wonderful animals, that if only they could have lived out there lives as mirthful as this tune ...

Nat King Cole - Straighten Up and Fly Right

UPDATE

Photos, Video: Surviving Ohio Exotic Animals Settling In At Zoo, Details On Owner's Death

So Long Steve Jobs ... You, Definitely, Had Duende ...

2011-10-06T09:30:00.003-04:00

For all the riffs we've done here on Apple, there was no denying what a visionary, and genius Steve Jobs was ...

Perhaps, an iconic legacy was spilled on the radio program this morning, 'The Take Away'.

As John Hockenberry, and others, struggled to come up with that iconic thing about Jobs, Hockenberry chimed in with a riff, how, when he shows his two-year-old a photograph, a real photograph, the youngster puts their finger on it, like an iPad, or such, to enlarge it, the swipe, the touch ...

Millions, upon, millions today will be doing that

Not a bad legacy to go out with ...

If he were around today, I think the late writer, George Frazier, would say that Steve Jobs, definitely, had duende ...

RIP Steve Jobs ... Job well done ...

Land of Make Believe- Chuck Mangione, Esther Satterfield & Hamilton Philharmonic

UPDATE - Bonus Riffs

Chris O'Brien: Why we all feel the passing of Steve Jobs so deeply

Hank Stuever: Steve Jobs and the idea of letting go

Mike Swift: Tributes pour in for 'our Edison'

President Obama on the Passing of Steve Jobs: "He changed the way each of us sees the world."

Mercury News: Steve Jobs Timeline: A look a tech icon's life and the products that defined Apple

Bon Les Feuilles Mortes

2011-09-23T15:30:00.003-04:00

Or, Happy Autumn Leaves!

Yes, Summer is officially over, and we move into Autumn, with today's Autumnal Equinox

The First Day of Fall.

It seemed like we had a terribly short Summer, and a rain-soaked one as well, so, here's hoping we have a nice, mild (perhaps, occasionally, crisp) Fall season.

And, who better to take us into this, but the great Mile Davis

Autumn leaves - Miles Davis

And, we have a vocal, from the man who introduced the song;

Yves Montand - Les Feuilles Mortes

And, one of our personal favorites, from the late, great Eva Cassidy

Eva Cassidy - Autumn Leaves

Bonus Riffs

Autumnal Equinox 2011: Sky Show Caps First Day of Fall

The September Equinox Explained

Autumnal Equinox

"Build That Afghan Prison Now! ..."

2011-09-20T13:30:00.002-04:00

Boy, to take a little liberty with the song, what a difference a week makes ...

There, we had President Obama, on the heels of unveiling his "Jobs for America" package, hitting the stump and exhorting Congress to "Pass that bill now!"

Funny, in what I read about the proposal, and Obama's stumping, I don't recall seeing anything about a massive, Fortress-of-Solitude-like Afghan Prison, there were no impassioned cries of "Build that Afghan prison now! ..."

Glenn Greenwald has the dirt;

As the Obama administration announced plans for hundreds of billions of dollars more in domestic budget cuts, it late last week solicited bids for the construction of a massive new prison in Bagram, Afghanistan. Posted on the aptly named FedBizOps.Gov website which it uses to announce new privatized spending projects, the administration unveiled plans for "the construction of Detention Facility in Parwan (DFIP), Bagram, Afghanistan" which includes "detainee housing capability for approximately 2000 detainees."

Yikes!

McClatchy Newspapers' Saeed Shah, back in February;

The U.S. plans to hand over the new Bagram to the Afghan military next January, a demanding target that some think it will be unable or unwilling to meet. Afghan guards are due to start arriving this spring to be trained. This appears to be the reason, officially at least, for expanding the capacity so dramatically, from 600 prisoners at the old site to 1,000 currently and up to 2,300 when the new building is completed.

"This will be the enduring detention facility for the next 50, 60 years. It's world class," said Navy Vice Adm. Robert Harward, who's in charge of U.S. detention programs in Afghanistan and who was visiting Bagram. "For the Afghans, this means that they will immediately be able to separate the insurgents from the criminal population."

"For the next 50, 60 years?"

You mean we'll be housing, and feeding and, otherwise taking care of Afghan prisoners (some who may, or may not, be terrorists - they being held with that "Do Not Pass Go" justice system - secret evidence, no charges, no trial - from the previous war criminal administration, which means Obama has looked in the rearview mirror, at least, once), for decades to come, so, like, who's going to pay for this?

One obstacle is funding, though. It costs $5 million a year to maintain the new facility, plus an additional cost per detainee, Garrity said. That's way beyond the budget of the Afghan authorities for a single jail, so it remains unclear how the new prison will be financed.

Oh, let us count the ways ...

More, from Greenwald;

One last point: recall how many people insisted that the killing of Osama bin Laden would lead to a drawdown in the War on Terror generally and the war in Afghanistan specifically. Since then -- in just four months since bin Laden's corpse was dumped into the ocean -- the U.S. has done the following: renewed the Patriot Act for four years with no reforms; significantly escalated drone attacks in Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan; tried to assassinate U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki with no due process; indicted a 24-year-old Muslim for "material support for Terrorism" for uploading an anti-American YouTube clip after he talked to the son of a Terrorist leader; pressured Iraq to keep U.S. troops in that country; argued that it has the virtually unlimited right to kill anyone it wants anywhere in the world; and now finalized plans to build a sprawling new prison in Afghanistan.

And, he finishes most wryly;

If that's winding things down, I sure would hate to see what a redoubling of the American commitment to Endless War looks like.

Help Me Mr. Wizard! ....

Bonus Riffs

Tom Engelhardt: Scamming Washington - Exclusive Letters from the ScamiLeaks Archives

Ambassador Crocker Meets Eddie Izzard

Krugman: Reclaiming America’s Soul

Does He Get To Keep The Bag Man?

Top Ten Cloves: Other Things The CIA Tried To Use With The Afghan Warlords

PNAC Going All Xe On Us

Again, Why Are We In Afghanistan?

Top Ten Cloves: Things Peyton Manning Might Be Doing While He Recovers From Neck Surgery

2011-09-19T15:15:00.002-04:00

News Item: Peyton Manning's receiving stem cell therapy thrusts medical procedures back into sports spotlight

10. "Hmmm ...Maybe since 'Modern Family' won a lot of Emmy Awards, they might have a spot for me ... A broken-down, ex-football-player, uncle-type role ..."

9. With all the doctors working on him, see if they can qualify under President Obama's new "Jobs Plan", maybe get some federal funding out of it ...

8. Will have time to figure out just what-the-heck Netflix is doing

7. Give Lorne Michaels a call, maybe hook again with 'Saturday Night Live'

6. See if Google wants a All-Star endorser for their new "Google Wallet"

5. Two words - "Fantasy Football!!!"

4. Might check out Sarah Palin, see if she's interested in hooking up with a "Legendary Quarterback"

3. "Hmmm ... Yahoo has an opening...I can even do some commercials - Yahooooooo ..."

2. Actually, having bolts inserted into both sides of neck and will announce shift to WWE as new terror, evil, bad guy, "Peytonstein"

1. "Damn everybody, I've always wanted to be... a lumberjack"

Bonus Peyton Manning Riffs

Dan Childs: Peyton Manning’s Stem Cell Hail Mary

Jay Glazer: Manning chooses speedier recovery

Allen Barra: Goodbye to Peyton Manning, Greatest Quarterback of the 21st Century

Top Ten Cloves: Possible Reasons Peyton Manning Threw Six Interceptions Last Evening

It's a "Who Dat" Kind of World Now!

Retro Garlic: "Google Wallet" ...We Were Close

2011-09-19T15:00:00.003-04:00

We espied news today that Google will be introducing their long-teased "Google Wallet", an application for cellphones;

While this will be the official launch, the product itself will likely still be quite limited. The only officially compatible phone is the Nexus S 4G, which is only available on Sprint in the U.S. Google has an NFC sticker product to bring tap-and-pay to other phones, but it’s not clear if that will be ready at launch or not. Hardware to enable the payments on the merchant end is also needed. And again, MasterCard has been the only official partner on the credit card side of things so far. Perhaps Google will have more to say on that tomorrow. But the above documentation still points to PayPass-enabled Citi MasterCards as the only way to use the service for now.

It also makes sense for Google to get Wallet out there now before their next flagship Android phone, the Nexus Prime, launches next month. It too will have NFC capabilities built in and will bring the Wallet functionality to the much larger Verizon customer base.

Oh boy!

Can't wait for those news reports to pile up about these "Google Wallets" being hacked ...

And, the Retro part;

Tuesday, June 21, 2005 - Google Drops Bombshell - Will Compete With U.S. Treasury ...Markets Close Early and Troops Activated; eBay Said To Be Dumping PayPal

A day after news leaked of the 'Google Wallet', a pay system said to rival eBay's PayPal, Google late yesterday afternoon dropped a bombshell when they announced they will begin a new monetary system for the United States and compete with the U.S. Treasury.

[snip]

In a memo provided to The Garlic, by a person close to Google who wishes to remain anonymous, or would otherwise be terminated, shows that Google's money units will be called "Googlets" For higher denominations, a hyphen and Roman Numeral is added.

Ten Dollars in Googlets will be known as 'Googlets-X', $20, as "Googlets-XX, and so on. For odd denominations, a combination of Roman Numerals and regular numbers will be employed, such as $7 as 'Googlet-V2 or $23 as 'Googlet-XX3. There will be no metal coins in the Googlet Monetary System.

Oh well, we were close ...

Bonus Retro Garlic Google

Garlic Exclusive! ...Google Launches Search for Famed Woman Aviator

Stymied By Publishers, Google To Digitize Bazooka Joe Comics ...If Impasse Prolonged, Google To Continue With Baseball Cards, Shopping Coupons

Breaking News! Giant Search Engine Downed By GOP and RNC Staffers ...Google Crashes! Besieged With “I’m Feeling Lucky” Searches From White House, Congress ...Amazon, D.C. Novelty Stores Hit With Run On Magic 8-Balls

Top Ten Cloves: Other Great Things You'll Get Using Google's New Retooled Search Engine

Top Ten Cloves: Ways Google Can Provide Better Day Care

Life Imitates Art ... Or, Did Burt Lancaster Invent Google Earth?

Good Post - Will Bunch - "The 10 unanswered questions of 9/11"

2011-09-07T15:00:00.002-04:00

If you have been paying attention to the media this week, be it television or radio (particularly NPR), you can see, hear and feel the tsunami of Sept 11th-related stories, building up to the 10th Anniversary this Sunday.

From the tragically sad and heart-breaking, to the softer, uplifting optimistic ones, perhaps, as one of the programs, on 'The Takeaway', has a series dealing with the children born after that horrible day.

And when this 10th Anniversary arrives, we will still be occupying Iraq and Afghanistan, not, necessarily, related to the events the Anniversary commemorates.

Today, Will Bunch has as his column a reminder, how after 10-years now, we still have so many unanswered questions;

The 10 unanswered questions of 9/11

Go read Will Bunch, it's a good piece.

And, one of the items is, perhaps, the least highlighted;

6. Who killed five Americans with anthrax in the fall of 2001?

There's much that has been written about the scientist who, allegedly, was behind the Anthrax attacks, and for my money, it plays out like a rough draft for the sequel to 'The Paralex View'.

Also, we would be remiss if we didn't point to Anne Applebaum's piece in 'Slate' earlier this week -"The Worst Mistake America Made After 9/11 - How focusing too much on the war on terror undermined our economy and global power."

Top Ten Cloves: Possible Places Muammar Gaddafi Is Hiding

2011-08-23T18:30:00.002-04:00

New Item: Qaddafi’s Complex Falls to Revolutionaries

10. Near the epicenter of the big East Coast Earthquake

9. Detroit - Grab one of those $1000 houses, and toss an idea, or two, to Mayor Dave Bing

8. At Hewlett Packard (he forced them to spin off PC Unit)

7. Sneakily, behind Hurricane Irene

6. As Rick Perry's Campaign Manager

5. The Kardashian Wedding

4. Some place the Navy Seals can't find him

3. The London Riots (he may have thrown a rock, or two)

2. As an anonymous, wage-less writer for Huffington Post

1. With LeGone James - One non-finisher, with another

iUSA

2011-07-29T13:25:00.002-04:00

Well, if we see President Obama sporting a black turtleneck over the weekend, perhaps that will signal the Apple has purchased the U.S. Government.

U.S. balance now less than Apple cash

Steve Jobs is now more liquid than Uncle Sam

[snip]

As Republicans and Democrats continue to work towards a compromise to the country’s debt ceiling crisis, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Thursday that Washington now has a total operating balance of only US$73.768-billion.

Meanwhile, Apple currently boasts a cash reserve of US$75.876-billion, as of its most recent quarterly earnings report at the end of June.

If that happens, I, suppose, we'll all be mandated to purchase iPhones (which will help streamline the iLocater program), and changes will include download apps for things like Social Security Checks, Food Stamps. and such.

And Jobs can scratch the plans for building his new spaceship office, as, no doubt, he'll move straight into the White House, incorporating the Apple logo into the Presidential Seal.

Welcome, to the good ol' iUSA!

Paging Bob Hoskins

2011-07-27T14:16:00.004-04:00

Boy, if the PartyofNoicans think this is their idea of a tough guy, no wonder they are so clueless.

House Republicans Psyche Themselves Up By Watching Ben Affleck Prepare To Beat Some Guys Up

House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the party’s vote counter, began his talk by showing a clip from the movie, “The Town”, trying to forge a sense of unity among the independent-minded caucus.

One character asks his friend: “I need your help. I can’t tell you what it is. You can never ask me about it later.”

“Whose car are we gonna take,” the character says.

After showing the clip, Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), one of the most outspoken critics of leadership among the 87 freshmen, stood up to speak, according to GOP aides.

“I’m ready to drive the car,” West replied, surprising many Republicans by giving his full -throated support for the plan.

The actual line from the scene is “I need your help. I can’t tell you what it is. You can never ask me about it later. We’re gonna hurt some people.”

I mean, he's an okay actor, and they're referring to his role in 'The Town', but, he's probably, more defined by 'Jersey Girl' than being a tough guy.

If you want a real tough guy, someone to put the fear of Jesus into you, that you gotta go with Bob Hoskins, from the very underrated 1979 gem 'The Long Good Friday'(whose cast also included the great, and gorgeous, Helen Mirren)

"The mafia? I've shit 'em!" - Long Good Friday final scene

Note, at the very end, the unknown rookie, Pierce Bronson, playing a heavy

Actually, it might do us all better if Obama effected a little Hoskins;
"I'll tell you something ... I'm glad I found out in time just what a partnership with a pair of wankers like you would have been ... A sleeping partner is one thing, but you're in a fucking coma ..."

Barry Crimmins - "Farewell, Hercules"

2011-07-26T14:58:00.004-04:00

I had only met him once.

He was sharing the stage with Barry Crimmins, and, not surprising, Crimmins deferred the "headline" time slot to him, where, for an hour, or so, he strummed his guitar, talked, and joked, with the audience some, in-between singing some serious sweet tunes.

We speak of folksinger, and writer, and all-around cool guy, Bill Morrissey, who passed away this weekend, at the all-too-young age of 59.

This, from Wikipedia;

Bill Morrissey (November 25, 1951 – July 23, 2011) was an American folk singer/songwriter from New Hampshire. Many of his songs reflect the harsh realities of life in crumbling New England mill towns.
Over the course of his long career, two of Morrissey's ten albums received Grammy nominations and several have earned 4-star reviews in Rolling Stone as well as equal accolades in other major national publications.[citation needed] Stephen Holden, for the New York Times, wrote, "Mr. Morrissey's songs have the force of poetry...a terseness, precision of detail and a tone of laconic understatement that relate his lyrics to the fiction of writers like Raymond Carver and Richard Ford."[citation needed] He is also the author of the novel Edson (Random House/Alfred A. Knopf 1996) and the recently completed Imaginary Runner.

[snip]

Morrissey, best known for his depressing lyrics, also occasionally wrote such humorous songs as "Party at the U.N." ("It's such a happy community / Everyone's got diplomatic immunity") and "Grizzly Bear", about a frustrated working-class gentleman dating a wealthy young woman who wants to "dance till we dehydrate", while he just wants to "take her home and dance the grizzly bear".

And this, from Gil Bliss, in today's 'Boston Globe';

Mr. Morrissey’s music was distinctive, as he combined a growl of a voice with impeccable guitar picking, all supported by lyrics that reflected his strong literary background. His music had diverse influences, from Bob Dylan and Dave Van Ronk to the old bluesmen, especially Mississippi John Hurt, whose music Mr. Morrissey featured on one of his two Grammy-nominated recordings.

The most eloquent of tributes comes from Crimmins, himself;

Farewell, Hercules...

The end came for the folksinger, novelist and world-class romantic when he was alone on the road in Georgia over the weekend. I'm sure he died with his guitar lying in its open case on his motel room's other bed, a few boxes of his CD's deposited onto the floor of an inadequate, doorless motel closet, his neatly packed suitcase flipped open on an aluminum stand with nylon straps, a few scribbled notes on a pad on the nightstand, a well-dented bottle of Jack Daniels next to those final thoughts and an ashtray containing the remains of the last few mentholated cigarettes he ever smoked in his remarkable life. It was a life in which he lived most every emotion that he employed in hundreds of songs and a few novels that described the human condition in detail that would make an Egyptian crypt-carver envious.

I suggest you go over and read the entire post of "Farewell, Hercules...".

It's not just they shared stages together, performer-to-performer, road-warrior-to-road-warrior.

It's about losing (and celebrating) a close, personal friend.

Condolences go out to all of Bill Morrissey's family, and to the legion of friends, and fans, who now, much earlier than expected, have to assuage their pained hearts, through clear or fleeting, warm and sweet, recollections, few or many, of the great cool cat that Bill Morrissey was.

Bill Morrissey : Inside