OK, let me get this clear from the start. I've never been a huge fan of Neil Young. He's written a couple of good songs in his long career, but he's (to my mind) written a lot of junk, too. I have bought one of his albums - ever - and that was On The Beach. His last effort, Prairie Wind, did exactly what the prairie wind does. (I'm sure you can fill in the blanks). I know that because, sadly, the channels I listen to on XM play it a lot. Which means I get to change the channels a lot, but no matter.
Neil Young got his fame during the 60's when he (I never figured this one out) became a member of the Crosby, Stills and Nash group. CSN did some great songs, CSN&Y did some fair songs, but mostly went political. They really didn't last long. (Aside: Frank Zappa made quite a lot of fun of CSN&Y in the song, Do you like my new car?). Also, Neil Young is Canadian. Now I lived for a lot of years very close to the Canadian border and have known a pretty fair number of Canadians over the years (including several government employees). And I can state, with a bit of authority, that Canadians, as a rule, don't much care for Americans.
So now, Neil Young whips out an album that pretty well denounces the US, according to the press. It includes a song with the catchy title, "Let's Impeach The President". It appears to be getting some rave reviews from a few people at least. I read the lyrics and wasn't really impressed. It's pretty much a laundry list of the tedious lefty refrain. Sadly, I think I'll get to hear it on XM….
So, given Young's history and his politics and upbringing, why is it a big, newsworthy story that he's come out with a political album? Oh well, I just hope the music is better than the silly, repetitive crap on the last album. Since I'm quite sure the XM people will play it….
More detail, still very sketchy, on the bombings in the Sinai. Basically, there appears to be a campaign on against foriegners, whether civilian or military.
The MFO is an independent peacekeeping force which has been stationed in Sinai since 1982, following the Egypt-Israeli peace deal.
The attacks took place near the MFO headquarters at el-Gorah, about 35km (22 miles) from the Mediterranean city of Arish.
Multiple attacks
Two international observers, one from Norway and the other from New Zealand, were on board the first vehicle with an Egyptian customs officer and an immigration office, officials said.
The second attack, targeting a police vehicle, occurred about three-quarters of an hour after the first, officials added. There has been no claim of responsibility.
The terrorists appear to be trying to ignite the entire Middle East at the moment.
I dashed off a quick post last night about gas prices and politics. I see today that others see much the same problems with the politicians playing games with gas prices during an election year. Daniel Drezner has a good post up in which he quotes Brad DeLong.
Democrats are (because of the environmentalist wing of the party) generally in favor of higher gasoline taxes and higher gasoline prices–except when gasoline prices are high). Republicans are in favor of letting oil markets "work"–except when gasoline prices are high.
Which about covers the same territory I hit last night, albeit a bit more eloquently. Drezner's point is: why is there such a spin about gas prices. He gives a detailed opinion. I suspect he's hit upon a few good reasons. I also think an enormous amount of this whole thing is election year politics. Period. Last year gas prices jumped. Nobody really paid attention after the initial media frenzy. Prices this year are not nearly as high yet, but we have everyone in the political and media classes screaming for someone to do something.
The left should be very upset with their politicians abandoning their environmentalist positions. The right should be upset with their politicians for trying to pander at the expense of principle.
In other words, business as usual in Washington.
UPDATE: Today's Washington Post carries a story about gas prices. Much gas is expended.
George Gonzalez, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Miami, said the issue gives the Democrats leverage against Republican incumbents. "It certainly creates a bias against the Republicans," he said.
Well, sure. If the story is manipulated just right, it can cause bias in either direction. The fact remains: the only reason people are even talking about this is because it is an election year. Gas prices are an easy distraction from real issues.
David over at Third World County has a post up about his idea to honor Blogmothers. What's a Blogmother?
A “Blogmother,” for those of y’all who may be thinking I’ve slipped yet another cog, is the person (in this case, female person) who encouraged (or shanghaied) you to start blogging, helped, mentored you along the way, etc. Pretty much the same for a Blogfather. Last year I honored my Blogmother, even though she had no idea she was the proximal cause (hadda throw some lawyerese in, cos she’s a lawyer) of my blogging. This year, I’ll also honor my adoptive blogmommie (and IF I get a certain secret project finished before then, I’ll be sending her a lil surprise as well).
I have a feeling the cat is out of the bag on that surprise, David. Nonetheless, a great idea. My Blogmother is Joanne Jacobs. Hers is the very first blog I ever read and I have read her ever since. Finally, I decided to do this myself. She actually called me her Blogchild, which is why she's listed as such on the blogroll. So, if you have a Blogmother, trackback to David so he can put together an honor roll.
Blogmothers day is May 14th.
I just read on Texas Rainmaker's site that Instapundit suggested a photoshop contest! Dan Rather in Pajamas!
Texas Rainmaker has one up already. Well, I don't have any good pajama pictures. Will this do?
We absolutely stand by the fact that this picture is completely accurate even though it's totally faked. In a hoaxy sort of way. Cross our fingers.
(H/T to Chez Diva for the idea!)
UPDATE: Typo corrections and link.
There was a panel discussion at the University of Chicago about the Mohammed cartoons that sparked so much manufactured outrage. The panel pretty well tore the American media's reaction to the cartoons apart. The panel agreed that there was a lot of dishonesty in the media. The failure to publish was based on a phony sensitivity.
Panelist Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, said the issue was simple: Journalists are afraid.
"There's a lot of dishonesty" in the media's explanation for not displaying the cartoons, he said. "Nobody has a right not to be offended."
There was little disagreement among the panelists, and the audience applauded after comments from Lukianoff and the other two participants, Yaron Brook, president of the Ayn Rand Institute, and Tom Flynn, editor of Free Inquiry magazine.
Meanwhile, the various Muslim organizations who had been invited to attend the discussion elected to gather across campus and watch "Paradise Now" the movie glorifying Palestinian suicide bombers.
Rebecca Knapp, a senior at the University of Chicago and vice president of the campus Objectivist Club, said students had been discussing the cartoons and waiting for U.S. media to respond or publish the caricatures.
It looks like you'll have a long wait, Rebecca.
Please, please, please let this be true! According to Dave's Wordpress Blog, Dan Rather may retire from CBS and begin blogging. That's fabulous news on a couple of levels. Rather off the air is one.
Also, we here at Blue Crab Boulevard gladly welcome any opportunity to sharpen our photoshopping skills. Lord knows we could use the practice.
That isn't getting much coverage in the blogosphere. There's been a sharp increase in the numbers of cases of mumps in the Midwest, with Iowa having the greatest number. There were 1,120 confirmed, probable and suspect cases as of Monday. Mumps has been reported in 69 of Iowa's 99 counties. There is a big push on to get additional immunizations to people in the 18-22 year-old age brackets. Special attention is being paid to colleges where, of course, there are a lot of the most at risk age group.
A similar large outbreak occurred in England last year with more than 50,000 cases reported by the end.
There were 1,120 confirmed, probable and suspect cases as of Monday, with mumps activity found in 69 out of Iowa's 99 counties, according to a news release from the Iowa Department of Public Health.
Iowa has been at the center of a mumps outbreak in the Midwest, which is being called the worst in the U.S. in 20 years.
The source of the Iowa outbreak is unknown, but Britain experienced a mumps epidemic that peaked last year with about 56,000 cases. The Iowa mumps virus is the same variety.
That's a lot of swollen glands. Mumps was already pretty rare when I was growing up. I wonder why the sudden upswing.
And nobody came? Air America appears to be losing listeners at an astonishing rate in New York City. Drudge is reporting that the Arbitron ratings show a drop for the afternoon show from over 60,000 listeners to 29,000. Overall, the network has a '1' share, down from 1.6. The network claims they have really good demographics, though. Really. Honest.
In the same report, the new political how-to book on reshaping the Democratic party by the proprietor of Daily Kos, "Crashing the Gate" appears to be crashing to the floor. A total of 3,630 copies have been sold since it's release. Only 2,062 of those copies sold at retail price. The rest were "discount".
UPDATE: The Drudge item on book sales is pretty much completely wrong. Zuniga's book is doing quite a lot better than Drudge reported. I apologize to my readers.
The other day we reported on a German Brothel that was obliged to black out the flags of Saudi Arabia and Iran on a poster. The poster held the image of a scantily clad woman and the flags of all the countries appearing in the World Cup.
Spiegel is reporting that there were actually two groups of masked Muslim men involved in two separate incidents. First about 11 men showed up and demanded that the actual flags the brothel had on display be removed. Then a second, larger group - in masks also - demanded the poster be altered. They threated violence and bombing unless their demands were carried out.
"On Friday evening we were threatened by 11 masked men who demand that we take down the Saudi Arabian flag," Lobscheid told the Kölner Express, a local newspaper. Not wanting any trouble, the brothel obliged and removed it and the Iranian one. But that still left the flags printed on the poster.
"On Saturday night there were 20 masked men armed with knives and sticks. They threatened to get violent and even bomb the place unless we black out the Iranian and Saudia Arabian flags on the poster as well," said Lobscheid.
Gateway Pundit still has a picture of the poster up at his site.
There's been a lot less spouting from the Democrats lately about "a culture of corruption". It's actually been very, very quiet on that particular meme for a while now. I expect it will get even quieter what with the news about Mollohan. As well as little items like this:
WASHINGTON — An Englewood community center founded by Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), a key player on telecommunications legislation, received a $1 million grant from the charitable arm of SBC/AT&T, one of the nation's largest phone companies.
The chief of a congressional watchdog group says Rush's ongoing association with the Rebirth of Englewood Community Development Corporation and his role in shaping telecommunications law as a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee is a conflict of interest. Using charitable giving as a backdoor way to curry favor with lawmakers is coming under increasing scrutiny, figuring in controversies associated with former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.), who was forced to temporarily step aside as the ranking Democrat on the Ethics panel.
So let's see. Congressman founds community center. Congressman sits on committee that regulates telecommunications. Congressman's community center gets very large wad of cash from telecommunications company seeking favorable regulation from committee Congressman sits on.
Nothing to see here folks, move along.
Uh huh.
Big Pharaoh is reporting still more bombings going on in the Sinai. In addition to the attack on Multinational Peacekeepers, there are also reports from two other places, although one of those may not be true. This is appears to be a coordinated campaign.
So far, the only contribution the Palestinians have ever given the world is the gift of suicide bombers.
National Lampoon's Vacation comes to real life yet again. Last time it was an Aunt Edna moment, now it's Wally World.
Imagine studying hard all year to become on of the top students in your class. Imagine that the school does something special to honor you and other top students. Imagine they send you on a very special trip to a theme park. Imagine taking a four hour bus ride to get there.
Imagine the theme park is closed when you arrive.
That's what happened to students from O'Brien Middle School from the Washoe County (Nevada) School District. The tour operator failed to check whether the park was open. It wasn't. The $50 fee is being returned to all the students and the tour operator will pay for another trip out of their own pocket.
Poor kids. Too bad Chevy Chase wasn't with them.
Following closely upon the story of the ghost ship at Mystic Seaport Museum, we have this story from Britain! Police in Barnsley in South Yorkshire answered an alarm at a pub. They did not find a robber, just a shaken up landlord who swore he saw the ghost of a woman with half her face missing in the rest room. The officers investigated but did not see the apparition. They did report seeing toilets flushing themselves. Since the incident, business has been booming at the pub.
There is no definite word on whether the local constabulary has to pay a bar tab at the establishment.
Now we're certainly not implying that there was anything sneaky like a publicity stunt going on. In fact, we dispatched our crack team of paranormal investigators from the Professor Gaius' Parnormality Research Academy and Coffee Shop to check the story out. Now paranormal investigation is thirsty work, apparently. We here at Blue Crab Boulevard are probably not going to reimburse that particular item on the expense account. But the team did come back with evidence, so we'll spring for the airfare.
Proving once again that Blue Crab Boulevard is the inspiration for many influential editorials, (and we're modest here, too) today in the Opinion Journal an editorial makes much the same points as we did regarding leaks. Of course, they also get paid for it Not that we're bitter or anything.
So when is a leak good? When is it bad? The short answer, of course, is it depends on who's finger is pointing. One thing for sure, the media is learning the hard way that playing politics has blowback associated. They call for persecution of whoever "leaked" Valerie Plame's name. Then they get caught in the same net and some of their own go to jail. You can bet there will be more jailed journalists in the near future.
The CIA is a badly out of control agency right now. Leaking is a way of life, politics has infused the place and it seems many officers have literary aspirations. Those are just not good for the country as a whole. They certainly cripple our ability to gather intelligence, something every American of every political stripe will pay for someday.
It would be a really good idea for the media to pull back from trying so hard to damage the administration. Because in the long run it is not going to be good for them, or for any of us.
UPDATE: This is interesting. Not only does McCarthy have a major heavy hitter for the Democratic party for a lawyer, now the Dems are setting up a defense fund for her.
That sounds suspicious to me.
