A lot of the problems of the last eight years in this country and the world are not the direct fault of Prez Bush. A lot of the failures are systemic, although Bush being at the helm of this system certainly did not help. And it is possible that many of the issues we face today coincidentally happened to fall during Bush's tenure. Economic downturns are cyclical, as is destruction of the constitution, the use of state sponsored violence to further power and money hungry interests, etc. etc. And even though the following comment may too be coincidental, it was still brilliant to point out. One of my favorite columnists, former LA Times columnist and now editor-in-chief of TruthDig.com, notes,
"The bookends of the Bush years are the Enron debacle and the federal bailout of bankers drunk on their own greed."
If those are the bookends, its even more frightening to think of what lies between those place holders...
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Blog Roll - Bertha and Brazilian Girls
Its been a while, so I am going to write what is known in the blogosphere as the blog roll. Technically, the Blog Roll is one's list of blogs that they read through, usually filtered to one place through an RSS feed. Instead of directing many blogs to one place, this is many topics, mostly updates, in one blog.
Some time around 4th of July weekend, I happened to be watching the weather channel on TV, and in hindsight, I remember hearing something about the 2nd tropical storm of the season. It appears as though Bertha was gesticulating somewhere over the West Coast of Africa, contemplating at what speed she would travel to the East Coast of the United States and just how much shit she should fuck up. Little did I know, or could I have predicted at the time, but the bitch decided to just chill over the Atlantic Ocean for a week and brew some fine long period ground swell. And because of that righteous woman, who I think I may name my first born after, I would have my first ever East Coast surf sessions. It is no small task to go surfing from DC. Waking up at 4:30, 3 hours in the car, multiple meeting spots for six people to cram into a pick up truck, stops at WaWa market for gas and coffee, borrowing someone's girlfriend's sister's husband's 7'6" fun board (and rash guard), an voi la - you are at the beach. But to say the least, it was worth every second of effort and by any standards that I have ever set, that was one hell of a fine day of surfing. Head high or plus, glassy, not much of a crowd to speak of, sun. It was pretty ideal. Really as good a day as I have ever had at the Cali beach breaks (the point breaks are another story).
That very same Saturday night I went to see Brazilian Girls at the 9:30 club. In hindsight, I am extremely glad that the tickets were free, because I would have been pissed! I should have known that because it was a late night show starting at midnight, I should have been much more drunk. But I was so damned tired from surfing and being awake all day, I just couldn't pull. The show from the start was uninspiring. The lead singer is talented - the whole band is talented in some respects - but she can't carry the show. She is backed by a steady rhythm section, but the only melody is a key board. Not much substance or depth. It sounded a bit like someone singing "Girl From Iponema" on karaoke with some house beats mixed in here and there. And I think the lighting tech was more intoxicated than the musicians or the crowd. He/She kept shining the flood lights on the inebriated crowd, causing on multiple occassions some drunken revelers to believe that the show was over and it was time to vomit on the bar. But no...the show continued. And just when the whole situation couldn't get much more annoying, enter audience girl taking her top off and dancing on stage. Only to be followed by about 50 more of Washington's socialite power-crowd dancing on stage topless. During the last two songs I couldn't even see the band. But not because the 3 band members were blocked by the Dance Dance Revolution practice session, but because I couldn't take my eyes off the 200 pounder swinging her bare utters in a demonstration of what could only be described as self confidence and swagger. Truly hypnotizing. I have been searching the web for a picture, but no luck.
Some time around 4th of July weekend, I happened to be watching the weather channel on TV, and in hindsight, I remember hearing something about the 2nd tropical storm of the season. It appears as though Bertha was gesticulating somewhere over the West Coast of Africa, contemplating at what speed she would travel to the East Coast of the United States and just how much shit she should fuck up. Little did I know, or could I have predicted at the time, but the bitch decided to just chill over the Atlantic Ocean for a week and brew some fine long period ground swell. And because of that righteous woman, who I think I may name my first born after, I would have my first ever East Coast surf sessions. It is no small task to go surfing from DC. Waking up at 4:30, 3 hours in the car, multiple meeting spots for six people to cram into a pick up truck, stops at WaWa market for gas and coffee, borrowing someone's girlfriend's sister's husband's 7'6" fun board (and rash guard), an voi la - you are at the beach. But to say the least, it was worth every second of effort and by any standards that I have ever set, that was one hell of a fine day of surfing. Head high or plus, glassy, not much of a crowd to speak of, sun. It was pretty ideal. Really as good a day as I have ever had at the Cali beach breaks (the point breaks are another story).
That very same Saturday night I went to see Brazilian Girls at the 9:30 club. In hindsight, I am extremely glad that the tickets were free, because I would have been pissed! I should have known that because it was a late night show starting at midnight, I should have been much more drunk. But I was so damned tired from surfing and being awake all day, I just couldn't pull. The show from the start was uninspiring. The lead singer is talented - the whole band is talented in some respects - but she can't carry the show. She is backed by a steady rhythm section, but the only melody is a key board. Not much substance or depth. It sounded a bit like someone singing "Girl From Iponema" on karaoke with some house beats mixed in here and there. And I think the lighting tech was more intoxicated than the musicians or the crowd. He/She kept shining the flood lights on the inebriated crowd, causing on multiple occassions some drunken revelers to believe that the show was over and it was time to vomit on the bar. But no...the show continued. And just when the whole situation couldn't get much more annoying, enter audience girl taking her top off and dancing on stage. Only to be followed by about 50 more of Washington's socialite power-crowd dancing on stage topless. During the last two songs I couldn't even see the band. But not because the 3 band members were blocked by the Dance Dance Revolution practice session, but because I couldn't take my eyes off the 200 pounder swinging her bare utters in a demonstration of what could only be described as self confidence and swagger. Truly hypnotizing. I have been searching the web for a picture, but no luck.
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