Wont Get Fooled Again

Another great opening to the Delta Sierra today, with Adam's voice overlaid with the opening piano signature from "Goodnight Saigon". He's really big on the War with Iran kick, which I try very hard not to think about. Adam really provides, in Henry Rollins' phrase, "the direct route to what the fuck it is all about".

We're getting some vicious thunderstorms in the area, so I shut down my Internet connection until the storm passes. I don't want to deal with it going up and down constantly, which it usually does when it gets stormy. I'm just going to compose offline for a bit, then post it tonight.

Later, "Won't Get Fooled Again...", a Van Halen cover version. Another great choice by Adam. A lot of people hate on the Sammy Hagar Van Halen years, but I never did. It wasn't the same, of course, but what is?

Is there a more sublime intro than the simple beginning of the studio version of Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Woman"?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7522335.stm

"Wall Street Got Drunk", says Bush.

Yes, and deregulation of financial markets, pimped hard by McCain adviser Phil Gramm, bought the booze.

A whole lot of my favorite guitar riffs come from U2, which is a band that, though I like, is not among my very favorites.

"Vertigo"
"I Will Follow"
"Bullet The Blue Sky"
"Desire"
"Silver and Gold"
"Angel of Harlem"
"Sunday Bloody Sunday"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7392935.stm

Clive James on the nature of gaffes. The thing that drives me crazy about McCain gaffes is that most of them are substantial, and repeated. I don't think the same is true of Obama.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NWY3MmEyNzcyNWQ1OTAwMDA1ZDJmN2JiMTU4NWI0MDM=

Mark Hemingway on the New Yorker cover.

He basically says that the cover is an insult against conservatives, because the cover is supposed to show conservatives' impression of Obama, and conservatives don't feel that way about Obama. He says, "Can [a critic] produce any evidence that shows that the New Yorker cover is “how McCain wants the world to view Obama”? [A critic]-doesn’t — and can’t — point to a single thing that John McCain has said or done that to support this conclusion."

" ”When we adopted the surge, we were losing the war in Iraq, and I stood up and said I would rather lose a campaign than lose a war,” McCain told reporters.   ”Apparently Sen. Obama, who does not understand what’s happening in Iraq or fails to acknowledge the success in Iraq, would rather lose a war than lose a campaign.” "(from http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/2008/07/22/mccain-says-obama-would-rather-lose-a-war-than-lose-an-election/)

I think suggesting a politician would rather win an election than a war is suggesting something close to treason. I think the New Yorker cover does represent a possible extension of how conservatives feel about Obama.

Hemingway also refers to a Rolling Stone cover with McCain in a cage being poked with sticks held by Clinton, Obama and Bush, who are represented as North Vietnamese fighters. Now, Hemingway has pointed out that RS is in the bag for Obama-they've made that clear. But Hemingway complains that there was no outcry over this image.

Well, that's because they are different. First of all, the RS cover does not represent McCain in a less than complimentary way, unless you count the fact that it's a caricature. Now, it's a tasteless image, true. But it doesn't dishonor McCain or make fun of him.

Hemingway also suggests that it is fair to question Obama's fitness to lead because of his association with 60s radical William Ayres and his failure to wear a flag pin.

Really? Jewelry and an old scumbag of a friend? That's a fair attack on a Presidential candidate?

Wow. That's pretty desperate.