Life isn't fair.

I figured that out in 1990 when my dad died of terminal cancer.

He was 43.

Had things been different, he'd have been 58 tomorrow.

Happy birthday, Dad. I miss you.

Friday Bird Blogging



Canadian honkers, paddling idly on Radnor Lake.

BONUS:

Oh, deer.

I (heart) American jurisprudence today.

"Any further action by our court or the district court would be improper," wrote Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr., who was appointed by former President Bush. "While the members of her family and the members of Congress have acted in a way that is both fervent and sincere, the time has come for dispassionate discharge of duty."

Birch went on to scold President Bush and Congress for their attempts to intervene in the judicial process, by saying: "In resolving the Schiavo controversy, it is my judgment that, despite sincere and altruistic motivation, the legislative and executive branches of our government have acted in a manner demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers' blueprint for the governance of a free people — our Constitution."

Couldn't have said it better.

Now that the ice is broken, will a fucking DEMOCRAT stand up and say the same thing??? Just one? Please?

UPDATE: Thanks to Rachel Maddow on the final broadcast of Unfiltered on AAR this morning, I was directed to my answer (sorta):

Two Democratic senators who have thought [the Schiavo issue] through, Tom Harkin and Ron Wyden, took very different positions. Harkin, of Iowa, was a prime mover behind the Senate decision to join with the Republicans to urge federal judicial review. Harkin is close to the disability community, which worries about "right-to-die" issues, and Senate Democrats deferred to him on Schiavo. He forged the coalition with Republicans Frist, Santorum, Martinez and, according to two sources, had the support of former President Clinton for his actions. While Mr. Clinton apparently didn't talk to Harkin until after the vote, one source described Mr. Clinton as "egging him on."

SOURCE

Someone please remind Harkin that in his time as president and consiglieri, the Democrats show net losses in (a) state Democratic governors, (b) state Democratic legislators, (c) Democratic House memberships, (d) Democratic Senate memberships, (e) registered Democratic voters, (f) Democratic Party identification, and (g) 0-2 versus the GOP nationally since he was term-limited out. He even managed a net loss in the 1996 midterm elections, which was nigh unprecedented.

Whether or not you like Clinton, and whether or not you thought we were better off under Clinton, that's food for thought.

You keep doing what you're doing, and you expect different results.........

"Predictable... if Ghoulish"

Remember this next time someone says that the Schindler family are a bunch of innocents caught up in a desperate bid to prolong their daughter's life:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/29/politics/29donate.html?oref=login

The parents of Terri Schiavo have authorized a conservative direct-mailing firm to sell a list of donors to their legal expenses, making it likely that thousands of strangers moved by her plight will receive a steady stream of solicitations from anti-abortion and conservative groups.

"These compassionate pro-lifers donated toward Bob Schindler's legal battle to keep Terri's estranged husband from removing the feeding tube from Terri," says a description of the list on the Web site of the firm, Response Unlimited, which is asking $150 a month for 6,000 names and $500 a month for 4,000 e-mail addresses of people who responded last month to an e-mail plea from Ms. Schiavo's father. "These individuals are passionate about the way they value human life, adamantly oppose euthanasia and are pro-life in every sense of the word!"

This seriously undermines their claims of non-involvement. These people are conservative activists, folks. That's why they openly associate with terrorists like Randall Terry.

I wonder when they ink their first book deal with Regnery.

Self-Confessional Housekeeping
.....or, "You Goddamned Kids Get off My Lawn!"

Greetings, to those of you reading this blog from here and from afar. Whether you found your way here from PF or from SKB's blog or Bubba Blab, I genuinely welcome your visit.

Despite the overall irksome tone, I do value my readership, such as it is. Granted, I often have little to say, other than to post the odd photo or "what's playing" list.

That, and political rants.

And herein lies the self-confessional stuff.

I've been reviewing the length & breadth of my own output in the wake of the fifth installment of The High Hat. I find myself in some ways awed to be in this company, and in other ways dismayed because lately I've found I haven't written much other than pissed-off-ness because it's one of the few things that gets my blood coursing these days. It's mostly residual disgust with the complacency of our populace in the face of tyranny (and in some measure, active disgust with my job situation, but that's a longer story than I care to tell here).

While my patience with the morbid stupidity that is modern conservatism has worn my nerves threadbare, I recognize how embittered that this confluence of events has made me appear. Um, "humorless prick" might about characterize the general gist of it -- at least that's my inner critic talking to me upon a second reading of some of my output here on One Reporter's Opinion. If that's the vibe you're getting around here, my apologies. Well, unless you're one of those asshole Republicans who really deserve it, and you know who you are, you flaccid, fatuous denizens of conservabot twitdom. I'm an unapologetic lefty, and if that's not in keeping with your tastes, I'm sure you can find the BACK button on your browser.

Sorry -- it really has become a conditioned response, even without much more than imagined stimuli.

Anyway, I'd like to believe that I wasn't scaring people off with my escalated rhetoric of rage and occasional fits of barb.

If you're still interested in hanging, genuine thanks for your patronage. I'll endeavor to make this more joyful encounter, as joy is something I think that I need to seek more actively, both online and off. I have added comments and an RSS feed to streamline, modernize, gadgetize, hippify, and otherwise "encoolen" the blog microclimate.

Oh, by the way -- I figured out my Javascript woes vis-a-vis the Blogger upgrade. Anybody using Mac should be warned that Allume's Internet Cleanup 2.0.3 (specifically NetBlockade) can interfere with your blog's behavior. NetBlockade selectively targets JavaScript actions as popup advertising and blocks them. The only fix I've found is to turn off NetBlockade, and I'm less than impressed so far with Allume's technical support.

The Wu-name generator has spoken:

...from this day forward you will also be known as Violent Prophet.

In Praise of the iPod Shuffle

This very well may be the gee-whiz device of the young year.

My wife gave me one of these for a Valentine's Day gift. I've been an iPodder for some time now, and I didn't immediately appreciate how cool this concept really was. I thought, "Yeah, well, it's an iPod that you can use to get a random bunch of songs out of iTunes. Big deal."

Well, I was wrong.

Having several thousand songs ripped from my CD library, it is often difficult to quickly pick and choose among songs. I often find that I wind up listening to the same tracks if I'm selecting manually. This little shuffle function is darned swift. I should have known, really. I use iTunes shuffle mode all the time to broadcast music out onto the back porch, as well as playing my 300-CD carousel on full random. I'm continually amazed by the variety and depth of my collection, and especially when I'm at the mercy of the shuffle algorithm. "I own that???" is a common response. The only drawback to the shuffle is that it doesn't have a display. Well and good, though. It is genuinely much slicker than I had thought, conceptually speaking.

Not to mention that this device includes a battery, up to 1GB flash memory, a battery indicator, volume, play/pause and track controls, a three position shuffle switch, a USB connector, a headphone amp, and all in less than a one-ounce package in approximately the same dimensions as a pack of Wrigley's.

Holding this little stick in my hand, I'm struck by the technological marvel that it is. This much computing power five years ago was inconceivable for $149, even using state-of-the-art ASICs. The flash memory alone would have put it out of commercial reach, even if it had been small enough to fit in the Shuffle's tiny profile.

If you're even thinking about getting one, I wouldn't hesitate. This is a killer little device.

Face Down in My NCAA Pool

Congratulations to this year's Final Four, Michigan State, Louisville, Illinois, and yeah, even North Carolina.

This year, I should have gone with my instincts. Looking at the brackets, I thought that there was no way to avoid suffering through yet another Duke-Kentucky regional final, and the Spartans managed to exceed my lowly expectations, taking out both Kentucky and Duke to reach the national semis. It's a welcome outcome. It's always good to see Coach K splashing tears of defeat at the press table rather than that wincing grin of his (sorry Hayden). Yet I had Duke going out against MSU, if only on principle.

Those boys from East Lansing are lookin' mighty tough this year. Reminds me of another NCAA tournament, where Lute Olsen's Arizona Wildcats knocked off North Carolina, Kansas, and Kentucky in successive games to clinch the national title.

Yep, I sure do recall that year. March Sadness. To watch the mighty Kansas Jayhawks steamroller through the regular season, stacking up 29 wins and 1 loss, and yet they still managed to fall in yet another post-season choke, and that year to the (admittedly talented and eventual champion) squad from 'Zona. Still, you had to see it coming from the opening moments of that game -- Bibby was unconscious, and combined with the 'Cats off-guard counterpunch of Miles Simon, their guard tandem made hash out of Jacque and the Beanstalks. That vaunted KU inside game couldn't make up for the FGs raining into the bucket from downtown. (Eventual NBA recruits) Pollard, LaFrentz, and Pierce were neutralized as a defensive force. And if their defense was stalled, their offense was positively in the ditch. I watched helplessly as the Jayhawks fell to a 19-5 deficit early in the game. Once you see that, you know that the rest is pretty much academic. Granted, they wound up losing by a mere 3 points, but one thing I know about KU basketball is that they're not a team that ever plays well from behind.

Well, there's always next year, right?

Roy Williams brought the Jayhawks to the threshold against Maryland… and Syracuse… only to lose each time. Now he stands at the precipice yet again, only this time, at the helm of another program.



The difference between you and me, Roy, is that I still don't give a shit about North Carolina.

Thankfully, I don't have to root for Duke to whoop your backside to a bright shade of KU crimson.

I'm taking the Spartans to win the Championship.

(edited for clarity)

Friday Bird Blogging



A very busy yellow-bellied sapsucker (note the damage in the trunk). This is on a maple tree of which this bird just can't seem to get enough. I understand they're accidental/migratory in these here parts, so I guess I don't mind him taking up residence in my tree.

Final Wishes

Y'all, no matter what your final wishes are, be sure to communicate them clearly to your loved ones.

I'll go one better here: If heroic measures are required to prolong my life, I do not want them. If by contemporary medical standards, there is a diagnosis of less than six months to live, and if that life means significantly diminished quality or reliance on artificial means to survive, I do not want my life prolonged by such means. If in such time that I am attached to supplemental support and my diagnosis up to that time was grim and I experience a life-threatening attack, seizure, or critical complication, I do not wish to be rescusitated.

If you want to be hooked up to machines, please let me know. (You'll be the first.)

Oh, if you really want to make a difference? Get off the keyboard and get onto your phone. Hospice needs your help.

In and around Tennessee: http://www.healthcarehiring.com/hospice_tennessee.html

Pick one and call. Most take donations and volunteers.

Hey Bill! Why Don't You Subpoena Their Dog?

Partisan quack Bill Frist, in a fit of Republican desperation, has issued a subpoena ordering a vegetable to testify before Congress.

More evidence that these people, rather than advocating smaller government, are most interested in interfering in the most private moments of your life. This is hideous micromanagement at its most base, and it's an obvious bid to entrap Michael Schiavo into an obstruction of justice rap.

Forget his senate credentials -- just how does Bill Frist get off calling himself a Doctor of Medicine?

I fully expect that Frist will next call upon the family dog to testify before Congress, and if the animal doesn't find a way to speak somehow, that he'll subject that poor animal to the sort of experimentation which would be barred by the Geneva Conventions if performed upon human subjects.

Oh wait, maybe they'll just hold Rover Schiavo as an enemy combatant.

These are the actual values that these proto-Maoist jerkoffs hold? Horrible. Unspeakable. Craven. I can't describe how disgusted I am, especially since that helmet-headed talking anus is my supposed representative.

Friday Bird Blogging



Rufous-sided Towhee.

Wankers of the New Millenium


Daniel Akaka


Daniel Inouye


Mary Landrieu

These, ladies & gents, are the Democratic Senators who made drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge possible.

To make matters worse, seven Republicans voted with the Democratic minority, and if just two of these three had any conscience, the Senate Concurrent Res. 18 would have been amended to protect one of the last vestiges of wild lands in our country.

Gutless, spineless, stupid, myopic, cowardly excuses for legislators.

If I ever get so much as a phone call from the DNC, they're getting the riot act from me. This is the sort of worthless logrolling brinksmanship bullshit that is going to leapfrog us all down the path to ruin.

Once all the wilderness is gone, who will rescue our Damnation?

Behold the faces above and know that these are the people that I've cast my lot with, the guardians of the public trust, the loyal opposition.

Way to man the barricades, assholes.

***

"From the redwood sawmills to the toxic landfills, this land is owned by industry."

The Picks of Hump Day

Grimey's run this evening...

1) Roxy Music -- Avalon (6ch/2ch SACD).

2) Hoodoo Gurus -- Stoneage Romeos (remastered and expanded)

3) Superdrag -- In the Valley of Dying Stars

4) Stiff Little Fingers -- Your Head is Full of Ideas that Don't Mean a Thing

5) Nick Lowe -- The Wilderness Years

The Books of 2005:

1. Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, Hunter S. Thompson. (Finishing a book started in 2004.)

2. Learning How To Die, Greg Kot.

3. Perfectly Legal, David Cay Johnston.

4. Get In The Van, 2nd ed. Henry Rollins.

5. The Race to Save the Lord God Bird, Phillip Hoose.

6. Guide to Wildlife Photography, Moose Peterson.

One Count Fraud, One Count Conspiracy to Defraud, Seven Counts of Filing False Securities Information

It doesn't make up for this completely...



...but it helps.

I always believed that Bernie was a fraud, but now it's official.

Today, I'm surprised. I'll wait for the sentencing phase to figure out if I'm "pleased."

My sympathies to his wife and family, although none were extended to me when they terminated my employment. Hell, I didn't even have the courtesy of a merged document.

The Recommending Ear

And goddamnit, if you don't already have it, go buy a copy of New Pornographers' Electric Version. Now. Go. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??? Buy! Listen! Dance!

What's the Opposite of Damning with Faint Praise?

There are a few bands that I keep coming back to, year after year, to find solace, inspiration, or a good soundtrack for a long lonely drive.

No surprises among a number in this bunch... The Beatles are perennial favorites. I return to the Descendents every few years for a good high-tempo shakeup. Elvis Costello & The Attractions are popping up higher and higher in my playlist as time goes by. And XTC, what can I say? If there's nothing else to listen to, a good time can be had from anything from Black Sea to Drums and Wires to Wasp Star.

Then there's this little Aussie combo who call themselves Hoodoo Gurus.



I was fortunate enough to catch one of their shows stateside circa 1988. This was after a friend from the dorm flipped me a dubbed copy of Mars Needs Guitars! b/w Stoneage Romeos. Straightforward as it gets -- 3-chords, 2 guitars, no waiting. The songs are mostly intelligent pop songs about girls and good times, minus twee pretensions or skull-thumping rock-star 'tude. Dave Faulkner and Brad Shepherd are the formidable front of this quartet, having put forth about 10 studio albums and a scattering of live recordings, EPs, and impeccable singles.

I lost track of them somewhere around the release of Kinky, but like I said, I keep coming back to them time and again over the years. Unfortunately, they haven't done much touring stateside since being dropped from US distribution.

I caught up again in 2003 when I went to Sydney and talked shop with the bloke behind the counter at Red Eye Records off King Street. He (whoever he was) tipped me off to the newly reformed incarnation of the Hoodoos, called The Persian Rugs. They were credited with one EP and one full length CD, which I happily snapped up and wore thin over the next month. News had it, also, that they were reforming the band to do the 2004 Big Day Out tour in support of the forthcoming Mach Schau. As timing would have it, I missed that. But I did catch up with Mach Schau, which is as fine a record as anything they've ever done. Import only, alas. Doesn't seem like the US market caught up to them along with me.

And here in '05, there's more new Gurus goodness to be had -- the DVD retrospective, Tunnel Vision. Region 0 PAL encoded, so it'll play OK in many computers, but not so much in every TV configuration (unless you have multiscan). If you're not a Gurus fan, I don't know if this will win you over to them, but if you are, this is a "gotta getcha one." Even with the tanking dollar, there's still a favorable exchange rate with Australia, so find a copy if you're so inclined.

The set includes vids from their entire career, some live footage, and even a bonus documentary.

Get while the gettin's good, as this may be the last new output from the Gurus for some time. The rumors indicate that the Gurus are on semi-permanent hiatus.

Then I guess I'll have to discover what I can out of Paul Kelly's back catalogue -- another Aussie fave around the house here.

Glossy

And one from the archives:



Been playing with the Intellisharpen and Velvia Vision PS plugins from Fred Miranda. It looks way better at full res, but this still gives you some idea. You want richer color and selective sharpening? This works as well as some of the Nik products that I've demoed, and for a lot less.

(Oh, that's a glossy ibis, by the way. Taken last summer at Assateague Island NWR.)

Cultural Ephemera

Haven't made many new music purchases lately. My last swag bag came from the Hastings store in Tullahoma, TN. I found a used copy of Quadrophenia and I've been wearing it out.

At least I was until I went to the Elvis Costello & The Imposters show last night.

Wowza. I believe I'm going to have to revise my list of Top Concerts now. Maybe I didn't have the proper appreciation for Elvis the C. last time I saw him play the Ryman, but nah... well, actually, I didn't, but being as objective as possible, the Imposters blew it out. I had already amassed most of the Rhino 2-disc reissues of the back catalog, but I think I'm looking down the barrel of dangerous monomania. I get this way sometimes when I see a live show I really connect with.

On TV: Mostly it's been standard TiVo fare. A couple of recent discoveries: The "Henry's Film Corner" on IFC. I hadn't pegged Rollins as a movie buff, but his half-hour dedicated to film reviews & entertainment industry agitprop is fun, if nothing else.

Nights before bed I've been winding down with Henry Rollins spoken word and Monty Python eps from the A&E box set. I need the humor and the oblique approach to a world otherwise swirling with much absurdity these days.

Photography: I'm booked to go to the Smokies this May for the Digital Landscape Workshop Series. I found it through Moose Peterson's website, which was a site that a friend of mine showed me when I was contemplating some photo equipment purchases.

Work: Please. Nothing to report.

Life events: This week, I was diagnosed with my first cavity. Dammit. My mouth hadn't been bothering me until I went to the dentist. During the exam, though, it was POKE POKE POKE on the ol' dental surfaces, and I was subjected to a sensation I'd never felt before -- a stainless steel pick poking a hole in the weakened enamel of one of my molars and a "zing" to the nerve beneath. The dental tech called it a zing, anyway. If that was a zing, I don't wanna EVER feel a "zang." Now my upper jaw just aches dully like it used to when I'd had orthodontics.

Otherwise, I'm kinda suffering from a potent combo of stultifying boredom and spring fever.

March Madness usually provides the cure.