A World of Clowns

Kept thinking of posting more political quotes and links over the last couple of days, and then the sheer amount of insanity and stupidity just became overwhelming and I wasn't sure I could process it all in one place.

But. It's what I've been looking at and concerned with, and my theatre work has been supervising clowns and some slight working on the scripts of (and thinking about) George Bataille's Bathrobe and A Little Piece of the Sun - just blue-skying about casts, sets, effects, music, and so forth. And trying to find that original show that's just out of mind - like the mental equivalent of being on the tip of your tongue - abstract images dancing there, forming for a moment, then vanishing like a dream when you wake. Frustrating. What the hell IS it that's trying to get out?

Every now and then, between thinking of a show I want to do and looking at what's happening outside my head, I think the show I want to do is called Country of Assholes. Nah, too on the nose.

We rewatched the film of Peter Barnes' play The Ruling Class the other night, and I kept thinking we needed something like that for this time and this country, but I'm not sure that's my bag. Something to think about, in any case . . .

Anyway, here's some of my "favorite" quotes, links, and videos from the past couple of days, in case you missed some of these. I found them from all over the place, but a bunch came from toddalcott and flyswatter.

Bill in Portland, ME at Daily Kos points to a Fox News interview from March in which Chris Matthews suggests repeatedly to Henry Paulson that the events that have now played out may well come to pass, and repeatedly gets back the answer that "we're just going to have to wait and see how that plays out." Fine fine planning there. Apparently, as long as we have "confidence" in the markets and firms, everything should be alright. Yeah, this has worked out well.

Perhaps my favorite on-the-record quote in a long time was given to Forbes.com, in what many people, when first seeing, felt just had to be a parody from The Onion:

In fact, some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy.

"It's not based on any particular data point," a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. "We just wanted to choose a really large number."

Wow.

Yeah, that "Wow" is from Forbes, not me. Though I agree.

Nice to see that some of our Nation's reps have some backbone and righteous anger, namely (though I think they're not alone at this point) Peter DeFazio of Oregon, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, and Jim McDermott of Washington:

( We should not be rolled by a Wall Street exec who is masquerading as Secretary of the Treasury. )

I'm still a bit stunned by the New York Times' account of the meltdown the other evening at the White House meeting to work out the bailout plan. Henry Paulson getting down on his knee before Nancy Pelosi? Barney Frank refereeing an "internal G.O.P. ideological war?" The hell--?

Doesn't it make you feel good to know that we're going along exactly the way Osama Bin Laden said he wanted and expected us to, way back in 2004?

mcbrennan - Cait - is not a mental health professional, but is a keenly-observant wordsmith who has some experience with the developmentally disabled, and has a "Modest Theory" (which she qualifies as "troubling, but half-baked") regarding Sarah Palin's "word salad" responses to some of the questions she's been asked recently. Troubling, certainly. "Half-baked?" Maybe not. Maybe a little more baked than that.

Didn't anyone around McCain know what happens when you snub Letterman, and then he finds out your excuse is bogus and you're off doing something else? Cher did this to him around 1988, and he did half a show about it that tore her to pieces. Can't make it, fine, but don't lie to the man, or you get something like this:

( 9:11 of a pissed-off Dave )

I really like Don Hall's summary of how conservatives focus on social issues so much as a smokescreen to avoid their incompetence with fiscal policy:

"Dad. It looks like you've really screwed up the check book and the power has been turned off. Maybe Mom should be in charge of the money."

"Wha? You're a gay abortionist!!"

And never mind about paying attention to tonight's debate, John McCain has already won it - haven't you seen the ads that say so? And it is so, if you say it's so.

Oh, and in the midst of all this, we've now escalated to our forces and Pakistan's actually shooting at each other. This is going to go well. (h/t VetVoice)

Oh, don't worry - The Department of Homeland Security is working on a little something called Project Hostile Intent, a "pre-crime" detector to determine who best to pull out of line and ask a few questions. Neat, huh?

As Glenn Greenwald notes, though, there's no reason to be at all paranoid about the fact that a U.S Army Brigade has been newly assigned to "the Homeland," in probable defiance of The Posse Comitatus Act. One brigade couldn't do any major "martial law" action, and if it could, it wouldn't have been made public. It's just probably illegal and a damned bad precedent.

At times like this, music may soothe the savage breast. The iPod is now almost jammed up, after adding a bunch of newly-acquired Bowie live tracks and a good deal of Dylan/The Band's basement tapes. Less than 100 MB free in there now - have to do a cleaning, get rid of some of the 26,181 tracks. Here's what comes up random this morning - the iPod appears to have decided We're All Devo . . .

1. "Time Out for Fun (muzak version)" - Devo - E-Z Listening Disc
2. "Imitation Situation" - The Sixpentz - Mindrocker 60's USA Punk Anthology Vol 13
3. "Climbing the Walls" - They Might Be Giants - The Else
4. "It's Making It" - The Lollipop Shop - Just Colour
5. "Night By Night" - Steely Dan - Showbiz Kids: The Steely Dan Story
6. "I Saw Her Again" - The Mamas and the Papas - Rato's Nostalgia Collection 8
7. "Jet" - Paul McCartney & Wings - Band on the Run
8. "Words Get Stuck in My Throat" - Devo - Pioneers Who Got Scalped: The Anthology
9. "Winos on Parade" - Marga Benitez & The Mello-Tones - Winos on Parade
10. "Alias Pink Puzz - LP Radio Promo Spot # 2" - Paul Revere & The Raiders - Psychedelic Promos & Radio Spots, vol. 4

Maybe a nice relaxing game would help. Here's a commercial from 1975 that I actually remember (h/t Boing Boing Gadgets), and now wonder how the hell this was ever actually released to market . . .

( BALL BUSTER! Fun for the whole family! )

Or maybe, for relaxation, I'd like to look at some great hairstyles of the past that I miss:

Which takes me mentally - through flashing on the 'fro of Don Cornelius - to a video Adam Swiderski linked to today on Facebook, noting its coolness. It makes me happy, too, and I hope this fine fine superfine track from The Commodores can make you move and smile this dreary Friday:

( Machine Gun )

. . . and you can bet your money, it's all gonna be a stone gas, honey. Love. Peace. Soul.