Not too much rock, really...

...but definitely around the clock. The usual early AM random ten...

Loudon Wainwright III - High, Wide & Handsome
Cannibal & The Headhunters - Land Of 1000 Dances
Lovin' Spoonful - Younger Generation
The Crew Cuts - Sh'boom
Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood - Summer Wine
The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup
The Gibson Brothers - Ophelia
Fred Eaglesmith - Harold Wilson
John Doe - Only Daddy That'll Walk The Line
Carbon Leaf - Raise The Roof

The Wainwright tune has worked its way into my setlist recently. It's from his Charlie Poole tribute. Really worth looking up.

Yep…

…I still hate what they've done to my Army...

...the report said that the pace of constant deployments in two wars had forced a lowering of recruiting and retention standards. Many new recruits were granted waivers, it said, for behavior that would have kept them out of the service in earlier years. Of 80,403 waivers granted since 2004, the report found that 47,478 were granted to people with a history of drug or alcohol abuse, misdemeanor crime or “serious misconduct,” which it defined as felony.

At the same time, the report found that there was a decrease in soldiers forced to leave the Army for misconduct. “This has likely resulted in the retention of over 25,283 soldiers who would have otherwise been separated in previous years,” the report said.

I've never been fond of the "Army of one" campaign. Individuality isn't a particularly valuable trait in military life. When the Army works, it's all about uniformity, conformity, common effort toward a defined goal.

Saddled with a unit full of drunks and felons, though, I imagine some soldiers are better off sticking to themselves.

From the "Since you asked…" file.

Gov. Gregoire inquires…

"Do you want liquor sold at street corner stores all across the state of Washington?"

Since you asked, sure.

Not that I support either of the privatization initiatives on the ballot this year - in this, as in virtually all, matters, I favor a legislative solution - but as a general proposition, why not? The neo-prohibitionist notion that the Mad Dog on your Quik-E-Mart shelf, or the tawny port on the grocer's shelf - is somehow less prone to abuse by those inclined than a pint of vodka is just silly.

While real government functions are out-sourced hither and yon, our state government hangs on to a retail monopoly at the expense of improved prices, selection and service that a private system could offer.

This isn't about drunk drivers, or The Children©, or revenue. It's about a relative handful of state jobs that are being maintained at the expense of scores of potential profitable small businesses and private sector jobs. Will those workers be AFSCME workers? Nope. A goodly number, though, will be members of other unions, and the new and growing businesses that a sensible move to private spirits sales could produce many new opportunities for union organizers.

So, without endorsing (or not) Initiative 1100 or 1105, sure. Legalize it.

Quote of the day.

Rep. Charles Rangel...

I survived a Chinese attack in North Korea, and as a result, I wrote a book that having survived that, that I haven't had a bad day since. Today, I have to reassess that statement.

Things that make me go hmmm...

Via CNN...

The top U.S. military officer said that the founder of WikiLeaks was risking lives to make a political point by publishing thousands of military reports from Afghanistan.

The military, on the other hand, risks lives to make a political point by sending thousands of troops to Afghanistan.

Hmmm.

Riddle of the day.

From The Stranger…

What do you call an alfalfa farmer who rails against government subsidies while soaking his own alfalfa fields in government subsidies?

Couldn't happen to a nicer Party.

Well, they're not actually nice at all, of course, but Republican Tea Party is headed off the rails. For example...

Roy Blunt is birther-curious.
Roy Blunt says maybe the government "should have never have gotten in the health care business" with Medicare and Medicaid.
Roy Blunt used a parable to compare President Obama and other Democrats in Washington to monkeys.
Roy Blunt wants to repeal health care reform.
Roy Blunt is not conservative enough for his state's teabaggers.

Even Michele Bachmann doesn't pass the Tea Party test in Missouri. The Republicans have been exploiting fear and selling crazy for decades and it's finally catching up. That's one of the reasons I've avoided hitting the panic button despite the dire predictions for Democrats hither and yon.

I expect Blunt will be the Republican nominee, but will the RTP'ers throw up a challenge or sit on their hands come election day? Either's a possibility, one or the other is, I think, likely. How many places will this play out. Here in the upper left, will Clint Didier and the Palinites come home to Dino?

I can't wait until November. Our prospects look better every day.

Quote of the day.

My own personal former Congressman, Jay Inslee, who joined my own personal current Congressman in voting against the Defense Supplemental for Afghanistan...

"It is wrong to be borrowing money from China, laying off American police officers, to train police officers in Afghanistan."

Yes, it is. Speaking of my OPC, Howie's got Rep. McDermott's remarks here.

They've warned us…

…what they're going to do with a majority. The Republican Tea Party Contract On America...

1. Repeal the Affordable Care Act (Health Insurance Reform)

2. Privatize Social Security or phase it out altogether

3. End Medicare as it presently exists

4. Extend the Bush tax breaks for the wealthy and big oil

5. Repeal Wall Street Reform

6. Protect those responsible for the oil spill and future environmental catastrophes

7. Abolish the Department of Education

8. Abolish the Department of Energy

9. Abolish the Environmental Protection Agency

10. Repeal the 17th Amendment

Puts some of the frustration with our majority in context, doesn't it?

Quote of the day.

Via Goldy...

Dino Rossi on DISCLOSE:

"_"

Dear Chris Ariens…

…if your lede begins "Ed Rendell Criticizes Obama…", you're writing the wrong story.

In fact, if your lede begins "Ed Rendell…" you've wandered off base.

Love,

Upper Left

Oops…

LA Times…

The Defense Department is unable to properly account for $8.7 billion out of $9.1 billion in Iraqi oil revenue entrusted to it between 2004 and 2007, according to a newly released audit that underscores a pattern of poor record-keeping during the war.

Hat tip to Foiled Goil.

From the "Since you asked…" file.

Oliver Willis wonders...

The RNC is having Andrew Breitbart in for an event, along with Chairman Steele. Besides the studied idiocy of Sarah Palin, is there a better statement about the intellectually dishonest state of the right in America?

Since you asked, nope, not that I can think of.

Earlier this week…

…I was going to tag this as the "un-American idea of the day." It's Saturday night, and there's no doubt, it's the pick of the week, may be the year so far. Disgraced former Speaker Newt Gingrich...

There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia. The time for double standards that allow Islamists to behave aggressively toward us while they demand our weakness and submission is over.

Gingrich is neither stupid nor ignorant. He says things like this fully understanding their essentially un-American character and knowing that they are destructive to Constitutional governance. He doesn't care.

Not about the truth.

Not about the Constitution.

Not America.

Not you.

The problem is, when he says things like this, pandering to people's basest fears and prejudices, he knows he can move a mob of people who don't understand, who don't know, who do not , some who may choose, in fact, to not grasp the idea that we are better than tyrannical theocracies only to the degree that we are different than them. To advocate imitating those tyrants at this historical juncture borders, it seems to me, on treason.

Heck, Newt may have just stumbled on the quintessential un-American idea.

Good morning!

Ten to party on with, fall asleep to or wake up and find…

Cowboy Copas - Alabam
Clarence Garlow - New Bon Ton Roula
Ron Sunshine - Natural Man
Red Sovine - Juke Joint Johnny
Liza Martin - The Greatest
Tim & Mollie O'Brien - Unwed Fathers
Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers - Goodbye Booze
Ronnie Bowman - Jailhouse Blues
Ray Wylie Hubbard - Without Love
The Lovin' Spoonful - Younger Generation

What Goldy said...

Those who advocate for nonpartisan elections claim they are trying to remove partisanship from politics, when in fact all they’re really doing is removing valuable information from the voting public.

He says more here.

Public health warning…

…from driftglass.

Modern Conservatism is a disease.
If you don't understand that, you're already infected.

Not to be an Obamabot or anything…

…because the administration's gotten enough stuff wrong, but once in a while they get it right. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner...

"We believe it is appropriate to let those tax cuts that go to the most fortunate expire."

Yes, it is.