Good question.

Blue Texan inquires...

Who are you going to side with — Allen West or George Washington?

From the "Me too" file.

Hunter...

I don't know what I want in a president. Frankly, I never have high hopes in that department. But the one thing I do know is that I'd rather not have a flagrant, egregious liar in that position...

Me too.

Chart of the day.

Via GraphJam...



One way to cut budget deficits is to cut the justice deficit.

I've always figured...

...that "trickle down" is just a euphemism for "pissed on." This is as good an explanation of why that is as I've seen...



Hat tip to Gordon.

Signs of the times.

Via Laura Clawson...

Chart of the day.

Via Meteor Blades...


If you think the system is working, ask someone who isn't.

Doc Watson, 1923-2012

Doc was a pilgrim, but no stranger
'Cause he was every picker's friend
Now he's gone to yonder city
To sit and play with Merle again.

His only son, before his time
Had traveled down that road before
Now Doc has gone to join him
Over on that other shore...

R.I.P.

Have A Happy Mindful Memorial Day

Well, how do you do, Private William McBride,
Do you mind if I sit down here by your graveside?
And rest for awhile in the warm summer sun,
I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done.
And I see by your gravestone you were only 19
When you joined the glorious fallen in 1916,
Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean
Or, Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?

Did they Beat the drum slowly, did the play the pipes lowly?
Did the rifles fir o'er you as they lowered you down?
Did the bugles sound The Last Post in chorus?
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?

And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some loyal heart is your memory enshrined?
And, though you died back in 1916,
To that loyal heart are you forever 19?
Or are you a stranger without even a name,
Forever enshrined behind some glass pane,
In an old photograph, torn and tattered and stained,
And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame?

The sun's shining down on these green fields of France;
The warm wind blows gently, and the red poppies dance.
The trenches have vanished long under the plow;
No gas and no barbed wire, no guns firing now.
But here in this graveyard that's still No Man's Land
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man.
And a whole generation who were butchered and damned.

And I can't help but wonder, no Willie McBride,
Do all those who lie here know why they died?
Did you really believe them when they told you "The Cause?"
Did you really believe that this war would end wars?
Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain,
For Willie McBride, it all happened again,
And again, and again, and again, and again.

Eric Bogle

Even sadder, maybe...

...but just as true. Thers...

No current member of the United States armed forces is in any meaningful sense "protecting your freedom."

They would I'm sure be willing to do this. But they aren't in fact doing anything of the sort.

The way to support the troops is to bring 'em home until we have a mission worthy of their service and sacrifice.

The way to honor the fallen is to stop making more of them for no good reason.

From the "Sad, but true..." file.

Via Truthdig...

From the "Since you asked..." file.

Jonathan Golub wonders, in a slightly less than family friendly - and hence slightly bowdlerized - fashion...

Are State politics in Washington really this f***ed up—where ire against Seattle overrides basic public safety?

Since you asked, yeah, pretty much.

On time...

...this time, a random ten...

The Sunrays - I Live For The Sun

Scott Miller & The Commonwealth - I Made A Mess Of This Town

Wanda Jackson - Riot In Cell Block #9

Hot Tuna - Trouble In Mind

Tim O'Brien - Sail Away

The Soul Survivors - Expressway To Your Heart

Gillian Welch - Scarlet Town

Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard - Reasons To Quit

Stevie Wonder - Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours

Rod Stewart - Country Comforts

Heh™.

Matt Bors at Daily Kos...

It's a hard job...

...but Blogger seems determined to prove that free isn't a very good price at all...

What Loudon Wainwright III said...

...still works after all these years...

Hey, Bob Dylan, I wrote you a song.
Today is your birthday if I'm not wrong.
If I'm not mistaken you're fifty seventy one today,
How are you doin', Bob? What do you say?...

The first record album I ever bought with my paper route money was the first one Dylan made. I soon joined the legions with my own boots, cap and geetar. There's still a Dylan song in every set I play.

Happy birthday, Bob!

No news...

...is better than FOX News. Literally...

Did'ja hear the one about...

...George Tierney of Greenville South Carolina?

Boy, that George Tierney of Greenville South Carolina's sumthin', huh?

(Yeah, I'm late to the party, but the new Blogger editor had me locked out for a couple days. Found my way back to the old interface and everything's as good as, well, old...)

Heh™.

Via Fixer...

Chart of the day.

Via Hart Williams...

At long last...

...a random ten.

Muddy Waters - Hoochie Coochie Man
Lucinda Williams - Gentle On My Mind
Donovan - Universal Soldier
Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Nowhere To Run
Bobby Helms - My Special Angel
Hayward Williams - One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)
Get Wet - Where The Boys Are
Jeff Tweedy, Roger McGuinn & Jay Bennett - James Alley Blue
Joe Pug - Dodging The Wind
The Beatles - Words Of Love

Good question.

Steve Benen ponders Mitt's Mendacity (19 new lies this week) and wonders...

I continue to think about something Fox News' Brit Hume said a few months ago. Reflecting on Romney's flip-flops, said, "You're only allowed a certain number of flips before people begin to doubt your character."

I'm curious -- is Romney also allowed a certain number of falsehoods before people begin to doubt his character? And if so, what is that number? 

 Some number smaller than the one that's been documented, in a just world...

From the "Just the facts..." file.

Via Steve Benen...

According to the Boston Globe's analysis, if Romney wins, he'll be the "first presidential candidate elected without carrying his home state since before the Civil War. James K. Polk lost Tennessee en route to the White House -- 168 years ago."

 Big "if," there...

From the "He's smarter than he looks" file.

Getting smarter all the time, too, it seems. Email from Dennis Kucinich...

After careful consideration and discussions with Elizabeth and my closest friends, I have decided that, at this time, I can best serve from outside the Congress. My commitments to peace, to workers' rights and to social and economic justice are constant and are not dependent upon holding an office. They are dependent upon my continuing to stand up, to speak out, to organize, to motivate and to inspire our nation as to its deeper potential. This I promise I will do with great energy and heart.

Shouldn't have taken much consideration or discussion at all, but a good call in the end. Dennis has a lot more to offer as an outside agitator than a carpetbagging pol.

Me too, also...

Heather, on the Gentlelady from Spokane...

I find it sad and disheartening to listen to the likes of McMorris Rodgers make excuses for her party being on the wrong side of bigotry, sexism, hatred and allowing for violence to escape prosecution if you believe the person the act was committed against is a second class citizen.

Me too. Sad and disheartening, but not the least bit surprising.

Which is sort of sad and disheartening, too.

From the "Me too" file.

James Madison, via Juan Cole...

Me too.

Oops...

...minds slip and time flies.  Guess I owe you one - or ten - so, for those who care (Hi, Terry!) here they are...

Fats Domino - I'm In Love Again
Marty Stuart - Western Girls
John Prine - Souvenirs
Todd Snider - In The Beginning
Jefferson Airplane - Somebody To Love
The Jeff Beck Group - Going Down
Josh Williams - We'll Burn That Bridge
Justin Townes Earle - Hard Livin'
Dion & The Belmonts - Teenager In Love
James McMurty - Cold Dog Soup

Heh™.

Pat Bagley, via  Millard Fillmore's Bathtub...

Good question.

David Cay Johnson inquires...

"Which federal program took in more than it spent last year, added $95 billion to its surplus and lifted 20 million Americans of all ages out of poverty?”

Bet you can figure it out.  Hint: In a year or so it'll go from one of my favorites to my very favorite ever...

Signs of the times.

Via Blue Gal...

From the "Me too" file.

Neil Sinhababu...

As an institution, the Republican Party has decided to sacrifice a few Senate seats in the name of ideological purity.  I'm pretty happy about this, because I like it when they lose Senate seats. 

Me too.