E. Michael Harrington

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I RARELY SAY, THINK OR WRITE ANYTHING GOOD ABOUT RADIO - TERRESTRIAL RADIO in the hands of Clear Channel, as opposed to public radio, college radio and XM and Sirius - but now comes this great news. Thanks to the wisdom of radio "controller," Chris Cotton, the music of James Blunt, the guy with too much press and the whinier-than-hell voice, will be banned on some UK radio. YEA! Young girls will have to sing "you're beautiful" to themselves. England is a great country and I need to get past my anger at them for taxation without representation and all of the other 18th and 19th century oppression of my ancestors. So when something this good can happen in England (banning James Blunt), I should give credit to that nation and its healthy music scene.

http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/32810340

James Blunt makes Dan Fogelberg sound rough and masculine. James Blunt and all future renditions of Dan Fogelberg and "girl music," a cultural problem that dwarfs "chick flicks," need to be stopped.

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BARRY BONDS passed Babe Ruth's 714 home run mark and now has hit 715 home runs. Only Hank Aaron's 755 home runs record lies ahead. But Bonds cheated from his mid 30's until recently and a lot of his output is due to steroids. It's too bad he can't just go away. That biblical phrase - "the truth shall set you free" - might be appropriate here. Bonds should just comme clean and admit to having cheated. Then he could ask for forgiveness and people would likely forgive him. He could rwite a book and do the media route. Maybe he could find the Lord for his follow up book and then do that alternate media route as well.

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USELESS INFORMATION THAT SHOULD NOT BE THOUGHT OR EXPRESSED

PARIS HILTON is going to release an album. She needs to pollute more than just television, I guess. The first single from her album will be called, "Stars Are Blind." The rest of the lyrics might not point out that stars are deaf and ethically challenged as well.

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Many neo-con "intellectuals" (prior to this I would have discredited neo-con intellectuals) are now opposed to George Bush. Many important traditional conservatives abandoned Bush awhile ago because he is the biggest spender and biggest expander of the federal government, two of the most ikmportant traditional conservative principles. And certainly by Eisenhower Republican standards (why are Republicans so ashamed of Eisenhower?), Bush is not one of them as they firmly believed in not interfering with the affairs of another nation, especially if the nation had never attacked or threatened to attack the U. S.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/1f808bd2-ef54-11da-b435-0000779e2340.html

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The murder by U. S. Marines of two dozen Iraqi civilians in Haditha and its subsequent coverup will be the worst problem the U. S. faces internationally. We should not have gone to Iraq and it is well past the time when we should have left Iraq. The best that can come out of this investigation would be a regime change in Washington DC in November 2006 elections.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/26/iraq/main1660359.shtml

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Posted by EMH at 09:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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I AM ABOUT TO MODIFY MY DRUG ADDICTION. I am a drug addict - fortunately, the drug is legal and I have a "moderate" drug addiction that ends by 8 or 9 AM each morning. (I once kicked the addiction for 12 years.) The drug? Caffeine. The method of injection? Dark black smokey sooty coffee, espresso or cappuccino. I've been back to home brewed espresso since my damn stupid Cuisinart maker got to be difficult to use. It was taking Herculean affort to pull the grinder out after each use in order to clean it.

Here is the Cuisinart beast that I trashed:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006F2MI/102-4748507-4935346?v=glance&n=284507

My espresso/cappuccino maker still works very well so it's been that machine or similar liquids at a coffee place with free wi-fi (no Starbucks - nowadays, Panera works well).

I've been researching coffee makers of all types (I especially love a machine that can turn itself on, grind the beans and make the coffee while I am still in bed). I couldn't find something suitable that did all of that so I have decided to go FRENCH. Soon I'll be making French press coffee. I want to support France because I still love France for helping us beat ENGLAND OUR ENEMY back in the 1700's, giving us the Statue of Liberty, not going along with the U. S.'s foolish jumping of a third world nation, Iraq, and lately showing some enlightenment when it comes to P2P and copyright law.

So, here she is. She's about to leave her home and come to my home:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00064GSU6/qid=1148571615/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-4748507-4935346?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=home-garden&v=glance&n=1055398

Of course supporting France does not means that my support of Denmark and cartoonists from Denmark and anyone who offends Islamic extremists will wane anytime soon.

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I AM EXCITED WAITING FOR THE ENRON VERDICT. I know that the defendants are innocent but in five minutes, hopefully, they will be guilty.

AND THE VERDICT IS.........

GUILTY !!!! KEN LAY IS GUILTY ON ALL SIX CHARGES.

SKILLING IS GUILTY ON 18 COUNTS OF FRAUD and CONSPIRACY and 1 COUNT OF INSIDER TRADING!!

And in the separate bench trial, Kenneth Lay has been found guilty of insider trading.

THIS IS A GREAT DAY! White collar crime is so more serious and harmful than street crime yet the rich white collar criminals used to get away with these crimes. Fortunately, things are getting more difficult for white collar criminals. I'll get to remember May 25 as a day in which so many innocent people who lost millions of dollars will at least get some vindication as the EVIL-DOERS (I love quoting G. Walker Bush) are found guilty.

Kudos to the United States' Justice Department attorneys for making this complicated case understandable to a jury.

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ENRON UPDATE (11:28 AM, CENTRAL)

Jeff Skilling just thanked his lawyer, Dan Petrocelli, first. He thanked him for standing by him. At $600 or $800 or whatever per hour, it is expected that he will "stand by his man."

SECONDLY, Skilling the Family Man (no doubt he values FAMILY VALUES), thanked his family for standing by him.

The bastard thanked his lawyer first, and his FAMILY second!!!!!! That says everything! Nice guy, Jeff.

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Yesterday, I BOUGHT TWO COPIES OF THE NEW DIXIE CHICKS album, "Taking The Long Way." Buying two copies makes twice the political statement.

I like this lyric from the opening song on the CD:

"I met the queen of whatever, drank with the Irish and smoked with the hippies. Wouldn't kiss all the asses that they told me to. No, I could never follow. No, I could never follow."

That "kiss all the asses" is a crass line - how dare those Chicks speak in such crass fashion! It might be crass but not nearly as crass as George Bush's "major league asshole" remark or Dick Cheney's, "go f____ yourself," a line in which Dick Cheney took pride.

"Drank with the Irish" - I know what she's what singing about! The narrator has not lead a life of moderation.

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Posted by EMH at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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UPDATE; SENATOR LLOYD BENTSEN HAS DIED. If Lloyd Bentsen had only said to Dan Quayle in the 1988 Vice-Presidential debate, after Dan Quayle implied that he was as qualified to be VP as John F. Kennedy was to be president, the famous lines

"Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."

he would be worth remembering. That was the funniest and best retort I ever heard in any U. S. Presidential/Vice Presidential debate (I'll leave aside President Gerald Ford's liberation of Poland in the 1976 debate with Gov. Jimmy Carter!).

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Obit-Bentsen.html?hp&ex=1148443200&en=c650356e435008bf&ei=5094&partner=homepage

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ON THIS DAY IN 2002, an article on CNET announced the following revolutionary story - that one of the major record labels (at that time there were five, now there are four) would offer consumers the choice to download and buy a new song for 99 cents! Revolutionary, indeed, and it seemed that one label was trying to give its customers what they wanted - customers did not want to be sued or called criminals or blamed for the record label's quest to be mired in the past - they simply wanted music in digital format.

This 99 cent model came before Apple had its iTunes store and its 99 cent model, but AFTER Emusic had its 99 cent model. Emusic had been the first, or first prominent retailer, to offer digital songs for 99 cents, and they did this WAY BACK in the 20th century.

From the CNET story:

"In what may be a first for a major label recording artist, Maverick Records and Vivendi Universal's online division are asking listeners to pay just under a dollar for an unprotected MP3 version of a new single.

The companies put the track, a dance version of "Earth" by Meshell Ndegeocello, online Thursday on sites run by Vivendi Universal Net USA, including MP3.com, RollingStone.com, GetMusic.com and MP4.com. People can purchase the file for 99 cents and then burn the song to a CD-ROM disc or transfer it to a portable device. The companies said subscribers of EMusic's MP3 music service will be able to download the track as part of their memberships."

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I AM SITTING AT MY LOCAL PANERA with cappuccino near my computer and Villa-Lobos' "Choro" for solo classical guitar is playing. Damn! This brings nack great memories as I played every work Villa-Lobos wrote and/or adapted for classical guitar (I especially loved his "Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5," originally for 8 celli (cellos also is correct and better) and soprano which became an even better (!!) work for solo classical guitar and soprano). I miss playing guitar, but playing laptop and playing in IP-Land is something more foreign and therefore more fun for me.

I'm becoming less precise if my use of "(" and ")" above do not match up. I was always precise with agreement especially when I was a Fortran kind of guy three decades ago. Now I am just trying to be "WILD" and free-ranging with my use of "(" and ")." I also don't want to write "((" and "))." Shame on me.

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In the next weeks, I expect to be blogging more about the RIAA/MPAA/U. S. Copyright Office's bought-and-paid-for Congress and their attempts to > > > > > > > > >

make the Internet tiered and give the wealthy even more advantages

try to prevent us from being able to fast forward through TV commercials

try to prevent us from being able to change television stations

roll back our rights as U. S. citizens to:

record television broadcasts for personal use

record music for personal use

They are a very bold bunch who do not care about rights of citizens. They need to know that many of us will not allow this to happen without opposition.

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AS OF TODAY, MAY 23, 2006, THE U. S. COPYRIGHT OFFICE IS STILL COVERED IN SHAME BY ITS UNITED STATES CONSTITUTIONAL MANDATE - that copyright exists and that Congress has been given the POWER....

"To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;"

BUT this is 2006 and the USCO has better attorneys than ever and have evolved far beyond such dated and quaint 18th century thinking as the U. S. Constitution. The USCO attorneys know that some will use the U. S. Constitution's Article 1 Section 8 (the source for the quote above the reason why there is copyright, a copyright office and federal employees who work hand in hand and appendage in orifice - fingers in ears, X in Y, etc. - with the RIAA and MPAA) in means which they do not approve, such as siding with inventors over lawyers and government bureaucrats in developing new technology and thereby PROMOTING THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE AND THE USEFUL ARTS.

The top right hand of the U. S. Copyright Office's website is still blank blue.

http://www.copyright.gov/

I wonder how long it will take them to "fill it in" and what will occupy such valuable space. I think a link to anti-priacy "educational " material at the RIAA or MPAA website will work for them. And you know that RIAA/MPAA/USCO lawyers in 2006 can come up with something more contemporary than some old constitutional jibberish.

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LAST NIGHT THE RED SOX BEAT THE EVIL GUYS 9-5 (it should have been 10-1 if only Terry Francona could have heard my screams at the television - Keith Foulke needs a trip to a head inspector, and should not be relieving against the Yankees, even with an 8-run lead in the 9th inning at Fenway (God's) Park. I also yelled at the screen at the Red Sox new 3rd base coach when, in the first inning and with no score, he held up Mark Loretta at 3rd base. We should have held the lead from that moment on. We won but we should have won by more.

Tonight I am compelled to go to Embassy Suites to watch Game 2 of the series as ESPN carried it last night and will carry it Wednesday but not tonight.

By going to Embassy Suites, a part of the Hilton Hotel world, I am financially supporting Paris Hilton. I love giving money for educational purposes, in this case, Paris Hilton's thoughts and expression of her life.

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I WOULD LOVE TO SEE SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN defeated in the Connecticut primary. A fellow (and real) Democrat, Ned Lamont, may be able to defeat Lieberman:

https://contribute.democracyforamerica.com/candidates#lamont

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Posted by EMH at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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I"VE MISSED WRITING ABOUT SOME OF MY FAVORITE ANNIVERSARIES LATELY especially two from May 17.

On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court issued their Brown v. Board of Education ruling. It opens with this now-obvious and perfectly-worded statement:

"Segregation of white and Negro children in the public schools of a State solely on the basis of race, pursuant to state laws permitting or requiring such segregation, denies to Negro children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment - even though the physical facilities and other 'tangible' factors of white and Negro schools may be equal."

The decision can be read here:

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=347&invol=483

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And on May 17, 2004 in the most ENLIGHTENED STATE (Massachusetts), gay marriage began. As a flamng heterosexual, I'll never understand why anyone of marrying age would give a damn what others of marrying age want to do. I am helplessly hetero - my dreams are filled with those of that other gender. I can't help my heterosexuality. It's too strong a force in my life despite how I want to obfuscate it a bit so that I can be more productiive. But these damn hetero urges just surge and surge. Many of my gay friends have as strong dreams about members of their own gender. I am convinced thhat I am straight and I am convinced that they are gay. Why should one's dreams matter to anyone else? Although I love Bob Dylan's line, "I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours."

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Last night I went to see an early screening of the WATCH-IT-AND-GO-TO-HELL film, "The Da Vinci Code." I have not read the book, did not want to read the book and did not want to see the film. I get angered when there is too much hype - HYPE from HELL - and get resolute as hell in my intention to never see the whatever the new hype is - I did not see "The Passion," the last BA hype. The only reason I went last night was because a friend got me a pass and it was nice to see her.

I was hoping that there would be religious fanatics handing out tickets to hell to those of us in line but even here in the Buckle of the Bible Belt, there was no religious protest. (When I saw the Last Temptation of Christ back in the 1980's at Vanderbilt's Sarratt Cinema - the only theater with the guts and integrity that would allow people the freedom to choose to see that film - there were the TICKET DISPENSERS. I asked for a few extra tickets to hell as I wanted to be able to give them to friends who might not otherwise get to join in the fiery life thereafter. Imagine - these morons thinking that they were GOD and that they could determine the value of my life's activities and that my fate would be hell!?! I wonder where my tickets to hell went. They're around here somewhere.....

It's a good film - the beautiful locations and visuals make it worth seeing.

It's not "anti" anything. It is fiction. Fiction is usually related to nonfiction as there must be some believability. It has its pro-Christian aspects as the extreme religious fanatics (that's redundant as fanaticism - except for love of Red Sox - is extreme) who view Christ as much lesser than Christians who adhere to the traditional dogma, are depicted as despicable in the film and get their comeuppance (especially the nasty albino monk). And it is fiction. If a film or a stranger on a subway can alter one's strongly held beliefs, than one did not have strongly held beliefs.

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"HAVEN'T I DONE WELL L. RON?" Yea! That's the phrase the cartoon Tom Cruise L. Ron-run character utters in South Park. Here's the link to that South Park "Tom Cruise has locked himself in my closet and won't come out" video. As always, if I can ever say or write a bad thing about the dangerous cult known as Scientology, I will.

www.smithappens.com/video_southparkgay.php

Smith Happens... very funny name!

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This morning I joined the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. It's a very good place - not the Met and not MoMA but I live in Nashville for half of the year and really like the Frist. Unfortunately it is related to Frist the extremist Senate Majority leader, the medical doctor who diagnosed Terry Schiavo from afar.

http://www.fristcenter.org/site/default.aspx

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Another Middle Eastern reference for the NSA bots. Here goes.....

KAZIM AL SAHIR ANTA AL HAKAM

and because that felt good and I know will help waste some more tax dollars and take up up some cyberspace, I'll repeat it:

KAZIM AL SAHIR ANTA AL HAKAM KAZIM AL SAHIR ANTA AL HAKAM KAZIM AL SAHIR ANTA AL HAKAM KAZIM AL SAHIR ANTA AL HAKAM KAZIM AL SAHIR ANTA AL HAKAM KAZIM AL SAHIR ANTA AL HAKAM KAZIM AL SAHIR ANTA AL HAKAM KAZIM AL SAHIR ANTA AL HAKAM KAZIM AL SAHIR ANTA AL HAKAM KAZIM AL SAHIR ANTA AL HAKAM KAZIM AL SAHIR ANTA AL HAKAM KAZIM AL SAHIR ANTA AL HAKAM

Annuit Coeptis, as always

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I just received this email about goings-on tonight in Nashville - Ballhog. The email exactly reproduced with the names of the guilty appears below. My friend is one of them. And as has been my policy, and to remain inculpable, I never mention friends so as not to bring them down to my level.

Ah the mighty BALLHOG! takes the Exit-In tonight in celebration of its first self-titled CD. You know BALLHOG -- They live in your town. They drink your whisky and eat your Grape Nuts. They've infiltrated the water like anthrax. What is Ballhog!? You tell us, because we haven't a clue. BALLHOG has guitar, banjo, dobro, tenor sax, mandolin, alto sax, drums, and upright bass and vibraphones if Swifty feels like getting jiggy. Ballhog makes SONGS like forbidden fruit creates many jams. BALLHOG won't bore you with long solos. BALLHOG won't whine into the microphone like some depressed boy unsure of what he's pissed about. BALLHOG has been known to make grandmothers do the kneeslap in time. BALLHOG has been known to cause people to drink to excess. BALLHOG will come back for more. Who will play what? Who will sing what? Who cares? Come on Friday night and bask in the eternal sounds of Ballhog!

9:30 Theressa Anderson
10:00 Old Union semi-acoustic thing
11:00 BALLHOG!

$8

We thank you for your consideration,

Craig Boerner

Randy Russell

Jamey Wood

Chris West

Patrick Dolan

Toby Leonard

Steven Swertfeger

Andrew Swift

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Posted by EMH at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Harvard Law "Beyond Broadcasting" Conference, Red Sox beat Yankees again, Saleh Khairy Agulak, Tallulah Bankhead on sex
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I AM SPENDING A LOT OF MY TODAY and TOMORROW WATCHING AND LISTENING TO THIS CONFERENCE AT THE HARVARD LAW SCHOOL - "Beyond Broadcasting: Reinventing Public Media In A Participatory Culture." More information can be found at The Berkman Center for Internet And Society at Harvard Law School:

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/

And the stream is here:

http://harmony.law.harvard.edu/beyondbroadcast.sdp

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AND BEING THE PROUD BOSTONIAN, I am also celebrating the Red Sox 5-3 victory last night. Derek Jeter made an error on the first play of the game, A-Rod struck out at a vital moment to end the inning, the Yankees' flawless closer, Mariano Rivera, helped the Red Sox by giving up an insurance run in the 9th inning, and Hideki Matsui broke his wrist (and will be out for three months) on the second play of the game. Rather than brag on the Red Sox, I feel content to simply list these four fun factors. (Actually, I was sorry to see Matsui break his wrist. I have matured to the point where I do not want to see even Yankees players injured. And from the practical point of view, when the Yankees need to buy something/anything, they go out and buy it, so Yankees' fans should know that something much better than Matsui will land in NY in the next week.)

A friend had sent me a text message from 161st St. [Yankees Stadium], the land of beautiful green grass, overpriced everything and saddened New York Yankee fans. Her message was something about watching the Evil Red Sox. She's such a good person but one who's been so led astray. I think her text message also set off her bad karma - that combined with my wearing the proper Red Sox clothing and the Red Sox being a real team and much better team and not just a collection of overpaid divos forced to work together.

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HOW CAN GEORGE BUSH have 29% approval for all the bad that he has done and continues to do? Expanding the size of government at every opportunity, wild reckless spending, inheriting the greatest surplus and turning it into the greatest deficit, lies and incompetence about Iraq, getting our ccountry to be despised around the world, empowering and recruiting terrorists in dozens of countries, working against the environment, ignoring hurricane victims, stating that he is above the law and that hundreds of laws do not apply to him, and so on. But he did catch one magnificent seven-pound perch while fishing in Texas. I agree with President Bush that that was probably his finest accomplishment.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2006/05/11/bushs-approval-ratings/

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Today's TBGB (To Bother George Bush) thought:

Saleh Khairy Agulak Al-Ja-Bush Spies

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On this day in 2003:

"The Iranian authorities have banned several dozen websites for political and pornographic content, including those of US radio stations broadcasting in Farsi.

'One hundred illegal websites are blocked,' Post and Telecommunications Minister Ahmad Motamedi was quoted as saying in the reformist newspaper Yass-e No .

'There are websites that insult the beliefs of different religions,' the minister argued to explain the ban.

According to other press reports the number of Internet websites on the official blacklist is much higher.

Iran's student news agency ISNA, quoting an Internet service provider who declined to be named, said that the post and telecommunications ministry has drawn up a list of 15,000 banned websites.

The ministry distributed the list to Internet service providers and told them to block these websites, ISNA reported....." from this article:

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/scitech/SciTechRepublish_852162.htm

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Today's negative thought and negative inspiration:

"I've tried several varieties of sex. The conventional position makes me claustrophobic. And the others give me either a stiff neck or lockjaw." - Tallulah Bankhead, 1977

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Posted by EMH at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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CBGB - a great downtown NYC club with lots of history - Ramones, Talking Heads, Blondie, irritating music, vomit, etc.

TBGB - An acronym for, "To Bother George Bush." George Bush is better than everyone else. Law does not apply to him - it applies to the rest of us. At least this is my understanding of how the Secret Government now installed and downloading/stealing/spying on/trolling for every phone number of every American citizen functions. (That was one late-coming predicate, wasn't it?)

I better help the Secret Government. My landline is: 615-791-7455. Listen early and listen often.

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I am a squeaky clean old guy who is pretty damn crime free (except for driving on I-65 at breakneck speeds, and even then I cannot be caught in a crime). But I really hate the idea of anyone wanting to spy on me or any of my PHELLOW citizens. So I want to make life a bit more challenging for these bastards. One way to really bother them is to be Middle Eastern. And subversive. And Middle Eastern Subversive. That will propel me into TBGB mode. Here is my first TBGB installment.

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HAMDI AHMED GHALLO TARA GO AL-JA-DICK CHENEY YOURSELF

72653905404y592y20nnjdhd9993939y7dbdbd67373737
AllahisgGreat27fvb388HAMIDAHMED(9y8cnn2nc

The above is a completely secretive code that, for security reasons, might not stay online for long.

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TODAY WAS A BEAUTIFUL VERY WINDY DAY. The temperature never went above 70 degrees. It was a Hamdi Ahmed kind of day if there ever was a Hamdi Ahmed kind of day.

I better stop. I may have gone too far.

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The New York Yankees ($200 million, 8 million people) are not looking so Al-Ja-powerful tonight in the game against ALLAH'S TEAM, the Boston Red Al-Ja-(a few million dollars and 0.595 million people) Sox. It is three to two in the sixth inning and God is great.

VERY VERY VERY SADLY, IRONMAN HIDEKI MATSUI'S VERY LONG STREAK OF CONSECUTIVE GAMES (518 in the U. S.) will come to an end tonight as Matsui injured himself - a broken wrist - on the first play of the first inning.

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PAUL SIMON starts his new album with sort of "dirty" sounds - very dirty for him. And this is also a very rare example of his writing music with someone else, in this case, Brian Al-Ja-Eno. It is Al-Ja-Eno's influence and sonic manipulation that has resulted in the new sounds.

And how can any album with Steve Gadd, Bill Frisell, Herbie Hancock, and Gil Al-Ja-Goldstein be anything but damn interesting intitially?

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More sand and camels Al-Ja-later........

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Posted by EMH at 09:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

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I AM ECSTATIC THIS MORNING. I WENT TO BED LAUGHING AND WITH A SMILE, HAD GREAT DREAMS - some involving women and others which I don't remember - and then woke up laughing and smiling, and all because in>>>>>>>>

GOOD versus EVIL, 2006, Part 2, i.e., the second game between the BOSTON RED SOX and the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox trounced the bad guys, 14-3. I did my part. I wore a Red Sox shirt and my special GREEN Red Sox hat from Newbury Comics with the RED "B" and the RED SHAMROCK. Fortunately, the Embassy Suites had an 8-foot screen showing the Red Sox. I sat about 8-feet from the 8-foot screen, close enough to see pinstripe frustration, anger, errors (the Yankees had 3 errors and 3 runs!), and bad sportsmanship. Bernie Wiillliams, one of the most civilized Yankee players - not the Steroid Thug (Gary Sheffield) or Punk Extraordinaire (A-Rod) - pinch hit, got called out on strikes and threw his batting helmet almost hitting the umpire. I think being an aging and quite replaceable star, and being pummeled by the Red Sox, must have been too much for even the once-polite Bernie Williams. But these things happen even to nice guys who sell their souls to play for Satan's baseball team. Laughter laughter.... LOL

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The New York Yankees' fans have to be given credit for giving the loudest, longest, angriest and most sustained boos ever to their "pride and joy," Randy Johnson, the BIG UNIT (who Mike Lupica called, "The Big Mess") when he left the game early after playing very poorly. The fans showed wisdom and great judgment in rendering their verdict. Yankees fans can be a lot of fun!

THANKFULLY, because angry New Yorkers can have such strong feelings about their overpriced team, and sportswriters need to criticize and vent, there is a hell of a lot of great press coming from New York this morning.

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Some of my favorite headlines, written and published this morning in New York City, include:

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BOSS and BOSOX SPANK YANKS

BIG GLARE FINDS SHADOW OF UNIT

ONCE AGAIN THE CHOKE'S ON ALEX

A FISH FLASHBACK

BERNIE, HELMET THROWN FOR LOSS

MELKY DROPS IN, BUT DROPS BALL TOO

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To further memorialize the Good over Evil trashing/thrashing, here are some links to stories written and published in New York City this morning. Let The Joy Begin:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/story/416429p-351856c.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/story/416428p-351854c.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/story/416430p-351857c.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/story/416453p-351865c.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/story/416488p-351873c.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/story/416427p-351853c.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/story/416454p-351868c.html

AND I HAVE NOT EVEN READ THE BOSTON GLOBE YET. That should be almost as rewarding!

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Game two of the three-game series will be on ESPN tonight so I can stay home. I'll wear appropriate clothing - perhaps my dark Red Sox hat with a different Red Sox shirt. Of course if we get behind in the score, I'll adjust my clothing and karma to alter the superstition. I'll work as hard as I can to alter the superstition.

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I'VE BEEN TOO BUSY TO BLOG lately, all due to workplace demands. But these should start to slow down and I expect to get a better handle on life and be able to better control what I do and don't do. I am going to have to decline invitations. I hate doing that but my time limitations are setting me back. I am not back-setting or back-sliding - just living a too-frantic life.

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There has been a lot going on in Washington DC recently. When Porter Goss stepped down, I sat by the phone expecting that the GW Bush Administration might call me to replace Goss and run the CIA, or at least I thought I would be on the short list. But, I wasn't.

I know that the new CIA guy, General Michael V. Hayden, like I, will not be getting into any scandalous activity with an intern - no oral sex and no cigars for the General or me. I don't smoke.

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I'm back to buying CD's. I don't trust these discs enough yet to import them into my computer. I will always assume that a new RIAA product comes complete with a Trojan Horse that will be installed onto my hard drive and will work to make my life, welfare and security less secure and less than it should be, even in a country that has The Bill of Rights and especially the Fourth Amendment:

http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/funddocs/billeng.htm

The RIAA claim that copying your legally purchased CD onto your computer hard drive IS NOT FAIR USE. And if you were to copy it again, to your iPod, for example, it would be a second copyright infringement. The only reason they claim that we consumers have been able to copy our CD's onto our hard drives and then to our iPods, is because of the RIAA's good natured benevolence - they choose to not enforce their rights and not sue millions of their customers who simply want to hear their music where, when and how they choose. Such damn fools, the RIAA.

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BUT, even though the RIAA so often seize the opportunity to DO THE WRONG THING, I still am back to buying some of their music (but not importing it into my computer or iPod). The new music is too good not to buy and most of what I want to buy also sends important political messages - yes, given the chance to insult President Bush the Most Ept, i.e., not In-Ept fisherman, and support those of a similar philosophical bent, I will. The new CD's I've bought are......

PEARL JAM - Pearl Jam

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS - Stadium Arcadium

PAUL SIMON - Surprise

I was hoping to buy Neil Young's "Living With War," but it was not at Best Buy. I'll buy that as soon as I can because it is very good (maybe it's great - I just don't know the album well enough) and Neil Young deserves my financial support for having the intelligence, creativity and guts to compose, record and release this. When the new Dixie Chicks CD is released in two weeks, I'll buy that as well, certainly for the political statement that buying Dixie Chicks' music makes.

I need to write reviews of these three albums soon, especially "Stadium Arcadium," as double CD's each titled separately ("Jupiter" and "Mars"), like Outkast's last double CD, deserve attention for their efforts.

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Posted by EMH at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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ON THIS DAY IN 1931, President Herbert Hoover pushed a button turning on the lights of the Empire State Building (my favorite building in NYC), marking the official opening of the $40 million building, the world's largest building at that time.

http://www.esbnyc.com/index2.cfm?CFID=12728666&CFTOKEN=23618316

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ON THIS DAY IN 2003, another defective Republican President, George Walker Bush, donned a jumpsuit, sat in the back seat of a fighter jet, landed on a U. S. naval carrier and spoke to the world with a banner behind him that read, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. His "victory speech" on the aircraft carrier has been referred to as the MISSION ACCOMPLISHED speech.

According to statistics at the site below, 239 U. S. soldiiers died before the MISSION ACCOMPLISHED speech (May 1, 2003). This means that more than 2,360 have died since the MISSION has been ACCOMPLISHED. But at least we found Bin Laden, found the ties that linked Iraq to 9/11, found the WEAPONS of MASS DESTRUCTION, and brought peace and democracy to the Iraqi people.

http://www.mykeru.com/bodycount_old.html

There are more statistics and information at this site:

http://howmanydeaths.com/

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Annuit Coeptis Mission Accomplished Annuit Coeptis

Annuit Coeptis Mission Accomplished Annuit Coeptis

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Posted by EMH at 08:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)