June 2009 Archives

The next time you hear one of our elected officials in Washington rail against President Obama’s proposed public option on health insurance by saying it will “destroy the marketplace” (Richard Shelby) or that there’s “plenty of competition in the private insurance market” (Joe Lieberman) remember this report from Heath Care for America Now (HCAN). The only thing in danger of being destroyed is the monopoly the large insurance companies presently hold, and which they are...

I know, I know.  This is the the third Clapton post this week, but, geez, he was in town, after all.  I ran across this video a couple of days ago of Clapton in a Hyde Park concert with Jerry Portnoy, harmonica master.  The song is Holy Mother.  Enjoy:Note:  I'm on the road starting today, will post when I can next week....

With most of our celebrity-crazed media and public focused on the death of Michael Jackson, I guess it was the perfect time for a Friday night news dump like this: “Obama administration officials, fearing a battle with Congress that could stall plans to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, are crafting language for an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely, according to three senior government officials with knowledge...

It's been a wild week in the news with the Clapton/Winwood concert in Houston, the Mark Sanford mess, and the deaths of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett as well as the tumult in Iran.  I've had about enough of politics for the week, also.  So...a little rock & roll.  The concert this week got me breaking out old Clapton songs on iTunes, and I thought you might enjoy another one of my favorite pieces.Clapton put...

If you've been a reader for a while, you already know that Clapton is my hero.  He's been a part of my musical consciousness for 40 years, and I go see him whenever I can.  Tonight was one of those nights; he and old Blind Faith bandmate, Steve Winwood, stopped in Houston for one of their 14 performances around the country.Back in the day, Clapton earned 2 nicknames; one was Slowhand for his blues based...

TIME’s Joe Klein had some good advice for John McCain in an appearance on Larry King Live Tuesday night. Advice that also applies to Lindsey Graham, Fred Thompson and the rest of the Republican chorus of bluster and bravado urging President Obama to “do more” about the situation in Iran. “Be quiet.” Whatever happened to “politics stops at the waters edge?” I recall not too long ago Republicans saying that criticizing the President’s foreign policy...

Proving that they have learned absolutely nothing from our experience in Iraq, the neo-conservative interventionists, led by former Republican presidential candidate, Mr. Bomb, Bomb Iran himself, Senator John McCain, are beginning the drumbeat of “do something” following the fraudulent Iranian election. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDeJKl4h3Sg&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwonkroom.thinkprogress.org%2F2009%2F06%2F15%2Fmccain-reminds-us-of-bullet-it-dodged-in-november%2F&feature=player_embedded] And naturally the cries of “weak” and “appeaser” in reference to President Obama and his non-interventionist policy are also being heard. Mitt Romney saying: “It’s very clear that the president’s policies of going...

With the shooting in the Holocaust museum, upheaval in Iran and the nuclear nutcase in North Korea, one could become a nervous wreck.  But let's not do that.  Let's go into the weekend with some great music from a New Orleans based group who's been around for years, the Subdudes.  I had all but forgotten about these guys who've been around since the late 80's.  We got to see them live last Saturday at a...

We need to change the last line of our national anthem. No longer are we the home of the brave, we are home of the frightened, cowering in fear. Fear brought on by demagogic Republicans and  spineless Democrats who go along so as not to be portrayed by those demagogues as “soft on terror.” This is the latest example that we have become a nation of cowards; “The Obama administration has all but abandoned plans...

The words of the Department of Homeland Security report on “Rightwing Extremism” which was released in April, the report which so incensed Republicans and the right-wing media that they demanded and received an apology from DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, are becoming more prescient every day. Just to remind you what it said: “Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred...