Uncharacteristically, my uber-Red community polling place had no Republican poll workers in sight. McCain lawn signs are a rarity too. In fact, I've noticed many houses sporting multiple signs for Republican congressional and state candidates with McCain signs conspicuously absent.
-AF
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Views From The Ground
Have You Voted Yet?
I'm going to miss these ole relics. There's a certain comfort inherent to the ritual of flipping the little levers and a deep satisfaction in pulling the big one.
-AF
Irony Alert: "Surge" Boosted Obama More Than McCain
Iraq "surge" success aided Obama by de-emphasizing Commander-In-Chief bona fides as a prerequisite for the next Prez. WaPo explains.
-AF
George Bush's Parting Gifts To US
Bush can't help but keep fucking us on his way out the door. Here's how. He'll attack our civil liberties, the environment, reproductive rights, give tax breaks for big banks' bad loans and keep Gitmo open.
-AF
Monday, November 3, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
No Treats Just Dirty Tricks And Plenty of 'Em
The fliers they are a-flyin.
It's scary the amount of energy Republicans put into downright dishonesty and/or flat-out cheating. They whine and complain to distraction forcing the media to tilt at absurd windmills i.e. ACORN, Rashid Khalidi, William Ayres, etc. This strategy is doubly effective in that it steers the press away from a closer examination of the Republicans' sub-rosa actions. That they do this all the while both claiming the hide road and attacking the patriotism of anyone who questions them makes it all the more sickening.
McCain's supporters have been active indeed. The AP has this overview of the 2008 campaign dirty tricks pulled thus far. One point stands out:
Laughlin McDonald, who leads the ACLU's Voting Rights Project, said he has never seen "an election where there was more interest and more voter turnout, and more efforts to suppress registration and turnout. And that has a real impact on minorities."There's not a single example of any group distributing fliers in white neighborhoods targeting white conservatives. Funny 'dat. And just what would they say? "If you are more than one week late on Lexus or stupid big pickup truck payment, you cannot vote this year"?
The Obama campaign and civil rights advocacy groups have signed up millions of new voters for this presidential race. In Ohio alone, some 600,000 have submitted new voter registration cards.
Across the country, many of these first-time voters are young and strong Obama supporters. Many are also black and Hispanic.
Voter suppression efforts are a national disgrace. If the Democrats do snag the White House, they'd be smart to pass a law with some teeth to punish these assholes. It's the American thing to do.
-AF
**Fliers clipped from BradBlog.
Let There Be Rock
The Mighty AC/DC - "Rock 'N' Roll Train"
(From last Sunday's final tour rehearsal)*
Along with 2997 people I've never met, I was privileged to catch AC/DC's final US Tour dress rehearsal in Wilkes-Barre. It was outstanding. I've now seen AC/DC concerts in three different decades. God, I'm old. Take a gander at this VIP pass pic while I take my medicine...
OK, I'm back and fresher than ever. It may surprise you to learn that before I heard punk, I mean really heard punk, I was a suburban heavy metal kid. That's just the way it was back in der '70s. It was the law. And no one did the heavy metal boogie better harder or better than these Aussies.
Putting their muscianship aside, and make no mistake about it they are all exceptional musicians, AC/DC is a band like no other. They exist in a state of suspended adolescence and do so unrepentantly. You'll find the AC/DC v.08 little changed from the AC/DC of 1998 or 1988 or since I first saw them on Dec. 25, 1981. And that's a very good thing.
Now about that muscianship. Anchored by Cliff Williams' chugging bass Phil Rudd's pounding drums and Brother Malcolm's archetypal rhythm guitar, AC/DC the band is tight as balls. Brian Johnson chimes in with his patented growl. (Has there ever been a more clutch performance in rock history as when Johnson replaced the recently deceased Bon Scott only to write+ the bulk of & record the iconic Back In Black in a just few months time?)
And then there's Angus.
Sure, Angus is only 85% as spastic as he was back in the day. (He's 53 for chrissake). But even at 85%, Angus is 200% more spastic than anyone else out there. He remains a guitarist nonpareil too. His playing is fluid, his picking is crisp and his Scots folk-inspired pull-off arpeggios are a wonder to behold.
If the hard rock is your thang, you owe it to yourself to catch this AC/DC tour. You never know how much longer they will keep on kickin' it. Oh, and their stage production is completely over-the-fuckin'-top too.
-AF
Soon Come: We rewind to 1991 with an AC/DC edition of Uncle Anacher's Punk Rock Tales in which yours truly meets the band.
*I meant to post this Monday but the week quickly got out of hand.
+In the tireless Bon Scott vs. Brian Johnson debate there are those who believe Bon Scott wrote the bulk of Back In Black before he died. Johnson has long laid claim to the majority of the lyrics, most notably "You Shook Me All Night Long", without the band correcting him. This alone would lead me to believe him. Plus I know for a fact that out of respect AD/DC ditched any and all new Bon Scott tunes to start anew with new singer Brian Johnson.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Get Out The Vote!
What are you doing today to ensure our success this Tuesday? With all the muck a-flyin', hate a-spewing and dirty tricks abounding we must leave no stone unturned.
-AF
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