Danny Doom’s Booze Cabinet

Let me say this as plainly as I can: by August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end.

Cheers to Prez Obama for trying to bring this war–that never should have happened in the first place–to an end.

The vids keep on coming, this one for the song “Kristol Ball.” This is the song that famously put Mr. Kristol on the firing line at The New York Times and, after repeated plays by the head honchos there, led to his dismissal. We couldn’t be happier.

From the album “Less Love More Acid” by Milk at Midnight, available on Stars/No Stars Records, or at Reckless, Permanent, iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, and many others! Enjoy more MaM videos at MilkTube, your one-stop rock and roll video control tower!

UPDATE:

Sullivan:

I’m still trying to absorb why the Washington Post would want to pick up a columnist fired by the NYT after an execrably dishonest series of partisan memos masquerading as journalism.

Yeah, Kristol is at the Post I guess. They’ll learn, eventually. But I don’t care; I don’t read the Post.

As far as cable goes I have to say that I have not seen this person named Glenn Beck (and have no intention to), but I watched this clip at Sadly, No! and it is a doozy. These are people discussing worst-case scenarios and the possible aftereffects. As in, what would happen if a bunch of hillbillys rose up and decided to overthrow the government? The host is just simply shocked–shocked, I say!–at the comments from his own guests. His mind is blown!

But it brings me back to my original point regarding the whole treasonous/dissent thing, which has now become the patriotic thing once again. Here’s what I’m talking about, from Sadly, No!:

This sort of thing doesn’t really offend me because I think most of Beck’s viewers would back down from starting a new civil war once they learned that it would likely lead to Cheeto rationing. But I am amazed at the sheer cognitive dissonance involved in simultaneously believing that it’s treasonous to peacefully oppose an unjustified war but that it’s patriotic to lead an armed insurrection against the government because they want to pay you unemployment benefits. If there’s a weirder political movement than American conservatism, I’ve yet to see it.

Mmmm, did Bobby Jindal from Louisiana just invoke Hurricane Katrina as part of the Republican response? Ha ha ha! You go, guy! And this guy is supposed to be the future of the party? Because he sounds like a teacher reading to his class of 5 year olds. Right-wingers like that kind of shit, though, don’t they?

“Don’t gimme any big words or nothin,’ just talk to me in a plain speakin’ way! Why’s that? Cuz I’m a dumb ass!”

UPDATE:

If it sounds like Jindal is targeting his speech to a room full of fourth graders, that’s because he is. They might be the next people to actually vote for Republicans again.

- Five Thirty Eight.com (via Andrew Sullivan)

I must admit, I’m a little bored with the usual sites that I used to read. I’m talking about the nutballs, the wackjobs, The Corner. Every since Obama won things have gotten quite boring, which I guess was the point. And don’t get me wrong, I’m happy, but what was once fun has now become just stupid (ok, it was always stupid). And now with cable tv beaming into my home I can see what I’ve been missing all these years–which is to say, Not A Goddamn Thing!

Really? This is it? I’ve tried, just for scientific purposes, to watch O’Reilly or Hannity or whomever and I can’t make it through one full show. It’s just stupid. I mean, you have to be an idiot to watch it. You have to be a vacant, mouth-breathing hillbilly. You have to be a vapid, incurious dumbass. Oh, and it helps to be generally scared of things.

But there’s nothing funny, there’s nothing insightful, and there’s nothing entertaining about these shows. But I can see why the people that do watch the shows are mind-numbingly stupid. In fact, it explains eight years of idiocy in less than a half hour’s time. I guess this is why Jon Stewart became essential viewing.

I don’t know which show it was that I saw, but they were talking about Sean Penn’s speech like it was the End of Hollywood. He’s really done it this time! Apparently in this alternate reality known as cable news programs (Faux News?) liberal movie stars have really upset the cart this time, and better watch out. The crazy right-wingers are going to stop going to see movies, and when they do, shit, man, the whole thing is just going to shut down. It’s funny how important they think they are. That’s O’Reilly, right? Didn’t he boycott France or something?

Anyway. “The Republican attempt to play politics as usual at a time of national crisis receives low marks,” says Joe Klein of Time, but you wouldn’t know that from watching these dolts. “Indeed, a staggering 79% believe that the GOP should expend more effort on finding a bipartisan middle ground with the President, while only 17% believe they should “‘stick to Republican policies.’” And on the other hand, 56% think that Obama should NOT pursure bipartisanship, but stick to his own policies–you know, the ones that won him the White House.

Just to rub it in, this from Glenn Greenwald:

That’s actually an amusing result:  a huge majority of Americans want Congressional Republicans to be “bipartisan,” but don’t want Obama to be.  Overwhelmingly, then, Americans favor “bipartisanship” only to the extent that it means that Republicans support Democratic policies and abandon their own.

So obstruction is a losing strategy, yet it’s also, sadly, the one thing the GOP has really mastered. Dig in, guys, dig in!

Catching up on Oscar winners, I quickly watched Man on Wire, the documentary winner, which is available on the Netflix instant watch and loved it. I have written about this before, the man who walked across the World Trade Centers on a wire, Phillipe Petit, and the story is just amazing. Even if the towers had never fallen it would still be a captivating and beautiful moment when this man walks as if on a cloud, living more than a thousand percent.

And, as a commie, homo-loving son of a gun, I still have not seen Milk but would highly recommend the documentary The Times of Harvey Milk, which is available on various film sites in its entirety. I hope President Obama was watching his Sean Penn’s speech; as I’ve said many times, we will look back on this discussion of equal rights for gays as an embarrassment. It is indeed inevitable, as was women’s rights, ending slavery, and a non-White president. What, exactly, are we waiting for–the wackos to tell us it’s ok?

One other Oscar note: Bill Maher had a nice aside joking about the snub of his documentary Religulous, another film I have not yet seen. “I know, it’s a touchy subject. But someday, we all have to confront the notion that our silly gods cost the world too greatly. But there I go, ruining the ending.” Not much more I can add to that.

This is funny: there’s been an apparent uptick in concern by Republicans over the size of the deficit since…December. It’s almost as if it didn’t exist until the responsibility left the previous president’s hands, in the eyes of Republicans at least. I know that this is part of the plan: everything was fine before Obama was elected; why’s he screwing everything up? But come on, this is that same fantasy-based act that we’ve seen for eight years and it’s getting old.

It’s a little weird how opposing the Iraq war and disagreeing with the execution of it were considered unpatriotic, but now, somehow, hoping for the president to fail–actually coming out and saying it–is cheered by the right. Not surprising, I suppose, but still. Shameless! But hey, they have a right to say it; dissent IS patriotic. Even when it makes absolutely no sense at all.

Just a nice big healthy glass o’ beer today. It’s been a long time comin’ so sit back and guzzle!

The right is going to become much more extreme as it becomes less relevant.

- Andrew Sullivan

You know, I believe it! They have to be searching madly for some kind of sex scandal with which to impeach Prez Obama. But unlike in the days of Bill Clinton, when I was new to all of this and watched incredulously, now I kind of shrug it off and laugh. I’m not worried about Obama. Even more than Clinton, I feel like he knows what he’s doing, and knows how to adjust. I mean, how many times during the campaign did people try to write him off? It’s a classic tortoise-hare situation. They used to talk about “misunderestimating” Bush, but as we saw, he deserved his low expectations. Misunderestimating Obama is, I think, a big mistake.

Here it is for the first time, from the album “Less Love More Acid,” starring the Legion of Doom Hoyne Street Singers, the one, the only, “Why Don’t You Go? (Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh!) by Milk at Midnight! (Album available at Stars/No Stars Records, Reckless Records, Permanent Records, iTunes, and many other outlets!)

UPDATE:

Go to MilkSpace for more streaming tunes from “Less Love More Acid” including “The Leaning Tower of Astigmatism” and “House We Built.” The hits just keep on coming!

Speaking of Ten, Pearl Jam have re-issued it with a bunch of other stuff, and their MySpace page is streaming some of it, including unplugged tracks. Which reminds me, that was really what grabbed me about them at the time. I remember seeing that MTV thing of them doing Ten songs and the intensity was such that I was sucked in. Anyway, good to hear all that again.

They keep passing these lists around on Facebook and I have resisted every one of them. Then I decided I wanted to do this one, but not post it on Facebook. Why? No reason. Just cuz. Screw Facebook. Here’s the premise, copied and pasted:

Think of 15 albums, CDs, LPs that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life. Dug into your soul. Music that brought you to life when you heard it. Royally affected you, kicked you in the wasu, literally socked you in the gut, is what I mean.

Now, I’m a little confused by this. Because, for example, Abbey Road was one of the first albums I ever heard as a human in this world, and it did indeed have a profound effect on me, but I don’t think it’s the best Beatles album there is. Pretty great, but still, I’d rather listen to Revolver, or really, just side 2 of Abbey Road, like I did today as a matter of fact. So is it the first time you heard something and it moved you, or is it the albums that have lasted and still continue to move you? Is it 15 Great Albums or is it 15 Great Moments? I don’t know.

But I’ll give it a go anyway, with this premise as my general guide. And in no particular order, because that’s just impossible (but as it turns out, generally chronological):

1) Tommy, The Who – This album marked the big switch for me, moving away from the simple pop music of my early teens and into a whole other realm of greatness. It also coincided with my first plucking of the guitar. I always think of this as an album–an LP, vinyl–not any other format.

2) Quadrophenia, The Who – This came slightly later, still in high school, and can be pin-pointed to a single moment in which my older brother stuck his headphones on my ears and played “Dr. Jimmy.” Huge.

3) Greatest Hits, The Doors – I’ve mentioned this before I think, but a cassette tape of this album wound up in my hands and the song “Not to Touch the Earth” scared the hell out of me. Truly profound moment in my world. I loved The Doors for a long time.

4) I, Led Zeppelin – Another cassette I had, captured forever in my memory as the soundtrack to a walk home in the snow one drunken night, headphones on, “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” and “Dazed and Confused” blasting in my ears. High school.

5) Fables of the Reconstruction, R.E.M. – Now, I would put Reckoning here except that Fables came first for me. I’m pretty sure that I got into R.E.M. right around the time this album came out, then I went back and got the first two (and Chronic Town) afterward. I think I like this album even more now than I did then.

6) Disintegration, The Cure – This album crushed me for a long time and was also the first CD I ever bought. Profoundly depressing and yet, therapeutic. The Staring at the Sea singles album is a close second to this one, as far as rocking my world, Cure-style.

7) Louder Than Bombs, The Smiths – Along with The Cure and R.E.M., this is college to me.

8.) Ten, Pearl Jam – This is the one that sparked this whole debate. Technically yes, Ten was the big one. But I really think Vitalogy was when they transcended into a higher realm. But I’ll give the credit to Ten for all that it was.

9) Nevermind, Nirvana – When I think of profound moments, this is what I think of. Even if In Utero is my favorite album, Nevermind was an explosion that changed everything. I liked having Nirvana around, and still miss that.

10) A Love Supreme, John Coltrane – I have to include this because hearing it for the first time is the closest I have come to religion. I listened to it as recently as last week, and it’s just pure bliss.

11) Daydream Nation, Sonic Youth – Another cassette. Someone taped it for me and it totally blew me away. Changed the way I looked at my guitar too.

12) Dig Me Out, Sleater-Kinney – I saw them live first, I think, but it was this album and these songs that killed me.

13) OK Computer, Radiohead – I was into Radiohead at the time but OK Computer was the huge leap into greatness for them. “Paranoid Android” may be one of the greatest songs I’ve ever seen played live.

14) In an Expression of the Inexpressible, Blonde Redhead – I first heard a song off of this album on WXRT, of all places. It was one of those late night shows where they dare to play something that’s not The Pretenders or Talking Heads, and the song was “Distilled” from this album. Wow. One of my favorite existing bands. Top five.

15) The Soft Bulletin, Flaming Lips – Another album that I saw live first, at Cubby Bear, of all places again. It was some Guinness-sponsored thing, I think XRT had something to do with it too! But the show was amazing, and the album remains the greatest thing they’ve done, in my opinion.

What I’m leaving out: too many good albums. London Calling, by The Clash (vinyl I got from my aunt); Diary, Sunny Day Real Estate; Gish, Smashing Pumpkins; Eye, Robyn Hitchcock (vinyl I bought in Madison); Loveless, My Bloody Valentine; XO, Elliott Smith; The Lonesome Crowded West, Modest Mouse. Oh, I could go on. But I won’t.

Asked whether his experience had changed his expectations of winnable Republican support or how he might win it, he responded sagely. “You know, I am an eternal optimist,” he said. “That doesn’t mean I’m a sap.”

- President Barack Obama

It hasn’t even been a month and the Republicans are already shit-deep into petty partisan politics. Because that has worked so well for them. I’m actually amazed at their collective lack of cooperation in solving the most pressing issue of the day; so goes the quest for irrelevancy. Oh well, eh? I’m not gonna pretend like I give a shit about right-wingin’ nutballs. Good night and good luck!

We’ll return to the old Friday beer fun soon enough, but these are unusual times. No sleep til Brooklyn. Wake up!

Photo taken at Mixtapes, East Moline, IL