goofballs

I apologize, in advance, for our idiot President and his cabal of right-wing neo-conservative advisers will be bombing the shit out of you for no reason in the next coming days or weeks. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help. As you know, I have written my congresswoman and urged her to reconsider impeaching the president and vice president.

I spin and spin between the towers until I am dizzy, and only then do I look up, and the towers collapse in on me . My father famously said that he will forever regret not having photographed these buildings on 9/9/2001 because it was "nothing special." But to Speed Levitch of NY, NY, the towers were a place of worship and he a whirling Derbish. Find pleasure in a cloud or a leaf today, and have a great weekend!

Help us to end Autism -Ronnie James Dio. Having the genius behind Rainbow in the Dark pitch an autism charity is sheer genius. Speaking of autism, have you all seen the reality show where a cross between Jack White and Willy Wonka and his two homo-ambiguous "wingmen" help teach a band of guys with Asperger's how to pick up unsuspecting women? I am talking of course about "The Pick Up Artist" . Personally, I think that teaching the socially awkward about guyliner and highlights is yet more proof of a hidden gay agenda (do you know what the queers are doing to the soil?). OTOH the 1980s is proof that men wearing make-up and glitter get more ass than anyone. I mean, we are talking about an era where Joan Jett looked more manly than the average all-guy hair band (and that I still want to have sex with her, well, what does that say about me?). That said, I am still have reservations about peacocking-up nerds. I also have reservations about teaching nerds to ...

That is why the complete lack of urgency on the part of Congressional Democrats -- their aiding and abetting of this P.R. campaign about how much military progress we are making in Iraq and how Iraqi forces are improving and how we need more time -- is so dangerous, so alarming. The tragedy we have unleashed in Iraq is a fait accompli. ..And the inevitable invasion of Iran is practically a fait accompli if Congress will not strip Dick Cheney and George W. Bush of all of their powers. This cannot happen. Moreover, it is my opinion that an invasion of Iran, in addition to being a disaster for the United States, would be a catastrophe for Israel; and the entire world.

This is, like many things on this blog, a glancing overview. I think that one of the best pieces of Americana, one of the most influential and greatest works reflecting the then more than 100 years old Union (after having endured its Civil War) was authored by a Czech composer by the name of Antonín Leopold Dvořák. Let's just call him "Tony D" for the sake of saving my keyboard and/or clipboard from those funny Czech characters. Tony D was the Director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City from 1892 to 1895 through a set of circumstances too varied to cover just now; but during his tenure he made an astounding amount of money ($15,000 per year in 1892 compared to my starting salary at a San Francisco start-up of $42,000 or so in 1996, nevermind what my father made at a Cleveland law firm between 1969 and 1975 when he made partner, the year I was born). Was Antonin Dvorak worth that much? The debate during his tenure finally compelled him to leave Conserv...

Bill O'Reilly has been spouting off recently that the Daily Kos website is a "hate speech" site, just like the KKK. The KKK, of course, is an organization that does not like blacks, jews, catholics, gays, or just about anyone who isn't an inbred cracker. Cracker. Its like saying "nigger" but for white people. And I think "cracker" is a good way of describing a white person who still, in the 21st century, believes in eugenics and the young Earth. Bill O'Reilly is a rich cracker with a TV show, but he is a cracker none the less. He may himself be a Catholic, but for their purposes he would find many a friendly ally in the ranks of the Ku Klux Klan. Here is an article in Esquire about a little museum some crackers built in Kentucky, a state I can only forgive its continued existence because it keeps the Jim Beam coming. James Dobson, a prominent conservative Christian spokesman, compares the Supreme Court to the Ku Klux Klan. Pat Robertson, anot...

Soon, we at goofballs will be talking about music. And by music I mean, "Real" "Music", and by "real music" I mean largely Germanic composers of the 18th and 19th centuries. Why am I so racistly choosing those composers? Because I'm half German, that's why. And if you don't like it, then fuck you. Seriously though, I will have at least on Czech composer (Dvorak, duh), in the mix for this first series. But, there is no doubt that I will branch out into the SVS (Second Viennese School), and a large number of French Romantic, Post-Romantic, and Impressionistic composers. Maybe I'll compare Pink Floyd to 19th Century music. Who knows? I'm CRAZY LIKE THAT ..

The Allegretto for Opus no. 92 . My goodness, it hast taken my breath away. Bra-vo, good Sir, Bra-vo!

Many and copious thanks for the Marcia Funebre of Opus No. 55 . And thanks for setting the bar so very, very high that Johannes Brahms waited 47 years, 23 years after being called "the chosen one" by Robert Schumann in 1853, to even attempt to write a symphony -- a form so highly perfected by yourself. Also, sorry about your hearing, and the syphilis. You are ichiban, Your faithful and humble fan, Christopher

When I was a toddler, a plucky Croatian/Irish American progressive named Dennis Kucinich , at the time only 31 years old, ran for and won the mayorship of a steel town that bordered my hometown to the West; the same steel town where I was born in 1975 at Rainbow Babies and Children. The Dennis Kucinich Mayoral tenure is considered Cleveland, Ohio's most turbulent. The Cleveland Free Times recently ran a cover story about a mob assassination attempt against the young mayor, who was fighting an uphill battle against the entrenched corruption and graft that had permeated Northeastern Ohio politics in the 1970s (an era in which my father and mother witnessed first hand a mob car bombing at the steps of Cleveland City Hall, drawing obvious parallels to the 1920s). In 1979, family friend and former colleague of my father George Voinovich, a Cleveland lawyer, ran against Kuchinich and won the mayoral race. He oversaw a brief period of economic growth for a city that has been behind the 8...

I saw this while perusing The Assimilated Negro . James Baldwin ? Who is this person? Why have I never heard of him? Blogspotters.. now you know what books to get me for xmas!..

That is a GOOD QUESTION . The question was asked by Steve Skvara tonight at Soldier Field during the MSNBC Democratic Presidential Debates hosted by Keith Olbermann . 1) We live in a country whose political dialog is dominated by non-issues like gay marriage and teaching "intelligent design". 2) We live in a country where 7 figure earning lobbyist cook up terms like "death tax" and "tax relief" to sell policies which grant billions in corporate welfare and tax benefits to the very rich. 3) We live in a country who can spend 10 figures on research on a stealth warplane, 14 figures (a one with 14 zeros) on a war of choice and have 50,000,000 (that's 8 figures) Americans without health insurance, 9,000,000 of them are children . 4) Three words: No Child Left Behind 5) Farm subsidies that only benefit large agribusiness like Cargill, ADM, ConAgra Foods and the like, but keep actually farmers in perpetual debt, and keep our children swimming in high fruct...

It makes me sick, sick, sick to my stomach that weak-kneed Democrats in the United States Congress voted along with the Republican minority to amend the already hopelessly permissive FISA bill. Here is the Washington Post coverage : The Senate bowed to White House pressure last night and passed a Republican plan for overhauling the federal government's terrorist surveillance laws, approving changes that would temporarily give U.S. spy agencies expanded power to eavesdrop on foreign suspects without a court order. The 60 to 28 vote, which was quickly denounced by civil rights and privacy advocates, came after Democrats in the House failed to win support for more modest changes that would have required closer court supervision of government surveillance. Earlier in the day, President Bush threatened to hold Congress in session into its scheduled summer recess if it did not approve the changes he wanted. Honey, pack our bags, we're moving to Canada. As many have pointed out, and...