Monthly Archives: October 2010

Mo Tucker’s new underground.

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Every so often, an event occurs on the political scene that shocks many while causing others to smile. I’m smiling about this one.

In the mid-1960s and into the early 1970s, no band was more misunderstood than the Velvet Underground. Lour Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Nico and Maureen “Mo” Tucker created music that was challenging, irritating, at times ethereal and beautiful and at other times dangerous and ugly (frequently in the same compositions). The Velvet’s influence on rock music, especially the punk movement that followed them, still resonates today.

I’m certain most of you reading this have a view of rock musicians as mostly political leftists, loudly supporting every whacked-out progressive cause that comes down the pike, and you would be correct. So imagine the shock waves in the music world when this video clip appeared on YouTube some weeks ago. Wait for it…it happens about 2:40 into the clip, right near the end:

That’s none other than Mo Tucker, former drummer for one of history’s most anarchistic bands, speaking about her support for the Tea Party Movement.

What’s interesting is that this news report was broadcast in April 2009, about the time the Tea Party rallies were beginning in earnest around the nation. Tucker, who’s done some very un-radical things like working for Wal-Mart and helping to raise her grandchildren, seems comfortable in this setting, among the ordinary people of her community. She’s apparently as sick of the Obama Administration and its radical shift to the left as those of us on the traditional conservative side and she’s not afraid to express her opinions, her rock-and-roll “street cred” notwithstanding. Consider this: Tucker was pretty much at the front of this movement, not jumping on the bandwagon along the way.

Tucker certainly isn’t the only rock musician who’s spoken out about these issues, but the ones we know about, like the Ted Nugents of the world, generally live a conservative live they’ve led for many years. Tucker’s appearance came out of the blue and has stunned many supporters into ranting at her alleged “traitor” status, as though whatever movement they support is the same thing she’s supposed to support.

Tucker agreed to an interview with a St. Louis alternative newsweekly in which she clears the air on her beliefs in a frank and uncensored way. The best quote in the story comes when she expresses her dismay at people who attack her for her beliefs:

What are your feelings about the online reactions? Many people seem upset or outraged.

I’m stunned that so many people who call themselves liberal yet are completely intolerant. I thought liberals loved everyone: the poor, the immigrant, the gays, the handicapped, the minorities, dogs, cats, all eye colors, all hair colors! Peace, love, bull! Curious they have no tolerance whatsoever for anyone who doesn’t think exactly as they do. You disagree and you’re immediately called a fool, a Nazi, a racist. That’s pretty f’d up!! I would never judge someone based on their political views. Their honesty, integrity, kindness to others, generosity? Yes. Politics? No!

Whatever Tucker believes politically, I’m happy to see that she unafraid to express what she believes without worrying about the consequences of distressing the rest of the music industry or her friends. Tucker’s history with the Velvets and other bands certainly gives her legendary status. But legends, just like the rest of us, sometimes live “ordinary” lives working and taking care of family. That’s all the “street cred” she needs for me.

Mo, lots of us are sticking with you. Now sing it.

Jaguars – Titans on MNF: They are what they are.

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I think the biggest disappointment in last night’s nationally-televised 30-3 shellacking of the Jaguars by the Tennessee Titans wasn’t just that Jacksonville lost the game. Look, anyone in their right mind knew that this was a potentially even match-up on paper. NFL games, however, don’t get played on paper, and you’d have to be delusional to think that this year’s Jaguars are as good as this year’s Titans.

Nevertheless, I’m certain the 60,000+ who showed up for the game certainly couldn’t help thinking this would, at the worst, be a competitive football game. Hell, we beat the defending AFC Champion Colts at home two weeks ago. Last week, we dominated a bad Buffalo team on the road, in spite of three turnovers. Why couldn’t the Jaguars be competitive in a crucial divisional game?

Whatever the reasons, they weren’t competitive at all. I could list a litany of excuses for their poor showing, but it pretty much boils down to a couple of simple things: four turnovers, not protecting the quarterback, and getting torched by the opponent’s passing game again. The really unfortunate thing is that this is pretty much the way it’s going to be for the rest of the season (hopefully, without the turnovers), because the Jaguars’ talent woes aren’t going to get fixed this week, next week or even after the season is over. Not immediately, anyway.

The real shame of last night was the disappointment felt by the fans, which I felt myself and saw first-hand at the stadium. The night was picture perfect: great weather, an excited crowd, lots of pregame festivities, and the thrill of being on a national stage on Monday Night Football. Jacksonville has struggled in the last couple of years with ticket sales in a lousy economy, blackouts, apathy from many so-called fans and the perspective that the rest of the country and the sports media don’t respect our sleepy little city with the NFL team on the river. This was a chance, win or lose, to put on a great show for the rest of the football-watching nation.

So when the Jaguars allowed the Titans to drive down field on their first possession (after they deferred to the second half on the coin toss), you could hear the air go out of the building. This from a boisterous crown that just a few moments stood as one and sang the National Anthem with great pride.

Things didn’t get much better after that. Titans quarterback Vince Young was knocked out of the game with a knee injury, so backup Kerry Collins, who must be close to 40 himself, entered the game and proceeded to dink and dunk the Jaguars’ defense to death. His longest pass was 20 yards.

On the other side, it was truly ugly. David Garrard suffered a concussion after a nasty hit with 7:00 to go in the second quarter and was replaced by recently-signed Trent Edwards. This substitution didn’t work out as well; Edwards was picked twice, couldn’t get the offense into the end zone and finished with a QB rating of about 40. This compared to Collins’ 108 rating.

In spite of their pass defense woes, the Jaguars’ defense held up pretty well against running back Chris Johnson, at least until late in the 3rd quarter. At that point, the defense appeared to be pretty gassed and Johnson finished the night with over 100 yards rushing, a couple of nice catches, and a final-drive rushing touchdown.

Kelly and I couldn’t help but feel the disappointment as we left the stadium, not so much for the loss but for the beating they took in front of the country. People in Jacksonville complain that the Jaguars get no respect from the media. Respect is overrated, but you earn it in the NFL by winning. Not getting your brains beat out by the opponent’s backup quarterback on national television.

Since I’m a glass half-full guy, I always hold out hope that things can get better. Garrard will hopefully be back on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs, and maybe the “good” quarterback will be there instead of the inconsistent one. Over time, hopefully, the young players on this team will figure things out, especially on defense, and at least give themselves a chance to be competitive. I hope.

But I see the possibility of some changes next year. Everyone who follows this team knows what they are, and some of them are going to take time to blossom. I just hope this town has the patience to stick with them.

Me? I still had a great time last night. This glass will always be half-full for me. Getting to a championship might take a long time for this team, but I don’t care. When it happens, it will be that much sweeter. Go Jaguars.

I won’t debate. I will pout. I’m a liberal.

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Nothing warms my heart as much as watching someone from the “other” side (or someone I truly despise, which is frequently the same thing) have a whining, pouting, pooped-in-my-diaper meltdown. The video below is all over the ‘Net, but if you missed it, it’s a great four-plus minutes of television. Now, as a disclaimer, I’m not a big fan of Bill O’Reilly. I agree with some of his political and cultural opinions, and I admire how he’s risen from a local news guy to host one of the most popular opinion shows on American television. I find his approach, however, a bit off-putting and I rarely watch his program. Then again, I rarely watch any of the news opinion shows anyway, even those with hosts I like.

Nevertheless, watch and be amazed:

This video is demonstrative of the liberal method of dealing with the opposition. First of all, I know Bill likes a challenge, but what was he thinking going on this show in the first place? No matter who you are, you can barely get a word in edgewise with this bunch. I kid my daughter when she and all her college roommates get together for a weekend at our place. Six girls all try to talk at the same time…and yet they all know what everyone is saying. What makes the women on The View different is that it’s all shrieking, one trying to out-shout the other…except, of course, the lone conservative, Elizabeth Hasselbeck, who gets drowned out no matter what she says.

So we see and hear O’Reilly make a legitimate point about Islamic terrorists and the issue of the Park51 project. Rather than engage the man in a debate on the merits of his opinion (or their own), the two biggest mouthed (and politically infantile) members of the cast jump up and walk out in some kind of protest against whatever it was that O’Reilly said. They eventually return because, as Behar claims, O’Reilly “apologized” (which I don’t think he did; he simply couched is opinion in different terms). If I saw her and Goldberg walking back to the set, I would have asked them to leave again, since I would have no tolerance for such childish stunts. But, Bill’s a gentleman, so he held his tongue.

The part of the clip that killed me was Walters’ little lecture to the audience after Goldberg and Behar walked off. She was right about one thing: this isn’t the the way we’re supposed to debate or discuss an issue upon which we disagree, and she properly chided her panel members for their actions.

But Barb, who’s responsible for this daily train wreck you call a “panel discussion show”? You’re the executive producer; do something about it. Hire some co-hosts with some intelligence and manners, and maybe the tone of the discourse will turn to constructive and away from the cry-baby antics we see in this clip. Here’s a thought: why don’t you even things up and swap Goldberg and Behar for a couple of conservative or libertarian women to balance the load a little. Not only would it give poor Liz a little more comfort on the set, but you might actually teach your audience that there actually is more than one side to an issue.

You know, I don’t recall Hasselbeck pouting and storming off in a huff last July when Obama made his appearance. During that freaking love fest, even Liz was chuckling at Barry’s jokes. Granted, Bill O’Reilly isn’t Barak Obama, and I doubt Bill can make the masses swoon the way the Prez does (or did, anyway). I suppose I also can’t expect that show to have any balance.

After all, many of the women who are in its alleged target audience are probably doing more important things than sitting around watching a bunch of shrieking has-beens.

Like working.

Does anyone really care about Rick Sanchez?

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Rick Sanchez, a former CNN anchor, made some apparently disparaging remarks about John Stewart and Jews in general during a radio interview about 10 days ago. For this, he was summarily sacked by CNN. Sanchez has since expressed regret for his comments, along with a desire to return to CNN. They’re not calling, and neither are any of the other extremely-unpopular cable news outlets. He has also apologized directly to Stewart, who I’m sure is having a good laugh over all this.

The media coverage of this dust-up continues today, with stories and video clips and interviews of this clown all over the freaking web.

Could someone answer one simple question for me?

Who gives a shit about Rick Sanchez?

Here’s what’s happening in the world right now:

I did a little research on Mr. Sanchez’s CNN show in the days before his sacking. Go to this page, which shows ratings and analysis for the cable news outlets for the end of September. Look at the “Scoreboard” entries for the weekdays. Mr. Sanchez’s show is barely a ratings blip on most days. In fact, reruns of Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity on Fox, between 11:00 PM and 1:00 AM, draw three or four times the number of viewers that Mr. Sanchez did during his 8:00 PM prime time slot. Reruns.

No one watched this guy. Nothing at CNN is going to get any better now that he’s gone. Sanchez is probably more famous since he made these remarks than in all the time he was on the air. For Christ’s sake, Elliot Spitzer has a show on CNN now. How bad can it be when you get sacked for some stupid comments, while the same network is hiring a philandering former john who had to resign as the governor of one of the most populated states in America?

By the way, based on the early numbers, no one is watching Spitzer and his pseudo-conservative hostess either. No one give a shit.

Right, Rick?

The definition of delusional.

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I wonder if the definition of “delusional” is similar to the definition of “insanity.” In the “delusional” case, it would be hearing the same bad news over and over again, while continuing to hang on to the delusion that things are going to turn out all right.

Such as in the case of Tim Kaine, former governor of Virginia and the current chairman of the Democratic National Committee. I don’t know, Tim, I’m looking at poll after poll that show that your guys are headed for a pretty bad night on November 2. Depending on who you believe, it could be anything from a severe spanking to a downright political bloodbath.

Yet, you remain the eternal optimist:

The former Virginia governor says generic and race-to-race polls since Labor Day “have been moving pretty dramatically in Democrats’ favor.” And he adds that some tension within the party is the result of Democrats doing the “heavy lifting” on policy changes.

Sure. Moving pretty well. Perhaps the margins of defeat have narrowed just a point or two here or there, and I suppose that’s in your candidates’ favor. But I would avoid calling an unwanted health plan, cap-and-trade, higher taxes and all the other legislative boondoggles your guys have pushed as “heavy lifting.”

“Dead weight” is more like it. The kind of dead weight that’s dragging down your campaigns, because it’s the kind of dead weight your side as dumped on an unsuspecting electorate.

But, don’t listen to me! I’m not counting any chickens yet. Stay optimistic! Your going to need the practice when you try spinning it all on November 3.

Back to politics.

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Well, I simply can’t sit idly by and allow the juiciest political battles of the modern era pass by without comment. Folks like me who live on the conservative side have been waiting years for a November like the one coming. Forget about the Reagan landslides, or the 1994 “Contract With America” congressional upheaval. Those events were child’s play next to what I expect in a couple of weeks.

I’ll be tossing some stuff out here as I see fit and have time. Please don’t hesitate to visit or comment.