the shocking truth...

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this is the reason i'm so happy about last night...

Sometime around 11:30 Tuesday night, the cheers could be heard reverberating across downtown Ann Arbor, steadily growing louder and louder.

An impromptu parade that started on the University of Michigan Central Campus wound along downtown streets as hundreds of students - joined by passersby and others who spilled out of bars - joyously celebrated the election of America's first black president.

"I've never seen anything like it," said Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje, who was at an election party at Arbor Brewing Co. on Washington Street, celebrating his own victory for a fifth 2-year term. "You could hear them coming and then half the bar went outside and followed along."

That's unbelievable. It's quite heartening to see that we are still one nation. I read quite a few of these stories about random folks high fiving each other, free hugs, all that. The night's intensity matched that of 9/11; and I think may have helped us get over that event and the preceeding 6 years.

for those out in wisconsin...

Keep your eye on this future brewpub in Madison. Joe spent some time here last year, and I learned a lot about brewing and its potential for experimentation. Craft brewing has been successful, but it seems like the next generation of brewpubs are going to start pushing beyond the standard Pilsner-IPA-Brown-Red-Stout selection you see at many places. Mint porter? Rasperry Belgianwine? Sour red?

It's a good time to be a beer drinker in this country...

the piss-hot curtis

red bull
worster sauce
bourbon
salt.

and they say "the left" is angry...

Some video at a Palin Rally:

@ the hubagoo

nat sherman mcd's...mmmm

weekend's here

on the voter fraud charges

we're starting to see a real uptick in the charges of voter fraud around the country (warning: extreme rightward slant). This has started to manifest itself with assaults on the offices of voter registration groups. What you're actually seeing is a reprise of the 2006 elections and the raison d'etre of the Attorney Firing Scandal (which cost ol' Alberto "Abu" Gonzales his job, and is still looking for one).

The reason folks like David Iglesias was fired was because he would not press charges against groups like ACORN for voter fraud. Iglesias, a Republican appointee, studied the matter and found that there was no actual instances of voter fraud (people voting under an assumed name, so that you can vote twice). Rules were bent in following the Justice Department rules for raising charges during an election season (typically frowned upon).

What we are seeing is registration fraud. Meaning, if I was to fill out one of these forms ACORN would hand me and spell my name "Sean Mullins" (fuck that name, seriously), I was committing registration fraud. Thankfully, it doesn't even matter that I did that, because if I wanted Sean and myself to vote, I would have to come up with a piece of ID that has "Sean Mullins" on it (license, utility bills, etc.) I would say "oops, that was a typo" and correct the form and that is that.

It is painfully obvious that Republicans are against it because poor and minority people are being registered. Instead of trying to make sure that as many Americans as possible have a voice, they accuse them of a felonious crime and do everything they can to prevent them from reaching the polls.

My source of optimism is that a President Obama takes a top-to-bottom review of every single Bush Administration hire in their agencies (EPA, NASA, Dept. of Interior, Justice Dept., the whole lot) and ensure they were not hired to advance a political agenda. Also, the Supreme Court just delivered a decision on registrations that is encouraging. I hope it is just the last gasp of a dying ideology/political party.

At the kaki king show

Higher ground is nice enough to provide wifi at their venue, so I can
pass this note. Here to see what people are calling the best new
guitarist around. She brought her band along for the ride as well.
Let's rock.

Gonna donate some time...

Going to do a little volunteer action with Rural Vermont, a small-farm advocacy organization. We're setting up a booth for them and handing out literature at a farm in Fairfield on raw milk. I'm not usually one for the whole non-profit advocacy group thing (bad experience with one during college, boring story), but the bills they support sound like good ones. I'm looking forward to sampling some raw milk, and taste what I'm missing when I buy it from the store.

Can you say desperate?

Wow, this has to be some sort of new low:

Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin accused Democratic candidate Barack Obama on Saturday of "palling around with terrorists,"

...

Our opponent though is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough that he is palling around with terrorists who would target their own country," Palin said of Obama, also calling him an embarrassment.

Surprising that the #2 on the ticket is leveling these accusations; they must be doing really, really bad in the polls. In 2004, Bush didn't have to call Kerry a terrorist loving commie himself, he had lapdogs by the score ready to do it for him (Fox news, right wing radio and blogs, etc.) I'm less offended by this stuff (which is absolute filth and is indicative on the sorry state of the GOP and politics in general) than heartened to see the other side completely desperate. Neither Palin or McCain will finish this race with any sort of dignity left.

The Senate Thinks You're Stupid

While Bernie Sanders' amendment taxing millionaires to pay for the bailout will be allowed up for a vote tonight, it will ONLY be allowed up for an anonymous voice vote - that is, the unanimous consent agreement allowing the amendment to be voted on requires it to be voted on in a way that allows senators to not take a public position on it. Because of this, the outcome of the "vote" is already decided - it won't pass.

From Open Left. Full text of the Sanders Amendment (the only one being considered in the Senate) here. Ezra Klein responds:

But according to a quick conversation with Sanders' office, that doesn't mean there's no way to tally the vote. The anonymous refers to the congressional record. But the vote is public, and broadcast on C-SPAN. Hypothetically, if anyone wanted to watch it, they could draw up a list of who voted on it, and what their judgment was. I'm sure Sanders office would happily tell those hypothetical good samaritans the exact time when the bill is being considered. And finally, I'm sure that lots of hypothetical bloggers would happily post that hypothetical final list just to bring some slight measure of accountability to the process. You know. Hypothetically.

I love my Senator...

Sarah Mania! Sarah Palin's Greatest Hits

Polyphonic Ramblings 5

Another mix from the realm of ambient/drone:


1. Running to the Ghost - James Blackshaw

2. All That Makes Us Human Continues - BT

3. Skindiving- James

4. Gwely Mernans -Alarm Will Sound

5. Low Clouds (1) James

6.Final -Deuter

7. Cliffs - Alarm Will Sound

8 Even (Out) + - Stars of the Lid

9. Mars Rain - James Bernard

10. Low Clouds (2) - James

11. Bottom Of The Well - James

12. Spirits Drifting - Brian Eno

So the game of chicken didn't work

...and now we're at square 1. Next time, can we think about this for more than a few days and hash all this out in public?



h/t jesse

Fwd: Fall is Here: Lost Meadow Cider Mill Opens September 13, 2008

Here's what I'm doing tomorrow, getting some delicious cider stock (see below) and attending a harvest fest. Fall in Vermont: does is get any more bucolic?

Lost Meadow Cider Mill will be open weekends this fall starting

September 13 and going until October 26. The mill is located off County

Rd in Calais, VT, two miles south of Maple Corner.

Fresh juice will be available for pickup Saturday or Sunday 12:00-6:00

PM or until it's gone. Call or email for directions. Sorry, the mill is

not open to the public during operation. If you need juice and can't

catch us on weekends or want us to reserve some, call and we'll work

something out [(802) 229-2004].

Sweet cider is available in our 1-gallon containers only for $5. Special

hard cider blends will be available by appointment for $7 per gallon this

year. We will also have our own vinegar for sale at the mill as well as the

odd bag of apples that we just didn't have the heart to put through the

grinder.

Lost Meadow Cider Mill is located on Wheeler Road in Calais, VT; just off

County Road a couple miles south of Maple Corner or about seven miles from

the Main St rotary in Montpelier.

Lost Meadow Orchard and Cider Mill are run by Terry Bradshaw and his

family. Terry has been in the orchard business for fourteen years and

has made cider every one of them. His fermented ciders have won national

awards in American Homebrew Association-sanctioned events and have

developed a local following. These hard ciders are never for sale, but

he is always glad to show you how to make your own.

http://www.lostmeadowvt.com

terryb@lostmeadowvt.com

Some guy from the internet: his take on the bailout negotiations

Ouch.

I am not going to strive for eloquence or poetry. I am not going to back up my assertions, conjectures, paraphrased quotes or invective with links or citations. I am not going to spell-check beyond what I can catch as I sweep through and lay down words. I will fuck up homynyms.

The name is: I now hate John McCain.

I have not gotten much sleep this week. I am very tired.

I have watched approximately 100 hours of C-SPAN coverage this week collectively, concurrently watching the Senate and House on two televisions.

And yet, compared to many people, my job is extremely easy. I don't dig ditches, for instance.

I also am not a staffer for House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank. Today, they went to bed at around 5:30 in the morning because they had meetings in an attempt to cobble together a solution to the fucked up financial system of this country until 5 a.m.. This sleep, a sweet respite from a week of similarly late nights, was brief however. The meetings resumed at 8 a.m..

although numerous parties - particularly the Presidential campaigns - bloviated about the principles that they demanded be in the bill, the working copies of what was actually being negotiated included limits to compensation and 'golden parachutes', a bipartisan oversight board, equity in firms assisted by the plan and the possibility of lowering the scope of the bailout so that only a portion of the $700 billion would be advanced. The outraged statements about the bailout, the anger and panic they whipped up and the press-conference proposals were all directed at a version of the bill that had been immediately discarded.


It was all a coincidence of course that this agreement was announced before John McCain, whom I earnestly hate, could meet with the President, Barack Obama and other interested parties.

I hate John McCain. He is a contemptible person. I want to see him in pain.


John McCain had a remarkably bad day yesterday. It began with a desperate conference call in which his pollster tried to bluster away an ABC/W Post poll that showed him dropping 9 points back of Obama. It ended with David Letterman juggling his ripped off balls on the air while offering a squirming Keith Olbermann a bite. In between saw him delay responding to a effort by Obama to set up a joint statement because he was meeting with a baroness, an act of extreme personal cowardice to try and shirk the debate and tired negotiators telling him not to come to Washington because it would just fuck things up.

John McCain came to Washington.

John McCain fucked things up.

The one group of interested parties who have not fully been involved in the negotiations have been House Republicans. This is largely because they are a death cult who should be put to the flame by rational men. The proposal that the Republican Study Group, a conservative caucus that makes up slightly more than half of the full House Republican delegation, issued early in the week suggested that the key was to have a capital gains tax holiday for two years and to drill in ANWR. Clearly the financial crisis would be solved if banks and fund managers stopped paying taxes. The poor dears were holding toxic securities from all the worry that they'd have to contribute a cent to the upkeep of their nation. John Campbell, a contender for the chairmanship of the RSC in the next Congress, has probably completely killed off his chances by supporting the general idea of a bailout.

We do know that McCain (HOW FUCKING DARE HE) has single-handedly invalidated and trod over the incredibly difficult work of hundreds of people. People who are trying, in a totally thankless and anonymous way, to help save a part of their country.

I didn't hate him. Honestly, it was more about the Ds and the left-wing shit that is my heritage.

But I want to punch his fucking kids right about now. I want to scream at him until I pass out.

What a fucking dick.

Palin Overload

A bad week for Sara Palin. This post seemed to sum up my evolving feelings on the GOP VP nominee:

The mood over Sarah Palin is changing. Her political naysayers used to delight in her floundering her way through interviews (okay, that one interview with Charlie Gibson). They enjoyed pointing out her lack of credentials. But her interview with Katie Couric over the past two nights has elicited a different response — like cringing. No longer is there joy in Palin's struggles. Watching her has become like watching one of those hopeless singers trying out for American Idol: First you laugh. Then you laugh some more. Maybe after that you laugh a little bit more. And as the talentless contestant soldiers on, despite the judges' derision, it hits you that this person, despite their best efforts, doesn't even realize that they don't have what it takes. And that makes you kind of sad.

And hello facebook folks! I've finally learned how to migrate this blog over to that area.

Today was a good day

Started to tackle our rotting roof, got a weedwhacker, donated blood,
drank a chilled yerba matte, planned the beer olympics, and harvested
our garden (need some green beans?)

Also, didn't have to use my AK...

Iraq's future

A prediction:

Listening to the news (o'hanlon commentating, the douchebag...) and
had a thought. Things are supposedly going really well, and the bush
administration is actually talking about withdrawral. However,
consider this:

Violence is down because we are paying hundreds of millions of dollars
to suuni ex-insurgents to kill al-Qaeda (search for the sons of Iraq).
The Shiite prime minister is negotiating long term deals with the
u.s., making his own power play.

Is the bush admin setting up a powder keg for a future president Obama
to preside over?

fingers

Just started playing the guitar again, after a longer break than I originally realized. That's because my left hand calluses are gone, sending me back to form them again. Ow.

The 'back-to-practice' thing is thanks to my new project: a fretless guitar. Took a $30 mini-classical (nylon string) guitar and pulled the frets off of it. Now it can make some dope glisses, very indian-sounding now.

Let's hope that my facebook blog thingie recognizes the returns in this post (ya, right)