"Undermining my electoral viability since 2001."

I'm A Ramblin' Man (And other new music)

Real Audio Link for this tune which I picked up thanks to my exposure to Satellite radio. Dave says it's "like hippie Massive Attack." I like it. I also like the video of their design studio apple made.

Also from satellite picked up on Eastern Sun, which is less poppy and more electronicistic, but also good.

And finally, from Pandora (riffing off "Supernaut" by Sabbath) I found "Sin's a Good Man's Brother" by Grand Funk, which will definitely make it into my weight-lifting rotation.

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I Agree With Rush -- End The Occupation

It doesn't happen often, but today I may be a dittohead:

Fine, just blow the place up. Just let these natural forces take place over there instead of trying to stop them, instead of trying to use -- I just -- sometimes natural force is going to happen. You're going to have to let it take place. You can spend all the time you like with diplomacy, and you can spend all the time you want massaging these things with diplomatic -- you're just -- you're just delaying the inevitable.

Some on the left blogosphere (e.g. Atrios) have lumped the first sentence in the above with the "More Rubble Less Trouble" strategy advocated by the anti-Atrios Instapundit and other less visible wingers. I think the positions are distinct. "More Rubble Less Trouble" means more indiscriminant use of long-range explosives with the idea that this will work out better. It's both inhumane and incorrect (c.f. Cambodia, bitches), but it's not the same thing Rush is advocating.

Limbaugh's tone is petulant and nihilistic; he's "just fed up with it," expressing demoralization, wants to take his army and go home. He's clearly bitter and a bit passive-aggressive about the whole thing. However, his point seems to be we should withdraw regardless of the consequences. This is the only strategic direction we can take, and it's better to take it by choice than to be forced.

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Idea

So here's an idea. I've been thinking more and more about the video medium. I liked making that commercial for my work, and I want to do more. I'm also attracted to the power of the form, and the fact that I'm still paying (and will be for a while now) for a shmantzy education that should give me some kind of edge on screen.

So it's resolved. I'm gonna learn me some final cut and eventually get a better camera -- the one I have makes a really annoying buzz on the audio -- and start playing with the medium more extensively. The question is content.

What about just reading some of the better prose being written on blogs already?

It would probably be mostly political stuff. I don't think I can really go for the emo/confessional personal videoblog, and I think the most important political contribution I can give is to push progressive ideas among the younger set. I've got plenty original content in me for sure, but part of building an audience is posting often. I'd need other sources. It seems like a natural fit.

I think of this when I read Gelnn Greenwald and Digby and a bunch of others from time to time. There's a bunch of really good language out there and the performer in me wants to make use of it!

And now, an unrelated webquiz:

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Civil War

I don't post much about Iraq because honestly it feels like a big pointless downer. George W Bush is the only one in a position to make any kind of differences, and he thinks the lesson of Vietnam was "if we don't quit, we win." Cocksucker.

It's impossible to ignore the civil war now. When you move beyond sectarian militias, blow right past death squads and get into neighborhoods shelling one another, there's not much question.

Sadly I think it's probably all downhill from here. The only question is how ugly it will get for us before we are forced out, or how long the "lesson of Vietnam" will keep Bush prolonging the process with our presence.

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