The Internet is good.

Sounds a little (union!) old-school, yet the ability to address deep points and make them a rallying cry is powerful. Threepenny: Mamet, Workers and Managers:

Now, the issues confronting our country are serious, but they are all resolvable, and resolvable in an atmosphere of cooperation. How do I know? Because I've seen it, and you've seen it, at work.

We have been conditioned to huff and puff ourselves about political questions, and characterize those who disagree as fools—but we may discuss these same questions with our fellow workers, around the water cooler, at lunch, over a drink, and in that discussion we find that, rather than proclaiming our own view, we want to know what the other fellow thinks, and, after listening, may find some possibility of consensus. Why? Because we are looking for consensus. At work we recognize that we are going to have to live with those who disagree, and that therefore there must and will be some accommodation.

We know this at work—why do we forget it in politics?

Because it is in the interest of management to keep the workers divided.

I am not a Marxist. I do not believe that the corporation is, per se, bad. I do not believe that capital is, per se, bad. I believe that the corporation, like any powerful entity, will, unchecked, progress toward tyranny, and that it must be kept in check.

Good stuff. The identification of the Bush/Republican regime and rampant Corporatism is potent.

The Bush Administration is the American corporation run wild.

Booyakashaaa. That's an applause-line, people.

Update patch for Civ4... it helps. Beta, so beware, but it should increase speed significantly.

It's the Apocalypse, as this link-strewn post proves beyond a reasonable doubt.

Bush is sorta AWOL on the whole middle-east thing, wants to talk about the pig he's gonna eat.

Let's not forget we've seen this kind of behavior before from W when things go wrong.

Evil minds that plot destruction. Glenn Greenwald quoting Bill Kristol, who's a very very influential person among the Cheney/Rumsfeld cohort:

The war against radical Islamism is likely to be a long one. Radical Islamism isn't going away anytime soon. But it will make a big difference how strong the state sponsors, harborers, and financiers of radical Islamism are. Thus, our focus should be less on Hamas and Hezbollah, and more on their paymasters and real commanders--Syria and Iran. And our focus should be not only on the regional war in the Middle East, but also on the global struggle against radical Islamism.

For while Syria and Iran are enemies of Israel, they are also enemies of the United States. We have done a poor job of standing up to them and weakening them. They are now testing us more boldly than one would have thought possible a few years ago. Weakness is provocative. We have been too weak, and have allowed ourselves to be perceived as weak...

Yes. They are actively seeking to fight in a clash of civilizations, to enter into a Holy War which will last generations, and which the US cannot win in any military sense. This is such a bad idea, it's very hard to express.

Bill Kristol: sorcerer of death's construction.

So Thursday night we get the call, The Sword, an awesome story-metal band, is going to be playing a last minute un-announced show along with The Saviours, from Oakland. The Sword is one of Hannah's favorite bands, and Mark puts on the CD and we get ready to head pick her up and drive us all to Eurika to the Schooner to see the show.

It was not meant to be.

The Schooner, see, is a low-end local strip club, run by a crochety old man named Whitey. Seems that after unloading their trailer full of gear, the bands went to the bar next door, the Shanty, which has a successful hipster-ish clientelle thing going, and gives away free hot dogs. Local liaison (and non-touring roadie) Miles is sitting in the Schooner having a beer and watching the bands' stuff, when Whitey asks where they all went.

"Oh, I think they're all next door having a hot dog," he says.

"Well then they can pack their shit up and get the fuck out of here then," responds Whitey. It seems there's a longstanding and bitter rivalry between the Schooner (a dingy strip club) and the Shanty (a hipster hangout). You know, two bars next to eachother; a clash of civilizations.

"We've got food to eat right here," says Whitey. They do: packaged bags of funions.

He's a notorious crank though, and musical acts are a rarity at the Schooner. Sometime back in the day he allegedly kicked out a band that had been booked there because they were Asian. Apparently the hot dogs are a sore spot.

"I never thought a hot dog would get me in trouble," said Miles. One of the band-members protested that he had a Polish dog, but that didn't seem to make any difference.

Luckily there were some barely-of-age kids there (skanky teen moustaches) who knew of a metal house-party in Arcata where the bands might be able to play, so the scene loaded up to head over there, but when we arrived there was nothing. According to a couple teenagers who were still hanging around the side of the road, the party had been busted by the cops 15 minutes before we arrived. Classic.

After that it was declared a "no show" and everyone dissipated, so we went back downdown to Sarah and Hannah's, drank a beer and rolled a little smoke, then closed out one of the downtown bars, watching what we took to be the remnants of a wedding party country-dance all night long.

Good times.

Couple of goodies from Billmon these past few days. He's a solid essayest:

One on the Mid-East Meltdown, and another on the unprofitability of our broke-ass health care system. Analysis is good, the writing is tight, and the wit is sharp:

...the health care crisis is now hitting the health care industry where it hurts most -- straight in the wallet. Whether that will will be enough to prod our GOP-run Chamber of People's Deputies into actually doing something about the problem isn't clear, but I think it at least raises the odds. After all, we're not just talking about the sickness and suffering of ordinary human beings. There are large corporations out there in real pain. Something has to be done.

Very readible stuff.

Probably going to be required reading for the next while: Christoper Albritton is in Beruit. He's a real journalist with a great deal of expertise in the area.

Atrios and Matt Yglesias have a good effing question of commentary about the Mid-East turmoil. "'Both attacks were green-lighted by Iran.; Who in Iran? By what process? By whose authority? When? Who told you?"

Matt:

It all looks to me like a story we've seen before. If you've been paying attention, a lot of people have been agitating for the United States to commence more active efforts to overthrow the Syrian and Iranian governments for some time now. Then some stuff happened and -- miraculously and without real evidence -- that stuff's occurence is suddenly the reason we need to implement the very same policy that was being pushed for previously. I'd like to see some proof.

We'll see. While people would clearly be up in arms if any sort of ground war were proposed, I'm pessimistic that regular Americans care enough to exert the necessary political pressure to prevent Bush from bombin Iran. I'm also pessimistic that the Fourth Estate will act as any sort of check here, either by creating a "Conventional Wisdom" that works against such plans, or by fanning popular sentiment to generate the afformentiond pressure.