A variety of wise guys in the press are making fun of the recent announcement by U.S. “intelligence” announcing the demise of al-Qaida’s “third-ranking operative,” making this the tenth No. 3 to bite the dust, by some accounts. The government is always reporting taking out al-Qaida’s No. 3 guy because if it reported taking out…
Author: Alan Vanneman
Coyotes: mangy scavengers or misunderstood plot devices?
Maybe it’s just the luck of the draw, but in the crime shows I’m watching these days, whenever a corpse has been mysteriously eaten, moved, mutilated, or otherwise disturbed, the preliminary analysis always concludes that the mysterious eating, moving, mutilating, etc. was done “presumably by coyotes,” who apparently range from Central Park West to Jerry’s…
America the Innocent, on Occasion
Glenn Greenwald hammers away at a pricelessly asinine article in the New York Times on those wacky Pakistanis, who actually think that the U.S. means them harm! Oy, those paranoid Muslim freaks! Where do they get the idea that the U.S. might, you know, attack and kill innocent people with, you know, predator drones from…
O the humanity? No, the stupidity
In yet another event that lessens one’s hope for the future, President Obama has announced the deployment of 1,200 National Guard troops to “guard” the Mexican border in Arizona. According to the New York Times, the president acted in response to demands from both Republicans and Democrats in that state. I’m guessing that this latest…
Bill Stewart—“Jive Coffee”
https://youtu.be/FMXJyuV9vF4 With Larry Goldings, organ, and Peter Bernstein, guitar.
Freedom’s just another word for not having to take questions from you assholes
Continuing his “Dubya got it right” approach to handling the press, President Obama celebrated the signing of a bill to promote freedom of the press around the world this Monday by refusing to take any questions. Today, the President held a “news conference” (notice he didn’t say “press conference”) with Mexican President Felipe Calderón, deigning…
Joe Henderson et al.—“Summertime,” Parts 1 & 2
Bern 1998 Switzerland. Joe Henderson – tenor; John Scofield – guitar; Conrad Herwig – trombone; Tommy Flanagan – piano; Georg Mraz – bass; Bill Stewart – drums Part 1
Comedy is tragedy seen at a distance
The man I helped put in the White House makes a funny regarding predator drones. The gag would be funnier if we weren’t using them to kill, well, hundreds of innocent people. Via Tapped, which has more.
“In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke it is written …”
“In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke it is written, the kingdom of God is within man, not one man or a group of men but in all men.” That’s what Charlie Chaplin told the world in The Great Dictator, in a vain attempt to somehow end World War II with an appeal for international…
Washington, D.C., March 16, 1991—St. Patrick’s Day—Two Poems for One Outrage
IOn Washington’s sidewalks youths gatherEager for a sunlit drunk.Jeering whites pass in shining cars.I hear them hooting—a poor fish bent to their ridicule.Was I always such a figure of fun?I walk on, gray-thatched, my absurdity confirmedAn old man condemned for nonconformityI was never one of them—sweet victory. IIA March sky blossoms overheadBearing clouds Canaletto might…