REAL TALLENT

Well, one upcoming recognized tallent, who has been replacing Al Franken a lot on my local talk radio station is Thom Hartman, whose show they run when Al Franken is on one of his many breaks. He's thoughtful and analytical, and as he points out, has a background in psycho theropy so you can expect to be scrutenized. One time I dialed up Portland hoping to get Hartman and they had another Air America substitute on the Al Franken show, but my local station was actually running Thom Hartman, so I needn't have bothered. Yesterday we heard the news that Air America has successfully emerged from Chapter eleven bankruptsy, with a new, wealthy owner. February 14th. will be Al Franken's last day on the air before he runs off to run for the senate or something. We wish him well. Of course there is always a fear that even a good person will start to talk and reason like a politician once he lets the process wear him down.

We would like to tip our hat to a tallent cut short. Barbero, the horse that won the Kentucky derby last year is no longer with us. As you know this horse broke a leg in the Preakness that ended his carrerr. Yesterday morning Barbero was euthanized being in so much pain. I guess owners can tell a horse's state of mind and whether he is in continual pain or not. There had been a lot of optimisum about this horse hoping he would beat the odds, but it turned out not to be.

When I heard that the Colts were favored by seven points in the super bowl it was all I could do not to go out and place a bet on the Bears right then and there. I was flabberghasted that the Bears were not favored by say ten points or so. As far as I'm concerned if the Indy Colts come within ten points at the final score, they've played a good game. I've never understood having to wait out that additional week. It takes all the emotion out of it because people forget about football in that time.

As that famous Italian radio host Bill Handel says, "Hasta la pasta". (Actually he's a Brazilian Jew) Of course hasta la vista can only mean one thing to people waiting in line - - and that is the new Microsoft opperating system is out today. People waiting in line often in the cold since Sunday finally get to try out the new software. But as with every new version of Windows, this one is a memory hog, and unless you have a computer that is probably newer than mine, Vista may end up running slow on your system. They say the graphics are great, revolutionary, in fact. They say they have made the menu more Intuitive, "Just like a Mackintosh". Well, you know what they say. If you want a machine that's "Just like a XEROX" you might as well go out and buy a XEROX. The key thing to remember is that some of the securety "holes" in the system have been found out yet, so you may be moving to a less secure system.

Now it's Revenge of the Nerds, if you saw Sixty Minutes. It would seem that so many things today have a computer chip in it- - including things you wouldn't suspect like toasters and refrigerators. This is technology gone mad. How liberating it would be to throw out your "automatic system" and just buy a car you can just turn the key and drive off. They say that many HDTV buyers need to hire a Geek to help them set up the system. You need the "Neighborhood geek" for help with a lot of things these days. While you're out on a Saturday nights the geeks are at home reading the latest manuals, so you don't have to. They have a marketable service.

Also on Sixty Minutes they had another of these Rain Man style "savants" or people who are geniouses in just one isolated area of their brain. I always cringe when I hear of some handicapped person who is "compensated by God" or something with some "gift" of psychic ability, or else the sort of Rain Man mathematical ability. This whole there about the brain "allocating resources" to just the one area of the brain that still works sounds like horse feathers. But they say that sometimes brain damage actually "causes" genious in one area. Others say that perhaps we could learn something about a guy who knows immediately that 246 matches fell on the floor at the resturant. These sevants have amazing musical ability and improvisional ability- - but I've got some of that too and I don't consider myself brain damaged. But it would be nice to discover the "secret" of how these sevant brains work and do mathematical computations faster than a calculater, and can tell you what day of the week it was on a given date in 1921. Of course if we believe Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman, don't go to Las Vegas and try to get your fame winning at Black jack. Their motto is, "If you win, you must be cheating". Or in other words, "We're not in the business of encouraging winners to play". Probably if we get to heaven (if you believe in it) everyone will have this sevant ability and will think nothing of it. The brain will be just another appliance. It would be nice to tap into that ability in this life. It's been my belief that when you improve the overall intelligence of society, then society as a whole benefits.

Last Sunday I got up bright and early before six and turned on the Jesus Christ show. His opening salvo was attacking parents who coddle their children and tell them that they have tallent when they really don't. It's always struck me as odd that parents want to give kids a distorted perception of the Real World, by telling them lies that aren't true, such as that they are a great singer like on American Idol. I don't mind criticisum as long as it's reflected in reality. If an asshole criticizes you for something that exists only in his own mind there is nothing you can do about that. This is what Christianity does. It critizes you for phantom faults that don't even exist. Of course I was thinking about the Jesus Christ show. I'd say, "You do well, Jesus to remind a lot of people that you don't have tallent. Perhaps you should take a look in the mirror. Who do you think between the two of us who has spent the most time studying theology, me or "Jesus". I don't even know how old he is. I don't know what he was doing thirty years ago. I bet I know John Calvin better than he does. Of course he as much as openly admits he doesn't trust anybody who actually quotes the Bible. Hosts of talk shows are always saying "Don't read". They don't want you to do your best. They want you to look like an ass, if it's at all possible. This is why they will deny you a semsible "crutch" most people need to make a point better than they could naturally make speaking off the cuff. We all aren't Abraham Lincolns, who may be the last President to write his own speeches. Andy Rooney says he's bothered by the President reading words in speeches that obviously aren't his. I say, "A person like George Bush needs all the help he can get". Of course someone like the Pastor of Calvary Anaheim is someone I'd never want to emulate. Why emulate one of these "teachers" when if you did you'd be degrading your personality and your karma? Makes no sense at all!

Sun King
Mean Mr. Mustard
Polythene Pam
She Came In Through the Bathroom Window

You learn something new every day. I didn't know that Paul sang on an early recording of "I Want You" in February 1969. Did Paul write it. They said that John did not "get on board" with Abbey Road till after his auto accident on July 1st. At about this time on July 1st. or so I was doing these "Suicide cartoons" about a suicide that was to take place on November 26th. 1969. Usually this suicide was to occur with a gun but I drew one cartoon about a car driving off a cliff. I don't know if there was any connection. If there was a name for the "alternate John Lennon" it was Sun King, perhaps alluding to southern california. According to one Newspaper article an original title of Sun King was "Los Paranoias" alluding to the whole Spanish thing. Apparently none of those words mean anything. It's possible that the "alternate" John Lennon sings these songs - especially "Polythene Pam" and "Bathroom Window" where the vocals take on a walrussy quality.

Of course I am not without musical tallent, but the guitar is far from my best instrument. I know piano, I know trombone. I played trombone in the summer of 1961 in a summer school band. I played the clarinet for years. And I have written songs. But I'm objective enough to know that I don't have any tallent in this area. That's why I stopped doing it. Criticisum, even from a music teacher, isn't necessarily like tablets written in stone. One teacher had me do an "Alternate ending" to a composition called "Waltz in D" because she didn't like my original ending. I obliged her, but my ending is still better and I believe I can prove it with almost scientific logic. Another time she told me on "Piece #26" that the composition wouldn't work because there were "too many notes" and the composition needed to be "thinned out". A piece needs as many notes as it needs. But the odd thing about piece #26 is that it bears a stunning similarity to the Ballod of John and Yoco, though it was written in September 1961 or eight and a half years earlier. This piano teacher also noted the number of pieces I had written in the key of F # . Well, the Beatles' composition is in F, I believe. I've sung a few Beatle songs and recorded myself. I sing "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window" with one new verse with obscene lyrics acc. myself on guitar. I sing "Dig a Pony" while playing drums, and I sing "Teddy Boy" while playing piano. (adjust the medium to the song)

This morning we were awakened by the news that we're invading Iran. It seems as if "New Evidence" has been found of Iranian "agression" and they are shipping weapons into the theater of war, as if we didn't already know that. The Federation says they will support Iran if we actually go to war and they're saying, "Bring It On!" I don't know. Isn't it funny how they're saying in the news "Well, the Iranians know we are getting out soon and so they want to fill the power vacuum". You know, Bush's policies are right out of Adolph Hitler's playbook. Before Hitler invaded Poland, which everyone knew he'd do, he unleashed a propaganda campaign in German theaters against the Polish people. People in the know have been saying for weeks that President Bush was going to invade Iran. Now it looks like it's going to happen despite a "go slow" advisary from some. Last week the President changed the "Rules of engagement" against suspected Iranian terrorists in Iraq. I think now it's OK to shoot them even if they're unarmed. Of course you know what they say - "In a war of whits, the President is unarmed". I guess it might be advisable to question how much "tallent" our President has. You know, I believe in the grace of God. I believe God can make use of even people who aren't the brightest bulb on the pack. The question is - IS George Bush really God's choice for today?

Hillary Clinton and seventeen other democrats and republicans have declared for President of the United States. Apparently this idea of "playing it safe" on the Iraq war is right out of the Bill Clinton play book. Both Bill Clinton and Al Gore voted FOR Gulf War I, if you'll remember. Now Hillary is making a lame joke about combatting "Evil men" (referring to her husband) and she gets this smile on her face. Save the humor to Al Franken or someone who has actual tallent. In terms of Senator O Bama, he "better start making speeches or he'll sink like a stone" because "He that gets hurt will be he that has stalled". Time is money.

Well, the Scudder Lybby trial is continuing. Aurie Fleischer the former press secretary has testifyed and is saying that Libby lied. I wish the president had kept Fleisher because Tony Snow his this Ricky Retardo aire about him. Even if they convict will be be like North and Poindexter where the verdicts get overturned by the courts? Will a gag order be instituted because "We're learning too much?"

Well let's hear it for State laws because L A County does not have the authority to ban trans-fats in resturants. Good for the state! No way is a trans - fat ban going to be enacted state wide! All these resturants are banning trans fats on their own. I suppose if Moslems started moving into this area we'd hear an end to the Mc Rib sandwich. People would "volentarily" ban pork. But soon it wouldn't be so "volentary" because there would be customer pressure from strikes and boycotts.

THE STATE OF THE UNION MESSAGE

For some strange reason we have lost our title bar. I hope you people don't find it too difficult to find us when we jump around like we do from blog to blog. Well, you've found us now. As you know many candidates have declared for President from both political parties, so it's going to be a crouded field in both parties. My hope is that as many as possible stay in the race for as long as possible so that we have a spirited contest in the next thirteen months or so. As you know it's almost inevitable that we will have a nominee from each party before the month of Febryary 2008 is out. That is just thirteen months from now so the candidates are getting into the race none too early. Hillary Clinton is way ahead in the polls at 41% or something whereas O Bama and Edwards are down at around fifteen percent. It is said Hillary Clinton deliberately declared the time she did so as to pre empt coverage away from the anticipation of the President's State of the Union address. There is no doubt she is the most accomplished campaigner and she has more actual experiance than just about anybody if you count her time as first lady as well as the Senate. I'm just worried neither I nor the American public will be able to put all her "negatives" behind me. The one time I still agree with Rush Limbaugh is when he is talking about Hillary because it causes all those old Republican feelings to surface. Wel'll see.

The President gave his State of the Union speech tonight and one thing I noticed about it is that it was shorter than normal. It was only 49 minutes by my timing, complete with the many, many applause lines. The President’s speech could be divided into three parts. Domestic spending, and then the Iraq War and terrorism in general, and then kind of a UN and NATO section. Finally there were four “Gee whiz” stories where various individuals were honored for their courage in life. While these testimonials are inspiring they seemed to be making up for a speech that was already vastly short on specifics. Many of the things the President said at the beginning of the fleeting speech I can agree with. He bragged that we were “ahead of schedule by three years” in cutting the deficit in half, though as Al Franken points out, this “half” figure may be half of a projected figure one year that never materialized. Otherwise the President was engaging in Orwellian thinking by bragging about a full employment deficit. Nixon used to talk about a balanced budget under full employment and this is why deficits in bad economic times was permissible. By having such a large deficit at an economic peak leaves us nowhere to improve. The President bragged that we were in our forty-first month of economic expansion of jobs. However as Jim Webb points out, Andrew Jackson said the proper measure of a nation’s economic health was by measuring not our economic Apes, but its base, ie – the welfare of all the working stiffs. The President never mentioned lagging wages or how it used to be again as Jim Webb points out that a CEO made twenty times the average worker and now he makes four hundred times. The President included one line about “fixing” social security. I agree. And the way to do that is to raise taxes on the rich. The president got an applause line about cracking down on ear mark legislation that “I never see and it never is discussed in committee but never-the-less has the force of law”. The President talked about No Child Left Behind and I agree that we must maintain high standards in our schools with standardized testing. The president talked about this tax credit Al Franken talked about where if you’re in a high income bracket the government will give you a lot more economic aid than if you’re in a low income bracket. I’m open to suggestions from anybody –even Hillary- for ideas to solve health care. We don’t need “Tort reform”. You should always be able to sue your doctor in court. I agree however that “Medical decisions should be made by doctors and patients and not by insurance companies”. Does the president really mean that? The President went on to talk about immigration. I am in basic agreement with the President here. Unlike Thom Hartman I believe it’s inevitable that we’ll have “guest workers”. People will always come here to get a job and I believe we need to find a way to accommodate them and not waste border patrol resources tracking down aliens who would be legal under Bush’s proposals tonight. The President talked about energy and we not only need ethanol but methanol or wood alcohol too. I salute the president’s goals for ethanol and alternative energy usage by the year 2017. I hope we exceed the president’s goals in this area. We need to continually improve car mileage. This is good. We also need to increase our national oil reserves and we also need to re-invigerate our domestic oil industry, which has languished badly. I’d like to propose another energy saving idea and that is to legalize hemp. Paper and other products made with hemp are of better quality and save trees, and also put fewer industrial pallutants into the air. The President never got around to talking about embryonic stem cell research or global warming or the now rising crime rate or police on the streets. There was a lot of stuff that was left out of the President’s speech this year. When it came to the Iraq war we learned absolutely nothing new. The President just said if we left that a region wide war would break out and would attract more recruits to both warring sides and this chaos is just what the enemy wants because it would cause yet more recruits for both Suni and Shiite, which is just what “they” want to happen, in sort of a “breeder reactor” occurance till there is some sort of melt down or “somebody goes nuclear”. President Bush still can’t pronounce that word. The best response the democrats can have to that speech is to just clear your throat and go “Well, uh, let’s just get back to what we were doing”.

BUSH BABIES FOR SALE Released January 23, 2007

Disc One

We’re Gona Groove (Led Zeppelin)

Muscle of Love (Alice Cooper)

Writing on the Wall (Ted Nugent)

Ma, Ma, Ma Belle (Electric Light Orchestra)

No More Mr. Nice Guy (Alice Cooper)

Fireworks (Blue Oyster Cult)

The Art of Dying (George Harrison)

The Lying’s Over (Asia)

I Miss The Rains Down in Africa (Toto)

Another One Bites The Dust (Queen)

Who’s Gona Drive You Home (Cars)

I Love The Night (Blue Oyster Cult)

Love Hungry Man (AC – DC)

King of the World (Steely Dan)

Disc Two

Eye of the Tiger (Survivor)

Silver Spoon (Grace Slick) - solo album

Friendly Neighborhood Narco Agent (Dr. Demento hit)

The Seven Deadly Words (George Carlen)

Bell Bottom Blues (Eric Claptin)

Jet Pilot (Bob Dylan)

Low Spark of Hi Heel Boys (Traffic)

In Memory of Elizabeth Reed (Alman Brothers)

2112 (Rush)

This is a Federation album. The front cover is four men dressed in baby clothes in giant baskets with a lot of brush around them. The four are Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Larry Elder, and Bill O Riley, and they are all in “black face”, even Larry. Of course being in black face may not be politically correct but the Federation often isn’t.

Other titles for this album considered were “Rapture or No Rapture” and also “The Seven Deadly Virtues”. There was a slightly different line-up that was in effect exactly one day and on January 24th. we came up with this line-up with more songs. Today is the anniversary of the day January 24th. 1979 when I had my most painful root canal surgery ever. I was in pain for most of the next week, being under-medicated. We at the Federation had wanted to use “Thick as a Brick” in its entirety for a long time. So we'll give it "honorable mention" here and recomend you buy it. It’s a more logical choice then either the President’s State of the Union address, or a dissertation about the Rapture slated to be March 17^th. of this year. Only the Federation knows for sure. But when you come right down to it, in truth it is really the President himself who is “Thick As A Brick”.