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All you need to know about what we are doing in Iraq.
Based on hand-held videos shot by National Guard troops serving their country, some of whom are on their 5th tour. Watch how tired these people are and ask yourself why we allow this to happen.
Frontline presents Bad Voodoo’s War. (To watch the video, click on the “Watch the Full Program Online” link on the right side of the page.)
Seattle area insurance man Vern Fonk has some funny ass television commercials. Check out his ripoffs of Forrest Gump, Back to the Future, and Napoleon Dynamite. My favorites are these stoners and Shapoopi One and Two. And this one has got to be the weirdest holiday greeting ever.
Here is some more information, which reveals that “Vern Fonk” is not Vern Fonk.
I don’t know why this is so funny: Mike Myers as Dr. Evil and Fat Bastard in Austin Powers 2.
Visit Salmon Suede. I’m not supposed to talk about them.
On January 15, 2008, Randy Newman played a provocative song called “A Few Words in Defense of Our Country” at Apple’s MacWorld meeting in San Francisco. Eli at Left I on the News added subtitles so you can really see what he’s saying here.
I was trying to find a way to describe Mike Ferris‘ voice and guitar work. Then I found Mike’s website has an abundance of video and audio. I picked up his two solo albums by placing a call to a hometown music store that I am hoping will buck the trend and stay in business. Horizon Records (in Greenville, South Carolina) also has a nifty little email newsletter that is very informative on new independent music and they are happy to do orders by mail as fast as Amazon.
About that description of Ferris’ unique style, I think Buddy Miller has said it best:
“Mike Farris has enough heart, soul, and power to light up a city. He mixes up the elements and turns them into something new, beautiful, and uniquely his own.”
If you’re feeling a bit confused by the subprime market implosion and the resulting global credit crunch, here is a short video from British TV’s ‘The Last Laugh’ that explains it all in a very clear, yet humorous way.
I caught Eric Clapton’s Crossroads concert on public television this week. The highlight of the show, I think, was the performance by Jeff Beck and the amazing 21-year old bass player Tal Wilkenfeld. She really cooks and drives the groove. Here for your listening pleasure are Resolution, ‘Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers/Stratus, Big Block, Angel (Footsteps), Led Boots and a spectacular finale of A Day in the Life.
Here’s a nice song (featuring Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, George Harrison, Billy Preston and Eric Clapton) for a Sunday afternoon, when one is thinking of going home for Thanksgiving and wondering why it’s suddenly getting dark at 5:15 in the afternoon.
George Soros on Bill Moyers Journal
October 10, 2008George Soros
This is, I think, the third week in a row that I have posted up video and text of an interview from Bill Moyers Journal, which airs Friday evenings on PBS. Click to watch tonight’s guest, George Soros, who spent 20 minutes dropping major bombshells about the state of the economy. As I write this, the program is still running, but here are some lowlights that have gotten my attention: “hopefully capitalism will survive”, “we are in a downward spiral”, “it’s the end of an era” and so on.
Soros clearly explains the reasons for the problem: Excessive credit expansion at two to three times the rate of the economy for the last 25 years and the sale of millions of mortgages as Wall Street securities, resulting in the warrantless skyrocketing of home values, and the credit that was given out based on those values, beyond all reason. Those securities generated a lot of wealth and fees along the way, but they were practically worthless as soon as they were sold. Unfortunately, they were sold and resold on markets around the world, gaining paper value at each stage, but they were still worthless. Bundling these mortgages, which was supposed to lower risk for all by spreading it around, actually resulted in much greater risk for everyone.
The whole system is in the midst of a massive correction. While Soros says that the recent reactions by Congress and the Treasury have so far been both too late and wrong, he believes there is still time (but not much) to take the right actions to stanch the bleeding. He suggests that banks will have to readjust mortgages to reflect real values and avoid massive foreclosures; that the government inject large amounts of capital into the markets to get things going again (before market dynamism is irretrievably lost); and that we revive the economy in the long term by refocusing the nation on rebuilding our infrastructure and developing new sources of renewable energy. (Remember global warming?)
This is going to one wild ride.
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Tags: Bill Moyers, Bill Moyers Journal, George Soros