lost highway

The sanctions began as a knee jerk reaction. The U.S. and cronies thought they could stop Cuba's nationalization with a slap on the wrist, keeping Cuba as their bitch. Didn't work. I hear they're still not on speaking terms, but some Obama guy said he was willing to call and say hello.

1. Wilco is not alt-country. 2. It's about time Bolivia got it's oil supply feeding into it's own wallet. That's how Mexico pulled itself up a notch in the first half of the 20th century. 3. One can not believe anecdotal evidence against Chavez sitting in a country that created a covert op to topple him. 4. Castro was the best thing to happen to Cuban politics (a surprisingly modest achievement that doesn't negate some nasty human rights issues).

As this spins in it's third and fourth circle all I can think is: 1. Both parties need to keep all this tabloid stuff out, and keep focusing on what they can do for the country. Throwing around the term 'earmarks' doesn't do it for me. Check how many bills passed in the history of the U.S. had earmarks. 2. People need to ask themselves what McCain will do to get U.S. troops out of Iraq. Why Iraq has a surplus. Why does the U.S. have a massive deficit? How will military aggression and keeping tax cuts get us out of deficit? How will staying at an atrocious deficit help keep us from

I like how Jules always seems calm. Every Jules post reads like Samual L. Jackson said it to me in his most mellow "Royale with Cheese" mode. It seems Obama's witty swipe at Palin is earning him some bad press. This is only gonna get weirder and weirder.

Yes and there are a number of choices, of ways to deal with that consequence. There is the 'morning after' pill. There is the most responsible and safe early term abortion. There is motherhood. There is the orphanage. Any one of these choices has a myriad of psychological, ethical, financial and emotional consequences. They are all ways of 'dealing' with the consequence. Anyone who does any of these things (perhaps with the exception of the morning after pill) will be 'dealing' with the consequences for a very long time. To suggest otherwise would be callous. Again, not the governmen

Watching Pat play the bass is like watching your dad drive your mom's car for the first time. It feels wrong at first, but then you stop and realize you always kind of knew he could do it well, if he needed to.

Oh, hold up. Now that Palin is using it for her SuperWoman cape in a new ad, Obama is calling her out, and CNN.com is covering it. Yeesh!

Sexism, rampant sexism, working in the Republican parties favor. So strange. It can be said without thought of gender that Palin is a moron with theocratic tendencies sufficient enough to bring the U.S. back to the dark ages. And why has she gotten away with talking about the "bridge to nowhere" on tv without anyone besides John Stewart reminding us the whole thing was her fault to begin with. Crimeanee!

Mescaleros are cool. I will say that Streetcore is the best thing Joe Strummer did after Combat Rock which is pretty awesome if you think about dying on a high note. But Strummer solo better than the Clash? That's kind of crazy, I think.

No that was probably one of it's progeny. Those things are like Irish Catholics all they do is copulate and pray. They do throw in some creepy post-coital cannibalism, but that's just another addition to the confession.

This is the lynch pin of the entire Capitalist philosophy. In order to have a successful capitalism one can not have a true capitalism. It is always tempered with some degree of regulation, or *gasp* socialist programs. The U.S. of A. has historically done a great job of mixing these ideas in the past (although some people wet the bed if you paint us pink socialists), you can see this in laws against monopolies or public organizations like the USPS or the library system. This is the delicate balance that makes our country and economy work. On the one hand our government could be harde

Yeah. So much could happen. It's still scary no matter what. We live in a country that elected Bush a SECOND TIME. I will vote. Hold my breath. Pray.

Grading schools is problematic for a myriad of reasons. I see this happen all the time: School in shitty neighborhood has to perform to get better funding. Shitty neighborhood has messed up parents with messed up kids. School tests low and is not granted better funding. Score is published and the small community of parents that give a shit at the school decide to have their kids apply to go to neighboring school that is slightly better. Awesome extra curricular program can not start due to cut in funding. Families buying a house avoid neighborhood in district of school that tested poor

That's actually a really important point I forgot. I saw Mulholland the fist time in the theatre. Inland on DVD. Makes a huge difference.

"Excellent work once again Winston." (imagine this is said in a pretentious Oxford accent)

In England in 2006 and 2007 the average person spent 1,195 pounds a year on health care. That converts to about $2,125 US. I call that a massive improvement. Scotland is a little more expensive but haggis does awful things to your intestinal tract.

Politically motivated. And also true.

That right there is the logic gap, that seems to come out of everyone who is anti-socialized health care. You don't pay for them on your premium. You pay for them on your taxes. Your premium is through the roof cause the chairman of the board for the company that provides your health care wants a new yacht and his kid is ready for his second Ferrari and god damn it if you don't want to spend a hundred dollars just to get some albuterol for your coal power-plant, blackened lungs.

Some day you will see a VCer at a Wilco show wearing shorts. And down the back of their leg these letters will appear in the form of a tattoo.

No really. I pay $30 a month. That's my current health insurance plan. As to the rest of your knowledge, I absolutely agree that this nation is spending too much on health care, but again that is due in part to receiving health care from massive, private , corporations. The spending is getting bigger, not only as the need for care increases, but also as companies continue to gouge people and the corporate drug industry gets greedier. Take out all the mechanisms for profit and make it an efficient system that collects only what it needs to function (not profit) and it doesn't have to loo

I pay $30 a month for insurance in case something catastrophic happens. I've been to the Dr. once in the last five years and it turned out I didn't even need to. People like me (I know a lot of them) could make everything cheaper for everyone, so the less fortunate, and the elderly could have an easier shot at getting taken care of. And everyone can pay less. Again the cost of paying for something to sustain it, and paying for it so that corporate schmucks can turn record profits are two very different pictures.

We can smell a rat from around a mountain (hmm-mmm Palin). The Owl is a universal symbol of wisdom. If you slander them your efforts will be thwarted with bad ju-ju.

Loose Fur (s/t) is full of great moments. It feels somewhat ad hoc, probably because they just tossed off some songs. What makes it amazing is that it is still so freaking good. AGIB was made with a little more effort on big picture. Wasn't quite as improvised. Probes a little deeper. Might be one of my top ten albums of all time. The other poll was a toss up. This is a no-brainer. AGIB is the best.

I disagree with the donkey as mascot. Come on, get a good one. Democrats need to be owls not jackasses.

The important thing for people with good health care (and money to pay for it) need to remember, is socialized health care doesn't make paying for fancy pants health care illegal. Obama's plan sounds a bit more moderate than what we call 'socialized health care' and it would probably effect people with decent health care less than people with. The cost seems like a concern. But, when you consider an insurance company as a business overall, and break down what makes insurance expensive the cost of universal health care seems reasonable. An insurance company is inevitably populated with a d