lost highway

Well maybe not. But people on this board seem to think Honey Boo-Boo is not a topic of conversation. My friends have no interest. The media I select doesn't indulge. I live in a joyfully Honey-Boo-Boo-free universe. It's not that we can control the crap-flow in popular media, but more that we can constructively cultivate an environment that is more rich with meaningful topics.

I think the criticism about election hype 3 years before the election, isn't to suggest that politicians shouldn't be thinking about it. It's a desire to have the media offer more pertinent information in our time, and not to prolong the national football game with years of pregame coverage. I think some people are saying "Hey dude, don't talk about it. Just cause CNN is speculating doesn't mean we need to be sunk with Rand Paul, Chris Christie and Hillary Clinton gossip because right now it doesn't matter!". That's not a command for anyone on here. Free forum, free country. But maybe w

Not only is the escalation and elongation of the campaign season obnoxious, it's also pointless. We've seen in the last couple cycles how often the favorites thrust in the limelight by the 24-hour news machine don't make it to the end. The real question on the economy is if the deficit reduction is matched by any relief for people who are down on their luck. In some macro sense a part of the reduction is a boosted GDP, but that doesn't necessarily mean regular people are doing better.

I don't need tanks because I make it a point not to go places and shoot people.

Oh man.... this is good.

My mistake. Thank you for clarifying, that's an important point. If you read the article, in this case it is. It's a useless number for a once instrumental element of war that is steadily becoming obsolete. We're also sending them jets that our military says they don't need, and their military says they don't need either.

And here's where I feel federal budget woes should be pinching the Pentagon first: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/08/08/209878158/egypt-may-not-need-fighter-jets-but-u-s-keeps-sending-them-anyway I mean, I'm all for putting Americans to work, but if we're going to spend a billion, why give Egypt another 200 tanks to rust in their lot with over a 1,000. We could be building high-speed rail with that money. Criminey. Someone once said something about some kind of military industrial something-or-other complex:

I've always said the best thing for a Belgian with a gun is a Samoan (if not a Uruguayan) with a gun. Saving lives man, saving lives.

And how have the Asian people been doing as a whole?

Reminds me of the cat in the shark suit....

Hey all, I don't usually do this, but a friend of mine put this together and it's pretty fantastic: http://thisaintnocowtown.bandcamp.com/album/this-aint-no-cowtown-a-colorado-comp-vol-50-benefit-for-mike-marchant-music A very talented musician in Denver (Mike Marchant) recently kicked Hodgkins Lymphoma into remission, and believe it or not he is underinsured/ has wicked medical bills. The comp showcases 40 different CO musicians between the two volumes including a song from my own power-pop band Hooper, and country-rock band Ross Etheron and the Chariots of Judah. You can download,

In other news: fast-food workers band together demanding a higher minimum-wage and the right to unionize. McDonalds response is unsuprisingly callous and Mr. Burns-y.

The forum goes down for days and I'm just sitting on the setlists waiting.... annnnnnd someone beats me to the punch. Also of note: after a brief but generous downpour of rain a double rainbow appeared. Tweedy was moved to comment "Look, it's a double rainbow. What does it mean? Rainbows are stupid." And later: "It's really beautiful here right now with you guys. Especially now that the rainbow has gone away."

You dirty bird.

I get that. I get how you can listen to something that is promoting an attitude, character, or set of values you don't share. The easiest way to understand this dynamic is to hang out with a bunch of bourgeois white folk partying to Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre's landmark album The Chronic, or better still NWA. Kind of like I never get tired of hearing Mavis Staples exalt with a mighty "Hallelujah" although there's hardly a Christian bone in my body.

This hasn't happened yet, I'm just really excited for the evening. Anyone else coming (so I don't have to write down the setlist)?

Sometimes they have the information you need.

Ah, there we have it. I think this captures the reality of our country well, and has a toe tapping country rock beat:

It's a long stretch to enable a hypothetical concern. I'm sure I've got my own glasses, but I just noticed yours. I should call mine the "bias shades" I'll totally get behind that statement. There are democrats that would ethically like to see some positive change for undocumented workers with babies born here, and there are some that would just like to get the votes. I understand the same thing happened in the civil rights movement. Either way, I like the effect. It's like: "Did they put in that wind farm and solar panels cause they believe in it?" "Nah they're just trying to save

Read it again. There's nothing in there that says that immigrants are eligible, or are utilizing the system. It says the USDA (that's the dept of agriculture) is advising undocumented workers to cheat the paper work to access SNAP. They're doing that because they want to provide at risk kids with food and they know that most immigrants wouldn't even try, so they're hoping to encourage them, even though technically it's against the rules. The ID laws are restrictive to several groups of people who don't have ID's. Most states won't do it, or need to. If you can't see how this is a politi

Check the SNAP website (that's the dept that runs food stamps in the U.S.). They're not eligible. But again, are you trying to convince us that illegal immigrants are bad for the U.S. (an argument that inevitably fails), or are we still trying to rationalize new restrictive voter laws to prevent a hypothetical immigrant from illegally voting in an election motivated by hypothetical "funding" a candidate has controversially made to be part of their platfrom (a new and weird, but interesting argument)?

The whole argument goes in a circle until it lands back to: "so what is the real motivation to restrict voting in new ways?". It's kind of an occam's razor thing. Clearly someone is benefiting politically, and they have an explosive red-herring to throw out there to distract us. The same one that was just hashed out: immigration policy. We get to argue until we're red int the face about our understanding of illegal immigrants while some fat cat cleans up in the polls because they've tipped the balance towards wealthy white voters. I have seen that first hand.

That's patently false. An illegal immigrant is not eligible for food stamps. The only kind of health care they get is the kind where you go to the emergency room and when you can't pay the send you bills and eventually to collections. Otherwise many pay out-of-pocket for urgent care.

Me too, to all of the above comments. It's like everyone wants to know, but doesn't want to be nosy. I think the most fair way to excuse us all for speculating is this: Most Americans have a decent sense of what typical jobs can earn. You can probably make a pretty good ballpark on what a teacher, plumber, paralegal, pediatrician makes. What's interesting is that some people have jobs that are very much atypical. What does that sculptor guy make in a year? How much does the owner of 'Funny or Die' make a year (does he/she need to have another job)? How much does a guy in Wilco make?

Ok, so we're worried that illegal immigrants are going to sneak into the voting polls, mainly to vote for candidates who want to "fund" them (i.e. allow public education to continue to exist). This doesn't begin to account for sales and property taxes that immigrants are contributing to, thereby helping "fund" themselves.