Cover Me

I've always loved a good cover song. Even if the original is a classic, if the cover is well-done (and particularly if it's in a totally different style,) I'm interested. I'm not sure where this obsession came from. It was fed by Hayseed Dixie, and Pat Boone's "In a Metal Mood," and the Under Cover show on XM radio (gone now, I think,) but it was there before that. I can highly recommend the Coverville podcast, http://coverville.com/

 A weird one to start: Crispin Glover doing Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'"

 Siouxsie Sue, doing a lovely version of the Beatles' "Dear Prudence"

Shades Apart (not Social Distortion, apparently) doing "Tainted Love." The version I know best is by Soft Cell; the original was sung by Gloria Jones.

Copper Box covering Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb"

One of many videos (from a contest) of Cake's cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs"

One of my faves: Billy Squier reimagining his own "The Stroke"

Jumping the Shark

Remember that? Do people still say that? Anyway, I think Romney jumped the shark with his comments caught on video a couple of weeks ago. I remember when George H.W. Bush was running against Clinton and Gore, and called them "these jerks." How presidential. I remember thinking then that he had lost the race. Not because of that; he was probably going to lose anyway. But his little comment was the final nail. I remember when McCain picked Palin, thinking "wow- that's it." It was a desperate move, and made people think "If he thinks that was a good idea, maybe we don't want him to be president." And now, Mitt, saying what's on his mind. Maybe it's just me being hopeful, but I think this has sealed his fate. When you stop and listen to what he said, and think about it, and know what the facts are and what assumptions he's making in order to think saying that was a good idea, well, he doesn't look like presidential material. Not because I disagree with his politics and policies (does he even know what those are?) But because it shows how he thinks, and how he might act if sitting in the Oval Office. Each of these events shows, I think, desperation. Some cracks starting to show in their carefully prepared facades.

The least worst

It's that time of year.  Time to pick someone you maybe aren't thrilled with, over someone you think is even worse.

What do people look for in a presidential candidate?  Or, more importantly, what are desirable traits in a president?  Well, leadership, obviously.  Hopefully an understanding of how government works, and of the world in general.  Diplomacy skills.  Intelligence.  A good organizer.  A good mediator.  Someone who projects calm and seriousness, so he'll seem presidential to the country and the world.

Hm.  Does any of that sound like Mitt Romney?  Not to me.  Oh, maybe he's been a good leader of businesses.  But despite Republican raves, is that business skill really relevant for a president?  The U.S. president's job is a lot different than a CEO's.  It involves more negotiation, more working together, more herding of cats.  And of course Romney's main accomplishments seem to be hollowing out companies, shipping their jobs abroad, and making a bunch of money for himself (we assume, since he won't tell us how much.)

Romney obviously doesn't have a clue about foreign affairs or diplomacy, and that's seriously scary in the current world.  He's already riled up lots of people in other countries (often among our friends, since he's such an idiot.)

He also clearly has no idea what it's like to be poor, or even middle class.  And so good luck getting him to understand what needs to be done at home.

Romney is a shapeshifting cynical git.  For all his imperfections, Obama isn't nearly as bad as he's been made out to be, and stands a better chance of making things better. And you know what?  We are better off than when he took office.  Not great, but better.

There are things I don't like about Obama.  I'm uncomfortable with some of the surveillance and detention policies, mainly continued from the Bush era.  I wish the economy were doing better, though I think it would have been a hell of a lot worse under McCain (or Romney.)  I think Obama hasn't been as good a leader as he might have been.  His negotiating style is a lot like mine: think about what a good end result would be, and propose that.  Hey, the other guys will recognize it as a reasonable solution, right?  That works with friends, but not car dealers, and certainly not with the modern Republican party.  Instead of asking for everything he wanted with healthcare, and negotiating towards common ground, Obama put forward a plan that included Republican ideas, and was based partly on Romney's Massachusetts plan.  And so- the Republicans fought it all, tooth and nail.  Because they're not interested in coming up with results that work for the country.  They're in it to win.  For themselves.  Damn the people, we're talking politics here!  Essentially, conservatives seem to be willing to destroy the country in order to "save" it.

So, for the first time in, wow, decades, I'm voting for a major party candidate for the presidency.  And it's the guy who wants to raise his own taxes, not the one who wants to lower his own.  So, the decent one, not the selfish bastard.

Songs that I've heard in my head recently

Gorillaz- 19-2000 Senor Don Gato Matchbox 20- She's So Mean Kidneythieves- Glitter Girl Copper Box- Jambalaya Electric Six- Danger! High Voltage The Black Keys- Your Touch Yes, I listen to some eclectic stuff. And you'll notice a cover song in there- more of those to come...

The Dems aren't winning me over, the Reps are pushing me away

I have long been independent politically.  I would say I'm a slightly left-of-center moderate. I'm often too liberal for my conservative friends, and too conservative for my liberal friends. Years ago someone said I, and most people, would tend to get more conservative as I got older.  That has been true overall, though I would say just barely.  I have slid a bit to the right, or rather from the left towards the center.  On some positions I am fairly conservative.  But generally I am middle of the road, or maybe just over the centerline. I have plenty of conservative views, plenty of liberal ones.  Like most people- there are shades of grey in everyone.

I probably appear to be far-left from the vantage point of wacko right-wingers who think Obama is a Kenyan/Muslim/socialist intent on destroying America.  He's as socialist as an ice cream social...  And I'd like to discuss facts, not the latest conspiracy theory, and talk more about policy than personality. There was/is no reason to question Obama's citizenship.  He has a funny name?  He might be of a different religion?  So what?  But now, ridiculously, and yet seriously, we should look at all candidates' birth certificates.

You would think that political parties would try to win voters over to their side, so that they could get more votes and thus win more elections.  They would use reason, and emotion.  But the Republican party, and the broad conservative movement, seems to have given up this strategy.  They are losing the battle for my heart and mind.  I can only speak for myself, but I am an independent moderate, rarely vote for the two big parties in presidential elections, and vote for Republicans, Democrats, and other parties in local elections.  You know, I do that thing called "thinking" that is apparently a lost art in America.  I look at the candidates running, and select the one I think will do the best job.  Nastiness and truth-stretching tend to turn me away from the candidate spouting them, not toward.

Conservatives lately (and, yes, both sides often) have been giving up on the truth, knowingly spreading lies, cynically manipulating their 'base'.  They have given up on what is good for the country, and focus on what is good for their party.  Or, perhaps, they have decided that the ends justify the means- maybe they think there is no way to win other than to lie.  And once you reach that point where you need to mislead/lie/vilify in order to further your cause... you ought to rethink the justice of that cause.  You ought to be asking yourself if the truths you believe are worth selling your soul.

Maybe it's unintentional.  Maybe it's a subconscious effort to align reality with their beliefs.  A study recently found that conservatives twist facts more than liberals:
http://www.salon.com/2012/08/27/study_right_twists_facts/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews

But I find, in conversations with conservatives and in observing Republican "leaders," that it's more conscious, more cynical.  Cynicism is a disease.  Chronic.  I have it.  Politicians have nothing but cynicism.  But it is spreading from conservative leaders and media players to the rank and file.  I have heard individuals say things like "Whatever it takes to win."  "I'm done being nice." "Lying is what I'm going to do now."
Take a little nugget of truth, blow it out of proportion, and get some of the facts wrong.  People will talk about it at water coolers, and soon it becomes "fact," that "I heard."  And the American people get dumber, and the country goes downhill.  But hey, at least the Republican candidate won!

I think another thing that has changed is that before, reasonable people didn't buy much of the wacko stuff.  Numerologists said Reagan was the antichrist, and few listened.  Even with Bush, you didn't have Democratic leaders pushing the election thing after he took office.  Maybe they didn't believe he won, but they were quiet about it (and witness Kerry's quick concession, to avoid the same mess.)  Now?  Republican politicians and party leaders say these things.  And people I thought were smart believe them, not just the bottomfeeder set.

I think it's obvious that the right has gone overboard, has gone far right.  There are of course still some that oppose torture, oppose McCarthyism/Bachmannism.  But not many, and they are being drummed out of the "GOP."  The John Birch and Larouche people used to be treated as nuts, as fringe, and now they are the center of the party.  People talk about those ideas as if they were normal. In other words, they've gone fucking nuts.  Sure, there are nuts on the left too, but they are still on the fringe.  On the right, they are the party.  Now the Tea Party has mostly been assimilated into the Borg, er, Republican Party.  Even though I disliked them, I had at least a hope for a 3rd party, and maybe more small parties.  I think that would be good for America.  But I think we need more moderate parties, not crazies on either end of the spectrum.

Conservatives say they're smarter, and more decent.  So I hold them to a higher standard.  I'm intolerant of hypocrisy.  You say you're better?  Prove it.  This is another part of why conservatives are pushing away, not winning over, moderates.  It's true of liberals too, but they're more earnest (too much for politics?) and nicer (again, too much?)  What it comes down to is that nowadays, conservatives don't have America's best interests at heart.  Only their own; and the values they think they're upholding are not American ones- not our best ones, anyway. They're the leftover, backward, intolerant, mean ones that we have been trying to get rid of for decades.

The Republicans could be thoughtful, and contribute to the civic discourse.  And then hey presto! Democracy!  They could win the hearts and minds of moderates like me.  But they don't even bother anymore.  All that matters is getting "the base" excited and to the polls.  So, they throw red meat, and the hyenas come.  Yes, the Dems do it too.  But, as usual, not as viciously, and cynically, as the Reps.  Way to go, conservatives.  You're actually driving me away from you.  You might get me to vote for a major party candidate for the first time in 20 years.  And it won't be the one you want me to vote for.  I'm not a big Obama fan, but I'll probably vote for him this time around just to spite you.  Shame on you.  Your nasty tactics have spread from talk radio to the whole country.  To my friends, even the smart ones.  They are lying, and saying incendiary things.  I have other friends, former Republicans, who say "I didn't leave the party, the party left me."  And I can see that.  The Republican party has decided that it's their way or the highway, and have chosen to be divisive and exclusionary.  Compromise is a dirty word to them, even though it's, you know, THE WAY LIFE WORKS.

So, good job, conservatives.  You could be reasonable, but you've decided not to be.  I know there are plenty of people, even a few politicians, on the right who are decent people and try to be reasonable, and do what's right for the country, not just their party.  But they are losing to the jackasses.

Remember

I remember what I was doing on September 11, 2001.  I was getting ready to go fly.  I had gotten my license a few months earlier, and was still learning.  I got up just after the attacks, and though stunned, decided to go to the airport to see what was going on and talk to my flying buddies.  At the airport, a jumpy police office let me in but warned me not to try to get in a plane.

I remember the skies being empty.  Unusual, and particularly obvious and eerie  to an aviation buff like me.  I remember the first plane I saw flying, a few days later (a Northwest DC-9) banking through the clear blue sky. I remember flying on an airliner a week later, as things slowly returned to "normal."  People thought I was crazy for flying then; I told them it was never going to be safer than right then, with everyone on their toes.

I remember the fear and uncertainty.  I remember the sense of togetherness and pride.  I remember the grief for people I didn't even know.

Since then, people have used 9/11 for political purposes.  And that makes me mad.  But mainly I remember the good that came out of the bad.  We got stronger as a nation, and as individuals.

People say 9/11 changed everything.  It didn't.  It did change us, made us aware of our vulnerability, made us aware that we are part of a larger world.  Let us remember, and be better people in spite of, and because of, this awful event.

Show me

So, now that he's the official Republican nominee: Where's your birth certificate, Mitt?

Romney joked last week that no one has asked to see his birth certificate.  I have.  And I know lots of others have.  Let's see it, Mittens.  Why haven't you showed it yet?  Something to hide?

Driving Me Crazy

I think everyone has a list of pet peeves, and of course this is a place to vent mine.  I drive a fair amount, and there are things other drivers do that annoy me.  I've done some of them myself, and done other dumb things, so I'm not excusing myself.  But boy, there seem to be a lot of people out there who don't know, or care about, the basic rules of the road.

So.  Let's start with turn signal use.  I think most cars come standard with turn signals nowadays. I'd like to see more people figure out how to use them... Maybe they just need to study the manual a bit.  Once they figure out how to actually turn them on and off, they can then study their state's driving manual to figure out when to use them.  I see people who don't use them at all, who use them after they've already started their turn or changed lanes, who leave them on for miles (often until they make a turn in the other direction...)

Found this quote at a garage's website: "THE TURN SIGNAL IS NOT THE REMOTE CONTROL FOR THE STEERING WHEEL, USE IT BEFORE YOU CHANGE LANES."

I think most modern cars come with speedometers, too.  But people seem content to just go whatever speed they feel like, not keeping it constant.  I'll go a steady 70 on the highway, pass someone, then have them roar past me, then pass them again... It's amusing, but pointless.  Maybe their cruise control is acting up?  I don't have that luxury (I know, it's an essential nowadays, along with power windows and locks, remote keys, heated seats...) I can still hold a constant speed, with my foot.  I was taught that in driver's ed, with particular emphasis on maintaining speed up and down hills.

On to more complex car operation: If you don't have a specific purpose for being in the left lane, please move over.  In Ohio, at least, that's the passing lane, and should only be used for that.  Whether you're going below, at, or over the speed limit, if you're not passing someone (or letting someone merge, or giving a police officer room etc.,) stay out of it.  As a corollary, if I'm in the fast lane I am passing ( or letting someone merge, etc.)  I will get over when I can.  Riding my ass when I don't have any way to move over is a good way to find out if my brakes work.

Merging is another thing people don't seem to understand.  If you're entering a highway, it's your responsibility to merge- and yield, if necessary.  Traffic on the road should get over if they can, but if they can't... Like the dick in the Firebird the other day, who almost shoved me into the SUV to my left.  He just pushed over, no signal, heavy traffic, forcing me to slam on the brakes (at 60mph.)  Then when I honked, he yelled and flipped me the bird for half a mile.

Is there some reason so many people leave their cars idling so long?  Maybe it's just around here; I see it at work all the time, and in other parking lots.  If you sit in your car, idling, for more than a minute, in good weather, I don't ever want to hear you complain about the price of gas.  You can obviously afford to waste it.  And in doing so, you're driving up the cost for yourself and the rest of us.  And if the cost of gas truly bothers you so much that you have to complain about it every day, then get a higher mileage car, combine errands, carpool, whatever.  Cut your own costs, it's not hard.  And it's better for the country too.

Enough for now. Wow, I sound more polite on here than I do in my car, muttering and yelling oscenities at other drivers.  I know people make mistakes- I make plenty- so I try to allow for that.  I don't get upset unless someone does one of these things, or one of each, several times.  Three strikes, though, and you're out.  Or if you combine several into one massive idiot move, like cutting across several lanes without a turn signal because you need to be somewhere and don't give a damn about anyone else on the road, or in the world, causing a wreck, and then fleeing the scene. If you run me or someone I love off the road, I'll be looking for you.  Heck, if I see you do something like that to any random person, I'll do my best to arrange a meeting between you and the local constabulary, for the common good.