Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Obama Speech to Congress - Leadership Again

Barack Obama's speech to Congress was truly brilliant tonight. It is almost surreal to see true leadership -- it's been so long.

Calling for bold, decisive action not just on the economy, banks and housing, The President "connected the dots" and spoke about transforming Energy, health care, and our education system as well. These things are all inextricably linked -- particularly so with Energy.

If you didn't see it, you can read the transcript or watch here.

(I was streaming the new U2 album all day via the website -- review coming soon :-)

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Governors Scramble for Stimulus Aid

As posted last Sunday, our nation's governors have less opportunity to "play politics" with the stimulus bill, since they are actually charged with the responsibility of taking care of people. They balance budgets, ensure garbage is collected, someone answers the phone at 911, police patrol the streets, courthouses hear cases, etc, etc. So when this reality hit:

The Senate version of the bill, to satisfy the demands of a group of centrist senators, cuts tens of billions of dollars in aid to the states from the measure passed by the House late last month. The single biggest of those cuts was a $40 billion reduction to a state stabilization fund, which angered many governors and state legislatures.
... the folks who feel the pain along with the people, put politics aside and got into the action.

Facing rapidly declining revenues and mounting cuts to state services, governors around the nation scrambled Monday to influence senators to change their positions on the Senate’s economic stimulus bill, which is less generous to state governments than the one approved by the House.
As the bill headed toward final passage in the Senate on Tuesday, state leaders made frantic calls to Congressional committee leaders and amply exercised their thumbs, sending BlackBerry messages from the back seats of cars between appointments, all in the hopes of averting cuts and shoring up their ailing budgets. Though no changes could be made to the bill on Monday, House and Senate representatives still must sit down to reconcile the differences between the measures.

The Senate version of the bill, to satisfy the demands of a group of centrist senators, cuts tens of billions of dollars in aid to the states from the measure passed by the House late last month. The single biggest of those cuts was a $40 billion reduction to a state stabilization fund, which angered many governors and state legislatures...
Read the full story here.

It's Boss Time!

Step back from the guacamole dip and put those chicken fingers down -- it's Boss Time!

Super Bowl shows don't get any better than this ... Although he doesn't play it, catch the reference to Radio Nowhere as he jumps up on the piano introducing "10th Ave" ...

"Is there anybody alive out there?!"

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Get On Your Boots

Get On Your Boots is the first single release from the much anticipated No Line on the Horizon, the first studio release from U2 in about 5 years. NLOTH will release March 2nd (as reported below). GOYB was released as a digital download January 23rd, which was the day I had it :-)

"Boots" is a big sound and kicks ~ss from note one. It's tempting to say it's an outgrowth/continuation of Vertigo, but the sound is different enough that this would be inaccurate. The dominant thread in the tune is a powerful bass riff that really carries the song the bulk of the distance, and a killer Edge riff that comes and goes - and makes for a strong finish. But at 2:30, they transition to a new tempo / refrain with a percussion line strongly reminiscent of Zeppelin's When The Levee Breaks, with Edge and Bono belting out a pleading "let me in the sound" lyric that repeats with some Bono ad libs. This melds back to the Edge riff and Adam's rumbling bass line, closing in an absolute spanking of 3.5 minutes of hard core U2 -- wow!

The first new U2 sound in 5 years was, of course, an inspiration that gave way to the artwork at left. The cover artwork for the album is a minimalist photo of a horizon over water. Not long after the release of Boots, U2.com had as their entry photo an amazing, intimate shot of the band's studio jam session. The gorgeous rich color of this image laid over the stark NLOTH cover with a selection of "Boots" lyrics was something I put together one night after listening to the song ... it was about a 5 minute inspiration that I really like. You can also check it out and download a larger, high quality bmp at my google images... meanwhile, as the stimulus package reality show played on ... the Boots video released, and U2 hit the Grammys.

All day Sunday I looked forward to seeing the boys live for the first time in aeons. Finishing dinner a couple minutes after 8 I flipped on the TV "just in case they came on early" ... and to my total horror ... saw them 2/3rds of the way though Boots. Horror or horrors ... I missed most of it. But, through the miracle of TiVo and some video editing software I'm playing around with, here's the minute or so I did catch:



The Grammys has had YouTube take down the full version. Although the full video has embedding disabled, you can still catch the (official video) here :

If you just want to sample the new tune, check it out here - the image is the album cover described above:



Alright ... tomorrow I'll post some more on the stimulus package ... there's a part two that needs to be told ... as well as the Boss from the Super Bowl. Know right now if you missed that performance, you're hardly worthy of being --at all. Period. Thankfully, ATYCLB will give you a second shot at worthiness. For now, since it's Saturday night ...

"I don't wanna talk about wars between nations -- not right now..."

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Stimulus Package Debate

It was a true "reality show" last week as the stimulus package debate unfolded in the US Senate, and the same old tired politics played itself out. But this was not a meaningless television show. Americans continue to lose jobs in the 100's of thousands by the month. Since the downturn began, the economy has shed more jobs than the entire population of Chicago.

Meanwhile, despite the unanimous consensus by economists that massive government spending is a necessary component of the economic recovery bill, the Republicans again chose to put politics over country, attempting to re-cast the bill as "a spending bill, not a recovery bill." Could they possibly be more disingenuous?
The Senate’s proposed cuts took aim at an array of popular spending programs that critics said should not be part of a fiscal recovery bill, even if they represent laudable policy goals, because they would not deliver a quick enough jolt to the economy.
That's a quote from the NY Times, and became tactic #2: paint necessary items and services as "not quick enough." This, despite the fact, that the stimulus requires moderate to long range elements as well as immediate stimulus, as Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman recently pointed out.

But it's more instructive to look at the specific sections of the bill they objected to and where Obama felt compelled to make concessions. It's telling, consider (continuing from the NY Times):

Even Mr. Obama’s signature tax cut for middle-class Americans was scaled back as part of the deal. Under the new plan, tax credits of up to $500 for individuals and $1,000 for couples would begin to phase out at lower income levels than first proposed, saving the government $2billion.
That's phase out "at lower income levels" .... in other words, those among us who need it the most ... the article continues on:

The biggest cut, roughly $40 billion in aid to states, was likely to spur a fierce fight in negotiations with the House over the final bill. Many states, hit hard by the recession, face wrenching cuts in services and layoffs of public employees as they struggle to comply with laws requiring them to balance their budgets.
Question: why do Republican governors overwhelmingly favor the stimulus plan that Obama put forth? Answer: because it gives them the money and the means to continue to provide services to their people! A tax cut doesn't keep Police on the street. A tax cut cannot rebuild a decrepit bridge. A tax cut cannot pay employees to keep a court house functioning -- these critical services require direct funds -- otherwise known as government spending.

Eight years of irresponsible fiscal policy, to include $10 billion per week funneled out of our country and into Iraq, has left the states literally -- in a state of emergency. Here in our own state of Florida, parents who took comfort in knowing their children were in a top flight special arm of the public school system known as "the magnet program" ... are now organizing in protest to that program's cancellation. And that's but one tiny example.

In addition to the large cut in state aid, the Senate agreement would cut nearly $20 billion proposed for school construction; $8 billion to refurbish federal buildings and make them more energy efficient; $1 billion for the early childhood program Head Start; and $2 billion from a plan to expand broadband data networks in rural and underserved areas.
"Underserved areas" ... tax cuts for "middle class Americans" ... "school construction ... energy efficiency ... early childhood programs" long proven to work ... these are the things Republicans want to cut -- benefits for the most needy among us.

Denying the most needy among us, placing politics ahead of country -- this has become the modus operandi of this morally bankrupt organization. All Hail their new Prince, Vicodin junkie Rush Limbaugh.

Let history judge them accordingly.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Obama Signs Children’s Health Insurance Bill

Today was a great day for the Obama administration, the Democratic leadership, and for America, as the House gave final approval and President Obama signed into law Children's Health Insurance Legislation.

"S-CHIP" or state children's health insurance program, provides health insurance coverage to children who come from low income homes that are above what Medicaid would cover -- the working poor.

President Bush, the "good man," the "fine Christian" that I was constantly told he is, had led the charge against the bill. He was successful, and for two years, millions of children needing health services didn't get them.

The plan was created in 1997 and has generally enjoyed bipartisan support. By every measure over the years it has been a success. This program will immediately provide health care to over 7 million children, the overwhelming majority of whom would otherwise not have had it.

Today, a decent man did the God-fearing thing. Today, America took care of its children. It didn't even make the nightly news (ABC, at least), but for 7 million children, I guarantee you, it was the most important thing that happened.

Obama Signs Children’s Health Insurance Bill

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

King of Beers

Never actually saw this add, but playing around on Hulu tonight when I needed to catch the end of the Office episode from last night, I started perusing the Super Bowl Ads and found this ... So stupid you gotta laugh ...