Desperation Row

Today's column for the Daily Banter deals with yesterday's big, booming bombshell -- hyped breathlessly by Drudge, Hannity and Tucker Carlson -- which revealed that the President of the United States is, in fact, black.

Here's an excerpt:

"It borders on tragic that four years into this man’s presidency — a presidency the right has sought over and over again to delegitimize in any and every way possible — this is all they’ve got, not an honest appraisal of his administration’s policies and what they have and haven’t done for the country but a desperate relitigating of the tired claim that Obama was never vetted properly, that he’s got something to hide, that Americans were duped back in 2008, that there are just too many questions surrounding his 'otherness' for him to be where he is right now, much less to be allowed to remain there for another four years."

Read the Rest Here

Listening Post

I generally don't post amateur video shot at shows, but I'm making an exception this morning for two reasons: 1) The quality of this one's pretty good, and 2) I was at the show in question.

This is a clip of the opening song Amanda Palmer did at the House of Blues in San Diego a couple of weeks ago.

Here's Smile (Pictures or It Didn't Happen).

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Creepy and Weird

Today's column for the Daily Banter takes a look at Shepard Smith's stark assessment of our national political climate come to utter fruition.

He called it -- and Mitt Romney is proving him right.

Here's the opening shot:

"The closer we get to the November election — the more pronounced and desperate the entirely contrived machinations from the various candidates become as time ticks inexorably toward the moment of truth — the more I can’t help but keep the brilliant words of Shepard Smith in mind. You’ll remember he said back in May of this year, in a moment of absolute, blank-faced clarity, 'Politics is weird. And creepy. And now I know lacks even the loosest attachment to anything like reality.' At the time, what led him to this stark assessment was an official statement issued by Mitt Romney which attempted to follow up one of the most vicious and bitter grudge matches in Republican intra-party politics with a seemingly benign and even friendly 'no hard feelings' directed toward Newt Gingrich, who had just dropped out of the presidential race..."

Read the Rest Here

Quote of the Day

"From now on, you will wear two-piece swim suits when on vacations. ... Angela, I need to know, are you committed to being my porn star? ... I do not want to hear ‘no’ or ‘we’ll see about that.’ I want my fantasies to be with you. God has authorized you and you only as my partner for intimacy and that is what I want."

-- Republican Rep. Allen West of Florida, in a letter to his wife written in 2003 while he was serving in Iraq which demands that his sexual requests be "standard" and "non-negotiable"

I swear, I'm beginning to like Allen West. He's so completely psychotic and dangerous that I really think the only way his tenure can end is with some kind of armed standoff.

Once he's finally voted out and it's discovered that he's been stockpiling the bodies of secretaries in the crawlspace of his Capitol office, or he returns home to become a family annihilator, I only hope that Rob Lowe gets to play him in the inevitable Lifetime women-in-peril movie of the week.

Listening Post

Mournful and melancholy, American Music Club remains one of my all-time favorite bands. Their 1993 album Mercury is a masterpiece of sad suffering that helped to get me through a couple of particularly awful times in my life.

Now their singer, Mark Eitzel, has returned after living through -- somewhat appropriately, I guess -- a heart attack.

Here's the first track on Eitzel's new record, Don't Be a Stranger.

It's called I Love You but You're Dead.

Still working on my TV project but slowly trying to get back into the swing of things around here and over at the Banter. Sorry about my absence, folks.

Listening Post

From just a couple of days ago, here's Tegan and Sara doing their new single acoustically.

This is Closer.