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February 27, 2006
dogshatebush.com
“I hate George Bush more than the vacuum cleaner.”
Posted by gans at 11:29 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 26, 2006
The Big Giant Head: pressure builds
Bill O’Reilly has begun a campaign to get MSNBC to fire Keith Olbermann and reinstate Phil Donahue. redheadedwoman reported it on dailykos, including the text of the petition:
February 22, 2006
Chairman Robert Wright
National Broadcasting Company
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, New York 10112
Dear Chairman Wright:
We, the undersigned, are becoming increasingly concerned about the well-being of MSNBC and, in particular, note the continuing ratings failure of the program currently airing weeknights on that network at 8:00 PM EST.
It is now apparent to everyone that a grave injustice has been done to the previous host for that time slot, Phil Donahue, whose ratings, at the time of his show’s cancellation three years ago, were demonstrably stronger than those of the current host.
Therefore, in an effort to rescue MSNBC from the ratings basement and to restore the honor and dignity of Mr. Donahue, who was ignobly removed as host three years ago, we ask that you immediately bring Phil Donahue’s show back at 8:00 PM EST before any more damage is done.
This is a transparently self-serving campaign couched entirely in altruistic terms, putatively for the good of his competitor. In other words, the present-day Republican Party in a single sentence.
Olbermann’s response, courtesy of Crooks & Liars, is a delight.
I signed the petition as “Hugh R. Kidding-Wright,” joining a slew of others who signed in something other than dead earnest. A friend grabbed some sample signatures from the site before they changed the code to stop displaying the 100 most recent signatures:
She’s A Witch! .. Burn Her! -1
J Jonah Jamison .. Daily Bugle -1
Keith is great !. Shut Up Bill GA
Republicans_hate_science E. Darwin RI
Only I speak the Truth .. http://www.outfoxed.org/ -1
Rightwing_idiots_love_oil Q. Exxon SD
Keith_is_the_Best !. Shut_Up_Bill AR
joseph_goebbels B. Berlin AS
Bwahahahahaha_Billy_about_to_get_canned! H.
maggots_look_better_than_Bill OH
ima n. fauxnews/pravda TX
Are You Going to Talk About us .. On Your little TV “show”? -1
Fire Bill .. Please Fire Bill -1
Keith_is_Great !. Faloofah MT
Fire Bill .. Please Fire Bill -1
Bwahahaha !. Rotfalafel UT
AndreaMackris R. HasYourCash PW
YOU ARE A .. WORTHLESS HUMAN BEING -1
I_Love_Keith ‘. Fire_O;Lielly WI
blotchyskin o. falafelscrub VI
For the Love of God .. Please Fire Bill -1
OLielly_is_a_Fool i. Shut_Up OR
what_a_little_baby_you_are y. please_kill_yourself OH
ORielly_is_a_Crybaby i. Big_Pussy TN
Look At My R. Ratings Drop! NC
Posted by gans at 9:22 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 23, 2006
South Dakota creates a test case
From morons.org
South Dakota recently passed a bill outlawing most abortions. Now of course such a bill is almost certainly unconstitutional according to court precedent from Roe vs Wade, and the bill is likely to be immediately challenged and prevented from taking effect.But that’s the idea.
See the same people who whine and complain about black-robe-wearing judicial activist judges who legislate from the bench are the very people who want to get their law in front of a sufficient number of black-robe-wearing judicial activist judges who they hope will legislate from the bench in their favor. Right-wing anti-choice conservatives have picked this fight in South Dakota because they’re hoping that from that district they will find judges who are sympathetic to their cause. What they’re doing is basically judge shopping.
They’ve picked this fight because they’re hoping to get their law challenged all the way to the Supreme Court, where they hope that the now-conservative-slanted court will uphold the law rather than overturn it. Or better still, they’d love to see the Supreme Court uphold their law and reverse the Roe vs Wade decision.
Posted by gans at 6:53 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
DG to play Grand Lake Farmers' Market 2/25
Posted by gans at 2:51 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 21, 2006
More photos from the southwest
I’m safe at home after a delightful two week tour/vacation in my favorite part of the universe. I attended the Southwest Popular Culture Association meeting with a gang of Deadhead academics; gave performances in venues ranging from a beautiful adobe house to a rowdy bar; and spent four days at the Grand Canyon with my wife, Rita.
Thursday, February 16, was an eventful day in many ways: Rita and I hiked 4.6 miles down the Bright Angel Trail to Indian Gardens, and then of course we had to hike back up. An hour or so after completing that 7-hour adventure, I was onstage in the bar at the Bright Angel Lodge, singing for an audience of tourists, cowboys, and Xanterra employees. Along the way my digital camera and my iPod stopped working (I’m assuming this was related to the near-freezing temperatures, but I’m surprised and annoyed by both problems) and I thought I lost my cell phone. I was afraid to even utter the words “powerbook,” “laptop,” or “computer,” lest that essential device also go bye-bye. But the phone turned up in the back of the Subaru that night, and the computer continues to function perfectly.
The Forester started making a rubbing noise on the drive home Sunday. I just learned that the bearings on both rear wheels need replacement. Sigh.
Here are some photos (by Rita and by me) from our Grand Canyon sojourn. There are more images from this trip and other visits to the region in the “southwest” gallery on my flickr page.
Extra special thanks to Rosie McGee for making our Grand Canyon visit such a pleasure.
Posted by gans at 1:04 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 20, 2006
Getting cranky about Cheney
zorca:
… the bottom line is that cheney’s behaviors during quailgate only serve to exemplify his much greater sins of greed, callousness, power-mongering, and secrecy. if these larger sins aren’t what is at the heart of media discussions about the event, if there is no attempt to shine a light on the larger discrepancies, then all this blather about whether or not he sat by a bed or valentine-fucked some woman other than his wife will serve as nothing but a cheap little side show.
It’s a great rant. Read it all.
And here’s Josh Marshall:
Even if Dick Cheney is blameless in this matter in any deep moral sense, let’s not forget that his immediate reaction was to send out his surrogates to publicly blame what happened on the victim.Actually, that may afford him too much credit since it wasn’t actually his ‘immediate’ reaction. It was his considered reaction after the 24 hour cooling off period he gave himself between the shooting and when he chose to make it public.
By my count, he continued to have his public surrogates blame Whittington for fully three days. He only relented and took responsibility himself when the public and no doubt private political clamor became too much to sustain.
Posted by gans at 9:39 PM | TrackBack
February 18, 2006
Rita Meets Mr. Bighorn
Rita and I crossed paths with this handsome fellow on the Bright Angel Trail in the Grand Canyon on Thursday, February 16. We’ve got a lot of photos from this trip on flickr.com
Posted by gans at 1:27 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Have a Bagel on Biff
Biff’s Bagels in Flagstaff, Arizona - named in honor of a sweet dog named Biff. The whole place is festooned with dog photos. Fine bagels, fabulous homemade granola.
Posted by gans at 12:45 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
February 6, 2006
Mystic Hot Springs
I’m performing tonight at Mystic Hot Springs in Monroe, Utah. These bathtubs are on a ledge above the old resort, with hot water running through them and a grand view of the Sevier Valley. Monroe is a few miles north of where I-70 meets I-15. Well worth a stop for a soak if you’re passing through the area, and they have campsites, too.
I’ll be playing on the indoor stage tonight, and Mike and his crew will do a three-camera video shoot. In the summer, they have concerts on the outdoor stage.
Here’s a picture of my wife, Rita, in another of the hillside tubs.
Posted by gans at 4:26 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 2, 2006
Jamm in Jamaica update
Jamm in Jamaica News for January 2006
The artists: Donna the Buffalo, Vince Herman, Railroad Earth, Under Full Sail, David Gans, Everyone Orchestra conducted by Matt Butler, The Big Wu, Hot Buttered Rum String Band
Brrr!!! It’s freezing where we are and we can’t wait to get down to the tropics in LESS THAN TWO MONTHS! Current conditions in Negril: 85 degrees and sunny :)
A few updates…
Travel Documents
You do NOT need a passport to travel to Jamaica yet, but it does make going through immigration a little faster. If you do not have a passport you DO need a government issued photo ID (a driver’s license), and your birth certificate. The birth certificate can be a copy but it must be a copy issued by the state or town or county you were born in. It cannot be a Xerox copy, a hospital souvenir certificate, it must be government issued. You can not board the plane without these items. (Need a copy of your birth certificate? See vitalchek.com
If you are traveling on our air/hotel/shows/transfers package, you will also need to fill out a Tour Particpant Form. That’s available at http://www.jamminjamaica.com/forms/TourParticipant_Jamm.pdf or at Sunsplash’s site.
Single Band Laminates
The lineup for Jamm In Jamaica 2006 was designed to have something for just about everybody. We have had a large number of people sign up for this great trip through our package deals, and quite a few people purchased all access festival laminates as well. There have been a growing number of emails regarding questions about single band only laminates. Given that all of the bands on this trip would love to see as many people as they can at all of their shows, we initially decided not to provide single band laminates.
However, Jamm in Jamaica recognizes that for many people, this will be their first opportunity to visit this magical island and might want to use some of their time there to do some exploring and other activities in addition to seeing great music. We also realize that some people are bringing their families along, and scheduling a babysitter or nanny for 20 shows is a lot to ask, and so would need to pick and choose the shows they go to. All laminates are non transferable. A photo ID will be absolutely necessary to attend all events.
Single band laminates will be available for Donna The Buffalo, Railroad Earth, and Under Full Sail. Each laminate will be different, and the single band laminates will be good only for the band represented on the laminate and the end of the week festival.
The price of the single band laminate is $225.00 which can be paid by cashier’s check or money order, or by using our credit card service. We suggest you simply send a U.S. Post Office money order because the service charge for the credit card is a bit pricey.
Paying by Credit Card
We didn’t offer credit card laminate sales earlier because the service charge is so high, but with all of the emails about it, we decided to let the consumer decide what he or she wants to do. To order your laminate(s) by credit card head to: http://jamminjamaica.baselineticketing.com
All concert laminates will be distributed in Negril, we’ll let you know when and where. You will need to bring your photo ID to pick up your laminate.
Remember our air/hotel/transfers/shows package includes an all-access laminate and is still the best price out there!
If you purchased an all-access laminate and want to exchange it for a single band laminate, contact info@proactivemgt.com
Visit www.jamminjamaica.com for photos, prices and purchase of all show packages. See you in Jamaica!!!
Posted by gans at 11:45 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 1, 2006
Hey, remember what Jesus said...
A story by Stephanie Simon in the Los Angeles Times, about a group of Christians who remember that Jesus had something to say about people taking care of one another:
…a small but growing movement of evangelical Christians who no longer want to be defined by gay marriage and abortion. Plumbing the Bible for God’s priorities, they are talking instead about global warming and affordable housing, about fewer tax cuts for the rich and more food stamps for the poor.“The typical image of evangelicals is that they’re concerned with the sanctity of life, the traditional family and that’s it - they buy the whole Republican agenda when they vote,” said Ron Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social Action, a think tank based in Wynnewood, Pa.
… Citing Jesus’ concern for the most vulnerable, evangelicals last month led a protest against a proposed federal budget that would cut deeply into food stamps, subsidized health insurance and student aid.
The Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the National Assn. of Evangelicals, has spoken out for clean-air and clean-water policies, arguing that God ordered man to be a good steward of creation. He hears pastors everywhere picking up the theme.
A couple of weeks ago, after I performed my song “Who Will Save Us from the Saved?” (listen to it) in an Atlanta night club, I was approached by a man who introduced himself as “Reverend Scales.” I braced myself for a talking-to, but he was more interested in shaking my hand and thanking me for sharing his concerns about the way Jesus’ name is being abused today.
Later, I got this email from Rev. Scales:
Some Christians, it would seem, tend to want to “shoot” their wounded than to make the effort required to help and nuture them through tough times. These are troubling times and one can’t help but wonder what exactly Jesus would think of His church.
In the song, I say this to those “Christians”:
He was all about compassion
If he knew you, he would cry
I am happy to read that there are many evangelicals who agree with me.
P.S. This just in, courtesy of Mark van Allen. It’s an amusing little film about monkeys.
Posted by gans at 9:12 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack