Posts (page 2)
As long as I have been able to recognize that there is such a thing as a shitty newspaper, it has been abundantly clear that The Birmingham News ranks high upon the list[1].
For those of you not up to date on gubernatorial politics in Alabama, a primer:
There once was a highly successful and charismatic politician named Don Siegelman who happened to be both very popular and very much a Democrat. He managed to work up from and be elected to Secretary of State, Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor and finally Governor in a state that had become very hospitable to the GOP[2]. Amazingly enough, once he reached that high, the real knee breakers in the Republican establishment started to salivate a little and the Department of Justice starts an investigation. The most experienced US attorneys in the jurisdiction recommended the case not be prosecuted; later a judge in Birmingham agreed and threw out the case that a more "hungry" US attorney decided to pursue. Ultimately, a new case was heard where Siegelman was ultimately sent to prison for accepting a "bribe" of a donation--which he did not receive one direct cent into his pocket--from former Healthsouth CEO Richard Scrushy. In turn, Siegelman gave Scrushy a position on some hospital oversight board that apparently had (1)no real regulatory power over Scrushy's company (2)was actually just a reappointment to a board Scrushy served on under two previous Alabama governors. It was tried under a judge who by all accounts is a partisan hack (not as if that's saying much. most judges in Alabama fit that bill) and has yet to produce a transcript of the trial in more than 8 months since it has been legally due which would answer some questions about the specifics of the witch-huntproceedings. 60 Minutes ran a segment about some of the details yesterday. It's pretty compelling stuff, and it's where I first learned certain specifics like Scrushy having served on that board under the two previous administrations. Plus, it's 60 Minutes. We're not talking Amy Goodman style lefty journalism here.
Scott Horton from Harper's Magazine has been following this particular case, in particular The Birmingham News so called coverage of it.
[1]See also USA Today, but that's not really a newspaper. Also, as a matter of politeness to the general public, I promise to not make fun of you for wanting a USA Today as long as you promise to not make a snide comment about my store carrying the "liberal" New York Times.
[2]The Republican party played on the regions racism to get the "solid south's" support during the civil rights movement, and I fully believe that no matter the progress that has happened there is no doubt that many of the people I know got their political socialization from the same place as everyone else: parents and peers, and they are voting Republican not out of economic, defensive or moral issues. They vote Republican because of their racism and their parent's racism.
Doug over at Hey Jenny Slater posted yesterday about a high school student who became pregnant and in lieu of abortion/adoption decided to keep the baby as well as putting forth a considerable effort to improve her studies and life in general. So, as an inspirational and cautionary tale, the editors of the particular school's yearbook wanted to include a feature about her. As I recollect from my days of high school student press, since the Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier case before the Supreme Court, the school administrators have final authority over what can be in a student publication. The admins 86ed the article because instead of grasping that a young person made some mistakes and undertook an incredibly difficult challenge, they seemed to think it somehow "glamorize[d] pre-marital sex," and ultimately it was found objectionable because of the school's policy of abstinence-only education.
As Doug lays it out, sex education in the right wing mind[1] goes a little something like this:
"If you're in high-school, you should only be exposed to an inaccuracy-laden form of sex education that no more likely to keep you from having sex than other forms of sex ed. When you do go ahead and have sex anyway, chances are you get pregnant, because you never got any accurate information about birth control or contraceptives. Once you get pregnant, you have to carry the child to term, because abortion is wrong -- but even if you do keep the baby, we're still going to shun you and treat you like a leper because you never should've had sex in the first place."
Much like the Catholic church giving inaccurate information about condoms, I can't see how failing to provide scientifically sound sex ed isn't a moral issue[2]. Abstinence only education fails to meet its intended goals, damages the public health and in this case, like many others, is an attack against women.
[1]And to those economic conservatives out there, what has your union with the social conservatives wrought? I know people who are plenty too smart to buy into the crazy social conservative ideals but still vote right wing because they're apparently convinced the world's going to end if a Democrat wins the White House. I've got a couple of questions for y'all who fit that category: How much less in taxes have you paid during the time the Republicans controlled the executive and legislative branches of government? How much spending did that "conservative" government curtail? Under whose watch was the worst attack on American soil?
[2]And if only one person dies from AIDS because of the anti-contraception propaganda of the Vatican, I fully believe they are complacent in murder.
(This was originally posted here where you can see any media links, etc.)
Yet another reason to love The Onion.
(This was originally posted here where you can see any media links, etc.)
I'm overdue for my biannual haircut, and it's starting to really bug me.
There's an empty retail space next my starbuck's which is perpetually unlocked and contains only concrete floors, mudded sheetrock walls and a gigantic fucking mounted bull elk[1] sitting in the middle of the space. It was terrifying at first glance, let's just say. Now, though, I'm really hoping someone's attempting a high-end bourgeoisie taxidermist in Homewood.
[1]According to Brian W, that is. All I know is it's a big woodland creature that white dudes with $2000 guns kill for sport. I'm not opposed to hunting (and will gladly eat some well-prepared venison), but I hope that elk got to bore those antlers into an unsuspecting hunter at some point in his life.
(This was originally posted here where you can see any media links, etc.)
This is frustrating. The IT department at UAB no longer believes that I'm a current student, so now I can't log in to BlazerNet so that I can adjust my schedule for the upcoming semester. After talking to two helpdesk guys, one person in the Registrar's office and two people in Admissions I still can't log in. The latter two offices both see me as active, and can think of no reason I shouldn't be able to use the system. I think I've finally convinced the IT department that there is something wrong.
The Recognition, my band, played at The Bottletree this past Friday with Sex Dragon[1] and The Gore Gore Girls. We were sandwiched in between two groups both aiming for that garage rock authenticity thing, which with few exceptions (The Oblivians, Nine Pound Hammer and The Mummies), I have little patience for. It's not quite as irritating and full of uniform signifiers like the whole rockabilly/"psychobilly"[2] thing, but it's close. The crowd was a little different from usual, but a lot of fun and the set went well minus one amp taking a little one song vacation. Plus, I think we got our first piece of honest to god hard copy press. Birmingham's own Manhattan dwelling crazy right wing music critic, JR Taylor gave us a blurb. It's positive, if, well...a little odd. "Working-class rock"? I mean, maybe. I'm down with some organized labor, but I sell coffee and type on keyboards for a living. Hey, though, we "might...be pioneering a new genre of post-MTV punk.[3]" What's yr band doing?
Speaking of the band, we had one of the most successful practices ever last night, adding three songs to our repertoire. We've got a new (well, a reworked) original, a cover of Jawbreaker's "Shield Your Eyes" for a comp (at least, I think there's a comp) and a cover of the attached song by one of my favorites, Discount.
[1]Awesome name, though. It's one of the guys from The Immortal Lee County Killers on guitar/vocals and Sweetdog on drums. Sweetdog is a name that apparently rings out in Birmingham, unless like me you don't really run in a circle where a name like "Sweetdog" rings out. (Note that this is in jest. Sweetdog was a charming individual; I'm merely jealous that I never have gotten a nickname.)
[2]My own private little hell is a Reverend Horton Heat and/or any band with a high pompadour quotient with tendencies towards Misfits covers show. I mean, I love the Misfits but it's in the same way I love the Three Six Mafia/Hypnotize Minds catalog. It's hilariously over the top, there's a depth of musicality that is lacking in many of their peers and it's fun to listen to while driving.
[3]So, do I get my first mill soon? Or, will we merely toil in relative obscurity too far ahead of our time? Watch out for The Recognition 2027 middle age reunion tour!
Would you believe it? I was digging through my old godaddy records seeing if I still owned a couple of domains, thinking I had finally let this one go. Happily, I found that I still owned it until some point in January (and should probably renew it). I found an old backup of the original blog's posts, but I need to strip out a bunch of database crap to import it. I'm not totally sold on importing the whole thing, because it's roughly six years of my life documented and very much of it is cringe-worthy. So, if I motivate myself to make a little best-of, or at least strip out some of the less crafted entries, it should show up in the archives here.
While I've said it before, I'm full of good intentions on using this space to write more regularly. To all the fine folks on Vox and LJ: these posts are all originating here where there will embedded songs and videos and such.
Speaking of embedded songs, to start things out on my top five records of 2007, in tribute to Pimp C (nee Chad Butler) who passed away recently, here's "International Players Anthem" by UGK and featuring Outkast from Underground Kingz. Just click the link and it should play the song directly in yr browser.
The band took a trip up I-65 the other evening to play at the Baker Entertainment Center in downtown Cullman, where they have set up quite the nice little venue. I love subcultures in small towns, because you get such an interesting mix of people, so Jake and I took some photos of the patrons that night.
I suppose it's because St. Patrick's Day is coming up and it's falling on a Saturday, but I am completely obsessed with The Pogues lately. Generally, the whole Irish band thing feels a little contrived and The Pogues are a little to blame for all of them, but they have one advantage in the brilliant-and-can't-believe-he's-not-dead Shane Macgowen.
So, here's a couple of my favorites. I discovered "Body of an American" from the second season of The Wire in an awesome scene of a police detectives wake that was held in a bar, with his body on display on a pool table. "Medley" is just a nice representation of their sound, with some (I presume) traditional songs.
Long time.
Highlights:
I once again sell coffee for the great beverage beast from the northwest. I'm at 5 points "training," and will be in Soho Square in Homewood in a couple of weeks.
Saw Billy Joel for free. We were in the nosebleed seats opposite the stage, and I'm not convinced that the show actually was happening, and that it was possibly just robots. Good times, though.
Rode to Atlanta to see Explosions in the Sky last night. Amazing show.
Played the Cave9 anniversary show, and had many technical difficulties.
Show us love.
This could be shown a lot of ways, but I immediately thought of family and this picture that my mom has on her vox of my nana and me from what I would guess is 1999 or 2000. She was probably my favorite person on the planet, and I still miss her dearly.
Plus, you get to see what I looked like with bad glasses and about 100 extra pounds on me.
