just the normal noises

“I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom.”

~ Bob Dylan 

Who would ever have thought that one of the most bold, unapologetic, pull-no-punches, “oh no, they didn’t” eviscerations of one of this country’s current Presidential candidates would come from - of all places - the Russian press?

Yep.

While most of our insipid political leaders spout off about how our society’s freedom of the press shames the situation in Russia, the truth is that while journalists in that nation may (regrettably but understandably) hold back on criticizing their own leaders, they seem to relish not biting their tongue when it comes to our would-be Commanders In Chief.

If you want a hearty belly laugh at Pravda’s gloriously unvarnished opinion of Mr. Phony McNotsosmooth himself, get a load of this.

They took off ALL the gloves.

You’re welcome.

So much of my young and impressionable psyche was molded (for the much better, I believe) by listening to the brilliant, worldly wit and caustic, progressive commentary of Peter and his brethren in The Firesign Theatre.

Apparently, Peter has died of lukemia.

He was TRULY a one-of-a-kind comedic genius and social critic, and were it not for his pioneering work there would surely be no SIMPSONS, SCTV, SNL or THE KIDS IN THE HALL. Even MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS would have developed differently if not for Bergman and his co-conspirators Philip Proctor, David Ossman and Phil Austin.

If you’re not already hip to The Firesign Theatre, here’s an unofficial video someone made to an audio clip taken from one of their classic, long-form absurdist radio plays, and here’s a link to both sides of their stunning 1971 LP I THINK WE’RE ALL BOZOS ON THIS BUS - a withering takedown of mainstream U.S. culture that is as relevant and timely today as when it was written, performed, recorded and released.

SHOES FOR INDUSTRY!

Long Live Peter Bergman. 

Hyperbole?

Maybe.

Then again, maybe not.

If you, like me, have found yourself reduced of late to blubbering, incredulous bewilderment at the GOP and religious right’s incessant, ever-growing attacks on the ability of women in the USA to manage their own fertility and health issues - it’s likely because you -like me- didn’t really get the big picture.

While I understood (yet did not agree with) the opposition to abortion, I truly could not wrap my head around what on earth some of these folks were thinking with their insistence that women not be allowed to terminate pregnancies even in cases where they were raped(!), or were victims of incest (!!) or both (!!!).

And I certainly could not grok the notion that in 2012 there were still men who believed that women should not be allowed access to contemporary methods of family planning, even in situations where the ancillary medicinal benefits of things such as birth control pills were in fact the main goal, as opposed to stopping pregnancies.

Until now, that is.

I realize that I was naive. I massively underestimated the scope of the opposition to such things, because I honestly assumed that this was all about some folks’ disgust and disdain for abortion.

That’s why it made no sense whatsoever to me that many abortion foes were waging a cultural war against contraception - which, if used properly, would automatically prevent thousands if not millions of abortions every year.

I just didn’t get it, and now I do.

For while there are plenty of straightforward and honest folks who sincerely and emphatically oppose abortion on a variety of defensible grounds, many of the folks at the core of this movement, many of the politicians and religious leaders and theocrats and blowhards and busybodies and holier-than-thous and other Stone Age-fetishists are MUCH MORE interested in SOMETHING ELSE entirely.

For them, abortion and contraception are merely symptoms of a much larger illness.

An illness which must be treated, prevented, and -ideally- cured and wiped off the face of the earth forever.

The name of this illness?

For the sake of brevity, I’ll simply quote the late, great guitarist, songwriter and world-famous wife-beater Ike Turner:

“WOMENS BE THINKIN’ TOO MUCH!”

While you’re digesting the chilling and prescient article found by clicking on ol’ Ike’s politically incorrect mantra, you can listen to this chilling and prescient song by the great and not-so-late Camper Van Beethoven, and, in the words of the wise sage Johnny Cash, “Meditate on it.”

As always, I welcome comments below on my blog. Unless you wanna start a nasty fight of some sort, in which case I might play along for a little while, but I certainly won’t welcome it.

For anyone out there that still needs further proof that the established record industry model is desperately clawing for every nickel and dime they can squeeze out of gullible consumers, rather than thinking progressively and trying to craft a profitable business model that’s based on the real world of today rather than the days of Ozzie & Harriet, dig this: 

There was a time, not so long ago, when the automatic increases in album and single sales which followed the death of a popular musician were understandably welcomed by that artist’s label(s). Occasionally, they’d even throw together a quick repackaging of some of the best-known tracks from that artist’s back catalog to take advantage of the unexpected surge of consumer interest.

Now, they just instantly (and crassly) jack the prices of albums already sitting on the shelf, within minutes of a “time of death” certification - knowing full well that everyone will be able to see that they’ve done this, and likely find it repulsively opportunistic.

But you see, they don’t care about good PR these days.

They’d rather be hated and wealthy than revered and merley comfortable.

That’s why they file onerous, high-profile lawsuits for small amounts of file-sharing offenses and refuse to renegotiate artist contracts to reflect the TRUE costs of releasing a “record” in today’s digital age, thus guaranteeing that the label still makes way more than their fair share of revenue from said recordings, and the artists continue to get the shaft.

I just happened upon the post below in the comments thread below this online article on how the Catholic Church’s opposition to the White House’s requirement that health insurance plans cover contraception is basically a bunch of megalomaniacal hogwash.

Here’s what one savvy person had to say about this ridiculous brouhaha which is being trumped up to paint OUR President as being “out to destroy organized religion,” when in reality, he is merely “out to make sure the gajillions of people who want and need proper, safe birth control can get it during such tough economic times.”

Thus ensuring… Wait for it…

FEWER ABORTIONS.

The poster wisely writes (with my added emphasis):

“If the Catholic Church got into the pizza business and bought up all the pizza chains in the US thus establishing a pepperoni monopoly would free delivery in 30 minutes or less now be considered a form of ‘worship?’ Would the Catholic bishops therefore consider themselves victims of religious persecution if they had to pay for the birth control of their delivery boys and girls?

Apparently so.

But here is the issue: Once the Church leaves the sanctuary of the church and starts opening businesses alongside other secular institutions in the market like hospitals, schools or even pizza parlors it loses the ability to substitute its values for the values of the democracy by creating its own set of rules within those big pieces of our society the Church has carved out for itself with its money.

A hospital is not a church.

A school is not a church.

A pizza parlor is not a church.

And for government to regulate a Catholic pizza parlor in exactly the same way as a Jewish pizza parlor (Kosher of course) is not an attack on the religious freedoms we enjoy under the First Amendment.

Conservatives are trying to confound us with another of their easy to understand but misleading and simplistic syllogisms: Church says birth control wrong. Church employers told they must provide birth control coverage anyway like all employers. Ergo government is attacking religious liberty.

Simple but wrong because it ignores the fact that all of us wear many hats in life, and that when the Church steps outside the sanctuary of the church to run hospitals, schools and other businesses it is no long a Church engaged in “worship” but an employer running a business.

And these are businesses, we must remember, that get government assistance just like every other business, so the Church leadership wants to have it both ways.

Accommodating everyone’s beliefs as much as possible is part of the challenge of living in a complex society like ours and I am sure some arrangement can be found that gives women access to birth control while preventing the priesthood from feeling complicit in sin.

But one of the prices we pay for a democratic society like ours is that we forfeit the right to make non-negotiable demands like the one the Church is making here when it says the antiquated beliefs on birth control that only a celibate and cloistered priesthood subscribe to must – in the name of RELIGIOUS LIBERTY — take precedence over all other considerations including the health care needs and wants of 99% of women.”

Real talk.

Think you have Frank Black Francis pegged? Think again.

He and his wife Violet are about to release their second CD under the band name Grand Duchy.

This is a concept album about their shared affinity for (and fetishizing of) Andy Warhol and his Factory crowd/days.

They’ve released an advance track from the record, which they admit is the one with the most overt references to the Warhol scene on the whole collection (FBF is well-known for crafting oblique and challenging lyrical conceits that only reveal themselves over time and with no small amount of reflection).

You can listen to it here for free. I recommend that you do so, as it may confound your assumptions about the type of music and approach that FBF is known for through his most well-known work with the Pixies.

There is MUCH more the him as an artist than that back catalog, and his wife Violet is an accomplished musicians and songwriter in her own right, whose role in Grand Duchy cannot be underestimated.

Enjoy.