From Belfast Common

Nick Lowe's birthday!

Come Saturday, the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart / Departure, the Crystal Stilts / Talking Hotel Arbat Blues, Handsome Furs / No Fun, Vampire Hands / I Knew The Bride, Nick Lowe / Knife And Fork, Play That Fast Thing, Rockpile / So It Goes, Heart Of The City, Little Hitler, Cruel To Be Kind, Nick Lowe/ What's So Funny About Peace Love And Understanding, Elvis Costello / Pickpocket, At The Drive In / Urban Guerrilla, Mudhoney / Shame And Fortune, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs / The Kid With The Replaceable Head, Condo Fucks / Cough Syrup, the Butthole Surfers / The Legend Of The Last Of The Outlaw Truckers, the Dandy Warhols / Just Got Paid, Mastodon / Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles, The Black Keys / And The Hazy Sea, Cymbals Eat Guitars / Freewayland, Three Fantastic / Mr Hurricane, Beast / No Hope Kids, Wavves / Ocean Breathes Salty, Modest Mouse / Deep Karma Canyon, Bob Mould / Ugly, Violent Femmes / Firecracker, Half Japanese / I'm Impressed, They Might Be Giants / Chameleon, James / Alive, Pearl Jam / You Don't Know Jesus, Mogwai / Tower Of Song, the Jesus And Mary Chain / Art Class, Superchunk / Hypocrite, Lush / All About You, Scars / Lola Stars And Stripes, the Stills / Drive On Driver, Magnetic Fields / Go, Pere Ubu / St Vitus Dance, Bauhaus / Only Loved At Night, the Raincoats / Down from Dover, Marianne faithful / I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris, Morrissey / Tonight, Nick Lowe

I've been meaning to write down my thoughts about the finale of Battlestar:Galactica, but it took me a little bit of time to get a grip on the whole thing.

I am really of two minds about it. On the one hand, I thought the resolution seemed awfully contrived. But then again, I admire the mindset that said "You want to see deus ex machina? We will give you the mother of ll deus ex machina!"  Maybe they could have slapped one of those "God Said It, That Settles It" bumper stickers on the Galactica's rear bumper, but that might have been just slightly less subtle.

I thought the whole renunciation of technology business undercut the whole premise of the story. If Hera represented a new future in which human and cylon were reconciled, and the cycle of destruction broken, throwing away their whole frakkin' civilization makes no sense. And, as the coda implies, it seems it was likely a useless gesture anyhow. (And, why, of the 30,000 survivors to reach Earth, is Hera the only one to have descendants?)

Still, the series was a fun ride, and I never expected an ending that whole leave me satisfied with answers. Frankly, I don't care all the much about what Kara was or where she went. A little mystery is a fine thing. The final scene of  Adama and Laura was a thing of beauty, and I am unexpectedly delighted by the notion of Caprica and Gaius as eternal lovers.

All TV should be so good.

  You could ask "How much more Ditko can it get?" and the answer is "None. None more Ditko".

"Look, I know you have a lot to do and all...but I want you, as soon as you can, to go back over everything, everything. See if Saddam did this. See if he's linked in any way." 
  "But, Mr. President, al Qaeda did this." 
"I know, I know, but...see if Saddam was involved. Just look. I want to know any shred... 
  "Absolutely, we will look...again. But you know, we have looked several times for state sponsorship of al Qaeda and not found any real linkages to Iraq. Iran plays a little, as does Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, Yemen." 
"Look into Iraq, Saddam." 
---George W. Bush issuing orders to counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke on September 12, 2001, as recounted in Clarke's book, Against All Enemies 
- 
On Sept. 7, 2002, [Judith Miller] and fellow New York Times reporter Michael Gordon reported that Iraq had "stepped up its quest for nuclear weapons and has embarked on a worldwide hunt for materials to make an atomic bomb." As proof, she cited unnamed "American intelligence experts" and unnamed "Bush administration officials." Subsequently, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, and Donald Rumsfeld all pointed to Miller’s story as justification for war. On April 22, 2003, she told PBS’s Newshour that WMD had already been found in Iraq: "Well, I think they found something more than a ’smoking gun.’" 
---Think Progress (Miller now works for Fox News) 
- 
"The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." 
---Condoleezza Rice (9/8/02) 
- 
"Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof---the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." 
---George W. Bush (10/7/02) 
- 
"We will win this conflict. We will win it easily." 
---John McCain (1/22/03) 
- 
"My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we're giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence." 
---Colin Powell, United Nations Speech (2/5/03) 
- 
"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us." ... "My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators."

---Dick Cheney (8/28/02) and  (3/16/03) 
- 
"[T]he area in the south and the west and the north that coalition forces control is substantial. It happens not to be the area where weapons of mass destruction were dispersed. We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat." 
---Donald Rumsfeld (3/30/03) 
- 
"There's a certain amount of pop psychology in America that the Shia can't get along with the Sunni and the Shia in Iraq just want to establish some kind of Islamic fundamentalist regime. There's almost no evidence of that at all. Iraq's always been very secular." 
---Bill Kristol (4/1/03) 
- 
Who said war never solved anything? 
---Brendan Miniter, The Wall Street Journal (4/8/03) 
- 
"We're all neocons now." 
---Chris Matthews (4/9/03) 
- 
"The only people who think this wasn't a victory are Upper Westside liberals." 
---Charles Krauthammer (4/19/03) 
- 
Ted Koppel: [Y]ou’re not suggesting that the rebuilding of Iraq is going to be done for $1.7 billion? 
Andrew Natsios [Agency for International Development]:Well, in terms of the American taxpayer's contribution, I do. This is it for the U.S. 
---Nightline (4/23/03) 
- 
[Liberals] can't deny that President Bush has won his two wars, and won them resoundingly. 
---Paul Mirengoff, Powerline (4/26/03)

During the Bush years, whackos on the left fringe insisted that FEMA was going to set up concentration camps, and then use some national emergency as a pretext to round up all dissenters and incarcerate them. Right wingers, of course, ruthlessly mocked them for believing such a thing.

Now, crackpots on the right, like Glenn Beck, are screeching about a vast left wing conspiracy, in which Obama intends to use FEMA to, you guessed it, set up concentration camps, declare a national emergency, and lock up all the conservatives. Cue lefties who once held the same fear, to mock their right wing counterparts.

For the pledge drive, my special theme was "Women In Rock".

Money, the Flying Lizards / I Love Rock and Roll, Joan Jett / Mr Chivalry, Girl In A Coma / Fuuuuuuun, Be Your Own Pet / Wild Eyes, Vivian Girls / The World's A Mess It's In My Kiss, X / Doe, the Breeders / Combat Rock, Sleater-Kinney / Not That Social, the Von Bondies / Bull In The Heather, Sonic Youth / Gloria, Ain't It Strange, Because The Night, Patti Smith / Money Changes Everything, Cindy Lauper / Search And Destroy, Peaches / Violet, Hole / Shirley, L7 / 52 Girls, the B52s / Phenomena, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs / Everything With You, the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart / Tattooed Love Boys, Message Of Love, Boots Of Chinese Plastic, the Pretenders / Supermodel, Juliana Hatfield / Life Of Leisure, Rainer Maria / IOU, Metric / Only Happy When It Rains, Garbage / Never Said, Liz Phair / Cornflake Girl, Tori Amos / All Tomorrow's Parties, the Velvet Underground / Talk Dirty To Me, Romeo Void / Millionaire, the Mekons / Let's Save Tony Orlando's House, Yo La Tengo / Hong Kong Garden, Happy House,Israel, Spellbound, Siouxsie and the Banshees / Typical Girls, the Slits / Repetition, the Au Pairs / Plastic Bag, X Ray Spex / I'll Keep It With Mine, Bettie Serveert / Bizarre Love Triangle, Frente / After Hours, the Velvet Underground

 Generally, I susbscribe to the "Superman is a dick" theory, but in this case, I am going to have to say that he has my full support.