Working For The Man

P.J. Harvey's 9th album, White Chalk, will be released tomorrow. I first heard P.J. Harvey in 1993, and was instantly hooked on her dark reinvention of the blues from a female perspective. I was fortunate to see her at the famed First Avenue, a music club in Minneapolis in 2004. While I always loved her music, I was struck by what a great performer she is. For some reason I didn't expect her to have such stage presence, but she is amazing live. She's a true artist, and I don't use that term loosely.

This video, "Working for the Man" is from her 4th cd, To Bring You My Love. P.J. at her best.....

JB

Trim the Bush

This is me with a sign I made to attend a rally protesting the appearance of G.W. in Minnesota in 2004. This was before the elections that year when an ill-informed, fearful, ignorant American populace voted this imbecile and his criminal administration into office for the second time.

Why isn't impeachment being seriously considered? What more evidence do we need connecting this fool with wrong-doing? He has destroyed our country, and we will be dealing with the effects of this administration for many years to come.

Let's review all of the failed policies and neglect of this oligarchy.

1. The Iraq War. About 1 million Iraqi civilians have died so far in this 4 year war for oil. George Bush and Tony Blair should be charged with war crimes.

2. Katrina. While poor black people in New Orleans drowned, the U.S. government did nothing, and is still doing nothing to help the thousands displaced. Instead we let private companies handle the disaster, which means nothing is being done. For more info on "disaster capitalism" check out the latest edition of Harper's magazine with a good article by Naomi Klein.

3. Guantanomo. Thousands of people captured, held and tortured for years without being formally charged with a crime. It's disgraceful.

4. The Patriot Act. Legalized governmental spying on it's citizens.

5. Taxes. Bush exhibits the worst republican tendency of taxing the poor and middle class while the filthy rich pay very little.

6. Deficit spending. The Iraq war costs about 10 million dollars an hour, and taxpayers are footing the bill. But wait. We are actually spending money that we no longer have because he has turned a surplus into a deficit. A report on The Hufington Post today reveals that Bush said he received a "B" in Econ101 at Yale. Turns out he actually received a "C-" which is considered a "gentlemen's C" which means that professors (at places like Harvard and Yale) with poor students from the wealthy elite give their students a "C-" out of graciousness when they actually earned Fs in the class.

7. Vetoing stem cell research bill. This right wing evangelical resists stem cell research that could save lives and treat conditions like paralysis and alzhiemers. What an idiot.

8. Wanting to privatize Social Security. Thank goodness this lame brain idea went nowhere fast.

9. Using gay peopole as a scapegoat to create fear and stir up homophobia in the general population. This actually led to Bush's re-election in 2004.

There are a million other reasons to impeach Bush and his devious administration. If anyone would care to add to the list, feel free.

jb

DIET

on august 8 i started a heart healthy diet. so far i've lost 11 pounds. this diet was prompted by a health scare that didnt' happen to me, but to my sister, kathy. kathy is 52, and recently had to have 2 stints put in her body because of blockage to her heart.

we have a history of heart disease in our family. my father had 3 heart attacks, the first one in his late 30's, and the last one killed him at the age of 72. he never really fit the profile of a heart disease patient, but still, he had problems. my mother had heart bypass surgery in 2003.

i really don't want heart problems, particularly at a relatively young age. so, i guess the time for action is now.

anne is going along with DIET, although i'm not sure why. she has no heart disease in her family. but, she's lost 5 pounds.

we are making a movie called DIET out of this experience. well, i should say we are shooting footage - don't know if anything interesting will come of it, but we have a new imac and a video camera so we thought we would try and create something.

i'll keep ya posted.

jb

Biting the Hand That Feeds You

My beloved dog, Smith, gave me a scare yesterday. While walking in my dog-infested neighborhood, we encountered a little long haired white dog (breed unknown to me) who started lunging at Smith and barking wildly. Well, my dog needs virtually no invitation to display aggression at small dogs, so he started pacing, jumping and barking at the little dog while I desperately tried to restrain him on the leash.

While trying to get a tighter hold on this 70 lb beast, he lunged AT ME ripping a hole in my shirt. I yelled and he lunged at me again. Finally I was able to get control of him, and nervously walked his violent ass home.

I wish I knew more about dog psychology to know why the fuck he did this. This marks the third time he has done this to me. On another occasion he scratched my breast while trying to get to two snappy beagles. Smith is never aggressive with me any other time, and he's never done this to Anne. Each time he has shown this behavior toward me, he is trying to get at another dog, and it's like I'm in the way, or he's trying to take me out so that he can eventually get to his real target!

If anybody has thoughts on this, please share. All I know is that it's very disturbing to have your own dog try and attack you.

jb

Labor Day Weekend

My labor day weekend holiday was one of the most interesting in recent memory. Here is the short and sweet version of events.

Saturday - Had dinner with a couple of colleagues. Spent a cool but pleasant late summer evening sitting by a fire drinking wine and talking. These colleagues live on 39 acres of land, and are growing every flower and vegetable possible this time of year in upstate. Our dinner was filled with fresh stuff thye had grown. It was a lovely evening.

Sunday - Drove to Connecticut to visit some old friends. We were invited to a dinner on Sunday night where the guest of honor was Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, a woman who spent 4 years in the Iranian parliment. She is no longer serving in parliment, and has been on some kind of research fellowship at Harvard. This year she is on a visiting teaching appointment at the University of Connecticut - in the women's studies dept. Fatemeh is part of the reformist branch of Iranian politics, hoping to spread deomocracy in the country. She was recently "disqualified" from parliment by a government board because the current president Mahmood Ahmadinejad and his administration represent the conservative point of view in the country. She says there are about 14 women in the Iranian parliment out of a total of 200+. This ratio sounds similar to the situation in the U.S. :)

Monday - Drove to Newport, Rhode Island to take a boat tour in Newport Harbor with friends. It was a glorious day and fun to be on a boat in the ocean. This tour revealed some homes of old monied Americans, such as the Vanderbilts, Kennedy's etc. Lots and lots of cool boats, big and small in the harbor there. It was a lot of fun.

jb

Dog Days

Remaining Weeks of Summer.
Filled with Sun and Friends.
Too Few Minutes in Our Days.