I’ve always been a bit jaded about Martin Luther King. For most of his very few years he was a chosen spokesperson who hid the genius of the Southern African American community behind a veneer composed of his quite formidable oratory. But King wasn’t the brains behind SCLC nor was he a key person in the formation of the movements which vaunted him into the limelight. But, it’s also a hard cold fact that King was GOOD. He helped those movements succeed.

And then he really started to grow and to think beyond the small world of just getting basic rights. And then he was killed.

Had Martin Luther King Jr. lived, the world would be a very different and much better place. Instead, the “left” lost grounding, and devolved into navel gazing. African Americans demobilized, and never reached out to form coalition with other minority groups or with poor whites (despite MLK’s efforts). And with Ronnie Raygun came the full out assault on the middle class, and on any gains which had been made for reducing inequalities.

It’s kind of funny that gay rights is now the only central salient issue distinguishing political groups. I don’t think that’s good, since equal rights for all, however good, doesn’t do much for economic inequality across the entire society.

But, on this MLK day, we mostly have to remember that we’re all just servants of our corporate overlords. We’ll sell them whatever they want. Just send us an RFA and we’ll concoct some “research.”

Get a haircut, you little fucking commie!

I suppose I’ve always been a bit different, and somewhat aware of that. I spent most of elementary school at the back of the class doing my own special assignments, since I arrived at kindergarten already knowing how to read and write (with very poor penmanship, always a problem with some schoolmarms….), add, subtract, multiply, divide, and balance simple chemical equations. But Jesus Fuck! I even looked like a freak! My dear friend Carole Sue sent this along, maybe via Teena Lea, the Brownie in the picture. Yep. same as it ever was.

What is that, Santorum?

I know. I had to skip parts 2-4 because this was just too good to pass up. For the last several weeks, the commercial outlets who sell what little information we have about what is going on in the world have been all aflutter about which mindless numbnut is leading the Republican Primary caucus race in Iowa. First, caucuses aren’t popular polls, and it’s a primary–which means party only. Getting a bead on who is going to win something like this when you have roughly five equally popular unqualified candidates (and one guy who is qualified who hasn’t a chance in hell) is impossible. Instead, what we have seen are competing bullshit polls, each touting the rise and fall of one after another candidate. These come out daily.
So, some beltway bandit firm (Defined in Part 2) hooked up with either a “nooze” outfit or a political party or action committee supposedly did a “survey” of “voters”. On Tuesday. between 3pm and 6pm. The survey supposedly has a “margin of error” which they erroneously identify as a function of the number of people who eventually answered their questions, on Tuesday, between 3pm and 6pm, on a landline telephone. And, sure as shit the 600 people they happened to contact on Wednesday don’t have the same preferences as the 600 some other dipshit bandit group supposedly corralled on Monday. No shit. They’re getting maybe a 2% response rate….and sampling from a totally bogus frame. The only good thing is that in Iowa among Republicans they probably all have land lines.

What was really cool was how Santorum spread like a thin veil of contaminated lubricant all over Iowa. Of course, that was after Newt was king, and Romney made his mark. Of course, it looks like Ron Paul will be the winner….and since he didn’t buy any beltway bandits and isn’t loved by Rupert Murdoch there where no polls saying that Ron Paul was going to take Iowa….No, they liked  the spread on Santorum.

Update: Santorum all over Romney’s behind, with Ron Paul licking at Santorum.

A recent activist reviewer made me tone down a sentence in my recent SSQ paper on scientific literacy. Originally, I said that Jindal “railed” against volcano monitoring. In the final, he only lobbied against it. What do you think? Hardly the meekest “rail” I’ve ever seen from the idiot shit jesus freak who believes in demon possession but not in global warming….

First, after three days, neither Vaclav Havel nor Christopher Hitchens rose from the dead. Yet, Jon Bon Jovi died and came back to life. Wow! Who’d ah thunk that! I was kind of hoping for a televangelist death, but we missed that this year. And, of course, the Iraq war was once again officially declared to be over! Of course, the commitment to the war against Islam was reaffirmed, and anyone who wants to bitch about it can be spirited away to Gitmo. But that only demonstrates the conceptual continuity of being dumb all over. As the holy days of Zappadan come to a close we must remember:

Those Jesus Freaks, well they’re friendly, but,

The shit they believe has got their minds all shut,

Eat that pork, eat that ham, laugh ’til you choke on Billy Graham,

Moses Aaron and Abraham, they’re all a waste of time,

and it’s your ass that’s on the line….

….

Do what you want to, do what you will, just don’t mess up your neighbor’s thrill

and when you pay the bill, kindly leave a little tip, to help the next poor sucker on his one way trip….

Take a Day and Walk Around
Watch the Nazis run your Town
Then go home and check yourself
You think we’re singing, about someone else?

Plastic people is the first Zappa song I listened to. My old friend Harlan Harris, who wound up being the gay kid on the block, turned me on to Zappa when I was just a kid. This was a real favorite. Funny how it inspired not only freak kids in nowhere USA, but also political icons like Vaclav Havel, who led the Velvet Revolution in Czech, and who died today. Havel was a huge Zappa fan and even made Frank a cultural liaison in the transition government. Frank played one of his last concerts in Prague.

As the Zappadan holiday continues, it’s important to get more hard core. To fathom the depths of Zappanistan, and to roll in the infinite terpsicorian ejecumenti of the season.

Bozzio was/is the best drummer in rock and roll, and this one is just a fuck you to everyone else. Looky what I can do, while singing. And, he looks good in  a speedo on top of that. Unfortunately, that netted him that new wave woman who completely derailed his career….

That time of year. Trying not to be a muffin. Must be hard. Harder than your husband. Too, get along, with. Muffins. Soft. Thought I was a man. But I was a…..

Holy baby snakes.

On average, bands back then were lucky to stumble onto the stage and puke out whatever….A very few actually tried to raise the bar, Zappa was the bar holder.

The first weekend of Zappadan is always hard. The holidays are stressful, and with all of the fitful activity of Black Napkins Friday, then the Day In the Dark, Where all the Shark Bubbles Blow, and the Festivities of the First Day of Zappadan, you can get yourself into a bummer. But, Bummin’s for losers baby. What, you gonna be a Suicide Chump? No. time to get back to business. Zappa was only in it for the product, not the pay. This interview with Steve Vai is classic. Zappa wanted the best and he busted their asses to perform at the top. The worst thing in the world is being strictly commercial. But, that doesn’t mean you slough-off and tighten your headband for an extra rush during Jerry’s guitar solo. No. You put your nose to the grindstone…will that redeem us? Probably not, but at least you won’t be a fucking worthless self-absorbed loser.

And, these kids are working…