For those who are celebrating Zappadan 2009:

The eighteen day period runs from December 4th, the date of Frank Zappa’s death, until December 21st, the date of his birth, and is a celebration of the man’s music, aesthetic, and attitude. This is the FOURTH YEAR that Zappadan has been celebrated and, in honor of the season, here’s one of my favorites: “Let’s Make The Water Turn Black”(1968):

…and another verion of the same piece by AlienFaceBill Rubin with a Zappa tribute video:

So now we’ve had a little bit of vocal teen-age heaven right here on Earth. Happy Zappadan.

I Return from the Polls…

…after casting my Jefferson County vote in the “table gaming” question. I don’t think the folks at Charles Town Races and Slots (CTR&S) are going to be very happy with me.

The reason, of course, is that I voted NO in this special referendum for the citizens of Jefferson County, WV. The reasons?

1. As I recall from the gambling casinos in Connecticut (the difference being that they are “Indian Gaming” – but people are affected in the same way), the prevalence of table games at Casinos does NOT create GOOD jobs, rather brings in more lower end jobs from out of state, for localities…

2. Does cause an increase in crime…

3. Is a huge traffic hassle which costs a fortune to maintain on the roads…

4. All the pro-gambling promotion (I’ve been getting 3 or 4 of the SAME BROCHURE in the mail every day for the last week… plus people from OUTSIDE our county coming around door to door… plus signs all over the place) leading me to the conclusion: if they have to do this much to promote it, something is wrong.

5. Doesn’t set the American Entrepreneur example for our kids (how many of you want your kids to grow up and be Maverick?)…

6. A purely personal reason… when I was looking for a job in the last 15 months of unemployed status, CTR&S wouldn’t even give me an interview. If I can’t get a job there, then the “adding jobs” rationalization is meaningless to me.

If you disagree with me and are a registered voter in Jefferson County, you have until 7:30 tonite to offset my vote.

How Rupert Murdoch Manages the World…

You should read this article at Media Matters. Here’s a clip… but you must continue on to get the whole impact:

clipped from mediamatters.org Media Matters: On Afghanistan, Fox News decides, then reports President Obama never had a chance … It didn’t matter what decision he came to regarding troop levels in Afghanistan, or what he said about the ongoing conflict there, because Fox News and the rest of the conservative media had already reached two conclusions. First, he took too long. Second, he was wrong. Since the Bush administration stuck him with the untended-to mess in Afghanistan, Obama had to make a choice — more troops, fewer troops, withdrawal. When Obama signaled that he actually wanted to consider his options before making a decision, the Fox News followed the lead of Dick Cheney — one of the primary authors of the Afghanistan debacle — in accusing the president of “dithering” and “inaction.” Glenn Beck, never one to be subtle or reasonable, accused the president of “letting our troops literally bleed and die” and said Obama would “pay for it” in the hereafter.

Article continues at Media Matters.

The South seems to be full of Undereducated, Born-Again Politicians…

Alex Koppelman did a remarkable article in Salon titled “Muslim Obama hates ‘Charlie Brown’?” that first made me laugh my head off… then, when I put it on again, increased the growing anger which the Conservative, nut-covered, jelly roll of the Right continues to promote in my mind.

I’ll give you a clip here… but go in and read it all. Then do what I did. Go to the Arlington, TN, web site at http://tn-arlington.civicplus.com and take a look at this small town and its government. If you live in a small town like I do, it is remarkably familiar. And it makes you wonder why folks vote for dingbats like Wiseman.

clipped from www.salon.com People try to make some very, very silly things into issues in politics. Like the timing of President Obama’s speech about Afghanistan on Tuesday night, which happened to coincide with — and thus preempt — showings of “A Charlie Brown Christmas Special.” The Memphis Commercial Appeal reports that Russell Wiseman, the mayor of Arlington, Tenn., took to his Facebook page to weigh in, and to give his theory for why Obama timed the speech as he did. From Wiseman’s post: Ok, so, this is total crap, we sit the kids down to watch “The Charlie Brown Christmas Special” and our muslim president is there, what a load…..try to convince me that wasn’t done on purpose. Ask the man if he believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he will give you a 10 minute disertation about it….w…hen the answer should simply be “yes” Wiseman went on to add such gems as, “you obama people need to move to a muslim country…oh wait, that’s America….pitiful.”

By the way… it is clear how Mayor Wiseman develops his awareness of the world. In his profile on the Mayor’s page on the Arlington website we find:

Born and raised in Arlington, Mayor Wiseman enjoys having all of his and Adina’s immediate family living in Arlington.

I guess that explains everything. I’m going back to watch Sam Brownback and Tom Coburn rail against the Health Care bill on C-Span with a renewed understanding of Southern Conservatives.