DownWithTumblr

BLUE AMERICA: Targeted Contributions Now Will Determine The Results November 6

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 23:07:08 -0400

BLUE AMERICA: Targeted Contributions Now Will Determine The Results November 6:

The End Of The Quarter Approacheth, And…

Let’s prove to the DCCC what we already know: focused effort in strategic districts reap maximum rewards (plus wins for Progressive Democrats.) What you donate to our Independent Expenditure page will absolutely make a difference November 6. Please…

blueamerica: An Eric Clapton/B.B. King Platinum Award Is...

Sun, 09 Sep 2012 18:59:20 -0400

blueamerica:

An Eric Clapton/B.B. King Platinum Award Is Priceless—

A Patsy Keever Win Would Be Too

When I was a teenager I worked at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village for a stint and in 1967 I saw Eric Clapton, then 22 and a member of Cream, perform with American blues great, B.B. King. More than 30 years later I was the president of Reprise Records when Eric told me he had gone into the studio with B.B., who he idolizes, and they had recorded several songs. This turned into a collaborative album, Riding With The King, which hit #1 on the Billboard blues chart, #3 on the Billboard album chart, sold over 2 million copies and won a Grammy Award. The RIAA certified the album “double platinum” in 2000 and the custom award plaque is one of the most aesthetically beautiful RIAA awards ever made. Only a small handful were given out and, of course, it was never sold or made available to the public.

Eric and B. B. gave me one. I want to use it to help raise some money for one of the most deserving progressives running anywhere in America, Rep. Patsy Keever, an intrepid Democrat taking on Wall Street shill Patrick McHenry. Patsy’s record as a representative of the NC legislature showed she is a staunch believer in helping working families, standing up for civil rights and including everyone in our America. We invite you to listen to a music video from “Riding With the King” as you ponder how big a donation you can give to help get Patsy elected.

Another fighter for working families from North Carolina, Brad Miller, is supporting Patsy’s run. He told us that “The contrast between Patsy and Patrick McHenry couldn’t be greater. Patsy is a respected community leader, not a self-promoting political operative. Patsy has strong progressive instincts grounded in her understanding of what people’s lives are really like.”

I never talked with either Eric or B. B. about politics and don’t know where they stand on the issues… but they did cover Charlie “Hoss” Singleton’s classic “Help the Poor” on Riding With The King— and they’re both very decent, generous human beings so… I’ll just jump to the logical conclusion.

To get a chance to wind up with this plaque on your wall, just contribute to Patsy’s campaign— any amount— at this ActBlue page. We’ll randomly select one person to thank by sending him or her the plaque.

McHenry is widely considered one of the worst Members of Congress and his record shows him to be a total shill for Wall Street’s corrupt banksters. On issue after issue after issue, Patsy Keever is showing the voters how they differ. “Patrick McHenry,” she told North Carolina voters last week, “wants to end Medicare and replace it with a voucher system that would cost seniors at minimum an additional six thousand dollars a year for their health care. I want to keep our promise to our seniors and protect the current Medicare benefits that they have earned by paying into the program throughout their lifetimes.”

Clear and simple, so there can be no confusion in voters’ minds who’s with them and… who’s not. Please consider standing with Patsy today and contributing whatever you can spare. And if you wind up with an Eric Clapton/B. B. King collectible, all the better. You can contribute by clicking on this link or by sending a check to Blue America at P.O. Box 27201, Los Angeles, CA 90027. And if you want a chance to win the award plaque but don’t have even a dollar to spare, just send us a note to that P.O. Box and we’ll include you’re name as well.

We are all in this together,
Howie, for Digby, John, and the Blue America team

blueamerica: The “Grand Bargain” isn’t shared sacrifice, it’s...

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 20:45:29 -0400

blueamerica:

The “Grand Bargain” isn’t shared sacrifice, it’s human sacrifice.

Blue America mandate: Prosperity Economics.

Please help us elect candidates who will go to Washington with a mandate for Prosperity not Austerity. We desperately need fearless progressive voices in the congress who will stand up for working families and the poorest and most vulnerable among us. Last week we alerted you to professor Jacob Hacker’s manifesto called Prosperity Economics and asked you to take a look at what could be the blueprint for a progressive approach to our nation’s economic problems. We believe this is a plan that can restore growth, reverse inequality and revitalize our democracy. It will even cut the deficit without resorting to slashing vital government services and the already frayed and weakened social insurance programs.

Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the plan of many in the Democratic Party which remains focused on Grand Bargains, “balanced approaches” and Simpson-Bowles, all of which are basically conservative con games devised to slash government at the worst possible time. These Democrats have inexplicably defined victory in these negotiations not as the preservation of vital government programs but winning a nominal tax hike for the wealthiest Americans in exchange for their cooperation in cutting the safety net. Unfortunately for the American people, the Republicans seem to be seeing their winning hand: GOP moneybags David Koch revealed this week that he would be in favor of the tax increases. If his congressional minions follow suit, the Democrats may get their “victory.” Unfortunately, the people will lose, and lose big.

This is why we must have a progressive bloc in congress that is willing to stand up to both parties in cases like this and be the bulwark against a raid on important government services in the name of austerity. This is why we need our Blue America candidates to be elected this November.

Just as we asked you to look at Prosperity Economics, we asked them too. And the response was remarkable. You can read them all at this page . Alan Grayson had this to say:

“This coming election is too important to be about nothing. And that is why Jacob Hacker and Nate Loewentheil’s “Prosperity Economics” platform is important— it’s not nothing, it’s something. Something big. For a Democratic victory to be meaningful, for it to create a “mandate,” we owe it to America to explain what we would do with that victory. We need to make some promises, and then do our darnedest to try to keep them. “Prosperity Economics” is a coherent, comprehensive plan that offers the hope— the essential hope— of leading us out of the wilderness.”

This is where the Democrats should be planting their flag. Agreeing to cut vital government programs including Social Security and Medicare in order to obtain some tip money from millionaires isn’t “shared sacrifice” —- it’s human sacrifice. Up until now the Tea Partiers in Congress have refused to take yes for an answer. But if David Koch is now willing to accept some token tax hikes you can be sure the Republicans are waking up to how foolish that stance is.

No matter who wins the presidency and the majority after November’s election, the nation will be facing the GOP’s well-laid trap of the so-called “fiscal cliff.” And unless there is a bloc of Democrats willing to demand Prosperity instead of Austerity there is a very good chance we will be thrown into another recession, just as our British friends across the pond faced when their government chose the slash government in the midst of an epic slump. And even if we manage to dodge that bullet, we will have more slow growth, rising inequality and the further degradation of our vital social safety net. It is the wrong prescription for the Democratic Party and the people of this country.

You can help by helping elect these progressive House candidates who will come to Congress with Prosperity Economics as their mandate. We urge you to read their comments at Blue America’s Americans for REAL Prosperity page and give what you can.

We simply must make our voices heard in Washington on this important issue

PROGRESSIVE LEADERSHIP... EVOLVING

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 15:05:00 -0400

Blue America has been especially thankful this cycle that progressive champions— particularly Raúl Grijalva and Alan Grayson— have been lending a much-needed hand to progressive challengers all over the country. As co-chair of the Progressive Caucus and a proven fighter for working families, Grijalva’s endorsement has become the gold standard for first-time candidates looking for credibility with national progressive donors. And now he’s working towards institutionalizing this through the Progressive Caucus itself, which is expected to start endorsing candidates next week. As for Grayson, there isn’t another Democrat anywhere in the country who has been as generous in helping to raise money— both for his old colleagues (like Dennis Kucinich, John Lewis, Jesse Jackson, Jr. etc) and for a wide range of progressive challengers. In the past this function has been attended to by corrupt careerists like Steny Hoyer, Joe Crowley, Wasserman-Schultz, etc. Grayson is setting an example for progressives to help each other. And today something extraordinary happened. Michigan progressive activist, Trevor Thomas, sent a fund-raising letter to his own donor list, 130,000 people, thanking them for the support they gave his campaign and asking them to contribute to the campaign of Dr. Lee Rogers in California. Trevor and Lee see eye to eye on the issues and both are committed young Democrats but there’s something else that unites them as well. Trevor:

“Dr. Lee Rogers is up against extreme, Republican Congressman Buck McKeon who is also the chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee. I’ll never forget Buck because when I was working on the repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ he did everything possible to stop our efforts, along with his notoriously anti-choice record on women’s rights and his strong opposition to helping kids stay in the U.S. through the DREAM Act. Please stand with Dr. Rogers— an amazing progressive— and offer your support today. Together, we can help Dr. Rogers win and turn the U.S. House blue.

Blue America has activated a special Trevor Thomas Backs Lee Rogers ActBlue page to collect contributions. Please consider helping out. Lee is an independent-minded Democrat who isn’t beholden to the corrupt Beltway organizations. This will help allow him stick to his guns on important bills that come up in Congress, represent his constituents and help make him impervious to the blandishments of party bosses.

blueamerica: When voters in Michigan’s 11th Congressional...

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 13:21:21 -0400

blueamerica:

When voters in Michigan’s 11th Congressional District head to the polls in November they will be presented with a stark choice. On the Republican line will be a far right-wing libertarian being backed by Ron and Rand Paul and on the Democratic line will be a pragmatic progressive that has spent his entire life dedicated to saving and improving lives.

This week Blue America is endorsing that pragmatic progressive Democrat, Dr. Syed Taj and he’ll be joining us for a live chat at CrooksandLiars.com on Wednesday, 2pm (ET). Normally we meet our candidates on Tuesdays but Dr. Taj informed me he meets with his patients on Tuesdays at that time. The excuse says a lot about who he is and what motivates him.

Dr. Taj needs our help to make sure every voter in the 11th District knows just how stark the differences are between him and the crackpot running against him. Please donate what you can to his campaign today, and don’t forget to join us Wednesday at 2pm Eastern, 11am Pacific for a lively hour of discussion on how we move our country FORWARD.

We’re all in this together,

Howie, Digby, John and the Blue America Team

Scott Brown is the Wall Street shill running against consumer...

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 13:48:00 -0400

Scott Brown is the Wall Street shill running against consumer protection advocate Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts. Today he mentioned that he has “secret meetings with kings and queens” everyday.

One of Blue America’s earliest forays into electoral...

Sat, 16 Jun 2012 12:53:12 -0400

One of Blue America’s earliest forays into electoral campaigning besides raising money for progressives came in 2006 when we got together with Tom Maxwell and Ken Mosher from the Squirrel Nut Zippers along with the legendary singer-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones, storied music producer Andy Paley and talented videographer Mike McIntee to come up with an iconic song we were able to use in over a dozen congressional campaigns, Have You Had Enough?

This week, the folks behind DefeatMcKeon.com approached us about working together on a new version of the song. Considering that there isn’t a worse Republican up for reelection who’s likely to be defeated, we were only too glad to join in. The result is the video you can watch— and hopefully spread— up top. And if you’d like to help us get this 30 second clip up on local cable TV, please consider contributing to our I.E. PAC here.

I thought this might be a good time to take another look at why Rickie Lee and the guys from the Squirrel Nut Zippers decided to record the song in the first place. Let’s start with the note Rickie Lee sent me, late summer, 2006:

At this point, it might be easy for someone like me to say ‘why bother? He got his two terms (albeit illegally), the damage is done, our economy is wrecked, our ecology is three steps backwards, our domestic policy is “every man for himself,” and our foreign policy reads something like “how do say that in English, buster?” Our standing as a military power is forever tainted, and our flag, as a beckon for freedom if only to ourselves, is tattered and sad.’

So why kick them out now? Because, they can still do a lot of damage. Because, they deserve to be expelled. Because, they have committed crimes far more grievous than the last guy, with his 80% approval rating, whom they scalded, bewildered and ultimately defeated with a relentless media campaign. I mean, looking back, it wasn’t Clinton who was defeated. It was us, the Americans who elected him, who stood up to the bullies. So they impeached him because we, the people, just wouldn’t go along with it. Where is the media now, when there are REAL criminals in office?

You can hear the voices of the people on the Internet. Where is one echo in the media? Imagine, if a sweet little song rallied the folks to storm their local newspaper or TV station and say ”HEY, how about putting our point of view on now? Except that there would be no one there, since Clear Channel bought up most of the radio stations and has a clear right wing agenda. How about the newspaper? No, Rupert Murdock, an Australian, seems to own most of the American news organizations. No, whatever fear you have of his regime, it cannot stop you from letting Bush know you that are furious with him and his criminal entourage.

Tom Maxwell and Ken Mosher are best known as musicians and songwriters for the Squirrel Nut Zippers. But they were the original creative impetus behind the whole “Have You Had Enough?” project. Tom, whose good nature and modesty is so endearing:

The goal, obviously, is for this song to get a lot of attention and air play. We want to use the machine to further our political goal of minimizing, if not annihilating, the comprehensive assault on our institutions of government. Although I can admit to a certain parochial thrill at the attention, it’s far more reassuring to be part of a much larger gestalt. Certainly, by working with such powerhouses as Rickie Lee and Howie Klein, I have stayed true to my operating principle of being the weakest link in the musical chain!

And so this song is dedicated to you: the politicians whom we support, who have decided it can and must be done better, the bloggers, who helped me articulate my inchoate rage and frustration and thus informed these lyrics, the selfless volunteers “in the trenches,” who do the most important but decidedly unglamorous GOTV work, and the all of those “who hunger and thirst for righteousness’ sake,” who may have resigned themselves to valid, but ultimately illusory, feelings of despair and powerlessness.

Our name is legion, and we have had enough.

The other former Squirrel Nut Zipper and half of Maxwell-Mosher, Ken Mosher, like so many of us, is both hoping for a leader to help us change direction and, simultaneously, taking matters into his own hands in the hope of pushing that along.

I honestly thought back in November of 1988, when I worked for MoPIRG and did volunteer work for the now-defeated Michael Dukakis and the Democratic Party, that things couldn’t be worse for our country.

Then in 1997, when the Squirrel Nut Zippers played one of the Clinton Inaugural Balls, I thought that things couldn’t be better.

Now in 2006, we have truly reached a bottom for this country and our international relations. We need leaders to turn this nation around, and to get there, we need all citizens to come out of the woodwork, activate and demand that we change the direction of the country.

Have YOU had enough?

Who's Paying For The Right's War Against Democracy? You Are

Sat, 09 Jun 2012 10:52:43 -0400

At Netroots Nation today, Paul Krugman applauded the blogging community for boycotting the companies that finance the anti-democracy organization ALEC, which is working to introduce fascism to America. Many companies that have been financing ALEC have now stopped. One conglomerate that will never stop, of course, is Koch Industries. The same way that the Koch father financed the John Birch Society in the ’50s, the Koch brothers are financing ALEC and the GOP today. When you buy products from any Koch companies, you’re arming them for their fight against democracy. That doesn’t make you a bad person. This information is not advertised to you. Besides, if you have a life and things to do, it’s hard to keep track of everything. I understand.

There is only one thing we can do besides voting (please do this).

We must start a boycott movement.

Not just a boycott, but a boycott movement. Don’t boycott for a month. Boycott forever.

If you bring down the ones funding fascism, you bring down fascism’s latest thrust into America.

We need to go big or go home. We need a nationwide boycott of those trying buy this country out from underneath us.

KOCH Industries contributed $2,147,513 to the Republican Party™ in 2010 and are a major force behind the Teaparty™ and the Wisconsin GOP’s™ Anti-Union jihad. Since then they have contributed even more. Every time we buy a Koch-made product, we put money directly into their campaign against our families and friends.

KOCH Industries products include…

Angel Soft® toilet paper

Brawny® paper towels

Quilted Northern® toilet paper

Soft n’ Gentle® toilet paper

Dixie® plates, bowls, napkins, & cups

Mardi Gras® napkins and towels

Sparkle® napkins

Vanity Fair® napkins

Zee® Napkins

Georgia-Pacific® paper products, lumber and building products

INVISTA® products

Lycra® products

Stainmaster® Carpet

Not along ago we discussed why we ought to look for alternatives to Republican Party funding operations like Gold’s Gym and the Omni hotel chain. Among the other funders of American fascism are AT&T, Fox, Aflac, UPS, ExxonMobil, Target, Home Depot and CitiGroup. It’s something we need to revisit every so often.

Today, over at DownWithTyranny we looked into House Armed...

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 18:26:41 -0400

Today, over at DownWithTyranny we looked into House Armed Services Committee chairman Buck McKeon’s relationship with armaments manufacturers and war contractors. Short version: he takes their bribes and votes for their agenda. Time for the folks in Simi Valley, Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley to vote him out and replace him with Dr. Lee Rogers.

Do ALL The Members Of The House Financial Services Committee Take Bribes From The Banksters?

Fri, 25 May 2012 18:40:00 -0400

“Contributions from parties with an interest in legislation are really nothing but bribes. Sure, it’s legal for the most part. Sure, everyone in Washington does it. Sure it’s the way the system works. It’s one of Washington’s dirty little secrets— but it’s bribery just the same.”- Jack Abramoff, Republican Party bribery expert

There are certain committees, congressmembers love getting on— and sometimes pay to get on— especially the committees that play a role in regulating big-money industries, like Agriculture, the Military Industrial Complex, Health Care and, most of all, Finance. Finance has paid out bigger bribes to Congress than any other sector— by far. Since 1989, the Finance/Insurance/Real Estate sector has ponied up $1,710,713,286 in congressional races. This cycle, they’ve given $135,085,054 so far. The numbers are so big, they’re almost incomprehensible. But to the banksters, this kind of cash is an investment, an investment that pays enormous dividends— like, for example, the repeal of Glass-Steagall, which helped make lots of millionaires multimillionaires and some multimillionaires into billionaires. It was also very lucrative for a number of congressmen, particularly members of the House Financial Services Committee.

I don’t think anyone would disagree that members of the Financial Services Committee who take large bribes from the banksters are entitled to a fair trial before they’re thrown in prison. And yet, they almost all do take large bribes from the banksters. Among the biggest donors within the sector this year are:

Goldman Sachs

Bain Capitol

Citadel Investment Group

National Assn of Realtors

Bank of America

JPMorgan Chase & Co

PricewaterhouseCoopers

New York Life Insurance

Morgan Stanley

Wells Fargo

Below is a simple list. These are the memvers of the House Financial Services Committee and how much they took this cycle from the Finance Sector. Only Boehner ($2,269,358) and Cantor ($1,051,900) have taken more than Spencer Bachus this year. The names bolded are the committeemembers who are notorious bribe takers and who trade their votes for cash. Each of them belongs in prison… for a long time.

Spencer Bachus, R-AL, Chairman ($1,041,825)

Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, Vice Chairman ($708,347)

Peter King, R-NY ($166,300)

Edward Royce, R-CA ($681,685)

Frank Lucas, R-OK ($154,500)

Ron Paul, R-TX ($872,406)

Donald Manzullo, R-IL ($162,729)

Walter Jones, R-NC ($43,000)

Judy Biggert, R-IL ($374,094)

Gary Miller, R-CA ($146,970)

Shelley Moore Capito, R-WV ($240,700)

Scott Garrett, R-NJ ($630,370)

Randy Neugebauer, R-TX ($383,683)

Patrick McHenry, R-NC ($295,350)

John Campbell, R-CA ($292,750)

Michele Bachmann, R-MN ($262,213)

Thaddeus G. McCotter, R-MI ($103,250)

Kevin McCarthy, R-CA ($649,247)

Stevan Pearce, R-NM ($91,550)

Bill Posey, R-FL ($167,050)

Michael Fitzpatrick, R-PA ($208,750)

Lynn Westmoreland, R-GA ($191,635)

Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-MO ($234,385)

Bill Huizenga, R-MI ($183,790)

Sean Duffy, R-WI ($272,684)

Nan Hayworth, R-NY ($503,371)

James Renacci, R-OH ($299,484)

Robert Hurt, R-VA ($262,982)

Robert Dold, R-IL ($635,350)

David Schweikert, R-AZ ($359,000)

Michael Grimm, R-NY ($421,281)

Francisco “Quico” Canseco, R-TX ($304,226)

Steve Stivers, R-OH ($508,210)

Stephen Fincher, R-TN ($303,813)

Barney Frank, D-MA, Ranking Member ($285,250)

Maxine Waters, D-CA ($19,200)

Carolyn Maloney, D-NY ($409,323)

Luis Gutierrez, D-IL ($58,750)

Nydia Velázquez, D-NY ($116,000)

Melvin Watt, D-NC ($103,750)

Gary Ackerman, D-NY ($107,100)

Brad Sherman, D-CA ($217,400)

Gregory Meeks, D-NY ($197,000)

Michael Capuano, D-MA ($60,350)

Rubén Hinojosa, D-TX ($26,700)

William Lacy Clay, D-MO ($58,850)

Carolyn McCarthy, D-NY ($214,460)

Joe Baca, D-CA ($77,301)

Stephen Lynch, D-MA ($50,500)

Brad Miller, D-NC ($45,000)

David Scott, D-GA ($139,120)

Al Green, D-TX ($33,900)

Emanuel Cleaver, D-MO ($112,739)

Gwen Moore, D-WI ($138,805)

Keith Ellison, D-MN ($84,812)

Ed Perlmutter, D-CO ($358,556)

Joe Donnelly, D-IN ($121,561)

André Carson, D-IN ($94,927)

James Himes, D-CT ($623,449)

Gary Peters, D-MI ($280,750)

John Carney, Jr., D-DE ($224,250)

What Romney did was not a prank or bullying… it was...

Thu, 10 May 2012 20:53:23 -0400

What Romney did was not a prank or bullying… it was assault!

The Blue America Shoppe

Fri, 04 May 2012 21:05:49 -0400

We’re trying something new to raise some money to use in helping electing progressive candidates to Congress. Usually we just beg. (We’re still beggin’.) But now we have a store to sell things in. And all the money goes towards our political activities— like the Rob Zerban billboard we have up now on the I-94 just south of the Milwaukee Airport at the Ryan Road Exit. As we get closer to the election— and Christmas— we’ll get more stuff up. But our first experiments are with a rare old campaign artifact, a lovely white leather yarmulke from Joe Lieberman’s 2000 campaigns. (I said campaigns because he was running for president first, then vice-president and, simultaneously, Senate.)

The other pretty random item at the Blue America Shoppe is an RIAA-cerified platinum record award for the FRIENDS soundtrack. Aside from the Rembrandts (“I’ll Be There For You”), there are tracks from the other songs that were played on the show by artists like R.E.M., Joni Mitchell, Lou Reed, k.d. lang, Barenaked Ladies, Pretenders, Hootie & the Blowfish, etc.

Take a look. Here’s the yarmulke:

Who says Willard doesn't know how to talk to the young people?

Tue, 01 May 2012 18:24:29 -0400

If you didn’t watch Letterman last night you might have missed the Top Ten Ways Mitt Romney Begins Conversations With Teens:

10. “How’s puberty going?”

9. “Where do you summer?”

8. “Do you fellows play sportball?”

7. “Nice shirt— You know, my friend owns the Gap”

6. “You teens are just the right height”

5. “Check out my sick Windsor knot”

4. “Would you like to see my dancing horse?”

3. “Raise the roof if your municipal bonds have reached maturity”

2. Just like this

1. “Didn’t I fire your father?”

Ayn Désastre :: The Sinking of the S.S. Prospérité The new issue...

Tue, 01 May 2012 12:37:00 -0400

Ayn Désastre :: The Sinking of the S.S. Prospérité

The new issue of New York features a “photo-illustration” of Wall Street’s and the One Percent’s favorite up-and-coming politician of Reaction, Paul Ryan, by Jesse Lenz… and it gets very close in style to Pierre et Gilles. I think Jesse knew exactly what he was doing. Parisians Pierre Commoy and Gilles Blanchard produce highly stylized art pieces that have become part of popular culture. At Warners we used them to do album covers for Marc Almond, Erasure and, eventually, Madonna. Jesse may have actually been given Chait’s manuscript for inspiration. What artistic heights could an opening like this inspire you to?

The implosion of the Newt Gingrich presidential campaign— the first implosion, before the weird resurrection and inevitable second implosion— came because he used four words: right-wing social engineering. He used the phrase, last May, to describe the Republican budget designed by GOP icon Paul Ryan. It was as if he had urinated on Ronald Reagan’s grave. Party leaders rounded on him. In Iowa, an angry voter cornered him and fumed, in a video captured by Fox News that quickly went viral, “What you did to Paul Ryan was unforgivable … You’re an embarrassment.” Gingrich quickly apologized to Ryan, pledged his fealty to the document, and then, lending his confession an extracted-at-NKVD-gunpoint flavor, announced, “Any ad which quotes what I said on Sunday is a falsehood.” It was no use: Despite years of diligent service, his support among Republicans collapsed, his fellow partisans holding him in the low regard ordinarily reserved for liberals.

Ryan’s rise occurred so rapidly that an old hand like Gingrich hadn’t yet fully grasped the fact that he had become unassailable, though most (and, by now, virtually all) of his fellow Republicans had. Ryan’s prestige explains, among other things, the equanimity with which movement conservatives have reluctantly accepted the heresies of Mitt Romney. They may not have an ideal candidate, but they believe Romney could not challenge Ryan even if he so desired.

“Now, we are truly at an inflection point, between the Barack Obama and Paul Ryan approaches to government,” National Review editor Rich Lowry wrote recently, treating the elevation of the chairman of the House Budget Committee over the presidential nominee as his party’s standard-bearer as so obvious it requires no explanation. “We don’t need a president to tell us in what direction to go. We know what direction to go. We want the Ryan budget,” says anti-tax enforcer Grover Norquist. “Pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to become president of the United States.” In any case, Romney has shown no inclination to challenge Ryan, praising him fulsomely and even promising him, according to the Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes, he’d enact Ryan’s plan in the first 100 days. Republicans envision an administration in which Romney has relegated himself to a kind of head-of-state role, at least domestically, with Ryan as the actual head of government.

Chait then veers off into an analysis about why the Village loves Ryan in a way it never embraced Newt or even Reagan in their heydays. And at the same time Chait had the Ryan phenomenon under his microscope, Jonathan Weisman was engaged in the same task over at the NY Times. Ryan listens to Rage Against the Machine on his iPod. But Ryan is the voice of the Machine… always has been, although it’s only recently most people are listening. And Weisman reminds us “That is not bad for a man who was once just another minion on Capitol Hill, working for a research group, then for a member of Congress, and moonlighting as a waiter at the Hill hangout Tortilla Coast and as a personal trainer at a gym. Co-workers at the conservative policy group Empower America admonished him for hanging his workout clothes out to dry at work rather than laundering them.” From that to undoing the New Deal.

Weisman is probably unaware that Dave Obey, Wisconsin’s top-dog Democrat protected and even nurtured Ryan’s political career and made sure he would never be seriously challenged for reelection even though he represents a swing district filled with Democrats, a district Obama won in 2008. Obey, who was forced into retirement from Congress after voting for the Stupak Amendment, has an obvious man crush on the much younger Ryan. Weisman uses Obey as an example of how “those who know him cannot seem to dislike him.”

“I’m stunned by how oblivious he is to the pain his policies would cause people,” said David R. Obey, a Democrat from Wisconsin who jousted often with his downstate colleague before retiring from the House at the end of 2010. “What amazes me is that someone that nice personally has such a cold, almost academic view of what the impact of his policies would be on people.”

No one ever asks Obey about the notorious Obey Pact that protected all Wisconsin incumbents; convenient. Of course Obey isn’t the only member of Washington’s Conservative Consensus with a man crush on Paul Ryan’s. Notorious GOP closet case, Aaron Schock from Peoria is completely smitten who gushes his homoerotic admiration for the older Ryan. Schock, who’s ditched his pink belt and lavender shirts to blend in better with the straights, tells Weisman that Ryan is “in kick-butt shape.”

Paul Krugman has long decried Ryan as a fraud and a flimflam man and it’s driven him to distraction that an even less serious Beltway media has conferred upon Ryan some kind of mantle of seriousness and wonkishness… and, worse yet, wisdom. Ryan’s a Wall Street special interest hack, bought and paid for in the hopes of installing him one day in the White House, the way MCA and organized crime did with Reagan. Ryan’s fame— at least outside the Beltway— rests in his plan, a redistribution of wealth plan (from bottom to top) masquerading as a deficit reduction plan. Chait puts it at the center of the Ryan legend:

The centrist political Establishment, heavily represented among business leaders and the political media, considers it almost self-evident that the budget deficit (and not, say, mass unemployment or climate change) represents the singular policy threat of our time, and that bipartisan cooperation offers the sole avenue to address it. By casting his program as a solution to the debt crisis, by frequently conceding that Republicans as well as Democrats had failed in the past, and by inveighing against “demagoguery,” Ryan has presented himself as the acceptable Republican suitor the moderates had been longing for.

Whether Ryan’s plan even is a “deficit-reduction plan” is highly debatable. Ryan promises to eliminate trillions of dollars’ worth of tax deductions, but won’t identify which ones. He proposes to sharply reduce government spending that isn’t defense, Medicare (for the next decade, anyway), or Social Security, but much of that reduction is unspecified, and when Obama named some possible casualties, Ryan complained that those hypotheticals weren’t necessarily in his plan. Ryan is specific about two policies: massive cuts to income-tax rates, and very large cuts to government programs that aid the poor and medically vulnerable. You could call all this a “deficit-reduction plan,” but it would be more accurate to call it “a plan to cut tax rates and spending on the poor and sick.” Aside from a handful of exasperated commentators, like Paul Krugman, nobody does.

The persistent belief in the existence of an authentic, deficit hawk Ryan not only sweeps aside the ugly particulars of his agenda, it also ignores, well, pretty much everything he has done in his entire career, and pretty much everything he has said until about two years ago.

In 2005, Ryan spoke at a gathering of Ayn Rand enthusiasts, where he declared, “The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand.” Ryan has listed Rand’s manifesto, Atlas Shrugged, as one of his three most often reread books, and in 2003, he told the Weekly Standard he tries to make his interns read it. Rand is a useful touchstone to understand Ryan’s public philosophy. She centered libertarian philosophy around a defense of capitalism in general and, in particular, a conception of politics as a class war pitting virtuous producers against parasites who illegitimately use the power of the state to seize their wealth. Ludwig von Mises, whom Ryan has also cited as an influence, once summed up Rand’s philosophy in a letter to her: “You have the courage to tell the masses what no politician told them: You are inferior and all the improvements in your condition which you simply take for granted you owe to the effort of men who are better than you.”

Ryan now frequently casts his opposition to Obama in technocratic terms, but he hasn’t always done so. “It is not enough to say that President Obama’s taxes are too big or the health-care plan doesn’t work for this or that policy reason,” Ryan said in 2009. “It is the morality of what is occurring right now, and how it offends the morality of individuals working toward their own free will to produce, to achieve, to succeed, that is under attack, and it is that what I think Ayn Rand would be commenting on.” Ryan’s philosophical opposition to a government that forces the “makers” to subsidize the “takers”— terms he still employs— is foundational; the policy details are secondary.

…In 2001, Ryan led a coterie of conservatives who complained that George W. Bush’s $1.2 trillion tax cut was too small, and too focused on the middle class. In 2003, he lobbied Republicans to pass Bush’s deficit-financed prescription-drug benefit, which bestowed huge profits on the pharmaceutical and insurance industries. In 2005, when Bush campaigned to introduce private accounts into Social Security, Ryan fervently crusaded for the concept. He was the sponsor in the House of a bill to create new private accounts funded entirely by borrowing, with no benefit cuts. Ryan’s plan was so staggeringly profligate, entailing more than $2 trillion in new debt over the first decade alone, that even the Bush administration opposed it as “irresponsible.”

When Democrats took control of Congress in the 2006 elections, they reimposed a budget rule requiring that any new spending or tax cuts be offset by new revenue or spending cuts. Ryan opposed it, preferring to let new spending or tax cuts go on the national credit card. Instead, he continued to endorse Bush’s line that tax cuts were leading us to a glorious new era of prosperity and budget balance. “Higher revenues flowing into the Treasury, as a result of economic and job growth, have given us a real chance to balance the budget,” Ryan announced in 2007. “The president’s budget achieves the important goal of balancing the budget in the near term— without raising taxes,” he wrote in August 2008.

So Ryan’s a fraud? Isn’t that what we’ve been telling you for 6 years? Yes, he’s a fraud. And in his own district that fraudulence has never been examined by voters. Is Rob Zerban up to the task? We think so. Blue America has endorsed him. We’re raising money for him on a Stop Paul Ryan page. And, we have an Independent Expenditure Committee we can use to really go after Ryan ourselves… if we can raise enough money. Right now we have a billboard up on the I-94 at the Ryan Road exit just south of the Milwaukee Airport. If you want to help, perhaps we can do a lot more than that between now and November.

The DCCC is Doing An Even Worse Job This Year Than Usual

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:17:20 -0400

The DCCC is supposed to elect Democrats to Congress. Instead they’re putting all their resources into electing conservatives who run as Democrats— like anti-Choice, anti-gay fanatic Hayden Rogers in North Carolina, where he’s facing off in a primary next week against popular progressive icon Cecil Bothwell. And in the district next door (NC-10), the DCCC is also pushing a homophobic, anti-Choice “Democrat” against progressive state Rep. Patsy Keever. In fact, the DCCC has basically morphed into an arm of the reactionary Blue Dog caucus since corrupt “ex”-Blue Dog Steve Israel took over the chair last year. They have endorsed every single right-wing monstrosity the Blue Dogs have puked out this year, even Ted Vick, one of the South Carolina leaders of the Koch brothers’ neo-fascist front group, ALEC!

And when it comes to taking on the worst of the Republican leaders… the DCCC is never anywhere to be found. Last cycle Boehner got such a deafening pass by the DCCC when Justin Coussoule ran against him that this year, no Democrat is even taking up the thankless task. And this year, we have two great candidates running against Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan, respectively Wayne Powell and Rob Zerban, and the DCCC is, once again, putting all their resources and energy behind conservatives guilty of the same things they Democrats always accuse the Republicans of— like the war against women and refusing to support healthcare reform. Are you sick of hearing stories like this? Please consider helping Rob Zerban beat Ryan here and helping Wayne Powell beat Cantor here.

And, by the way, that billboard (below), that just went up on the busiest highway in Ryan’s district, the I-94, just south of the Milwaukee Airport… and at the Ryan Road exit. If you’d like to see more billboards like that spring up across the district, please consider contributing to the Blue America PAC here.

The Koch Brothers Give Candidates Millions... But We Have Guitars

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:37:00 -0400

Earlier today, we ended our Barenaked Ladies guitar giveaway. In the end, 403 donors gave $13,790, most of it to progressive activists and congressional candidates Norman Solomon (CA-2) and David Gill (IL-13). The average contribution was $34.20 and the winner was Christopher Bugbee who gave a recurring contribution to Norman and David of $25.00. He’s the proud owner of a Fender Strat signed by all the members of the Barenaked Ladies— including ex-lead singer Steven Page. And now we’re on to another guitar and another campaign! This time a sleek black Squier Telecaster signed by all the members of Filter.

The idea is that we’re going to send the guitar as a thank you to one random supporter of Ken Aden’s Run 2 End Hunger II here. It was signed— back in 2002— by all the members of Filter, riding high on their smash hit, “Hey Man, Nice Shot.” Before becoming a candidate for Congress, Ken, an Iraq and Afghanistan War vet was immersed in running a non-profit community-based self-help group in Arkansas, Residents 4 Arkansas, Inc. Last month he was honored by the White House for his community service and met with President Obama and members of his cabinet to talk about the role of volunteerism in America. Ken has been awarded the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Achievement Medal, the Joint Meritorious Unit Award, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Commissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon, the Multinational Force and Observers Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge, and the Parachutist Badge. Right now he’s in the middle of a 253 mile, 7 day run across his district (ending May 5) to raise awareness and to raise cans of food for families who are hungry in Arkansas. When he ends his run, Blue America will thank one of the supporters of Ken’s candidacy with the Filter guitar. Supporters can contribute here or send a check— or even just a note— to PO Box 27201, Los Angeles, CA 90027. Everyone will have an equal chance to “win” the guitar, regardless of how much you contribute— or even if you just let us know you’re praying for Ken or rooting for him.

Some may see Ken as a “do-gooder” but he’s a tough as nails progressive running in the reddest district in Arkansas. Rather than shrink away from a fight as others in his state have done, this Army Combat Veteran is taking it to the streets and standing up for equal rights for all. As you’ve probably guessed by now, the main part of his campaign focus is on community service work— as well as renewable energy technology, veterans rights, and the protection of Social Security and Medicare. In a recent quote he said that “if you even think of cutting Medicare and Social Security you ARE a criminal! The time for corporate prostitution has come to an end!”

As we mentioned on the Act Blue page, we were chatting with Ken last week and he told us about a woman he met while out campaigning the weekend before. She considered herself an independent, and was a supporter of Ken’s very right-wing opponent— Wal-Mart’s personal Congressman, Steve Womack— back in 2010.

“I wish I would have met you back then, because I never would have voted for him,” is just what she told Ken on Saturday.

We liked that, because it is the opening lyric of Filter’s “Hey Man, Nice Shot,” we figured that would be the perfect guitar for Ken’s campaign. (Not to mention that Ken is a huge fan of Filter’s music himself.) What Ken’s doing is so important that we wanted to encourage all of our friends to help. But, since we know we can’t ask you to send canned food through the mail even though we are 100 percent in support of our brothers and sisters at the APWU, we thought we’d ask you to pledge to donate $25.30 to Ken’s race— that’s one dime for every mile that he’ll be running across the district. Of course if you can’t donate that amount any help would be greatly appreciated. And if you want to contribute more… please don’t hesitate.

And, for every person who makes a contribution through this page for Ken’s campaign, you will be entered in a random drawing to win a guitar signed by every member of Filter as a “thank you” from Blue America. Everyone has the same shot, whether you contribute one dollar or 1,000 dollars— or even if you just send us a note to the PO Box.

So don’t delay— please make your contribution to Ken’s campaign today, and by doing so, you’ll have a direct hand in ending the plight of impoverished families today. GO KEN GO!!

Corrupt K Street Lobbyists Set Up A New Blue Dog Think Tank To Undermine Working Families

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 13:38:22 -0400

Blue Dogs are often most reviled for crossing the aisle and voting with Republicans on key issues like healthcare reform and financial reform. Last November, when 39 Democrats voted against healthcare reform, for example, 25 were Blue Dogs. And when the reconciliation changes came to the House March 25, and 32 Democrats voted with the GOP, 25 were Blue Dogs.

Next week it will be one year since the House passed a hate crimes prevention bill that included the LGBT community. Seventeen Democrats crossed the aisle of bigotry and voted with the Republicans. All but one of them were Blue Dogs: Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK), Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL), Chris Carney (Blue Dog-PA), Travis Childers (Blue Dog-MS), Lincoln Davis (Blue Dog-TN), Joe Donnelly (Blue Dog-IN), Brad Ellsworth (Blue Dog-IN), Bart Gordon (Blue Dog-TN), Parker Griffith (then a Blue Dog/now a Republican-AL), Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC), Charlie Melancon (Blue Dog-LA), Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN), Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR), Heath Shuler (Blue Dog-NC), John Tanner (Blue Dog-TN), and Gene Taylor (Blue Dog-MS.

But Blue Dogs do even more damage than just by voting with the Republicans against working families and against equality and liberty. The worst damage they do is within the Democratic caucus, where they constantly work to pull caucus positions ever rightward, farther and farther away from the Democratic base. In committees you constantly have corporate shills— which, in the end, is what all Blue Dogs are— undercutting all attempts to work on behalf of regular American families.

I spoke to two DCCC-endorsed candidates yesterday who told me that when they got to Washington for briefings they were forced to listen to warmongering Blue Dog Jane Harman— perhaps best known for her quote, “I am proud to be introduced as the best Republican in the Democratic Party,” a distinction she shares with Joe Lieberman— on, what else, foreign policy. One candidate told me that he was sickened to hear her reciting talking points he’s heard over and over again repeated on Fox News. She and Lieberman were on the radio this week telling an NPR audience that what the U.S. ought to do is expand military operations into Yemen.

An arm of Blue America, Bad Dogs, is dedicated to working toward replacing Blue Dogs like Jane Harman and John Barrow with progressives like Marcy Winograd and Regina Thomas, and toward defeating Blue Dog incumbents like Florida reactionary Lori Edwards.

Ever since Rahm Emanuel’s chairmanship, the DCCC has practically been an arm of the Blue Dog caucus, and institutional support within the Democratic Party, particularly from Steny Hoyer, is gigantic. The DCCC always indoctrinates its candidates with Blue Dog messaging and framing courtesy of Third Way, a very reactionary Blue Dog-oriented policy shop— with leaders like Jane Harman, Blanche Lincoln, Evan Bayh, Tom Carper, Melissa Bean and Mark Pryor, all as firmly under the aegis of corporate overlords as any Republican. On top of that, yesterday six of the most notoriously corrupt K Street lobbyists, including conservative ex-congressmen Bud Cramer (AL) and Charlie Stenholm (TX), formed a new corporately oriented anti-family organization called the Blue Dog Research Forum. Their goal will be to continue pressuring the Democratic caucus to move farther and farther right and to give up on ordinary working families and accept GOP and Big Business guidelines when formulating legislation.

In a letter to Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.), who co-chairs the Blue Dog Coalition, Cramer and Stenholm wrote that they were establishing the organization to “ensure there will always be a forum in Washington to mark that middle ground when it comes to issues affecting the country’s fiscal health.”
The group’s goal is to be an incubator for policy ideas affecting the economy, such as energy, health care, tax policy, national defense and entitlements.

The research forum takes its name from the 54 fiscally conservative Democratic Members who have emerged as a powerful voting bloc on major legislation, but no current lawmaker has been involved in setting it up, according to Cramer, an original Blue Dog and president of the new research forum.

“They actually legally cannot dictate control or dominate what happens here,” Cramer said. “We can involve them. We can involve any Member in the policy forums we will carry forward, and we hope to be able to do that.”

However, as the lobbyists quietly set up the organization over the past several months, they have kept Blue Dog leadership generally informed. And Cramer, who now lobbies at Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates, said the Members have been supportive so far.

In addition to Stenholm— who works at Olsson, Frank & Weeda— and Cramer, the board of directors for the new venture includes Jeff Murray of the C2 Group, Vickie Walling of Prime Policy Group, Stacey Alexander of Elmendorf Strategies and Libby Greer of Cauthen, Forbes & Williams.

Murray, who serves as the forum’s treasurer, said he expects to send out solicitations in the near future asking potential corporate, union and other donors for pledges worth about $10,000 each to participate… “A lot of ideas don’t get to see the light of day,” said Greer, former chief of staff to Blue Dog Rep. Allen Boyd (Fla.). “We want to give them a place to breathe.”

Greer and Boyd worked closely with George W. Bush to destroy Social Security, for example, an idea that was embraced by Wall Street, of course, but rejected by most of Congress and most of the public.

Help fight the Blue Dogs today and get an opportunity to win an RIAA double platinum record award for the Baha Men’s smash hit “Who Let the Dogs Out.” It isn’t something you can buy in a store, but any donation today on the Bad Dogs page will enter you in a drawing to win the unique framed plaque.

Win the award

Alan Grayson Faces The Limbaugh Onslaught... Again

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 09:21:00 -0400

Limbaugh was still smarting from Alan Grayson (D-FL) pointing out here at DWT last January that ole Rush was more lucid when he was still taking hillbilly heroin than he’s been lately. “Rush Limbaugh is a has-been hypocrite loser, who craves attention. His right-wing lunacy sounds like Mikhail Gorbachev, extolling the virtues of communism. Limbaugh actually was more lucid when he was a drug addict. If America ever did 1% of what he wanted us to do, then we’d all need pain killers.” So it came as no surprise to anyone when Limbaugh launched into another childish tirade against Congressman Grayson, the member of Congress the extreme right fears most.

On his Hate Talk Radio show Friday Limbaugh started babbling that the congressman who represents Orlando, home of Disney World, is “loony tunes,” mixing up his media conglomerates, and claiming that he’s an order of fries short of a happy meal.” Grayson, laughing, pointed out that the binge-eating and drug addled Limbaugh’s life is “like a 5-alarm fire and all his money doesn’t make it any better.” Limbaugh huddles in his $27 million mansion, broadcasts from his basement and never ventures out unless it’s to hunt for underage boy prostitutes in the Dominican Republic. He sends his servants out to score his drugs and bring back food. “He’s one pizza short of exploding,” chortled Grayson yesterday. “If there is anyone who knows about Happy Meals, it’s Rush Limbaugh. He certainly has consumed a lot of them. He likes them with an oxycontin chaser.”

Limbaugh has refused to answer any questions from media asking him when he’s moving his operation to Costa Rica or if rumors are true that the Costa Rican government, in an attempt to preserve the morals of the country, has indicated that he won’t be welcome there.

Humor aside, it’s important to realize that corporate special interests whose predatory goals are served by the faux populism of highly-paid shills like Limbaugh, Beck and Hannity, want nothing as much as shutting Alan Grayson up. He’s been as much a thorn in their sides as he’s been a beacon of light for ordinary Americans looking for a champion inside the confines of a dysfunctional and self-serving political system. So… Blue America wants to remind everybody about a very special page, Getting Grayson’ Back. So far 934 people have chipped in to help Alan get his message out to his constituents. We’ve raised just over $35,000 of the $50,000 goal we set for ourselves. If you can, please lend a hand. And, for your entertainment and elucidation, here’s how we first became aware of Alan Grayson:

Bassekou Kouyate Live In Los Angeles

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 01:02:52 -0400

Earlier this month I was practically apologizing for writing about my favorite new restaurant in L.A. on my ravel blog because… well because it’s in L.A. and so am I and I just have to drive 15 minutes to get there. And here I am back with the L.A. stuff again. Kind of. It’s L.A. via Mali.

If you follow the travel blog at all, you may recall that a couple years ago I was wandering around Mali and Senegal. While waiting for my friend Roland to arrive so we could head out to the world’s biggest mud mosque in Djenne and then on to the unpaved wilds of Dogon Country, I somehow wound up in Ali Farka Toure’s recording studio watching Bassekou Kouyate complete I Speak Fula, the follow up to Segu Blue, his widely acclaimed 2007 international debut album.

In the way of context, let me tell you I’ve been very lucky with music in my life. Even before becoming president of Reprise Records, I had always had good music juju. I was knee-high to spit when I snuck off to the Brooklyn Paramount Theater to catch Maxine Brown. Not only did she sing my favorite song, Oh No, Not My Baby, but she came out the stage door afterwards and gave me a big kiss and an autograph that I treasured until I went to Afghanistan 5 years later. In the interim I booked concerts at my school by Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Temptations, The Fugs, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Pink Floyd, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Otis Redding, The Byrds, the Dead… all the regular stuff we used to dance around to in college back then. And I was a dj and so on. Even when my music juju screwed up, it didn’t screw up too bad. I once drove all the way to some village near Lyallpur in Pakistan, the familial home of the famous Ali Brothers (of my most enjoyable acid trips) only to find the Ali Brothers, Nazakat and Salamat, the world’s greatest Qawwali singers, away on a concert tour. Years later I was working in a meditation center in Amsterdam and someone persuaded me to go upstairs to hear some “trippy Indian music” and it was… Nazakat and Salamat Ali Khan. Point: I’ve seen everyone (except The Beatles, all of whom I’ve seen individually). And the further point, when I saw Bassekou is the Jimi Hendrix of the ngoni, a description that is now widely used, and that the concert I saw him play at the French Cultural Center in Bamako was one of the greatest and most inspired live shows I’ve ever seen in my life… well, it’s not like some kid telling you about the first live music he’s ever seen. I knew Jimi Hendrix when he was the lead guitarist for the Night Hawks fronting John Hammond. He did his first American concert after he became the Jimi Hendrix Experience for me and that night I watched incredulously as he and my mother smoked a joint. I hung out with him in Essaouira and saw him play at the Isle of Wight Festival before he died and I went off in search of the Alis.

That said, Bassekou is not just playing in L.A. tomorrow (Sunday), he’s playing a free show— at Amoeba Records on Sunset, around the corner from that favorite L.A. restaurant I was talking about! If you’re in the L.A. area— unless you’re lucky enough to have tickets for one of the shows at the Getty Center— don’t miss this chance. Bassekou plays ngoni on President Obama’s favorite record, Kulanjan but he’s not well know in the U.S. yet, although he’s a superstar in Africa and on his way to being one in Europe. This is what I wrote after seeing him play in Bamako:

I don’t know how to describe the concert without losing the essence of what the music did for everyone involved— both on and off the stage. Let me tell you, though, as magnificent as the recorded versions of his songs are, the live show is what makes it so amazing. The concert defined hot. When those syncopated rhythms get going, there is no resisting their power. Mali is the birthplace of the blues— and the blues is still very much alive and vibrant here— and it is the ancestral home of rock’n’roll in every imaginable way. Bassekou has that coursing through his blood and he knows exactly how to convey it to the audience. And the dancing was as good as the music! Absolutely breathtaking! Truthfully, I can’t remember the last time music compelled me to jump out of my seat and dance in the aisle. Last night it did.

I found this video on YouTube— Bassekou at the Orange Peel in Asheville, NC a couple weeks ago. I wonder if Heath Shuler made it to the show. Bassekou will be in Savannah on April 2nd and I’ll definitely tell Regina Thomas to check it out; it’s right up her alley. In this clip it looks like a local banjo player found his way onto the stage; you can tell who he is because he’s the one with the store-bought instrument. If you’re in L.A., hasta mañana. Otherwise, Bassekou’s U.S. tour schedule is here. Wow! 4 nights in Minneapolis and three in Lafayette, Louisiana!

The Connecticut Republican House Caucus

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:55:23 -0500

Should we get them bigger American flags or bigger computer screens?