The Crossed Pond

A slightly expanded take from me at Donklephant

That’s what’s being reported, that Obama will tap former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta to run the CIA, a surprise to many given Panetta doesn’t have any background in intelligence. Panetta was a congressman from California and later director of the OMB before running the Clinton White House from 1994-1997. When I say no background on intelligence, I mean no background. Even with 16 years in Congress he never had a notable role in intelligence or foreign policy matters, focusing instead on budget, civil rights, and environmental stuff.

However, in some ways this is a positive step. People like Glenn Greenwald and myself have considered as a virtual disqualifier anyone who had a hand in the abuses of the intelligence community under the Bush administration, but the problem is, that disqualifies most anyone who, well, works in intelligence at a high level. In withdrawing Brennan, spending a long time ruminating, and then nominating Panetta, it’s pretty clear that the Obama transition team was very, very sensitive to such criticisms. That may have led them to nominate a nobody flak, if that’s who Panetta turns out to be, but at the very least it shows that their ear is definitely tilted in the right direction.

All I’ve been able to find on Panetta regarding intelligence matters is this op-ed in the Monterey County Herald (as we all know, the paper of record for the intelligence community).

More recently, President Bush vetoed a law that would require the CIA and all the intelligence services to abide by the same rules on torture as contained in the U.S. Army Field Manual.

The president says the rules are too restrictive, implying that the use of some forms of torture just could help avoid another Sept. 11.

But all forms of torture have long been prohibited by American law and international treaties respected by Republican and Democratic presidents alike.

Our forefathers prohibited “cruel and unusual punishment” because that was how tyrants and despots ruled in the 1700s. They wanted an America that was better than that. Torture is illegal, immoral, dangerous and counterproductive. And yet, the president is using fear to trump the law.

The same rationale is used to justify eavesdropping on U.S. citizens without a warrant. The president has made clear that the failure of the Congress to pass this authority could jeopardize our security. Instead of trying to negotiate a compromise with Congress that would meet both our intelligence and privacy concerns, it is easier to threaten with fear.

I’ll be interested in watching his confirmation hearings. If Obama wants a manager in the CIA Director slot rather than a lifetime spook or legal analyst, I have to say, that’s alright with me.

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - Shaft

Because being British is weird.

It is traditionally the President’s call as to who will lead the party organization, and Obama has tapped Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. Kaine will work part-time until his term is up in 2010, at which point he’ll take over full-time.

Howard Dean steps down January 21st.

“What is dubbed the war on terror is, in grim reality, a prolonged, worldwide irregular campaign — a struggle between the forces of violent extremism and those of moderation. Direct military force will continue to play a role in the long-term effort against terrorists and other extremists. But over the long term, the United States cannot kill or capture its way to victory. Where possible, what the military calls kinetic operations should be subordinated to measures aimed at promoting better governance, economic programs that spur development, and efforts to address the grievances among the discontented, from whom the terrorists recruit. It will take the patient accumulation of quiet successes over a long time to discredit and defeat extremist movements and their ideologies.”

—Robert Gates, in an article for this month’s Foreign Affairs.

Four Senate seats this month have to be filled by governors because the seat-holders are vacating for prominent jobs in the new administration.

In Delaware, Joseph Biden is ascending to the Vice Presidency, and in an example of horse-trading so transparent that it apparently doesn’t even warrant comment, twisted the arm of the governor to appoint his senior aide to the seat with the more-or-less express intent of keeping it warm for his son in 2010. The appointee, Ted Kaufman, has never received a single vote and has never held elected or even public office and, as far as I’m aware, doesn’t even have any noteworthy experience in the private sector. He was appointed over other potential candidates like the sitting Lieutenant Governor, the sitting Secretary of State, a sitting state supreme court justice, and, presumably, every other previous or sitting elected official in the state of Delaware.

In New York, of course, it seemed very likely, at least until she botched her entrance into the field, that Governor Patterson, at least in part on direction from the Obama campaign, would appoint Caroline Kennedy. Kennedy has done some good work in her life, but again has eschewed public accountability, and I think precisely nobody denies that the #1 qualification which puts her into such strong contention is her recent role as being one of the President elect’s top surrogates and fundraisers. Again, it’s not that Governor Patterson has no options, but rather no imagination. The other two names being widely floated for the seat are Andrew Cuomo and, yes, Bill Clinton. Which would be mind-blowing considering he would be holding the seat of the lady who was only put into the seat for being married to him (though at least she got elected and thus deserved it). In any case, who says the American aristocracy is dead? I’m still holding out hope that Patterson does the right thing and nominates somebody not on the basis of horsetrading and favor-rewarding, but rather looks to an actual prominent public servant in New York who deserves the ascension (unlike, say, in Delaware, where that was apparently not even a consideration).

In Colorado, Senator Ken Salazar is vacating to be Obama’s Secretary of the Interior. Yesterday, Governor Bill Ritter announced his appointment to fill the seat to term as…Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet. And a collective “who?” echoes throughout the rocky mountains.

However, the liberal netroots knows what’s going on. As David Sirota writes here, there is only one area in which Ritter excels: he is the most well connected candidate to the big money donors in Colorado and beyond:

Considering his lack of legislative record, lack of experience in any elected or statewide office, and considerable ties to the biggest of big money, it’s logical to be concerned about how a Senator Bennet will vote on issues. Off the top of my head, I’m wondering, for instance, whether someone with this kind of resume is going to be in favor of tougher financial industry regulations?*
[...]

Colorado has no dearth of very, very qualified people to be U.S. Senator (especially considering that being a U.S. Senator is one of the easiest jobs in the United States - your major responsibility is to vote yes or no and then be told how awesome you are by the 50 taxpayer-funded sycophants who comprise your personal staff - a lot easier than the average factory job). More specifically, we have a lot of people who have worked very hard passing good public policy and building the grassroots of the Democratic Party for years here (many who are named on the list of aforementioned potential candidates, and which I publicly supported for appointment when hosting the big drive-time radio show here last week). Looking at this bench, and then selecting a person with almost none of those qualities confirms that what gets rewarded in politics today is not legislative accomplishments nor even political ones - what counts is money, inside connections, Ivy League pedigree and a Beltway-padded resume.

And then you have Illinois.

There, the controversial but innocent-until-proven-guilty governor apparantly rethought his standards and decided to go after a candidate who was the least offensive and most obviously squeaky clean and qualified candidate for the office possible. The Illinois legislature punted on holding a special election, despite their protestations that they wanted a fair process (when what they really mean is one in which they get to have their thumbs on the scales), so rather than leave Illinois with only one Senate vote for the foreseeable future, the governor went with a known public servant, a man who has made a career out of seeking public approval, a man with some pretty germane qualifications considering the context (a former Attorney General (i.e. anti-corruption crusader) and former Comptroller (i.e. bank regulator), a man who would not leave the Senate without a single African-American, and a man who, despite the most intense public scrutiny spotlight in America right now, precisely nobody can level an accusation against. In other words, the man, given the circumstances, most qualified for the job.

So, four Senate vacancies. In one, literally a staffer is appointed to keep the seat warm for the Senator’s son. In another, it’s an ongoing battle of which high-profile election surrogate to reward for their loyalty. In the third, the trumping consideration was apparently in favor of the guy most connected to big money, at the expense of qualifications or experience. And in the fourth, the guy nominated was an unimpeachable public servant undeniably qualified for the job.

Now, the question:

Guess which one doesn’t get seated?

The official recount is over, but not necessarily the election.

DFLer Al Franken held an unofficial lead of 225 votes over Coleman, according to a newspaper tally of the officials’ count of the absentee ballots. Franken had led unofficially by 49 votes going into the day and gained a net 176 votes from the new ballots.

With the recount complete, focus immediately shifted to the Minnesota Supreme Court, which continued to consider a request from the Coleman campaign to alter the process and add more absentee ballots to be reconsidered. But by early evening there was no word from the state’s highest court as to when it would rule or hear arguments. [...]

Under state law, an election certificate formally naming a winner cannot be issued until all legal disputes are resolved.

The lawsuit, called an election contest, is expected to center on the issue of the excluded absentee ballots as well as disputes over ballots the Coleman campaign believes were double counted and a decision to use Election Day machine totals, rather than recount totals, in a Minneapolis precinct where more than 100 ballots went missing.

The problem for Coleman from here on out is two-fold.

Either way, a number of legal stratagems that might have seemed appealing to the Coleman campaign might now be somewhat mooted. For instance, even if all 130 ballots that the Coleman campaign claimed were double-counted for Franken were removed from his tally (but no ballots at all had been double-counted for Coleman), Franken would maintain a significant advantage. With Franken doing so well among the absentee ballots that were counted today, moreover, any Coleman attempts to get more absentee ballots counted would seem to have a high risk of backfiring.

Coleman has a number of recourses left him, but none of them look very promising. Moreover, the #1 rule that we’ve learned in the last 10 years about recounts—the psychological benefits of coming out of the recount ahead, by hook or crook, are enormous, often prohibitive. My guess is the people are Minnesota are ready to seat their second Senator.

Curious.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, tapped in December by President-elect Barack Obama to serve as secretary of Commerce, has withdrawn his name for the position, citing a pending investigation into a company that has done business with his state.

“Let me say unequivocally that I and my Administration have acted properly in all matters and that this investigation will bear out that fact,” he said Sunday in a report by NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell. “But I have concluded that the ongoing investigation also would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process.”

He said he plans to continue in his role as governor. “I appreciate the confidence President-elect Obama has shown in me, and value our friendship and working partnership. I told him that I am eager to serve in the future in any way he deems useful. And like all Americans, I pray for his success and the success of our beloved country.”

There’s always one or two cabinet appointees who withdraw early for various reasons, but Richardson has a reputation as being rather squeaky clean, and given his ambitions, one wouldn’t expect him to withdraw just in the face of routine inquiries.

And, in a sign of just how off the radar this was, one has to go back to a December WaPo article to find out about the particulars (none of the articles this morning mentions it).

A federal grand jury is investigating whether a financial firm improperly won more than $1.4 million in work for the state of New Mexico shortly after making contributions to political action committees of Gov. Bill Richardson (D).

The probe focuses on whether the governor’s office urged a state agency to hire CDR Financial Products. The probe is in a highly active stage at a time when President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Richardson as his nominee for secretary of commerce, according to two sources familiar with the investigation.

In the New Mexico case, the FBI and federal prosecutors are investigating how CDR, based in Beverly Hills, Calif., won lucrative fees from the New Mexico Finance Authority in 2004 soon after donating $100,000 to two Richardson organizations.

…………..

From 2003 to 2004, CDR Financial gave $75,000 to Sí Se Puede, which paid for expenses at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. CDR’s president and founder, David Rubin, also gave $25,000 to Moving America Forward, which funded Richardson’s efforts to register Hispanic and American Indian voters.

Rubin was generous to Obama’s campaign as well, giving $29,000 to help elect the senator to the White House. Yesterday, the Obama transition office declined to comment on the development.

H/T: Donklephant. This is nuts.

wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

The lifespan of the Mars rovers has piqued my interest for quite a while now.  The original mission was planned to be about three months long.  Since nothing critical has broken or gone wrong, the mission has been extended and extended and extended.  Over 250,000 photos have been beamed back to earth and the the two little rovers have been driving around the surface of Mars for five years as of today and have covered nearly 13 miles. There have been some close calls as dust has covered the solar panels with a lack of wind to clean them, but the rovers are still roving.  With the same equipment.  Without repairs.

We’ve been actively exploring the surface of another planet for half a decade.

That’s remarkable.

Now and then there is virtue to be found within the halls of a brothel. It seems that some whores have a shred of conscience left, but they still don’t care about their “John”.

U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett says he is donating his new congressional raise to an Anderson charity.

Barrett says he will donate the $4,700 salary increase that begins in 2009 to Anderson Interfaith Ministries - an organization of churches and individuals who provide assistance to the needy and helps them become self-sufficient.

Barrett says lawmakers should not be earning more during these poor economic times. He says he voted against the automatic pay raise and all increases should have to be voted on individually.

Barrett is beginning his fourth term in Congress. The Republican’s district runs along the Savannah River in the northwestern corner of South Carolina.

Good for him and kudos for the gesture. In truth, it would have been better if he had given it back. Taxpayers know how to give too and they don’t need help deciding where.

I was surprised by the amount of attention the internets paid to Obama giving up a Blackberry, but that story has become relevant again. The National Archives has recently made mention of the challenge of archiving the Bush administration, specifically the 100 some odd terabytes of electronic data. It’s an interesting issue; it seems that a lot of the problems would evaporate if the government would use non-proprietary formats for data. Electronic files should really be a boon to our national archive and the transparency of government but if they are inaccessible, there’s no point at all.

But what struck me most was an almost throw-away line about how Vice President Cheney has asserted that he and he alone is able to determine what is public and what is private, with the latter excluded from the archive. Really, that what is being reported, and no one else gets to check it. As I understand he made this case in court and a verdict has yet to be reached, but this strikes me as a very very important issue.

I’m all in favor of our government leaders preserving private space and it seems to be a pretty simple way to delineate it: If the contents are related to government service, it’s public. If it was written or stored on government equipment, its public. Really, though, there isn’t much of a President or Vice-president’s life, in this day and age, that doesn’t impact the public in some way. It’s one of the costs of doing business. But absolutely there needs to be oversight. We have to have that level of transparency. It’s untenable that someone like Mr. Cheney would be allowed to determine, on his own, what goes into his VP archive and what doesn’t.

If they don’t arrange something so that Viacom channels continue to be carried on Time Warner cable, that is. As it stands, Viacom channels, which include Comedy Central and Spike and some music channels that young people watch inbetween playing World of Warcraft or having sex with each other (two largely mutually exclusive subsets), go off air at midnight tonight.

If today is my last all-day CSI marathon, there will be blood.

Happy New Year.

Bing Crosby - Old Man River

Today’s Washington Post features insightful commentary on Bush’s hand-picked head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration:

Foulke quickly acquired a reputation inside the Labor Department as a man who literally fell asleep on the job: Eyewitnesses said they saw him suddenly doze off at staff meetings, during teleconferences, in one-on-one briefings, at retreats involving senior deputies, on the dais at a conference in Europe, at an award ceremony for a corporation and during an interview with a candidate for deputy regional administrator.

His top aides said they rustled papers, wore attention-getting garb, pounded the table for emphasis or gently kicked his leg, all to keep him awake. But, if these tactics failed, sometimes they just continued talking as if he were awake. “We’ll be sitting there and things will fall out of his hands; people will go on talking like nothing ever happened,” said a career official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to a reporter.

In an interview, Foulke denied falling asleep at work, although he said he was often tired and sometimes listened with his eyes closed.

Before you get too outraged, here’s the sort of thing OSHA does:

In early 2001, an epidemiologist at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration sought to publish a special bulletin warning dental technicians that they could be exposed to dangerous beryllium alloys while grinding fillings. Health studies showed that even a single day’s exposure at the agency’s permitted level could lead to incurable lung disease.

God only knows how much damage might have been done by a more alert bureaucrat.

So says your friendly neighborhood Libertarian Party.

* Every December 25, the illegal immigrant known as Santa Claus crosses the border into the United States without a passport. He carries concealed contraband, which he sneaks into the country in order to avoid inspection by the U.S. Customs Service. And just what’s in all those brightly colored packages tied up with ribbons, anyway? The Drug Czar and Homeland Security want to know.

* Look at how this international fugitive gets around: Santa flies in a custom-built sleigh that hasn’t been approved by the FAA. He never files a flight plan. He has no pilot’s license. In the dark of night, he rides the skies with just a tiny bioluminescent red light to guide him — a clear violation of traffic safety regulations.

* Pulling Santa’s sleigh: Eight tiny reindeer, a federally protected species being put to hard labor. None of these reindeer have their required shots, and Santa’s never bothered to get these genetically- engineered animals registered and licensed. It’s no wonder: He keeps them penned outside his workplace in a clear violation of zoning laws.

* But Crooked Claus the Conniving Capitalist harms more than just animals — he’s hurting hard-working American laborers, too. Isn’t Santa’s Workshop really Santa’s Sweatshop, where his non-union employees don’t make minimum wage and get no holiday pay? Add the fact that OSHA has never inspected the place, and you have a Third-World elf-exploitation operation that only Kathy Lee Gifford could love.

* No wonder Santa is able to maintain his monopoly over the toy distribution industry: He’s cornered the Christmas gift market. Santa dares to give away his products for free in a sinister attempt to crush all competition — just like Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Antitrust Lawsuit Memo to the feds: Is Santa Claus the Bill Gates of Christmas?

Daniel Levy has it.

Obama is keeping his distance, and a lot of Israel-watchers think the Israeli government will have a rude awakening if it expects the Obama administration to be the mindless cheerleader that the Bush administration has been—what the region needs, and what the Obama administration may be, is not a collective of shallow Zionists, but a conference table of honest brokers.

M.J. Rosenberg, one of my favorite bloggers on Israeli issues, shares that hope, and his learned a lot from the Lebanon debacle. He quotes Dr. Asali, which I’ll pass on:

“I do not believe that the conflict should be seen any longer as pitting Israelis against Palestinians, but must be re-conceptualized as a struggle between those who are committed to ending the conflict based on two states against those on both sides who persist in clinging to hostility. Those who are prepared to recognize each other’s dignity and self determination in two sovereign states share a common purpose, and have more in common with each other than with their compatriots who are bent on conflict for generations to come.”

As for me, I’ve been a long-time Israel supporter who has since turned to cynicism and jadedness and some resentment. I certainly take the point that Hamas and Palestinian hardliners themselves have no intention of ever recognizing the dignity of Israel or anything even approaching it. But that’s ceased to justify (if it ever did) writing a blank check to Israel, and the center for gravity for who is holding up the process and who seems more persistent in clinging to hostility shifted with the Lebanon action and stays there. The United States and the global community has horribly botched their dealings with Palestine since Hamas gained its democratic legitimacy. Ironically, under the bluster, there is every indication that a two-state solution is possible from Palestine’s perspective. But for that to happen, some detachment, I believe, from Israel is necessary.

I’ve been keeping up a bit on the race for RNC Chairman. In a rebuilding period—to put it mildly—for the GOP, the position takes on added import as the party’s point-man for organizing, fundraising, and resource allocation. There are a number of candidate, but one of the biggest is Chip Saltsman.

Saltsman was Mike Huckabee’s campaign manager, and what Saltsman brings to the table is a knack for the grassroots. His ideology, such as it is, skews towards the evangelical, but his tactics are old school and effective, as Huckabee’s disproportionate organization strength indicates.

Anyway, as the race comes down to the wire, it’s the time for schmoozing party bosses and lavishing gifts and promises on RNC voting members. Saltsman, for his part…

On Friday, the news broke that former Tennessee GOP leader Chip Saltsman, who ran Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign, had distributed a CD to Republican National Committee members for Christmas featuring a song called “Barack the Magic Negro.”

“Barack the Magic Negro” is a parody set to the music of “Puff The Magic Dragon” and sung by an Al Sharpton imitator.

Representative lyrics:

“Barack the Magic Negro lives in D.C.
The L.A. Times they called him that
’cause he’s not authentic like me…

“Yeah the guy from the L.A. paper
said he made guilty whites feel good
they’ll vote for him and not for me
’cause he’s not from the hood…”

And so on. The CD also includes such hits as “The Stay-Spanglish Banner,” and 39 others in a similar ilk (lame Rush Limbaugh fodder).

The other candidates react:

The current chair, Robert M. “Mike” Duncan, who is seeking another term:

“the 2008 election was a wake-up call for Republicans to reach out and bring more people into our party,” Duncan said in a statement. “I am shocked and appalled that anyone would think this is appropriate as it clearly does not move us in the right direction.”

This morning, Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer, who has reportedly been mulling a run for the RNC chair, released a statement supporting candidates for the chairmanship who have taken a “firm position” on Saltsman’s decision to distribute the “racially-insulting song”:

“As the GOP Chairman in one of our nation’s most ethnically and culturally diverse states, I am especially disappointed by the inappropriate words and actions we’ve seen over the past few days,” he said. “I am proud of those party leaders who have stood up in firm opposition to this type of behavior.”

“Actions such as the distribution of this CD, regardless of intent, only serves to promote divisiveness and distracts us from our common goal of building our party,” added Greer.

Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis, who is also seeking the top GOP post, has criticized Saltsman as well.

“In my opinion, this isn’t funny and its in bad taste,” he said. “Just as important, anything that paints the GOP as being motivated in our criticism of President-elect Obama by anything other than a difference in philosophy does a disservice to our party.”

Steele, being the black guy in the running, is trying to not take the bait too much, but still…

He said Saltsman’s attempt at humor was misguided. Technically Steele came to his defense. But, Steele implied that distributing the CD was a stupid move.

“Our actions and our words are oftentimes used to define who we are as Republicans,” Steel said.

Y’think?

Look, I’m all for not nailing people for their subjective senses of humor. Lord knows I make more than my fair share of off-color jokes that, if I were running for something, would likely be thrown in my face and taken ridiculously out of context.

But still. The political context, of course, is obvious. You’re running for the position of being in charge of re-branding the Republican party. And your Christmas present to the voting members of the committee is this?

And just in a personal context, I don’t think I hang out with anybody, or want to hang out with anybody, who listens to something like “Barack the Magic Negro” and thinks it’s funny enough to pass on.

The major RNC Chairman election event is January 7th, which will be a candidate’s forum.

A group of relatives of the victims of Flight 93–the plane hijacked on 9/11–want to build a memorial at the crash site in Pennsylvania. So far, so good.

They want the ground to be broken soon, so that there can be a memorial by the tenth anniversary of the crash. Okay, fine.

In order to facilitate this, they want the Bush administration to empower the Department of the Interior to seize the land from its current owner. Uh…what?

Svonavec Inc. owns one of the last large chunks of land needed for the 2,200-acre memorial, including the area where the plane crashed Sept. 11, 2001. Svonavec’s treasurer Mike Svonavec has said the park service has not done enough to negotiate a deal.

White said Svonavec has not been willing to negotiate, and called that unacceptable.

“We’ve certainly sought to do this within in the process, following protocol as much as we possibly can,” White said Saturday. “It has gotten to the point where we fear we’ll lose significant momentum.

This takes emiment domain to a whole new level. Here we’re not dealing with an instance of a necessary public good like a roadway, or even at the prospect of increased tax revenue for local government. No, in this case the power of the federal government is being marshalled to seize private property solely for the purpose of making a group of aggrieved people feel better.

White, whose cousin Louis Nacke II died on Flight 93, said the group would favor Bush giving the interior secretary or director of park services the power to take the necessary steps to acquire the land before the administration leaves office in January.

He said the families understand that the outgoing president has plenty to do in his final weeks in office. But White pledged that the group would carry its fight to the Obama Administration, if needed.

“I think the rest of the family members and I feel there is no point at which we will stop,” White said. “Whatever it takes. As long as it takes. Whoever it takes. To do anything less would be doing a disservice to those that we love.”

One wonders how much of their own money White and the other relatives are willing to pony up towards an offer on Svonavec’s land. Or does this obligation to their deceased loved ones extend only to other people’s property, not to their own?

Losing a loved one doesn’t entitle you to become a douchebag. And even if we were to make allowances along those lines, seven years is enough time to get past any douchebaggery thus incurred.

I’ll add that, of all the many species of fascist roaming the American landscape, the Compassion Fascists are just about my least favorite variety. At least your standard thug just flat-out makes demands; he doesn’t pollute otherwise noble sentiments in the course of his thievery.

0. iwrestledabearonce — Tastes Like Kevin Bacon

At last, a musical performance that encapsulates the true meaning of Trouserdown. Happy holidays, everyone!

1. Asylum Street Spankers — If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day

It’s not hyperbole to say that this is my all-time favorite band, and this is my all-time favorite performance of one of my all-time favorite covers.

And that’s that. My 12 favorite Music Video of the Week entries for the year. Cameron appears to be taking up the mantle a bit, so maybe next year we’ll finally include some that aren’t mine (the less said about Rojas’ entries, however, the better).

Happy holidays!

It is, after all, the giving season:

2. The Larks - Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego

Came across this looking for a totally different cover of the same tune, and just fell in love. My favorite random late night find of the year. It’s beautifully understated, so much so that you can almost miss just how darn great it is. But once it gets its hooks in, it’s unforgettable.

And next…#1!

A little less than a year ago, Redskins DB Sean Taylor was shot and killed in his own home by invaders. Police protection, needless to say, availed him nothing.

Earlier this month, New York Giants wide reciever Plaxico Burress idiotically shot himself in the leg while visiting a dance club. I make no allowances for the fact that he foolishly and unsafely brought a gun into a private business without its permission; nor am I impressed by a professional athlete visiting a dance club while on the physically unable to perform list with a groin injury.

All that said: today, the police raided Plaxico’s house. It is more that a bit difficult to imagine Mr. Burress being a danger to public safety given his current status. It is also not hard to understand why he might have firearms in his home.

Can this be explained as anything other than the police making an example of the man? Were he not a black man with cornrows, and a high-profile athlete, would he have been targeted? And is it possible that the police in New Jersey might have more productive things to do with their time?

Unlike last year, I was pretty set on the top three this go around.

3. Freddie Stevenson – Easy Now

I became thoroughly obsessed with this for a month solid. Must have watched it 200 times. What a brilliant vid. I went out and bought his CD, but nothing else quite captures the magic of this performance. Maybe one of my all-time favorite live performance videos.

Up next…#2

CNN’s website is a treasure-trove of vacuous bilge, but this nonsense is outstanding. Written by Marian Salzman, the woman that CNN unironically lauds as having the keen eye and steady nerve to popularise the term “metrosexual”, it proudly features a groaning smorgasbord of moronic simplifications, stupid descriptions (’cuspers’? I mean, really? Bandwagons are stupid enough as it is, and this one has “I’m a cretin” written on the side of it in large flashing letters) and pop-sociology, all held together with a thin glue make from pure, unadulterated claptrap.

It’s hard to pick a favourite part, so here’s three:

Firstly, moronic simplification:

Who’s to blame for the economy going into serious decline?

The short and easy answer is greedy boomers. This is the generation that knew better than their cautious, fuddy-duddy parents, the generation that protested, that had ideals and marched to the beat of defiant music: “Street Fighting Man,” “We Want the World and We Want It Now,” “Hope I Die Before I Get Old.”

Some crap about cuspers I can’t bear to re-read in case my eyes begin to bleed in sympathy with my brain, capped off with some rambling garbage about ‘change’, months after even the most unintelligent media commentators had given up on its hackneyed explanatory power:

Cuspers, the age cohort that have been living in the shadow of the boomers, now have even more reasons to stake out their own separate identity and values.

It’s taken a long time for this rising demographic to be recognized as a distinct generation in its own right. They’ve been called “late boomers” because they missed the formative boomer experiences of the ’60s, such as civil rights and anti-war protests.

They’ve been called tweeners or cuspers because they straddle the divide between Boomers and Gen X. American social commentator Jonathan Pontell has worked hard to establish their identity as Generation Jones.

There’s still debate about whether cuspers are even a generation apart from boomers and where the generational boundaries lie. But those arguments miss the key point, which is that Americans want change.

Finally, she saves the best for last, oh yes:

The cusper generation is as much an ideal as it is a demographic group, and that appeal extends well beyond the birth years that define it. Watch out for tweets (messages on the Twitter platform) that proclaim “Ich bin ein cusper.”

“Ich bin ein cusper”, yes, she wrote that. This may be aside from the main point, but I am gratified to see that she’s incorporated twitter, possibly the stupidest and most annoying thing currently related to the internet, into this thrilling conclusion to her piece.

This may be the worst article I’ve read all year, although to be fair I have been mostly avoiding Lou Dobbs and Larry Kudlow.

4. The Mountain Goats – This Year

I love me some Mountain Goats. This became an anthem of sorts for me (though it’s been a very good year).

Up next…#3

5. Chromeo – Tenderoni

Found this single on Pitchfork, went hunting for a video, bought the album, love it. It is, of course, ridiculous in its own way (the song, the video, and even the artists (Dave 1 and P-Thugg), but it’s also demonstrably, irrepressibly, unabashedly funky. And I can get down with that.

Coming soon…#4

Possibly the unluckiest man ever. (h/t: The Midpoint)

I consider my self fairly well versed in world geography and was a bit surprised when I couldn’t identify one of the countries on an advertisement on the back of a yearly magazine I was reading. I had to resort to a map to identify the country at the 5 o’clock position from Australia; the one at Australia’s 9 o’clock took me a minute, but I got it.

Who can name the one I couldn’t?

Click to see the big version.