Let's Clear the Air

Lot's o' stuff to vent about, so look out:

Saturday night, I had the privilege of seeing the Branford Marsalis Quartet recreate John Coltrane's A Love Supreme in the first night of the SF Jazz Festival's Spring Season. No words can do justice in explaining what I saw that night. Sheer genius. Coltrane's a genius for writing and composing the piece; the Marsalis 4 are geniuses for performing it as they did. Truly magnificent. Superlatives galore for the entire sixty-minute performance. I will never witness anything like this again for the rest of my life. There will be the great; there may even be better; there will be nothing like what I saw.

Am I the only one that's more than pissed off by the knee-jerk reactionary conservative wing-nut Republican Party and the Bush Administration specifically? Today, the Senate approved of drilling the ANWR strictly by a partisan vote. Bush named Wolfowitz the head of the World Bank? Well, looking at the way he guided the nation into war based on sheer bullshit intelligence and ideological fallacies, all Third World nations should be doing the potty dance. He could either run the World Bank's accounts into the ground or justify a war to invade South America based on the fact that two governments (Uraguay and Chile) are moving to the left and are tired of U.S. strongarm policy.

Other news briefs that have pissed me off to no end:

The new bankruptcy laws, which do have merit, in order to keep people from taking advantage of the system, will do truly nothing to stop corporations from pulling the same shit: declaring bankruptcy and pushing off the responsibilities and costs to others. Watch Pacific Graft and Electric and other companies pan off the bad bookkeeping (the only word with triple-double consonants, by the way) and nothing happens; Mr. and Mrs. Joe Smith, who rack up credit card debt because Mr. Smith hurt himself on the job but can't afford health care, look out. You're the real problem in society. See, we have what we call an "ownership society". Fuck up just once, and the Bush Administration will fight with a large company over who owns YOU.

Glad the Governator went to Washington to show those Feds just how much they owe California. Great, now most districts will face funding crunches, hospitals will face nurse shortages, and all-around, Arnie will claim that the systems that help people are special interests that drain the system.

Am I the only one who sees the hypocrisy in the Bushies' Kiss-Ass European Tour '05 (look for a second leg in the summer)bookended with the nomination of John Bolton as the U.S. envoy to the U.N.? For crimony's sake, it's like nominating an avowed atheist as the next Pope. Geesh. Now we'll really earn respect because we can now officially and diplomatically tell the rest of the world to fuck off without having to pay attention to the blowback.

Watch how much fun the U.S. Congress has with athletes who shoot 'roids. Too much profit to be made, too many "American heroes" to be defaced, to attack such an institution as the MLB. Man, more dope has been done in baseball than Hollywood, and yet no one will face a bum rap. Look out, though, teenager, who smokes a joint at the next concert; you'll face five to twelve.

Bernie Ebbers, I hope you learn to swallow as you serve all that time in prison for screwing workers out of their life savings, their health care, and their faith in a system that promised that hard work would be rewarded with future security. You wrecked countless people's lives all for the sake of more money. At the risk of sounding hypocritical AND self-righteous in the same sentence, remember what Jesus said about the love of money, you prick. At least justice was seen in New York yesterday.

What the hell can be done with Allan Greenspan? Tax cuts for insanely wealthy people and corporations that move overseas to already evade paying income tax: good for the economy. Social Security as it's currently running, based on the current pattern of deficit spending: bad. Wait a second, ass wipe, your blessings on the tax cuts are partly responsible for the mess the messianic Bushies have put us in. Pray that my ability to teach economic history ends soon with a fiery bus accident on Rte. 75 on a snowy night. Oh, sorry, Al, I was just granted tenure this month. See, another huge hassle enacted by a terrorist organization (Bush Admin's terms) that wants nothing but to see the future collapse and our youth get stupid.

Tom DeLay, I hope you enjoy the same downward spiral that many of your political opponents suffered at your hands. No ethics violations or political double-standards that you applied to the Democrats? Again, look out when I return from Spring Break and review with my students the events of the two weeks previous. "Why, Mr. _ would Tom DeLay face criminal charges and impeachment?" Revenge is mine, sayeth he who survives the slaughter.

Banning gay marriage in California is seen as unconstitutional based on the case of the defense. Welp, we've got a Plessy, Dred Scott, and Griswold trainwreck happening for the Supes, who will eventually have to rule on. Tell me, based on the defense's arguments, how does hetero- only marriage not deny gay couples the civil liberty to marry? The defense claimed two arguments: 1. gays have all rights in unions, just not the title "marriage"; 2. marriage's major purpose is for procreative purposes. Okay, based on those positions, tell me how 'separate but equal' arguments won't arise with the first? Why deny gays the same legal right and standing if they already have everything barring the certificate? Rings of discrimination to me. Number two, does the government set limits to non-procreative periods for married couples? Do couples unable to bear children be barred from marrying? I've got the names of some really beautiful people that the government can start rounding up if it wants to abide by such crappy reasonings. How many members of the conservative interest group that pursued this case do not have children? Sex offenders all of them! I smell a witch hunt here.

The U.S. is losing more and more allies in Iraq. Italy's pulling out, and more or less based on U.S. marines' actions of shooting up a rescue mission and then denying it. What a tragic incident, all around, for the marines who happened to make a split decision based on given circumstances as well as for the Italian reporter and rescuer to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. This, on top of the fact that that a coalition government being form by the new Iraqi government will seek to push the American presence out as soon as possible. Quagmire or boondoggle? We'll let events play out.

Let's hope that the events occurring in Lebanon bring about a fruitful and democratic change, not some trainwreck in which Bush claims that he's personally responsible for. The only democratic change he's responsible for is the overwhelming number of Iraqis that want him to burn in Hell.

Whew. I think I'm almost done. On a good, no AWESOME note: The Allman Brothers Band will be returning to California in May with dates to be announced. They're playing at the Santa Barbara County Bowl, which is a stunningly beautiful place to see a show. The band, currently in the midst of its umpteenth Beacon run, is tearing things up with amazingly varied setlists, new material, dusted off old tunes, and a spirit that will not die, even when they do decide to hang things up. Everyone, go catch the band. Just make sure that Steve can buy enough tickets for us this Saturday.

Bruce Watch: Devils & Dust comes out on April 26. Tour to follow. Sounds promising. I just received a copy of his 6/26/00 show from Madison Square Garden. One of the very last dates of the '99-'00 reunion tour, it's a gem. Great setlist, incredible energy, and an undying passion for playing music that continues to touch and change people who listen to the music years after it's been made. For those who still find necessity in racing in the streets, this is your music.