Ink Lake

Good Night Baby

Although Ellie Greenwich is justifiably remembered for the classic songs she wrote for groups like the Ronnettes, the Crystals, the Shangri-Las, etc., she also wrote some wonder-making stuff for much lesser-well known groups. The Guardian has a very good obituary, here.

This song was recorded by a group called the "Butterflys". According to a comment on the clip, it got to #51 on the charts in 1964. Ms. Greenwich sings back-up on the track.

I first heard this song when I got the amazing box set "One Kiss Can Lead to Another:Girl Groups Lost and Found". The set, which comes in a cool 'hatbox', take its name from a line in this song, and it's the last song on the 4 CD set.

It makes me very happy to have found this and share it with people who may not have been familiar with it. Thank you to VinylRecords60, and thank you Ellie.

The Deciding Vote

I haven't completely decided who I'm going to vote for in the City Council race, but now I know for sure who I'm not voting for. Steve Levin. If being the homunculus of party boss Vito Lopez isn't bad enough, an endorsement by Marty Markowitz in regards to one's support of zoning changes really does no one any favors.

Yecch!

David Paterson - Governor Of The Damned?

Can anyone construct a scenario wherein Paterson wins re-election without some kind of Rapture or Omega Man-type event occurring? I can't.

(And relax Guv, that wasn't some kind of crypto-racial dig.)

Forged In Mount Doom

With the latest release of redacted horrors, Sullivan reminds us, that not the least of what torture destroys, is the torturers themselves.

But King is not alone in believing that the US should be less restrained by moral qualms than Iranians demand of their own illegitimate regime. Indeed, much of the American people, especially evangelical Christians, expect less in terms of human rights from their own government than Iranians do of theirs'. In fact, American evangelicals are much more pro-torture in this respect than many Iranian Muslims.

This is what Bush and Cheney truly achieved in their tragic response to 9/11: two terribly failed, brutally expensive wars, the revival of sectarian warfare and genocide in the Middle East, the end of America's global moral authority, the empowerment of Iran's and North Korea's dictatorships, and the nightmares of Gitmo and Bagram still haunting the new administration. But what they did to the culture - how they systematically dismantled core American values like the prohibition on torture and respect for the rule of law - is the worst and most enduring of the legacies. 

And Glenn Greenwald writes,

"The fact that we are not really bothered any more by taking helpless detainees in our custody and (a) threatening to blow their brains out, torture them with drills, rape their mothers, and murder their children; (b) choking them until they pass out; (c) pouring water down their throats to drown them; (d) hanging them by their arms until their shoulders are dislocated; (e) blowing smoke in their face until they vomit; (f) putting them in diapers, dousing them with cold water, and leaving them on a concrete floor to induce hypothermia; and (g) beating them with the butt of a rifle -- all things that we have always condemend as "torture" and which our laws explicitly criminalize as felonies ("torture means. . . the threat of imminent death; or the threat that another person will imminently be subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering . . .") -- reveals better than all the words in the world could how degraded, barbaric and depraved a society becomes when it lifts the taboo on torturing captives,"

(H/T Sullivan)

I Still Love

 

Teenage Fanclub, Taggart, and Local Hero, but the Scottish government was out of it's frickin' mind in granting "compassionate release" to the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing. If ever there was a case for capital punishment, this is it; as had it been applied in this case, we, along with the friends and families of the 270 murder victims, would have been compassionately spared witnessing this:

White Lies

I like my dentist. She's a nice lady and I've gone to her for a bunch of years at her office on Central Park West.

I'm sure the rent there isn't cheap, and that's probably why I've noticed a trend where in the office, they keep pushing various treatments, beyond the usual whitening. She's also offering botox, and oral cancer screening ($75).

The last time I was there I fobbed off the cancer screening, saying I'd check with my insurance. I also did some research. I did though, go for a whitening "boost", which cost $250, and to tell the truth, I wasn't terribly impressed with.

At my appointment yesterday, the hygienist asked me if I had talked to my insurer about the screening, and I gave a very definitive "Nope". When she asked why, I said, "because you can't show me any evidence that people without risk-factors benefit." Silence. "To put it politely, I think it's a scam." More silence. She knew I was right. 

Now when the dentist came in, I told her that I wasn't that impressed with the 'boost', and I asked her how those 'trays' you buy at the drug-store compare. I know someone who uses them, and her teeth are pretty darn white.  She tried to scare me away from them, saying that without a custom tray ($250), the gels won't adhere properly, and the gels can leak, cause gum damage, etc.

At least some of that seemed reasonable, so I said I'd think about it. However, more research showed there is no evidence that store-bought whiteners, when used properly, cause any problems. So I bought a box at Duane Reade, and though it says you need at least 3 days to see a difference, this morning I thought my pearly-whites did indeed look whiter.

So just don't trust people because they wear a white coat.

Velkomin

Apparently, Bjork and her husband are going to be living right around the corner from me. From their penthouse, I believe they'll have a clear view into my living room.

I was going to make some joke here, but no jokes for new neighbors. Glad you're here, and I always thought that dress was cool.

"We Report, You Decide"? - Well, I Report, Now YOU Decide

Gawker shows how Fox had fun in the editing room to slant Rep. Barney Frank's encounter with an Obama=Hitler questioner. I'm shocked, shocked! Original, un-edited is below.

You Already Knew This

But let me remind you, Brooklyn is cool. If I had more energy (actually, I don't own a digital camera, so my energy quotient can thankfully remain untested), I would have trouped down to Dumbo (yes, it's acceptable to not capitalize it), and done a Magritte-esque shot, but oh well, use your imagination.

Also, it appears that Bjork will be moving to BH. Cool. I feel hipper already, and take that, Boerum Hill!

Now Let Me Get This Straight

As I mentioned last week, I got to spend some time in Tampa with some Texas 'birthers'. As TPM shows, understanding exactly what they believe is a little complicated. Like with 9/11 'truthers', they fall into different, sometimes overlapping camps, and holding multiple, contradictory beliefs in one's head is definitely allowed.

Of the 24% of the population in the 'birther' category, one interesting thing to note is that more Americans seem to think Obama was born in Indonesia (10%) than Kenya (7%), which suggests not only that a frighteningly large number of Americans are birthers but that they have a shockingly low level of basic 'birther' literacy. As you know, according to orthodox 'birther' theory, Obama was born in Kenya.

Even better, 6% fully concede that Obama was born in Hawaii. They just don't believe Hawaii is part of the United States.

I was lucky enough to be sitting for a week next to a gentleman, who, as far as I could discern, believed something akin to that Hawaii stuff.

Note: I refuse to use the word "theory", to describe these beliefs, as it is a debasement (though now a common one), of the original meaning of the word.

"a coherent group of general propositions used as principles of explanation for a class of phenomena: Einstein's theory of relativity."