Most Played Tunes, 2011

WattsTheTopTen2011 - wattstestsite

Enjoy them yo'sef at the link above and have a Happy 2012!

Obama like Teddy, and not the one you thought

President Obama uses his hammer to hit the nail on the head with this:

Close to the Bone-o

Forward to 2:00 to hear Bono's sexual dysfunction story. Need I say more?

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Capitalism Moves in Mysterious Ways

 From UK Telegraph:

"In total, the committee said it had found more than a million fake parts had made their way into warplanes such as the Boeing C-17 transport jet and the Lockheed Martin C-130J "Super Hercules".

It also found fake components in Boeing's CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter and the Theatre High-Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) missile defence system.

"A million parts is surely a huge number. But I want to repeat this: we have only looked at a portion of the defence supply chain. So those 1,800 cases are just the tip of the iceberg," said Senator Carl Levin."

What does this say about capitalism and global free markets?  What does this say about our military?  Fake, cheap, knockoff Chinese electronics in our Trillion Dollar Per Year defenses?   We can do better than this.

New/Old U2 does William Bell

Those familiar with my U2 fascination, and my Steve Cropper fascination, and my FRINGE fascination will be amazed.  On FRINGE, William Bell, an overzealous scientist/businessman/space and time contortionist, is played by Leonard Nemoy.

In real life, William Bell was a singer for Stax Records, and Steve Cropper was the guitar player for Stax.  The real Bell is in the Carolina Beach Music Hall of Fame.


Sometime during the "Achtung, Baby" recording sessions, U2 played William Bell's "Everybody Loves a Winner", and it was just released on a new 6 CD, 4 DVD box set, along with some other goodies from the vault. 

One of the new CDs is a rawer, rougher version of each song from "Achtung, Baby", in order... like U2 pre-covering themselves.  It's like it's from an alternate universe.

Here's one from the b-sides disc, a reworked "Even Better Than the Real Thing".  Fascinating. 

Stompin' Ground

IMGP5881j, originally uploaded by Watts4.

Maggie Valley Cloggin'

1/2 U2 Entertains Clintons

I loved this!

For Peter Bishop

See ya Friday?

Experimenting with anaglyph gif files, this one reminded me of our favorite time and alternate universe traveller.

What Hath Mitt Wrought?

I've spent part of the morning amusing myself on Wikipedia reading about the Golden Plates and Joseph Smith.  I don't hold it against Romney, he was born into it, but it's a delight to see the Christian/Fountainhead followers try to bend themselves into accepting a Mormon as their leader.  I suppose if you can merge the philosophies of Christ and Rand, anything is possible (with Rupert at the helm).  My favorite quote from Wikipedia about Smith's wife Emma:

In 1843, Emma reluctantly allowed Smith to marry four women who had been living in the Smith household—two of whom Smith had already married without her knowledge. Emma also participated with Smith in the first "sealing" ceremony, intended to bind their marriage for eternity. However, Emma soon regretted her decision to accept plural marriage and forced the other wives from the household, nagging Smith to abandon the practice.  Smith dictated a revelation pressuring Emma to accept, but the revelation only made her furious.

"Wait honey, I'm having a revelation from God.  He's saying you need to accept it, you know, the 'me having sex with all the other women' thing.  Yeah, so, um, that settles it!" 

How'd it work out?

Joseph's death threw both the church and Emma's family into disorder. Emma was left a pregnant widow—it would be on November 17, 1844, that she gave birth to her and Joseph's last child together....
Nearly two years later, a close friend and non-Mormon, Major Lewis C. Bidamon, proposed marriage and became Emma's second husband on December 23, 1847.

You can't make this stuff up!  Oh wait..... read for yourself, the story of the Golden Plates.

Here's an engraving of Joseph Smith  receiving the Golden Plates and the "seer stone spectacles":

It reminds me of this picture, Bono handing the Pope his sunglasses:

Bono to Tutu: Happy 80th

IMGP3777j

IMGP3777j, originally uploaded by Watts4.

Testing the flickr Android app with this photo

Tea Party Hero Hypocrites: Hayek and Rand, plus Koch!

"We don't need no gub'ment, um, until we do," is the familiar refrain from elderly hypocrite libertarian types. 

Ayn Rand is a known hypocrite, taking Social Security and Medicare benefits.  Plus, she was a devout atheist.  I'm not sure how the "religious" right squares her views with their heartfelt Christianity, the pairing is inexplicable. 

And now recently uncovered documents show that Charles Koch himself tried to lure Friedrich Hayek (the other Tea Party hero) to the US to take a position at one of his libertarian think tanks, by sending him a letter encouraging him to take advantage of our Social Security system.

Oh, the hypocrisy.  You see, when libertarians are young and healthy, they don't think they will ever need government assistance.  But when they grow old or sick, you know what?  They'll take it! 
Check it out yourself.  Smarmy Bastards.

I'm Making a Prediction

Obama will win reelection in 2012. Sure, you'll hear a lot of talk between now and Nov. 2012, but you can officially ignore it all.  Barack.  Bank on it.

Maureen misses Slick Willie

The Re-election Tango - NYTimes.com

Maureen Dowd on Obama, after spending the entire article fawning over Bill Clinton:

"The Aloof One has to convince voters that he can connect emotionally. In a way, his relationship with Americans now is analogous to a marriage that’s not working. He’s the detached husband; we’re the neglected wife.

Is he paying attention? Does he understand our needs? Or is he just pretending to listen while he watches SportsCenter?"

If you're gonna make that analogy, Maureen, then at least admit that we voters are less like a neglected wife and more like a crazy, fat, demanding, bipolar wife.  We want less taxes and more benefits, more energy at a lower cost & impact, but we're not willing to give Obama a bj or even a hand job.  For cryin' out loud, Maureen, the man needs a fluffer, and if he can't even cop a feel from a liberal stalwart like yourself, why the heck would you expect him to stop watching SportsCenter?