Share what’s on your mind. D.C. is rattled at the moment. The recent earthquake itself relatively minor. As a social lubricant? Big stuff — better than the Redskins. Plus, the upcoming hurricanes make for easy TV.
A more pervasive fear adds to tension. Only in August 2011 did the Imperial City Nomenklatura learn they are economically mortal. Their comfort while the Nation collapsed at risk. They may even be forced to share the indignity of lay offs with their subjects fellow Americans. There’s almost something biblical about the approaching reckoning.
We’ll spend some time working out initial ideas for a “The Summer of Fear” theme song. Or the Star Trek movie (Stiftung Style) we’ve mentioned before. And watch the weekend’s rain, mindful of the real oncoming storm.
Our mutual friend JWB kindly shares his initial mix of a Summer of Fear theme song. As he explains in the comments, he created this loop with specific political commentary in mind. Check it out.
Dr Leo Strauss says
@Sam Lowry
Those are great links. The BK one is hilarious given the name for the robo-calls. You’re right, shame on dragging that masterpiece into dirty tricks. It does look like a heart attack on a plate.
re the Canadians liking the surveillance, perhaps, however, they could join with their American neighbors and draw the line at ATM fee increases or cell phone data throttling for ‘unlimited’ users.
Sam Lowry says
LOL! A line has to be drawn somewhere right? And yet, people don’t seem to get all *that* upset about ATM fees or data throttling. I mean, how many people have done something as basic/easy as moving their money to say, a credit union? While it may be misplaced, I do hold out some hope for French Canadians as they have a little more heart than their Anglo compatriots (and Anglos the world over). Sure, some the of the things they protest and strike about are silly (Québec separatism for example). But at least they are willing to get out in the streets. As descendents of the French, they have a standard to uphold! I found it amusing to see Sarkozy forced to retreat into a bar in Bayonne (France, not Jersey) after a group of protesters (socialists and Basque Separatists) booed and pelted him with eggs. Those are citizens, not peasants in my mind. Vive la France!
DrLeoStrauss says
No Longer Just First World Problems: several hundred protestors chasing Sarkozy into a bar protected by riot police while TV video replays concentrate on images of his supporters.
Sam Lowry says
Good catch, that’s something I didn’t notice in the video. Checked out other sites’ videos of the same event and had similar style coverage. Hooray for the American media model as shills/propagandists for the state?! On a side note, looks like if Sarkozy wins re-election (unlikely, but still), France will have to get scratched off the list of places to which to flee: BBC: Nicolas Sarkozy says France has too many foreigners
Sam Lowry says
Adding: zut alors!
Sam Lowry says
@DrLeoStrauss
One can certainly give Canadians credit for taking elections seriously. Unlike Uhhmurrikans since Florida 2000. So it’s good to see they’re investigating such claims of influencing last year’s elections. Looks like one of the alleged perpetrators of the robocalls was a “Paul Poutine” of “Separatist Street”. Ha! Ha! Typical Anglophone move to blame the Francophones! Freedom Fries anyone? Personally I draw the line at maligning one of Québec’s awesome culinary contributions- poutine. It’s so popular, even the Burger Kings in Québéc offer it. It’s a heart attack on a plate (much like a double order of hash browns, scattered, smothered, covered, chunked and diced at The Waffle House) but it’s irresistable. Shame on anyone for dragging it into election shenanigans.
But, yeah, it appears as though Canada is catching counter-intelligence state fever. And they like it.
DrLeoStrauss says
@Sam Lowry
Surprisingly good digital forensics there, Canada. What’s a campaign operative to do if a simple burn phone won’t be a sufficient cut out?
On a related note, the new surveillance legislation in debate there would fit in well with American realities. Wide scope, intrusive. Although following the contretemps reminds one at least there’s a contretemps about it. Agree with you Sam, the window for fleeing north may be closing faster than people think.
Sam Lowry says
Has anyone seen Karl Rove lately? Looks like he may be working for the Conservatives in The Great White North (aka “America’s Hat”). From the Montréal Gazette: Elections Canada Investigating `robocalls’ That Misled Voters . And here I was, thinking Canada might be a viable destination for seeking asylum to escape our approaching dis-Enlightenment. Time to come up with Plan B, I suppose.
DrLeoStrauss says
American Pop Genius translated: the folks at Reddit translate the latest Nicki Minaj pop song:
Nicki is first and then Reddit explanation is in parens below.
I get it crackin’ like a bad back
(She’s about to get it started like a chiropractor going to work on you).
Bitch talkin she the queen, when she looking like a lab rat Ugly chicks talking shit about Queen Nicki.
I’m Angelina, you Jennifer C’mon bitch, you see where Brad at
(Pretty self-explanatory. ‘Brad at’ rhymes with ‘lab rat’.)
Ice my wrist’s and I piss on bitches
(I’m rich and R. Kelly is my hero).
You can suck my diz-nik, if you take this jizz-ez
(Suck it and swallow it).
You don’t like them disses, give my ass some kisses
(Don’t like it? Kiss my ass).
Yeah they know what this is, givin this the business
(It’s a diss track and I’m going in with the insults!)
Cause I pull up and I’m stuntin’ but I aint a stuntman
(I drive up looking great, but it’s all mine and not for show).
Yes I’m rockin’ Jordan but I aint a jumpman
(I don’t know? I’m wearing the latest and coolest shoes, but…)
Bitches play the back cause they know I’m the front man
(All the other girls are in back because I’m getting all the attention).
Put me on the dollar cause I’m who they trust in
(Have you ever looked at or read a dollar while high? Also, I’m so money).
Ayo SB, whats the f-cks good?
(I think that’s her hype man. This is a filler line).
We ship platinum, them bitches are shipping wood
(Pink Friday was a hit and sold platinum. The hater’s CDs went wood).
Them nappy headed hoes but my kitchen good
(Haters have nappy hair, but my hair is freshly done).
I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish a bitch woooooooooooooooooould
(Challenge is thrown down).
[Hook] You a stupid hoe, you a, you a stupid hoe (x3) You a stupid hoe, (yeah) you a, you a stupid hoe You a stupid hoe, you a, you a stupid hoe (stupid, stupid) You a stupid hoe, you a, you a stupid hoe (stupid, stupid) You a stupid hoe, you a, you a stupid hoe (stupid, stupid) (stupid, stupid)*
(Obvious and fucking awful. I will be hearing simple bitches quoting this like “kiss my ass and anus ‘cuz I’m finally famous” until Nicki’s next single drops. It’s the new “I’m a jerk” chorus.)
Look, Bubbles, go back to your habitat MJ gone and I ain’t having that
(Hater just got likened to Michael Jackson’s pet monkey and told to go back home).
How you gon’ be the stunt double to the nigga’s monkey
(Really racist insult).
Top of that I’m in the Phantom looking hella chonky
(I thought chonky was an insult, but apparently Nicki makes it mean that she’s in an expensive car looking really great with her ph/fat ass).
Ice my wrist’s and I piss on bitches You can suck my diz-nik, if you take this jizz-ez You don’t like them disses, give my ass some kisses Yeah they know what this is, givin this the business
(WTF? Did she just fucking repeat herself about this being a dis track? FILLER!)
Cause I pull up in that Porsche but I ain’t the Rossi
(Is it me or is she fixated with Ellen DeGeneres’s wife, whose name is Portia De Rossi).
Pretty bitches can only get in my posse
(I’m only friends with pretty bitches).
My name is Roman, last name is Zolanski But no relation to Roman Polanski
(Name dropping her alterego and it’s inspiration whom she’s doesn’t agree with but likes the sound of his name. Also, it’s a quick and lazy rhyme).
Hey yo, baby bop, f-ck you and your EP Who’s gassin’ this hoe? BP?
(She calls the hater by the name of Barney’s sidekick and a dinosaur. The hater is a mess and is so bad she must have been funded by B P the people responsible for the Gulf Oil Spill).
Hmm thinks, 1,2,3, do the Nicki Minaj blink Cause these hoes so busted
(I do my trademark blink/cutesy look because I can’t believe how ugly and irrelevant my haters are, and I treat them dismissively).
Hoes is so crusty, these bitches is my sons And I don’t want custody
(The hater’s style is old and copies me like they’re my kids, but I don’t want anything to do with them).
hoes so busted Hoes is so crusty, these bitches is my sons And I don’t want custody
(Filler. I think those lines were so great that I’ll repeat them).
[Hook] If you cute, then your crew can roll
(If you’re cute, you and your friends can join me!)
If you sexy, eat my Koo-Koo-Roo roll
(She’s not against a little lipstick lesbianism, but you’re eating her out).
Put ya cape on, you a super hoe 2012, I’m at the superbowl
(Pretty obvious. You’re a SuperHoe like Superman, but Nicki will be at the Super Bowl this year – probably an afterparty.)
Stupid hoes is my enemy stupid hoes is so wack Stupid hoe shoulda befriended me Then she coulda prolly came back!
(Obvious, but at some point one hater was her friend and has been permanently kicked out of the crew. The she repeats herself again until…)
I am the female Weezy!
(I’m an insanely rich pop-rapper that has moments of brilliance but I’d rather appeal to teenagers with no discerning taste in order to make millions.)
http://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/opus6/nicki_minaj_just_realeased_what_may_be_the_worst/
Sam Lowry says
@Dr Leo Strauss
What are the faux marketing brochure’s (“American Empire, Issue 75”) chances of surviving the migration? I’d miss the rockin’ lounge music if it doesn’t make it.
Dr Leo Strauss says
Adminisrative Note(s): 1) Stiftung Gallery de-activated. Spam bots overwhelmed the software. Will hunt for alternative/ask Miley Cyrus to host on her Flickr gallery; and 2) the often threatened technological overhaul looms!
The overhaul will shut the site down for at least 5 days. This site is actually on several locations. Each must be moved. Propagation of the new Stiftung location for Internet Root Serves can take up to 72 hours each move.
If we’re successful at the end it will look just like it does now. On a new technology platform we can update the site to 2012 technology.
Will do best possible to preserve what’s here. A test move over the holidays worked but that involved 1/20th of the posts, comments and graphical art work.
It’s a distinct possibility we may lose all of 1.0. The 2.0 version has a better chance. Its technology is not ancient as 1.0. There are just so many links that may or may not break.
So — if you get “Not Found” next week or so, know that we are moving to newer digs!
DrLeoStrauss says
Some Aussies look like they have put together a fun iOS battle group naval game. Just thought to pass along.
http://www.joystiq.com http://www.joystiq.com/2011/12/17/the-joystiq-indie-pitch-battle-group
Dr Leo Strauss says
Administration claims Keystone Pipleline is not a ‘cave’. What can any of us do looking at the crestfallen but keep on walking and mutter ‘n00bs’?
Dr Leo Strauss says
The WaPo can fight when it needs to – to protect billions in federal monies for Kaplan and other for profit universities.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/10/us/politics/for-profit-college-rules-scaled-back-after-lobbying.html
Dr Leo Strauss says
Criticism of Blackwater video game leads to attack on congresswoman.
http://kotaku.com/5864100/blackwater-video-game-leads-to-threats-against-congresswoman
Comment says
@DrLeoStrauss
Another notch on the belt of our s**** pseudo meritocracy. Maybe he should get togther with Luke and meg McCain and do a show about ordinary people.