Notes and Asides

R.I.P. JOHNNY RAMONE

And then there was one.

Legendary Mosrite slinger Johnny Ramone succumbed to prostate cancer yesterday at 55. He follows Dee Dee (2002) and Joey (2001) into the 3-chord Choir Invisible, leaving Tommy as the final earthbound Ramone. To the thousands of deserved accolades he is now receiving, I will only add this: the Ramones' 1981 show at the Des Moines Holiday Inn was the Best. Concert. Ever.

Not only did Johnny and his bandmates recreated Rock and Roll the way God intended it -- loud, sloppy, stupid, and fun -- he was a true red-blooded conservative:

Johnny went worldwide public with his partisanship in 2002, when the Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At the microphone to give props to the people who made it all possible, he offered his own version of a Michael Moore moment.

"God bless President Bush, and God bless America," he said, clad in his trademark T-shirt, ripped blue jeans and leather jacket.

"I said that to counter those other speeches at the other awards," Mr. Ramone says in a phone interview. "Republicans let this happen over and over, and there is never anyone to stick up for them. They spend too much time defending themselves."

Gabba Gabba Hey, Johnny.

HOLY CRAP

What happens when you get a simultaneous Instalanch, Corner-lanch, LGF-alanche, Blair-alanche and INDC-alanche? 20,000+ hits in the last 12 hours. Welcome, interlopers.

PAGING DARREN STEVENS

Famous brooding internet intellectual Joshua Micah Fauntleroy Mellencamp Heinz-Marshall (apologies to Ace) has put his finger on the root of John Kerry's electoral dysfunction -- inadequate slogans! -- and solicits suggestions. We aim to please, Josh.

I Will Keep Our Enemies Guessing, Too

Projecting American Strength Through Intricately Complex Nuance

The Thinking Man's Self-Confessed War Criminal

Vote For Me or My Running Mate Will Sue

Those Atrocity Stories? Dude, I Was Just Shitting You

I Will Do For You the Many Wonderous Things I Have Done For Massachusetts

Fear Not, America, I Have Deigned to Lead You

I Will Never Recuse My UN Ambassador from the Vote to Ask for a Permission Slip to Defend This Country

The Next Time America is Attacked, I Promise To Open Up a Carafe of Whupass

Post-Emptive Leadership For A Safer World

I Have Three Words For George Bush -- Bring It On

I Have Five More Words For George Bush -- Call Off Your On-Bringers

Restoring America's Seat At The Global Popular Table

Come Home Again, America... No Wait, Stay There Again

There Once Was A Man From Nantucket, If You Get My Drift

Shaggin' Billionaire Bag Ladies So You Don't Have To

Some Look at Things As They Are And Say, 'Why?' Others Look at Things As They Are Not And Say, 'Why Not?', And I Suppose A Few Might Look at Things As They Are Not, And Say 'Why?', and Vice-Versa, and So Forth, And One Might Be Tempted To Look at These People Looking at Things And Ask 'Who?' But This Would Not Be Constructive, Because The Important Thing To Realize Is That Some People Like To Look At Things, And This Is Precisely My Point

STYLISH NEW LINKAGE

Long overdue blogroll update is underway. Additions include the ace Ratherbusters at Power Line and INDC Journal, fellow Illinoisan Spoons, Central Committee commie apparatchik Politburo Diktat, velvet-toned radio crooner Hugh Hewitt, Hardball bete noir Michele Malkin, fake interviewer supreme Jeff Goldstein of Protein Wisdom, and fellow reactionary hotrod enthusiast Darren Lee.