skippy the bush kangaroo

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

rhymes with "schmitch"

from cookie jill:

posted by skippy at 12:05 PM | 3 comments

mad about palin's lack of experience

mad kane, that is!
posted by skippy at 3:56 AM | 1 comments

the liberal media

Example

from ben smith's blog, via steve benen @ the washmonthly
posted by skippy at 1:39 AM | 0 comments

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

skippy's tuesday nite music club

best fake band ever...



the archies - sugar sugar
posted by skippy at 11:59 PM | 6 comments

skippy's tuesday nite music club - bonus trax



jerry reed - city of new orleans

jerry reed died yesterday. cmt:

jerry reed starred with burt reynolds in several blockbuster movies, recorded three no. 1 country singles, wrote one of elvis presley's biggest hits and developed a fingerstyle guitar technique that other musicians are still analyzing to this day. when he died monday (sept. 1) at age 71, the entertainment world lost a genuine original who helped take country music and the country lifestyle to a larger mainstream audience.

born jerry reed hubbard on march 20, 1937, in atlanta, he began playing guitar at age 9 and was just a teenager when he began performing in the atlanta area on shows featuring ernest tubb, faron young and others. at age 17, capitol records producer ken nelson saw him perform and signed him to a recording contract. although his early records were not successful, he also became a staff songwriter for atlanta music publisher bill lowery. reed's "crazy legs" was recorded by rock pioneer gene vincent in 1958. brenda lee scored a top 10 pop hit with reed's "that's all you gotta do."

following a two-year stint in the military, reed moved to nashville in 1962 and began work as a session musician while writing songs such as porter wagoner's "misery loves company," a no. 1 single in 1962. in 1964, he joined rca nashville's artist roster at the urging of label executive chet atkins, one of reed's biggest supporters.
jerry was also an incredibly busy actor, working in tv & movies from the late 60's all the way up to adam sandler's the waterboy.
posted by skippy at 11:58 PM | 2 comments

sarah failin'

Photobucket
sarah palin getting vetted.

rassmussen points out that if mcmuffin was aiming for women voters by picking maggie o'connell for his veep, he missed by a moose's 10-point antler width:

if mccain’s strategy was to reach out to women voters, however, thus far it hasn’t been successful. the night after the announcement, slightly more women voters viewed palin as the right choice for mccain’s running mate, but now 41% say she was not, versus 36% who still believe she was a good choice. forty-one percent (41%) of women say they are less likely now to vote for mccain because of palin, as opposed to 31% who say they are more likely to support him. women voters were essentially even on this question in the earlier survey.

men still back mccain’s decision. forty-one percent (41%) say she was the right choice, while 37% disagree. earlier, men favored the decision by a 43% to 31% margin. forty-three percent (43%) of men voters say they are more likely to vote for mccain because of his choosing of palin as a running mate, but 34% say they are less likely to do so. this is a jump in support from the earlier survey.

but even a plurality of men (47%) say palin is not ready to be president in the event of the 72-year-old mccain being incapacitated while in the white house, although 32% believe she is ready. women voters by a nearly two-to-one margin believe palin is not ready…

voters overall by a 48% to 29% margin say palin is not ready yet to be president, a view shared by 74% of democrats and 48% of unaffiliated voters but only 16% of republicans…

see the latest tracking poll numbers on our daily presidential tracking poll page.
while you're at it, take a look at the gallup poll that has obama up at 50% for the first time evah!
posted by skippy at 9:02 PM | 3 comments

brown 25

at least, it seems like that's how many times cnn has re-run the campbell brown scrappolis in minneapolis w/tucker bounds.

brown was so hard on tucker, in the opinion of the mcmuffins campaign, that they have cancelled the mcmuffin interview on larry king:

today, cnn’s wolf blitzer revealed that because of that tough interview, the mccain campaign has canceled the senator’s appearance on larry king live tonight:

the mccain campaign said it believed that exchange was over the line and as a result the interview scheduled for larry king live with sen. mccain was pulled. cnn does not believe that campbell’s interview was over the line. we are committed to fair coverage of both sides of this historic election.
add this to the rnc's refusal to let keith olbermann into the state of minnesota, and the arrest of amy goodman, and we begin to see a pattern of refusal to dialogue w/the media unless the media carry the gop water.
posted by skippy at 8:33 PM | 2 comments

ok..so the palins think that alaska should secede

i agree with will durst that perhaps california take leave, too.

....so, why not step even further out. just split. leave the nest. 50 - 49 = 1. face it, they don't like us. and we don't need them. we got the food. we got the wine country to wash it down with. we got the movies, the disneyland, the yosemite, the death valley, the sierras, the otters, the humboldt county. we could use a flag and some money, but otherwise, we're set.

if you ask me, they need us a hell of a lot more than we need them. we miss anything bad enough, we simply replace it. new york? couple more skyscrapers and sacramento becomes a major metropolis. only difference: folks smile and wear shorts. you want gambling? we build us our own las vegas located somewhere more conducive to human existence than a desert. what else: you want chicago? just dirty up bakersfield a little. - the case for california secession

wait...you mean he was "kidding?"

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posted by Cookie Jill at 8:28 PM | 5 comments

our deepest sympathies and prayers

go out to councilmember matt garcia's family and the town of fairfield, ca. (land of jellybellies)
friends say matt garcia had a trait rarely seen in young people: extreme civic pride. he began telling people when he was in the sixth grade that he was going to become the mayor of his hometown of fairfield.

when he was critically wounded monday night outside a friend's house in a quiet fairfield neighborhood, garcia was well on his way to fulfilling his dream. at just 22, he had emerged from modest roots to become a popular city councilman and one of the youngest elected officials in the state.

...gov. arnold schwarzenegger offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the shooter's conviction.- sfchron
a former prom king and student government leader who lived his whole life in fairfield, garcia was elected to the city council in november 2007 at age 21. colleagues say he hit the ground running, making a name for himself by establishing a youth commission and helping the council negotiate through a $7-million budget deficit without raising taxes or firing workers. - latte times

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posted by Cookie Jill at 8:03 PM | 1 comments

she's no sandra bullock

Example

via balloon juice -- sarah palin lied yet again...about her beauty contest experience:

amy gwin, 43, of university city, grew up in alaska and competed in the miss wasilla, alaska, competition in 1984 against gop vice presidential choice sarah palin. gwin said friday that she won the miss congeniality award in the competition, although palin's wikipedia entry says she won the contest — and the miss congeniality award. gwin was a year behind palin, now 44, at wasilla high school, which had about 800 students. gwin said palin was "a high school star in a good way," a beauty who got good grades and excelled at athletics. gwin, who was president of her class, does not recall palin holding school office. the wikipedia entry on palin said she was head of the school's fellowship of christian athletes and captain of the basketball team.
so what does palin's high school bud think about the governor's new role?

gwin said she was not surprised when palin became the governor of alaska, but is astonished that she got the gop nod for vice president. asked whether she would support palin because she knows her, gwin said: "i wouldn't support her if she was my very best friend. i support obama and don't share any of her (palin's) politics. she's very shallow."
that's ok, so was the vetting process!

addendum: many of our commentors, as well as our buddy libby at the impolitic, points out that the "shallow" quote has been scrubbed from the stlouis post-dispatch piece. libby has screen shots of the cached original as well as the minty-fresh new version.
posted by skippy at 2:05 PM | 7 comments

quote of the day

from a viewer writing into the cafferty files on cnn:

mccain’s decision to put palin on the ticket shows that he makes decisions based on what’s good for him (without thinking or checking) and not good for the country. how could he put someone like that one melanoma away from the presidency?
posted by skippy at 1:48 PM | 2 comments

ok, ms. palin...which is it...

country or alaska first?

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posted by Cookie Jill at 8:37 AM | 0 comments

congrats to our bloggy bud fletch

whose "smokies light" blog won a "brillante award"...but we've always known his blog and photography is "brilliant!"

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posted by Cookie Jill at 12:59 AM | 0 comments

amy goodman speaks about her arrest

at the rnc. what's with this "preemptive arrest" business?

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posted by Cookie Jill at 12:39 AM | 2 comments

beyond the palin

greg sergent sez, more cowbell!

* the news that palin once backed the bridge to nowhere went national.

* it emerged that palin has links to the bizarro alaska independence party, which harbors the goal of seceding from the union that mccain and palin seek to lead.

* the news broke that as governor, palin relied on an earmark system she now opposes. taken along with the bridge to nowhere stuff, this threatens to undercut her reformist image, something that was key to her selection as mccain's veep candidate.

* the news broke that palin's 17-year-old daughter became pregnant out of wedlock at a time when the conservative base had finally started rallying behind mccain's candidacy.

* barely moments after mccain advisers put out word that mccain had known of bristol palin's pregnancy, the anchorage daily news revealed that palin's own spokesperson hadn't known about it only two days ago.

* a senior mccain adviser at the republican convention was forced into the rather embarrassing position of arguing that mccain had known about the pregnancy "last week" -- without saying what day last week he knew about it.

* it came out that republican lawyers are up in alaska vetting palin -- now, more than 72 hours after it was announced that she'd been picked.

* palin lawyered up in relation to the trooper-gate probe in alaska -- a move that ensures far more serious attention to the story from the major news orgs.
hey, greg! don't forget the fact that sarah was part of ted stevens' 527!
posted by skippy at 12:37 AM | 4 comments

Monday, September 01, 2008

skippy's monday nite music club



morningwood - sugarbaby

good use of puppet in a music video. we personally enjoy the pun in the band's name.
posted by skippy at 11:59 PM | 1 comments

small town...humongous federal earmarks

for 6,700 residents... $1.9 million for a transportation hub? who the hell is traveling there? $900,000 for sewer repairs? what exactly are they flushing down their toilets? $15 million for a rail project? can you say, "railway to nowhere?"....
alaska gov. sarah palin employed a lobbying firm to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents while she was its mayor, according to an analysis by an independent government watchdog group. - wapo
mccain seems to still think that he's a maverick against "earmarks"...yet, it seems he's earmarked the queen of earmarks for veep. rethugs are claiming to be pissed that obama didn't vet hillary...i think that they should instead be angry over the non-vetting of their veep pick.

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posted by Cookie Jill at 11:42 PM | 0 comments

they put the "party" in "grand old party"

kudos to abc who tried to dig into the corporate sponsors of the blue dogs last week at the dem convention, and who examines the 24 hour party people that are the gop as the gulf coast gets ravaged by a hurricane:

posted by skippy at 7:49 PM | 0 comments

show me disclosure

show me progress takes a look at sarah palin's campaign finance disclosure from the alaska public offices commission.
posted by skippy at 7:43 PM | 0 comments

blogging for dummies

here's the post on the moderate voice w/the actual segment from the cho show on which our good buddy joe gandelman shows margaret how to be a ventroliquist.
posted by skippy at 7:39 PM | 0 comments

democracy when?

newshoggers tells us npr's amy goodman has been arrested at the gop convention in minneapolis:



(the sound of the press conference is lousy)

addendum: the trail at the washpost has more:

democracy now! radio host amy goodman and two producers were arrested while covering demonstrations at the republican convention in st. paul, minn. goodman was released after being held for over three hours, but is still waiting to hear when sharif abdel kouddous and nicole salazar would be released.

"i was down on the convention floor interviewing delegates when i heard that two of our producers had been arrested," said goodman. "i ran down to jackson and 7th street, where the police had moved in."

goodman said that when she ran up to find out what was going on, she was also arrested.

"they seriously manhandled me and handcuffed my hands behind my back. the top id [at the convention] is to get on the floor and the secret service ripped that off me. i had my democracy now! id too. i was clearly a reporter."

goodman, who was released after being charged with a misdemeanor, said that salazar had been hurt in the face, while kouddous had been thrown up against a wall and hurt his elbow.
posted by skippy at 7:24 PM | 0 comments

mm, mm, good, mm, mm, good! campbell brown is mm, mm, good!

we have seen campbell brown twice now try to get real answers, not talking points, from gop operatives about sarah palin's experience weighed against obama's.

where many talking heads would let the goper spew scripted answers, campbell has insisted and parsing the responses and nailing down why what's good for the goose is not good for the gander.

however, neither of the goper operatives have buckeled under, choosing instead to ignore logic to insist that obama's lack of experience is so much worse than palin's.

addendum: via siun at fdl, here's one of those campbell's super interviews:



notice how the goper talks around the question, never answering directly what campbell asks. but campbell keeps on drilling, coming up with a dry well.
posted by skippy at 5:38 PM | 0 comments

say hello

to gopnot4me.
posted by skippy at 5:16 PM | 1 comments

that's one way to settle it

andrew sullivan is calling for sarah palin to release her medical records.

we here at skippy international believe that somebody's sex life is not particularly relevant to the ability of them or their relatives to govern. so we have stayed away from this rumor at this humble space.

there is something to be said, however, for the argument that palin's official belief in abstinence vs. sex education leaves her wide open to accusations of failed policy.

still in all, there are much worse problems palin is facing (abuse of power, inexperience, gender-quota-filling). unfortunately for the human race, the human race would rather talk about smarmy affairs than political agenda.
posted by skippy at 4:49 PM | 0 comments

peru is more energy progressive

than the united states.

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posted by Cookie Jill at 4:13 PM | 0 comments

i support bristol palin's decision

to keep her baby. i support a woman's (ugh...girl's) right to choose what to do with her body and her future. i don't think that bristol should be a political talking point. i wish her luck with her decision.

however, i think that the political talking points should be....
pro-choice means just that. supporting women's right to choose what is best for them and their beliefs. i may not agree with bristol's decision, but it isn't my life to dictate what is best for bristol and her soon to be burgeoning family.

tell you what. in honor of bristol, toss some green to your local planned parenthood. they do an amazing job in making sure sex education and women's healthcare is available for all who inquire, regardless of their financial status. they are about so much more than just "abortion." our local planned parenthood is holding their amazing yearly booksale in the next couple of weeks. i'm saving up my pennies to buy up a storm of cookbooks.

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posted by Cookie Jill at 3:51 PM | 3 comments

are sarah palin and her preggers teen daughter

just shiny keys to distract us from this?
the dutch intelligence service, the aivd, has called off an operation aimed at infiltrating and sabotaging iran's weapons industry due to an assessment that a us attack on the islamic republic's nuclear program is imminent, according to a report in the country's de telegraaf newspaper on friday. - the jerusalem post

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posted by Cookie Jill at 3:33 PM | 2 comments

hey...media talking heads...

could one of you...yes, just even one of you, ask these republicans at the convention about why there are mercenaries in the gulf states?
blackwater worldwide is currently seeking qualified law enforcement officers and security personnel to potentially deploy to provide security in the possible aftermath of hurricane gustav. this is the first time blackwater has mobilized under its controversial homeland security contracts. blackwater did deploy security personnel to assist new orleans in wake of hurricane katrina and this resulted in great controversy since it was the first time a private military corporation had deployed on us soil. - the spy who billed me

they're looking for current sworn law enforcement officers, with "arrest powers" and "armed status (must indicate armed and/or semi auto. revolver only not accepted)." the firm is also looking for "current/active/licensed/registered armed security officer[s]," but "only from the following states: or, wa, ca, nv, nm, az, tx, fl, ga, sc, nc, va, md, il, ok." - wired
democracy now! has an interview with jeremy scahill about this.
what we know from experience with blackwater in the hurricane zone is that this is not a company that believes it needs orders from any government agency to deploy, armed, on the streets of an american city.

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posted by Cookie Jill at 2:46 PM | 0 comments

don't they have proof readers for chyrons over at msnbc?

Photobucket

coulta, woulta, shoulta
posted by skippy at 1:40 PM | 0 comments

abstinence makes the heart go flounder

you know all those nasty rumors about sarah polin's eldest teenage daughter, bristol, being the actual mother of the downs syndrome baby? they can't be true, according to the palin camp, because bristol, unmarried, is preggies now. reuters:

the 17-year-old unmarried daughter of republican vice presidential candidate sarah palin is pregnant, palin said on monday in an announcement intended to knock down rumors by liberal bloggers that palin faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her child.

bristol palin, one of alaska gov. palin's five children with her husband todd, is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, the palins said in a statement released by the campaign of republican presidential candidate john mccain...

"our beautiful daughter bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. as bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support," the palins said.
first of all, the rumors aren't "by liberal bloggers." the rumors are from the alaskan statehouse. liberal bloggers are just the gossip mill conduit via which the rumors got known.

but, secondly, even if the palin's scenario is 100% true, it doesn't say much for the effectiveness of her abstinence beleifs. the quote "grow up faster than we had ever planned" is exactly what "planned parenthood" is all about.

either way, now we are wondering if walt monegan will announce he's been secretly unemployed for 5 months, to get sarah out of the other mess.
posted by skippy at 1:10 PM | 0 comments

a note that ought to be posted next to a certain telephone network interface...

to whoever severed my phone connection on friday:

so far, the only people i've spoken to about this are xxxxxxxx, xxxxxxxx, and one of the xxxxxxxxxx office workers. if i find out who you are, i will be speaking to the police as well. what you did to me is vandalism. therefore you will also be speaking to the police.

jim yeager
apt. xx

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posted by Jim Yeager at 3:47 AM | 0 comments

Sunday, August 31, 2008

skippy's sunday nite music club



dick hyman - the finger breaker

dick plays the old jelly roll morton show off piece.
posted by skippy at 11:59 PM | 2 comments

say what?

republicans who can't track billions of dollars in iraq aid want us to send our hurricane donations to them to handle?

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posted by George at 1:52 PM | 1 comments

if mccain and the rethugs are heading to nola

we need to remind the american public what happened when rethugs went down to the gulf after katrina.
crony contractors clean up on katrina

so, if mccain and palin are truly "mavericks" and wanting to stop government waste and crony corruption, they need to call out the profiteering from republiccan friends, family, etc. they need to call for hauling haley barbour, senator mel martinez, halliburton and joe allbaugh up to congress to do some seriously explaining. 3 years to late, but if they are truly "mavericks", the need to do this.

i'm not holding my breath on this happening, however.

pacific views reminds us who was in touring the 9th ward right after katrina and who held a hearing on the destruction....and who didn't.

... "there is not a sense of urgency in this administration to get this done," said [sen. barack obama (d-il)]. "you get a sense that will has been lacking in the last several months."

obama, the senate's only african-american member, was in new orleans for a field hearing on gulf coast rebuilding conducted by the senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee.

... after monday's field hearing, the senate committee took a bus tour of the city's lower 9th ward, a low-income black neighborhood where many ruined homes sit empty and bear the painted x-marks used in the chaotic weeks following the hurricane to show which buildings had been searched for survivors.

... the hearing is one of the first that the homeland security committee has scheduled since the senate passed to democratic control. no republican members attended. ...

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posted by Cookie Jill at 11:44 AM | 1 comments

quote of the day

the official whiskey fire reaction to the sarah palin vice presidential nomination:

what, was victoria jackson busy?
posted by skippy at 10:46 AM | 3 comments

pardon us, but we'll take a nanny state any day

police in minneapolis have conducted "pre-emptive" raids on hippies in the twin cities in advance of the gop conventin. startrib:

five people were arrested and more than 100 were handcuffed, questioned and released by scores of deputies and police officers, according to police and elected officials familiar with the raids.

in a statement saturday morning, ramsey county sheriff bob fletcher said the st. paul raid targeted the rnc welcoming committee, a group he described as "a criminal enterprise made up of 35 self-described anarchists...intent on committing criminal acts before and during the republican national convention."…

but the raids drew immediate condemnation from activists and st. paul city councilman dave thune, whose district includes the former theater at 627 smith avenue south, which was rented by activists as a gathering space.

"this is not the way to start things off," thune said saturday morning. "this is sending the wrong message. regardless of how you feel about these people...they had a right to be there."
the vast majority of people harrassed and detained (and handcuffed) by the police were later released w/o charges. and it seems that sheriff fletcher may have over-stepped his jurisdiction:

thune was especially critical of fletcher for taking action within st. paul city limits.

"i'm really ticked off...the city is perfectly capable of taking care of things," thune said. "if they had found anything that could have been used to commit a crime they would have arrested somebody."...

those arrested could be held through the weekend, [lawyers' guild representative bruce] nestor said. a judge will review their case within 48 hours. nestor said the conspiracy to commit a riot charges are vague.

"this is a charge that police use for preventive detention," he said. "it requires that no actual criminal act be committed and borders on criminalizing political advocacy."...

thune estimates that about 100 people were in the theater and detained. he said deputies knocked down the door using a police battering ram and then deputies went in with guns drawn, forcing people to the ground.

the group says they are now accused of a fire code violation and the theater was boarded shut on orders of fletcher. this last action also upset thune, who said the sheriff had no authority to order city staff to keep people out of a building.
jane hamsher and cliff shechter of fdl were there at the scene of one of the raids. lindsay beyerstein was at another.
posted by skippy at 10:27 AM | 0 comments

Saturday, August 30, 2008

skippy's saturday nite music club

sure, it's supertramp, but still...



supertramp - give a little bit - live!
posted by skippy at 11:59 PM | 1 comments

thanks, kevin!

our good friend kevin drum, who is now blogging at mother jones, was kind enough to put us on his new blogroll.

be sure to read him daily. we do! if only to say, "thanks for remembering the little guys, kevin!"
posted by skippy at 8:57 PM | 0 comments

palin by comparison



the ktva channel 11 in anchorage report on gov. palin's admission that her office did indeed pressure walt monegan to fire palin's ex-brother-in-law mike wooten from the state troopers.

the funny part comes at the end, when the anchor gives the result of the phone-in poll which asks "do you believe the governor when she says she knew nothing about these phone calls?" only 12% answered "yes."
posted by skippy at 6:27 PM | 1 comments

the truth "behind" sarah palin

posted by skippy at 6:22 PM | 3 comments

rhebus canneebus

the sailor has a palin-drone over at vidiotspeak.
posted by skippy at 6:18 PM | 0 comments

there's no business like cho business

our good friend joe gandelman of the moderate voice had a guest appearance on vh1's margaret cho show.

go over and see the embed of the promo featuring joe!
posted by skippy at 6:03 PM | 0 comments

was mcmuffin thinking w/his big head or little head?

best website about veeps evah: vpil.com

addendum: if anyone fears that the choice of michael sarah palin will appeal to disaffected pumas, pls. read the comments on ben smith's blog.

double addendum: take a look at mudflats, an alaskan blog, for an on-the-ground view of troopergate, as well as other details about sarah.
posted by skippy at 5:55 AM | 1 comments

mad about sarah palin

mad kane, that is!
posted by skippy at 4:57 AM | 2 comments

so much for all that talk about experience...

john mccain has picked sarah palin, the governor of alaska, to be his running mate. one of two things made this happen. either he was forced to settle on palin because mitt romney, rudy giuliani, mike huckabee, tim pawlenty, ron paul, fred thompson, duncan hunter, joe lieberman, tom ridge, kay hutchinson, condi rice, colin powell, eric cantor, john ashcroft, christine todd whitman, dan quayle, ann coulter, rush limbaugh, dennis miller, ted nugent, harriet miers, and dick cheney all told him to p!$$ off... or mccain has, in fact, gone totally bonkers. i'll place my money on the second possibility.

next subject...

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posted by Jim Yeager at 1:49 AM | 0 comments