Tom Hull

Government Sucks Before It Expires

Mahablog: What Small Government Looks Like: Alternatively, what happens when the Tea Baggers win. I suppose it had to happen somewhere, if for nothing else because so many folks can only learn things the hard way, and Colorado Springs -- home of James Dobson's Focus on the Family and the U.S. Air Force Academy -- is at least, blessedly, not here. Colorado, you may recall, was the state that got suckered into passing a so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TaBOR) law, which pretty much guaranteed that taxpayers would be subjected to nothing but bad government until it keeled over and expired from starvation. (We've fought similar laws off here in Kansas for years, although the ringleader managed to get himself elected to the Sedgwick County Board where he's become Public Menace No. 1.) Still, it's rare to read a report starting off with how many police and firefighters will be sacked.

I read a similar piece a while back about how Arizona is closing half of its state parks due to lack of funds. As someone who as a kid grew up drooling over Arizona Highways that hit pretty close to home. Here in Kansas our ex-Republican, ex-Democrat, soon-to-be-ex-Governor is pushing for a sales tax increase to salvage even the cutback budget, while many of the state's local school boards are suing the state for abandonment. These stories show one of the ironies in the Republicans' starve-the-beast strategy: it isn't hard to get folks riled up about the federal government and all its waste and corruption, but the immediate victims of their success will be state and local governments that those same folks actually depend on. I expect this will backfire, although I have to admit that in their strongholds Republicans manage to keep getting re-elected while providing the worst government possible. Still, especially in the belt from South Carolina to Texas and Oklahoma expectations have been awful low for a very long time. Still, what's happening in Colorado and Arizona are even below long-time norms, so you have to wonder.

Irritable Mental Gestures

Matthew Yglesias: More Condescension Needed: Starts with a quote from Gerard Alexander:

Every political community includes some members who insist that their side has all the answers and that their adversaries are idiots. But American liberals, to a degree far surpassing conservatives, appear committed to the proposition that their views are correct, self-evident, and based on fact and reason, while conservative positions are not just wrong but illegitimate, ideological and unworthy of serious consideration.

I may not be qualified to speak for liberals, but aside from the word "fact" I don't see any evidence that conservatives are any less convinced that their positions are self-evidently right and that opposing views are "illegitimate, ideological and unworthy of serious consideration." (Facts do seem to be a distinct refuge for liberals, and something conservatives casually disregard.) And I can recall any number of conservatives deriding liberals as idiots (Mona Charen's Useful Idiots is one example; the collected works of Ann Coulter is another), and this has been going on a long time. You might argue that liberals have finally caught up with conservatives in mustering disdain for their opponents, and you might bemoan that uncivility, but it didn't come from nowhere. And one might even argue that liberal invective is the direct result of the degradation of conservative thought. Ten-twenty-thirty years ago there were liberals who readily acknowledged that some conservatives had some good ideas -- there was indeed a period when conservatives touted themselves as "the party of ideas." That doesn't happen anymore because a lot of those ideas have been tried and found wanting, and because conservative mindsets have increasingly shrunk back into their reptilian shell, lashing out incoherently about taxes and big government and the need to destroy anyone who doesn't like us enough.

Alexander digs up an old Lionel Trilling quote:

Liberals have dismissed conservative thinking for decades, a tendency encapsulated by Lionel Trilling's 1950 remark that conservatives do not "express themselves in ideas but only in action or in irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas."

It's worth remembering that in 1950 the Republican Party was dominated by its northeastern wing, having nominated Wendell Wilkie and Thomas Dewey as its last standard bearers, with Ike Eisenhower in the wings. Conservatives were marginal within the GOP, and even those who passed as mainstream conservatives then would be hard pressed to pass muster now. By 1950 the New Deal had outgrown its personal association with Roosevelt, and had moved on to conquer the Axis powers in WWII, to build the US economy up to a point where it was not only world-dominant but also more equitably distributed than at any time before or since. (Actually, the decline and decay began around 1970, as conservatives started to make their comeback.) So Trilling's quip had a whiff of triumphalism to it.

Still, it seems more apt now than ever. Conservatives have often been able to talk a good game, but after the last 8 or 14 or 28 years it should be clear that no matter how attractive their ideas seem, in practice they are disastrous. Especially while Bush was in the White House liberals have had plenty of opportunity to sharpen their critique. On the other hand, since Bush left office, the conservatives (or Republicans, since the two have become one) have raged and ranted but it's hard to see a single coherent idea they've brought to fore. They rant about banking industry bailouts, but they oppose any attempt to regulate the banking industry (such as the regulations that kept banks from needing bailouts from the 1930s until they were repealed less than a decade before the meltdown). They rant about budget deficits, which they practically invented with the Bush tax cuts, but recoil in horror at either raising taxes (which Reagan and the first Bush did to limit deficits) or address rampant growth in health care costs. They oppose Obama's conservative health care reform program (negotiated with industry and the AMA to keep private insurance companies in business despite overwhelming proof of dysfunctionality), but can't give a single coherent reason why. The way things are going, we can shorten Trilling's quote: the "irritable mental gestures" remain, but they scarcely even "seek to resemble ideas."

I suppose it's possible that there are thoughtful conservatives somewhere. One thing that makes it hard to tell is that since Obama took office the public face of conservatives has been the media celebrities (Alexander excuses "relatively marginal figures or media gadflies such as Glenn Beck") and Republican politicos, with all the Tea Party nonsense noise in the background, plus the occasional terrorist like Scott Roeder or Randall Terry. And the fact that congressional Republicans have maintained party unity only underscores their commitment to their most vocal fringe. On the other hand, it's not hard to find self-styled conservatives who have broken ranks, especially under Bush -- some names that come to mind include John Dean, Bruce Bartlett, Andrew Sullivan, Andrew Bacevich. I saw a bit with David Stockman tonight where he argued that the age of tax-cutting that he inaugurated as Reagan's budget director is over and that we need to be raising taxes. I looked him up, and ran across this bit of advice he has for Obama:

He should immediately stop the unconscionable bailout of Wall Street, housing, autos and other sectors. These bailouts are an enormous waste of resources that add huge amounts to the public debt while accomplishing nothing in terms of real economic recovery. Instead, he needs to focus government spending exclusively on the safety net; that is, helping the poor and unemployed to cope with the economic disaster created by the Fed and Washington, while leaving the markets and economy to liquidate excessive debts and failed investments. The second thing he needs to do is fire his economic team: Bernanke, Geithner and Summers.

That's a combination of ideas that can't be simply caricatured as either conservative or liberal, but it's consistent and has a workable sense of balance. From the left, I have a different set of ideas, but this at least is something I can see as plausible. Sure, ideological conservatives and ideological liberals would probably reject either Stockman's or my ideas out of hand, but pragmatic reformers wouldn't be so close-minded. Interestingly, a lot of people who conservatives viscerally reject as liberals, socialists, fringe leftists, and/or fascists, are really people who just recognize problems and are willing to try things that may work even if they aren't first choices. For instance, cap and trade is a flexible market mechanism for dealing with a problem that people from the left would traditionally try to deal with through regulation. Yet most so-called liberals, including Obama, are pushing for cap and trade to mitigate global warming: partly they do so because it should be an approach that would attract market-oriented conservatives (if they can extricate their heads from wherever they've stuck them), but also because it might be a more effective way of dealing with the problem. Private health insurance exchanges is another Obama sop to market-oriented conservatives (and to some powerful business interests). In this case, no one on the left has any fondness for the idea, but most would support it if that's what it took to get health care reform going. (And in this case it is definitely not a better idea, even if it is marginally workable.)

Through two wars and several rounds of tax cuts, Republicans plunged us into massive deficits while allowing private interests to steal us blind, and doing whatever they could to cripple the welfare state safety net. Among the results was a major financial meltdown: the simplest way to understand it is that the rich wound up with so much money the only way they could pretend to invest it was to construct a huge ponzi scheme that eventually collapsed on itself, taking a big chunk of the real economy with it. The combination cost the Republicans power, and that loss is the only thing they can think about remedying -- putting an end to their wars or their financial misadventure is way beyond their conception -- so they've orchestrated a massive slander campaign against Obama and the Democrats. They can't do this honestly -- honesty would involve admitting some culpability, and that in turn would ease Obama off the hook -- so they spew out nonsense and cover it up with rage, and it sort of seems to be working. You don't have to be liberal, let alone a leftist, to see this as a hollow scam, but it helps because if you are one you've seen this sort of scam from these same people before. And for those who see into this scam, how do you expect them to regard those who can't see it? I don't know about you, but stupid is the first word that pops into my mind. And as I look for other possibilities, stupid seems the kindest, because pretty much everything else suggests sinister ulterior motives.

Alexander whines and pouts that liberals think conservatives are stupid. OK, so what? From what we've seen of late, the shoe sure fits. But Alexander is wrong in saying that liberals have always thought conservatives stupid. Throughout most of history, liberals figured conservatives to be privileged, greedy, uncaring, and often flat-out spiteful. It's only when they start claiming that their programs will benefit everyone (not just themselves) that it becomes clear that they are stupid (or worse). Moreover, it's not just liberals (and leftists) who have come to conclude this. Consider this little item from Bruce Bartlett's blog (titled "Why I Am Not a Republican"):

I can only conclude from this new poll of 2003 self-identified Republicans nationwide that between 20% and 50% of the party is either insane or mind-numbingly stupid.

In racking my brain above, even I didn't come up with "insane": something more to be said for approaching a problem from multiple perspectives.

Since I started with Yglesias, let's finish by letting him continue:

I have a condescending attitude toward this op-ed. Of course I think my views are correct and based on fact and reason. If I thought my views weren't correct and based on fact and reason, I would adopt different views -- correct fact-and-reason based ones. Does Alexander really think that conservatives don't think their views are correct? Does Alexander not think his own views are correct? Not based on fact? Not based on reason? I'm not sure it's possible to be condescending enough to this op-ed.

Rhapsody Streamnotes

A bunch of stuff since last time, January 6. Seem to be on a monthly schedule, which is partly driven by the way I keep track of Rhapsody-streamed Recycled Goods records. Most of the following were checked during early January when I was compiling year-end list data. Most of the records have their boosters, but overall it was patchy with only a few minor finds. Usual caveats apply: one or two plays, streamed through my computer, so judgments are quick and more/less subject to change, that is if I ever again bother. One problem doing this is the lack of documentation, which I try to make up for by searching the web, but sometimes don't find much. Another is that Rhapsody's performance is rather erratic, with the sound sometimes choppy, sometimes cut out, and "unexpected errors" too common to qualify as unexpected. Still probably worth my while.

Manchester Orchestra: Mean Everything to Nothing (2009, Favorite Gentlemen/Canvasback): Atlanta group, led by Andy Hull; second album, punkish, tuneful, all the more so when they slow it down, as if they have something to say. Likely they do. B+(**)

The Raveonettes: In and Out of Control (2009, Vice): A little prim as rock and roll goes, but they go for an authentic sound, plus a little extra fuzz on the guitars -- sometimes I think they want to slim the Rolling Stones back down to Buddy Holly size, but not lose anything in the process. As consistent and as suggestive as they've gotten. One cut lights up the amps, making you wonder why they don't do that more often. B+(***)

The Decemberists: The Hazards of Love (2009, Capitol): Portland group, on their 5th album. AMG lists them as Chamber Pop, but my entry is Alt-Prog. This is a song cycle, a veritable rock opera, with lit themes of uncertain depth and a lot more bombast than I care for. I'm tempted by the guitar crunch and the sheer guts, but every now and then I wonder what is this shit? For instance, the keyb-keyed title tune is swamped by a kiddie chorus, but then things start to break, and something rather marvelous happens next. B+(*)

The Horrors: Primary Colours (2009, XL): British rock group, second album, fundamentally sound -- AMG nabs it as a mix of shoegaze, post-punk, and goth, which is close enough. Deep-voiced, echoey lead singer probably gets the goth cred. B+(**)

Wild Beasts: Two Dancers (2009, Domino): Another British group, second album, plods a bit but keeps time, singer a little eerily falsetto but in turn. Doesn't have the consistent poll pull of the big 3-5, but I've seen it come out ahead a few times head-to-head. Don't see what they see, but seems OK to me. B+(*)

Baroness: Blue Record (2009, Relapse): Georgia band, has a couple of previous albums including a Red Album with similar (though redder) cover art. Basically a metal band although I don't hear them falling into the usual claptrap -- I could even imagine becoming a fan, although I can't say for sure on what basis. B+(*)

Dinosaur Jr.: Farm (2009, Jagjaguwar): Alt-rock band formed in the late 1980s, part of the SST stable but they came late and I never paid much attention to them. Bombed out around 1997, then regrouped in 2007. Tuneful, run up the guitar flash, stick to medium-fast and then some. I shouldn't be so hard on it, but this is the sort of thing that turned me off rock back, well, around about the time they were just getting started. B-

King Midas Sound: Waiting for You (2009, Hyperdub): Roger Robinson, from Trinidad or Tobago, barely registers with his soft-soled poetry, except on the wicked anti-capitalist "Earth a killya," which may be where he gives way to Hitomi. Kevin Martin is the beats guy. They, too, are slight. B+(**)

Khaled: Liberté (2009, Wrasse): Algerian raï star, safely ensconced in Paris since well before Algeria's "troubles" in the 1990s, where he's made various moves toward and away from electropop. This is as far away as I can recall, an acoustic grind that sounds rootsy even if it isn't, and that sets off his vocal prowess. A-

Why?: Eskimo Snow (2009, Anticon): Oakland rock group, led by Yoni Wolf, has a couple of albums now, an anomaly on what is otherwise an underground rap label. Sort of jangly, not quite pop, probably deeper than I'm following. B+(*)

2562: Unbalance (2009, Tectonic): Dutch DJ Dave Huismans. Electronics, fashioned into non-stop dance beats, with bits of good humor. B+(***)

Tanya Morgan: Broklynati (2009, Interdependent Media): Rap group, moved from Cincinnati to Brooklyn. Three guys, with an ongoing skit about alter-ego the Hardcore Gentlemen. Not quite what you'd call "old school," but moderately old, in the middle of the mainstream that put rap on the map. B+(**)

Black Moth Super Rainbow: Eating Us (2009, Graveface): Pittsburgh group, been around since 2003 with at least four albums, various EPs and singles. Long on texture, with a rather drab female voice centered, kind of like trip-hop transcribed back to alt-rock. Matos listed this, and specifically favored it over Animal Collective. Easy to say he's right, but the lack of irritation keeps them apart in my mind. A-

The Rural Alberta Advantage: Hometowns (2008 [2009], Saddle Creek): Toronto group, first album, self-released before it got picked up. Basic Middle American rock and roll, maybe a little cleaner since it's Canadian like, you know, Neil Young is Canadian. B+(**)

Vivian Girls: Everything Goes Wrong (2009, In the Red): Brooklyn group, three females improbably enough, a guitar-bass-drums trio that runs thin and lo-fi, and could stand to be nastier and/or more talented. B

Health: Get Color (2009, Lovepump United): LA band, second album, hard, sharp, metallic toned, a bit of noise but not much fuzz. Got some exposure opening for Nine Inch Nails, which is a match, although they're not as tightly bound to their concept. B+(**)

Andrew Bird: Noble Beast (2009, Fat Possum): A singer-songwriter with strengths on both counts, plus he puts his violin to good use for flavoring but doesn't lean on it too hard. Has recorded steadily since 1996. B+(*)

Dan Auerbach: Keep It Hid (2009, Nonesuch): Debut from Black Keys frontman -- a band I've never been much impressed by. Stands more forthright on his own; brings out the blues riffs and posture, and tightens up the songs. B+(*)

Julian Casablancas: Phrazes for the Young (2009, RCA): First solo album from former Strokes frontman. Tuneful, a nice jangly rhythm that has always been natural to the group. On the other hand, the keybs thicken around his voice, which turns out to be an annoying one. B-

Brendan Benson: My Old, Familiar Friend (2009, ATO): Singer-songwriter, has several albums as well as a role in Jack White's Raconteurs supergroup. Some MOR rock moves, some pop moves, some tendency to fake gravitas by overemoting. "Feel Like Taking You Home" overran these faults, but "Put Me Out of My Misery" succumbed. B-

Dan Deacon: Bromst (2009, Carpark): Synth guy, diddled around on a lot of obscure releases from 2003 to 2007, when he landed at experimental-rock label Carpark, who seems to have motivated him to get louder, jumpier, and quirkier -- i.e., more like Animal Collective, but he mostly goes overboard, which makes him much funnier. B+(**)

Cymbals Eat Guitars: Why There Are Mountains (2009, Sister's Den): Brooklyn alt-rock band, shifts speed and volume a lot, makes a fair impression both up and down, most so when they run flat out. Vocalist doesn't seem to be in command. Comparisons to Pavement are not wildly off base, although they're not on that level. B+(*)

The Big Pink: A Brief History of Love (2009, 4AD): Brit group, first album. Reminds me a bit of Joy Division, with less cool and more industrial clunk and a bit of shoegaze polish. Seemed promising early on, but midway the songs started getting stuffed and bloated. B+(*)

Death Cab for Cutie: The Open Door (2009, Atlantic, EP): Five-cut EP, one a demo for their 2008 album, the others leftovers. Band has been around since 1999, with 5-6 albums and a huge pile of EPs. Some words worth following, support melodies all right. Never really saw the utility in EPs. B+(*)

Lack of Afro: My Groove Your Move (2009, Freestyle): This showed up at the top of one (and only one) of the year-end lists, ahead of some stuff that led me to take it seriously. DJ Adam Gibbons draws on older soul/funk riffs, jacks up the beats, pulls in a rapper here, a singer there, points out an occasional riff. B+(***)

Fruit Bats: The Ruminant Band (2009, Sub Pop): Chicago group, fourth album, someone named Eric D. Johnson -- evidently there are other Eric Johnsons to disclaim -- wrote all the songs. Presumably sings them too, a lovely voice that sounds like a middle American John Lennon. Tunes move along gracefully. Richly satisfying. A-

The Field: Yesterday and Today (2009, Kompakt/Anti-): Swedish producer Axel Willner's second full-length album. First, From Here We Go Sublime, got a lot of attention in 2007 but I couldn't find it on Rhapsody. This time, he got picked up by a better-distributed label, but barely got noticed. Of the numerous sub-categories for electronica these days, pop ambient gets the parameters about right. Mostly catchy rhythm tracks with minor variations -- one vocal is a bit out of bounds. Very attractive at first blush, but second play didn't add much. B+(***)

Lightning Bolt: Earthly Delights (2007-08 [2009], Load): Noise group, from Rhode Island, been around since 1999, with a Christgau-recommended 2001 album I bought and never managed to rate, probably because I never felt like playing it a second time. Doubt I'll feel like playing this one again either. I can handle the guitar-drums noise all right -- even like some of the drumming -- and can overlook the vocal ballast for a while, but I find wildly disorganized shit like "Flooded Chamber" really worthless. Sure, they try to make amends with "Funny Farm," which I recognized as bluegrass before looking up the title, but afterwards thought it could have been funnier. B-

Nosaj Thing: Drift (2009, Alpha Pup): California DJ, known to his mother as Jason Chung. Keeps it fairly simple, with auras of churchy synth to chill it all out. B+(*)

5 Years of Hyperdub (2004-09 [2009], Hyperdub, 2CD): Label compilation, fairly narrowly focused on dubstep or ambient dub, moderately paced electronica with a fair amount of echo, vocals present sometimes but usually not a plus. Recognize a couple of artists here -- Burial, Bug, Zomby, Martyn, King Midas Sound -- but most fly well under my radar, with Kode 9 the most common unknown. Sort of thing that serves me well as background music, but never really draws me in. B+(***)

Vampire Weekend: Contra (2010, XL): The first big hype of the new year -- figure I might as well not wait until the year-end lists come out. First reputation had a reputation for incorporating bits of Afropop, but this goes much further, especially in the drums. Singer may remind a bit of Paul Simon, but more flexible and less full of himself. A-

Polvo: In Prism (2009, Merge): Rock band from the 1990s, where they had four 1992-97 albums plus a few EPs before giving up. Regrouped now, reportedly playing the same thing, loopy guitar-heavy textures. Nice cover art. B+(***)

William Basinski: 92862 (1982 [2009], 2062): Ambient electronics, mostly tape loops that subtly nod up and down, or etching a very quiet halo around a faint piano figure. Not much, not even minimalism, but I found it entrancing. B+(**)

The Very Best: Warm Heart of Africa (2009, Green Owl): Singer Esau Mwamwaya from Malawi plus the British DJ/production duo Radioclit (Johan Karlberg and Etienne Tron). Not sure how this official debut differs from last year's mix tape, Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit Are the Very Best. It is sort of a mishmash, with South African borrowings and other, harder to identify, tacks. Gets the basic flavor across, and has some fun doing it. Group name is rather awkward. B+(**)

Kid Cudi: Man on the Moon: The End of the Day (2009, Universal Motown): Young rapper from Cleveland, seems to have built a reputation in mixtapes and has some connection (I don't understand) to Kanye West. Works a man-on-moon (or man-in-moon?) concept through narration and soft-shuffle raps which get catchier as the record grows on you. B+(***)

Maxwell: BLACKsummers'night (2009, Columbia): Soul singer, has the basic skills but isn't especially distinctive, on his fourth record -- first in 8 years. Evidently the title case is necessary to distinguish this from two more albums from the same sessions, to be released with the upper case sliding rightwards. Maybe should be docked just for that, but I figure he's cutting himself thin enough as it is. B+(*)

Cass McCombs: Catacombs (2009, Domino): Mild mannered singer-songwriter, male, based in Baltimore, third album. Has a nice, even feel to it. B+(**)

Miike Snow (2009, Downtown): Swedish group, three guys, first album. In English, of course, depends on keybs giving an alt-rock identity a plastic coat of pop gloss. Tuneful enough to work. B+(*)

Mary J Blige: Stronger With Each Tear (2009, Geffen): Release date Dec. 1, too late to have any impact on year-end lists, not that it would have had much anyway -- her best Pazz & Jop finishes were: 21) Mary (1999); 30) What's the 411? (1992); and 40) No More Drama (2001). Another strong album, but I never fall for her very hard. For one thing, she makes it seem like too much work. B+(**)

Chrisette Michele: Epiphany (2009, Def Jam): Second album. Sounds fresher than Blige, but not as firmly in command. About right at this stage. B+(*)

Mariachi El Bronx (2008 [2009], Swami): Originally a punk band from Los Angeles, led by singer Matt Caughthran, but padded out with a mariachi horn section, as well as charango, guitarron, guests like David Hidalgo. Doesn't feel quite right, and not just because it's anglophone-friendly. B

Archive file is here.

Doom

Matthew Yglesias: Where Are the Obama Boosters? Starts with a link to a Jonathan Bernstein post titled "Where Are the Liberal Hack Economists?" It's a reasonable albeit naive question. Recall, after all, how eager conservative economists were to tout the jobless Bush recovery as soon as the growth numbers went positive. Bush then and the Republicans now never lacked for mouthpieces for whatever the party line was. The Democrats have a tougher time, partly because they don't have the payroll or party discipline of the Republicans, partly because Obama's economic team decided to save Wall Street ahead of Main Street despite the interests of most rank and file Democrats, and partly because so many left-identified economists aren't hacks. Someone could make a case that the economy is much more robust after a year with Obama that it would have been with McCain or Hoover or any other Republican you can think of, but it's hard for the reality-based party to see that as much of a triumph. Only fantasists are so readily elated.

Yglesias tries to explain this:

I wrote about "optimism inversion" back in January 2009, noting that over the previous five years liberal commentators had been consistently more pessimistic about the economy than conservative ones. I saw three factors at work:

I believe left-wing politics and pessimism are generally correlated traits.

Left-of-center commentators are generally smarter than right-of-center ones and pessimism was the correct position.

People inclined to be hostile to the incumbent administration are naturally disposed to believe that disaster looms around the corner.

I then noted "at some point after the inauguration, the valence of factor (3) will switch and I wonder how much force that'll have in pulling things along." It seems, in general, to have had very little influence. As a general matter, I think that both (1) and (2) are underrated features of public discourse. I also, despite factor (2) and the fact that I'm pessimistic about the next 24 months worth of economic outlook for the USA, generally think that left-of-center people are too pessimistic about the trajectory of human affairs.

There is a lot of stuff to unpack here.

Both political parties turn to populist themes -- perhaps popular pandering is a better way to phrase it -- during election campaigns, then turn back to established power centers after the election. The Republicans look natural when they do this because they started with first allegiance to the rich and powerful, and most of their lowlife followers fall in line, accepting the need to cater to the rich and powerful to gain support for their single-issue obsessions. But when Democrats shift post-election, they lose most of their followers, because there's little way to reconcile the opposing interests. It's not so much that Democratic politicians are hypocrites as that they have such a huge gap to straddle.
It doesn't help Democratic party discipline that so many people vote for Democrats just to keep the Republicans out of office. To take an obvious example, if you are antiwar you had to vote against McCain, even if you got Obama instead. But you don't have to like Obama's wars because McCain's would have been worse. Voting is a much more discrete act than liking someone.
The long-term correlation of pessimism and left-wing politics has much to do with the long-term ascendancy of the right and its marginalization of any sense of public interest. If the right weren't so powerful, and if their power didn't have such pervasive effects, the left would have less to be pessimistic about. (In general, the left identifies with the public and public interests, while the right promotes private interests, often but not always their own.)
One aspect of being smarter is that your perceptions are more rooted in the observable world, and this is close to what Yglesias has in mind. Of course, there are other ways of being smart, such as being clever at manipulating rhetoric and emotions, and the right has lots of people who are smart like that. They are the ones who brag about inventing reality, as opposed to those who merely study it.
Yglesias's occasional forays into long-term optimism have rarely struck me as persuasive. That's partly because a lot of persistent worries -- like overpopulation, resource depletion, pollution -- have never lost their logic no matter how many specific predictions have failed, while panaceas like progress of technology and human ingenuity still seem like slim threads no matter how many times they have worked out.

Sometimes I worry that I'm being too pessimistic. One thing we necessarily do is oversimplify issues, which has the effect of exaggerating risks and benefits. Some trends that I find deeply alarming, like the loss of equality in things like mean wages and educational costs are certainly problems, but don't seem to be as severe as my reasoning suggests. Maybe they will hit some catastrophic point where social cohesion unravels completely, but more likely we'll see a bit of reform or some other way of compensating for the effects. Climate change is something that grabs people because it seems clear cut, but it really isn't very clear: there are wide range of possible outcomes, with all sorts of reactions and revisions. About the only thing I'm sure of is that massive stupidity isn't the answer.

And, indeed, that's the main thing that makes me pessimistic. There are lots of ways to deal with most problems, but the two that don't work are stupidity and carelessness. When you see, time and again, rank nonsense spouted by people who care next to nothing about the fate of other people, you get pessimistic. The tipping point issue is whether we choose to face inevitable problems from a framework of unity -- we're all in this together -- or we let each person or group fend for themselves. If the latter, which is a position that enjoys significant power in America today, we are doomed.

Recycled Goods (70): January 2010

I don't plan on going with three album covers indefintely, but stumbled into it last time when I added Loudon Wainwright III late, and stumbled into it again this time. I've had the Coasters comp reviewed for quite a while, and wanted to show the cheap cover and its framing of the older, better edition cover -- besides which, it's a slam dunk pick hit. Then I figured I should do something to recognize the Willie Nelson section below. The obvious pick is the One Hell of a Ride box set, but when I fetched a cover scan, the supplemental packaging had been stripped away so you were left with a featureless tan (i.e., leather-like) tallbox with a little guitar-shaped embossing and no identifying print: not much to look at here. Then I finally got around to writing up a little something on Franco. I didn't want to hold it an extra month since I had already pegged it #2 on my Pazz & Jop ballot. And it's another slam dunk pick hit, at which point I thought of dropping Nelson.

Then I had another bright idea. The reason I held the Coasters back a couple of months is that I was toying with the idea of doing something much broader on Rhino's cheapo Flashback line, but never got into it -- partly because so many of the reissues are crap, but mostly because it proved nearly impossible to find necessary information on them. But it turns out that my favorite Willie Nelson compilation is another cheap Rhino set ($6.08 at cdconnection.com): Nite Life: Greatest Hits and Rare Tracks (1959-1971). I didn't include it in my research below because I had covered it way back when, but figured, what the hell, I'll throw the cover up and plug it here: nineteen early tracks, the songs Nelson built his songwriting reputation on, with every rare track as solid as the hits. That gives us three A+ album covers. Hard to top that.

The Coasters: The Very Best of the Coasters (1954-60 [2009], Rhino Flashback): A cheap copy of a 1993 compilation with 15 Leiber-Stoller classics and the equally brilliant "Shopping for Clothes" -- a set that should be in every rock library, unless you're fortunate to already own 50 Coastin' Classics (or Rhino Handmade's completist 113-track There's a Riot Goin' On: The Coasters on Atco). Part of a 1993-94 series of 16 song samplers that consistently worked both ways -- as introductions to novices and special treats to aficionados -- only a few have gotten the Flashback treatment, which tarnishes the artwork and no doubt kills the useful doc. The Drifters and the Shirelles are missing but equally brilliant. A+

Franco & Le TPOK Jazz: Francophonic, Vol. 2 (1980-89 [2009], Sterns Africa, 2CD): The other shoe drops, after the first Francophonic volume proved the most definitive accounting yet of the 1953-80 rise of the Congo's greatest bandleader. His last decade was chock full of long grooves with sweet and soaring guitar lines, first-rate singers, and irresistible percussion. Booklet helps too, but is unnecessary to get into the music. A+

Nirvana: Live at Reading (1992 [2009], DGC): I might have liked Nirvana more if everyone else liked them less, but more likely I wouldn't have noticed them at all. I never could hear the mudmouth vocals through the guitar din. At most I'd get a barbed word, something about lithium, or something about a gun. Cut the grunge and it was clear that they had some talent: the demos collection Incesticide showed some songcraft, and MTV Unplugged in New York offered them a human scale. But when Kurt Cobain became a poster boy for the NRA, I couldn't care less. A quickie live comp, From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, muddied the waters further. This new one has the virtue of being a single set, running at high volume with little to vary or personalize the sound. The only song that caught my ear was something about building a machine and watching the money roll in. B [R]

In Series:

"Briefly Noted" appeared for the first time in the fourth Recycled Goods column, back in May 2003. The idea grew out of a bit of "Additional Consumer News" I tacked onto the April 2003 column. I had been writing a piece on Willie Nelson for The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, and in the process had slogged my way through a bunch of Nelson reissues. I listed those with one-line synopses, paving the way for "Briefly Noted."

This month Rolling Stone came back asking for an update for a new website project. I'm not sure what they're doing with the other 24 pieces I wrote, but combined they may not have more new records and reissues than Nelson has cranked out in the interim. I needed some space to sort out what I found, then thought why not do it here. Some are recycled; others are new but not that new. When I got through the obligatory ones, I looked through Rhapsody to see what else I may have missed, including the first time, and proceeded to note some of those. Admittedly, not all of them: I found no less than five different live records called On the Road Again, and four early comps called Face of a Fighter none matching Nelson's original 1978 release of 1960-vintage demos. Rhapsody lists more than 300 Nelson records, including a lot of redundant compilations and other things of uncertain provenance. (The booklet in Legacy's One Hell of a Ride has a gallery of 92 Nelson album covers. This seems to be the official list, minus at least four albums that have come out since.)

Also worth noting again that I reviewed Willie and the Wheel just last month. For my money it's the best individual album he's released since Stardust.

Willie Nelson: One Hell of a Ride (1954-2007 [2008], Columbia/Legacy, 4CD): The third or fourth "career spanning" box of Nelson's still unfinished career, and definitely not the last given that he's released one great album (Willie and the Wheel in 2009) and several good ones since the cutoff date, but at age 75 this sets the standard. The package is slim but the booklet runs 96 pages, with all the pictures you'll ever need, and more credits than you usually get. The songs pick their way through the years, not an obvious canon but plenty of fond memories, and less obvious ones that get by as Nelson so often does, with charm and a golden voice. A

Willie Nelson: Legends of the Grand Ole Opry (1964-67 [2008], Time/Life): "Nashville was the roughest" not for lack of songs or voice, but maybe charisma, which Nelson found in Austin; nothing here he didn't do better in the studio, often in demos licensed so loosely you can find them in dozens of competing cheapo product. B

Willie Nelson: Naked Willie (1966-70 [2009], RCA Nashville/Legacy): Pooh on Chet Atkins, as Nelson finally gets the chance to offer his own mixes, shorn of the string and choral treacle Atkins so loved; limiting is that they could only work on multitrack masters which appeared in the latter half of Nelson's RCA tenure, so these aren't his best songs, and sometimes he sings too forcefully once the competing dreck is removed; conversely, back on 1965's Country Willie: His Own Songs the songs and singer were so great not even Atkins could ruin them. B+(**)

Willie Nelson: The Party's Over and Other Great Willie Nelson Songs (1967, RCA): Nelson's relationship songs are so devoid of feeling it's not surprising that he ultimately ditched them for a life of crime -- he breaks up so often you wonder how he ever managed to get hitched in the first place; the strings may be meant to soften the blow, but they just turn maudlin. B [R]

Willie Nelson: Texas in My Soul (1968, RCA): Texas-born, you'd think Nelson might have something to say about his home state, but given the chance he opts for 11 covers, mostly dull geography -- "Dallas," "San Antonio," "Streets of Laredo," "The Hill Country Theme" -- and angst over the Alamo; Ernest Tubb provides the only saving grace. B- [R]

Willie Nelson: Good Times (1969, RCA): Loneliness as existential dread, sometimes in songs arranged as sparsely as their sentiments, once or twice in songs gushing with Chet Atkins wrappers. B [R]

Willie Nelson: My Own Peculiar Way (1969, RCA): The title track is wrapped up in the full-blown string treatment and nearly swamped, as is much else here; five covers are hit and miss, but his own songs hold up, and he sings them with subtle flair. B+(*) [R]

Willie Nelson: Both Sides Now (1970, RCA): Joni Mitchell title song picked up fresh, with "Crazy Arms" and "Wabash Cannonball" up front to mark this as country -- not countrypolitan; more covers than usual, but the songwriter works five of his own in, including "I Gotta Get Drunk" and "Bloody Mary Morning." B+(**) [R]

Willie Nelson: Laying My Burdens Down (1970, RCA): Starts promisingly, with a good title original, and survives the Atkins treatment on "Senses"; on the other hand, Nelson's "Where Do You Stand?" is overblown, and a cover called "Minstrel Man" is an atrocity three final originals are hard pressed to overcome. B [R]

Willie Nelson: Willie Nelson & Family (1971, RCA): Without credits, I don't know how this relates to Willie's later Family (i.e., his band); half covers, top drawer stuff -- not that "Fire and Rain" suits him -- but he seems determined to solve the overproduction problem by singing operatically. C+ [R]

Willie Nelson: Yesterday's Wine (1971, RCA): First half follows a concept about a "flawed man" charged by God to deliver the message to his fellows: down to don't dwell on the numerous bad times, and don't try to understand -- that's God's job; fills out with several remarkable songs, including his road anthem "Me and Paul." A- [R]

Willie Nelson: The Words Don't Fit the Picture (1972, RCA): Title song is clunky, and everything else -- all Nelson originals, two with co-credits -- is prety scattered; the one with Waylon Jennings, "Good Hearted Woman," made its first appearance here, but made a bigger impression four years later, on Wanted! The Outlaws. B [R]

Willie Nelson: The Willie Way (1972, RCA): A set of solid but unremarkable Nelson songs, supplemented with one from Kristofferson that's up to snuff, and "Mountain Dew" for its hayseed factor. B+(**) [R]

Willie Nelson: Stardust (Legacy Edition) (1976-90 [2008], Columbia/Legacy, 2CD): Nelson's 1978 album of venerable Tin Pan Alley standards marked his emergence as a great interpretive singer, and was his bestseller to boot; the first disc doesn't tamper with the short original 10-cut package, so it remains as pristine as ever; the bonus cherry picks 16 similar cuts from 9 albums, a little more scattered, but better as a whole than his occasional more explicit returns to the Stardust formula. A-

Willie Nelson: Pretty Paper (1979, Columbia): A quickie Christmas album, wrapped up in the original title song -- about as secular as you can do in the season -- and a slight little instrumental called "Christmas Blues"; that's all the ideas they had, so for filler they picked ten songs everyone's done, and budgeted two minutes for each -- except for "Silent Night," which as you know tends to drag on and on. B [R]

Willie Nelson: Tougher Than Leather (1983, Columbia): A cowboy-gunfighter-damsel concept album, like Red Headed Stranger but more oblique, which is to say he bothered to write the whole thing -- except for a "Beer Barrel Polka" interlude, that is -- if not necessarily to figure it out; widely trashed when it came out, it actually holds up pretty well, partly because Nelson's loose narrative style has been missing ever since. B+(***) [R]

Willie Nelson: Without a Song (1983, Columbia): Another mild-mannered standards rehash, done with a minimum of fuss and bother, the only thing that breaks with the genteel strum and twang is guest Julio Iglesias on "As Time Goes By," which he dispenses with his bombast. B [R]

Willie Nelson: City of New Orleans (1984, Columbia): Steve Goodman's title song was good for a hit but not for emulation; Nelson prefered mopey ballads with strings, and penned only one song, defensively, "Why Are You Picking on Me?" B- [R]

Willie Nelson: A Horse Called Music (1989, Columbia): A short and slight album, with a worthy Beth Nielsen Chapman hit ("Nothing I Can Do About It Now"), three originals (two recycled, "Mr. Record Man" from back in 1962), some other hit and miss stuff -- I can buy into the title track, but not "If I Were a Painting." B [R]

Willie Nelson: Healing Hands of Time (1994, Liberty): Another standards album -- even if six are by Nelson himself, most are as familiar as "All the Things You Are" and "I'll Be Seeing You"; massive string orchestras aren't my idea of how to do anything, but they offset a truly remarkable voice. B [R]

Willie Nelson: Just One Love (1995 [1996], Justice): Title track is a touching duet with songwriter Kimmie Rhodes; most of the filler is classic honky tonk -- "Cold Cold Heart," "It's a Sin," "This Cold War With You," "Four Walls" -- but there's also the classic novelty "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)," and Grandpa Jones takes over to drive "Eight More Miles to Louisville" straight into the ground. B+(**) [R]

Willie Nelson: Nacogdoches (1997 [2004], Pedernales): Sold exclusive at Texas Roadhouse restaurants, a scrap session, billed as jazz but really old standards including another run through "Stardust"; actually his best such record except for his original Stardust, probably because he enjoys the company and has nothing at stake. A-

Willie Nelson: It Always Will Be (2004, Lost Highway): Three originals, the title song as simple and indelible as Nelson gets; a couple by other Nelsons and some choice filler, including a drinking song that claims "I've been thrown into better places than this"; three duets, with Norah Jones and Lucinda Williams attesting to Nelson's star power. B+(***)

Willie Nelson & Friends: Outlaws and Angels (2004, Lost Highway): Friends include Al Green, Ben Harper, Rickie Lee Jones, Carole King, Toots Hibbert, Holmes Brothers, Los Lonely Boys, Kid Rock, Jerry Lee Lewis, Keith Richards, Shelby Lynne, Lucinda Williams, Toby Keith, and (most important) Merle Haggard; they do what they do, and have a good time doing it. B+(**)

Willie Nelson: Countryman (1995-2004 [2005], Lost Highway): Ganja on the cover, but Nelson's reggae album is played straight, with two Jimmy Cliff songs and one duet with Toots Hibbert the seeds for the usual delightful riddims; the idea seems to be to cross one of Nelson's songs over like Toots did to "Country Roads"; pleasant enough, but none of the songs here catches a fire, much less inhales. B

Willie Nelson: You Don't Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker (2006, Lost Highway): Walker wrote some 500 songs, hits for everyone from Bing Crosby to Mickey Gilley, with Bob Wills recording more than 50; if you don't know her, you probably don't know who Fred Rose is either, but you should still recognize the title song, if not from Eddy Arnold then from Ray Charles; I recognize most of the songs, and Nelson sweeps them all. A-

Willie Nelson: Songbird (2006, Lost Highway): A Ryan Adams album with a better singer, but Adams' indistinct rock backdrop provides more grout than structure; Nelson wanders over a soundscape where even his own songs seem like strangers, the sole find being Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," ending as "Sad Songs and Waltzes" turns into a gloomy Adams-arranged "Amazing Grace." B

Willie Nelson/Merle Haggard/Ray Price: Last of the Breed (2007, Lost Highway, 2CD): Price is the senior honky tonker, the guy you don't instantly recognize, but he holds this collection of songs that show his age together, especially the Jesus songs; the other two make it special. A-

Willie Nelson: Moment of Forever (2008, Lost Highway): The guest catalyst this time is Kenny Chesney, who duets on one song, co-wrote another, and co-produced the set, not that he actually adds much; in the end an average Nelson album, with Nelson borrowing more than he writes, his Randy Newman cover welcome and his Bob Dylan all but inevitable. B+(*)

Willie Nelson: Lost Highway (2002-08 [2009], Lost Highway): Nelson's signing to Universal's alt-Nashville label seemed promising, but his seven years there produced a mixed bag, with a couple of superb vintage country sets and a maddening mess of bad ideas -- guest duets, reggae, Ryan Adams; the good albums yield good cuts, the not-so-good ones don't, and four unreleaseds just confuse, from the gender-crossing "Cowboys Are Frequently Fond of Each Other" to the homophobic "Ain't Going Down on Brokeback Mountain"; go figure. B

Willie Nelson/Wynton Marsalis: Two Men With the Blues (2007 [2008], Blue Note): Neither man has the first damn reason to be blue, but both are such pros they can play along with the concept; Marsalis's band brings a little New Orleans jump to the affair, the brass brightens the room, and the singer is a class act, with songs worth hearing him sing -- not least, Merle Travis's "That's All." B+(***)

Willie Nelson: American Classic (2009, Blue Note): A return to Stardust territory, vintage standards elegantly swung and sung, with Lewis Nash anchoring the mainstream band; Diana Krall and Norah Jones join for duets, the latter warming up "Baby It's Cold Outside." B+(**)

Briefly Noted

William Basinski: 92982 (1982 [2009], 2062): An archive tape of gently oscillating subminimal electronics, sometimes wrapped in a faint halo around a repeated piano figure. B+(**) [R]

Sun Ra: Interplanetary Melodies: Doo Wop From Saturn and Beyond, Vol. One (1950s [2009], Norton): A few doo wop singles from the 1950s, including a Christmas chant anyone could have improved on; a groove track called "Africa" that showed up on a 1966 album, a bunch of previously unissued material, including a fractured "Summertime"; a bit of spoken word -- stuff that kicks back and forth between quirky and too trivial to bother with. B [R]

Sun Ra: The Second Stop Is Jupiter: Doo Wop From Saturn and Beyond, Vol. Two (1950s [2009], Norton): More odds than sods, as they mix a couple more known singles with a lot of tape scraps, all with vocals, though most unreleased for good reasons -- not that he ever did anything completely uninteresting. B- [R]

Sun Ra: Nidhamu/Dark Myth Equation Visitation (1971 [2009], Art Yard): A series of impromptu concerts from a visit to Egypt, with Ra on his Moog and the band on instruments borrowed from the army; some solo keyb, some pieces with drums and backing vocals, a lot of odd constructions, nothing likely to blow you away, but plenty to think about. B+(*) [R]

Sun Ra: The Antique Blacks (1974 [2009], Art Yard): A small group live shot that wound up on Saturn in 1978 and languished in extreme obscurity, distinguished by lots of quirky rockish synth and tuneless vocals with occasional honks and screeches from the horns; by normal people this would be desperate but, of course, there's nothing normal about it. B+(**) [R]

Manfred Schoof: European Echoes (1969 [2002], Atavistic): Two LP-side-long bashes with a 16-piece avant band, distinguished not by teamwork but by blistering solos from the young men who moved the movement: saxophonists Evan Parker and Peter Brötzmann, guitarist Derek Bailey, pianists Fred Van Hove and Alexander von Schlippenbach, and ultimately the undersung trumpeter-leader. B+(***) [R]

Tom Waits: Glitter and Doom Live (2008 [2009], Anti-, 2CD): One disc of songs, ground down by a grungy band that generates deep-grounded momentum and growled out by a guy who can't exactly sing but projects so much feeling it hardly matters anyway; second disc is a 35-minute stand-up routine from a guy who marvels over the perversity of the natural as well as the manmade world; it's worth listening to once, maybe again. B+(**) [R]

Neil Young: Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968 (1968 [2008], Reprise): Transitioning from Buffalo Springfield to his solo career -- here very much alone -- Young talks a lot about songwriting and can get technical about it; his high voice is fresh, his guitar fluffs up his songs rather than plays them. B [R]

Neil Young: Dreamin' Man Live '92 (1992 [2009], Reprise): No band, just just singer with guitar and harmonica -- one cut each on banjo and piano -- unplugging his countryish retreat on Harvest Moon, shortly after he wrecked his amplifiers on Arc-Weld; he can, of course, carry his tunes, and they sink ever deeper, not least the bitter closer, "War of Man." B+(***) [R]

Legend: B+ records are divided into three levels, where more * is better. [R] indicates record was reviewed using a stream from Rhapsody. The biggest caveat there is that the packaging and documentation hasn't been inspected or considered.

Quoting Protin

I got a short piece of mail from Art Protin in New Zealand:

I just read an article in the Dominion Post from 22 Jan. 2010 where they quote from an interview with Omar bin Laden, son of Osama bin Laden. "As soon as America went to Afghanistan, [Osama bin Laden's] plan worked. He has already won." I said the same thing back in 2001 but nobody quoted then.

Art was still in New Jersey at the time. I drove to New York the first week of September, 2001, and dropped my car off at his house in Madison for safekeeping (and cheap parking) before taking the train into the city. I had stopped to see friends on the way out, and expected to see more on the way back, but my main purpose was to hook up with Robert Christgau and build his website. Laura flew to New York for a short rendez-vous. We did some sightseeing, and she was scheduled to fly back to Wichita on the 11th. Didn't happen, as you know. We were staying with a friend in Brooklyn when the planes hit the World Trade Center. From our perch above Grand Army Plaza, we could see the flaming towers and an endless parade of shocked people trudging home. Laura eventually got out, as did our host, Liz, leaving me alone in the apartment. We spent the first few days largely glued to the TV, an indication of the horrors to come. I recall John Major pointing out that Britain could teach America a few things about terrorism, and a smiling Benjamin Netanyahu who couldn't help but opine that this was good news for Israel. I recall Hillary Clinton standing on the Capitol steps daring them to come back and finish her off. I recall clips of Palestinians celebrating, and grainy black/white of a rocket attack in Kabul fueling speculation that Bush had already started to strike back: "America Strikes Back" replaced "America Under Attack" as the theme script on the bottom of the television screen.

After Laura and Liz left, I shut the TV down. I spent two, maybe three weeks in New York: wandering the streets and bookstores -- remarkably empty of any relevant books; I went to some worried peace demonstrations; I hacked the website together; I saw friends and attended to some family matters -- my niece, Lucy Fishman, was killed at work in the WTC, and we were all shocked and despondent over that. Still, it was probably the least worst place to be at the time. It was, after all, real -- unlike the hysterical war fever whipped up all over the rest of America.

When I finally left New York, I took the train to Jersey City, and Art drove in and picked me up. He asked me what my thoughts were on "9-1-1" -- the first time I had ever heard it referred to as that. I don't remember what I said, but recall that he saw sending troops to Afghanistan as falling into a trap. It wasn't inevitable at the time, although we now know that Bush never considered not going to war -- that he was itching to play his commander-in-chief role for all the political capital, not to mention glory, he could muster. And the preëmptive attacks on peaceniks and pragmatists had already begun, so relentless and dogmatic that Susan Sontag got trampled for wondering whether the definition of "cowardice" really was hijacking planes and smashing them into buildings.

That Bin Laden saw 9/11 as a trap to lure the US into war in Afghanistan isn't surprising. The notion of Afghanistan as the "graveyard of empires" is a little overworked. Britain and the Soviet Union failed mostly due to internal rot -- the economic folly of empire did them more harm than the nicks and bruises of primitive arms wielded by desperate fighters. The more apt formulation is Jonathan Schell's "unconquerable world." Still, the US is only slightly less vulnerable to the same rot -- the net effect of being able to hand on longer is that we wind up suffering more in the end. Even before I got Art's mail, I had planned on posting a similar extract from Omar Bin Laden's PR tour, this one published in the Feb. 4, 2010 issue of Rolling Stone (p. 70):

Alone for the first time in his life, Omar took a car to the Pakistan border. A few months later, his father destroyed the World Trade Center, killing thousands. "I never thought the attack would be civilian buildings," Omar says. "I thought it would be a ship, like the USS Cole. My father's dream was to bring the Americans to Afghanistan. He would do the same thing he did to the Russians. I was surprised the Americans took the bait. I so much respected the mentality of President Clinton. He was the one who was smart. When my father attacked his places, he sent a few cruise missiles to my father's training camp. He didn't get my father, but after all the war in Afghanistan, they still don't have my father. They have spent hundreds of billions. Better for America to keep the money for its economy. In Clinton's time, America was very, very smart. Not like a bull that runs after the red scarf.

"I was still in Afghanistan when Bush was elected," he continues. "My father was so happy. This is the kind of president he needs -- one who will attack and spend money and break the country. Even Bush's own mother says he is the biggest idiot boy of the family. I am sure my father wanted McCain more than Obama. McCain has the same mentality as Bush. My father would be disappointed because Obama get the position."

Osama bin Laden is probably less disappointed with Obama these days, for while he isn't as knee-jerk trigger-happy as McCain, he reasons his way to the same insane conclusions. There are people who would argue that Obama is the "same as he ever was" -- Paul Krugman used that title for a post -- but I wonder whether that Somali pirate incident early in his term wasn't a turning point. Obama approved sniper attacks that killed pirates holding a ship captain. In all likelihood, that was the first time Obama got so close to blood on his hands, and it played well in the press -- made him hero of the day. Since then his favored weapon has been the only slightly less intimate drone-fired rockets, which he has used even more promiscuously than Bush did. Regardless of immediate satisfactions, the one thing Obama can rest assured of is that he will never be criticized by Republicans for digging a deeper hole in Afghanistan. After all, they are the party that wants to see the US government fail, and nothing the state can do is more guaranteed of wasteful failure than war in Afghanistan.

In a follow-up note, Art added:

In summary, the response of the USA to the attacks of 11 Sept. serves as anything other than a deterrent against future attacks of a similar nature. It has shown itself to be vulnerable, clumsy, ignorant, arrogant, and, in this global conflict, inept. The USA has insured that terrorism will remain an important tool for generations to come. A complete absence of response would have better served the interests of the USA than what it did.

Art just emigrated to New Zealand, a rather extreme move that is certainly not a vote of confidence in the future of the USA.

Some useful links on the US military budget (and related topics):

Fred Kaplan: Too Big to Fail? Actually, they do nothing but fail, but the numbers add up to an immovable object.
Tom Engelhardt: Movie Favorites From the Secretary of Defense: On a trip to and from Pakistan.
WarInContext: Covering Up Homicide: "He could have said 'we have killed . . .' just to make it clear that he includes himself as an actor, not an observer, in the killing process. And he could also have said 'and we killed a bunch of innocent bystanders as well.'"

PS: Juan Cole links to this piece about how Osama bin Laden dreamed of enticing the US to fight him in Afghanistan, and how he welcomed the US invasion of Iraq.

Resignation on Israel

Stephen Walt: Time for George Mitchell to Resign: I don't think the bottom line matters much one way or another, especially if Mitchell were to resign without turning the fact into a damning indictment of Obama, Clinton, Emmanuel, et al. -- which isn't Mitchell's style. One might also talk about Mitchell's own problems. Early on, Israel's flaks accused him of being too even-handed, and it turns out they were right: Mitchell has bent over backwards to let Netanyahu obstruct the process. Still, this post does a good job of explaining what's been going on this past year when nothing got accomplished.

One thing I want to add to the list of missteps -- and I'm already on the record as saying that it would be more useful to break Gaza free as an independent Palestinian state now than to try to do anything about freezing settlements. This is that Obama made a major mistake allowing Iran to be rolled into the equation. He may have thought that he could easily cut a deal with Iran and throw that as a bone to Netanyahu, but Iranian political turmoil made that impossible, leaving him nothing to offer but increasingly belligerent posturing, starting with a big arms buildup in the Persian Gulf. The net result is not only no Israel/Palestine progress but also a worsening of his Iran problem. One indication of how bad this is getting is that Richard Haass, not normally a neocon, is among those agitating for regime change.

The news out of Israel/Palestine has been unremittingly bleak lately -- scroll back through WarInContext and Mondoweiss if you want details.

Jazz Prospecting (CG #22, Part 10)

Didn't finish Jazz Consumer Guide this week, but came close enough that I'm pretty certain this coming week will do it. Draft currently contains 31 graded records, 39 HMs or duds, 2517 words. About 1500 will make it into the column, with the rest left over. I have 10 graded A- records still without a review, but only a couple of those might make the cut, and maybe not that many. Lots of unwritten HM candidates. Most of what I'll be doing this coming week is re-playing them. I've decided that if I don't get a reasonably good one-liner after one play they'll go into the surplus file. Need to do a pretty severe cull anyway. The column will be full up with 2009 releases, many already on various year-end lists -- not least my own. Leftovers will be more of the same. I've only managed to grade 7 2010 releases thus far, while I have 85 in the pending queue.

Also didn't get my kitchen done last week, but expect to do so this coming week. Very little left to do there.

A little bit of jazz prospecting from the last two weeks. My main focus has been on writing up already-rated records, and cleaning out the replay queue. Willie Nelson revision is done -- more on that soon.

Sonore: Call Before You Dig: Loft/Köln (2008 [2009], Okka Disk, 2CD): Sax trio, three guys famous for walking on the wild side, all the more dangerous together: Peter Brötzmann, Mats Gustafsson, Ken Vandermark. Two sets, one live, one studio. Impossible to deny that they bring interesting ideas into play, and after several records together they communicate readily, but the casual listener is going to hear mostly noise, and I find it rough going myself. B+(*)

Mostly Other People Do the Killing: Forty Fort (2008-09 [2010], Hot Cup): Fourth album, third I've heard, led by Moppa Elliott, who takes the first notes on bass, just like Charles Mingus. Has the basic Mingus approach to horns, too, which is to put them on a roller coaster and let them run clean off the rails. Peter Evans does just that on trumpet, and Jon Irabagon's tenor as well as his alto sax defies gravity. Kevin Shea rounds out the quartet on drums, and gets a credit for electronics. Historical references are less obvious here than on the last two albums, although I might know more if only I could read "Leonard Featherweight"'s liner notes (tiny gray all-caps on a black background). I do recognize the cover art as influenced by Impulse! in the 1960s, but even that isn't obviously pegged to any one thing. They're coming out into their own. A-

Opsvik & Jennings: A Dream I Used to Remember (2007-08 [2009], Loyal Label): That would be bassist Eivind Opsvik and guitarist Aaron Jennings. A publicist note pointed out that Opsvik has played with Paul Motian, Bill Frisell, and David Binney, but I associate him with A-list records by Kris Davis and Jostein Gulbrandsen. Also has three FSNT records, and a previous one with Jennings, Commuter Anthems (Rune Grammofon). Opsvik also plays keyboards, lap steel guitar, and percussion; Jennings strays past banjo to electronics, and both are credited with software and vocals. The vocals tend toward choral, which I don't find all that enticing. Otherwise, the interaction is intimate and intriguing. B+(*)

Sharel Cassity: Relentless (2008 [2009], Jazz Legacy): Alto saxophonist, b. 1978 in Iowa City, IA, also plays soprano sax and flute. Second album. Solid mainstream group with Orrin Evans on piano, Dwayne Burno on bass, EJ Strickland on drums, and quite a few extra horns popping in and out -- Jeremy Pelt on trumpet, Thomas Barber on flugelhorn, Michael Dease on trombone, Andrew Boyarsky on tenor sax, Don Braden on alto flute. Slick and flashy postbop. B

Prana Trio: The Singing Image of Fire (2008 [2010], Circavision): Brooklyn group, although it's not clear that Trio means a group with three members. The only real member is drummer Brian Adler, although vocalist Sunny Kim is most noticeable on 11 of 12 tracks, while piano (Carmen Staaf and Frank Carlberg), bass (Matt Aronoff and Nathan Goheen), and guitar (Robert Lanzetti) come and go. Kim sings poems by Kabir, Kukai, So Wal Kim, Hafiz, Anselm Hollo, Shankaracarya, Wang Wei, and Han-Shan. The vocals got on my nerves at first, but it actually settles down; may even be deeper than I'm inclined to credit. B+(*)

Ben Wendel/Harish Raghavan/Nate Wood: Act (2009, Bju'ecords): Title all-caps on cover; spine only says "ACT" but front cover identifies the trio and their instruments: saxophone, bassoon, piano for Wendel; bass for Raghavan; drums for Wood. Not sure if my package matches the product: the print cover is pasted to a generic brown cardboard foldout wrapper, with a pasted print piece inside. On the other hand, nowhere is there "for promotional purposes only" print. I have less to say about the music, which is lean and articulate. B+(*)

Rempis/Rosaly: Cyrillic (2009, 482 Music): Sax-drums duo, Chicago musicians, also play in the two-drummer Rempis Percussion Quartet. Dave Rempis is best known for his work in the Vandermark 5. He is fluid and forceful on alto, tenor, and baritone saxes, and Rosaly does a good job of playing off his energy. B+(***)

Greg Reitan: Antibes (2008 [2010], Sunnyside): Pianist, second album, in a trio with Jack Daro on bass and Dean Koba on drums. Includes covers from Bill Evans, Denny Zeitlin, and Keith Jarrett, which should give you an idea. I'm impressed by both albums, but thus far don't have much to say. B+(**)

Empty Cage Quartet: Gravity (2008 [2009], Clean Feed): Jason Mears (alto sax, clarinet), Kris Tiner (trumpet), Ivan Johnson (double bass), Paul Kikuchi (drums, percussion). Group has five albums together since 2006. Tiner's title piece consists of 11 sections, split up here into five chunks, separated by another four chunks of Mears's multi-sectional "Tzolkien." This stradles the notion of free and composed in attractive ways, although I'm hard-pressed to tell which is which or why it should matter. The two horns stand tall. The rhythm does a nice job of supporting them. B+(***)

Andy Cotton: Last Stand at the Hayemeyer Ranch (2009, Bju'ecords): Bassist, plays guitar on one cut, grew up near Boston, studied at New School, based in Brooklyn, first album. Packaging a thin brown sleeve, looks biodegradeable. Gets lots of help, and the whole thing can be described as eclectic, but one relatively common theme is reggae -- "Shit Rock" is probably the best example, but there's also "Slow Reggie" and "C minor Reggie." Influences list starts with King Tubby; also includes "Appalachian fiddle music," which influences "Macallan's Waltz." Several cuts have vocalists, adding to the mish-mash feel even though there's nothing particularly wrong with any of them. B+(**)

The Respect Sextet: Sirius Respect (2009, Mode/Avant): New York group, been together (give or take a few changes) since 2001. Several previous albums -- not sure how to count limited editions. Lineup: Eli Asher (trumpet), James Hirschfeld (trombone), Josh Rutner (tenor sax), Red Wierenga (piano), Malcolm Kirby (bass), Ted Poor (drums); most also play related instruments. Album subtitled "Play the music of Sun Ra & Stockhausen" -- presumably Karlheinz. I was briefly intrigued by Stockhausen a long time ago, but never got in very deep. His pieces here tend toward drones with a bit of classical overhang. Sun Ra, of course, is a lot more fun. B+(*)

Out to Lunch: Melvin's Rockpile (2009 [2010], Accurate): New York group, led by David Levy (bass clarinet, alto sax, bansuri flute), presumably named for Eric Dolphy's legendary album. Septet, with three horns (Levy, Evan Smith on tenor sax, Josiah Woodson on trumpet) and a mostly plugged-in rhythm section (Eric Lane on keyboards, Matt Wigton on bass, Fred Kennedy on drums, and Kris Smith doing programming). Odd and interesting mix of free jazz and funk groove. B+(**)

And these are final grades/notes on records I put back for further listening the first time around.

Komeda Project: Requiem (2009, WM): Polish pianist Krzysztof Komeda (1931-69) certainly is a project. I've only sampled one of the dozen or so albums he has on obscure Polish labels -- now prohibitively expensive given exchange rate, I might add -- and it is really superb (Astigmatic). So this group -- led by expat Poles Krzysztof Medyna (tenor sax, soprano sax) and Andrzej Winnicki (piano), with expert NY help from Russ Johnson, Scott Colley, and Nasheet Waits -- is welcome, but I can't claim to have made any breakthroughs with it. B+(**)

New Niks & Artvark Saxophone Quartet: Busy Busy Busy (2009, No Can Do): Drummer-led quartet with Fender Rhodes, guitar, and violin, but no bass, plays swanky postbop with some swing, mixed in with a sax section that can stand on its own. Has some awkward moments, but also marvelous ones when they loosen up. B+(**)

Gerald Clayton: Two-Shade (2009, ArtistShare): Piano trio, debut recording, although he had the advantage of growing up in his father, bassist John Clayton's big band, and has a substantial list of side credits already. As with many mainstream piano trios, I'm at a loss for words, but he has good balance and poise, and this holds up consistently well. B+(***)

Ben Allison: Think Free (2009, Palmetto): Subtler, in terms of melodies but also instrumentation, than his recent superb albums, but eventually they emerge with the precise good taste of someone assured in his thinking. Violinist Jenny Scheinman is central and critical -- her best showing since 12 Songs -- while Steve Cardenas' guitar and Shane Endsley's trumpet play off the edges. A-

Donny McCaslin: Declaration (2009, Sunnyside): There are stretches here where the guitar fusion (Ben Monder) and/or the extra brass let you forget that the album is supposed to belong to the most technically gifted tenor saxophonist of his generation. That doesn't strike me as the right strategy. B+(*)

Randy Brecker: Nostalgic Journey: Tykocin Jazz Suite/The Music of Wlodek Pawlik (2008 [2009], Summit): Bialystok's Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic play Pawlik's suite with unexpected flair -- you hear a lot of East European orchestras as jazz backdrops because they work cheap, but usually their classical breeding spoils the day. Helps no doubt that Pawlik's piano trio is featured, and especially that Brecker's trumpet is trusted with the highlights. He's always been a team player, but he's rarely had a team help him out so much. B+(***)

For this cycle's collected Jazz Prospecting notes, look here.

Unpacking: Found in the mail this week (or last):

Art-i-facts: Great Performances From 40 Years of Jazz at NEC (1973-2008, New England Conservatory)
Niklas Barnö/Joel Grip/Didier Lasserre: Snus (Ayler)
Johnny Butler: Solo (Johnny Butler Jazz): Mar. 2
The Nels Cline Singers: Initiate (Cryptogramophone, 2CD): Apr. 13
Peggy Duquesnel: Summertime Lullaby (Joyspring Music): Apr. 5
Orrin Evans: Faith in Action (Posi-Tone): Feb. 2
Free Unfold Trio: Ballades (Ayler)
Tia Fuller: Decisive Steps (Mack Avenue): advance, Mar. 16
Tobias Gebb & Unit 7: Free at Last (Yummy House): Mar. 2
Chris Greene Quartet: Merge (Single Malt): Apr. 6
Sherman Irby Quartet: Live at the Otto Club (Black Warrior): Feb. 16
Open Graves [Paul Kikuchi/Jesse Olsen]: Hollow Lake (Prefecture)
Tide Tables [Paul Kikuchi/Alexander Vittum]: Lost Birdsongs (Prefecture)
Whitney James: The Nature of Love (Stir Stick Music)
Michael Janisch: Purpose Built (Whirlwind): Jan. 26
Ralph Lalama Quartet: The Audience (Mighty Quinn)
The Low Anthem: Oh My God, Charlie Darwin (Nonesuch)
Olivier Manchon: Orchestre de Chambre Miniature, Volume 1 (ObliqSound): advance, Feb. 9
Mitch Marcus Quintet: Countdown 2 Meltdown (Porto Franco): Feb. 16
Sebastiano Meloni/Adriano Orrù/Tony Oxley: Improvised Pieces for Trio (Big Round)
Melanie Mitrano: All Things Gold (Big Round)
Soren Moller & Dick Oatts: The Clouds Above (Audial): Feb. 9
Willie Nelson: Naked Willie (1967-70, RCA Nashville/Legacy)
Willie Nelson: It Will Always Be (2004, Lost Highway)
Willie Nelson & Friends: Outlaws and Angels (2004, Lost Highway)
Willie Nelson: Countryman (2005, Lost Highway)
Willie Nelson: You Don't Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker (2006, Lost Highway)
Willie Nelson: Songbird (2006, Lost Highway)
Willie Nelson: One Hell of a Ride (1954-2007, Columbia/Legacy, 4CD)
Willie Nelson: Moment of Forever (2008, Lost Highway)
Willie Nelson: Lost Highway (Lost Highway)
Gia Notte: Shades (Gnote): Feb. 17
Peggo: In Love (Big Round)
Steve Raegele: Last Century (Songlines): Feb. 9
Scottish National Jazz Orchestra: Rhapsody in Blue: Live (Spartacus)
Scurvy: Fracture (Johnny Butler Jazz): advance
Ravi Shankar: Rare and Glorious (Times Square, 2CD)
Emilio Solla & the Tango Jazz Conspiracy: Bien Sur! (Fresh Sound World Jazz): Feb. 9
John Vanore & Abstract Truth: Curiosity (Acoustical Concepts): Apr. 6
Eric Vloeimans' Gatecrash: Heavensabove! (Challenge Jazz)
Torben Waldorff: American Rock Beauty (ArtistShare)
David S. Ware: Saturnian (Solo Saxophones, Volume 1) (AUM Fidelity)
Mark Weinstein: Timbasa (Jazzheads)

More Killers

Thinking about yesterday's post, I came up with a few more things to say about assassination policies.

One thing that's notable about Israel is that the program of targeted assassinations against Palestinian leaders took off right after Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Jew. Rabin's assassin wasn't what we'd call a "lone madman"; he was the all-but-inevitable response to a public campaign by right-wing rabbis calling for Rabin's blood. The campaign worked so well that Rabin's party and successor lost the following election, allowing Benjamin Netanyahu to take power and substantially wreck the Oslo Peace Process. In other words, assassination worked, both for its immediate intentions and as a warning to any future Israeli politicians who might be tempted to "give land for peace." So it's little wonder that Israelis see assassination as effective policy.

Of course, assassinations go way back in Israeli history, all the way to Israel's founding war in 1948 when UN mediator Folke Bernadotte and UN observer André Serot were assassinated by future Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's Lehi organization. While Israel likes to talk about all the "terrorists" they've knocked off, the occupation of peacemaker has proven every bit as precarious.

One can only speculate as to how much historical impact Israeli assassinations have had, although at a bare minimum they have often served as pretexts for further killing. And it should be obvious by now that the idea that Israel can subdue Palestinian resistance by decapitating its leaders is impossible folly. Rabin is a trickier case: on the one hand, he was extremely cynical in his Oslo machinations -- shaking hands with Arafat while at the same time continuing to grow the settlements that produced his killer. Still, no subsequent Israeli politician has risked even going as far as Rabin promised toward trading "land for peace." It is easy to imagine anyone trying to follow in Rabin's footsteps meeting the same fate.

As it happens, Israel evidently managed to kill Hamas leader Mahmoud al Mabhouh a few days ago, committing the murder in Dubai, one of the Arab countries Israel has had relatively friendly relations with. For more details and analysis, see Paul Woodward: Hamas to Israel. This sort of thing should be deeply embarrassing and discrediting, but with Israel in this age of shoot first, talk never, it's likely to be taken as business as usual. No doubt you can even find someone to call you antisemitic if you doubt Israel's right to murder their enemies in foreign countries.

One more thing that occurs to me: it is striking how opposite the US Bill of Rights is to counterterrorism dogma, but it should not be surprising. The Bill of Rights was written as much as anything to express Americans' disgust with British Occupation. Nearly every specific right contrasts explicitly with British policy in attempting to suppress rebellion. British Occupation law evolved somewhat over the following century-and-a-half, up to the legal system Britain used to rule over Palestine, which Israel kept pretty much intact, also to rule over Palestine. But the essential policies were recognized early and maintained to the end of the Empire, basically because the British never found anything that worked better. The word "terrorist" is a relatively recent invention, but as William R. Polk shows in Violent Politics: A History of Insurgency, Terrorism, and Guerrilla War, From the American Revolution to Iraq, the revolt that led to the Bill of Rights had all the markings of the insurgency Israel has struggled to put down for more than 60 years.

We've lost track of this because we've lost track of the rights our nation was founded on. And this has happened less because fascist-leaning politicians like to pick on the Bill of Rights than because we've increasingly come to identify with occupation regimes -- such as we are running in Iraq and Afghanistan, and such as our model and hero Israel. This is the essential background for Glenn Greenwald: Nostalgia for Bush/Cheney radicalism. It seems ironic that Greenwald should wax nostalgic for Ronald Reagan's recognition of legal restraints during a period when there was arguably more terrorism around the world than we have now -- especially given all the laws Reagan broke in the Iran-Contra affair. But Greenwald is right that Obama is producing a far more egregious record. The difference is that Obama inherited a couple of failing occupations, and conventional counterinsurgency theory depends on trampling precisely those rights that our Constitution is based upon.

How far we've sunk since Reagan, as documented here, is troubling, but even more so is Greenwald's insistence that Obama has gone even further astray from constitutional principles than Bush/Cheney did. Part of this can be chalked up to heckling from the idiot gallery, as in the notion that we're coddling terrorists by putting them on trial. Part is no doubt the inertia of a state that for the last eight years has primarily been shaped around the selection pressures of occupying hostile countries. But still we're left with the real question of whether Obama's abdication of the principles behind our Bill of Rights reflects his lack of will or his lack of interest. Both prospects are troubling.

Killers in America

Glenn Greenwald: Presidential assassinations of U.S. citizens: I don't normally pay a lot of attention to lawyers who get all worked up over how Bush (and now Obama) trample the constitution allegedly to keep us safe from the terrorists that American policies work so hard to motivate, but for some reason this article struck a nerve. I'm bothered not merely by a hit list to take out American citizens, although the constitution is pretty explicit in that case -- look for the words "due process" and pay some attention to everything that surrounds it. Equally bothersome is the hit list to take out foreigners. I suppose that if you had a Congressional declaration of war -- which we don't -- that would be constitutional, but it wouldn't be any more justifiable. I find it difficult to think of any circumstances where the any state would be justified in assassinating anyone -- your own citizens or foreigners.

Not too long ago most Americans agreed with that. Certainly we've had more than our share of politically significant murders. (In fact, a jury just convicted one such murderer this week here in Wichita, something that was handled with constitutional due process, as opposed to, say, obliterating the terrorist's car with a Hellfire missile.) We had also seemed to learn a lesson that having our government going around trying to kill foreign politicos was either embarrassing (as in the Kennedys' obsession with Castro) or worse (cf. Vietnam, Chile, Indonesia). Nor did we appreciate it when the guy we empowered in Chile started blowing up people in Washington, DC. Until 9/11 and Bush, it was illegal for US presidents to order assassinations; now it's in vogue.

What happened? One part of it is the neocons' Israel envy. Israel has practiced "targeted assassination" for many years now, and they've gotten increasingly sloppy about collateral damage. (Whereas once they took out an enemy with a booby-trapped telephone, nowadays they think nothing about dropping a couple of 1,000 lb. bombs on a house full of children.) But it's also just sunk deep into the culture, almost casually so. I'm reading David Neiwert's The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right, and he has plenty of examples -- like Ann Coulter wishing Timothy McVeigh had blown up the New York Times instead of that federal building in Oklahoma City, or urging us to invade Arab countries and kill their leaders. (This was back in 2001, before we actually did just that, so it's hard to laugh her off as a humorist.)

Affordable Speech

Glenn Greenwald: What the Supreme Court Got Right: Interesting piece on last week's Supreme Court money-speech ruling. Greenwald is more sanguine than I am: partly because he thinks of himself as a free speech fundamentalist, partly because he regards the issue of corporate personhood (which he admits misgivings to) as separate, but mostly because he regards the ruling as equitable -- e.g., it allows unlimited advocacy from unions as well as corporations. Whether or not the latter is in principle true, one thing you can be sure of is that the right-wingers on the court who wrote the ruling recognize that the practical effects will not be balanced. They want corporate political dominance, because they regard it as advancing their personal political beliefs. Same thing basically happened when the FTC dropped the fairness doctrine. In principle, that would have allowed all those left-wing radio station owners to stack the deck in their favor, but it turns out that radio and television stations and networks are owned by people like Rupert Murdoch and corporations like Clear Channel instead. The other point worth singling out here is that Greenwald is right that corporate political dominance is here already, even before this ruling: he compares the net effect to North Korea passing a new law to become more tyrannical. On the other hand, I've found that we do tend to take these things lightly, to our detriment. What bothers me so much about the ruling isn't its immediate impact so much as the roadblock it sets up against ever bringing corporate interests under public control. One thing that should be clear if only you pay a bit of attention is that the right-wing think tanks are not only plotting their moves to take power, they're plotting their retreat to make it that much harder to take back common ground.

Glenn Greenwald: The Sanctity of Military Spending: Newspaper headline this morning is that Obama will propose some sort of freeze on "non-security discretionary spending" in his State of the Union address. Needless to say, this idea is stupid, stupid, stupid. It's stupid because it ignores the fact that the economy has fallen down and can't get up -- indeed, the federal government should be spending more than planned, not less. But it's also stupid because almost all of the money that government is wasting these days is in the security sector: specifically, in the Department of Defense.

Tom Engelhardt: Our Wars Are Killing Us: Coincidentally, this piece came out today, not just on Pentagon waste but on the broader, deeper costs of it all.

Many more comments on Obama's budget debacle today, including this: Paul Krugman: Obama Liquidates Himself:

A spending freeze? That's the brilliant response of the Obama team to their first serious political setback?

It's appalling on every level.

It's bad economics, depressing demand when the economy is still suffering from mass unemployment. Jonathan Zasloff writes that Obama seems to have decided to fire Tim Geithner and replace him with "the rotting corpse of Andrew Mellon" (Mellon was Herbert Hoover's Treasury Secretary, who according to Hoover told him to "liquidate the workers, liquidate the farmers, purge the rottenness.")

It's bad long-run fiscal policy, shifting attention away from the essential need to reform health care and focusing on small change instead.

And it's a betrayal of everything Obama's supporters thought they were working for. Just like that, Obama has embraced and validated the Republican world-view -- and more specifically, he has embraced the policy ideas of the man he defeated in 2008. A correspondent writes, "I feel like an idiot for supporting this guy."

Back in 2008, I would have sworn that one thing that America in general and Democrats especially learned from eight years of Clinton sacrificing his platform on the altar of a balanced budget, only to have Bush piss it all away in record time and by record margins, was to never again sacrifice ourselves just to make some -- as Clinton put it -- "fucking bond traders" happy. This is so wrong on so many levels it's hard to see how anyone can ever care about Obama again.

No Jazz Prospecting

I know, this is getting ridiculous. Got a request last week to update my Rolling Stone Album Guide piece on Willie Nelson, and foolishly said, "sure." Turns out there are something like 16 Nelson albums since I wrote the original piece in 2003, more or less while the Bushwacking of Iraq got started: I remember going back and forth between Fela Kuti piece and my Another Day in Infamy post. I can't find a good up-to-date account of the war costs, but between Iraq and Afghanistan, it works out to close to 5,000 US soldiers dead, 40,000 injured, several hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans killed, several million displaced; over one trillion dollars allocated for the wars, which will wind up costing more than three trillion once you factor in the future costs; and all sorts of other ridiculous side effects -- possibly including the financial meltdown, which was caused by the same geniuses who dreamed up the war, and maybe whatever global warming has in store for us, which I'll chalk up to opportunity costs even though it's not clear who else knew better.

Jazz Prospecting will return next week, for sure. Whether Jazz CG will be done by then is less certain. The big thing I am hoping to finally get done this week is the kitchen project, which has dragged on even longer. But right now I have all of the missing pieces. Some are not in the right places, and some are not the right color, but all that seems doable. Jazz CG seems doable as well, despite my recent lack of performance. Willie Nelson, at least, is done.

Bernanke

Needless to say, Ben Bernanke was an improvement over Alan Greenspan, whom he replaced as chairman of the Federal Reserve, although much of that was just the relief of seeing a new face. Greenspan never deserved the reverence he cultivated, which is part of the reason his reputation collapsed so completely when his bubble burst. But Bernanke came into power the same way Greenspan did: as a senior economic adviser to a far right Republican president, promising to be a hawk against inflation. Fighting inflation -- which ever since 1980 has meant keeping wages down; it certainly has nothing to do with the prices of oil, medicine, or education -- was his game plan, and while it became pointless in a severe recession you have to figure it will again be his game plan as soon as conditions warrant -- e.g., unemployment drops to a point where workers start to have some job options.

So why did Obama nominate Bernanke for a second term? That he behaved less egregiously than Hank Paulson during the bank meltdown wasn't much of a reason. He is, after all, a respected academic, whereas Paulson was not just a businessman but an icon of the same greed that caused the crisis. Still, Bernanke got way too much credit for pulling us back from "the brink of the abyss" -- the phrase that was endlessly repeated -- and he even started basking in his own Greenspan-like cult of adulation. At one point, Paul Krugman exclaimed "thank God for Ben Bernanke"; before long, the list of econobloggers who endorsed a second term extended as far left as Dean Baker. Still, it wasn't Krugman and Baker who moved Obama to nominate Bernanke. More likely he saw it as a way to reassure the banks that nothing much will change after the crisis runs its course. Moreover, it seemed like a safe non-partisan gesture to the Republicans Obama thought he could woo (or at least reason with).

Still, I never liked the idea of keeping Bernanke on. As Bush appointments went, Bernanke was one of the least worst. (Back when his arrogance was flying full staff, you could imagine Bush handing the job over to someone like Phil Gramm.) I don't doubt that whoever holds the job should focus primarily on keeping the financial system stable and viable, and that means profitable, but lurching between bubble and bust doesn't seem like a very good way of doing that. Moreover, there is a big difference between keeping banks profitable and maximizing their profits, since the latter is often at the expense of everyone else. I'm a believer in the notion of countervailing power, so what I'd like to see is a Fed chairman who can pull against the worst instincts of the bankers, and who can provide some balance of other interests at the table: most importantly now, someone who cares about the plight of unemployed and underemployed workers. There is no reason to think that Bernanke would fill that bill.

We're finally seeing some politicians and pundits having second thoughts on Bernanke:

Matthew Yglesias: Maybe Ben Bernanke Is a Conservative Republican: Starts quoting Noam Scheiber wondering why Bernanke doesn't "show a little more savvy" by responding to popular rage against the banks, then goes on to explain:

I think a lot of apparently mysterious things about Ben Bernanke's career can be solved if you just assume that Ben Bernanke is doing things that a conservative Republican would do because he is a conservative Republican. For example, remember when conservative Republican George W Bush was president and made Ben Bernanke chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors? And remember when Bush put Ben Bernanke in charge of the Fed? And remember when Ben Bernanke didn't see the underlying problems in the financial system? But remember how, in a moment of crisis, Bernanke did turn out to believe in forceful government intervention on behalf of financial institutions and asset owners? And that time when, having stabilized asset markets, Bernanke stopped caring about unemployment and wages? And then, of course, there was the time Bernanke opposed the creation of an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it's probably a duck. As Paul Krugman says Bernanke "is a great economist" and he's acting just how you would expect a great economist to act, were he a conservative Republican. The only thing that's weird about this is why Barack Obama, who's not a conservative Republican, would appoint him to the single most important domestic policy job in the country.

Paul Krugman: The Bernanke Conundrum: Krugman has always been very flattering to Bernanke, whom he seems to regard as a friend -- Bernanke was chairman of Princeton's economics department when Krugman was hired there -- as well as a distinguished colleague. Still, he expresses some concerns:

The second is that since the acute phase of the crisis came to an end, and especially since his renomination, Bernanke has seemed out of touch with the severe problems that remain. He hasn't engaged in any self-criticism, at a time when we really need to know that policymakers can learn from their mistakes. He hasn't been a strong voice for financial reform. And most important from my point of view, he has seemed deeply worried about defending himself against the inflation hawks, not at all concerned with the question of whether the Fed is doing all it should to fight catastrophically high unemployment. (It isn't).

As I see it, the two things that worry me about Bernanke stem from the same cause: to a greater degree than I had hoped, he has been assimilated by the banking Borg. In 2005, respectable central bankers dismissed worries about a housing bubble, ignoring the evidence; in the winter of 2009-2010, respectable central bankers are worried about nonexistent inflation rather than actually existing unemployment. And Bernanke, alas, has become too much of a respectable central banker.

Calculated Risk: On Bernanke's Reconfirmation: Starts with some links noting increasing resistance to confirming Bernanke for a second term, then sums up:

Bernanke definitely supported policies that contributed to the crisis, and he failed to see the problems coming. However once Bernanke started to understand the problem, he was very effective at providing liquidity for the markets.

But since his renomination, he hasn't done himself any favors. He has admitted the Fed failed as a regulator, but he hasn't explained why -- or outlined a clear path forward. And Bernanke keeps saying really dumb things, like claiming incorrectly to have an exploding adjustable rate mortgage. That was an ignorant remark considering his position as Fed Chairman and the plight of so many Americans. And quoting a bank robber in testimony to Congress when addressing the long term deficit (suggesting Congress steal from middle class Americans?), and this right after he claimed he wouldn't comment on areas outside of the Fed's authority. Dumb.

One thing I'm struck by here is that even if Bernanke was exceptionally, extraordinarily "effective at providing liquidity for the markets" when it was most needed -- if, in other words, we were just plain lucky to have him in office at the time, that in itself doesn't make him the right person to run the Fed for the next four years. That's a fairly common logical fallacy, a variation of which was long ago dubbed the Peter Principle ("every employee tends to rise to the level of his incompetence"). Or, at Matt Zeitlin puts it:

The best positive case for Bernanke is that he did a good job when shit hit the fan. Which is true, but sort of irrelevant. The question is whether or not he should continue to be Fed chairman, not whether he should get a merit badge for his actions during the crisis.

The reasonable assumption here is that given another term Bernanke will revert to type, which means he will be tight with money to fight inflation and insensitive to joblessness, which is a much truer gauge of recession than what bank profit statements and stock market indexes show.

Of course, the political calculus is bizarre at this point. It's unlikely that enough Democrats would revolt to stop Bernanke if he had Republican support, but with Republicans opposing Obama at every turn, a left-right combination could work, especially if it only takes 41 votes. On the other hand, the Republicans could fillibuster any more progressive candidate -- if, indeed, Obama had any inclination to nominate one. Still, opposing Bernanke is a good talking point. Obama might be better off with the Republicans stonewalling a better candidate than trying to rationalize giving them this gift.

For more on the politics, see Yglesias.

2009 Pazz & Jop/Meta File Analysis

The Village Voice's 2009 Critics Poll is out. A week ago I compared the 2008 results to my metafile projection, so I should do the same for 2009 now. The big difference between my metafile this year and last year's is that I sampled many more year-end lists this year. One measure of this is that the winner count this year is 224, vs. 41 last year. The correlation was actually better last year. The probable reason is that most of the extra counts come from bloggers who most likely deviate from critics in certain uniform ways: I'm guessing they're younger and play fewer records; what I'm sure of is that they're more narrowly into alt-rock. Even, I should say, since Chuck Eddy observes that the poll critics themselves are more like that than ever before.

Let's start off with a table of the top 50 records from my metafile, listed in metafile rank order. The two numbers on the right are the P&J poll rank and the ratio of the two ranks: anything less than 1.0 did better on P&J, anything greater did worse.

1.	Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Glassnote)	2	2.000
2.	Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino)	1	0.500
3.	Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest (Warp)	6	2.000
4.	Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca (Domino)	5	1.250
5.	Yeah Yeah Yeahs: It's Blitz (Interscope/DGC/Dress Up)	4	0.800
6.	The XX: XX (XL)	7	1.167
7.	Neko Case: Middle Cyclone (Anti-)	3	0.429
8.	St Vincent: Actor (4AD)	12	1.500
9.	Girls: Album (True Panther/Matador)	10	1.111
10.	The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (Slumberland)	17	1.700
11.	Passion Pit: Manners (Frenchkiss)	36	3.273
12.	Fever Ray: Fever Ray (Mute)	13	1.083
13.	The Antlers: Hospice (Frenchkiss)	51	3.923
	The Flaming Lips: Embryonic (Warner)	9	0.692
15.	Wilco: Wilco (The Album) (Nonesuch)	21	1.400
16.	Japandroids: Post-Nothing (Polyvinyl)	33	2.062
17.	Raekwon: Only Built for Cuban Linx . . . Pt. 2 (Ice H2O)	8	0.471
18.	Bat for Lashes: Two Suns (Astralwerks)	23	1.278
19.	Mos Def: The Ecstatic (Downtown)	11	0.579
20.	Camera Obscura: My Maudlin Career (4AD)	30	1.500
	The Decemberists: Hazards of Love (Capitol)	29	1.450
22.	The Avett Brothers: I and Love and You (Columbia)	15	0.682
	Florence and the Machine: Lungs (Island)	68	3.091
	Metric: Fantasies (Metric International)	52	2.364
25.	Atlas Sound: Logos (Kranky)	50	2.000
26.	Mastodon: Crack the Skye (Warner Bros)	18	0.692
27.	Andrew Bird: Noble Beast (Fat Possum)	81	3.000
28.	Fuck Buttons: Tarot Sport (ATP)	39	1.393
29.	The Horrors: Primary Colours (XL)	65	2.241
30.	Jay-Z: The Blueprint 3 (Roc Nation)	27	0.900
31.	Sonic Youth: The Eternal (Matador)	20	0.645
32.	Them Crooked Vultures: Them Crooked Vultures (DGC/Interscope)	58	1.812
33.	Micachu & the Shapes: Jewellery (Rough Trade)	38	1.152
34.	Wild Beasts: Two Dancers (Domino)	147	4.324
35.	Bill Callahan: Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle (Drag City)	56	1.600
36.	Sunset Rubdown: Dragonslayer (Jagjaguwar)	77	2.139
37.	Lily Allen: It's Not Me, It's You (Capitol)	22	0.595
	Arctic Monkeys: Humbug (Domino)	207	5.595
	The Dead Weather: Horehound (Third Man/Warner Bros)	28	0.757
	Dinosaur Jr: Farm (Jagjaguwar)	48	1.297
41.	Antony and the Johnsons: The Crying Light (Secretly Canadian)	26	0.634
	Monsters of Folk: Monsters of Folk (Shangri-La)	69	1.683
43.	Future of the Left: Travels with Myself and Another (4AD)	67	1.558
	Regina Spektor: Far (Sire)	89	2.070
	Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs (Matador)	40	0.930
44.	Dan Deacon: Bromst (Carpark)	85	1.932
45.	Sunn O))): Monoliths & Dimensions (Southern Lord)	42	0.933
46.	La Roux: La Roux (Cherry Tree)	146	3.174
	U2: No Line on the Horizon (Interscope)	32	0.696
48.	Doom: Born Like This (Lex)	44	0.917
49.	Kid Cudi: Man on the Moon: The End of Day (Universal Motown)	101	2.061
50.	Baroness: Blue Record (Relapse)	19	0.380
	Converge: Axe to Fall (Epitaph)	24	0.480
	Neon Indian: Psychic Chasms (Lefse)	112	2.240

Animal Collective beating out Phoenix wasn't unexpected. I didn't do any weighting, but had I done so Animal Collective would have easily finished on top: of the lists that I did keep rank info on, Animal Collective won 15 vs. 3 for Phoenix. More on this later, but first let's track the major movements.

The biggest drops from my Meta list are: Arctic Monkeys (207/37: 5.595), Wild Beasts (147/34: 4.324), The Antlers (51/13: 3.923), Passion Pit (36/11: 3.273), La Roux (146/46: 3.174), Florence and the Machine (68/22: 3.091), Andrew Bird (81/27: 3.000), Metric (52/22: 2.364), The Horrors (65/29: 2.241), Neon Indian (112/50: 2.240), Regina Spektor (89/43: 2.070), Sunset Rubdown (77/36: 2.139), Japandroids (33/16: 2.062), Kid Cudi (101/49: 2.061).

I picked up a lot of UK lists, but P&J polls relatively few UK critics. Inevitably, some UK albums didn't make much of a splash here, with Arctic Monkeys the prime example. La Roux and Florence were others. In general, a whole cluster of arty indie-rock albums following Animal Collective and Phoenix slipped, starting with Grizzly Bear (6/3: 2.000) and including Antlers, Passion Pit, Horrors, Sunset Rubdown, and Neon Indian.

To get a better sense of the gains, we need to look further down the Pazz & Jop poll results. The following table lists everything from the top 100 that didn't make the metafile top 50.

14.	Maxwell: BLACKsummers'night (Columbia)	60	0.233
16.	The-Dream: Love vs Money (Def Jam)	71	0.225
25.	Miranda Lambert: Revolution (Sony)	55	0.455
31.	Lady Gaga: The Fame/The Fame Monster (Interscope)	65	0.477
34.	Brad Paisley: American Saturday Night (Arista Nashville)	75	0.453
35.	K'naan: Troubadour (A&M/Octone)	71	0.493
37.	Green Day: 21st Century Breakdown (Reprise)	91	0.407
41.	Bob Dylan: Together Through Life (Columbia)	75	0.547
43.	Allen Toussaint: The Bright Mississippi (Nonesuch)	60	0.717
45.	Rosanne Cash: The List (Manhattan)	110	0.409
46.	Levon Helm: Electric Dirt (Dirt Farmer Music/Vanguard)	221	0.208
47.	Dâm-Funk: Toeachizown (Stones Throw)	86	0.547
49.	Vijay Iyer Trio: Historicity (ACT)	66	0.742
53.	Leonard Cohen: Live in London (Columbia)	194	0.273
54.	Pissed Jeans: King of Jeans (Sub Pop)	110	0.491
55.	Amadou & Mariam: Welcome to Mali (Because Music/Nonesuch)	158	0.348
57.	Bruce Springsteen: Working on a Dream (Columbia)	181	0.315
59.	Tinariwen: Imidiwan: Companions (World Village)	103	0.573
60.	Pearl Jam: Backspacer (Monkeywrench)	66	0.909
61.	Ida Maria: Fortress Round My Heart (Mercury)	91	0.670
62.	DJ Quik & Kurupt: BlaQKout (Mad Science)	126	0.492
63.	The Very Best: Warm Heart of Africa (Green Owl)	84	0.750
64.	Oumou Sangare: Seya (Nonesuch)	314	0.204
66.	Big Star: Keep an Eye on the Sky (Rhino)	158	0.418
70.	Tune-Yards: Bird-Brains (4AD)	126	0.556
71.	Kylesa: Static Tensions (Prosthetic)	272	0.261
72.	The Black Crowes: Before the Frost . . . Until the Freeze (Silver Arrow)	181	0.398
73.	Loudon Wainwright III: High, Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project (161)	314	0.232
74.	Paramore: Brand New Eyes (Fueled by Ramen)	117	0.632
75.	Art Brut: Art Brut vs Satan (Downtown)	86	0.872
76.	POS: Never Better (Rhymesayers Entertainment)	86	0.884
78.	Drake: So Far Gone (Young Money)	158	0.494
79.	Jay Reatard: Watch Me Fall (Matador)	103	0.767
80.	The Mountain Goats: The Life of the World to Come (4AD)	71	1.127
82.	DJ Sprinkles: Midtown 120 Blues (Mule Musiq)	314	0.261
83.	Jarvis Cocker: Further Complications (Rough Trade)	84	0.988
84.	The Raveonettes: In and Out of Control (Vice)	136	0.618
86.	Real Estate: Real Estate (Woodsist)	86	1.000
87.	Buddy and Julie Miller: Written in Chalk (New West)	126	0.690
88.	Broadcast & the Focus Group: Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age (Warp)	126	0.698
90.	Built to Spill: There Is No Enemy (Warner Bros)	126	0.714
91.	Mayer Hawthorne: A Strange Arrangement (Stones Throw)	110	0.827
92.	Health: Get Color (Lovepump United)	55	1.673
93.	Kurt Vile: Childish Prodigy (Matador)	82	1.134
94.	Nellie McKay: Normal as Blueberry Pie (Verve)	314	0.299
95.	The Clientele: Bonfires on the Heath (Merge)	136	0.699
96.	Brother Ali: Us (Rhymesayers Entertainment)	98	0.980
97.	A Sunny Day in Glasgow: Ashes Grammar (Carrot Top)	249	0.390
98.	Black Eyed Peas: The END (Interscope)	272	0.360
99.	The Fiery Furnaces: I'm Going Away (Thrill Jockey)	117	0.846
100.	Glasvegas: Glasvegas (Columbia)	194	0.515

The big gains were: Oumou Sangare (64/314: 0.204), Levon Helm (46/221: 0.208), The-Dream (16/71: 0.225), Loudon Wainwright III (73/314: 0.232), Maxwell (14/60: 0.233), Kylesa (71/272: 0.261), DJ Sprinkles (82/314: 0.261), Leonard Cohen (53/194: 0.273), Nellie McKay (94/314: 0.299), Bruce Springsteen (57/181: 0.315), Amadou & Mariam (55/158: 0.348), Black Eyed Peas (98/272: 0.360), Baroness (19/50: 0.380), Sunny Day in Glasgow (97/249: 0.390), Black Crowes (72/181: 0.398), Green Day (37/91: 0.407), Rosanne Cash (45/110: 0.409), Big Star (66/158: 0.418), Neko Case (3/7: 0.429), Brad Paisley (34/75: 0.453), Miranda Lambert (25/55: 0.455), Raekwon (8/17: 0.471), Lady Gaga (31/65: 0.477), Converge (24/50: 0.480), Pissed Jeans (54/110: 0.491), DJ Quik & Kurupt (62/126: 0.492), K'Naan (35/71: 0.493), Drake (78/158: 0.494), Animal Collective (1/2: 0.500), Glasvegas (100/194: 0.515), Bob Dylan (41/75: 0.547), Dâm-Funk (47/86: 0.547), Tune-Yards (70/126: 0.556), Tinariwen (59/103: 0.573), Mos Def (11/19: 0.579), Lily Allen (22/37: 0.595), Raveonettes (84/136: 0.618), Paramore (74/117: 0.632), Antony and the Johnsons (26/41: 0.634), Sonic Youth (20/31: 0.645), Ida Maria (61/91: 0.670), Avett Brothers (15/22: 0.682), Buddy and Julie Miller (87/126: 0.690), Flaming Lips (9/13: 0.692), Mastodon (18/26: 0.692), U2 (32/46: 0.696), Broadcast & the Focus Group (88/126: 0.698), Clientele (95/136: 0.699), Built to Spill (90/126: 0.714), Allen Toussaint (43/60: 0717), Vijay Iyer (49/66: 0.742), Very Best (63/84: 0.750).

Only a few of these belong to the dominant alt-rock aesthetic. Nearly every hip-hop record improved -- Kid Cudi was the exception, although you might also count Brother Ali. Maxwell and The-Dream did even better. Country/Americana made gains, as did African pop, veteran rockers (which seem to include Green Day as well as Dylan and Springsteen), and Lady Gaga. A couple of top jazz records also improved, despite my focusing on jazz lists -- this didn't hold up lower down the list. You can chalk these shifts up to an older, more professional electorate. By "professional" I'm not making a value judgment -- just recognizing that newspaper and generic pub critics have to cover a wider range of popular music than bloggers, and that necessarily means some hip-hop, soul, Americana, and whoever's selling -- this year, Lady Gaga.

The value judgment I'm inclined to make is that the Pazz & Jop critics promoted better records than my metafile found. Three of my ballot picks found no other supporters, but everything else I voted for gained ground. One possibility is the uniform use of a top ten standard in P&J, whereas my metafile occasionally picked up 100-deep lists. Another possibility is that my metafile undervalued Robert Christgau's real (though certainly limited) influence: those seven records were all very favorably featured in his Consumer Guide (as well as one of my three solo picks -- the other two were jazz records; I did find a few non-jazz A-list albums that haven't appeared in Christgau's CG, but none finished high enough to make my top ten ballot -- Mika's The Boy Who Knew Too Much came closest; Syran M'Benza, Fuck Buttons, Ersatzmusika, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Khaled, and Van Morrison had others; a similar number of records appeared in CG much lower than I had them -- Maria Muldaur tops that list).

One thing I did with the results was to pick out all of the ballots by people who voted for my picks. Adding them up, and dropping out my picks (which swept the top six spots), I'm left with (my grades in brackets; many of these are based on Rhapsody):

Brad Paisley: American Saturday Night (Arista Nashville) [*]
Yeah Yeah Yeahs: It's Blitz! (DGC/Interscope) [A-]
Neko Case: Middle Cyclone (Anti) [B]
Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Glassnote) [*]
Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino) [*]
Maxwell: BLACKsummers'night (Columbia) [*]
Nellie McKay: Normal As Blueberry Pie: A Tribute to Doris Day (Verve) [A-]
The XX: XX (Young Turks) [***]
The-Dream: Love vs. Money (Def Jam/Radio Killa) [*]
Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca (Domino) [C+]
Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest (Warp) [B-]
Black Eyed Peas: The E.N.D. (Interscope) [A-]
The Avett Brothers: I and Love and You (American/Columbia) [B]
Miranda Lambert: Revolution (Sony/Columbia Nashville) [A-]
Allen Toussaint: The Bright Mississippi (Nonesuch) [A-]
Amadou & Mariam: Welcome to Mali (Nonesuch) [A-]
Girls: Album (True Panther) [A-]
Sonic Youth: The Eternal (Matador) [A-]
Lady Gaga: The Fame/The Fame Monster (Streamline/Interscope) [*]
Tinariwen: Imidiwan: Companions (World Village) [A-]
Bob Dylan: Together Through Life (Columbia) [A-]
Wilco: Wilco (The Album) (Nonesuch) [**]
Rokia Traoré: Tchamantché (Nonesuch) [**]
Mos Def: The Ecstatic (Downtown) [A-]
Khaled: Liberté (Wrasse) [A-]
Wussy: Wussy (Shake It) [***]
Darcy James Argue's Secret Society: Infernal Machines (New Amsterdam) [***]
Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara: Tell No Lies (Real World) [**]
Levon Helm: Electric Dirt (Welk) [*]
Rihanna: Rated R (Def Jam) [*]

Of these, Paisley, McKay, perhaps Black Eyed Peas, and certainly Wussy can be chalked up to Christgau's promotion. Some records from the alt-rock consensus leaked in, although the reordering of nos. 2-5 is significant (although I liked Case the least). For what it's worth, the critics I intersected with more than once (and therefore counted more than once) are: Leslie Berman (2), Max Berry (2), Larry Birnbaum (2), Robert Christgau (4), Banning Eyre (3), Steve Knopper (2), Frank Kogan (2), Todd Kristel (2), Tom Lane (2), Milo Miles (4), Derk Richardson (2), Ellis Widner (3), K Leander Williams (2).

Glenn McDonald's voter similarity stats gives this order: Christgau (0.569), Miles (0.566), Widner, Eyre, Williams, Kristel, Richardson, Berman, Berry, Kogan, Knopper, Lane (0.366). Conversely, I came off as the voter most similar to Christgau, followed by Ted Cox, Miles, Berman, Alfred Soto, Dan Weiss, J Anthony Ware, Chris Herrington, Williams, and Ken Tucker. My "centricity" figure -- a measure of overlap with the winners -- was 0.12, tied for 506 of 696 critics. (Five voters tied with 0.00, meaning they filled their ballots with records no one else picked. Christgau came in at 470, with 0.146.) McDonald has been doing his centricity analysis for some time now, and my placement there has been pretty consistent.

McDonald also has an interesting chart on album similarity, which I should return to later.

Unindicted Co-Conspirators

Justin Elliott: Tiller Stalker: Ex-AG's Crusade Against Kansas Abortion Doctor Revealed in New Complaint: Ex-AG is Phill Kline, who merited a minor profile in Thomas Frank's What's the Matter With Kansas? even before he became a one-term attorney general. (He was defeated running for re-election by former Republican Johnson County district attorney Paul Morrison, who switched parties to run against him. Morrison then resigned in some sort of mistress-money scandal, by which time Kline had maneuvered his way into Morrison's old job -- the county Republican party was able to appoint the replacement without letting the county vote. Kline soon lost that job too.) Nothing here is really news: it was obvious at the time that Kline was obsessed with Dr. Tiller, and that his main preoccupation was using his office to harass Tiller. Still, if you're not familiar with the details, read the piece.

Probably just a coincidence that Kline is back in the news the same week jury selection has started for the trial of Scott Roeder for murdering Tiller. Roeder's defense attorneys kicked off the trial by trying to use it to subpoena Tiller's business records -- even the man's murder becomes an excuse for a fishing expedition. The attorneys also argued that Roeder's defense will be what they called "imperfect self-defense": that he drove 200 miles to shoot an unarmed Tiller in his church to defend unidentifiable fetuses from their imminent slaughter by Tiller. It will be embarrassing if the jury buys that logic.

No one has established a connection between Kline and Roeder yet, but you have to wonder if they even looked. Both legendary anti-abortion activists hail from the same Johnson County, along with their most notorious competitor, Senator Sam Brownback. It seems unlikely that Kline and Roeder never crossed paths: even though their methods differ, they share a common contempt for the law. Brownback, by the way, is giving up a safe Senate seat to run for governor. It's hard to think of any reason why he should do so other than his desire to use the executive power of the state to advance his holy war against abortion. It will be sad and painful if that happens, but it seems inevitable, if for no other reason than that the Democrats have yet to find a substantial candidate to stand up against this fanaticism.