Sure, you know who the original Sonny Boy Williamson was (there were two) and Aleck Miller, AKA Sonny Boy Williamson II. I have trouble keeping them apart myself, but they were both great musicians who had a vast influence on modern blues and rock. Here’s a video by one of them; see if you can figure out which one:
H/T to Mathew Tyler Wilson
The rumor mill has been swirling that Keith Olbermann is about to leave Current TV, the new home for his Countdown show since last spring. It would be a shame if he did — the brilliance and caustic wit he exhibits during his show is unparalleled on Current or his old roost on MSNBC. (Besides, anyone who reads James Thurber short stories on the air every Friday should be encouraged, although I’ll admit Thurber is better read quietly than said aloud.)
The trouble allegedly started when Olbermann, who is, or was, reportedly fourth in line in Current management as Chief News Officer, wasn’t consulted about on-air hires and a new boss took over as Current president, David Bohrman, a CNN retread. Then there were annoying technical glitches on Countdown and the failure of the fledging progressive network to upgrade its equipment. Olbermann showed his aggravation by sitting out coverage of the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries.
That left it to Cenk Uygur, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, and Al Gore, along with random members of Uygur’s ‘The Young Turks’ to fill out the long spaces between vote totals. Cenk and ‘TYT’ are fine, but it’s obvious this kind of election anchoring is not his thing; Granholm can be relied upon to spout tame Dem Party pablum that won’t keep anyone awake, and Gore — well, sorry to say it, but Al Gore is just dull; he’s overly cautious, sometimes humorless, and comes off as uncomfortably lugubrious on TV. I clicked back to MSNBC for the Iowa and N.H. count, as I suspect many others did.
This is where a firebreather like Olbermann keeps the show moving; he’s opinionated, fearless, and articulate and funny enough to make his what he has to say worth hearing. It’s doubtlessly true that he’s something of an egotistical prima donna, but then, you’d have to be to hold forth for an hour each weekday night and maintain an audience as Keith has all these years. Many minor sins can be forgiven (by me anyway) because he’s reasonably honest, doggedly professional, and seems to care deeply about what he’s putting on the air, despite occasional excursions down Pomposity Lane. Such people often do not play well with others, but they don’t waste your time with a shoddy finished product, either.
Supposedly, Olbermann’s lawyers and agent have been negotiating with Current this week and he’s assented to anchor future primary telecasts — if he comes back. This past week Countdown was hosted by David Shuster with no mention of Keith that I heard. That’s not a good sign. However, rumor has it that if his ‘people’ work things out, Olbermann will return to Countdown next Monday. If he doesn’t, we’ll just have to look for him elsewhere and don’t discount another tour of duty at CNN — every combination CNN has stuck into the 7:pm Eastern time slot has been an abysmal, embarrassing ratings stinkbomb, including the present scrap of scat, ‘OutFront’ with prissy Wall Street fembot Erin Burnett. The simple fact is, CNN is on more cable boxes than Current or MSNBC and Olbermann might relish giving his nemesis at Fox News, Bill O’Reilly, a real challenge in the ratings. (I have no doubt Keith would have blowhard Billo on the ropes in a month.) The only question is: would tepidly right-leaning CNN management put up with Olbermann, and vice versa, in return for that kind of ratings bonanza in prime time? Stay tuned…
Since every Republican presidential candidate except Ron Paul has been drooling over the prospect of starting a stupendously dumb war with Iran, I had a feeling the ‘Iran’s developing nukes’ line was all panic-the-public flapdoodle for fun and profit. (These are the same imbeciles who wanted to invade Iraq based on lies back in the day.) Here, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta confirms, seemingly inadvertently, that Iran is not trying to build a big scary A-Bomb.
Panetta admits Iran not developing nukes
Stephen G. Webster
Raw Story
Jan. 9, 2012U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta let slip on Sunday the big open secret that Washington war hawks don’t want widely known: Iran is not developing nuclear weapons.
Appearing on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, Panetta admitted that despite all the rhetoric, Iran is not pursuing the ability to split atoms with weapons, saying it is instead pursuing “a nuclear capability.”
That “capability” falls in line with what Iran has said for years: that it is developing nuclear energy facilities, not nuclear weapons.
“I think the pressure of the sanctions, the diplomatic pressures from everywhere, Europe, the United States, elsewhere, it’s working to put pressure on them,” Panetta explained on Sunday. “To make them understand that they cannot continue to do what they’re doing. Are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No.” [Emphasis mine.]
Read the rest here.
To those who wonder why Iran, awash in oil, would develop nuclear energy, the answer is simple: the only commodity Iran has to sell to the world for hard cash, aside from Persian carpets, is oil. Iran desperately needs the money, so it makes sense to provide for its domestic power needs with something other than oil. (Of course, us eco-hippies think they should go to solar and wind power, but that’s another story.)
More blatherskite from “Mr. 1 Percent” himself, Mitt “I Like Firing People” Romney. Not only does Romney think it’s somehow unfair to call him on his Bain Capital record as a ruthless corporate raider that put over 5,000 Americans out of work and bankrupted at least six companies while he made a profit off each deal, but this is the same record he touts as part of his qualifications for the presidency. Not only does he claim any examination of his dismal amoral record in business as some kind of assault on free enterprise and capitalism; not only does he advance the unique notion that anyone questioning his corporate-pirate past is just envious; but now he thinks we should only discuss economic justice and tax fairness in ‘quiet rooms’ (???) and President Obama should not talk about it in public. Is anyone who is not as abysmally wrong as John Sununu actually going to buy this ‘crock of crap’? Here’s the info and video, courtesy of Think Progress:
MATT LAUER [NBC’s Today Show]: When you said that we already have a leader who divides us with the bitter politics of envy, I’m curious about the word ‘envy.’ Did you suggest that anyone who questions the policies and practices of Wall Street and financial institutions, anyone who has questions about the distribution of wealth and power in this country, is envious? Is it about jealousy, or fairness?
ROMNEY: You know, I think it’s about envy. I think it’s about class warfare. When you have a president encouraging the idea of dividing America based on the 99 percent versus one percent — and those people who have been most successful will be in the one percent — you have opened up a whole new wave of approach in this country which is entirely inconsistent with the concept of one nation under God. The American people, I believe in the final analysis, will reject it.
LAUER: Yeah but envy? Are there no fair questions about the distribution of wealth without it being seen as ‘envy,’ though?
ROMNEY: I think it’s fine to talk about those things in quiet rooms and discussions about tax policy and the like. But the president has made it part of his campaign rally. Everywhere he goes we hear him talking about millionaires and billionaires and executives and Wall Street. It’s a very envy-oriented, attack-oriented approach and I think it will fail.
IN ONE SENTENCE: Wanting an economy that works for everyone — not just the wealthy few — isn’t un-American “class warfare” driven by “envy,” it’s a core American value.
Copyright 2012 Think Progress.org.
Maybe the Mittster should take a hint from Satan-worshipping GOP word guru Frank Luntz — don’t use the word ‘capitalism’ because most Americans now think capitalism is immoral.
