So, I’ve been aggressively defensive in my indulgence of pop music here. Â And it’s almost entirely genuine – appreciation by the masses can’t ruin good music. Â So, with that introduction, I’m going to risk a set of covers based on . . .
The vegetables are coming, my friends. Green, gassy, fibrous vegetables. They aren’t buttered. Or salted. And this time, they mean business.
Last week, flush with his victory in a lawsuit challenging the president’s health care initiative, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced gravely that “if we cross this line with health care now—this unconstitutional line—where the government can force us to buy a private product and say it’s for our own good, then we’ll have given the government the power to force us to buy other products: cars, gym memberships, asparagus. The list goes on.” Broccoli? Belgian endive? The list indeed goes on.
And it’s not just crazy Ken Cuccinelli being crazy Ken Cuccinelli, you know. Â Dahlia Lithwick goes on, illustrating the fear spreading across the entire conservative spectrum:
Using the same logic, columnist George Will conjured the dread specter of the state brandishing broccoli when he wrote at the start of this month that if congressional power to regulate interstate commerce “is infinitely elastic, Congress can do anything—eat your broccoli, or else—and America no longer has a limited government.” Don’t think there’s anything that sinister about broccoli, friends? Think again. That broccoli is just a front for the New World Order.
Think about it. If the asparagus and broccoli are really coming to knock down our doors and kidnap our children, can helicopters loaded with cauliflower really be that far behind? And what of the eggplant in night-vision goggles? If we’re soon to be governed by a totalitarian taxonomy of toxic greens, who—one wonders—will sound the warning against the tyrannical field peas?
I, for one, welcome our fresh green overlords.
DADT repealed. Â Closure of a dark chapter in American history. Â Thank you to everyone that helped, but particular thanks to those serving who put their careers on the line – and sometimes lost them – to make this happen.
Update:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGxhphlJN-I[/youtube]
Powerful.
It’s been incredibly windy and bone-chillingly cold in DC for the past week. Â The warm and rainy place I’d rather be, at the moment:
Restaurant in Chihshang, Taiwan
Ten years ago, I was sitting in the Worldport Terminal at JFK, on my way home. Â I’d just picked up some Burger King french fries, waiting for a connecting flight back to DCA, while I watched the news. Â And it was there that I heard the result of Bush v. Gore. Â I can still tell you exactly where I was sitting. Â And then I saw the opinion read out on the television. Â And I was shocked.
Stupified. Â Confounded. Â Stunned.
The five justices in the majority helped complete my legal education in a way that I – at the time – truly didn’t think was possible.
The idealism of youth, I suppose. Â Or something like that.
To review, the majority applied a principle that they’d never cared about in a way that they’d never done before to a specific set of circumstances they said should never be considered in the future.
~
I have very little interest in talking about Bush v. Gore. Â There’s nothing to say about it, from a legal standpoint. Â Sure, it’s a little useful as a basic honesty test, but those that defend it almost always reveal themselves as charlatans well before you ever get to the case itself. Â But I do hope that it’s taken as a lesson by new generations.
So long as the Republican party that produced the 5-4 result exists, it’s important that everyone involved in politics understands what happened.
I’m polishing and queuing up the rest of the Taiwan Cycling Festival pieces this weekend, but I thought I’d go ahead and publish this great (tho’ impromptu) video of BikeHugger‘s Mark V descending through Taiwan’s Taroko Gorge. Â I shot this from the back of our bus, which we were taking to the Giant store to pick up our bikes. Â Mark already had his bike, and took the opportunity to do a bit of motorpacing. Our hotel – the Taroko Leader Village – was situated mid-valley, so it was all downhill:
I’d suggest not trying this at home, but unless you’re lucky enough to live in Taroko Gorge, you couldn’t even if you wanted to. Â Check in on Monday for more Taiwan cycleliciousness (to steal an adjective).
To hell with them (and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin).
In 2007, Mark Ronson put together an album of cover collaborations called Versions. Â He invited Lily Allen, whose star had just exploded, to re-record “Oh My God”, a track she’d covered on an earlier mixtape. Â I’m already a fan of Allen’s flavor of Britpop, but I especially enjoyed it:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4GvHXjHMmo[/youtube]
Fan vid, of course. Â Official is here.
I’ve enjoyed that track for years now, but never even thought about its nature as a cover until this year, when some friends staying with me left behind a slew of music that they thought I might appreciate. Â And so I came across the original Kaiser Chiefs version of Oh My God (please just ignore the awful video):
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EwhK4pyQEg[/youtube]
*Love* it.
Adam Serwer (correctly) calls bullshit:
The $900 billion deal to extend all of the Bush tax cuts represents a substantial retreat for the president on a major campaign promise, a major victory for the Republican Party, and, let’s face it, complete obliteration of the notion that the deficit matters politically as anything other than a blunt instrument to wield against the welfare state. The deficit is an absolute emergency when it comes to making sure all Americans have health care, but an afterthought when it comes to cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans.
Updated: Of course he is. I have now concluded my obvious-answers-to-obvious-questions exercise.