“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”

Joe Conason: Ryan’s Plan Neither Serious Nor Courageous

What the meteoric career of Paul Ryan demonstrates is how easily impressed we are whenever a politician purports to restore solvency by punishing the poor and the elderly (while coddling the rich). The Wisconsin Republican congressman’s fiscal plan has won rave reviews from both the usual right-wing suspects and some self-styled centrists, who have praised him and his proposals as “serious,” “courageous” and even “uplifting.”

By now, however, those who have actually examined the Ryan plan with care and competence know that those acclamations are highly exaggerated, which is probably a far too polite description.

Paul Krugman: The Value of an Educated Mind in a High-Tech World

And now for something completely different. About 15 years ago, before I became a regular columnist, The New York Times asked me and other people to contribute to a special edition celebrating the 100th anniversary of its Sunday magazine. The stated rule was that the pieces should be written as if submitted in 2096, looking back at the magazine’s second century.

As I recall, I was the only contributor who obeyed instructions; everyone else was too concerned about loss of dignity. Anyway, I decided to write the piece around a conceit: that information technology would end up reducing, not increasing, the demand for highly educated workers, because a lot of what highly educated workers do could actually be replaced by sophisticated information processing – indeed, replaced more easily than many types of manual labor. It was titled “White Collars Turn Blue.”

So here’s the question: Is this starting to happen?

Many years ago, there was a small railroad that ran on the docks in Brooklyn.  It was called the Brooklyn Dock Railway.   It wasn’t connected by track to other railroads.  Back then, they put railroad cars on barges and floated them to and from New Jersey across the New York City harbor.   When BDR went out of business about forty years ago, a friend of your bloguero picked up some artifacts from its offices.  And he gave your bloguero one, a small stamp that was used in making hourly entries in a lined log book.  The stamp says, “NOTHING TO REPORT.”

A perfect stamp to put on today’s digest.  At The Dream Antilles a week of bemusement. A week of distraction.  A week of dreams.  A week of memories.  A week of wondering.  A week of ennui.  A week of nothing to report.

The Newark Space Flight Center is fiction, but it has girders anchored in fact.  Your bloguero likes this piece.  A relative of your bloguero , on the other hand, wants your bloguero to know that he doesn’t recognize Pops as Luis, your bloguero’s actual grandfather.  “But, but, but,” your bloguero stammers, “It’s part fact and part fiction.  It’s faction.  It’s….”

At Last notes the arrival of the peepers on the pond.  The surest sign that Spring has begun.

April 4, the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is marked by In Memoriam,

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Your bloguero notes that this Digest is a weekly feature of the Port Writers Alliance and is now posted early Saturday morning.   Your bloguero will see you next week, planetary and his psycho-emotional condition permitting.  If you read this, please drop a note.  Your bloguero last week had a personal understanding of  Handel’s interpretation of Isaiah, “The voice of him that cryeth in the wilderness…”

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

April 9 is the 99th day of the year (100th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 266 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia at the McLean House in the village of Appomattox Court House. In an untraditional gesture and as a sign of Grant’s respect and anticipation of peacefully restoring Confederate states to the Union, Lee was permitted to keep his sword and his horse, Traveller.

At Appomattox, Virginia, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the American Civil War. Forced to abandon the Confederate capital of Richmond, blocked from joining the surviving Confederate force in North Carolina, and harassed constantly by Union cavalry, Lee had no other option.

In retreating from the Union army’s Appomattox Campaign, the Army of Northern Virginia had stumbled through the Virginia countryside stripped of food and supplies. At one point, Union cavalry forces under General Philip Sheridan had actually outrun Lee’s army, blocking their retreat and taking 6,000 prisoners at Sayler’s Creek. Desertions were mounting daily, and by April 8 the Confederates were surrounded with no possibility of escape. On April 9, Lee sent a message to Grant announcing his willingness to surrender. The two generals met in the parlor of the Wilmer McLean home at one o’clock in the afternoon.

Lee and Grant, both holding the highest rank in their respective armies, had known each other slightly during the Mexican War and exchanged awkward personal inquiries. Characteristically, Grant arrived in his muddy field uniform while Lee had turned out in full dress attire, complete with sash and sword. Lee asked for the terms, and Grant hurriedly wrote them out. All officers and men were to be pardoned, and they would be sent home with their private property–most important, the horses, which could be used for a late spring planting. Officers would keep their side arms, and Lee’s starving men would be given Union rations.

Shushing a band that had begun to play in celebration, General Grant told his officers, “The war is over. The Rebels are our countrymen again.” Although scattered resistance continued for several weeks, for all practical purposes the Civil War had come to an end

 193 – Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the army in Illyricum (in the Balkans).

475 – Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (Enkyklikon) to the bishops of his empire, supporting the Monophysite christological position.

1241 – Battle of Liegnitz: Mongol forces defeat the Polish and German armies.

1388 – Despite being outnumbered 16 to 1, forces of the Old Swiss Confederacy are victorious over the Archduchy of Austria in the Battle of Näfels.

1413 – Henry V is crowned King of England.

1440 – Christopher of Bavaria is appointed King of Denmark.

1511 – St John’s College, Cambridge, England, founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort, receives its charter.

1609 – Eighty Years’ War: Spain and the Dutch Republic sign the Treaty of Antwerp to initiate twelve years of truce.

1682 – Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River, claims it for France and names it Louisiana.

1782 – American War of Independence: Battle of the Saintes begins.

1860 – The oldest audible sound recording of a human voice is made.

1852 – At a general conference of the Mormon Church, Brigham Young explains the Adam-God doctrine, an important part of the theology of Mormon fundamentalism.

1865 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, effectively ending the war.

1867 – Alaska purchase: Passing by a single vote, the United States Senate ratifies a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska.

1909 – The U.S. Congress passes the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act.

1914 – Mexican Revolution: One of the world’s first naval/air skirmishes takes place off the coast of western Mexico.

1916 – World War I: The Battle of Verdun – German forces launch their third offensive of the battle.

1917 – World War I: The Battle of Arras – the battle begins with Canadian Corps executing a massive assault on Vimy Ridge.

1918 – World War I: The Battle of the Lys – the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps is crushed by the German forces during what is called the Spring Offensive on the Belgian region of Flanders.

1937 – The Kamikaze arrives at Croydon Airport in London – it is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.

1939 – Marian Anderson sings at the Lincoln Memorial, after being denied the right to sing at the Daughters of the American Revolution’s Constitution Hall.

1940 – World War II: Operation Weserübung – Germany invades Denmark and Norway.

1942 – World War II: The Battle of Bataan/Bataan Death March – United States forces surrender on the Bataan Peninsula. The Japanese Navy launches an air raid on Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri Lanka); Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and Royal Australian Navy Destroyer HMAS Vampire are sunk off the island’s east coast.

1945 – World War II: The German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer is sunk.

1945 – World War II: The Battle of Königsberg, in East Prussia, ends.

1945 – The United States Atomic Energy Commission is formed.

1947 – The Glazier-Higgins-Woodward tornadoes kill 181 and injure 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

1947 – The Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride begins through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws. The riders wanted enforcement of the United States Supreme Court’s 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel.

1948 – Jorge Eliecer Gaitan’s assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogota (the Bogotazo), and a further ten years of violence in Colombia known as La violencia.

1948 – Massacre at Deir Yassin.

1952 – Hugo Ballivian’s government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, starting a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalisation of tin mines

1957 – The Suez Canal in Egypt is cleared and opens to shipping.

1959 – Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the United States’ first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the “Mercury Seven”.

1961 – The Pacific Electric Railway in Los Angeles, once the largest electric railway in the world, ends operations.

1965 – Astrodome opens. First indoor baseball game is played.

1967 – The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) makes its maiden flight.

1968 – Funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr.

   1969 – The “Chicago Eight” plead not guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.

1969 – The first British-built Concorde 002 makes its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford.

1975 – The first game of the Philippine Basketball Association, the second oldest professional basketball league in the world.

1975 – 8 people in South Korea, who were involved in People’s Revolutionary Party Incident, are hanged.

1980 – The Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein kills philosopher Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and his sister Bint al-Huda after three days of torture.

1981 – The U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS George Washington (SSBN-598) accidentally collides with the Nissho Maru, a Japanese cargo ship, sinking it.

1989 – The April 9 tragedy in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR an anti-Soviet peaceful demonstration and hunger strikes, demanding restoration of Georgian independence is dispersed by the Soviet army, resulting in 20 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

1992 – A U.S. Federal Court finds former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega guilty of drug and racketeering charges. He is sentenced to 30 years in prison.

1992 – John Major’s Conservative Party wins an unprecedented fourth general election victory in the United Kingdom.

2003 – 2003 invasion of Iraq: Baghdad falls to American forces;Saddam Hussein statue topples as Iraqis turn on symbols of their former leader, pulling down the statue and tearing it to pieces.

2005 – Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall; Charles, Prince of Wales marries Camilla Parker Bowles in a civil ceremony at Windsor’s Guildhall.

2009 – In Tbilisi, Georgia, up to 60,000 people protest against the government of Mikheil Saakashvili.

Holidays and observances

  * Christian Feast Day

      * Gaucherius

      * Materiana

      * Waltrude

      * April 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

  * Day of the Finnish Language (Finland)

  * Day of Valor, also known as the “Bataan Day” (the Philippines)

  * Vimy Ridge Day, commemorating the Battle of Vimy Ridge. (Canada)

  * World Konkani Day

US Congress agrees last-minute budget deal

Republicans and Democrats have reached a deal on the US budget, an hour before a deadline that would have forced the government to close many services.

The BBC  9 April 2011

They have passed a stop-gap spending bill which will allow the government to keep running while the wider budget plan is finalised.

The parties have agreed to slash about $38bn (£23bn) from spending for the year until 30 September.

President Barack Obama said the cuts would be difficult but necessary.

“Some of the cuts we agreed to will be painful,” he said.

“Programmes people rely on will be cut back. Needed infrastructure projects will be delayed. And I would not have made these cuts in better circumstances.”

France vows ‘strong response’ as Gbagbo launches fresh attack

Ambassador’s residence targeted as UN says pariah’s forces have made significant gains

By Daniel Howden in Abidjan Saturday, 9 April 2011

The battle for Abidjan escalated last night as forces loyal to international pariah Laurent Gbagbo fired on the French ambassador’s residence.

It was unclear if there had been any casualties, but French military sources vowed a “strong response”. Attack helicopters were seen leaving the French base soon after the mortar and rocket attack, which was the strongest attempt yet by Mr Gbagbo to force former colonial power France into a fight which would rally Ivorian nationalists.

Claims from the UN that Gbagbo’s forces had regained the highly important areas of Plateau and Cocody were unconfirmed.

Pyongyang propaganda with a light touch in Indonesia



Tom Allard April 9, 2011

JAKARTA: After the craziness of Jakarta’s early evening traffic, the ambience is oddly calming, an ersatz oasis from the barely contained chaos outside.

Synthetic ivy and orange blossoms climb walls adorned with paintings of Korean landscapes, silk flowers fill the vases and the karaoke machine pumps out hits as the dinner crowd fills Pyongyang, an incongruous outpost of North Korean culture and cuisine in the steaming, teeming streets of the Indonesian capital.

Nation mourns with boy who lost his parents



BY KUNIAKI NISHIO STAFF WRITER 2011/04/09

Immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake, 9-year-old Toshihito Aisawa’s father, Kazuyuki, jumped in the car and raced to pick him up at his school in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture. Along with his wife, Noriko, Toshito’s grandmother Kyoko and two cousins all packed into the car, Kazuyuki tried to outrace the approaching tsunami.

He lost the race.

Toshihito got out of the car by breaking a window before losing consciousness. When he came to on a pile of scrap lumber, all his loved ones were gone.

A local barber took the third-grader into his home.

Need to scrub your conscience? Tweet

 

SATISH NANDGAONKAR  

If you have a conscience and want to wash it in public, you need not march to the Anna Hazare Town Square in your city. Just tweet it, as long as your conscience can be squeezed into 140 characters.

You will then be rubbing digital shoulders with such luminaries as Lalit K. Modi, Riteish Deshmukh and countless others who usually fall in that amorphous species called celebrities.

Twitterworld is now crawling with such corruption-busters, all riding Anna piggyback. But scratch a few tweets and the real message tumbles out, at least in the IPL founder’s case.

Red Sox-Yankees series highlights globalization of baseball

When the Red Sox and Yankees kicked off a three-game series today at Fenway Park in Boston, 14 of the 50 players were foreign-born, representing a game that is rapidly globalizing.

By Ezra Fieser, Correspondent / April 8, 2011

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

When the Red Sox and Yankees met for the first time this season today at Fenway Park, the greatest rivalry in America’s pastime had a decidedly foreign flavor.

Fourteen of the 50 players on the field or in reserve were born outside of the United States, including Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, better known as “Big Papi” in his native Dominican Republic, and the Yankees’ Panamanian closer Mariano Rivera.

They are stars that represent the changing face of a game that once barred blacks but is now rapidly globalizing. From Australians to Venezuelans, a total of 234 foreigners – 27.7 percent of all players – graced opening day rosters this year, according to Major League Baseball statistics. The New York Yankees, with 16 foreign-born players, are the most international team in baseball.

Well, if it’s 4:00 am it’s Formula One somewhere.  This week is Sepang in Malaysia.

Sepang is hotter than Albert Park this time of year and there’s also a history of afternoon downpours that shortened the race in 2009.  This could effect tire strategy, though Jenson Button reports the McLaren team is getting excellent wear from the designed to deteriorate faster Pirellis.

Speaking of go fast technology, because of the long straights Red Bull is not shunning KERS the way they did in Australia.  In practice the 2 McLarens split Webber and Vettel and everyone else was pretty much an also ran.  Considering the results from Albert Park this very much reminds me of last season where Red Bull had a clear speed advantage in the early races that tightened up over the course of the season, except that this year is much closer.  Hamilton finished second despite major damage to his under carriage aero.

We also know now that they’re going to be strictly enforcing the 107% rule for qualifying (though it only applies to the Q1 ETs).  The split spoiler is only activated for the trailing car and only in certain sections of track and within a certain distance of the car you’re attempting to overtake.  It was no apparent advantage in Melbourne.

If I had actually watched Friday’s practice last night I suppose I’d know more, but I was busy examining my eyelids from the inside.  I totally understand if others feel the same about tonight, qualifying is only interesting if there are surprises and there haven’t been many so far.  Tomorrow though you get a rare chance to see the whole weekend in about 5 hours as Speed will be rebroadcasting the Friday practice and tonight’s Qualifying starting at 12:30 am before the race itself at 3:30 am.  I’ll try to have the piece up around midnight though I might nap after that for a while.  They’ll be repeating the race only at 2:30 pm Sunday afternoon.

(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

The Government has avoided a shut down in the last minutes, however, this isn’t over, by a long shot. While the Obama supporters will be touting tonight’s passing of a “Bridge CR” and agreement for the 2011 budget a “victory’, is it? Yes, they managed to remove some of the most egregious riders that the “Full Mooner” Tea Party Republicans were trying to jam through but it cost Obama almost $39 billion more than the $40 million that he originally proposed for a grand total of $79 billion in cuts that will only carry through until September that is if they pass it next Thursday. It still isn’t very clear just what is in that extra $39 billion in cuts.

There are still give aways in the bill which includes the riders to ban DC from using its own funds to pay for abortions for poor DC women and approval of the unpopular DC school vouchers which was opposed by the DC city council. So much for Republican respect for state’s rights.

Ezra Klein of the Washington Post sums it up, this is “2011 not 1995”:

The substance of this deal is bad. The rhetoric of it is worse.

The final compromise was $38.5 billion below 2010’s funding levels. That’s $78.5 billion below President Obama’s original budget proposal, which would’ve added $40 billion to 2010’s funding levels, and $6.5 billion below John Boehner’s original counteroffer, which would’ve subtracted $32 billion from 2010’s budget totals. In the end, the real negotiation was not between the Republicans and the Democrats, or even the Republicans and the White House. It was between John Boehner and the conservative wing of his party. And once that became clear, it turned out that Boehner’s original offer wasn’t even in the middle. It turns out to be slightly center-left.

But you would’ve never known it from President Obama’s comments following the conclusion of the negotiations. Obama bragged about “making the largest annual spending cut in our history.” Harry Reid repeatedly called the cuts “historic.” It fell to Boehner to give a clipped, businesslike statement on the deal. If you were just tuning in, you might’ve thought Boehner had been arguing for moderation, while both Obama and Reid sought to cut deeper. You would never have known that Democrats had spent months resisting these “historic” cuts, warning that they’d cost jobs and slow the recovery.

Although there will now be a separate Senate vote to cut Title X funding for Planned Parenthood, which will most likely fail, this is a major capitulation by Obama and the Democratic leadership that gives 1/6th of the government 2/3rds of the budget cuts it wanted. All of these riders will appear again and again and many will pass the House and, perhaps, even the Senate. What matters more to Obama than anything else is his notion of “bipartisanship” which is shifting this country further and further to the right to the detriment of the majority if Americans and the future.

Nice spelunking by the Spelunker-in-Chief.

Regular Features-

• Late Night Karaoke by mishima
• Muse in the Morning by Robyn
• Six In The Morning by mishima

Featured Essays for April 8, 2011-

• Time To Stand Up To The Radical Right, Barack by TheMomCat
• Minority Rapport ~ Note from a 3rd Party Fringer by Diane G
• Lending to the Banks: Any Adventurers Online by jimstaro
• Drifting Over the Edge 2 by banger
• Medicare Fiddling is a real problem! by Xanthe
• Worse and then Better(?) Again by Robyn
• Original v. Cover — #73 in a Series by curmudgeon
• Random Japan by mishima

DocuDharma

Happy Jack was the second album released by The Who and their second studio album. It was released in the UK with the title A Quick One.  That was a little suggestive for Decca Records, the US label and the single Happy Jack has charted in the US, so that title was used.  The song lineup is a little different betwixt the two records as well, Happy Jack not being on the UK version.

Released in the UK 19661209, it was delayed in the US for almost six months, finally being released in 196705 (I am not sure of the exact day).  This record was truly transformative, and is one of my personal favorites.  It was this album where Townshend really showed that the was a writing force with which to be reckoned, and he took some risks that he would not have taken previously for a large reason:  the brilliant Kit Lambert had replaced the hack Shel Talmy as the producer of the band.

This album also showed that Enwistle was also a force to be reckoned with as a writer both of the song that he contributed are brilliant, and one of them became sort of an alter ego for him, in addition to his moniker of The Ox.  Let us take the US lineup from the top.

The first cut is by Townshend, called Run, Run, Run.  Whilst not one of Pete’s very best, it is really a catchy song and if one listens very carefully to the lyrics, it is really clever.  Daltry was the vocalist on it.

I could not find a live version, but here is the studio version:

The next song is the brilliant Boris the Spider, written and sung by John.  In later years, many of his bass guitars would have a spiderweb logo on them.  This is just a GREAT piece of music.

Here is the studio version.  Note the very close syncopation betwixt John’s bass and Keith’s drumming.  John and Keith were great mates, and often would carouse together at bar after bar.

Here is a live version of it from 1975.  I saw the live first in 1976, so this is just about what they looked and sounded like when I saw them:

The third track is I Need You, supposedly written by Keith Moon.  Most reviewers believe that Pete actually wrote most if not all of it, and I agree.  I believe that if you listen closely, the song has Pete all over it, and I really do not think that Moon actually had the wherewithal for songwriting.  Keith did sing in this studio version:

<

I could not find a live version.  If anyone comes across live versions where I have been unable to do so, please post them in the comments.  This song will never be remembered as one of the band’s greatest, but it is interesting from the standpoint of Keith’s singing ability.  Pete is on record saying that he thought that Keith had a really beautiful voice, but a very limited range.  I tend to agree.

The forth cut is both written and sung by Entwistle.  Whiskey Man is horribly underrated, and is an excellent piece.  Notice the French horn work; that is also Enwistle and his horn work was a staple on much of the early work by the band.  Here is the studio version:

Once again, I was unable to find a live version.

The fifth cut on the first side of the album was Cobwebs and Strange, and I think that Moon actually did write this piece.  This song is interesting because instruments that The Who normally did not utilize were employed, namely tuba (Moon) and penny whistle (Townshend).

Here is the studio version:

Here is a compilation of videos, including a very early music video of the modern type (in other words, not just a band being taped performing a song, but a backstory as well).  Some of the clips of Keith are just great!

The sixth and final track on the first side was the title track for the US release, Happy Jack.  This is a marvelous piece, written by Townshend and mostly sung by Daltrey.  The bass and drums are almost too good to believe, but believe them.  If you listen very closely at the very end of the song, you can hear Townshend shout, “I saw ya!”.  The story behind this is that Keith was in a particularly disruptive frame of mind and Pete had banned him from the studio so that they could finish the piece.  Keith had sneaked in anyway, and at the very end of retracking the vocals, Pete spotted him.  They left it in, and I am glad.

This was another piece that has a very early music video associated with it (Townshend was fascinated with multimedia, an interest that he retains even to this day).  I chose this particular piece because the advert before the music is comical.  Here it is:

Here is a contemporaneous live version, and even the sound quality is not as good as it could be, it appears really to be live, and early.  I like it.

Many of you youngsters may remember this song only from the Hummer H2 advert from just a couple of years ago:

The first track from the second side was Townshend’s Don’t Look Away, sung mostly by Daltrey.  It is an OK song, but not nearly as good as some of the others on the record.  Here is the studio version:

See My Way, written and sung by Daltrey, was the second song on the second side.  It is OK, but Daltrey was not the songwriter that Townshend and Enwistle were.  He actually did write some better material later.  I could not find a live version, but here is the studio one:

The third track was a Townshend number sung by Daltrey, So Sad about Us.  For a sad song it is awfully bouncy, but I like it a lot.  Here is the studio version:

Here is a real live version, from their long term engagement at the Marquee Club in London.  They performed live every Thursday night.  Oh, to have been there even once!

The final song of the second side is actually a closely related set of songs, all by Townshend, called A Quick One While He’s Away.  Since I devoted an entire piece of this series to this one work back in October, rather than take up unnecessary bandwidth, I shall just provide a link, here.

Before closing out this piece, I shall include the song that was replaced for the US release by Happy Jack, a cover of the old Dozier/Holland/Holland standard, Heat Wave.  I do not know what possessed them to record that cover, perhaps Pete did not have enough material at hand.  It is OK, but certainly not one of the best examples of their work.  Here is the studio version:

Here is what appears to be a live (not lipsynced) version from beat-club in early 1967.  I believe that this is live for two reasons:  first of all, Keith actually looked like he was drumming (in most synced material he barely pretended to drum), and the cymbals are much more pronounced than on the studio version.  However, I could be incorrect.  What do you think?

There was a release in 1995 that included a number of bonus tracks, but I think that I will put off including them and write a separate piece that covers bonus tracks associated with several albums, since this is getting quite long already.  The next time that I return to this subseries, the topic will be one of their greatest records, The Who Sell Out, one of the most brilliant concept albums ever made.

I hope that you enjoy these songs.  I try to include live material as much as possible, and if you find live videos for songs that I could not find any, once again, please embed them in the comments.  This was a great record.

Warmest regards,

Doc

(midnight. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

This is an Open Thread

Essays Featured Friday the 8^th of April:

Late Night Karaoke features Angie, mishima DJs

Six Brilliant Articles! from Six Different Places!! on Six Different Topics!!!

                Six Days a Week!!!    at Six in the Morning!!!!

Labor Murals are on slksfca‘s mind in Friday Open Thoughts

Wendys Wink is Perambulating the Neighborhood, republished by RiaD

from Timbuk3: The 100 Greatest Rock Songs of All Time!

Tonight #86  

join the conversation! come firefly-dreaming with me….

(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Crossposted at Daily Kos and Docudharma

THE WEEK IN EDITORIAL CARTOONS

This weekly diary takes a look at the past week’s important news stories from the perspective of our leading editorial cartoonists (including a few foreign ones) with analysis and commentary added in by me.

When evaluating a cartoon, ask yourself these questions:

1. Does a cartoon add to my existing knowledge base and help crystallize my thinking about the issue depicted?

2. Does the cartoonist have any obvious biases that distort reality?

3. Is the cartoonist reflecting prevailing public opinion or trying to shape it?

The answers will help determine the effectiveness of the cartoonist’s message.

:: ::

:: ::

INTRODUCTION

:: ::

UPDATE: Even with yesterday’s “surprise” announcement that over 7,500 additional votes had been found for David Prosser, this fight is far from over.

A few weeks ago, no one in their right mind would have predicted what happened yesterday in the State of Wisconsin.  A political novice defeated an incumbent justice of the state’s Supreme Court.  This isn’t something that happens very frequently in special elections in any state.  But Wisconsin Democrats and allied groups demonstrated resolve and determination in fighting the GOP Machine.  For this, all of us who are committed to the principles of the Democratic Party owe the good people of Wisconsin a huge debt of gratitude.  This is how real democracy is supposed to work.

Yesterday, an article in Mother Jones magazine asked if this was even possible

Wisconsin’s Supreme Test

The uprising in Wisconsin this winter vividly illustrated that labor unions and progressive groups could still mount a massive fight when pressed. But can the outrage and determination that fueled the Madison protests be channeled into a victory at the ballot box?  That’s the question, as Wisconsinites today vote to fill a crucial swing seat on the state’s seven-person Supreme Court.

The race pits sitting Justice David Prosser, a conservative, against longtime Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg, a political novice. The outcome will determine whether the Badger State’s high court tilts to the left or to the right.  A Kloppenburg upset would send a strong signal that unions and left-leaning groups in this swing state are indeed a force to be reckoned with heading into the 2012 presidential election — that is, that Wisconsin’s progressive tradition is alive and well.  A Kloppenburg loss would take the wind out of the left’s sails, just as progressives in the state are trying to recall a slew of Republican lawmakers for their anti-union votes.

Today’s Update: In a major upset, mobilized unions and progressive groups helped a liberal underdog eke out a narrow victory, but a recount looms.

Editorial cartoonist Ed Stein details above what was really at stake.  Hard-won gains made by labor unions over the past century would most certainly have been diluted and the Democratic Party would have been on the political defensive until the 2012 Elections.  Instead, a Kloppenburg win results in new-found momentum to recall Republican state senators and restore a sense of balance between employers and employees.  

Absent yesterday’s success, we would be looking at more of the disturbing trends that Stein describes below

Difficult Labor

The Republicans in Wisconsin finally found a way to impose their will without Democrats in attendance.  Of course, everyone knows that the suppression of collective bargaining rights has nothing to do with the economy.  This is about destroying unions, the largest source of funding for Democrats in the country. The lousy economy has given Republicans in Wisconsin the excuse they needed to achieve their long-sought goal of undermining the power of public unions, and other states with Republican governors and legislatures are sure to follow.

Funny, the same folks who cried foul when health care reform was passed on a strictly partisan vote are silent when Republicans eviscerate collective bargaining without a single Democrat voting with them.  I was tempted to make the elephant in the cartoon a caricature of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, but given that Republicans in other states can’t wait to do the same, I decided to make the cartoon more general.  What I wanted to show here was what unions have accomplished over the years, not to mention the contempt the GOP appears to have for the working man.  Without collective bargaining, we’d still have six day work weeks, no workplace safety rules, no child labor laws, no overtime, etc.  I worry that we’re heading back to the nineteenth century, when robber barons ruled and workers served at the whim of their lords and masters.  Where’s Charles Dickens when we need him?

Why did David Prosser lose an election in which only a few weeks ago he was a prohibitive favorite?  NBC’s First Read provides some clues

If congressional Republicans should have learned any lesson from the budget showdown in Wisconsin, it was this: quit while you’re ahead. Despite being offered concession after concession on the budget — as long as he didn’t touch collective-bargaining rights for public employees — Gov. Scott Walker (R) went big for everything, including the collective bargaining rights.  And he’s since paid a steep political price, even though the legislation ultimately passed.  Walker’s poll numbers have plummeted.  The legislation is now locked up in the courts. The Democratic opposition remains fired up. And the state appears headed for a slew of recall elections this spring and summer.  The political lesson from Wisconsin: If you’re offered 70%-80% of what you want and will look like a hero in accepting the deal, take it.  But if you go for everything, be prepared for the backlash.  

I have included over 50 editorial cartoons on issues that have come to the fore due to strong resistance offered by Democrats to union-busting proposals and laws pursued by the Republican Party in Wisconsin and several other states.  I will add more cartoons both in the body of the diary as well as posting some in the comments section.

Comments are welcome.  Thanks.

:: ::

1. The Democrats of Wisconsin: Fighting to Preserve the Middle Class

:: ::

In this terrific cartoon, Rogers describes what many Republican governors are up to around the country.  At every given opportunity, they are trying to undermine the middle classes and engage in what I think is anti-intellectual behavior

Pro-Union

Many new GOP governors, Scott Walker included, are trying to kill unions. Maine’s republican governor Paul LePage removed a mural from their state’s labor department wall.  He claimed the mural was biased toward organized labor and out of line with his pro-business agenda.  Imagine that, a labor mural that celebrates labor … how evil!

Civil War by Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette, Buy this cartoon

Martin Kozlowski, inxart.com, Buy this cartoon

Tony Auth, Yahoo Comics/Philadelphia Inquirer

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Ed Stein, Comics.com (formerly of the Rocky Mountain News)

Statesman at Work by Bill Sanders, sanderscartoon.blogspot.com

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Drew Sheneman, Comics.com (Newark Star-Ledger)

Jeff Stahler, Comics.com (Columbus Dispatch)

A Message from Arlo Guthrie by Randall Enos, Cagle Cartoons, Buy this cartoon

Union Busting by Bob Englehart, see reader comments in the Hartford Courant, Buy this cartoon

Because unions helped to create the middle class, safety standards in the workplace, the 40 hour week, paid vacations, livable wages, benefits, etc. etc. etc.  Unions also offer a balance of power to the fat cats who are hauling in the TARP-funded bonuses.  How about a union for tellers, secretaries, messengers and clerks on Wall Street?  Just a thought.

Only a fool or a tea party conservative (do I repeat myself?) would want to get rid of unions.  Unions maintain the middle class.  I’d like to see unions expand into all aspects of America’s working world, especially now when corporate greed is out of control.  I’d like to see unions balance the political scene with more donations to politicians who truly are on the side of the working man.

— Englehart explaining why unions are necessary to the survival of the middle class

Joel Pett, McLatchy Cartoons/Lexington Herald-Leader

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Walt Handelsman, Comics.com (Newsday)

Matt Davies, Comics.com (Connecticut News)

Paul Szep, Comics.com

Mike Thompson, Comics.com (Detroit Free Press)

Dan Wasserman, Comics.com (Boston Globe)

Jack Ohman, Comics.com (Portland Oregonian)

Signe Wilkinson, Comics.com (Philadelphia Daily News)

Bill Day, Comics.com (Memphis Commercial-Appeal)

:: ::

2. The GOP: Protecting the Criminal Class

:: ::

Isn’t it ironic, Lowe asks, that union-busting efforts are in full swing in Wisconsin, the birthplace of the modern Progressive Movement?

Wisconsin’s Labor Pains

Maybe what Gov. Walker is trying to do will make him a hero in the Republican Party.  Maybe, in 2012 or 2016, he’ll run for president.  Maybe his crusade will successfully spread to the other rust-belt states and beyond.  Maybe the soul of the Democratic Party — the impassioned nuts-and-bolts base — will be eviscerated for all time, as his colleagues hope.

It’s a cruel irony that ground zero for what is potentially the greatest rollback in labor rights in modern times is Wisconsin, the home of Sen. Robert La Follette, Jr., where the progressive movement all began.

Even if he doesn’t go on to greater glory, Governor Walker has most certainly reserved for himself a pedestal in the Cheesehead Hall of Fame.

New Business Climate In Wisconsin by RJ Matson, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Buy this cartoon

Wisconsin Budget by Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette, Buy this cartoon

Jimmy Margulies, New Jersey Record, Buy this cartoon

Mike Peters, Dayton Daily News

(click link to enlarge cartoon

of 3/1/11 in Peters’ archives)

Mike Thompson, Comics.com (Detroit Free Press)

Matt Wuerker, Politico

(click link to enlarge cartoon

in Wuerker’s March 2011 archives)

Money Talks by Adam Zyglis, Buffalo News, Buy this cartoon

Joel Pett, McLatchy Cartoons/Lexington Herald-Leader

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Jeff Stahler, Comics.com (Columbus Dispatch)

Squashed by Rob Rogers, Comics.com, see reader comments in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When will the Republicans stop trying to make scapegoats out of the poor and middle class?  They want to attack everything from unions to education to health care to public television.  This disastrous economy was created by deregulation and corrupt Wall St. bankers and corporations. Hey, GOP … aim your budget axe at the real criminals.

— Rogers accuses the GOP of trying to protect criminal behavior on Wall Street

Class Warfare by Randall Enos, Cagle Cartoons, Buy this cartoon

Mike Peters, Dayton Daily News

(click link to enlarge cartoon of

3/4/2011 in Peters’ archives)

New York Snake by Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette, Buy this cartoon

Steve Sack, Comics.com (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

Don Wright, Comics.com (Tribune Media Services)

Joel Pett, McLatchy Cartoons/Lexington Herald-Leader

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Begging for Crumbs by Monte Wolverton, Cagle Cartoons, Buy this cartoon

Class Warfare Collective Bargaining by Andy Singer, Politicalcartoons.com, Buy this cartoon

A Glass of Koch by Randall Enos, Cagle Cartoons, Buy this cartoon

:: ::

4. Leona Helmsley Was Right: Only the “Little People” Pay Taxes

:: ::

Jones doesn’t find fault with General Electric Corporation for evading taxes.  Neither does he praise it.  The blame lies solely with a compliant Congress that is all-too-eager to exchange obscene corporate tax breaks in exchange for campaign contributions.  In essence what he is saying is that responsibility lies not as much with the thief but his enabler  

Fire The Peacock

MSNBC, owned by General Electric, has failed to report on GE NOT paying any federal taxes.  GE actually got a refund. They had billions in profits and they cut their work force.  Remember that argument that lower corporate taxes created more jobs?  Yeah, right.

GE is squirming in explaining their taxes. They say they’ve paid local and state taxes.  OK.  They won’t come clean on the Federal tax thing.  I guess they could whine about the huge expense of paying off congressmen.

I don’t think we can blame GE for this.  If Congress gives them the option, why shouldn’t they take it? Blame Congress.

(Leona Helmsley’s mug shot (right) after being indicted and convicted of federal tax evasion charges)

Tax Burden by Nick Anderson, Comics.com, see reader comments in the Houston Chronicle

Plugging Away by Matt Davies, Comics.com, see reader comments in Connecticut News

Steve Breen, San Diego Union-Tribune, Buy this cartoon

Pat Oliphant, Yahoo Comics/Universal Press Syndicate

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Biz Tax by Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune, Buy this cartoon

GE Avoids Taxes by Nate Beeler, Washington Examiner, Buy this cartoon

Imagination at Work by John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Buy this cartoon

Martin Kozlowski, inxart.com, Buy this cartoon

Mike Luckovich, Comics.com (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Drew Sheneman, Comics.com (Newark Star-Ledger)

No Income Tax For GE by Randall Enos, Cagle Cartoons, Buy this cartoon

Signe Wilkinson, Comics.com (Philadelphia Daily News)

Mark Streeter, Savannah Morning News, Buy this cartoon

John Sherffius, Comics.com (Boulder Daily Camera)

Taxpayer Gets Screwed by Adam Zyglis, Buffalo News, Buy this cartoon

Caterpillar CEO Whines About Conditions in Illinois by Chris Britt, Comics.com, see reader comments in the State-Journal-Register

Corporate Taxes by Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette, Buy this cartoon

Jeff Danziger, Yahoo Comics/New York Times Press Syndicate

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Buy this cartoon

:: ::

5. The GOP’s Stable of 2012 “Presidential” Candidates

Robert Ariail, Comics.com (formerly of The State, SC)

Jeff Danziger, New York Times Syndicate

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Newt Gingrich’s Family Values by Bill Schorr, Cagle Cartoons, Buy this cartoon

John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Buy this cartoon

Mike Peters, Dayton Daily News

(click link to enlarge cartoon of 3/11/11 in Peters’ archives)

Chris Britt, State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL), Buy this cartoon

:: ::

6. Sports Talk: On to Baseball

Jeff Stahler, Comics.com (Columbus Dispatch)

Busted NCAA Bracket by John Cole, Scranton Times-Tribune, Buy this cartoon

Drew Litton, Comics.com

Clay Jones, Freelance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA), Buy this cartoon

Lockout by Milt Priggee, www.miltpriggee.com, Buy this cartoon

Protecting Athletes by Nick Anderson, Comics.com, see reader comments in the Houston Chronicle

Steve Kelley, Comics.com (New Orleans Times-Picayune)

Gary Varvel, Indianapolis Star-News, Buy this cartoon

John Sherffius, Comics.com (Boulder Daily Camera)

Jeff Danziger, Yahoo Comics/New York Times Syndicate

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Pittsburgh Pirates by Randy Bish, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Buy this cartoon

:: ::

7. RIP Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro and Elizabeth Taylor

Geraldine Ferraro Memorial by Jimmy Margulies, New Jersey Record, Buy this cartoon

Deb Milbrath, Freelance Cartoonist

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Note: There are many more editorial cartoons about Actress Elizabeth Taylor in my last weekly diary — The Week in Editorial Cartoons – “I Have Here in My Hand a List of…”

Steve Benson, Comics.com (Arizona Republic)

Steve Kelley, Comics.com (New Orleans Times-Picayune)

:: ::

8. Final Thoughts

:: ::

Have you been to Europe this year?  Well, what are you waiting for?  Hurry up!

:: ::

A Note About the Diary Poll

:: ::

In a recent article in the New Yorker magazine, Hendrik Hertzberg wrote about the changing fortunes of the middle classes and traced it directly to decline in union membership in the private sector

Union Blues

Organized labor’s catastrophic decline has paralleled — and, to a disputed but indisputably substantial degree, precipitated — an equally dramatic rise in economic inequality.  In 1980, the best-off tenth of American families collected about a third of the nation’s income. Now they’re getting close to half. The top one per cent is getting a full fifth, double what it got in 1980.  The super-rich-the top one-tenth of the top one per cent, which is to say the top one-thousandth, have been the biggest winners of all.  What is always called their “compensation” (wage workers lucky enough to have a job simply get paid) has quadrupled.

Over the same period, the composition of the labor movement, as it still defiantly styles itself, has radically changed.  A few weeks ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that, for the first time, more union members are government workers, not private-sector employees.  The Times quoted an official of the United States Chamber of Commerce as pronouncing himself “a little bit shocked,” and he wasn’t the only one. Yet this development has nothing to do with some imagined spike in public-sector unionism.  It is entirely a function of the collapse of organized labor in the private sector. For the past four decades, the portion of the public workforce belonging to unions has held remarkably steady, at a little more than one in three.  In the private sector, just one worker in fifteen carries a union card.

(Above cartoon by Paul Szep, Comics.com)

Given the above trends, yesterday’s election of JoAnne Kloppenburg to Wisconsin’s Supreme Court was welcome news.  While in the long-term this small step in itself may not radically change the economic landscape, it certainly gives the Democratic Party an opportunity to stop the bleeding and, to a degree, reverse this trend of a shrinking middle class and one which has contributed greatly to wealth and income equality in this country for several decades.

What impact, if any, will Kloppenburg’s election have upon the fortunes of the middle classes? Remember to take the diary poll too.

 Loading ...