Grateful Dead

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Once a year the Kentucky bluegrass gentry and their horse breeders get together in Lou-A-Vull at Churchill Downs and do this thing. It is the showcase of the best horse on dirt and "the fastest two minutes" in the sports year. On another level, it seems to be a bizarre ritual in which 165,000 people get stinking drunk and watch midgets and dwarfs dressed in bright colors perched on animals go fast. It is also a fashion show and photo-op. Hunter Thompson writes most eloquently about this phenomenon. This spectacle was made for him and it is about us as Americans who have "Derby Parties" in our homes and watch on our monster flat screen TVs. My Old Kentucky Home indeed.

you know i always wanted to learn how to bet on the ponies. i use to work with a guy who every weekend he would go to the track and sometimes he wouldn't show up for work on monday. Then we would kmow he won big. I asked a couple of times to show me but he always said "no way get your own system" Those double ipa sound good, to bad i am work

Many "Hat" (Derby Day, git it?) parties around my parts last Saturday. A lot of hung over people on Sunday. That is what happens when you substitute the passion fruit margaritas for the mint juleps on a super-moon Saturday Night. I stay away from the alcohol related events like the plague. Not that I don't have other vices... If you were in a full moon hat party hope your head wasn't too big the next day. (Noonie -- There is no system for winning at the horse races unless you happened to live or work around the track. Save your money and wait for a good fix, which didn't happen all that frequently. That is what we used to do at Narragansett anyway. A track that has long since closed.)

And good riddance. The jury's still out on Hollande, at least amongst my more left-thinking French buddies; but we'll see. Bad news in the Greek elections-neo Nazis got 8 % of the seats in Parliament. Squeeze a people too badly, and they squeeze back in possibly unpleasant ways.

A socialist won the French presidential election yesterday -- Francois Hollande. He is only the 2nd Socialist president since WWII and already the markets are tumbling and it would be easy to bet the DJI short today. Is this speculation justified? I have no idea but things are so screwed up already I don't think it will make much difference. He might get yelled at in Chicago at the NATO summit for pulling the French out of Afghanistan. What IS interesting to note is that Dominique Strauss Kahn would have been the first stringer for the Socialist Party had he not been set up in NYC in a sex sting honey trap. Who wanted Strauss Kahn out of power and for what reason?

that's what I said, back during the Strauss-Kahn scandal. How interesting the timing was to take him down.

Chris Kyle from Texas is a former Seal and the greatest sniper in the history of the American armed forces (his longest confirmed kill was over 6100 yards, more than a mile) with over 150 confirmed kills. He received 5 bronze stars and two silver stars (combat medals) for his service in Iraq from 2003-2008. He co-wrote the book American Sniper. This book evoked a lot of emotion from me every time I opened it up. It provided a lot of information about veterans that I had been seeking. It opened up the war in Iraq to me through the battles for Fallujah, Ramadi and Sadr City inside Baghdad. I will list briefly some of the main points I discerned: * The precursor chemicals of WMD, sold to Iraq by the French and Germans, were found by US Forces. * The war turned into a Christian crusade against "the savages". * The armed forces go wherever they are ordered. Don't blame them, blame the politicians. * The rules of engagement seriously hindered the armed forces ability to do their job. There was paperwork & witnesses involved to justify all killing. * Non-political Iraqis fought against our armed forces out of national pride. * Combat is addictive. Black humor is pervasive. Friendships made in combat often last longer than marriages. * Veterans are not only scarred from physical wounds, they are tortured mentally by the killing and wounding they have done, especially when it is collateral damage. * The training of other country's men into an armed force is impossible. * Seals like to fight in bars. This is an excellent book if you want a first-hand perspective. Highly recommended for a view of things veterans usually only speak of to each other and at VFW halls.

Greece is now assured of defaulting on it's debt and being thrown out of the EU. That in turn will put the whole Euro Zone in crisis. The entire EU may collapse as it is now unclear whether Germany, France and Britain will agree and then provide the collective muscle needed to prop it up. If the EU goes then the contagion may spread to the US. Everything is very unclear because players behind the scene like Goldman Sachs (who "rescheduled" Greek debt 5-6 years ago) have been manipulating things for quite a while and it would seem as if the main recipient of economic gain from all this turmoil will be the US. I don't to see how that is going to evolve. It seems quite scary to pretend like this. I think the players have more of a hope than a sure thing. They gamble that they will profit and if they do then the average American will also. If they lose? Because they didn't gain we all lose. What a system!

or was this comedy line directed toward Ollie ? Greece is in a really precarious position with a lot on the line for many of us around the globe. An old friend once said...Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile,..but now he's gone.

The BBC's earliest reporting on this matter had the proviso "If the American's are to be believed...". Clearly there is doubt if this has been a manufactured crisis or not. It has stuck around in the headlines, almost the headline story, each day, for over two days. Today there are Congressional hearings that the CIA and other Homeland organs of state security are testifying at. They have to do with the sunset laws on certain security provisions. If Congress doesn't reauthorize then they will expire at the end of this year. There are people on talk shows and on websites all promoting this same thing. This is a carefully coordinated blitz to once again scare the living shit out of us and make our representatives surrender our civil liberties. I don't know which sucks more -- their ability to manipulate or the fact that they may be right. Both are to be feared and loathed. Picture The Scream painting with the words "The Homeland!" coming out of the main figure's mouth.

I guess I'd be remiss if I didn't at least comment on the fact that about 61% of my fellow voting NC citizens decided that discrimination against gay and lesbian couples would be a nifty addition to our state constitution. Aside from the obvious, I'm not sure what part of this has me more upset: -- At a relatively high voter turnout for a primary election of about 34%, this still means that a paltry 21% of registered voters carried the day for approval of the amendment. That's just about as distressing as you can get. -- Voting for this amendment at primary time (with the presidential race already decided) obviously led to a lower participation rate than we'd expect come November. So why? -- This ballot question was pushed through the NC legislature by the first Republican majority in the state in many decades. How cynical was this process? Thom Tillis, the House Majority leader, supported the amendment while predicting that it would be overturned in a generation. So what was the point? -- On the turnout side, it was the Democrats, not the Republicans, who pushed for holding the vote at primary time. This was because they feared that a big conservative/religious turnout at general election time would hurt the Dems' chances in November. So they punted on this civil rights issue to improve their chances of victory in the general election. They were also probably correct in their assessment of the situation. -- NC already has a law mandating the "one man, one woman" status of marriage, why the amendment? Aside from those who strongly believe that activist judges and liberal politicians pose a threat to the law (and there are plenty), there is a political/cynical side of this issue: this is also a means of splitting the African-American vote, as it is generally overwhelmingly Democrat while also very conservative on certain social issues, gay marriage being one. Thus the fears of the Dems. I'm not even going to go into the slippery slope created by the vague wording of the amendment. We'll see how all that plays out in years to come.

The CEO of JP Morgan Chase is today admitting his bank is stupid in losing 2 billion dollars and possibly an additional billion in yet another complicated hedge fund scheme. Asked if any other banks could possibly have made the same type of investment he replied by saying, in as many words, we don't know if any other banks are as stupid as we are. The stock market is punishing this bank and I believe the consumer should also by not paying credit card and loan payments. The government should not bail out this bank. Bail outs only lead to this type of stupid investment being repeated. A major bank is not your prodigal son who needs another loan to save his ass from crisis. It is amazing how most people in this country were all duped into believing that we needed to support the government and Fed's decision to throw 13 trillion dollars at banks and sundry others to "save" our economy. The real poison of inflation is about to hit with a vengeance. To soak up that kind of paper will take decades and possibly the scrapping of the entire system of sovereign currencies. Isn't that a scary thought? Ready to get the implant under your skin and turn in your dollars for Esperantos?

39 states have now enshrined hate and bigotry in the form of affirming marriage as being between one man and one woman. In Vermont, first state to allow such unions, in the very conservative northeast part, there is a business that does wedding receptions. The owners always have a "gatekeeper" instead of dealing with the public themselves. The gatekeeper told a gay couple from NYC that they don't do gay receptions. Big mistake. The gay couple sued. The owners fell all over themselves saying their gatekeeper made a mistake and that was not their policy, blah, blah, blah. The couple relented somewhat and altered their suit to make it only for $1 in damages. In the process of discovery, evidence was found that this Inn was indeed involved in an egregious pattern of discrimination based on sexual preference. Now the couple is suing for millions and the ACLU and the State and God know who else is involved on the plaintiff's side. Moral of the story? Even if you don't agree with it based on moral or religious or personal preference, be happy for other people who are in love and support their right to form a union. legal contract and basis for a happy life. It's a no-brainer, no matter what part of the country you live in.

Mountains of the Moon, an acoustic, Americana-themed cocaine cowboy celebration of the Good 'Ol Grateful Dead, performs at Brix in Sunset Beach, CA Come holler, sing along, and share your stories about truckin' up the coast with some of LA's finest players and pickers http://www.facebook.com/events/399993226707506/?ref=ts

PE is not being conducted in Greece because hungry kids can't handle it from the poorer homes. People are lining up for potatoes. Things are bad there. The Greek government is going to sell off it's surplus property and impose taxes on the rich. This is their answer. Not much of a solution. The Greek people are completely pissed that their debt was structured in such a way that they are paying massive amounts of interest to banks. While it is true that politicians have caved to unions for too long in that country and they have been living above their means for a very long time, the humanitarian crisis is now hitting hard and it seems they are going to tell the banks where to go at the peril of the losing their status in the EU and being subject to the forces of the free market. Grim.

If one does the simple math it is quite clear that the US is treading the same road as the poorer nations of the EU. It will take some time but the bite is surely coming. Some stats about the US government: U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000 Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000 New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000 National debt: $14,271,000,000,000 Recent budget cuts: $ 38,500,000,000 Now, remove 8 zeroes and pretend it’s a household budget: Annual family income: $21,700 Money the family spent: $38,200 New debt on the credit card: $16,500 Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710 Total budget cuts: $385 From these numbers above it is quite clear that we are living on borrowed time and our politicians are not different from the Greek ones. While it is true that we have some very different conditions that we, as the largest economy on the planet with the world's preferred reserve currency, can use, it probably won't matter in the mid-term future... Our kids will be starving and the rich will still be using their influence to buy elections and not pay their fair share of taxes. The peasants won't revolt or vote their way out of this. I don't know what to say... Keep partying and apply for new credit cards? Saving for a rainy day sounds like a crazy idea when it's going to rain so hard it will carry your house away. I can hear Mitt Romney saying that we have to use the entrepreneurial spirit to grow our way out of this. Bill Clinton and the internet did it before that bubble burst. It is possible. If we don't do it here soon I think it sure it can't be done anywhere...

Steam shower, nice touch!

Jerry Brown is on TV begging reporters for good ideas to help with cutting the budget and also begging voters to approve tax increases. Meanwhile, Apple moves one office to Reno to avoid paying 25 million in taxes to California. Doesn't seem fair.

Come round the bendYou know it's the end Five months of gleams And the skeletons just scream More, more more! Why don't you guys just take it easy For a day And hang out? (apologies to uncle bobo & robert hunter) Shout out to all vets: Thank You!

I ran into this article yesterday, an examination of the music biz in the file-sharing digital age. David Lowery (Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker) goes into a good bit of detail on the subject, not much of it good from the artist's perspective. Weir and Barlow briefly mentioned, by the way. If you need a reason to support your favorite artists with your dollars, well this might do it for you. http://thetrichordist.wordpress.com/2012/04/15/meet-the-new-boss-worse-…

Hey, I like to hear music for free but I feel the recording artists should get paid. It's a brave new world out there and the "technorati" must understand that we still can come after them with torches, pitchforks and spears. In the coming computer wars I will lead the Luddite cadres. We will have tie-dye berets and we will see through their mulch-dimensional projections and lead the cultural revolution that will have the geeks enslaved to the people. Or something like that. It's all way too complicated after MTV...

From Seattle to Montreal, Lhasa to Kathmandu, Athens to Syria -- This morning the fruit and nut were reported to be out in force doing their damnedest to get us all to pay attention. I won't mention the details but they are out there this morning. Way out there. Not good! I hope this is all just seasonal attitude adjustment but I fear it is not. It is more than a little along the way in a all-encompassing new Stephen King novel. It's also a full length feature-film playing locally on a street corner near you. You don't have to believe it or look for it because it will come right up and bite you on the ass. What are you going to do? Shoot it with your concealed weapon? As Lou Reed said: "It takes a busload of faith to get by!" Can I get little help Gandhi & Mandela?

Does it all go under? Because of the conflict in Syria the whole region is destabilizing. Regional powers such as Iran,Iraq, Israel and Saudi Arabia are actively throwing chips into this pot. Lesser pawns such as Jordan and Lebanon as well as global rollers like Russia are also making bets. Make no mistake, Syria a linchpin and the US has relatively little to say as there are no good options in that region. Fareed Zakaria made an excellent point on this subject in his column and TV show saying, in effect, the best course would be to do nothing and let el-Assad hang himself as elites within Syria defect from the regime as he is not able to buy them off. The Syrians don't have oil money. The brutality of the Syrian regime is breath-taking. The door-to-door killings of women and children in the village of Hula cuts to the quick. It would seem to demand action but shows the relative inadequacy of a military option in this set of circumstances. Restraint is the mark of a mature, responsible superpower, especially given this hand to play. The bet is "Check".

Conservative Republicans such as the Koch brothers bought the election for Walker. The official verdict is that democracy is dead.

I just watched my browser redirect after typing in dead.net and came up with UDC. I googled UDC and came up with this. YIKES! Everybody’s a Target in the American Surveillance State By John W. Whitehead March 26, 2012 “Everybody’s a target; everybody with communication is a target.”—A senior intelligence official previously involved with the Utah Data Center In the small town of Bluffdale, Utah, not far from bustling Salt Lake City, the federal government is quietly erecting what will be the crown jewel of its surveillance empire. Rising up out of the desert landscape, the Utah Data Center (UDC)—a $2 billion behemoth designed to house a network of computers, satellites, and phone lines that stretches across the world—is intended to serve as the central hub of the National Security Agency’s vast spying infrastructure. Once complete (the UDC is expected to be fully operational by September 2013), the last link in the chain of the electronic concentration camp that surrounds us will be complete, and privacy, as we have known it, will be extinct. Link to remainder of article here

that the Utah Data Center is arising from the desert sands of Mormon land at this critical time? Most Mormons are very conservative in political view. There will be no dissent there and actually, a very hospitable environment. With the defeat of the recall effort against anti-union Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin it is quite obvious that the Supreme's decision to allow big money into our political election process has rocked the landscape like an earthquake. It doesn't take much of a leap of imagination to envision the following scenario: A long, bitter campaign over the summer between Obama and Romney has left us at Labor day with a burnt out electorate that has deadlocked at 48% for either candidate. The battle for the remaining 4% of the vote that will decide the election becomes desperate. The Romney Campaign and it's associated PACs (think of a black rook with many supporting queens on a chessboard) to that point has not really gone negative. A meeting between the high, holy rollers of conservatism (people like the Koch brothers) and ultra-conservatives within the NSA, operating out of the UDC, put their heads and money and other resources together to create a plan to unite the two and unleash an unholy onslaught against the Obama Campaign. Massive media buys of horrifically negative advertizing are coupled with an all-out blitz to register and turn out poor people to vote Republican. The word goes out that Romney is willing to pay $1000 for a vote and $1500 to employ those persons who will bring the vote out to the poles and make sure it is legitimate in the final four weeks, By election day a drained electorate sits catatonic in front of it's television sets, watching passively as Obama is defeated 54% to 46% in the popular vote and landslided on the electoral slate. President Mitt Romney's first official act is to tour the Utah Data Center and privately offer a champagne toast to the officials of the NSA for providing the vital specifics necessary to turn out the bought votes. It is a new dawn for America. The Morman Tabernacle Choir is moved into it's official residence in DC and starts rehearsing for it's weekly Saturday performance on public radio in the place of the Prairie Home Companion. Garrison Keilor is arrested on charges of sedition. Grateful Dead music is outlawed. No, it can't happen here. Not in our country!

This is not attempt to stir up hate. Rather, a silly scenario wedding the NSA's UDC with conservative (and that cannot be denied) Mormonism. Nobody could possibly take what I said seriously. I just wrote something I thought entertainingly funny. If you really thought it was in bad taste, please delete it. I know Garrison Keilor pokes fun at Lutherans on the Prairie Home Companion...

Will there be trouble ahead, or horses behind, "I'll Have Another" ? We may see a Triple Crown victor tomorrow at Belmont. Affirmed was the last race horse to win the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes in 1978. Seattle Slew did it in 1977 and my favorite, Secretariat, ran to victory 3 times in 1973.

Aaargh ! I'll Have Another is OUT of the race; therefore no Triple Crown winner ; - (

Oh those fun-loving Brits! They really know how to throw a party when they are in a patriotic frenzy. Watching the festivities last weekend on the Thames was just loads of fun. The grey skies, the bad food, the crowds, the barges. The Royals with the 36 slave rowers. Camilla, the Royal Concubine, with that royal wry wrinkle to her brow as she started the full stomp they all took up when that certain ditty was played. I guess I don't understand the allure of the monarchy and the rest of the society with the lords and ladies, dukes and duchesses and earls and what have you. What purpose do these people fulfill within that society that they are so loved and adored? I guess we here in America are clueless when it comes to the King & the Queen. Long live the Queen and her fascist regime!

Looking for between 50 and 125 billion to recapitalize it's banking system. The reverberations of the American banking scandal are still being felt. They all drank the kool-aid. They will be the 4th country, behind Portugal, ireland and Greece to take an EU handout (read: Germany will write a check) Spanish debt is now 2 grades above junk bond status. Meanwhile, the American stock market continues to shrug it off. Nobody is being disturbed at their summer home in the Hamptons. Sell in May, go away...

Greece is bracing for the blow. Their old printing press for the drachma is now in one of their national museums. It will take months to crank it up and reprint their old currency. In the meantime every computer calibrated for Euros will have to be reprogrammed. Barter is imminent. When the new currency finally appears it is expected to be devalued by 1/3 to 1/2. Hyper inflation is on tap for that country. Noodle packs for the masses. Anybody got a brick? Lets go to the Parthenon and riot in front of the tourists. Europe is in bad shape, no doubt about it.

Suicides by veterans of the Iraq and Afghan campaigns have soared to record numbers this year with more than 150 recorded to date. Lack of mental health counselors, a problem first identified in 2008, is cited as a significant deficit in the Veterans Administration primary task of prevention. A story is making the rounds of a veteran who asked for counseling many times and finally got an appointment. On the day of his appointment he got a call saying there was no counseling available that day. His wife said he immediately went into the bathroom and killed himself. According to the Huffington Post, the reasons for these suicides are: "Faced with the stigma of post-traumatic stress disorder, unemployment rates tipping 12 percent and a loss of the military camaraderie, many veterans report feeling purposeless upon returning home." Somehow I doubt that adrenaline rush withdrawal is the reason behind many of these suicides. I believe it has to do more with the type of engagement the troops were deployed in. There are no more conventional wars with armies wearing uniforms and tank and artillery battles. The enemy blends into the civilian population, sometimes with support of the populace, more often without. Innocents are killed. The toll on the human psyche is immense. US troops are not prepared for the type of battle they are placed in. They only learn the real truth with they enter the theater of operations. The learning curve is rather sharp. The curve is just as sharp when they get on a plane and return to the US within 24 hours and find themselves stuck in a traffic jam in a seemingly useless and future-less existence as they reacquaint themselves with their family.

Only love can conquer hate. Peace is not the goal, peace is the way. Admittedly, not particularly current quotes, but still as applicable as they ever were.

In the Belmont Stakes Union Rags comes from behind on the rail to nose out Paynter at the finish. Great race in the dirt in quick conditions in NYC. Next candidate to win the Triple Crown? Bondo Foot!

In Montreal 12 people were arrested for protesting budget austerity in the sickly corrupt, restive french-speaking Canadian province. The protesters were trying to disrupt what they termed to be an "obscene display of capitalism" involving formula 1 racing. They were mostly students upset with university funding cuts. Tens of thousands of police have mobilized to cordon off the downtown core and protect the "F-1x Party Zone" for the formula car racing fans. Party on dudes and du-dettes!

The Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs was interviewing a representative from USAid (the governmental arm that doles out foreign aid) on C-Span on the subject of aid to Afghanistan. This Rep. (whose name I can't remember) was slick and basically lobbing up softballs for this USAid rep. to answer. It was a clownish act. He kept asking questions like -- "Is Karzai involved in the drug trade?"; "Do you give aid to corrupt individuals within the government?" At the end the Rep. concluded that the US wasn't going to make the same mistake it made in Vietnam and other countries (like Iraq) where it just left without any coherent plan. He said, with a shit-eating grin, "We're going to leave and say "We're your friend!"." In fact Obama, in his infamous May Day surrender speech in Kabul, said that the US would be drawing down troops until we had only about 20,000 advisers left in the country. The reality on the ground is far different. The French are making tracks to get their 3300 troops out asap. The mission is now completely in disarray. Rogue Afghan soldiers are a constant security threat and the Afghan government wants no more night operations, the last tactic (beside drone strikes) of any value in reducing the Taliban leadership. The whole thing is caving in faster than could ever have been imagined. Armed forces officials should make a determined effort to evaluate who has been their unequivocal allies among the native population over the last ten years and pull out all the stops to get those persons and their immediate families relocated to the US or other countries. We owe them that.

Casualties in IraqThe Human Cost of Occupation Edited by Margaret Griffis :: Contact antiwar.com American Military Casualties in Iraq Date American Deaths Total / In Combat Since war began (3/19/03): 4486 / 3532 Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03) (the list) 4347 / 3424 Since Handover (6/29/04): 3629 / 2899 Since Obama Inauguration (1/20/09): 257 / 128 Since Operation New Dawn: 68/39 American Dead/Wounded Official Total Dead: 3532 Total Wounded: Over 100000 Latest Fatality Feb. 11, 2012 ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** Iraq in 2012 is in substantial disarray yet still manages to to meddle in the affairs of other countries such as Syria. "Iraq is going to be a long, hard slog." Donald Rumsfeld, 2003 Former Secretary of Defense and primary architect of the War on Iraq

The US has managed to lead the world thru 12 years of monumentally stupid decisions to have us arrive at our current position in 2012. The years in question are 1996 thru 2008. A close examination of these years reveal the following: 1996: Kyoto Protocols are not signed. No significant movement on global warming 2000-2001: The dotcom bubble bursts 1999-2001: Terrorist training to hijack airliners is ignored or info. not shared 9/11/2001: World Trade Center and other targets attacked by terrorists 2002: Implementation of the Patriot Act restricts freedoms and liberties 2002: Afghanistan is invaded 2003: Iraq is attacked because weapons of mass destruction are suspected 2007-2008: Mortgage scam is revealed, economy tanks. The largest banks are bailed out to the tune of 13 trillion dollars (Stimulus plus printed money given to the banks by the Federal Reserve). Meanwhile, investment banks are bailed out 100 cents on the dollar by the government. It can be argued that this brain-numbing stupidity is some of the worst decision making the United States has ever done. It has directly led to our current situation some five years later Global warming and climate change is out-of-control Terrorists have managed to curtail our freedoms and liberties and given the rich significant tools to keep their wealth and not allow mobility of classes America appears impotent to stop nation states that oppose us Banks and insurance companies are free to make money whatever the cost, even dragging the entire planet into a massive decade long crisis, Admittedly this an arbitrary starting and stopping of the dateline. It could have been different but these are some really important markers in recent history. Oh yeah, the Grateful Dead ended their career with the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995. I suppose you could have started the long decline there.

The Belmont race was entertaining, with Paynter running 99% of the race in 1st place, losing literally by a neck at the wire: Amazing! The track looked soft to me. A big concern today is the raging High Park fire, west of Ft. Collins, CO. Lots of dead pine trees fueling this blaze with steady west winds, low humidity and no rain in sight. Good luck to the firefighters and the fleeing residents. Who knows what's happening to the wildlife. http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_20654312/hewlett-fire-near-fort-collins-a… The previous fire in Hewlitt Canyon was a result of a campers mistake.