| I was Morrissey's roadie
We are listening to Indie 103, one of the best alternative rock radio shows in LA. I am asked if I have heard the station’s show by the Sex Pistol Steve Jones. I say I have but also like to listen to Henry Rollins, whose Harmony in my Head show is on the same station. This is met with a frown and then silence. I wonder if I have said something else wrong, then forget it. It’s the afternoon. We’re at the rehearsal rooms in downtown LA and the full force of Girlfriend in a Coma can be heard, just one of a whole new bunch of Smiths and Morrissey solo material that the band is adding to its repertoire. I’m doing my part; the carrots are cut, the cucumber chopped, the celery stacked and dips and fresh bread easily accessible. Morrissey is not p r e s e n t , though, and the guitarist is filling in on vocal guides.
David Cameron must be bolder
Mr Brown's friends realised that the deteriorating situation before Christmas needed to be taken in hand and there has since been a sense of some co-ordinated activity. However, organising announcements is not strategic wizardry; it is at most only one step up from turning on the lights. That there is talk of an improvement is evidence of how dysfunctional the operation was. Is Stephen Carter enjoying it all? Too little has been heard about the second most powerful man in the country since he won the job of PM's principal adviser. Readers will not remember voting for him for a good reason: they didn't. He was plucked from a City PR firm and on his shoulders rests Labour's attempt to relaunch the Brown premiership. .
Sorting through the NBA morass and more links
Allow me one extended thought on the increasingly goofy 2007-08 NBA season. On Sunday night, I was checking out the Vegas odds and thinking, "Wow, I wouldn't take them and I wouldn't take them hmmm, I wouldn't take them, either " Can you remember the last time an NBA season approached the end of January without a clear favorite emerging? I can't take the Celtics at 6-5 odds -- ludicrously, low, by the way -- when they look like this year's Dallas, a superb regular-season team that might not be deep enough and/or have another gear for the playoffs. Normally, I'd grab the Spurs at 9-2 because they turn it on every February, but they've been especially lethargic and the Finley/Bowen/Horry threesome might be washed up. The 6-1 Suns have too many deep-seeded problems with chemistry and defense, and the 6-1 Pistons have the same problem that killed them last spring: they arrogantly believe they can turn it on any time they want, but they really can't.
Redecorate on a dime
At Cumberland Hardware in east Nashville, co-owner John Varallo's customers are buying oil-rubbed bronze hardware and fixtures more than ever, although satin nickel is still a popular finish."Bright brass just looks older right now," Varallo says. "It's a dead giveaway that a home is 20 years old."Varallo says remodelers are also changing outlets from brown or black to white and almond, and that narrow light switches are being replaced with wide rocker switches or round dimmers. "That's a big thing - accent lighting," Varallo says. "People are getting away from overhead lights and installing wall sconces for atmosphere."Phillip Mitchell, owner of Bellshire Hardware in Nashville, is still selling overhead light fixtures, but they're replacing the $5 builder-standard square glass ceiling light."People are going to a more elaborate light fixture, cut glass that creates a starburst pattern across the ceiling," he says.
Anonymous Liberal for Glenn Greenwald: The raw politics of telecom ...
Let's put aside for a moment the policy merits of granting retroactive immunity to the telecom companies (I generally agree with Glenn's take on that), and just consider the raw politics of the issue. Consider the following "hypothetical." Suppose a lame duck president with an approval rating of 25 percent were to demand that a Congress controlled by the opposite party pass legislation on behalf of a bunch of large corporations that no one much likes that would absolve those corporations of any liability for past illegal activities they may have participated in at that president's request. Suppose further that the primary purpose and effect of this legislation is to immediately terminate existing court proceedings that threaten to shed some light on the nature and scope of these illegal activities.
Bush jabs at Democrats for inability to finish spending bills
Graeme Frost, of Baltimore, suffered severe brain damage in a car accident three years ago. He said the children's insurance program allowed him to get the medical help he needed."I just hope the president will listen to my story and help other kids be as lucky as me," Graeme said.Bush wants a $5 billion increase in the program, and took a fresh dig at the Democrats on the issue."Congressional leaders have put forward an irresponsible plan that would dramatically expand this program beyond its original intent," he said. "And they know I will veto it." .
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