Cultural Artifacts

I've been remiss in not keeping people up to date with my reading and listening.

In honor of the anniversary of JFK's assassination, I give you Max Allen Collins trilogy. Max Allen Collins' private eye, Nathan Heller pieces together the plot to assassinate JFK in Bye Bye, Baby,his novel about the death of Marilyn Monroe,Target Lancer, which covers the real but long lost assassination attempt in Chicago just prior to the successful one, and the finale Ask Not.

Collins was supposed to close out the Heller series with the JFK assassination but he promises at the end of Ask Not to bring us more on LBJ, one of the co-conspirators, and Watergate.

I like James Ellroy on the JFK assassination best but Collins hits the mark with the triangulation of the CIA,the Mob and the Oil men around LBJ. In Ask Not,he reproduces Jack Ruby's testimony from prison and has his own solution to the identity of Lee Harvey Oswald. Heller manages to tie up all the historical loose ends without reading as a forced thesis. He supplies amble references to his narrative in the appendices and doesn't thing much of books like Posner's Case Closed. He agrees with my 13-year old self when I blurted out at the time "LBJ did it." But he had a cast of supporting characters.

In the news has been the fight over Gore Vidal's will. The New York Times this past Sunday published an account of the family fighting over Vidal's $35 million estate. After his long-term partner Howard Austen pre-deceased him, Vidal changed his will, which left Howard everything to leaving it all to Harvard University. Having never gone to Harvard, let alone college,Vidal left his step-sister and nephew perplexed. Vidal also left off his Fillipino man servant. His step sister claimed Vidal owed her $1,000,000 or half a million, depending on the interviewer, from the lawsuits with Bill Buckley. His nephew claimed Gore promised him his Hollywood house. But missing in the equation was the fact that Vidal never left them anything in the prior will and he had already left his papers and publications to Harvard. So we got an account of his late life drunkeness and dementia and the argument he was non-compis mentis. The will is in court. Harvard says they have no house in the fight and will just wait for the ruling.

But we can read Tim Teeman's In Bed With Gore Vidal:Hustlers, Hollywood, and the Private World of An American Master. Despite the blurbs, I find the book tough going when I wanted gossip. Teeman spends an inordinate time trying to define Gore's sexuality while quoting from past interviews with him where he tried to persuade people that he never had sex with Howard Austen--well, almost never. His step-sister comes off as a pistol, defending her mother whom Gore hated. There is a whole lot of discussion whether James Trimble was in fact Vidal's love of his life. His mother and sister says Trimble was never gay. But you do get to read about all the celebrities Gore had sex with and those with whom he didn't. 

If you are actually interested in Gore Vidal's sexual ambiguity,you can read Anais Nin's Mirages: the unexpurgated diary of Anais Nin 1939-1947. All her lovers are here starting with Henry Miller and ending with Rupert Pole. The extensive section on her Platonic romance with Gore Vidal exposes his sexual identity more than Teeman's book does. The suprise of the volume, to me, was that almost all Nin's life during this period was in New York City, since I always associated her with Paris. And the second aspect of the book that was interesting was the extent that Nin privately arranged small printings of her work. It was not until Sparrow Press picked up her work in 1961 that she had a regular publisher.

Lucien Freud refused to sit down for an official biographer but London journalist and editor Geordie Grieg captures Lucian in Breakfast with Lucien:The Astounding Life and Outrageous Times of Britain's Great Modern Painter.  I thought Francis Bacon took the cake but Lucien makes the previously mentioned people like Nin and Vidal look like puritans and prudes. Between all the legitimate and illegitimate children, lovers and wives,Lucien Freud had a management problem. The eruption in the prices for his paintings were not just the acceptance of his style on the art scene but necessary for paying off his amazingly large gambling debts. Grieg treats his subject with much love and respect while tracking down his private life, which he never spoke about.

If you want a guide to how America got here, ignore the new biography of Norman Mailer and go straight to Mind of an Outlaw,his Selected essays. His early hits with the Village Voice are here like his endorsement of Ernest Hemingway for President and "The White Negro". His convention coverage is in this volume starting with the Kennedy nomination in 1960 and ending with George H.W. Bush in 1996. By the time of George W., Norman has mellowed into a wise, old Jewish man from the time when he was a proclaimed "libertarian socialist". The older Mailer was still penetrating about the myths and lies America told itself about its institutions and the "noble causes" it went to war. If anything summed up Mailer's view of contemporary America, it is his review of "American Psycho", which he took as an exacting critique of the consumer and capitalist society we became by the end of the 20th Century. It really is a must read. Luckily, we now have his best essays in one place.

For Albert Camus' 100th anniversary, Robert Zaretsky had offer his marvelous A Life Worth Living--Albert Camus and the Quest for Meaning. In this short but compact book, Zaretsky not only adds to Camus' biography with new details but does a marvelous exegesis on Camus' use and insights into classical myths. One is his take on Camus' Sisyphus and what he omitted from the myth in his account. The other is the notion that The Plague is based on Thucycides account of the Plague in Athens and how it destroyed all the "democratic" structures in that ancient land. Of course, like many recent accounts of Camus, we have a fuller appreciation of his Algerian roots and the dilemma that posed later in his life when Algeria fought for it independence.

For your listening pleasure:

Jimi Hendrix at the Miami Pop Festival in 1968. 

The Band "Live at the Academy of Music 1971--the Rock of Ages Converts" with Legion of Honor winner Bob Dylan.

Don't Cry for Me, Argentina

++We have a new 76-year old Pope named Francis. The first Pope from the Americas is also the first Jesuit elected Pope. Not surprising, he is conservative on cultural issues,very homophobic, against contraception and abortions. But economically, he has been outspoken about bankers,Argentina's debt problems and the poor. At first people thought he took his name after St.Francis of Assisi but it was after the founder of the Jesuits. The runner-up at the last Conclave, Francis has escaped the sex scandals that faced the other candidates. There remains dispute about his failure to protect priests and Jesuits during the Dirty War. Overall,it seems he is a caretaker Pope for a Church mired in sex and banking scandals and seen far removed from modern reality. The good news for science fans is that Pope Francis has a degree in science and as a Jesuit isn't against advances in modern science and medicine. The Italians got their digs in when they said he couldn't be Francis I until he dies. The question is whether he can get any control over the Vatican bureaucracy.

++The Sandman exits. Yes, Mariano Rivera did announce his retirement this past weekend. His exit was wonderfully covered by the New York Post. 

++Kobe Bryant did live up to his promises that the Lakers would make a run for the playoffs--until last night when he suffered a knee injury when he blew the potential game-winning shot against the Hawks.

++The Washington Post is hosting an event for the Donald, who will speaking on Washington real estate. Think that is strange? The Post ran a piece the other day about how Alexandria is divided on the fate of two warehouses on the waterfront. Of course, they are owned by the Washington Post and I have yet to hear anyone in town talk about the warehouses.

++Waiting for a half an hour to enter the Russell Building for an event on Iran's nuclear program, a motorcade whizzed around the building and the President entered the building from the back for a meeting with Democratic Senators about their budget proposals. The next day he showed up at the House to meet with the Republican Caucus, who complained that he was still campaigning. 

++David Bowie's first wife doesn't like "The Next Day", his first recording in ten years. I do. David Bowie returns with an album that is more sober than the past but still outshines any competitors. It is an amalgam of all his styles and is impeccably produced.

++Jimi Hendrix hit #2 on Billboard the other day. I guess if you want to make money,it's best you are dead.

++Speaking of dead, Random House has re-issued John MacDonald's The Quick Red Fox and A Deadly Shade of Gold. My old friend Doug Payne used to read Travis McGee in the old paperbacks. The main character reminds me of Doug.

++Cara Black has a new Aimee Leduc mystery out Murder Below Montparnasse. An old Trotskyite calls Aimee to retrieve a stolen Modigliani. He does so at the recommendation of Aimee's mother, who has been missing the whole series. Wanted for terrorism since the 1970s, her mother has been an elusive presence in the series throughout. The novel has a wonderful premise --that Modigliani painted Vladimir Lenin during his Paris days and gave the painting to the old Trotskyite's grandfather as a gift because Lenin refused it. I found the meaning of the painting more intriguing than Aimee running around Paris avoiding attempts on her life. And,yes, dear readers, we finally get to meet Aimee's mother.

++And speaking of the Left, Venezuela has decided to embalm Hugo Chavez like Lenin so all can see him for the future. The Venezuela government still believes the United States gave Chavez cancer and conservative Americans want to assassinate the anti-Chavez candidate. Why, who knows?

++Paul Krugman didn't declare bankruptcy. The piece circulated in the right-wing blogosphere was a lampoon. The telling part, in my mind, was the reference to a Tiffany charge account--reminiscent of New Gringrich's problems the last year.

++President Obama still seems to be reading Krugman as he mentioned that we don't have a debt problem right now but will in ten years--a position Krugman has maintained all along as he urged Congress to stay away from more austerity.

++In case you missed it, Paul Ryan unveiled his new super duper Budget this week to ridicule and yawns. Even Fox News on several shows said it was dead on arrival. Reporters punched back by questioning Ryan on the results of last year's election and didn't this mean his budget was rejected. Ryan admitted that repealing Obamacare was unlikely but his dream. Medicare vouchers have been transformed into a Super Premium Plan. I guess this was the advice of Frank Luntz. But don't be amused,the draconian cuts to the social welfare net are still priority number 1 of the tea baggers and will form the basis for the 2014 election. The GOP gamble is that 2014 will have as low a turnout as 2010 and enable them to maintain control of the House and Senate.

++President Obama has sent shivers up the spines of Democrats with his talk about entitlement reforms and tying Social Security to the CPI. Anyone who has read this blog over the years knows my position on Social Security. Lower the tax rate and end the cap and Social Security will live at full function for another 75 years. Repeat after me--There is no problem with Social Security. 

++CPAC is in town with more attendees than in the past. The sparkling line-up of speakers include The Donald,Sarah Palin, Dick Morris,Mitt Romney,Rand Paul,Vishnu Jindal, Ted Cruz, and thousands more celebrities. After picking Romney in a landslide,Dick Morris wrote yesterday that Pope Francis was an answer to the Left in Latin America and a counterweight to the influence of Hugo Chavez.

++Sequestration is taking hold. Don't go to any national parks. They may be closed. Special ed programs in the DC area, at least, are being cut back. Virginia is bracing to lose 200,000 jobs soon. It does not look like there will be a solution soon.

++The Dow ran 9 consecutive days of gains, the best performance since 1999 and is nearing its peak. But as everyone now knows, Dow performance hasn't even generated the much touted trickle down benefits for the average American. American corporations stashed about a $1 trillion bucks abroad this year to avoid taxes.

++Gun control legislation is passing around the states and moving forward in D.C. But controls on assault weapons and large magazines look out of reach.

++SCOTUS will probably decide against the Voting Rights Act. Already red states are gearing up for massive voter suppression in 2014 and rigging electoral vote counts in 2016.  Weirdly enough, I am still hopeful that DOMA will be declared unconstitutional and Prop 8 will bite the dust.

++Immigration Reform is moving in the Senate and the House Republican leadership claims it can pass there.

++The Conservative Crack-up continues. No one can future out what conservatives stand for--if anything--and right now we are experiencing the flavor of the week. This week it is Rand Paul because he warns that President Obama will send a drone at you while you are drinking a latte at an outdoor cafe. Next week it will be someone different, who wants to profile Muslims. I expect Rand Paul to win the CPAC straw poll for President in 2016.

Let's Hear For the Old-Timers

++The great and classy Mariano Rivera will retire at the end of this season as the greatest reliever of all time. Five World Series rings and a playoff record the envy of all, Mariano said he would return after a rare injury cost him most of last season.

++Kobe Bryant promises us that the Lakers will make it to the playoffs and he has been playing that way.

++The late John MacDonald is back in print with his Travis McGee series with intros by Carl Hiassen. The latest paperback is "The Deep Blue Good-By" (but with an intro by Lee Child).

++Congrats to Grammy winner Jimmy Cliff for Best Reggae Album "Re-Birth". Most of us remember Cliff from "The Harder They Come,the Harder They Fall" which probably popularized Reggae before Bob Marley.

++David Bowie has returned after a ten year absence. You can access the album free at I-Tunes until it is released. Don't miss the videos. They are little films.

++The last studio album of Jimi Hendrix has appeared. "People, Hell and Angels" consists of 12 finished tracks from the Electric Ladyland studio in the Village. As my son would say, his playing on this album is "sweet". I have never understood why people defend Eric Clapton over Hendrix.

++Another old geezer showed up yesterday, President Bill Clinton, who urged that his own bill DOMA be declared unconstitutional. Andrew Sullivan welcomes him to the crowd but as with welfare reform was this necessary.

++And we close with a classy lady. "Old Yellow Moon" has been released by Emmylou Harris. Her voice is in fine form while the tunes are a bit stale.

If The Hippies Cut Off Their Hair,I Wouldn't Care*

* Jimi Hendrix,paratrooper and Barack Obama's father

How much cooler can President Obama become now that he's the illegitimate son of Jimi Hendrix? Jack Cashill in his new book "Deconstructing Obama" posits the view that Ann Dunham met a left-handed guitarist named "Johnnie" in Seattle in 1960 and had an affair with this person, who later became Jimi Hendrix, whom we also are told loved to have affairs with white women. Ann Dunham would have been two years older than Jimi at the time and she was living in Seattle at the time.

If true this would damage the great birther myths that Obama was a Muslim by birth as originally argued by Daniel Pipes.

But Cashill isn't so sure. You see he spent alot of time researching David Horowitz' bugaboo--Communist poet and jazz critic Frank Marshall Davis, who has been mentioned in Obama's autobiography. Horowitz also maintained that Obama was a Stalinist as influenced by Davis, a man who was exiled by the Communist Party USA to Hawaii. Cashill thinks there is more to this. Davis wrote an autobiographical book under an assumed name about his amorous advantures. Sort of a radical Frank Harris. In it he talks about affairs with white teenagers. Cashill claims to have discovered nude shots taken by Davis, one of which he thinks is Ann Dunham. He suggests Davis may have gotten Ann pregnant with Barack but the time-line doesn't pan out. Instead, he suggests that Davis sexually molested Obama.

Cashill is the genius who discovered that Bill Ayers wrote Obama's "Dreams of my Father". So he must be credible.

Maybe the Hendrix connection is true. Obama is left-handed. He's been great for the American Indians. Perhaps Obama remembered that Hendrix was part Cherokee. Will the Hendrix family give Obama his part of the royalties now that the family has finally secured rights to all of Jimi's work?

Factional fighting has broken out in birtherland. There is a new theory about why Obama's birth certificate is sealed. You see he was adopted when Ann Dunham married her second husband, an Indonesian, so that Obama became known by an Indonesian name. This name would have been considered alien to Americans--Obama's mother was always thinking about the presidency--so these papers were hidden. The author argues that Obama's birth certificate were changed to reflect this new name. Of course, Barack Hussein Obama was simply accepted as another normal American name.

Jerome Corsi and World Nut Daily have a new DVD out about Obama's eligibility to be President. They use the original birther scheme. I'm sure you will have the DVD show up in the mail during the 2012 election time.

But it may not get there. Newt Gingrich claims that Obama's refusal to defend DOMA is an impeachable offense. See, it's unlike Ronald Reagan refusing to defend a "legislative veto" passed by Congress because it would be unconstitutional. The Christian Right is up in arms about this and has started beating the drumbeat for impeachment on DOMA. Don't worry there will many more reasons by the time Obama is done.

Another Georgian--Bobby Franklin, a Republican in Georgia, has introduced a new bill which would require that women who have had miscarriages be tried for homicide. On the flip side, Nebraska and Iowa are introducing bills that would make it justifiable homicide to murder to protect unborn fetuses. You can run the awful scenarios out in your mind--abortion providers, women killed by outraged husbands and lovers. Here in Virginia, our House of Delegates limited abortion rights by adopting a law that requires the procedure to be done in a hospital, not a clinic. The clinics would have to have corridors to fit a full-sized hospital gurney. Some progressive blogger remarked that a woman would have to be right of the Westbro Baptist Church to support any Republican.

Radio D.J. asked Donald Rumsfeld whether he and Dick Cheney were "Lizard people from outer space who eat human flesh." Rummy didn't respond so I guess it's right.

Montana's Democratic governor Brian Schweitzer has patented a VETO cowbrand to use on all "the Republican's lunatic bills." Schweitzer has vowed to veto anything that doesn't deal with creating jobs. The Montana Republicans have drafted bills to outlaw homosexuality,nullify federal laws,and God knows what's next.

As I wrote before, Americans would actually believe that the House vote to repeal the healthreform bill would mean that it actually was repealed. 20% believe this is true and another 25% are not so sure. The Federal judge's decision to uphold the law makes it 3 to 2 so far. But as Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly points out ,media coverage has been overwhelmingly on the two decisions against healthcare, even though the three affirming it are more legally sound and well-argued.

What do Emma Goldman and David Koch have in common? Both are self-proclaimed anarchists. You can look it up as Casey would say.

Remember all the fuss made about Armand Hammer, the owner of Occidental Petroleum? Edward Jay Epstein wrote an entire book proving that Hammer's father, who was a physician to Lenin, was a KGB agent as was Armand. The Right used this against All Gore because Gore's father was Hammer's business partner. Conservatives even pressured Nancy Reagan not to invite Armand Hammer to the White House. Then, why isn't there a fuss about the Koch Brothers?

Fred Koch made his fortune first in Stalin's Russia building refineries and then later hooked up with his German relatives in Nazi Germany. While he later claimed that his falling out with Stalin was because he "purged engineers", he would later state he supported Benito Mussolini for the way he dealt with unions,a trait that lives on in the family. But then he emerges in the 1950s to fund, if not create the John Birch Society, which focused its attention on Communist China and American politicians. Shouldn't some red flags go up on this? Kim Philby was thought to be a Tory who backed Franco while he was a KGB agent all the time. Why should anyone take Fred Koch's account of his Soviet and Nazi German years at face value. After all he was livid at the American oil industry for "stealing his patents" and had every reason to resent the American system. What better way to discredit these people, who were conservative Republicans, then to create the John Birch Society and discredit all conservative thought?

As I wrote last year, the Koch Brothers adhere to a type of libertarianism, which is known as Anarcho-Fascism,first generated by a German thinker about the time their father was politically involved back here in the States.

This stuff makes the Koch Brothers helluva lot more interesting and nefarious than George Soros.

One of the more interesting Koch relatives is an aunt in Germany named Ilse Koch, formerly Kohler. Ilse was married to SS Col.Karl Otto Koch ,who was the first commandant of the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald. He was later investigated for improper conduct that included corruption,fraud, embezzlement, drunkeness, sexual offences and murder. And that was by the Gestapo, not us. Ilse was a "specialist in making artifacts from human skin"--an actual technical title in German.

Ilse became known as the "Bitch of Buchenwald". She was accused of making souvenirs from the skin of murdered inmates with distinctive tattoos. She was investigated by the Gestapo when she built an indoor sports arena costing 250,000 marks. She was suspected of embezzling SS funds and murdering certain inmates in an attempt to cover up her crimes. She was later tried for war crimes by an American military tribunal in 1947. She was charged with "participating in a criminal plan for aiding, abetting and participating in the murders at Buchenwald." She was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.

She only served two years. General Lucius Clay , the interim governor of the American Zone in Germany, pardoned her. That should be investigated--why? The Germans themselves were outraged and international pressure was brought so that she was re-arrested in 1949 and tried before West German courts for 135 cases of murder. She was sentenced to life in 1951. She committed suicide in prison in 1967.

Our war commander was naturally Dwight David Eisenhower,which the John Birch Society called "Ike The Kike". I wonder if there are any connections. Also why was the John Birch Society allowed back into CPAC this year--a quid pro quo for Koch money?

One of the sources for Glenn Beck as he has said openly is David Koch. Perhaps his infuence on him is what has suddenly turned Commentary magazine and other conservatives suddenly against him. Morning Joe openly denounced him this week and his conspiracy theories, saying that politicians and people involved in politics could get hurt. Commentary took after him on the whole issue of Reform Judaism and even though they acknowledged Reforms Jews were "lamentably" liberal, they sense the Kossacks were coming with Beck's continued assaults on rabbis and his list of the Nine who govern the United States,eight of whom are Jews. It's Richard Trumpka who might be the clue to the origins of this nonsense. Of east European stock, Ilse Koch would have put his family into the gas chambers for racial impurity.

But let's suppose the Koch Brothers are simply billionaire businessmen. Why would you have the PR people for your business respond to the new Scot Walker was punked by the Buffalo Beast pretending to be David Koch by denouncing "leftists"? This was the strangest response I've seen a business give to any situation. So I guess leftists don't buy Brawny Paper Towels or use any Dixie cups? A little too sensitive--heh?

Oh by the way, Scott Walker says that unions must pay more for their pensions. Taxpayers don't pay for their pensions. Those were actually givebacks over the years in Wisconsin for wage cuts. Also the pension funds--until Walker--were in fine shape. The problem is that he wants to use them to shore up the budget.

The Wisconsin scene gets even more interesting. Democratic Senators, who cooperated with Republican Tommy Thompson for three terms, have contacted him to pull Walker off the union-busting part of the bill. Walker ordered, then didn't order the state police to seal off the Capitol but they refused, saying they would sleep there with the protestors. Dick Morris waved around a poll of his own saying it was good news for Walker--but it showed that nearly 55% of the state opposed what he was doing. The Governor had to leave a tavern last night because the owner insisted on it--he was being booed so loudly it interferred with others' dining pleasure.

It was really classy--that Assembly vote at 1am to pass the union-busting bill. The vote was called and it was closed within seconds. The videos of the Democrats shouting "Shame" had to do with the process, more than the bill itself.

The RNC sent around a fund-raising letter--I received one--that asked for money to fight Obama and his Union Bosses. The national campaign to bust unions seems to be sputtering a bit. Chris Chrissie,Mitch Daniels and even Kasich of Ohio have backed away for now. Rick Scott backed away almost immediately but now he wants collective bargaining stripped from the Florida constitution. Michigan's Snyder, who was mentioned in the Walker fake Koch call, isn't biting at the union business at all.

Poland's own Solidarnosc sent a long letter to Wisconsin in support of their public service unions. Wisconsin union members have been circulating videos of Ronald Reagan saying "everyone has the right to belong to a union", a tape he made in support of Solidarity. Remember Walker believes that Reagan's busting of the air traffic controllers led to the end of the Communist Bloc. Most people think that Poland's own Solidarnosc played a pivotal role in cracking the East Bloc.

I know I feel safer knowing that Jimmi Hendrix's son is in the White House.

They want you as a new recruit--cue in the Village People

Rahm Emmanuel did a little rope-a-dope with the Fox News crowd by saving the best on Massa until right before he appeared on the Glenn Beck. First Steny Hoyer said Massa's charges about being forced out were "not serious", then Gibbs at the White House press briefing in the morning downplayed Massa's charges that the White House wanted him out because he opposed health care reform as ridiculous. Then as the day moved on, the press already knew right before Beck that the charges against Massa was he molested a series of male aides. The ones who hadn't pressed the ethics charges soon followed to make it known they had complaints also. By the time Massa got on Fox he was nearly as incoherent as he was the day before and only admitted to "tickle fights" with male staff. All the grave charges against the Democratic leadership disappeared and finally Beck had to apologize to the audience for wasting their time. Nicely done.

Meanwhile Howard Dean led a rally of pro-healthcare protestors in Dupont Circle. The group wanted to make citizens' arrests of medical insurance company executives who have called an emergency meeting in the Capital now that President Obama has taken out after them.

There are now 50 Senators on the record for reconciliation and 40 have signed on for the public option so far. Senate and House Republicans made it clear to day that they are going to make the mid-term elections a referendum on health care reform and will campaign to repeal it. I guess they are throwing in the towel. Now let's walk this one through. Let's say the republicans actually win both the House and the Senate and pass a bill repealing healthcare reform. Do you really think they will have 2/3rds of the Senate to override a veto? It's just a red herring.

Republican news outlets like Politico and Drudge are now circulating the story that Nancy Pelosi has "lost control" of the Democratic caucus because of how she handled the Rangel case. There is virtually no evidence of this. It's just another late minute ploy to shake Democrats who are wavering on health care.

What does disturb me is Steny Hoyer's statement that the vote may not be March 18th as the White House said today. That's the day President Obama is supposed to fly abroad. Don't go, Mr. President, until these clowns vote on it.

While all this is going on, the left appears to be throwing a tantrum and I can't figure it out why. Yes, the health care bill is far from perfect but it will help 30 million people and a few of us who remain at the mercy of the health insurance industry. But this drumbeat about how Obama is going to lose this constituency, that constituency for crimes real and imagined are at this early stage hyperbolic and certainly premature.

The good news is that a Zogby-Newsmax poll has Obama beating Bush 48-38. Zogby has definitely taken the one way ride to Palookaville. Once the premier pollster during the Carter years, he is just scrapping bottom for any clients he can get. For me, there is virtually no worth to Zogby polls at this stage.

Which brings me to the sad state of Rasmussen polls, which during past cycles were sensible and reasonable. My gut tells me Rasmussen is cashing in big time in the 2010 election cycle, perhaps to sell the business off. Rasmussen has been repeatedly been conducting polls around the country for Republicans in such a frequency as to raise questions about motivations. There is no earthly reason to have conducted so many polls so early in an election year except to establish a climate , a tone, a background favorable to Republicans and to influence the electorate. And to make buckets of cash.

Breaking down any of his polls recently, you will see Rasmussen over samples Republicans, often by as much as 8-9%. I was sad when Zogby bit the dust of credibility and I also regret Rasmussen travelling down the same road. Check for yourself, the difference in Rasmussen's approval polls for President Obama against Gallup or anyone else. You will find Obama has been in the low 40s in Rasmussen for quite some time, while Gallup ranges from 49 to 52. The difference is not plausible in my mind.

In many of these state races, Rasmussen has the only poll out there. If the Republican leads by less than 10 percent, then consider the race a toss-up. I think that is the margin of real error. And if the Democrat is in any type of lead, you already know the results.

All of this is part of an effort to manufacture a Republican comeback at a time when the party has no ideas or leaders. It's a very tricky thing to pull off. It's true they have their own private TV channel, which is the only one in my lifetime to actively organize protests against a sitting President. They also have dominance in my opinion over the other networks and the Washington Post. But so far they are just throwing anything at the wall to see if it will stick. The rolling Rasmussen polls are part of a strategy of psywarfare. I'm interesting to see what Rasmussen will do from a business angle after the mid-terms are over.

For the public good, I think it would be great to have the media boycott U.S. Senators of both parties for one week. I think this would be a great experiment and it would send our Samurai Warlords crazy. Frankly, I don't care if Blanche Lincoln is for health care but doubtful about reconciliation. Or that Lindsey Graham put his finger in the air and decided it was OK to criticize Liz Cheney. And why must we have John McCain on every week since he lost to President Obama? Did we have Michael Dukakis on every week or John Kerry? And, by the way, where are the Democrats when it comes to national security issues? They never appear to defend the Administration even though it's cleaning up on the war on terror.

I've been watching Alabama ever since accusations were made against Karl Rove manipulating the case against Governor Spiegelman. Alabama over many election cycles has been owned by Republicans. Between Ralph Reed and Karl Rove, there have been dirty tricks played galore in the state. But I've noticed recently that the Democrats are beginning to put together a solid team of candidates, including for Governor. I think this is one state to watch for some interesting changes this year. The other state is Texas.

I was fascinated today to learn Rupert Murdoch is going to move the headquarters for his media empire to Dubai. I wonder how much of this is related to the Saudi ownership in the company. His leading business partner as I've posted elsewhere is a Saudi Prince, who reportedly funds the families of suicide bombers. Interesting that this goes uncommented on in the U.S.

I'm having a tough time becoming a permanent Yankee Fan. Steinbrenner will not extend the contracts of Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera until after the season ends. He's the same old goat.

The Packard family is taking out after Carly Fiorina in California. Carly's main argument why she should be a Senator was her "superb" job as CEO of Hewlett-Packard. Not so, say the Packards, who believe she brought the company close to ruin. They had to intercede to stop her attempt to acquire Compaq and finally stimulated a shareholder revolt to can her. You will recall the memorable moment in the McCain campaign where Carly told everyone that as CEO she purposely kept H-P funds abroad to escape paying Americam corporate taxes. So the people of California can elect a tax-dodger.

Charlie Crist looks like he's toast in Florida. Marco Rubio has an insurmontable lead for the Republican primary. Rubio is a major scandal waiting to happen. He's already been caught out using the party American Express card to charge his rather extensive personal expenses. He will be a disaster as a Senator, even though conservatives believe he is one of them--he's not. Crist has been a decent governor in hard times. Remember Jeb lost the entire state pension fund at Lehman Brothers. The Democratic candidate is too weak. Crist should either change parties or run as an independent.

Things are looking up for former Republican Lincoln Chaffee in Rhode Island. He appears to have a commanding lead in the race for the state house. He is one of those who was run out of the Republican party by the right.

The New York profile of Liz Cheney is worth a read. The operative elements of the article concern her personal and her husband's relationships with key media personalities in town. All her appearances are very managed and limited with the collusion of her media friends. It's not political, it's totally personal.

Finally, Jimi Hendrix Valleys of Neptune is sweet. You forget how good he was. This is the last album he recorded before he died. It was hung up in litigation until the family won the rights to all his work. It was recorded shortly after Electric Ladyland. I could have done without the copious notes on every single personnel dispute and where the band stayed in Manhattan during this period. But good listening.