Friday, September 26, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Uh, I'll Go With The Tang....
Can a country that leads the world in tainted baby formula dominate in space? Beware of falling objects!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Turmoil Meltdown Crisis Bailout
Beyond depressing. The reality is that the sky might as well be really falling. Demand from China & India will soon outstrip the planets tolerance for depletion of resources. Prices of basic necessities will continue to skyrocket.The recently rejuvenated arms race continues unabated. Hungry babies, angry misfits, psychological casualties will trend upward as collateral damage heads inexorably toward critical mass.
Now it's time to assign blame. Plenty for everyone here.
The power structure is gridlocked into Kamikaze mode, and this so-called "Election Campaign" has been reduced to a high tech multi level experiment in producing fear in the average citizens heart.
Social issues fester, terrorists plot the next "shocking attack".....
As the financial markets teeter on the brink of collapse, here is the "Legislative Proposal for Treasury Authority To Purchase Mortgage-Related Assets"
Now it's time to assign blame. Plenty for everyone here.
The power structure is gridlocked into Kamikaze mode, and this so-called "Election Campaign" has been reduced to a high tech multi level experiment in producing fear in the average citizens heart.
Social issues fester, terrorists plot the next "shocking attack".....
As the financial markets teeter on the brink of collapse, here is the "Legislative Proposal for Treasury Authority To Purchase Mortgage-Related Assets"
The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act.
Within three months of the first exercise of the authority granted in section 2(a), and semiannually thereafter, the Secretary shall report to the Committees on the Budget, Financial Services, and Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committees on the Budget, Finance, Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate with respect to the authorities exercised under this Act.
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
Have spent the day thus far reading bad news and spite-filled, hateful blogs and comments. I offer no solutions, wisdom or much hope. Just another passenger on this ride looking for a silver lining.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Different Drummer
From The TimesSeptember 23, 2008
Drummer Steve Tate held up bank with music stand
Steve Tate played for Take That and Texas
Lucy Bannerman
A drummer who toured with Take That, Texas and Whitney Houston has been jailed for four years after holding up a bank with a music-stand disguised as a gun.
Steve Tate — who enjoyed a successful career in the music industry under the name Steve Washington — hung his head as he was sentenced for the “ham-fisted” robbery.
The court was told that he stole £1,200 from a branch of Lloyds TSB in Folkestone in July by using a gift-wrapped music stand to imitate a gun and pretending he had a bomb strapped to his leg.
He forced the cashier to hand over banknotes, stuffing them into a guitar case, but was arrested after a passer-by saw him putting the notes into his pockets on a nearby beach.
Related Links
Two men accused of £26m bank robbery are released
Seven arrested in Ireland bank robbery raids
Tate, 46, who spent five years touring with Take That during the height of their fame in the early 1990s, needed the cash to pay off a £400 drugs debt and cover his rent, Maidstone Crown Court was told.
During his time with the band he was able to buy a Porsche and a Welsh cottage with cash, and went on to perform in front of crowds of 150,000 as a member of Texas during their European tour in 2001.
The Jamaican-born drummer, who left school at 12 to back the American soul singer Jimmy Ruffin, eventually fell out of work, however, and turned to drugs.
“At one stage he was the top pick of his profession,” said Andrew Espley, for the defendant. But the desperate robbery, he said, was “ham-fisted”. “The fact that he used a bicycle as a getaway vehicle says something about his ineptness.”
Edward Connell, for the prosecution, told the court: “Tate entered the bank and when there was only one customer there he took a black stocking and put it over his head and went to the cash desk.
“He removed an item wrapped in gift wrap from his guitar case that was three or four feet long. The woman behind the counter believed it was a gun.
“He demanded she hand over her money and when the woman called over to another member of staff the defendant said, 'I've got a bomb attached to my leg and I will detonate it'.”
Tate, from Folkestone, admitted robbery and asked for four shoplifting offences to be taken into consideration.
Passing sentence, Judge Andrew Patience said: “The bank employees must have been absolutely terrified. They didn't know if it was a gun or not and there was the absurd thought that you might let off a bomb attached to your leg. Long after you have served your sentence such people will still be suffering.”
During his career, Tate also played for Jason Donovan and the 1980s singer-songwriter Nik Kershaw. He was a teacher at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Art, set up by Sir Paul McCartney, and The Prince's Trust Rock School. Before his arrest, he had been offered a job as a music teacher at a school.
Drummer Steve Tate held up bank with music stand
Steve Tate played for Take That and Texas
Lucy Bannerman
A drummer who toured with Take That, Texas and Whitney Houston has been jailed for four years after holding up a bank with a music-stand disguised as a gun.
Steve Tate — who enjoyed a successful career in the music industry under the name Steve Washington — hung his head as he was sentenced for the “ham-fisted” robbery.
The court was told that he stole £1,200 from a branch of Lloyds TSB in Folkestone in July by using a gift-wrapped music stand to imitate a gun and pretending he had a bomb strapped to his leg.
He forced the cashier to hand over banknotes, stuffing them into a guitar case, but was arrested after a passer-by saw him putting the notes into his pockets on a nearby beach.
Related Links
Two men accused of £26m bank robbery are released
Seven arrested in Ireland bank robbery raids
Tate, 46, who spent five years touring with Take That during the height of their fame in the early 1990s, needed the cash to pay off a £400 drugs debt and cover his rent, Maidstone Crown Court was told.
During his time with the band he was able to buy a Porsche and a Welsh cottage with cash, and went on to perform in front of crowds of 150,000 as a member of Texas during their European tour in 2001.
The Jamaican-born drummer, who left school at 12 to back the American soul singer Jimmy Ruffin, eventually fell out of work, however, and turned to drugs.
“At one stage he was the top pick of his profession,” said Andrew Espley, for the defendant. But the desperate robbery, he said, was “ham-fisted”. “The fact that he used a bicycle as a getaway vehicle says something about his ineptness.”
Edward Connell, for the prosecution, told the court: “Tate entered the bank and when there was only one customer there he took a black stocking and put it over his head and went to the cash desk.
“He removed an item wrapped in gift wrap from his guitar case that was three or four feet long. The woman behind the counter believed it was a gun.
“He demanded she hand over her money and when the woman called over to another member of staff the defendant said, 'I've got a bomb attached to my leg and I will detonate it'.”
Tate, from Folkestone, admitted robbery and asked for four shoplifting offences to be taken into consideration.
Passing sentence, Judge Andrew Patience said: “The bank employees must have been absolutely terrified. They didn't know if it was a gun or not and there was the absurd thought that you might let off a bomb attached to your leg. Long after you have served your sentence such people will still be suffering.”
During his career, Tate also played for Jason Donovan and the 1980s singer-songwriter Nik Kershaw. He was a teacher at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Art, set up by Sir Paul McCartney, and The Prince's Trust Rock School. Before his arrest, he had been offered a job as a music teacher at a school.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Earl Palmer. RIP
An ever-adaptable, jazz-rooted drummer esteemed by Shelly Manne and Charlie Watts, Palmer made a distinctive contribution to innumerable records, among them Nat Cole's Ramblin' Rose, Little Richard's Tutti Frutti, Elvis Costello's King of America, the Righteous Brothers' You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' and Ike and Tina Turner's River Deep, Mountain High.
Other artists who used him were the Beach Boys, Neil Young, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Tom Waits, Randy Newman, and Barbra Streisand.
In 1957 Palmer went to Los Angeles, where he reworked Fats Domino numbers with Ricky Nelson as part of an elite array of session musicians which included Leon Russell, Barney Kessel and Glen Campbell, who became best known playing on all of Phil Spector's hits as the "wrecking crew".
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