The Contrarian

I’ve awakened from a nap and had a chance to actually watch Sarah Palin’s resignation “speech” — another trainwreck of colossal proportions. It honestly makes you wonder how anyone ever took Palin seriously enough to elect her to public office. She seems too flighty for the Wasilla school board, let alone a position of responsibility in state or federal government. Between Palin and Mark Sanford, I’m starting to wonder what percentage of GOP leaders have diagnosable mental illnesses. I mean, just watch:

Maybe she’ll blame the media for this, too?

I’m not what you’d call an “insider” or anything, but of the elected leaders I’ve personally witnessed, it’s the ones on the Right who are the most boneheaded. Now, that doesn’t mean there aren’t flaky progressives or whipsmart conservatives, but to my mind, there’s a trend. I’ve been getting interested in the sociology of political affiliation lately, and plan to write a series on neo-neo-Conservatism. This movement — part Obama backlash, part unemployment-driven reactionism — will also be youth-driven, but decoupled from the wedge issues favored by the previous generation of GOP culture warriors. What I’ve seen so far reminds me of Scientology, but with Ayn Rand replacing L. Ron Hubbard as Godhead.

I will be decoupling Objectivism/neo-Libertarianism from the “convenient conservatism” of current GOP pundits. Mostly, I’ll examine how today’s white, educated right-leaning youth rely on absolutist word shields like Liberty and Truth, while evincing ideological thought-patterns more consistent with fascism than the freedom (or Individualism) for which they so fervently advocate.

So there’s something for you all to look forward to.

Can I get a “hell yeah?”

Tiny starbursts! Breaking news: Sarah Palin to resign Governorship! The New York Times:

“We know we can effect positive change outside of government,” she said in making the announcement.

Known as Sarah Barracuda when she played basketball in high school, Ms. Palin used point guard analogy in explaining her decision, saying she knows “exactly when to pass the ball so the team can win.”

She said that she planned to hand over the reins of the state government to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who would be sworn in at the governor’s picnic in Fairbanks later this month.

“This decision came after much consideration,” Ms. Palin told reporters gathered at her home, and added, “I really don’t want to disappoint anyone with this announcement.”

There had been wide speculation that she would seek to be the Republican Party’s presidential candidate in 2012. Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, who is also considered to be a leading Republican candidate for president in 2012, announced last month that he would not seek re-election.

By leaving office early, Ms. Palin, a 45-year-old mother of five, will be able to travel around the country more freely and not be constrained by the duties and responsibilities of being a governor.

“Some are going to question the timing of this, and let me say this decision has been in the works for quite a while,” she said.

The good news is that she’s no longer charged with leading — in her words — “the largest state in the Union.” (That would be the largest in size, not population, but Putin does occasionally rear his head.) The bad news should be obvious: more Sarah in the Lower 48.

Want some more Palin fun?

• “Palin E-mails Show Infighting With Staff” (CBS News)
• The “SarahPAC” video:
  
• Sarah Palin: “I’m a Runner“
• Recently-published, already infamous Vanity Fair article

To those of you who criticize our Palin coverage, know this: the minute that woman gives a speech in either Iowa or New Hampshire, it’s open season. Adjust your bookmarks accordingly. . .

It’s official! The right wing runs on fear. And once they run out of fear, well… Well crikey, let’s get some fear goin’ up in here, and quick!! Watch these two nutjobs come to the rational decision on national TV that yeah, what we really need now is a new terrorist attack to get things going in the right direction (pun intended).

Jason Linkins hits the nail on the head over at Huffington Post

That izsto say, our nation’s one hope for survival and reclaiming its values is for bin Laden to detonate a “major weapon” on top of it. Just like what happened the last time, right? Where we all went a little demented, started spying on each other, transformed the Executive Branch into a weird, lawless nether zone of extra-legal nonsense, fought a needless war and what not? Good times!

The great part about it is that they’re right. That IS what they need. And frankly, it’s refreshing to watch them jonesing so hard for it right out in the open.

Wilco played The Greek Theater in Berkeley this past Saturday, and it pretty much rocked. I’ve never been a Wilco obsessive, or even what you’d call a fan, really. I have Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost is Born in occasional iTunes rotation, and as appealing as those records are, I never dug into the back catalog. Wilco has long been on my “next band to really get into” list — but somehow it didn’t ever happen. Now that an old friend is their lighting director, I took it as a sign to become better acquainted with the group through their live show.

The Greek is one of my all time favorite venues. For those who’ve never beeen, it’s this old stone amphitheater perched on a hill, high above the University of California campus. The sun sets behind the stage, The lights of San Francisco twinkle down by the bay, and the pungent aroma of eucalyptus commingles with copious quantities of Northern California’s special homegrown, making for quite the heady mix. We happened to be in a rare June heat wave too, so the weather was, in a word, perfect. If you’re ever in a position to see a show there, I highly recommend it.

Same As It Ever Was

I dragged the wife and son out for soundcheck – my little boy’s first rock show. Aww, it brings a tear to my eye. May all his shows be rock, and all his passes VIP. It was a beautiful scene – watching my boy play ball with the wives and children of the band members in the empty Greek. Time stood still for a few moments there. I also spent a little while chatting with John Stirratt and Glenn Kotche after soundcheck, and they’re really nice and friendly people. The Greek is the kind of place that puts everyone in a good mood, I think.

Now that's a good vantage.

This being my first Wilco show, it wouldn’t be appropriate to deliver a full-on review, but my highlights included the many, many guitar changes (and by that, I mean actual instruments, not chord progressions), and the bluesy, flophouse numbers with Tweedy rocking his SG. Stirrat’s bass playing was smooth and on-point, and of course, there’s the guitar shreddery of Nels Cline. Man, can that guy play! All in all, I really dug Wilco’s vibe and their show. It was two hours and 15 minutes, straight through plus a few encores. (Perhaps Contrarian pal Delancey Leathers will comment on the previous night’s engagement at Saratoga Winery — the band seemed pretty nonplussed by that place). Oh, and for what it’s worth, the support act was Austin’s Okkervil River. They were good.

An Axeman Cream Dream

Did I tap into the rock star lifestyle? Not really. A couple of overpriced 16oz plastic bottles of Miller Genuine Draft, some backstage grub, and that was just about it. In the small-world department, Wilco’s Mikael Jorgensen lived upstairs from some friends in New Brunswick, circa 1993, and one of the gals working the backstage catering table used to tend to the bar back at Club Toast in Burlington. Go figure.

Oldies… but so good.

and yes, there’s a sequel: