Breaking Pop Culture News: Amy (Allegedly) Head-Butts Dude Who Was Hailing Her a Taxi

As we go to press, we see this just over the wire. Yes, our little Amy is (allegedly) at it again.

A man was quoted in tabloid newspapers as saying he was hit by Winehouse when he got in her way while she was playing pool at a bar in the Camden neighborhood and then head-butted another who was trying to hail her a cab in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

As the Brits say, "a woman is helping police w/ their inquiries." Or w/ lessons in crowd control.

Gawd Damn America! Gawd Damn America to Hell!!

Just want to remind America that Just Another Blog (From L. A.)™ is 95% behind Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. (the exception being the "gov't. caused AIDS to get black folk" part) in his condemnation of this hypocritical shithole of a pus-dripping nation.

We believe this to be necessary, as the rabid right wing has latched onto Sen. Obama's former "pastor" (That makes members of his "flock" fucking sheep, if you can't figure that out.) & a few other perfectly sensible comments by the Senator like a rabid dog w/ a human femur dug from a shallow grave clamped between his jaws, wandering a hellishly radioactive post-apocalyptic nightmare. (There's a simile for you!) Compare this to J. Sidney McCain & his endorser John "Fatboy" Hagee, whom McCain was all over for his endorsement, appeared w/ in photos, etc. Not much outrage there., even though Pastor Hagee seems to be opposed to the Catholics & the homos, & convinced that the Jews are to slaughtered by gawd once the apocalypse starts. Dig HuffPo for more crap than you need or want on the subject. Yesterday in NoLa, McCain didn't really respond to a question about Hagee's firm belief that gawd sent the flood to N'Awlins a few days in advance of the gay parade scheduled there as "punishment."

See here & here.

In further American racial bullshit, the 50-round NY killer cops got off.

Popular Culture Update

Fans of Todd Rundgren (we're one, though after The Nazz & his first three or four solo discs he was pretty much played out in our ears, like 90% of all artists) may be interested to know about two of his offspring.

MORNING BRIEFING

Todd Rundgren produces two ballplayers

The rock star's two sons choose baseball over music, with one playing for the Las Vegas 51s and his brother a 2004 draftee of the Kansas City Royals.

By Lisa Dillman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer April 25, 2008

The saying that rock stars want to be professional athletes and pro athletes want to be rock stars takes on particular resonance in a famous household. In this case, the middle-aged dad is the rocker and the sons are the athletes. Meet the Rundgrens. Rex Rundgren, the son of music visionary Todd Rundgren, plays shortstop for the Las Vegas 51s, and his younger brother Randy was a 2004 draftee of the Kansas City Royals. "I never really got into music," Rex Rundgren told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "I didn't really like it when I was younger, but now I have more respect for music. I like it a lot and wish I could play." Dad does have another link to baseball utopia. The 51s often play Rundgren's song, "Bang the Drum All Day." That song has burrowed its way into sports arena and ballpark musicology. And it doesn't deface the music like "Macarena."

We'll also note that we don't especially like that stupid "Bang the Drum" song, fan-wise. (As a sports fan or a music fan.) Also, didn't Todd go out w/ Bebe Buell for a while? Isn't she the mother of Liv Tyler, w/ that fish-lipped fuck from Aerosmith? Are the Runt boys her spawn as well? (We're treading dangerously into "could not possibly care any less" territory here.) And what's the deal w/ the alliterative naming? Rex & Randy Rundgren? Please.

Top Ten Bottom-Feeders

Snark Hunter Susan of Texas (Get better soon, or else!!) brought to our attention a Roy (alicublog) Edroso thang from the Village Voice about the hideous RW buggersbloggers. Definitely worth two peeps, it's the ten most putrid of the high-readership ilk.

Aujourd'hui en l'Histoire

In 1792, Capitaine Claude Joseph Rouget de Lille composed "La Marseillaise." Now we know after whom the street where we spent our first few wks. in Paris was named, a mere 39 yrs. later. Also today, in 1898, Spain declared war on the U. S. of A., after W. R. Hearst blew up the U. S. S. Maine in Havana harbor as part of a New York City newspaper circulation war.

That About Which We Could Not Possibly Care Any Fucking Less

1. Poker (& all other card games). 2. Coachella (The town, the festival, who's playing at the festival, etc.).

Papas Means Potaoes in Spanish & The Patt in the Hatt

We'll do anything to avoid (we are unable to develop) new ideas, now we're reduced to commenting on letters to the L. A. Times. A Mark Papas from Los Angeles types:

Hillary Rodham Clinton's voters are the high school educated, union workers, elderly and women, and she benefits from the Democrats' party machine. Barack Obama's voters are the young or the new to the party, college educated, more affluent and minorities, and he benefits from grass-roots appeal. One raises money through wealthy individual donors, the other through large numbers of small donors.

Interesting, that the less educated, older people, women & union members are not considered "grass roots," but the more educated & affluent are. Not the point though. Assuming what is said is true, & we've heard it a lot, so it must be true (that's a joke, Goebbels fans) why is Sen. Clinton the financial favorite of "wealthy individual donors" (we have been advised that she's a darling of Wall St. corporations as well) when her electoral support is from those not as well off, while Sen. Obama's money comes from large numbers of small donors, yet his votes come from the up-scale? It would seem to us that those affluent college grads would be part of the wealthy individuals & corporate interests, while those huddled masses yearning to breathe free would be making the smaller individual gifts. Just an interesting dichotomy, really, but it makes one wonder. (Garrgh, this last paragraph makes us sound like Megan McArdle.) Also in today's Times, Patt ("The Hatt") Morrison asks the question:

Does City Hall have a drive-up suggestion window? Or the e-mail equivalent? Short of leaving a note for the mayor under the doormat at Getty House, how else can Angelenos get their leaders' attention?

It's as easy as ABC, Patt. If you want the ears of our so-called leaders, be a land developer (Didn't gawd "develop" all that land?) or a billboard co. W/ plenty of money. For campaign "donations."

Hell in a Handbasket

It would appear as if every place in the United Snakes of America (Well, every city, who gives a shit about the places?) is pretty much going to hell. We are informed that many of the local bars in Baghdad by the Bay (not as amusing a nickname these days, sorry Herb Caen) are being closed by greedy landlords (redundant, we know). Just Another Blog™ has never been much of a barfly (There're filled w/ people, f'r gawd's sake, & the music is usually too loud & too sucky, & the booze is over-priced, so why not hang at home or the home of a friend?) but as a native San Franciscan, one's memories of that little boutique city by the bay really shouldn't be messed w/. For example, our male parental unit used to hang at this place:

Not so at the nearby House of Shields, says ex-patron Sam Singer. "Everybody used to come there," said the local public relations man, "judges and lawyers, guys just indicted or about to be convicted. We'd say, 'Meet you at the House.' "Then the bar changed hands five years ago. The bartenders left, as did regulars like Singer, who missed seeing the familiar old faces behind the bar. The defections snowballed. "I still pass there and look in the windows longingly," he said. "But yesterday's gone."

Used to p. mater o. when Pops would hang there after work, before taking the SP home down the Peninsula. And that was almost 50 yrs. past. (NB: Pater was a civil engineer, neither a criminal nor a lawyer. Wanted to make that clear.) Nicest thing about the SF bars of our youth were the neon martini glasses that many of them had on their signage. Sadly, technical difficulties prevent our supplying a photo thereof.

Werner Groebli Dead at 92

Now we know who Frick & Frack were. Huh. And who'd a thunk one of 'em was still alive? A comedy skating duo. Last reference we heard to them was by Howard Cosell. Or perhaps professional pants-wetter & former funny man Dennis Miller.

Notes From The Wild Blue Yonder

The F-117 has given up its stealthy ghost. The $45 million a shot aircraft has been replaced by the we forget how much per unit F-22 Raptor. And, the USAF is being called on the carpet by DefSec Gates. Apparently the cowards in the AF (You know, they like to drop bombs on civilians from as far away as possible, preferably in nations w/o any serious air defense capabilities.) are all scared because they're being downsized. Oddly enough, they've resisted increasing their Predator fleet, which brings the concept of video game war to a new high. The baby-killers who fly the predators from somewhere in Nevada, touching their joysticks all day long, are in no physical danger whatsoever, & get to go home & play w/ their offspring at the end of the murder shift, even as parents of those killed on the other side of the world weep over their children's bodies.

Exciting New Feature (Or Boring. Really, It's All the Same.)

Announcing an occasional feature, as we continue to accentuate the negative (i. e., deal in reality) to combat the forces of foolish hope & boring optimism. We call it: That About Which We Could Not Possibly Care Any Fucking Less & the first entry is: The National Football League Draft. Like, so what, man?

How Many Exactly? Another Great American Speaks

Some schmuck in Colorado w/ two first names is decrying the number of illiterate peasants in that state.

"I would like to have the opportunity to state at the microphone why I don't think we need 5,000 more illiterate peasants in Colorado," Bruce said. His outburst drew an audible gasp from the House.

Really, illiterate peasants are a world-wide problem, but there does seem to be a disproportionate amount of them in Colorado. Remember that Tancredo guy? Were we Rep. Bruce, we might shut up though. Who the fuck does he think is electing him? In the interests of fairness and balance, we'll agree w/ ol' Doug that resolutions are bullshit.

Republicans later removed him from the powerful State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee because he refused to co-sponsor a resolution honoring military veterans. Bruce said he believed resolutions were a waste of time because they have no legal effect.

The story doesn't indicate which benighted district Bruce represents. We know many Coloradans, especially in the Colorado Springs area, are plenty religious, but Brucie seems to have a problem w/ his religion being displayed in public. (We were just guessing, but he does indeed come from Colorado Springs. Be sure to click on "Extremist Letter" on the left side of his site, under House District 15.)

He became the first Colorado lawmaker censured by the House after he kicked a newspaper photographer for taking his picture during a prayer.

First in war, first in peace, first in kicking photogs & getting censured. An all around swell guy & wonderful human being. We predict he's going to be in the political big time very soon. Seems like an ideal Republican candidate.

Madman McCain, Flip-Flopping Fool

We've heard that J. Sidney McCain has never had any sort of psychological treatment for whatever happened to him during his extended stay at the "Hanoi Hilton," which included physical abuse, mos. or yrs. in solitary, his breaking down & confessing/admitting to the war crime of bombing civilians ("Oh, it can't be a crime, America does it & we're the good guys.") and what not. You'd not want any counseling or whatever the hell for anything like that. Just tough it out like the manly macho man you are. Some might say that J. McC.'s alleged temper stems from his experience as a POW/war criminal, though there are indications that he's been a petulant SOB since birth. Many more incidents recounted at the WaPo story.

That temper has followed him throughout his life, McCain acknowledges. He recalls in his writings how, as a toddler, he sometimes held his breath and fainted during moments of fury. As the son of a naval officer who was on his way to becoming a four-star admiral, McCain found himself frequently uprooted and enrolled in new schools, where, as an underappreciated outsider, he developed "a little bit of a chip on my shoulder," as he recalled this month.

During a campaign stop at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, the most famous graduate of the Class of 1954 opened a window on what swirled inside him during his school years. "I was always the new kid and was accustomed to proving myself quickly at each new school as someone not to be challenged lightly," he told students.

"As a young man, I would respond aggressively and sometimes irresponsibly to anyone who I perceived to have questioned my sense of honor and self-respect. Those responses often got me in a fair amount of trouble earlier in life."

Held his breath & fainted? Could one be any gayer? (Not that there's anything wrong w/ that, but being stuck in the closet is not healthy.) Just Another Blog™ hates stupid fucking assholes who babble about their "honor." And let's really parse this one: "Anyone who I perceived to have questioned my sense of honor and self-respect." How could any one question McCain's "self-respect?" We'll repeat that: "self-respect." How does one's own self-respect have anything to do w/ anyone questioning it? "Self." That's the operative word here. One's "self-respect" should be coming from w/in, not from what some other stupid teen-ager thinks of you. Did someone come up to him in the hall at Episcopal High School & say, "Sidney, I question your self-respect?" causing him to "respond aggressively and sometimes irresponsibly?" Meaning he'd smash the fucker in the face, right? And of course, how much self-respect can a fucking gigolo have anyway? A fucking gigolo who accuses his sole means of support of troweling the make-up on like a trollop? Not even to mention what a fucking flip-flopper he is. Torture? No, er, yes. Tax cuts for moneybags? Yes, then no. (Or vice versa. Who can remember?) Agent of intolerance, or someone to suck up to for an endorsement? And on & on.

Remembering Rummy

From Eurocorrespondent The Lovely Sophia, we are reminded of Donald Rumsfeld, who, sadly, is not doing time somewhere, but wandering the nation or world collecting money for speeches. The Donald Rumsfeld Soundbites of The Decade.