Today's Non-Sequitur...

...couldn't make today's version of "politics" and polling any clearer...

Mukasey's Paradox?

Mukasey's Paradox - Los Angeles Times:

The recent decisions of Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey to block any prosecution of Bush administration officials for contempt and to block any criminal investigation of torture led to a chorus of criticism. Many view the decisions as raw examples of political manipulation of the legal process and overt cronyism. I must confess that I was one of those crying foul until I suddenly realized that there was something profound, even beautiful, in Mukasey's action.

In his twisting of legal principles, the attorney general has succeeded in creating a perfect paradox. Under Mukasey's Paradox, lawyers cannot commit crimes when they act under the orders of a president -- and a president cannot commit a crime when he acts under advice of lawyers.

Today's AT40

...is not a repeat of one I've heard recently or a year ago!

...however, it's also from 1988, my 2nd least fav year in 80s pop music (1980 being my least fav).

Last week's top 3 were she's like the wind, what have i done to deserve this, and #1 Father Figure.

It also feels like its hitting VERY early, but we all know why, I think...so I'm old two ways.  One, this is 20 years ago (and reminding me that my 20th reunion is coming up - I gotta skip out early from faire on Columbus Day Saturday and head back here for that party), and two, I react worse to the DST change than I did back then (and back then it was horrid...)

• Bangle's covers continue with Hazy Shade of Winter.  Not bad, but being in my "60s child" mode, I preferred the original.
• Rick Springfield's Rock of Life (btw, he was 3rd in foreigner singing on the most top 40 hits, #2 Elton, #2 Phil Collins).  This psuedo-reggae beat rocker style would later be used heavily by Richard Marx and Yes's Trevor Rabin (well into the 90s).
• Aerosmith's 80s revival continues with Angel, the power ballad of all power ballads...well, except for all the rest of the power ballads, I guess.  Co-written by Desmond Child, probably the name behind a LOT of power ballads and glam-metal rockers including some of Alice Cooper's works on Trash and Hey Stoopid.
• Now, Terrence Trent Darby, who's popularity and critical acclaim I really NEVER understood.  This song, Wishing Well sucks.  It just sucks.  Always has, always will.
• Swing Out Sister, on the other hand, I can live with.  Just something about the Brit-pop scene at the time I found rather comforting.
• John Cougar Mellencamp (still in his 3-name phase before finally letting the Cougar go) with Check It Out.  Pretty typical of his stuff over the later 80s.  Fortunately today, there's been more "good stuff" than pop-dance-hiphop tracks that I would rather live without.
• Ah, When We Was Fab.  Ringo is hilarious in the video, appearing in it even though he didn't play on the song, just as he did for Paul with Take It Away.  Here's to George, who always knew how to write pure nostalgia without being schmaltz, as he did so earlier with All Those Years Ago, written for John in 1982.
• INXS's Need You Tonight (without the Meditate coda) is on its way down from #1, but back to back is Devil Inside, on its way up to #2.  When my credit card has some room left on it, I probably should get a "greatest hits" collection of them.
  
• Hearing The Cover Girls and Pebbles doing their American dance tracks of the era makes me think what it was about Brit-pop that made me like it.  Both of these groups tend to sing just on the edge of their voice limits, as do most American rockers (which is why so many can't hit those notes anymore, ala Steve Perry; somehow Steven Tyler's ability stay at the top of his game for 40 years is unique and special).  Brit-pop groups, by contrast, sing at the peak of the comfort zone of their range, in dynamics as well as pitch.
  
  As for "Pebbles", Casey's talking about Flintstones being the longest running prime time animated series ever (6 years of new episodes before being relegated to Saturday Mornings for the new stuff).  The series that would break that record (smash it, more like, and still going), wouldn't start for another year, though their shorts as bumpers on Tracey Ullman the year before this countdown aired.
  
  P.s., Casey?  Please don't try to sing the Flintstones theme song again.  ever.
• Billy Ocean's future #1, Get out of my dreams.  i still don't get it.
• and by the same producer (Mutt Lange), Def Leppard's Histeria.  go fig.
• Sting's Be Still my Beating Heart.   Not my fav from that album, but a good one.  The whole album has a very dark, ambiguous tone to it, musically, in spite of having fairly positive lyrics (well, aside from They Dance Alone).
• Don't Shed a Tear for Paul Carrick, who had quite the 80s career.
  
• Say You Will, Say You Won't...play a guitar?  Please?
• Eric Carmen leaves his Rachmaninoff behind for his Dirty Dancing contribution, Hungry Eyes.
• Speaking of Richard Marx, he follows Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror with his Endless Summer Nights.
  
• "Diamond" David Lee Roth's Living in Paradise in the top 10. As I've said before, the saving grace of this album was Steve Vai and Billy Sheenan, though the latter is quite underused in this song.
• The (now late) Dusty Springfield becomes the oldest woman ever in the countdown history with her singing with the Pet Shop Boys, on its way down.
• Belinda Carlyle gets weak at #4, but Mr. I can do anything Patrick Swayze holds at #3.
• Rick Astley's Never Gonna moves into #2, leaving George Michael at #1.

good nite.

you know it was a weird day when...

...as you go through papers, you find a certified copy of your marriage license amongst the appliances warranties and instruction manuals.

the most annoying thing about...

the most annoying thing about the DST switch in the spring is not the hour difference specifically.

it's that time always seems to fly IN ADDITION to having mentally lost that hour.  bad enough that i'd looked at a clock and it said 4 when i felt it should have been 3.

but on top of that, i look at the clock now and it's almost 6 and it only seemed like 30 minutes ago  that i'd looked at that 4 o'clock.

and that happens to me EVERY year on this particular sunday.  no matter what i'm doing (today its the great paper sort) it always seems like time is flying past what it should be for the work i'm getting done.

and i hate that.

i also hate sneezing, which i'm doing FAR too much of as i kick up years' old dust amongst these boxes of papers.

short shameful confession

after 34 years (well, 28 since I first saw it), I only just now caught the "a laurel, [long pause] and hardy handshake" joke from Blazing Saddles.

sorry.

still, nice that you can always find something new in a Mel Brooks film, even if its one everybody else has known for ages...