Music Reviews: Armour, Heathen, Free Reign, and Andre Matos

I have a piece over at PJM on the recent Huckabee sulk about CPAC. The attacks I am getting from a certain vicious type of social-conservative are quite impressive.

I want to thank a reader of this piece who re-read it after my comments to him who apologised for reading it wrong. We all read things and get it wrong, but few have the courage to own up to getting it wrong. I doft my hat to Craig for this.

“Though raising interest rates is unlikely at the moment, the Fed will of course act appropriately if we . . . if we . . . ” said [Federal Reserve chairman Ben] Bernanke, who then paused for a moment, looked down at his prepared statement, and shook his head in utter disbelief. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. None of this-this so-called ‘money’-really matters at all.”

“It’s just an illusion,” a wide-eyed Bernanke added as he removed bills from his wallet and slowly spread them out before him. “Just look at it: Meaningless pieces of paper with numbers printed on them. Worthless.”

According to witnesses, Finance Committee members sat in thunderstruck silence for several moments until Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) finally shouted out, “Oh my God, he’s right. It’s all a mirage. All of it-the money, our whole economy-it’s all a lie!”

Just a reminder here is the book on Amazon. Hope they get the cover up soon.

I was very clear in the fact I thought it was foolish of the Republicans to participate in the theater that was the summit that happened today. Upon reflection it was more a French farce than a dramatic play. The President was rude to McCain finished off with a nasty smirk and the Democrats & the President hogged the time to speak 4.5 vs 2 for the Republicans. And to cap it all Obama and the Democratic leadership have come out saying they are going to do all they can to ram it through by all means necessary.

So what did it accomplish for the Republicans? Absolutely nothing by any sensible reckoning. They looked like extras who should be seen and not heard. Rest assured most of the media will make sure they are extras in the play.

The UK who establishment, including disgracefully, Conservatives, all shilled and pulled for Obama to win the Presidency. Well its seems Obama is backing Argentina over the UK in their latest dispute. All I can think of is karma. The British establishment pushed and wanted us to be stuck with an inexperienced socialist President.

Obviously I hope the UK sees off this latest idiocy from Argentina. That said a bit of sweating thanks to their “hero” Obama is most amusing to watch.

Update: Its gets funnier Camoron is using former Obama advisors to help his dire campaign.

Book Review: King of the Lobby by Kathryn Allamong Jacob

Because they let you battle the forces of evil. No wait a minute what is wrong with that?

Several other Redstate contributors have spoken about CPAC and what an experience it was all told. I shall be adding to that number with a few observations of my own. I am a veteran of conservative conferences in various parts of the world ranging from the UK to Estonia. I have to admit that I would not have imagined CPAC, which I attended first in the 90s which I found rather dour, could top them all. I was refreshingly proven wrong.

What people found who attended was a revitalised and rejuvenated conservative movement that for the most part has welcome the influx of tea party energy. People were smiling and having a good time while discussing how to deal with the challenges that face us all. Instead of moaning and groaning about everything they were able to focus on what matters. Social conservatives, libertarians, fiscal conservatives and other types chatted about what to do about our socialist governance.

There were some bears at the picnic in the form of knuckle-dragging types who wanted to limit the conservative movement to a few select people like them. There were also Paul cultists who were loud but not as many in number as they might claim. The two groups gathered together in corners to discus their pet hates like homosexuals or Israel/neo-Cons/Jews. While it was obvious they were there, their attitudes did not distract from the main task at hand. The reaction of the main hall to various pronouncements about these groups, booing, made it very clear how most who attended felt.

Almost everyone realised that getting it right in the primaries upcoming and in November was far more important than worrying about a straw poll of preening presidential hopefuls. While people had their favorites, it was obvious they knew that 2012 was not the issue right now.

I would be amiss if I did not thank Redstate for the wonderful blogger lounge which housed many of my blogging colleagues both old and new. The levity of almost all participants made the task of writing about the event all the more easier. I would like to thank all those bloggers, video-diarists and radio hosts who interviewed me and allowed me to speak of my new book And Glory (along with tea party issues and conservatism in general). It was very pleasing that all of the Bank of Kev panels, three of which I was on, were so well attended.

I am already looking forward to next year’s CPAC which will be no doubt bigger and better. Take inspiration not from the gay-bashers or curmudgeons, but from Andrew Breitbart in his call to arms.

Crossposted @ Redstate

metronews.ca halifax:

Shayne Howe returned home from a friend’s 40th birthday party just after midnight Sunday.

Ten minutes later, he said there was a two-metre burning cross on his front lawn, and a group of males outside shouting racial slurs at him.

“They waited for me to come home,” said Howe, who has lived in Newport, just outside Windsor, for the past six years. “It’s like they knew I left to go out.”

The 31-year-old Howe, who is black, said by the time he went outside to investigate, there was nobody in the yard.

“All I saw was flames, there was nothing else around,” he explained. “There was no vehicles, no sound, nothing.”

Egads! Only a dedicated, well-funded gang of racists — I’m thinking the Canadian Human Rights Commission — would have the command of ninja skills to carry out something like this and then simply disappear. And where is Richard Warman these days, anyway?

Or maybe they made their escape because there was nobody there to begin with.

Sorry, I’ve got to call shenanigans on this one. These things are almost invariably hoaxes. The credulous MSM is quick to leap on them because it suits their ridiculous fantasy of a society pulsing with hidden racism (and with themselves as Horatio at the Bridge heroically fending off the Tuscan swine).

Google “fake hate crimes” and you’ll turn up a long list of examples, such as this partial list from 2006-2007. I haven’t made a comprehensive study of the phenomenon, but I wrote about a couple of examples, here and here. People have been caught on security cameras punching themselves in the face to later claim a “racist” attack.

They keep going on about tea party leaders… here is our response… I am the Tea Party.

You know the infamous ones? Well a bunch of places have archived them in all their jew-hating vileness.

Update: Oh how cute, a Paultard, has done a video comparing Fox to the Nazis.

Update II: Here is my handy list of Ron Paul posts for those non-cultists wishing to learn a thing or two about that man and his followers.

His speech at CPAC was good, and I am not his biggest fan, I think he is planning to run for President. He is having “his own” event in DC in late August where he promises “a big announcement”. Its now not about tea parties or the movement, but all about Beck. He is not working with any other tea party group for his event, they are still having one on 9/12. I think he is trying to do a successful grassroots movement to get him the nomination.

His CPAC speech was less frothing and far more staid. I was rather surprised to be honest, in a good way.

In October of 1981 I bought my first electric guitar from a friend for the grand sum of $25. I can’t quite recall the name of it — I would later call it “a piece of crap,” but I don’t think that’s what was engraved on the headstock. He also threw in a wah-wah/fuzztone pedal, which occasionally made me sound like I knew what I was doing.

I brought all my musical expertise to this recording; namely, a bunch of unconnected Beatles’ riffs. I think I can hear “Day Tripper” briefly in this, and then a rather psychedelic take on “Come Together.” And, yes, that’s Fleetwood Mac dropping by at the end, not that they were invited. It was either an incompletely-erased tape — or more likely, a byproduct of using unshielded guitar and recording cables. Especially when my cousin and I got going early on, our setup was not unlike a Giant Throbbing Antenna (which, now that I think about it, would have been A Pretty Good Name For A Rock Band), sucking in every stray signal around, from AM/FM broadcasts to taxi dispatchers to airplane chatter to police and fire communications. We used to joke that there was no way The Man could sneak up and bust us (for playing completely-innocent, completely drug-free music. I swear.) because we’d hear their radio traffic coming from ten miles away.

While at CPAC I did quite a few interviews about writing, the Bank of Kev panels I was on and And Glory. Here are a few highlights… and a bit of tomfoolery on blogger row.

I was on Stage Right Radio on Wednesday night @ CPAC and again on Thursday night.

I also did RFC radio, a full length one and a short question.

Here is my interview with DaTechGuy

Here are some more choice bits from CPAC.

Here some more of Tania’s shots of our various panels.

Duane Lester’s interview with me is here on RFC radio.

Britblog is up for your pleasure. Fausta has got her Latin American one up in good time after CPAC.

You have to wonder if the nut who flew his plane into the IRS building was a Paultard.

His rant about banks and “pound of flesh” sounded like some of bile you hear from Paultards about international banking. Maybe Ron Paul and his bots need tone it down a bit as to not inspire murderous loons.

And remember Harry Browne ran an advert when he ran for President that featured the IRS being blown up.

Its just surreal.

Full room for Bank of Kev. industry event. Great event…

Arrived @CPAC hotel with Kim. Flight was 15 minutes early to Reagan. Met up with Bank of Kev, waiting for the rest of the crew.

Music Reviews: Acrassicauda, At Vance, Raise the Red Lantern, KMDFM, and Dyse

N.Y. Daily News:

Doug Fieger, leader of the power pop band The Knack who sang on the 1979 hit “My Sharona,” died Sunday. He was 57.

Fieger, a Detroit-area native, died at his home in Woodland Hills near Los Angeles after battling cancer, according to The Knack’s manager, Jake Hooker.

Fieger formed The Knack in Los Angeles 1978, and the group quickly became a staple of Sunset Strip rock clubs. A year later he co-wrote and sang lead vocals on “My Sharona.”

I’ve written enough songs to know that they’re often only tangentially connected to one’s real life. Happy times can lead to sad songs and vice versa. I’ve written songs about real girls, imaginary girls, and girls whose sole contribution is having a name that makes for an interesting rhyme.

So I must say, I’d never given it much thought; but I was somewhat surprised a few years ago to learn that the eponymous star of “My Sharona” does in fact exist. That’s the 17-or-so-years-old Sharona Alperin on the right, pictured on (I think) the 45 rpm single cover. She’s gone on to a successful career as a realtor in the hi-end Los Angeles market. She was a lifelong friend of Fieger’s and the band, judging by the music that comes up when you load her web page.

So R.I.P., Doug. Here’s to happier days; March, 1979 at Carnegie Hall:
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Click here to listen tonight 8pm est. We are chatting tea parties and CPAC.

See you on the row… see you at CPAC

Please vote for the final 10 to be included in the Contract from America. I suggested one of them, guess which, and was pleased to see it make the final 20.

You may now order it on Amazon and Amazon.co.uk.

Smitty starts his latest creation.

A reception to celebrate the presentation of theNational Free Enterprise Award to
Madsen Pireand Eamonn Bulter (Directors of the Adam Smith Institute)
The evening will feature short speeches by Andrew Neil (BBC) and Terence Kealey (Vice Chancellor, Buckingham University)
23rd February 2010
Queenborough Room, St Stephen’s Club, 34 Queen Anne’s Gate, London, SW1H 9AB
6.00pm – 7.30pm (A change from previous announcement); Drinks & Canapés
RSVP events@adamsmith.org
The National Free Enterprise Award is presented annually by a panel of 14 independent expert judges under the auspices of the Institute of Economic Affairs. Previous winners include Lord Lawson, Richard Branson, Lord King, Baroness Thatcher, Lord Forte and Sir Freddie Laker. Winners receive a handsome custom-made silver presentation trophy.

—

Book Launch of The Alternative Manifestoby Dr Eamonn Butler
Speaker to TBA
10th March 2010
The Garden Room, St Stephen’s Club, 34 Queen Anne’s Gate, London, SW1H 9AB
6.30pm – 8.30pm; Drinks & Canapés
RSVP events@adamsmith.org

The UK is in an appalling state. The effects of the great recession lumber on. Public debt, public services and public pensions are bloated after a decade of ill-placed optimism. The country is burdened by regulations and laws that have undermined basic freedoms. What needs to be done to remake Britain as a first-rate country? In The Alternative Manifesto, Dr Eamonn Butler interviews the best political thinkers in the UK including the heads of all the leading think-tanks to create a twelve-step plan to rescue the UK from its government’s long-term addictions. He tackles the most crucial areas from the economy and politicians, to regulation and taxes with detailed solutions that can easily be achieved over the next Parliament. Drawing on the ideas of some of the brightest people in Britain, Eamonn Butler puts forward a comprehensive programme to cut government back to a healthy size. The twelve steps will stop the UK’s decay, before it becomes terminal.

More info: http://tinyurl.com/altmanifesto