pudge's Journal: Ani DiFranco on Henry Rollins

Watching Henry Rollins show on IFC tonight. In his Letter segment, he writes/reads a letter to Governor Schwarzenegger, and it wasn't funny. Not like that letter to Ann Coulter, which I thought was brilliant. This was more just like "I hate you." It wasn't witty or funny.

Anyway, so Ani DiFranco, whom I admire as a songwriter and performer, is the musical guest. She introduces her song by noting that it was written at the turn of the century, so the word "impeachment" in the first verse refers to the "circus" surrounding Clinton.

Then she goes on to say that "it strikes me as kinda funny that stealing elections, rigging elections, lying to the American public, violating international treaties, and making wars for profit ... that's not grounds for impeachment."

The problem, of course, is that no elections were stolen or rigged, no international treaty has been violated, and profit had nothing to do with the reasons we went to war.

And, of course, Clinton lied to the American public: that is what his impeachment was for, remember? He was impeached only for perjury, and for seven categories of obstruction of justice, all of which involved lying to the court or concealing evidence; the two articles of impeachment that failed were also about perjury). Even if Bush has lied as much as Clinton, there's not the wealth of actual evidence of it as there was with Clinton.

Yes, yes, what Bush supposedly lied about (which I have not seen evidence of) is of much greater importance. But that's presumably why she threw in the stuff about stealing elections, violating international treaties, and making wars for profit, which, of course, never actually happened.

Well, she's still a good songwriter and performer, anyway, even if she's not a reliable source of factual information about current events.

what "performers" are?

[Bill Dog]

Not too many people are endowed with tremendous artistic talent and great critical thinking abilities. So I wish "artists" would just stick to that which is their forte. I don't get it, Ann Coulter, for example, doesn't try to bundle a painting or musical CD by her with every political book sold, so why do artists feel we'd care a whit about something they're complete amateurs at?

Re:what "performers" are?

[Zeriel]

That's pretty amusing, since I was just about to say Ann Coulter is another example of an entertainer who's moderately entertaining to read/listen to but who doesn't strike me as having great critical thinking abilities or excessive reliance on facts.

Well...

[buffer-overflowed]

I can quote Bush directly about things such as the wire tapping program, where he says one thing a few years ago and has attempted to justify things he claimed weren't being done as more things come to light. And Bush's blocking of various DoJ investigations could certainly amount to obstruction of justice and "abuse of power". Most recently, Attorney General Gonzales testified before the House Judiciary committee on the President personally blocking investigations into warrantless wiretapping.

Re:Well...

[pudge]

I took her to mean lying about the reasons for war, considering the juxtaposition. I, frankly, have no problem at all with lying about a secret surveillance problem. It's the best way to keep it a secret, and I expect my elected and appointed officials to keep secrets when necessary.

And no, blocking DoJ investigations cannot be considered obstruction of justice. Have you not listened to my latest Ask Pudge? :-) The President IS the Department of Justice. The DoJ cannot investigate the President or his

Moo

[ncc74656]

This brings to mind something Alice Cooper said a few years back:

"If you're listening to a rock star in order to get your information on who to vote for, you're a bigger moron than they are."

Re:Moo

[Timex]

Another priceless quote from Alice Cooper:

"Besides, when I read the list of people who are supporting Kerry, if I wasn't already a Bush supporter, I would have immediately switched. Linda Ronstadt? Don Henley? Geez, that's a good reason right there to vote for Bush."

Of course, there's a quote by none other than that Bastion of Correct Pollitical Thought, Linda Rondstadt, that could go both ways (though the context in which she spoke, it was meant against Republicans):

"It's a real conflict for me when I go t

Re:Moo

[pudge]

Wow, Rondstadt actually said that?

It's one thing to say you won't support Kerry or Bush because someone else does. That's silly, but whatever. But to say your performance is ruined for you because someone in the audience might disagree with you about some things? Wow. Just wow.

It's not like Republicans want to kill all the Jews. This is what I like to call a COMPLETE LACK OF PERSPECTIVE.

I don't mind it when Cooper talks politics. He doesn't expect anyone to care what he thinks, and explicitly says the

Re:Moo

[ncc74656]

Wow, Rondstadt actually said that?

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040715/n ews_lz1w15linda.html [signonsandiego.com]

It's near the end of the article, when she's talking about her homage to the Michigan Manatee [michaelmoore.com] that (among other things) got her 86'd from the Aladdin [reviewjournal.com] a couple of years ago.