Anti-Bush protest song performed on Leno by Bright Eyes

Yes, I know this clip is a few years old, but it's fairly new to me and I find myself playing it over and over. I can't believe Leno had the cojones to let Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) on his show knowing he would play When the President Talks to God. This almost makes up for the total softball interview Jay did with Ann Coulter in front of an audience that was obviously filled exclusively with facists, I mean Coulter supporters.  Anyway, here are the lyrics and the clip from youtube. Maybe Oberst is the new Dylan. He can sure write some lyrics, even when he isn't bashing Bush.

"When The President Talks To God"

When the president talks to God
Are the conversations brief or long?
Does he ask to rape our womens' rights
And send poor farm kids off to die?
Does God suggest an oil hike
When the president talks to God?

When the president talks to God
Are the consonants all hard or soft?
Is he resolute all down the line?
Is every issue black or white?
Does what God say ever change his mind
When the president talks to God?

When the president talks to God
Does he fake that drawl or merely nod?
Agree which convicts should be killed?
Where prisons should be built and filled?
Which voter fraud must be concealed
When the president talks to God?

When the president talks to God
I wonder which one plays the better cop
We should find some jobs. the ghetto's broke
No, they're lazy, George, I say we don't
Just give 'em more liquor stores and dirty coke
That's what God recommends

When the president talks to God
Do they drink near beer and go play golf
While they pick which countries to invade
Which Muslim souls still can be saved?
I guess god just calls a spade a spade
When the president talks to God

When the president talks to God
Does he ever think that maybe he's not?
That that voice is just inside his head
When he kneels next to the presidential bed
Does he ever smell his own bullshit
When the president talks to God?

I doubt it

I doubt it

..>

Henry Rollins on Ann Coulter and the FCC

I think that I'd rather listen to Clay Aiken than the Rollins Band, but Henry Rollins is always good for some interesting commentary. On his IFC show he has a segment where he reads open letter pieces that allow him to vent on various topics.

In this first Letter From Henry to Ann Coulter, I like when he says "You'll never have a real place with the beltway incrowd as they see you as a Northeastern hickoid pro-wrestler NASCAR type with a degree from Cornell." I think he's right. I'm sure that conservative insiders see her as a joke, but probably a welcome joke since so many people eat her shit up.

The next Letter From Henry is to the FCC. I like when he questions how people like Howard Stern are getting huge fines while violence goes practically unchecked. He says"I don't know about you, but these broadcasts never made me want to blow up a building, or build a meth lab, or even bring a gun to school. Sexual content seems to upset you, but violent content seems to be alright. That's kind of like the Bible. Not a lot of sex, whole lot of violence."

Ann Coulter makes me sick

Of course, I realize my reaction to Ann Coulter is exactly what she wants. She says inflamitory things and it helps her sell books, but she is dumbing down America. So many people are falling for it and believe that this is what politics is about. She's creating unnecessary division in our country, rewriting history, saying one side is always right while the other is evil, and convincing people that this is how politics work.

I'm not just saying this because she is a conservative either. I generally don't vote Republican, but the Democrats have their faults. Believing in all the crap one particular side wants to feed us is just stupid, and it doesn't help the world. It's almost comical to read the things Ann Coulter says about Democrats and "liberals." For a good start, read the entry on Coulter at Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Coulter. She thinks Joseph McCarthy was a hero, the New Deal was a bad thing, there should be literacy requirement to vote, the problems in the middle east could be solved by converting those "camel jockeys" to Christianity, and so on and so on. I can't imagine that any intelligent person who tends to have conservatiave views would take her seriously. I can't believe news programs have her on as an expert. I can't believe newspapers run her column.

Unfortunately America is buying into her sort of rhetoric, and we're hated throughout the world like never before. I don't think it's a total coincedence. I'm pissed that people like Ann Coulter have hijacked political debate and turned it into a circus.

I recently saw a report on 20/20 or a similar show that documented how voting in Congress is more partisan than ever. While a few decades ago, Democrats and Republicans voted with their parties sixty some percent of the time, now they do about ninety percent of the time. It seems like politicians stick to their "side" and throw mud at the other worse than ever before. I'm sure Coulter loves it.

Her book is still at number one on the New York Times. I wonder how many books Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky sold this week. God, (see, I'm praying to God, since I'm not Godless) I hope Coulter's readers are reading her for the comedy value.