Avett Brothers

OK, this was last spring at SXSW in Austin, not last night at the Cuban Club in Ybor City, but we loved this song. And even though the album it will be on won't be out for another couple of months, because we all listen to WMNF we all were able to sing along, and the Bros. loved us back.

Why I Want To Live in NY (Bklyn) Again -- another in the series

PIZZA

I mean truly great pizza, not what passes for pizza in other places (except for Italy).

Pizza worthy of interaction.

Happy Birthday Marley!

It's not just our country's birthday today, it's also Marley's, which is special not just because it's Independence Day, but also because he is our only pet whose birthday we actually know. That's right, we've got the official papers, and today he is five years old. He and Dylan both really like his new birthday bed. And later, Dogsters!

Some "Straight Talk" for Independence Day

For a few very good laughs, don't miss Gail Collins' column in the New York Times today. On this Independence Day, my hope for the country is that every voter thinks this whole debacle is as funny as I do. Though I gotta say, an Obama/Palin campaign would be pretty entertaining.

Senator Franken

Let the fun begin!

Memorializing Phyllis

We went to the memorial service for Phyllis Busansky today. Almost a thousand people showed up, including almost every important Democrat in the area and some Republicans too, including Governor Crist (ick). There were some great stories told about Phyllis, especially one by the columnist Steve Otto. (That column is not about the story he told at the service, but ask me some time and I'll tell you that one, it's the story about how Phyllis' hair inspired an invention. And then there was the one about the time she got a police escort for her daughter's interview at Brown....) There were some emotional memories, especially by one of her sons. There were people of all colors represented, because Phyllis lived to make life better for those who have least. There were tears, but probably more laughes. What I loved the most about it, though, was the music that played as we all slowly filed out, You Can Get It If You Really Want (but you must try, and try, and try, till you succeed at last) which was not only music she liked, but music that was sort of the story of her life, and the lesson she lived for others.

Democrats Are the New Republicans

Here's one of Bill Maher's New Rules from last Friday night:

"...every time Obama tries to take on a progressive cause, there's a major political party standing in his way: the Democrats. Now, people talk a lot about a third political party in America. We don't need a third party. We need a first party. You go to the polls and your choices are the guy who voted for the first Wall Street bailout, or the guy who voted for the next ten.

This year, we're hearing that a public option for health care is unlikely because it doesn't have the support of enough Democrats. Even Ted Kennedy's plan-- Ted Kennedy, yeah -- leaves 37 million uninsured. This is because we don't have a left and a right part in this country anymore. We have a center-right party and a crazy party.

And, over the last 30-odd years, Democrats have moved to the right, and the right has moved into a mental hospital.

So, what we have is one perfectly good party for hedge fund managers, credit card companies, banks, defense contractors, big agriculture and the pharmaceutical lobby; that's the Democrats.

And they sit across the aisle from a small group of religious lunatics, flat-earth-ers and Civil War re-enactors who mostly communicate by AM radio and call themselves the Republicans. And who actually worry that Obama is a socialist.

Socialist? He's not even a liberal. I know he's not because he's on TV. And while I see Democrats on television, I don't see actual liberals. And if occasionally you do get to hear Ralph Nader or Noam Chomsky or Dennis Kucinich, they're treated like buffoons. Okay, these are not three of the world's most charismatic men, but then nobody is going to confuse Newt Gingrich for Zac Efron. And I have to look at his fat face on TV more often than that free credit report song.

Shouldn't there be one party that unambiguously supports cutting the military budget, a party that is straight up in favor of gun control, gay marriage, higher taxes on the rich, universal health care--legalizing pot--and steep, direct taxing of polluters? These aren't radical ideas. A majority of Americans are either already for them or would be if they were properly argued and defended.

And what we need is an actual progressive party to represent the millions of Americans who aren't being served by the Democrats. Because, bottom line, Democrats are the new Republicans."