2007-03 Vital Source Mag – March 2007
Trouble
By Matt Wild Asked why he decided to dismantle The Pixies, frontman Frank Black once replied that when another bandmate’s lifestyle “starts to irritate you,” it becomes virtually impossible to be in the same room as that person, much less share a stage together. Black was no doubt referring to bassist Kim Deal, whose unexpected mainstream success with The Breeders almost certainly drove him absolutely ape-shit. Likewise, my recent source of irritation – my very own Kim Deal, if you will – has been nothing less than this entire city. I’ve been irritated by the constant closing/opening of restaurants, the conversational shorthand brought on by winter weather, the unspoken disdain of friends and colleagues. I’ve been annoyed with the shoddy state of local weeklies and bored to tears by the meager accomplishments of our hipster elite. I’ve been so desperate for a cure, so anxious for an all-purpose salve that I recently decided to face my fears head-on. Like those episodes of Maury where he cures a guest’s irrational fear of mustard with – you guessed it! – a giant fucking bowl of mustard, I decided to break my anti-Milwaukee funk by attending the single most irritating event I could find: a home-brewed burlesque show. Following a few hours spent at the Nut Factory open house (Kyle Fitzpatrick’s paintings – all the size and texture of burnt-out Buicks – are particular standouts), I’m dropped off at Mad Planet for the Pixel Pussy Ski, Sky and Stage Show. Sponsored by Blam! Blam! – a local publication that provides readers the unique pleasure of seeing full color photographs of their friends and former roommates giving each other head – the scene is pretty much what one would expect: some low-rent fetish gear, a bunch of free lube and condoms (so naughty!), awful music and a $10 cover. No matter, I think, a few stiff drinks and a sharp blow to the skull will be all that’s needed to spice things up. Hell, maybe I’ll even strike up a conversation with the guy wearing a top hat and a strap-on. Notebook and camera in hand, I decide to hang up my coat and dig in for the long haul. It’s then that I see the sign: “Coat Check Begins At $10.” I stare at it dumbly, unable to process a $10 Mad Planet coat check, much less one that begins at $10. In fact, what kind of coat check begins anywhere? Are there better options – sturdier hangers, perhaps – in the $12-$15 range? Complimentary lint-removers? Free pony rides? And what is it about this sign – and now, suddenly, these people, these costumes, these affectations – that seems so horribly wrong, so overwhelmingly depressing? Out of respect for both Mad Planet and my own well-being, I decide to do the only thing a rational person would do after just forking over $10 to get into a local sex show: I leave. Flee, escape, haul ass is more like it, the bitter irritation […]
Mar 1st, 2007 by Matt Wild
Lucinda Williams
By Blaine Schultz Having followed Lucinda Williams’ career since 1988, I find it no surprise that she has moved gracefully from cult artist to icon. She has maintained a consistently high level of songwriting and her choice of musicians and band mates has been impeccable. It doesn’t matter if she wears her heart on her sleeve or writes in character, Williams delivers the goods. West is imbued with Williams’ trademark blend of weariness and grit – it’s obvious when she’s pissed off and it’s obvious when she allows the light of optimism to shine through. On the best tunes here, Williams romantic heartbreak and personal loss (the death of her mom) are grist for the mill. But philosophically, the album’s spotlight is “What If,” a tune she previewed at her last solo Pabst Theater gig. It is a list of absurdities (“… the president wore pink…God was a bum…The sky began to bleed” ) that comes to a head with a simple quest for compassion. And that is what makes any art great: the attempt at connection no matter how great or small the gulf. It’s easy to pigeonhole Williams as a hood ornament for the NPR crowd. But she’s more genuine than any marketing scheme and more complex than many of the one-dimensional artists clogging the limited airwaves and record store CD racks. She can shift like a motorcycle in a minivan culture – not that she seems to care. As easily as she could sing her poetic numbers at an open mic night (“Are You Alright?” ), Williams can go toe-to-toe with the shit-kicker honesty of “Wrap My Head Around That.” Some of these tunes are so bare-wristed that it will be interesting to see how she deals with them live. Then again, that’s pretty much how she’s lived her career so far. It’s too bad she’ll never get to be in a Robert Altman movie. VS
Mar 1st, 2007 by Vital Archives
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Ted Leo might occasionally feel nostalgic – one of his best-known songs, “Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?,” yearns for old-fashioned ska – but he’s not. Better than any other current musician, he understands that punk rock is unfinished business: a promise that needs to be kept. He also understands that punk rock is less a style or an ideology than a commitment, and that understanding suffuses Living With the Living. Leo has never shied away from songwriting variety, but this album might be his most wide-ranging yet, even as it showcases a further tautening of the threads connecting him to Pharmacists bassist Dave Lerner and drummer Chris Wilson. Some of the paths Leo and the Pharmacists take aren’t particularly unexpected. “Bomb.Repeat.Bomb” is a typically blistering, coolly angry attack on attackers, “A Bottle of Buckie” explores friendship via an Irish-American take on the Pogues and “Army Bound” cuts Leo’s razor-barbed guitar riffs across a martial rock beat. But “The Unwanted Things” is a surprisingly fluid, sweet angle on the punk-reggae combination explored so well by Elvis Costello and The Clash, while “La Costa Brava” mixes crunchy pop-rock with a romantic urge to travel to sunnier climes. If Leo weren’t in such good, tuneful voice, these stylistic transformations would be even more surprising than they are. Producer Brendan Canty of Fugazi helps to keep the music lean. Ted Leo’s intelligence and intensity come through quite clearly, each undimmed by the other. Living With the Living keeps the promise. VS
Mar 1st, 2007 by Jon Gilbertson
March 2007
By Erin Wolf March 6th Air Pocket Symphony Astralwerks Antibalas Security Anti-/Epitaph Apostle of Hustle National Anthem of Nowhere Arts and Crafts The Arcade Fire Neon Bible Merge Patti Austin Avant Gershwin Rendezvous Bright Eyes Four Winds EP Saddle Creek Mary Chapin Carpenter The Calling Zoe/Rounder Cheeseburger s/t Kemado !!! Myth Takes Warp Ry Cooder My Name is Buddy Nonesuch John Frusciante Ataxia II Record Collection Guns N’ Roses Chinese Democracy Geffen Albert Hammond Jr. Yours to Keep Scratchie/New Line Illinois What the Hell Do I Know? Ace Fu Lovedrug Everything Starts Where it Ends The Militia Group Son Volt The Search Transmit Sound/Legacy The Stooges The Weirdness Virgin Maria Taylor Lynn Teeter Flower Saddle Creek Mary Weiss Dangerous Game Norton March 13th Aqualung Memory Man Columbia Death By Stereo Death Alive Reignition The Dollyrots Because I’m Awesome Blackheart The Innocence Mission We Walked in Song Badman Recording Graham Parker Don’t Tell Columbus Bloodshot Jon Rauhouse Steel Guitar Heart Attack Bloodshot The Tragically Hip Sinners Stick Together Universal March 20th Andrew Bird Armcahir Apocrypha Fat Possum Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson & Ray Price Last of the Breed Lost Highway I’m From Barcelona Let Me Introduce You to My Friends Mute LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver DFA/Capitol Ted Leo and The Pharmacists Living With the Living Touch & Go Low Drums and Guns Sub Pop Modest Mouse We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank Epic The Ponys Turn Out the Lights Matador Joss Stone Introducing Joss Stone Virgin March 27th Good Charlotte Good Morning Revival Daylight/Epic Macy Gray Big Will.I.Am Kaiser Chiefs Yours Truly, Angry Mob Universal Klaxons Myths of the Near Future Rinse/DGC Prodigy Return of the Mac Koch Timbaland Shock Value Interscope
Mar 1st, 2007 by Vital Archives
After the party – How to handle the pox
By Lucky Tomaszek In February, I shared with you all my friend Jesi’s successful quest to expose her two children to the chicken pox. The reactions I received from people were wildly varied, with some readers telling me about the chicken pox parties they had when their own children were young and others telling me that they unequivocally believe in the advances brought to us by mandated vaccination. The one common thread, however, was a memory of someone completely covered in pox and how awful it was. Most of the time, chicken pox is a minor illness that causes fairly minor discomfort. This is not always the case, however, as my own family discovered just days before my last column was published. My oldest daughter, Lena, woke up on a Sunday morning with three chicken pox on her belly and one on her scalp. She was running a low-grade fever and had the sniffles. We had exposed her to a young neighbor 23 days before this and I had assumed that it was going to pass her by again, as the incubation period is typically 14 to 21 days. In a rather self-congratulatory way, I picked up some colloidal oatmeal bath packets and Calamine lotion and prepared to spend a day or two comforting her through the worst of it. The typical varicella routine unfolds like this: one to two days of a low grade fever, the sniffles and maybe some coughing before any pox are seen; one to two days with the same symptoms and with pox erupting on the scalp and on the torso; one to two days of getting new pox; a couple final days of the pox crusting over and forming scabs. Pretty straightforward, right? Not this time. By Sunday night Lena’s fever had gone up to 103, where it stayed for four days. Each day, more than a hundred new pox appeared. She was exhausted, listless and had very little appetite. Party favors It didn’t take long to realize that colloidal oatmeal and Calamine lotion were not going to cut it. I turned to parents who had dealt with the pox for advice. One of the first things suggested was making Lena some Jell-o. I don’t usually keep that stuff in the house but my friend was right, Lena needed something. For about two days, it was one of the only things she could eat, and it even tasted good to her. She also recommended using a Burrows solution that you apply directly to the pox as part of a warm compress to help dry them out and promote faster healing. I found some at our local pharmacy. Every couple of hours I made a fresh batch and Lena found these to be very soothing. The colloidal oatmeal baths were also soothing but were made even better by making an oatmeal pouch for her to rub on her itchiest spots by filling a washcloth with oats and tying it off with a rubber band. Since […]
Mar 1st, 2007 by Lucky Tomaszek
Strength in low numbers
By Jon Anne Willow During any given week, over a million Milwaukeeans listen to the radio, according to MediaAudit, which surveys the market twice a year. Of those, a surprisingly hefty 145,000 listen to public stations, namely WMSE, WUWM, WHAD and WYMS. And while the number may not seem like much in comparison to the total, public radio listeners are the cream of any community’s crop – typically engaged, educated and interested in what makes the world around them tick. Following the events of 9/11, public radio, primarily NPR, gained new listeners as people looked for in-depth news coverage. The trend continued into the first two years of the Iraq war, but since then the amount of time people spend listening to news, and especially national news, on the radio has declined. Even so, public radio is alive and well – and thriving financially like never before – at both the national and local levels. And in Milwaukee, the appeal of the left end of the FM dial may be about to become even stronger. (( The long and winding road )) In 2003 when MPS announced it could no longer financially support 88.9 WYMS (“Your Milwaukee Schools” ), the station was nearly handed off to WUWM without an open bidding process. When word got out, a small but vocal group of the station’s mainstream jazz supporters tried to “save” the station, citing its long tradition of supporting local music and civic discourse in all its forms – from polka shows to live airing of school board meetings. The group was unsuccessful in raising the capital needed and in the end, the school district invited requests for proposal (RFPs) for a new management operating agreement for the ailing station. One group responded – Radio For Milwaukee. The deal was finally inked in 2004. Headed by former Milwaukeean Peter Buffet, Radio For Milwaukee (RFM) came to the school board with a seven-year proposal for a radio station that would serve a wide swath of the community. The stated goal was to connect to as many facets as possible of the city’s exceptionally broad multi-ethnic and multi-cultural population while continuing to serve the civic need of broadcasting school board meetings and developing educational opportunities for high school students. RFM brought to the table a group of men dedicated to local music and familiar with the population terrain, but more importantly to the long-term feasibility of such a venture, they brought cash. To date, $1 million has been raised and/or pledged for operations, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has given a grant for $225,000 for community programming and upgrading the signal to digital, so that like WMSE, WHAD and WUWM, the station will also broadcast in HD. An undisclosed source has also donated $10,000 toward starting a web-based student radio station. The station will garner additional operating revenue through underwriting. WYMS, which will call itself 88Nine, RadioMilwaukee, had hoped to launch in 2005, but when the group finally got the keys […]
Mar 1st, 2007 by Vital Archives
Céad mile fáilte
By Catherine McGarry Miller + Photos by Kevin C. Groen Be forewarned; if you toddle over to County Clare on St. Paddy’s day for an Irish Coffee, have your designated driver on deck or cab fare in fist before you take a swig. Oh, there might me a shot or two of coffee in it, but the rest is pure Irish whiskey slathered with whipped cream and a chocolate cookie straw. One sip’ll knock your shamrock off. Roy Huth, kitchen manager of the County Clare Pub and Restaurant, says that natives of the Emerald Isle “feel at home here. Milwaukeeans feel like they’re on vacation.” I fall in the latter category and can aver that this establishment credibly recreates the charm of an Irish inn. Though Irish cookery is not renowned in the gourmet kingdom, I had fabulous food in Ireland and the County Clare made me feel like I was back in the old country. His menu reflects wonderful dining experiences I had there, though probably not the way you would expect. It’s the seafood that takes me back to the sod, not the corned beef or lamb – I don’t remember even seeing them on a carte. What people tend to forget is that Ireland is an island whose inhabitants have always lived off the water. Though not of Irish descent, Huth has a mastery of seafood preparation that goes back to his youth cooking for his family. The Wauwatosa native always enjoyed trying new things and particularly liked smoked fish – not your average kid’s top favorite. His specialty back then was Shrimp Creole. Now he applies his intuitive talents to the likes of smoked salmon with capers and mussels steamed in a buttery tomato broth served with Irish brown bread to sop the delicious juices. The portions, like Irish hospitality, are generous and the flavors fresh as a sea breeze. The whole grained bread (available in small loaves to purchase) is exactly as I remember it in the Irish inns and cafes I frequented. Not surprising, since it’s imported from there. For St. Patrick’s Day, however, the menu will feature the expected Irish fare: Shepherd’s Pie (the Inn’s top seller), Irish Stew and Corned Beef and Cabbage. Huth presents a delicious, colorful plate of thick slices of lean, tender corned beef, al dente cabbage, bright carrot medallions and notably delicious mashed potatoes. Everything but the steak is under $15, so you’ll have plenty of change for your stout. Huth, who just turned 50, learned his craft on the job. His degree from UWM, earned in the early ‘80s, is in painting, drawing and printmaking. His father, a lithographer, planted the seeds of love for the craft. Huth became a successful artist whose works have been exhibited around the city for the past 15 years and at annual shows at Gallery H2O in the Third Ward. In 1999, one of his paintings was juried into the prestigious Wisconsin Artists’ Biennial Exhibit at the Haggerty Museum. Still, art […]
Mar 1st, 2007 by Cate Miller
South America’s outstanding wine oddities
By Nate Norfolk There is a glut of inexpensive South American wine and just about every other grape-growing region in the world. The best thing about this is that consumers have wider access to inexpensive wine. The down side is that a lot of the inexpensive wine is either just plain bad or redundant and boring. The bulk of South American wine coming in to the U.S. is definitely on the cheap side, but if you are a little adventurous you can find some truly unique bargain wines. Chile and Argentina are good places to find them. Although these two countries are regarded as relative newcomers to our retailers’ shelves, they have been producing wine for hundreds of years. A brief version of a long history The grape vines of Chile and Argentina were planted by missionaries who came from Spain with the conquistadors in the mid-sixteenth century. As the country’s population expanded, wine production moved from the church to European plantation owners. It was so successful by the early 1800s that the North and South American wines imported to Europe began to affect the Spanish wineries. The Spanish government took action to protect the wine industry there. All across Mexico and South America, vineyards were uprooted and heavy taxes were placed on those remaining. This all but destroyed the wine industry in Mexico, but Chile and Argentina continued to produce wines commercially. Argentina Argentina is the fifth largest wine producer in the world, and its star red grape is called Malbec. Originally from southwestern France, it is used in small amounts in the red wines of Bordeaux and as the main component of a rather obscure French wine called Cahors. Although many will argue that Malbec is Argentina’s finest grape varietal, other reds and whites are being successfully introduced, notably Cabernet Sauvignon and the mysteriously floral, yet dry white grape Torrontes. Malbec wines from Argentina taste a lot like Merlot wines made elsewhere, though with the current Merlot backlash that may not be a great selling point. When you taste a Malbec wine for yourself, you will likely encounter a full-bodied wine with a soft mouth feel full of soft silky tannins and dried fruit flavors. There will be plenty of black currant, cassis and red fruit flavors like plums and berries as well as hints of black pepper and other spicy notes. A really good Malbec wine is something to behold. Chile In Chile, almost half the grapes planted are Cabernet Sauvignon, but other reds and whites are grown there, the most important being the red Carmenere. The history of Carmenere wines is similar to that of Malbec. Both were once prominent in France, both were brought to South America in the mid 1800s by the French and both have become a very important part of South American wine-making. They also have both fallen out of favor in their native country of France and are only produced in extremely small quantities anywhere outside of South America. That’s where […]
Mar 1st, 2007 by Vital Archives
Paula Frazer & Tarnation
Not having thoroughly kicked all her baggage to the curb with 2005’s Leave the Sad Things Behind, San Francisco singer-songwriter Paula Frazer follows up with another album about moving on. Her fourth solo release, Now It’s Time, also revives her former band, Tarnation, as support. Frazer soups up alt-country standbys with jangly honky-tonk piano on “Bitter Rose” and flamenco tambourine on “Another Day.” “Pretend” features a childlike yodeling reminiscent of a wooden train whistle. Effectively simple string arrangements flesh out many of the tracks. If Frazer’s lyrics mirrored her eclectic instrumentation, Now It’s Time would be perfection, but she constantly recycles the same stale imagery (the sun, darkness, fire). But while the album would benefit if the storytelling were on par with the songwriting, the lack of lyrical originality is not necessarily detracting to Frazer, whose voice could draw listeners singing about…well…the sun, darkness and fire. Like Joni Mitchell meets Morrissey, Frazer’s soulful voice turns, trills and glides effortlessly from track to track. It’s sunken yet confident, parallel to the music it narrates. Though overtly melancholy, these barbiturate-drenched songs find a way to float. Now It’s Time touches on relationships’ gray areas: when to stay and when to go, when to speak up and when to hold your tongue. Not uncertain, however, is Frazer’s ability to deliver a plush, relistenable disc for fans of the heavier-hyped (and less authentic) Neko Case and Jenny Lewis. VS
Mar 1st, 2007 by Amber Herzog
Strong medicine for the healthcare access crisis?
By Ted Bobrow When Governor Jim Doyle laid out his health care proposal during his State of the State address in January, he dramatically transformed the debate about health care in Wisconsin. He summed it up succinctly: “The simple truth is, the time has come for the wealthiest nation in the world to provide access to affordable, comprehensive health insurance for its citizens – and Wisconsin can lead the way.” It’s an attractive scenario and perhaps very timely. Health care in today’s United States is truly Dickensian: the best of worlds and the worst of worlds. For the very wealthy and for people with good health insurance, there is practically no limit to the quality of available care. Double, even quadruple bypass surgeries are routine. Many cancers can be detected early enough to be treated completely. And promising new treatments are in the works for neurological disorders like epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease and depression. What a wonderful world we live in, eh? Well, some of us do. In reality, the U.S. is a nation of haves and have-nots, where 47 million people, including 9 million children, have no health insurance. For many in this group, paying out-of-pocket for a routine mammogram or even going to an emergency room at the onset of chest pains is not an option. And the problem is only likely to get worse. With the cost of health care and the insurance to pay for it escalating at twice the rate of inflation and the primary U.S. employment base shifting from large companies to small (less than 100 employees), fewer and fewer employers are able to offer decent health coverage. Early innovations in our own state served as the model for the nation’s current system of unemployment insurance. The time may be right to turn Wisconsin’s progressive tradition towards the problem of the uninsured. The Clinton plan: a costly lesson While access to basic medical care would seem to be a need most appropriately addressed at the federal level, neither the President nor Congress have shown much interest in comprehensive health care reform since Bill and Hillary Clinton’s ill-fated attempt in the early 90s. When President Clinton took office in 1993, he identified health care as the first big challenge of his presidency and he appointed his wife to head a task force to come up with a solution. First Lady Hillary Clinton, now a senator from New York and the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, assembled a group of the nation’s leading thinkers on health care and got to work. The Clinton task force eventually put forth a proposal that sank like a stone. There were many reasons for this failure, but the most instructive of all was that the Clintons did not build adequate support for the proposal among several key stakeholders including, incredibly, Congress and the American people. The Clinton proposal was complicated, and it became an easy target for opponents, most notably health insurance companies and small businesses, who […]
Mar 1st, 2007 by Vital Archives
Out of the shower and up to the mic
By Brian Jacobson + Photos By Kat Berger It is a bitterly cold night in Milwaukee, and the idea of staying home and huddling around the warmth of a television set is alluring. Yet many brave souls venture out into the sub-zero darkness this Saturday evening. They’ve come to Frank’s Power Plant in Bay View to engage in the ancient Japanese practice of performing songs for a gathered audience. Until recently, karaoke (literally translated as “empty orchestra” ) fans in the greater Milwaukee area were hard-pressed to find more than a dozen weekly events. Developed in its present form in Japan around 1970 and imported to the states in the 1980s, the U.S. karaoke craze seemed to hit its zenith in the mid-1990s before going the way of the dinosaur and disco. But in the last few years, some funny things have happened involving consumer technology and pop culture, and karaoke has reared its sparkly head again. Now devotees can find a dozen events per night or more in Milwaukee alone, with midweek action of sometimes 20-25. Don’t blame it entirely on American Idol. Yes, the uber-popular contest show may have made people believe that stardom could be found with some colored spotlights, a stage and a wireless mic. But the current scene rarely involves contests for money. Hardly any even use a stage and spotlight. Nobody expects to become a star. HOPELESSLY DEVOTED The popularity of websites like singshot.com and video games like Karaoke Revolution certainly gave the genre a new shot in the arm. But let’s face it; it’s just not the same without a roomful of strangers and a slight tremble in the hand that holds the microphone. Karaoke’s new-found affection seems to be more about sentimental love for popular music from all decades and styles. Singers carry around that certain tune that speaks to them until they find themselves sharing with others. They bring their voices out of the shower or car seat and into the saloon. “I don’t know if it’s really more popular than ever,” says Moonlight Karaoke host Lee Seeber. “But I have been busier lately.” Seeber reflects on his craft as he sets up at Mo’na’s on a Tuesday night. He distributes piles of songbooks to the gathering score of patrons, who set upon them, scribbling out catalog numbers – mostly for country and ‘80s tunes. He got his start as a karaoke enthusiast at a local bar some seven years ago. One night, he was given a chance to take over the hosting gig. Nowadays he packs up his minivan as many as four or five nights a week and takes his own show on the road. Needless to say, he’s seen his share of performances. “Some people think they’re great…and while they’re not bad, they’re not good,” states Seeber. “[But] some are actually incredibly great. They’re usually the ones that don’t care and don’t flaunt it.” Far to the south in Wind Lake, super-sports bar Kelly’s Bleachers II is packed […]
Mar 1st, 2007 by Brian Jacobson
Consolidating control of the Titanic
By Donald Kaul Admit it, you were fooled. You listened to that wimpy State of the Union address and you thought President Bush was in full retreat before an angry electorate. Yet again you misunderestimated the man. The retreat was merely tactical. Less than a week after the speech, he returned to the fray, guns blazing. He signed a Presidential directive that, in effect, grants him control over all federal rules and policies developed to protect public health, safety, the environment, civil rights and privacy. The directive, which does not need Congressional approval, requires regulatory agencies to have a policy office run by a political appointee who makes sure proposed regulations don’t cost the regulated industries too much. (And by “too much,” I would imagine, they mean “anything.” ) In the past, such regulations have been the responsibility of career civil servants and scientists. From now on, political hacks will be running the show, preferably ones who don’t believe in abortion, stem cell research or evolution. If you liked Katrina, you’re going to love the next two years. As Rep. Henry Waxman (D-California) said: “The executive order allows the political staff at the White House to dictate decisions on health and safety issues, even if the government’s own impartial experts disagree. This is a terrible way to govern, but great news for special interests.” It occurs to me that what President Bush is doing, in his way, is resurrecting the administration of Richard Nixon. Like Bush, Nixon tried to put his political operatives at key positions in virtually every department of the government, to better exercise power. Like Bush, he wire-tapped his enemies, opened their mail and spied on them. He also had a burglary team working for him and we don’t know whether President Bush has one of those – yet. The genius of Bush, however, is that while Nixon had to resign his Presidency and nearly went to jail for his crimes, Bush commits them openly and no one lays a glove on him. It’s the War on Terror, don’t you know. Everything he does is legal because he’s a war president and he says it’s legal. It’s a terrific hustle and you have to give him credit for pulling it off. So he’s down in the polls a little, so what? The people he’s taking care of now will take care of him down the road. I do worry about our vice president, however. He seems to have gone a little…I don’t know…soft in the head, I guess you’d call it. A couple of weeks ago Mr. Cheney sat down with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and answered critics of the war in Iraq. “Hogwash.” That’s what he called the criticisms. The war, far from being a failure, has been a string of “enormous successes,” he said. We got rid of Saddam, we got rid of his sons, we established a democracy in the Middle East, we gave the Iraqis a constitution. “The world is much safer today because […]
Mar 1st, 2007 by Vital Archives
