“It’s life, man. It’s so surreal.”

The Onion AV Club interviews Ian MacKaye (touring with Amy Farina in The Evens).

Nothing revelatory, but nice to hear he hasn’t budged on the little stuff — artistic and commercial integrity, making his own music and supporting that of others on his own terms, life, etc.

“They don’t even know you exist.”

Dana Priest on the neglect suffered by injured vets at Walter Reed.

This is where the “lucky” wounded end up.

But never fear — Republicans are keeping us safe by calling for the hangings of Bush critics and fabricating Lincoln quotations.

Update: “The Hotel Aftermath”

Golf Clap

This is what passes for political bravery in Washington these days — non-binding resolutions.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s nice to see Congressmen finally doing their job for once as one-third of our Federal power structure. I just wish it hadn’t taken them more than four years.

But let’s get two things straight:

Jonah Goldberg — Still a Loser

Remember Jonah Goldberg’s bet with Juan Cole?  Two years ago, Goldberg “bet” Middle East scholar Juan Cole that by today, “Iraq won’t have a civil war, that it will have a viable constitution, and that a majority of Iraqis and Americans will, in two years time, agree that the war was worth it. I’ll bet $1,000 (which I can hardly spare right now).”  (Here’s Goldberg’s original piece.)

At the time, Cole turned down the offer and rightly pointed out that “here we have an prominent American media star, a man who sets opinion on the Sunday afternoon talking heads shows, betting on them as though they are greyhounds in a race. They are not human beings to him, but political playthings on which to be wagered. “

The least he could do is send 1,000 bucks to a local charity of his choice, but I really doubt he will.  Call me crazy.

“I Beat Bobby Flay at Makin’ Barbeque!”

Tony Bourdain on Food Network’s decline.

On Bobby Flay: “They seem to have noticed Bobby’s strong ‘negatives’ among some viewer responses during focus groups–and decided to respond by subjecting poor Bobby to THROWDOWN; the object of which is to allow every web-fingered geek with a backyard grill–or half-mad muffin maker to proclaim, ‘I beat Bobby Flay at makin’ barbeque!’ at the heart-warming end of show–before returning to tend their meth labs.”

On Rachael Ray: “Complain all you want. It’s like railing against the pounding surf. She only grows stronger and more powerful. Her ear-shattering tones louder and louder. We KNOW she can’t cook. She shrewdly tells us so. So. . . what is she selling us? Really? She’s selling us satisfaction, the smug reassurance that mediocrity is quite enough. She’s a friendly, familiar face who appears regularly on our screens to tell us that ‘Even your dumb, lazy ass can cook this!’”

On Sandra Lee: “Pure evil. This frightening Hell Spawn of Kathie Lee and Betty Crocker seems on a mission to kill her fans, one meal at a time.”

Potemkin Liberals

Poor Joe Klein. First, he gets shamed by Arianna Huffington. Next, Matt Taibbi unloads on him. (Taibbi is a one-trick pony when it comes to this stuff, but it’s a pretty good trick.)

There are two types of librul who get to show up on national television, and Klein is an archetypal example of the first — the cringing, sycophantic chicken little who shows up to tell Wolf, Chris, or Brit that the Democrats are doomed, doomed I tell ya, if they continue down their reckless, self-destructive path towards 1) opposing an Iraq occupation that most Americans, regardless of political affiliation, no longer support, 2) opposing an Imperial Presidency gone off the rails that most Americans, regardless of political affiliation, no longer support, or 3) opposing a disastrous foreign policy in general based on magical thinking rather than factual analysis that most Americans, regardless of political affiliation, no longer support.

Other examples of the “clean, articulate, non-threatening” librul include Alan Colmes, Bob Shrum (who serves double duty when he’s not out there actually losing elections for Democrats), Paul Begala, and perhaps most famously, Thomas Friedman (who even has a unit of time named after him.)