Springsteen’s Ticking Time Bomb

Glenn Beck, desperately trying to change the subject from his spurned affair with Eric Massa, blows the lid off a Shocking! conspiracy known only to Socialists who listen to popular-song lyrics:

How many of us go the Fourth of July fireworks display, we see the fireworks blasting, exploding in the air, and we hear “Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen, and we’re like, Yeah! Born in the USA! And you get filled with patriotic pride, and then you find out that Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” is anti-American!

Beck, who would have been twenty in 1984, clearly had access to better drugs than we did. Nobody told Ronnie’s Kids to mindlessly chant a palpably antiwar song — they did that all on their own. The rest of us have been laughing our asses off at them for twenty-six years.

Beck and crew call Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” “anti-American” [Media Matters]
89 Comments

Exactly!!!

This song was my first ever musical WTF? moment and where I started reading the lyrics to music.

This is almost as good as the RNC nearly using “American Woman” for Laura Bush’s entry music at the 2004(?) convention.

Apparently, somebody *told* them what the words were before they used it…

@ManchuCandidate: I have a collection of Broooooce demos from the “Born” period, and he does an acoustic version with a bunch of improvised lyrics that is really chilling.

And why exactly did John “It’s mine to lose…so I’ll lose!” Kerry not use “Fortunate Son” during his campaign against the Chimp? Fogerty was thinking about Bush-like legacies (“I ain’t no Senator’s son no no no”) when he wrote that ditty.

Luckily, “Held Up Without a Gun” is a paean to the Second Amendment, and of course “Promised Land” predicts the rapture, so Bruce can prevail.

Fucking asshat Beck was born to run at the mouth.

I sense a Howard Beal moment on the horizon.
he is now messing with the primal forces of nature.

Oh, this is jacking the thread, but I have to do this, I belong to a national association of lawyers who specialize in my field, and we have an email listserve we use to engage in very inclusive group discussions of current issues, and someone raised a technical question about valuing “diminution of value” claims such as those being brought against Toyota, and I posted this response:

“The eightfold path teaches that all things are impermanent, all things are unsatisfactory, and all things lack reality; therefore, all things are value-less. Since the vehicle never had any value to begin with, there can be no diminution of value. . . . If the customer’s experience with the vehicle can teach him that desire causes pain, and therefore the experience advances the customer towards enlightenment, then the customer has benefitted, and again, there are no damages.”

To my amazement, this was very very well-recieved. Maybe they are not all so bad.

ok
since I was embarrassed to ask and could not stand to live in a world where there are sexual terms I do not understand, I just googled snorkeling.

I wish I hadnt.

now I can never unknow that.

@Nabisco: Beck should listen to Bruce sing The Ghost of Tom Joad:

Men walkin’ ‘long the railroad tracks
Goin’ someplace there’s no goin’ back
Highway patrol choppers comin’ up over the ridge
Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge
Shelter line stretchin’ round the corner
Welcome to the new world order
Families sleepin’ in their cars in the southwest
No home no job no peace no rest

The highway is alive tonight
But nobody’s kiddin’ nobody about where it goes
I’m sittin’ down here in the campfire light
Searchin’ for the ghost of Tom Joad

He pulls prayer book out of his sleeping bag
Preacher lights up a butt and takes a drag
Waitin’ for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last
In a cardboard box ‘neath the underpass
Got a one-way ticket to the promised land
You got a hole in your belly and gun in your hand
Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock
Bathin’ in the city aqueduct

The highway is alive tonight
But where it’s headed everybody knows
I’m sittin’ down here in the campfire light
Waitin’ on the ghost of Tom Joad

Now Tom said “Mom, wherever there’s a cop beatin’ a guy
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where there’s a fight ‘gainst the blood and hatred in the air
Look for me Mom I’ll be there
Wherever there’s somebody fightin’ for a place to stand
Or decent job or a helpin’ hand
Wherever somebody’s strugglin’ to be free
Look in their eyes Mom you’ll see me.”

@Prommie: “The secret to bending the spoon is that there is no spoon.”

@Prommie:
Does that valueless include their pay??

@ManchuCandidate: Ah, no, right-living requires that one engage in an occupation that does no harm, it is considered necessary to be paid, to earn subsistence, so long as the work does no harm.

It is material things which ultimately are not real, and thus have no value, yet through the desire for them, cause such suffering.

@Nabisco: While we’re on the topic of music, I’ve been wanting (for, like, months) to tell you that every time I read your name, this song starts playing in my head.

@Prommie: “The central tenet of Buddhism is not ‘every man for himself.'”

@JNOVjr: WTF is up with your Gravatar? Are you Token in The Insane Clown Posse? WTF? Oh, and when I see “Nabisco” I read “Nah-bees-ko.” Since we’re sharing and shit.

@JNOVjr: Oh, and when you next exit your den of iniquity, will you please bring me that Hunter Thompson book I bought you in New Hope? Do you mind if I read it first?

@Mistress Cynica:
Who knew that current US political/economical discourse can be summed up by A Fish Called Wanda?

Genius.

@JNOVjr: I don’t know that I approve of your music. ;-P

@Mistress Cynica: “He’s so stupid, he thinks the Gettysburg Address is where Lincoln lived.”

@JNOV: I just switched it, but it’s not showing that for me yet so it’s either Shigeru Miyamoto or Kel Mitchell.
@JNOV: No prob.
@JNOV: Try this one out. Same band. There’s this one, too, but it’s a bit more, uh… disturbing, I guess I could say.

@JNOVjr: Looks like Kel with an orange wig, thanks, and the song wasn’t all that bad — I had to look up the lyrics.

@JNOVjr: @JNOV: You two remind me of spouses who write on each other’s walls on the Book of Face.

@Mistress Cynica: That movie seems to come up a lot here. I really need to see it again, as I barely remember it from a single viewing years ago.

@flippin eck: You really must. If you memorize enough lines you will always have a witty comeback in just about any situation.

@JNOVjr: Hmm, I’m hoping it’s cuz there are a coupla run-ons there that sound vaguely like “Nabisco”….hope it’s not cuz I’m guilty of anything else.

BTW, that System there is some decent punk-lite, pretty catchy riffs and all. Dip deeper into the well, tho’, grasshopper. Here’s something for ya.

@JNOV: <3

@flippin eck: Yeah. It’s nice to run into him online, and usually we’re in the same room when it happens. He did bring me the book, and I actually went and spoke to him in his lair, so we’ve laid eyes on each other today.

@Nabisco: :-*

@flippin eck:
and your comment reminds me of a horrifying FB incident yesterday.
my boyfriend at age 13 and my boyfriend at age 19 started a shoving match right out there on my wall. then, of course, the stepmonster has to chime in with “i’ll take RB any day” which inspired bachelor #2 to ask of her, how do you know? you never met me?
i couldn’t hit delete fast enough.

also i need help. i just came home from errands and found myself singing this along with the radio to sergio with tears streaming down my face:
these eyes, these eyes will never ever ever see a love like i had with youuuuuuuuu. i’m seeing the doc at 4:15.

@ManchuCandidate: Aristotle was not Belgian.

@flippin eck: Jesus woman, yes. The fashions will look dated, but damn that is a great movie. I may have to pull out my copy and watch it tonight.

@Prommie:

“i have dresses smarter than you. calling you stupid is an insult to stupid people”

@flippin eck:

yes, you must!

@baked: The London Underground is not a political movement.

@baked:
And I’m sure you’re fond of this interchange between Archie and Wanda:

“You are the sexiest, most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my entire life.”

“Get me my drink.”

I have no earthly clue what you guys are talking about. I feel like Benedick all of a sudden.

@SanFranLefty:

“my daughter porcia…”
“why did you name your daughter after a car?”

y’know “wanda” is somewhat obsure.
i don’t know what to make of the stinquer obsession about it, but i LOVE that i can use the lines here and everyone gets it.
same with knowing which dude abides.
tommie…this is critical viewing.

@Tommmcatt Say Relax: Kevin Kline’s best performance, the high point of which is repeatedly yelling “assHOOOOOlllllEEE.”

@Prommie: “You fucking British think you’re so fucking superior…”

@baked: A musical?? I can’t fathom it. The dialogue is the reason for the movie’s brilliance. You can’t replace it with song.

@Prommie:
and has an oscar to prove it.

“k-k-k-ken is c-c-c-coming to k-k-k-kill me !!!!”

@SanFranLefty:

“You fucking British think you’re so fucking superior…”
begins the best soliloquy in film history.
i go lookie for it.

i see your point, but i can’t help getting excited about my fave movie and fave medium hooking up.
the lyrics will have to be just as funny and john cleese IS at the helm….

“ken, we can’t hide our feelings for each other anymore”

somebody stop me.

It’s a Buddhist meditation technique, focuses your aggression. The monks used to do it before they went into battle.

Otto West: You, pompous, stuck-up, snot-nosed, English, giant, twerp, scum-bag, fu**-faced, di**head, a****le!
Archibald “Archie” Leech: How very interesting. You’re a true vulgarian, aren’t you?

@baked:

“It’s an X-K-Red-27 technique.”

@Prommie:
“You are the vulgarian, you fuck.”

“Otto: Oh, you English are *so* superior, aren’t you? Well, would you like to know what you’d be without us, the good ol’ U.S. of A. to protect you? I’ll tell you. The smallest fucking province in the Russian Empire, that’s what! So don’t call me stupid, lady. Just thank me.
Wendy: Well, *thank* you for popping in and protecting us.
Otto: If it wasn’t for us, you’d all be speaking *German!* Singing “Deutschland, Deutschland über alles…”

found part of it anyway. the memory alone of him singing Deutschland is making me pee.

@baked:
I have “DIS-A-POINTED!!!” running through my head now.

And Vietnam? It was a tie.

@baked: @SanFranLefty: My brother once went into that rant on a particularly trying day in London. And “DIS-A-POINTED!!!” is practically the family motto, along with “Could be worse. Could be raining.” from another Stinque fave.

ADD: Jesus, I love you people.

T/J (i hear sounds of relief)

StinqueSport:

lefty, our last death defying scrabble match was intended for us to beat up dodger after he got all cocky about beating us. started out well, then last minute you sprint to the finish. time for a new game?
other word nerd stinquers welcome.
but if you don’t know the word qat or neve, we will crush you.
c’mon all you smarty pants…we need some new blood. (to let)

Never seen it.

But I will remedy that this weekend.

@SanFranLefty:

“viet nam was a tie” there goes another pair of panties!

i say “DIS-A-POINTED every day. no really.
no one knows wtf i’m saying. par.

next up? “i don’t roll on shabbas”

TJ #2: Massa and other scandal plagued dems need to hire this guy as a coach:

In 1985, a married 30-year-old man sat in a hot tub with 15-year-old girl who worked for him. They were naked. In 2002, he gave the woman $150,000. Now, the man is the majority leader of the Utah House.

After Garn, with his wife beside him, made his shocking admission Thursday, fellow lawmakers “gave him thunderous applause for his honesty and embraced him,” according to the AP. Garn had been instrumental in passing a series of ethics bills through the legislature.

Also, Tiger? This guy is much better than Ari.

@Mistress Cynica: Is the former 15-year-old his second or third wife? (and I mean 2d or 3d spouse in the Utahan sense, not the sense our friend baked would use it)

@baked: Gawd, I can’t wait to get home and watch the movie again.

@baked:
One more for you:
“I looked at the clock… because I was saying to myself… It’s five to seven, where could he be going with that sawed off shotgun? “

@baked: You guys bled me dry. It’s like I didn’t even show up. So sad.

@baked: This aggression will not stand, man.

@baked:

“Winners, eh? Just like in North Vietnam?*

and

“So I thought to myself ‘where could he be going at 8 o’clock in the morning with that sawed-off shotgun?”*

*My fave moments. We totally need a rewatch : )

@Original Andrew:
“it was a TIE !!”

@SanFranLefty:
i’m sooo going to the vid store any minute, then meet my supplier, have a friendly smokefilled car chat, then off to the shrink.

/i love you people…and i’m NOT drunk

@baked:

“I Wendy–I Wanda(!)–I w-w-wonder…”

(hugs)

@Capt Howdy:

Sassy Gay Friend saves Juliet

“I think you’re fourteen, and you’re an idiot. You took a roofie from a priest.” LOLZ!

@baked: You don’t OWN the DVD? just think of the savings in rental fees. I know what I’m getting you for Hannukah this year.

So I’m the only one around here to note the fine quality of that ass?

Noje, back me up here. You remember that video where he was all sweaty and shaking it around in that studly NJ way? Right. THAT ass.

@Benedick von Trapp:

I noticed. I just wasn’t going to say anything.

@SanFranLefty:
oh lefty, what i owned that melted/rotted/disappeared from storage could fill, well, a storage locker. i had a thousand. i’m down to titanic and bakettes bat mitvah. i lerved netflix, but sacrifices had to be made. a lot of you are very friendly with your ice-scrapers–i’m not wearing socks.
decent vid store.
after this wanda afternoon, and a meeting with rastafriend, i didn’t get to rent in time! but i was laughing like such a hyena at the shrink, he put me on MORE meds! just took 2, i’ll let you know if it’s something to get excited about.
facebook friends: the feud continues, shrink got a good chuckle.

@Benedick von Trapp: Honestly, the only Springsteen video I can recall offhand is where he dances with the chick in the audience.

Then again, I’ve gone all these years thinking that was a hanky in his back pocket.

@JNOV: will you please bring me that Hunter Thompson book I bought you

I’m trying to imagine my mother asking me that. It’s not working.

@nojo:
Im pretty sure it was a hanky as some point.
when the ass was even better.

@nojo: That was no chick, that was Courtney Cox Arquette.

@flippin eck: @Tommmcatt Say Relax: I saw it when it came out, but it didn’t register on me like the Marauding Hordes here. So yes, weekend Netflix for me too.

@Mistress Cynica: Incipient fogeyism: I will go to my grave forever associating “Arquette” with Cliff, aka Charley Weaver.

@Tommmcatt Say Relax:
Better if only because the nurses removed the catheter today. Happy days. I can pee again.

Still hurt, but mostly from my body relearning to digest again (bloaty and gassy.)

@ManchuCandidate:

I remember that from my surgeries. Not fun. Of cource, my surgeries were on my legs so my not eating only lasted a day or so… I can’t imagine what yours will be like.

Finally home and ready to queue up Wanda but VH-1 is airing one of my other favorite movies, Oh Brother Where Art Thou?

Dilemma.

@ManchuCandidate: Hope you didn’t puke when the tube was removed. When I had tubes removed post-surgery it was so gross and painful that I puked for about two hours over everyone and everything even though I hadn’t eaten solids for three days. If you had tubes going through flesh, then let’s not talk about scars. Hint: nothing works. Don’t waste your money on Vitamin E, or even the prescription shit. The only thing that helps tube scars go away is time and hiding it from the sun for a few years. Sort of.

@ManchuCandidate: Dude, so glad you can pee again. Celebrate by pissing your name, or at least a few initials, on the smock of Nurse Ratched. If you’re up to it. You can always save it up.

Srsly, glad you’re on the mend.

@SanFranLefty:
Watching Wanda.

OMFG, forget about the dated fashions in the movie.

It’s been a while that I was this sober at the start of the movie.

The images of the circa-1987 computers are making me howl.

/Hush your mouths, Flippin, Mellbell, and JNOV Jr. Do NOT want to hear what you young ones are thinking.

And don’t even start in on the cars.

Jesus Christ on a stick, I am feeling REEEEALLLY old now.

@baked:

“Even if you were my brother I’d still want to fuck you.”

“NO ITALIAN!”

@nojo: Haha! Ugh. Yeah.

I’ve got a friggin’ ear worm, and The Song Eraser, namely “Electric Avenue,” is NOT working.

I’ve got this friggin’ GODSPELL song stuck in my head — the one about Psalm 137 or whatever about being on the river in Babylon and being made to stepinfetchit for the Babylonians.

Sing us one of the songs of Zion
but how can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?

I left out the part about the dashing of babies.

@ManchuCandidate: Oh, Manchu! Glad you’re on the mend — stay away from broccoli, dairy and beans.

@SanFranLefty: See! If I had the soundtrack to that, I wouldn’t be stuck in Godspell Hell.

@JNOV: Preeeeeee-pare ye, the way of the Lord…

My excuse: junior-high band.

@baked: Ummm..what do I have to do to become a shrink in T&C? Because that sounds like an awesome job especially if I join up with a Rastaman. Or maybe it’s only in California you can hang out a psychology/women’s studies degree with a pot dealer and call it a holistic organic mental health provider?

“Pork away, fuck her blue”

How could we have forgotten a line like that?

@SanFranLefty: My “Weeds” marathon* here has me under the impression that it wouldn’t be so bad to live in suburban hell on the left coast, if there are so many adults on grass all the time. Oh, and also not to mention if many of the wimminz deliver baked goods.

*”Marathon” defined as a couple of episodes a night, alternated with a couple of episodes of this season’s “Mad Men”. No Netflix here, so I’ve got “original copies” of “Invictus” and “The Wrestler” to get through this weekend.

@SanFranLefty:

“oh brother…” another fave. as i’ve said, ethan and joel and their wife frances can do no wrong.

RB is dragging me to north and west caicos today…to see exactly what i’m looking at out the window right now. i’m so excited, can you tell.

must run..meeting the boat at 9.

congrats manchu! the tube is the worst. i remember the gagging. and they had to put it back in! while i was awake! so glad you’re on the mend. no seeds or nuts for you!!!

lefty, i dunno. he has a diploma on the wall from some english school and he’s very nice and gives me drugs.

i’ve been toying with the idea of taking the brittish bar…don’t encourage me.

off to adventures…maybe a cute tourist man will be on the trip.
see ya later kids xoxoxo

@Nabisco: What season of Weeds are you on? It jumps the shark for a while in Season Four, but they pull it back in Season Five.

Mr. SFL and I are caught up on all episodes of Weeds and MM on DVD – next season of MM comes out next week!

@SanFranLefty:
Nope. Just relief and great joy. No one should ever experience living with a catheter for two weeks. I actually counted down the hours. It was a great effort in patience.

Most pain now is in my gut muscles and lower back (sore from taking all the weight.)

@JNOV:
Actually I was bad and didn’t avoid them. I’ve been eating lots of Beano to counteract it.

@all: Thanks. It’s been a rough few months and it was great to have your friendship and chance to vent.

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