Janet Reno lays siege to Bloodshot Records

My associate, Mike, just said the most punk rock thing anyone has ever said to me:

I've never had a bad time in Wisconsin, even when I was on vacation and got hit by a car. I spent the rest of the trip skateboarding off the end of the pier into the lake.

Music News!

• Barry Manilow's "Mandy:" more effective than fines, community service, probation or jail time.

• Wu-Tang is pissing off assholes with yachts. All is right with the world.

• The Starbucks in the lobby of my building is playing "Get Up, Stand Up" right now.

• Move over, Shatner! Janet Reno is releasing a 3 disc "Song of America" compilation album. It features respectable artists such as Andrew Bird and Bettye LaVette, as well as crazy hippies like Devendra Banhart and numerous irrelevant MOR performers like John Mellencamp and Janis Ian. Unfortunately, Reno herself does not sing, which means that I will not be purchasing this compilation. (Note: The Waco Brothers are not on this compilation. Coincidence?)
  

Actual News!

• THIS IS WORTH READING: Bush is offering up a nominee for Attorney General who appears to be heading for an uneventful confirmation. However, the party in the majority, i.e. Democrats, have publicly stated that the confirmation hearings won't even start until the White House provides documents related to the numerous crimes of the last Attorney General. So in the meantime, the White House is replacing non-controversial interim Attorney General Paul Clement with Peter Keisler, whose appointment to a Federal appellate bench has been blocked by Democrats. Keisler is known for, among other things, shaping policy at Guantanamo Bay and for weakening the government's racketeering case against major tobacco companies.

• Another interesting AG footnote from TPM:

  Mukasey's background is in public corruption. And apparently he's a bit of a stickler about these things, from, say, the Pat Fitzgerald school (or maybe it's vice versa). In any case, that may not be great news for Sen. Stevens and various members of the House who are hanging by a thread.

• Barack Obama discovers the absolute BEST INSULT you can throw at a rival during a primary battle: "I commend Senator Clinton for her health care proposal," said Obama (Ill.). "It's similar to the one I put forth last spring."

• I love Barack Obama to death, but he managed to fill a sentence with every political buzz word he could think of without having a single ounce of meaning in it:

  "But the real key to passing any health-care reform is the ability to bring people together in an open, transparent process that builds a broad consensus for change."

• Tasteless.

• Chris Dodd takes a bold liberal stance and declares Habeas Corpus a good thing.

• What the hell? Crazy person sues God. And he holds public office.
  

• Dick Cheney only respects soldiers that he personally gets to send to their doom.

• Dear Bill Richardson: I think you're really awesome and capable and smart. Stop proving me wrong. Love, Tim. P.S. -- I'm sorry, but you're just not a very good poster child for battling obesity.

• My favorite Republican, Arlen Specter, is pissing me off. I've said it before and I'll say it again: no matter what you teach kids, and no matter how ruthlessly you control them, they're going to find a way to have sex, so you need to focus on teach them how to do it responsibly. Sex isn't something wayward kids with bad supervision just fall into: lust is a genetic mandate. Dammit people, work the problem!

• Harry Reid caves again . . . but this time to his support base. It's about damn time.

• Remember, kids, devo is an adjective and not just a band name. It's short for "de-evolution" and it's alive and well and asking questions to GOP presidential candidates that aren't there to hear them.

In conclusion, the Reason blog just referred to notorious homophobe Alan Keyes as "the Bruce Vilanch of presidential politics." In other news, I'm going to spend the rest of the evening scrubbing my exploded brains off the wall behind me.