And we couldn’t agree more. Well actually, we prefer the terms inane, manipulative, evil, and fucking retarded. [From the Independent via HuffPost]

John Prescott has given vent to his private feelings about the Bush presidency, summing up George Bush’s administration in a single word: crap.
The Deputy Prime Minister’s condemnation of President Bush and his approach to the Middle East could cause a diplomatic row but it will please Labour MPs who are furious about Tony Blair’s backing of the United States over the bombing of Lebanon.
The remark is said to have been made at a private meeting in Mr Prescott’s Whitehall office on Tuesday with Muslim MPs and other Labour MPs with constituencies representing large Muslim communities. Muslim MPs wanted to press home their objections to British foreign policy and discuss ways of improving relations with the Muslim communities.
Some of the MPs present said yesterday they could not remember Mr Prescott making the remark. He has been at pains to avoid breaking ranks with Mr Blair in public although he is believed to have raised concern about the bombing of Lebanon at a private meeting of the Cabinet. But Harry Cohen, the MP whose constituency includes Walthamstow, scene of some of the police raids in the alleged “terror plot” investigation, said Mr Prescott had definitely used the word “crap” about the Bush administration.
“He was talking in the context of the ‘road map’ in the Middle East. He said he only gave support to the war on Iraq because they were promised the road map. But he said the Bush administration had been crap on that. We all laughed and he said to an official, ‘Don’t minute that’.” Mr Cohen added: “We also had a laugh when he said old Bush is just a cowboy with his Stetson on. But then he said, ‘I can hardly talk about that can I?’
read it all here

recently released prequel to Left Behind
As conflicts continue to multiply in the Middle East, Rapture-Ready evangelicals have begun to sound the Armageddon alarm. Many evangelicals, such as John Hagee and “prophet” Joel Rosenberg are advocating a preemptive strike on Iran, to help hasten the Rapture.
Our Jesusy brother evangelicalright.com has the story.

Will Farrell from Talledega Nights Pat Boone
Not content offending the musical tastes of billions worldwide, ‘musician’ and evangelical nutjob Pat Boone is now a regular columnist at WorldnetDaily. As blogger Ed Brayton jokes: “I guess Perry Como was busy.” His columns include diverse topics such as “What is an American patriot?” (July 8) and “Are you an American patriot?” (July 1). Here are some of Pat’s other highlights:
From Lay off Mel Gibson, for Christ’s sake!

I know both individuals personally, Mel and Christ—and my friend Mel is no anti-Semite….
Mel Gibson anti-semitic? Don’t make me cry.
Gradually, people are being reminded that he’s always been exceedingly ”hyper,” possibly obsessive-compulsive, wildly energetic and driven, and he’s admittedly an addictive personality. ..
[H]e deserves our empathy, the forgiveness for which he has asked abjectly, and our understanding of the all-too-human condition from which he suffers—humanness.

From The ACLU: Malignant—and growing

“Sit down, Mr. Citizen. I hate to tell you this, but I guess the best thing is just to spit it out. You’ve got cancer.
“And not just a localized cancer, but a malignant, fast-spreading strain of cancer. It’s already attacked all your vital organs and is infiltrating through your circulatory system to even your outer extremities. Unless we take every action available to us and attack this disease on all fronts with the strongest possible treatments, you will surely die a painful, lingering, wasting death.[...] Well—whether we realize it or not—you and I are living right now under such a sentence, such a diabolical attack. The disease is called ACLU.

And from Please, leave marriage alone

I feel I’m watching a “reality” version of “Gulliver’s Travels,” in which a sleeping giant is gradually staked to the ground by little people and rendered helpless while he slumbers….
I do feel we’re suffering, as a nation, a moral trichinosis—that little talked-about malady that occurs when worms, gaining entry through poorly cooked pork, infiltrate a person’s muscles, gradually sapping strength and weakening the body beyond recovery…
[A]s recently as the 1950s our Supreme Court acknowledged that America is a Christian nation, founded on biblical principles…
[T]he apparent necessity to codify in the Constitution that the institution of marriage is to be confined and defined as a contract between one man and one woman is, to millions of stunned Americans, a very ominous “sign of the times,” if not of “the last days” described in the first chapter of Romans in the New Testament.
Anybody who hasn’t read that graphic depiction of an “end time” society and still cares what the Bible says should turn there immediately and fasten his seatbelt. It reads like a Gallup poll description of life in America today.

Time to toss out that Pat Boone Christmas record. You can read all of Pat’s *inspiring* columns here.

Seymour Hersh
Seymour Hersh has another essential article in this week’s New Yorker. According to Hersh, the United States helped Israel devise a plan for attacking Hezbollah, before the July 12th kidnappings even occured:

The Bush Administration… was closely involved in the planning of Israel’s retaliatory attacks. President Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney were convinced, current and former intelligence and diplomatic officials told me, that a successful Israeli Air Force bombing campaign against Hezbollah’s heavily fortified underground-missile and command-and-control complexes in Lebanon could ease Israel’s security concerns and also serve as a prelude to a potential American preemptive attack to destroy Iran’s nuclear installations, some of which are also buried deep underground….
[B]oth the Israeli and the U.S. governments, Israel had devised a plan for attacking Hezbollah—and shared it with Bush Administration officials—well before the July 12th kidnappings….
‚”The White House was more focussed on stripping Hezbollah of its missiles, because, if there was to be a military option against Iran’s nuclear facilities, it had to get rid of the weapons that Hezbollah could use in a potential retaliation at Israel. Bush wanted both. Bush was going after Iran, as part of the Axis of Evil, and its nuclear sites, and he was interested in going after Hezbollah as part of his interest in democratization, with Lebanon as one of the crown jewels of Middle East democracy.”

Read it all here.

Deerhoof to play McCarren Park on Sunday, it’s FREE!
In addition to LOTS of great music this weekend at McCarren Park, SummerStage will feature live music by DJ Talvin Singh w/ Asha Puthli, Prefuse 73, DJ Spooky, and Outernational on Sunday. From Flavorpill:

The UK’s Talvin Singh graces SummerStage with a DJ set to show why his tablatronic sound —which fuses cutting-edge techno and drum ‘n bass styles with South Asian rhythms and melodies — made an indelible mark on the international clubscape. Indian legend Asha Puthli plays her ethereal four-octave vocals off various guests, including Gang Starr’s MC Guru. Glitch-hop and post-rock musician/producer Prefuse 73 keeps fans guessing with an ever-morphing live set-up, but there’s never doubt of its impact on listeners’ grey matter. DJ Spooky acts as today’s impresario, between curating today’s lineup and dropping beats of his own. Outernational open with Latin and bhangra-bolstered agit-punk.

For info about McCarren Park, click here
For info about SummerStage, click here
Note: Anyone looking to trade Saturday night Sonic Youth tickets for Neko Case tickets (she’s playing McCarren 8/24/06) please mail us at mail@freewilliamsburg.com

Image c/o NYTimes
We’ve gotten so many emails about McCarren Park Pool in the past several months, we’ve finally put together an information page. Click here for the full calendar of events as well as directions to McCarren Park. This weekend, the Pool will host lots of great music:
August 11
Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Sonic Youth with Blood on the Wall
August 12
Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Sonic Youth with Awesome Color
AUGUST 13 – FREE
Deerhoof
Beirut
Apollo Sunshine
The Harlem Shakes
DJ: Questlove

James S. Robbins (the S stands for shitbag and stupid, depending on the article)
You know, because he’s a moron. [From National Review via ThinkProgress]

Personally, I don’t know what all the shouting is about. Global warming is great. Granted, maybe it isn’t really happening, and if it is there are strong reasons to doubt that humans have anything to do with it. But if the world is warming, I say ‚”bravo.” People in most parts of the globe should have no objection to a warmer, wetter climate. If the aliens were watching they’d conclude we were making our planet more habitable on purpose.

Katrina was *great* too! And who doesn’t love a little good, old fashioned, apocalyptic disaster? The National Review is typically pretty retarded if not insidious, but this takes the cake.

Tonight there will be a free showing of the classic 1971 film The French Connection at McCarren Park. The weather should be nice so check it out. It’s scheduled to begin at 7pm.

Insert your own fat joke here. From NY Times.

Over the past week, boaters and bloggers have been energetically tracking a manatee in its lumbering expedition along the Atlantic Coast and up the Hudson River…
The manatee has been spotted at 23rd Street near Chelsea Piers, West 125th Street, and later in Westchester County. It appeared to be healthy.
Randy Shull, a boater from Ossining, spotted the manatee about 4:30 p.m. yesterday while his 21-foot boat was floating at Kingsland Point Park in Sleepy Hollow.
‚”It was gigantic,” Mr. Shull said. ‚”When we saw it surface, its back was just mammoth.”
It is unusual, but not unprecedented for manatees to travel this far north — the seaweed-munching sea creatures are commonly associated with the warm waters of Florida.

The always reliable RBally has a great Neko Case show available for download. Check out Neko Case at Mojo’s in Columbia, MO, July 10, 2002 here. [Thanks Kevin]