Two Parts of Palmdale

I thought today I'd show you a bit of what Kay and Linus have done outside of Palmdale in case you're interested in seeking it out. First up is Linus of Hollywood playing bass and working with his friend (and personal guitar hero of mine) Paul Gilbert(vocals and guitar). The Drummer is Marcos Minneman. All 3 are just superb.

Linus tells me that when they toured behind this album, "Spaceship One", Paul bought them all space suits like they wear here to perform in. He said the ones Paul bought were much cooler, as in less hot to wear.

And then there's Kay Hanley. I'll make this short to avoid excessive gushing. You've heard Kay with Letters To Cleo and on the Josie & The Pussycats soundtrack. She did the theme to "My Friends Tigger & Pooh" among other things. The song she performs here is called "Galapagos" and it's from her first full solo cd "Cherry Marmalade" from 2002. Accompanied by USA Mike, aka Michael Eisenstein, who's also the lucky devil who is her husband and a great guitarist in his own right.

Be here tomorrow as we wrap up a first week and musical guest Palmdale.

Email me mnorton1972@gmail.com

Follow me on Twitter @colierrannd

I'm So Sorry Willow

I'd just like to say something directly to Willow Palin, if no one minds. Oh yea it's my blog.

Dear Willow,

I'm sure you try to be a decent person and let's face it, it can't be easy for you. Your mom is dragging you around the country so she can make millions in speaker's fees. Your dad is well, married to your mom. I can't imagine what that is like. I myself grew up in an abused household and I still can't imagine how bad you've got it.

So while it was shocking to read the hateful things you spewed on your Facebook page, I think I can understand why. No, no I don't think you've been abused but rather your actions are the unfortunate result of what is clearly bad parenting.

Obviously you were never taught, as I was, that saying hurtful things only hurts yourself. You might not have been taught that calling names changes no one's mind. You seem to only have been taught how to lash out, and for that, I am truly sorry.

While I am not your parent and I wasn't in a position to teach you these things, it's clear that my generation has failed yours. We've allowed slurs against gay people to go unchecked for too long. Now we're trying to combat it but unfortunately I think it's too late. And that brings me to my second apology to you Willow.

I have to apologize because where my generation dropped the ball, it's now up to yours to eradicate the hate and hurt that those words cause. You and your generation are going to have cut that language and attitude out of our society once and for all like the cancer it is. I wish I could take this burden from you but as I said, we've failed. For the sake of your children and the coming generations, I beg you, do not fail them.

Email me mnorton1972@gmail.com

Follow me on Twitter @Colierrannd

Palmdale-Secret Recipes

Instead of a song today I thought I'd share this behind-the-scenes video blog from our musical guest Palmdale as they film the video for "Here Comes The Summer"

I'm cribbing these videos from YouTube, check out the band's YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/wearepalmdale

Why Pelosi As Leader Is A Bad Idea

From the New York Times article here ,published Nov. 8,2006.

“I have said it before and I will say it again: Impeachment is off the table,” Pelosi, D-Calif., said during a news conference."

A war without reason, which BushCo. clearly lied to get us into. Secret meetings with energy companies, no bid contracts to Haliburton and Blackwater. Torture and indefinite detention without hearing or access to lawyers for the accused. And yet Nancy Pelosi decides that George W. Bush shouldn't have been impeached? WTF is that?

We now know that those secret meetings with energy giants led to the Deep Water Horizon disaster, the BP explosion in Texas and probably the mining disaster in Virginia. And yet no investigation happened under the Dem leadership in the House. Darrel Issa might be an asshat(ok, not maybe about it, he's an actual asshat), but he at least is standing by his ideals.

Nancy Pelosi got a lot of bills passed no doubt. She's an effective parliamentarian but she was more pushing conservative ideas and frankly, easy votes. Healthcare Reform was nice and the House passed it with a public option but I'm not convinced she pushed it through as a leader so much as she figured she could get the votes she wanted for it and knew the Senate would kill it.

The biggest problem with Nancy Pelosi as leader is almost the same problem we have with Harry Reid. Fear. They're afraid of what the other guy might do. We've seen it again and again where the House members don't want to vote because the Senate might vote differently. In fact we heard so last night on Olbermann and Ezra Klein is saying "I don't understand why they're caving on the (tax cuts)" but then informs Keith that the House wants the Senate to vote first. Of course the Republicans will look at Harry Reid angrily and threaten not to send him a Christmas card or something and mention the word "filibuster" and Reid will cave per usual.

But Democratic Party members have, for months now, made the case that Pelosi is a strong leader. In fact, they either say or imply, a stronger leader than Reid. Yet watch this clip of Nancy Pelosi appearing on Countdown with Keith Olbermann in October. The reason she's not a good leader begins at the 10:20 mark and it's quite stunning.

"We could have taken the vote and we would have won. But knowing the distortion that the Republicans would have applied to that, I said 'They're gonna be political,we're not giving it' ".

It's funny because I always thought that you do what is right, you stand by your beliefs and you let the other guy do what he's gonna do. She was afraid of what the GOP would do at some point in the campaign and thus she punted on what she says she believes in. The GOP don't do that. And could someone remind me who will control the House in January?

Far too long the Democratic Party leaders have been more afraid of the Republican Party than their own constituents. Pelosi no doubt will be the Majority Leader come January but I have to tell you, if we really want to move the country back to the left, back to being progressive who, ya know, make progress....we're gonna need new Dem leadership or another party. While this post might just seem like useless whining, we must remind ourselves daily that fear is what is going to ruin this country and who acted or didn't act out of fear.

Email me at mnorton1972@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter @Colierrannd

Copyright 2010 Michael J. Norton

Palmdale-"Happiness Has A Half-Life"

Continuing Palmdale as our first musical guest, here's "Happiness Has A Half-Life" from "Get Wasted".

Don't forget to check them out at wearepalmdale.com

Musical Guest: Palmdale

Palmdale is a duo of two of my favorite tweeps and musicians. Kay Hanley, singer for Letters To Cleo,singing voice for Josie in the "Josie and the Pussycats" movie and my favorite voice ever. Linus of Hollywood is a multi-instrumentalist and producer of, among others Bowling for Soup. He also co-wrote a favorite song of mine,"I Am Satan" with on of my favorite guitarists Paul Gilbert.

This song, "Here Comes The Summer" was from their first EP, "Get Wasted". They have a new EP out "How To Be Mean". Both are available at iTunes and Amazon and other places.

Follow them on Twitter @KayHanley and @linusdotson check out their site wearepalmdale.com where you can hear more of their fantastic music. Send them lots of love.

Follow me @Colierrannd and email me at mnorton1972@gmail.com

Welcome, I'm Michael.

We have a ton of them already,why another politics blog? Well, mainly this is sort of about me. I'm a writer. I've always been a writer. I'm a guitarist as well. These two things have been in my bloodstream for as long as I can remember. I can't remember ever really being anything else.

I hadn't, however, ever thought of writing in a serious way on politics and non-fiction things until last month. James over at Blogdog asked me to come write for him there. I found that I really enjoy writing on this. I enjoy making myself heard but better yet, I enjoy hearing the feedback. I enjoy hearing how wrong I am from one person and how right I am by another. I really enjoyed hearing from one reader that they had never thought of a certain topic the way I had presented it. Man, if that's not cool...

So why yet another political blog? Because I feel like I have something to say and that maybe I might bring a different perspective to some people. I have a philosophy that it's "just your/my opinion". When I say that, I mean it more than just that your opinion or mine is just one in millions. But also that it IS your opinion and it IS my opinion and both are valid and should be expressed.

I also would like to start a movement of Liberalism in this country.A movement of smart, curious, regular folk who believe like I do. Maybe a third or fourth political party, maybe not. But something to take on the entrenched system and make it better for all. I believe the only way to start this is to educate oneself which is what I'm attempting to do. We need people to stand up for liberal beliefs. Someone for example to push the Democratic party back to the left maybe. Sort of an intelligent left-wing version of the Tea Parties. Except without all the hate.

If you'd like to read the first of my posts to kick start the movement that I posted very shortly after election day 2010, go here.

So a few things you might want to know about me. I'm 38. My name is Michael J. Norton but you can call me Michael or Mike or even Col (a name I sometimes use online, I'll tell you that story sometime). Mr. Norton is my Grandpa, so let's knock that off before it starts. I live in Houston,TX presently but will soon be moving as the people I'm living with have been patient and more than helpful but really one can only ask so much of a friend for so long.Most likely I will be moving to the Hurricane Magnet known as Florida.

I'm single, no kids. I have an older brother who's gay and proud. I'm straight and proud too. I'm a Liberal. Capital "L". In fact, I may be more liberal than anyone you're likely to know in real life away from the internet. I believe in Medicare for All, single-payer universal health insurance that is paid for by tax dollars. Heck I even came up with my own plan for it. Need to type that up.

I believe in marriage equality, ending DADT, ending so-called "reality" tv. I believe women and men are 100% the same in ability and intelligence.I believe knowledge and learning are the answer to the question of the purpose of our existence. Towards that end, you might check out this post of mine.

I'm a musicoholic. I can't seem to live without a guitar and a shelf full of books and graphic novels. I'm a complete comic/superhero geek. Anything else you're going to have to ask.

You can email me at mnorton1972@gmail.com and follow me on Twitter @Colierrannd