Miscellaneous 138

1) Uncle Tupelo was sooooooooo ahead of its time. The fact that anyone could put together such disparate elements as punk rock, grunge, twang, and Woody Guthrieesque folk is something that, while I suppose that somebody else would have eventually come up with it, supremely caught everybody off-guard (including the critics, many of who were very lukewarm at first). But the fact that those four albums (now some 20 years old) still sound fresher than 90-95% of present day music is a testament to just how truly banging it was (and is).............2) Georgia Tech will probably never be as good as the University of Georgia in football anymore. a) Their facilities aren't as good (though, yes, legendary Grant Field at Bobby Dodd Stadium still has its charming elements - the fact that the place literally shakes when the home-crowd rumbles). b) Their academic standards are vastly superior. And c) they play in the ACC while Georgia plays in the SEC.......But with the recruiting class that Coach Johnson is presently assembling for 2013, the Jackets should at least be competitive for the next four years. Amongst the major studs that Tech has gotten verbals from include East Point Georgia's Shamire Devine, a 360 pound offensive tackle who can squat close to 500 pounds, Forestville Maryland's Darius Commissong, a 285 pound defensive tackle who can run a 4.8 forty, Egg Harbor City New Jersey's Damon Mitchell, a quarterback who can run and pass with equal efficiency, and Fort Walton Beach Florida's John Marvin, a ball-hawking cornerback with size, speed, and a 36" vertical leap.......These are all players that could have easily gone elsewhere but were persuaded to come to Tech. Here's to hoping that Coach Johnson can somehow do something with them.............3) I guess that you can add Jonah Goldberg to the long list of people who don't like moderates (Ann Coulter, wd, Anna Quindlen, amongst the others). I saw him on C-Span being interviewed by Nia Malika Henderson and he said that he had more respect for folks like Markos Moulitsis and Rachel Maddow than he did for folks like David Gergen and David Brooks. He apparently likes the ideological purity of the former and the fact that they're ever so willing to fight for something. Yeah, huh?............4) Of course what Mr. Goldberg doesn't seem to realize is that moderates are also willing to fight for things. We just happen to be a little more judicious in picking our battles (and, no, we aren't moderate on EVERYTHING, hello!) and we certainly don't think that "compromise" is a dirty word. I mean, I know that some folks need to have that blue-plate special and all but, really, 24/7/365/ad infinitum/burp? Come on!............5) And there isn't any "might" about it. Rachel Maddow got it completely wrong when it came to Governor Walker and the Wisconsin deficit. The woman either didn't read the entire memo (in which case she committed journalistic malpractice) or she did and tried to pull a fast one on her ever-lovingly gullible audience (in which case she committed a bald-faced lie)....And the fact that she didn't even get the right year here (Mr. Walker's tax cuts weren't to take effect until the following calender year), for Christ! Absolutely disgraceful/Hannityesque.