Late of the beloved anarcho-syndicalist one hit wonders Chumbawamba, Danbert Nobacon has released The Library Book Of The World, backed by the musical stylings of the Pine Valley Cosmonauts.
For our purposes the highlight is the song Nixon Is My Dentist, sadly not available on the artist’s MySpace page.
We can enjoy the lyrics though, as the late President contemplates the devastation Bush has wrought:
“NIXON JOLTS, BOLT UPRIGHT IN HIS GRAVE
BANGS HIS HEAD ON THE LID … … HE NEEDS A SHAVE
PAT LOOKS ROPEY, SHE’S SEEN BETTER DAYS
THEY CAN’T BELIEVE HOW WELL THE PRESS BEHAVES
(HE SAYS) YOU DON’T KNOW HOW GOOD YOU GOT IT SON”
Fantastic Freedom on the march!
From some Bush doners much is expected. To some, often the same ones, much is given.
“I knew nothing about the deal. I need to know exactly how it happened,†said the President. He referred to the announcement that Texas oilman Ray Hunt had been granted an oil concession in Iraqi Kurdistan, the one happy corner of Bush’s New Middle East.
Hunt is not a stranger to Bush, or presidential monumentalism . The New York Times’ Paul Krugman recently pointed to his Bush appointments. Hunt also gave Southern Methodist University $35 million to buy the land for the expected Bush Library. And he grew up in a a mansion designed as a Mount Vernon replica.
Schlesinger, Schlesinger Junior, the Chicago Tribune, all have surveyed Presidential Greatness.
Now Norman Markowitz joins the line of hero searchers.
Blogging at “Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist-Maoist*,” Brother Markowitz asks and answers, “George W. Bush: The Worst President In US History?”
He places Bush just above James Buchanan in the Presidential Badness Sweepstakes, and sinking fast:
“It is purely from an “American Centric†position that Buchanan maintains a slight lead over Bush. And of course (the second caveat), the Bush administration still has around 20 months left to overtake Buchanan. Let’s do Bush a favor. The broad left, the labor movement, the anti-Iraq war movement, all progressive movements and the Democratic Party should act now to prevent a discredited administration from extending its disastrous policies. By using constitutional means to get rid of the Bush administration and the “Reagan legacy†in terms of policy, we can keep Bush below James Buchanan on the list of “worst presidents†in American history. To conclude this article on an explicitly Marxist note, which asked a conventional question and used a presidential comparison model to answer it, we should remember that a revolutionary civil war followed the Buchanan administration.”
*”dedicated to ideologies of great communist leaders Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro and Kim Il Sung”
Road Trip!
What happens when some college kids with dim memories of history and poli sci class try to use the miricle of the Web to get strangers to pay for a meandering journey across this broad land?
Let’s go along and find out!
“What: A journey into the heart of America, to see American places and meet American people.
Where: Wherever the heart of America can be found, we’ll be there. 
When: August 25th, 2007 to December 25th, 2007
Why: (*Blues Brothers voice*) “We’re on a mission from God”[Click the link and be dumbstruck!],
or to find ourselves, to find America and to find Americans.
How: With a Ford Expedition, some money in our pockets, and your help!”
The youngsters have web pages, blogs, product placement opportunities, contributers, a twitter presence:
…..and nothing to say:
“American presidential libraries are always a great repository of American history because the President of America is always the symbolic leader of the nation during both times of peace and war as well as the symbolic leader during times of prosperity or a down economy. When we take our Journey Into the Heart of America road trip next fall it will not be possible to stop by every presidential library in the country but maybe we can hit up a few on the list below. For me (mike) as a recent graduate of political science I hope to really reconnect with my American history to remember where our country has come from so I can understand where we are headed.”Or something.
They provide links to US Presidents’ sites [only the nice ones – no losers!] and an appeal to the participatory interactive communityness that is web 2.0: “In addition to the rankings I have included links to information about how to visit each of the presidential landmarks while on a road trip. No matter what president’s party is, I’m sure each of these libraries would be very interesting. Let me know what you think!”
No visible point of view, just a vague invocation of “history.” Their place in history is to pay admission to museums.
Who hems our pants?
Thanks to the youngsters at postfoetry we learn that the Library of Congress is dumping it’s Presidential action figures, at half price!
Who wouldn’t want a doll which belts out such priceless pearls as “I believe again that the American people are capable of self control and of learning by their mistakes?”[Teddy Roosevelt of course!]
