THE DANGER ZONE IS EVERYWHERE

The Curtis Mayfield song The Danger Zone was recorded by Ray Charles and issued as the B-side of Hit the Road, Jack, Charles's 1961 hit.


The Danger Zone

Sad and lonely all the time
That's because I've got a worried mind
You know the world is in an uproar
The danger zone is everywhere, everywhere

Just read your paper
And you'll see
Just exactly what keeps worryin' me
Yeah, you'll see the world is in an uproar
The danger zone is everywhere

My love for the world is like always
For the world is a part of me
That's why I'm so afraid
Of the progress that's being made
Toward eternity

Every morning, noon, and night
Finds me hoping that everything's alright
Mm-hmm, the world is in an uproar
The danger zone is everywhere



Thengs were getting worse by 1971 when Stone the Crows recorded a version and put a little oomph in the lyrics:

Sad, sad and lonely
And sad and lonely all the time
That's because I've got
such a worried mind
The world is in an uproar
The danger zone everywhere
It is everywhere

Just read your paper
Read your paper and you'll see
Just what exactly has been
bothering me
The world is in an uproar
The danger zone everywhere
It is everywhere

My love for the world
It will always be the same
Because the world
has become a part of me
And I'm so afraid of the progress
that's being made toward eternity

Every morning, every morning
Every morning, noon and night
I keep on wishing and hoping
that everything's gonna be alright
The world is in an uproar
The danger zone everywhere
It is everywhere, everywhere

My love for the world
will always be the same
Because the world
has become a part of me
And I'm so afraid of the bloody progress
that has been made toward eternity

Every morning, every morning
Every morning, noon and night
I keep on wishing and hoping
that everything's gonna be alright
The world is in an uproar
Don't you know, don't you know
The danger zone everywhere
It is everywhere

32 years later, of course, the entire world is at peace and humanity has risen to its highest potential, abandoning armed conflict and violence as means to ends, and the reign of reason, tolerance and peace has begun. Just read your paper and you'll see.

NADER REDUX AGAIN

A FEW TACOS SHORT OF A FIESTA PLATTER

After a group of prominent liberal activists sent a letter last week to Ralph "A flower short of an arrangement" Nader begging him to abandon his "quixotic and destructive" bid for the presidency, Nader spokesman Kevin Zeese said Nader would not bow out simply to help someone else beat Bush. "You have to stand for something,"Zeese said.

And what is that, Kevin? That you can hold a grudge longer than anyone else except perhaps the Serbs? That it's OK to fuck over your friends and your country for the sake of your own ineffectual dogma?

See, all along I thought beating Bush WAS something to stand for.

What do I know?

AIRAMERICA IS HERE

After all the anticipation, AirAmerica radio is here. The first broadcasts yesterday got mixed reviews in the media. The Washington Post piece was somewhat irritating: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40719-2004Mar31.html?referrer=email

There were amusing quotes from O'Reilly The Conqueror and Boston conservative radio host Jay Severin, and clearly neither one was aware of the astounding irony in their comments.

Severin: "Yes, we know you believe with utmost sincerity that we are monstrous Neanderthals, but do you really believe your left-wing/pacifist/United Nations/French worldview will win a big middle-class audience? In America?"

O'Reilly: "this whole liberal network scheme is just plain stupid. . . . These pinheads backing the venture will lose millions of dollars because the propaganda network is simply tedious and tedious doesn't sell."

In now-commonplace extremist Republican fashion, they accuse their counterparts of the very offenses they thrive on, while portraying themselves as saviors and expressing the arrogant certitude that is the hallmark of zealots.

While the network is broadcast on few stations so far, we can listen live on the web via AirAmerica's website:http://www.airamericaradio.com/

Onward through the fog, Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo.

Interesting footnote: the Blogger spellcheck suggested a replacement for O'Reilly: Orwell