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Win Tickets to the Coup at the Croc!

Megan Seling — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:35:12 -0800

The Coup are playing the Crocodile this Friday with Theoretics and DJ Funk Scribe. Want to go for free? Sure you do!

Just e-mail your first and last name to freetickets@thestranger.com with the Coup in the subject line.

Tickets are also still available for $13 here.

Good luck!

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Did Romney Cheat to Win Two Separate Votes on Saturday?

Paul Constant — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:32:57 -0800

Ron Paul is refusing to concede Maine. He was expecting to win caucuses that were canceled due to snow. The Republican Party of Maine then announced that those caucuses would not matter:

But in Washington County, where Paul had expected to perform well, the caucus was postponed until Feb. 18 due to an expected snowstorm. Washington County Republican Chairman Chris Gardner told the AP he had no idea when the caucuses were postponed that his county would no longer count toward the grand total.

And Rick Santorum says Mitt Romney paid to win the CPAC straw poll:

Romney beat Santorum by 7 points Saturday in a straw poll of almost 3,500 attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Santorum pointed out that Ron Paul had won the poll in both of the past two years "because he just trucks in a lot of people pays for their ticket, they come in and vote and then leave."

Did Mitt Romney buy CPAC? Did the Republican Party manipulate the results in Maine so that they'd land in Mitt Romney's favor? Probably and maybe, in that order. But that's the thing about running for president: If you cheat and you win, you're still the president. Very occasionally, you get caught. But if your opponents waste their time complaining about fair play, that gives you time to seize a valuable lead.

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Gregoire: "This is signed!"

Eli Sanders — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:18:43 -0800

E.S.

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Whitney Is Dead, And So Is Hollywood

Kelly O — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:10:43 -0800

Dear Hollywood: I'm sorry you've run out of ideas for films. I know this was a novel first, but still... (Sigh).

The real-life figure Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States (1861—1865), is fictionally portrayed in the novel and the film as having a secret identity as a vampire hunter. Benjamin Walker stars as Lincoln. Filming began in Louisiana in March 2011, and the film is being produced in 3D.

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"Exorcismic Breeding Knife": of Montreal Get WEIRD

Dave Segal — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:41:32 -0800

of Montreal’s new album, Paralytic Stalks (out Feb. 7 on Polyvinyl), is primarily a garrulous, complexly melodic record that’s in debt to Todd Rundgren and Sparks’ flamboyant stadium pop. But on the penultimate song, “Exorcismic Breeding Knife,” of Montreal break from the somewhat conventional, if bombastic, songcraft for a tangent that’s practically “Revolution 9”-like in its WTF?-ness. A Ligeti-esque spectral vocal drone hovers over surprising spurts of chamber-music dissonance and enigmatic sound events, all of which are stitched into a nightmarish collage not dissimilar to some of former Elephant 6 mates Olivia Tremor Control's most outré moments. Bold move! Gold star to any DJ who plays this track on the radio or in the club.

of Montreal play Showbox at the Market with Deerhoof and Kishi Bashi Sat. March 24.

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Today's Music News: Reactions to Reactions to the Grammys

Jackson Hathorn — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:33:43 -0800

Reactions to Reactions to the Grammys: I worked most of last night, and the bar I went to after work had its three TVs devoted to The Walking Dead, so I missed the Grammys, which saw its largest television audience since 1984 (most likely due to people tuning in to see a Whitney Houston memorial. RIP Whitney). Here are my reactions to reactions to the Grammys:

Reading Tweets (Really Bums Me Out): Echoing last year's "Who the fuck are the Suburbs?" after Arcade Fire won Album of the Year, many people took to Twitter to ask "Who the fuck is Bonny Bear"? Clearly not everyone is familiar with Bon Iver (who took home Best New Artist, after refusing to perform at the ceremony with the Beach Boys, but remains totally fine with being in Bushmills ads. I never thought I could get annoyed with someone who makes his type of benign music, but Justin Vernon's acceptance speech "It's also hard to accept because you know, when I started to make songs I did it for the inherent reward of making songs" really irritated me. Just say "fuck the world" like Fiona Apple and get on with your life). And I hate to break it to you if you hadn't already lost faith in my generation, but apparently lots of young dolts have no idea who Paul McCartney is either. In even worse news, as Kelly O already pointed out, BuzzFeed complied a list of 25 women who said they would let Chris Brown beat them up.

Longer Than 140 Characters: If you'd like a longer read, there's already a write up on Line Out by Christopher Frizzelle, and another good one comes from New Yorker critic Sasha Frere-Jones, who calls Chris Brown a "woman-beating rage-broccoli."

Non-Grammy News: St. Vincent will be on a very special episode of Gossip Girl tonight! Stream new albums by Perfume Genius and Damien Jurado! Jay-Z and Kanye West (who won every rap category at the Grammys, but likely didn't attend the awards because My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was snubbed in Album of the Year category) have a video for Watch the Throne that could give you seizures. Finally, have you been listening to Cloud Nothings? Here's the video to my favorite song from the new album (with production from Steve Albini) that's been my most-played of 2012, and watch out for a March 6th date at the Crocodile.

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Painting the Republican Party Line Right Off a Cliff

Cienna Madrid — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:32:22 -0800

Republicans don't seem willing to accept that birth control is not the dividing social issue that it was 50 or even 20 years ago. And when you make your party line impossible to walk for nonwhite, dogmatic males—or, say, paint it off a cliff—it stands to reason that your party is only going to get smaller and smaller:

While GOP senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has pledged to fight the Obama’s administration’s modified regulation requiring health insurers and businesses to offer contraception coverage without additional cost sharing, the revised rule “appears to have won over” two of the five Republican women senators.

Sens. Olympia Snowe (ME) and Susan Collins (ME) — both of whom have sponsored legislation requiring insurers to offer contraception benefits in all health plans — are in favor of the new compromise, which would allow religiously affiliated colleges, universities, and hospitals to avoid providing birth control. Their employees will still receive contraception coverage at no additional cost sharing directly from the insurer.

Case in point: Rick Santorum doesn't think birth control should be covered by insurance because it's not a "critical economic need" (like Viagra) and also because it "just costs a few dollars" for women.

Hat tip to the always-impeccably-dressed Sergio.

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RIP Whitney Houston, Long Live Capitalism

Mike Nipper — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:26:58 -0800

Nice one Sony...Houston's catalog, within hours of her death, just got a leetle more expensive.

...Sony Music increased the price of "The Ultimate Collection" at about 4 a.m. Sunday, not even 12 hours after news broke of Houston's death. Fans were quick to point fingers at Apple for the anti-sale, but it turned out that when Sony bumped up the wholesale price of "The Ultimate Collection," iTunes and other retailers automatically upped their pricing.

Read all about it right HERE! Gross, Sony...just gross.

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The Walking Dead Chitty-Chat Club!

Wm.™ Steven Humphrey — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:24:33 -0800

Welcome back to The Walking Dead Chitty-Chat Club! Did you have a good hibernation during the show's winter break? Glad to hear it. And you'll be happy to know that the show left off right where the last episode ended... when that thing happened. And you know what thing I'm talking about, right? Okay, then! My SPOILER-FILLED thoughts are after the jump... so c'mon, zombies! LET'S GET SHAMBLING!

Courtesy AMC
"So two guys walk into a bar, and... oh, wait! Two guys actually ARE walking into the bar! Ha! That's funny."

·····

Anyway, here's what I'm thinking...

1) This episode is called "Nebraska"—which refers to a possible colony where people are maybe, but probably not, living safely—but C'MON. Nebraska? Blechh! I'll take my chances with the zombies, thankyouverymuch.

2) Naturally everybody flips their shit about Rick gunning down Zombie Sophie: Farmer Vet is mad at the gang, Shane is mad at Farmer Vet, Grandpa Eyebrows is mad at Shane, Rick is mad at himself, Sophie's mom is mad at those flowers, and Rick's kid is the only one who seems to be taking it well. Although he looks super pale right now. Eat some liver and onions, son! You're looking like that dandy fop in Twilight!

3) Anyway, one of those blonde farm girls—I seriously cannot tell them apart—goes into a "spell" and nobody can find Farmer Vet. After finding an empty flask in his room, Shanelock Holmes deduces he must be getting shitfaced in a bar. (????) Naturally Rick—who can't keep his actually big nose out of anyone's business—goes off in pursuit along with Glenn (who needs to get his priorities straight regarding this "love" business). Confidential to Glenn: YOUR GIRLFRIEND IS HOT, BUT SHE'S A NAG. And nags don't suddenly become any less naggy. Think about that, why don't you?

4) Meanwhile, Lori is a FUCKING IDIOT. Two seconds after Rick takes off to find Farmer Vet, anonymous farm girl gets a fever, and Lori is all like, "OMG! WHERE IS RICK AND FARMER VET??? I HAVE TO GO BRING THEM BACK EVEN THOUGH I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE I'M GOING, AND MY ACTIONS WILL ONLY SERVE TO MAKE A BAD SITUATION WORSE!!" I fucking hate Lori.

5) She's a terrible driver, too.

6) So here's a funny joke: Three guys walk into a bar... followed by two guys more guys who walk into a bar. Okay, that's not all that funny. However, the two guys are super sweaty—which is TV language meaning they're dangerous and creepy—and they hint around that they'd just love to hang out at the farm and rape all the women. Wait... did they just say that out loud? Rick does the right thing and blows their fucking brains out. They are from Jersey after all. UNFORTUNATELY, people from Jersey have astonishing hearing, and the gunshots bring the other Jersey creeps running—as well as any zombies in the immediate area. So once again... good job, Rick! (Hey, Glenn. Are you going to just stand there thinking about your naggy girlfriend? Shoot your freaking gun.)

7) So that was an ohhhhh-kay episode, and if they keep up the action perhaps this season won't be a total washout. (Unfortunately, I don't like ANY of the characters right now... so is that a problem?) DID YOU WATCH THIS??? WHAT DID YOU THINK???

Courtesy AMC
"I really hate The Jersey Shore!"

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The 40-Year March to Today's Marriage Bill Signing

Eli Sanders — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:22:16 -0800

E.S.
The desk, the bill, and the governor's chair, waiting.

In about ten minutes, here in the state capitol building in Olympia, Governor Chris Gregoire will sign a bill granting gay and lesbian couples the right to marry in Washington State. With all the focus on the house and senate votes over the last two weeks, and with all the talk about the repeal referendum that's set to be filed as soon as the governor signs the bill into law, it's easy to lose sight of the historical weight of this moment.

So, a pause to consider just how long people in Washington State have been pushing to make this law a reality. It starts, at least in the courts, on Sept. 20, 1971:

On September 20, 1971, Paul Barwick, a Vietnam veteran and former state patrol dispatcher, showed up at the King County auditor's office requesting a marriage license. With him was the man he wanted to wed, John Singer, a staffer at the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission who favored dresses rather than pants at work, and who was soon to change his name to Faygele benMiriam.

The two lived together in a gay-activist commune on Capitol Hill, and had recently heard that their state's marriage law had become gender-neutral in language. Their request for a marriage license, quite unusual at the time, landed on the desk of then-auditor Lloyd Hara (now a Port Commissioner) who promptly refused to grant the license. The couple sued, and their case, known as Singer v. Hara, became, at least until [recently], the best-known gay marriage case in this state.

Singer v. Hara was tossed out by two courts (many gay activists now ruefully describe it as having been "laughed out" of two courts), and it ended, in 1974, at the state court of appeals level, with the couple broke and wary of filing yet another appeal, lest they further cement the dispiriting precedent.

I wrote that in August of 2006, just after another big Washington State court decision on gay marriage: The State Supreme Court's ruling that the Washington State Defense of Marriage Act—passed in 1998—was constitutional.

The majority in that case, Andersen v. King County, went out of its way to note that nothing in the 2006 ruling prohibited a future legislature from overturning our Defense of Marriage Act. As it turned out, it was this legislature that did so—after legislatures in 2007 and 2009 created, and then expanded to "everything but marriage," our state's domestic partnership rights. (And after voters upheld those rights at the polls in 2009.)

There are certainly other mileposts that could be marked here—including Cal Anderson, in 1987, becoming our state's first openly gay legislator, with Ed Murray and Jamie Pedersen following in his footsteps—but for the moment just consider how long it took to make the law Governor Gregoire is about to sign, in front of me, in a few minutes: 40 years.

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Killer Mike - "Big Beast (f/ Bun B, T.I. & Trouble)" (prod. El-P)

Larry Mizell, Jr. — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:11:00 -0800

I don't know about you, but I've been waiting to hear the fruits of this much-tweeted about collaboration for a minute. Not only did El-P take it to the South (is there a slight old-school Cash Money thing going on here?), he put his '86 rusty-chainlink wasteland-bboy vibe to good use behind some of the best in the south, including Bun B, T.I., and my favorite new face in the A, Trouble. Killer Mike drops a reference to other ATL posse cut, "Welcome To Atlanta", that's true to his name: "these monkey niggas lookin' for some Luda and Jermaine/ and all that nigga found was some Ruger and some pain."

Killer Mike - "Big Beast (f/ Bun B, T.I. & Trouble)" (prod. El-P)

Off of Killer Mike's upcoming R.A.P. Music (that stands for Rebellious African People, btw, and that's wassup) LP, entirely produced by El-P. This is on the heels of El's recent announcement that he's done with his next solo, uh, album. So far, 2012 is off to a perfectly appropriate start.

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What You're Not Wearing: WHATEVER I WANT Edition

Kelly O — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:00:43 -0800

Who would wear such a thing? Looky-loo right here.

Timothy Rysdyke

‘Pina’

Jen Graves — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:00:00 -0800

The late choreographer Pina Bausch was not just any great choreographer... by Jen Graves

The late choreographer Pina Bausch was not just any great choreographer—not just technically demanding, not just an inspiration to earth’s most incredible dance artists, not just a maker of movements that seem completely normal and totally unfamiliar at the same time. Her combination of dance and theater was one of the 20th century’s great revelations. And Wim Wenders’s film tribute to her is visceral. It’s 3-D. You feel the dancers punch themselves in the gut, fall to the ground, dive through each other’s arms. This is in the running for the best dance movie ever made. (Cinerama; 2100 Fourth Ave; www.seattlecinerama.com; 10:45 am, 1:30, 4:30, 7:30, 10:30 pm; $13–$15)

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Stranger Tournament of Dunces, The Final Four (Round 2)

Eli Sanders — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:58:32 -0800

[Click to enlarge.]

Rodne vs. Shea is running right here. And here's the other Final Four match-up. Voting closes at 3 p.m.!

Mark "A Jack in the Box Commercial Told Me How to Vote Today" Hargrove...

...versus Bill "Remember Holy Russia" Hinkle

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Congratulations to the Deep Wake!

Megan Seling — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:52:49 -0800

Folk rock duo the Deep Wake from Bainbridge Island are the first of four bands to move on to the Sound Off! 2012 finals. They now have a shot at winning a heap of awesome prizes including new gear, studio time, an a performance at Bumbershoot 2012.

Seattle's own Sam Lachow came in second place, which means they still have a chance at making the finals by way of wild card vote—the EMP's Youth Advisory Board will choose one second place band to move forward to the finals later this month.

Sound Off's second round of semi-finals are this Saturday with Brothers From Another, Honora, Nude, and Ulrich. Buy your tickets here.

The Fire by The Deep Wake

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Marian Anderson's Last Fast Ride

Kathy Fennessy — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:52:33 -0800

Two New Punk Docs Ponder Authority, Part Two:
Last Fast Ride: The Life, Love and Death of a Punk Goddess

Virgil Films

Lilly Scourtis Ayers makes her feature film debut with Last Fast Ride, just as Andrea Blaugrund Nevins made hers with The Other F Word. The former, however, is a scrappier, more downbeat affair. Depending on your perspective, that makes it even more punk, both in terms of content and presentation, though three of the same bands have connections to the two (and I don’t mean "scrappy" as in amateurish; it's just less polished, in keeping with the brash subject matter).

In this case, Scourtis Ayers turns to Rancid's Tim Armstrong for commentary and Black Flag's Henry Rollins for narration, while the other film featured Rancid's Lars Frederiksen and Black Flag's Ron Reyes. The Other F Word also features U.S. Bombs' Duane Peters. Though he doesn’t appear in Last Fast Ride, he released a collection of Anderson's work with Bay Area band the Insaints.

Virgil Films

If you've never heard of the Insaints, join the club. If you were living in San Francisco from 1990-94, though, I don’t see how you could have missed them. Anderson's then-boyfriend, Tim Yohannan, founded 924 Gilman Street, the Berkeley Mecca where her group played gigs with Armstrong after his segue from Operation Ivy to Rancid. He became a fan and issued a single on his Hellcat label, one of their few releases, which is unfortunate, but better than nothing (on the evidence of this film, the Five Fingers material should probably stay buried).

If most of the men in The Other F Word came from broken homes, Anderson, who grew up in Monterey, suffered sexual abuse at the hands of her father, followed by a blur of suicide attempts and stays in psych wards and group homes. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, she found a sanctuary of sorts with her supportive grandparents in Modesto, where she formed the Insaints. The pretty high school student became an imposing punk with towering blond spikes before trying a Mohawk on for size. After they relocated to San Francisco in 1990, though, she seemed to take more cues from Bettie Page than Nina Hagen and Wendy O. Williams (in an archival interview, she also cites GG Allin as an influence).

Once there, Anderson took up with a man named Kal. She also became pregnant and had the child, which her grandparents would eventually adopt. Though the relationship didn't last, she and her daughter, Hannah, would remain close.

Somewhere along the way, she became a dominatrix, a vocation that found its way into the Insaints stage act as she would disrobe, make out with other women, and engage in a variety of Karen Finley-type sex acts with bananas, prompting the attention of the State of California. After a protracted court battle, Anderson won, and the show went on. Along the way, though, she broke up with Yohannon, who had also launched Maximum Rocknroll. Yohannan succumbed to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1998, and Anderson stuck by him until the end.

Later, she moved to Los Angeles, took up with Danielle Bernal Santos, and joined the Thrillkillers. On the side, she worked as a stripper, which may be how she got involved with heroin, since none of her friends were users. In fact, they didn't know about her habit until it was too late. And that's where the story ends. It isn't a happy one, but I might never have heard of Marian Anderson* otherwise.

As far as I can tell, she could sing and she could write, and if she'd had a greater interest in a conventional recording career, she might have become a bigger star—she certainly had the charisma—but that doesn't seem to have been her intention. Friends believe she performed because she felt she had no choice, but I don't know whether she found it cathartic or not. Based on the drugs, the alcohol, the cutting, and the 20 suicide attempts, I can only conclude that it wasn't cathartic enough, but maybe she wouldn't have lasted as long without it.

*Yes, she shared a name with the great opera singer. This Anderson was born Marian Holloway.

According to SF Weekly, Anderson was "an admirer of the Avengers' Penelope Houston."

Virgil Films releases the Last Fast Ride DVD on February 21, 2012.

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Stream Damien Jurado's New Album, Maraqopa

Megan Seling — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:45:03 -0800

The A.V. Club is making your Monday a little less awful with an exclusive stream of Damien Jurado's tenth (!) studio album, Maraqopa, which'll be released on February 21st.

Jurado will be playing an album release show this Friday at the Neptune, and tickets are on sale here. There's also still time to win them.

(Also: I love the song "Museum of Flight," but am I the only person who hears a tinge of Coldplay's "Yellow" in the chorus? Just a little bit? I still like it! Just, you know... Coldplay.)

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Tales of the Cocktail Vancouver: It Is a Cocktail Conference

Bethany Jean Clement — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:41:32 -0800

Yes, such a thing exists, and I am here "working." This Vancouver thing is the famous New Orleans festival of drinks, back for the second year in its special Canadian edition, with four days of seminars, tasting rooms, parties, and the streets of Vancouver pretty much paved with cocktails.

Last night, I fell down some stairs (they were SLIPPERY, no joke) and met a bunch of lovely people. So far today, I have skipped the 9 a.m. let's-start-drinking session.*

Onward and sideways over on Line Out!

*Actually because I have other work to do, but feel free to scold me for lack of devotion to the cause.

Jimi Hendrix Fans

Jen Graves — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:35:31 -0800

Courtesy MIA Gallery
FROM MALI TO SEATTLE, WITH LOVE This photograph of three hardcore Jimi Hendrix fans in Bamako is the latest addition to the Malick Sidibe exhibition at MIA Gallery downtown. Sidibe took the picture in the 1970s.

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Gay Kids Are Still Killing Themselves

Dan Savage — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:34:56 -0800

And it's not because gay kids are still being told that they're sick and sinful by their preachers. And it's not because gay kids are still being failed by cowardly school administrators and callous school boards and cowed teachers. And it's not because gay kids are still being bullied by straight kids who have been told that gay people are sick and sinful and that gay people, by simply existing, represent an existential threat to their families. And it's not because the religious right opposes all efforts to prevent anti-gay bullying in our schools and is pushing for new laws that create a special right for little religious bigots to brutalize gay children. And it's not because some gay kids have parents who subjected to years of psychological and spiritual violence before throwing them out and cutting them off.

No. It's my fault. And I should be arrested.

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Father Ryan Stands Up for Gay Rights

Dominic Holden — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:33:07 -0800

Clearly responding to Seattle Archbishop Peter J. Sartain's escalating campaign to stop a same-sex marriage bill, Father Michael Ryan of St. James Catherdral delivered a sermon yesterday that goes to bat for lesbians and gays. From his homily:

Think, for instance, of gay and lesbian people who struggle so hard for acceptance and understanding, struggle to be respected and loved for who they are. Or think of people who are in marriages that the Church does not recognize and that cannot, for a variety of reasons, be regularized by the Church, yet who hunger to be welcomed and to be given a place at the Table.

In responding to them, the Church can do no better than to look to the Jesus of the gospels, the Jesus of today’s gospel, and to find there the one for whom there are no outcasts whatever: only fellow humans in need of love, human warmth, healing, acceptance.

It is this Jesus whom we now approach in the Eucharist. As with the leper, so with us: Jesus allows us to come close to him, and he lovingly stretches out his hand to touch us, to welcome us, to reassure us, to heal us.

Good for Father Ryan.

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Yvonne Baker's Spy Theme

Mike Nipper — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:30:18 -0800

A solid Northern soul classic from Ms. Yvonne Baker. Right, well that is obvious, BUT...could it wind up the James Bond theme with shades of Shirely Bassey's singing the Goldfinger intro any better?

Suddenly my Monday has meaning. Jeepers, that's a great track. Now, to find a copy...

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Israel's Broke War Machine

Charles Mudede — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:23:13 -0800

Do not separate this...

The Israel Air Force may stop the production of the Iron Dome and David Sling missile interception systems in 2012 as a result of insufficient funds, a military budget breakdown revealed on Sunday.

Last month, the government backtracked on its intention to cut NIS 3 billion from the defense budget, meant to pay for social benefits in the wake of last summer's wave of protests according to the recommendations of the Trajtenberg committee.

The move was decided after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted the Defense Ministry's stance, according to which such a dramatic cut would be unwise in the face of the political upheavals taking place across the Mideast. these, in turn, could increase terror threats against Israel.

However, despite succeeding in averting a drastic budget cut, the IDF's financial woes are far from over.

From this...

Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has accused Iran of being behind twin attacks on Israeli targets in India and Georgia on Monday in a move likely to further escalate tensions between the two countries and increase international pressure on the Iranian regime.

This is as raw as it gets.

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President Obama Unveils Budget

Paul Constant — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:17:34 -0800

In a speech about his new budget, President Obama said that in order to "build an economy that lasts...we can't just cut our way to growth." Here's video of the whole thing:

And you can find the whole budget here. Here's NBC on the feature of the budget that will probably figure heavily in the 2012 campaign:

The Obama budget puts forward $1.5 trillion in new taxes, primarily by raising income tax rates at the end of this year for families making $250,000 or more per year.

Obama, as he has in the past, also proposed eliminating tax deductions the wealthy receive and requiring households making more than $1 million annually pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes.

Obama would also impose a new $61 billion tax over 10 years on big banks aimed at recovering the costs of the financial bailout and providing money to help homeowners facing foreclosure on their homes. It would raise $41 billion over 10 years by eliminating tax breaks for oil, gas and coal companies and claims significant savings from ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We've known this all along, but this is further proof that the election in November is going to come down to taxes on the wealthy, unless the Republicans can somehow turn it into a referendum on other people's birth control.

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Stranger Tournament of Dunces, The Final Four

Eli Sanders — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:16:00 -0800

[Click to enlarge.]

We started on Friday with the eight legislators behind the most idiotic anti-gay-marriage speeches given on the Washington State House floor last week. Then, over the weekend, the people of Slog used our legally binding and eternally infallible electronic polling devices to narrow the field down to The Final Four:

Reps. Jay Rodne, Matt Shea, Mark Hargrove, and Bill Hinkle.

As promised at the outset, the winner gets a flower from a gay florist, a bacon cheeseburger from Jack in the Box, and their official state portrait on this week's cover of The Stranger.

Ready for the Final Four, Round 1? Here we go! (Voting closes at 3 p.m. and we'll do the final match-up right after that.)

Jay "I Don't Know If I Want to Be Here" Rodne...

...versus Matt "My Business Will Not Participate In Gay Marriages Because Florists Are Oppressed and Man I Hate Tulips" Shea

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"I'd Let Chris Brown Punch Me In The Face"

Kelly O — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:01:33 -0800

What the fuck is wrong with people?!? These women on Twitter make me want to stick a red hot fork in each eye. The world is going to end in 2012, and these women are to blame.

READ AND WEEP.

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Morningtime at Tales of the Cocktail Vancouver

Bethany Jean Clement — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:52:20 -0800

This is what I'm missing right this very minute at this here cocktail convention:

9:00 AM to 10:30 AM
Coffee Bar
Star Sapphire Foyer, Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel
Presented by Amarula Cream, Frangelico, Irish Mist and Tullamore Dew

What is even better than starting your day with a freshly brewed cup of coffee? Well, at Tales of the Cocktail it’s starting your day at the Coffee Bar. Hosted by Frangelico, Amarula, Tullamore Dew and Irish Mist, these are morning coffees (cocktails!) that you don’t want to miss. From the classics to the nouveau, these will be sure to get you primed and recharged to start another exciting day at Tales!!

There are 97 more liquor tastings today here in Vancouver, and even armed with information on "How to Drink All Day at Tales Without Getting Too Drunk" (summary: eat, sleep, drink water, take vitamins, don't drink too much)... well, I'm eating a banana and having a cup of uncorrected coffee. I apologize for failing to live the dream.

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What You're Not Wearing: WHATEVER I WANT Edition!!

Timothy Rysdyke — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:48:20 -0800

These cats:

These sweatpants:

This denim:

This animal:

This blouse:

This skirt:

This sweatshirt:

These shoes:

This cross:

These long johns:

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Santorum Rises

Paul Constant — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:17:58 -0800

Rick Santorum has risen to the top of the Republican polls in Michigan, according to Public Policy Polling. While PPP notes that Santorum's support isn't as strong as Romney's, it's still a very bad sign for the Romney campaign, which counted on the continued Republican popularity of Mitt's dad (and former Michigan Governor) George Romney as a solid base of support.

Meanwhile, the National Review is calling for Newt Gingrich to drop out so Santorum can make a clean run at Romney. I expect a lot of Republicans to join the National Review this week in calling for Gingrich to suspend his campaign; I don't see another sudden burst in the polls anywhere in his near future.

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The Father of Modern Black American Literature Is White

Charles Mudede — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:12:02 -0800

To study 20th century black American literature is to be told that Cane is the first work in a movement of novels that ends somewhere around Toni Morrison. I accepted this line of thinking until I saw this...

That's the author of Cane, Jean Toomer. As you can see, if you can see properly, there's a big problem: Toomer is not black at all. Morrison is black, no doubt about that. But Toomer is as black as James Watson.

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