heathen child

pretty awesome new video from Cave, Ellis, et al.

interesting graffix

via, oddly enough, turbotax:
Free Tax Filing, Efile Taxes, Income Tax Returns – TurboTax.com

epistemological closure

Interesting article about David Berman's recent talk at the Open City Summer Writing Workshop over at HTMLGIANT. Go here.


I really fucking hate the word 'closure' due to it's over-/mis-use in recent years. I blame daytime talk-show hosts like Dr Phil et al. for ruining an otherwise perfectly good word.

So that you are on the same page as Berman regarding the 'closure' he refers to, go here.

Fiat justitia--ruat caelum

Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the “transcendent” and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don’t be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you.

- Letters to a Young Contrarian, Christopher Hitchens

let there be no running from non-existent destroyers of morals

let there be honest understanding:

hats off to al franken

a true public servant and one of the few current senators worth a damn.



if i had my druthers, there'd be a franken/grayson ticket in 2012

dopest photo

Explanation: On May 29, looking southward from a vantage point about 350 kilometers above the southern Indian Ocean, astronauts onboard the International Space Station watched this enormous, green ribbon shimmering below. Known as aurora australis or southern lights, the shifting, luminous bands are commonly seen at high northern latitudes as well, there known as the aurora borealis or northern lights. North or south their cause is the same though, as energetic charged particles from the magnetosphere pile into the atmosphere near the Earth's poles. To produce the characteristic greenish glow, the energetic particles excite oxygen atoms at altitudes of 100 kilometers or more. Aurora on May 29 were likely triggered by the interaction of the magnetosphere with a coronal mass ejection erupting from the Sun on May 24.

via APOD

dogon:nogod

killer version of one of my all time favorite songs.

Space Prophet Dogon - Richard & Alan Bishop from the Brothers Unconnected tour:

invisible hand of the free market man

via the ever brilliant Tom Tomorrow

one from Robert Kelly

Ritual Dances

1.
Turn it so ON is on top
before you plug it in
then the message will come out right—

your character, accurate as ever
and neat as a muscle,
will be like a tight ship in one
of those eighteenth-century metaphors
about states and statesmen and
(this is what’s important)
you will sleep now. Sleep Arizona sunset,
wake up Vermont,
everybody is a mountain walking past your bed:

show me. Show me
with your body how it’s done.

2.
The place where men plant peas.
What exactly is sorghum anyway
and could I tell you if I knew?
I am generous with my information—
it’s the mud I swine around in,

here’s some for you: the privilege
of the hypotenuse is equal
to some of the fugues on the other nine themes
but which?
Lead me to your thalamus at last
where all the silly conjugations lead
and leave a lady
asleep in her suppose.
I always leave the answer
so plainly writ you think it was the question.

3.
o you and me, you and me
what a sexy game of raid the larder—
a Sufi person on the top shelf lodges,
I hear the click of amber beads the hum of zikr
sometimes in the wallboard from the other side

where what I thought was me was sleeping.
But my sleep was only a dream.

No, you say, it is a ship yourself
under full sail, on a wild sea
beating through the straits of semaphore—
o there’s no such place, no sea,
go back to sleep,
knowing there is no such sign.

4.
Work your way into the sweater put it on
how many yards of yarn to knit one
degree of early winter morn away
so you can know the day?

Lover, she tells me,
it is Sunday—numbers are much too holy
to use for counting things or reckoning—

numbers are for worship—kneel
before the sanctity of sevenness
and I will be your deaconess and you be glad.

5.
Then the church was empty.
The hanged man had
been dragged (or dragged
himself) over the hill
and left in the deep leaves
for vultures and foxes
as he instructed.
His books were carried off
and catalogued by nearby scholarship,
the spilled wine and lamb fat wiped up,
his thin rope unwrapped from the transom.
And all of a sudden it was just
as if he had been dead all the time,
or else a tall mirror in a furrier’s salon
waiting for the skin to speak again.

6.
It’s all right things keep starting—
can you feel the politics on its way,
the smell of it on my hands?

The brave policeman walks the lonely moon,
governments are bliss-inhibitors, that’s all,

yet those who trim our pleasures get
no pleasure from their cut.

There is a caste of men who think they’re born
to tell other people what to do
and there’s another caste to make them do it.

Without them the rest of us could stroll around
finding things and giving things to each other
all the livelong day and sleep deep
without the prattle of dismal instructors

and when we woke we’d have new dreams to share.

7.
All music is about Russia
Every river is the space between your own legs—

You think I don’t understand the dance
Just because I stand
Motionless against the wall
Counting the bricks with my shoulder blades

My poor lost wings
I fly back through the wall
I fly backwards through every solid thing,
All music is trying to describe Russia
The trees and factories of it, the bleak of season,
Torrid wheat fields and the shadows
Of hawks swoop down on alders by the stream

And every river flows inside your skin
And finds a way and finds a way

The dance leaps up into the air
sometimes the dancer follows.

8.
What it would have been to be a dancer
or to have danced what it could have been

and not alone but not either together
because a dance is one whoever does it

and one dancer is all by the self who
or who thinks to dance = an idea

the body has of itself
to move
regardless of anything but here

the dancer leaps from an idea of the ground
to an idea of the rock—feet

remember earth and collarbone
remembers sky how is there any room

for an idea of you let alone actual you

9.
but the dance is not something to see
it is illicit and imperial, it hides in daylight

it dares anyone to watch,
the best dancer hates to be seen

dances alone a dark closet

10.
all the room the dancer needs is in the dancer’s body
its moves are what space is made of

space comes after
space happens to the dance

place is what is left when the dance is done.

grinderman!

Man, Harvey Keitel is just killing it on bass:

my daughter's a libertarian, too!

from the always brilliant Toothpaste For Dinner

Ayn Rand's Adventure's in Wonderland

The second installment of Benjamin Frisch’s serial comic is up at Wonkette today. Check it.

latest dispatch from Lessig

"On June 1st I testified before the Rhode Island Legislature in support of a resolution calling a federal Constitutional Convention.

You're one of thousands of people who signed our petition in favor of this resolution. I'm grateful for your support, and I wanted to make sure you saw this video of the hearing. Take a few minutes to watch and learn what else you can do to help pass this resolution:

http://callaconvention.org/RItestimony

You can also read my latest Huffington Post piece about my testimony by clicking here.

After I finished my testimony last Tuesday, you won't believe who took the microphone to speak out against the resolution: the director of the Rhode Island ACLU.

The ACLU of course supported the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United, but that wasn't the amazing part of the testimony. The extraordinary part, at least to my ears, was their dissing of democracy. To the suggestion that it might make sense for Americans to deliberate about whether a constitutional right to unlimited corporate spending in elections makes sense, Steve Brown of the ACLU said:

I'm not sure it's in the best interest of this country to be spending hours, days, weeks, and months discussing some of the most controversial issues in this country as to whether they should be part of our constitution. Regardless of whether it is a red state or a blue state... this is not how legislatures in the 50 states should be debating very controversial issues.

Now, I'm a card-carrying member of the ACLU, and I respect their decades of work defending liberty in America. But who, in the ACLU's view, is supposed to be "discussing some of the most controversial issues in this country"? Judges alone? Or judges advised by ACLU lawyers? If indeed the ACLU's idea of democracy means only judges and lawyers can have a say about what our Constitution means, then it might be time to think again about carrying that card.

Our Constitution was not made for lawyers. It was not to be trusted exclusively to judges. Yet somehow we have allowed a professional class of "civil libertarians" and judges to claim to themselves alone the right to say what our fundamental law should be. This is not just contrary to American traditions. It is destructive of democracy.

Our Constitution says nothing about the liberty of corporations to engage in politics. What it does say, though, is that the government should be accountable to "We, the People" through elected officials who represent our views and interests.

But now the corrupting influence of special interest money has denied us our say in Congress's decisions. It's time for us to stand up and take it back.

Watch the video of my testimony and then help spread the word about our effort:

http://callaconvention.org/RItestimony

Thanks again for your support."

-- Lawrence Lessig

formidable opponent

Mr Colbert, you rock!

Ballsiest thing I've seen on tv in a long time.

amoebic eyesores barnacled seizures

Whatever the setting, Alec K Redfearn will kill it. Here’s a fine example:



Here’s a 2005 interview w/ Alec for Splendid.

Also, The Baker St. Kollective, of which Redfearn is a part, has a page up at the ever dope Free Music Archive.

self-gratification is not a philosopy

Funny bit about pseudo-philosopher Rand from the new guy at Wonkette. Check out his other work here.






-- more Rand dissing over at Alternet

via APOD

crap. this is just the kind of stuff we don't need:

The Guardian reports on what could be the spark that starts WWIII:

Gaza blockade: Iran offers escort to next aid convoy


Anyone see any Blue Turbans up in there?

for a lazy sunday morn

The Homeless Wonderer - Emahoy Tsegue Maryam Gebrou
from vol 21 of the always impressive Ethiopiques series:


". . . the sound and feel is so dense with memory and imagery, musical but somehow quite visual, warm and woozy, a fuzzy, sepia toned old timey feel, due in no small part to the recording, which is quite reminiscent of old 78's, the soundtrack to movie Crumb, that sort of thing, dark rumbling low notes underpin sweet swirls and delicate flurries of minor key melody, sweet and lowdown for sure, warm evenings, back porches, big beautifully appointed parlors, huge empty fields, grass waving in the breeze, long late night wanders, moonlight strolls, so completely dreamy and lovely." - AQUARIUS RECORDS



Tsegue Maryam Gebrou has a pretty amazing biography you should check out.

If you dig what you hear, consider picking up the CD through a donation to the Emahoy Tsege Mariam Music Foundation, an organization promoting musical/cultural exchange between Africa and the US.

die, autotune, die

Lee Moses


All that bullshit they label as soul these days can take it’s collagen stuffed lips away from the vocoder for 4 ½ glorious minutes and suck it because Lee Moses is here to show you how it’s done, bitches**.

Here’s Moses churning out a raw deep soul cover of the California Dreaming.

**Sharon Jones, Bettye Lavette, Andre Williams and anything Ian Svenonius is involved in are excused.

behind the flotilla curtain

talking points memo is live blogging the Freedom Flotilla where Israel has committed straight-up murder.

dailykos breaks it down here.

electric jebus

Pure awesome:

John C Reily and Crispin Glover as Tesla and Edison for Drunk History.

Twain & Tesla

tonight in Fairview

Anchorage Press has this to say

superparamagnetic

the somewhat creepy ferrofluid art of Sachiko Kodama:




wiki on ferrofluids

Oh, Comely

Hell of a song to break the silence with:

Yeni - The Ex w/ Afework Nigussie

So dope:

Proto-Beck

Frighteningly prophetic.

they just don't get it

Brilliant: Herzog reads Madeline

funding corporate free speech

being in the world

from the ever brilliant Simpsons

A society not alert to signs of its own decay, because its ideology is a continuing myth of progress, separates itself from reality and envelops illus

from Ralph Nader's Attention Deficit Democracy

this has the potential to be really great:

"Science and Nature have ended their historic battle for the world’s best basic science articles, agreeing to cease their respective publications and co-launch an open-access, online-only journal with an innovative democratic peer-review system, sources at both journals revealed this morning."

via

the results of Palin's common-sense consevatism leave AK with debts totalling 70% of our GDP

via NYT

Sinead rips another pope

This time in the Washington Post.

as if metal didn't already have enough ridiculous sub-genres

Children's Dinosaur Metal

Hevisaurus

cowards

AK Democratic Headquarters gets a visit from Palin's reloaded minions.

one man's trash . . .

graffart profiles a dope art exhibit that uses recycled skate decks:

show some love

more and more each day

biggest isn't smartest

from the NYT:

Panel Releases Proposal to Set U.S. Education Standards

"Culminating a year’s work, a panel of educators convened by the nation’s governors and state school superintendents released a set of proposed common academic standards on Wednesday. The standards, posted on the panel’s web site, lay out the panel’s vision of what American public school students should learn in math and English, year by year, from kindergarten to high school graduation.

Forty-eight states cooperated in producing the proposed standards, which amount to a new road map for American public education. If a majority of states were to adopt them over the next few months, which experts said was a growing possibility, the new standards would replace the nation’s motley current checkerboard of locally written standards, which vary greatly in content and sophistication. And adoption of the new standards would set off a vast new effort to rewrite textbooks and standardized tests."

Its sad, yet no surprise that AK and TX aren't down.

get it?

End the War on Drugs

Known conservative, Judge Jim Gray, on why we should end the war on drugs:

90 flavors of bitch

Hilarious taxonomy of bitches found in a 3rd grade classroom in DC:



for the rest go here

via

your predetermined universe

badaboom badabang!

Obvious Brooklynite/Rep for NY's 9th, Anthony Weiner, schools Fox & Friends:



Daily Kos breaks it down here

kapustin kills it

but the conductor @ 1.47 is the best:

krugman's summit summary

Opening paragraph nails it:

"If we’re lucky, Thursday’s summit will turn out to have been the last act in the great health reform debate, the prologue to passage of an imperfect but nonetheless history-making bill. If so, the debate will have ended as it began: with Democrats offering moderate plans that draw heavily on past Republican ideas, and Republicans responding with slander and misdirection."


get the rest here.

record grooves under an electron microscope

via

makes sense to me

"If you think it's a socialist plot, then please drop out of the federal employees health program."

-- Sen.Richard Durbin (D-IL), to Republican lawmakers at yesterday's health care reform summit.

the perfect response:

Well, he got one part right . . .

"The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed."

--from Joe Stack's suicide note/manifesto

Viva Spenard

Alright boys and girls, I strongly suggest you saddle up and pedal over to Spenard tonight for The Spenard Roadhouse’s first birthday party. They’ve got a yummy dinner planned (Filet with a honey bourbon demi-glace, lemon peppered scallops with a kiwi beurre blanc, braised spinach with garlic and shallots, and oven roasted herb potatoes) as well as live music from the likes of The Spenard Satans Old Timey Clubhouse Band who will be churning out the honky-tonk and country blues from 9 to 1.

NO COVER!

Here’s what The Anchorage Press had to say: The Devil's Music

Shepard Fairey 2007

crossing the ring plane

via the always dope APOD

back in the day

The Daily Kos profiles the 1956 Republican Party Platform. It's almost hard to believe. Here are a few that stick out:

"We are proud of and shall continue our far-reaching and sound advances in matters of basic human needs—expansion of social security—broadened coverage in unemployment insurance —improved housing—and better health protection for all our people."


"In all those things which deal with people, be liberal, be human."


"Further reductions in taxes with particular consideration for low and middle income families."

"We recognize the need for maintaining isolated wilderness areas."

"Revise and improve the Taft-Hartley Act so as to protect more effectively the rights of labor unions, management, the individual worker, and the public."

Get the rest here.

but the quitter from wasilla said they were all her favorites

"1) Actual Founder-Presidents #2 through #6---John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe and John Quincy Adams---were all freethinking Deists and Unitarians; what Christian precepts they embraced were moderate, tolerant and open-minded.

2) Actual Founder-President #1, George Washington, became an Anglican as required for original military service under the British, and occasionally quoted scripture. But he vehemently opposed any church-state union. In a 1790 letter to the Jews of Truro, he wrote: The "Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistances, requires only that they who live under its protection, should demean themselves as good citizens." A 1796 treaty he signed says "the government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." Washington rarely went to church and by some accounts refused last religious rites.

3) Washington was also the nation's leading brewer, and since most Americans drank much beer (water could be lethal in the cities) they regularly trembled before the keg, not the altar. Like Washington, Jefferson and Madison, virtually all American farmers raised hemp and its variations.

4) Jefferson produced a personal Bible from which he edited out all reference to the "miraculous" from the life of Jesus, whom he considered both an activist and a mortal.

5) Tom Paine's COMMON SENSE sparked the Revolution with nary a mention of Jesus or Christianity. His Deist Creator established the laws of Nature, endowed humans with Free Will, then left.

6) The Constitution never mentions the words "Christian" or "Jesus" or "Christ."

7) Revolutionary America was filled with Christians whose commitment to toleration and diversity was completely adverse to the violent, racist, misogynist, anti-sex theocratic Puritans whose "City on the Hill" meant a totalitarian state. Inspirational preachers like Rhode Island's Roger Williams and religious groups like the Quakers envisioned a nation built on tolerance and love for all.

8) The US was founded less on Judeo-Christian beliefs than on the Greco-Roman love for dialog and reason. There are no contemporary portraits of any Founder wearing a crucifix or church garb. But Washington was famously painted half-naked in the buff toga of the Roman Republic, which continues to inspire much of our official architecture.

9) The great guerilla fighter (and furniture maker) Ethan Allen was an aggressive atheist; his beliefs were common among the farmers, sailors and artisans who were the backbone of Revolutionary America.

10) America's most influential statesman, thinker, writer, agitator, publisher, citizen-scientist and proud liberal libertine was---and remains---Benjamin Franklin. He was at the heart of the Declaration, Constitution and Treaty of Paris ending the Revolution. The ultimate Enlightenment icon, Franklin's Deism embraced a pragmatic love of diversity. As early America's dominant publisher he, Paine and Jefferson printed the intellectual soul of the new nation.

11) Franklin deeply admired the Ho-de-no-sau-nee (Iroquois) Confederacy of what's now upstate New York. Inspired by the legendary peacemaker Deganawidah, this democratic congress of five tribes had worked "better than the British Parliament" for more than two centuries. It gave us the model for our federal structure and the images of freedom and equality that inspired both the French and American Revolutions."


-- from a great article by Harvey Wasserman Our Founders Were Not Fundamentalists

. . .

Further reading on the sell out of the American humans to the corporations that consider themselves American people:
How the Corporations Broke America
By STEPHEN FLEISCHMAN

* * *

Also, love you, Bill Nye:

"War is by definition the indiscriminate killing of huge numbers of people for ends that are uncertain. Think about means and ends, and apply it to war. The means are horrible, certainly. The ends, uncertain. That alone should make you hesitate….We are smart in so many ways. Surely we should be able to understand that between war and passivity, there are a thousand possibilities."

-Howard Zinn

"go back to the tundra you f%#ing gimmick"

palate cleasning

JB dance lessons:


the crazy-flexible Ross Sisters:


"Hot'n'Cold" Polka:

how to beat a 5-4 split

Lawrence Lessig penned another nice one. This time for The Nation.

From my inbox: Lessig & Fix Congress First

Email sent out by Lawrence Lessig today:

The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision has already had a remarkable impact.

Across the country, people are outraged by the prospect of our political system being subject even further to the influence of special interest money. In the streets, in our newspapers and TV talk shows, in the President's State of the Union address -- people are fed up and demanding action.

We've got a tremendous opportunity to harness this momentum, to direct this palpable sense of outrage toward a positive effort to restore public trust in our democracy.

The first step is to pass the Fair Elections Now Act. This legislation is the most important thing we can do right now to achieve this goal. Congress is considering a range of responses to Citizens United, but the Fair Elections Now Act is by far the strongest. We must do all we can to support this bill.

Today, we're launching FixCongressFirst.org, a brand new website that will serve as the online home of Change Congress and a central hub for this entire movement. On this new website you'll find updates on what's happening around the Fair Elections Now Act and ways for you to get involved to help pass this legislation.

Take a few minutes to visit our new website -- and forward this email to everyone you know to help build this movement:

http://FixCongressFirst.org

This is a special moment in the history of our democracy, a moment that calls for strong and immediate action. But it also calls for a comprehensive plan to ensure the integrity of our democracy in the long-term. Tomorrow, I'll outline the second step of this plan.

For now, though, we must remain focused on the most pressing need: passing the Fair Elections Now Act. Please visit our new website, come back often, and tell everyone you know to join you.

http://FixCongressFirst.org

The American people are ready for change. Let's lead the way.

-- Lawrence Lessig

SPREAD THE WORD!

Demand Question Time

As he did with the House Republicans last week, Obama will meet with Senate Democrats today for a Q&A. I feel that acts such as these are a positive addition to current politics. We have, unfortunately, become lost in a vicious tangle of 24/7 media sound bites and speculative analysis over the years and it is great to see politicians addressing one another face to face.

If you agree, be sure to check out Demand Question Time (maybe you could even sign their petition).

For a little history, check out David Corn’s piece over at Mother Jones.

Symbolism and the Repuglicans

"Many say that Republicans live in an alternative, parallel universe. While this joke is amusing, it does not quite capture reality. Two parallel lines never meet. Republican fantasies, broadcast by Fox news, are not out of relation with the rest of us. They are not totally out of relation with the world that the rest of us inhabit. They are at war with us. They relate to democratic policies antagonistically. Tea baggers and the radical right say they are at war. We should believe what they say. They are telling the truth of their convictions."

from State of the Union or Civil War? by Paul A Passavant

the continuing misadventures of the one and only True American Network

Olbermann & Huffington on the recent appearance of True American Patriot/Son of Jaba the Hut Roger Ailes on ABC's "This Week":

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

And in comically related news, Fox's latest trophy wife/unashamed quitter/carnivorous fish calls for the dismissal of Rahm Emauel over his use of the term "Fucking Retarded" in a move some might consider "Word Police-ish." From her rickety soapbox in SocialMediaLand:

"I would ask the president to show decency in this process by eliminating one member of that inner circle, Mr. Rahm Emanuel, and not allow Rahm's continued indecent tactics to cloud efforts. Yes, Rahm is known for his caustic, crude references about those with whom he disagrees, but his recent tirade against participants in a strategy session was such a strong slap in many American faces that our president is doing himself a disservice by seeming to condone Rahm's recent sick and offensive tactic.

The Obama Administration's Chief of Staff scolded participants, calling them, "F—-ing retarded," according to several participants, as reported in the Wall Street Journal.

Just as we'd be appalled if any public figure of Rahm's stature ever used the "N-word" or other such inappropriate language, Rahm's slur on all God's children with cognitive and developmental disabilities - and the people who love them - is unacceptable, and it's heartbreaking.

A patriot in North Andover, Massachusetts, notified me of Rahm's "retarded" slam. I join this gentleman, who is the father of a beautiful child born with Down Syndrome, in asking why the Special Olympics, National Down Syndrome Society and other groups condemning Rahm's degrading scolding have been completely ignored by the White House. No comment from his boss, the president?

As my friend in North Andover says, "This isn't about politics; it's about decency. I am not speaking as a political figure but as a parent and as an everyday American wanting my child to grow up in a country free from mindless prejudice and discrimination, free from gratuitous insults of people who are ostensibly smart enough to know better... Have you no sense of decency, sir?"

Mr. President, you can do better, and our country deserves better."

current reason to envy the UK:

The Ex performing their unreleased track "Double Order" in anticipation of their UK tour, 29 January – 6 February, 2010:

The Ex & Brass Unbound - UK from The Wire Magazine on Vimeo.

tribute to Zinn

via

“To have a nationality is a limit to consciousness. Patriotism is a mistake. I don’t have a nationality. My country is my shoes.” - Alejandro Jodorowsky

RIP JD Salinger

Rest In Peace

A Letter from Lessig

Got this in an email today and found it necessary to share:

Last week's decision in Citizens United was an important moment in the history of our democracy. Much more important, however, is how we respond.

First -- as I wrote to you last week -- we need Congress to pass the Fair Elections Now Act. No other reform, including reforms that try effectively to reverse Citizens United, could be as important right now.

But after much reflection, I now believe that this first step is not enough. We cannot build a movement to secure fundamental reform with the constant fear that an activist Supreme Court will strike that reform down. Instead, we must establish clearly and without question the power in Congress to preserve its own institutional independence.

And we can only do that by effecting a change to our founding document -- an amendment to the Constitution.

I know this is a bold step, but bold action is what this threat to our democracy demands. If you agree with me that we must begin this process to protect our democracy, please sign our petition and spread the word to everyone you know:

http://action.change-congress.org/28thAmendment

I've written a longer essay explaining my decision, which you can read on our website. Right now, though, as our nation's leaders and citizens prepare to hear tonight's State of the Union address, I wanted to share my thoughts with those of you who have supported this movement so far.

Even before last week's decision, the vast majority of Americans did not believe that their government is, as our Framers intended, "dependent upon the People." The vast majority believes that the government is dependent upon money -- that money buys results in Congress.

This is corruption. And this corruption makes it harder for both Reagan Republicans and Progressive Democrats to achieve the substantive ends that they seek. Under conservative administrations in the last 30 years, Reagan Republicans have not seen the government shrink or the tax code simplified -- because Congress has no interest in smaller government or simpler taxes, as both would make it harder to raise campaign funds. And for the past year, despite the election of Barack Obama with a super-majority Democratic Congress, Progressive Democrats have watched with disgust as every substantive reform of this administration has been stymied by special interests expert in preserving the status quo.

Our single common purpose must be to end this corruption. No side in this debate has the right to demand rules that benefit them against the other. But all sides need to recognize that this corruption is destroying American democracy. We need a system that the people trust -- that gives the people a reason to participate, and convinces them that their participation is rewarded by the substantive policies that they have pursued.

Join my call for a Constitutional amendment:

http://action.change-congress.org/28thAmendment

Passing an amendment won't, of course, be easy. In the coming weeks, we'll tell you much more about how the amendment process works and what this amendment will say, and we'll give everyone a chance to get involved and make their voice heard.

But right now, we simply need you to join in the call -- say loudly and clearly that we need a democracy we can believe in, and we're willing to act to make it happen.

Never in our lifetime has our democracy faced a threat like this. Such a moment calls for more than mere band-aids -- it calls for fundamental reform.

Join us.

-- Lawrence Lessig

Jodorowsky on Tarot

Alejandro Jodorowsky on The Tarot of Marseilles



What the story with this

Fear the Boom and Bust

This shit is dope:



via NPR

a gethsemane kiss

W's legacy lives on . . .




Thank you, Supreme Court Justices Alioto, Roberts, Thomas and Scalia, for selling out the living, breathing people of America. May you hang as high as Judas.

Obama's take:
"The Supreme Court has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics," Obama said in a statement. "It is a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans."

Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold weighs in over at Counterpunch. Here's an excerpt:

"In its ruling, the Court ignored several time-honored principles that have served for the past two centuries to preserve the public’s respect for and acceptance of its decisions. This decision runs contrary to the concept of “judicial restraint,” the idea that a court should decide a case on constitutional grounds only if absolutely necessary, and should rule as narrowly as possible. Here, the Court did just the opposite -- it decided the constitutionality of all restrictions on corporate spending in connection with elections in an obscure case in which many far more narrow rulings were possible.

The Court also ignored stare decisis, the historic respect for precedent, which Chief Justice John Roberts termed “judicial modesty” during his 2005 confirmation hearing. It’s hard to imagine a bigger blow to stare decisis than to strike down laws in over 20 states and a federal law that has been the cornerstone of the nation’s campaign finance system for 100 years."

* * *

"The Supreme Court justices promoting this decision knew exactly what they were doing, and why. Behind the display of magisterial solemnity and jurisprudential weight, these justices know -- deep down -- they are just elements of a much larger machine, they are only where they are because of who they really serve."
-Manuel Garcia, Jr. from his article @ Counterpunch.

* * *

Please go read or re-read the excellent essay on Corporate Personhood by Jan Edwards and Molly Morgan here.

O@1

Lawrence Lessig is a wise man:



More info here:
Change Congress

mehr fuhrer

This time around, Hitler learns about Scott Brown's win:



I must say, Massachusetts, as an expatriated yet proud son of the Pioneer Valley, you disappoint me.

Hitler learns Leno is moving back to Late Night

"Diving for dear life when we could be diving for pearls . . ."

Elvis Costello's greatest lyrics sung by the inimitable Robert Wyatt. This song stops me cold every time.



Is it worth it?
A new winter coat and shoes for the wife
And a bicycle on the boy’s birthday

It’s just a rumour that was spread around town
By the women and children, soon we’ll be shipbuilding

Well I ask you
The boy said ‘Dad, they’re going to take me to task
But I’ll be home by Christmas

It’s just a rumour that was spread around town
Somebody said that someone got filled in
For saying that people get killed in
The results of their shipbuilding

With all the will in the world
Diving for dear life
When we could be diving for pearls

It’s just a rumour that was spread around town
A telegram for a picture postcard
Within weeks they’ll be reopening the shipyard
And notifying the next of kin
Once again

It’s all we’re skilled in
We will be shipbuilding

With all the will in the world
Diving for dear life
When we could be diving for pearls

sadly plausible

The Inevitable

SP + Faux News

The Known Universe

dope

parkour motion reel from saggyarmpit on Vimeo.

So, is the guy next to you watching Sasha Grey or the highway?

Because cell/smart phone usage while driving isn't dangerous enough, we now give you dashboard "infotainment systems."

human rights not corporation's

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. ... corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.
-President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864 (letter to Col. William F. Elkins), quoted in "The Lincoln Encyclopedia", Archer H. Shaw (Macmillan, 1950, NY)



ABOLISH CORPORATE PERSONHOOD!


*** Read an excellent 2004 essay by Jan Edwards and Molly Morgan regarding the abolition of corporate personhood here.

The End of the LIne

Tuesday 23 February

Seward, AK - Alaska SeaLife Center - Tell a friend
7:00 pm
Presented by Alaska SeaLife Center
Alaska Vocational Technical School
519 4th Avenue, Seward, AK
For Tickets and Information: Darin Trobauch, (907) 224-8065

For additional US screenings, go here.



Make sound decisions:

The Roots of Violence:
Wealth without work,
Pleasure without conscience
Knowledge without character
Commerce without morality
Science without humanity
Worship without sacrifice
Politics without principle

-Mahatma Ghandi