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