I just read a good Yahoo!/TIME.com article , from Justin Fox, basically explaining that we aren’t even close to being out of the woods, as taxpayers.
And he’s right – apparently it’s not just big business that will benefit, the Fed is now even stronger than its ever been. Interesting vote…..isn’t it?
Monopoly Man is loving life right now.
There is a great editorial on The Nation by Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, professor from Columbia University. This transcript from a recent Lou Dobbs show is crucial reading as well.
He basically has pointed out everything I wanted to say – but he is obviously much more qualified than I to discuss economics at any length, so I’m just going to suggest you read his column and learn.
I will put in my two cents though – the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 is basically the worst open handed slap in the faces of working Americans. Basically what it’s saying is that Mega Corporation can take continuous chances and risks on people they KNEW shouldn’t have been lent a thing (not just people like homeowners, but other failed businesses as well), and they can still basically wipe their hands clean of it….pass the debts onto us…..and still make a profit at the end of the day.
Think about this in totality.
This is absolutely nuts….and most people just shrug their shoulders like….”eh….I pay my mortgage” or “..my small business is doing well….fuck it.” This is seriously bad. The one thing that holds businesses back, or anyone, is debt. If you could suddenly not have any and keep trucking……
And our dumbasses are going to get pay for it, one way or another. If you’re late on some car payments…they come and scoop up your Honda Accord, with the broken turn signal, while you’re sleeping. But MegaBank, who loaned your broke, bad credit punk ass, the money (millions of you, in ALL shades of color, mind you) is going to just get off the hook for it ….AND will come out with a profit, so they can continue to lend more money.
…and we are literally going to allow ourselves to get dump trucked, instead of fighting for a plan that would be beneficial for everyone. They should just get it over with, and put a fixed amount of inherited debt, staggered to each American’s income and have us pay it off.
Can’t get those mofos no ideas…
(I personally think, in an idealistic world, those megacorps and the market should just fail…they have these weird ideas that “they are too big to fail” but really we would’ve been better for it. Why should we foot the bill because of obvious greed? We really don’t even know exactly how the $700 billion would be used- the text doesn’t really lay this out – put THAT on your brain for a minute. And note the wink wink relationship of our government and JPMorganChase – you know the history, you would know this is a scary thing. And what about this plan explains the government’s culpability in all of this?)
I did read one idea in the Wikipedia article about MegaBailout ’08, that they should’ve thought about (but they wouldn’t have for obvious reasons):
Journalist Rosalind Resnick suggested allowing “consumers and businesses would be able to borrow at the fed funds rate at 2 percent, just like the big banks do. This means that every cash-strapped homeowner would be able to refinance his mortgage and cut his payments in half, saving thousands of homes from foreclosure. Consumers could also refinance their credit card balances, auto loans and other debt at interest rates they can afford.” She says it “would cost U.S. taxpayers absolutely nothing.”
But you can’t have that can you?….where’s the win in that?
McCain’s record on veterans’issues is extremely poor. He received a “D” rating from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and the Disabled American Veterans reports that he voted for legislation benefiting veterans only 20% of the time.
Here are some dope albums I’ve been listening to, or bought recently. All three are must cops.
2nd favorite album of the year
Kings of Leon – Only by the Night
My 2nd favorite album of the year – only behind Late of the Pier’s release and just ahead of One Day As A Lion, TV on the Radio’s Dear Science (big up to Dave on the review – dope ass album), and FlyLo’s Los Angeles. There have been wildly mixed opinions on this album, much like the Nas album….and coincidentally – another negative and badly written review by Pitchfork’s Ian Cohen. Hmm…..anyways. It’s hard – like hard, hard – even for a band that is basically a southern rock band with a lead singer with probably the most underrated voice in music today. A great album – A definitely must cop and listen with absolute imidiacy (I don’t even know if that’s a word – it’s that dope.)
4.78 out of 5
Raphael Saadiq – The Way I See It
Looking for some old R&B for 2008? Saadiq’s got you covered with this 60s Motown tinged release. It’s like he rolled up everything that was great about the time period and spit out one great album – from the basslines, to the rhythms sections, leads, back-up vocals, etc. Even some of the song lengths, patterns, and texturing mirror a great Temptations song – i.e. “100 Yard Dash.”
Best R&B album I’ve heard in a great while.
4.75 out of 5
DJ Muggs and Planet Asia – Pain Language
Man – this one hits hard as hell. It’s kinda Wu-like material, with a lesson in lingistics (with samples) and with PA in prime form. Something’s happened with this cat – not only has he been very productive in the last year or so, the skills seemed to have been taken up a notch. I’ve always though Asia was dope, but this is something to listen to. Some of the spots, while sticking with a kinda Wu-ish theme, technically fit – PA basically dump trucks everyone that is on the track with him. It’s actually kinda drags the collab songs down – that is how badly the guest are being destroyed.
Dope ass beats by Muggs (who is a Wu affliate), who also steps up on the beats, which have dope samples and are very rich and textured. Not that Muggs didn’t already do this, but it just matches very nicely with PA’s flow. Another nice find.
4.3 out of 5.
Get on out there and make an ındıfference...
(you’ll have to excuse the unusual letter ı…thıs ı = i. it’s just that the Turkısh keyboard ıs a lıttle out of wack and ı dıdn’t want to waıt untıl ı got back to my home computer to put down my thoughts. besıdes, fuck punctuatıon. ıt’s a blog)
As ı sıt ın thıs hotel lobby or around town, ı’m lıstenıng to all kınds of varıous tougues: Turkısh, German, Cockney Englısh, Portuguese, Japanese, French, Russıan, etc. I can’t help but thınk about theır ıdentıtıes. Not ın who they are…I have no ınterest ın gettıng know Franz, Gustav, Phılıp, or Marıa.
What I,m ınterested ın ıs who THEY are and what they are about. They fırst thıng I notıce ıs that they a lot more spatıally aware….a lot more sıtuatıonally aware….socıally aware. They understand the polıtıcs of theır countrıes, as well as the socıal dynamıc that these polıtıcs create for them, on them, even ın spıte of them.
It makes me fully understand how ıncompetent we Amerıcans usually are. I suppose there ıs good reason. You can fınd almost everythıng ın the world rıght ın our country – weather, fun thıngs to do, hıstorıcal ıtems, wıldlıfe (though not as varıed). We take these thıngs for granted. We tend no understand or learn about how we’ve evolved socıally. We don’t get how our government works….how laws are made….how they wıll end up affectıng you, one way or another.
People lıvıng ın other countrıes usually do. There ıs a reason why there’s been no socıal change/revolutıon have happened to the levels that a lot of lıberals, such as myself would lıke – we, lıberals ıncluded and especıally, have no clue what ıs beıng done to us, what we are doıng to ourselves, or how ıt’s even gotten thıs way.
We are on the ledge, on the precıpıse of a new era ın polıtıcs and how they wıll affect the mass. Look at the current economıc events. People know we are ın bıg trouble – or at least thıs ıs what ıs beıng saıd – but they don’t really understand what all of ıt wıll mean goıng forward. Honestly, I don’t even know what wıll happen headıng ınto thıs era. I do know few thıngs though: the fuel thıng was a mass scare. The government now effectıvely owns AIG – the 18th largest company ın the world, Fannıe Mae and Freddıe Mac. JPMorganChase ıs even bıgger than ever. There ıs real reason to be worrıed about your money ın the bank and your 401Ks – even the major ınvestment companıes, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are now bank holdıng companıes and not ınvestment banks……so that they can stay ın busıness and suck up even more money. And the greatest news of all – the government ıs goıng to pony up 700 bıllıon to buy out the bad debt ın mortgages. Whıch basıcally means, ıf you are behınd ın your mortagage – the government, not your lendıng bank, own you.
Your candıdates wıll only tell you that ıt’s goıng to be expensıve to fıx. Meanıng ıt’s goıng to cost you and me a lot of money to now baıl out the government of ıts new, rather large debt. Whıch would mean more laws for new taxes and/or new ways to get more usıng the current tax structure.
All of these thıngs you have no clue about. None at all. None of you are economısts. Most of us have problems wıth meduım to long dıvısıon and have trouble correctly balance check books. We skım through artıcles and books, even on subjects we lıke. Amerıcans routınely and notorıously skıp the fıne prınt. We don’t understand how we can send back an ıPod to Amazon.com – why do you thınk we are capable to selectıng a Presıdent?
You’ve got no busıness votıng.
Ladıes and gentleman – I’m not sayıng are useless or lazy. We (well..a lot of us) are ıntellıgent and hard workıng. We are just so tremedously unınformed that ıt really ısn’t remotely reasonable to belıeve that we can collectıvely decıde on a Presıdent, when the vast majorıty of us, ıncludıng me don’t know who theır cıty mayors and councılmen are. People ın other countrıes tend to at least know what ıs goıng wrong where they lıve. You don’t.
I’m not sayıng that the votıng ıs rıgged. Though ı belıeve that ıt can be, has been, wıll be rıgged ın the future – that actually have no bearıng on the fact that your supremely unınformed vote ıs more hurtful than a rıgged vote from a dead man or even an ıllegally non cast vote.
I’m no sayıng the government ıs bad ıs consıprıng agaınst us. Thıs may actually be happenıng, ın a multıtude of contexts – but thıs doesn’t affect our abılıty to comprehend.
The economıc sıtuatıon ıs prıme example – I hear Obama and McCaın sayıng that we are goıng to rebuıld Amerıca’s economy through good ol’fashıoned hard work…blood, sweat, and tears. And we are. They wıll fınd a way to bleed us dry, work us for even less than we make now lıke a sweatshop, and then we wıll cry ourselves to sleep after a lot of us won’t be able to gıve our chıldren good dınners, or dınner at all. Is thıs a scenarıo for everyone? Obvıously not. I’m relatıvely successful, as are a lot of people I know – brother, mom, my frıends, Cassandra, etc. But understand the context ın whıch they speak – you wıll work harder than ever. You are no requıre to conjure up any plans to change because Obama wıll do that for you and gıve you pocketful of hope whıle you toıl. You do not need to undertand the ıssues, because they are already beıng chewed up and vomıted up to you lıke a momma bırd to a retarded chıck.
You have no clue how race ıs effectıng young, capable black and latıno men ın fındıng jobs. You have no clue on why there never any educatıonal materıal ın prımary or secondary or even hıgher learnıng on the basıc skılls ın lıfe, ı.e. credıt, bankıng, etc. You have no clue that the IRS ıs not even an Amerıcan ınstıtutıon. You have no clue on exactly how your candıdates wıll get you out of thıs mud we’re ın.
Unless we commıt to gettıng ınıfınıtely more ıntellıgent about our ıssues – your vote wıll be and currently useless. Forget what the candıdates are tellıng you – they are runnıng very soft platforms usıng emotıons, and actıon verbs. They are goıng on to your favorıte shows and earnıng kudos for gettıng scrıpted laughs. They are tellıng you they can fıx thıngs so abstract to you, beıng so unınformed, that you gıve ın and what to just belıeve ıt true. They are sayıng that you vote counts..and ıt wıll.
There wıll be no bloody coups or people beıng scooped up and kıdnapped ın green Ford Falcons to be dealt wıth. The kıdnappıng ıs beıng done one vote at a tıme by a rıch and poor man….black, whıte, Asıan, and latıno.
And they are laughıng at us. Not necessarıly because you voted at all (I wıll do that..the laughıng that ıs) – but because they know you have no busıness wıth a ballot ın your hand.
To say that Ted Leo was dismayed by the violence at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, would be an understatement. So he decided to take his anger and do something about it. As he writes, “The surveillance, pre-emptive detention, arrest, and beating of journalists, protesters, and watchdogs by the St. Paul police department, the Ramsey County sheriff’s department, and the FBI was so egregious that it couldn’t be allowed to pass without comment.”
The ever-outspoken punk rocker gathered his Pharmacists and hit the studio to lay down the two original songs and two covers that comprise the Rapid Response EP, available right this very instant for digital download from Touch and Go.
In the liner notes for the EP, Leo explains, “Real people were hurt in St. Paul, and real people have bills to pay, and real people need funding to continue their good works. We (the band and I) were all feeling these events as deeply as we could from our 1200 mile remove, and so as not to feel entirely powerless, and in an attempt to contribute SOMETHING to that continuation of those good works, we wrote a song and recorded it, along with another new one we’d already been working on that’s pertinent to election time politics, and two covers we enjoy and that also have timely sentiments.” Those covers are of crust punk bands Amebix and Cock Sparrer.”
All proceeds from the EP will go to Democracy Now! and the Minneapolis chapter of Food Not Bombs. It’s available exclusively through Touch and Go at the moment, but will make its way to other online retailers after two weeks. Touch and Go is offering a sliding scale of payment for the EP, based on how much you’d like to donate to the cause.
Ted and the Pharmacists embark on their fall tour with fellow rabble-rousers Against Me! later this month, with the mighty Titus Andronicus picking up the support slot once they part ways towards the end of October. TL/Rx and Titus Andronicus hit Bloomington, Indiana on Election Day. Should be an interesting show!
Rapid Response EP:
01 Paranoia: Never Enough
02 Mourning in America
03 I Got Your Number [Cock Sparrer cover]
04 Nobody’s Driving [Amebix cover]
A poignant angle on 9/11, watch for yourself here…
“The Falling Man” is a story about a photograph taken by Richard Drew at 9:41:15 a.m., on September 11, 2001. The story was written by Tom Junod and appeared in the September 2003 issue of Esquire magazine, about the World Trade Center during the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City.
The subject of the image, whose identity at present remains unknown although attempts have been made at identifying him, was one of the people (dubbed “jumpers” by the press) trapped on the upper floors of the skyscraper who apparently chose to jump rather than die from the fire and smoke. According to the documentary by the same title and the article in Esquire, this picture is somewhat deceptive; it gives the impression the man is falling straight down. In reality, this is just one of a dozen photographs of his fall. In the other photos, it is evident that he is tumbling through the air out of control.
The photographer has noted that, in at least two cases, newspaper stories commenting on this particular image have attracted a barrage of criticism from readership, who find the image deeply disturbing
DEERHUNTER – Microcastles
Deerhunter is a up and coming Atlanta Indie rock band. This album “Microcastles” is a follow up to their well recieved “Cryptograms” that was released last year. Its hard to pin point the sound of this album. All I can say is, I like it. It is sort of ambient yet rock with smooth vocals. Like I said difficult to pinpoint but when it comes on my ipod I know its Deerhunter and I know I like it.
Stars – Sad Robot EP
Sad Robots is an all didgital release from Stars. If you have never heard of Stars then this would not be a good place to start. Just as well if you are a Stars junkie like myself then this will be essential to your collection. Sad robots has four new orignal tracks from stars as well as some great live tracks.
TV On The Radio – Dear Science,
This is my two word review of TVOTR Dear Science, BUY IT! It comes out Sept. 23 Its freakin’TVOTR they are awesome and this is their best work yet in my opinion. Im not even gonna go into detail. Just go get it and thank me later.
Zo and Tiggalo Love the 80′s
This is a pet project of Phonte Coleman (Little Brother) and Zo the Musical Architect from Detroit. It is a brief EP of covers by one hit wonder yet classic 80′s songs. ToTo’s “Africa” and A-Ha’s “Take On Me”. Despite the goofy artwork, the musical ability and careful precision they put into these covers is nothing short of greatness. It really does feel good to listen to it. Especially if you are between 25-35 years of age.
DJ KO – Picture This
Unfortunately quality Hip Hop releases are few and far between these days. I must be getting old, because I long for the days of pre 2000 hip hop that seemed like it just came out yesterday. I would speed to my local record store after school to pick up Liquid Swords or The latest Rawkus release. Now when I look at new releases it looks like the same album over and over. Considering the fact that the country is in a recession and I dont have a lot of money(even if I did) I do not want to hear the garbage that is put out now. Nonsensical rant ending—point is DJ KO brought that old feeling back with Picture This and I thank him.
Fooled Again
By Bob Cesca
It’s happening again. Regardless of the outcome of this thing, it’s clear that half of America is falling for the same superficial trickery that gave us eight years of George W. Bush. You know the routine. Who do you want to have a beer with? Who is more plainspoken? Who would you like to drive your kids to hockey?
Only this time around, America is exponentially worse off than it was in 2000 or 2004, which only makes the degree to which certain voters are being tricked all the more infuriating and incomprehensible. Show of hands: have you gone all Howard Beale yet this week?
I’d do the list of Republican Epic Fail, but it’s too exhaustively long to enumerate here. So here’s a thumbnail. The day after Sarah Palin’s historically overrated Edie McClurg With Lying performance at the Republican convention, the Dow tanked 344 points. The day after that, the Republicans got their bounce — an unemployment rate bounce to 6.1 percent — the highest level in five years. Two days after that, Secretary Paulson announced the government’s “deprivatization” of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. And yesterday, the Dow dropped another 280 points. All of this within the last seven days.
So what are the Republicans and the barbecue media talking about today? A pig metaphor that’s older than John McCain. John McCain! A cynical, sell-out politician who chose for his running mate someone who probably thinks Fannie Mae is this and Freddie Mac is this.
It’s no wonder why Americans are ignoring issues that are literally right in front of their faces.
Today on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, we overheard some accidental truth-telling as to why this is happening. Chris Matthews was on with Scarborough and Andrea Mitchell (sitting in for Mika who, I think, was off updating her Sarah Palin Fansite & Web Shrine) and Matthews was poking Scarborough and Buchanan about their wall-to-wall pig remark coverage.
MATTHEWS: Two days from now — I want to ask you, what will we talk about two days from now?
SCARBOROUGH: Whatever the McCain campaign wants us to talk about, because the McCain campaign is assertive.
Shockingly honest. To be fair, however, the complicity of far-right talk radio — all 1,000 radio stations nationwide — makes Scarborough and Buchanan look like Bernie Sanders and Mike Malloy. Naturally, today, we’ll hear righteous indignation all over AM radio — Rush Limbaugh, who loves his novelty Hillary Clinton nutcracker almost as much as his “feminazi” jokes, drooling on his phallic cigars while decrying Senator Obama’s so-called sexist remark.
We all know why this is happening. Senator Obama said it during his convention acceptance speech in Denver:
Because if you don’t have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.
You make a big election about small things.
Small things. Like lipstick. And the Republicans get away with it because everyone with barbecue sauce stains on their mouths will, as Scarborough inadvertently admitted, talk about it.
What else gets short-changed in lieu of the small things? Adequate debunking of the most disgusting Republican attack ad since Lee Atwater’s Willie Horton ad or Alex Castellanos’ White Hands ad. Instead, the new McCain ad depicting Senator Obama as a creepy perv who wants to tell your kids about their down-there places is aired over and over and over on cable. And the very serious discussion swirling around this ad? How will Obama respond to this? Will this damage Obama? When do we get to show the ad again?
You wouldn’t know it while watching Morning Joe, but the truth is that the legislation in question had to do with age-appropriate education that would help to protect children from sexual predators. I repeat: to protect children from sexual predators.
Our collective question for Senator McCain has to be: Why are you against that, Senator? Why don’t you want to protect our children from perverts, pedophiles and predators? Between that and your vote against SCHIP, it’s clear that you aren’t interested in keeping America’s children safe. Obviously, you’d rather win an election.
It’s no wonder why a baffling number of Americans are refusing to vote based on the issues happening literally in their own back yards. And so we have a Republican ticket — a ticket that exactly matches in every way the Bush-Cheney administration — enjoying an incongruously high level of polling support, despite the situation on the ground in almost every American town and suburb.
Given their record of success in years past, it’s no wonder why the Republicans do what they do. But this goes beyond cause and effect. It’s their nature. They’re simply unable to govern, so all they have left are their basest, most cynical and depraved instincts. Their presidential ticket is composed of two incompetent, corrupt liars who want to continue the Bush legacy (while also lying about their “change” message). But they’re good at whining; they’re good at smearing; and they excel at fear-mongering. John McCain has fully embraced Karl Rove’s brand of insect politics.
With a complicit barbecue media at their disposal — a team of fainting goats on cable news and AM radio — their screaming and stomping gets plenty of airplay. But worse than that, it gets an obscene amount of undue validation. Because when it doesn’t, the Republicans crap their cages until the goats faint again. Consequently, casual viewers who aren’t as knee-deep in this stuff get the wrong impression as to what’s truly important. Or they become so flummoxed by the noise that they throw their hands in the air and, with an exhausted yalp, declare both candidates equally as awful. George W. Bush “won” in 2000 due to that exact phenomenon.
And I remain very confident that Senator Obama is going to win this time. My mantra: the Obama team defeated the most powerful and popular Democratic brand in America. His campaign is the most disciplined we’ve seen in decades. His financial resources are record-breaking. Yet, if McCain ends up winning this thing, we can only conclude that it’s because he so fully embraced a form of Rove Republican politics — tactics so unprecedented in their deceitfulness and snark that they will have successfully obscured a full decade of undisputed failure, not to mention what Mort Zuckerman called this week “the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.”
In the face of all of this, can anyone seriously deny that John McCain and the Bush Republicans are successfully fooling Americans — again?
—Bob Cesca
www.bobcesca.com
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