cuddlefish

The game everyone's playing!

2011-10-11T06:58:00.001-06:00

BANZAI7'S OCCUPY USA MONOPOLY BOARD GAME
Originally uploaded by Colonel Flick

A revolution against neoliberalism? - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

2011-02-25T22:49:00.002-07:00

A revolution against neoliberalism? - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

Two observations about Egypt’s history as a neoliberal state are in order. First, Mubarak’s Egypt was considered to be at the forefront of instituting neoliberal policies in the Middle East (not un-coincidentally, so was Ben Ali’s Tunisia). Secondly, the reality of Egypt’s political economy during the Mubarak era was very different than the rhetoric, as was the case in every other neoliberal state from Chile to Indonesia. Political scientist Timothy Mitchell published a revealing essay about Egypt’s brand of neoliberalism in his book Rule of Experts (the chapter titled "Dreamland" — named after a housing development built by Ahmad Bahgat, one of the Mubarak cronies now discredited by the fall of the regime). The gist of Mitchell’s portrait of Egyptian neoliberalism was that while Egypt was lauded by institutions such as the International Monetary Fund as a beacon of free-market success, the standard tools for measuring economies gave a grossly inadequate picture of the Egyptian economy. In reality the unfettering of markets and agenda of privatization were applied unevenly at best.

The only people for whom Egyptian neoliberalism worked "by the book" were the most vulnerable members of society, and their experience with neoliberalism was not a pretty picture. Organised labor was fiercely suppressed. The public education and the health care systems were gutted by a combination of neglect and privatization. Much of the population suffered stagnant or falling wages relative to inflation. Official unemployment was estimated at approximately 9.4% last year (and much higher for the youth who spearheaded the January 25th Revolution), and about 20% of the population is said to live below a poverty line defined as $2 per day per person.

For the wealthy, the rules were very different. Egypt did not so much shrink its public sector, as neoliberal doctrine would have it, as it reallocated public resources for the benefit of a small and already affluent elite. Privatization provided windfalls for politically well-connected individuals who could purchase state-owned assets for much less than their market value, or monopolise rents from such diverse sources as tourism and foreign aid. Huge proportions of the profits made by companies that supplied basic construction materials like steel and cement came from government contracts, a proportion of which in turn were related to aid from foreign governments.

Friday Random Ten

2011-01-07T02:42:00.001-07:00

Andrews Surfers...Go!
Rip-Off (1999)
Thee Andrews Surfers

Tetsu
Candi and the Strangers (2009)
Candi and the Strangers

You're So Cruel
Hard Times (2010)
The Blue Squares

Vår Del Av Stan
Vår Del Av Stan (2008)
Masshysteri

Love to Love
Strangers in the Night (1979)
UFO

Ten Things
Cafe Istanbul (1987)
The Mad Turks From Istanbul

Sarah Smiles
Strange Man, Changed Man (1979)
Bram Tchaikovsky

Porchlight
Furnace Room Lullaby (2000)
Neko Case & Her Boyfriends

FFM Punkarmee
Die Birne ist reif (2001)
Das Bierbeben

Drunk In Yr Uggs
Sorcerers of Madness (4rd Year In a Row) (2010)
Guinea Worms

New Garage Explosion

2011-01-01T17:08:00.001-07:00

My Favorite Albums of 2010

2010-12-15T17:02:00.002-07:00

Chinawoman
Show Me the Face (self released)

Magic Slim & the Teardrops
Raising the Bar (Blind Pig)

Klaus & Kinski
Tierra, trágalos (Jabaline)

The Blue Squares
Hard Times (self released)

Cyanide Pills
Cyanide Pills (Damaged Goods)

The Ex
Catch My Shoe (Ex)

The Fall
Your Future Our Clutter (Domino)

Cheese People
Well Well Well (self released)

Bare Wires
Seeking Love (Castle Face)

Laura Marling
I Speak Because I Can (Virgin)

Bettie Serveert
Pharmacy of Love (Palomine)

The Besnard Lakes
The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night (Jagjaguwar)

Boston Spaceships
Our Cubehouse Still Rocks (Guided By Voices)

Pikelet
Stem (Chapter Music)

Howe Gelb and a Band of Gypsies
Alegrias (Eureka)

ミドリ
Shinsekai (SAR)

Clogs
The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton (Brassland)

Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3
Propellor Time (Sartorial)

Guinea Worms
Sorcererers of Madness (4rd Year in a Row) (Columbus Discount)

The Fresh & Onlys
Play It Strange (In the Red)

Giant Sand
Blurry Blue Mountain (Fire)

Club 8
The People's Record (Labrador)

Swans
My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky (Young God)

Elephant9
Walk the Nile (Rune Grammofon)

White Fence
White Fence (Woodsist)

Carolina Chocolate Drops
Genuine Negro Jig (Nonesuch)

Summer People
Good Problems (Red Leader)

friday random ten

2009-06-12T02:04:00.001-06:00

[Note: This is a randomized list of some of my favorite albums of 2009 so far...]

She's a River
Gurf Morlix
Last Exit to Happyland (Rootball)

Dirty Water
Shemekia Copeland
Never Going Back (Telarc)

Turbine Womb
Soap&Skin
Lovetune for Vacuum (Play It Again Sam)

Dos Fridas
The Diamond Center
My Only Companion (self released)

Norman Bleik
I Was a King
I Was a King (Hype City)

Get Yo Shit
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Tell 'em What Your Name Is! (Lost HighwayRecords)

Dues Paid In Full
Ruthie Foster
The Truth According to Ruthie Foster (Blue Corn Music)

Hallway Master
Pikelet
Not So Still [EP] (Special Award)

In a Day
Girl in a Coma
Trio B.C. (Blackheart Records)

Lorca and the Orange Tree
The Mummers
Tale to Tell (Big Bass Drum)

bonus track:

Fuck Your God
The Callas
The Callas (Out of Tune Records)

thursday reads

2009-06-04T08:33:00.000-06:00

Right-wing advocate for domestic terrorism arrested (Hartford Courant):

Internet radio host Hal Turner — accused of inciting Catholics to "take up arms" and singling out two Connecticut lawmakers and a state ethics official on a website — was taken into custody in New Jersey late Wednesday after state Capitol police in Connecticut obtained a warrant for his arrest.

Turner, who has been identified as a white supremacist and anti-Semite by several anti-racism groups, hosts an Internet radio program with an associated blog. On Tuesday, the blog included a post that promised to release the home addresses of state Rep. Michael Lawlor, state Sen. Andrew McDonald and Thomas Jones of the State Ethics Office.

"Mr. Turner's comments are above and beyond the threshold of free speech," Capitol Police Chief Michael J. Fallon said in an e-mail announcing the warrant. "He is inciting others through his website to commit acts of violence and has created fear and alarm. He should be held accountable for his conduct."

The Rachel Maddow Show: Red Alert

E.J. Dionne Jr. gets it:

A media environment that tilts to the right is obscuring what President Obama stands for and closing off political options that should be part of the public discussion.

Yes, you read that correctly: If you doubt that there is a conservative inclination in the media, consider which arguments you hear regularly and which you don't. When Rush Limbaugh sneezes or Newt Gingrich tweets, their views ricochet from the Internet to cable television and into the traditional media. It is remarkable how successful they are in setting what passes for the news agenda.

The power of the Limbaugh-Gingrich axis means that Obama is regularly cast as somewhere on the far left end of a truncated political spectrum. He's the guy who nominates a "racist" to the Supreme Court (though Gingrich retreated from the word yesterday), wants to weaken America's defenses against terrorism and is proposing a massive government takeover of the private economy. Steve Forbes, writing for his magazine, recently went so far as to compare Obama's economic policies to those of Juan Peron's Argentina.

Barbara Ehrenreich: Welcome to a Dying Industry, J-School Grads

America's Best Christian takes time to explain to less informed Christians the curious details of the Lord's concept of marriage.

wednesday reads

2009-06-03T09:23:00.000-06:00

Emptywheel: Why Did CIA Hide Dick Cheney's Role in Briefing?

Alaska, Missouri, South Carolina and Texas opt-out of national academic standards.

Tom Engelhardt: To the Graduating Class of American Empire, 2009

New Zealand is ranked at number one, the United States is 83^rd and Iraq remains at the bottom of the ne Global Peace Index.

John Cole: The Genius of Zero Tolerance

tuesday reads

2009-06-02T07:48:00.000-06:00

Greg Palast: Grand Theft Auto

Pratap Chatterjee: Is Halliburton Forgiven and Forgotten? Or How to Stay Out of Sight While Profiting From the War in Iraq

BLDGBLOG: Saddam's Palaces: An Interview with Richard Mosse

Bernard Chazelle: From the Oubliettes of History: the Negligibles

monday reads

2009-06-01T07:20:00.000-06:00

Domestic terrorist assassinates Dr. George Tiller.

Jesus's Jihadis

McClatchy takes a look at the domestic right wing terrorist suspected in the assassination of Dr. Tiller.

Michael Moore: Goodbye, GM

saturday reads

2009-05-30T08:56:00.000-06:00

Amnesty International called Saturday for an independent probe into the number of civilians killed in the final weeks of Sri Lanka's civil war and also urged the UN to reveal its own estimates. (AFP)

One Pissed Off Liberal: GBCW

Violet Blue: Don't Marry Me, Bro

Man who tracked Che for CIA awarded $1 billion in lawsuit (McClatchy)

Car-driven society poses health risk for Americans (Reuters)

Lucky duckies and perverted pandas

friday reads

2009-05-29T09:14:00.000-06:00

Scott Horton on the torture photos coverup.

The commander of Fort Campbell army base in Kentucky has ordered a three-day suspension of regular duties to focus on a spike in suicides among his troops amid concern over a wider trend across the armed services. (AFP)

Dispatch from Mogadishu: One week in hell

Foreclosures, mortgage delinquencies climb at record rate.

Tomgram: William Astore, Educating Ourselves to Oblivion

wednesday reads

2009-05-27T06:51:00.000-06:00

Sibel Edmonds: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Recently declassified documents obtained by investigators Jeremy Bigwood and Eva Golinger reveal that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has invested more than $97 million in “decentralization” and “regional autonomy” projects and opposition political parties in Bolivia since 2002. (Bolivia Rising)

Andy Kroll: The Greatest Swindle Ever Sold

Scott Horton: Cheney Prepares the Twinkie Defense

Robert Reich: Sotomayor and the Republicans

'Western Germany Wants Stasi's Influence to Remain Hidden' (Spiegel Online)

The revelation that the policeman who shot Berlin student Benno Ohnesorg in 1967 was a spy for the Stasi East German intelligence service has led to an intense historical debate in Germany. Ohnesorg's death radicalized many students and is seen as one of the factors that lead to the 1968 student protest movement and the emergence of the far-left Baader-Meinhof terrorist group.

Now Germany is asking itself what would have happened if people had known that Karl-Heinz Kurras, the policeman who fired the fatal shot and became the epitome of what students saw as an authoritarian West German establishment, was a communist and a Stasi informant? Would 1968 have happened? Would the country have been terrorized by left-wing urban guerrillas for over a decade?

wednesday reads

2009-05-20T07:31:00.000-06:00

Tomgram: Noam Chomsky, Unexceptional Americans

Emptywheel: The CIA's Comedy of Briefing List Errors

America's poor are its most generous givers (McClatchy)

The generosity of poor people isn't so much rare as rarely noticed, however. In fact, America's poor donate more, in percentage terms, than higher-income groups do, surveys of charitable giving show. What's more, their generosity declines less in hard times than the generosity of richer givers does.

"The lowest-income fifth (of the population) always give at more than their capacity," said Virginia Hodgkinson, former vice president for research at Independent Sector, a Washington-based association of major nonprofit agencies. "The next two-fifths give at capacity, and those above that are capable of giving two or three times more than they give."

Indeed, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest survey of consumer expenditure found that the poorest fifth of America's households contributed an average of 4.3 percent of their incomes to charitable organizations in 2007. The richest fifth gave at less than half that rate, 2.1 percent.

Darwinius masillae

monday reads

2009-05-18T08:27:00.000-06:00

Chris Hedges: The Disease of Permanent War

A record number of suicides has prompted Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli to launch a massive house-cleaning plan with orders to garrison, installation and medical commanders to revive lapsed health and welfare programs, and restore discipline in the barracks.

Glenn Greenwald: The myth of the parasitical bloggers

Torture News Roundup

Unpaid wage claims on the rise in Austin.

Will Patrick Roy return to the Avs as head coach?

friday reads

2009-05-15T08:02:00.000-06:00

The Luis Ramirez Murder: A Logical Step in the Process of Establishing a Subhuman Class

Glenn Greenwald: Obama's kinder, gentler military commissions

What makes military commission so pernicious is that they signal that anytime the government wants to imprison people but can't obtain convictions under our normal system of justice, we'll just create a brand new system that diminishes due process just enough to ensure that the government wins. It tells the world that we don't trust our own justice system, that we're willing to use sham trials to imprison people for life or even execute them, and that what Bush did in perverting American justice was not fundamentally or radically wrong, but just was in need of a little tweaking. Like warrantless eavesdropping, extreme secrecy doctrines, concealment of torture evidence, blocking judicial review of executive lawbreaking, one can now add Bush's military commission system, albeit in modified form, to the growing list of despised Bush Terrorism policies that are now policies of Barack Obama.

Training a new generation of brown shirts.

The Explorers program, a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America that began 60 years ago, is training thousands of young people in skills used to confront terrorism, illegal immigration and escalating border violence — an intense ratcheting up of one of the group’s longtime missions to prepare youths for more traditional jobs as police officers and firefighters.

“This is about being a true-blooded American guy and girl,” said A. J. Lowenthal, a sheriff’s deputy here in Imperial County, whose life clock, he says, is set around the Explorers events he helps run. “It fits right in with the honor and bravery of the Boy Scouts.”

The training, which leaders say is not intended to be applied outside the simulated Explorer setting, can involve chasing down illegal border crossers as well as more dangerous situations that include facing down terrorists and taking out “active shooters,” like those who bring gunfire and death to college campuses. In a simulation here of a raid on a marijuana field, several Explorers were instructed on how to quiet an obstreperous lookout.

The Cure for Layoffs: Fire the Boss!

Paul Krugman: "I have seen the future, and it won't work."

The MPAA is a 'price-fixing cartel'.

wednesday reads

2009-05-13T08:36:00.000-06:00

Tamil war zone hospital hit again.

Glenn Greenwald on Jesse Ventura and the massive expansion of America's "Hard Left.

Conservatives Leading the World Headlong into the 18th Century

Pepe Escobar: Pipeline-Istan

More Than Nuremberg: Thaousands Prosecuted For War Crimes After World War II

Matt Taibbi: Being anti-torture doesn’t make you pro-terrorist

friday reads

2009-05-08T07:44:00.000-06:00

Scott Horton: The Bush Era Torture-Homicides

Pentagon’s Black Budget Grows to More Than $50 Billion

Paul Krugman senses that prospects for fundamental financial reform are fading.

Naomi Klein on the bank bailouts.

thursday reads

2009-05-07T11:05:00.000-06:00

Dan Froomkin: Complicity -- and Accountability -- on Torture

Scott Horton: Bolton's Spanish Delusions

Glenn Greenwald: What 'Oversight' Means in Washington

The "Churchill gene"

wednesday reads

2009-05-06T09:45:00.000-06:00

Jane Hamsher: Bailout Recipients Spent $13 Million Lobbying Against Consumers, For Their Own Bonuses in 1Q 2009

Clear Channel implodes.

U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan kill over 100 civilians.

Taliban takes control of Pakistan's Swat valley.

Spencer Ackerman: Send Warlords, Guns and Money

New Star Trek Movie

2009-05-05T10:49:00.000-06:00

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

friday reads

2009-05-01T08:15:00.000-06:00

Supreme Court Justice David Souter to retire.

May Day riots start a day early in Berlin.

Orcinus - The Far Right's First 100 Days: Shifting Into Overdrive

The Rude One: Arlen Specter, Tuesday Morning, First Light

Violet Blue: Why the SF Weekly should be 'whipped and gagged'

Rock Paper Scissors Spock Lizard

thursday reads

2009-04-30T08:05:00.001-06:00

In a ruling in Madrid today, Judge Baltasar Garzón has announced that an inquiry into the Bush administration’s torture policymakers now will proceed to a formal criminal investigation.

'Probable' case of swine flu closes Austin school. Flu panic sweeps Texas.

Condi Rice pulls a Nixon

monday reads

2009-04-27T10:37:00.000-06:00

Could the swine-flu outbreak be linked to a factory farm?

Europeans urged to avoid Mexico and US as swine flu death toll exceeds 100

Scott Horton: Broder for the Defense

Nick Turse: A Tsunami of Hunger

Jürgen Klinsmann sacked.

thursday reads

2009-04-23T12:32:00.000-06:00

War Criminals

A newly declassified narrative of the Bush administration's advice to the CIA on harsh interrogations shows that the small group of Justice Department lawyers who wrote memos authorizing harsh interrogation techniques were operating not on their own but with direction from top administration officials, including then-Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Ray McGovern: Obama Plays Hamlet; Shredders Hum

Terry Jones:If Dick Cheney can trumpet the 'success' of his torture policies without fear of retribution, why can't us ordinary criminals?

Lukery: First Merchant Bank exposed

wednesday reads

2009-04-22T08:21:00.000-06:00

McClatchy - Report: Abusive tactics used in effort to find Iraq-al Qaida link

The Bush administration put relentless pressure on interrogators to use harsh methods on detainees in part to find evidence of cooperation between al Qaida and the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime, according to a former senior U.S. intelligence official and a former Army psychiatrist.

Such information would've provided a foundation for one of former President George W. Bush's main arguments for invading Iraq in 2003. No evidence has ever been found of operational ties between Osama bin Laden's terrorist network and Saddam's regime.

The use of abusive interrogation — widely considered torture — as part of Bush's quest for a rationale to invade Iraq came to light as the Senate issued a major report tracing the origin of the abuses and President Barack Obama opened the door to prosecuting former U.S. officials for approving them.

Spencer Ackerman: Senate Armed Services Document Outlines How Pentagon Used Torture Resistance Training in Interrogations

A wealth of new details emerged Tuesday about how techniques designed to help captured U.S. troops resist torture formed the basis for the post-9/11 interrogation policies of the Bush-era Pentagon.

Instructors of those techniques proved to be eager in 2002 and 2003 to disseminate them to an emerging crop of inexperienced military interrogators facing the prospect of wresting information out of new captives. “I believe our niche lies in the fact that we can provide the ability to exploit personnel based on how our enemies have done this type of thing over the last five decades,” said Joseph Witsch, an instructor for the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency (JPRA), a component of U.S. Joint Forces Command that oversees the so-called Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Evasion (SERE) program for U.S. special forces, during a 2002 training session for U.S. military interrogators, according to a newly released report.

Emptywheel: Did Cheney Order Up Abu Zubaydah’s 83rd Waterboarding?

Moon of Alabama: The Sadism Report

The Colbert Coalition takes on NOM

2009-04-18T08:16:00.000-06:00

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

The Colbert Coalition's Anti-Gay Marriage Ad

colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

NASA Name Contest

Do you know the difference between a rollergirl and a snack food?

2009-04-17T11:38:00.000-06:00

Crackerjack vs. Frito Lay (via Texas Rollergirls)

"Plano-based snack company Frito-Lay North America, Inc. recently put the corporate kibosh on local rollergirl Colleen "Crackerjack" Bell's attempt to trademark her nickname for roller derby competitions. In their opposition, filed April 8, Frito-Lay essentially alleges that their tasty caramel popcorn treat runs the risk of being confused with a bunch of tough ladies who try to bruise each other while skating around a circular rink." – Austinist

Frito-Lay claims in their opposition of the roller derby-specific trademark that Crackerjack is merely descriptive, not a proper name; they claim there is a great likelihood of confusion between the candied popcorn and the rollergirl; that use of the word crackerjack by a rollergirl dilutes the connection between the words Cracker Jack and candy popcorn, and/or tarnishes the image of the snack; and finally they claim that Crackerjack is falsely suggesting a connection between herself and candied popcorn, and the insinuation is causing harm to Frito-Lay.

Crackerjack talks about her trademark on Austin Fox and CBS affiliates:
on Fox - http://tinyurl.com/crackerjack-FOX
on CBS - http://tinyurl.com/crackerjack-CBS

The story has also gotten coverage in the Madison, WI local press
http://77square.com/citylife/features/story_447246

Balderdash. Or should we say, Poppycock. If you still don’t get it, watch this:

We think that people are generally smart enough to tell the difference between a rollergirl and a snack. If we’re right, please tell Frito-Lay and encourage them to drop this opposition. http://www.fritolay.com/about-us/contact-us.html

friday reads

2009-04-17T07:15:00.000-06:00

Glenn Greenwald on Obama's release of the OLC torture memos.

Didgby on "professional" courtesy.

Christy Hardin Smith asks: Which language is from Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn's seminal work The Gulag Archipelago: 1918-1956 and which is from US Department of Justice OLC memoranda issued in the last few years.

Spencer Ackerman on OCL's medieval documents.

$40M fuel theft prompts global manhunt

thursday reads

2009-04-16T09:07:00.000-06:00

Can Paraguay's President Survive a Scandal?

Gov. Goodhair, jackass.

TMP interviews New York Time's Eric Lichtblau on the ongoing warnetless wiretapping program.

General Growth Properties Inc, the second-largest U.S. mall owner, filed for bankruptcy protection on Thursday in the biggest real estate failure in U.S. history.

tuesday reads

2009-04-14T08:51:00.000-06:00

Spanish prosecutors will seek criminal charges against Alberto Gonzales and five high-ranking Bush administration officials for sanctioning torture at Guantánamo. (Scott Horton)

Frankin Wins Again!

Legalize drugs, reduce violence.

#@%*! thieving dwarves

teabagger blowback

monday reads

2009-04-13T08:49:00.000-06:00

Soldiers close in on anti-government protesters after day of running battles in Bangkok.

A 5-day standoff with Somali pirates comes to an end.

Scott Horton: Upholding the red Cross

Longer Unemployment for Those 45 and Older

Paul Krugman on those crazy Republicans.

thursday reads

2009-04-09T07:43:00.000-06:00

A landmark human rights lawsuit, accusing Royal Dutch Shell of complicity in the execution of author and human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa some 14 years ago, will proceed to trial in a New York courtroom.

billmon: Scalia's Nightmare

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it was the electroshock therapy. But I've suspected for some time that conservatives would eventually have serious reservations about where Norm and his mouthpieces are trying to take them. Maybe it's finally dawning on some of them that making a federal case out this election contest risks a long-term disaster for the GOP -- one that would completely outweigh the short-term benefits of depriving the Democrats of their 59th vote.

After all, what Norm is threatening to do -- if he can't get his way in state court -- is to demand that the US Supremes go storming through the equal protection door they opened just a crack, and then promptly tried to close again, in Bush v. Gore.

Berlin's Admiralspalast theater will break new ground in May by staging the first production in Germany of the Mel Brooks musical "The Producers."

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

M - Th 11p / 10c

Full Metal Budget

thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Economic Crisis

Political Humor

wednesday reads

2009-04-08T12:41:00.000-06:00

Tom Engelhardt - Terminator Planet: Launching the Drone Wars

Army doctors pressured to not diagnose PTSD.

A military team sent to evaluate electrical problems at U.S. facilities in Iraq determined there was a high risk that flawed wiring could cause further “catastrophic results” — namely, the electrocutions of U.S. soldiers.

Pirates overboard

Cat Shit One - The Animated Series (h/t Truthdig)

tuesday reads

2009-04-07T07:25:00.000-06:00

[An] ICRC report describes "three principal roles" played by medical professionals in the torture of prisoners in U.S. custody.

A newly leaked terrorism assessment from a law enforcement fusion center in Virginia shows that police and feds are targeting "historically black colleges" as "radicalization nodes" for terrorists.

Tomgram: Michael Klare, Boom Times for Criminal Syndicates

The Great State of Piffle

monday reads

2009-04-06T10:49:00.000-06:00

Powerful Earthquake Strikes Central Italy

Glenn Greenwald: There are no excuses for ongoing concealment of torture memos

Moyers Journal: Maddoff Was A Piker -- America's Big Banks Are a Far Larger Fraudulent Ponzi Scheme

Visit the George W. Bush Presidential Librarium. (h/t watertiger)

Take the 2009 State of the Republican Party Survey.

friday reads

2009-04-03T09:13:00.000-06:00

The U.S. unemployment rate soared to 8.5 percent in March, the highest since 1983, as employers slashed 663,000 jobs and cut workers' hours to the lowest on record, government data showed on Friday.

Joseph Stiglitz: "It's going to be bad, very bad"

Michael Lewis: Wall Street on the Tundra

James Wolcott: What's Wrong with Washington

New NIN Album!

2009-04-01T14:35:00.001-06:00

Strobelight

track list:
1. intro skit
2. everybody's doing it (featuring chris martin, jay-z AND bono)
3. black t-shirt
4. pussygrinder (featuring sheryl crow)
5. coffin on the dancefloor
6. this rhythm is infected
7. slide to the dark side
8. even closer (featuring justin timberlake and maynard james keenan)
9. on the list (she's not)
10. clap trap crack slap
11. laid, paid and played (featuring fergie of the black eyed peas and al jourgensen)
12. feel like being dead again
13. still hurts (featuring alicia keys)
14. outro skit

drop me

2009-03-31T14:27:00.000-06:00

Amanda Palmer - A Song for Roadrunner Records

tuesday reads

2009-03-31T10:03:00.000-06:00

Scott Horton: Cheney's Snuff Squad

Billmon

Now the homeless unemployed have Mylar tents and air mattresses and plastic chairs for their camps, whereas in the '30s those things hadn't been invented yet.

Also the pictures are in color, instead of black and white.

So it all looks very, very different.

Stan Marsh takes us through the mortgage crisis.

monday reads

2009-03-30T08:23:00.000-06:00

Scott Horton: Information Secured Through Torture Proved Unreliable, CIA Concluded

Chris Hedges: Obstruction of Justice

Juan Cole: Obama's Domino Theory

Jeremy Scahill: Why you'll be paying for the occupation for years to come, withdrawal or not.

Spiegel Online: US Used by Afghan Drug Clan to Take Out Rival

wednesday reads

2009-03-25T12:21:00.000-06:00

Pepe Escobar - Liquid War: Postcard from Pipelineistan

Israel's military fired white phosphorus over crowded areas of Gaza repeatedly and indiscriminately in its three-week war, killing and injuring civilians and committing war crimes, Human Rights Watch said today.

EU without a Leader after Czech Government Collapses

Legal expert Michael Ratner calls the legal arguments made in the infamous Yoo memos, "Fuhrer's law."

CREW: Keeping tabs on all things TARP

Violet Blue - Stands Smoking & Drinking Gasoline, in a Lasso Shaped Circle of Matches, in The Kitchen, With Explosives in The Oven, on The Stove & in The Fridge While an Open One Gallon Can of Karate Lies Open on The Floor

2009-03-18T07:02:00.001-06:00

Violet Blue - Stands Smoking & Drinking Gasoline, in a Lasso Shaped Circle of Matches, in The Kitchen, With Explosives in The Oven, on The Stove & in The Fridge While an Open One Gallon Can of Karate Lies Open on The Floor
Originally uploaded by merkley???

The Real Scandal of AIG

2009-03-16T09:02:00.000-06:00

Robert Reich

The real scandal of AIG isn't just that American taxpayers have so far committed $170 billion to the giant insurer because it is thought to be too big to fail -- the most money ever funneled to a single company by a government since the dawn of capitalism -- nor even that AIG's notoriously failing executives, at the very unit responsible for the catastrophic credit-default swaps at the very center of the debacle, are planning to give themselves over $100 million in bonuses. The scandal is that even at this late date, even in a new administration dedicated to doing it all differently, Americans still have so little say over what is happening with our money.

[snip]

This sordid story of government helplessness in the face of massive taxpayer commitments illustrates better than anything to date why the government should take over any institution that's "too big to fail" and which has cost taxpayers dearly. Such institutions are no longer within the capitalist system because they are no longer accountable to the market. To whom should they be accountable? As long as taxpayers effectively own a large portion of them, they should be accountable to the government.

But if our very own Secretary of the Treasury doesn't even learn of the bonuses until months after AIG has decided to pay them, and cannot make stick his decision that they should not be paid, AIG is not even accountable to the government. That means AIG's executives -- using $170 billion of our money, so far -- are accountable to no one.

thursday reads

2009-03-12T11:37:00.000-06:00

Executive Assassination Ring (Raw Story)

Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh dropped a bombshell on Tuesday when he told an audience at the University of Minnesota that the military was running an "executive assassination ring" throughout the Bush years which reported directly to former Vice President Dick Cheney.

The remark came out seemingly inadvertently when Hersh was asked by the moderator of a public discussion of "America's Constitutional Crisis" whether abuses of executive power, like those which occurred under Richard Nixon, continue to this day.

Hersh replied, "After 9/11, I haven’t written about this yet, but the Central Intelligence Agency was very deeply involved in domestic activities against people they thought to be enemies of the state. Without any legal authority for it. They haven’t been called on it yet."

Tomgram: Frida Berrigan, How Shovel-Ready Is the Pentagon?

FDA Approves Salmonella

2009-03-11T14:37:00.000-06:00

WASHINGTON—Calling it "perfectly safe for the most part," and "not nearly as destructive or fatal as previously thought," the Food and Drug Administration approved the enterobacteria salmonella for human consumption this week.

The federal agency, which has struggled in recent years to contain the food-borne pathogen, and repeatedly failed to prevent tainted products from reaching store shelves, announced Monday that salmonella was now completely okay for all Americans to enjoy.

friday random ten

2009-03-06T07:10:00.000-07:00

Dark Stormy Night
The Coolies
The Coolies (2001)

Everlasting Love
Sandra
Ten on One: (The Singles) (1987)

Follow Me Down
Swallow
Blow (1982)

Whisper
Schnell Fenster
The Sound of Trees (1988)

Beatles and the Stones
The House of Love
The House of Love (1990)

Ghetto Child
Shemekia Copeland
Turn the Heat Up (1998)

Vous comprenez pourquoi
Pas Chic Chic
Au contraire (2008)

She Bad She Throwed
Linus Pauling Quartet
All Things Are Light (2007)

Inquiring Minds
Hamell on Trial
Songs for Parents Who Enjoy Drugs (2006)

I'll Make You Happy
The Easybeats
It's 2 Easy (1966)

bonus track:

Dues Paid In Full
Ruthie Foster
The Truth According to Ruthie Foster (2009)

thursday reads

2009-03-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

Naomi Wolf: Yoo and the Subversion of Liberty Narrowly Averted

The Rude One :John Yoo and His Merry Band of Traitorous Lawyers

Bloodbath in Ciudad Juarez.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

Rove and Miers to testify under oath.

Rush Limbaugh, last asshole standing.

Unhappy with kosher salt, wingnut plans to market "Christian" salt.

wednesday reads

2009-03-04T11:23:00.000-07:00

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's president on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

This is "a great leader for conservatives"? Media Matters looks back at some of the worst of Limbaugh.

Digby: The Smoking Wreckage of Limbaugh Nation

Companies cut 697,000 jobs in the U.S. in February as the recession’s grip tightened, offering no sign the pace of the decline in payrolls is easing.

Gawker

All of the government's pesky market intrusions have people snapping up copies of Atlas Shrugged like they were bailout packages. Since it's not like Ayn Rand's laissez-faire fantasies got us into this mess.

tuesday reads

2009-03-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

Fourteen masked, heavily armed gunmen remain at large today after launching an audacious commando-style attack on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, killing six policemen and injuring seven players and officials.

Documents reveal that Bush gave himself sole power over terror suspects.

Rush Limbaugh really is the leader of the Republican Party.

Chip Ward: Rethinking National Security on a Sinking Planet

The building housing Cologne's municipal archive collapses.

monday reads

2009-03-02T09:30:00.000-07:00

Tomgram: The Dictionary of American Empire-Speak

Narco-tourism

Socializing loses.

Astroturf "tea parties"

Wingnuts freak out

Prepare to be horrified

2009-02-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse on what's to come...

friday random ten

2009-02-27T07:55:00.000-07:00

Activity Grrrl
Evil Stig
Evil Stig (1995)

Fade Away and Radiate
Blondie
Singles Box [Disc 4] (2004)

I'm Gonna Booglarize You Baby
Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band
The Spotlight Kid (1972)

Welp, He's Gone
The Budget Girls
Miso Hornie 7" (1999)

Icarus
17 Pygmies
Captured In Ice (1985)

The Handclap Shake
Thee Almighty Handclaps
Make You Mine 7" (2006)

Question of Temperature
Lords of the New Church
Lords of the New Church (1982)

Mr. Evasion
The Pretty Things
S.F. Sorrow [Remastered] [Bonus Tracks] (2003)

The Art of Deception
The Act
Too Late at 20 (1981)

The Black Queen's Beads
Bob Crew and Charles Fox
Barbarella OST [Bonus Tracks] (2002)

bonus track:

I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives
Television Personalities
I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives 7" (1981)

album meme

2009-02-26T15:11:00.000-07:00

1 : Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random” or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 : Go to Quotations Page and select “random quotations”
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.

3: Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 : Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.

My result:

1. Jola Sigmond

2. Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.
--Albert Szent-Györgyi (1893 - 1986)

3. Geat cover by attina

(h/t Echoes In The Wind)

wednesday reads

2009-02-25T09:02:00.000-07:00

Tomgram: Michael Klare, A Pandemic of Economic Violence

The Senate is quietly preparing plans to investigate allegations of torture under President George W. Bush, according to comments published Wednesday by Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

Pirate Bay prosecutor altered the copyright-infringement charges Tuesday to make it easier to convict the four defendants who co-founded the world's most notorious BitTorrent tracker.

Report sharply criticizes sex education in Texas schools

tuesday reads

2009-02-24T07:33:00.000-07:00

Paul Krugman: Banking on the Brink

American Insurance Group, the insurance giant that is 80-percent owned by the US government, is in discussions with the government to secure additional funds so it can keep operating after next Monday, when it will report the largest loss in U.S. corporate history, CNBC has learned.

Scott Horton: "The Stupid Party"

Greg Anderson

A federal judge has scheduled a hearing to determine whether Barry Bonds' former trainer, Greg Anderson, will agree to testify when the home run king's perjury trial begins next month in San Francisco, although Anderson is not expected to change his mind about helping the government prove its case against Bonds.

U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston, who will preside over Bonds' trial when it is set to begin March 2, ordered Anderson to appear at a morning hearing Wednesday. Illston told the United States Marshals Service to notify Anderson about the hearing, and to provide him transportation to the courthouse if necessary.

Anderson's attorney, Paula Canny, told the Daily News last week that it is unlikely that the trainer will agree to testify at Bonds' trial, as he has refused to do in the past. Anderson spent more than a year in prison for contempt of court rather than testify against his former client, and if he refuses to testify next month, he could be jailed for the duration of the trial, which is expected to last up to three weeks.

Karl Rove

For the third time, the former Bush official – and newly crowned king of D.C. ~~Twits~~Twitterers – failed to appear before the House Judiciary Committee to testify about his alleged involvement in the firing of U.S. Attorneys and the alleged political prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman.

Rove's no-show Monday is not surprising – especially to Siegelman, who said Monday in an exclusive Raw Story interview that Rove will never testify under oath "because he is guilty as sin." Rove's attorney has vehemently denied that his client was involved in the prosecution of Siegelman.

Will the House hold Rove in contempt before March 4?

Lance Link

2009-02-23T08:48:00.000-07:00

Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp is an American television show that originally aired on ABC from September 12, 1970, to September 2, 1972. The Saturday morning live-action film series featured a cast of chimpanzees given apparent speaking roles by overdubbing with human voices.

The Reluctant Robot

The Royal Foil

Lancelot Link and the Evolution Revolution
Lancelot Link and the Evolution Revolution
(ABC S-175 [1970])

A1 Sha-La Love You
A2 Teaser
A3 Wild Dreams (Jelly Beans)
A4 Kissin' Doll
A5 Magic Feeling
A6 Live
B1 Rollin' in the Clover
B2 Yummy Love
B3 Vibrations
B4 Daydreams
B5 Blind Date
B6 The Evolution Revolution

saturday reads

2009-02-21T09:13:00.000-07:00

Sam Quinones writes in Foreign Policy about Mexico's State of War.

Threat Level: With Landmark Trial Half Over, Pirate Bay Crew Celebrates Early Victories

“We’ll hire clowns from Wall Street”

Republicons investing heavily to keep Al Franken from being seated as Senator.

Bob Herbert: The Invisible War

Charges will not be filed against 323 people who were arrested on the Marion Street and Cedar Street bridges during the fourth day of the Republican National Convention, the St. Paul city attorney’s office announced today.

What Digby said.

friday reads

2009-02-20T12:53:00.000-07:00

Scott Horton: Our Voyage to Brobdingnag

Michael Hudson: The Oligarch's Escape Plan

Joseph L. Galloway: Afghanistan has the smell of South Vietnam in 1965

Rastî: Capitalists, Mercenaries, and the Same State Secrets Privilege

Prosecution Baffled by Pirate Bay's Anarchic Structure

The British government has banned Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper from entering the United Kingdom.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele, beyond cutting-edge.

friday random ten

2009-02-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

All Her Favorite Fruit (Orchestral Version)
Camper Van Beethoven
Camper Van Beethoven Is Dead. Long Live Camper Van Beethoven (2000)

Baby Dragon
Old Time Relijun
Songbook Volume 1 (1997)

Weighing Anchor
I Was a King
I Was a King (2009)

Sinun tässä salissa
Regina
Puutarhatrilogia (2009)

Bad Time
The Boonaraas!!!
Go Get Goo Goo (2003)

Alamo
Jaks
Here Lies the Body of Jaks (2005)

A história da vida de cada um
Autoramas
Vida Real (2001)

You're My Girl
The Cavestompers!
The Cavestompers! (2008)

Manic D
Beefeater
Plays For Lovers / House Burning Down (1992)

You'll Know Why
The Miracle Workers
Inside Out (1985)

Bonus track:

Crow Baby
The March Violets
Natural History (1984)

Lice outbreak in DC

2009-02-18T12:02:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON—Eighteen senators were sent home from Congress Tuesday after a routine screening found an infestation of nits, larvae, and adult parasites living on the scalps of high-ranking Washington lawmakers.

The outbreak of head lice, which many are calling the worst in U.S. Senate history, has brought the Capitol to a standstill, with presiding officer Vice President Joe Biden suspending all daily sessions until further notice.

"I regret to inform the American people that the Senate chamber has been struck by a devastating case of lice," majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said. "Although we've already dismissed a number of afflicted senators, and thrown out most of their personal belongings, it is imperative that this issue be resolved as quickly as possible."

[snip]

According to Beltway insiders, this is the worst contagion to hit the federal government since 2004, when a single infected gavel gave the entire Supreme Court crabs.

wednesday reads

2009-02-18T09:23:00.000-07:00

Washington's "war on terror" after the September 11 attacks has eroded human rights worldwide, creating lingering cynicism that the United Nations must now combat, international law experts said on Monday.

Anti-terror measures worldwide have seriously undermined international human rights law, a report by legal experts says.

Dame Stella Rimington, the former head of MI5, has warned that the fear of terrorism is being exploited by the Government to erode civil liberties and risks creating a police state.

A policy governing the interrogation of terrorism suspects in Pakistan that led to British citizens and residents being tortured was devised by MI5 lawyers and figures in government, according to evidence heard in court.

Jane Mayer: Will Obama institute a new kind of preventive detention for terrorist suspects?

Scott Horton: The Enemy Combatant Canard

Glenn Greenwald: Lawrence Walsh and America's law-free zone

"Shovel-ready" projects which Austin, TX has requested federal stimulus funding.

Track the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act at Recovery.gov.

tuesday reads

2009-02-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

Many Austin police officers are stating to buy suspension insurance.

John Yoo in deep doo doo?

A key line in George W. Bush’s defense against war crimes charges has weakened with the disclosure that an internal Justice Department watchdog has concluded that the legal advice, which cleared the way for Bush’s policies on torture and other abuse of detainees, was tainted by political influence.

An investigation by H. Marshall Jarrett, head of the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, reached “damning” conclusions about numerous cases of “misconduct” in the advice from John Yoo and other lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel during the Bush administration, according to legal sources familiar with the report’s contents.

Tomgram: Nobody Knows How Dry We Are

The Rude One on The National Review's *snicker* "The Best Conservative Movies of the Last 25 Years".

monday reads

2009-02-16T08:45:00.000-07:00

Scott Horton: Former Gitmo Guard Tells All

House Judiciary Committee calls for investigation of national disgrace Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Judges Plead Guilty in Scheme to Jail Youths for Profit

Congress passed a law in 2002 enabling the military to storm into Holland to rescue U.S. soldiers held for war crimes. The Dutch want it revoked.

Farewell to All That: An Oral History of the Bush White House

Paul Krugman on The crazy 36.

Clammyc on generational thieves.

SAD Valentine

2009-02-14T08:09:00.000-07:00

The Society for the Advancement of Despair (h/t Violet Blue)

friday random ten

2009-02-13T06:20:00.000-07:00

One Born Every Minute
Big Chief
One Born Every Minute 7" (1993)

You Don't Love Me Yet
The Vulgar Boatmen
Please Panic (1992)

Je Me Suis Souvent Demandé
Bobbejaan Shoepen
Bobbejaan (2008)

Meet the Devil
De Staat
Wait for Evolution (2009)

Always Mean It
Emilyn Brodsky
Emilyn Brodsky's Greatest Tits (2008)

El día llegó
Isol / Zypce
Sima (2008)

Harlan Man
Steve Earle and the Del NcCoury Band
The Mountain (1999)

Acid Trip Smile
Low Dream
Reaching For Balloons (1996)

Die große Einfachheit
Klez.E
Vom Feuer der Gabe (2009)

Wipe Away Your Kiss
Nine Below Zero
Third Degree (1982)

Bonus track:

Wish the Wind
The Resentments
Roselight (2009)

love this poster

2009-02-12T10:44:00.000-07:00

thursday reads

2009-02-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

Binyam Mohamed torture evidence 'hidden from Obama'

The US military has failed to keep track of thousands of weapons shipped to Afghanistan, leaving them vulnerable to being lost or stolen, a report says.

Happy Darwin Day!

Nature Podcast: Darwin

Wired has a selection of articles from the past few years.

wednesday reads

2009-02-11T08:59:00.000-07:00

Scott Horton: Secret Crimes

"Jump, You Fuckers."

How much of your money is Bank of America spending on ads claiming they don’t waste your money?

Michael Moore is looking for some Wall Street whistleblowers.

Margins of Terror: Just How Unsafe Is Our Food Supply?

Take a look at this Calvin and Hobbes strip from 15 years ago.

Austin's lamest apartments

monday reads

2009-02-09T07:17:00.001-07:00

The Australian prime minister accused arsonists of "mass murder" today as the death toll from the deadliest bushfires in the country's history reached 135. Officials in Victoria believe some of the 400 fires that reduced towns to blackened ruins may have been deliberately set, or have been helped to jump containment lines. The incinerated towns have been officially declared as crime scenes.

Paul Krugman: The Destructive Center

How does one make it on $263 million a year?.

saturday reads

2009-02-07T07:45:00.000-07:00

Domestic Psy-Ops

An Associated Press investigation found that over the past five years, the money the military spends on winning hearts and minds at home and abroad has grown by 63 percent, to at least $4.7 billion this year, according to Department of Defense budgets and other documents. That's almost as much as it spent on body armor for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2004 and 2006.

This year, the Pentagon will employ 27,000 people just for recruitment, advertising and public relations — almost as many as the total 30,000-person work force in the State Department.

John Pilger: The Politics of Bollocks

Paul Krugman: On the Edge

Keith Olbermann: "It may be time for Mr. Cheney to leave this country"

Women and children first, to get cut.

Army sees significant rise in suicides.

Army Criminal Investigation Command said today that it has re-opened three other electrocution death cases in January, along with the re-opening of the case of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, an Army Special Forces soldier who died Jan. 2, 2008, when he was electrocuted in his barracks shower in Baghdad.

friday random ten

2009-02-06T09:49:00.000-07:00

Photo by Ryan McManus

Pro No From Now - Huggy Bear - Her Jazz (1993)

Wondering Stone / Women of Steel - Moist Fist - Thank You, Good Night (1993)

Phone and Finder -Charmparticles - Sit Down For Staying (2004)

Look How We Killed the Riot Grrrls - Tullycraft - The Singles(1999)

Ogień i dym - Dive3d - Aura (2004)

4 - Telepathe - Live In Austin

Chicken - World Police - It's Inevitable (2009)

Oleg Giarkin vs. Scotland Yard - Messer Chups - Miss Libido 2000 (2000)

Marone Offering - Human Sexual Response - In a Roman Mood (1981)

Job On Me - Teenage Bottlerocket - A-Bomb EP (2002)

Bonus Track:

In Trance - Swans Way - The Fugitive Kind (1984)

the word

2009-02-04T14:17:00.000-07:00

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

The Word - Army of One

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Paul McCartney Appearance

Funny Political Videos
More Funny Videos

wednesday reads

2009-02-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

Germany to station troops in France.

Bob Herbert: Risking the Future

One-day global ATM heist rakes in $9 million in cash.

Howard Dean for HHS

Bartering organs and recalling a uterus.

stock chart melodies

2009-02-03T10:44:00.000-07:00

Melodies derived from Stock charts, arranged with Microsoft Songsmith. By Johannes Kreidler

I laughed. I cried.

(h/t WFMU's Beware of the Blog)

tuesday reads

2009-02-03T08:49:00.000-07:00

The Whole World Is Rioting as the Economic Crisis Worsens -- Why Aren't We?

Chalmers Johnson: How Taxpayers Finance Fantasy Wars

It looks like Turd~~blossom~~ will cooperate with the DOJ criminal inquiry into the U.S, attorneys firings.

Here We Go Again: Congress Expected to Delay Digital Television

monday reads

2009-02-02T09:42:00.000-07:00

Chris Hedges on our bleak future

Paul Krugman: Bailouts for Bunglers

Environmentalists are accusing Japanese whalers of using "sound guns" on them.

Grits for Breakfast: Messages promoting sentence "enhancements" may boost crime

This Week in Congress

thursday reads

2009-01-29T07:19:00.000-07:00

Iraq has taken the first move in effectively throwing Blackwater Worldwide out of the country, by informing the US security company that it will no longer be authorised to work within its borders.

Glenn Greenwald: The Definition of A "Two-Tiered Justice System"

General stike in France

Violet Blue: When Teens Make Their Own Porn, Who's Being Exploited?

Nick Turse: The Human Costs of the Economic Crisis

Amy Goodman: Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Jail

Terry Jones: My Future As An Arms Manufacturer

Frozen in indifference

wednesday reads

2009-01-28T12:26:00.000-07:00

Bailout recipients used taxpayer money to fuck over workers.

Three days after receiving $25 billion in federal bailout funds, Bank of America Corp. hosted a conference call with conservative activists and business officials to organize opposition to the U.S. labor community's top legislative priority.

Participants on the October 17 call -- including at least one representative from another bailout recipient, AIG -- were urged to persuade their clients to send "large contributions" to groups working against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), as well as to vulnerable Senate Republicans, who could help block passage of the bill.

ACLU tests Obama with request for secret Bush-era memos

In an economy where so many people are overqualified, having an advanced degree is virtually worthless.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich On Our Current Economic Situation

monday reads

2009-01-26T09:06:00.000-07:00

Bolivians yesterday approved a new constitution granting more power to the country's indigenous majority and rolling back half a millennium of colonialism, discrimination and humiliation.

Sen. Russ Feingold introduces 28th Amendment

Paul Krugman: Bad Faith Economics

Chicago police arrested a 14-year-old boy for allegedly impersonating one of their own Saturday.

Caution. Zombies Ahead.

Jon Stewart takes on Fox News

2009-01-23T12:22:00.000-07:00

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Fox News Fear Imbalance

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

wednesday reads

2009-01-21T08:28:00.000-07:00

Only hours after taking office, President Barack Obama late Tuesday ordered Pentagon prosecutors to seek a 120-day freeze in war crimes trials of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — his first action toward fulfilling a campaign pledge to close the controversial prison camp.

In an interview on Tuesday evening with the German television program “Frontal 21,” on channel ZDF Professor Manfred Nowak, the United Nations Rapporteur responsible for torture, stated that with George W. Bush’s head of state immunity now terminated, the new government of Barack Obama was obligated by international law to commence a criminal investigation into Bush’s torture practices.

Linsay Beyerstein: Lawmakers & Lobbyists Celebrate Inauguration

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanual yesterday sent a memorandum to stop all pending regulations until they could be reviewed by the Obama administration.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - The End of Frat Boy Culture

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Change

2009-01-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama

tuesday reads

2009-01-20T07:58:00.000-07:00

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is appalled by Israeli attacks on a UN compound in Gaza after seeing the destruction for himself.

One of Russia's top human rights lawyers was assassinated in the centre of Moscow yesterday in a killing apparently linked to his work defending opponents of the pro-Kremlin government in Chechnya.

Tomgram: Andy Kroll, Will Public Education Be Militarized?

MarketWatch: Fiat gets 35% stake in Chrysler for no cash

The Bush Scandals List as he leaves office.

Good luck to Marty Lederman in his new position at the Office of Legal Counsel.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

You Don't Know Dick - Exit Interview

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Countdown

2009-01-20T07:30:00.000-07:00

Keith Olbermann makes the case for prosecuting George W. Bush for war crimes.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Keith Olbermann's Countdown

2009-01-17T08:51:00.000-07:00

Jonathan Turley on the Holder Nomination Hearings

friday reads

2009-01-16T09:18:00.000-07:00

Dan Froomkin on Preznit bu$h's legacy:

He took the nation to a war of choice under false pretenses -- and left troops in harm's way on two fields of battle. He embraced torture as an interrogation tactic and turned the world's champion of human dignity into an outlaw nation and international pariah. He watched with detachment as a major American city went under water. He was ostensibly at the helm as the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression took hold. He went from being the most popular to the most disappointing president, having squandered a unique opportunity to unite the country and even the world behind a shared agenda after Sept. 11. He set a new precedent for avoiding the general public in favor of screened audiences and seemed to occupy an alternate reality. He took his own political party from seeming permanent majority status to where it is today. And he deliberately politicized the federal government, circumvented the traditional policymaking process, ignored expert advice and suppressed dissent, leaving behind a broken government.

Paul Krugman: Forgive and Forget?

Glenn Greenwald: Today's FISA ruling: a case study in 8 years of lying and ignorance

Nick Turse: Future Shock at the Army Science Conference

Charles Barkley finally gets that blowjob

SXSW 2009 band list released

2009-01-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

Yeah! The 2009 SXSW Showcasing Bands list has been released early this year. (More bands to come and, as always, subject to change.)

The Abrams Brothers (Kingston ON)

Absinthe Minds (Madison WI)

ABSU (Dallas TX)

Ace Enders (Hammonton NJ)

A Classic Education (Bologna ITALY)

Acoustik Wire (Thessaloniki GREECE)

Action Action (New York NY)

Act Of Congress (Birmingham AL)

A Day To Remember (Ocala FL)

Adventure (Baltimore MD)

Afghan Raiders (Las Vegas NV)

Afterhours (Milano ITALY)

AIDS Wolf (Montreal QC)

The Aimless Never Miss (San Francisco CA)

The Airborne Toxic Event (Silverlake CA)

Akron/Family (Williamsport PA)

Alash (Milwaukee WI)

Alexandre Grooves (Sao Paulo BRAZIL)

Alexisonfire (St Catharines ON)

Tom Allalone & The 78s (Gravesend UK-ENGLAND)

Allison (Mexico MEXICO)

Gabi Almeida (Sao Paulo BRAZIL)

Dave Alvin (Los Angeles CA)

Anathallo (Chicago IL)

Ancestors (Los Angeles CA)

Anchorsong (London UK-ENGLAND)

Angela Desveaux & The Mighty Ship (Montreal QC)

Angry Vs The Bear (Essex UK-ENGLAND)

An Horse (Brisbane QLD)

Amy Annelle (Austin TX)

Annihilation Time (Oakland CA)

Annuals (Raleigh NC)

The Answering Machine (Manchester UK-ENGLAND)

Anti-Pop Consortium (New York NY)

Apollo Sunshine (Boston MA)

Arabrot (Oslo NORWAY)

The ARC Angels (Austin TX)

Arkells (Hamilton ON)

Bomani Armah & Project Mayhem (Washington DC)

Arms and Legs (Croton Falls NY)

Arms and Sleepers (Cambridge MA)

Artefacts For Space Travel (London UK-ENGLAND)

Asakusa Jinta (Tokyo JAPAN)

Ashu (Mumbai INDIA)

The Asteroid #4 (Philadelphia PA)

The Asteroids Galaxy Tour (Denmark DENMARK)

Asylum Street Spankers (Austin TX)

Pugs Atomz (Chicago IL)

Melissa Auf der Maur (Montreal QC)

Aun (Montreal QC)

Au Revoir Simone (Brooklyn NY)

Autons (TX) (Austin TX)

Autozamm (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)

Awkward I (Amsterdam THE NETHERLANDS)

Babydick (Austin TX)

Baby Robots (Austin TX)

Back Door Slam (Douglas ISLE OF MAN)

Backseat Goodbye (Murfreesboro TN)

Baddies (Southend UK-ENGLAND)

Mike Badger (Liverpool UK-ENGLAND)

Sam Baker (Austin TX)

Balmorhea (Austin TX)

Volodja Balzalorsky (Ljubljana SLOVENIA)

Bam Bam (Monterrey MEXICO)

The Band of Heathens (Austin TX)

Bang! Bang! Eche! (Christchurch NEW ZEALAND)

The Baptist Generals (Denton TX)

Barcelona (Seattle WA)

Barn Owl (San Francisco CA)

Baskery (Stockholm SWEDEN)

Beach House (Baltimore MD)

Beans on Toast (London UK-ENGLAND)

Bear in Heaven (Brooklyn NY)

Beautiful Nubia (Lagos NIGERIA )

Bedouin Soundclash (Toronto ON)

Beep Beep (Omaha NE)

Kim Beggs (Whitehorse YT)

Belladonna (Roma ITALY)

Chris Bell (Austin TX)

Belong (New Orleans LA)

Benny Crespo's Gang (Reykjavik ICELAND)

Chris Bergson (Brooklyn NY)

The Besties (Brooklyn NY)

Jim Bianco (Los Angeles CA)

Big Sam's Funky Nation (New Orleans LA)

Binary Audio Misfits (Toulouse FRANCE)

Diane Birch (New York NY)

Andrew Bird (Chicago IL)

Martina Topley Bird (London UK-ENGLAND)

Birds Of Tokyo (Brunswick VIC)

Birds of Wales (Toronto BC)

Wallis Bird (Dublin IRELAND)

Bisc1 (Queens NY)

Bishi (London UNITED KINGDOM)

Bitter End (San Antonio TX)

Black Acid (London UK-ENGLAND)

The Black Angels (Austin TX)

Black Cherry (London UK-ENGLAND)

Black Diamond Heavies (Chattanooga TN)

Black Drawing Chalks (Goiania GO)

Black Gold (Brooklyn NY)

The Black Hollies (Jersey City NJ)

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears (Austin TX)

Black Lips (Atlanta GA)

Blacklisted Individuals (Austin TX)

Black Math Horseman (Los Angeles CA)

Black Skies (Chapel Hill NC)

Bleeders (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)

Blind Pilot (Portland OR)

BLK JKS (Johannesburg SOUTH AFRICA)

Bloodgroup (Reykjavik ICELAND)

Blood Red Throne (Kristiansand NORWAY)

The Bloodsugars (New York NY)

Blu (Los Angeles CA)

Blue Giant (Portland OR)

Blue King Brown (Melbourne VIC)

Blue Scholars (Seattle WA)

BM Linx (New York NY)

BOAT (Seattle WA)

The Boat People (Brisbane QLD)

Boats (Winnipeg MB)

B.o.B (Atlanta GA)

Bogan Dust (New York NY)

Bokeys (Memphis TN)

Haley Bonar (St Paul MN)

Bonjour Brumaire (Montreal QC)

BO-PEEP (Tokyo JAPAN)

Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles (Boston MA)

Bottle Rockets (Festus MO)

Boxcar Satan (San Antonio TX)

Bonnie Bramlett (Nashville TN)

Cory Branan (Memphis TN)

Jay Brannan (New York NY)

Brigade (London UK-ENGLAND)

Jackie Bristow (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)

Broken Records (Edinburgh UK-SCOTLAND)

The Bronx (Los Angeles CA)

Tom Brosseau (Los Angeles CA)

David Thomas Broughton (London UK-ENGLAND)

Cliff Brown Jr (Austin TX)

Trey Brown (Austin TX)

The Brunettes (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)

Nell Bryden (New York NY)

Buck 65 (Halifax NS)

Buff1 (Ann Arbor MI)

Andy Bull (Sydney NSW)

Buraka Som Sistema (Lisbon PORTUGAL)

Grecco Buratto (Los Angeles CA)

Mamá Burger (Monterrey MEXICO)

Joby Burgess (London UK-ENGLAND)

Steve Burns (and The Struggle) (Brooklyn NY)

Lee Burridge (london UK-ENGLAND)

Bushwalla (San Diego CA)

Butterfly Boucher (Nashville TN)

Cactus's (Franklin TN)

Cadence Weapon (Edmonton AB)

Cafe Funque (Rio de Janeiro RJ)

Cage (New York NY)

Callers (Brooklyn NY)

Chanel Campbell (Nashville TN)

Greg Camp (Santa Cruz CA)

Candy Coated Killahz (Toronto ON)

Canja Rave (Porto Alegre RS)

Canopy (Austin TX)

Capsula (Bilbao SPAIN)

Loene Carmen (Sydney NSW)

Carolina Chocolate Drops (Raleigh NC)

Cash Cash (Roseland NJ)

Cashier No.9 (Belfast UK-N. IRELAND)

CASIOKIDS (Bergen NORWAY)

Cassim & Barbaria (Florianopolis BRAZIL)

Castledoor (Los Angeles CA)

Gavin Castleton (Portand OR)

Catpeople (Barcelona SPAIN)

Slim Cessna's Auto Club (Denver CO)

Charlie Everywhere (Saratoga Springs NY)

Cheeky Cheeky And The Nosebleeds (Woodbridge UK-ENGLAND)

Cheeseburger (New York NY)

The Chevelles (Perth WA)

The Chicharones (Portland OR)

Suzanna Choffel (Austin TX)

Margaret Cho (Los Angeles CA)

Choo Choo (Bern SWITZERLAND)

Chris T-T (Brighton UK-ENGLAND)

Chuck Mead (Nashville TN)

The City Lives (Oklahoma City OK)

CKY (West Chester PA)

Cla (Oporto PORTUGAL)

Classixx (Los Angeles CA)

The Cliks (Toronto ON)

Closure In Moscow (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)

CLP (Berlin GERMANY)

The Coathangers (Atlanta GA)

Coliseum (Louisville KY)

Colossus (Raleigh NC)

Colourmusic (Stillwater OK)

Colour Revolt (Oxford MS)

Coma in Algiers (Austin TX)

Come On Gang! (Edinburgh UK-SCOTLAND)

Common Market (Seattle WA)

Conil (London UK-ENGLAND)

Connan Mockasin (London NEW ZEALAND)

Contramano (Brooklyn NY)

Coreysan (Tacarigua TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO)

Murali Coryell (Boiceville NY)

The Courteeners (Manchester UK-ENGLAND)

Cousin Cole (Brooklyn NY)

Paul Couture (Austin TX)

Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers (Shawnee OK)

Crash Kings (Los Angeles CA)

Crazy P (Manchester UK-ENGLAND)

Creature (Montreal QC)

AJ Croce (San Diego CA)

Crocodile (Oklahoma city OK)

Crown City Rockers (Oakland CA)

John Cruz (Honolulu HI)

Crystal Antlers (Long Beach CA)

The Crystal Method (Los Angeles CA)

Alex Cuba (Vancouver BC)

Cubismo Grafico Five (Tokyo JAPAN)

Austin Cunningham (Nashville TN)

Cursive (Omaha NE)

Cut Off Your Hands (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)

Daddy a Go-Go (Atlanta GA)

DADDY (Will Kimbrough & Tommy Womack) (Nashville TN)

Floyd Dakil Combo (Dallas TX)

David Dallas (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)

Micah Dalton (Chattanooga TN)

Damero (Berlin GERMANY)

Dananananaykroyd (Glasgow UK-SCOTLAND)

Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip (Stanford Le Hope UK-ENGLAND)

Danny And The Champions Of The World (London UK-ENGLAND)

Dappled Cities (Sydney NSW)

Dark Captain Light Captain (London UK-ENGLAND)

Darker Florida (Tallahassee FL)

Darshana & Sowmya (Chennai INDIA)

Dash Rip Rock (New Orleans LA)

Guy Davis (New York NY)

DAVY JONES' LOCKER (kRISTIANSAND AZ)

Dawes (Los Angeles CA)

Dead Luke (Madison WI)

deadmau5 (Tornto CA)

Dead Sexy Inc (Paris FRANCE)

The Dead Trees (Portland OR)

Dear and the Headlights (Tempe AZ)

The Death Set (Philadelphia PA)

Debayres (Buenos Aires ARGENTINA)

The DeBretts (London UK-ENGLAND)

The Deep Dark Woods (Saskatoon SK)

Deer Tick (Providence RI)

Deichkind (Hamburg GERMANY)

Delco (Madrid SPAIN)

DeLeon (Brooklyn NY)

Delhi 2 Dublin (Vancouver BC)

De los Muertos (San Antonio TX)

Delta Spirit (San Diego CA)

Brigitte DeMeyer (Burlingame CA)

Descartes A Kant (Guadalajara MEXICO)

The Details (Winnipeg MB)

The Devil Wears Prada (Dayton OH)

Kevin Devine & the Goddamn Band (Brooklyn NY)

Alela Diane (Portland OR)

Andreia Dias (Sao Paulo BRAZIL)

Madi Diaz (Nashville TN)

Tina Dico (London UK-ENGLAND)

Dignan (McAllen TX)

Dikes of Holland (Austin TX)

Diplomats of Solid Sound (Iowa City IA)

Dirtblonde (Liverpool UK-ENGLAND)

The Dirt Drifters (Nashville TN)

Dirty Old Men (Tochigi JAPAN)

Disappears (Chicago IL)

Diva Gash (Bogota COLOMBIA)

Dixie Witch (Austin TX)

DJ Ipek (Berlin GERMANY)

DJ Jester the Filipino Fist (San Antonio TX)

Dlugokecki (Southampton UK-ENGLAND)

DM Stith (Buffalo NY)

D.O. (Toronto ON)

B. Dolan (Providence RI)

Dommin (Los Angeles CA)

The Donkeys (San Diego CA)

Doomtree (Minneapolis MN)

Dorp (London UK-ENGLAND)

Luke Doucet (Toronto ON)

The Downbeat 5 (Boston MA)

Lila Downs (New York NY)

The Drams (Denton TX)

Dredg (San Francisco CA)

Drink Up Buttercup (Horsham PA)

The Drones (Melbourne VIC)

Ducktails (Ridgewood NJ)

The Duhks (Winnipeg MB)

Earthless (San Diego CA)

Tim Easton (Joshua Tree CA)

Easy Star All-Stars (New York NY)

Eat Skull (Portland OR)

Ecstatic Sunshine (Baltimore MD)

8ball and mjg (Memphis TN)

Elastic Band (Granada SPAIN)

The Electric City (London UK-ENGLAND)

The Electric Diorama (Rome ITALY)

Electricity In Our Homes (London UK-ENGLAND)

Electric Touch (Austin TX)

Elemeno P (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)

Carrie Elkin (Austin TX)

Ella (Bristol UK-ENGLAND)

Elliot Brood (Toronto ON)

The Elms (Seymour IN)

El Tule (Cedar Park TX)

The Elysian Quartet (London UK-ENGLAND)

Emma Lee (Toronto ON)

Empire Isis (Montreal QC)

The Enright House (Chicago IL)

Enter Shikari (St Albans UK-ENGLAND)

Eol Trio (Paris FRANCE)

The Escape Frame (Montgomery AL)

Ali Eskandarian (Brooklyn NY)

Eskimo Joe (Perth WA)

Esser (Essex UK-ENGLAND)

The Ettes (New York NY)

Evaline (Modesto CA)

The Evaporators (Vancouver BC)

The Everyday Visuals (Boston MA)

Evil Bebos (Murfreesboro TN)

Evil Nine Live (Brighton UK-ENGLAND)

Tim Exile (Berlin GERMANY)

Explosions in the Sky (Austin TX)

Factums (Seattle WA)

Mickey Factz (Bronx NY)

John Fairhurst (Manchester UK-ENGLAND)

Fake Problems (Naples FL)

Fanfarlo (London UK-ENGLAND)

The Fashion (Copenhagen DENMARK)

Fastball (Austin TX)

Felix Cartal (Vancouver BC)

FemBots (Toronto ON)

Douglas Ferguson (Austin TX)

Ferraby Lionheart (Nashville TN)

Benjy Ferree (Washington DC)

Melissa Ferrick (Boston MA)

Fight Bite (Denton TX)

Fighting With Wire (Derry UK-N IRELAND)

Fight Like Apes (Dublin IRELAND)

fiN (London UK-ENGLAND)

Final Flash (Montreal QC)

Tim Finn (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)

Rodney Fisher (New Plymouth NEW ZEALAND)

Five Times August (Dallas TX)

Floating Action (Black Mountain NC)

Flood Of Red (Glasgow UK-SCOTLAND)

Paul E Flynn (Johannesburg SOUTH AFRICA)

FNU Ronnies (san francisco CA)

Fol Chen (Highland Park CA)

David Fonseca (Lisbon PORTUGAL)

Foreign Born (Los Angeles CA)

Foreign Legion (Oakland CA)

Jen Foster (Nashville TN)

Ruthie Foster (Austin TX)

FOUND (Edinburgh UK-SCOTLAND)

Fox Cubs (Newbury UK-ENGLAND)

Francis and The Lights (New York NY)

Eugene Francis Jnr & The Juniors (Cardiff UK-WALES)

Karima Francis (Blackpool UK-ENGLAND)

Robert Francis (Los Angeles CA)

Sage Francis (Providence RI)

Adam Franklin (of Swervedriver) (New York NY)

Kam Franklin (Houston TX)

Ron Franklin (Memphis TN)

Freeland (Brighton UK-ENGLAND)

French Horn Rebellion (New York NY)

Jessie Frye (Arlington TX)

Fuckshovel (London UK-ENGLAND)

The Fumes (Sydney NSW)

Fun (New York NY)

Futomomo Satisfaction (Tokyo JAPAN)

Future Of The Left (Cardiff UK-WALES)

Future Virgins (Chatanooga TN)

Dmitry Fyodorov (Stockholm SWEDEN)

GAGAKIRISE (Tokyo JAPAN)

The Gala Band (Bristol UK-ENGLAND)

Benny Gallagher (West Wickham UK-ENGLAND)

Gang Gang Dance (New York NY)

Gary War (Brooklyn NY)

Gaybomb (Washington DC)

Geeks (Tokyo JAPAN)

General Fiasco (Belfast UK-N. IRELAND)

Genia (London UK-ENGLAND)

Gentleman Reg (Toronto ON)

Gerald G. (Austin TX)

J. Matthew Gerken (Sacramento CA)

Get Cape Wear Cape Fly (London UK-ENGLAND)

The Ghost (Torshavn FAROE ISLANDS)

The Ghost Frequency (London UK-ENGLAND)

Laura Gibson (Portland OR)

Colin Gilmore (Austin TX)

Pepi Ginsberg (Brooklyn NY)

Monica Giraldo (Bogota COLOMBIA)

The Girls (Seattle WA)

Glambilly (San Antonio TX)

Gloria Cycles (Brighton UK-ENGLAND)

Glossary (Murfreesboro TN)

Goes Cube (Brooklyn NY)

Steve Goldberg and the Arch Enemies (Philadelphia PA)

The Golden Arm Trio Does DUKE! (Austin TX)

Golden Boots (Tucson AZ)

Golden Boys (Austin TX)

The Golden Dogs (Toronto ON)

The Golden Filter (New York NY)

Golden Hornet Project (Austin TX)

GoldieLocks (London UK-ENGLAND)

Golem (Brooklyn NY)

Robert Gomez (Denton TX)

Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez (Baltimore MD)

Good Old War (Philadelphia PA)

Goot (Poughkeepsie NY)

Gorevette (Detroit MI)

John Gorka (Marine MN)

Johnny Goudie and The Little Champions (Austin TX)

The Gougers (Austin TX)

Kara Grainger (Sydney NSW)

Sebastien Grainger (Toronto ON)

Grampall Jookabox (Indianapolis IN)

Grand Analog (Winnipeg MB)

Grand Archives (Seattle WA)

Grande (Oslo NORWAY)

Jenn Grant (Halifax NS)

Grapevine (Tokyo JAPAN)

The Grates (Brisbane QLD)

Great Lakes Myth Society (Ann Arbor MI)

Great Northern (Los Angeles CA)

Liz Green (Manchester UK-ENGLAND)

Green River Ordinance (Ft Worth TX)

Grizzly Bear (Brooklyn NY)

Grouch & Eligh (Los Angeles CA)

The Guggenheim Grotto (Dublin IRELAND)

Guillamino (Barcelona SPAIN)

Gunslingers (Grenoble FRANCE)

Hacienda (San Antonio TX)

Ha Ha Tonka (Springfield MO)

The Hall Monitors (Washington DC)

Hamell On Trial (Ossining NY)

Charles Hamilton (New York NY)

Murry Hammond (Los Angeles CA)

The Handsome Family (Albuquerque NM)

Handsome Furs (Montreal QC)

Hangmas (Budapest HUNGARY)

Hank IV (san francisco CA)

The Happy Hollows (Los Angeles CA)

Ed Harcourt (London UK-ENGLAND)

Harlem Shakes (New York NY)

James Harries (Prauge CZECH REPUBLIC)

Kylie Harris (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)

Grant Hart (South Saint Paul MN)

Austin Hartley-Leonard (Los Angeles CA)

Hatcham Social (London UK-ENGLAND)

Sara Haze (Lake Forrest CA)

The Hazey Janes (Dundee CO)

Head Automatica (Long Island NY)

Roy Head (Houston TX)

HEALTH (Los Angeles CA)

Healthy Minds Collapse (Fife UK-SCOTLAND)

The Heavenly States (Oakland CA)

The Heavy (Bath UK-ENGLAND)

Heels Catch Fire (Brighton UK-ENGLAND)

He Is Legend (Wilmington NC)

Adam Heldring (Stockholm SWEDEN)

Hello Seahorse! (Mexico City MEXICO)

Heloise and the Savoir Faire (Brooklyn NY)

Here Holy Spain (Dallas TX)

Herman Dune (Paris FRANCE)

Hermano L backed by Ranking Soldiers (Barcelona SPAIN)

Hesta Prynn in Civil Shepherd (New York NY)

Heybale (Austin TX)

Hey Negrita (London UK-ENGLAND)

Hickoids (Austin TX)

The Higher State (Kent UK-ENGLAND)

The High Strung (Detroit MI)

Matt Hires (Tampa FL)

Hockey (Portland OR)

Hold Fire (Brighton UK-ENGLAND)

Holger (Sao Paulo NULL)

Holy Hail (Brooklyn NY)

The Homosexuals (London UK-ENGLAND)

HoneyHoney (Venice CA)

Honey Ryder (London UK-ENGLAND)

HONEY SAC (Osaka JAPAN)

The Hooks (San Francisco CA)

Hopewell (Brooklyn NY)

Horse Feathers (Portland OR)

Hot Club of Cowtown (Austin TX)

Hot Kicks (Ascot Vale VIC)

Hot Panda (Edmonton AB)

The Hours (London UK-ENGLAND)

HOWL (Providence RI)

Jedd Hughes (Nashville TN)

Human Highway (Toronto ON)

Hymns (Brooklyn NY)

Hyperpotamus (Madrid SPAIN)

I Am David Sparkle (Singapore SINGAPORE)

Iglu & Hartly (Echo Park CA)

Igudesman & Joo (Vienna AUSTRIA)

I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness (Austin TX)

Immaculate Machine (Victoria BC)

Infusion (Victoria VIC)

Innercity Pirates (Cardiff UK-WALES)

Insite (Mexicali MEXICO)

Intuitive Music Orchestra (Moscow RUSSIA)

Invincible (Detroit MI)

Inward Eye (Winnipeg MB)

IO Echo (Los Angeles CA)

Ipso Facto (London UK-ENGLAND)

Ironweed (Altamont NY)

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (Muscle Shoals AL)

Joseph Israel (Ukia CA)

It's Not Not (Barcelona SPAIN)

It Hugs Back (Maidstone UK-ENGLAND)

Jaakko & Jay (Tampere FINLAND)

Sarah Jaffe (Dallas TX)

Nate James (London UK-ENGLAND)

The Japanese Motors (Costa Mesa CA)

Japanther (Brooklyn NY)

Jason Reeves (Iowa City IA)

Javelins (Detroit MI)

Jay Jay Pistolet (London UK-ENGLAND)

Jay Nash (Los Angeles CA)

JC & Co. (Austin TX)

J*DaVeY (Los Angeles CA)

Ben Jelen (New York NY)

Jeremy Jay (Los Angeles CA)

Jerusalem (Austin TX)

Jewdyssee (Berlin GERMANY)

Ryan Jewell (Columbus OH)

Johnny Foreigner (Birmingham UK-ENGLAND)

Duquette Johnston (Birmingham AL)

Cotton Jones (Cumberland MD)

Denis Jones (Manchester UK-ENGLAND)

The Joy Formidable (Wales UK-WALES)

The Joys (London ON)

The Juan Maclean (New York NY)

Jump Back Jake (Memphis TN)

Junk Science (Brooklyn NY)

Justin Townes Earle (Nashville TN)

Jypsi (Nashville TN)

Kaka (Malmo SWEDEN)

Kakkmaddafakka (Bergen NORWAY)

Kamikaze Queens (Berlin GERMANY)

Kap Bambino (Bordeaux FRANCE)

Al Kapone (Memphis TN)

Kaskade (San Fransisco CA)

Katie Stelmanis (Toronto ON)

Jon Kennedy Live (Bristol UK-ENGLAND)

Doug Kershaw (Louisana LA)

Keys N Krates (Toronto ON)

Khan Of Finland (Berlin GERMANY)

Christian Kiefer (Rocklin CA)

Killola (Los Angeles CA)

Kingman and Jonah (Lucea JAMAICA)

Maurice Kirya (Kampala UGANDA)

Vijay Kishore (Birmingham UK-ENGLAND)

Kissy Sell Out (London England UK UK-ENGLAND)

Kittens Ablaze (Brooklyn NY)

Kraak & Smaak (Leiden THE NETHERLANDS)

The Krayolas (San Antonio TX)

Kreisor (New York NY)

Kuadrumana (Shiraz IRAN)

Kuroma (Athens GA)

La Carrau (Barcelona SPAIN)

Lady Dottie and the Diamonds (San Diego CA)

LAKE (Olympia WA)

Jen Lane (Saskatoon SK)

Jon Langford And The Pine Valley Cosmonauts (Chicago IL)

La Pupuna (Belém BRAZIL)

La Snacks (Austin TX)

Greg Laswell (Los Angeles CA)

The Latebirds (Helsinki FINLAND)

Laundry Room Squelchers (Miami Beach FL)

Alessi Laurent-Marke (London UK-ENGLAND)

Layabouts (Madrid SPAIN)

Lazywall (Tangier MOROCCO)

Vander Lee (Belo Horizonte BRAZIL)

Legendary Tiger Man (Coimbra PORTUGAL)

Le Le (Amsterdam THE NETHERLANDS)

Josiah Leming (Morristown TN)

Le Nombre (Montreal QC)

Les Breastfeeders (Montreal QC)

Les Fauves (Modena ITALY)

Les Handclaps (Montreal QC)

Let's Wrestle (London UK-ENGLAND)

Sylvie Lewis (Rome ITALY)

The Life And Times (Kansas City MO)

Light FM (Los Angeles CA)

Lights (Toronto ON)

Like A Bird (San Diego CA)

Tita Lima (Sao Paulo NULL)

Eric Lindell (New Orleans LA)

Lions In The Street (Vancouver BC)

Lissie (Los Angeles CA)

Littl'ans (London UK-ENGLAND)

Little Miss Higgins (Nokomis SK)

The Little Ones (Los Angeles CA)

Loch Lomond (Portland OR)

LoCura! (Oakland CA)

LoneLady (Manchester UK-ENGLAND)

Longview (London UK-ENGLAND)

Longwave (Brooklyn NY)

The Long Winters (Seattle WA)

Lord T and Eloise (Memphis TN)

Los Bad Apples (Austin TX)

Los Claxons (Monterrey MEXICO)

Los Fancy Free (Mexico City MEXICO)

Los Llamarada (Monterrey MEXICO)

Los Pirata (Sao Paulo SP)

los super elegantes (los angeles ARGENTINA)

Lost Bayou Ramblers (Lafayette LA)

The Lost Brothers (liverpool UK-ENGLAND)

Los Utrera (El Hato Veracruz MEXICO)

Loudmouf (Austin TX)

Love:Fi (Kristiansand NORWAY)

The Love Language (Raleigh NC)

The Love Me Nots (Phoenix AZ)

The Lovetones (Sydney NSW)

Lovvers (Nottingham UK-ENGLAND)

The Low Anthem (Providence RI)

Lucas Santtana (Salvador BA)

Lucky Fonz III (Amsterdam THE NETHERLANDS)

Jessica Lurie (Seattle WA)

Terry Lynn (Kingston JAMAICA)

Macaco Bong (Cuiaba NULL)

Erika Machado (Belo Horizonte NULL)

Polly Mackey (Wrexham UK-ENGLAND)

Mad Juana (New York NY)

The Mae Shi (Los Angeles CA)

Magic Christian (San Francisco CA)

Magic Lantern (Long Beach CA)

MAGIC WANDS (LOS ANGELES CA)

Magno aka Magnificent (Houston TX)

Mahjongg (Chicago IL)

Pouya Mahmoodi (Tehran IRAN)

The Maids Of Honor (Santa Cruz CA)

Willem Maker (Turkey Heaven Mountain AL)

Malajube (Montreal QC)

Ben Mallott (Austin TX)

Manana (Basel SWITZERLAND)

Maneja Beto (Austin TX)

ManooghiHi (Seattle WA)

Ida Maria (Stockholm NY)

Anya Marina (San Diego CA)

Carolyn Mark (Victoria BC)

Marli (London UK-ENGLAND)

Laura Marling (London UK-ENGLAND)

David Martell (Montreal QC)

Maserati (Athens GA)

Lorrie Matheson (Calgary AB)

John Matthias & Nick Ryan (London UK-ENGLAND)

Angie Mattson (Los Angeles CA)

Max Tundra (London UK-ENGLAND)

Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele (Oxford MS)

The May Fire (San Francisco CA)

Mayyors (Sacramento CA)

Erin McCarley (Nashville TN)

Melissa McClelland (Toronto ON)

Joe McDermott (Austin TX)

Ian McLagan & the Bump Band (Austin TX)

Shawn David McMillen (Austin TX)

Kiernan McMullan (Limerick IRELAND)

Medi And The Medicine Show (Paris FRANCE)

The Medic Droid (Phoenix AZ)

Meese (Denver CO)

Mekaal Hasan Band (Lahore PAKISTAN)

Meliss FX (Santa Monica CA)

Pedro Menendez JazzTango Ensemble (Buenos Aires ARGENTINA)

Metronomy (London UK-ENGLAND)

Mi Ami (San Francisco CA)

Micachu (London UK-ENGLAND)

Michna (Brooklyn NY)

Midnight Peacocks (Tel Aviv ISRAEL)

Midnight Youth (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)

The Mighty Stef (Dublin IRELAND)

Mika Miko (Los Angeles CA)

Milow (Leuven BELGIUM)

Miniature Tigers (Phoenix AZ)

Gabriel Minnikin (Manchester UK-ENGLAND)

Miracle Fortress (Monreal QC)

Mirah (Portland OR)

Mirrorkicks (London UK-ENGLAND)

The Miserable Rich (Brighton UK-ENGLAND)

Mishka (Halifax CANADA)

Mixtapes & Cellmates (Stockholm SWEDEN)

The Moaners (Chapel Hill NC)

Modex (Buenos Aires ARGENTINA)

Mojoe (San Antonio TX)

Mom (Denton TX)

Monareta (Bogota COLOMBIA)

Moneen (Brampton ON)

Monokino (Amsterdam THE NETHERLANDS)

Monotonix (Tel Aviv ISRAEL)

Monte Negro (Los Angeles CA)

The Moog (Budapest HUNGARY)

Moonlight Towers (Austin TX)

Colin Moore (Montreal QC)

Daniel Martin Moore (Cold Spring KY)

Tony Moore (London UK-ENGLAND)

Tanya Morgan (Brooklyn NY)

Moriarty (Montreuil FRANCE)

Motel Motel (New York NY)

Mother Mother (Vancouver BC)

Moth!Fight! (Austin TX)

Mr Lif (Philadelphia PA)

Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band (Seattle WA)

Muck and the Mires (Boston MA)

Krista Muir (Montreal QC)

Mumford & Sons (London UK-ENGLAND)

Mundo Livre Sa (Recife BRAZIL)

Colin Munroe (Toronto ON)

Murder (Copenhagen DENMARK)

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Eli Paperboy Reed & the True Loves (Boston MA)

Reef The Lost Cauze (Philadelphia PA)

Republic of Loose (Dublin IRELAND)

The Republic Tigers (Kansas City MO)

The Rescues (Los Angeles CA)

Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band (Nashville IN)

Brandon Rhyder (Austin TX)

Mia Riddle (Brooklyn NY)

Right Away, Great Captain! (Atlanta GA)

Right Or Happy (Austin TX)

Valerio Rinaldi (Buenos Aires ARGENTINA)

Ringo Deathstarr (Austin TX)

Riotous Brothers (Portsmouth UK-ENGLAND)

Rita Redshoes (Lisboa PORTUGAL)

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The River Phoenix (Copenhagen DENMARK)

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Robedoor (Los Angeles CA)

Rocco Deluca and the Burden (Long Beach CA)

Rokhsan (London UK-ENGLAND)

RokkaTone (New York NY)

Roll The Tanks (Los Angeles CA)

Rolo Tomassi (Sheffield UK-ENGLAND)

Eileen Rose (Boston MA)

Rosie And The Goldbug (Launceston UK-ENGLAND)

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Ross Royce (Wellington NEW ZEALAND)

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Mathew Sawyer And The Ghosts (London UK-ENGLAND)

Say Hi (Seattle WA)

Bryan Scary and The Shredding Tears (Brooklyn NY)

Danny Schmidt (Austin TX)

Scissors for Lefty (San Francisco CA)

Scorpion Child (Austin TX)

Scotland Yard Gospel Choir (Chicago IL)

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Screaming Tea Party (London UK-ENGLAND)

Scribe (Christchurch NEW ZEALAND)

The Sea (Newquay UK-ENGLAND)

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Kevin Seconds (Sacramento CA)

The Secret Life of Sofia (Brooklyn NY)

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The Service Industry (Austin TX)

Sgt Dunbar and the Hobo Banned (Albany NY)

The Shackeltons (Chambersburg PA)

Shad (London ON)

The Shaky Hands (Portland OR)

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros (Los Angeles CA)

The She Creatures (Bristol UK-ENGLAND)

Shellshag (New York NY)

Samantha Shelton (Los Angeles CA)

The Shitsez (Oslo NORWAY)

Sholi (San Francisco CA)

Shelley Short (Portland OR)

Shout Out Out Out Out (Edmonton AB)

The Shys (Los Angeles CA)

SICKBOY (Dublin IRELAND)

The S.I.G.I.T. (Bandung INDONESIA)

The Silos (Flagstaff AZ)

Kristoff Silva (Belo Horizonte MG)

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SIMPLIFIRES (Mexico City MEXICO)

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Sky Larkin (Leeds UK-ENGLAND)

The Slants (Portland OR)

Slaves to Gravity (London UK-ENGLAND)

Sleep (Portland OR)

Sleepercar (El Paso TX)

The Sleepover Disaster (Fresno CA)

Langhorne Slim (Brooklyn NY)

Sloth Scamper (Taipei TAIWAN)

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Slow Club (Sheffield UK-ENGLAND)

Amber Smith (Budapest HUNGARY)

Drew Smith's Lonely Choir (Austin TX)

Smokekiller (Saskatoon SK)

Anthony Snape (Sydney NSW)

Snoblind (Hong Kong HONG KONG)

The Soft Pack (Los Angeles CA)

Soko (Paris NY)

Solace (KY) (Richmond KY)

Solange and the Hadley Street Dreams (Houston TX)

Solid Gold (Minneapolis MN)

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Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin (Springfield MO)

Somi (New York NY)

The Sonics (Seattle WA)

Sonpub (Tokyo JAPAN)

Sons of Albion (London UK-ENGLAND)

Rosalie Sorrels (Boise ID)

sorry-ok-yes (Italy ITALY)

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Sounds Under Radio (Austin TX)

SpecialThanks (Aichi JAPAN)

The Spinto Band (Wilmington DE)

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Sprengjuhollin (Reykjavik ICELAND)

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Adam Stephens (of Two Gallants) (San Francisco CA)

Stereo Pony (Okinawa JAPAN)

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Steso Songs (Malmo SWEDEN)

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The Subjects (New York NY)

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The Summer Wardrobe (Austin TX)

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Superguidis (Guaiba RS)

Supersonic (Budapest HUNGARY)

Surinder Sandhu Band (Birmingham UK-ENGLAND)

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Fernanda Takai (Belo Horizonte BRAZIL)

Talk To Angels (Leeds UK-ENGLAND)

The Tallest Man On Earth (Karlstad SWEDEN)

Sofia Talvik (Stockholm SWEDEN)

David Tamaoka (Honolulu HI)

TarantisT (Tehran IRAN)

TAT (London UK-ENGLAND)

Kim Taylor (Cincinnati OH)

Maria Taylor (Los Angeles CA)

T-Bird & The Breaks (Austin TX)

Teenage Bottlerocket (Laramie WY)

The Teeners (Austin TX)

Telekinesis! (Seattle WA)

Telerama (Fortaleza BRAZIL)

The Temper Trap (Nth Fitzroy VIC)

Here We Go Magic feat. Luke Temple (Brooklyn NY)

Owen Temple (Austin TX)

Temposhark (London UK-ENGLAND)

Ten Out of Tenn (Nashville TN)

Gordie Tentrees (Whitehorse YT)

DON TETTO (Bogota COLOMBIA)

That 1 Guy (Los Angeles CA)

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The Right Ons (Madrid SPAIN)

These Arms Are Snakes (Seattle WA)

The Third Man (Memphis TN)

13ghosts (Birmingham AL)

This Bike is a Pipe Bomb (Pensacola FL)

This Drama (Tenerife Canary Islands SPAIN)

neil thomas (London UK-ENGLAND)

Rod Thomas (London UK-ENGLAND)

Sandi Thom (Brechin UK-ENGLAND)

Those Dancing Days (Stockholm SWEDEN)

3oh!3 (Boulder CO)

Throw Me The Statue (Seattle WA)

Thunderheist (Toronto ON)

J. Tillman (Seattle WA)

Timothy Bracy's Collection Agency (Brooklyn NY)

The Tiny (Stockholm SWEDEN)

Tiny Masters of Today (Brooklyn NY)

Tiny Vipers (Seattle WA)

T!Katz (Atlanta GA)

Shugo Tokumaru (Tokyo JAPAN)

Tokyo Sex Destruction (Barcelona SPAIN)

Tom Cary (Malaga SPAIN)

Tony's Hotel (Dayton OH)

Torngat (Montreal QC)

To The Bones (Winsford UNITED KINGDOM)

The Toxic Avenger (Paris FRANCE)

Toy Horses (Barry UK-WALES)

The Transpersonals (Bristol UK-ENGLAND)

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Turbo Fruits (Nashville TN)

Turbowolf (Bristol UK-ENGLAND)

Frank Turner (London UK-ENGLAND)

The Tutts (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)

2020Soundsystem (Leeds UK-ENGLAND)

Twilight Hotel (Winnipeg MB)

Twin Atlantic (Glasgow UK-SCOTLAND)

Two Dollar Bash (Berlin GERMANY)

Two Hours Traffic (Charlottetown PEI)

2Mex (Los Angeles CA)

The Uglysuit (Oklahoma City OK)

Uncle Lucius (Austin TX)

Underwater Tea Party (Madrid SPAIN)

U-N-I (Inglewood CA)

The Upsidedown (Portland OR)

U.S. Girls (Philadelphia PA)

Francisca Valenzuela (Santiago CHILE)

Valis (Seattle WA)

David Vandervelde (Nashville TN)

Vandex (Salvador BRAZIL)

Vanguart (Sao Paulo BRAZIL)

The Vaselines (Glasgow UK-SCOTLAND)

Venice Is Sinking (Athens GA)

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Verde3 (Bogota COLOMBIA)

Very Be Careful (Los Angeles CA)

Vessels (Leeds UK-ENGLAND)

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Vinil Laranja (Belém BRAZIL)

VINILOVERSUS (Caracas VENEZUELA)

Violens (New York NY)

Virgin Passages (London UK-ENGLAND)

Viva Voce (Portland OR)

Patricia Vonne (Austin TX)

Ann Vriend (Edmonton AB)

Amy Wadge (Pontypridd UK-WALES)

Brooke Waggoner (Nashville TN)

The Wailing Wall (New York NY)

Seth Walker (Austin TX)

Wallpaper. (Oakland CA)

Lucy Walsh (Los Angeles CA)

Warmer Milks (Lexington KY)

The War on Drugs (Philidelphia PA)

Money Waters (Dallas TX)

The Wave Pictures (London UK-ENGLAND)

Wax Fang (Louisville KY)

Sean Wayland (Brooklyn NY)

We Are Balboa (Madrid SPAIN)

Mitch Webb and the Swindles (San Antonio TX)

Randy Weeks (Austin TX)

The Week That Was (Sunderland UK-ENGLAND)

We Have Band (London UK-ENGLAND)

The Weird Weeds (Austin TX)

Josh Weller (London UK-ENGLAND)

Emily Wells (Los Angeles CA)

Paris Wells (Melbourne VIC)

Tyrone Wells (Los Angeles CA)

We Should Be Dead (Limerick IRELAND)

Westbound Train (Boston MA)

Western Keys (Los Angeles CA)

We Were Lovers (Saskatoon SK)

We Were Promised Jetpacks (Glasgow UK-SCOTLAND)

What's YR Damage? (West Palm Beach FL)

Wheat (Taunton MA)

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (Austin TX)

When Girls Collide (San Francisco CA)

The Whip (Manchester UK-ENGLAND)

Andy White (Belfast IRELAND)

Whitechapel (Knoxville TN)

White Circle Crime Club (Antwerpen BELGIUM)

White Ghost Shivers (Austin TX)

White Lies (London UK-ENGLAND)

Ralph White (Austin TX)

White Shoes & The Couples Company (Jakarta INDONESIA)

Who Shot Hollywood (Amherst MA)

Wild Beasts+ (Leeds UK-ENGLAND)

Wildbirds & Peacedrums (Gothenburg SWEDEN)

Wildchild (Oxnard CA)

Wild Moccasins (Houston TX)

Wild Sweet Orange (Birmingham AL)

Wild Weekend (San Diego CA)

Astrid Williamson (Shetland Islands UK-SCOTLAND)

Elizabeth Wills (Austin TX)

Wine and Revolution (Austin TX)

The Woggles (Atlanta GA)

Wovenhand (Denver CO)

The Wrens (Teaneck NJ)

XYX (Monterrey MEXICO)

Yak Ballz (Edison NJ)

Yarah Bravo (New York NY)

Year Long Disaster (Los Angeles CA)

The YellowDogs (Tehran IRAN)

YellowFever (Austin TX)

Don Yojan & La Frescura (Austin TX)

Andy Yorke (Oxford UK-ENGLAND)

You Me and Everyone We Know (Washington DC)

Gabby Young And Other Animals (London UK-ENGLAND)

Young Galaxy (Montreal QC)

Young Mammals (Houston TX)

Your Vegas (Leeds UK-ENGLAND)

Youth Group (Newtown NSW)

Yuppies (Omaha NE)

Zion I (Oakland CA)

Zola Jesus (Madison WI)

thursday reads

2009-01-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, expressed "strong protest and outrage" and demanded an investigation into why there was an attack on the compound of the UN Relief and Works Agency, a well-known location in Gaza marked with blue UN flags.

RIAA withdraws subpoena and discontinues case in Austin, Texas, proceedings targeting Rhode Island students, in Arista Records v. Does 1-22

Brad:What a Cheesy 1980s Teen-Flick Can Teach Us About the Bush Doctrine

Alpine skiing in free fall.

Get It On

R.I.P. Ricardo Montalbán (1920 - 2009)

wednesday reads

2009-01-14T11:15:00.000-07:00

A senior Bush administration official has admitted that a Guantánamo Bay detainee was tortured by the US military, leaving him in a "life-threatening condition".

Governments indulging in abuse and repression, including the US, are avoiding human rights legislation and international justice by hiding behind the principle of national sovereignty, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warns in a report today.

Brandon Friedman: Reclaiming Army Standards

Tomgram: Prelude to an Inaugural

Han Tran: Why Did the US Leak Israeli War Plans?

Glenn Greenwald: Tom Friedman offers a perfect definition of "terrorism"

The Internet may not be such a dangerous place for children after all.

Liz Langley: Is America's Love Affair with Stupidity Finally Over?

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Six Days Seven Nights

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

friday reads

2009-01-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

Photographic evidence has emerged that proves that Israel has been using controversial white phosphorus shells during its offensive in Gaza, despite official denials by the Israel Defence Forces.

Glenn Greenwald: America then and now

Gaza Brings Out Teh Stupid

Chuck Schumer - The Man in the Middle

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Burger at 1600

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

thursday reads

2009-01-08T08:08:00.000-07:00

Robert Fisk: Why do they hate the West so much, we will ask

Richard Clarke in today's NY Daily News:

George Bush, still President, is engaging in a legacy tour of media outlets. This comes despite his earlier having said he did not know how history would judge the Iraq war "because we'll all be dead."

Actually, many people are already dead because of Bush, and that is the point to keep in mind when he talks about his legacy.

In a surprising feat which the RIAA claims is impossible with illegal file-sharing, NIN's "Ghosts I-IV" was announced as being Amazon's top selling MP3 album of 2008.

DOJ pursues the "real criminal" in the NSA spying scandal.

You know the economy is bad when the porn industy asks for a $5bn bailout.

Just a reminder, Saturday, January 10^th is the Global No Pants Subway Ride.

wednesday reads

2009-01-07T09:34:00.000-07:00

District Court to hear Bagram detainees case today.

As the gas dispute between Gazprom and Ukraine heats up, things are getting much colder Wednesday in Western Europe as reports emerge that Russia has completely cut off gas supplies piped through Ukraine.

Responding to media reports that Israel had bombed a UN school serving as a refuge for Palestinian civilians, Congressman Dennis Kucinich is calling for a Congressional report on Israel's possibly illegal misuse of US weapons.

Headline of the Day: Guardsman would rather face Taliban than U.S. economy

The Atheist Bus Campaign

tuesday reads

2009-01-06T09:10:00.001-07:00

An Israeli military strike killed three people at a United Nations-run school in Gaza City where they had sought shelter from an intensifying ground war inside the Gaza Strip, officials said Tuesday.

Multiple sources are reporting that medics and ambulances have come under repeated attack in Gaza by Israeli forces.

Glenn Greenwald on Dawn Johnsen, Obama's pick for OLC chief.

A veteran who has been out of the military for 15 years and recently received his AARP card was stunned when he received notice he will be deployed to Iraq.

Tomgram: Body Count Nation

Rover Strikes Back
Originally uploaded by Siggav

monday reads

2009-01-05T08:33:00.000-07:00

Slaughtering civilians to "send a message".

Juan Cole: Have Bush and the Neocons Ruined it for the Israelis?

Howard Zinn on "War and Social Justice"

Making 'Duck Soup' Out of 2009

Scarecrow: Bush’s Legacy Is a Mirror We’re Afraid to Look Into

Harper's Index: A retrospective of the bu$h era

Isreali troops enter Gaza

2009-01-03T12:58:00.000-07:00

AFP

Israeli troops entered Gaza under cover of darkness on Saturday, escalating the war on Hamas after artillery pounded the Palestinian territory and warplanes staged dozens of air strikes -- one killing 16 people in a mosque.

"Large numbers of forces are taking part in this stage of the operation including infantry, tanks, engineering forces, artillery and intelligence," a military spokesman said.

[snip]

The air force and navy were supporting the operation in the Hamas-controlled territory, the military spokesman added.

Thousands of Israeli troops and tanks had encircled Gaza as Howitzers lobbed shells across the border hours earlier. F-16 jets roared over the enclave where at least 460 people have been killed in eight days of attacks.

said the shark

2009-01-03T11:38:00.000-07:00

true love

Bigger Than Bush

2009-01-02T11:29:00.000-07:00

The Shrill One

As the new Democratic majority prepares to take power, Republicans have become, as Phil Gramm might put it, a party of whiners.

Some of the whining almost defies belief. Did Alberto Gonzales, the former attorney general, really say, “I consider myself a casualty, one of the many casualties of the war on terror”? Did Rush Limbaugh really suggest that the financial crisis was the result of a conspiracy, masterminded by that evil genius Chuck Schumer?

But most of the whining takes the form of claims that the Bush administration’s failure was simply a matter of bad luck — either the bad luck of President Bush himself, who just happened to have disasters happen on his watch, or the bad luck of the G.O.P., which just happened to send the wrong man to the White House.

The fault, however, lies not in Republicans’ stars but in themselves. Forty years ago the G.O.P. decided, in effect, to make itself the party of racial backlash. And everything that has happened in recent years, from the choice of Mr. Bush as the party’s champion, to the Bush administration’s pervasive incompetence, to the party’s shrinking base, is a consequence of that decision.

first night austin 081231

2009-01-01T13:39:00.001-07:00

first night austin 081231
Originally uploaded by birzer

wednesday reads

2008-12-31T09:12:00.000-07:00

Israel today rejected calls for a ceasefire and said it would continue military operations in Gaza, according to reports.

Who Is Amira Hass?

No bailout for the overqualified jobless.

One group that still is getting a raise — Congress

Former Merrill Lynch executive pays 37 million for NYC apartment (with taxpayer money)

Woody Paige: Time to exclaim new era of change