False Alarm.
Due to a miscommunication, the Magus gig has been cancelled.
Well, that’s that.
Month: February 2004
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Magus Sonic Seance?
Ok, I don’t get it, but here it is:
Daisy Cutter will be playing at Magus Books next Saturday (February 28th) at 3:00 pm.
According to David Miller, the other bands are Satyrswitch (apocalyptic folk featuring Jason Kesselring from Skye Klad) and Datura 1.0 (great dark ambient).
We’re supposed to be playing a “low key acoustic set”. Low key we’re working on. Acoustic isn’t going to happen – hell, even the drums will be electronic (only way to get them quiet enough). I don’t even have an acoustic guitar.
However, if you’ve ever wanted to hear us sounding different than normal, this is the show to catch. We’re re-arranging and slowing down some of our stuff, trying to run through quieter electronics, and trying to make a punk band fit in a book store.
I’m honestly pretty freaking nervous about this one – I mean, Daisy Cutter is loud. We’re working on bottling it up, but I think its going to be hard to really get a lid on it. And if we don’t get enough of a lid on it, we risk pissing off pagans. Pissing off Pagans is generally something I consider to be a Bad Idea(TM). I have enough damn troubles as it is.
But, on the up side, it is stretching us a bit. I cant promise it to be a glitch free show (what show ever is), but it should be interesting. We’ve got interesting new takes on both Children of the Revolution and Dissent, and we’ll be working on more stuff this week.
However it goes, I hope to see some old and new faces there. If anyone’s got a good portable recording setup, please bring it, we’d love to hear how this one turns out.
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What Democracy?
If I read many more articles about the Democratic race that imply that the only people running are Edwards, Kerry, and formerly Dean, I’m going to seriously consider a write-in or third party candidate for the finals.
At this point, I am really starting not to care who gets the nomination or the election. That’s not exactly true – it is more accurate to say that I’m displeased no matter who wins.
Kerry? Get real. If Kerry wins, the currently stirring masses will settle back down, we’ll see the most egregious edges of Bush’s actions trimmed back, but most of the damage will stay – and since the perception will be that the Democrats have fixed things, that’s going to be the new center.
Put simply – if Bush took us 10 steps backwards, Kerry will take us 4 forward and we’ll end up with everyone feeling satisfied at 6 steps back.
The blatant in-your-faceness of the current administration will disappear, but their accomplishments will remain.
And the idea that our vote makes a difference? Bullshit. Our leadership options are put forth by the leaders of the Democratic and Republican parties, narrowed by the press corps – the level of choice we the people are given at the end of the day is superficial at best.
I wonder how many people even know that Kuchnich is running – and of those, how many have any idea of his platform?
To take a more obvious look, consider Dean’s path:
He wasn’t really my candidate, although there were a couple things about him I found interesting. However, he got some serious grass roots going and built some momentum. The media reported and hyped that momentum which helped build him into a shooting star – then, fairly abruptly, the media started reporting about him differently – showing him as angry and unpredictable (more or less the same way that McCain was taken down), and the shooting star went out as quick as anything.
The only question in my mind was whether the press corps never liked Dean but had to appear to embrace him before they could redirect the momentum and mass perception to shut him down or if they honestly did get into the momentum at first but later decided he wasn’t the candidate they wanted.
… wow. light bulb.
I am suddenly reminded of two web sites I would bring everyone’s attention to.
The first, is a fictionalized account of Socrates being channeled to Washington DC in June 1996 to conduct a critique of the Washington Press Corps – it may seem to be trivial, but I highly recommend it:
The second, is a companion site by the same authors. A site I had actually forgotten completely about until writing this blog.
It is called the Daily Howler. It is a semi-regularly maintained online paper that covers the press coverage of politics.
Frankly, I stopped reading it in 2000 or 2001 because I found myself growing too angry as I realized that the perception that vast majority of Americans – myself included – had of anything going on in Washington was in many cases fabrication. I’m not talking a little angry. I’m talking about sitting at my desk in my old office with clenched fists and a cold sweat as I waited for the red to clear from my vision angry – so angry I had to go for a walk to calm down enough to go back to work. Maybe I was just a bit sensitive – after all, that was around the same time I was finally politically waking up again.
A good example was the whole “Gore is a liar” thing – go back and read the articles, see the original facts. While Gore wasn’t my favorite option either, the image of him we were given by the press was completely skewed. In fact, I snapped at some even more blatant garbage the other day – as another reader pointed out, I should have known better.
Why does the press corps do this to us, to democracy? I don’t know. I don’t know if it is for political propaganda, for simply cultivating the market of news-as-entertainment, or for some other purpose.
Frankly, while I highly recommend reading Socrates Reads, I’m not sure whether or not I’m going to go back to reading the Daily Howler. I’m not really sure if I should recommend that you do either.
However, presuming that they have kept to their old standards (which one should know does tend to have a bit of a pro-Democrat bias, but not to the point where it seems to blind them), it should be a good source for digging into the stories behind the stories (and if I recall, all wonderfully well documented and referenced) – even if it does make you itch to find a rifle and a bell tower from time to time.
If you check it out, let me know what you think – The Daily Howler.
And as to true democratic control of this nation? I do believe it could be gained if someone could figure out how to herd 100 million apathetic cats – not lean hungry alley cats (although they present their own challenges), but chubby whiny grey house cats that are content to lay in the sun as long as they have food and litter and a bit of entertainment.
Damn it. I’m starting to get mad again. Problem is, I never know what to do about it.
To finish, here’s a nice quote from today’s howler:
ONE FINAL POINT: By the way, The American Prospect hid behind desks while the twenty-month War Against Gore was conducted. The grinding cowardice of such ‘liberal’ journals put Bush in his current position.
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Some propaganda for a rare candidate who is not the lesser of n evils.
Although many will end up voting for Kerry (or whoever the Democrats foist as the “only possible alternative” to Bush), please consider Dennis in the primaries. From everything I’ve seen, Kuchnich is about the only candidate out there whose past history is in congruence with what he says he is about.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich
For an America that will inspire the world once more.
Fear ends. Hope begins.VOTE FOR A CHANGE – VOTE FOR DENNIS KUCINICH.
A primary is not the time to compromise.It is the time to vote your conscience, beliefs and desired platform. Take a stand. Vote with courage and integrity. If Dennis “can’t win,” then there’s no harm in voting your truth. Vote with your head in November and your heart in March. The more delegates Dennis receives, the more likely his ideas will end up on the platform. Vote for practical idealism.
THE PRIMARIES
From 2% in Iowa to 18% in Maine. Two third place finishes in Washington and Maine (even if the media doesn’t report them). The momentum is growing…EXIT POLLS SHOW SUPPORT FOR KUCINICH’S POSITIONS
* Universal health care for all. Right now 40 million Americans are uninsured and 30 million are underinsured. We end up paying for them anyway. We are the only Western country not to have this kind of health care. And it wouldn’t cost any more.
* Withdrawal from NAFTA and the WTO which has taken jobs from the US, enriched multinational corporations at the expense of workers, family farmers and the environment. Kucinich would replace with fair trade agreements.
* Protecting social security from privatization.
* Reducing corporate influence in government.
* Repealing tax cuts for the wealthy.DENNIS STANDS FOR & WITH PEOPLE
If you want a president who sees the truth and stands up for it no matter what, then vote Kucinich. In the ’70s, Dennis stood firm against the big bankers in Cleveland and for the people by refusing to sell the city-owned power company. He stood by his campaign promise. It cost him dearly – he lost the next election. But 20 years later, the Cleveland city Council honored Kucinich for having the “courage and foresight” to stand up to the banks. His decision has saved the people over $200 million on their electric bills – so far. Dennis has integrity and lives what he preaches.HOW MUCH CHANGE ARE YOU READY FOR?
Do you want a candidate who stands up to President Bush? Do you want a president who will stop the war in Iraq, restore jobs to this country, and provide every American with universal health care coverage? Dennis Kucinich takes on the challenges we face today so we can have a better tomorrow.KUCINICH’S BALANCED BUDGET
Even with the social programs he’s desiring. This can happen with 1. repeal of the tax cuts for the wealthy, 2. corporations paying their fair share, and 3. taking 15% from the military budget.Our military’s budget is almost the combined total of every other country’s military budgets put together! Kucinich would take 15% of the budget (still keeping us the largest military) and use that for health care, free education for all through college because education levels the playing field for people, and for other social programs that create peace and prosperity for all, not just a few.
KUCINICH’S BACKGROUND
By the time he was 17 in inner-city Cleveland, in a family of seven children, he had lived in 21 different places – including a couple of cars. He even spent a few months in an orphanage. He rose from such a humble background to become Mayor of Cleveland (the youngest mayor of any major city), Ohio state Senator, and 4-time US Congressperson.THE PEACE CANDIDATE
Dennis was the 2003 recipient of the international Gandhi Peace Award, an award that’s given rarely. He was awarded it because of his proposal to have a Department of Peace on the same level as the Department of Defense. It would be funded by 1% of the military budget. It would look at national and international issues from a peace perspective. Imagine looking at crime, homelessness, poverty, domestic abuse, to name a few, from a worldview of peace. The results could be amazing.KUCINICH’S ELECTABILITY
In each of his elected offices, he defeated an incumbent Republican. His Congressional District has one of the largest concentrations of “Reagan Democrats.” But Dennis wins their vote as well as the progressive vote. In his most recent race, Dennis won with 74% of the vote, including an estimated 50% of the GOP vote.Dennis appeals to progressives because he is one, and to conservatives because he has proposed a balanced budget, even with all of his social programs. Swing voters who don’t agree with him on every issue still see him as a fighter for their interests, who puts the interests of workers and middle-class consumers ahead of big-money interests. If Dennis wins the nomination, and only Dennis, Nader will not run, thus not draining away votes that could’ve won the election last time.
He is the clearest alternative to Bush. Can someone who tries to be a “Republican lite” candidate really appeal to the 80 million people who didn’t vote out of apathy last time? Dennis can mobilize those voters.
His 10-point platform includes (for details on these & many other issues, please see the website):
1. Universal health care with a single payer plan
2. A renewed commitment to peace and diplomacy
3. Repeal of the “Patriot Act”
4. Balance between workers and corporations
5. Guaranteed quality education, pre-k through college
6. Restored rural communities and family farms
7. Environmental renewal and clean energy
8. Right-to-choose, privacy and civil rights
9. Withdrawal from NAFTA and WTO
10. Full social security benefits at age 65 -
From Rotten – Feb 14 : The eve of the Roman feast of Lupercalia. Naked youths would run through Rome, anointed with the blood of sacrificed dogs and goats, waving thongs cut from the goats. If a young woman was struck by the thong, fertility was assured. Pope Gelasius I decided this was a bit too much, and co-opted the Roman holiday to be the Feast of St. Valentine in 484 A.D.
I’d like to see the Halmark cards for that one.
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