First, check the initial story in the NY Times, written by Jaques Steinberg.

"But the back-and-forth these last few months masks a more ominous trend for Fox News, particularly as its gears up to cover the general election campaign. The most dominant cable news channel for nearly a decade and a political force in its own right, Fox has seen its once formidable advantage over CNN erode in this presidential election year, as both CNN and MSNBC have added viewers at far more dramatic rates."

Now, view Fox's on-air reaction:

Several people noticed something odd about the pictures of the Times reporters that Fox featured in their clip. Some people took issue with the coverage.

To add the obvious: You decide.

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FactCheck.org. Highly recommended in this time of competing claims, stretched facts, mistaken assertions, and, uh, lies.

And nothing's changed.

Who is Paul Craig Roberts?

Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Under Ronald Reagan

Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page

Contributing Editor of the National Review.

What's to worry about?

"Bush has put in place all the necessary measures for dictatorship in the form of "executive orders" that are triggered whenever Bush declares a national emergency. Recent statements by Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff, former Republican senator Rick Santorum and others suggest that Americans might expect a series of staged, or false flag, "terrorist" events in the near future."

I've included an MP3 of an interview with Mr. Roberts. One of the many great quotes: "Republicans are praying for another 9/11; it's the only way they can be saved."

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Bush mouths patriotic BS over protests at July 4 ceremony. Oh, for the good old days, when every press op was completely filled with Republican thugs, and these "free speech" nuts were several miles down the road, out of the way...

...anyone who's ever watched a video on YouTube.

Tuesday's Federal court ruling orders Google to turn over complete viewer records in response to Viacom's legal fishing expedition.

From ZDNet:

The latest battle in Google's ongoing court battle with Viacom over YouTube copyright infringement is a glass half full or half empty situation. In the half full department, Google scored a legal victory as a judge shot down Viacom requests for the search giant's search code and other critical intellectual property. In the half empty department, Google is being forced to turn over YouTube user histories to Viacom.

Yesterday I mentioned the site freedocumentaries.org and the fact that they have, uh, free documentaries you can stream or download. I wanted to put in my two cents on a film I hadn't seen before but think is quite good, with one or two minor reservations.

Orwell Rolls In His Grave is a film about the state of the press in the US. Despite a somewhat overhype-y reliance on readings from Orwell's 1984, a narrative that wanders from specifics about the press to a lot of general left-wing issues, and way too much use of hovering, ominous strings in the soundtrack, there's a great deal of excellent material.

Much screen time is given over to interviews with Charles Lewis, Mark Crispin Miller, Bernie Sanders, Robert McChesney, and Mark Lloyd, among others.

While some of the specifics are dated - the film was made during the Republican destruction of the remaining media ownership laws that prevented Murdoch and Clear Channel from buying every outlet in sight, thanks to then-FCC chairman Michael Powell - the issues are completely relevant today, and it's a treat to see these media analysts given a heap of camera time to explain their views.

Well, I'm still quite fond of the surgeon who performed my recent surgery, even though I think he underestimated the recovery time from my collateral damage, a broken rib. I think I'll need every moment of the 2 months he initially predicted for my recovery, which he later revised to 6 weeks due to my wonderful prognosis and youth (!).

Just because I'm sitting around at home feeling sorry for myself because I'm not dipping into the opioid painkillers I've been given - I can't stand them, unfortunately - that doesn't mean I'm not spending an inordinate amount of time browsing amongst the tubes of the internets with my usual jaundiced eye.

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A recent piece in the London Review Of Books discusses a book titled Flat Earth News. It's a dissection of certain problems the author has with the British mainstream media, but with a few minor alterations, the same situation exists in the US; budgets for news cut to the bone and then cut further, "reporters" functioning as nothing more than unquestioning transcribers of press releases, financial pressure turning newspapers and networks into infotainment outlets with no purpose other than returning maximum profits to investors.

The thin gruel passing for news here in the US, and the subsequent vast ignorance of the populace of what's being done in our names abroad, is discussed by Jon Sewart and Lara Logan, chief CBS foreign correspondent, one of a vanishing breed:

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And speaking of the press, one of the few institutions regularly practicing what might be characterized as even a faint memory of investigative journalism is McClatchy.

They've done several leading stories recently: How a senior Pentagon officer went about fine-tuning American torture techniques; a Guantanamo prisoner wants a court to decide if his torture was actually torture according to twisted Bush administration logic; how the Republican-run Department Of Justice derailed an investigation into Republican criminality the might have effected the contested 2004 presidential "election"; how Guantanamo and many American "black site" secret prisons are holding people kidnapped on a whim by our representatives and operatives; the revelation that there are worse American prisons than Guantanamo; and segregation at US military bases in the Middle East, about which, of course, nobody in command knows nothin'.

All that being said - and major props to McClatchy for breaking most of these stories - McClatchy has major problems of its own.

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For those with a taste for political documentaries, I've been enjoying freedocumentaries.org, which streams scads of political films, some downloadable. Coupla Chomsky lectures, several voting fraud films, Moore's Sicko, the truly outstanding The Corporation, a fascinating look at the aging of the anarchist community in NY, etc.

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The Republican smear machine is gearing up against Obama, and doing quite well.

However, for my money, I think Obama is working just as hard to do himself in, casting about for the dregs of the Republican base using Bush tactics. I'm afraid to say that while this guy may come across as young and dynamic, his ethics are about winning; nothing else.

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In a fabulous development, the Bush regime's policy of star chamber evidentiary rules was unanimously overturned by a 3-justice panel including one of their own right-wingers.

With some derision for the Bush administration's arguments, a three-judge panel said the government contended that its accusations against the detainee should be accepted as true because they had been repeated in at least three secret documents.

The court compared that to the absurd declaration of a character in the Lewis Carroll poem "The Hunting of the Snark": "I have said it thrice: What I tell you three times is true."

"This comes perilously close to suggesting that whatever the government says must be treated as true," said the panel of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Of course, someone had to speak for the Administration; it's simply not done to have the truth go unchallenged by neocon spin:

"This case displays the inadequacies of having civilian courts inject themselves into military decision-making," said Glenn M. Sulmasy, a law professor at the Coast Guard Academy and a national security fellow at Harvard.

It's the Harvard part that makes this baboon legit, I assume.

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Frank Rich wrote a good column in the NY Times last week about the Republican reliance on plain old hate-of-the-other to get votes, as well as their kinda sorta hoping for a terrorist attack right near the 2008 election.

This put me in mind of a conversation I had several weeks ago with my friend Jim, who thinks I'm completely off the hook politically, even though we're both quite liberal.

I'd just finished going on for a while about the fact that I think both the 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections were stolen by the Republicans, and that the neocons seized the government in a bloodless coup.

Hearing this, Jim rolled his eyes, smiled indulgently, and begged to disagree. He then went on to propound his theory that about a week before the election, if Obama is still leading in the polls, the Reppublicans will have him assassinated and Bush will declare himself President for the forseeable future because of national security considerations.

No crazier than stealing 2 elections, I suppose.

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On the other hand, there may not be any problem at all:

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Free Speech Reminder:

Don't lose touch with my boy The Freeway Blogger, he's got a great, direct, cheap, grassroots grasp of politics.

And he's articulate, too:

Interview courtesy of Politics In The Zeros.

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Planning on traveling with your laptop and digital camera? Looking forward to getting home?

Not so fast:

But an April ruling by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Customs and Border Protection, does have full authority to search any electronic devices without suspicion in the same way that it can inspect briefcases.

Additionally, Raw Story has a slightly more detailed take on this.

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Juan Cole, over at Informed Comment made a very apt connection between George Carlin's dislike of euphemisms and the shading of the true brutality of the Iraq War.

Here's the Carlin clip he references. The piece on euphemisms starts about 2:00 in, when he says "You can't be afraid of words that speak the truth." It goes on until 5:00.

And to illustrate Carlin's point about "shell shock", here's Kelly Kennedy, of The Army Times:

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Republicans discover they may be in trouble, even after all that lying, cheating, and stealing.

Duh.

House GOP concludes they failed to sway voters

WASHINGTON - House Republicans lost three recent elections when customary campaign themes failed to sway voters and their candidates could not overcome the "negative perception of the national party," according to an internal review that underscores the potential for widespread losses this fall.

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That's all for today. The rib's starting to bang away again, so I'm going out on to the porch to read and make stoic faces.

Studs Terkel is in his 90's. Let us all hoist a dry martini in his honor. While Terkel's produced a dozen or more stunning books of oral history, it's unlikely he'll be doing many more. It behooves us to see where the next oral historians are coming from; allow me to direct you towards the works of Jeff Kisseloff.

So far, Kisseloff has produced 3 excellent oral histories: You Must Remember This was reminiscences of life in Manhattan by people who'd lived there from the late 1800's to the beginnings of WWII. The Box is a history of television from its many inventors (1920's - 1930's) to the early 60's, told by the participants.

Kisseloff's most recent book is Generation On Fire: Voices Of Protest From The 1960's, An Oral History. I recommend this highly. Kisseloff interviewed original Freedom Riders, various militant leaders, vets, writers, musicians, feminists, early gay rights advocates, and most wrenchingly, the boyfriend and mother of Allison Krause, one of the four students shot in the back by National Guardsmen at Kent State on May 4, 1970.

In a time when the dialogue in the media is moving slowly and inexorably to the right, and the radical movements of the 1960's are generally dismissed as dope-addled aberrations best forgotten while we tend to our P&L statements, this book is a testimony to clear thought and commitment.

Kisseloff is also involved in writing a book on the Alger Hiss case, a fascinating and shameful episode of US history.

If you've been holding off on purchasing Douglas's and my live set from a few months ago because you're saving up to get $7.00 for the FLAC file, it's time to get your finances in order and your butt in gear; that file is going down for a while, because I need the server space to offer my last year's WFMU radio shows in high quality MP3 format for a few bucks each.

There will be 17 or 18 radio shows posted, each for a limited amount of time (likely a week or two; server limitations again), and when that's over, I'll make the FLAC of the live set available again.

I ain't lyin', friends; July 7 is the cutoff date. Get 'em while they're FLAC.

I'm belatedly posting Shawn's tip about Universal Music getting their legal ass handed to them on a plate.

Thanks to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a federal judge handed down a ruling that invalidated Universal's prosecution of anyone selling a "promotional only" CD.

A victory for eBay and flea market merchants (and music lovers) everywhere. And for common sense.

Christie's is auctioning off 329 pieces of James Brown memorabilia on July 17.

Thanks to Dave The Spazz for the tip.

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Tony Schwartz died last Saturday.

There are several excellent obituaries about his life and work, including one by Doug Schulkind of WFMU. Schwartz pioneered so many of the modern techniques of audio communication that, in my opinion, there's no one working in the fields of radio or video that doesn't owe him a tremendous debt. He was the first person to apply Marshall McLuhan's theories in real-world production, and he explained their application in two fine books.

To take just one (relatively minor) example of his groundbreaking work: he devised the technique of overlapping words in audio to increase the amount of information conveyed without sacrificing intelligibility - and what's more, he did it for Abraham & Strauss, a New York retail chain that was interested in selling shirts and pants, not in audio innovation. The success here is twofold; first, you have to devise and perfect a technique hitherto completely unknown in modern communication. Second, you have to sell the technique to a commercial client whose first question will likely be: "If this is so groundbreaking and wonderful, why haven't I heard it used before?"

If the books and production techniques weren't enough, Schwartz also made a long, eye-opening series of recording for the Folkways label (now available from Smithsonian), many using some of the first surreptitious (and non-surreptitious) location recordings on vinyl, featuring speech with musical rhythm, interviews with children, narrative productions about pets, music, sound effects, and on and on.

This man was an unqualified genius. It's worth the effort to read the books, watch the videos, and listen to the recordings. He still has a lot to teach.

In a true coincidence of Life Itself, the week I vanish to deal with important personal issues is the week my retrospective on illegal art drops in the marketplace.

"It's an irony of musical history that one of the greatest hip-hop singles ever released was produced by a pair of entirely un-hip white advertising men."

From the Dusted review

The release is/was flagged on Yahoo Music's Hottest New Releases, AOL/Spinner, Paper Thin Walls, The NY Sun, the NY Times, The Onion's AV Club, All Music (as well as the All Music Blog), and Dusted, with mentions at Wired and Pitchfork. It didn't happen by itself; the hard-working souls at Fanatic Promotion are on the case.

Update with yet even more promotion:

Download.com has a few nice things to say, along with their stream of three of the cuts from the retrospective. Wired's blog also carries the streams and their own comments, adding a contest to win the album. Exclaim from Canada featured a rather sweet review. The Onion's AV Club ran an actual review that gave the set an "A" grade. Pitchfork added a sure-enough review with a generous 8.7 rating. NPR's "Needle Drop" interviewed me about the ethics of sampling. Needless to say, I don't think I have any. Loudersoft had a generous review, with extra love for the second-disc of the set. Robert Christgau reviewed the set at Blender, giving it 4 stars out of 4. Earplug and 3hive both weighed in, as did 30music (taking a somewhat different slant on the work, and still giving it 8.5 out of 10). TimeOut NY carried a full page interview in the club section, too.

Glutton for punishment?

When I was in Switzerland a few weeks ago (he mentioned casually), I taped a video interview with PJ Crittin, of Vibrations Magazine. It's running on their website. They've applied some extreme editing to bring my long-windedness under control, so be aware that a few of the events that appear side-by-side in the video weren't necessarily that way when I was shpritzing away in their offices. Many thanks to PJ for the opportunity, and for the intelligent direction of the questions. Blame me for the answers.

And please don't forget that Douglas and I have a live set available for cheap.

(1) My apologies to everyone who checked this page for the zillionth time, found nothing going on, and figured I'd just fallen the hell off and that was the end of it.

Truth of the matter is, I've received some dramatic news of a personal nature, and I've had to alter my plans and do some serious scrambling to adjust. My posts will be sparse in nature until the end of May, after which I won't be posting for at least a month in order to deal with some major changes.

(2) My last DJ appearance for the summer will be, um, this Saturday at Club 6 in San Francisco. Flyer above. Sorry for the short notice, but as I said, I've been scrambling.

(3) In the next week, I hope to (finally) post a link so that Douglas and I can sell downloads of WHO OWNS CULTURE? DOUBLE DEE & STEINSKI LIVE IN NYC, our set as openers for DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist's Hard Sell tour. As to why I haven't done this sooner, please see (1) above. In the meantime, the Illegal Art retrospective collection (2 CD's) of my stuff will be available at several outlets, including Illegal.Art.net at the end of May.

My apologies for my erratic behavior and unresponsiveness to e-mail, and thanks for your patience and understanding.

Better watch those letters to the editor, friend.

Laura Berg is a VA nurse who wrote an outraged letter to a local New Mexico paper about Bush, his non-handling of Katrina, and the murderous bogosity of the Iraq war. Her bosses set the FBI on her, threatening an investigation for sedition.

She just won a highly prestigious award for standing up to Bush and his goons.

Sedition? I'm with that. Where do I go to sign up?

For 10 points on the exam, compare & contrast:

Example 1

Political giving, Walker said, "gives us the opportunity to participate with elected officials and offer solutions to growing concerns within the energy sector."

Example 2

Using lobbyists to bribe elected officials of both parties, Walker said, "allows us to get them to cooperate with our program of importing huge amounts of radioactive waste from Italy and burying it in the United States. We'll make millions."

A glow-in-the-dark snapshot of what's wrong with allowing private money into the public sector.

Oy & Oy. Oy twice. Once for this news, although ABC is right now the only place carrying this that I can find, and once for the quality of this newscast. I realize I'm out of the loop for "serious" programming on the major networks, but the delivery of this piece strikes me as pitched to around a 6th grade level.

And here's the wrap up. This really depressing news, still not carried by any major other than ABC.

And if you're at all curious as to the Republican scorecard on how many "high-value detainees" died after they were kidnapped and tortured by Bush & his scum, the ACLU has every grisly detail, in black & white.

Thanks to DJ Food for scouting this little-known but essential link between the cocktail and the collie.

We opened for DJ Shadow's Private Press show in NYC on November 20th of 2002. With only 9 days to get ready (and running two unsynchronized laptops with Protools. Yow.), we sailed through about 40 minutes of sample madness, anchored by DJ Tim Sweeney (yes, that Tim Sweeney) on many turntables, while our friend Jazzbo roamed the stage with a handheld video camera, thinking of posterity. We're indebted to him for this footage.

Shadow was exceptionally generous in his introduction, and we thank him for having us. It was quite a thrill; kind of an experimental, improvisatory jam session.

"Lesson 3" Double Dee and Steinski from Doug Di Franco on Vimeo.

As soon as I work out the e-commerce stuff (currently in progress). Douglas did a great job on the mastering and the artwork.

This is the set from the second night of the Hard Sell tour in NY, we opened for DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist. I mention this to avoid confusion with the video clip in the adjoining post, which was our first gig ever, 6 years ago.

Truth, objectivity, and scientific integrity are so last century. The important thing is the bucks.

Running those big universities costs so much money, and it's so hard to get government grant money because it's all going to fund the war. Better to let the tobacco companies pay for a major cancer study...

Oh my, how the Democrats speak loudly about helping the po' ol' folks on Medicare and Medicaid, and getting low cost health care to the li'l chilluns. Of course, it would be best if you didn't point out that these politicians who speak so well and long are being bankrolled by the very businesses they're supposedly investigating and attacking. And leading the lobbying effort for the pharma companies is a man you all remember and love from the depths of Bush's Republican cesspool, Billy Tauzin.

What you worried about, friend? Asbestos particles in the walls? Lead in the drinking water? Weird gases from the dump down the road? Well, now that you're spending that $600 tax refund that came out of all the funding that regulatory agencies used to get, the EPA - with a skelton staff - gets its research from the chemical industry.

And while they're at it, those enormous feedlots and chemically treated acres don't need any oversight and emission rules. It's not free market. It's not in the interest of the economy. Just ask the EPA again, who get their info directly from the cow's butt.

If you read the paper today, you'll see that Hillary Clinton is shocked - SHOCKED - to find out that her lead pollster and political aide is taking money to support a project Hillary opposes.

Mark Penn, a duplicitous schmuck who runs a huge company called Burson-Marsteller, will leave the Clinton campaign forthwith. At least as far as the press reports. UPDATE: Penn leave the campaign? More of de treacherous BS. PLUS: How exactly did Burson-Marsteller get a whole lot of Democrats to work with the Republicans?

It can't come as any surprise that lobbyists are providing expertise, manpower, and boatloads of cash to all 3 candidates. In McCain's case, his entire campaign is run by lobbyists; his senior staff are all lobbyists. But McCain's a Republican. What else would you expect?

But Hillary? What is this company that Hillary has drawn to her bosom and suddenly rejected?

Burson-Marsteller works for anyone and everyone. They are the definition of the fixers in Washington. They were the lead company spreading BS thick and warm over the media to help Bush & his creeps launch the Iraq War, a public relations effort paid for by a whole lot of tax dollars. They currently represent Blackwater, the Imperial Presidency's Palace Guard. They maintain a separate division to start phony "grassroots" campaigns for their all-corporate client list.

Hillary knew about this, of course. It was a selling point in bringing Mark Penn into her campaign. If he could pull that off...

How would I know? I was sick the whole time, lying groggily in the hotel between gigs. But thanks to the diligent efforts of the crew at Fanatic Promotion, I did make time for a video interview. Ali Maclean did her best to make me sound lucid and halfway intelligent, but I wouldn't say I was my usual sparkly, bubbly self.

Not too sick to forget to plug my new 2 CD retrospective on illegal art, though.

click here to see more videos like this

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The kind folks at the Red Bull Music Academy are freighting my fat butt over to Zurich this weekend to participate in one of their info sessions.

I'll be playing in Lausanne Friday night and Zurich Saturday night (no details, but if you're within reach, come on by). On Saturday night, I'll be sharing the booth with my boys from Sonic Records, who brought me to Zurich last May.

Sunday I'll be lecturing and showing off my inability to make the computer do what I want it to do. Always a good laugh.

Following his decision not to run for the US Congress, Lawrence Lessig started an organization called Change Congress.

The organization's aim is not to fix the United States, but to address what Lessig calls the first problem; the corrosive effects of money on politics, effecting both good people and bad.

He explains, with his usual stunning PowerPoint style::

Trust me, this will all make sense in a minute.

1) I have this friend, Alex.

2) Alex loves baseball (and Emily).

3) Alex has a blog about the Yankees.

4) He wrote a very well received book about Curt Flood.

5) He knows a really good sportswriter named Pat Jordan.

6) Alex's friend Pat wanted to do a profile for Men's Journal on former slugger and 'roided up Oakland A's player Jose Canseco.

7) Jose is as dependable and stable as a rabid squirrel, and blows Jordan off repeatedly.

8) Jordan decides to make the best of a bizarre situation and writes an article about chasing Canseco around, places it in sports blog Deadspin.

9) Alex (remember Alex?), who's edited a collection of Pat Jordan's sportswriting, lets me know that Jordan's got a good new piece out.

10) I read it, I like it, I blog about it.

I told you it would all make sense.

Thank you.

I'm just going to link to a great post by Glenn Greenwald that showcases Charlie Rose's "Fifth Anniversary Of The Iraqi Invasion" show.

There's fantastic embedded video of a segment of Rose's show where he attempts to manipulate two Iraqi guests - a journalist and an author - into some sort of "Oh, the US meant well and possibly made a few mistakes" type of dialogue.

Instead, you see two quite angry Iraqis saying things that are never part of the US media dialogue on Iraq. Rose tries - every time he opens his mouth - to shoehorn the narrative back into the approved major media mold (Ba'athists, Sunnis, Shia, etc.), and winds up after 10 minutes drawing the curtain as fast and gracefully as he can.

Greenwald's analysis and further links are exceptionally enlightening.

I'd suspect that at least one of the talent bookers on the Rose show has a call into a headhunter right now.

Isn't this an exciting time? Every schmuck pundit and self-absorbed talking head acts as if the election is a critical, head-to-head race. According to the media, it's neck and neck right down to the primary finals for the Dems, and then it'll be a dead heat between McCain and whoever.

Well, that sort of "news" coverage certainly delivers viewers to the advertisers. It seems so... American, doesn't it? The Triumph Of Democracy, the Voice Of The People, the ritual of election as it's been enacted in the many years since the founding of our great republic.

It's certainly easy to lose sight that what we're witnessing is a fierce battle between 3 extremely wealthy representatives of various huge corporations, scheming to play on the insecurities and ignorance of the populace by manipulating 3 mammoth public relations efforts. Does that seem too cynical? Why not check the voting records? Find out what the finances of the special interests reveal about the three candidates.

I'll be posting a bit more (ha) about the poisonous effects of corporate money on the political process, but there's actually a larger problem facing all of us right now, one that was summed up quite well by one of G.W. Bush's spritual predecessors, Josef Stalin:

It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.

One of the essential blogs about voting machine errors and manipulation is maintained by a professor at NYU named Mark Crispin Miller. Professor Miller has written several books about american politics; I'd direct you to Loser Take All; Election Fraud And The Subversion Of Democracy, as well as Fooled Again: How The Right Stole The 2004 Election.

The mother church of black box voting sites is run by Bev Harris, whom we have to thank for initially uncovering this travesty.

The NY Times has been covering this as well:

The earliest critiques of digital voting booths came from the fringe - disgruntled citizens and scared-senseless computer geeks - but the fears have now risen to the highest levels of government. One by one, states are renouncing the use of touch-screen voting machines. California and Florida decided to get rid of their electronic voting machines last spring, and last month, Colorado decertified about half of its touch-screen devices. Also last month, Jennifer Brunner, the Ohio secretary of state, released a report in the wake of the Cuyahoga crashes arguing that touch-screens "may jeopardize the integrity of the voting process." She was so worried she is now forcing Cuyahoga to scrap its touch-screen machines and go back to paper-based voting - before the Ohio primary, scheduled for March 4. Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat of Florida, and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, have even sponsored a bill that would ban the use of touch-screen machines across the country by 2012.

The theft -by digital voting machines - of the 2004 Presidential election in the state of Ohio has also been confirmed, both by the Ohio Secretary Of State (as above), as well as independent journalists:

Jennifer Brunner - and also Debra Bowen, in California, has come to similar conclusions and disqualified the electronic voting machines used there. These secretaries of state, if we're going to have an actual election in 2008 that's going to be even reasonably fair, they're going to have a lot of work to do.

And leave us not forget that every single voting machine and voting software company is run by major-level Republican donors. And thanks to closed-system intellectual-property rulings, it's illegal for any purchaser or user of these machines to evaluate them for accuracy, to examine the machine code, or to modify them for security purposes.

To sum up, the Republicans are hacking democracy. Here's a film about it (9 YouTube segments).

This cautionary documentary exposes the vulnerability of computers - which count approximately 80% of America's votes in county, state and federal elections - suggesting that if our votes aren't safe, then our democracy isn't safe either.

The documentary exposes the dangers of voting machines used during America's mid term and presidential elections. Electronic voting machines count approximately 90% of America's votes in county, state and federal elections. The technology is also increasingly being used across the world, including in Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe and Latin America. Filmed over three years this expose follows the investigations of a team of citizen activists and hackers as they take on the electronic voting industry, targeting the Diebold corporation.

"Hacking Democracy" uncovers incendiary evidence from the trash cans of Texas to the ballot boxes of Ohio, exposing secrecy, votes in the trash, hackable software and election officials rigging the presidential recount.

Ultimately proving our votes can be stolen without a trace "Hacking Democracy" culminates in the famous 'Hursti Hack'; a duel between the Diebold voting machines and a computer hacker from Finland - with America's democracy at stake. The two Ohio election staff who feature in "Hacking Democracy" were sentenced on March 13th 2007 for rigging the 2004 presidential recount. Incriminating footage from the documentary was used in their court case as evidence.

http://www.hackingdemocracy.com/

Regarding YouTube embeds - I've been experiencing some loading problems in posts with these. Please be patient.

Obama's speech about race was excellent, no doubt; the United States has avoided a lot of issues for a long time, and whether or not the country will ever confront them is a fascinating question. It's unfortunate that the hyenas of the media have characterized Rev. Wright as some sort of hate-monger. I think he's merely speaking the truth. It may be hard for many people to absorb, but that doesn't mean he's wrong.

There should be an embedded YouTube video under this. If there isn't my site may be experiencing some technical difficulties; please stand by.

In 2002, I was a big fan of Underworld, so I enjoyed The Divine Comedy's cover of a Noel Coward song written about the hedonism of the 1920s. Neil Hannon is reminding clubbers that partying wasn't invented in the 90s.

I used the music and lyrics for a short animation. I wanted to reacquaint myself with After Effects. It took six days to almost complete.

I've Been To A Marvellous Party from Alex Gollner on Vimeo.

It's really well done, and if anyone wants to compare the version of the song to the OG by Noel Coward, that's tagged on below as an MP3.

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I came of age for military induction during an intense period of the Vietnam War - 1969/70. Even though I was attending college, an academic deferment wasn't a certainty, and it was only through the lucky coincidence of receiving a barely-high-enough number in the draft lottery that I avoided service.

A lot of other guys got scooped up by the draft; the ones that didn't give their lives often served long tours in combat, and are now everywhere in american communities, working, raising families, living the lives of responsible citizens who did their duty. After I dropped out of college for good in the early 70's, I met a lot of men who'd done tours in Southeast Asia and who were making the adjustment back to civilian life. As I emerged from my sheltered academic cocoon, I discovered we were all just folks.

As inequitable as the Vietnam-era draft was - the vast majority of military conscripts were from impoverished backgrounds - the armed forces did represent a citizen's army, in the way the U.S. Constitution meant it to be.

For much of the twentieth century, Americans co-existed with the country's armed forces in a way we don't anymore. In the 1940's and '50s, millions of Americans served in the fight against imperial Japan and Hitler's Germany, as well as Kim Il Sung's North Korea and its Chinese Allies; in the sixties, millions of boomers wore the uniform in the jungles of Vietnam or on large bases in Europe, Asia, and in the States. Service, or the possibility of service, was a way of life.

After the draft was abolished in the 1970's the military increasingly became an institution apart from the society at large, a process that was hastened by the "peace dividend" that allowed the end of the cold war, which allowed for the significant downsizing of the armed forces. While those who served continued to pass along the tradition to subsequent generations, those who didn't hardly gave the armed services a second thought. It was an arrangement that seemed to work well for both groups as long as peace prevailed.

Excerpted from "Blogging the Long War", an article by Paul McLeary in this month's Columbia Journalism Review.

I add that quote above because it serves as a great lead-in to the focus of this post: the fact that a military intended to defend the United States and it's constitution was supposed to be made up of citizens, treating each other with respect for their different backgrounds but fighting for the same end.

No more.

In a well researched, eloquently written piece of reporting, David Antoon, a career officer and combat veteran of the US Air Force, writes about the takeover of the armed forces by the religious right. It's a takeover that's practically complete, aided and abetted by the Republican Party.

Antoon writes:

In April of 2004, my son, after receiving a coveted appointment to the United States Air Force Academy, asked me to accompany him to the orientation for new appointees. This 24-hour visceral event changed my life forever, and crushed my son's lifelong dream of following in my footsteps.

The orientation began with a one-hour "warrior" rant to appointees and parents by the commandant of cadets, Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida. The fact that the word warrior had replaced leadership was a signal of what was to follow. I later learned that cadets, to determine when a new record was established, had created a game in which warrior was counted in each speech Weida gave.

My son and I then made our way to the modernist aluminum chapel, where I expected to hear a welcome from one or two Air Force chaplains offering counsel, support and an open-door policy for any spiritual or pastoral needs of these future cadets. In 1966, the academy had six gray-haired chaplains: three mainline Protestants, two priests and one rabbi. Any cadet, regardless of religious affiliation, was welcome to see any one of these chaplains, who were reminiscent of Father Francis Mulcahy of "MASH" fame.

Instead, my son's orientation became an opportunity for the academy to aggressively proselytize this next crop of cadets. Maj. Warren Watties led a group of 10 young, exclusively evangelical chaplains who stood shoulder to shoulder. He proudly stated that half of the cadets attended Bible studies on Monday nights in the dormitories and he hoped to increase this number from those in his audience who were about to join their ranks. This "invitation" was followed with hallelujahs and amens by the evangelical clergy. I later learned from Air Force Academy chaplain MeLinda Morton, a Lutheran who was forced to observe from the choir loft, that no priest, rabbi or mainline Protestant had been permitted to participate.

I would venture to say that after reading the entire article, you might agree with the idea that the United States has moved a lot closer to fascism than is even immediately evident in all the scandals now being revealed as the rocks of the Bush Administration are turned over. It's also fairly easy to see where the Crusade mentality makes kidnapping and torturing brown-skinned heathens a religious act that guarantees a seat at God's right hand.

For instance, watch this propagandising video about evangelicals at the Air Force Academy, sponsored by the Campus Crusade For Christ.

Now, there has been some small movement against this overt tainting of the armed forces, but it hasn't really taken hold. Here Lou Dobbs, one of the morons on CNN, and some hyperventilating babe in windowpane specs report on various military evangelical adventures, wrapping up with a predictable bit of patriotic babble.

Fighting the good fight against Jesus in your rifle barrel is the Military Religious Freedom Foundation:

And don't think this crap just takes place in the military, either. Witness this travesty of non-democracy on the floor of the Senate recently.

And here's the wrap - a very good question for the Democrats. I figure McCain is political dog waste anyway, no use looking to him.

As I role into Week 4 of the flu (somewhat better, but not really well, y'know whumsayin'?), I see where I stumbled into the new blog design without pointing out the fabulousness of the people at Gyro who made it happen.

Michael Feldman can be held responsible for the design, as well as piloting his own music blog, The Walrus.

Sean Jordan manages client expectations and tells me to chill out and sit my ass down when necessary.

Jonathan Finnegan handles the overall coding and programming, along with Michael Ferry (front end programming), and Mark Hunt (back end). They all collaborate when not messing with the clients.

Sticker by DJ Intel, one of the guys I played with at SxSW.

Read carefully.

Please don't forget to check their website, as well.

If I wasn't still somewhat disabled by the flu, I'd make this a rousing review of a great book I took out of the library when I got bored with watching the Netflix streams. I'm talking about The Great Black Way: L.A. in the 1940's and the Lost African American Renaissance by R.J. Smith.

Since I'm still somewhat wasted, I'll just point out a single musical high point.

This post has: 2 Images 2 MP3's

Please come on by if you're there. It's my first time, so I assume it's madness for 3 days. The main event is produced by my friend Sang from Chicago, and I'm appearing with Maker, Intel, and Pickel, who are all killer. The Jetset events are co-produced by Frank 151 and El Sang.

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What he said...

So of course, right about the time the new website design becomes operative, I come down with the flu, which I still have, in a fairly bad way. Phooey.

Plus, the elaborate new behind-the-scenes controls for the site makes me feel like I'm graduating from a push scooter to an Escalade. Fine tuning is still going on in all directions.

Please be patient, as the flu passes and I return to my usual sunny self (pause for laughter from the audience), the radio shows and the live Double Dee & Steinski set will appear for sale.

In the meantime - and I know you were wondering what the hell any of this had to do with a title about chewing gum - I resurrect this bit of musical instruction from the days of the Third Reich. It is absolutely authentic.

DANCE BAND RULES AND REGULATIONS DURING THE THIRD REICH (actual)

1) In the repertoire of light orchestras and dance bands, pieces in

foxtrot rhythm (so-called swing) are not to exceed 20%;

2) in the repertoire of this so-called jazz type music, preference is to

be given to compositions in a major key and to lyrics expressing joy in

life ("Kraft durch Freude"), rather than Jewishly gloomy lyrics;

3) as to the tempo, also, preference is to be given to brisk

compositions as opposed to slow ones (so-called blues); however, the

pace must not exceed a certain degree of allegro commensurate with the

Aryan sense of discipline and moderation. On no account will negroid

excesses in tempo (so-called hot jazz) be permitted, or in solo

performances (so-called breaks);

4) so-called jazz compositions may contain at the most 10% syncopation;

the remainder must form a natural, legato movement devoid of hysterical

rhythmic references characteristic of the music of the barbarian races

and conducive to dark instincts alien to the German people (so-called

"riffs");

5) strictly forbidden is the use of instruments alien to the German

spirit (e.g. so-called cowbells, flexitone, brushes, etc.) as well as

all mutes which turn the noble sound of brass-wind instruments into a

Jewish-Freemasonic yell (so-called wa-wa, in hat, etc.);

6) prohibited are so-called drum breaks longer than half a bar in four

quarter beat (except in stylized military marches);

7) the double bass must be played solely with the bow in so-called jazz

compositions; plucking of strings is prohibited, since it is damaging to

the instrument and detrimental to Aryan musicality. If a so-called

pizzicato effect is absolutely desirable for the character of the

composition, let strict care be taken lest the string patter on the

sordine, which is henceforth forbidden;

8) provocative rising to one's feet during solo performance is

forbidden;

9) musicians are likewise forbidden to make vocal improvisations

(so-called scat); and;

10) all light orchestras and dance bands are advised to restrice the use

of saxophones of all keys and to substitute for them violin-celli,

violas, or possibly a suitable folk instrument.

signed,

Baldur von Blodheim

Reichsmusicfuhrer und Oberscharfuhrer SS

Lawrence Lessig is considering a run for Congress; for the seat in the 12th Congressional District in California recently vacated by the death of Tom Lantos.

As cynical as I am about the political process, I have to support this man. His books have changed the way I look at the music I make, and the process I use to make it. He's the reason there's a tab marked "copyright" on this blog. His speeches and video presentations, his creation of the Creative Commons organization and licenses; all these are things I can completely get behind.

His campaign (if he decides to run), is available at Lessig '08..

His words:

A really smart, ethical person running for Congress on a platform of ethical reform of the Congressional process?

Hell yeah.

First off, thanks to the diligent efforts of our website experts, this site will be undergoing an upgrade in the very near future; we'll be offline for a few days whilst migrations are migrated, tweaks are tweaked, and issues resolved. You'll find an announcement here instead of my distorted mug, but fear not; I will return ready to vend merch, review books, promulgate strange MP3's, and generally waste everyone's time.

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To finish off my recent fascination with crop circles, Flip wrote back to add A) that he hadn't actually visited the sites physically, he'd gone there via Google satellite voodoo, which made me feel a lot better and somewhat less humbled, and B) he added this regarding the Smithville, TX landowner named LUECKE::

"I think the Luecke is done by good ol' surveying: my friends and I had the same curiosity, and someone found this post: http://wonko.com/post/309#comment-3926

...see bottom of page)'"

On the other hand, Jonathan wrote in to point out there's a better use for your GPS equipped phone than to find the nearest Mexican restaurant with a good frozen margarita:

"It's not quite the same thing, but I think it appeals to some of the same elements as the crop circles thing - http://www.confluence.org/

Basically, the idea is that people go to each of the confluence points where longitude and latitude meet, and then they take pictures where X is the spot."

If you're headed for Madagascar anytime soon, this is the project for you.

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The wife recently introduced me to the joys of Netflix streaming movies. If you're a member, you get unlimited time and access to a large, if somewhat ragtag bunch of flicks (viewable via PC/IE only. Bah.). Quite a few wonderful documentaries, though. I saw Noam Chomsky: Rebel Without A Pause while I was in bed nursing a cold, and it's excellent. Keep in mind that I hold Chomsky in such high regard that if someone made a movie called "Noam Chomsky Walks His Dog And Hawks One Into The Gutter On The Way To Get A Quart Of Milk," I'd love that too.

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A few recent developments of the zillions I have backed up waiting for my nasty, cynical comments:

Much to my surprise, Congress has actually done something to challenge the White House in a substantial way. Whether it turns out to have any real effect, we'll see.

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Looking into my crystal ball, I predict a discovery that - in accordance with the best information management practices - a vast number of e-mails pivotal to the many scandals in the Justice Department have been erased. If anyone's interested, I'm giving very short odds. Practically even, in fact.

______________________

This trend shocked even me. Time to think about moving to New Zealand, or perhaps Easter Island.

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The United States instigated and led a long blockade of Iraq, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi infants, who were denied critical medicine and health care materials. Then, after 9/11, Bush and his scummy pals simply invaded the joint and killed several hundred thousand more Iraqis to seize their oil for Exxon/Mobil stockholders.

In today's paper, what do we see? A photo-op of a f***ing Iraqi DOG some GI adopted, profiled against the f***ing Capitol building. I'd say something about needing to have our priorities straight, but first we'd need a sane press.

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Perhaps we can hope for a cage match? Fat Republican Junkie Squares Off Against Hypocritical Republican Politico!

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And, in conclusion: As they were, so are we becoming.

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Assuming the site revamp happens soon, I'll see ya on the other side of the improvements. I'm sure I'll be in a better mood, all tra la la and maybe even over my cold.

Well, didn't I think I was so clever, finding those corn mazes and crop circles.

Ha.

Flip wrote me back with a compliment on the post, and by the way, had I seen this blog DEVOTED to crop circle posts, with a list of the best of 2007, many of which Flip had actually visited?

And had I seen the satellite photos of the Smithville, Texas farm that had the farmer's name in letters several MILES long?

Pride goeth before a crop circle post.

I'm sure you're somewhat put off by those bogus "poll" questions that show up on people's blogs, asking for your opinion on who-knows-what-kind-of-crap (Hillary/Obama, Chevy/Ford, instant this/instant that). The people who use them seem to think it gives a light dusting of "community" and "interactivity" to what strikes me as anonymous, meaningless interchange.

So here I am, stepping up to ask something truly meaningful.

If you check down the homepage, you'll see that I had a radio show from July - September of 2007 on WFMU (the links to listen to the archives are in the other post.) The files on the WFMU site are low-quality, non-downloadable audio, used to keep costs down and keep bandwidth from eating up the station.

I'd like to offer superior hi-rez copies of the entire season (17 shows) as a package ($10.00 US, probably). However, as I sit here on a cold, rainy Saturday in suburban New Jersey, listening to the cats snore, I have a few questions you might be able to help me answer:

1) Does anyone want these in the first place?

2) Would you be more interested in a physical product (2 or 3 data DVD's, probably) or a download? This may turn out to be academic, because the download storage/bandwidth costs might be prohibitive. This means I'd have to add postage and packaging costs to the 10-spot, but DVD's are light, and I'd use a cheap padded envelope.

3) In either case (assuming you answered #1 in the affirmative), would you have a preferred format? I'd be able to provide the files in Apple Lossless (M4A), 320K MP3, WAV, or FLAC.

If you feel like writing back, I'd appreciate it. Use the e-mail link on the right, and put ***radio*** in the subject header, so I can corral the answers smoovly in the new mail program.

And just to add some significant demographic data to your answer, please send the names of your pets. I could care less about your income level or education.

Thanks.

Before I get back to my standard ranting and raving about government, politics, economics, music, and the weather, I wanted to share this enlightening bit of business.

On my office computer, I have as a desktop image a gorgeous color picture of someone's farm, taken from a plane. Lots of green, very geometric and pleasing to the eye. A few days ago, while waiting for the water to boil or the bread to toast or something, I started trolling the net, idly looking for other aerial farm photos.

I found a few, but then I was brought up short.

Check this:

This post has: 7 Images

Luckily, Douglas (bless his technical soul) digitally recorded the entire set to a hard drive while we played the second night.

Yes, we'll be providing the entire hour set to anyone who asks as an affordable, high-resolution download, but you have to give us a minute to get it together.

Meanwhile, I've got a 5 minute piece of the rock that I'll keep up for a week or two; please help yourself (below)

It was a lot of work, a lot of fun, and Shadow and Chemist couldn't have been more generous in the nice things they said about us from the stage. Their set was lovely, with perfect visuals by Holofonic.

Independent corroboration: Girlsonic at beatportal said some lovely things, having never heard of us before, and dRes from Deadly Melody was very kind to the 50-something contingent onstage.

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Johan generously points out the latest revelations in the UK Sunday Times regarding this eyebrow-raising story. Not a peep about it in the US.

Draw your own conclusions.

"...accusations made by an FBI whistleblower, Sibel Edmonds, who - among other things - claims that the bureau was investigating a Turkish and Israeli-run network that paid high-ranking American officials to steal nuclear weapons secrets. These were then sold on the international black market to countries such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

An American human rights group attempted to obtain further proof of this amazing tale by making a freedom of information request for a specific numbered document relating to the case. The FBI responded by claiming that it did not exist. But the Sunday Times countered that it had obtained another document, signed by an FBI official, showing the existence of the file."

Just another good religious Republican, going for the bucks. Who can blame him?

Excerpt from today's AP:

Mark Deli Siljander, a Michigan Republican when he was in the House, was charged with money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for allegedly lying about lobbying senators on behalf of an Islamic charity that authorities said was secretly sending funds to terrorists.

Excerpt from USA Today story on Siljander's losing his incumbency:

Siljander had attracted controversy with his strong religious convictions - he issued a tape recording that asked local fundamentalists to help "break the back of Satan" by praying and fasting for his re-election.

Betcha he's he's not going to Guantanamo. Can you say "pardon?"

Ho hum. What's the latest on Britney? Seen any UFO's or anything?

Thanks to BT.

Andy Borowitz reviews the balance sheet on Michael Bloomberg's upcoming investments .

WFMU's DJ Monica gazes into the heavens and discovers Oprah's latest latest branding effort.

Thanks to Jon R. for the heads up on Borowitz.

This comes our way courtesy of Strictly at DJ Food, where they're reading something besides record labels.

And while I have your attention, my apologies for lackluster posting; it's just that Douglas and I are in serious prep mode for the performances in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS OMG. Both shows are sold out. This is like opening for the Rolling Stones or something.

And when that's over (or possibly before), this site will be receiving a makeover from the colossal team of Sean, Michael and Mr. Finn. Among other things, comments are coming, so be nice.

Thanks to Drummersome for the tip.

Props to Mr. Miser.

I met Chadsey in a musical context with many LP's present, and the talk turned to DC go-go (think Trouble Funk, Chuck Brown, Kurtis Blow's "Party Time", The Junkyard Band's "Sardines", and EU's "Doin' Da Butt", as well as more modern Rare Essence and Northeast Groovers).

Turned out Chadsey grew up in DC, and he generously volunteered to send along some info about the contemporary scene.

Come in, Chadsey:

i just returned from an extended weekend down in DC. so with go-go fresh on the mind and with out further ado, here are some goodies:

most will agree that three best congo players on the scene are smoke, wink-o and go-go mickey, but ranking depends on which crew you roll with. due to the nature of the scene most of the audio below lacks a bit in the stereophonic department but adds to the charm. nahwhumsayin. also, i've attached an mp3 of smoke going head to head against wink-o, [below at bottom] which is basically the go-go equivalent of the infamous rap battles between kool moe dee and busy b or percee p and lord finesse.

here's smoke in a clip from the northeast groovers reunion in '05.

go-go mickey with the backyard band.

wink-o with the junkyard band

worthwhile interview with whiteboy from rare essence on history of the group, music etc., taken from their online radio interview archives.

take me out to the go-go is the DC equivalent of "the source."

gogoradio.com plays plenty of good stuff on their stream.

whole mess o' links - bookmark alert.

post script stuff: