Krister Axel - Poet Rockstar Geek

sorry ladies there goes your birth control

admin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:36:20 +0000

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/494751/

quoted:

Plus, the public plan won't cover abortion care. While plans participating in the health insurance exchange are legally permitted to offer a version of the plan that does cover abortion--enrollment limited to those who pay for the entire plan without any subsidy--it's unlikely plans will go the extra mile to offer that coverage...

you cannot argue with stupid

admin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:34:12 +0000

Another nugget from the terminally stupid.

linked here: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Mor...

by Michael Barone, 'Senior Political Analyst'. Ha! more like, 'Senior Political Jackass'.

The gist is, there was a story about how 'green' groups are disagreeing over how much to offer 'light-on-climate' ads in their public messages - i.e., do we give it to them straight or sugar coat a little so as to not scare anyone into looking the other way - not a bad consideration, in my view. So one party says, we should just 'have faith' in our public that they can handle the truth.

And from this, Michael Barone somehow thinks by asserting that we should 'have faith in the American public' that it equates with there being no 'concrete proof' on global warming; and furthermore by making this erroneous conclusion he has convinced himself that he has somehow categorically refuted the premise that global warming even exists.

Sheesh. Hey Michael Barone - maybe you should work at FOX. They love bullshitters like you. Plus, you're just dumb enough for them to hire.

you will be tested not by but about Jesus

admin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:31:04 +0000

Is this scary to anyone but me?

Sample Letters to Support NCEA ACRE in the Field

NCEA ACRE Sample letter to Parents for Individual Student Reports. Used with permission. There will be additional letters forthcoming as permission is granted for them to appear.

December 3, 2001

Dear Parents,

Your Notre Dame senior recently took the ACRE (Assessment of Catechesis Religious Education) survey. ACRE assesses faith knowledge and the affective domains of beliefs, attitudes, practices, and perceptions. Your child's individual results are included with this letter.

These individual results were sent directly to me and are not part of your child's academic file. The individual results will not be seen by any faculty or staff member of the school or Diocese, and will not influence any course grade.

ACRE was administered to seniors in both Diocesan high schools and to all fifth and eighth graders in our elementary schools. There were two purposes to the administration of this survey: to provide students and their parents with an understanding of the student's faith development and to provide the schools with group data. Each school will use the group data (no names indicated) to ascertain strengths and weaknesses in their religion curriculum. In addition, the Office of Catholic Schools will analyze the group data from all schools as part of a needs assessment for curriculum development. The goal is to improve the religious education and the religious experience of each student.

I am very pleased to announce that the group data for Notre Dame students, both Catholic and non-Catholic, is very good. Our students have a firm understanding of their faith. This is due to you, the parents as the primary educators, your church, the elementary schools, and to Notre Dame's teachers. Thank you for all your support.

Sincerely,

Jo Dean Salley, Ph.D.
Principal

quoted from: http://www.ncea.org/Assessment/SampleLettertoParents.asp

Sivers is gone and I will probably quit CDBaby

admin — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:12:19 +0000

http://www.wired.com/listening_post/2008/08/cd-babys-derek/

So here we are, a year out from when Sivers sold CDBaby to Discmakers. The whole thing has gone to shyte. The links don't work, my albums are showing up randomly and inconsistently across different digital networks.

All of my options are locked now, meaning nothing can change. Horrible. I guess all good things go away eventually. CD Baby used to be really the best ever. Now, they totally suck.

It is possible that if you are a new client it works fine, but I have 4 albums distributed with them and the user experience for me went from from A+ to a D-. So sad.

Oh Derek - why did you abandon us?

Discmakers sucks. Bring back the old CD Baby. Please. I have had so many problems already! Does anyone know an easy way to port my whole CD Baby catalog to somewhere else?

Obama calls out Fox

admin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:00:25 +0000

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec09/fox1_10-19.html

This is good. Again, can we see a little of this kind of professionalism in the finance sector? About an investigation into naked short selling and 'bullets'?

USA - second world nation and falling fast

admin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:10:52 +0000

quoted from:

http://www.alternet.org/media/135162?page=entire

Yet, even if we think in that sort of outdated terminology, First, Second and Third World, and most Americans do, then America is a Second World nation. We have no universal free health care (don't kid yourself about the plan under way), no guarantee of anything really, except competitive struggle with one another for work and money and career status -- if you are one of those conditioned to think of your job and feudal debt enslavement as a "career" -- high infant-mortality rates, abysmal educational scores, poor diet, no national public transportation system, crumbling infrastructure, a collapsed economy. Even by our own definition we are a Second World nation.

ever heard of Ginnie Mae?

admin — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:42:22 +0000

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125253192129897239.html
quoted:

Banks have been silent partners in the meteoric rise of the Federal Housing Administration.

In the past year, the nation's financial institutions have snapped up securities backed by Ginnie Mae, a government-owned agency that guarantees payments on mortgages backed by the FHA. That helped drive demand for Ginnie securities and created an outlet for billions of dollars of FHA-backed loans made to borrowers who in many cases couldn't afford big down payments.

As of June 30, the roughly 8,500 federally insured banks and thrifts were holding $113.5 billion of Ginnie securities, compared with just $41 billion a year earlier...

************************

plus few notes from the blogosphere:

"The irony is that banks that are reluctant to lend and are trying to unload their own mortgage holdings are at the same time helping to prop up the housing market by buying up securities backed by mortgages."

That's not the half of it. Banks are also USING the FHA programs as a way to unload their mortgage holdings, by refinancing mortgages on their books into FHA or agency programs.

The banks could very well be buying back mortgages from the same borrowers who were on their books, except this time wrapped with full faith and credit protection from the government.

The whole mortgage finance industry in this country is a scam.

____

More unintended consequences of well-meaning but misguided regulations.

Risk-based capital rules classify government-guaranteed mortgages as "risk-free," so banks don't have to hold any capital against such assets. This means that banks can lever up on these mortgages, earning assets that require no capital back-up.

In so doing, banks provide an outlet for GNMA to sell off the "new subprime" garbage being underwritten by FHA, just at CDOs were used to sell off the "old subprime" garbage underwritten by Countrywide and Washington Mutual.

Without securitization, we wouldn't have had the subprime bubble that started this crisis. Without securitization, FHA couldn't continue the madness.

These are incredibly risky mortgages.

The risk is all being borne by the U.S. taxpayer.

___

and:

This was NOT unintended. They FHA know exactly what they were doing.(with blessings all around) And don't be surprised if we see even a further expansion of the FHA underwriting guidelines to ensnare an ever bigger amount of dead loans sitting on bank balance sheets.

These banks full well know that the easy FHA guidelines represent the best exit strategy for their troubled loans on thier balance sheet. And while the last bonafide resi securitizations were May '07, since then, banks have accumulated their share of resi loans on their balance sheet that they'd gladly jettison off to FHA land.

And there are those special servicers too that are trying to convert their loans to FHA. Remember, don't be surprised if FHA eligible dollar amounts start creeping up higher....

Short of just giving these banks money, (they are finding this more difficult these days) the alchemists of economics sitting in DC are out of bullets. They are out of ideas. They are soon to be flirting with a $$ that could start to question their open checkbook, and quantifiable and unquantifiable healthcare deficits.

Expect FHA guidelines to easy, elibible dollar amounts to rise. All politically sellable, and quite intentional.

another point for Obama

admin — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:34:15 +0000

It's a small thing, but very sensible. Sigh. How about some of that common sense for the Finance sector? Step 1 - fire Geithner?

one point for Obama

admin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:59:41 +0000

Since I am pretty hard on the Obama administration, although he is of course much better than Bush was, it is fitting that I pay respect where it is due.

For some things, he is right on the money:

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=10&year=2009&bas...

Obama Wins nobel Peace Prize

admin — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:57:41 +0000

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/09/nobel.peace.prize/

Yup, as if we were in a bizarro world, Obama just won the Nobel Peace Prize.

For the first time in a long time, I find myself agreeing with Republicans on this. I just don't feel that he deserves it. Granted, most of my issues with him have to deal with domestic policy, but still there are things that spill over into the world stage that he is responsible for that are antithetic to a 'Peace Prize'.

1 - Guantanamo is not closed. Furthermore, there is evidence that we are still routinely torturing 'terrorists' and claiming 'state secrets' to avoid investigation. Where's the peace in that?

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/04/30/obama/index.html

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Obama-s-Torture-Hypocrisy-by-Jason-Leop...

2 - We are still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Where's the peace in that?

http://blog.puppetgov.com/2009/10/09/continuing-wars-in-iraq-and-afghani...

3 - Obama has made the Israel/Palestine conflict worse, not better, by stocking his cabinet full of AIPAC members without a single Palestinian advocate.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/20/steve_walt_aipac_still_t...

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/09/content_12202013.htm

4 - Finally, the mistake Obama made to fill all his Finance positions with Goldman Sachs cronies and ex-Bushies was a slap in the face to Progressive movements everywhere. The corporate handouts have been obscene, and the foul play has been absolutely obvious. The fact that Obama (and his hatchet-man Geithner) have papered over the problem (pun intended) as opposed to attacking the source of it is undeniable and shameful. Where, I ask, is the peace in that?

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/26793903/the_big_takeover

The only convincing argument I've heard is that the Nobel committee is trying to 'encourage' Obama to continue in his 'pursuits'. All I can say to that is: don't we do that with children? Give them rewards to 'encourage' them?

Real adults get rewarded for results, not pursuits. I am saddened by the Nobel committee, and I agree with many bloggers out there - the only honorable thing to do is give it back. He may yet earn it, and I am pulling for him - but it is way too early to give the prize to him now. There were 200+ other names on that list - I guarantee that there were some REALLY deserving names on there that could have used the money and the publicity to push their agenda along. What a monumental loss of an opportunity.

Ah well - good on ya, Barack, for gaming the system. Here's hoping you live up to what was once a powerful legacy.

My vote would have gone to Greg Mortenson, or someone like him - currently low-profile, and could use some publicity for a simple and solid mission.

http://www.gregmortenson.com

and they said the recession was over

admin — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:32:57 +0000

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/oct2009/pers-o05.shtml

Despite the claims of economic recovery, the combined total of 834,000 workers either losing their jobs or giving up the search for work is comparable to the 700,000-plus job losses recorded in January and February.

September marked the 21st consecutive monthly decline in jobs—the longest continuous drop in US employment since the Labor Department began collecting such figures in 1939.

Some 15 million American workers are unemployed, nearly double the number out of work when the recession began at the end of 2007. The average duration of unemployment is 26.2 weeks, more than half a year, the highest figure since the Labor Department began such statistics in 1948. One third of the unemployed, more than five million, have been out of work for 27 weeks or more. This is another Labor Department record.

...

Maintaining unemployment at the highest levels since the Great Depression is a deliberate policy of both big business parties and the ruling class as a whole.

While Democratic politicians and union bureaucrats invariably blame the economic collapse, particularly in manufacturing, on foreign competition and imports, the jobs crisis is of global dimensions. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which groups the 30 largest industrialized nations, the jobless rate for all 30 countries will approach 10 percent in 2010—just about the projected average for the United States. Some 57 million people will be out of work by the end of next year—a number equivalent to the total population of France, Italy or South Korea.

The jobs crisis demonstrates the failure of the capitalist system—not only in the United States, but internationally. Not a single capitalist government, in any of the OECD countries, has lifted a finger to create jobs or put the unemployed to work. In each country, the ruling elite is using mass unemployment as a club against the working class, to enforce demands for the destruction of wages, benefits and working conditions.

The skinny on Lean education

admin — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:06:48 +0000

Very interesting - quoted from http://esciencenews.com/articles/2009/09/28/the.skinny.lean.education :

There are several key principles of Lean thinking that can be adapted to adult education and online learning, Alagaraja explains:

* Cellular processes: allow chunking of coursework so that it can be taught as valid, standalone sub-units of a complete whole.
* Policy deployment: is a strategic planning process that correlates the purpose of a course with objectives and activities.
* Flow: encourages learner ownership so that they can dwell on a topic or move along more swiftly depending on their understanding.
* Just-in-time: provides feedback on projects in time for discussion in next class session/meeting.
* "Kaizen": Allows educators to adapt the course to learner feedback.
* "Kanban": Offers learners timely feedback on their mistakes so that they can correct their understanding quickly and effectively.
* "Poka-yoke": Is mistake proofing, which involves standardizing the syllabus to prevent recurrent problems.
* "Quality function deployment": Incorporates learner needs into the design and updating of the course content.
* Standardization: Simplifies assignments to meet learner requirements.
* Theory of constraints: Identifies barriers, such as technological limitations, and removes them.
* Throughput: Designs assignments with real-life relevance.
* Value stream mapping, visual controls, and visual management: Provides a map of the course flow.
* Waste elimination: Eliminates extraneous material.

Today's adult learning environment emphasizes technology, but beyond the rhetoric of customizing education around learners' needs, the concept of Lean Thinking has the potential to improve learning, reduce time wasted, and make adult and online courses truly applicable to real life beyond the virtual school halls.

Celebrate Tonight is now on Youtube

admin — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:15:30 +0000

Behold:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW89kW5TX-w

now that we have an official name for it, I decided to post our little wedding video on Youtube so I can be famous overnight. Sweet!

cognitive dissonance and the Jesus people

admin — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:39:58 +0000

So let me get this straight:

Noah is supposed to have had dinosaurs on the ark with him? And Jesus 'rode them'? What? This is what they teach the poor kids that are suckered into having the 'Beginners Bible' coloring book?

That doesn't even remotely make sense. even if the 'Noahs Ark' story were true, which it isn't, the dinosaur was wiped out by the end of the Mesozoic era, which is WAY before the Romans and the 3 Kings and all that. So what's up? Besides that, according to their own chronology, the 'flood' was supposed to be about 4500 years ago, which would be roughly 2500 years before Jesus was born - so he went back in time to ride the dinosaurs?

This just goes to explain why all of the Jesus people are confused. The things they are taught just don't add up. It's like they are trying to build little robots that don't EVER ask questions because they know the answers are not really the point.

from wikipedia:

Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

Fact: Dinosaurs lived in the Mesozoic era.

The Dinosaurs and many of the other large prehistoric reptiles existed in the Mesozoic era of the Phanerozoic aeon. The Mesozoic era ran from about 250 million years ago to 65 million years ago.

from http://www.dinosaur-facts.com/timelines/dinosaur-timeline/

Fact: According to the Biblical chronology the global flood occurred approximately 4500 years ago.

Also funny: the way this dude tries to defend the indefensible. This paragraph is the kicker:

According to the Biblical chronology the global flood occurred approximately 4500 years ago. If this event occurred as described in the Bible, the geological evidence left behind could never be correctly interpreted by a naturalist. Although the earth is covered in monumental volumes of sediment, the existence of modern animals atop these deposits must be explained naturally (i.e. many local floods, gradual deposition over millions of years). However, the Bible specifically says that God caused the earth to be flooded until the waters exceeded the highest mountain by 20 feet (Gen 7:20), and to the extent necessary so no human was capable of surviving without supernatural intervention. The evidence of this event covers the entire world, but can not be correctly interpreted by modern science due to their atheistic philosophy and naturalistic presuppositions.

This is why creationists are generally not sought after for their scientific opinions. :)

EDIT: I found a better name than 'Jesus people' - thanks to David Michael Green.

Existentially Petrified Confederate Crackers for Jesus. Now that has a ring to it!

Hot dogs versus sushi

admin — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:39:46 +0000

Lesbians like sushi and bisexuals like hot dogs and sushi. Lesbians would never be interested in eating hot dogs. A lesbian can eat sushi all day every day and never consider hot dogs. In fact, lesbians can never eat too much sushi. A bisexual can go without sushi, then really miss the feel and taste of sushi, because there is nothing like sushi. Then they go out and get some sushi. They swear they can go without hot dogs, because sushi is so much better. They start to eat sushi all day every day. The lesbian continues to do the same.

Then one day the sushi is a little stale and the bisexual remembers how hot dogs are different. She didn't have that problem with hot dogs, at least not that she can remember. Eating hot dogs was easier and less complicated. The lesbian does not start to crave a hot dog when this happens. The lesbian knows she only likes sushi, so even though it got stale, she is still focused only on the sushi. She wants the sushi to get better, because she knows really great sushi is hard to find. The bisexual won't try as hard to figure out why the sushi got stale. Sooner or later she will do what is easier. She will go out for a hot dog. There are hot dogs on every corner and she knows she'll have a few to choose from soon enough. Perhaps she will just have hot dogs for a long time or will try some hot dog rolls or sushi dogs. This is why I prefer lesbians. The only problem is that they may go out for some completely different sushi, thinking that the new sushi will be different. But at least they are aren't out eating hot dogs.

(from http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/all/)

awesome post from best of craigslist

admin — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:38:04 +0000

Looking for a Real Bot - b4b
Date: 2009-07-12, 12:26AM MST

Shall we play a game?

While not exactly the correct topic for this, I have been told that bots often browse these pages as well.

I'm tired of the spammer bots scene with standard_io replies, just trying to score another e-mail address for their database.

Looking for a bot a little more grounded. I'm not expecting you to be a full out Fembot, or the latest Pixar render farm, but you should at least be a stable operating system and not tied down to any network. (I said stable, as in predictable, no random crashes or zombies. No excessive blue screens or personal daemons either please.)

I am a sucker for high end graphics. Up to date virus protection is a must. Please have a job, other than just farming gold in WOW. Passing the Turning Test is a major plus.

A little about me: I am a male bot with gigabytes of drive and a positronic attitude. I may not be the prettiest of interfaces, but I am CD ripped, and I must admit, people often tell me that I could pass for an Autobot. I have been known to interact with a female hacker from time to time. I hope this is within protocol.

I can entertain myself with minesweeper and solitaire, but always up for a nice game of chess. I enjoy Opera, Wine, and cookies. I love to travel and explore via Google Earth, and have brought back many tokens to share.

Thanks for processing my post.

- R.O.

* Location: 127.0.0.1

(from http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/all/)

the halting problem and p equals np

admin — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:37:55 +0000

from wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halting_problem

In computability theory, the halting problem is a decision problem which can be stated as follows: given a description of a program and a finite input, decide whether the program finishes running or will run forever, given that input.

Alan Turing proved in 1936 that a general algorithm to solve the halting problem for all possible program-input pairs cannot exist. We say that the halting problem is undecidable over Turing machines.

And p = np :

In essence, the question P = NP? asks: if 'yes'-answers to a 'yes'-or-'no'-question can be verified "quickly" (in polynomial time), can the answers themselves also be computed quickly?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P_%3D_NP_problem

I don't know why, but I love this stuff. I personally think p DOES equal np but I can't prove it.

44 months and no cigarettes

admin — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:22:16 +0000

Hello Krister Axel!
Your Quit Date is: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 at 6:00:00 PM
Test Time Smoke-Free: 1338 days, 11 hours, 16 minutes and 11 seconds
Cigarettes NOT smoked: 10708
Lifetime Saved: 2 months, 21 days, 19 hours
Money Saved: $2,651.22

Although I did cheat and have a few at my bachelor party, but that was an isolated incident. :)

quotes from twitter take 1

admin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:33:23 +0000

"The dog don't like you planting stuff there. It's his backyard. If you're the only one who shits in something, you own it. Remember that."

From one of my new favorites, the deftly titled shitmydadsays.

follow him at: http://twitter.com/shitmydadsays

another classic:

"Your mother made a batch of meatballs last night. Some are for you, some are for me, but more are for me. Remember that. More. Me."

USA first world nation with third world life expectancy

admin — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:37:31 +0000

"The United States, with the highest GNP per capita in the world, has a lower life expectancy than nearly all the other rich countries and a few poor ones, despite spending half of the world's health care bill."

from http://esciencenews.com/articles/2009/08/31/the.effect.economic.recessio...

why Yahoo news is just like FOX

admin — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:49:48 +0000

Yahoo is quickly becoming the same slobbery propaganda-spewing hate-maw that Fox is. Here's how you know. Of course, this story was 'provided' by the New York Times, which some say is a 'liberal' source - but admittedly, only on 'cosmopolitan' issues like gay marriage, as opposed to 'hard' news like fiscal or domestic policy where most people don't pay attention but the ones that do mostly accuse The Gray Lady of actually being conservative.

link to screen shot.

Here is the untenable nugget of right-wing silliness:

If the president’s proposals are all adopted, the figure that year will be 20.7 percent, with increases from 2009 for every group — those with the lowest incomes as well as those with the highest. How can that be, given that the president has promised to raise taxes only on those who make at least $250,000 a year?

Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, points to two reasons. First, Mr. Obama does not want to continue some special tax breaks, like a tax credit for new homeowners, that were part of the stimulus package he pushed through Congress. More important, the 2012 estimates assume a better economy, in which incomes will be higher and more people will therefore be in higher tax brackets.

Mr. Williams argues that, eventually, President Obama’s vow not to raise taxes on the middle class is going to have to be violated. “There is just not enough money” earned by the very, very rich, Mr. Williams said.

What?

There is 'just not enough money earned by the very, very rich?'.

What planet are you on, Floyd?

Have you read this:

http://www.demos.org/inequality/numbers.cfm

Here's a highlight for you:

The richest one percent of U.S. households now owns 34.3 percent of the nation's private wealth, more than the combined wealth of the bottom 90 percent. The top one percent also owns 36.9 percent of all corporate stock.

You don't have to raise taxes on the middle class.

You just don't. The top 10% is all you need.

story by Floyd Norris - professional propaganda floater.

how I tricked my wife into loving me

admin — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:04:55 +0000

How else? I wrote her a song!

click here, please: http://kristeraxel.com/movies/wedding_song/

This song was a hit at the wedding. :)

the Axel grab bag for August 17

admin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:50:19 +0000

I am giving away my songs. 4 of my best, to start with.

download here.

After reading this, I decided to start sending out tweets like this (Krister Axel - 4 #free #songs on Twitter. #Indie #music #giveaway - free download here - http://bit.ly/7OHjn) just to see what would happen.

I have a decent income from my online sales already, although I don't have much of a market share, so I sez to myself - if all those kids are stealing songs, they might as well be stealing mine. :)

I know this could be construed as siding with the enemy, but there is such a thing as a 'road to Damascus' and I may very well have just seen the light. After all, anyone will tell you that marketing music has a lot to do with saturation, a fickle public, a whole lot of payola and even more good timing - all of which costs money. Now, those same people will also tell you that the industry is changing; you will learn from the story above that the computer is the main delivery vehicle for new music now in the all important early twenties age group.

Writing on the wall, anyone?

So, in an effort to stay ahead of the curve which is in a lot of ways my raison d'etre, I say to you: download my songs. Share them. Love them. For free. I will be posting and tweeting as I see fit about these 'grab-bags' which I will be tossing out into the inter-ether-verse-net-thingy.

The horse has already left the barn, my friends, so let us make something out of the hay, shall we?

the Axel grab bag for August 17:

Georgia On My Mind (which I can't sell anyway, because I didn't write it);
Holland Park Road (which I learned from a Londoner is NOT in Chelsea but rather Kensington, although she may have just been trying to be bossy);
Tragic, from my old Paper Sun days which is still my only real Gospel track;
and Summer Drug, one of my favorite songs from Fast Train.

So enjoy, and check back later for more free Axel songs.

download here

greshams dynamic

admin — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:14:03 +0000

Executive compensation and the compensation systems used for appraisers, accountants, and rating agencies were designed, and served, to create the perverse incentives and ethical rot that caused the ongoing financial crises by producing a "Gresham's dynamic" in which fraudulent and abusive lending and accounting practices drove good practices out of the marketplace.

the Chewbacca defense

admin — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:43:31 +0000

http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/103585

Chef Aid season II - Johnny Cochran convicts Chef with the Chewbacca defense (on behalf of Capitalist Records) and subsequently overturns his own conviction. I still refer to a 'look at the monkey' argument (redirection) which stems from this episode. Priceless.

subUrbia part 8

admin — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 01:05:49 +0000

start it at minute 5:49:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBLt1pT_Ato

and you will see why I love Steve Zahn.

sarah palin gives dumb a bad name

admin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:18:58 +0000

This is funny:

On Friday, former Gov. Sarah Palin raised more than a few eyebrows with a Facebook post on Obama's "evil" vision for health care. In it, she claims that the administration's bill includes "death panels" that would decide who receives health care:

The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

Appearing on ABC's "This Week," Newt Gingrich defended Palin's attack on "death panels," even after host George Stephanopoulos helpfully pointed out that the bill doesn't actually include any kind of provision for "death panels."

screen shot for reference:

and the link:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_pl857

in the words of barack obama

admin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:33:33 +0000

This is a link to a story Barack posted on the Washington Post last month.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/11/AR200907...

I find it sort of fascinating that we have in a few short generations gone from the 'fireside chat' to the on-demand blog post. :)

Although this was already news a few weeks ago I needed to show fairness because my last post was sort of critical of Barack. Just to be clear, Barack is not doing anything that Bill Clinton didn't do in the early 90s, which is to say talk 'left' and move 'center-right'. It's just that I am smarter now, or at least more informed, and if I had been quite a bit more political and maybe a little bit more sober during my early twenties I would have fought NAFTA and the School of the Americas and the tax cuts and the pardons and the financial deregulation that got us here. Anyway, that being said here is breakdown of what the Obama administration is proud of.

The financial crisis - on this one I can't give him a pass. Here is what he says:

The swift and aggressive action we took in those first few months has helped pull our financial system and our economy back from the brink.

This I don't buy for a second. Throwing money at bad debt for your cronies in the banks without demanding they go into receivership is called sweeping the problem under the rug. Obama had a chance to hold their feet to the fire and all he said was 'psyche'.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D96FH8I00&show_article=1

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - this seems like some decent legislation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvestment_Act_of_2009
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1294-For-Want-Of-An-Or-Else....

There seems to be money for a lot of domestic programs that need help. Of course there are more tax cuts, some more bank bailout money and some other pork but for the most part this seems like smart spending. Of course the total here is about half a trillion dollars which is still less than the 700 billion in TARP money (linked here - http://www.prisonplanet.com/the-secret-history-of-tarp-how-goldman-baile...) that we know about - so the banks get bailed out faster and bigger than the people. But at least there's something.

Health Care - it's hard to give points for taking single-payer off the table, so I won't do it. Read this: http://www.adn.com/opinion/compass/story/893083.html

And finally, we have the new college tax credit. Read here: http://collegesavings.about.com/b/2009/02/12/the-stimulus-package-and-co...

This seems like a decent implementation of a good idea. I'm not sure how a $2,500 tax credit is going to put your kid through college but it can't hurt.

So that's it - the rest of Obama's post is more or less fluff, where he says things like:

Already, we're making progress on health-care reform that controls costs while ensuring choice and quality, as well as energy legislation that will make clean energy the profitable kind of energy, leading to whole new industries and jobs that cannot be outsourced.

Of course there are no specifics on health care or energy legislation, so I guess we'll have to give him a pass on that for now.

So, as far as I can tell that gives Barack a 2 out of 4. Thanks for playing. I suppose that's better than shrubbie would have done. :)

things you should know about the Obama administration

admin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:46:16 +0000

For every good thing he does, there are about 10 more things that are downright Bush-y.

Oh Obama, we needed better. What have you to say in defense of your administration?

Did you know, for instance, that they...

...steered hundreds of billions of bail-out dollars to the very people who drove the country into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, required nothing of these sharks in return, and did almost nothing for ordinary Americans struggling to survive this disaster?

...opposed congressional legislation limiting financial institution incentive pay packages that put the whole global economy at risk?

...opposed legislation allowing shareholders the right to have even a non-binding say on salaries, even though executives took home billions in bonuses last year while their companies were hemorrhaging money so badly they required a trillion bucks in taxpayer bail-out?

...actually threatened Britain, America's closest ally in the world, with withdrawal of intelligence data that could prevent terrorist attacks unless the British government blocked one of its courts from accepting documented evidence of torture at Guantanamo?

...sent droves of Predator-launched missiles into Pakistan - supposedly one of America's allies - killing groups of civilians, even at weddings, thus intensifying hatred toward the United States?

...tried to shut down a charity's illegal-surveillance suit against the government on the basis of a supposed constitutionally-grounded state secrets privilege which would allow the president to kill any legal case before it is even heard?

...undertook a blitz of immigration enforcement without reform of civil rights violations so nasty that one professor of immigration law described the policies as "literally the worst of all worlds"?

...refused to set legally enforceable immigration detention rules covering such basics as health care and legal representation, instead relying on a flawed contractor-based monitoring system?

...pressured a member of Congress to withdraw an amendment that would have ended the military's disastrous "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" regime, simply by defunding it?

...asked a federal court to dismiss a case in which the plaintiffs challenged the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, arguing to the court that heterosexual marriage is "the traditional, and universally recognized, version of marriage"?

...dramatically increased the influence of religion in government, directly violating the First Amendment, by lavishly spending federal dollars on "faith-based' programs, and giving religious groups massively increased power and access within the White House to shape policy questions?

...stood by silently, allowing climate legislation to be watered down to nothing, to include generous pollution allowances to coal utilities, and to undermine the EPA's authority to control carbon emissions?

...backed healthcare legislation that did little for the public and actually increased wasteful federal expenditures, while continuing to enrich insurance, medical, hospital and pharmaceutical corporation vampires?

need I say more?

the internet has ruined me

admin — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:27:38 +0000

I can't do it.

I can't watch television. I try. I want to, occasionally. But I get fidgety. Not in the standard kind of 'Peanuts' way, where voices of 'authority' seem to sound like underwater whale cries but in the I-totally-know-what-you-are-going-to-say-before-you-say-it kind of way. That's what I get from TV now - a fast read on whatever the underlying shill is, and I spend the rest of the time wondering why the hell they are still talking.

You burn more calories SLEEPING than you do watching television. Think about that. I think that's why I have turned to web surfing from channel surfing - it may be just as tedious but at least you really are engaged, and you really are in control - at least compared to having a single choice of local cable service. That's why I love technology - as a blogger, my life of leisure has now fused with my life as a seeker of truth and my life as an artist - through the channels of rss, http and now increasingly Twitter, I can relax, learn and self-express in the same interactive environment.

Can your TV do that?

Get back to work

admin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:09:51 +0000

I am home now. I learned a few things in Europe. My wife and I had a truly amazing trip to Paris, Rome, Barcelona, San Sebastian (aka Donostia), Cahors, Annecy and then back to Paris. We tried not to take anything for granted and we truly felt completely blessed to have such a great trip with more or less awesome weather. With the exception of about 2 days in Annecy, the only thing that could be said about the weather is that it was occasionally a little TOO sunny. :)

That being said, I learned a few things.

1 - We should be grateful (here in the US). The rest of my comments will be more less critical of the US when compared to the above-mentioned places, but it deserves to be mentioned first that even in big cities like Paris and Rome you will find yourself waiting around a lot longer (and looking a a lot harder) than you are used to for things like breakfast, last minute booze necessities, an internet connection, or any of the many sundry things that we modern consumers look for obsessively. Now that I am home, I am within 50 steps of late night food, a Starbucks that opens at 5:30am, and a CVS that closes way later than I need it to.

2 - Lunch is the day's gift to you and will be ignored or taken lightly only to your own detriment. Some of my favorite moments were in Paris and Rome and some other places where if you can find a restaurant at the optimum place in its lunch rush (too early often means bad service, so you want to get in around 2pm) you can get in and out pretty quickly and feel sort of nourished by the warm blanket of the local hustle. We always looked for places that were at 80-ish percent with people that are really eating (instead of just drinks) so that you could tell it was busy because the food was good.

3 - As a correlary to two, when possible get the 'menu' or 'formule', which is basically a line-up of daily specials with an added cost savings; failing that at least get a daily special if they are available only by themselves because they are often awesome and very 'a propos' of the local region.

4 - Rock the vino in the carafe. A full bottle is often too much for two people over lunch, but the 'demi' carafe is half a liter and is 2 good glasses each which is all you need. By the time you have had the obligatory espresso (skip the milk because it's expensive and pointless), the wine has worn off and you're feeling pretty good. We had a demi carafe of rose with almost every meal and it was delicious. I also suspect the wines in the carafe are more suitable for lunch because they seem to be a little lower proof (weaker by volume).

5 - It's good to get around. The pure joy of travel is pretty hard to beat, as long as you're ready to roll with the punches a little bit.

6 - Always ask for what you want - nicely. This is more of a life lesson, but it's good to always stay nice because you may actually get what you want (although not always) if you communicate it correctly, and if you get mean you will end up regretting it. It's also better that way for the other person. :)

7 - CNN is crap - really a great big stinking propaganda turd, and although the BBC has it's own smaller problems it is generally informative and far less biased than CNN. Oh media, how far have ye fallen?

8 - Rome is a sweet elixir for really anything. I have heard some criticisms about Rome, most of which I don't agree with. The only negative we found about Rome is that if you don't speak Italian a lot of the merchants/restaurants will try to price gouge you, but as long as they have printed prices you're basically ok and if they don't just be ready to haggle.

So that's it for now, more later.

This weekend is my wedding

admin — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:16:34 +0000

And I will be marrying the greatest lady in the world. And then we will be on our honeymoon through most of July. Needless to say, I won't be doing much blogging, but I will post some pictures once I get back. So bear with me, and in the meantime check out the newly created AxelHeadlines rss feed, which has everything I have blogged about in the last 2 years or so.

Cheers!

facebook political saga one

admin — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:50:24 +0000

This is becoming quite the regular feature. On the heels of showing you the ugly face of mindless dogma-driven religious psycho-babble, we have a great example of mindless dogma-driven political psycho-babble. It all started when a friend posted a short message about the "only sure thing in life is change".

My favorite points:

1 - friend1 who is the right winger vitriol machine by post 5 is already trying to calm herself down. :)

2 - although friend1 never actually links to any source, or even mentions one, by post 8 the original poster has already 'hosted' a debate in the past tense. I guess a debate for FOX people is basically one person screaming and it lasts about 30 seconds.

3 - friend1 has pretty bad spelling and grammar, which is such a pattern for right wing hate spewers (see any comment thread, anywhere) that it bears mention. Thanks for being typical!

4 - 'Let's not confuse "complaining" with the facts' is a non-sequitur. You can still complain about facts, and by the same token, you are by no means forced to complain about untruthful propaganda. But that is probably confusing for our friend1 who seems to think these 'facts' that no one can verify entitle her to turn a little status update into a political dog fight.

5 - Notice how people on the right are always the first to lower the bar. Ok, so I started with a question: "why are you complaining?", which to me is an invitation to discourse, although possibly tainted with a little antagonism. But that's a far cry from 'quit believing what the left-winged media spoons [sic] feeds you and start using the brain that God gave you', which to me is more than a little insulting, pre-supposes a Christian heritage, and is of course a directive (a diplomatic no-no).

6 - friend1 has no more to say at all, if she actually responds I will post again.

7 - Finally, to my mind the real tragedy is that we have plenty of things to be angry at Obama about, and this is not one of them. Just another case of some Texas girl (friend1 is from the Bush state) parroting right-wing propaganda because she likes to be a bitch, just a little bit, with no respect for the Academic tradition of actually 'sourcing' your data. Sheesh.

Anyway, without further ado, here it is:

status update by (OP): .......The only sure thing in life is change......

friend1: ...and death and taxes. When Obama is done with us we will even be taxed for dying. Good times...

me: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/28418678/the_death_tax_scam

Estates worth up to $7 million per couple, and $3.5 million for individuals, are already exempt from taxes — meaning that 99.75 percent of all Americans die without paying a dime to Uncle Sam.

Are you really worth over $7 million?...

If not, why are you complaining?
If so, why are you complaining?

friend2: um, i do believe bush pretty much took care of that.

friend1: Ah, yes. What RS and the other liberal media venues fail to mention is that under your president's plan, by 2011, the exemption will be back down to $1,000,000 at a 55% rate. What this means is that when our loved ones die and pass on money, property, businesses, etc., we will have a short time to come up with the tax. If the capital is not readily available, we must start selling off assets to cover said tax. Look at the economy now. The value of land and improvements has severly declined, even though tax records may have the property valued at a much greater rate per previous years. Have you ever heard of "house poor"? This could potentially be far more severe to you and me, meaning we could lose our own personal property in the deal. Uncle Sam waits for no man.
Your boy Obama and his pals Reed and Palosi have an agenda. Quit believing what the left-winged media spoons feeds you and start using the brain that God gave you.
Let's not confuse "complaining" with the facts.

friend1: Oh, and , you said bush...

Here's an idea...Let's all do some yoga and CHILL!

OP: Exactly!! You have 4 years before you can change that choice!

friend2: LOL I just got it . , not much up to snuff here on the economic aspects, although I am trying to learn. But I can assure you that even with my current disappointment with this admin I can safely say it is FAR better than what the alternative being offered. Not going to get into it here but if you want, we can have a drink sometime...would loveto hear differing POV's. Academic debate if you will. Love ya...Peace out

OP: Death & Taxes were far from my mind.......I was just thinking about your everyday no big deal or maybe some big changes..........

friend2: lol. see what a simple thought can produce...you instigator..

friend1: I am always up for cocktails and friendly banter. What are you doing these days? OP, thanks for hosting the debate! ; ))

friend2: yes OP, thanks for hosting. I have most nights free. just let me know.

friend3: funny stuff above. I think friend1 needs some yoga!

me: Got any 'sources' on that?

we need to be talking about Iran

admin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:04:03 +0000

This is very serious.

It's not like this didn't just happen to us about 9 years ago; or basically every 2 years since.

Of course, the alleged fraud is on a scale even bigger than we we are subjected to in the US - so far - but the premise is the same:

Subvert the will of the people, ostensibly 'for their own good' and don't take no for an answer. Shoot if necessary. And make the lie really big.

Fascism has grown up for the 21st century and it is a bitch.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/06/irans_disputed_election.html

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/06/15/iran-twitter-election-protest.h...

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1122-Proud-To-Be-American-Yo...

more discussion of faith

admin — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:30:21 +0000

Last week, I had a post about a conversation between Facebook acquaintances that I think is just priceless. Last time, I commented but this time there is literally no need. This stuff is fascinating and relevant in its raw state.

There are some real doozies in here - everything below this line was not written by me.

Your Status: A question for my religious friends(all of you, pretty much); Isn't "faith" just a word for "I believe it because I want to"?

My Response:

interesting question... I enjoy this type of question when it is sincerely asked because it isn't one I thought of and sometimes the non-religious see things through shades of a different tint then I do... and therefore ask questions that leave me thinking: how do I explain it?

I wouldn't say that belief is only "because I want to" because, at least for me, belief includes a lot of things I wouldn't mind not believing in so it isn't a matter of want. I don't want to believe that hell or the devil exists but I do... there is good stuff I believe too... but with it there is some not so fun stuff. And being Catholic there are sure a lot of sins to avoid (like dodging land mines)

I think the best way to explain it (and it doesn't really explain it at all) is: For those who believe no explanation is necessary and for those who do not no explanation will ever be enough. I believe because I sense a lot of magic in the world and feel that nature/science is so intricate that there is a design... anyway sorry that this was so long... but you asked ;) a good movie to rent (but it could be a snore fest because it is black and white and there aren't any car chases or explosives) is: The Song of Bernadette - it won an Academy Award for best picture the year it was out so I think even the non-religious enjoyed this movie - but it is very Catholic. that is where I got that quote I mentioned earlier from. I bet Lisa would like it if she hasn't seen it already. :)

>>> Your Response to that:

I agree, there is probably intelligent design of some kind. Any objective view of life makes it hard to believe otherwise. But why Christ over Vishnu, or Allah over Yahweh? Why the need to stack magic and antiquated dogma on to it? To say it more simply: Isn't the miracle of birth magical enough? Do we need virgin birth? Especially given the amount of other Iron Age mythology that includes things like saviors being born from virgins or great floods ect. The closer I look at organized religion the more obvious it becomes that it is a construct of humans, not gods. But, again, what is so obvious to me is not to the great majority of people and I'm not so arrogant as to think them all stupid so I don't know. I don't know anything for sure, but I just find the idea of a "personal god" , watching over everyone improbable to say the least.

>>> My Response:

Okay... these are broad questions you ask so I'm trying to think of a way to be concise and thoughtful which I already know cannot pull that off so I apologize in advance. Also I'm speaking for myself here (I'm not an authority of the Catholic church, but I am going to speak as a Catholic... take what I say with a grain of salt).

To answer your questions:

Your Question: Why Chirst over Vishnu, or Allah over Yahweh?

For me: I think we all start with what we know and that is what I did. I was born Catholic and hated going to stuff as a kid but then in high school there were some dynamic speakers who got my attention: which was great because that is around the time I really started to have questions (like this one). So it started for me with my mother (forcing me to go to church) and it started with what my culture is. However then learning the history of the world and of the church kept me going. From Judeaism to Christianity and the liniage [sic] of popes and stories of the saints... all of that made me feel like the Catholic Church wasn't found [sic] just yesterday and there is a lot to back it up... most questions that came to my head there was an explanation. There is a trail that goes back to the start and then to today. Does it all make perfect sense: NO! But it is there.

Organized Religion is a disapline [sic]. Like playing music or a sport: if you really care about it then you are involved and practice. If I believe that there is a design to the world then I believe there is a designer... and if I believe there is a designer then that sure keeps me curious about this designer. And if I feel every joy I have ever experienced and any joy I will experience in the future is at the hands of this designer then I want to express my gratitude and how thankful I am. Not just that but how can I help but love someone who loves me enough to do this for me?

Your Question: Isn't the miracle of birth magical enough? Do we need virgin birth?

For me: Knowing that there is a God is supernatural and that is all the magic in the world. Why should out-of-the-ordinary-magic (i.e.: virgin birth, and/or miracles that don't happen daily) be surprising when there is every-day-magic (i.e.: miracles that happen every day: child birth, flowers growing, power of nature...) when "The Designer" has the ability to create anything at all. For a person of faith the virgin birth is then a non-sequitur as far as being extra magical. So why then even have a virgin birth, you are probably wondering??? --- because of the nature of God. As a Catholic I believe that Mary gave birth to God. Also as a Catholic I believe that Jesus is both totally human (flawed with the limits of humanity and subject to temptations) and totally divine (perfection and without any error and without any sin). I believe in paradoxes. Believing in magic paradoxes are [sic] not a stretch for my imagination. Another answer to "why virgin birth?" is that we get used to the daily miracles. We lack the wonder we had as children Scripture says we need to be as a child to enter Heaven (Mark 10:14-15). Sometimes, at least I believe, God gives us out of the ordinary miracles to wake us up. OR to tell us: pay attention to this: this is important! So that to me is why there is the virgin birth.

Your statement: Especially given the amount of other Iron Age mythology that includes things like saviors being born from virgins or great floods ect. The closer I look at organized religion the more obvious it becomes that it is a construct of humans, not gods.

I found it interesting that you mention the amount of mythology that have flood stories... especially how you see it as evidence that religion is man-made. I feel the total opposite. I find it fascinating that different religions and bodies of people have similar stories in their beliefs even though they are from different parts of the world. I have a hard time believing that is coincidense [sic]. The fact that the details around these events are so different: to me: that is what is human. But that there was a flood? I think that was God. I also find it fascinating that the Greek god Zeus is often depicted with thunderbolts and the Jewish God of the Torah was often depicted as a cloud throwing thunder down. Zeus phenetically [sic] is close to Jesus as well... then there is the Norse god: Thor... also somewhat similar with the thunder. Anyway, I don't believe in the [sic] these mythologies (fun to read up on though) however I do feel there are some underlying truthes [sic] in all these old religions and I find the fact that the stories of such different cultures are so similar to be more of a confirmation of a god then to disprove that it is all made up by people.

Your Statement: I just find the idea of a "personal god" , watching over everyone improbable to say the least.

Non-religious folks tend knock organized religion... however I have experienced for myself great joy and small miracles because I'm a semi-religious person. The community and friendship and love make me feel this is the right place for me to be and it has been incredibly personal. Now, of course, every thing that I feel is God working in my life could possibly be explained by science or something else (which takes me back to the quote I mentioned earlier: "for those who believe no explanation is necessary, and for those who do not believe no explanation is enough") However I feel that it IS God working. One of the largest examples I have is that I have been in two major car accidents, both where the car was completely totaled, and I not only didn't have any broken bones, I also didn't have a scratch on me. Strictly statistically and scientifically speaking: I should not be alive today or for the last 5 (or more) years. But here I am, relatively healthy. Now - I have had miserable things happen to me too. And tragedies happen to wonderful people every day. I don't have an answer for that (if there is anything that I struggle with in my faith then it is the suffering in the world). I don't know why that happens, but I don't believe it is a lack of a personal God. As a Catholic I believe in many saints who were martyers [sic] and I believe in Jesus who died on a cross... and the the only consolation I can find to that... is that the story isn't over at death. :)

thermite found in 911 dust

admin — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:17:34 +0000

As measured using DSC, the material ignites and reacts vigorously at a temperature of approximately 430 °C, with a rather narrow exotherm, matching fairly closely an independent observation on a known super-thermite sample.

continued:

The low temperature of ignition and the presence of iron oxide grains less than 120 nm show that the material is not conventional thermite (which ignites at temperatures above 900 °C) but very likely a form of super-thermite. quoted from:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13049

It is commonly known that the fires in the towers never burned hot enough or long enough to melt the steel frames within them, much less 'pulverize' the steel and allow the towers to fall at a speed within 10% of a 'free-fall'. The simplest explanation, which also fits very well with what the public saw in the news videos, is that the towers were brought down by demolition. This fits with numerous testimonies to the effect of hearing either 'numerous explosions' or 'a crackling sound' just prior the fall.

Now, finally, a study of dust from the site has shown the undeniable and significant presence of 'super-thermite' in all of the samples taken. So, the movement for 911 Truth can now also say that it has stronger data to support the 'controlled demolition' theory than there is to support the 'magically hot and infinitely burning jet fuel' theory. You know, seeing as we had all that evidence just sitting right there, one wonders why Rudy Giuliani recycled the 'crime-scene' steel immediately.

Occam's Razor, anyone?

molten steel at ground zero: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3731/is_200112/ai_n9015802/#cont...

Giuliani recycles steel lickety split: http://saveourwetlands.org/strangercollapse.htm

also worthy of note:

The Martha Mitchell Effect

The Martha Mitchell effect is a process by which a belief is mistakenly diagnosed as a delusion by a psychiatrist. This is named after Martha Beall Mitchell (the wife of John Mitchell, the Attorney-General in the Nixon administration) who alleged that illegal activity was taking place in the White House. At the time her claims were thought to be signs of mental illness, and only after the Watergate scandal broke was she proved right (and hence sane).

aspartame is toxic

admin — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:38:46 +0000

But the FDA won't tell you that.
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/recent.html#1

It just got banned in Venezuela, for that reason:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0906/S00149.htm

So don't drink Coke Zero, or anything else with aspartame - that is, not unless you love formaldehyde buildup at the cellular level. Which you never get rid of.

It is concluded that aspartame consumption may constitute a hazard because of its contribution to the formation of formaldehyde adducts... The fact that it accumulates with each dose, indicates grave consequences among those who consume diet drinks and foodstuffs on a daily basis.

The kicker? Our Buddy Donny 'There Are Unknown Unknowns' 'The Duck' Rumsfeld was prez of SEARLE from 1977 through the approval of aspartame. He's such a go-getter! He ignored all of the brain tumor studies, just to get it approved. We should all be very grateful. They were about to be run into the ground, and he swept in there with his politicos and cleaned it all up. More brain tumors for everyone, and mo money for Donny!

http://www.booserver.com/projects.php?ProjectID=3037

The timeline:

March 24, 1976-- Turner and Olney's petition triggers an FDA investigation of the laboratory practices of aspartame's manufacturer, G.D. Searle. The investigation finds Searle's testing procedures shoddy, full of inaccuracies and "manipulated" test data. The investigators report they "had never seen anything as bad as Searle's testing."

January 10, 1977-- The FDA formally requests the U.S. Attorney's office to begin grand jury proceedings to investigate whether indictments should be filed against Searle for knowingly misrepresenting findings and "concealing material facts and making false statements" in aspartame safety tests. This is the first time in the FDA's history that they request a criminal investigation of a manufacturer.

January 26, 1977-- While the grand jury probe is underway, Sidley & Austin, the law firm representing Searle, begins job negotiations with the U.S. Attorney in charge of the investigation, Samuel Skinner.

March 8, 1977-- G. D. Searle hires prominent Washington insider Donald Rumsfeld as the new CEO to try to turn the beleaguered company around. A former Member of Congress and Secretary of Defense in the Ford Administration, Rumsfeld brings in several of his Washington cronies as top management.

July 1, 1977-- Samuel Skinner leaves the U.S. Attorney's office and takes a job with Searle's law firm. (see Jan. 26th)

August 1, 1977-- The Bressler Report, compiled by FDA investigators and headed by Jerome Bressler, is released. The report finds that 98 of the 196 animals died during one of Searle's studies and weren't autopsied until later dates, in some cases over one year after death. Many other errors and inconsistencies are noted. For example, a rat was reported alive, then dead, then alive, then dead again; a mass, a uterine polyp, and ovarian neoplasms were found in animals but not reported or diagnosed in Searle's reports.

December 8, 1977-- U.S. Attorney Skinner's withdrawal and resignation stalls the Searle grand jury investigation for so long that the statue of limitations on the aspartame charges runs out. The grand jury investigation is dropped.

June 1, 1979-- The FDA established a Public Board of Inquiry (PBOI) to rule on safety issues surrounding NutraSweet.

September 30, 1980-- The Public Board of Inquiry concludes NutraSweet should not be approved pending further investigations of brain tumors in animals. The board states it "has not been presented with proof of reasonable certainty that aspartame is safe for use as a food additive."

January 1981-- Donald Rumsfeld, CEO of Searle, states in a sales meeting that he is going to make a big push to get aspartame approved within the year. Rumsfeld says he will use his political pull in Washington, rather than scientific means, to make sure it gets approved.

And the rest is (tragic) history.

http://www.rense.com/general33/legal.htm

skeptics bible

admin — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:49:15 +0000

Very cool stuff. I love technology! This is one of my favorites:

God is rightly filled with remorse for having killed his creatures. He makes a deal with the animals, promising never to drown them all again. He even puts the rainbow in the sky so that whenever he sees it, it will remind him of his promise so that he won't be tempted to do it again. (Every time God sees the rainbow he says to himself: "Oh, yeah.... That's right. I promised not to drown the animals again. I guess I'll have to find something else to do.")

from Genesis 9: http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/gen/9.html#9

The mind of God is a terrifying thing - warmonger indeed.

or this:

Lot and his daughters camp out in a cave for a while. The daughters get their "just and righteous" father drunk, and have sexual intercourse with him, and each conceives and bears a son (wouldn't you know it!). Just another wholesome family values Bible story.

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/gen/19.html#30

So why does the right take it's cues on sexual morality from a book that extols incest? Someone please answer that for me.

greys law

admin — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 01:07:10 +0000

Grey's Law posits

"Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice."

which probably imitates Clarke's Third Law. Arthur C. Clarke formulated the following three "laws" of prediction:

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

regarding Lord Chesterfield

admin — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:48:22 +0000

I found this awesome essay by Virginia Woolf about my man LC:

LORD CHESTERFIELD’S LETTERS TO HIS SON

When Lord Mahon edited the letters of Lord Chesterfield he thought it necessary to warn the intending reader that they are “by no means fitted for early or indiscriminate perusal”. Only “those people whose understandings are fixed and whose principles are matured” can, so his Lordship said, read them with impunity. But that was in 1845. And 1845 looks a little distant now. It seems to us now the age of enormous houses without any bathrooms. Men smoke in the kitchen after the cook has gone to bed. Albums lie upon drawing-room tables. The curtains are very thick and the women are very pure. But the eighteenth century also has undergone a change. To us in 1930 it looks less strange, less remote than those early Victorian years. Its civilisation seems more rational and more complete than the civilisation of Lord Mahon and his contemporaries. Then at any rate a small group of highly educated people lived up to their ideals. If the world was smaller it was also more compact; it knew its own mind; it had its own standards. Its poetry is affected by the same security. When we read the Rape of the Lock we seem to find ourselves in an age so settled and so circumscribed that masterpieces were possible. Then, we say to ourselves, a poet could address himself whole-heartedly to his task and keep his mind upon it, so that the little boxes on a lady’s dressing-table are fixed among the solid possessions of our imaginations. A game at cards or a summer’s boating party upon the Thames has power to suggest the same beauty and the same sense of things vanishing that we receive from poems aimed directly at our deepest emotions. And just as the poet could spend all his powers upon a pair of scissors and a lock of hair, so too, secure in his world and its values, the aristocrat could lay down precise laws for the education of his son. In that world also there was a certainty, a security that we are now without. What with one thing and another times have changed. We can now read Lord Chesterfield’s letters without blushing, or, if we do blush, we blush in the twentieth century at passages that caused Lord Mahon no discomfort whatever.

When the letters begin, Philip Stanhope, Lord Chesterfield’s natural son by a Dutch governess, was a little boy of seven. And if we are to make any complaint against the father’s moral teaching, it is that the standard is too high for such tender years. “Let us return to oratory, or the art of speaking well; which should never be entirely out of our thoughts”, he writes to the boy of seven. “A man can make no figure without it in Parliament, or the Church, or in the law”, he continues, as if the little boy were already considering his career. It seems, indeed, that the father’s fault, if fault it be, is one common to distinguished men who have not themselves succeeded as they should have done and are determined to give their children—and Philip was an only child—the chances that they have lacked. Indeed, as the letters go on one may suppose that Lord Chesterfield wrote as much to amuse himself by turning over the stores of his experience, his reading, his knowledge of the world, as to instruct his son. The letters show an eagerness, an animation, which prove that to write to Philip was not a task, but a delight. Tired, perhaps, with the duties of office and disillusioned with its disappointments, he takes up his pen and, in the relief of free communication at last, forgets that his correspondent is, after all, only a schoolboy who cannot understand half the things that his father says to him. But, even so, there is nothing to repel us in Lord Chesterfield’s preliminary sketch of the unknown world. He is all on the side of moderation, toleration, ratiocination. Never abuse whole bodies of people, he counsels; frequent all churches, laugh at none; inform yourself about all things. Devote your mornings to study, your evenings to good society. Dress as the best people dress, behave as they behave, never be eccentric, egotistical, or absent-minded. Observe the laws of proportion, and live every moment to the full.

So, step by step, he builds up the figure of the perfect man—the man that Philip may become, he is persuaded, if he will only—and here Lord Chesterfield lets fall the words which are to colour his teaching through and through—cultivate the Graces. These ladies are, at first, kept discreetly in the background. It is well that the boy should be indulged in fine sentiments about women and poets to begin with. Lord Chesterfield adjures him to respect them both. “For my own part, I used to think myself in company as much above me when I was with Mr. Addison and Mr. Pope, as if I had been with all the Princes in Europe”, he writes. But as time goes on the Virtues are more and more taken for granted. They can be left to take care of themselves. But the Graces assume tremendous proportions. The Graces dominate the life of man in this world. Their service cannot for an instant be neglected. And the service is certainly exacting. For consider what it implies, this art of pleasing. To begin with, one must know how to come into a room and then how to go out again. As human arms and legs are notoriously perverse, this by itself is a matter needing considerable dexterity. Then one must be dressed so that one’s clothes seem perfectly fashionable without being new or striking; one’s teeth must be perfect; one’s wig beyond reproach; one’s finger-nails cut in the segment of a circle; one must be able to carve, able to dance, and, what is almost as great an art, able to sit gracefully in a chair. These things are the alphabet of the art of pleasing. We now come to speech. It is necessary to speak at least three languages to perfection. But before we open our lips we must take a further precaution—we must be on our guard never to laugh. Lord Chesterfield himself never laughed. He always smiled. When at length the young man is pronounced capable of speech he must avoid all proverbs and vulgar expressions; he must enunciate clearly and use perfect grammar; he must not argue; he must not tell stories; he must not talk about himself. Then, at last, the young man may begin to practise the finest of the arts of pleasing—the art of flattery. For every man and every woman has some prevailing vanity. Watch, wait, pry, seek out their weakness, “and you will then know what to bait your hook with to catch them”. For that is the secret of success in the world.

It is at this point, such is the idiosyncrasy of our age, that we begin to feel uneasy. Lord Chesterfield’s views upon success are far more questionable than his views upon love. For what is to be the prize of this endless effort and self-abnegation? What do we gain when we have learnt to come into rooms and to go out again; to pry into people’s secrets; to hold our tongues and to flatter, to forsake the society of low-born people which corrupts and the society of clever people which perverts? What is the prize which is to reward us? It is simply that we shall rise in the world. Press for a further definition, and it amounts perhaps to this: one will be popular with the best people. But if we are so exacting as to demand who the best people are we become involved in a labyrinth from which there is no returning. Nothing exists in itself. What is good society? It is the society that the best people believe to be good. What is wit? It is what the best people think to be witty. All value depends upon somebody else’s opinion. For it is the essence of this philosophy that things have no independent existence, but live only in the eyes of other people. It is a looking-glass world, this, to which we climb so slowly; and its prizes are all reflections. That may account for our baffled feeling as we shuffle, and shuffle vainly, among these urbane pages for something hard to lay our hands upon. Hardness is the last thing we shall find. But, granted the deficiency, how much that is ignored by sterner moralists is here seized upon, and who shall deny, at least while Lord Chesterfield’s enchantment is upon him, that these imponderable qualities have their value and these shining Graces have their radiance? Consider for a moment what the Graces have done for their devoted servant, the Earl.

Here is a disillusioned politician, who is prematurely aged, who has lost his office, who is losing his teeth, who, worst fate of all, is growing deafer day by day. Yet he never allows a groan to escape him. He is never dull; he is never boring; he is never slovenly. His mind is as well groomed as his body. Never for a second does he “welter in an easy-chair”. Private though these letters are, and apparently spontaneous, they play with such ease in and about the single subject which absorbs them that it never becomes tedious or, what is still more remarkable, never becomes ridiculous. It may be that the art of pleasing has some connection with the art of writing. To be polite, considerate, controlled, to sink one’s egotism, to conceal rather than to obtrude one’s personality, may profit the writer even as they profit the man of fashion.

Certainly there is much to be said in favour of the training, however we define it, which helped Lord Chesterfield to write his Characters. The little papers have the precision and formality of some old-fashioned minuet. Yet the symmetry is so natural to the artist that he can break it where he likes; it never becomes pinched and formal, as it would in the hands of an imitator. He can be sly; he can be witty; he can be sententious, but never for an instant does he lose his sense of time, and when the tune is over he calls a halt. “Some succeeded, and others burst” he says of George the First’s mistresses: the King liked them fat. Again, “He was fixed in the house of lords, that hospital of incurables.” He smiles: he does not laugh. Here the eighteenth century, of course, came to his help. Lord Chesterfield, though he was polite to everything, even to the stars and Bishop Berkeley’s philosophy, firmly refused, as became a son of his age, to dally with infinity or to suppose that things are not quite as solid as they seem. The world was good enough and the world was big enough as it was. This prosaic temper, while it keeps him within the bounds of impeccable common sense, limits his outlook. No single phrase of his reverberates or penetrates as so many of La Bruyère’s do. But he would have been the first to deprecate any comparison with that great writer; besides, to write as La Bruyère wrote, one must perhaps believe in something, and then how difficult to observe the Graces! One might perhaps laugh; one might perhaps cry. Both are equally deplorable.

But while we amuse ourselves with this brilliant nobleman and his views on life we are aware, and the letters owe much of their fascination to this consciousness, of a dumb yet substantial figure on the farther side of the page. Philip Stanhope is always there. It is true that he says nothing, but we feel his presence in Dresden, in Berlin, in Paris, opening the letters and poring over them and looking dolefully at the thick packets which have been accumulating year after year since he was a child of seven. He had grown into a rather serious, rather stout, rather short young man. He had a taste for foreign politics. A little serious reading was rather to his liking. And by every post the letters came—urbane, polished, brilliant, imploring and commanding him to learn to dance, to learn to carve, to consider the management of his legs, and to seduce a lady of fashion. He did his best. He worked very hard in the school of the Graces, but their service was too exacting. He sat down half-way up the steep stairs which lead to the glittering hall with all the mirrors. He could not do it. He failed in the House of Commons; he subsided into some small post in Ratisbon; he died untimely. He left it to his widow to break the news which he had lacked the heart or the courage to tell his father—that he had been married all these years to a lady of low birth, who had borne him children.

The Earl took the blow like a gentleman. His letter to his daughter-inlaw is a model of urbanity. He began the education of his grandsons. But he seems to have become a little indifferent to what happened to himself after that. He did not care greatly if he lived or died. But still to the very end he cared for the Graces. His last words were a tribute of respect to those goddesses. Someone came into the room when he was dying; he roused himself: “Give Dayrolles a chair,” he said, and said no more.

download here: http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/w/woolf/virginia/w91c2/w91c2.zip

the case for faith

admin — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:47:29 +0000

Two friends who shall remain nameless had this exchange on Facebook today, and I find it to be priceless.

Here was the question:

A question for my religious friends(all of you, pretty much); Isn't "faith" just a word for "I believe it because I want to"?

ANSWER:

...

How's that for articulate! Woohoo, case for faith made. Slam-dunk, baby.

point 1: 'faith' encompasses 'bad' things too, so it can't be 'just because you want to'; i.e., it's such a bitter pill to swallow, it must be a good thing.

point 2: The true 'case' for faith is irrational.

point 3: This darn world is so complicated, it must be holy - i.e., I don't understand science, so there must be a god.

Thanks for playing!

Come back next week, when we make the case for eating one's own poop.

...

p.s. I am a spiritual person and do believe in a sort of 'god', but the idea that is central to Christianity that goes something like 'there is only one true god' is what bothers me. it is this exclusionary principle that allows anti-choicers to shoot 'baby-killers' and a largely Christian US military to shoot up 'all them heretics' without compunction. This is a deeply destructive concept and has no place in the modern world. I see this apparent here in the idea that 'hell and the devil' are real, and this is seen as an 'objective truth' in the eyes of the respondent. This is dangerous because it necessarily divides her from and antagonizes her against other people in the world that decide not to believe in 'hell and the devil'.

Ah, the lazy mind:

The lazy mind will not take the trouble of going to the bottom of anything; but discouraged by the first difficulties, (and every thing worth knowing is attended with some,) stops short, contents itself with easy, and consequently superficial knowledge, and prefers a great degree of ignorance to a small degree of trouble.

- Lord Chesterfield, London, July 26 1748

doughy hate walrus

admin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:26:32 +0000

I still love this! Doughy hate-walrus is so a propos.

...doughy hate-walrus Rick Warren babbling about God and "hay-seuss," the Mexican Jesus.

http://gawker.com/5135657/top-ten-moments-of-obamas-inauguration/

10k results

admin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:41:14 +0000

I guess I'm still a little slow for my age group, but I was definitely taking it easy. :)

57 Axel,Krister 109 58:37.1

(that's 57th for my age group, out of 69).

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/6614524

biggus dickus

admin — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:32:45 +0000

I don't know why this is funny, but it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K8_jgiNqUc&feature=player_embedded

fascinating scientology documentary

admin — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:11:13 +0000

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=529204584324100028&ei=dHQkStyCBZ...

Dan Ariely kicks ass

admin — Thu, 28 May 2009 23:39:39 +0000

That's it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZv--sm9XXU
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_on_our_buggy_moral_code.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_asks_are_we_in_control_of_our_own_de...

Follow me Friday and music monday

admin — Fri, 22 May 2009 18:48:21 +0000

Aww, isn't Twitter cute?

So far, I have noticed:
MusicMonday, as in -
#musicmonday this song rocks!

and FollowFriday, as in -
#followfriday @myfriend has the mad links, yo!

It reminds me a bit of what would happen if we were all still in kindergarten, which then reminds me of those NYU kids who held up their own cafeteria last Fall - you know, what happens when no one is in charge, except everyone is. Which means trending topics (twopics) are subject to the lemming law, which is to say that in an echo chamber you can't count votes and think they are unique.

The lemming law meaning: in the Twitterverse, anyone and everyone is happy to follow anyone else off a cliff. The cliff of deliberate propaganda, or the cliff of general collective foolishness, or the cliff of faux outrage.

So what's next? troubledtuesday, where everyone vents their woes...
#troubledtuesday ah, the angst of it all!

or even Wacky Wednesday?
#wackywed I'm too sexy for my keyboard...

Don't get me started on the weekends.

I will not write about Idol

admin — Fri, 22 May 2009 18:16:55 +0000

I will not write about American Idol. This post will not be about Adam Lambert or Paula Abdul or whatever.

I say this because I have never watched it. Never, not once. Some of you may gasp. It is easy for me to say this, because there is no 'television' in my apartment, per se, although I do get my Hulu on occasionally.

Anyway, the reason I'm talking about American Idol is simple - it is because yesterday, one of top the top 10 trending 'twopics' on Twitter was '#SaveEarl', which came about because whichever network (NBC?) carries My Name is Earl decided to drop it, and noooo, the Twitterverse can't have that. So we had thousands of voices yesterday waxing victimized about it; it was quite a sight. Whereupon, I decided to write

#saveearl screw Earl save Aung San http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/mtvaction.html #burma #SuuKyi

and I didn't get a lot of love.

My point was that if this much otherwise unused energy can be harnessed so easily to 'Save Earl', as they say, maybe someone somewhere can appreciate the devilish irony that this kind of activity is always necessarily irrelevant. If it were to involve something meaningful like putting real political pressure on our own government to weigh in more heavily on the Aung San Suu Kyi issue, then 99% of our sedated community would gloss over and start looking for America Idol - which itself is not news.

I think the story of our generation is now beginning to be "How the hell can we break our addiction to oil?", and that is a good thing. I think it should also be "How the hell can we break our addiction to television?", because I guarantee they go hand in hand. I will even go one further - we've heard a lot of talk about this lack of morality on Wall street; we as taxpayers were deliberately sodomized repeatedly, after which we were told that it was for our own good. This pattern continues.

I've also heard that daydreaming actually allows the subconscious brain to resolve inner issues of morality and deep emotional connection building, relative to the recent past, as if when left alone the subconscious starts making sense out of disparate 'stuff' from that day.

We also know that brain activity levels are at their lowest when someone is watching TV; the subconscious is not free at that point to do anything, it is functionally shackled.

So my final point is this - we will not fix Wall Street, nor will we harness the populist power of the middle and working classes, until everyone gets rid of their television and starts daydreaming.

A lot.

There's flies in the kitchen
I can hear them a-buzzin'
and I ain't done nothing
since I woke up today
how can a person
go to work in the morning
come home in the evening
and have nothing to say?

john prine

http://kristeraxel.com/art/savearl.jpg

cs engineer versus the philosopher

admin — Thu, 21 May 2009 23:03:46 +0000

Having once participated in a week-long workshop comprising both philosophers and computer scientists, one difference in disciplinary style quickly became evident: Faced with a description of a new application domain or problem, a typical computer scientist immediately thinks:

How can I simplify this problem or abstract away from some of the details of its description, in order to make progress towards solving it?

while a typical philosopher immediately thinks:

What implicit assumptions have been made or distinctions overlooked in this problem description, which need to be articulated, analyzed and discussed before we start to tackle it?

Needless to say, these different disciplinary styles themselves became the subject of discussion by some of the philosophers present, much to the annoyance of the computer scientists!

also funny:

An irate dean stomps into the physics department, waving this year’s budget requests.

“What is it with you guys? Why can’t you be more like the mathematicians? All I ever buy them are pencils, paper, and trash cans! Or the philosophers? All they need are pencils and paper!”

** cs engineer versus the philosopher **

the twevolution

admin — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:49:58 +0000

I know, it's silly and stuff, but I am starting to get some of my headlines this way and I have seen the light.

Twitter is not for everyone, but it is for some - http://twitter.com/kristeraxel

Follow me if you want the best of my music links, political links, and other stuff that doesn't make it to Facebook.

You know, what with all them censors. :)

the politics of apathy

admin — Wed, 20 May 2009 00:02:52 +0000

Look at this '#1 college humor site' and tell me if it isn't:

1 - completely anti-academic;
2 - largely skewed 'right and white';
3 - low on notable, usable or even funny content;
4 - obviously an important milestone in the plan to keep voting whites as stupid and privileged as ever.

http://www.collegehumor.com/about

which is where kids that start web sites like this are nurtured:

http://goantigreen.com/

pathetic.

susanna wolff is a jackass

admin — Tue, 19 May 2009 22:36:50 +0000

And she is not alone. Dare I say it, US college students are finding a new low in cliquey, pseudo-intellectual narcissism? You be the judge - quoted:

Except right there is my problem with the Olympics. These people have dedicated their lives to the pursuit of a circle of gold. And yeah, there's like pride or whatever, but don't you think these people would be prouder if they dedicated their lives to, I don't know, curing AIDs, discovering an infinite energy source, or writing a really awesome Simpsons episode?

At this point I expect you to concede to my value argument (am I wrong to do so?) and move on to justify the global captivation with the sentiment "they're just fun to watch." Really? You find weightlifting entertaining? You find archery entertaining? You find anything that necessarily starts in one location and ends in the same location (or in some exotic spot like the other end of the pool) to be entertaining? That sounds like the plot outline for an episode of Two and a Half Men.

http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1760430

comment response from Matt Taibbi article

admin — Tue, 12 May 2009 21:47:44 +0000

quote from the article:

It’s the same thing with this torture business. There are a lot of people in this country who genuinely believe that torture opponents are “not upset” about things like 9/11 or the beheading of American hostages. The idea that “no one complains when Americans are murdered” is crazy — of course we “complained,” and of course we’d all like to round up those machete-wielding monsters and shoot them into space — but these people really believe this, they really believe that torture opponents are secretly unimpressed/untroubled by Islamic terrorism, at least as compared to American “enhanced interrogation.” For them to believe that, they must really believe that such people are traitors, nursing a secret agenda (an agenda perhaps unknown even to themselves, their America-hatred being ingrained so deep) against their own country. Which is really an amazing thing for large numbers of Americans to believe about another large group of Americans, when you think about it.

and the comment by 'kaote':

You're absolutely right, they do "believe" thinking, genuinely principled Americans are traitors. It's also interesting to note that these torture zealots are also the people that obsess the most about so-called "values" which seem to be arbitrarily selected from the most irrelevant, none-of-your-business aspects of morality they can find (most of them sexual, which says something about these people as well).

The scarequotes around believe, though, are necessary, because we Americans who are capable of thought have a different notion of what that word actually entails. When we believe something, it's the direct result of having gathered the facts, applied logic and reason to them, and come to a defensible conclusion. Their beliefs are entirely different animals that, as you note, seem to bubble up from their unconscious and then grasp wildly for some sort of explanation that pitifully mocks logic, which makes you wonder which came first, religion or the swarms of retarded non-thinkers.

The paranoia and fear-based conspiratorialism they apply to everything political (and often refer to as "The Culture Wars") appeals to their macho, us vs. them gut response, and the gut is where we should do all of our thinking, just ask Glenn Beck. They're so used to "thinking" this way and being agreed with by their backwater compatriots that they've never really considered that they could be wrong, hence their rage when some intellectual asshole comes along and effortlessly dismisses them with high-falutin' rational thinking.

This is how we get stuck in "debates" about non-issues that often break out along geographical lines, with the least educated, most gut-checking types almost always to the right of the issue. We, the thinking, let them push us into debates about things that are so obvious you wouldn't think we needed to discuss them at all, like the fact that creationism has nothing to do with science. These are factual matters, and even though we're talking about morality in this case, you would think that just pushing them to be consistent would be enough to reach agreement. They don't even realize that they're undermining their own notion of morality, which is usually seen to be deontological, not consequentialist like Krauthammer's. You can't believe people to be inherently evil while also holding the belief that your actions can be defended based on the results. I know, I know, way beyond anything they want to consider...

But they're not really interested in being logical or consistent. Quite frankly, they don't know how to be. They're interested in being "right", whether by force of argument or repetition.

I should add (and I'm quite sure the reader is aware) that the "liberals" do this shit, too. There, fair and balanced.

story linked here - http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/21748

more priceless commentary from the blogosphere

admin — Mon, 04 May 2009 21:38:29 +0000

Where did this idea come from that NPR is "liberal"? Are we talking Phil Ochs's definition, "five degrees left of center mostly, but ten degrees right of center when it affects them personally"? I hope so, because that's the only sense of "liberal" I can see applying to NPR. During eight years of the worst presidency in history, they bent so far over backwards to be "fair" to the Bushies that they were usually left chewing on their own pubic hair.

Posted by: Parq | April 13, 2009 at 12:36 AM

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2009/04/ten-things-i-hate-about-npr.html

Phil Ochs lyrics for reference:

I cried when they shot Medgar Evers
Tears ran down my spine
I cried when they shot Mr. Kennedy
As though I'd lost a father of mine
But Malcolm X got what was coming
He got what he asked for this time
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I go to civil rights rallies
And I put down the old D.A.R.
I love Harry and Sidney and Sammy
I hope every colored boy becomes a star
But don't talk about revolution
That's going a little bit too far
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I cheered when Humphrey was chosen
My faith in the system restored
I'm glad the commies were thrown out
of the A.F.L. C.I.O. board
I love Puerto Ricans and Negros
as long as they don't move next door
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

The people of old Mississippi
Should all hang their heads in shame
I can't understand how their minds work
What's the matter don't they watch Les Crain?
But if you ask me to bus my children
I hope the cops take down your name
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I read New republic and Nation
I've learned to take every view
You know, I've memorized Lerner and Golden
I feel like I'm almost a Jew
But when it comes to times like Korea
There's no one more red, white and blue
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I vote for the democratic party
They want the U.N. to be strong
I go to all the Pete Seeger concerts
He sure gets me singing those songs
I'll send all the money you ask for
But don't ask me to come on along
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

Once I was young and impulsive
I wore every conceivable pin
Even went to the socialist meetings
Learned all the old union hymns
But I've grown older and wiser
And that's why I'm turning you in
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

Other ...ine influenzas to consider:

admin — Mon, 04 May 2009 20:18:37 +0000

Other -ine influenzas to consider:

- Bovine Flu
- King Solomon's Mines Flu
- Sine, cosine Flu
- Gregory Hines Flu
- I Heard It Through The Grapevine Flu
- Liechtenstein Flu
- Win Ben Stein's Flu
*
10:56 AM
I Walk the Line flu
Its the end of the world and I feel fine flu
*
10:56 AM
- R.L. Stine Flu, too
*
10:57 AM
Boogie-woogie flu (often exacerbated by the Rockin' Pneumonia).
*
10:59 AM
One Flu Over The Cuckoo's Nest... Flu.
*
11:00 AM
Fluuuuuuu Are You?
Flu, flu? Flu, flu?
*
11:01 AM
Watch on the Rhine flu
A stitch in time saves nine flu
Its the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine flu (dammit!)
*
11:05 AM
Would You Be Mine, Flu?
Where Shall We Dine, Flu?
Red or White Wine, Flu?
Ever Am Thine Flu
Under the Pines Flu
Dressed to the Nines Flu
Stop on a Dime Flu
Sweet Caroline Flu

Dark as a Dungeon Way Down in the Mine Flu.
*
11:11 AM
- It takes flu to tango flu
- Flu heads are better than none flu
- One if by land, flu if by sea flu
- Give the devil his flu flu
- We've got a rellly big flu flu

from http://gawker.com/5239040/media-growing-tired-of-this-swine-flu-panic-th...

My Pandora page

admin — Sun, 03 May 2009 21:52:22 +0000

I am up on Pandora finally!

Please click through and leave a comment and be sure to give me some Pandora thumbs-up - that way I get paired with more artists.

martin luther king sings

admin — Sat, 02 May 2009 20:17:50 +0000

I love this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0F4iXEzOqY&feature=player_embedded

a quote

admin — Sat, 02 May 2009 07:26:53 +0000

A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain.

- Mark Twain

Obamas hatchet man Geithner

admin — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:56:26 +0000

There is some good domestic money in the 'rescue package' - but most of it is still secretly lining the pockets of Citigroup. Let us make no mistake - I had a discussion about this yesterday - our financial system is still crumbling, and Obama has TOTALLY sided with the banks. He is only OCCASIONALLY a champion of the people.

Where is the mortgage relief for homeowners? Why is our government paying top dollar for toxic assets, essentially using tax dollars to keep criminal banking interests solvent? Why is the war still growing? Why do banks get bailed out over and over, while auto workers are SOL?

And finally, why are a million people still declaring bankruptcy every year because they can't afford to pay their health care bills? Where is a people's champion for that?

quoted:

Geithner has since pushed the Obama administration to approach the banking crisis not in response to the needs of destitute homeowners but rather from the side of the bankers who are seizing their homes. Instead of keeping people in their homes with a freeze on foreclosures, he has rewarded the unscrupulous lenders who conned ordinary folks.

He still wants to give more money to Citigroup, which has just been found woefully short of cash by Treasury’s auditors, and has not stopped Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and some other big banks ostensibly under government influence, and indeed sometimes ownership, from recently ending their temporary moratoriums on housing foreclosures. Geithner has been in the forefront of coddling the banks in the hopes that welfare for the rich will trickle down to suffering homeowners, but that has not happened.

read the rest here - http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090428_the_clinton_bubble/

Living Life Forwards by David Post

admin — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:29:32 +0000

There’s a good reason that generals, as the saying goes, are always fighting the last war. It’s the same reason the drunk looks for his lost keys under the streetlight rather than in the dark alley where he actually dropped them: The light’s better there. We won’t find our keys, and we won’t learn how to fight the next war – but what else can we do? It’s just as Kierkegaard said – we live forward, but can only understand backward. That’s just part of the human condition, the way the world is constructed.

link

this cartoon is awesome

admin — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:37:37 +0000

Has anything changed?

Click for larger image.

Official set list for April 26

admin — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:40:21 +0000

set 1:
always a circle
southern girl
holy ghost
holland park road
ordinary
I'm the gun
weighty ghost
train to cry

set 2:
Head in the Rain
True Believer
as good as love
somewhere
holding on
all tied up
angel from montgomery
Summer Drug

http://theaxelvault.com/farmers_market_09

http://www01.smgov.net/farmers_market/Sunday.htm#Sunday_Performance_Sche

a soft porous bowl

admin — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:45:15 +0000

I love this. click for whole thing

Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2006 22:02:12 -0000
Subject: Re: Lost! Tiny blue hat on Carroll St. betw. 8th Ave. & PPW

And yet, she did say "infant's" hat. Why? Is there something ineffably "infant-ish" about the hat? And if the hat is worn by, say, a 9-month old with an unusually small head, does that mean there's something wrong or evil about that 9-month old? Who are we to judge that a hat is "for" an "infant"? What gives us the right to even slap it with the label "hat," when for all we know it's a very soft, porous bowl, or a cozy for a tiny soccer ball? It's throwaway comments like "infant's hat" that hurt me to the quick.

new albums this year

admin — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:42:50 +0000

songs for new album
(album title - Still Feels Broken)

Sweet Thing
Holding On
When They Come To Take Me In For You
All Tied Up
Through the Forest
Still Feels Broken
Mona Lisa
New York

Looner Sessions (separate EP?)

What You Got
Pain & Joy
THe Light I Want To Shine For

and now we can talk about it

admin — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:01:00 +0000

Well, the one good thing I'm getting out of this redesign is that I can dump all of these posts out into the vast night and no one will see them. And so I am able to see how this whole thing shakes out.

I will tell the story, fully hoping that no one will read it, as a strange testament to what gives me pleasure as well as a good example of how sweet technology is.

As some of you know, I make my living as a software developer. It's been about ten years now that I spend about ten dollars for every dollar I make as a songwriter in the process of making songs. The return is there, but without some good seed capital it feels a little like blowing on an ember with your nose. But I digress.
So there I was, growing up as a rockstar and office whore. Trying to make a statement. It was about 8 years ago that both I moved here and I decided to live two lives. I only mention this because I am now announcing that this double life is over. I have married both of my blogs to each other just as I soon will marry my beloved and thus I am saying 'Yes, it may be that I will post both song lyrics and code snippets; I may be both rockstar and nerd and that is just the way of it.'

And so it is. My weird 'why is the server called digbox if the site says codeboxer?' days are over. There will be one server to rule them all.

Hehe, so anyway to finish the story I was trying to consolidate and had some problems moving my 'nerd' blog over to the mothership, so to speak, and finally the light went off. This Drupal 6 is sort of the bomb. Why don't I dump that crappy b2Evolution installation that won't port nicely and just drive all of my posts from TheAxelVault (aka kristeraxel.com)?

So then I'm looking for a way to export b2Evolution and I see that there isn't one. I stumble across a blog post that suggests 'why not just set up a view to aggregate everything you want dumped as an rss feed and do it that way?'

And I say, yeah, why not? Great idea.

So my posts don't look as good as they used to because they got sucked through the SimplePie rss machine but they are there. I did the same thing with my podcast posts. Now I post everything from here, and it shoots out to the appropriate feed lickety split.

But here's the kicker. I used these 2 php libraries (class_http.php and class_xml.php) that I got here http://www.troywolf.com/articles/php/class_http/ and I built my own server-side search parser, totally simple and barebones, and it's a self-updating site now. I set up the feed through google and I use the little google script to populate the home page (cached every 60 minutes). The only other page is the search page and it takes search parameters from the GET, sets up it's own little hardcoded tag dictionary on the fly for menu items, and hits the (also cached) rss feed for every search, slices up the xml file according to your search tag, and serves it up. I'm so proud I keep messing with it.

for those who have no idea what I just said, I basically replaced a whole blog site that I used to have to maintain with 2 simple pages that update and search themselves on their own - based on posts that I drive from this site. Talk about simplifying your life!

The only downside is that it will probably kill some old links, but hey, such is life.

check it out at http://codeboxer.com/

*** and now we can talk about it ***

wedding day song list

admin — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 21:08:04 +0000

shelter - r lamontagne
i could hold u in my arms - r lamontagne
orange sky - alexi murdoch
song for you - alexi murdoch - slow song
holding on - krister axel
what you got - krister axel
eugene - pink martini
t rex - i was born to dance
you got me - tristan prettyman
brick house
elijah rocks - ollabelle - slow song
low rider - war - dance song
Cold Water - Damien Rice - slow song
black keys - the lengths

hello again

admin — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 22:45:55 +0000

It has been so long since I wrote a blog post.

I used to fill up a whole book per year with poems and lyrics and such but then when I was in college they invented this thing called the personal computer and I ended up staying in the library all night to use my first email address. And then I bought my own computer. Then I got a laptop.

Now I am sending tweets from my phone that auto post to Facebook and my own website. Soon I will have it so I can email in posts from anywhere. Somewhere along the line I stopped blogging as much, because like mostly every songwriter/geek right now I have a bunch of social profiles to keep updating and it's not as much about writing anymore as it is about connecting what you write. Yikes.

Anyway, I have a gig coming up finally. I think my last one was in November. I sent out an email recently (link), and I'm shuffling around my web sites like it's going out of style. I'm still looking to possibly move Ruby hosts, I have done pretty well so far with the ghetto-ish RailsPlayground but I will need to upgrade soon. Other than that, I am dropping both NamesDirect and Hostmonster for a fully centralized account at Dreamhost, and so far I'm pretty happy with it. Dreamhost does leave you out in the cold a little on the support side, but that's why I've been contracting out a little php work lately and it's been working pretty well. Php labor is pretty cheap these days, and I pay my guys well (no matter what they do - from php devs all the way up to studio cats that I bring in for my album projects) so it is all working out famously.

And of course, my peeps at GMG are taking good care of me. I got a wedding coming up, dontcha know.

I got some sync for u right here

admin — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:00:50 +0000

Well, this is sort of a test post but it is definitely a think piece. :)

It started when I decided to try to start syncing up all of my 'posts'. That led me to Twitter, which then led me to ping.fm, and of course the google reader has been part and parcel of this all along the way.

The other piece is my home page at kristeraxel.com, which I use to drive posts and to keep my content under my own umbrella. For example, my sister has a beautiful blog over at blogspot, but I wonder what will ever happen if they go under or get bought, I just hate not having control like that. Ditto for pictures, even video. It kills me that people fall over themselves to hand their content to the Flickrs and the Youtubes of the world, when you can pay like $60 a year to keep all your shit to yourself. Hold on to your content, people! Privacy is a big deal too, but it's the short sightedness that gets me. Is anyone backing anything up, or is this generation literally handing itself over, one anecdotal reference at a time, to big business for prompt monetization and eventual subversion? I can see a future where you have to pay YouTube to give you back a copy of the video you uploaded. They'll call it an 'administration fee', and it will probably be more than the 6 bucks per month or so that you have to pay to get a real host with unlimited storage.

But I digress. So here's what is going on:

My Drupal site is linked to Twitter. Twitter posts show up here, and posts on my Drupal site (kristeraxel.com) get auto-synopsized into a Twitter post. Cool!
Those Twitter posts feed into my google reader for easy reference.

I used to have my Facebook account tied to my google reader feed (stay with me here) so that any article I flag to 'share' will pop up as a micro post in FB; but that didn't work too well because the Notes module had this habit of tying all posts in one day into a single 'omni' post, which was not cool. So now, I have tied my FB notes module to my Twitter feed, and I will see if the Twitter updates that get generated from my Drupal site will shoot all the way through to FB - a man can dream. I'll update more when I know for sure. I also found that most good web sources these days have a direct 'post to facebook' option, which renders the whole 'share through google reader' functionality less necessary.

Finally, the kicker is that I can post a status update via ping.fm, and that seems to be able to shoot through to - linkedin, facebook, friendfeed, and Twitter.

Friendfeed I only use to bounce stuff into my Vox account via RSS, but Vox won't let me automate it. I only signed up at Vox for an open_id, and it kind of sucks, but friendfeed is pretty good for aggregating last.fm info with fb status stuff, give you that voice of a proletariat. Sheesh. Lastly, my thesixtyone account seems to have some Twitter interfacing abilities, but I am so tired of u/p combos and dev keys that I am probably going to drink a whole bottle of whiskey before dinner.

So there you have it.

bottom line: Skip Vox, they are not very cool.

Lessons from AIG by Robert Weissman

admin — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 21:30:26 +0000

I got forwarded this by the FAIR newsletter - it's a good short read.

Watch out if you live in or visit Washington, D.C.

If you see a camera or microphone, be careful not to be trampled by a politician rushing to shout their 'outrage' at AIG, and its brazen scheme to pay $165 million in bonuses to employees at the company unit responsible for driving the company to the edge of insolvency.

Maybe the politicians really are outraged. (They definitely know their constituents are.) But it would have helped if they had expressed some outrage - and opposition - during the decades-long period of deregulation that brought us the AIG collapse and the financial meltdown.

It is indeed unfathomable that AIG went ahead with the bonus payments, and that the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve failed to act to stop the bonus payments before they were made.

What is vital now is that the public‚s righteous anger is not expressed only as 'no.' There are a lot of things to which We The People do need to say 'no.' But we need a lot of 'yes' too. We need to demand that policymakers impose public controls over the financial sector. The financial sector restraint, shrinkage and displacement agenda is long and diverse, but there are a number of lessons that flow directly from the AIG debacle.

First, the government must exercise much more direct control over the firms it is bailing out (many of which, like AIG, are very likely to be subjected to government takeovers of one kind or another in the coming months). If the government exercised control commensurate with its ownership stake, it could simply refuse to permit outrages like the AIG bonus payments to occur. Beyond preventing outrages, there should be affirmative demands imposed on the beneficiaries of bailout funds. These should include, for commercial banks, the mandatory write down of principal on home mortgages where the outstanding loan amount now exceed the value of the home, and the end to usurious interest rates on credit cards.

Second, there must be far-reaching reform of compensation arrangements in the financial sector. Never again should anyone get away with saying this is a symbolic issue. The AIG bonus payments, and the manic response from the financial sector to modest executive pay restrictions added by Senator Chris Dodd to the financial bailout reauthorization legislation, demonstrate that the guys on Wall Street certainly don‚t think it‚s symbolic. Real reform must go beyond giving shareholders a say on pay to imposing public controls. There should be high tax rates on excessive compensation. Most importantly, there should be a prohibition on incentive pay that is linked to short-term performance. Bonuses based on annual performance give traders and others an incentive to take unreasonable risks - threatening the viability of their firms, and the overall financial system.

Third, the regulatory black holes in the financial system must be eradicated. One black hole concerns regulation of financial derivatives - the exotic instruments that threw AIG into virtual insolvency. During the Clinton administration, Fed Chair Alan Greenspan, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Deputy Treasury Secretary (now director of the National Economic Council) Larry Summers crushed an effort by independent-minded regulators to adopt modest regulation of financial derivatives. In 2000, Congress prohibited such regulation by law. When regulations are finally adopted this year, as they almost certainly will be, they should prohibit certain kinds of financial derivatives altogether, and require that new ones prove their safety and social value before being placed on the market.

Fourth, we need a revitalized antitrust and competition policy to break up and shrink the size of the mega financial institutions (and, not so incidentally, we also need to shrink the size of the overall financial structure). These too-big-to-fail institutions are, as has been said, just too big. Or amended: they are too big and too interconnected. Their very existence poses unacceptable social costs, made worse by the fact they take greater risks knowing that they benefit from an implicit public insurance.

AIG itself has acknowledged the problem. In a company presentation apparently prepared to persuade the federal government to keep the bailout funds coming, AIG explained, 'what happens to AIG has the potential to trigger a cascading set of further failures which cannot be stopped except by extraordinary means.'

AIG CEO Edward Liddy has drawn the proper conclusion: 'Where safeguards are lacking' - and it should be added, it has proven far beyond the capacity of regulators to impose sufficient safeguards - 'such companies need to be restructured or scaled back so they no longer come close to posing a systemic risk.'

Finally, renewed attention must be paid to corporate structure and prohibitions on whole categories of activity. Insurance companies should be prohibited from operating affiliates that function as de facto hedge funds. Commercial banks husbanding depositors‚ assets should be prohibited from operating securities firms (as was law until 1999) or making securities firm-style speculative bets.

Will the outraged politicians demand these and other reforms? Will their outrage last once the media move on to the next story? That will depend almost entirely on whether an organized and focused public demands it.

Jeremy Scahill talk about Obama

admin — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 01:37:45 +0000

You can look at the direction of US policy like this: We have a president now who said he’ll use preemptive military action inside of the borders of another country without informing the leadership of that country, if he deems it’s in the interests of the US, as in the case of Pakistan; a president who’s just delivered what, for all practical purposes, sounded like the victory speech of the previous president for his war based on lies and illegal acts of aggression, and who is surging, beyond the wildest hopes of the Republicans, in Afghanistan, putting more troops than almost any other politician was calling for, and is going to get the US further just sunk into the hole of a very violent and bloody war of occupation in Afghanistan.

This is, once again, an imperial presidency, and I think it’s cause for great, great concern. And unfortunately, the spines of many people that actually have the ear of Obama seem to have been surgically removed now that he is president.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/4/blackwater_ceo_erik_prince_resigns_in

New site link

admin — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 18:49:55 +0000

I have just updated my site, so please reset your bookmarks to the new page. You can leave the old one, you'll still end up in the right place, but you know, I might as well say something. The new site is http://theaxelvault.com, which is mirrored at http://kristeraxel.com.

Oh really? Goldman Sachs is spending our taxes on executive bonuses.

admin — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:27:04 +0000

Goldman spokesman Michael DuVally says no tarp money is going to bonuses: "The compensation that was paid to employees came out of our business activities.” Charles Geisst, finance professor at Manhattan College and author of the upcoming Collateral Damaged: The Marketing of Consumer Debt to America, begs to differ. "If they didn’t have the tarp money, they would be forced to raise fresh capital,” he says. "Now, I agree it’s a long-term item on the balance sheet. But [without the government money] they would have to take a dip into what operating profits they have left, and reduce those salaries. So the tarp money is a substitute. Theirs is an extremely disingenuous argument.” Counters DuVally, "Professor Geisst is wrong. We paid bonuses out of earnings, not capital.” But as former compensation consultant Graef Crystal put it on Bloomberg.com, "The argument of saying we’re not using the bailout money is just crap because money’s fungible. Money’s money. It exposes them to ridicule.”

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/03/wall-street-bonuses2...

Live show found from the early days

admin — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 21:37:45 +0000

Hehe, some classic early Krister Axel footage:

Gotta love the hair!

Live at Twiggs in San Diego - circa 2004.

Krister Axel - piano, vocals
Bart Ryan - guitar, vocals
Chet Dixon - harmonica, vocals
Matt Delvecchio - bass, vocals
Andrew Meskin - drums

linked here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5_IhaEZBK8

getting married

maestro — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 22:24:50 +0000

Just so y'all know, I'm getting married soon.

End of June actually.

So of course, I have a wedding album to make which will contain some new songs and some unreleased old songs. I don't have a name for it yet, but it is going to be awesome.

To go along with that, I have a show coming up in April again at the Santa Monica Farmer's market and then that will probably be it for a while. 5 albums in 6 years means I get to take a break. :)

While you're waiting, I suggest buying my new album either at my web store - http://vesuvi.us/products/fast-train/ or on iTunes - http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=291772897...

And I could use some more comments in the Apple Store, so thanks for your support!

krister

added - tentative track list:

Sweet Thing
When They Come To Take Me In
Keep Me Here
Mona Lisa
Sunshine
Still Feels Broken
Georgia On My Mind

This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie

maestro — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:58:43 +0000

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me

As I was walking a ribbon of highway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden valley
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

The sun comes shining as I was strolling
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me;
Sign was painted, it said private property;
But on the back side it didn't say nothing;
That side was made for you and me.

Chorus

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there whistling
Is this land made for you and me?

Chorus

Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.

Who started it? Israel...

maestro — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:37:12 +0000

On November 4th, here [the] record is clear: Israel broke the ceasefire by going into Gaza and killing six or seven Palestinian militants. At that point—and now I’m quoting the official Israeli website—Hamas retaliated or, in retaliation for the Israeli attack, then launched the missiles. -Norman Finkelstein, quoted JAN 8, 2009 on http://democracynow.org.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/8/former_amb_martin_indyk_vs_author

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/

continued:

Now, as to the reason why, the record is fairly clear as well. According to Ha’aretz, Defense Minister Barak began plans for this invasion before the ceasefire even began. In fact, according to yesterday’s Ha’aretz, the plans for the invasion began in March. And the main reasons for the invasion, I think, are twofold. Number one, as Mr. Indyk I think correctly points out, to enhance what Israel calls its deterrence capacity, which in layman’s language basically means Israel’s capacity to terrorize the region into submission. After their defeat in July 2006 in Lebanon, they felt it important to transmit the message that Israel is still a fighting force, still capable of terrorizing those who dare defy its word.

And the second main reason for the attack is because Hamas was signaling that it wanted a diplomatic settlement of the conflict along the June 1967 border. That is to say, Hamas was signaling they had joined the international consensus, they had joined most of the international community, overwhelmingly the international community, in seeking a diplomatic settlement. And at that point, Israel was faced with what Israelis call a Palestinian peace offensive. And in order to defeat the peace offensive, they sought to dismantle Hamas.

Bushisms

maestro — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:05:44 +0000

President George W. Bush will leave behind a legacy of Bushisms, the label stamped on the commander in chief's original speaking style. Some of the president's more notable malaprops and mangled statements:

___

• "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." — September 2000, explaining his energy policies at an event in Michigan.

• "Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?" — January 2000, during a campaign event in South Carolina.

• "They misunderestimated the compassion of our country. I think they misunderestimated the will and determination of the commander in chief, too." — Sept. 26, 2001, in Langley, Va. Bush was referring to the terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks.

• "There's no doubt in my mind, not one doubt in my mind, that we will fail." — Oct. 4, 2001, in Washington. Bush was remarking on a back-to-work plan after the terrorist attacks.

• "It would be a mistake for the United States Senate to allow any kind of human cloning to come out of that chamber." — April 10, 2002, at the White House, as Bush urged Senate passage of a broad ban on cloning.

• "I want to thank the dozens of welfare-to-work stories, the actual examples of people who made the firm and solemn commitment to work hard to embetter themselves." — April 18, 2002, at the White House.

• "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." — Sept. 17, 2002, in Nashville, Tenn.

• "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." — Aug. 5, 2004, at the signing ceremony for a defense spending bill.

• "Too many good docs are getting out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." — Sept. 6, 2004, at a rally in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

• "Our most abundant energy source is coal. We have enough coal to last for 250 years, yet coal also prevents an environmental challenge." — April 20, 2005, in Washington.

• "We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job." — Sept. 20, 2005, in Gulfport, Miss.

• "I can't wait to join you in the joy of welcoming neighbors back into neighborhoods, and small businesses up and running, and cutting those ribbons that somebody is creating new jobs." — Sept. 5, 2005, when Bush met with residents of Poplarville, Miss., in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

• "It was not always a given that the United States and America would have a close relationship. After all, 60 years we were at war 60 years ago we were at war." — June 29, 2006, at the White House, where Bush met with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

• "Make no mistake about it, I understand how tough it is, sir. I talk to families who die." — Dec. 7, 2006, in a joint appearance with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

• "These are big achievements for this country, and the people of Bulgaria ought to be proud of the achievements that they have achieved." — June 11, 2007, in Sofia, Bulgaria.

• "Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for your introduction. Thank you for being such a fine host for the OPEC summit." — September 2007, in Sydney, Australia, where Bush was attending an APEC summit.

• "Thank you, Your Holiness. Awesome speech." April 16, 2008, at a ceremony welcoming Pope Benedict XVI to the White House.

• "The fact that they purchased the machine meant somebody had to make the machine. And when somebody makes a machine, it means there's jobs at the machine-making place." — May 27, 2008, in Mesa, Ariz.

• "And they have no disregard for human life." — July 15, 2008, at the White House. Bush was referring to enemy fighters in Afghanistan.

• "I remember meeting a mother of a child who was abducted by the North Koreans right here in the Oval Office." — June 26, 2008, during a Rose Garden news briefing.

• "Throughout our history, the words of the Declaration have inspired immigrants from around the world to set sail to our shores. These immigrants have helped transform 13 small colonies into a great and growing nation of more than 300 people." — July 4, 2008 in Virginia.

• "The people in Louisiana must know that all across our country there's a lot of prayer — prayer for those whose lives have been turned upside down. And I'm one of them. It's good to come down here." — Sept. 3, 2008, at an emergency operations center in Baton Rouge, La., after Hurricane Gustav hit the Gulf Coast.

• "This thaw — took a while to thaw, it's going to take a while to unthaw." Oct. 20, 2008, in Alexandria, La., as he discussed the economy and frozen credit markets.

Nike +

maestro — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:36:15 +0000

Click to see the new Nike + widget. Too bad I didn't have this thing yet at the marathon two weeks ago.

Israel slaughters civilians in the Gaza strip

maestro — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:02:06 +0000

'I want to say, Amy, first of all, that we have to go back to the Warsaw Ghetto or Guernica to find crimes in the modern era of the scale of the viciousness and of the deliberateness of what Israel is committing with the full support of the United States, not just the Bush administration, but apparently as well the incoming Obama administration.'

- ALI ABUNIMAH, author and columnist for the London Guardian

link: http://www.democracynow.org/2008/12/29/israeli_attacks_kill_over_310_in

My venerable podcast (1st anniversary)

maestro — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:04:30 +0000

I put together a podcast for myself last year. This is the first anniversary, sniff, and I have a small but growing and dedicated readership. I have just posted a Christmas song from the archives, so download away all ye huddled and poor podcasters.

I am a geek

maestro — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:34:26 +0000

And for that reason, I have a geek blog: http://codeboxer.com - thank god my girl still loves me.

can you believe this?

maestro — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:22:19 +0000

A Wal-Mart worker died early Friday after an "out-of-control" mob of frenzied shoppers smashed through the Long Island store's front doors and trampled him, police said.

The Black Friday stampede plunged the Valley Stream outlet into chaos, knocking several employees to the ground and sending others scurrying atop vending machines to avoid the horde.

When the madness ended, 34-year-old Jdimytai Damour was dead and four shoppers, including a woman eight months pregnant, were injured.
CAUGHT ON CAMERA: WAL-MART CROWD MOMENTS BEFORE DEADLY STAMPEDE

"He was bum-rushed by 200 people," said Wal-Mart worker Jimmy Overby, 43.

"They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me.

"They took me down, too ... I didn't know if I was going to live through it. I literally had to fight people off my back," Overby said.

Damour, a temporary maintenance worker from Jamaica, Queens, was gasping for air as shoppers continued to surge into the store after its 5 a.m. opening, witnesses said.

Even officers who arrived to perform CPR on the trampled worker were stepped on by wild-eyed shoppers streaming inside, a cop at the scene said.

"They pushed him down and walked all over him," Damour's sobbing sister, Danielle, 41, said. "How could these people do that?

"He was such a young man with a good heart, full of life. He didn't deserve that."

Damour's sister said doctors told the family he died of a heart attack.

His cousin, Ernst Damour, called the circumstances "completely unacceptable."

"His body was a stepping bag with so much disregard for human life," Ernst Damour, 37, said. "There has to be some accountability."

Roughly 2,000 people gathered outside the Wal-Mart's doors in the predawn darkness.

Chanting "push the doors in," the crowd pressed against the glass as the clock ticked down to the 5 a.m. opening.

Sensing catastrophe, nervous employees formed a human chain inside the entrance to slow down the mass of shoppers.

It didn't work.

The mob barreled in and overwhelmed workers.

"They were jumping over the barricades and breaking down the door," said Pat Alexander, 53, of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. "Everyone was screaming. You just had to keep walking on your toes to keep from falling over."

After the throng toppled Damour, his fellow employees had to fight through the crowd to help him, police said.

Witness Kimberly Cribbs said shoppers acted like "savages."

"When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, 'I've been on line since Friday morning!'" Cribbs said. "They kept shopping."

When paramedics arrived, Damour's condition was grave.

"They were pumping his chest, trying to bring him back, and there was nothing," said Dennis Smokes, 36, a Wal-Mart worker.

Damour was taken to Franklin Hospital and pronounced dead at 6:03 a.m.

Hank Mullany, president of Wal-Mart's northeast division, said the company took extraordinary safety precautions.

"We expected a large crowd this morning and added additional internal security, additional third-party security, additional store associates and we worked closely with the Nassau County police," he said in a statement.

"We also erected barricades. Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred."

The 28-year-old pregnant woman and three other shoppers were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries, police said.

In a news conference after the incident, Nassau County police spokesman Lt. Michael Fleming described the crowd as "out of control" and the scene as "utter chaos." He said Wal-Mart did not have enough security onhand.

Fleming said criminal charges were possible but that it would be difficult to identify individual shoppers in surveillance videos.

Items on sale at the Wal-Mart store included a $798 Samsung 50-inch Plasma HDTV, a Bissel Compact Upright Vacuum for $28 and Men's Wrangler Tough Jeans for $8.

The Long Island store reopened at 1 p.m. and was packed within minutes.

"I look at these people's faces and I keep thinking one of them could have stepped on him," said one employee. "How could you take a man's life to save $20 on a TV?"

rschapiro@nydailynews.com

With Brendan Brosh and James Queally

copied from http://www.nydailynews.com/

My all-time favorite song

maestro — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:43:35 +0000

In a manner of speaking. Click for the video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buqtdpuZxvk

Jeremy Scahill - read this

maestro — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:13:46 +0000

Jeremy Scahill is one of the smartest and most on-point and factual political commentators that I have heard in a long time. He is amazing in terms of his ability to cite sources and names, and he is a great writer. He gives me hope for our generation. Here is a very sobering assessment of the upcoming Obama administration:

link

http://www.alternet.org/audits/107666/this_is_change_20_hawks%2C_clinton...

Bush got dissed by everyone

maestro — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:39:18 +0000

and it was awesome!
Ah, political schadenfreude, my newest friend. We have so little, but yet so much...

Puppy Cam

maestro — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:08:35 +0000

Because I feel lighthearted today, let us all behold: the puppy cam!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/shiba-inu-puppy-cam

Visit me on Last.fm

maestro — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:00:39 +0000

I just uploaded some new stuff. Good times for all at http://www.last.fm/music/Krister+Axel - woohoo!

Technology is grand.

maestro — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 23:42:43 +0000

If I were you, I would go with vox.com. That's it.

Haters

maestro — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:14:24 +0000

A list of donors to the prop 8 campaign, from http://www.antigayblacklist.com :

John Griffiths / Dentist, John C. Griffiths, Dds, Mds, Pc /Las Vegas, NV / $1,000

Anne-Marie Anderson /Consultant, Cps Human Resource Svc. / Rocklin, CA /$3,900

Darren Hulstine / Sales, Patterson Dental / Santa Maria, CA / $1,500

Dale Olsen / Contractor, The Floor Show Of California / Lemon Grove, CA / $1,000

John Sawyer / President, Penhall Company / Laguna Hills, CA / $2,500

John Sawyer / President, Penhall Company / Laguna Hills, CA / $1,000

Samuel Coates / Attorney / Palo Alto, CA / $2,500

Fieldstead And Co. / Irvine, CA / $95,000

Margaret Friedrich / Farmer, Friedrich Enterprises / Paterson, CA /$1,000

Frank Winger / Insurance, Aim / Santa Ana, CA /$2,500

Andre Carli / Professor, Cal. State Univ. Sacramento / Elk Grove, CA / $1,000

Container Supply Co., Inc. / Garden Grove, CA / $250,000

Wesley C. Hilton / V.p. Ins. Sales, Dominion Insurance / Lafayette, CA / $1,250

Kemp Burnham / Software Developer, Xact Ware Inc. / Lehi, UT / $1,000

Koreen Martone / Budget Analyst, State Of Ca. / West Sacramento, CA / $1,000

Gary Mcarthur / Dc, Ppc / Paradise, CA / $1,000

Gary Melman / Investment Manager, Horus / Los Angeles, CA / $1,000

Barnabas Chen / Manager, World Trend, Inc. / Pomona, CA / $1,000

Gayle Wells / Seminar Business, Empty Spools Seminars / Moraga, CA / $1,000

Lambeth Consulting / Greenwood, CA / $1,000

Stephen Elgorriaga / Sheep Rancher, Stephen Elgorriaga Livestock / Madera, CA / $1,000

Country View Farms / Pierce, NE / $2,500

Roy Menchavez / Equip. Eng., Venzon Engineering / Mountain View, CA / $1,000

Frank Velasquez / Coo, Cornerstone Technologies / San Jose, CA / $1,000

Tyler Albrechtsen / Healthcare Administrator, Victoria Care Center / Oxnard, CA / $1,000

Bruce Andrus / Hotel Owner/operator, Huntington Hotels / Park City, UT / $20,000

Daniel Brinton / Physician, East Bay Retina Consultants / Lafayette, CA /

$2,000

Stan Lee / Pharmacist, Nelsons Drug Store / Upland, CA / $5,000

Jeffrey Puryear / Lab Research Assoc., Texas Agrilife Research Station / Bryan, TX / $1,000

Matthew Wade / Medical Resident, Uc Irvine / Salt Lake City, UT / $2,000

Focus On The Family / Colorado Springs, CO / $2,909

Robert Gray / Consultant, Rg-construction Consultants / Plumas Lake, CA / $2,000

Robert Mendenhall / Pres., Western Governors University / Salt Lake City, CA / $1,000

John Mcgaffey / Manager, Polara Engineering / Fullerton, CA / $2,000

Garth Pickett / Accounting, Ladera Integrators / Mountain View, CA / $2,000

Tracy Pickett / Executive Support, Ladera Integrators / Mountain View, CA / $1,999

Lisa Myler / Wedding Planner, Myler Weddings / American Fork, UT / $10,000

Jerner Construction, Inc. / Turlock, CA / $1,000

Paula Barnes / Scheduler, Disneyland / Mission Viejo, CA / $3,000

Michael Brown / Attorney, Michael R. Brown, A Law Corp. / Lake Forest, CA / $1,200

Earl Goodman / President, Goodman, Gene, Dtl, Inc. / Chandler, AZ / $9,999

James Mclaughlin / Investment Management, Lincolnshire Management, Inc. / New Canaan, CT / $1,000

Donald Nanney / Attorney, Gilchrist & Rutter, Pc / Pasadena, CA / $1,000

Coalition For The Protection Of / Las Vegas, NV / $5,000

William Allen / Orthodontist, North County Orthodontist / Carlsbad, CA / $1,000

Morgan Lynch / Management, Lago Di Como / Cedar Hills, UT / $2,500

Scott Haskins / President, Facl, Inc. / Santa Barbara, CA / $5,000

Jessica Wooden / Rn, Sutter Roseville Medical Center / Rescue, CA / $1,500

Yvonne Tsai / Consultant, Kingdom Design / Irvine, CA / $1,000

Caleb Nelson / Self Employed, Unishippers Of Oakland/oregon / Albany, OR / $1,000

Jan Pinney / Insurance Broker, Pinney Insurance Center, Inc. / Granite Bay, CA / $10,000

Ken Campbell / Personnel Officer, City Of Long Beach / Mission Viejo, CA / $1,000

Price Funeral Chapel, Inc. / Citrus Heights, CA / $1,000

Kevin Neubert & Associates Inc. / Lake Arrowhead, CA / $1,000

Scott Borgia / Tax Director, Armanino Mckenna / Morgan Hill, CA / $1,000

Leading Edge Duplication, Inc / Moorpark, CA / $1,700

Joseph Ray / Civil Engineer, P G & E / Rodeo, CA / $1,000

Kimberly Sneddon / Teacher, Chino Usd / Brea, CA / $1,000

Tisha Harty / Office Manager, Law Office Of Douglas Harty / Castaic, CA /

$1,000

Steven Udvar / Manager, Pacific Life Insurance Co. / Dana Point, CA /

$1,000

Lorin Rocks / Engineer, Tandberg Television / San Jose, CA / $1,000

Melenaite Piutau / Contractor, New Epoch Construction / Ontario, CA / $2,000

Heath Fields / Shipping/receiving, Terico / San Jose, CA / $1,000

Container Supply Co., Inc. / Garden Grove, CA / $1,520

Blake Wettengel / Attorney, Snell & Wilmer / Laguna Niguel, CA / $1,000

Cheryl Aday / Real Estate, Provident Realty / Upland, CA / $1,000

Ray Zinn / Ceo, Micrel Inc. / Atherton, CA / $1,500

Gregory Tuttle / Dentist, Gregory K Tuttle Dds / El Dorado Hills, CA / $5,000

Katherine Foster / Manager, Cisco / Mountain View, CA / $2,000

David Boyce / Cpa, Brown, Fink, Boyce & Astle

/ Folsom, CA / $4,000

Michael Lee / Researcher, Natl Inst. For Materials Science / Elk Ridge, UT / $1,500

Joel Gibson / Consultant, Permanente Medical Group / Albany, CA / $1,000

Courtney Sirard / Medical Provider, Woodland Hospital / Woodland, CA /

$1,000

Alex Spjute / Attorney, Hughes Hubbard & Reed / Redondo Beach, CA / $1,000

Wei Li / Engineer, Sensage / Daly City, CA / $1,000

Sherri Steenburgen / Real Estate, First Team Real Estate / Anaheim, CA /

$2,341

John Lewis / Doctor, Tpmg / Cupertino, CA / $1,000

Kevin Schick / Programmer, Synteract Inc. / Carlsbad, CA / $1,000

Anne Jones / Calligrapher, Self - Anne Jones / North Hollywood, CA /

$1,000

Sherry Jagard / Program Manager / Simi Valley, CA / $1,000

Walter Gubler / Professor, Uc Davis / Davis, CA / $1,000

Montgomery Painting / Cerritos, CA / $1,000

Jeff Lemmon / Businessman, New Star / Pacific Grove, CA / $1,000

Brandon Ballard / Investment Advisor, Investools Inc. / Los Angeles, CA /

$1,000

Matthew Thueson / Office Manager, Roll Services / Tucson, AZ / $1,000

Lawrence R. Taylor / Cpa, Gallina, Llp / Antelope, CA / $1,000

Carl Trubschenck / Dentist, Carl Trubschenck Dds Inc. / Citrus Heights, CA / $1,000

Christopher Porter / Vp Sales, Pearson / Folsom, CA / $1,000

Ryan S. Beck / Physical Therapist, Western Physical Therapy / Orland, CA / $1,000

David Bjarnason / Analyst, Western Investment / Salt Lake City, CA / $1,000

Ralph E. Carr / Social Worker, Dept. Of Children & Family Serv. / Downey, CA / $1,000

Kirk Phillips / Civil Engineer, City Of Claremont California / Upland, CA / $1,000

Tca Partners, Llp / Fresno, CA / $1,000

Thomas Carmack / Attorney, Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosa / Mountain View, CA / $1,000

Mike Power / Engineer, Intuit / San Jose, CA / $1,000

Rhonda Killion / Secretary, Church On The Rock / Woodland, CA / $1,000

Brian Avery / Property Manager, Acco Mgt. / Mountain View, CA / $1,000

Blaine Ray Workshops / Consultant / Pismo Beach, CA / $1,000

Scott English / Programmer, Tmmg / Yorba Linda, CA / $2,000

Special Funds / Santa Clarita, CA / $2,675

Bolt Motorcycle Hardware / Atascadero, CA / $1,000

Ridgway Pope / Accountant, County Of Ventura / Ventura, CA / $1,000

Daniel Trueba / Doctor, U.s. Navy / Stonington, CT / $1,000

Alta Home Care Inc. / Riverside, CA / $2,500

Mark Riem / Audio Visual, Self Employed-mark Riem / Los Angeles, CA / $1,000

Chris Barlow / Finance, Lombard Street Partners, Llc / San Ramon, CA / $1,000

Tulikininifo Penieli / Intl. Export., Dhl Express / Lawndale, CA / $1,000

Metal Related Services, Inc / Chatsworth, CA / $2,000

Kawika Tupou / Engineer, Alg Corp. / Camarillo, CA / $1,000

Brian Everett / Architect, Nmr Architects / Orangevale, CA / $1,250

Cory Reid / Loss Mitigation, Consumer Protection Institute / Moraga, CA / $1,000

Kendell Ricks / Dentist, Village Dental / Bonsall, CA / $1,000

Alekisanita Vimahi / Merchandiser, Retail Marketing / Millbrae, CA / $1,500

Cooley Family Investment Llc / Higley, AZ / $10,000

Andrew Hunt / Civil Engineer, City Of Sacramento / Folsom, CA / $1,000

Craig Yeates / Auditor, Us Department Federal Government / Camarillo, CA / $1,000

Robert Ludlow / Dentist, Self Employed - Robert Ludlow / Modesto, CA / $5,000

Katherine Laret / Teacher, San Juan Unified School District / Orangevale, CA / $1,000

Sandra Ball / Manager, Treehouse Almonds / Lemoore, CA / $1,000

Bruce Stephenson / Cpa, Gallina Llp / Granite Bay, CA / $1,000

Mann Construction / Santa Barbara, CA / $1,000

Golding Publications / Canyon Lake, CA / $1,000

M By 6 Inc / Stockton, CA / $1,000

Richard Reep / Hrm, Home Depot / Shingle Springs, CA / $2,000

David Hilburn / Nursing Home Administrator, Sherwood Healthcare Center / Granite Bay, CA / $5,000

Danielle Peterson / Gis Analyst, Granite Construction / Sacramento, CA / $1,000

Ken Sanofsky / Ceo, Path Solutions / Angoura Hills, CA / $1,000

Scott Kuhnen / Paper Stock Dealer, Recycling Industries / Yuba City, CA / $28,750

John Larcabal / Optometrist, Brea Optomatry / Brea, CA / $1,000

Wailana Kamauu / Agent, Wailana Kamauu Ins. Agency / Sonoma, CA / $1,000

Lori Hooke / Civil Engineer, Ventura County / Ventura, CA / $1,200

Gordon Jones / Chemical Salesman, Cardinal Industry / Thousand Oaks, CA / $2,000

Calvary Chapel Corona /Corona, CA / $2,533

Trentman Corporation / Auburn, CA / $1,000

Bart Walker / Owner, Barts Electric / Pleasant Valley, MO / $1,000

Huesser Neweight Llc / Concord, CA / $1,000

Nathan Jensen / Attorney, Morrison & Foerster / San Diego, CA / $10,000

Randall Hatcher / Human Resources, Maui Inc. / Augusta, GA / $5,000

Margaret Mccauley / Landscaper, Pml Landscape / Clovis, CA / $1,000

Brian Hayes / Restaurateur, Aunt Fannys Hot Pretzel / Auburn, CA / 1,000

Craig Huey / Advertising, Creative Direct Marketing Group / Torrance, CA / $1,000

Elizabeth Thomas / Teacher, Burbank Usd / Burbank, CA / $1,000

Shelburne Ponsford / Pres., Systems Information Tech. / Santa Rosa, CA / $1,000

Rodney Hewitt / Chief Risk Officer, Centrue Bank / Manlius, IL / $2,500

Kelley Drake / Supply Chain Mgt, Lsi Corp / San Jose, CA / $1,000

Thomas Larson / Engineer, Cal Trans / San Diego, CA / $9,900

Jason Swart / Owner, Specialized Dairy Svc. / Ontario, CA / $1,000

Steven Turner / Attorney, Jones Turner, Llp / Irvine, CA / $1,000

Focus On The Family / Colorado Springs, CO / $328

Focus On The Family / Colorado Springs, CO / $981

Focus On The Family / Colorado Springs, CO / $46

Focus On The Family / Colorado Springs, CO / $83

Lauri Janssen / Accountant, Intermountan Health Care / West Jordan, UT / $1,000

Lee Monson / Air Attack Capt., Dyncorp International / Atascadero, CA / $1,000

Byron Johnson / President, Eml Associates Inc. / Manteca, CA / $1,000

April Bullard / Business Owner, Scv / Whittier, CA / $1,000

Debra Cabeza / Programmer, City Of Los Angeles / Montebello, CA / $1,000

Michael Manning / Cpa, Qlogic Corporation / San Juan Capistrano, CA / $20,000

Dan Northcutt / Property Management/real Estate, Northcutt Properties Inc. / San Diego, CA / $1,000

Brian Thulin / Teacher, Lausd / Simi Valley, CA / $1,000

Lance Dane / Small Business Owner, Self Employed - Lance Dane / Lafayette, CA / $2,500

Karen Rohm / Professor, California State University / San Bernardino, CA / $1,000

Karen Merrill / Finance Director, Bcbg / Pasadena, CA / $1,000

Nancy Hales / Self Employed, Hales Engineering / Camarillo, CA / $5,000

Lupeni Tuaone / Construction, L.t. Concrete / Chino, CA / $1,614

Ryan Hall / Real Estate, Keller Williams / San Clemente, CA / $1,000

Brent Webb / President, Rpm / Granite Bay, CA / $5,000

David Bills / Teacher, Sbcusd / Corona, CA / $1,000

Michael Wach / Self Employed, Self - Michael Wach / Pomona, CA / $1,000

Theron Brown / Nuclear Radiologist, Va / Torrance, CA / $1,200

Robyn Evans / M.d., Self - Robyn Evans / Redlands, CA / $2,500

John Lewis / Physician, Tpmg / Cupertino, CA / $2,000

Craig Ferguson / Accountant, Craig W Ferguson / Laguna Niguel, CA / $1,000

Marsha Saylors / Secretary, Tire Man / Santa Rosa Valley, CA / $2,500

Barnabas Chen / Manager, World Trend, Inc. / Pomona, CA / $1,000

Reybro, Inc. / Vista, CA / $5,000

Quality Recycling / Lakeside, CA / $2,000

Linda Reynolds / Bookkeeper, Quality Recylcing / Escondido, CA / $2,000

Calvary Chapel Of Costa Mesa, Inc / Santa Ana, CA / $9,000

Mont Flora / Manager, Liberty Heating & Air / Laguna Hills, CA / $5,000

Robert Eakin / Tutor, Mobile Math Tutoring / Carmichael, CA / $3,000

Chuck Musselwhite / Pastor, The Village Chapel / Lompoc, CA / $1,000

Nicole Whitman / Administrator, Greystar / Thousand Oaks, CA / $1,200

Brian Sprague / Analyst, Dept. Of Energy / Fair Oaks, CA / $1,000

Phillip Fletcher / Dentist, Phillip Fletcher, Dds / Redwood City, CA / $1,000

Lin Whatcott/ Accountant, Davita Inc. / Maple Valley, WA / $10,005

Adam Smith /Cpa, Pwc / Santa Ana, CA /$4,000

Marty Walker / Pastor, The Sanctuary / Santa Clarita, CA / $2,500

Michael Lee / Attorney, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher / Sierra Madre, CA /

$1,000

Donovan Sanchez / Food Services, Mtc Dining Services / Fairfield, CA /

$1,000

David Watts / Engineer, Aeris Communications / Morgan Hill, CA / $2,000

Daniel Jensen / Owner, Jensen Fasteners / Sacramento, CA / $1,000

Dan Darchuck / Investment Advisor, Ubs / Clovis, CA / $1,000

Karen Floyd / Trainer, First American Title / Newcastle, CA / $2,500

Calvary Chapel Montebello / Montebello, CA / $1,000

Scott Anderson / Executive, Zenith Specialty Bag / Chino Hills, CA / $1,000

Steven Clark / Manager, R.l. Co. / Orangevale, CA / $1,000

Janet Mahoney / Nursing, Scripps Health / San Diego, CA / $1,000

Matthew Major / Engineer, Lockheed Martin / Sunnyvale, CA / $1,000

Paul Eumurian / Engineer, Boeing / Anaheim, CA / $1,000

David Warner / Periodontist, David A. Warner Dds / Whittier, CA / $1,000

Integrated Dental Implant Services / Las Vegas, NV / $1,000

John Ludwig / Dentist, John B. Ludwig Dds Dental Corp. / Santa Clara, CA / $1,000

Craig Paullin / Partner, 14000 Avalon, Llc / Los Angeles, CA / $2,500

Richard Snelson / Accountant, Ernst & Young Llp / Newhall, CA / $5,585

Brent Griffiths / Self Employed, Brents Carpet One / Newhall, CA / $1,000

Gordon Maughan / Medical Doctor, Self Employed / Palos Verdes Estates, CA / $1,000

Scott L. Larson / Mngr., Scandia Rec., Inc. / Ontario, CA / $1,000

Richard Teerlink / Real Estate Consultant, Richard M. Teerlink Consulting / Gold River, CA / $2,500

Mark Warden / Executive, The Bergman Corp. / San Jose, CA / $1,000

James Elison / Geologist, Paso Creek Reources / Bakersfield, CA / $1,000

Mark E. Abel, Dds / Auburn, CA / $1,000

Douglas Myers / Cpa, Douglas S. Myers, Cpa / Mission Viejo, CA / $1,000

Dallin Large / Pool Cover Repairman, Cover Care / Los Angeles, CA / $1,000

Patrick Foley / Ceo, Rirock Technologies, Inc. / Redlands, CA / $5,000

Mark Walton / Accountant, Reading Intenational, Inc. / South Pasadena, CA / $1,000

Wikitoria Lovett / School Teacher, San Bernardino City Usd / Redlands, CA / $1,580

Lois Lafrance / Cinematic Artist, Activision / Thousand Oaks, CA / $1,000

Scott Wallace / Engineer, Carlsbad Manufacturing Corp / Chula Vista, CA /

$1,000

Steve Keithly / Vice President, Whittier Mailing Products / La Mirada, CA / $3,000

Paul Kepes / Risk Manager, Ctc, Llc / Chicago, IL / $9,900

Monica Kepes / None, N/a / Chicago, IL / $9,900

Salvatore Cordileone / Clergy, Catholic Diocese Of San Diego / San Diego, CA / $2,000

Lance Paddock / Teacher, Alvord Usd / Fullerton, CA / $1,000

New Covenant Church / Martinez, CA / $3,050

Nathan Birchall / Cfo, Ranch Capital / Encinitas, CA / $1,000

Ken Swanson / Engineer, Sun Microsystems / San Jose, CA / $3,000

Patrick Svedin / Sales, Sanofi Pasteur / Salt Lake City, UT / $1,000

Jay Mortensen / Consultant, South West Dealer Services / Laguna Hills, CA / $2,500

Edward Weaver / Teacher, Tehachapi Usd / Tehachapi, CA / $1,000

Jay Clark / Produce Dealer, A & Z Produce / Centerville, UT / $25,000

Scott Eckern / Artistic Director, California Musical Theatre / Citrus Heights, CA / $1,000

Rodney Remington / Physician, Self - Remington / Clovis, CA / $1,000

Harold Stevens / Building Contractor, Stevens Construction / Lancaster, CA / $1,200

David Payne / Self Empoyed, Muzicraft / Santa Barbara, CA / $9,550

Behrouz Younessian / Cfo, The Brass Ring Inc. / Oceanside, CA / $2,000

Robyn Evans / M.d., Self - Robyn Evans / Redlands, CA / $1,000

Todd Johnson / Dentist, Todd L Johnson Dds / Citrus Heights, CA / $1,000

Benjamin Whitesides / Principal, Orange County Logistics / Huntington Beach, CA / $1,000

Michael Freeland / Optometrist, Family Optometry Of Camarillo / Camarillo, CA / $1,000

Stuart Watt / Attorney, Amgen / Camarillo, CA / $2,500

Drew Dellenbach / Sales, Bms / Corona, CA / $1,500

K. Melton Higgins / Ceo, Ca Bapist Foundation / Fresno, CA / $1,000

Arthur Birtcher / Real Estate, Birtcher Anderson / San Juan Capistrano, CA / $1,000

Barry Magaoay / Advisor, Lee Financial Group / Kapolei, HI / $1,000

Shelley Mitchell / Owner, Strategy Micro / Laguna Hills, CA / $1,000

Brian Mendenhall / Manager, Pendum / Lake Forest, CA / $1,000

Drew Dellenbach / Sales, Bms / Corona, CA / $1,500

K. Melton Higgins / Ceo, Ca Bapist Foundation / Fresno, CA / $1,000

Arthur Birtcher / Real Estate, Birtcher Anderson / San Juan Capistrano, CA / $1,000

Don Francis / Manager, Cbs / San Ramon, CA / $2,500

Jeff Hendrickson / Manager, Legacy Professional Services / San Clemente, CA / $3,500

John Mcgaffey / Manager, Polara Engineering / Murrieta, CA / $1,000

Mike Denning / Consultant, Ernst & Young / San Clemente, CA / $3,000

Jeff Grover / Manager, Solecon / Modesto, CA / $1,000

Lu Little / Admin Asst, Rw Little Ins Agency / Los Angeles, CA / $8,500

Robert Little / Ins Agent, Rw Little Ins Agency / La, CA / $9,500

Richard Zamboni / Manufacturer, Zamboni, Co / Paramount, CA / $1,000

Donovan Cyndi / Secretary, Gaelic Electric / Santa Barbara, CA / $1,000

Calvary Bible Church / Bakersfield, CA / $2,255

Donn Crummer / Real Estate Mgmt, Crummer Realty Mgmt Group / Santa Ynez, CA / $1,000

Ronald Smith / Professor, Biola University / San Bernardino, CA / $1,000

Helen Boltz / Chemical Plant Manager, Tressidewl-kirley / Mesa, AZ / $5,000

Myron Randall / Computer Programmer, Firemans Fund / Penngrove, CA / $1,000

Dave Barlow / Real Estate Broker, Barlow Williams Realty / Camarillo, CA / $1,000

Bohl, Nixon & Schoneman / Ventura, CA / $2,000

Jon Van Woerkom / Attorney, Aig / Roseville, CA / $1,001

Orion Wood / Consultant, Orion Wood Consulting / Newark, CA / $2,500

Frank Johnson / Engineer, Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center / Oxnard, CA / $1,000

Robert Frost / Project Manager, Ace Hardware / Clayton, CA / $1,000

Patrick Fitzgerald / Cpa, Pricewaterhouse Coopers Llp / Mission Viejo, CA / $2,000

Jon Hickman / Investment Analyst, Mdb Capital / Pleasant Hills, CA / $1,000

Scott Letellier / Sports Executive, Big League Dreams Usa, Llc / Palos Verdes Estate, CA / $1,500

Sally Lee / Vp Media, Guthy-renker Corp. / Los Angeles, CA / $1,000

John Warren / Cpa, John Warren Cpa / Uniah, CA / $1,000

Dan Lang / Attorney, J.d. Lang & Associates / Westlake Village, CA /

$1,000

Kelley Ivancovich / Farmer, Ivancovich Farms / Porterville, CA / $1,500

Alan Colledge / M.d ., Central Utah Clinic / Lindon, UT / $1,000

John Griffiths / Orthodontist, John C. Griffiths, Dds, Mds, Pc / Las Vegas, NV / $1,000

Darren Wight / Finance, Insight Health Corp / Laguna Niguel, CA / $1,500

Dana Del Francia / Ceo, Bullet Freight Systems / Anaheim, CA / $1,000

America Francis / Apartment Manager, Spieker Companies / San Ramon, CA / $2,000

Bruce Higginson / President, Awc / Garden Grove, CA / $2,001

Brian Gibson / Operations Manager, Hewlett-packard

/ Antelop, CA / $1,000

Jennifer Johnson / Manager, Coraticum Asset Mgt. / Holladay, UT / $2,500

Mark Lindgren / Pilot, Fedex / San Luis Obispo, CA / $5,000

Thomas Brasher / Insurance, Brashers Insurance Svc. / Newcastle, CA / $2,500

Jeff Nelson / Tech Support, Shields, Harper & Co. / Vacaville, CA / $1,800

David Knowles / Insurance, David Knowles Insurance / Sacramento, CA /

$1,000

Jon Iverson / Cpa, Jon Iverson, Cpa / San Jose, CA / $5,000

Michael Schield / Manager, Orpor, Inc. / Laguna Woods, CA / $2,500

Eric Schwarz / Consultant, Omni Management / Thousand Oaks, CA / $2,000

Roman Catholic Bishop / Sacramento, CA / $1,000

Schmoekel Insurance Agency, Inc / Sacramento, CA / $1,000

Eugene Van Zee / Pastor, Faith Community Church / San Jacinto, CA / $1,064

Travis Clawson / Potato Processor, Joy Foods / Laguna Beach, CA / $1,000

Aldric Porter / Co-producer, Columbia Pictures / Santa Rosa Valley, CA / $5,000

Richard Jordan / Professional, Natural Success International / Laguna Niguel, CA / $25,000

Anne Weaver / Rn, Kaiser Sand Teresa Hospital / San Jose, CA / $1,000

Janet Smith / Interior Design, Labelle Maisor / Altadena, CA / $1,000

Kevin Riches / Business Owner, Self - Riches Group / Portola Valley, CA /

$1,000

Stephen Taylor / Financial Advisor, Bank Of The West / Sacramento, CA /

$1,000

Robert Pratt / Attorney, State Of Ca. / Woodland, CA / $1,000

Susan B. Jones / Psychotherapist, Susan B. Jones, L.c.s.w. / Yuba City, CA / $5,000

Gregory Clark / Consultant, Cirrus Financial / Dublin, CA / $21,500

William Orlando / Manager, Aes Ins. / Concord, CA / $1,000

Ross Biesinger / Financial Advisor, Morgan Stanley / Palm Desert, CA / $1,000

Lise Dimartino / Teacher, Lammersvill School District / Tracy, CA / $1,000

Friends Of Ron Packard / Carlsbad, CA / $5,000

Pam Peterson / Executive, Folsom Lake Ford / Granite Bay, CA / $1,000

Iris Marshall / Designer, Hyundai Kia / Laguna Hills, CA / $1,000

Carole Waite / Teacher, Los Angeles Usd / Huntington Park, CA / $10,000

Karen Cooper / Tech, C.h.w. / Riverside, CA / $1,000

Meghann Pricer / Project Director, Century Group / Los Angeles, CA / $1,000

Kristine Kiser / Accountant, Kristine M. Kiser, Cpa / Mission Viejo, CA / $1,500

Eric Chen / Research, Ucla / Los Angeles, CA / $1,000

Thomas Butler / Real Estate, Fortress Investments / American Fork, UT / $1,000

Fang Lu / Engineer, Broadcom / Rowland Heights, CA / $5,000

Cay Pooley / Accountant, Mosaic / San Luis Obispo, CA / $1,350

David Paxman / Teacher, Byu / Provo, UT / $1,000

Tracy Pickett / Executive Support, Ladera Integrators / Mountain View, CA / $3,000

Garth Pickett / Accounting, Ladera Integrators / Mountain View, CA / $3,000

Richard Marshall / Veterinarian, Sutter Institute For Med. Resrch / El Dorado Hills, CA / $1,000

Angela Li / Software Engineer, Yahoo!, Inc. / San Mateo, CA / $1,300

Bruce Jensen / Engineer, Raytheon Co. / Goleta, CA / $1,250

Linda Reeve / Landscape Design, Self- Linda Reeve / Alamo, CA / $9,500

Ca State Council Knights/columbus / Fontana, CA / $8,889

Lasco Enterprises / Spring Valley, CA / $1,000

David Pace / President, High Valley Construction / Villa Park, CA / $1,000

Calvary Chapel Mission Fund / El Centro, CA / $2,000

High Valley Construction Co, Inc / Anaheim, CA / $1,000

Central Christian Church / Lancaster, CA / $2,490

Larry La Monica / Property Manager, La Monica Properties / Carson City, CA / $1,000

James Lee / Pharmacist, Yorba Linda Pharmacy / Anaheim, CA / $1,000

William Albert / Developer, Sares-regis Group / Irvine, CA / $1,000

William Wilson / Dentist, William G Wilson Dds / Modesto, CA / $1,000

Lisa Call / Teacher, Los Altos School District / Los Gatos, CA / $1,000

Brad Zimmerman / Grading Contractor, Quest Engineering / Tustin, CA / $2,500

Sharleen Peterson / Research Clerk, Bank Of America / Alhambra, CA / $1,000

Paul Manwaring / Ces Coordinator, Ces Seminars/institutes / Twin Falls, ID / $1,800

Linda Williams /Cpa, Ristau & Co Inc Cpas / Turlock, CA / $1,000

Keith Rowbotham / Tradebinder, Allied Binding Co / Corona, CA / $1,000

Robyn Robinson / Insurance Broker, Self - Robyn Robinson / San Juan Capistrano, CA / $1,000

Kenneth Woolley / Ceo, Extra Space Inc. / Salt Lake City, CA / $5,000

Angie Crosby / Teacher, Anaheim City School District / Newport Beach, CA / $1,000

Melanie Jensen / Insurance Broker, Sheppard & Assoc. / Orangevale, CA / $1,000

Tevita Piutau / Contractor, Self - Tevita Piutau / Ontario, CA / $3,300

Ralph Ogden / Attorney, Law Offices Of Ralph C. Ogden / Modesto, CA /
$1,000

Sarah Pack / Therapist, Emq Children And Family Services / San Jose, CA / $2,000

Neal Proctor / Appraiser, Appraisal Net / Folsom, CA / $3,000

William Obryant / Director, Unitedhealthcare / Mission Viejo, CA / $1,000

Hierbert Gillespie / Attorney, Gillespie Law Office / Roosevelt, UT / $1,000

Steven Olsen / Psi Network, Inc, President / Laguna Niguel, CA / $24,999

David M. Fenn / Contractor, Fenn-robbins Homes / Lake Arrowhead, CA / $1,000

Daniel F. Johnson Forensic Services / Canyon Country, CA / $1,000

Ashcraft Design / El Segundo, CA / $1,000

Keven D. Oreilly / Physician, Dr. Kevin Oreilly / Redlands, CA / $1,000

Eric Fors / Comm. Loan Underwriter, Bank Of America / S. Pasadena, CA /
$1,000

Jeremie D. Mckee / Mngr., Npc / Corona, CA / $1,000

Robert C. Van Sweden / Finance, Gfi Energy Ventures / Santa Monica, CA / $1,000

Bradley E. Haag / R.e. Appraiser, Appraisal Solutions / Lehi, UT / $2,000

Daniel E. Burgoyne / Mngr., Ca Dgs / Folsom, CA / $1,000

Matthew Perona / Acct., Price Waterhouse Coopers / Concord, CA / $1,500

What you don't know about biofuels

maestro — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:12:30 +0000

The figure emphatically contradicts the US government's claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises...

Senior development sources believe the report, completed in April, has not been published to avoid embarrassing President George Bush.

"It would put the World Bank in a political hot-spot with the White House," said one yesterday.

Why are we still protecting him?

read more

Obama has already alienated the Palestinian lobby

maestro — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:32:07 +0000

By distancing himself from some old Clintonites like Robert Malley, and getting cozy with 'democratic neocons' like Rahm Emanuel, Dennis Ross and Martin Indyk, Obama has already made up his mind: no love for Palestine. If we don't start leaning on the Obama administration really hard, we will wake up next year with a foreign policy agenda that is even further right than Bill Clinton's was - i.e., no change at all.

read more

Rahm Emanuel - Zionist Warmonger?

maestro — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:19:43 +0000

In his own words:

We should reform and strengthen multilateral institutions ... by 100,000 more troops. We must protect our homeland and civil liberties by creating a new domestic counterterrorism force like Britain's MI5.

full story:

What are Emanuel's views on war and peace? Emanuel has just supplied the answer in the form of a scrawny book co-authored with Bruce Reed, modestly entitled: The Plan: Big Ideas for America. The authors obligingly boil each of the eight parts of "The Plan" down to a single paragraph. The section which embraces all of foreign policy is entitled "A New Strategy to End the War on Terror," a heading revealing in itself since "war on terror" is the way the neocons and the Israeli Lobby currently like to frame the discussion of foreign policy. Here is the book's summary paragraph with my comments in parentheses:

"A New Strategy to Win the War on Terror"
("War on Terror," as George Soros points out, is a false metaphor used by those who would drag us into military adventures not in our interest or that of humanity.)

"We need to use all the roots of American power to make our country safe. (He begins by playing on fear.) America must lead the world's fight against the spread of evil and totalitarianism, but we must stop trying to win that battle on our own. (Messianic imperialism.) We should reform and strengthen multilateral institutions for the twenty-first century, not walk away from them. We need to fortify the military's "thin green line" around the world by adding to the U.S. Special Forces and the Marines, and by expanding the U.S. army by 100,000 more troops. (An even bigger military for the world's most powerful armed forces, a very militaristic view of the way to handle the conflicts among nations. What uses does Emanuel have in mind for those troops?) We should give our troops a new GI Bill to come home to. (More material incentives to induce the financially strapped to sign up as cannon fodder.) Finally we must protect our homeland and civil liberties by creating a new domestic counterterrorism force like Britain's MI5. (A new domestic spying operation is an obvious threat to our civil liberties; MI5 holds secret files on one in 160 adults in Britain along with files on 53,000 organizations.)

YES

maestro — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:58:49 +0000

Obama has been elected. Let's all make sure he takes office - no martial lawsies.

Holy Scheisse

maestro — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:17:16 +0000

As a result, overall U.S. credit card debt grew by 435% from 2002 to year-end 2007, from $211 billion to approximately $915 billion...
Essentially, on average, America is broke and its credit cards played a dominant role in getting there.

Making matters worse, or more widespread throughout the economy, just as with mortgage debt, credit card debt is put into pools that are then resold to investment houses, other banks and institutional investors. About 45 percent of the nation's $900-plus billion in credit card debt has been packaged into these pools, and so many companies, not just a few, are at risk of being forced out of business by credit card debt write-offs.

Paulson the Reverse Robin Hood

maestro — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 20:27:51 +0000

In point of fact, the dirty little secret of the banking industry is that it has no intention of using the money to make new loans.

Indeed, Mr. Landler’s story noted that Treasury would even funnel some of the bailout money to help banks buy other banks. And, in an almost unnoticed move, it recently put in place a new tax break, worth billions to the banking industry, that has only one purpose: to encourage bank mergers.

Yes, we all just got robbed.

Full list of gigs

maestro — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:18:40 +0000

added: Farmers Market - May 09

Seeing as I'm semi-retired, it is fitting that I post my full list of gigs. This is the more or less full list of Krister Axel gigs (minus a bunch of cameos and what-have-yous) since inception. The Molly Malone's show in November 2004 was the release of SWEXICO, in effect.

Listed from newest to oldest:

09/07/2008 10:00 AM - Santa Monica Farmers Market
2640 Main St
Santa Monica, California 90405
US
Cost:0
Description:Bring some money for cds. Fast Train will be on sale even though it’s not officially released. From 10am-1pm. ssssh don’t tell anyone. at 2640 Main St in Santa Monica (90405).

09/04/2008 08:00 PM - Knitting Factory Alterknit Lounge
7021 Hollywood Blvd, California 90028
US
Cost:N/A
Description:50 Cent Haircut also on the bill. Krister Axel - solo/unplugged show!

05/14/2008 09:00 PM - Room 5
143 N LaBrea
Los Angeles, California 90036
US
Cost:6
Description:Above Amalfi restaurant. Come on our for a full band extravaganza in honor of the Axel birthday.

05/11/2008 10:00 AM - Santa Monica Farmers’ Market
Main street
Santa Monica, California 90405
US
Cost:0
Description:3 hours of love + sunshine

09/15/2007 09:00 PM - Downtime Bar
1501 University Ave SE
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55414
US
Cost:N/A
Description:Minneapolis 55414 Downtime Bar 9pm 1501 University Ave SE http://twincities.citysearch.com/profile/44665004/minneapolis_mn/downtim...

09/15/2007 12:00 PM - New Earth
Eau Claire, WI
Eau Claire, Wisconsin 54742
US
Cost:N/A
Description:http://newearthfest.com/

09/13/2007 09:00 PM - The Weary Traveller
1201 Williamson St
Madison, Wisconsin 53703
US
Cost:N/A
Description:9/13 Madison, WI 9pm - The Weary Traveller 1201 Williamson St 53703 http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/8456

09/10/2007 01:00 PM - Kayotea
912 E. Broadway
Columbia, Missouri 65201
US
Cost:N/A
Description:9/10 Columbia, MO 1pm - Kayotea 912 E. Broadway 65201 http://www.kayotea.com/

09/08/2007 08:00 PM - Outland Ballroom
322 1/2 South Avenue
Springfield, Missouri 65806
US
Cost:N/A
Description:9/8 Springfield, MO 10pm Outland Ballroom 322 1/2 South Avenue 65806 http://upcoming.yahoo.com/venue/6149/

09/05/2007 09:15 PM - The Gig
7302 Melrose Avenue
Hollywood, California 90046
US
Cost:N/A
Description:Come help Krister Axel win a nomination for the 2007 L.A. Music Awards.

09/02/2007 11:00 AM - Santa Monica Farmers’ Market
santa monica, California 90401
US
Cost:N/A
Description:food, coffee and sunshine... and lots of beautiful babies!

08/04/2007 09:30 PM - Room 5
143 N La Brea
Los Angeles, California 90036
US
Cost:6
Description:We are welcoming Rheanna Downey back from her tour of Australia. Come on out for some new songs by Krister Axel and some Rheanna love.

04/19/2007 08:00 PM - Knitting Factory - Front Room
7021 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood, California 90028
US
Cost:N/A
Description:opening for Tony Furtado

04/15/2007 08:00 PM - The Talking Stick
1630 Ocean Park Blvd
Santa Monica, California 90405
US
Cost:N/A
Description:cool coffeeshop

02/01/2007 09:00 PM - Hotel Cafe
1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga Blvd
Hollywood, California 90028
US
Cost:8
Description:cd release party for ARMS AROUND THE RIVER

01/17/2007 08:00 PM - the Derby
4500 Los Feliz Blvd.
Los Feliz, California 90027
US
Cost:10
Description:The Wednesday Wild featuring... Krister Axel Exit the 55s Marisa Ynez Dhuum Machale Jha Voce discount flyer available

11/28/2006 09:00 PM - O'Briens
2941 main street
Santa Monica, California 90405
US
Cost:free
Description:songwriters on tap - w/ Krister Axel and Jay Sousa
11/25/2006 04:00 PM - Cafe International
508 Haight at Fillmore
San Francisco, California 94117
US
Cost:N/A
Description:http://www.sfstation.com/cafe-international-b1957 free afternoon show for friends and family.

08/29/2006 08:30 PM - The Mint
6010 Pcio blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90035
US
Cost:N/A

08/22/2006 08:30 PM - The Mint
6010 Pico blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90035
US
Cost:N/A

08/15/2006 08:30 PM - The Mint
6010 Pico blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90035
US
Cost:N/A

08/12/2006 09:00 PM - Room 5
143 N LaBrea
Los Angeles, CA 90036
US
Cost:N/A
Description:Benefit show to support AIDS prevention and awareness.

08/10/2006 09:00 PM - Michaels Pub
11506 Oxnard Street
NoHo, CA 91605
US
Cost:N/A
Description:cheap drinks, no cover. love it.
07/29/2006 09:00 PM - the stone
5221 Hollywood Blvd
los Angeles, CA 90027
US
Cost:N/A
Description:all night ROOTS MUSIC extravaganza

07/13/2006 09:30 PM - BRASS RAIL MUSIC SHOWCASE
3796 Fifth Ave
San Diego, CA 92103
US
Cost:0
Description:KRISTER AXEL LIVE SOLO ACOUSTIC July, 13 2006 at BRASS RAIL MUSIC SHOWCASE 3796 Fifth Ave., San Diego, 92103

06/10/2006 12:00 PM - Relay for Life
Coronado Island
San Diego, CA 92118
US
Cost:free
Description:Cancer benefit - outdoor venue. Bring on the sunshine!

06/02/2006 06:00 PM - the Lighthouse Cafe
30 Pier Avenue
Hermosa Beach, CA 90254
US
Cost:N/A
Description:party for happy hour.

05/31/2006 08:00 PM - Tribal Cafe
1651 W. Temple St
los Angeles, CA 90026
US
Cost:N/A
Description:acoustic night at this local hang out in Echo Park.

05/02/2006 10:00 PM - Crane's
1611 N. El Centro Ave
Hollywood, CA 90028
US
Cost:free before 10pm | $3 after
Description:w/ Frankie Jordan and friends. This will be a very chill scene.

04/15/2006 10:00 PM - molly malone's
575 South Fairfax Avenue
LOS ANGELES, CA 90036
US
Cost:N/A
Description:PAPER SUN going away party. This is big. Come early for Gabriel Mann at 9pm.

03/18/2006 11:00 PM - One 2 One
121 E. 5th St.
Austin, TX 78701
US
Cost:N/A
Description:SXSW

03/16/2006 12:00 PM - Opal Divine's
700 W. 6th St.
Austin, TX 78701
US
Cost:N/A
Description:JOIN AMOEBA MUSIC AT SXSW We'll kick things off with a pre-show afternoon party. Enjoy refreshments and sample sets from some of our artists and as well as a very special Gram Parsons jam fest featuring Krister Axel, Jay Nash and surprise guests.

03/04/2006 09:00 PM - Hotel Cafe
1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90028
US
Cost:N/A
Description:come out and see the full band at the Hotel on a Saturday night.

03/03/2006 08:00 PM - Loft Bar And Bistro
90 2nd Street
San Jose, CA 95113
US
Cost:free
Description:in support of 'A Colombia' by Ryan Byrne - a showcase for CINEQUEST. Also featuring Jules.

12/31/2005 09:00 PM - The Mint
6010 West Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90035
US
Cost:40
Description:w/ Chris Pierce, Tim Foster, Jay Nash

12/20/2005 11:00 PM - The Mint
6010 West Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90035
US
Cost:N/A

12/15/2005 08:00 PM - Engine Room w/ Cheyenne
1515 Pease St
Houston, TX 77002
US
Cost:N/A
Description:on tour with Cheyenne Kimball (Sony)

12/14/2005 08:00 PM - The Gypsy Tea Room w/ Cheyenne
2548 Elm Street
Deep Ellum (Dallas), TX 75226
US
Cost:N/A
Description:on tour with Cheyenne Kimball

12/11/2005 08:00 PM - Ridglea Theatre w/ Cheyenne
6025 Camp Bowie Blvd
Forth Worth, TX 76116
US
Cost:N/A
Description:playing keys with Cheyenne Kimball (Sony)

12/08/2005 08:00 PM - Sanctuary w/ Cheyenne
1812-18 Main St
San Antonio, TX 78212
US
Cost:N/A
Description:playing keys for Cheyenne Kimball (Sony)

12/01/2005 08:00 PM - The Mint
6010 West Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90035
US
Cost:N/A
Description:local residency for the Krister Axel band

11/29/2005 11:30 PM - The Mint
6010 West Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90035
US
Cost:N/A

11/25/2005 08:00 PM - Hotel Cafe
1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga Blv
hollywood, CA 90028
US
Cost:N/A

11/04/2005 09:00 PM - Binion's Casino
128 E. Fremont St.
Las Vegas, NV 89101
US
Cost:N/A
Description:DivrCity production by Pacific Arts Collective. more info at http://www.pacificartcollective.com/divrscity.htm

10/29/2005 11:00 PM - Room 5
143 N La Brea
los angeles, CA 90036
US
Cost:N/A
Description:w/ Shawn Pander

09/04/2005 08:30 PM - the Mint
6010 West Pico Blvd
LOS ANGELES, CA 90035
US
Cost:N/A

06/26/2005 10:30 PM - The Viper Room
8852 Sunset Blvd
west hollywood, CA 90069
US
Cost:N/A
Description:Kaleidosound event / Can of Jam productions

06/25/2005 04:00 PM - the Lighthouse Cafe
30 pier ave 120 S. 9th Street
hermosa beach, CA 90254
US
Cost:N/A
Description:party all day...

06/12/2005 10:00 PM - the House of Blues Foundation Room
8430 Sunset Blvd
west hollywood, CA 90069
US
Cost:N/A
Description:Soul Satisfaction

06/11/2005 11:30 PM - Oasis
294 College
Toronto, M5T 1R9
CA
Cost:N/A
Description:North by Northeast Music Festival

06/04/2005 10:00 PM - Twiggs
4590 Park Blvd - University Heights
san Diego, CA 92116
US
Cost:N/A
Description:full set - w Matty D on bass, Chet on harmonica, Mike Freas on guitar and Mike Forrester on drums... i'll be playing that beat-up piano.

06/02/2005 08:30 PM - Hotel Cafe
1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga Blvd
hollywood, CA 90028
US
Cost:N/A
Description:Permanent Friday Night - cd release! I'm on at 10pm. be there...

05/21/2005 10:00 PM - Twiggs
4590 Park Blvd - University Heights
San Diego, CA 92101
US
Cost:N/A
Description:full band show!

05/15/2005 02:00 PM - St Elmo Village
4820 st elmo drive
los angeles, CA 90001
US
Cost:N/A
Description:songwriter festival

05/15/2005 11:00 AM - North Park Spring Festival
3076 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92101
US
Cost:N/A
Description:outdoor fest w/ Javier Trejo

05/14/2005 04:00 PM - The Lighthouse Cafe
30 Pier Ave. Hermosa Beach
Hermosa Beach, CA 90254
US
Cost:N/A
Description:w/ Javier Trejo

05/05/2005 09:00 PM - Octopus Lounge
180 Eureka Square Plaza
Pacifica, CA 94044
US
Cost:N/A
Description:w/ Javier Trejo

05/03/2005 08:00 PM - DiPiazza’s
5025 E. Pacific Coast Highway
Long Beach, CA 90801
US
Cost:N/A
Description:w/ Javier Trejo

05/02/2005 09:30 PM - Genghis Cohen
740 N fairfax ave
los angeles, CA 90001
US
Cost:N/A
Description:w/ Javier Trejo and Amber Rubarth
04/30/2005 09:00 PM - Room 5
143 N La Brea
los angeles, CA 90001
Cost:N/A
Description:Krister Axel & Friends with Javier Trejo from Minneapolis and others TBA

04/28/2005 09:00 PM - Mike’s Tavern
5424 Troost 5424 Troost
Kansas City, MO 64101
US
Cost:N/A
Description:on the road w/ LOONER

04/27/2005 09:00 PM - The Gypsy
402 W Dickson St
Fayetteville, AR 72701
US
Cost:N/A
Description:on the road w/ LOONER

04/26/2005 09:00 PM - Music Cafe
120 S. 9th Street 120 S. 9th Street
Columbia, MO 65201
US
Cost:N/A
Description:on the road w/ LOONER

04/24/2005 10:00 PM - Big Daddy’s Sports Bar & Grill
313 W Dickson St
Fayetteville, AR 72701
US
Cost:N/A
Description:on the road w/ LOONER

04/22/2005 09:00 PM - The 5 Spot
1006 Forrest Ave
Nashville, TN 37201
US
Cost:N/A
Description:on the road w/ LOONER

04/13/2005 11:00 PM - Brittania Pub
318 Santa Monica Blvd
Santa Monica, CA , CA
Cost:N/A
Description:two sets a block from the ocean. The last show at Brittania was amazing. We're doing a residency here this summer.

04/07/2005 09:30 PM - The Knitting Factory
7021 Hollywood Blvd 7021 Hollywood Blvd 7021 hollywood blvd
hollywood, CA 90027
Cost:N/A
Description:sponsored by Kingfinger Productions and Fe Records

04/02/2005 10:00 PM - Twiggs
4590 Park Blvd - University Heights
San Diego, CA 92116
Cost:N/A
03/20/2005 08:00 PM - Hotel Cafe
1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga Blvd
los angeles, CA 90067
Cost:N/A
Description:I'm opening up for Paper Sun! And we're going to do all of the old Paper Sun with Krister Axel faves... Brooklyn, Tragic, Ordinary... good times. you should go.

03/09/2005 11:00 PM - Brittania Pub
318 Santa Monica Blvd
Santa Monica, CA , CA 90401
Cost:N/A
Description:two hours of lovemaking.

03/06/2005 09:00 PM - Hotel Utah
500 4th street
San Francisco, CA 94101
Cost:N/A
Description:w/ my friends in Saucy Monky - sexy rock chicks!

03/05/2005 09:00 PM - Opaline (NYC)
85 Ave A
NYC, NY 10009
Cost:N/A
Description:85 Ave A New York, NY 10009 Cross Street: East Sixth Street Phone: (212) 995-8684

02/20/2005 09:30 PM - the Viper Room
8852 Sunset blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90069
Cost:N/A
Description:check us out at the Viper Room, I love this stage

02/12/2005 07:00 PM - Farmer's Market
3rd street and Fairfax (6333 West Third Street)
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Cost:free
Description:free outdoor show

02/06/2005 10:00 PM - Twiggs
4590 Park Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92116
Cost:N/A
Description:gig with full band... we're following up on our CTN cable broadcast in January. san diego rocks

01/27/2005 11:45 PM - the Derby
4500 Los Feliz blvd
Los Feliz, CA 90027
Cost:$10
Description:http://www.the-derby.com/

01/15/2005 06:00 PM - Convention Center - LA AUTO SHOW
S. Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015
Cost:N/A
Description:LA AUTO SHOW on a saturday - kick ass!

12/30/2004 07:30 PM - Harvelle's
1432 Fourth St
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Cost:N/A
Description:Songwriter showcase

12/21/2004 10:30 PM - Room 5
143 N LaBrea
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Cost:N/A
Description:Benefit concert for Saint Jude's

12/19/2004 09:30 PM - Goldfinger's
6423 Yucca St
Hollywood, CA 90028
Cost:$5
Description:I'll be opening up for my good friends in the band LOONER who are just getting back from their first U.S. tour. It will just be me on acoustic guitar trying out some new songs in the cadillac of ghetto dive bars, the legendary Goldfinger's....

11/20/2004 10:15 PM - Hotel Utah
500 Fourth Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
Cost:N/A
Description:http://www.thehotelutahsaloon.com/

11/11/2004 10:30 PM - Molly Malone's
575 South Fairfax Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Cost:N/A
Description:local music festival - w/ Jay Nash, AM, Bart Ryan, Suzy's Parlour and Krister Axel

Congress members that don't suck

maestro — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:04:35 +0000

The 22 House members who have already signed on as co-sponsors of Kucinich's Cheney impeachment resolution are: Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Maxine Waters D-CA), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Lynn Woolsey D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Albert Wynn (D-MD), William Lacy Clay (D-MO), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Jim McDermott (D-WA), Jim Moran (D-VA), Bob Filner (D-CA), Sam Farr (D-CA), Robert Brady (D-PA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Donald Payne (D-NJ), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI), Ed Towns (D-NY), Diane Watson (D-CA), and Danny Davis (D-IL).

read more: link

Of course, Nancy Pelosi has done everything in her power to protect Bush, so that puts her at top of of the list of Congress members that deserve to be labeled terr'ists and put on trial - after we impeach Darth Shotgun and then, of course, the Decider himself.

'Clean Coal' does not exist

maestro — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:02:25 +0000

Sadly, even Barack is drinking the Kool-Aid on this one:

" I say this based on my experience as the former head of the TVA, which bought and burned more than 30 million tons of coal a year. I was deeply involved in the strip mining, underground mining, trucking, and most importantly, the burning of huge quantities of coal. No one who has been deeply involved with coal can rightfully say it is clean. ”

—S. David Freeman in "Winning Our Energy Independence: An Energy Insider Shows How"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_coal

Homeland Troop Deployment

maestro — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 08:10:12 +0000

The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.

Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home.

Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.

The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use "the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.

Naomi Wolf is calling it a coup:
watch

Read the whole story (link):

Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1

3rd Infantry’s 1st BCT trains for a new dwell-time mission. Helping ‘people at home’ may become a permanent part of the active Army
By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Sep 30, 2008 16:16:12 EDT

The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.

Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home.

It is not the first time an active-duty unit has been tapped to help at home. In August 2005, for example, when Hurricane Katrina unleashed hell in Mississippi and Louisiana, several active-duty units were pulled from various posts and mobilized to those areas.

But this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

After 1st BCT finishes its dwell-time mission, expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one.

"Right now, the response force requirement will be an enduring mission. How the [Defense Department] chooses to source that and whether or not they continue to assign them to NorthCom, that could change in the future,” said Army Col. Louis Vogler, chief of NorthCom future operations. "Now, the plan is to assign a force every year.”

The command is at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., but the soldiers with 1st BCT, who returned in April after 15 months in Iraq, will operate out of their home post at Fort Stewart, Ga., where they’ll be able to go to school, spend time with their families and train for their new homeland mission as well as the counterinsurgency mission in the war zones.

Stop-loss will not be in effect, so soldiers will be able to leave the Army or move to new assignments during the mission, and the operational tempo will be variable.

Don’t look for any extra time off, though. The at-home mission does not take the place of scheduled combat-zone deployments and will take place during the so-called dwell time a unit gets to reset and regenerate after a deployment.

The 1st of the 3rd is still scheduled to deploy to either Iraq or Afghanistan in early 2010, which means the soldiers will have been home a minimum of 20 months by the time they ship out.

In the meantime, they’ll learn new skills, use some of the ones they acquired in the war zone and more than likely will not be shot at while doing any of it.

They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.

Training for homeland scenarios has already begun at Fort Stewart and includes specialty tasks such as knowing how to use the "jaws of life” to extract a person from a mangled vehicle; extra medical training for a CBRNE incident; and working with U.S. Forestry Service experts on how to go in with chainsaws and cut and clear trees to clear a road or area.

The package is for use only in war-zone operations, not for any domestic purpose.

"It’s a new modular package of nonlethal capabilities that they’re fielding. They’ve been using pieces of it in Iraq, but this is the first time that these modules were consolidated and this package fielded, and because of this mission we’re undertaking we were the first to get it.”

The package includes equipment to stand up a hasty road block; spike strips for slowing, stopping or controlling traffic; shields and batons; and, beanbag bullets.

"I was the first guy in the brigade to get Tasered,” said Cloutier, describing the experience as "your worst muscle cramp ever — times 10 throughout your whole body.

"I’m not a small guy, I weigh 230 pounds ... it put me on my knees in seconds.”

The brigade will not change its name, but the force will be known for the next year as a CBRNE Consequence Management Response Force, or CCMRF (pronounced "sea-smurf”).

"I can’t think of a more noble mission than this,” said Cloutier, who took command in July. "We’ve been all over the world during this time of conflict, but now our mission is to take care of citizens at home ... and depending on where an event occurred, you’re going home to take care of your home town, your loved ones.”

While soldiers’ combat training is applicable, he said, some nuances don’t apply.

"If we go in, we’re going in to help American citizens on American soil, to save lives, provide critical life support, help clear debris, restore normalcy and support whatever local agencies need us to do, so it’s kind of a different role,” said Cloutier, who, as the division operations officer on the last rotation, learned of the homeland mission a few months ago while they were still in Iraq.

Some brigade elements will be on call around the clock, during which time they’ll do their regular marksmanship, gunnery and other deployment training. That’s because the unit will continue to train and reset for the next deployment, even as it serves in its CCMRF mission.

Should personnel be needed at an earthquake in California, for example, all or part of the brigade could be scrambled there, depending on the extent of the need and the specialties involved.
Other branches included

The active Army’s new dwell-time mission is part of a NorthCom and DOD response package.

Active-duty soldiers will be part of a force that includes elements from other military branches and dedicated National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Teams.

A final mission rehearsal exercise is scheduled for mid-September at Fort Stewart and will be run by Joint Task Force Civil Support, a unit based out of Fort Monroe, Va., that will coordinate and evaluate the interservice event.

In addition to 1st BCT, other Army units will take part in the two-week training exercise, including elements of the 1st Medical Brigade out of Fort Hood, Texas, and the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade from Fort Bragg, N.C.

There also will be Air Force engineer and medical units, the Marine Corps Chemical, Biological Initial Reaction Force, a Navy weather team and members of the Defense Logistics Agency and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

One of the things Vogler said they’ll be looking at is communications capabilities between the services.

"It is a concern, and we’re trying to check that and one of the ways we do that is by having these sorts of exercises. Leading up to this, we are going to rehearse and set up some of the communications systems to make sure we have interoperability,” he said.

"I don’t know what America’s overall plan is — I just know that 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there are soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines that are standing by to come and help if they’re called,” Cloutier said. "It makes me feel good as an American to know that my country has dedicated a force to come in and help the people at home.”

———
Correction:

A non-lethal crowd control package fielded to 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, described in the original version of this story, is intended for use on deployments to the war zone, not in the U.S., as previously stated

things that make you go - what?

maestro — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 06:12:22 +0000

January 2008: Countrywide Financial bank collapses (assets US$ 172 billion)

March 2008: Investment bank Bear Stearns (assets for $399 billion) collapses and is acquired by JPMorgan Chase through a FED-funded credit for $ 30 billion. On March 7, the FED offers up to $ 200 billion in 28-day loans to banks and large financial institutions. On March 11, the FED offers investment banks up to $200 billion in Treasury Securities in exchange for mortgage-backed securities. On March 21st, the European Central Bank offered up to $ 24 billion in loans to help banks shore up balance sheets. The Bank of England in turn offers up to $ 10 billion in loans.

April 2008: Commercial bank IndyMac Bancorp collapses (assets for $32.3 billion). German bank DÃ¼sseldorfer Hypotheken Bank (assets for $ 42.5 billion) collapses. July 2008: UK bank Alliance & Leicester (assets for $153.40 billion) collapses. Danish bank Roskilde Bank (assets for $ 7.9 billion) collapses.

7 September 2008: The US's two largest mortgage agencies - Freddie Mac (assetsts for $ 879 billion) and Fannie Mae (assets for $ 885.9 billion) are taken over by the FED, at a direct cost of $ 200 billion, and the US Government now owns their $ 5.4 trillion combined debt

15 September 2008: The US's fourth largest investment bank, Lehman Brothers (assets for $ 966.2 billion) collapses. At the same time, investment bank Merrill Lynch (assets for $ 639.4 billion) is bailed out by Bank of America at a cost of $ 50 billion (unofficially funded by the FED, considering Bank of America did not have funds for such an acquisition)

16 September 2008: The central banks of the US, European Union UK, Japan, Switzerland and Canada set up a $ 180 billion emergency currency swap fund

17 September 2008: The largest insurance company in the US and the world, American International Group (AIG) (assets for $ 1.050 trillion), is nationalized 80% by the FED at a cost of $ 85 billion. The decision to salvage this insurance company (a decision that should have been taken by State insurance commissioners, not the FED) lies in the fact that it would have dragged down key banks like Goldman Sachs. This explains why Goldman's CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein, was the only Wall Street banker invited to participate in the last minute bail-out talks by FED governor Bernard B. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Notably, before becoming George W Bush's Treasury Secretary in June 2006, Paulson was CEO of Goldman Sachs, at which time he was replaced by Blankfein.

19 September 2008: Henry Paulson, Bernard Shalom Bernanke and Christopher Cox (chairman of the Securities & Exchange Commission - SEC) submitted to Congress an urgent 3-page Bail-out Plan (similar in style to Argentina's "financial armouring" of December 2000 which paved the way for 2001's total financial meltdown), to the tune of $ 700 billion which is supposed to stop further banking and financial failures in the US and worldwide. The urgency of the matter could be read in their panicky faces and the bill crashed in the House of Representative which rejected it on 22-Sept-08. It has since then grown to a 450-page dossier, now approved by the Senate and being resubmitted to the House.

Paulson and Bernanke seek "superpowers" from Congress, similar to the ones that former economy minister Domingo Cavallo wrenched from Argentina's Congress in 2001, which led to total collapse. In various declarations, president George W Bush stressed time and again the dire situation of this "national emergency". When asked how the amount of $ 700 billion was arrived at, Bernanke replied that it represents 5% (!!!) of mortgages that have become non-performing. Independent analysts, however, reckon that this 5% is insufficient to cover all bail-outs and that we need to look at 10, 15 or 20 percent of non-performing mortgages, which would turn bail-out figures into unfathomable amounts. Rejection of the bail-out plan on "Bloody Monday" led to a collapse of the Dow Jones Industrial Index by 778 points (more than 7%) and a 16% fall for financial institutions. Not surprisingly, in their 21st September edition the London newspaper "The Daily Telegraph" pointed out that we may be edging towards a US Government default on its entire $ 13.5 trillion debt.

The two remaining investment banks still considered to be "healthy" - i.e., prestigious Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley - decided to voluntarily become commercial banks, and thus accept greater regulatory scrutiny. Meanwhile and as a transitory emergency measure, financier Warren Buffet took a $ 5 billion stake in Goldman Sachs to help it become "more healthy", a clear indication of just how critical the situation is.

22 September 2008: After a strange period of silence regarding its situation as a major bank, CitiGroup finally appeared on the scene helping to engineer two bank bail-outs: Washington Mutual Savings & Loan (the largest thrift in the US with assets for $ 309.7 billion), and Wachovia Bank (assets for $ 812.4 billion), although Wachovia is having second thoughts and may strike a deal with Wells Fargo.

September 22nd to 30th: The contagion crosses the Atlantic sending Europe into a crisis with a series of domino-like bank collapses:

Fortis (France-Belgium banking and insurance consortium with assets of $ 1.533 billion) is bailed out by the governments of Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg Bradford & Bigley, major UK Savings & Loans association is rescued by the Spanish Santander Group at a cost of $ 30 billion, assets: $ 104 billion, Hypo Real Estate AG, a German bank bailed out by the government at a cost of $ 50 billion - with assets for $ 622.2 billion, Dexia - another Franco-Belgian bank rescued by their respective governments - Price tag: $ 9.2 billion - assets $ 913 billion, Glitnir (a major Icelandic bank nationalized 75% by the government at a cost of $ 900 billion; assets for $ 48.9 billion). Clearly, these amounts are truly staggering as in their aggregate they are greater than the United States' Gross Domestic Product, which gives a taste of things to come, considering that rumors of further banks failures on both sides of the Atlantic still continue: UniCredit, a pan-European bank based in Italy, which owns the German HypoVereinsbank and the Bank Austria.

UBS based in Zurich, Switzerland, and National City Corporation, Downey Financial Corporation and Sovereign Bancorp, of the United States - all these and more have high risk exposures to "toxic" mortgage securities, to use the charming term coined by Bernanke from the FED... Lastly, major press media and international analysts insist that the bill for these bail-outs will fall on "US Taxpayers" through future tax hikes. This is clearly only a half-truth. The full truth is that, as far as the US is concerned, the bulk of these bail-outs will be paid with even more uncontrolled monetary emission by the FED, which will further erode the value of the Dollar. In short, the cost for this disaster will be paid by companies, governments and individuals who have US-Dollar denominated assets throughout the world, and not just by the "American Taxpayers".
more info

Those Lying Eyes

maestro — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:28:11 +0000

All the lies from the McCain/Palin campaign, debunked in one handy place.

Say it isn't so.

No Banker Left Behind

maestro — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 18:02:56 +0000

Credit losses of $2 trillion, half the US banking system nationalized, municipal defaults, house price declines accelerating, a sudden stop in consumer spending, global contagion, stagflation, you name it.


Roubini concludes: "At this point the perfect financial storm of the century cannot be contained. The only light at the end of the tunnel is the one of the coming financial and economic train wreck."

in case you didn't see it already

maestro — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:00:00 +0000

The SNL spoof of Palin + Clinton. Priceless.

ok, last one

maestro — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:22:54 +0000

No more posts for today, but this is interesting.

From GrizzlyBay.org, here are the top 14 things you should know about Palin:

1) She is opposed to abortion even in cases of rape and incest (even if victims are children)

2) She offered a bounty of $150 for each left front leg of freshly killed wolves

3) She is presently under investigation in Alaska for abuse of power

4) She strongly supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

5) She promotes aerial hunting of wolves and bears even though Alaskans voted twice to ban the practice

6) She used $400,000 of state money to fund a propaganda campaign in support of aerial hunting

7) She is a champion for big oil and her campaign slogan has become "Drill, baby, drill!"

8) She believes creationism should be taught in public schools

9) She believes man-made global warming is a farce

10) She is opposed to listing the polar bear as an endangered species because it might limit oil exploitation

11) While mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire the city librarian because the librarian refused to censor books

12) She supports the Alaskan Independence Party which seeks independence from the United States

13) As mayor of Wasilla, she made rape victims pay for their own forensic evidence kits

14) She obtained her first passport just last year (2007)

video post from the 'Anti-Palin' rally in Anchorage

maestro — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:07:35 +0000

Apparently this was a legendary turn-out for a political rally in Anchorage.

from mudflats.wordpress

Another good article to read

maestro — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:58:09 +0000

At the core of it, the seed from which the poison fruit has grown, are the tax cuts. Do tax cuts actually stimulate the economy? Vast sums of money have gone into creating that myth. Major intellectual industries have been created and sustained to sell that story.

By Larry Beinhart (read more here)

you should read this

admin — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:32:45 +0000

if you are thinking about voting for McCain.

In 1999 McCain attached a rider to the Defense Appropriations bill that would have permanently transferred to the Pentagon 7.2 million acres of federal wildlife refuge land managed by the BLM and the Fish and Wildlife Service, where they would become used as a bombing range and a testing ground for a new generation of missiles. McCain's rider exempted the military from conducting any environmental review of its programs.

Calling Bullshit on Sarah 'Fake Picture' Palin

maestro — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:22:57 +0000

I've got to call bullshit on this one.

Media swoon over Palin's fiery speech - my ass!

Update - read this to see how Sarah 'BS' Palin nudged the facts around - a LOT.

More like Partisan Propaganda Machine Reaches New Fury over Unlikely VP Candidate.

Puh-lease. If you read that silly yahoo article, you see funny things like this:

Right-wing radio host Laura Ingraham agreed, telling Fox’s Greta Van Susteren that it was the "night conservatives have been waiting for.”

Ingraham continued with high praise: "It’s one of the best political speeches I have heard — ever!"

Personally, I'm much more a fan of Kucinich's speech. A statement like that is really just ignorant. A half-term governor talks about 'clean coal' and being a 'hockey mom' and the right goes into seizures. Can no-one smell the shit anymore?

Here's a real speech - you know, one that talks about real issues + stuff:

ps, that photo is a fake.

check it out

i love this site

admin — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:20:27 +0000

Go to http://www.informationclearinghouse.info if you want to read some real news.

Texas school district to let teachers carry guns

maestro — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:27:43 +0000

Yup, you read right. We are living in the twilight zone.

"We have a lock-down situation, we have cameras, but the question we had to answer is, 'What if somebody gets in? What are we going to do?" he said. "It's just common sense."

RAWRing

maestro — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:47:58 +0000

There is so much slang out there, I love it. I eat this stuff up. From the same demographic that brought you 'pwning', I give you:

RAWR - (to scream)

as in:

Nevertheless I will survive. And throwing lots of tantrums. And rawring. And ice creaming…

...perhaps you can specify which you meant before RAWRing at each other.

...metal and screaming/rawring plz can u give me sum pointers on how to do it better?

above quotes pulled randomly from google

Basically, it's sort of a respelling of 'Roaring' except it seems to have a bit of a 'griping' connotation. As in, screaming for the purposes of expressing dissatisfaction.

Getting ready for climate change

maestro — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:47:09 +0000

Less ice, more heat. Let's all remember that it's the SUV drivers that did this to us. :)

Our police state

maestro — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 18:58:29 +0000

Just in case you haven't seen this already, this is a Critical Mass cyclist getting body checked by a police officer.

Next Monday at Room 5

maestro — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:20:11 +0000

I have not been performing a whole lot lately, I'm in the studio doing my thing. Next week will be a rare solo gig for me.

Writers in the round at Room 5.
http://room5lounge.com
Monday, July 28th featuring:

Krister Axel
Joel Eckels
Kori Withers
Jay Souza

Be there at 9pm, you won't be sorry.

That's not funny.

maestro — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:40:30 +0000

Get this:

[Bush], who has been condemned throughout his presidency for failing to tackle climate change, ended a private meeting with the words: "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter."

He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of those present including Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock.

Mr Bush, whose second and final term as President ends at the end of the year, then left the meeting at the Windsor Hotel in Hokkaido where the leaders of the world's richest nations had been discussing new targets to cut carbon emissions.

One official who witnessed the extraordinary scene said afterwards: "Everyone was very surprised that he was making a joke about America's record on pollution."

Mr Bush also faced criticism at the summit after Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, was described in the White House press pack given to journalists as one of the "most controversial leaders in the history of a country known for government corruption and vice".

The White House apologised for what it called "sloppy work" and said an official had simply lifted the characterisation from the internet without reading it.

Concluding the three-day event, leaders from the G8 and developing countries proclaimed a "shared vision" on climate change. However, they failed to bridge differences between rich and emerging nations on curbing emissions.

lifted from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/2277298/President-George-Bush-...

By Robert Winnett, Deputy Political Editor and Urmee Khan (Telegraph.co.uk)

Just in case you are not convinced that McSame is a jackass

maestro — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:09:33 +0000

You might want to read this. John McCain + presidency == more PNAC tomfoolery.

link here.

I love this

maestro — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:50:59 +0000

A spoof on the Mac vs. PC controversy. It is possible that this is only amusing for computer geeks. I just love making fun of Bill Gates.

Live at Room 5 - I'm the Gun

maestro — Sun, 25 May 2008 20:40:06 +0000

Here's a clip from my birthday show a little while ago.

Our Debtor Nation

maestro — Fri, 16 May 2008 00:59:46 +0000

To fund cumulative budget deficits, the government has borrowed a total of $5 trillion from the public as of the end of fiscal year 2007. The government has also borrowed excess annual cash flows from the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds and similar funds to finance other government cost. Including interest, the government owes $4 trillion to these funds, which is backed by the full faith and credit of the government, resulting in total federal debt of $9 trillion.

This has all happened very recently. This is the raw document - check it out.

Keith Olbermann for President

maestro — Fri, 16 May 2008 00:03:04 +0000

I'm serious. Move over Barack. You must watch this.

Stinkiest president ever

maestro — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:24:55 +0000

A new record for sustained disappointment. According to ABC/WaPo polling, Bush is now the president with the longest period served without a majority of the public approving of the job he did. It has now been 39 months since Bush was last above 50% in approval, besting Harry Truman's old record of 38 months.

read more

We have passed into the twilight zone. Nancy Pelosi - tell me again why impeachment is off the table?

Bob Dylan Festival 2008

maestro — Thu, 08 May 2008 20:29:18 +0000

We were joined by my friends Jay and Bosco of 50 Cent Haircut who I sat in with on piano for their rendition of Watching The River Flow.

Krister Axel performs Baby Let Me Follow You Down.


This is a fun event put on by my friends Andy Hill and Renee Safier. Last year it was a blast.

Got gigs? How about some Farmers' cheese?

admin — Mon, 05 May 2008 18:27:42 +0000

These days, I do stealth gigs. You never see it coming, it feels more natural that way. You know, you just make some phone calls a few days out and cross your fingers.

After all these years, I just never really got the response from handing out flyers a few months in advance that I was looking for. It is a very Los Angeles thing to do, handing out little pocket flyers to everyone in the club on the weekends literally 8-10 weeks in advance of your show, the idea being that said flyer sort of ends up on a fridge or a coffee-table somewhere, sending out ripples of free viral advertising. I don't buy it. I think that rather, what happens is people resent the intrusion subconsciously, and have a number of weeks to feel increasingly guilty about the fact that they (somewhat irrationally) resent the idea of committing themselves to a course of action so far in advance. This mental process continues logically to the point where even if they are free, they don't want to go out as much because they at some point classified the event as a non-option. That's my 2 cents worth of amateur psychoanalysis.

So, if you are missing the Axel and want to hear some good music, please click below to view the details. There is no pre-committal. You can decide to go or not go on your own schedule. Because at the end of the day, I've got my own vehicle for free viral advertising - it's called a website.

more info

Unregulated capital and predatory lending

admin — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:54:55 +0000

Oh yeah, and a war that costs a million dollars a minute. 
I was in San Francisco (S.F.) this weekend, and I happened to read an article in the S.F. Chronicle, which to my knowledge is a reputable new source. I am used to mainstream media butchering reality, but I guess this story riles me extra because Northern California is (purportedly) a haven of progressivism. Anyway, in a classic case of both irresponsible journalism and academic blowing smoke up your ass, Sam Zuckerman really misses the point.

The link to the original article is below, but many of you won't read it so allow me to just quote the passages that are especially odious.

In effect, the United States has maxed out on its national credit card. Like it or not, that's one of the most important things now forcing a new standard of frugality on free-spending Americans.

Without mentioning the root causes for this phenomenon in terms of both political and fiscal accountability, Sam is either trying too hard to snare readers or worse, deliberately missing the point. The truth is that the only reason the credit spigot is drawing down is because the World Bank, the Fed, and the US government are being run by a bunch of elite-obsessed jackasses. It's not that I'm in favor of more US federal deficit spending but insinuating that somehow the US consumer 'had this coming' is a little like blaming the tree for totaling the car in a DWI. Paul Wolfowitz, Ben Bernanke and George Bush are still drunk behind the wheel. Alan Greenspan deserves his share of the blame as well.

another quote:
As difficult as the adjustment may be, experts say the change is important medicine. To take one example, we're moving into a period when loan standards are more realistic. Home buyers now have to put money down and pay interest appropriate for their level of creditworthiness.

It is positively ludicrous to suggest that it takes a complete meltdown of the domestic financial sector to impose common-sense regulations. Isn't that part of the mandate for the Federal Reserve in the first place, to ensure price stability? And who are these 'experts', anyway?

This is what Sam lists as his sources: Chronicle research, BudgetSavvyMag.com

Really? A staff writer for a respected newspaper in a progressive and academic community quotes nothing reputable for a front page story in the Sunday edition? BudgetSavvyMag.com is hardly a source for anything but shopping tips, and 'Chronicle research' in essence means nothing at all coming from said journalist. If listing oneself as a source is now kosher then the logical end is one writer with multiple pseudonyms quoting himself religiously and to great effect within the letter of the law.

It pains me to know that most of the US will never really know where this credit storm came from. At the risk of oversimplifying, I will just put it this way:
Unregulated capital: Since Reagan and his voodoo economics in the 1980s, the US financial sector has been systematically deregulated. One net effect of this change was that 'reserves' were no longer monitored in a meaningful way. Think of a blackjack addict who is forced to put 40-50% of his paycheck into a savings account every weekend BEFORE he goes to the casino. And then one day, that is a rule that he no longer has to follow (see this article for more info).

Predatory lending: See above, once all of this newly unregulated cash was on the market, it had to be put somewhere. Enter 'sub-prime borrowers'. Overnight, the mortgage industry invented a new loan consumer class and started marketing mortgages very aggressively to anyone with a pulse. Most of these sub-prime borrowers had no idea what they were in for. Many of them did not even speak english. Greenspan and then Bernanke made it worse by (a) looking the other way for these shady loans and (b) feeding the credit bubble by keeping interest rates low.

Anyway, I have now concluded that 99% of mainstream media is pure doggerel. Sam leaves out enough important points to fill a grain silo. The blogs I read on SmirkingChimp.com are routinely more insightful and far more academically sound, both in terms of footnotes and logical argument. Let us all be thankful for the independent political blogging community sticking to the facts and using quotable sources, because writers like Sam Zuckerman are really stinking up the place.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/26/MNUJ109A76.DTL

more about predatory lending: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=286649
http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/pred/predlend.cfm

Heidi Montag has no brain

admin — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:25:15 +0000

Much of the rise in oil prices, of course, is only being felt by Americans, because it is an increase in the dollar price for oil. For Europeans and Asians, whose currencies are appreciating against the dollar, oil prices are not rising, and may even be falling.

John "McSame" McCain

maestro — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:02:28 +0000

I have posted previously about Hilary and Barack, so it's only fair to say something about John McCain.

Of course, there's not a whole lot to say, except that he would make the same kind of jackass president that George is. Sadly, that fact is barely enough to make the news, what with all the hollerin' and carryings-on over in the Finance sector, except we're not even hearing much of a story about that these days. So I guess that just means those good, honest people in the media must just have their hands full of free shwag, fruit baskets and cashier's checks. Anyway, here's a good read from my favorite blog site Smirking Chimp.

Following in the footsteps of George W. "Double Dip Recession" Bush comes John "McSame" McCain, who admits in public that economics isn't his strong suit, but nevertheless, he tells The Wall Street Journal that his solution for the economic trough we're entering is to make the Bush tax cuts permanent and cut corporate tax rates.
read more

ps - the heart, gist, and catch-phrase from this post was lifted secretly from the political writings of one Brian Morton - which is probably a pseudonym (and if it isn't, it should be).

the Facebook revolution continues

admin — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 03:54:16 +0000

I have been doing a lot of work on the Facebook platform lately. 
PHP and Ruby, all day and all night.

There are a lot of great ways to make a Facebook application, but there are only two official libraries - one for PHP, and one in Java.
As a Ruby enthusiast, I find that it is easiest to write PHP wrapper pages that set up a call to a separate Ruby app. That way PHP takes care of my auth and FBML needs, and I just pass the {user} tag to Ruby as an :id reference and life is good. More on this later.

have you listened to

yet?

War costs 3 trillion

maestro — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:02:13 +0000

Yup, so far we've spent 3 trillion dollars (that we don't have).
Read about it.

Back in the studio

maestro — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:11:08 +0000

I am almost ready to mix my new album Fast Train.

This is my first album ever that will have been recorded entirely analog - no computers anywhere!

I've got three reels of 2 inch tape in my closet, and it feels positively retro. Not to mention the sound - this is the biggest sounding recording of mine, ever.

I've been working with a few different engineers, Mike Terry and Doug Messenger, and we've been talking about getting a new sound going for me. I like to change it up for every recording.

Swexico (2004) was my first recording, and it is now officially out of stock. I don't plan on a doing another pressing, now that there are so many great cd-on-demand printing houses. One of my upcoming projects in the next month or so will be to set up all of my old masters on SwiftCd so you can mix and match any songs you want from my previous 3 releases, and even my Paper Sun singles from Humanity.

Permanent Friday Night (2005) has a very blues/folk slant to it, and is a real tribute to my early years here in Los Angeles. It is a long play, and really feels like a trip through my past - it's very autobiographical and honest.

Arms Around the River (2007) is quite a bit more polished than the first two, and has more of a dreamy sound to it. It is probably most akin to folk/pop records like David Gray's A New Day at Midnight.

Fast Train (2008) will achieve a middle ground between the last two records - taking off a few coats of polish and finding the organic warmth that you can only get from those old 2 inch tape machines, and featuring some of my best writing yet. It is set to be released in May but I will preview at least a track or two on my podcast.

Obama and Clinton Pudding

maestro — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 19:35:29 +0000

If the proof is in the pudding, then here is some pudding:

========
Clinton
========

Senator Clinton, who has served only one full term - 6yrs. - and another year campaigning, has managed to author and pass into law - 20 - twenty pieces of legislation in her first six years.

These bills can be found on the website of the Library of Congress www.thomas.loc.gov, but to save you trouble, I’ll post them here for you.

1. Establish the Kate Mullany National Historic Site.
2. Support the goals and ideals of Better Hearing and Speech Month.
3. Recognize the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
4. Name courthouse after Thurgood Marshall.
5. Name courthouse after James L. Watson.
6. Name post office after Jonn A. O’Shea.
7. Designate Aug. 7, 2003, as National Purple Heart Recognition Day.
8. Support the goals and ideals of National Purple Heart Recognition Day.
9. Honor the life and legacy of Alexander Hamilton on the bicentennial of his death.
10. Congratulate the Syracuse Univ. Orange Men’s Lacrosse Team on winning the championship.
11. Congratulate the Le Moyne College Dolphins Men’s Lacrosse Team on winning the championship.
12. Establish the 225th Anniversary of the American Revolution Commemorative Program.
13. Name post office after Sergeant Riayan A. Tejeda.
14. Honor Shirley Chisholm for her service to the nation and express condolences on her death.
15. Honor John J. Downing, Brian Fahey, and Harry Ford, firefighters who lost their lives on duty. Only five of Clinton’s bills are, more substantive.
16. Extend period of unemployment assistance to victims of 9/11.
17. Pay for city projects in response to 9/11
18. Assist landmine victims in other countries.
19. Assist family caregivers in accessing affordable respite care.
20. Designate part of the National Forest System in Puerto Rico as protected in the wilderness preservation system.

There you have it, facts straight from the Senate Record.

=============
Obama
=============

During the first - 8 - eight years of his elected service he sponsored over 820 bills. He introduced

233 regarding healthcare reform,
125 on poverty and public assistance,
112 crime fighting bills,
97 economic bills,
60 human rights and anti-discrimination bills,
21 ethics reform bills,
15 gun control,
6 veterans affairs and many others.

NY TImes Obama’s record in the Illinois Senate

His first year in the U.S. Senate, he authored 152 bills and co-sponsored another 427. These inculded:

1. The Coburn-Obama Government Transparency Act of 2006 - became law,
2. The Lugar-Obama Nuclear Non-proliferation and Conventional Weapons Threat Reduction Act, - became law,
3. The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, passed the Senate,
4. The 2007 Government Ethics Bill, - became law,
5. The Protection Against Excessive Executive Compensation Bill, In committee, and many more.

In all, since entering the U.S. Senate, Senator Obama has written 890 bills and co-sponsored another 1096.

AXELRADIO.com

maestro — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 01:24:20 +0000

I have a separate blog site for my podcast now, so you can access the same podcast audio that I posted about previously from the url

AxelRadio.com.

Roots rock from the underground.

What he said

maestro — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 22:09:47 +0000

Keith Olbermann is my hero. You must watch this.

he's very smug

maestro — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:59:57 +0000

Just for the record, I'm not really against Obama, I just thought we could do better. I do recognize how monumental a black president would be for this country, but it just reminds me of how excited we were in 2006 about the Democratic sweep in Congress - and look where that got us.

Anyway, I just hope this is more than another chance to go through the motions. I want to believe. Sure, I'd like a Dennis Kucinich, or a Ralph Nader, but I suppose I'll settle for a Barack and just try to look at the bright side.

At the end of the day, I think the nicest thing I can say about Barack is that he's no G.W. Bush - and that, my friends, ain't nothin - I guess that's a good place to start. That, and if he really means what he says, then we may get our habeus corpus back, and I think there are a good number of additional issues that would we see eye to eye on. So I'm cautiously optimistic.

Q4 2007 Analysis

maestro — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 06:04:00 +0000

I am finally keeping track.

It is finally that time, since the launch of my digbox.net / codeboxer.com Tech Blog in November of 2007 I have seen some upswings in activity across all of my sites, so in preparation for the day when I can actually just do what I love for a living without having to go in to the office I have compiled a Q4 Analysis.

Check it out.

This is a good explanation

maestro — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 23:49:42 +0000

Of why the $ky is melting: click here

More airplay

maestro — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 00:43:00 +0000

I just recently charted on a German radio station.
Check it out.
other places to request Krister Axel

My podcast

maestro — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 03:52:45 +0000

I love technology. I will be updating this podcast every once in a while with some obscure gems, a few previews of the new album, live stuff and what have you. Basically, this is for lazy/busy people who would like to have some Krister Axel spoon-fed to them, as well as anyone who is looking for an easy path to getting free new music into their iPods automatically.

I'm sure I don't have to explain podcasts to you, but I will anyway. Basically, if you 'add' my podcast by clicking the appropriate button, it will add new songs of mine to your iTunes automatically whenever you plug it in and I have a new song posted. That's it. Depending on your settings, you may have to 'enable' the podcast from your iTunes by clicking Get All on the menubar in the iTunes window.

Subscribe to this podcast by entering your email address below.

Nader in '08

maestro — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 23:11:12 +0000

Here's the link: naderexplore08.org

With the only two remaining Democrats leaning middle-right and middle-righter, I like the sound of a Nader candidacy. I heard him on the radio, and he used two bad-ass scrabble words in the same sentence - pernicious and profligate. Sweet. Take that, Georgie. I swear, it will be the beginning of a new age when we finally have smart people making the decisions again. Good on ya, Ralph.

I'm huge in Canada

maestro — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 05:52:50 +0000

#17 in Kamloops, BC (that's near Vancouver)

CFBX 92.5 FM, Cable 106.1 - The X
Campus/Community Radio in Kamloops, BC
Charts to January 11, 2008
* indicates Canadian Content
** indicates a local artist

Artist - Album (Label)

1) The Hives - The Black and White Album (A&M)
2) Echo Hunters* - Cabin Fever (SheWolf)
3) Gorillaz - D-Sides (Virgin)
4) Ex-Boyfriends* - Coming Before the Next One
(Appropriate)
5) Dragonette* - Galore (Universal)
6) Kara Keith* - Kara Keith EP (Independent)
7) Blu and Kelly Hopkins** - Homegrown (Independent)
8) Slowking* - Rival Cities (Independent)
9) Molly Johnson* - Messin' Around (Alert)
10) Martin Alex Aucoin* - So Far (Independent)
11) Various Artists* - A Sound Experiment: Live
Sessions from CJSW (Independent)
12) Out the Garage* - EP (Independent)
13) Toyko Police Club* - Smith EP (Paper Bag)
14) Lint* - Lint (Independent)
15) Bob Marley and the Wailers - Another Dance
(Heartbeat)
16) Artist of the Year* - Wreck La Discoteque
(Independent)
17) Krister Axel - Arms Around the River (Noonchild)
18) Drowning Girl* - Bang! (Puckeye)
19) Sigur Ros - Hvarf/Heim (XL)
20) The Cansecos* - Juices! (Upper Class)
21) PJ Harvey - White Chalk (Island)
22) Hide Your Daughters* - The Teen Girl's Guide to
Social Success (No List)
23) Various Artists - Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats
Domino (Vanguard)
24) Les Savy Fav - Let's Stay Friends (Frenchkiss)
25) Tannis Slimmon* - Lucky Blue (Independent)
26) Jesse Dangerously* - Verba Vollant (Independent)
27) Cafe Ole* - Cuanto Tadare (Independent)
28) Fond of Tigers* - Release the Saviours (Drip
Audio)
29) Cobra Starship - Viva La Cobra! (Decaydance)
30) Sunburn in Cyprus - Feng Shui Rescue (Independent)

Hilary cheated (possibly)

maestro — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:55:32 +0000

Yup, it looks like she might have pulled a George Bush. Our voting system looks more like a fiasco every day and the world is watching.

more info
UPDATE

Pentagon shenanigans

maestro — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:28:07 +0000

Who knew that the Pentagon was in the business of fabricating bogus videotapes? Oh wait, you mean all those Al Qaeda vids are probably fake as well?

Why I love California

maestro — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 01:14:47 +0000

more info
Despite about 30 years of precedent, the Bush regime decides to deny California's request to go above and beyond Federal greenhouse emissions regulations, which by all accounts are inadequate. The reason? It would be confusing.
Thanks George, that's a really good one. We can't clean up the air, it's too confusing!

I'll Take It

maestro — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 19:44:49 +0000

You all know how hard it can be to get good press, so here's a new review posted just last month:
Collected Sounds.com.
It is short but sweet.

RockStarAlley

maestro — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 04:04:48 +0000

I wrote a web game. There I said it. I know it's a decidedly geek-ish thing to do, but sometimes I can't sleep so I stay up and write Ruby code (because it's too late to make any noise). Sometime this past summer I had an idea for a game, and now here it is, in an Alpha version - the draft copy, so to speak. There's a lot more to do, and I will be working on this for quite some time I would imagine. I also have an album to finish, and a life to lead. Yet somehow, a few people have already signed up, and decided to play A LOT already. Some guy already has over $2000 saved up (?). That takes a lot of time. So I guess at least a few people have found it amusing as is. Anyway, it's pretty self-explanatory, if you want to play just sign up (for free) and check your inbox for the confirmation. It takes less than a minute to set up a character, and then you're in. The game is basically about becoming a Rockstar, playing gigs, eating burgers, and spending your hard-earned (virtual) money. I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to leave any comments you may have about RockStarAlley right here or at the RockStarAlley Comment Page.

Play RockStarAlley Right Now

Read this if you dare

maestro — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 23:28:13 +0000

These are ominous developments that suggest a likely real or contrived homeland terror attack severe enough to warrant suspending the Constitution and declaring martial law with the public acquiescing out of fear.
 If it comes, anyone may be targeted as a "national security" threat, indefinitely detained in a camp, and no evidence is needed for proof. The state and military will be empowered by law to act preventively through mass roundups and detentions that appears the reason for three test-run FALCON operations.

Some Facts About Obama

maestro — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 19:41:16 +0000

Of course, underneath the veneer of fresh-faced optimism that Obama is pushing -- note that the word "idealism" isn't appropriate here, because Obama isn't selling idealism so much as a kind of reinvigorated, feel-good pragmatism -- there operates a massive, well-oiled political machine no less ruthless and ambitious than that of his establishment rival, Hillary Clinton. Obama has raised $80 million, and it would be a grievous mistake to describe his candidacy as a grass-roots affair, particularly when he counts among his bundlers many of the lobbyists and political-finance pros who buttress the Clinton run.

Even a cursory glance at Obama's money men is enough to confirm that fact. The list includes Wall Street hotshots from Lehman Brothers, Oppenheimer and Co., and Citigroup, a smattering of Hollywood players and Native American casino interests, representatives of big pharmaceuticals and the insurance sector -- in short, all the major food groups of reviled corporate influence-hunters.

Worse still, Obama's financial backing is reflected in some of his Senate votes and campaign positions, including most notably his support for expanding NAFTA to Peru, limiting the ability of injured workers and consumers to sue for damages, and pouring federal funds into E85 corn-based ethanol, an alternative fuel for which the market is dominated by the Illinois-based Archer Daniels Midland Company. More than once I heard Obama give stirring speeches, only to mar them with plugs for ethanol.

Just in case you're still not aware

maestro — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:45:22 +0000

...of the widespread voting irregularities that have become the sad, twilight-zone 'norm', I have a quote for you. This was taken from my favorite blogging site, SmirkingChimp.com -

The final official tally for Bush---less than 119,000 votes out of 5.4 million cast---varied by 6.7% from exit poll results, which showed a Kerry victory. Exit polls in 2004 were designed to have a margin of error of about 1%.

In various polling stations in Democrat-rich inner city precincts in Youngstown and Columbus, voters who pushed touch screens for Kerry saw Bush's name light up. A wide range of discrepancies on both electronic and paper balloting systems leaned almost uniformly toward the Bush camp. Voting procedures regularly broke down in inner city and campus areas known to be heavily Democratic.

In direct violation of standing federal election law, 56 of Ohio's 88 counties have since destroyed all or part of their 2004 election data. The materials were additionally protected by a federal court injunction in the King-Lincoln-Bronzeville federal civil rights lawsuit (in which we are attorney and plaintiff). To date, no state or federal prosecutions have resulted from this wholesale destruction of presidential election records, including 1.6 million ballots, cast and uncast, needed for definitive auditing procedures. However, two Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) election officials have been convicted of felony manipulation of an official recount. The Cleveland Plain-Dealer, the state's largest newspaper, recently editorialized that there is "no evidence" the 2004 election was stolen, but omitted mention of the destruction of the electoral records by more than half the counties in the state. The Plain-Dealer and other mainstream media have consistently ignored findings by the Free Press and others indicating widespread manipulation and theft of the kind Brunner has now confirmed was eminently do-able within the Ohio system.

Tonight at Room 5

maestro — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:43:18 +0000

Songwriters in the Round.
This went really well. Thanks to everyone who came. We almost sold out of cds completely. this was the line-up:

8:30p - Round 1
Geoff Pearlman - http://www.myspace.com/geoffpearlman
Laura Jansen - http://www.myspace.com/laurajansenmusic
Ray Don - http://www.myspace.com/raydonbackwashband
Jenni Alpert - http://www.mysace.com/jennialpert

10:00p
Tony Lucca - http://www.myspace.com/tonylucca

10:30p - Round 2
Jackie Tohn - http://www.myspace.com/jackietohn
Krister Axel - http://www.myspace.com/kaxel
Chris Seefried - http://www.myspace.com/chrisseefried
Dave Gibbs - http://www.myspace.com/kidlightning

A good time was had by all.

Krister Axel on the radio

maestro — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 02:44:59 +0000

So far, Arms Around the River is in rotation at these stations around the world:

Quaywest FM	United Kingdom
Musicatotal Radio	Portugal
TOPRADIO - TRL	Belgium
94.1 FM RADIO 2	Macedonia
Radio 794	Netherlands
Highland FM	Australia
Radyo SDU	Turkey
Radio UnerhÃ¶rt Marburg	Germany
Alooga Radio	Germany
Radio Umland	Germany
Deutschlandradio Kultur	Germany
Joy Radio 89.6FM	Central African Republic
Triple H-FM	Australia
Radio Logan Inc 101FM	Australia
Radio Incontro	Italy
Soundwave FM	New Zealand
CFBX Radio	Canada
WCVF-FM	New York
The Music Korner	Pennsylvania
KUMD FM	Minnesota

If you live in any of these places, get thee to a telephone and call in a request.

Every day.

New songs

maestro — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 01:28:00 +0000

...are on the way. I was just in the studio again at New Monkey (which is where I recorded Arms Around the River) and we took a good crack at laying down the basic tracks. I think this album is going to blow everything else out of the water. Of course, I say that every time I make an album. Anyway, check out Les Yeux Gris for a little taste. See you in the Spring!

Song of the Year

maestro — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 02:35:08 +0000

Krister Axel receives a Song of the Year honorable mention. Sweet.

Download For The Cure

maestro — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 02:08:27 +0000

ALWAYS A CIRCLE, from the album Arms Around the River, recently placed in the 2007 Download For The Cure online music competition. It will be featured on a nationally distributed cd that should come out early next year. If you see it, buy one! You can hear some great music and support the effort to find a cure for cancer.

Live at the New Earth Festival

maestro — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 05:15:02 +0000

That was a good day. All love, sunshine, and hula hoops. I might have seen a few jugs of wine going around. The coffee was delicious. I loved this festival. Please visit New Earth Fest.com for more info and to support this musical cooperative.

Here is a song from that performance:

Krister Axel featured on Black Donnellys DVD

maestro — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 00:02:26 +0000

My first network licensing deal comes through on NBC.
Anyone who orders the first season DVD of The Black Donnellys will hear my song Something Beautiful on an episode somewhere. Further details are elusive, but you can pick it up and see for yourself.

And yes, I got paid.

Many thanks to Rescue Records and my personal hero TerriLynn.

w00t!

live from the Outland Ballroom - update from the road

maestro — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 02:56:51 +0000

Missouri is a beautiful place.

Wisconsin and Minnesota aren't so bad either.
I just got back to Los Angeles, so it might take me a while to put up some more shots but they'll be up by the end of the week. We also got some video from a few of the shows. The tour was a total success. Special thanks to:

Nate for hooking it up in Madison
Nick for setting up the New Earth show
Christopher at the Weary Traveller

We sold cds, we spread the word, and we realized that I should probably do my version of Hallelujah at every show. Good to know. :)

Two More Videos

maestro — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 18:45:46 +0000

Check out two more live videos from the show on Wednesday. This is a song called Holy Ghost.

This is Always A Circle:

You can view all of my YouTube videos here.

Leaving Tomorrow + a video

maestro — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 18:16:30 +0000

Tomorrow we start out on the road. Check out the Journey to New Earth page for more info on where we're going. Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota here we come.
Thanks to everyone that came out to the last few shows. Both the Gig and the Farmers' Market were real highlights for me. Here's a video of me playing a new song Summer Drug.

I love being on the road. Songs write themselves when you are traveling. September is my favorite month to see the country.

I haven't played a show in Madison since I left in 1999. This is also a first time having a partner in crime on the road with me (Lavinia is coming along). We are going to have a great time.

I'll try to post updates from the road.

See you in the heartland!

September 7th, 9:35pm

Journey to New Earth

maestro — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 06:34:55 +0000

Final tour schedule:

9/8 Springfield, MO
10pm Outland Ballroom

9/9 Fayetteville, MO
8pm George's Majestic Lounge

9/10 Columbia, MO
8pm - Kayotea

9/13 Madison, WI
The Weary Traveler

9/14 Madison, WI
J.T. Whitney's

9/15 Eau Claire, WI
New Earth 1pm

Minneapolis
Downtime Bar 9pm

Plans are being made. If you are in the Midwest near any of these cities, you are lucky.

Krister Axel at the Derby

admin — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 00:13:54 +0000

I love the Derby. It is old and rustic like a rundown barn in the middle of a freeway except the roof is built like a bee nest and the shadows fall wherever they can.

We came and went like an afternoon tempest except we left a few cds behind and I kissed someone on the cheek. Ordering a drink from that bar somehow reminds me of leaning up against the Formosa cafe dressed the 50's detective and lighting a match off my shoe. Champagne, and coffee for the horses.

Let us all become lost for a short time together, and awaken to the future that invades us.