moving

trying to figure out wordpress right now.
http://theoldmaestro.wordpress.com/
idea is to start posting a lot more....but don't hang your hat on it

Why doesnt the President say 'WAR ON TERROR'?

i've often wondered why the right is so persistent in its quest to get this president to use the phrase "war on terror". i'm glad that, at least in certain respects, the president is not willing to pander to the most basic sensibilities of what happened on 9/11 and the events following.

decide for yourself:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/09/on-ground-zero-mosque-what-are-we-saying-to-american-muslims/62794/

"The folks who are most interested in a war between the United States or the West and Islam are al Qaeda. That's what they've been banking on, and for the overwhelming majority of Muslims around the world are peace loving, are interested in the same things that you and I are interested in: how can I make sure that I can get a good [job], how can I make sure that my kids get an education, how can I make sure that I'm safe, how can I improve my lot in life?

And so they have rejected this violent ideology for the most part overwhelmingly. So from a national security interest, we want to be clear about who the enemy is here. It's a tiny minority of people who ware engaged in horrific acts and have killed Muslims more than anybody else."

i should probably site Sean Hannity as the source of my title.

a wee bit troubled

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2010/aug/20/news-corporation-fox-news

While this is hardly news, it is pretty disenchanting (but what about fox news isnt?). I find it particularly troubling that an entire media organization, one that considers itself the most 'fair and balanced' in America, is publicly donating to the Republican Governors Association. Journalistic standards...who needs 'em? Credibility...who needs it? The Guardian article also mentions a hilarious hypothetical (i.e. if the New York Times gave the Democrats a million dollars how would Fox News react).

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201008180021

While a lot of people have sort of been laughing/mocking/acting unsurprised about this particular bit of news (because really who didn't know? oh yeah the entire viewership of fox news, DUH!), it's a sad state of affairs when an entire media outfit is completely hi-jacked by a party line. Even worse is the simple fact that our voices won't even be heard anymore (see Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission).

it cant be easy

http://www.tampabay.com/news/palin-claims-grossly-distort-the-democratic-tax-proposals/1113257

spitting defect hawk out one end and no revenue generation out the other can't be an easy task. probably easier than resigning because you didn't want all your loyal supporters to know you created a fund by exploiting your position as an elected official (which is kind of against that thing called the law).

Chief

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLPlfODCBlI&feature=av2e

cop that shit august 17th.

budos band

The Budos Band combine a variety of influences to create what some call may call soul, funk, or afro-beat.Those influences help craft a unique musical blend that is constantly rewarding. After catching them open for Caribou, this New York based ensemble provided a much needed spark in my musical world. Check out either of their two records, as well as others on their fabulous label Daptone Records. 

some people just live in a fantasy world

"In the America John Boehner grew up in, the top marginal tax rate on wealthy earners was 90%. It had gone up there during the war, and five, 10, 15 years after armistice, no sizable group, Democrat or Republican, felt any strong urge to lower it. "

"In the America John Boehner grew up in, the country had a president - a Republican president - who believed the following:

Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."

article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2010/jul/01/usa-republicans-john-boehners-childhood

man how my blood boils

Ireland now finds itself in quite the conundrum (thank you china and the stimulus package because you're responsible for a lot more jobs (sustaining of course) than anyone will ever give you credit for) after pursuing the types of austerity measures that, despite the dissent of a certain world leader, the g20 has agreed to pursue. so tip your hats to Ireland all you self made supply side economists but just look what common sense has done for Ireland (where they'll be lucky to lure international investment for the next 20 years). I'm sure those are the people who will come crying for the middle and lower class if the U.S. or Europe find themselves in similar situations. see for yourself:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/business/global/29austerity.html?pagewanted=1&ref=global-home

A Few Brief Thoughts

"She said the theme of this party is the industrial age, and you came in dressed like a train wreck."  thank you Craig Finn for this gem.  i can no longer listen to a Hold Steady album without hearing multiple lines that make me say "God I wish I could write something like that."

for example, "Hey citrus, hey liquor, I love it when you touch each other."

shouldn't the Cubs be the winner of the BP Cup?  they are the ones who couldn't stop the run leak.  then today the send the Carlos Marmol robot out to plug the leak and he bumped into a pipe and it erupted again. they seem a much more fitting recipient.

also, here is a good image.  enjoy.

wicked

  Ed20-6-2010 by a952424

gotta love the chi sheezy

http://www3.timeoutny.com/chicago/blog/out-and-about/2010/06/the-autumn-defense-at-lincoln-hall-live-review-and-photo-gallery/

bluebirds fall

i found this article most interesting, not because of its author, but because it answers the annoying among us who use spanish, greek, and portugese debt as reasons to pursue potentially devastating fiscal policy. coincidentally those budget "wise" representatives of yours are probably using these same populist notions to pander to the ever increasing fiscal populists among us.

Krugman "That 30's Feeling"

also if you like baseball my guess is you will be watching the white sox tonight.

edit: the desire to hate the current president has now become tangible (although i'm sure plenty others have felt this way for awhile). joe bartons comments are at the very best indefensible, yet, to no surprise of my own, there are people defending him. absurd.

Micro Rants

to those of you who work in sandwich shops -- and you know who you are -- you must remember your purpose in this life is to make a sandwich that i will then eat.  if you put some things on it with your left hand and some with your right in order to save yourself a couple seconds which you can spend beating your head on a wall in the back, you have made two halves of one sandwich, neither half being what i ordered.  that is all.

also, if you were to ask me, "Brian, how do you take your coffee?"  my response is going to be, "in a cup."  i take my coffee in a cup.  i like or enjoy my coffee black.  that is all.

to all the critics

it takes a lot of gall to go after an oil company and then moments later try to restart a sales pitch for national energy reform. more importantly the significance of this administrations intent to set up an escrow fund to pay for the damages of the oil spill cannot be more understated. a brief look at, sadly the now second largest environmental disaster in U.S. history, yields the importance of setting aside BP's funds to pay for all legitimate claims.

"Exxon fought paying damages and appealed court decisions multiple times, and they have still not paid in full. Years of fighting and court appeals on Exxon’s part finally concluded with a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2008 that found that Exxon only had to pay $507.5 million of the original 1994 court decree for $5 billion in punitive damages.And as of 2009, Exxon had paid only $383 million of this $507.5 million to those who sued, stalling on the rest and fighting the $500 million in interest owed to fishermen and other small businesses from more than 12 years of litigation."

a blanking supreme court decision. for all you math wizards thats 10 cents on the dollar. i'd go so far as to use the phrase "common sense would suggest that" the presidents actions in this case should be enough to win over the support of the entire affected region.

full article here>http://climateprogress.org/2010/06/15/the-exxon-valdez-spill-bp-escrow/>.

nigel goodrich owns you

two tone tommy has got to be one of the best bass players around

DJ/rupture

this guy spins gems.
check out his tremendous once a week radio slot on wfmu.
wfmu podcast everything making access to all their shows tremendously easy.
 the only thing better is that they are 100% independent. no outside interests.

check it

the band i love to hate

Heathrow

get some headphones, or a nice long car ride and this thing will be your friend.

as much as it pains me to admit, i think that alongside animal collective, the national are the one of the few bands defining my generation right now.


http://www.pabsttheater.org/show/thenational

Afghanistan: is it time to talk to the Taliban?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/04/afghanistan-taliban

which is a worse sign?

1) as i browse my netflix recommendations list, i am coming to the conclusion that any film i haven't yet heard of isn't worth watching.  (keep in mind that this is a sound conclusions, formed after viewing the synopsis of at least a hundred films i haven't heard of)

2) i've seen enough films that i know something about each one, which is worth watching, that i haven't yet seen.

3) there is a list of films. all of which you have most likely heard of, that i haven't seen yet.

-bk

holy shit.

holy shit 2.

holy shit 3.

enjoy your weekend.

yeah ok lets keep drilling

BP is also planning to cap the well and capture the leaking oil, but this will take four weeks to put in place, by which stage more than 150,000 barrels could have spilled out. If the steel cap does not work, BP will have to try drilling a relief well, which would take three months. By then, the spill could total more than 300,000 barrels (47m litres), greater than the 258,000 barrels leaked by the Exxon Valdez.

Fanboy

i was cheerfully walking home from the library today while piping Sufjan into my ear canals when i realized that i was wearing a Sufjan shirt.  boy, did i feel silly.

next week i am going to try listening to the Nickleback discography on the way to the Nickleback concert.  then i'll put an Apple patch on my backpack.

Brilliant

There is only one band i can think of capable of not only recording their own concert film but also funding it in its entirety. To top it off, when the project is finished instead of being sold to a huge record company capable of distributing it to the masses, the film is put on you tube where anyone can watch for free without knowledge of who filmed it, released it or anything.
that's solid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XB470fFc1c

BRING IT BACK

Little 500

Hannity

Why does Sean Hannity call Barack Obama the "anointed one"?

I love when news channels are unafraid to admit that they are stumping for one party or a particular ideology.

PORK, GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER, SPENDING, SPENDING, AHHH SPENDING,

huh still waiting for the rapture mr. hannity. (also i might add that he has a terribly wrong idea on how the financial crisis was created. no offense but it  had nothing to do with government involvement, in fact probably little to no government regulation on that one street in new york. next time i'm looking to understand how complex derivatives hedged against nothing had everything to do with government involvement i'll call you mr. hannity.)


and yes sean, i am a liberal, and i usually do wake up everyday and say to out loud to myself "I'm not being taxed enough, tax me some more!"

i think when you make an investment you generally hope to see return on that investment. well when i pay taxes i usually see that returned in the form of cash round about once a year and maybe when I'm older social security and medicare compensation (although the stability of social security is a whole different issue). Someday when i pay real estate taxes i sure as hell hope to wake up and go, man i know my kid and others like him/her will be getting an education that is certainly not the caliber of all those socialized idiots in europe and parts of asia.

also just heard that barney frank is responsible for most of the financial crisis.

watching fox and blogging is funny.

Reno County Kansas

it is absolutely fascinating how the politics of capitalist democratic societies work.


Hutchinson Kansas, new home of a nacelle factory owned and operated by none other than Siemens. That is right, the massive energy conglomerate, who's logo you have probably seen gracing the front of one of London's most famous football clubs, based in that far off socialist land. To be quite frank, I hate to write posts imbued by such boring rhetoric. However, the fact is that this very county voted in strong opposition to every democratic candidate at the federal and state levels in 2008.  Yet for some incomprehensible (yes, that is sarcasm you smell) reason had no trouble welcoming the Siemens factory along with the estimated 400 jobs it will create and sustain as well as further local benefits (i.e. suppliers smilier to the one my brother works for who sell to niche markets that are usually controlled by a handful of companies).

Perhaps a few of those elected officials would like to have a say on this matter. Let's examine how the voted on H.R. 1

Leading off the fair Senator Pat Roberts. How did you vote on H.R. 1 Mr. Roberts? oh thats right you opposed it, but I'm sure you had no trouble voting yea for a few amendments. (http://roberts.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=VotingRecord)
(http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=s2009-61)

In the two hole United States Representative Jerry Moran. What do you say Mr. Moran how about some jobs for your faithful constituents? Huh, you too, oh well not very surprising.
(http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/ROLL_000.asp my apologies Mr. Moran's website only linked to his roll call votes)
(http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll046.xml)



P.S. One local news source ran the economic boom of Reno county as its top story of 2009.

And so I would like to conclude with a brief message to those who consistently argue for complete reign of free markets:                      YOU!


edit: As of post time I had not thoroughly investigated how a private company like Siemans was lured to a small town in west central Kansas. A simple search of Hutchinson zip code on Recovery.gov yeilded a fascinating result: Just over 100 million awarded to this area and over 800 jobs created. That is right 100 million.

what can you even say?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trhrN39li1M

aw hell yeah

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gorillavsbearpolaroids/2736207626/

http://aspergers.dasaku.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/aah-my-indie-cred.bmp

moral: who gives a shit? if you enjoy the jonas brothers, let yourself enjoy the jonas brothers. stop looking at things through social binoculars.

i have news for you. you cannot control what you enjoy. you can only control what you admit. you might tell everybody you meet, and yourself, that you hate watching the hills. if you watch the hills once, you might like it. i can't speak on the hills since i haven't actually watched it (or the jonas brothers since i haven't paid enough attention to form an opinion), but i'd be willing. you can't be genuine with people if you can't be genuine with yourself. embrace what you enjoy, regardless of stigma.

- bk

now i remember...

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/1095

fantastic analysis of the bush presidency, right after being re-elected to the white house for another term, is spot on.

I guess it's this week now

http://8tracks.com/thelastbk/i-guess-it-s-this-week-now

there is something about discomfort that lends me ultimate comfort. there is something about loneliness that gives me an ultimate sense of belonging. maybe it's because we, ourselves, don't realize how lonely and uncomfortable everybody else is until we share in their pitiful solitude. only by feeling that we don't belong do we discover that we are right where we are supposed to be.

any person who claims to be comfortable has assigned a new name to his discomfort. comfort signifies complacency, and complacency sounds like a bad thing, right? is comfort really settling for less than a full realization of our potential? or maybe comfort is the goal. maybe it's me who is doing it wrong.

-bk

a pertinent and prescient epistemology

i'm not sure if i agree with everything that is being said here, but i do think what he is doing is brilliant.

"uncertainty is an uncomfortable position, certainty is an observed position"


http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/apr/04/david-eagleman-40-afterlives


also check this weird shit out:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/apr/04/china-blocks-bob-dylan-gigs

seriously china? really? its bob fucking dylan, he's not really that good at instruments and he's like 90 now. the man can hardly talk let alone hold or change tone(s) for a verse. i seriously doubt that even if he has the wherewithal to realize the crimes against humanity the Chinese are committing in Tibet, he still probably wont realize that he was in china until about 3 weeks after he leaves. that's how slow his brain is now. so relax, okay? i mean come on you just had the olympics and you controlled it so hard that people forgot to protest Tibet. bob dylan can hardly remember his name. so clear him now, okay please? you should be afraid of those guys google (you know the guys who actually know what they are doing).

-jerry

brain washed

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100321093622AA3WJTy

Cynicism...

time to meet your maker.

today, i am less of a cynical asshole than i was yesterday. it is my goal to be less of one tomorrow than i am today, and so on.

i told an older woman in the hall in the faculty section of a building that her hair looked great. in reality, i had no opinion on her hair. it was old lady hair. but she beamed. that smile made me smile and maybe my smile made somebody else smile. i'm fed up with seeing everything as "how lame" or "not for me" so i'm going to stop.

on the docket for tonight? i'm going to listen to a Miley Cyrus album from front to back. then i'm going to find something complimentary about it to write on here for next week. stay tuned.

-beekay

It's your world....

we're just living in it.

Wednesday 8tracks

i'm going to put a playlist up every Wednesday that matches my mood. don't skip songs. finish it. it's only 8 tracks. you can either relate, pity, rejoice, or get fuckin' wasted. that choice is yours.

here is this week's

http://8tracks.com/thelastbk/salt-for-wounds

-beekay

You've been putting it up your whole life you just didn't know it.

I remember when the idea came. I was being driven through the darkest corners of hughes road,  jamming to gnarls barkley, and for some reason I agreed that doing an R. Kelly song on acoustic guitars would sound good. An immediate deconstruction of Mr. Kelly's summer smash, ignition remix, on acoustic instruments ensued. Before iI could say "leave it to beaver" i was playing an unsuccessful lemonade awareness gig alongside Brian Kuhar. Mr. Kuhar was the regular ham to my weird green eggs. But the once defunct dish towel has reconvened to bring an alternative take on mainstream culture, media, and politics.  Below is an interview i conducted with Brian and now you can take a glimpse into his weird brain right here at the maestro. 

Interview after the jump.

sing

one of my favorite jams off one of my favorite records in recent memory. video is incredible.!.

FOURTET _ sing _

and if that video is not mind bending enough, check out this show from mr. hebdan's recent but unfortunately rare tour of the states. listen as he subtly re-works his catalog into the deepest corners of your mind.

Live at LPR NYC 17th Feb 2010 by Four Tet

the most underestimated record of 2009...

it didn't come as a surprise to learn that the current lineup of Wilco  has seen the longest of any during the band's tumultuous, but suddenly steady career. the current lineup boasts six phenomenal musicians who are mature enough to not just proficiently play, but more importantly listen the ability to hear whom they are playing with. these dudes now how to play to a room and if you haven't ever seen 'em, do it. you won't listen to their records the same ever again.


Wilco - Country Disappeared - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

easing into a weekend haze

Tortoise - Dear Grandma and Grandpa
Ulrich Schnauss - Knuddelmaus
Toro y Moi - Blessa
Pantha du Prince - Stick to My Side (Four Tet Remix)
Broken Social Scene - All to All
Small Black - Despicable Dogs (Washed Out Remix)
Mos Def - Auditorium (ft. Slick Rick)

very interesting

Nuclear disarmament is certainly not a topic that has garnered much attention recently (for fairly obvious reasons). However the Obama administration has been fairly steadfast in its effort to make amends with Russia in an attempt to further the administrations goal of reducing both nations nuclear arsenal. Next month the administration is going to roll out the red carpet and sign a treaty with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Prague. Some on the left will be certain to say that this may not be much, but it least it is a step in the right direction. However the imminent threat of democratic defeat in the next two election cycles certainly raises a major fear. The party of the right, as they are known to do, might worry that the Obama administration is taking the wrong approach by ceding a portion of their world domination at the behest of another nation. OMG OMG OMG NOT DIPLOMACY! Well I'm going to be quite frank and call the bullshit, because this is certainly not a step in the wrong direction and furthering fruitful diplomatic relations with Russia may actually yeild further positive results (wow what a concept. i for one would certainly not like to see Iran wiped off the planet because some ego maniacal loony like Sarah Palin got hold of the nuclear codes and dropped a rather large dookie on iran). This is a fairly significant step in the right direction in not only furthering positive relations with Russia but proving to other nations that the United States is willing to make amends without the use of military power (a rather rare feat with the exception of these two nations really). I only hope that if this president does not get reelected that the right does not hurt this advance by further diminishing relations with Russia.

in case you're interested : http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/24/barack-obama-nuclear-disarmament-russia

world sick

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/03/sarah_palin_does_not_speak_for.html

for what its worth...

I'm doubtful, that of the maybe 5 people i've talked to about music in the last year, any of them would be surprised by my favorite two records of the past decade. What Wilco and Radiohead achieved in the early part of the 2000's seems insignificant now, but at the time the internet was still nascent. By the time the music industry had time to catch up, it was nearly half a decade later.


I recently told someone that the Bush years had been the grimmest presidency since i was born (granted that is not a long time). The events of 9/11 brought the grim revelations of Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot to life. That raw emotion wound up ingraining itself in my memory instead of the increasingly insipid back story to the record. Pitchfork's (I hate to do it), Joshua Klein puts it best:

"The real story was the resonance of elliptical songs like "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart", "Ashes of American Flags", and "Jesus, Etc.", which often reduced crowds to hushed silence once 9/11 attached a real world frame to Tweedy's cryptic lyrics."

Radiohead changed the game by being the first band to fully utilize the internet and connect with fans in a way never seen before. Like Yankee Hotel Foxtrox, Kid A sought to navigate a technological age that for the better or worse is now how we now live. In this way, Kid A was a much more hopeful record than OK Computer, and still maintains all the emotionally affective qualities of its predecessor. Pitchfork's (i know twice now) Mark Richardson is again spot on:

"Thoughts about millennial techno-dread; fragmentation, broken transmissions, garbled communication; the feeling of helplessness that comes from having access to so much information about the world while not having the power to change any of it; the subtle and dramatic ways that electronics are altering our landscape and our consciousness. And there's still something there, though in some ways it's all now more intense. Part of our brains moved online in the last 10 years, and this will continue; it's not a good or bad thing; it's just the way it is. Refracting these developments through the prism of Kid A, it still resonates, even if so much has changed since. Radiohead were not only among the first bands to figure out how to use the Internet, but to make their music sound like it, and they kicked off this ridiculously retro decade with the rare album that didn't seem retro. Kid A-- with its gorgeously crafted electronics, sparkling production, and uneasy stance toward the technology it embraces completely-- feels like the Big Album of the online age."

a word about public education and adequate funding

"you would be much better served by a professor teaching this class then by a guy who doesn't even have his phd yet."

-this from a teaching assistant who was basically forced to teach a lecture today as a result of a huge number of faculty taking furlough days on the same day. this ta wasn't really forced but he 'manned up', as they say, to show up and provide me with the class time that i paid for. i'm lucky the professor at least acknowledged this fact and did not go as far as canceling class. (the faculty are required to take a certain amount of furlough days due to inadequate funding by our state as a result of a deep budget crisis.)

...enrage/d_

whoa...that's a tight jam

tv at its finest

thought i'd something more to say...

In virtue of being alive for the last couple of years, I'm sure you're well informed that most states are suffering serious budget crisis's. Illinois, no stranger to averse political situations, is currently one of those states. The crisis's ramifications on the funding of Illinois' public universities are beginning to gain long overdue attention. In just one absurd case, the state owes the University of Illinois somewhere near 400 million dollars. That is just one case (really, I'm not saying that just because I'm affected by that funding).

I'm not even sure where to start on this one, so i wont, but it's an awful mess. I can say with confidence that I am definitely not looking forward to the the tuition hikes come fall. If anything this is a sure sign (although not a surprising one) that we need serious reform of public education, not just in Chicago or other poor areas.

At least my only reconciliation (GOOD ONE) is that the public option is gaining momentum in the Senate again. If this state has one thing going for it, it is that both of its senators will support the the public option if it is included in the reconciliation process.

the malice of populism

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/opinion/26brooks.html

an interesting op-ed from conservative thinker David Brooks

I particularly liked this bit towards the end:

"The populists have an Us versus Them mentality. If they continue their random attacks on enterprise and capital, they will only increase the pervasive feeling of uncertainty, which is now the single biggest factor in holding back investment, job creation and growth. They will end up discrediting good policies (the Obama bank reforms are quite sensible) because they will persuade the country that the government is in the hands of reckless Huey Longs."

All of this seems fairly pertinent on the eve of the Texas gubernatorial primary. The third candidate on the Republican ticket is a proud member of the Tea Party. Yet Mr. Brooks appears to be right, current polls confirm the historical trend of another populist defeat.

not that anyone cares.....

but I came across an excellent article by Bill McKibben at The Nation about the current debate over climate change.

LinK: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100315/mckibben

A few tidbits from Mr. McKibben's article that I found interesting:

"For a gifted political operative like, say, Marc Morano, who runs the Climate Depot website, the massive snowfalls this winter became the grist for a hundred posts poking fun at the very idea that anyone could still possibly believe in, you know, physics. Morano, who really is good, posted a link to a live webcam so readers could watch snow coming down; his former boss, Republican Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, had his grandchildren build an igloo on the Capitol grounds, with a sign that read: "Al Gore's New Home." These are the things that stick in people's heads. If the winter glove won't fit, you must acquit. "

I immediately began thinking, 'gee that sounds like something fox news would do'. Knowing that i rarely have an original idea, it was no shock that Mr. McKibben proceeded to mention how he thought that Fox had astutely capitalized on this story for further gains. The complete adherence to the particular view of this 'news organization' by one political faction of this country is not only utter absurdity, but also the reason why I often find myself compelled by the 'reporting' of the Fox News organization.

"Worried that someone is going to wreck your future? You're right about that, too. Right now, China is gearing up to dominate the green energy market. They're making the investments that mean future windmills and solar panels, even ones installed in this country, will be likely to arrive from factories in Chenzhou, not Chicago. "

This is a fear that I think is not only legitimate, but also one I share with the author for several reasons. Chief among them being the fact that by the time America catches up in policy, China, like the delivery guy in those Jimmy John's commercials, will be at your doorstep. (So much for that so called American ingenuity! Perhaps that is why Japanese auto manufacturers have dominated the auto industry...oh people want cheap economical cars that will help them save at the gas pump? Good thing it only took 10 years and a major safety recall to take them down a few notches. However I will save those thoughts for another time.)

Take what you will from Mr. McKibben's article, but it is fairly clear that his article is not merely about climate change or the science that legitimately backs it up. Rather it's focus lies with the way the public debate over climate change has been purposefully slowed, and in some cases manipulated, so as to ruin any chance at saving the planet and achieving the impending economic benefit that implementing said policies will likely have.

Bill McKibben is an environmental activist and the author of The End of Nature. He is responsible for starting the nationwide grassroots environmental campaign 350.org and its predecessor Step It Up. Mr. McKibben is currently a scholar at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont.

Mix

1. You're In It Now (Nate Grace)
2. Zebra (Beach House)
3. Islands (The XX)
4. Quick Canal (Atlas Sound w/ Laetitia Saider)
5. Shade of The Moor (Apse)
6. Green Knight (Memory Tapes)
7. Lately (The Helio Sequence)
8. Who Makes Your Money (Spoon)
9. Rainbo Conversation (Stereolab)

(to lazy to figure out how to make it into one track so just make your own playlist with the tracks in this order...or else)

...this year's gonna be ours

Apologies to all zero of my followers that I haven't posted as much as you would've liked me too. I've promised myself to devote more time to this blog, however in continuance of my last post I won't be sticking strictly to music. I hope (oh no, not that scary word) to dabble in film, politics, television, or whatever else my mind may happen to be interested in at the moment. If my sudden profound dedication has you wrought with excitement, let me know as I'd be more than welcome to let you contribute. For now I'll leave a link to a FourTet mix that he compiled after a recent residency at Plastic People in London.

Plastic People