The Great Leap Forward

Live365: All Over The Place Update - April 18

It's been a while since I overhauled the playlist, but I just added a bunch of new songs. Here's the complete list of artists currently playing on All Over The Place:

+/-, Action Painting!, Aluminum Group, Ballboy, Beck, Belle And Sebastian, Belly, Billy Bragg, Bowery Electric, British Sea Power, Brittle Stars, Bruce Springsteen, Caetano Veloso, Crowded House, Damien Rice, Dashboard Confessional, Dinosaur Jr., Dwight Yoakam, Echo & The Bunnymen, Elbow, Fishbone, For Against, Genesis, Gentle Despite, Green Day, Her Space Holiday, Holiday Flyer, Ice Cube, J Mascis, Japan, Longwave, Mark Eitzel, Mark Robinson, Massive Attack, Michael Penn, Midnight Oil, Mission Of Burma, Modest Mouse, Nine Inch Nails, Orange Peels, Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays, Piano Magic, Placebo, Pulp, R.E.M., Radiohead, Rothko, Ryan Adams, Salteens, Scritti Politti, Snow Patrol, Some Girls, Spiritualized, Sting, The Association, The Comast Angels, The Field Mice, The Golden Palominos, The Kinks, The Multiple Cat, The Orchids, The Polyphonic Spree, The Shins, The The, The Thrills, The Tyde, The Wallflowers, The White Stripes, The Wolfgang Press, Throwing Muses, Todd Rundgren, Uncle Tupelo, Versus, Wedding Present, Wilco, Yes, Yo La Tengo.

So tune in for the new stuff - the Snow Patrol and Modest Mouse are fresh out the shrink wrap - go here and click the yellow button to play.

Now we're linked from Random Fusion.

Just noticed this one - thanks for the link, guys!

BTW, Random Fusion isn't a blog - just appears to be someone's favorite links. Good enough for me.

9/11 Commission: What still needs to be asked?

This article from the Boston Globe points out that we still don't know why 140 Saudi nationals (including bin Laden relatives) were ferried around the country in the days immediately after the attack, and then shipped back to Saudi Arabia without the FBI having the opportunity to talk to them. FBI director Robert Mueller and Jesus' Favorite Christian, John Ashcroft, will be called before the commission. With any luck, they will be asked these nagging questions. Come on, Richard Ben-Veniste, America wants the truth!

This episode raises particularly sensitive questions for the administration. Never before in history has a president of the United States had such a close relationship with another foreign power as President Bush and his father have had with the Saudi royal family, the House of Saud. I have traced more than $1.4 billion in investments and contracts that went from the House of Saud over the past 20 years to companies in which the Bushes and their allies have had prominent positions -- Harken Energy, Halliburton, and the Carlyle Group among them. Is it possible that President Bush himself played a role in authorizing the evacuation of the Saudis after 9/11? What did he know and when did he know it?

Let's go back to Sept. 13, 2001, and look at several scenes that were taking place simultaneously. Three thousand people had just been killed. The toxic rubble of the World Trade Center was still ablaze. American airspace was locked down. Not even Bill Clinton and Al Gore, who were out of the country, were allowed to fly home. And a plane bearing a replacement heart for a desperately ill Seattle man was forced down short of its destination by military aircraft. Not since the days of the Wright Brothers had American skies been so empty.

The sad fact is that these questions have remained unanswered for two-and-a-half years! What does George Bush have to hide?

The Boston Globe puts the supposedly liberal New York Times to shame.

fantasyBaseball: Iowa City Liberals climb out of the cellar!

It was a good end of the week for the ICL as we moved up to 10th place (out of 12) with 67.5 points. Home runs have picked up thanks to Adrian Beltre', Albert Pujols and Hee Seop Choi (a first-week pickup). We got our first pitching win, courtesy of Tim Hudson. The Yankees on the team (Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams) have been struggling, as has the whole Yankee franchise. The only problem now is injuries. ICL lost Torii Hunter, Andy Pettitte and Byung-Hyun Kim. Kim is due back around April 15. In the meantime, I managed to add some help in the form of Ray Durham, Craig Biggio, Wilson Alvarez and Colby Lewis. The future is indeed looking brighter for the Iowa City Liberals!

Can you tell I'm enjoying this?

myLife: Pursuing the teaching job.

Good news on that front - remember this post? The Liberal Arts and Sciences Test is one of three standardized tests that New York State teachers need to pass in order to get certified. Just got my results back:

300 (scoring range is 100 to 300)

Somehow, I aced this test. I'm as surprised as you are. One down, two to go! I plan to take the math test in July.

George W. Bush: Comedian!

It took a while, but Jason Wolnier of Music For America put together a nice little piece based on George's WMD "jokes" a few weeks back - check it.

Bush (and Condi) lied and our soldiers died - wake up, America!

Here's what Music For America is all about:

Music for America is a partisan, political nonprofit getting 1 million new progressive voters to participate in the 2004 elections. The country is headed in the wrong direction; our generation has the most at stake, and as long as we remain spectators, nothing will change. Through live concerts and an interactive website, we are connecting culture and politics, exposing political hypocrisies, and igniting a grassroots movement.

Strange music in suburban New York newspaper. Readership becomes frightened and confused. (Air, Lambchop, The Wrens)

OK, we have a not-so-great Gannett paper 'round here called The Journal News. It's fairly useless, but every Thursday, they run their weekend section called The Line. Usually, they'll run profiles of obscure bands who are playing NYC. I'm just amazed. This week's victims: Air, Lambchop and my personal favorite, The Wrens. Interesting story there - here's part of it:

Charles Bissell is 40 years old. He lives in a small house in Secaucus, N.J., with his longtime friends, brothers named Kevin and Greg. Another roommate, Jerry, got married and moved out. The house slumps on a hill overlooking the New Jersey Turnpike and the jagged Manhattan skyline. The backyard is filled with halfhearted tufts of grass.

Charles works in Manhattan as a senior staff accountant for Loews advertising. Kevin and Greg work for Pfizer pharmaceuticals. Jerry is a salesman. And for four years, they'd trudge home from their jobs and gather in that house in Secaucus — ties loosened, exhausted — to try to make themselves famous.

"We grew up in the '70s, an age where you formed a band, and all of a sudden you became Boston. You became Black Oak Arkansas," Bissell says. "You'd just be on MCA — a real label — and you had a real record that real people could buy at real record stores. We used to think that was the logical progression of a music career."

Bissell sings and plays guitar. The brothers Whelan — Kevin and Greg — play bass and guitar, respectively. Jerry MacDonald is a drummer. They've all been playing together since 1989 in a band called the Wrens. They'd released two critically praised but commercially ignored records on a tiny (and now defunct) independent label. There had been some interest from a few major labels, a nibble here or there, but nothing ever came of it. So the Wrens resigned themselves to the workaday world. But they all still wanted to make music, so they'd record bits and pieces late at night, or on the weekends, whenever they could find a free moment.

"We started recording this stuff to make an album, and it was always about to be finished next month," Bissell says. "But then the whole thing just dragged on for 45 months. That album became an albatross. It was one of the few things that literally brought me to tears."

"That album" is called "The Meadowlands." It was released in September 2003. And it's so good — so full of implosive power, heart-wrenching loss, and subtle beauty — that even 45 long months and a few breakdowns seem a small price to pay for its creation. At least when compared to everything the Wrens had been through already.

I absolutely loved their first CD, Silver. It's one of the most expansive, far-reaching debuts I've ever heard. The follow-up, Secaucus, isn't bad either. I lost track of them after that, but it's nice to hear that they're still giving it a shot.

George W. Bush: Not a lush!

Lookin' like shit in this latest photo. The truth will destroy you, George.

(Thanks to Bottle Of Blog)

The hammer comes down: Aug 6 memo on terrorism released.

And of course, they did it late on a Friday. This post at Daily Kos puts it all into perspective. Bush and his minions had ample warning that al-Q was up to no good and was planning an attack on American soil. What did Bush do? Why, he went on vacation for a month, starting on August 7!

The sources said the presidential memo included a series of bullet items that brought Bush through a history of mostly uncorroborated intelligence that cited al-Qaida's interest in hijacking planes to win the release of Islamic extremists who had been arrested in 1998 and 1999 as well as the trips of suspected al-Qaida operatives, including some U.S. citizens, in and out of the United States. It suggested al-Qaida might have a support system in place on U.S. soil, the sources said.
The document also included FBI analytical judgments that some al-Qaida activities were consistent with preparation for airline hijackings or other types of attacks, some members of the commission looking into the Sept. 11 attacks said earlier this week.

The second-to-last bullet told the president that there were numerous -- at least 70 -- terror-related investigations under way by the FBI in 2001 involving matters or people on U.S. soil, the sources said.

And the final bullet told the president of a recent intelligence report indicating al-Qaida operatives were trying to get inside the United States to carry out an attack with explosives, the sources said. There were no specifics about the timing or target, the sources said.

By the way, did you know that since beginning his usurpation of the Office of the Presidency, he has taken over 200 vacation days? Nice work if you can steal it.

readThis: A Baghdad blog.

I stumbled across Baghdad Burning over at the Daily Kos message boards. It's a first-hand account of the crisis. Go here to learn more. Here is an excerpt:

Today, the day the Iraqi Puppets hail "National Day", will mark the day of the "Falloojeh Massacre"… Bremer has called for a truce and ceasefire in Falloojeh very recently and claimed that the bombing will stop, but the bombing continues as I write this. Over 300 are dead in Falloojeh and they have taken to burying the dead in the town football field because they aren't allowed near the cemetery. The bodies are decomposing in the heat and the people are struggling to bury them as quickly as they arrive. The football field that once supported running, youthful feet and cheering fans has turned into a mass grave holding men, women and children.

The people in Falloojeh have been trying to get the women and children out of the town for the last 48 hours but all the roads out of the city are closed by the Americans and refugees are being shot at and bombed on a regular basis… we're watching the television and crying. The hospital is overflowing with victims… those who have lost arms and legs… those who have lost loved ones. There isn't enough medicine or bandages… what are the Americans doing?! This is collective punishment … is this the solution to the chaos we're living in? Is this the 'hearts and minds' part of the campaign?

A convoy carrying food, medication, blood and doctors left for Falloojeh yesterday, hoping to get in and help the people in there. Some people from our neighborhood were gathering bags of flour and rice to take into the town. E. and I rummaged the house from top to bottom and came up with a big sack of flour, a couple of smaller bags of rice, a few kilos of assorted dry lentil, chickpeas, etc. We were really hoping the trucks could get through to help out in the city. Unfortunately, I just spoke with an Iraqi doctor who told me that the whole convoy was denied entry... it seems that now they are trying to get the women and children out or at least the very sick and wounded.

The south isn't much better… the casualties are rising and there's looting and chaos. There's an almost palpable anger in Baghdad. The faces are grim and sad all at once and there's a feeling of helplessness that can't be described in words. It's like being held under water and struggling for the unattainable surface- seeing all this destruction and devastation.

Kinda makes last place in the fantasy baseball league seem extremely trivial. I can't begin to imagine how I would deal with such a situation.