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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Rachel Maddow Shouts Out TPM Reporting On TN Mosque


Rachel Maddow Shouts Out TPM Reporting On TN Mo...
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Man Already Knows Everything He Needs To Know About Muslims | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Over the past decade, Gentries said he has taken pains to avoid personal interactions or media that might have the potential to compromise his point of view. He told reporters that the closest he had come to confronting a contrary standpoint was tuning in to the first few seconds of an interview with a moderate Muslim cleric before hastily turning off the television.

"I almost gave in and listened to that guy defend Islam with words I didn't want to hear," Gentries said. "But then I remembered how much easier it is to live in a world of black-and-white in which I can assign the label of 'other' to someone and use him as a vessel for all my fears and insecurities."

Added Gentries, "That really put things back into perspective.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Clive Barker interview from 1990


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Clive Barker promoting The Great and Secret Show and Nightbreed on Good Morning America, January 25, 1990.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Leonard Cohen - Tonight Will Be Fine - Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970

via youtube.com

What is a saint? A saint is someone who has achieved a remote human possibility. It is impossible to say what that possibility is. I think it has something to do with the energy of love. Contact with this energy results in the exercise of a kind of balance in the chaos of existence. A saint does not dissolve the chaos; if he did the world would have changed long ago. I do not think that a saint dissolves the chaos even for himself, for there is something arrogant and warlike in the notion of a man setting the universe in order. It is a kind of balance that is his glory. He rides the drifts like an escaped ski. His course is the caress of the hill. His track is a drawing of the snow in a moment of its particular arrangement with wind and rock. Something in him so loves the world that he gives himself to the laws of gravity and chance. Far from flying with the angels, he traces with the fidelity of a seismograph needle the state of the solid bloody landscape. His house is dangerous and finite, but he is at home in the world. He can love the shape of human beings, the fine and twisted shapes of the heart. It is good to have among us such men, such balancing monsters of love.

 

God is alive. Magic is afoot. God is alive. Magic is afoot. God is afoot. Magic is alive. Alive is afoot. Magic never died. God never sickened. Many poor men lied. Many sick men lied. Magic never weakened. Magic never hid. Magic always ruled. God is afoot. God was ruler though his funeral lengthened. Though his mourners thickened Magic never fled...

  • Beautiful Losers (1966)

 

I am so often accused of gloominess and melancholy. And I think I'm probably the most cheerful man around. I don't consider myself a pessimist at all. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel completely soaked to the skin. ... I think those descriptions of me are quite inappropriate to the gravity of the predicament that faces us all. I've always been free from hope. It's never been one of my great solaces. I feel that more and more we're invited to make ourselves strong and cheerful. .... I think that it was Ben Jonson who said, I have studied all the theologies and all the philosophies, but cheerfulness keeps breaking through.

 

People used to say my music was too difficult or too obscure, and I never set out to be difficult or obscure. I just set out to write what I felt as honestly as I could, and I am delighted when other people feel a part of themselves in the music.

  • As quoted in Los Angeles Times (24 September 1995)

"You have loved enough, now let me be the lover." You could say that God is speaking to you or the cosmos, or your lover. It just means, like, Forget it. Lean back and be loved by all that is already loving you. It is your effort at love that is preventing you from experiencing it. It is like if you ever taught kids how to swim. The most difficult thing is Goddam to understand that they will float, if they relax, if they hold their breath and relax, they will actually float. For most kids it is difficult to swim. They feel they are going to sink like a stone to the bottom of the lake.

  • On the lyrics to "You Have Loved Enough" in an interview released at the Ten New Songs site (2001)

 

 

Carl Jung - Matter of Heart Part 1 of 10


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The psyche is the greatest of all cosmic wonders and the "sine qua non" of the world as an object. It is in the highest degree odd that Western man, with but very few -- and ever fewer -- exceptions, apparently pays so little regard to this fact.

The Daily Show: News Corp. Gives Money to Republicans


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Sunday, August 22, 2010

The Kinks - Living On A Thin Line

"I wish to write down my musical dreams in a spirit of utter self-detachment. I wish to sing of my interior visions with the naïve candour of a child. No doubt, this simple musical grammar will jar on some people. It is bound to offend the partisans of deceit and artifice. I foresee that and rejoice at it." - Claude Debussy (born 22 August 1862)

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Symphony of Science - 'We Are All Connected' (ft. Sagan, Feynman, deGrasse Tyson & Bill Nye)

"Our global civilisation is clearly on the edge of failure and the most important task it faces, preserving the lives and well-being of its citizens and the future habitability of the planet. But if we're willing to live with the growing likelihood of nuclear war shouldn't we also been willing to explore vigorously every possible means to prevent nuclear war. Shouldn't we consider in every nation major changes in the traditional ways of doing things, a fundamental restructuring of economic political social and religious institutions. We've reached a point where there can be no more special interests or special cases, nuclear arms threaten every person on the Earth. Fundamental changes in society are sometimes labelled impractical or contrary to human nature, as if nuclear war were practical or as if there's only one human nature. But fundamental changes can clearly be made, we're surrounded by them. In the last two centuries abject slavery which was with us for thousands of years has almost entirely been eliminated in a stirring worldwide revolution. Women, systematically mistreated for millennia are gradually gaining the political and economic power traditionally denied them and some wars of aggression have recently been stopped or curtailed because of a revulsion felt by the people in the aggressor nations. The old appeals to racial sexual religious chauvinism and to rabid nationalist fervor are beginning not to work. A new consciousness is developing which sees the earth as a single organism and recognizes that an organism at war with itself is doomed. We are one planet. One of the great revelations of the age of space exploration is the image of the earth finite and lonely, somehow vulnerable, bearing the entire human species through the oceans of space and time."
- Carl Sagan

"We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on."
- Richard Feynman

Leonard Cohen - Seems So Long Ago, Nancy Subtitulado


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Live at the isle of wight 1970

Jon Stewart & Anderson Cooper Look at Gaping Holes - Security - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 08/17/2010 - Video Clip | Comedy Central

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"Louie Gohmert wants to protect America from terror babies, but Anderson Cooper keeps interrupting him with questions and facts."

Jon Stewart & Anderson Cooper Look at Gaping Holes - Security


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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Leonard Cohen - The Partisan (Live At The Isle of Wight Festival 1970)

"When they poured across the border
I was cautioned to surrender,
this I could not do;
I took my gun and vanished.

I have changed my name so often,
I've lost my wife and children
but I have many friends,
and some of them are with me.

An old woman gave us shelter,
kept us hidden in the garret,
then the soldiers came;
she died without a whisper.

There were three of us this morning
I'm the only one this evening
but I must go on;
the frontiers are my prison.

Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come;
then we'll come from the shadows.

Les Allemands étaient chez moi,
ils me disent, "résigne toi,"
mais je n'ai pas peur;
j'ai repris mon arme.
J'ai changé cent fois de nom,
j'ai perdu femme et enfants
mais j'ai tant d'amis;
j'ai la France entière.
Un vieil homme dans un grenier
pour la nuit nous a caché,
les Allemands l'ont pris;
il est mort sans surprise.

[The Germans were at my home
They said, "Surrender yourself"
But I am not afraid
I have retaken my weapon
I have changed names a hundred times
I have lost wife and children
But I have so many friends
I have all of France
An old man, in an attic
Hid us for the night
The Germans captured him
He died without surprise.]

Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come;
then we'll come from the shadows."

Leonard Cohen - Suzanne ("Live At The Isle of Wight 1970")

"Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river
You can hear the boats go by
You can spend the night beside her
And you know that she's half crazy
But that's why you want to be there
And she feeds you tea and oranges
That come all the way from China
And just when you mean to tell her
That you have no love to give her
Then she gets you on her wavelength
And she lets the river answer
That you've always been her lover
And you want to travel with her
And you want to travel blind
And you know that she will trust you
For you've touched her perfect body with your mind.

And Jesus was a sailor
When he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching
From his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain
Only drowning men could see him
He said "All men will be sailors then
Until the sea shall free them"
But he himself was broken
Long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human
He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone
And you want to travel with him
And you want to travel blind
And you think maybe you'll trust him
For he's touched your perfect body with his mind.

Now Suzanne takes your hand
And she leads you to the river
She is wearing rags and feathers
From Salvation Army counters
And the sun pours down like honey
On our lady of the harbour
And she shows you where to look
Among the garbage and the flowers
There are heroes in the seaweed
There are children in the morning
They are leaning out for love
And they will lean that way forever
While Suzanne holds the mirror
And you want to travel with her
And you want to travel blind
And you know that you can trust her
For she's touched your perfect body with her mind."

Leonard Cohen - Sing Another Song, Boys ( Live at the Isle of Wight 1970)

"Ah his fingernails, I see they're broken,
his ships they're all on fire.
The moneylender's lovely little daughter
ah, she's eaten, she's eaten with desire.
She spies him through the glasses
from the pawnshops of her wicked father.
She hails him with a microphone
that some poor singer, just like me, had to leave her.
She tempts him with a clarinet,
she waves a Nazi dagger.
She finds him lying in a heap;
she wants to be his woman.
He says, "Yes, I might go to sleep
but kindly leave, leave the future,
leave it open."

He stands where it is steep,
oh I guess he thinks that he's the very first one,
his hand upon his leather belt now
like it was the wheel of some big ocean liner.
And she will learn to touch herself so well
as all the sails burn down like paper.
And he has lit the chain
of his famous cigarillo.
Ah, they'll never, they'll never ever reach the moon,
at least not the one that we're after;
it's floating broken on the open sea, look out there, my friends,
and it carries no survivors.
But lets leave these lovers wondering
why they cannot have each other,
and let's sing another song, boys,
this one has grown old and bitter."

Leonard Cohen - Tonight Will Be Fine (Live) Isle of Wight Festival 1970

"Sometimes I find I get to thinking of the past.
We swore to each other then that our love would surely last.
You kept right on loving, I went on a fast,
now I am too thin and your love is too vast.

But I know from your eyes
and I know from your smile
that tonight will be fine,
will be fine, will be fine, will be fine
for a while.

I choose the rooms that I live in with care,
the windows are small and the walls almost bare,
there's only one bed and there's only one prayer;
I listen all night for your step on the stair.

But I know from your eyes
and I know from your smile
that tonight will be fine,
will be fine, will be fine, will be fine
for a while.

Oh sometimes I see her undressing for me,
she's the soft naked lady love meant her to be
and she's moving her body so brave and so free.
If I've got to remember that's a fine memory.

And I know from her eyes
and I know from her smile
that tonight will be fine,
will be fine, will be fine, will be fine
for a while."

Leonard Cohen - The Stranger Song (Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970)

"It's true that all the men you knew were dealers
who said they were through with dealing
Every time you gave them shelter
I know that kind of man
It's hard to hold the hand of anyone
who is reaching for the sky just to surrender
who is reaching for the sky just to surrender.

And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind
you find he did not leave you very much not even laughter
Like any dealer he was watching for the card
that is so high and wild
he'll never need to deal another
He was just some Joseph looking for a manger
He was just some Joseph looking for a manger.

And then leaning on your window sill
he'll say one day you caused his will
to weaken with your love and warmth and shelter
And then taking from his wallet
an old schedule of trains, he'll say
I told you when I came I was a stranger
I told you when I came I was a stranger.

But now another stranger seems
to want you to ignore his dreams
as though they were the burden of some other
O you've seen that man before
his golden arm dispatching cards
but now it's rusted from the elbows to the finger
And he wants to trade the game he plays for shelter
Yes he wants to trade the game he knows for shelter.

Ah you hate to watch another tired man
lay down his hand
like he was giving up the holy game of poker
And while he talks his dreams to sleep
you notice there's a highway
that is curling up like smoke above his shoulder
and suddenly you feel a littlt older

You tell him to come in sit down
but something makes you turn around
The door is open you can't close your shelter
You try the handle of the road
It opens do not be afraid
It's you my love, you who are the stranger
It's you my love, you who are the stranger.

Well, I've been waiting, I was sure
we'd meet between the trains we're waiting for
I think it's time to board another
Please understand, I never had a secret chart
to get me to the heart of this
or any other matter
When he talks like this
you don't know what he's after
When he speaks like this,
you don't know what he's after.

Let's meet tomorrow if you choose
upon the shore, beneath the bridge
that they are building on some endless river
Then he leaves the platform
for the sleeping car that's warm
You realize, he's only advertising one more shelter
And it comes to you, he never was a stranger
And you say ok the bridge or someplace later.

And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind ...

And leaning on your window sill ...

I told you when I came I was a stranger."

Leonard Cohen - "One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong" (from "Live At The Isle of Wight")

Tho' the world could turn from you,
This, at least, I learn from you:
Beauty and Truth, tho' never found, are worthy to be sought,
The singer, upward-springing,
Is grander than his singing,
And tranquil self-sufficing joy illumes the dark of thought.
- Robert Williams Buchanan

The U.S. can't afford unilateral military moves abroad: With costs rising and the budget deficit growing, it's time for the U.S. to rethink its military commitments overseas. By Lawrence Korb and Loren Thompson

America began the new millennium with optimism and confidence. Today, two recessions and two wars later, the optimism is weakened and the confidence is waning. U.S. military spending has risen to nearly half of the global total, but the U.S. share of global output is eroding steadily as other economies grow faster.

An assessment by the National Intelligence Council in November 2008 warned that the ongoing transfer of wealth from the U.S. and other Western nations to East Asia is "without precedent in modern history." U.S. trade and budget deficits in this decade have also been unprecedented, with the federal government borrowing more than 40 cents of every dollar it spends.

In such circumstances, claims that America is the sole surviving superpower sound increasingly hollow. Experts can debate what role defense spending has played in this decline, but what is beyond dispute is Washington's waning ability to sustain military outlays at current levels.

There are a number of near-term steps the Obama administration can take to reduce the burden of military spending, such as winding down the U.S. presence in Iraq and Afghanistan and cutting outlays on unneeded weapons. Defense Secretary Robert Gates estimates that cuts he made last year will reduce planned weapons outlays by $330 billion, and now he has launched a campaign to slash support costs.


Force levels will need to be cut too, because the cost of military pay and benefits has risen to a point at which the affordability of the all-volunteer force is in doubt. This will provoke a bitter political debate, given the sacrifices U.S. troops have been asked to make in this decade. Yet with a $1.47-trillion federal deficit, the government is spending $4 billion it does not have each day, and our forces must shrink. This is particularly true because, as Gates has noted, after Iraq and Afghanistan, we will not do nation-building under fire again.

The big question for policymakers is not whether defense spending will be cut — that is inevitable — but how global security will be maintained as the U.S. role diminishes. Since World War II, the United States has played a central part in preventing wars and protecting vital areas such as the industrial centers of northeast Asia and the oilfields of the Middle East.

Now Washington must become more selective in its commitments, even as threats grow more diverse. It appears the only way this can be accomplished without encouraging aggression is to expect more of allies and friends. In other words, countries such as Germany, Japan and India must help fill the strategic vacuum created by America's retreat.

The Obama administration does not concede that America is in retreat, but it has fashioned a National Security Strategy that is well suited to current trends. The strategy emphasizes the importance of allies and "newly emerging partners" in accomplishing shared defense goals, and commits the United States to helping partners do more for their own defense, especially in coping with terrorism and insurgencies.

This is a sensible approach given the fact that allies will usually have more "forward presence" overseas than U.S. forces can muster, and typically will understand the cultural context of local conflicts better. But there are some steps that Washington needs to take so that partners can take on roles now beyond America's means.

For example, the Pentagon needs to build weapons that are affordable and appropriate for its partners. Nobody can afford the new $3-billion destroyer the Navy has developed — Gates canceled the program — but many countries can afford the faster, more agile Littoral Combat Ship. Similarly, the $150-million price tag on the Air Force's twin-engine F-22 fighter is too high for allies, but if the single-engine F-35 can be fielded for less than half that cost, it will have major export potential.

The White House has already embarked on a series of initiatives to engage allies in more robust security roles while loosening the export restrictions that impeded arming them. These steps may have trade benefits for America, but their real significance is that America's eroding economic might makes unilateralism too costly to be feasible. Washington needs to help overseas friends play a bigger security role so it can concentrate on rebuilding its economy.

Lawrence Korb is a defense analyst at the progressive Center for American Progress. Loren Thompson is a defense analyst at the conservative Lexington Institute.

Leonard Cohen: The Stranger Song


Leonard Cohen: The Stranger Song
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Performing on the Julie Felix Show in 1967.

Leonard Cohen-Diamonds in the mine


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The woman in blue, she's asking for revenge,
man in white -- that's you -- says he has no friends.
The river is swollen up with rusty cans
and the trees are burning in your promised land.

Leonard Cohen - Suzanne, Isle of Wight, 1970


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Suzanne performed by Cohen and his backup band: Bob Johnston (Cohens Nashville-based Columbia A&R staff producer), and Nashville musicians Charlie Daniels (electric bass, fiddle), Ron Cornelius (lead guitar), and Elkin Bubba Fowler (bass, banjo). They were joined by backup singers Corlynn Hanney, Susan Musmanno, and Donna Washburn.

Leonard Cohen on his audience (interview 1972)


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Leonard on his concert audiences. Apologies for picture quality.

Leonard Cohen on his poetry and success (interview 1972)


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Leonard recites a poem and muses on the nature of success. Apologies for picture quality.

Leonard Cohen - Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye (live 1972)


Leonard Cohen - Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodb...
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After having walked offstage, Leonard comes back to perform Hey, That's No Way..

Leonard Cohen - Passing Through and tour clips (live 1972)


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A montage of scenes from the 1972 tour set to Passing Through - a very apt song for the seeming chaos of the tour. Some revealing interviews too and a fail in the chat-up department ;) From Bird on a Wire 1972.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Earth's Overdraft Notice

The Global Footprint Network has announced that Earth Overshoot Day is fast approaching:

This Saturday, we will reach Earth Overshoot Day: the day when human demand on nature surpasses what nature can renewably supply...as of August 21st, humanity will have demanded an amount of ecological resources equivalent to what it takes nature 12 months to produce.

From now until the end of the year, we will meet our needs by liquidating stocks and accumulating greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.

According to the Global Footprint Network humanity crossed a threshold three decades ago when we stopped being able to live off of nature's interest -- "consuming resources and producing carbon dioxide at a rate lower than what the planet was able to regenerate and reabsorb each year" -- and started living beyond nature's capacity. They call this gap between human demand and nature's supply "ecological overshoot" (a concept that was devised by the UK-based new economics foundation).

The pace of this overshoot has grown each year (see links for 2007 and 2008 in the Worldchanging archives). Now the most recent data shows that "it takes one year and five months to regenerate the ecological services (production of resources and absorption of CO2) that humanity requires in one year." While this year's overshoot day comes about a month earlier than last year's, this is not due to a sudden change in human demand, but rather to improvements in the calculation methodology that have enabled the Global Footprint Network to more adequately capture the extent of overshoot. As an example, they report that the world has less biocapacity available, primarily in the area of grazing land, than previously estimated.


2010 Global Ecological Deficit (via "Global Footprint Network, National Footprint Accounts, 2009 edition. Available at www.footprintnetwork.org)


To learn more about how the Earth Overshoot Day is calculated, click here. Global Footprint Network President Mathis Wackernagel had this to say of the calculations:

"We would expect our estimates of overshoot to be, if anything, conservative. We know we are far from living within the means of one planet. The good news is, much of the technology we have to begin to address this problem is available and it is open source: things like compact urban design, energy-efficient housing, ecological tax reform, removal of resource subsidies, safe and affordable family planning, bicycles, low-meat diets, and life-cycle costing."

We couldn't agree more.

Some strategies for addressing the problem in the archives:

Related stories in the archives:

  • The Emergence of a Biosphere Economy | John Elkington and Alejandro Litovsky, 28 Jun 10
  • Ecological Footprint 2.0 | Alex Lowe, 17 Jun 07
  • Principle 2: Ecological Footprints and One Planet Thinking | WorldChanging Team, 8 May 07
  • The Future is Climate Neutral | Alex Steffen and Sarah Rich, 22 Jan 07
  • Europe 2005: The Ecological Footprint | Jon Lebkowsky, 2 Dec 05
  • Desperate Pandora Employees Scrambling To Find Song Area Man Likes

    OAKLAND, CA—The headquarters of personalized online music provider Pandora remained in a state of chaos Thursday as frantic workers struggled to find a song that 32-year-old Boston subscriber Dave Lipton would enjoy.

    Pandora, which allows users to create virtual radio stations according to their individual tastes, confirmed its employees had spent most of the day rummaging desperately through the miles of shelves in the company's massive 700,000-CD storage facility in search of a track to appease the increasingly fickle Lipton.

    "It's called 'Steely Dan Radio,' for Christ's sake—why does he keep skipping over Donald Fagen's 'The Nightfly'?" song-selection associate Lincoln Foster said as he rifled through a laundry cart full of CDs labeled "'70s Jazz Fusion." "We've already thrown three-decades-worth of Doobie Brothers at him. What the hell does this guy want?"

    "Okay, who's got the self-titled Blood, Sweat & Tears album?" Foster added. "I need 'Spinning Wheel' right now!"

    Lipton

    As a user of Pandora's free service, Lipton is only allowed to skip six songs an hour, but sources said that by clicking the thumbs-down "dislike" icon, he has registered his disapproval for every track the 2,939-member Pandora team has put on his playlist in the past five hours.

    According to genre-tracking department manager Rachel Davis, the problem has been compounded by Lipton's habit of switching without warning between several extremely specific listening profiles he has created for himself.

    "Who makes a station with proto-punk and late-'90s jam bands?" said Davis, explaining how an effort to split the difference by playing the MC5 followed by the String Cheese Incident had failed disastrously. "There are what, maybe two songs ever recorded that fit those criteria? And he just keeps skipping them."

    "At this point, I think he's just fucking with us," Davis continued before scaling a 30-foot ladder to retrieve a vinyl-only release by obscure Illinois ska-core group the Blue Meanies.

    Lipton reportedly listened to that track for less than 10 seconds before skipping it.

    Pandora executives acknowledged that the periodic Heineken and Ford Sales Event advertisements in Lipton's music stream are the only thing currently keeping the company from shutting down, declaring bankruptcy, and abandoning its manual music upload process.

    Though the web radio service has dealt with difficult users in the past, including renowned rock critic Robert Christgau and Bay Area software programmer Richard Sutton, representatives for Pandora said that most subscribers are content to listen uncomplainingly to whatever the song-selection team chooses.

    "We admit the meltdown today might have been avoided if we had duplicates of some of these albums," said Pandora PR representative Timothy Saltzman, sighing as a flashing red light above his head indicated that Lipton had skipped yet another track. "For example, we thought he might find 'Kashmir' really cool. Now, that might be a stretch, but my point is, we'll never know, because Janice DeStefano of Milwaukee has been hogging our copy of Physical Graffiti all day."

    By noon Thursday, Pandora had decided to bring in a panel of genre-bending musicians to act as consultants on the Lipton case, among them Beck, newcomer songstress Janelle Monáe, and retired avant-rock musician Don Van Vliet, better known as Captain Beefheart.

    "I think the best plan is to blindside him with a crazy free-form jazz-rock freak-out," Beefheart said. "Then, before he knows what's happening, bam! A real old-time-sounding blues stomper with anachronistically modern lyrics and subject matter. Hopefully that will keep him interested for at least three minutes."

    Added Beefheart, "But if you want to know what I really think, this guy is probably just some bored, bitter asshole who isn't capable of genuinely enjoying anything."

    Frank, Paul Plan To Reduce The Deficit Through Military Spending Cuts | TPMDC

    Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Ron Paul (R-TX) are enlisting members of Congress to press President Obama's Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform to propose "significant cuts to the military budget."

    Frank and Paul are seeking signatories to a letter to the fiscal commission, highlighting one trillion dollars in savings they can be achieved, through cuts and efficiencies, in the next 10 years.

    "[W]e write to urge in the strongest terms that any final Commission report include among its recommendations substantial reductions in projected levels of future spending by the Department of Defense," the letter reads.

    The main avenue for those savings, they say, include scaling back Cold War era policies and programs, and eradicating waste in research and contracting

    A recent TPM report noted efforts on behalf of some members of the commission to achieve savings by, among other things, slashing benefits to service members and veterans. In a statement today, Frank made clear he opposes such cuts.

    "I do want to make clear that the one point in which I and my colleagues differ with the Task Force -- the proposal for reducing healthcare benefits for veterans, especially with the consequences of the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am very proud that the Congress in the last few years has increased veterans health benefits."

    A spokesman for Frank says the letter currently has fewer than 10 cosigners, but that the incipient effort will begin in earnest with "aggressive member to member" outreach when Congress returns from August recess.

    You can read both the Dear Colleague, and the letter to the commission here.

    Good for them and for all of us taxpayers and citizens of the world! This makes me like both Frank and Paul more. And Frank was already one of my favorite congresspeople, just behind Nancy Pelosi.

    Saturday, August 14, 2010

    Jon Anderson & Vangelis - I'll Find My Way Home

    "You ask me where to begin
    Am I so lost in my sin
    You ask me where did I fall
    I'll say I can't tell you when
    But if my spirit is lost
    How will I find what is near
    Don't question I'm not alone
    Somehow I'll find my way home
    My sun shall rise in the east
    So shall my heart be at peace
    And if you're asking me when
    I'll say it starts at the end
    You know your will to be free
    Is matched with love secretly
    And talk will alter your prayer
    Somehow you'll find you are there.

    Your friend is close by your side
    And speaks in far ancient tongue
    A seasons wish will come true
    All seasons begin with you

    One world we all come from
    One world we melt into one
    Just hold my hand and we're there
    Somehow we're going somewhere
    Somehow we're going somewhere
    [interlude]

    You ask me where to begin
    Am I so lost in my sin
    You ask me where did I fall
    I'll say I can't tell you when
    But if my spirit is strong
    I know it can't be long
    No questions I'm not alone
    Somehow I'll find my way home
    Somehow I'll find my way home
    Somehow I'll find my way home
    Somehow I'll find my way home"

    Friday, August 13, 2010

    Millions Of Barrels Of Oil Safely Reach Port In Major Environmental Catastrophe | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

    PORT FOURCHON, LA—In what may be the greatest environmental disaster in the nation's history, the supertanker TI Oceania docked without incident at the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port Monday and successfully unloaded 3.1 million barrels of dangerous crude oil into the United States.

    According to witnesses, the catastrophe began shortly after the tanker, which sailed unimpeded across the Gulf of Mexico, stopped safely at the harbor and made contact with oil company workers on the shore. Soon after, vast amounts of the black, toxic petroleum in the ship's hold were unloaded at an alarming rate into special storage containers on the mainland.

    From there, experts confirmed, the oil will likely spread across the entire country's infrastructure and commit unforetold damage to its lakes, streams, and air.

    "We're looking at a crisis of cataclysmic proportions," said Charles Hartsell, an environmental scientist at Tufts University. "In a matter of days, this oil may be refined into a lighter substance that, when burned as fuel in vehicles, homes, and businesses, will poison the earth's atmosphere on a terrifying scale."

    The oil could soon contaminate areas as far away as this Los Angeles freeway.

    "Time is of the essence," Hartsell added. "If this is allowed to continue, the health of every American could be put at risk."

    "Noting that they have acted in strict accordance with U.S. laws and complied with the orders of federal regulators, representatives from ExxonMobil, BP, ConocoPhillips, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Chevron have all denied responsibility for the disaster."

    Leonard Cohen - One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong (Live 1968)

    "I lit a thin green candle, to make you jealous of me.
    But the room just filled up with mosquitos,
    they heard that my body was free.
    Then I took the dust of a long sleepless night
    and I put it in your little shoe.
    And then I confess that I tortured the dress
    that you wore for the world to look through.

    I showed my heart to the doctor: he said I just have to quit.
    Then he wrote himself a prescription,
    and your name was mentioned in it!
    Then he locked himself in a library shelf
    with the details of our honeymoon,
    and I hear from the nurse that he's gotten much worse
    and his practice is all in a ruin.

    I heard of a saint who had loved you,
    so I studied all night in his school.
    He taught that the duty of lovers
    is to tarnish the golden rule.
    And just when I was sure that his teachings were pure
    he drowned himself in the pool.
    His body is gone but back here on the lawn
    his spirit continues to drool.

    An Eskimo showed me a movie
    he'd recently taken of you:
    the poor man could hardly stop shivering,
    his lips and his fingers were blue.
    I suppose that he froze when the wind took your clothes
    and I guess he just never got warm.
    But you stand there so nice, in your blizzard of ice,
    oh please let me come into the storm."

    Thursday, August 12, 2010

    Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference (SSREC) [wowcrowd]

    The Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference (SSREC) is an important event that brings hundreds of students from across the Southeast together for a weekend of essential skills trainings, inspiring keynote speakers, collaborative state network meetings, and movement building. Since its establishment in 2003, the SSREC has served as a platform for Southern students to build a region-wide movement to promote a clean, sustainable energy future. The Southern Energy Network (SEN) was formed from discussions and connections coming out of the 2004 SSREC, hosted at the University of North Carolina and Duke University.

    The South is one of the largest contributors to the problems of dirty energy and global warming, and our politicians are some of the most resistant to boldly addressing global warming pollution and climate change. For this reason, building and strengthening the movement of Southern youth fighting for a clean energy future is some of the most important work we can be doing. And that’s where the SSREC comes in!
    We’re excited to host the 6th SSREC at the University of Georgia this fall. This year, we’ll be training even more awesome young people to fight dirty energy in their communities, and to promote clean, just, sustainable solutions. We’ll be connecting hundreds of new organizers to each other, growing the youth climate movement regionally and nationally. The conference will provide hope and motivation in a region that can seem very reluctant to change, as well as provide context around the effects of climate change in the Southeast and why this work is so urgent and important.
    This year’s SSREC will be October 1 – 3, 2010 in Athens, Georgia, and is co-hosted by SEN and the UGA Go Green Alliance.

    Leonard Cohen - Bird On A Wire (1972)


    1st collector for Leonard Cohen - Bird On A Wire (1972)
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    Originally released in 1972 and directed by celebrated British filmmaker Tony Palmer, Bird on a Wire follows Cohen on his 1972 European tour and contains 17 classic performances, 4 poems and tour footage. After several edits it was relreleased in 1974.

    Leonard Cohen - Bird On A Wire (1972)

    "I have saved all my ribbons for thee.
    If I, if I have been unkind,
    I hope that you can just let it go by.
    If I, if I have been untrue
    it's just that I thought a lover had to be some kind of liar too.

    Like a baby, stillborn,
    Like a beast with his horn
    I have torn everyone who reached out for me.
    But I swear by this song
    And by all that I have done wrong
    I will make it all up to thee.

    Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry no more. It's over now, it's over babe, don't cry no more. I say don't cry, don't cry, don't cry anymore. It's over. It's finished. It's completed. It has been paid for.

    Oh like a bird on the wire,
    Like a drunk in a midnight choir
    I have tried in my way to be free."

    Mike Oldfield - Moonlight Shadow

    "The last that ever she saw him,
    Carried away by a moonlight shadow.
    He passed on worried and warning,
    Carried away by a moonlight shadow.
    Lost in a riddle that Saturday night,
    Far away on the other side.
    He was caught in the middle of a desperate fight
    And she couldn't find how to push through.

    The trees that whisper in the evening,
    Carried away by a moonlight shadow.
    Sing a song of sorrow and grieving,
    Carried away by a moonlight shadow.
    All she saw was a silhouette of a gun,
    Far away on the other side.
    He was shot six times by a man on the run
    And she couldn't find how to push through.

    [ Chorus ]

    I stay, I pray
    See you in heaven far away.
    I stay, I pray
    See you in heaven one day.

    Four a.m. in the morning,
    Carried away by a moonlight shadow.
    I watched your vision forming,
    Carried away by a moonlight shadow.
    Star was light in a silvery night,
    Far away on the other side.
    Will you come to talk to me this night,
    But she couldn't find how to push through.

    [ Repeat Chorus ]

    Far away on the other side.

    Caught in the middle of a hundred and five.
    The night was heavy and the air was alive,
    But she couldn't find how to push through.

    Carried away by a moonlight shadow.
    Carried away by a moonlight shadow.
    Far away on the other side.
    But she couldn't find how to push through."

    The Kinks - Lola (Top Of The Pops)

    "I met her in a club down in old Soho
    Where you drink champagne and it tastes just like cherry-cola [LP version:
    Coca-Cola]
    C-O-L-A cola
    She walked up to me and she asked me to dance
    I asked her her name and in a DARK BROWN voice she said Lola
    L-O-L-A Lola lo-lo-lo-lo Lola

    Well I'm not the world's most physical guy
    But when she squeezed me tight she nearly broke my spine
    Oh my Lola lo-lo-lo-lo Lola
    Well I'm not dumb but I can't understand
    Why she walked like a woman and talked like a man
    Oh my Lola lo-lo-lo-lo Lola lo-lo-lo-lo Lola

    Well we drank champagne and danced all night
    Under electric candlelight
    She picked me up and sat me on her knee
    And said little boy won't you come home with me
    Well I'm not the world's most passionate guy
    But when I looked in her eyes well I almost fell for my Lola
    Lo-lo-lo-lo Lola lo-lo-lo-lo Lola
    Lola lo-lo-lo-lo Lola lo-lo-lo-lo Lola

    I pushed her away
    I walked to the door
    I fell to the floor
    I got down on my knees
    Well I looked at her and she at me

    Well that's the way that I want it to stay
    And I'll always want it to be that way for my Lola
    Lo-lo-lo-lo Lola
    Girls will be boys and boys will be girls
    It's a mixed up muddled up shook up world except for Lola
    Lo-lo-lo-lo Lola

    Well I'd left home just a week before
    And I'd never ever kissed a woman before
    But Lola smiled and took me by the hand
    And said little boy I'm gonna make you a man

    Well I'm not the world's most masculine man
    But I know what I am and IN BED I'm a man
    And so is Lola
    Lo-lo-lo-lo Lola l-lo-lo-lo Lola
    Lola lo-lo-lo-lo Lola lo-lo-lo-lo Lola"

    The Sopranos - The Kinks - Living On A Thin Line

    "All the stories have been told
    Of kings and days of old,
    But there's no England now.
    All the wars that were won and lost
    Somehow don't seem to matter very much anymore.
    All the lies we were told,
    All the lies of the people running round,
    Their castles have burned.
    Now I see change,
    But inside we're the same as we ever were.

    Living on a thin line,
    Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?
    Living on a thin line,
    Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?
    Living on a thin line,
    Living this way, each day is a dream.
    What am I, what are we supposed to do?
    Living on a thin line,
    Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?

    Now another century nearly gone,
    What are we gonna leave for the young?
    What we couldn't do, what we wouldn't do,
    It's a crime, but does it matter?
    Does it matter much, does it matter much to you?
    Does it ever really matter?
    Yes, it really, really matters.

    Living on a thin line,
    Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?
    Living on a thin line,
    Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?

    Now another leader says
    Break their hearts and break some heads.
    Is there nothing we can say or do?
    Blame the future on the past,
    Always lost in blood and guts.
    And when they're gone, it's me and you.

    Living on a thin line,
    Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?
    Living on a thin line,
    Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?
    Living on a thin line."

    Mike Oldfield - Pictures In The Dark

    "The voice of the individual artist may seem perhaps of no more consequence than the whirring of a cricket in the grass, but the arts do live continuously, and they live literally by faith; their names and their shapes and their uses and their basic meanings survive unchanged in all that matters through times of interruption, diminishment, neglect; they outlive governments and creeds and the societies, even the very civilization that produced them. They cannot be destroyed altogether because they represent the substance of faith and the only reality. They are what we find again when the ruins are cleared away." - Katherine Anne Porter

     

    "Follow the light that glows 
    Through your bedroom window. 
    Tonight, tonight, the fading twilight. 
    There's a hollow deep in the woods 
    Where you know you're crazy 
    To go, to go, not even meant to know 
    There are...

    Pictures in the dark, I see all around. 
    Voices calling underground 
    And I'm watching the stars since the 
    World was found.

    One, two, three.

    [ Chorus ]

    Pictures in the dark, I see 
    Morpheus comes to me. 
    Pictures in the dark, I see. 
    Aurora sets you free.

    And in the deepest dark 
    You come to a maze in. 
    The night, the night, the fading twilight. 
    And you shiver the glistening path 
    Where you know you're crazy 
    To go, to go, not even meant to know. 
    There are...

    Pictures in the dark, I see all around. 
    Voices calling underground 
    And I'm watching the stars since the 
    World was found.

    One, two, three.

    Lost in my dreams.

    This night will never end. 
    You can only fly in your dreams. 
    Midnight will be your friend. 
    Drift away on starlight beams. 
    Clocks are ticking the night away. 
    You can only fly until dawn ascends.

    [ Repeat Chorus ]

    The moon shines starlight beams 
    And you'll be flying in your dreams.

    [ Repeat Chorus ]

    The moon shines starlight beams 
    And you'll be flying in your dreams."

    Ringo Starr - The Concert For Bangladesh - It Don't Come Easy [HD] - Joshua Oakley - Dreams Poetry Visions Imagination Beauty

    "Wait until the world is free before you write a creed.
    In this creed there will be but one word — Liberty."
    - Robert G. Ingersoll

    Vangelis - Blade Runner - Tears In Rain [Hi-Res Video]

    ""I've seen things, you people wouldn't believe, hmmm.
    ... attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
    I've watched C Beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate.
    All those moments, will be lost in time like tears in rain..."
    ["... time to die ..."]"

    Wednesday, August 11, 2010

    Bob Dylan - Tangled Up In Blue

    "Early one mornin’ the sun was shinin’
    I was layin’ in bed
    Wond’rin’ if she’d changed at all
    If her hair was still red
    Her folks they said our lives together
    Sure was gonna be rough
    They never did like Mama’s homemade dress
    Papa’s bankbook wasn’t big enough
    And I was standin’ on the side of the road
    Rain fallin’ on my shoes
    Heading out for the East Coast
    Lord knows I’ve paid some dues gettin’ through
    Tangled up in blue

    She was married when we first met
    Soon to be divorced
    I helped her out of a jam, I guess
    But I used a little too much force
    We drove that car as far as we could
    Abandoned it out West
    Split up on a dark sad night
    Both agreeing it was best
    She turned around to look at me
    As I was walkin’ away
    I heard her say over my shoulder
    “We’ll meet again someday on the avenue”
    Tangled up in blue

    I had a job in the great north woods
    Working as a cook for a spell
    But I never did like it all that much
    And one day the ax just fell
    So I drifted down to New Orleans
    Where I happened to be employed
    Workin’ for a while on a fishin’ boat
    Right outside of Delacroix
    But all the while I was alone
    The past was close behind
    I seen a lot of women
    But she never escaped my mind, and I just grew
    Tangled up in blue

    She was workin’ in a topless place
    And I stopped in for a beer
    I just kept lookin’ at the side of her face
    In the spotlight so clear
    And later on as the crowd thinned out
    I’s just about to do the same
    She was standing there in back of my chair
    Said to me, “Don’t I know your name?”
    I muttered somethin’ underneath my breath
    She studied the lines on my face
    I must admit I felt a little uneasy
    When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe
    Tangled up in blue

    She lit a burner on the stove
    And offered me a pipe
    “I thought you’d never say hello,” she said
    “You look like the silent type”
    Then she opened up a book of poems
    And handed it to me
    Written by an Italian poet
    From the thirteenth century
    And every one of them words rang true
    And glowed like burnin’ coal
    Pourin’ off of every page
    Like it was written in my soul from me to you
    Tangled up in blue

    I lived with them on Montague Street
    In a basement down the stairs
    There was music in the cafés at night
    And revolution in the air
    Then he started into dealing with slaves
    And something inside of him died
    She had to sell everything she owned
    And froze up inside
    And when finally the bottom fell out
    I became withdrawn
    The only thing I knew how to do
    Was to keep on keepin’ on like a bird that flew
    Tangled up in blue

    So now I’m goin’ back again
    I got to get to her somehow
    All the people we used to know
    They’re an illusion to me now
    Some are mathematicians
    Some are carpenters’ wives
    Don’t know how it all got started
    I don’t know what they’re doin’ with their lives
    But me, I’m still on the road
    Headin’ for another joint
    We always did feel the same
    We just saw it from a different point of view
    Tangled up in blue"

    Tuesday, August 10, 2010

    John Lennon - Imagine

    "The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan-Tanka, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us." - Black Elk

    "Imagine there's no heaven
    It's easy if you try
    No hell below us
    Above us only sky
    Imagine all the people
    Living for today...

    Imagine there's no countries
    It isn't hard to do
    Nothing to kill or die for
    And no religion too
    Imagine all the people
    Living life in peace...

    You may say I'm a dreamer
    But I'm not the only one
    I hope someday you'll join us
    And the world will be as one

    Imagine no possessions
    I wonder if you can
    No need for greed or hunger
    A brotherhood of man
    Imagine all the people
    Sharing all the world...

    You may say I'm a dreamer
    But I'm not the only one
    I hope someday you'll join us
    And the world will live as one"

    John Lennon & Yoko Ono: WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It)

    Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice. ~ Baruch Spinoza

    John Lennon - Power To The People

    "Say you want a revolution
    We better get on right away
    Well you get on your feet
    And out on the street

    Singing power to the people
    Power to the people
    Power to the people
    Power to the people, right on

    A million workers working for nothing
    You better give 'em what they really own
    We got to put you down
    When we come into town

    Singing power to the people
    Power to the people
    Power to the people
    Power to the people, right on

    I gotta ask you comrades and brothers
    How do you treat you own woman back home
    She got to be herself
    So she can free herself

    Singing power to the people
    Power to the people
    Power to the people
    Power to the people, right on
    Now, now, now, now

    Oh well, power to the people
    Power to the people
    Power to the people
    Power to the people, right on"

    Posted via email from Joshua Oakley - Dreams Poetry Visions Imagination Beauty

    Monday, August 9, 2010

    John Lennon - Stand By Me

    "When the night has come
    And the land is dark
    And the moon is the only light we'll see
    No I won't be afraid, no I won't be afraid
    Just as long as you stand, stand by me

    So darlin', darlin', stand by me, oh stand by me
    Oh, stand, Stand by me, stand by me

    If the sky that we look upon
    Should tumble and fall
    All the mountains should crumble to the sea
    I won't cry, I won't cry, no I won't shed a tear
    Just as long as you stand, stand by me

    And darlin', darlin', stand by me, oh stand by me
    Oh, stand now, Stand by me, stand by me

    Darlin', darlin', stand by me, oh stand by me
    Oh stand now, stand by me, stand by me.

    Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand by me, oh now now stand by me
    Oh stand by me, stand by me, stand by me

    Darlin', darlin', stand by me-e, stand by me
    Oh stand by me, stand by me, stand by me"

    Posted via email from Joshua Oakley - Dreams Poetry Visions Imagination Beauty