three and out

The third and final Presidential debate of 2008 is over. According to the various post-debate discussions on TV and on-line, McCain saved his best for last. I don't know. Barack certainly played it safe -- and rightfully so. According to every national poll, Obama leads McCain by a respectable margin. There was no reason to bloody his fists.

Regardless, I eagerly await the end of McCain's campaign. Tonight I saw every reason to despise the Senator from Arizona. He's an arrogant, condescending, pompous, sniveling old man. And he is NOT the man this country -- a country facing an unprecedented economic crisis on a global scale (literally) -- needs.

xx

can't stop the bleeding

One Day After Interest Rates Were Slashed Across the Globe, Dow Sheds Another 670 Points

By Jeff Cox, CNBC.com

Another washout overtook Wall Street Thursday, sending major averages down as much as 7 percent as traders bailed out of the credit-battered stock market.

The market's afternoon selloff sent the Dow below 9,000 for the first time in five years, as unshakeable fears from the credit freeze combined with the expiration of short-selling rules to beat down stocks for the seventh straight day.

Selling grew downright feverish in the final hour as exasperated traders described an air of hopelessness and questions circled over what the market's capitulation selloff point might be.

"This is a disaster, I can't put it any other way. You would think capitulation would have been the 1,300-point loss in the first three days this week," said Dave Rovelli, managing director of US equity trading at Boston-based Canaccord Adams. "No one wants to own stocks. ... It's just constant negative energy."

With no end to selling in sight, there were more calls for action by policymakers.

"We need to get some traction at some point in time here to get some sort of rally," BlackRock Vice Chairman Bob Doll said on CNBC. "We've been in this freefall zone, and the Fed's going to have to get bigger, bolder and in front of things I'm afraid."

Responding to an on-air question, Doll agreed the stock market had crashed.

FULL STORY

General Motors Shares Fall to Lowest Level Since 1950

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp shares fell as much as 21.6 percent to their lowest level since 1950 on Thursday amid financial market turmoil and the car maker's report of European sales declines through the first nine months of 2008.

GM, whose shares fell as low as $5.42 on the New York Stock Exchange, blamed the credit crisis and inflation for hurting consumer confidence in Europe, where its sales have declined 1.9 percent in 2008 through September.

GM, the largest U.S.-based automaker, posted a $15.5 billion net loss in the second quarter and announced plans in July to cut costs by about $10 billion. The company has been restructuring in North America to meet increasing demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles.

An investment banker who declined to be identified attributed the share decline to elimination of short-selling restrictions on the shares that had put the equity value out of balance with bond and credit-default swaps values.

"It all has to rebalance now," the banker said.

The stock decline comes as influential industry forecasters J.D. Power and Associates and Global Insight lower auto sector expectations for 2008 and predict a slow recovery.

"While the global automotive industry is clearly experiencing a slowdown in 2008, the global market in 2009 may experience an outright collapse," said Jeff Schuster, J.D. Power's executive director of automotive forecasting, in a statement.

J.D. Power cut its 2008 U.S. light vehicle sales forecast to 13.6 million units and said it expects sales to fall to 13.2 million units in 2009. Global Insight on Wednesday cut its 2008 U.S. auto sales outlook and warned that a recovery toward more normal levels may not occur until 2013.

Citigroup also cut GM and Ford Motor Co to "sell" ratings on Wednesday.

Ford shares fell 20 cents, or 7.5 percent, to $2.46 on Thursday. Ford stock had reached its lowest level in a quarter century on Wednesday, falling as low as $2.10.

GM shares were off $1.01, or 14.6 percent, at $5.90.

(Reporting by David Bailey and Soyoung Kim in Detroit and Jui Chakravorty Das and Euan Rocha in New York; Editing by Brian Moss)

round two

Just a few words regarding tonight's second Presidential debate...

• McCain gave a solid performance. He clearly knows his campaign is in trouble... wasn't afraid to attack Obama and be the aggressor.
• Obama was firm, unshakable, certainly more presidential. He's obviously the stronger candidate... McCain's barbs rolled off Barack's back.
• Just overheard some of MSNBC's Rachel Maddow's analysis. "McCain was looking for a fight, Obama wasn't." Well said.
• McCain needed this debate to be a game-changer -- it wasn't. Expect McCain/Palin to fill the following weeks with more ridiculous attacks on Obama. They can't win on the issues, this is clear. But, unfortunately for the GOP, the American people don't want to hear a political candidate -- especially a Presidential candidate -- level incendiary attacks on his or her opponent when this country -- and the rest of the world, for that matter -- is staring down the long barrel of a potentially terrifying economic crisis.

debate deconstruction, part II: taxes

According to analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Barack Obama and John McCain are both proposing tax plans that would result in cuts for many American families. Obama's plan gives the biggest cuts to those who make the least, while McCain would give the largest cuts to the very wealthy.

The following table, created by the Washington Post, presents each tax plan in a clear and concise manner, without the political rhetoric.

(What you won't find in this table is McCain's tax hike on anyone who receives health benefits from his or her employer. Scroll down for more info... )



McCain's $5000 Refundable Tax Credit Masks Tax on Health Benefits

(The following analysis was taken from the nonpartisan FactCheck.org. If McCain's deceptive "tax credit" were to pass, he would be the first President in US history to tax health benefits.)

McCain has stated he will "give every American family a $5,000 refundable tax credit" to buy health insurance.

Sounds good. But McCain failed to mention how existing employer-sponsored health benefits would be affected.

• Workers would be taxed on the value of any employer-paid health benefits, partially offsetting the $5,000 credit for those now covered by such plans.

• Experts say a tax credit plan like this would likely cause companies to reduce or eliminate health benefits for their employees.

The aim of the McCain plan is to reduce health care costs through increased competition, by encouraging individuals to shop around for health insurance and medical care. There are many who favor such an approach, and we take no position on it one way or the other. But McCain's simplistic claim misleads voters by promising to give "every American family" a $5,000 benefit while failing to mention what he would also take away.

if you can't beat 'em, assassinate their character

Thirty-one Days Until Election Day; Palin the Pitbull Claims Obama is 'Palling Around with Terrorists'

As the 2008 Presidential election enters its final stretch, the fading McCain/Palin ticket is preparing a blitz of negativity. "Sarah, the gloves are off, the heels are on, go get to them," an aide reportedly advised Palin.

Campaigning in Colorado on Saturday, Palin claimed that Obama "sees America... as being so imperfect... that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country." The "terrorist" is Bill Ayers, who was one of the founders of the '60s extremist group the Weather Underground and several years ago served on a charity board with Obama. It should be noted that Obama, who was just a child during the Underground's existence, has repeatedly denounced Ayers' radical views and activities.

Full story is HERE.

karma's a bitch

Thirteen Years to the Day After Being Aquitted of Murder, OJ Convicted of Armed Robbery, Kidnapping
Faces minimum of 15 years behind bars; sentencing on 05 December 2008

From Paul Vercammen
CNN Senior Producer

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) -- Former gridiron great O.J. Simpson was found guilty Friday of all 12 counts in the armed robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers at a Las Vegas, Nevada, casino hotel last year.

Simpson, 61, and his co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart, 54, were charged with a dozen offenses stemming from the sports memorabilia heist. Stewart was found guilty of the same charges as Simpson.

Simpson sat quietly and showed little emotion at the defense table as courtroom clerk Sandra Jeter read the verdicts.

After the verdicts were read, deputies immediately handcuffed Simpson and led him out of the courtroom.

Simpson and Stewart could spend the rest of their lives in prison for these convictions. Clark County District Judge Jackie Glass set sentencing for December 5. Watch O.J.

Simpson arrived at the Clark County Justice Center at around 10:50 p.m. (1:50 a.m. Saturday ET). Simpson told CNN's Ted Rowlands on the phone before the verdict was read that he was "apprehensive."

The jury of nine men and three women, none of them African-American, reached its verdict after 13 hours of deliberations Friday. Jurors heard from 22 witnesses over 12 days of testimony. Chief among the witnesses were seven of the nine people inside Room 1203 of the Palace Station Hotel and Casino for the September 13, 2007, confrontation.

The evidence included testimony from the two dealers, four co-defendants who cut plea deals and cooperated with prosecutors, and hours of often-profane, crackling, secretly recorded audiotapes.

Prosecutors alleged that the men, led by Simpson, burst into the room, flashed a gun and threatened memorabilia dealers Bruce Fromong and Al Beardsley.

The men then filled two pillowcases with Simpson trinkets, signed Pete Rose baseballs and Joe Montana lithographs. Simpson's defense attorneys maintained their client was merely trying to retrieve personal photographs and other mementos that belonged to him.

Neither Simpson nor Stewart testified during the trial. Instead, their attorneys savaged the motives of the other witnesses.

Simpson's lawyer, Yale Galanter, said Simpson was a target of investigators from the very beginning. The case "has taken on a life of its own because of Mr. Simpson's involvement," he added.

"Every cooperator, every person who had a gun, every person who had an ulterior motive, every person who signed a book deal, every person who got paid money, the police, the district attorney's office is only interested in one thing: Mr. Simpson," Galanter said.

Stewart was characterized by his lawyer, E. Brent Bryson, as the trial's forgotten player.

The most compelling evidence for all sides came from the audiotapes.

For the prosecution, conversations taped by collectibles middleman Thomas Riccio took jurors from the poolside planning to the profanity-laced hotel room confrontation.

Riccio, a chatty sports memorabilia dealer and convicted felon, made the rounds on network news shows immediately after the hotel room fracas. He admitted on the stand that various media outlets paid him $210,000.

The crucial evidence for the defense came from two audiotapes, a voicemail from a key prosecution witness who seemed willing to tailor his testimony for a price and tapes of Las Vegas police officers laughing and joking about Simpson's Los Angeles acquittal following his arrest.

Galanter told jurors the surreptitious recording captured police investigators in the hotel room after the confrontation. "They're making jokes. They're saying things like, 'We're gonna get him,"' he said.

Police were called to the hotel around 8 p.m. on September 13, 2007. Shortly after midnight, detectives visited Simpson at his hotel. He told them he was just trying to recover property that had been stolen from him.

"Why are they not in trouble?" Simpson asked about memorabilia dealers Beardsley and Fromong, according to police reports filed in the case. Both men testified for the prosecution, although Beardsley said Simpson did nothing wrong and was "set up" by the "rat Riccio."

Riccio, who was not charged in the case, testified that he didn't think twice about recording Simpson when asked for help retrieving what Simpson claimed was his property.

All four of the former co-defendants testified for the prosecution. Two of them tied Simpson to guns and threats.

Michael McClinton testified that Simpson instructed him to bring a gun and "look menacing" before they entered the hotel room.

Simpson has told police he had no idea the people with him were armed.

The testimony was laced with innuendo about unsavory activities by several of the witnesses, many with criminal records. Riccio and Beardsley feuded openly, calling each other names and questioning each other's sanity.

Aware that loose cannons on the stand could blow the case into mistrial purgatory, Glass refused to let David Cook testify. Cook, an attorney for the family of Ronald Lyle Goldman, searches for Simpson assets to satisfy the $33.5 million civil judgment against the former NFL star.

Simpson was acquitted of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Goldman in a trial that ended 13 years to the day before the Las Vegas jury began its deliberations.

Regarding Glass' ruling, Cook told CNN: "If you read between the lines, I think she thought my appearance would bring up the Ghost of Christmas Past."

The case featured 19 male witnesses and just three cameo appearances from women. Swagger and testosterone ran rampant with hard stares from the witness stand.

As testimony neared its end, Glass, a former television news reporter, vented her frustration with the quibbling lawyers.

"I'm trying to get this trial back on track," she snapped. "I am surprised you haven't seen my head spin and fire come out of my mouth at this point in this trial."

CNN's Ted Rowlands contributed to this report.

debate deconstruction, part I: the crisis

The Crisis

Last night, Sarah Palin criticized the role of predatory lenders in contributing to the root causes of the current financial crisis, but failed to mention John McCain’s years of opposition to legislative efforts to curb predatory lending practices.
-- In 2005, McCain voted against an amendment prohibiting law-breaking high-cost predatory mortgage lenders from collecting funds from homeowners who are forced into bankruptcy court.
-- In 2007, McCain failed to vote on passage of a bill that would overhaul the mortgage lending practices of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The bill would reduce the required minimum down payment for an FHA-insured loan and simplify its calculation, requiring a flat 1.5 percent of the appraised value of the home.
-- In 2003, McCain failed to add his name to the Predatory Lending Consumer Protection Act, which was intended to “protect consumers against predatory practices.” The bill, which was endorsed by a host of civil rights and housing advocates, including the U.S. Conference of Mayors, ACORN, and the Consumer Federation of America.
-- Less than four months ago, McCain failed to sign on to the Truth in Lending Act. Among other measures, it was designed to “establish new lending standards to ensure that loans are affordable and fair,” thereby offering protection to consumers taking out home mortgage loans. McCain also refused to co-sponsor this legislation in the 107th Congress as well.

(Contrary to what you may have heard from the talking heads, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were NOT perpetrators of the subprime mortgage/credit crisis. Of the $1.5 trillion in toxic subprime mortgages, practically none of them were backed by Fannie or Freddie.)

Additionally, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz stated that the deregulation of Wall Street "was core to the problem that we're facing now." The centerpiece of this deregulation, which reduced decades-old regulations separating banking, insurance and brokerage activities, was spearheaded in 1999 by McCain pal and former Texas Senator Phil Gramm. Gramm, McCain's former economic adviser, left the campaign in July (although many political insiders insist he remains close to the campaign) when he asserted that the country "had become a nation of whiners" in a "mental recession."

And if that isn't enough, boys and girls, McCain would like to deregulate the health insurance market just "as [the government] has done over the last decade in banking."

Frightening.

xx

the old timey good place

Classic.

it's all over now, baby blue

"You can't polish a turd."

Indeed. But despite this tried and true cliche, Sarah Palin attempted to do just that during Thursday night's one and only vice-presidential debate of 2008. The "outsider" tried to dress the failed policies of the Bush administration -- oops, I mean the McCain campaign -- as "change." Change? How much change can the American people expect from a man who has voted with the President (a President who has the highest disapproval rating since 1938) over 90% of the time?

Stay tuned, kids. I'm working on a special Friday night blog post regarding tonight's debate. Indeed. And unlike Palin, I'll have numbers and facts which will clearly support my stance -- and why you should cast your vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden on 04 November 2008!

(If you are NOT registered to vote, you have FOUR days left to do so! Visit this site for more info!)

xx

nice cosby sweater (and the beats are good, too)

Here's a bizarre video (directed by Eric Wareheim of Tim & Eric) for "Parisian Goldfish" by Flying Lotus.

(Flying Lotus is Steven Ellison [great nephew of Alice Coltrane]. He made beats for Adult Swim before releasing his debut album, 1983, on the Plug Research label in 2006.)

This video below below contains some explicit cartoon scenes, flashing lights and is FOR OVER 18s ONLY.


Directed by Eric Wareheim (Tim & Eric) in association with Warp Records and Warp Films. Music by Flying Lotus. Co Directed/ Animation by Devin Flynn. Co Directed/ Edited by Eric Fensler. More info at dancefloordale.com

just because you fear it / doesn't mean it's there

With the first presidential debate, which will center around foreign policy and national security issues, just three nights away, I thought I would share the following opinion piece written by Fareed Zakaria (the piece was published in last week's issue of Newsweek). It's difficult to imagine that John McCain and the GOP would use their primary scare tactic and most successful campaign "issue" -- terrorism -- at this point in our country's history (as if the prospect of another Great Depression isn't terrifying enough), but, then again, this is the same Republican party that has used the tragic events of 9/11 as a political prop and launched a "War on Terror," which constitutes a "War on Civil Liberties."

Zakaria offers an eloquent voice of reason to a subject that is usually doused with gasoline and lit afire by words of fear, death and colonialism.


The World Isn’t So Dark

Ever since WWII, America has tended to make its strategic missteps by exaggerating dangers.

Fareed Zakaria
NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated Sep 22, 2008

On the campaign trail, the debate over foreign policy has been muted of late. That might be because more-important topics like lipstick and hockey moms have taken center stage. But the contrasts between the presidential candidates also seem to have softened. Their differences over Iraq policy have shrunk as the place has stabilized somewhat and the Iraqi government looks for a timetable for a U.S. withdrawal. Both candidates oppose Iran's nuclear ambitions and Russia's incursion into Georgia. Both support a vigorous fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Yet there's clearly a fundamental difference in the way the two candidates see the world. The split might best be captured by asking a simple question: what kind of a world do we live in? Neither candidate has been asked this, and I doubt either would answer as frankly as I am suggesting, but here's my guess—drawn from their writings and speeches—about what each might say.

We live in a very dangerous world, John McCain would respond. In his eyes, Islamic extremism is the transcendent challenge of the age. Jihadist warriors—funded and supported by states that adhere to their views—pose the central threat to the United States. In the rise of China, Russia and India, McCain sees turbulence. Russia and China, being autocracies, represent a special danger. Moscow's attack on Georgia was, for McCain, the "first serious crisis since the end of the cold war." The role for America, in such an environment, is to aggressively use its power—hard power—to fight evil, spread freedom and defeat the enemy. Otherwise we will lose the struggle for the 21st century.

Obama's sense of the world is more optimistic. The dangers are real but not so all-encompassing. Obama speaks less of Islamic extremism in general and more of Al Qaeda and its affiliated groups specifically. He points out that compared with the cold war—when thousands of Soviet nuclear missiles were pointed at American cities—the threats we face today are reduced. He argues that most people in the Islamic world want development and a better life, not jihad. America's promise remains alive even in these countries.

America's role, for Obama, is to restore its military strength, fight Al Qaeda and its ilk, and deter rogue regimes like Iran. But it is also to stay calm, because in overreacting to dangers, we often cause new problems and crises. To lump together all Islamist groups is to exaggerate and misunderstand the threat. The Iraq War, for Obama, is a prime example of an alarmist overreaction, one that had the United States launch an unprovoked invasion of a country and rack up huge costs. If America can keep its cool and provide the help that countries really seek—in development, modernization and democracy-building—then we will gain in both security and legitimacy.

There is some truth to both visions of the world, but in my view the reality is much closer to Obama's—more so than most American politicians seem willing to admit. We live in remarkably peaceful times. A University of Maryland study shows that deaths from wars of all kinds have been dropping dramatically for 20 years and are lower now than at any point in the last half century. A study from Simon Fraser University finds that casualties from terrorism have been steadily declining since 9/11. It is increasingly clear—look at their voting from Indonesia to Iraq to Pakistan—that very few Muslims anywhere support Islamic fundamentalists. More countries than ever before now embrace capitalism and democracy.

It's also worth noting that ever since World War II, the United States has tended to make its strategic missteps by exaggerating dangers. During the 1950s, conservatives argued that Dwight Eisenhower was guilty of appeasement because he was willing to contain rather than roll back communism. The paranoia about communism helped fuel McCarthyism at home and support for dubious regimes abroad. John Kennedy chose to outflank Nixon on the right by arguing that there was a dangerous missile gap between the Soviets and the United States (when in fact the United States had almost 20,000 missiles and the Soviets had fewer than 2,000). The 1970s witnessed a frenzied argument that the Soviet Union was surpassing the United States militarily and was about to "Finlandize" Europe. The reality, of course, was that when neoconservatives were arguing that the U.S.S.R. was about to conquer the world, it was on the verge of total collapse.

Since end of the cold war, similar alarms have been sounded several times. In the 1990s, the Cox Commission argued that China was building a military to rival ours, citing numbers that soon proved to be bogus. Then there's Saddam Hussein, who was described as a powerful and imminent threat to the United States. In fact, the greatest problem that we have faced in Iraq is its weakness, its utter dysfunction as a state and a nation. Rhetoric about transcendent threats and mortal dangers grips the imagination of the American people. But it also twists U.S. foreign policy in ways that can prove to be extremely costly to the country and the world.

URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/158764

pink floyd's richard wright loses battle with cancer

From the Associated Press:

Pink Floyd Member Richard Wright Dies Age 65

By MEERA SELVA

LONDON (AP) — Richard Wright, a founding member of the rock group Pink Floyd, died Monday. He was 65.

Pink Floyd's spokesman Doug Wright, who is not related to the artist, said Wright died after a battle with cancer at his home in Britain. He says the band member's family did not want to give more details about his death.

Wright met Pink Floyd members Roger Waters and Nick Mason in college and joined their early band, Sigma 6. Along with the late Syd Barrett, the four formed Pink Floyd in 1965.

The group's jazz-infused rock and drug-laced multimedia "happenings" made them darlings of the London psychedelic scene, and their 1967 album, "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn," was a hit.

In the early days of Pink Floyd, Wright, along with Barrett, was seen as the group's dominant musical force. The London-born musician and son of a biochemist wrote songs and sang.

The band released a series of commercially and critically successful albums including 1973's "Dark Side of the Moon," which has sold more than 40 million copies. Wright wrote "The Great Gig In The Sky" and "Us And Them" for that album, and later worked on the group's epic compositions such as "Atom Heart Mother," "Echoes" and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond."

But tensions grew between Waters, Wright and fellow band member David Gilmour. The tensions came to a head during the making of "The Wall" when Waters insisted Wright be fired. As a result, Wright was relegated to the status of session musician on the tour of "The Wall," and did not perform on Pink Floyd's 1983 album "The Final Cut."

Wright formed a new band Zee with Dave Harris, from the band Fashion, and released one album, "Identity," with Atlantic Records.

Waters left Pink Floyd in 1985 and Wright began recording with Mason and Gilmour again, releasing the albums "The Division Bell" and "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" as Pink Floyd. Wright also released the solo albums "Wet Dream" (1978) and "Broken China" (1996).

In July 2005, Wright, Waters, Mason and Gilmour reunited to perform at the "Live 8" charity concert in London — the first time in 25 years they had been onstage together.

Wright also worked on Gilmour's solo projects, most recently playing on the 2006 album "On An Island" and the accompanying world tour.

free and legal live radiohead download

Hey kids, looking for two hours of live Radiohead? Then check out NPR's latest All Songs Considered Live Concerts podcast. Once you subscribe to the podcast, Radiohead's 28 August 2008 show at the Santa Barbara Bowl in California is just a click away.

xx

hurricane palin

Since John McCain introduced Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential candidate, the Obama campaign has been spinning its wheels, desperately trying to shift out of defense and resume its plan of attack, which was successful pre-hurricane Palin.

The Palin surge can be attributed largely to the shortsighted, ADD-affected, and, quite frankly, stupid American people. Too many Americans are willing to roll the dice and elect now, ask questions later. Too many Americans refuse to read past the headlines. Too many of my fellow citizens are swooned by campaign images and slogans.

Case in point: McCain claims he will put "country first," but was he and his cronies putting country first when they chose Palin? Palin: a person McCain had met only once prior to the VP announcement on 29 August 2008. Palin: a person who has been governor of Alaska for a mere 21 months and served two terms as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska (population 7100). Palin: a vice-presidential candidate who, in her first interview as McCain's running mate, wouldn't rule out an armed conflict with Russia.

Is there a single McCain supporter who can look me in the eye and say Palin has the resume to sit just one heartbeat away from the presidency?

The McCain camp deserves credit, however. Not only are they using Hillary Clinton's absence to exploit Palin's sex and thereby playing the gender card, they have also tapped America's idiotic fascination with image and celebrity. Since her nomination, Palin's exposure to the voters and media has been limited to one interview and a series of carefully orchestrated -- and repetitive -- campaign speeches. (But despite the McCain campaign's best efforts to reconcile the obvious distance -- both political and personal -- between McCain and Palin, their joint appearances remain tainted with awkward exchanges and forced smiles, as though McCain were the estranged father and Palin the scorned yet determined daughter.)

If Americans weren't so easily sold on the used car promises of political candidates and the media's coverage of election year "issues" such as pigs and lipstick, perhaps more of us would realize the significance of this year's presidential election and become more engaged in the political process. How many potential voters are aware of Palin's stance on abortion? (She's a staunch pro-lifer and does not support a woman's right to choose even in cases of rape and incest.) How many Americans know Palin's view on sex education? (She supports abstinence-only sex ed, despite her unwed 17-year-old daughter's pregnancy. If abstinence-only doesn't work in her own home, how can it work in the halls of public schools across this country?) And do Americans really believe the Iraq war is a "task from God"?

Will Barack Obama change the face of politics if elected? Probably not. But change has to begin somewhere. And I have faith that the citizens of this great country will awake to this fact, break the cycle of cynicism and cast their vote for Barack on 4 November 2008.

xx

'elephant 6 holiday surprise tour' will visit bloomington

From PitchforkMedia.com:

Elephant 6 Crew to Embark on "Holiday Surprise Tour"

Music Tapes frontguy/Neutral Milk Hotel member Julian Koster describes the upcoming "Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour" as something like "a big orchestra, variety show, silly happy thing." How very fitting.

The tight-knit, loosely-defined Georgia-based psych-rocking collective will assemble its ranks (well, quite a few of 'em, anyway) for an October jaunt celebrating the music of Olivia Tremor Control, Circulatory System, the Music Tapes, Elf Power, the Gerbils, Scott Spillane, Nana Grizol, Nesey Gallons, and more. Joining Koster on the trek are Will Cullen Hart of Olivia Tremor Control, Scott Spillane of the Gerbils, Laura Carter of Elf Power, Eric Harris of OTC and Circulatory System, Nesey Gallons, and whoever else they can fit in the van.

Plus, Koster will be bringing along such Music Tapes "members" as the 7 ft. Tall Metronome and Static the Television. The trek comes on the heels of Merge's October 7 release of the Music Tapes' The Singing Saw at Christmastime. (It's the second Music Tapes album this year; Merge released Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes on August 19.)

Alas, there's no mention of the participation of Jeff Mangum on this tour. But, hey, there's nothing that says he's not coming, either!

But the reclusive Neutral Milk Hotel bard does appear in Major Organ and the Adding Machine, the decade-in-the-making short film directed by Joey Foreman and Eric Harris we first mentioned last winter. And he's wearing a full-on lobster costume, too! Orange Twin is set to release a CD/DVD combo of Major Organ in the fall of 2009, with the audio portion comprised of an expanded edition-- with seven bonus cuts-- of the 2000 LP that features Jeff Mangum, Kevin Barnes, Will Cullen Hart, Julian Koster, Andrew Reiger, and Dixie Blood Moustache. The flick will premiere during the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour, and is currently being submitted to film festivals.

In addition to all the E6 family fun, the Music Tapes will perform at Merge Records' CMJ showcase at New York City's Mercury Lounge on October 25.

"Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour":

10-09 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
10-11 New York, NY - Knitting Factory
10-12 Boston, MA - The Church
10-14 Portland, ME - Space Gallery
10-15 New Haven, CT - The Space
10-16 Purchase, NY - SUNY Purchase
10-17 Rochester, NY- The Bug Jar
10-18 Pittsburgh, PA - Brillobox
10-19 Columbus, OH - Wexner Center
10-20 Pontiac, MI - Crofoot Pike Room
10-21 Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge
10-22 Bloomington, IN - Cinemat
10-23 Lexington, KY - University of Kentucky