Politics

Politically, I’m very liberal — about as far left as one can go without sliding into Libertarianism.

More music

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Two more anti-war music links:

  • Zach de la Rocha and DJ Spooky: March of Death
  • Meshell Ndegeocello: Forgiveness and Love (Turn down the volume on your speakers first — the ‘music off’ button to kill the site’s background music is a tiny little button in the top right. Click on ‘downloads’ on the grey menu bar towards the top of the window, then you’ll find the download link in an orange box towards the bottom. I try to support artists by driving traffic to their sites, but Flash-based websites make it really tempting just to go ahead and post the direct download link [ahem] even though that’s considered ‘bad form.’ Anyway…)

(Via the NION Music Project)

On your knees, part II

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From ABC News:

They may be the ones facing danger on the battlefield, but US soldiers in Iraq are being asked to pray for President George W Bush.

Thousands of marines have been given a pamphlet called “A Christian’s Duty,” a mini prayer book which includes a tear-out section to be mailed to the White House pledging the soldier who sends it in has been praying for Bush.

Good thing we only let good Christian boys into our Army…

…oh, forget it. You get the point.

(Via Tom Tomorrow)

On your knees!

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Gee, it’s a good thing that I live in a country that’s filled to the brim with nothing but one hundred percent, across the board, no exceptions, God-fearing Christians. Because if I actually had the misfortune to live in some backwards heathen country that had the gall to admit all those poor souls doomed to everlasting hellfire and damnnation — because of their refusal to let the word of the One True God our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ into their lives — within the borders of the country, why, one or two of them might get a little upset that our Congress has created a government-mandated day of humility, prayer and fasting.

Then they’d just start whining on and on about that silly “separation of Church and State” business that some Godless heathens snuck into the Constitution. Thank goodness our God-given President, President George W. Bush (bless his soul) has seen fit to do away with all that sillyness! It never should have been there in the first place, if you ask me!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go find my sackcloth-and-horsehair robe and my flagellation rods to get ready. See you all at church!

(via Kirsten)

I 'Hart' blogging?

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Another political contender is dipping is toes into the blogging world — this time it’s Gary Hart.

I don’t know as much about him (aside from numerous mid-80’s Bloom Country references), but it’s great to see another politician exploring blogging as a method of communication. And as a bonus, his site is using MovableType, complete with comment and trackback capability. Quite cool. Now let’s see what he has to say.

More protest music links

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busn-n-bones

A couple more protest song links, courtesy of Doc Searls:

First off, R.E.M. has released a rough take of a song called “Final Straw“. It’s only available as streaming audio, rather than being downloadable, but at least it’s out there.

Secondly, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth has created Protest Records, a site focusing on collecting protest .mp3’s that have been released free for download. Nineteen have been posted so far, and it looks like there’s space for quite a few more. There are also a collection of stencil files provided with simple instructions: “Download. Print. Cut. Spray.” So if you start seeing things like the ‘Bush-N-Bones’ around your town, you know where they came from.

Cpt. Obvious

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Getting shot at wasn’t really that bad. It was the getting shot part that sucked.

— Staff Sgt. Jamie Villafane, recuperating from a shrapnel wound after single-handedly capturing four Iraqis.

(Via Tom Brown)

Unedited video from Basra

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Noted independent journalist Robert Fisk got to see some unedited videotape shot by Al-Djazaira of Basra, which is supposedly captured and held by British forces.

It is also proof that Basra — reportedly “captured” and “secured” by British troops last week — is indeed under the control of Saddam Hussein’s forces. Despite claims by British officers that some form of uprising has broken out in Basra, cars and buses continue to move through the streets while Iraqis queue patiently for gas bottles as they are unloaded from a government truck. A remarkable part of the tape shows fireballs blooming over western Basra and the explosion of incoming — and presumably British — shells. The short sequence of the dead British soldiers for the public showing of which Tony Blair expressed such horror yesterday is little different from dozens of similar clips of dead Iraqi soldiers shown on British television over the past 12 years, pictures which never drew any expressions of condemnation from the British prime minister. The two Britons, still in uniform, are lying on a roadway, arms and legs apart, one of them apparently hit in the head, the other shot in the chest and abdomen.

The rest of the article is extremely disturbing, as he describes the scenes of warfare caputured on the tape — scenes that not only would definitely not be broadcast in the U.S., but would most likely not even be talked about either. But then, it’s also the reality of what is happening on the other side of the world. Not the video-game-on-tv shots of explosions mushrooming up from miles away, but the street-level violence of urban warfare that we now find ourselves in as our armies penetrate further into Iraq.