Art Machine
Just another former infatuation junkie

We’re being told over and over again that this election is the most important election of recent history, that it’s one of the most bitterly fought, that it’s one of the most contentious, etc. etc.

One could wonder why the media is deciding not to cover it, then.

You might remember CBS News’ decision not to carry Ron Reagan Jr’s speech at the DNC. There’s the constant lack of clips of John Kerry doin’ the campaign thang on the cable news channels while we’re inundated with clips of Bushspeak.

And now the networks are unsure as to whether or not they’ll actually bother to show the debates.

For one of the most bitterly-fought, contentious, and important elections in recent history, the media is rather asleep on it’s feet, what?

But what can we do? Well, first of all, Media For Democracy has a petition for you to sign.

Second – watch Outfoxed for more tips on giving the media the swift kick to the hinder it needs.

Outfoxed – Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism

Now playing at the Anvil & Sprocket, Blood Feast! The first movie to feature… um… lots and lots of gore. And really not much else.

I remember Mrs. Cheney’s speech about her husband at the Republican Convention. She spoke at great length and with great love about how Dick had always been… different from other boys. How the other boys enjoyed cruising the night streets in their souped-up cars (and, by extension, other pursuits), but Dick had always been more sober. He never went in for the other kids’ reindeer games, because even as a teenager Mr. Cheney was always completely serious and responsible.

They must have lost touch during his early 20’s.

Cheney’s first DWI conviction came in November 1962 when he was 21. According to this docket from Cheyenne’s Municipal Court, Cheney was nailed for drunkenness and “operating motor vehicle while intoxicated.” A Cheyenne Police Judge found Cheney guilty of the two charges and hit him with a 30-day suspension of his driver’s license. Cheney also had to forfeit a $150 bond posted at the time of his arrest. Further information about the case—such as the defendant’s blood alcohol content or whether Cheney was jailed following the bust—is unavailable since other court records from that period have been destroyed, according to Wyoming officials.

Details of Cheney’s second Wyoming arrest, in July 1963, have also fallen victim to time and records destruction practices at the local Municipal Court. But a police arrest card (similar to the one that haunted Dubya) maintained by the Rock Springs Police Department shows that Cheney was fined $100 for his second DWI conviction. The card lists the charge against Cheney, who was then working as a groundman laying power lines, as “11-44,” the criminal code classification for drunken driving, according to Police Chief Neil Kourbelas. At the time of the Rock Springs arrest, Kourbelas said that local cops and judges would not have known that young Cheney was a boozing ‘n driving recidivist. The police department, Kourbelas said, “wouldn’t have had the ability to automatically check with other jurisdictions to find out if anyone had had prior arrests or convictions. We could have arrested Jack the Ripper back then and had no idea what he had done.”

There’s an obvious line about that last quote, but I think I’ll leave it for another blog to write.

Honestly, I don’t care about Dick Cheney’s early twenties. When we’re young, we make mistakes and do stupid things. Some more stupid than others, but stupid things nonetheless. The vast majority of us survive those mistakes, learn from them, and go on to be normal, healthy adults. So Cheney got arrested twice in his early twenties. Big whoop.

It’s just nice to know, however, that the administration’s trend toward revisionist history appears in its personal life as well as in its service record and political career.

In case you haven’t heard yet, Downhill Battle wants you to help Save Betamax. Why save Betamax?

The Betamax ruling is the only thing that protects your right to own a VCR, tape recorder, CD-burner, DVD-burner, iPod, or TiVo. It’s that important. But new legislation that’s being pushed through the Senate by lobbyists for the music and movie industries would override the Betamax decision and create a huge liability for any business that makes products which can copy sound or video. This legislation (formerly known as the INDUCE Act) would essentially give Hollywood veto power over a huge range of new technologies.

See, it’s not so much the Betamax format as it is the Betamax ruling.

More and more, it seems that true freedom of information is becoming an impossibility. But now we’re moving into an arena that’s even more frightening than that – we’re moving toward a world that not only places limits on the distribution of information, but a world that restricts the actions we can take with the information we have paid for in our own homes. It’s not about file swapping or piracy – it’s about “fair use,” the concept that you have the right to enjoy the material you have paid for. You by a CD, and you have the right to make a back-up copy for your personal use. It’s not piracy – it’s protection of your information. Moving a CD onto an iPod is not piracy – it’s enjoying the product in the format of your choosing. And taping a television show for later viewing is not piracy – it’s a way of watching a program you would otherwise have to miss.

It’s not that difficult to understand. But in the craze to stop piracy, freedoms are going to be lost if we’re not careful – and the entertainment industry is not going to protect them, because they stand to make more money by stripping us of them.

New at the Anvil & Sprocket, The Red Violin.

For those of you who are interested, the Anvil & Sprocket now has a review of Hercules in New York, featuring the current Governor of California.

Gah. All this talk of forged memos is just annoying. Especially since, as far as I can tell, there’s no real case behind the accusation that it’s forged. For starters, Thud provides us with two separate entries proving that learnin’ is a good thing to have. Yes, they had proportional typefaces in the 1960’s – just like they had indoor plumbing.

And, to cap it all off once you’ve read John’s absolutely amazing analysis of the typographic differences between the so-called “perfect recreation” made using Word (here’s a tip – it’s neither perfect nor a recreation), you might take a look at CBS’ response to the allegation which pretty much makes it a moot point, since they point out that all of the typographic elements the so-called “experts” are using to show that the memo is forged also appear in the official documents the White House released regarding Bush’s military service – including the superscript “^th.” Funny how the folks on the right are neglecting that information, eh? Especially since it, y’know, shoots their argument full of holes. But, as Thud suggests, they just might be grokking.

All I know for certain is that the memo doesn’t look like it was forged, and that I want my Olivetti, dammit.

Anthem of Shibuya – Momus

Seagull Screaming Kiss Her
Violent Onshen Geisha
Elli Bitch in Zion
The most beautiful girls in Japan
With this national anthem
This patriotic song
We salute Shibuya
Tokyo, Japan

All the information
We need to stay alive
Cutie, Spring and Olive
Kileini Naritai
My electric organ
Plays a little tune
The anthem of Shibuya
Tokyo, Japan

Walking in Shibuya
Clothes and record shops
All the little lycee girls
Wearing super-loose socks
We type on Olivettis
We suck on Chuppa Chaps
Munching baby castera cake
And Shibuya rocks

Archigram and Hinano
Kyoko Okasaki
Keigo Oyamada
The magnificent Bruce Lee
My electric organ
Plays this little tune
The anthem of Shibuya
Tokyo, Japan

Qui est in?
Qui est out?
Cho bery goo?
Cho bery ba?
In Shibuya
In Shibuya

All the information
We need to stay alive
The spirit of Shibuya
Tokyo, Japan

Artist: Moby & Public Enemy
Label: V2 Records
Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap
Rating: *** (3 out of 4)
Availability: Exclusive

First of all, let’s all marvel at the amazing censor job on the title, here. What’s that word supposed to be? Fask? Fink? I don’t know – and I’m sure nobody else does, either. But that’s neither here nor there. We’re supposed to talk about the iTunes exclusive single from Moby and Public Enemy, “Make Love Folk War.”

As the title would suggest, “Make Love Funk War” is one of the crop of pro-peace songs to mysteriously crop up in the past couple of years. You would think we had a President hurtling headlong toward war or something.

What? Oh. Right.

So, naturally, it didn’t take long for two politically-active musicians – one fronting one of the biggest names in Rap and the other with a name synonymous with electronic music – to band together and produce a new single. And they called this single “Make Love Frak War.”

For starters, don’t expect the absolute best material ever produced by either Public Enemy’s Chuck D. or from the man himself, Moby. This song is quick and dirty – out the door and ready to go, as political music really is. What you will hear is two top acts flexing their musical muscles in the way that Mr. Universe flexes his muscles when he picks up a kitten.

Moby lays down a great beat with building tension and variations on themes, while Chuck D. reduces his political stance to a series of easy-to-catch slogans. The result is a sound track with energy and vibrancy, but “Make Love Fark War” offers little in the way of genius.

The song is worth a listen, however. Interestingly enough, the full 3-track single features the original mix, the a cappella, and a radio edit, but no instrumental. So remixers are encouraged to put the words to whatever they can mix it with, but leave Moby’s beats alone.

Let’s talk money.

Let’s start with a nice, small number. A number like, oh, say, $87 billion. Sound familiar?

Bush has taken to leering from the podium as he declares Kerry a flip-flopper on the $87 billion funding for the troops in Iraq. Of course, what he’s missing is that Kerry didn’t flip-flop – Kerry made a principled stand for financial responsibility.

First of all, keep in mind that Bush severely understated the amount of money the war in Iraq would cost. He ducked and dodged questions about the cost for months at a time, then when he was pinned down to stating a number, he stated one so ridiculously low that those of us on the Left knew there was no way it would properly fund the kind of operation Bush had in mind. Bush then entered into a war in Iraq with under-equipped soldiers after not even bothering to take the actions he had promised to take in exchange for the power to go to war.

Then he came to the Congress with the mind-boggling bill of $87 billion.

Kerry voted for $87 billion to fund the troops. Specifically, he voted for $87 billion – a portion of which would be in the form of a loan to Iraq (as in, the U.S. Government would get the money back), and another portion of which would have been covered by rolling back the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. In other words, Kerry voted for $87 billion on the condition that we could actually afford to pay it. It only makes sense, after all. Our troops need equipment. We can pay for that equipment without racking up immense debt.

Bush threatened a veto of the bill, pushing instead for a bill that would have provided no source of funding. He wanted a blank check that he could spend without having any money in the bank. Of course, we would all like that kind of arrangement. We would all love to run up any kind of bill we wanted without having to provide for actually paying it. That’s usually when the banks foreclose on our homes and garnish our wages. Bush pushed an irresponsible bill when there was a clear, responsible alternative.

A better explanation can be found here at Thud’s joint.

Thanks to the efforts of Kevin Rose (AKA The Dark Tipper) to promote The Screen Savers’ return to television, I now have the latest in geek status symbols – a Gmail account.

Geekily on we sail….