Chomsky on Anarchism

This is more intelligent than simply "no government" or "violence." Haha, because that seems to be the typical responses I hear when students are asked what anarchists believe in. I recommend his book Chomsky on Anarchism. Btw, I apologize for the poor audio. Enjoy!

Not So Funny Pic of the Day (1/3/08)

Obama: His Current Cabinet Selections

Agriculture: Former Governor of Iowa. Tom Vilsack (Democrat).

Commerce: Governor of New Mexico. Bill Richardson (Democrat).

Information: Bill Richardson is a Hispanic American and due to this, Barak Obama believes that he would become an excellent candidate as a coordinator of the Department of Commerce. Richardson had served New Mexico for 12 years and has been through the Clinton administration. He is currently 61 and got his bachelors degree at Tufts University.

Defense: Current Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Information: Gates is the Defense Secretary from the Bush administration and is being allowed by Obama to serve in his term. Due to Republicans lacking in the cabinet, Obama decided that Gates knew the war in Iraq the best and decided to keep him as safety. Gates is 65 years old and spent most of his life in the CIA. He was the director of the CIA from 1991-1993 for president George H.W. Bush. He has an undergraduate degree from the College of William and Mary, a master's degree from Indiana University and a Ph.D. in Russian and Soviet History from Georgetown University.

Education: Arne Duncan.

Energy: Steven Chu.

Health & Human Services: Former Senator of South Dakota. Tom Daschle (Democrat).

Homeland Security: Governor of Arizona. Janet Napolitano (Democrat).

Information: Napolitano is currently 51 years old. Obama put her as the Homeland Security coordinator because of her stance on illegal immigrants. She does enforce the strengthening of boarders, but is very opposing to punishing already American living illegal immigrants. She served as an Attorney General and served as an US attorney during the Clinton administration. Her undergraduate degree is from Santa Clara University and her law degree is from the University of Virginia.

Housing & Urban Development: Shaun Donovan.

Interior: Senator of Colombia. Ken Salazar (Democrat).

Justice: Eric Holder.

Information: Holder was one of the people who helped Obama pick the vice-presidential candidate. Holder is 57 years old and has been a partner at Covington & Burling LLP. Before coming to becoming a deputy attorney general in 1997, Holder was a U.S. Attorney and a judge in Washington. His bachelor's and law degree are from Columbia University. He will be the nation's first black attorney general.

Labor: Representative of California. Hilda Solis (Democrat).

State: Senator of New York. Hillary Clinton (Democrat).

Information: By using the strategy of president Lincoln, Obama decided to pick Sentaor Clinton as his Secretary of State. Although they might have opposing ideas, it is very useful to hear the other side of the story before making a large decision. Clinton has also been a law school professor and she also worked on the impeachment inquiry staff of the House Judiciary Committee. She has an undergraduate degree from Wellesley College and a law degree from Yale University.

Transportation: Representative of Illinois. Ray LaHood (Republican).

Treasury: Timothy Geithner.

Information: Geithner has been through the turmoil of the depression currently and will serve as the Treasury Secretary. He is 47 years old. He has a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College and a master's degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies

Veterans Affairs: Retired General. Eric K. Shinseki.

Information: Shinseki is 66 years old. He was the Army's first four-star general of Japanese-American ancestry. Obama made the announcement on Dec. 7, 2008, the 67th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. (Ironic). Shinseki graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1965 and spent 38 years as a soldier, the last four as Army chief of staff. He is the recipient of two Purple Hearts for life-threatening injuries suffered in Vietnam. He also has Master's degrees from Duke University and the National War College.

In 2003, Shinseki was the Army chief of staff. He testified before Congress that it would take several hundred thousand troops to control Iraq after the invasion. After a few months, he was forced out his post. In an interview, Obama said he chose Shinseki for the VA post because he “was right” on the issues of Iraq.

DID YOU KNOW: The Nominee for the Federal Communications Commission is Kevin Werbach. He calls himself a Hardcore World of Warcraft player. He is apparently a level 70 tauren shaman (highest level as of The Burning Crusade). Obama picked him and a another nominee because of their knowledge of the internet world. Nice?
If you want more information visit : http://www.destructoid.com/obama-appoints-tauren-shaman-to-fcc-transition-team-112345.phtml

Bush Accused of Socialism

Republican Party officials say they will try next month to pass a resolution accusing President Bush and congressional Republican leaders of embracing "socialism," underscoring deep dissension within the party at the end of Mr. Bush's administration.

Those pushing the resolution, which will come before the Republican National Committee at its January meeting, say elected leaders need to be reminded of core principles. They said the RNC must take the dramatic step of wading into policy debates, which traditionally have been left to lawmakers. - Washington Times

Democrats/Republicans are really just one in the same.

Quote of the Day (1/2/08)

"You don't realize what you could be getting yourselves into, with Fall Out Boy, and what kind of impact it could have in a way that you don't really want. ... Culturally, if it gets as big as it is in America, it could change an entire generation of people growing up here. Emo, pop-punk, whatever you want to call it, is dangerous. We don't wanna dislike anyone, and we've still never met Fall Out Boy, but there's a creature inside me that wants to beat all those bands to death. They just all go into the happy emo funnel and everyone loves 'em without thinking. 'Oh, Fall Out Boy likes you? Fuck! I'm gonna go buy your CD!'" - Brandon Flowers of The Killers via NME

I'm not too keen on The Killers, but Flowers brings up a great point.

An Age Old Debate

"People don't like to be occupied." That's the key point.

Song of the Day (1/2/08)

French Kicks - Abandon

Commentary:
- I like analog reverb, but there's a lot of analog reverb. There may be too much reverb. It's kind of shoe gazey. It's like The Cocteau Twins in a tin can, but if they were also in Beach Boys style harmony and like some sort of early '90s Miami sound dub bass. Hold on... I find it slightly, almost irritatingly infectious. I'm starting to find the reverb oppressive actually. I would go see this band, but I wouldn't pay more than $10 dollars to see them and only if it was non-smoking. But I'm afraid that other people who would want to go see this band, I would think would all be pieces of shit. Okay, I like this band if they're 30, but not if they're 18. If they're 18, this is completely pretentious. But if they're adults then it's thoughtful and intelligent. Does everything sound exactly like this? Is this extremely representative of the rest of their work? Is there any variation other than this? And is it all produced exactly like this? Everything isn't soaked in layers and layers of reverb? I like that there is no guitar solo. I think it's very funny that to me the guitar hook is totally iPod commercial and this thing is a thing that, to a certain degree for me I kind of like this, but it's kind of form over function. This song isn't the kind of song that you play by yourself: "Hey that's a really good fuckin' song...That's really a song I would totally listen to and think about all the time." But the guitar hook in this and the production of it is the only thing you would see in a commercial. You would find yourself walking around humming and then becoming extremely and deeply irritated by, which is the mark of well produced pop music. It's kind of long, what's it at? It could have ended 45 seconds ago. You can stop it, it goes on and on. I'm the most opinionated person I know about. It's what we need in music, but not in an asshole way we're like "oh fuckin' Pitchfork said this thing" because I fuckin' despise that.

Commish Gets Bike Stolen

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A former Fort Lauderdale city commissioner who helped create a program to combat bicycle theft had his own bike stolen while trying to help people involved in a vehicle crash.

Tim Smith said he witnessed the traffic accident as he was cycling to the beach on Monday. He said he left his bike on the sidewalk to rush to the cars involved. But after finding both drivers uninjured, he went to retrieve his bike and discovered it was gone.

To add insult to injury, Smith — as a commissioner — had successfully pushed for a citywide bike registration program to help police track stolen bikes. But when he contacted police to report his own stolen bike, he had to admit it was not registered. - Associated Press

Gotta love it.

Funny Pic of the Day (1/2/09)

Domestic Enslavement in USA

The trafficking of children for domestic labor in the U.S. is an extension of an illegal but common practice in Africa. Families in remote villages send their daughters to work in cities for extra money and the opportunity to escape a dead-end life. Some girls work for free on the understanding that they will at least be better fed in the home of their employer.

The custom has led to the spread of trafficking, as well-to-do Africans accustomed to employing children immigrate to the U.S. Around one-third of the estimated 10,000 forced laborers in the United States are servants trapped behind the curtains of suburban homes, according to a study by the National Human Rights Center at the University of California at Berkeley and Free the Slaves, a nonprofit group. No one can say how many are children, especially since their work can so easily be masked as chores. - Yahoo!

Read about Shyima, who was enslaved.

Anti-Semitism in Spain?

Many Spaniards thought Spain had solved its “Jewish problem” in 1492, when by the stroke of a pen, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella ordered the expulsion of an estimated 800,000 Jews from the country, and thus put an end to the largest and most distinguished Jewish community in Europe.

But now, more than 500 years later, Spanish anti-Semitism is on the rise once again. According to a recent study published by the Pew Research Center, nearly half of all Spaniards have negative views of Jews, a statistic that marks Spain as one of the most anti-Semitic countries in Europe. According to Pew, 46 percent of Spaniards hold negative opinions of Jews, up more than double from the 21 percent of Spaniards with such views in 2005. - Pajamas Media

Compare that with America which, according to Pew, holds 77% favorable views towards Jews.

Patriots in '07-'08

"Indie" Rock

Indie rock according to the trusted open encyclopedia Wikipedia "refers to rock musicians that or were unsigned, or have signed to independent record labels rather than major record labels." Indie rock isn't a genre, it's a movement. To be apart of the movement, you must not be signed to a major record label. That's the only rule. What really irks me is when people ask me what music I like and I have to respond "indie" because it encompasses most of the bands that I like. That doesn't tell them anything about what type of music I am into, though. There are indie rock genres that are apart of the movement, but these aren't all encompassing. Many bands have sold out to a major label, but still play the same kind of indie rock genre that they did when they were "indie." They don't count as indie. Take Franz Ferdinand. They were signed to the great independent label Domino Records, but later transitioned to major Epic. They really haven't altered their sound that much, but we can no longer call them indie. Mainstream acts aren't indie...ever. Indie acts can sound mainstream, but that doesn't mean they can't be indie. The only difference, I repeat, is in their label status. Indie pop, as we know it, is mere power pop and jangle. What really sets some indie bands apart is their inclusion in two genres: lo-fi and noise rock. These types of music typically don't appeal to your regular "alternative rock" audience. There you have it...my rant on "indie" rock.

Just A Little Question

Does anyone go on É2.0 anymore? Or is wakefieldnews.blogspot.com your thang? Let me know, if you don't mind. Thanks.

Adios 2008

NEW YORK – Hundreds of thousands of revelers rang in 2009 from frigid Times Square as the famous Waterford crystal ball dropped, signaling the end of a historic and troubled year that saw the election of the first black U.S. president and the worst economic crisis in decades.

As the clock struck midnight, a ton of confetti rained down while the partygoers hugged and kissed.

Josh Torres and his girlfriend, Sarah Manganello, both 21, screamed and cheered as they watched the ball drop. Manganello had advice for people in the new year: "Learn from what you've done and move forward." - Yahoo!

Pretty much the same story every year.