Astonishing…

Direct Link

Lyrics after the jump…

As a side note… She had to throw his iPhone off the balcony? How she gonna play a playa like that…. That’s some cold shit…

DJ Quest do it [high voice]

[Telephone Call: Aviance]
Nigga this is the 15th muthafucking time
That I called and left yo ass messages
I done text yo bitch ass,
And you ain’t responding to nothing
What the fuck is you doing
Who the fuck is you out there with
You think I’m stupid,
My gurls already done put me up on your ass tonight nigga
When you get home I got some news for yo bitch ass

[Chorus: Riskay]
Why you coming home 5 in the morn
Somethings going on, can I smell yo dick
Don’t play me like a fool, cause that ain’t cool
So what you need to do is lemme smell yo dick

Why you comin home 5 in the morning
Somethings going on, can I smell yo dick
Don’t play me like a fool, cause that ain’t cool
So what you need to do is lemme smell yo dick

[Verse 1: Riskay]
It’s 4 o’clock and I’m sleeping
It’s late night and you creeping
You could of told me, I’m leaving
Now I know your out there cheating

Why you gotta do me like that
When I call you don’t call me back
I’m texting you, like nigga where you at
That’s fucked up, why you do me like that

[Verse 2: Aviance]
I’m dead asleep, you tricking
In the club with dirty full of bitches
My girl was there she witness
She had a camera phone she took pictures

You was on the dance floor grinding
With a striper hoe named Diamond
You was flossing hard, you was shinning
Everything she drank, you buying
But nigga you need to stop lying

Before I get mad and pull out my Nine
you want a new bitch to fuck, then that’s fine
But don’t fuck hers, then try to fuck mine

you keep telling me you ain’t touch her,
But some keep telling me you gone fucked’er
And I ain’t that bitch, uou want to play with
Nigga drop them boxers, and lemme smell yo dick

[Chorus: Riskay]
Why you coming home 5 in the morn
Somethings going on, can I smell yo dick
Don’t play me like a fool, cause that ain’t cool
So wat you need to do is lemme smell yo dick

Why you comin home 5 in the morning
Somethings goin on, can I smell yo dick
Don’t play me like a fool, cause that ain’t cool
So wat you need to do is lemme smell yo dick

[Verse 3: Real]
Yo, hey
Smell my dick? Wait a minute hold up
That’s how a bitch get her eye swole up
And I don’t give a damn what your homegirl seen
When I was in the club, what the fuck you mean

They ain’t got no bisness, eyeing me like that
You ain’t got no bisness, trying me like that
I wasn’t even feeling Diamond like that
I was wilding, but I wasn;t clowning like that

That’s alright, that’s okay
No one believe what your homegirl say
A nigga like me, drink alot of liquor
Meet alot bitches, take alot of pictures

I might break bread, with one or two strippers
But that don’t mean you gotta pull ma zipper
Thinking I be down the whole town
Even though I got enough dick to go around (round… round)

[Chorus: Riskay]
Why you coming home 5 in the morn
Somethings going on, can I smell yo dick
Don’t play me like a fool, cause that ain’t cool
So what you need to do is lemme smell yo dick

Why you comin home 5 in the morning
Somethings goin on, can I smell yo dick
Don’t play me like a fool, cause that ain’t cool
So what you need to do is lemme smell yo dick

Wisconsin Senator Gaylord (uproarious laughter) Nelson first proposed a national day to celebrate the earth in September of 1969. The Vietnam War was wrecking Southeast Asia’s jungles, the Cuyahoga river caught fire in Cleveland, and South Carolina’s Savannah River nuclear power plant was melting down. The negative aftereffects of mass consumerism and industrialization that emerged during the end of World War II were spreading across North America like a terrible monstrous weed.

All of those events–and the other events that contributed to America’s first environmental movement–were important factors in increasing American’s awareness of the fragility of our natural environment and the long term consequences of its neglect. All of that stuff is incredibly important, but to me there is one event that stands out beyond all the rest.

The picture above was taken on the 7th of December, 1972.  Colloquially called the “blue marble” picture, it is the first picture ever taken of our planet. Although this occurred after the first ”official” Earth Day, I think it was the single most important promoter of environmentalism we saw in the twentieth century.

It has since become the most widely distributed picture in human history. It reminds us that what we have is incredibly special and vibrant, but also susceptible to our carelessness. It’s difficult to frame our perspective in the universe when we have our feet firmly planted on the earth’s soil, but we exist in an incredibly precarious state. If we imperil the planet’s habitability, we have nowhere to turn. We are surrounded by a bleak inhospitable vaccum that would freeze our lungs and immediately suck the life out of us if we stepped into it for only a moment. Thinking of conservation and sustainability with that perspective tends to reorganize one’s priorities.

Imagine what it must have been like to look upon this picture for the first time back in 1972. Take some time today to view the high-res version here. 

There’s only one of these. Take care of it, and have a great day.

OK, obviously. Let me revise the question: Who is the worst President in the history of the United States (active Presidents excluded)?

There are a few names you might be tossing around in your head. Hoover. Buchanan. Harding. But, chances are that there is one especially demonic, psychotic, megalomaniacal gargoyle that immediately leaped forward and started doing somersaults as soon as you finished reading the question.

NIXON

For years, I feel like our generation has lived in Nixon’s shadow. He was always the nadir of American politics. No one ever had anything nice to say about the former President, and he was the constant subject of ridicule for comedians and cartoonists. His physical appearance was ghastly-the demented eyes, the sagging jowls, the profuse sweating, the constant fidgeting, as if he were trying to slip out of his suit without unbuttoning anything. He spoke in a horrible guttural growl that made him sound like a gorgon with laryngitis.

Then there was the way he ran his administration. He had a team of burglars on the White House payroll, who would wiretap his political opponents. When Nixon’s attorney general John Dean testified against him during the Watergate scandal, he even ordered his goon squad to break into Dean’s psychologist’s office. The idea was that he wanted to disseminate the contents of Dean’s personal file and discredit the man. Nixon wielded the FBI like they were his own private security force, using the federal agency to destroy social justice groups like the Black Panthers. He and his Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, ordered illegal bombing campaigns in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. When he was finally caught ordering the break-in at the Watergate hotel, where the Democrats had scheduled their National Convention, everything else came bubbling to the surface in the ensuing investigation (anyone interested in that story should check out All The President’s Men. The movie is good-the book is better).

I remember learning about all of this in high school and college. I remember being outraged at Nixon’s paranoia and thirst for unilateral control of the government. I remember feeling despair and anger that one person could achieve power in the United States and so easily manipulate the system to serve his own needs. I remember feeling that way before, but now I look at this in the present and I say, “That’s it? That’s all?”

Don’t get me wrong: Nixon was a monster. It’s just that, for all of his malfeasance, he seems so much tamer in comparison to the Bush administration. Comparing the two is an interesting exercise, though, since they happen to share a lot of characteristics.

Check this out: George H.W. Bush was Nixon’s Ambassador to the United Nations. Dick Cheney was a White House Staff Assistant and the Assistant Director of the Cost of Living Council under the Nixon administration. Donald Rumsfeld served a number of positions in Nixon’s cabinet. Shit, even the man who sold the Iraq War creation myth to the United Nations was an assistant chief of staff of operations for Nixon.

All of these men gained their political experience within an administration that was one of the most notorious in American history, one that held no regard for the Constitution and believed it had the right to gobble up power and execute that power however it saw fit. It helps explain a lot. After all, why would these individuals execute their politics any differently in the 2000s than they did in the 1970s?

This makes me wonder. When Bush was assembling his cabinet and putting together his administration, what was he thinking? Did he look up all of the people still alive from Nixon’s team and say, “Hey guys! We’re getting the band back together! Remember that awesome time everyone had in the White House during the late 60s/early 70s? Well, get ready for some more of that!” I mean, Bush was alive and cognizant (though slightly coked up and drunk, perhaps) during the Watergate scandal. Did he not remember how things go when you hire a bunch of outlaws to serve on the side of the law? Or is it just that he believes the government runs most efficiently when there is no law? I’m consistently baffled by the current President’s inner machinations. I would eat my weight in Crawford, Texas mesquite wood if I could somehow find out.

So, behold the legacy that Nixon established for Bush: Nixon spied on Americans without due process or warrants. Nixon waged an unconstitutional war initiated on false pretenses. Nixon did not believe in a government for the people; he believed in a government for himself.

But, I must begrudgingly admit that Nixon actually did enact some positive change while in office. For instance, he founded the EPA and OSHA. He negotiated several nuclear arms treaties that helped slow nuclear proliferation, and he used the political divide between the PRC and the USSR to strengthen diplomatic ties between the US and both nations. Nixon passed the Philadelphia Plan and the Office of Minority Business Enterprise, which were the first federal Affirmative Action programs, and helped to supplement Social Security.

Could you ever, in a million thousand generations, ever imagine George W. Bush passing similar legislation? The very concept is laughable.

In other words, the hitherto worst president in the history of the United States, the first and only president to resign from office, was not nearly as awful as the current President.

This is a really terrifying time to be an American.

One of the entries for the Guilt By Association music video contest. Selected as one of three category winners, as best entry using Petra Haden’s cover of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”.

Directed by Kerri-Ann Doherty and her grand team over at JuiceBox Films. For information about working with Juicebox email Kerri@juiceboxfilms.com

This song is from the Guilt By Association album on which some of the top indie artists cover their favorite guilty pleasure pop songs in their own unique way. Out Sept 4th on Engine Room Recordings.

To listen to more songs from the album go to http://myspace.com/guiltbyassociation

I really like “Don’t Stop Believing”, and this version is killer… The “Guilt By Association” album has been one of my favorites for the past few months, finding this video was fortuitous…

This is weird.

You are a trophy wife. Your husband, who is a major Broadway theater operator and a quarter century older than you, decides to divorce you. Since you signed a pre-nuptial agreement before you got married, you have no means for supporting yourself, and your future looks pretty bleak.

So, how do you make the best of a very bad situation? Post a video of yourself on YouTube, where you tearfully recount all of the abuses you’ve endured, slander your former spouses’ sexual prowess, and then call up his office and start screaming at the person on the other line!

Sounds reasonable? It sure did to Tricia Walsh-Smith, who is the internet phenomenon of this week. The video (entitled Poor, Vulnerable Tricia: One More Crazy Day in the Life of a Phoenix Rising from the Ashes) went up on Monday, and it has already received almost two million hits.

Now she has her own website and Wikipedia page! Well, she deserves all of our attention. Seriously, though, this video isn’t even entertaining in the slightest. This woman’s sycophantic ranting is intolerable. Why are you reading about this? Why are you watching her video? Why am I posting about this? Are we all getting stupider, or is it just that the idiots are disproportionately represented by their metaphoric megaphone, the internet?

OK, I think the internet is a pretty amazing resource, but there are some really negative side effects. The first is that it’s way too easy to blackmail people. Universally accessible information took all of the intrigue and guile out of the art. Now, even a self-proclaimed idiot schmuck can do it without any difficulty. Secondly, there’s no privacy. You can’t slip up even once, or the video you created of yourself doing sweet Star Wars moves gets seen by every job interviewer that will turn you down for the rest of your life.

It’s a cruel world. What did we do before watching strangers self destruct on computers? Maybe this is just the modern outlet for human cruelty. Since we’re not allowed to kill animals in public or rile up a mob to murder innocent people, we must need to exercise the darker impulses of our souls in some way.

Maybe this is better? I’m not so sure. What does this woman do for the rest of her life? What does Miss South Carolina do now when she goes out to eat at a restaurant? Will the grape crushing reporter ever be able to drink wine again?

These questions keep me awake at nights.

Is it fair to get punished for the rest of your life after doing something stupid once? I mean, haven’t we all lopped off huge chunks of our hair only hours before our wedding?

This weekend, His Holiness the Dalai Lama spoke in Seattle, and I was lucky enough to have Megan drag me along. I use the verb ‘drag’ because I was not initially inspired to attend this appearance when I first heard about it. Like any healthy skeptic, I regard most authority figures with extreme suspicion, especially when they derive their authority from a religious source. But, at the end I felt very differently about this particular devil. He had a lot of really thoughtful things to say, and I appreciated the opportunity to hear them.

The line outside the stadium snaked all the way around the block, which offered great opportunities for people watching. The evangelicals were out in full force with megaphones, signs, and t-shirts, warning all the attendees that Buddhism leads directly to eternal damnation.

There was one guy that had a sign that read:

Repent!

Feminists

Atheists

Sports Nuts

Homosexuals

The sports nuts part really threw me through a loop. If anyone can provide a Biblical explanation for that, I would be really interested to hear it. My best guess was that sports games don’t observe the Sabbath?

Anyway, these guys had some great shirts. One guy had a shirt that read “Ignoring Jesus leads to HELL” and the word ‘hell’ was on fire.

Of course, this whole event is taking place in the context of the Olympics and the Tibetan protests. There were also Chinese folks outside the stadium handing out some anti-Tibetan literature. I always feel like it’s important to hear from both sides of a conflict before determining an opinion, so I was really glad they were there. Their pamphlets claimed that the American mainstream media was not accurately covering the Tibetan protests and that the Tibetan supporters were responsible for most of the violence. They denied Tibetan claims that Chinese operatives had infiltrated the protests and committed the assaults/burglaries/murders while masquerading as Tibetan monks.

Is this true? It’s certainly possible-I wouldn’t be shocked if either side were right. But, I think responsibility for destructive behavior in this instance is kind of irrelevant to the question of whether Tibet deserves its freedom. I think they do deserve to be an independent nation, and the pro-China camp is arguing from a pretty indefensible position, so it seems like they’re resorting to misleading arguments that don’t actually address the real issue. For example, the pamphlet claimed that Tibetan representatives want control over all Chinese land containing ethnic Tibetans, which would be ¼ of China, and that’s why the Chinese government refuses to negotiate with them. To be sure, that’s an unreasonable demand on the part of the Tibetan leadership, but this is an illogical argument. China could still engage in negotiations without relinquishing those lands. They could very easily say, “There’s no way in hell you’re getting that, but we’re still willing to let you take control over all land within the Tibetan border.” How often do you get everything you want every time you enter into a negotiation? Isn’t that the whole idea-to reach a compromise?

There was a lot of unnecessary fanfare surrounding the event. Many speakers came and went and said very little of value. People talked much longer than they needed to, and I definitely witnessed His Holiness closing his eyes for extended periods. Maybe he was just astral projecting his spirit consciousness into a different plane of existence?

When it was finally his turn to speak, he took roughly twenty minutes to share some very simple and profound ideas. Though he was donning his holy garb, I did not really think of him as a religious figure. He sounded more like a philosopher-he connected his thoughts with a very clear logical consistency, and he refrained from bringing up anything about reincarnation or Bodhisattvas or any of the less tangible elements of his ethos. I really appreciated that.

The Dalai Lama began by saying “If you are expected to reach some sort of epiphany or experience some lift changing event, you should leave. I am not capable of doing that.” He refrained from making any specific accusations. He did not reference the Chinese government or the Bush administration by name. He talked about nuclear disarmament and mentioned that war is an outdated method of discourse. He made some jokes at his own expense and readily admitted that he didn’t have answers for some questions. He spoke a lot about the importance of women as world leaders, which was an interesting deviation from the standard Buddhist take on women. Obviously each sect of Buddhism views women differently, but many monks aren’t allowed to speak to women at all, and I believe that most Buddhists view women as an impediment to enlightenment. I recognize this as a gross generalization, but I have to admit that I’m not a Buddhist expert. Regardless, can you imagine the Pope making a similar declaration? Not in this lifetime!

The Dalai Lama made two especially compelling philosophical arguments, which again were very simple but made a lot of sense. He said some people believe that human beings are too selfish to act altruistically, but altruism is an inherently selfish impulse. What he meant was that when you help people, you are ultimately doing it to satisfy your own conscience and need to act in a positive way. It’s an interesting idea.

He also noted that the world’s leaders are neither the cause nor the solution to its problems. The people (theoretically) are responsible for choosing their leaders, so the individuals chosen to lead people will always reflect their mindset. Once the people’s mindset changes, so will their leaders.

When he was done speaking, children assembled in a circle and started reading pre-planned statements about how they were going to enact change in the world. I really wish I had brought along some whiskey for that part. We took off before they started singing “Heal the World”.

I’m really glad that I got to see the Dalai Lama speak, although I’m a little annoyed about the structure of his appearance. The power of his words laid in their simplicity and directness, and I felt like some of that was lost with the unnecessary complements of the event. Even so, he’s an incredibly humble man who is wiser than most of us. I was really impressed with his logical approach, his self deprecating humor, and his sincere desire to enact positive change.

Megan teased me about experiencing a religious epiphany. Of course it wasn’t, since religion ceased to be relevant once we entered the stadium and left the pleas of the evangelicals outside. In fact, that’s probably why they were protesting in the first place. This idea is somewhat strange, since the Dalai Lama is one of the world’s most recognized religious leaders. But, I think something is lost in the translation of the word ‘religion’ from his culture into ours. Buddhism is not a religion in the way that Catholicism or Islam is a religion. Sure, there are some kooky metaphysical components of their belief system, but it seems like the lifestyle is more important than wholeheartedly embracing the mythological aspects. It’s almost like what western religion aspires to do, but usually fails to accomplish in the end.

Hey, maybe Buddha and Jesus are the same person, who happens to be a 10,000 year old caveman and your father? I’ll leave you with that tantalizing thought.

As payback for their win in ‘86, and despite the fact that they said it wouldn’t happen… The Mets got rickroll’d… This is (maybe) the last rickroll I’ll post… It just went so nicely with the ‘86 RBI video…

MoveOn.org just released a top ten list about John McCain that covers a few facts and connections unlikely to receive much coverage from the mainstream media. Each assertion is backed up with a hyperlink embedded within the text, so please feel free to research something if it sounds unfounded to you.

I know it’s unlikely that Hillary will receive the Dem’s nomination, but if she does, I strongly urge anyone out there who is considering a vote for McCain over Hillary to take a look at this:

1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has “evolved,” yet he’s continued to oppose key civil rights laws.

2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain “will make Cheney look like Gandhi.”

3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.

4. McCain opposes a woman’s right to choose. He said, “I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned.”

5. The Children’s Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children’s health care bill last year, then defended Bush’s veto of the bill.

6. He’s one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a “second job” and skip their vacations.

7. Many of McCain’s fellow Republican senators say he’s too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: “The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He’s erratic. He’s hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me.”

8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.

9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his “spiritual guide,” Rod Parsley, believes America’s founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a “false religion.” McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church “the Antichrist” and a “false cult.”

10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.

From Wired Magazine…

A team of scientists has completed a carbon dioxide emissions inventory of the United States plotted down to 100-square-kilometer chunks.

That means that the NASA- and Department of Energy-funded scientists can detail emissions across all 9 million square kilometers that compose the United States. For a full explanation, check out the video that Purdue’s Kevin Gurney put together, which features a number of other excellent CO2 visualizations. Andy Revkin, the New York Times‘ environment-beat writer, put a memorable headline on a post about the video, calling it, “Breath of a Nation.”

The work, known as The Vulcan Project, has already yielded a significant discovery: Previous CO2 estimates that used population as a proxy for emissions overestimated the Northeast’s greenhouse-gas generation, while underestimating the coal-heavy Southeast’s contribution.

via Wired