onsdag 31 december 2008

40 år senare



I dag är det exakt 40 år sedan MC5 släppte klassiska "Kick out the jams".
Henrik Persson ringde upp basisten Michael Davis för att gratulera.
Läs intervjun på Sourze.se

tisdag 30 december 2008

Skivor som saknas på listorna part IV

Om jag minns rätt placerade Denimzine The Bronx tredje album någonstans långt ner på sin årsbästalista. I övrigt glömdes bandet bort när året skulle sammanfattas. Rätt obegripligt i min värld. Men men, låt oss fokusera på det positiva i tillvaron istället.

1 The Bronx kommer till Tyrol, Stockholm 18 februari.
2 The Bronx släpper nytt redan 2009. Fast den här gången är det under namnet El Bronx. Istället för frustande punkrock är det traditionell mexikansk musik med mycket trumpet.
Se smakprov nedan.

Skivor som saknas på listorna part III

I landsortspressen har man sett den dyka upp på ett par kritikers årsbästalistor men i rikstäckande press har det varit tyst om The Black Angels. Synd, eftersom "Directions to see a ghost" förtjänar att upptäckas av fler.
Lyssna bara på inledande "You on the run" - en av årets bästa låtar.

måndag 29 december 2008

Tequila istället för julöl


Foto Suelen Pessoa

"My wife and I don't believe in Jesus so we're sure as hell not going to be celebrating a fake birth. I'm gonna spend the holiday season watching American football and drinking. I live pretty close to Mexico so it's not too difficult to find a good bottle of tequila."


(Kerry King, Slayer, berättar för Kerrang om sin julhelg)

söndag 28 december 2008

Skivor som saknas på listorna part II

Kritikerna glömde Why? när årsbästalistorna skulle lämnas in.
"Alopecia" heter plattan som jag verkar vara helt ensam om att gilla.

Skivor som saknas på listorna part I

Visst, både Glasvegas, Fleet Foxes och Joel Alme gjorde bra plattor i år.
Jag ska inte klaga när landets musiktyckare listar årets bästa album.
Men som vanligt är det vissa släpp som ignoreras fastän de borde hyllas till skyarna. Be Your Own Pets ”Get awkward” till exempel. Är jag den ende av landets recensenter som gillar Be Your Own Pet? Tragiskt i sådana fall.
Trist också att bandet bestämde sig för att splittras i år.

lördag 27 december 2008

Brody's back

Brody Dalle (ex-Distillers) är tillbaka.
Numera heter bandet Spinnerette och för någon vecka sedan meddelade bandet på hemsidan att ep:n "Ghetto Love" finns att köpa på iTunes i USA. Folk från andra delar av världen kan köpa låtarna på bandets hemsida.

Spinnerette

Biljett till Antony - 995 kr/styck

Antony & The Johnsons kommer till Cirkus i Stockholm 19 mars.
Givetvis är det slutsålt. Alla attraktiva konserter är ju utsålda i dessa dagar, mycket tack vare att en del människor i det här landet har fått för sig att det är en skitbra företagsidé att köpa på sig jättemånga biljetter för att sedan sälja dyrt.
Och visst tjänar dessa hjärtlösa parasiter pengar.
Affärerna blomstrar.
En biljett till Antonys konsert på Cirkus kostar mer än det dubbla mot ordinariepris om jag köper den via "seriösa" företag som Slutsålt.

Förbjud skiten. Nu.

fredag 26 december 2008

Blondinbella säger: Karl-Bertil Jonsson är dåtidens AFA

Blondinbella är upprörd.
Anledningen är att SVT visar Karl-Bertil Jonssons Julafton.
"Kommunistskit" säger hon till Expressen.

Isabella Löwengrip tycker att det är fint att göra en god gärning och ge till andra, men då ska man köpa julklapparna själv, inte stjäla.

– Då blir det ju andra barn som blir utan julklappar. Karl-Bertil är dåtidens AFA (Antifascistisk aktion i Sverige). Han tar lagen i egna händer.


Läs artikeln här

Läs Dr Farms analys av Blondinbella här

torsdag 25 december 2008

Analys av Blondinbella part II


Konstnär: Natalia Fabia

Dr Farms briljanta utläggning om fenomenet Blondinbella (läs här) har resulterat i ännu en pricksäker analys av landets bloggdrottning.
I dag lämnade Anna P följande kommentar till inlägget.

Far be it from me att argumentera med Dr Farms diagnos, som i sig är briljant.
Dock skulle jag vilja dela med mig av några funderingar: kanske har Blondinbella en mörkare sida, ity språkligt är hon så nyansfattig att man som någorlunda insatt slås av hur språket liknar det som används av människor lidande av det som förut kallades borderline personlighetsstörning (men som nu skall kallas emotionell instabil personlighetsstörning - EIP). En person med EIP kan utbrista "vilken UNDERBAR foundation" men då hon tillfrågas om vad som är underbart med den kan hon bara svara att det inte är "en FRUKTANSVÄRD foundation".
Nyanser saknas.
Detta kan förvisso vara ett utslag av flickebarnets bristande kognitiva förmåga, och inget ytterligare talar väl egentligen för EIP, men det var en tanke. Språkligt ligger hon ju som dr Farm redan påpekat också nära det typiska autismspektrumet, vilket är tydligt i uttalanden som "Låt era barn slippa baksidan av alkoholen"., "Mys i köket med mina mozartbollar","jag ska försöka hinna med en snabbis på stan också" etc. Här märks ju Blondinbellas totala oförmåga att se språket annat än helt bokstavligt, vilket är legio hos autíster. Till stort nöje för oss andra! Autism kan vara kul!


Nu till det som egentligen är mest besvärande ur psykosocial syndpunkt; klonerna. Finns det verkligen flera hundratusen lika tomma människor där ute?

tisdag 23 december 2008

måndag 22 december 2008

Förlåt mig, Reinfeldt

Min sista krönika 2008.
Jag lyckades faktiskt få ihop nåt som ser rätt ok ut medan jag satt på det där hotellrummet i Sunne och våndades.

Läs krönikan i Nacka Värmdö Posten här

Lady Saw ställer in

Aldrig får man vara riktigt glad.
Lady Saw ställer in sin Europaturné och därmed också den planerade spelningen på Klubben i Stockholm.

Köpta biljetter återlöses hos respektive återförsäljare fram till den 20 maj.

söndag 21 december 2008

Dr Farm analyserar... Blondinbella


Konstnär: Natalia Fabia

Ibland har jag problem att förstå min omvärld.
Det är då jag går till Dr Farm.
Hon analyserar, förklarar och rätar ut mina frågetecken. Alltid med en cigarett i vänsterhanden. I helgen, då vi sågs på en toalett någonstans i centrala Stockholm, förklarade hon att Blondinbella faktiskt är autistisk.

Ur diagnostisk synvinkel så befinner vi oss mitt i en neuropsykiatrisk storhetstid. Därför tycker jag att det är mycket märkligt att det inte tidigare har uppmärksammats att Blondinbella är autist. Grundpelarna för diagnosen är begränsningar av fantasi, associationer och ömsesidig kommunikation. Vad som också brukar höra till är en bristande variation av uttryck, ett idiosynkratiskt språk samt en enträgen fascination av saker. Alla som läst Blondinbellas blogg vet att samtliga diagnoskriterier manifesteras i så gott som varje inlägg.

(Dr Farm sänker blicken, sparkar undan en bit toalettpapper på golvet framför sig och drar ett djupt bloss på cigaretten.)

Bloggen består av ett repetitivt utvik av tvångsshoppande och stereotypa gymbesök. Detta i form av bilder där Blondinbella själv står utanför gymmet och håller upp olika varor med en tom men lycklig min. Bilderna varvas med enstaviga utlåtanden som "hunden är gullig", "parfymen luktar gott", "jag är en driven tjej", etc. Många autister sticker ut som unika, kompromisslösa och intressanta till följd av diagnosens art. Här väljer dock Blondinbella en egen väg genom att helt sakna personlighet överhuvudtaget. Det här gör hennes autism lite atypisk och en tanke som infinner sig är att hon kanske inte existerar alls utan är en robot framtagen i experimentsyfte.

(Dr Farm ställer sig upp, släpper ned cigaretten i toaletten och börjar samla ihop kläderna som ligger utspridda över rummet. Hon fortsätter att prata medan hon klär på sig.)

I den strömlinjeformade tidsanda vi befinner oss i känns det rätt att en bloggare utan vare sig personlighet, analys eller egentliga åsikter blir idealtypen. I längden tror jag dock att Blondinbella ovetandes kan komma att slå ett hårt slag mot konsumismen med sin blogg. Lyx, prylar och pengar har tidigare kopplats ihop med mystiska filmstjärnor med eftersträvansvärda liv. Om Bella fortsätter att hålla upp underlagscremer för sin läsarskara på en halv miljon pers i veckan så borde de nya, rättmätiga, associationerna bli tomma människor med meningslösa skitliv som inte gör någonting vettigt överhuvudtaget.

fredag 19 december 2008

Favorit 4-ever


Foto Anna Ledin

Bildbyrån Noll Images, som egentligen drar i gång först i januari, har min favorit Anna Ledin bland sina fotografer.

Noll Images Blogspot

Noll Images

Anna Ledin

Metro vs DN


Glasvegas - kritikernas favorit

I dag är det Metros tur att publicera en lista över 2008 års skivor.
I topp hamnar, inte helt oväntat, Glasvegas.
Läs här
---
För övrigt var Metro bättre än DN i sin rapportering från Rosengård. Att, som DN, göra ett helt uppslag om brinnande bilar och hukande brandmän utan att med ett ord nämna bakgrunden till oroligheterna är bara märkligt. I Metro är rubriken "Ungdomar i protest mot att polisen körde bort demonstranter" och jag läser att samtliga gripna, utom en, är vänsterextremister.
Inte ett ord om det i DN.
---

torsdag 18 december 2008

Eagles of Death Metal till Sverige!



Rogerts Blogg kan i dag avslöja att Eagles of death Metal kommer till Sverige nästa år. 7 mars gör bandet en spelning på Debaser Medis i Stockholm och dagen därpå gästar Jesse och hans mannar Trädgår'n i Göteborg.

Aktuella albumet "Heart on" kommer ges ut i en ny cd-version med två bonusspår 21 januari. Samtidigt ges även skivan ut på bildvinyl.

Alkberg om 2008


Portishead - en av Alkbergs favoriter 2008

Mattias Alkberg (Bear Quartet) summerar sitt 2008 på It's A Trap.
Jo, jag vet att jag så sent som i går skrev att jag är lite less på alla dessa årsbästalistor, men den här känns lite roligare än de flesta. Mattias Alkberg delar in skivåret i tre kategorier när han berättar vad han lyssnat på under året.

Black Metal:
Behexen, Khold, Arckanum, Abomino Aetadeath, Krypt.

Straight music (i.e non-black metal) from abroad: Chad Vangaalen, Daniel Martin Moore, Portishead, The Fall, Gang Gang Dance, Robert Forster, Fucked Up, Mogwai, The Cure, Mudhoney, Josephine Foster, Roots Manuva.

Swedish and not black metal: Dan Lissvik, Paper, PDC, Park Hotell, Vapnet, Hästpojken, Håkan Hellström, Masshysteri, Tristess, Joel Alme, Veronica Maggio, Frida Hyvönen, T(I)NC, TsooL.

Gammal grunge i ny förpackning



Nästa år startar Sony Music en komplett genomgång av Pearl Jams karriär. 23 mars släpps debutalbumet "Ten" remastrat i fyra olika utgåvor: som exklusiv samlarbox, remastrat album, vinylbox samt en tidigare outgiven DVD från Pearl Jam i MTV Unplugged från 1992.

Under 2 års tid kommer hela Pearl Jams katalog att släppas på nytt fram till bandets 20-årsjubileum 2011.

I like driving in my car

onsdag 17 december 2008

Veckans skivrecensioner



Hyllad i Svenskan


Skivåret börjar närma sig sitt slut, men även den här veckan lyckades de flesta tidningarna få ihop ett gäng recensioner. Till min stora glädje gav Linnéa The Bronx full pott i SvD. Jag jublade lite diskret för mig själv där jag satt, ensam med min hotellfrukost i en stor matsal och tuggade på en bit torrt bröd. Det vore trevligt om fler av landets musikkritiker kunde förstå bandets storhet.
Läs recensionen av The Bronx här
---
Själv satte jag en snäll trea på Fall Out Boy i dagens Metro. Det är ju jul snart, eller hur? Man måste vara snäll. Just i år är jag i extra stort behov av många julklappar efter att ha bränt en väldig massa tusenlappar på att skaffa körkort. Så jag hoppas tomten läste min recension.
Annars kan han läsa den här.

Jag trodde att Fall Out Boy var ett sånt där band som ALLA kritiker hatar men skivan har faktiskt fått rätt positiva recensioner. Sydsvenskan , Norra Västerbotten, Kristianstadsbladet och Aftonbladet delade alla ut en trea.
Där ser man.
---
Visst börjar man känna en viss mättnadskänsla inför alla dessa summeringar? Eller är det bara jag? Vi är ju bara mitten av december och redan har vi läst i genomsnitt hundratolv texter om dagen som berättar vad som var bäst 2008. Men det är klart, i en demokrati ska givetvis alla få komma till tals.
Och det är inte slut än.
På fredag presenterar Metros recensenter sina årsbästalistor.

Läspaus


Omslagspojkarna

Sitter på ett ganska öde hotell i Värmland i ett fint rum med högt i tak.
För ungefär sex timmar sen började jag skriva på min krönika. Det går sådär. Tidigare i kväll levererade jag tre halvlånga artiklar och kände mig så himla duktig, men sen dess har det varit segt.
Man måste ju hela tiden ta små andningspauser, rensa huvudet ni vet.
Man kan till exempel se på tv, ta ett glas vin eller läsa senaste numret av Denimzine med omslagsartikel om Eagles Of Death Metal. Plötsligt har hela kvällen passerat.

Men läs den ni också. Denimzine alltså.

Själv ska jag skriva en krönika. Nu.

tisdag 16 december 2008

Birro är arg



Foto Ester Sorri


På tal om mitt inlägg om mannen med visslan så skrev Marcus Birro förra sommaren otroligt hatiskt om SJ.

SJ är världens sämsta jävla skitföretag, ett gäng kissnödiga amatörer med bajs i hjärnan som borde få sparken och bli jagade ner för varenda gata under resten av sina liv. Lägg ner skiten. Lägg ner SJ,Banverket och allt vad det heter.

Läs inlägget här

Två timmar senare var han ännu mer upprörd.

Varenda jävla människa som jobbar inom Sj, alla som känner någon, alla som någon gång känt någon, borde skämmas åt helvete.

Jag tänker från och med nu ägna all tid jag kan åt att förfölja, förlöjliga och håna SJ, i allting jag gör, i intervjuer, radio, i teve och så fort jag får chansen.

Lägg ner skiten!!!
Lägg ner allting! Utplåna och gör om.

Inlägget hittar du här.

skiv- och konsertnytt



LoWood, duon som agerade förband åt Cult of Luna tidigare i år släpper skiva.
25 mars finns albumet "Close to violence" i butik.

Lowood.se
www.myspace.com/lowoodsweden
---
Konsertnytt:

Regina Spektor är klar för Hultsfred.
Morrissey kommer till Stockholm 24 juni, skriver Aftonbladet.

Du kan dra åt helvete med din jävla pipa



Tåget som rullar in i Karlstad från Stockholm är ca 40 minuter försenat.
Anledningen är att det X2000-tåg som vi skulle åkt med var trasigt. Ett närmast osannolikt vanligt problem för SJ. I alla fall så ska jag vidare med ett annat tåg som nu står och väntar på mig och ytterligare ett gäng försenade resenärer.

Jag rör mig snabbt mot tåget men ser att en tjej som bär på ett par stora väskor hamnar lite efter oss andra. Jag stannar upp och frågar om jag ska ta en av hennes väskor. "Tack gärna", säger hon och vi fortsätter halvspringa mot tåget. Jag bär nu på mina egna två väskor plus tjejens överdimensionerade resväska.

På perrongen, utanför en av tågets dörrar står mannen med visselpipan.
SJ-Fascisten.
Han ser oss. Han tycker vi rör oss för långsamt. Så när vi är ungefär hundra meter från tåget visslar han i sin pipa och dörrarna stängs. "Neeej", hör jag tjejen ropa innan hon inser att tåget faktiskt inte åker iväg utan oss. Nej, mannen med visselpipan ville bara stressa oss. Han var jävligt irriterad för att vi kom sent till hans pisståg.
Som om det vore vårat fel att vi var sena.
Som om man självklart ska straffa den som stannar upp för att hjälpa en av SJ:s resenärer.

Idiot.

Om det där med reinkarnation stämmer så ska han återfödas som min bitch. Så är det.
Inte en "hanky-spanky-my-ass-ohhh-yes-that feels so good"-bitch utan en jävla "tappa-tvålen-i-duschen-på-hardcore-macho-gay-convention-på-Hall"-bitch.

Bend over, I'll drive.
Bitch.

måndag 15 december 2008

oh no.. it's christmas i P3



Vi som missade "Oh no... it's christmas" på Nalen i går får en andra chans.
Eller, ja alltså, vi kommer åtminstone kunna lyssna på David Sandström, Hello Saferide och de andra i våra radioapparater. På självaste julafton kör nämligen P3 en inspelning från gårdagen.

Härmapan var på plats i går. Så här skriver hon på sin blogg...

Markus Krunegård stämde upp i O helga natt. Det var fint. Pälsen stod när David Sandström gjorde Steve Earles Christmas in Washington. Jonna Lee sjöng sinnessjukt bra och nykomlingen Adiam Dymott var snyggast av alla.

När Annika Norlin och David Sandström duettade Fairytale of New York avslutade de med pardans, hjärtligt! (Fet riverdancevarning på den låten dock). Strängen var också snygg. Som vanligt. Och peppade upp publiken med Det är inte snön som faller.

söndag 14 december 2008

Öppet brev till Mr Obama



Jello Biafra har skrivit ett långt brev till Mr President.

Världshistoriens längsta blogginlägg? Mycket möjligt.

Dear Mr. Obama,

Congratulations on your recent victory, and for helping build such a strong mandate for change. In that spirit, please do not forget the other aisle you need to reach across. All the relief and publicity for the middle class won't do anything for the 40-100 million Americans who are starving, unemployed or just plain poor.

You have gone out of your way to build a bridge to those of us fed up with war, pollution, inequality, corporate lawlessness and business as usual. You have energized a whole new generation who is far ahead of their elders in knowing what urgently needs to be done. I have never seen such an outpouring of heartfelt emotion, hope and support for an American politician in my life, and I remember Kennedy well. You are the first president in my lifetime to have a bona fide grassroots movement behind you and ready to rock. I hope those crowds' hope and urgency has penetrated deeply enough that you won't let that bridge be washed away.

I remember another person who had the audacity to exploit and toss aside people's hope, and his name is Bill Clinton. Democrats fail time and again when they shirk responsibility and settle for being dealmakers instead of leaders. As important as it is to find common ground and build consensus for change, our situation is so dire we cannot afford any more dealmakers. The people voted for a leader. Anything less risks breaking the hearts of an entire galvanized generation who may then decide it is not worth it to get involved and participate any more.

Strong medicine is needed. Here are some ideas:

IRAQ - TRY THIS!

The closest thing to a solution I have heard was offered clear back in April 2004 by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (www.oic-ico.org). The OIC is comprised of 57 Islamic countries ranging from West Africa clear over to Southeast Asia. At their annual meeting they found six member nations (Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Yemen and Morocco) willing to pony up enough of their own troops (approx. 150,000) that our troops could have gone home! Who slammed the door on that one? Colin Powell, on the grounds that having the Islamic soldiers under UN command instead of Americans was out of the question.

WHY??!? Wouldn't a neutral force of Muslim peacekeepers make a lot more headway than the disaster we've made? Wouldn't they at least command a lot more respect, resulting in a huge drop in violence? Surely the non-stop carnage and Iracketeering we have spawned is Exhibit A that we need to get over this colonialist illusion that other countries' problems can only be solved by Americans. The OIC's proposal for US withdrawal and peace in Iraq must be revisited immediately, and also considered for Afghanistan.

We must end not just our military occupation of Iraq, but our economic occupation NOW. Iraq is not ours to sell, and neither is its oil. Your promise not to leave any permanent US military bases in Iraq is a good start. But you have also backed leaving US troops in Iraq to "protect American assets like the Green Zone." The Green Zone is not our "asset." We stole it and we have to give it back. I hope you don't seriously believe we can get away with that giant feudal fortress of an embassy we are building, ten times the size of any other in history. We cannot afford to waste any more money on this, or down the black hole of the Bush administration's crony backroom deals with corrupt, incompetent private contractors like Blackwater, KBR and Halliburton. We need to fire them and they need to leave--NOW.

We do owe the Iraqi people help, and we have an obligation to clean up the mess we have made. That goes double for Afghanistan. But I can't see this getting done unless someone other than the United States is in charge. Let us also not forget the 2 million-plus refugees stuck outside Iraq who are draining the economies of Iraq's neighbors, especially Jordan and Syria.

TERROR - STRATEGY AND DIPLOMACY, NOT WAR

Even if we kill off every insurgent and terrorist-sympathizer from sea to shining sea, what will their kids be like? And theirs? Wake up. The major cause of terrorism is not evil, it's poverty. Michael Moore said it best after 9/11: "Will we ever get to the point that we realize we will be more secure when the rest of the world isn't living in poverty so we can have nice running shoes?" What do we need an empire for anyway? Ever notice how much happier the British and Europeans are now that they don't have to worry about policing colonial empires anymore?

Many experts and heads of state, in the Middle East and beyond, agree that the best way by far to pull the rug out from under the terrorists and reduce their attacks dramatically is a just and humane resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel's right to exist is threatened most by the fact that hardcore zealots are running the show on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides. If we don't have the courage to stand up to them, who will? As painful as withdrawal to Israel's pre-1967 borders will be, our future depends on it. So does Israel's. As Reagan said to Gorbachev, "Tear down this wall!"

Threatening Iran made for great red meat on the campaign trail. But any attack on Iran--by us or using the Israelis as a proxy--will blow up in our face worse than Iraq and Afghanistan combined. It will wipe out any good will and benefit of a doubt we have left in the eyes of the rest of the world. Iran is three times the size of Iraq and much more mountainous. The people there already hate our guts, thanks to our overthrow of their democratically elected leader Mohammed Mossadegh in 1954, ushering in 25 years of torture under the Shah. Backing and aiding Saddam Hussein in the eight-year Iran-Iraq war that cost a million lives did not help either.

So, alas, we will not be "greeted as liberators." But we could run straight into a worldwide "Day the Earth Stood Still" if Iran responds by blocking all oil shipments out of the Persian Gulf. Iran knows full well they wouldn't even have to blockade the narrow Strait of Hormuz. All they would have to do is sink a tanker or freighter or two and no other ships will move. Not from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, nothing. Surely we can do better than this. Even Robert Gates seems to think so. Reckless threats against Pakistan will not solve anything, either.

JUST SAY NO TO TORTURE

Closing Guantanamo Bay is not enough. All torture, detentions without trial, kidnappings ("renditions") and illegal and unnecessary spying must end--and end with transparency now. Otherwise we are no better than Saddam Hussein or the Nazis. The whole world knows this and the whole world is watching. What about the 20,000 people we still have locked up without charge in Iraq, and thousands more in Afghanistan???

The USA PATRIOT Act is just about the worst mistake our government has made since FDR threw over 100,000 Japanese-American citizens into concentration camps during World War II. Even you panicked and voted to make the PATRIOT Act permanent. It should be repealed and flushed down the toilet immediately--all of it. Even worse is the Military Commissions Act, in which Senators who should know better, such as Robert Byrd, Sherrod Brown, Ken Salazar and even John McCain voted with the majority to legalize torture, kidnapping and secret trials with secret evidence, wiping out the centuries old human right to habeas corpus. Again, isn't this what our "greatest generation" fought so bravely in World War II to stop the Nazis from doing to us?

What galls me most is that all this iron-fisted trashing of our basic human rights has not caught and convicted one significant terrorist! Even the FBI admits that torture doesn't work.

Meanwhile, if we're serious about preventing another terror attack, why is only 10% of the cargo entering our ports on ships ever inspected? Sure, no airliners have been hijacked by a terrorist wielding the wrong-sized shampoo bottle. But those cargo containers are big enough to smuggle in a small arsenal of rocket launchers and shoulder-fired missiles that could actually bring down a plane; dirty bomb material; or even Bin Laden himself. I sometimes wonder if he's driving a cab in Manhattan right now.

RESTORE THE RULE OF LAW

This means investigating and prosecuting each and every Bush administration official and their cronies who may have committed crimes while in power. Otherwise the lesson learned is you can get away with anything you want because the next administration will be too spineless to take action. For crying out loud, DO NOT make the same mistake Bill Clinton did when he let the rampant corruption, perjury and even terrorist acts of the Reagan and Bush I regimes go unpunished in the interest of moving on from the past. The crime here is this: Not only does everyone involved assume they have license to break even more laws the next time they hold power, but those who should be in jail for the lying, arms smuggling, assassinations and drug dealing in the Contra-gate scandal (like Elliot Abrams, Colin Powell, Richard Armitage and Robert Gates among others) are instead handed even more powerful positions where they have done even worse damage. Can you imagine the havoc and hooliganism if we
put our heads in the sand after Watergate, let bygones be bygones, and G. Gordon Liddy wound up as director of the FBI? Secretary of Defense Haldeman? Attorney General Ehrlichman? Karl Rove's chair occupied by Colson, Magruder or Segretti?

Watergate and even Contra-gate pale in comparison to the wholesale lawlessness this time around. From Jack Abramoff's bribes, to outing Valerie Plame; from lying about weapons of mass destruction and getting thousands of people killed; from wholesale fraud and attacks on the right to vote, to the gutting of the Justice Department, to torture and other possible war crimes--this can't be allowed to go on.

Cheney and Rumsfeld were bad enough. But it is equally critical that lower-echelon culprits lacking household names like John Yoo, David Addington (nicknamed "Cheney's Cheney"), and General Geoffrey Miller be held accountable for their alleged involvement in torture and other serious crimes. Otherwise, they could one day rise to Attorney General, Secretary of Defense, or even the Supreme Court and pick up right where they left off in their blood-soaked shredding of the Constitution.

Even a South African-style Truth Commission would be an important step in preventing this from ever happening again. Otherwise, why should I or anyone else obey the law when my own government does not even pretend to? Even if Bush pardons the most blatant war criminals, all we have to do is fulfill President Clinton's promise to join the rest of the world in the International Criminal Court and they might not get away with it after all. We must come clean and drain the swamp now or it is just going to get dirtier. A lot dirtier.

Rule of law must also be restored when it comes to the NSA, FISA and domestic spying. The Internet revolt by your own followers was right. Your vote for letting the NSA, and even the phone companies, off the hook for massive illegal spying on American citizens was a very bad mistake. These are the exact same crimes that got Nixon thrown out of office for Watergate. Now Watergate is legal too? I have to say it--this doesn't remind me of Nixon as much as Italy's ordeal under Silvio Berlusconi. In Italy I have heard the joke again and again that "Berlusconi has to stay in power or else he'll go to jail." Sure enough, every time Berlusconi gets indicted for yet another crime, his majority in Parliament simply changes the law and he goes free. There should be zero tolerance for Berlusconi disease.

Plus, does this much spying even make sense? What are we gaining here besides a bigger avalanche of useless data? If 9/11 was an inside job, it was not one of conspiracy but colossal, runaway incompetence. We were already spying on way too many people, collecting way too much data that no one had time to analyze. Thus finding the real terrorists before they struck was like looking for a needle in a football stadium.

I have a feeling you may sign an important bill or two right from the podium during your inauguration speech. It might be an economic stimulus package or lifting the ban on stem cell research. How about also signing your first executive order declaring all of Bush's presidential signing statements he added on to bills he signed to be null and void. These things will go a long way toward restoring the rule of law.

STAMP OUT ELECTION FRAUD - RESTORE THE RIGHT TO VOTE

I never thought that after all these years we would once again find ourselves fighting for our right to vote. In the United States of America? It is well-established now that every election at least since 2000, including the midterms, has been marred by widespread vote fraud, especially via the hacking and manipulations of electronic voting machines. But these widespread crimes have never been fully investigated, let alone prosecuted. Even the US Civil Rights Commission recommended prosecuting then-Governor Jeb Bush over all the fraud and voter intimidation in Florida during the 2002 election. But his brother's Justice Department declined.

It is obvious the Help America Vote Act has backfired and done the opposite. Optical scan machines are not the answer at all. They have now been proven to be just as hackable as the notorious paperless touch-screens. They should all be junked once and for all. Digital is not always better, and voting should not be privatized. Any system where the people's votes are counted in secret behind closed doors has no place in a democracy. Nor is there room for contracting out the verification of our registration forms to the same corrupt biased companies that manufacture the phony voting machines.

We can't just let this massive, widespread vote stealing go on and pretend it isn't happening. It may be too late to reverse the wreckage of all the stolen elections. But again, a Truth Commission to prove how it was done and who did it is essential to the survival of our democracy. Anyone in Congress with a spine for this? The people have a right to know.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM-THE EASY WAY

I am sure you would agree that this election campaign was way WAY too long. Other countries, including one just north of us, limit campaign time to between 30 and 60 days. Election fever is much more focused so voter participation is higher. Why can't we do this? Sure, these other countries use parliamentary systems (another change I hope for) where the party in power calls an election and it takes place a short time later. But think of what we could save--and what we would gain--if we limited campaign time to 90 days. There could be 30 days between announcements and the primaries, followed by a 30-day primary season, then a 30-day home stretch to Election Day. Anyone who jumps the gun by jockeying, soliciting contributions or electioneering too early is automatically disqualified.

I hope you would also agree that campaigns for high office have become obscenely expensive. We now have a full-blown Election Industrial Complex. Wouldn't it be great if you didn't need $750 million to run for President? The way our campaign contributions and lobbyists work today has another name in other countries. It's called bribery.

Another way to restore sanity is to go national with a law enacted by popular vote in Nevada. If you don't like any of the candidates for an office in Nevada, you are allowed to vote None of the Above. If N.O.T.A. wins, they have to re-run the election with all new candidates.

You say you want more people to get up and get involved? Lower the voting age! To get people's attention I have suggested lowering it clear down to age 5. But more realistically, I suggest showing people they have a stake in our democracy by allowing ages 14 and up to vote on school boards and school bond issues, 16 and up for local offices and ballot measures, and 18 and up for everything else. Overcoming voter apathy is hard, but when young people cast votes and see results, they'll stick with it long term.

RETHINK AND SHUT DOWN THE WAR ON DRUGS

Prohibition is as absurd and fruitless today as it was when Eliot Ness ran around shooting up Chicago trying to stamp out illegal beer. The world is laughing at us while real people are being robbed, jailed, assaulted and even killed. We have more people locked in prison than any country in the history of the world. But our drug use rate has barely dropped at all. The blood and violence from gangs and narco-traffickers that have left Colombia and Mexico on the verge of becoming failed states is spilling across our borders. This is no country for old men--or old laws.

Could we do worse than to at least try the Harm Reduction programs used most successfully in Holland and other parts of Europe? As unorthodox as this sounds, decriminalizing (not legalizing) even harder drugs, making them available on prescription from the government for free, along with a safe place to use them, has led to a much lower crime rate--and even addiction rate--than ours. Why? The free prescriptions mean the addict does not have to rob and kill people to pay the drug gangs' high prices, and the gangs are put out of business. Dealers are still treated harshly and rehab is strongly encouraged. This could also save up to $50 billion a year for rehab and education that is otherwise wasted by throwing people in prison.

This also frees up billions and billions of dollars to treat the addicts when they want to get off drugs--which will be sooner rather than later. Rehab costs 2/3 less than prison. Our mushrooming prison-industrial complex is draining our money so badly that state after state is slashing funds for education--education!--to pay for throwing more and more people in prison. In California, a prison guard now makes more money than a teacher. So much for family values.

What is wrong with this picture?!??? As president I suggest the commuting of federal prison sentences of all small-time non-violent drug offenders to time served and releasing them immediately. Then strongly urge governors to do the same at the state level. Again, think of all the wasted taxpayer dollars this will free up for more important things like education and rehabilitation. Estimates run as high as $50 billion nationwide.

This does not mean any of these drugs should be legalized, just decriminalized. That is, strictly regulated like alcohol and tobacco, with big-time dealers and gangs treated as harshly as ever. For another way to fight the drug lords, consider this. In 2005 the United States spent $780 million on drug eradication in Afghanistan. Where on earth did it all go? It worked so poorly that $600 million of poppies and heroin escaped into the market anyway.

Do the math: We could have saved a whopping $180 million if we had simply gone to the suppliers and bought the drugs, and then destroyed them so they won't keep making people sick and killing my friends. As sickening as it is to even think of doing business with drug cartels, can anyone think of a better way to cut off the supply? A counter-argument is that this will actually force the gangs to drive the street price way up. But with Harm Reduction programs already in place they will have nothing to sell, no place to sell it, and no suckers willing to buy.

And for crying out loud, isn't it time to finally get real and decriminalize marijuana? If current strains are more potent than the old days, so what? Study after study still proves that marijuana is less harmful--and less addictive--than alcohol or tobacco. Nowadays, going overboard against marijuana has not only flooded our prisons to the breaking point, it has driven the price of cannabis so high that young people are going straight into crack cocaine and methamphetamines. Is this wise?

On top of that, it is not just oil we are dangerously low on, we are running out of wood. If we ever hope to turn the tide on global warming and save what is left of our forests, we must remove all bans on the cultivation of cannabis for its many industrial uses--including the strain of hemp that has no THC in it to get anyone high but is still banned anyway. Recycling is not enough. Why chop down millions of trees to make paper when we can use hemp or kanaf and then grow another crop of paper a few months later? It does not get any greener than this. It will also help rescue a lot of family farms.

Finally, the Joe Biden-authored Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act (formerly known as the RAVE Act), passed as a rider to the Amber Alert Bill, is as big a disgrace as the PATRIOT Act. It has no place in a free society and should be repealed immediately. Long-term rescue of our social fabric and society, not to mention our southern neighbors, depends in major part on enacting humane drug laws.

RESTORE BALANCE TO THE SUPREME COURT

Even George Will complained that Bill Clinton's Supreme Court nominees were too moderate; that the court needs a good progressive or two for the full and thorough consideration of each issue. Balancing the court means choosing a justice or two with the passion and spirit of a Thurgood Marshall, John Marshall or William O. Douglas, even if you do not fully agree with them. You may only have a two-year window before a mid-term Congress cramps your style.

MEDIA REFORM

The Federal Communications Commission should get off their high horse about Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" or naughty words that everyone says anyway, and instead focus on the rampant hate speech and outright lies that are falsely broadcast as impartial news. Sure, celebrity bullies like Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck, and Ann Coulter have a right to say what they want. But when no one--even the target of a personal attack--is allowed the right to reply, the very idea of an informed democracy goes out the window. Was that their goal in the first place?

Nowadays, mainstream corporate media deliberately dumbing down the news, omitting key facts and sides of the story, or neglecting to report the story altogether is the worst form of censorship going on in America today. Since the big mergers, most debate that gets aired at all is restricted to right wing versus ultra-right wing, while the rest of us are allowed to laugh along with Stewart and Colbert. What kind of democracy are we when freedom of speech--or the equally important right to communicate--belongs only to the oligarchs who control the airwaves?

There used to be a law called the Fairness Doctrine that guaranteed the right of reply, without Bill O'Reilly yelling at you to shut up every 15 seconds. It was allowed to expire late in the Reagan years, and urgently needs to be renewed. Your stated opposition to this puzzles me. What better tool is there for "opening up the airwaves and modern communications to as many diverse viewpoints as possible" than making sure they are allowed to be seen and heard in the first place? And how about some enforcement of the laws guaranteeing that the public, not corporations, owns the airwaves. Even the big corporate media barons should again be required to renew their FCC license to broadcast every five years, complete with public hearings.

I also do not think anyone should be allowed to graduate from high school until they pass a class on media literacy. Sadly, we do not yet have the curriculum. In the meantime we must all pitch in with the teaching--to both adults and children.

ECONOMIC STIMULUS - START WITH PEOPLE WHO NEED IT MOST

I'm glad there seems to be a sense up top that national security, the economy, climate collapse and the environment are all intertwined. Think about it. No rogue state or terrorist threatens our national security nearly as much as our collapsing economy. The growing gap between the rich and poor is what is tearing apart the lives of average Americans and their families.

National security means:

+ Everyone has a home.
+ Everyone has enough decent food to eat.
+ Everyone can drink the water without having to buy it in a bottle from Coke or Pepsi.
+ No one has to worry about getting their hand cut off at work or having their job outsourced overseas.
+ Everyone can be who they are without fear of being detained and tortured without trial.
+ Everyone can vote without fear, knowing their vote will be counted--accurately.
+ Every woman has the right to choose what to do with her own body.
+ Everyone has enough money for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
+ Everyone, even if they don't have money, has the right to see a doctor if they're sick or hurt. In so many other countries this is a guaranteed human right by law.

Stimulating and reviving the economy will only succeed from the ground up. This means getting a lot more money quickly to the people on the bottom who need it the most. When they finally have some cash in their pocket they will be more than eager to spend it. Stores perk up, jobs are saved, and the train is finally rolling out of the station. This is why leaders as diverse as Martin Luther King, Milton Friedman and even Richard Nixon have at different times proposed a guaranteed annual income so that everyone can participate and keep our economy humming. Raise the minimum wage to a living wage: $9.50 an hour helps, but $12 an hour is closer to a true living wage. Welfare should not be a dirty word, especially after PBS reported last month that if you count all the Americans who have given up looking for work because they can't find any and dropped off the radar screen, unemployment is actually around 12%! So please remove the time limits on unemployment compensation, welfare b
enefits and Aid to Families with Dependent Children that were slapped on the least fortunate during the Clinton years.

But where will the money come from when we burn it all up shoveling it down the mouths of the dragons on Wall Street? You are right to point out that trickle-down supply-side economics never trickled down. It wasn't supposed to. How will this be any different? To the average taxpayer this so-called bailout looks more like the last great looting of our treasury before Bush and his cronies get the hell out of dodge. There is also growing concern about the appearance of self-dealing by officials with connections to Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

So far your own economic team seems alarmingly slanted toward the robber barons who helped create this mess in the first place. Where is Joseph Stiglitz? Where is Robert Reich? Are we still all in this together? Your Economic Advisory Council is supposed to be a council, not a choir! You say you want a support staff that debate and give you diverse ideas. So even if you do not agree with them, how about adding William Greider or Doug Henwood or even Naomi Klein as well?

GREEN JOBS THROUGH GREEN AID

Let's move even faster on climate collapse. The clock is ticking...

Your proposal to spend $150 billion on our crumbling infrastructure is a good beginning. But it is only 10% of the $1.5 trillion in urgent repairs the American Society of Civil Engineers says we need right now to avoid more disasters like the freeway bridge collapse in Minnesota. This does not even account for restocking the Bush-depleted Superfund to clean up toxic waste, or creating affordable housing for everyone. Your plan states, "We'll put people back to work rebuilding our roads and bridges, modernizing schools that are failing our children and building wind farms and solar panels, fuel efficient cars and the alternative energy technology that could free us from our dependence on foreign oil and keep our economy competitive in the years ahead." Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to spend whatever it takes to weather-strip and winterize old homes and buildings now if the owners can't afford it. It will reduce our swollen carbon footprint dramatically and save tens if not h
undreds of billions of dollars over the next few years. How about aid for solar panels? Home windmills too? Not just tax breaks, aid. Most people just don't have the money for this. Time magazine reported in 2001 that an American farmer could get $50 for an acre of wheat and $2000 for an acre of wind power. We either pay to do this now or pay a lot more later. Europeans are already way ahead of us on this one.

Also, look for ways to accomplish two or three things at once with every renewal project. Replacing the water or sewer lines? Lay fiber optic cable! Our not-so-liberal mayor in San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, nixed that idea because there was not enough graft in it for telecom companies. His own silly plan for wi-fi towers fell on its face, so a smart opportunity was wasted.

AUTO AID - REQUIRE GREENER CARS

Ever seen a documentary film called Who Killed the Electric Car? They worked so well their owners did not want to give them back. But when their leases came up, Detroit snatched them away and destroyed them. Now Detroit wants a great big handout? Then another? Then another? There should be no bailout for carmakers if all they are willing to offer in return is more fuel-hogging clunkers like the Ford Flex. No aid until they bring back the electric cars! If the Chevy Volt is so great, why aren't they selling them now? For almost 30 years, people who go to design schools have told me that the car designers almost always pursue jobs overseas because Detroit is still unable to adapt as quickly to fresh ideas for the future.

So far "clean coal" seems to be about as clean as our mountains of "clean nuclear waste." Again, no aid to big coal companies unless they end their environmentally devastating "mountain top removal" plundering once and for all.

TRAINS MAKE SENSE - PEOPLE ARE READY

Another crucial way to fight global warming and reduce our dependence on foreign oil is to wake up and get serious about a nationwide high-speed rail system and better rapid transit in the cities. Again, Europe, Japan, and even China are way ahead of us. When I do my speaking tours in Europe it is so much easier and less expensive than traveling here: Just take my backpack and go. Even a normal train is often faster than flying. No traffic jams getting to the airport, no long security lines, no baggage claim wait, no traffic jams back into the next town. I just get on the train and get off the train, right downtown. The scenery is pretty cool too.

Amtrak has hemorrhaged money year after year. But ridership is finally going up, in spite of the decimated service. People have finally grown so fed up with traffic jams, fuel prices and the arrogance of our bumbling airline industry that a proper train system would now do very well. Just ask former Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson, another intriguing choice for a high position in your administration. Californians finally passed a bond issue to begin work on a long-overdue bullet train system between San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles. People I have talked to in random conversation are almost as excited about this as they are about your own election. A similar initiative passed in Florida in 2000, but Governor Jeb Bush impounded the funds.

Surely we can find the money by canceling a few aircraft carriers, tanks and planes we don't need, and by shutting off the faucet for the hundreds of billions wasted on Reagan's star wars fantasy--now known as "missile defense." Are those new installations in the Czech Republic and Poland really worth all the grief they're stirring up with the Russians? The Czech and Polish people don't even want them there!

Green energy technology should also be shared, even given, to the Chinese ASAP. Here on the West Coast I have to wipe a brown sooty film off my windshield every couple of days--and my car is in a garage! It is coal dust from Chinese factories. They open a new coal plant ever few days. According to Mother Jones, sustaining an American lifestyle for a Chinese middle class predicted to reach 600 million will require the resources of several more Earths!

COMPETE GLOBALLY - TAKE BETTER CARE OF OUR PEOPLE

Other countries prefer a healthy workforce and are willing to pay for it. Here we stick our workforce with fat, greedy insurance companies who serve no purpose but to act as a tollbooth or a gatekeeper and charge exorbitant fees before a person can even see a doctor. The result, of course, is the most expensive healthcare system with the least benefit for the buck of any in the industrialized world. You say the big insurance companies "should have a place at the table." Aren't these companies the problem?

Other counties want their workforce to be as well-educated as possible to better care for themselves and compete in the global economy. So they are willing to pay to make sure this happens, instead of kicking them in the face with back-breaking student loans and cutting school funding to the bone.

Other countries want their children to grow up well-nourished and loved instead of dysfunctional. They are happy to pay welfare for single parents to stay home with their little ones, and for 12-18 months maternity leave with 80-90% pay for either parent to make sure no child is left behind.

Traveling overseas it is not hard to notice that many European countries, and not just Scandinavia, have a higher standard of living than we do, and the gap is widening. The reason is they are willing to pay for it.

HUMANE TAX REFORM

Please do not break your promise to raise income taxes on the wealthy and close those Titanic-sized loopholes that allowed two-thirds of US and foreign corporations who do business here to pay no tax at all between 1998 and 2005. We used to have a tiny tax on security speculation and stock transactions. Britain still does. If the annual amount of wheeling and dealing in the stock market really amounts to the reported $500 trillion a year, a mere 1% tax could raise $5 trillion per year and Wall Street would not even feel it! Other ways to raise badly needed revenue without hurting Joe the Plumber would be to tax companies who pollute, divert funds overseas, and ship jobs out of the country, as well as taxing stock windfalls rewarded by Wall Street for balancing the bottom line with employee layoffs.

Last September the Bush administration quietly dynamited Section 382 of the tax code allowing big banks to run off with as much as $140 billion dollars in new tax breaks that many suspect are illegal. Was this illegal? Please enforce the law and stop the bleeding now.

We could also follow the lead of Berlin, Moscow, Beijing, and even the state of Maine and encourage cities to start their own municipal or community banks. Being a non-profit, these banks would provide low-cost loans for homes and small businesses. They would also save cities millions of dollars apiece that they now waste on private banking fees.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D - IL) proposes generous tax breaks and shareholder advantages to "patriotic corporations" who limit management salaries to 100 times the lowest-paid fulltime worker. I think 10 times is better. Shareholders need better legal tools to limit runaway CEO pay and looting by top executives.

Schakowsky would also give tax breaks to corporations that: produce at least 90% of their goods and services in the United States; spend at least 50% of the research and development budgets here at home; stay out of employee organizing drives; are clean with the EPA, OSHA and the NRLB; and provide their employees with generous and portable pension funds and health insurance. They must also agree not to price-gouge consumers.

So how do we convince Americans that it is in our best interest to help pay for all of this? It would help if you use your power to inspire and persuade, to get through to people in this country that not all taxes are automatically bad, especially when spent in a way that benefits them directly. Starting with the Boston Tea Party in kindergarten, it is drilled into us that taxes are this terrible violation of our freedom. As adults we have had 30 plus years of media sermons from both parties that we are no longer a community, but a marketplace, and that competitiveness is more important than caring about one another. Isn't it interesting that the people least interested in paying taxes are often the first to complain when a government service they take for granted doesn't work any more?

To wise people up and chip away at this I suggest pointing out what happened to California when voters passed Proposition 13 and gutted what was once the number one education system in the country, if not the world. It is now almost dead last. According to the ACLU, some schools in Los Angeles are not only short on books and desks, they don't even have toilet paper. Californians also voted down an initiative guaranteeing universal healthcare after the Disease Industry ran a blitz of TV ads claiming it would raise people's taxes. They banked on people failing to do the math and see how a slight tax increase would dramatically reduce their own medical bills.

Another example is the tale of two of the Quad Cities on the Mississippi River. In the 1990s, Rock Island, IL voters were willing to raise taxes to build a floodwall. Voters in Davenport, IA rejected a wall three times because it would raise taxes. Guess whose town was devastated the next time the Mississippi flooded? To raise local money for local and state projects voters have to be shown that it is worth raising taxes to pay for these things.

Taxes also wouldn't hurt so much if the people had more say in where their money went. How about placing 12-15 categories in US income tax forms so people can vote what percentage of their tax money they want spent where? I'll bet education, the environment, infrastructure, and services would go straight up and our bloated military cash cow would go straight down.

HELP PEOPLE RESIST FORECLOSURES

To fight the plague of foreclosures, I suggest following the lead of the Cook County Sheriff in Chicago by declaring a moratorium on foreclosure evictions. Debts to predatory lenders should be forgiven at once. Many families are fleeing their homes because they are so frightened of the cruel Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, they are willing to default on their mortgage just to keep up with their credit card debts. You voted against this law. Now let's get rid of it. I am inspired by City Life/Vida Urbana in Boston who have said "Yes We Can" to reviving the Depression-era practice of volunteer rolling brigades who show up to defend people's homes from eviction, and if need be take all the furniture and belongings back from the curb into the house. In addition, they alert the media to help shame the banks and predatory lenders from coming back. In many cases it has worked.

The most intriguing proposal flying around the Internet is for everyone who files an individual tax return to be given $1 million dollars on the condition that they use it to pay off their mortgage in full (thus bailing out the banks) and buy an American car within the next three years. Whatever is left over is theirs to keep and invest. Unfortunately the math does not add up. Even the staggering estimated total of $8 trillion thrown at our collapsing economy would only bring $57,971.01 for each of the 138 million individual tax returns filed each year. Too bad, it is an interesting idea.

"THIS MOVEMENT IS NOT JUST ABOUT ONE PERSON..."

I'm glad to hear you say that, but I keep waiting for you to expand and take it further. To point out how much it also matters who is in the Senate, who is in the House, the Governor, the State legislature, mayors, city councils, school boards, ballot initiatives, county commissioners, you name it. To say that if a person is not satisfied with what is going on in their community, they should get involved. If they are not satisfied with how they are being represented, they should consider running for office themselves. A lot of inspired people would. What else can we do in the meantime to make things better? What simple, easy steps can we take in our own lives? You have two more chances--Inauguration and the State of the Union. Before people return to the slumber of Soundbite McNews.

Bill Clinton could have won back Congress in 1996 if he had used his popularity, convention speech and pulpit for something besides his own shoo-in re-election. But he didn't. I was in the room for Al Gore's acceptance speech in 2000. He didn't bother either. It was just about one person.

I'll be amazed if Mr. Obama or anyone close actually reads this, so this last part is for you folks who have. To me, if there is an Obama movement, it is more like the Pope-mobile. You know, that cage of bulletproof glass on wheels that rolls around with the Pope inside, waving at his adoring flock, "Yo! I'm here! Look at me, I'm the Pope!" Then everybody goes home. But who is driving the Pope-mobile? Can a crowd organize to block the wrong turns and steer it in a better direction?

I did not vote for you, but I dearly want you to succeed at delivering the change you have promised. We have very little time and may not get another chance. Recent history shows we have eight years maximum before the pendulum swings back the other way--and hard. She may lose once or twice, but I fear the Pitbull with Lipstick will one day be bigger than Reagan.

In many ways, people seem to be looking to you as their new great-and-powerful Oprah as much as they look at you as their President. This can be useful too. To revive people's sense of community and what it entails. To persuade people that voting for small local tax increases brings much greater benefits for everyone down the road. To encourage people to not just recycle but look for ways to stop wasting so much. Those same European countries whose standard of living seems to be higher than ours use a fraction per capita of natural resources we do. How do they do it? Think of all the forests we could save just by showing people how much paper they can save just by writing on the other side before they throw it away? Imagine if lawyers figured this out.

HONOR AND RESPECT YOUR MOVEMENT

Please don't ever forget why so many people who had given up hope are investing so much of their hearts and hope in you. If that hope is shattered and they feel betrayed, a great deal more will collapse for good.

So to keep your movement alive--and help it grow beyond you--keep those texts and e-mail lists alive! Keep your Blackberry. Does it matter if it all becomes public record? How about a posting a daily log of what you did and who you and your staff met with, including lobbyists. Why not keep all those campaign offices you opened all over the country alive too? Convert them to branch offices. Senators and House members have branch offices all over their districts. You now represent the whole country. Keep the branches.

Above all, be a leader, not a dealmaker. There are times when cutting a deal is the same as cutting and running. To put it mildly, we can't afford that anymore. There are no sails left to trim.

And if this is a movement about change and not just about one person, it is up to the movement to drive the President, not the other way around. Please do not stand in the way.

Sincerely,

Jello Biafra

www.alternativetentacles.com

Regeringens budget för 2008

Sammanfattningen är kort.
Det går bra för Sverige.


Arbetslösheten minskar och sysselsättningen ökar. Under de närmaste åren kommer 200 000 nya jobb till i Sverige. Av dem kan 110 000 förklaras av regeringens politik - jobbskatteavdraget, företagspolitiken, förändringen av a-kassan och stimulanser till företag att anställa dem som står längst från arbetsmarknaden.

(Hämtat från regeringens budget för 2008. Framtiden var onekligen ljusare förr.)

The winner(s) takes it all

"Familjen Kaos" som tyckte David Sandström gjort årets bästa album och "Lina" som gillar Lykke Li vinner varsitt ex av Fleet Foxes extremt hyllade debut.
Skivan kommer med posten inom ett par dagar!

fredag 12 december 2008

Ac/Dc till Ullevi



Jodå, visst blir det ett Sverigebesök för Ac/Dc även i sommar.

21 juni kommer Angus och gubbarna till Ullevi i Göteborg. Biljetterna släpps 17 december klockan 09:00. Max 6 biljetter/person. Biljetterna till första konserten i Stockholm sålde slut på 11 (!) minuter och när den andra spelningen utannonserades försvann även de biljetterna på nolltid.

Det gäller att vara kvick när det handlar om Ac/Dc.

Den 20 oktober i år släppte bandet "Black Ice". Albumet gick raka vägen in på albumlistans förstaplats och hade efter fyra dagar sålt platina. Tre veckor senare hade skivan sålts i dubbel platina, det vill säga över 80 000 exemplar.

torsdag 11 december 2008

Celebert besök



Earth kommer till Sverige 2009!
9 april - Stockholm, Strand

När Seattlebandet Earth i början av 90-talet gav ut några skivor på Sub Pop framstod de mest som en obskyr avart mitt under grungens storhetsdagar. Men idag vet vi hur inflytelserika bandet verkligen var, de ligger bakom hela scenen med drone metal, där t.ex. Sunn O))) ursprungligen bildades som en hyllning till Earth och påverkade även postrocken. Efter 18 år kan bandet fortfarande leverera, vilket de bevisade med all tydlighet på senaste skivan ”The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull”. Ökendammet ligger tätt över de långsamma, instrumentala låtarna som sakta sveper fram - lite som om Calexico skulle börja spela metal. Det totala mörkret som fanns på de tidigare skivorna har lättat en aning och musiken är oerhört vacker i sin ödslighet och monotoni.

”Att skapa ett ljudlandskap byggt på så lite variation som ändå kan generera så mycket känsla är skicklighet av världsklass.” SvD

BILJETTER
125kr + 15kr serviceavgift.

HEMSIDOR
www.thronesanddominions.com
www.myspace.com/earthofficial

(Luger)

Vi drar till Landet



Det är på Landet det händer.
Så känns det lite mer för varje dag. För varje intervju man gör med folk som lämnat stan, såna som David Sandström eller Frida Hyvönen, växer känslan sig starkare. Man promenerar längs Drottninggatan, ser sig omkring och tänker att jo, det är nog på Landet det händer.

Som i kväll när Dogday spelar.
På Landet.
Tunnelbana: Telefonplan.
Lyssna här

Sofistikerade hårdrockare

I senaste numret av Close-Up berättar Anders Fridén (In Flames) om sin förtjusning i fin, inte sällan svindyr whisky. Den dyraste flaskan i samlingen gick tydligen loss på 14 000 kronor om jag minns rätt.

Även Maynard James Keenan från Tool tycks vara en finsmakare av alkoholhaltiga drycker. Fast i hans fall är det vin som gäller. I klippet nedan syns sångaren i Wine Library TV.

onsdag 10 december 2008

Mest googlade orden 2008


Elvis - fortfarande poppis

Google har släppt statistik över de ord som svenskarna sökte på mest under 2008, skriver Dagens Media.

10-i-topp:
1. youtube
2. lyrics
3. free
4. blocket
5. eniro
6. tv
7. göteborg
8. lexikon
9. google
10. aftonbladet

De sökningar som ökat mest i popularitet:
1. iphone
2. facebook
3. flashback
4. you tube
5. bilddagboken
6. swedbank
7. youtube
8. wiki
9. red
10. di

Svenska Kändisar
1. Blondinbella
2. Linda Rosing
3. Zlatan
4. Björn Gustafsson
5. Carolina Gynning
6. Håkan Hellström
7. Natacha Peyre
8. Amy Diamond
9. Pernilla Wahlgren
10. Charlotte Perellli

Utländska Kändisar
1. Britney Spears
2. Madonna
3. Rihanna
4. Iron Maiden
5. Miley Cyrus
6. Heath Ledger
7. Oasis
8. Leona Lewis
9. Carmen Electra
10. Elvis Presley

gigs gigs gis

Tokpopulära Volbeat befinner sig på svensk mark.
I går spelade bandet i Malmö och i kväll väntar Örebro följt av Stockholm i morgon och Göteborg dagen därpå.

Läs Aftonbladets recension av konserten i Malmö här
---
Lovvers kommer till Sverige i januari:
14/1 MALMÖ Debaser
16/1 STOCKHOLM Debaser Slussen

onanitips + rockhistoria

Tydligen är det en del folk som hittar till Rogerts Blogg genom att googla ordet "onanitips". Dessa nyfikna människor lockas hit genom mitt inlägg "Dagens onanitips" (läs här) men jag anar att texten om snubben som onanerar framför Hultsfreds största scen medan Slayer står på scenen inte riktigt är vad ni söker.

Så för er skull - här är ett nytt onanitips.

Den här gången är det Nina Hagen som står för underhållningen. 1979 blev sångerskan ökänd i Tyskland genom ett framträdande i pratshowen "Club 2" där hon visar prov på kvinnlig onani.
Onanitips alltså.
Och ett stycke tysk rockhistoria.

Wehrmacht - 17 år senare



Blabbermouth berättar att Wehrmacht har plockat upp instrumenten igen.

"For the last two months, Marco Zorich [guitar], Shann Mortimer [bass], Tito 'Mezzy' Matos [vocals], Brian Lehfeldt [drums] and myself, John Duffy [guitar], have begun rehearsing all the old WEHRMACHT material and are booking shows for the beginning of the year. Yes, it's actually all five original members. Unbelievable!!! I honestly have to say that we sound even heavier and just as fast as in the old days and the material is coming along well. We haven't played together since '91, so it was a little rusty at first.

MySpace

tisdag 9 december 2008

Konsertnytt



Jag, och alla andra som missade drottningen av dancehall när hon var här i somras, får en andra chans. 10 april kommer Lady Saw till Klubben, Stockholm.

Så här skriver Live Nation om Lady Saw inför Sverigebesöket...

Lady Saw är en av världens första kvinnliga mc’s att slå igenom utanför hemlandet Jamaica. Hon är sångerska, dj, producent och låtskrivare, men framför allt är Lady Saw en kvinna som lyckats slå sig fram i en totalt mansdominerad värld. Hon har jobbat med artister som Gwen Stefani, Missy Elliot, Foxy Brown och Pharrell Williams. Hon var den första kvinnliga dj’n att någonsin vinna en Grammy och att sälja tredubbel platina. Lady Saw har utan tvekan gjort avtryck i reggae-världen, dels på rökiga klubbar i Kingston men framförallt på världens alla dansgolv.

Lady Saw är drottningen av grym dancehall, skakande rumpor och heta dansbataljer.


Biljetterna släpps på torsdag och kostar 240 kr + serviceavgift.
---
Coldplay kommer till Sverige. 22 augusti står bandet på Stockholm Stadions scen.
---
Thåström gör en spelning på Storsjöyran, skriver Aftonbladet. Även Timbuktu, Crystal Castles, Frida Hyvönen, Fatboy, Ossler och Two White Horses kommer till Östersund i sommar.

The nightmare continues



Ni minns The Priests, de sjungande prästerna?
12 november skrev jag ett inlägg, strax efter att jag fått ett pressmeddelande om att skivan var på gång.

Jag vet ju att både din mamma, pappa, den där kompisen från förr som aldrig haft någon smak och en massa andra människor kommer köpa skivan både till sig själva och till andra i julklapp och födelsedagspresent, för ingen kommer ladda ner en skiva med skönsjungande präster, den vill man helst betala för och prästerna kommer hamna på topplistan och åka ut på världsturné, bli intervjuade i svensk tv av någon inställsam programledare som är så himla glad att se de där prästerna och varje gång du går in i ett köpcentrum kommer deras röster att eka mellan hyllorna och du och jag kommer hata skiten mer intensivt än vi hatat någonting på väldigt länge och vi kommer känna ännu lite mer att vi inte riktigt passar in i den här världen, att vi inte riktigt är som alla andra och...

Bara ett par veckor senare kunde jag konstatera i ett inlägg att skivan sålt guld. Förutsägbart, naturligtvis. Men framgångarna slutar inte där. Nej, det räckte inte med en guldplatta.
Nu har de skönsjungande prästerna även sålt platina i Sverige.
(Djup suck)

Årets snyggaste skivomslag?


Ett av årets hetaste omslag?

Thea tyckte om
slaget var kass ("Gud, vad fult. En röten cykel liksom").
Rolling Stone däremot visar prov på betydligt sämre omdöme och placerar "Chinese Democracy" tillsammans med "Death Magnetic" (Håriga vaginan, ni vet) på sin lista över årets snyggaste skivomslag.

Helt obegripligt.

Så här ser listan ut:
01. THE KILLERS - Day & Age
02. THE MARS VOLTA - Bedlam In Goliath
03. FLEET FOXES - Fleet Foxes
04. METALLICA - Death Magnetic
05. COLDPLAY - Viva la Vida
06. NINE INCH NAILS - The Slip
07. DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE - Narrow Stairs
08. THE RACONTEURS - Consolers of the Lonely
09. OASIS - Dig Out Your Soul
10. OF MONTREAL - Skeletal Lamping
11. KINGS OF LEON - Only By The Night
12. THE CURE - 4:13 Dream
13. KANYE WEST - 808s & Heartbreak
14. GIRL TALK - Feed The Animals
15. NAS - Untitled
16. GUNS N' ROSES - Chinese Democracy
17. MUDCRUTCH - Mudcrutch
18. MY MORNING JACKET - Evil Urges
19. BEN FOLDS - Way To Normal
20. LIL WAYNE - The Drought Is Over, Part 6