"99%" certain THIS is a new Ministry song. (small update)

So I was laughably stupid last time I posted something like this.

*shrugs*

Ministry has a single out off of their upcoming album, the song is called "99%"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY50tO3AUgA

It's good, not great.  If I was an optimist I'd say that if this is the low-water mark for the new album things are going to be amazing.


(update) Listening to it a few more times, I'm actually liking the song more.  The lyrics, as far as protest anthems are concerned, aren't very good.  Other than that I'm liking the stylistic change-up since the last few albums.  It reminds me of the more laid-back tracks off of The Last Sucker, such as the titular track, except that it lacks any real variance in tempo or intensity, though 99% has far more interesting guitar/percussion/synth/etc overall.

Bleh, it's hard to analyze a single Ministry song.  Ministry's songs have never been very good, that's why its one of those bands where people talk about it by the album.

So I guess the bottom line is: I like this song, and am feeling optimistic about the album now.

AHA!!! I found something I agree with Scalia and Thomas on.

Talking to a conservative the other day they mentioned the "Kelo v. City of New London" Supreme Court case.

(warning: wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London

Essentially the court ruled 5-4 that the government may transfer property, including private property, to a private entity if it theoretically will serve a 'public purpose'.

Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas were the four dissenters who were on the correct side of the issue.

So there.  Proof that Scalia and Thomas aren't 100% authoritarian hacks.

Merry [expletive]mas!!!

I was given the best Christmas ornament ever this year.
(click image for full size)

*laughter*

Smart Hyena! Already trying her first cup of coffee.

Heya

Two hyenas moving in to "cuddle" Sweet Baby Jesus.

^_^

I promise to eventually go back to writing my own content.

In the mean time....

Since winning the Oscar, Reznor has had a flurry of offers; but he's wary about becoming a full-time movie composer. "If every director was as smart and challenging as David Fincher, OK, that's a discussion. But they're not." Either way, he's not short of work. How to Destroy Angels, his new band with Maandig and Ross, release their debut album next year. He has also been approached to direct his first movie, and is developing a 10-part HBO mini-series very loosely inspired by his 2007 album Year Zero, a dystopian protest record – although he's having problems finding the right screenwriter."I chose not to write it myself because I don't know how to do that. But now I'm thinking I should have." He shrugs happily. "Somebody's got to do it, right? How hard can it be?"

same link as above: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/dec/21/trent-reznor-dragon-tattoo-soundtrack

Goodbye Hitchens.

Christopher Hitchens is dead btw.  He was one of the people who got me interested in politics and social issues, and its rather sad to hear that news.

That said, I'll hand the eulogy over to Alex Pareene now...

The late Christopher Hitchens had the professional contrarian’s fixation on attacking sacred cows, and rather soon after his cancer diagnosis, he became one himself. I think he would’ve been disgusted to see too much worshipful treacle being written about him upon his untimely death, so let’s remember that in addition to being a zingy writer and masterful debater, he was also a bellicose warmongering misogynist. 

.....

 And so we had the world’s self-appointed supreme defender of Orwell’s legacy happily joining an extended misinformation campaign designed to sell an incompetent right-wing government’s war of choice. The man who carefully laid out the case for arresting Henry Kissinger for war crimes was now palling around with Paul fucking Wolfowitz.

(update) Ana Marie Cox wrote an interesting, and much more friendly, post also.

Most hideous, dishonest attack ad ever.

lol update: A friend just asked why I don't think this is actually funny, which is a major fail on my part since I do.

This is total bullshit;

“We’ve faced many challenges over the years, and each and every time we’ve discovered that courage is the answer. Hyenas don’t understand that. They back down from fights. They play dead. We need to set an example for other animals, and high-strung scavengers aren’t the way to go. Have the courage to stand against the cowardly hyena.”
Paid for by a lion

This next one is subtler, but is also rife with anti-hyaenidaeism (emphasis added);

“Mongooses have consistently betrayed the trust of other animals: for example, the recent hydroelectric power station that displaced hundreds of birds and fish had the backing of more than half of all mongooses. Plus, they giggle when they mate. Is that dignified? They say that a mongoose is not closely related to a weasel, but actions say otherwise.”
Paid for by a snake

If you truly must see the rest for yourself, you can find the other attack ads here: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/when-animals-run-attack-ads

(minor edits for formatting)

On the other hand I'd like to hear more of these arguments.

Different article on Salon (guess what website I'm reading this morning!) by Justin Elliot, titled "Apocalypse Newt"

I agree with the general consensus that Gingrich is a total freak and an utter fraud.  However there are certain things I agree with him on, to a limited extent.  Permanent moon colonies, preparing our cities and national infrastructure for nuclear attacks, combating climate change, generally keeping in mind that our species is tiny and insignificant in the universe and is only one asteroid away from extinction; those are all things that are worth keeping in mind when thinking about global policies.

It is the narrowed minded focus and alarmist attitude on specific issues (moon mining, EMP bombs) at the exclusion of truly immediate problems (climate change, rapid loss of biodiversity) where Newt crosses the line to becoming laughable, to say nothing of his delusions of 'stealth jihad'.

I've seen this argument many times before.

Article on Salon by Andrew Leonard titled "The Costs of a port shutdown"

The problem however, with attempting to target the 1 percent with a port shutdown is that the 1 percent are the best situated to ride out any extended shutdown. There’s no way to avoid it. Shutting down “Wall Street on the Waterfront” would have some serious collateral damage. The immediate impact of any port stoppage would be felt by the workers who transport the goods from ports to their final destinations, the retail outlets where those goods are sold, the workers at those outlets, and of course, anyone involved directly in the export trade. California, a state that still sports an unemployment rate above 11 percent would be particularly devastated by a port shutdown that lasted any meaningful amount of time. Goldman Sachs would hardly notice.

It's not about targeting the "1 percent".  It's about shocking the foundations of the economic system as a whole.

Besides, "You can't do this because it'll hurt the little guys the most!" is the argument that always gets thrown around whenever anyone tries to disrupt the status quo.

What's with all the scams?

Looking at traffic to my blog it seems that half the people who show up are either looking for pictures of Chell, from the Portal games, or are being directed here somehow by scam "get rich quick" websites.

I understand the first part, but wtf is with the scam sites?

*facepalm* stupidity about Ministry on my part

So Ministry is returning, but I was wrong about 'Rehab' being a new song being worked on.

Here's the full version of Rehab from their album "Undercover" from the beginning of the year.

http://www.myspace.com/ministrymusic/music/songs/rehab-79886606

Live from DC

I've been watching this livestream for a while now, good first-person view of Occupy DC.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/occupywashdc

Nothing going on in Madison, WI lately.  Everyone is obsessed with the recall of Scott Walker, as if putting a Democrat in charge is going to change anything.

Update: looks like the link doesn't go to anything now.....

It is required that you read this.

Glenn Greenwald wrote an excellent piece recently.  More importantly though is that he linked to an essay titled "The Paranoid Style in American Politics" by a man named Richard Hofstadter that was originally published in 1964.

Go read it.

http://neuralgourmet.com/2008/05/09/paranoidstyle/