Swans - Song For The Sun

Still working, but here's a classic from the noise rock titans Swans. This song is a unique one by then, less noise, pretty straightforward. Plus, they have a tendency to be very nihilistic. But a great band

Under Construction

I have decided to alter the appearance of my blog, give it a little more Zazz.  It, it just lacks zazz.  So for that, stay tuned.  It'll probably be a few days before a legit post happens, but until then, I'll probably just include some videos and little diversions with pithy comments.

First up is a video of the Boston punk band Street Dogs.  In February, they joined Rage against the Machine's Tom Morello and MC5's Wayne Kramer in playing am acoustic concert in solidarity with the protests in Madison Wisconsin.  This is a video of that concert, with two songs by the Street Dogs, their own "Up the Union" and a cover of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song."  Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q78lYrnkJn8

Wisconsin 2: Electric Boogaloo

Yesterday I took another trip to downtown Madison, Wisconsin to protest around the Capitol, this time with my 17-year-old brother in tow.  Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera, because I wanted to document the goings on for later, and to share with people who haven't seen it first hand.  On the other hand, however, it was the largest protest that has taken place in the past month, with upwards of 100,000 people packing the square around the capitol building.  Signs, chants, music, the whole nine yards.  Earlier in the day, state farmers drove tractors around the square in solidarity with unions as well as to protest the cuts to Badgercare, Wisconsin's publicly subsidized healthcare plan.  Right before we left to get my brother to work, the 14 Democratic party senators who left the state to stall the passage of the bill to further debate and negotiation took the makeshift stage, and began speaking to the crowd.

Either way, it was astounding.  The amount of people out giving a shit about each other and the rights of public workers was amazing.  The bill had passed, but the legal process was far from done.  The Wisconsin Secretary of State has said that he will not approve the bill until March 25th, to give the various inquiries and lawsuits a chance to be reviewed by the courts and the State Attorney General.  Now, there are also petitions to begin the recall process of state senators, 16 in total, 8 democrats (those that left the state), and 8 Republicans (the party that modified the bill to overcome the 3/5 quorum).  There is only one petition I as a voter am able to sign, because they are based on district, and that is for one of democratic senators.  Then again, I support him, so if the recall goes through I'll vote for him in the election.  Thanks to all the people who have commented and read these last couple of posts and showed support for Wisconsin.

However, far be it from me to have my state be the only thing on my mind.  As everyone has now heard, Japan has been rocked by a giant earthquake, either 8.9 or 9.0 depending, and then had to deal with a Tsunami.  I'm not a religious person, so I don't pray, but I really wish the best of luck to the Japanese people during the aftermath of this shitstorm.  I was discussing it with a friend last night, and we came up with a possible idea.  I'm not the most charitable person, and it's pretty fucking clear I could do with a little humility and try and fix my impossibly negative karmic rating, if I believed in Karma, which I don't.  I feel unfulfilled in life now, and we discussed the possibility of going to Japan to volunteer with relief efforts.  It's not like I have a job or anything to stop me from going, but as of now, the relief efforts are purely monetary.  So me and my buddy are keeping our ears to the ground for now, and we'll see what happens.

Wisconsin

I am a Wisconsin citizen.  It's been a crazy month here, and from the looks of it, it's about to get crazier.

I'm liberal.  I disagreed with what Governor Scott Walker was attempting to do to the collective bargaining rights of public workers in Wisconsin.  I supported the 14 Democratic senators that fled the state in order to force Walker to negotiate to reach a bill that everyone was alright with.  I understand that Wisconsin is in financial trouble; the entire Goddamn country is.  But I don't think that targeting public workers is the answer.  Making them pay more for pension and insurance, fine, that doesn't really effect me; it doesn't seem fair, but so be it.  However, these people have the same rights as any other workers in the country, including the right to unionize and collectively bargain.  Yes, we all know that unions have issues, but lets face it: every group has issues.  Some priests embezzle from church congregations, some CEOs rob their employees' pensions, and some union bosses are the same.  But those are only a few bad apples.

Like I said, I'm liberal.  I didn't vote for Scott Walker.  48 percent of Wisconsin voters didn't vote for Scott Walker.  The amount that did hardly makes Walker king of Wisconsin, despite the fact that he believes he did.  This is not a one party system.  America is not a one party system.  Concessions must be made on bills all the time.  The Democratic senators fled Wisconsin to halt the bill and force Walker to negotiate, a desperate act that seemed to be working until now.  Tonight, Republican senators in Wisconsin modified the bill to overcome the 3/5 quorum that stopped the bill from passing.  They passed a bill that stripped public unions of their collective bargaining rights.  By taking the fiscal parts of the bill out, they proved that this was purely political, not to balance the state budget.

The protests in Madison have been peaceful so far.  I fear that this will change.  But tomorrow, I will return to the capitol, and show solidarity with public workers across the state.

The full story of what has happened tonight can be read here:
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_8747fa04-4a74-11e0-8e6b-001cc4c03286.html

HA HA HA!

Depressing?

First off, thanks to the two dozen or so people who are now followers of my blog.  I have returned the favor to most of my knowledge.  If not, let me know and I'll hit you up with a follow.

So apparently my life is depressing.  I never really thought about that until it was pointed out several times in comments.  I guess when your inside of it, it's not super apparent.  But that's ok.  If a group of near-strangers think my life is depressing, that's just more motivation to get off my ass and get some stuff done.  And for one commentator, yes.  My love life isn't in the greatest shape.  Being jobless and near broke doesn't exactly moisten the ladies.

Now, if I didn't need sleep I'd go out and do something, but my state of fatigue is overtaking the sense of excitement I am feeling.  So, I'm going to leave with a song and a promise.  The promise is that next time I post, I'll have something that I did.  The song is one that has been stuck in my head all night: "Civilized Worm" by the Melvins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH6qzerVPTo

Resurrection

Don't call it a comeback, I just forgot about this thing almost immediately.  Just like everything else I try to work on, I get side-tracked by random shit and just forget to update.  So to kick things off, I'm going to give an itemized list of why my life in unfulfilled:

1.) No job.  Not even a one.  I don't believe that life is determined by your job, but still, most people my age have their shit together by now

2.) No money.  Again, I'm not very materialistic, but I like to be able to buy things, to go out with friends, go see concerts, and get drunk.  Being near broke has stopped that from happening.

3.) Boredom.  I live in a constant state of boredom.  Sure, there are things I can do that cost no money, especially thanks to the internet, but I don't, which segues into my next point:

4.) Lazy.  I am lazy as fuck.

So that's it.  Hopefully, this second attempt to let a small corner of the internet know what goes on in my life works.  Hopefully, I'll be motivated