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Jan 312012
 

Probably not. But “You and Whose Army” is an anthem to rally around the libertarian Texas Congressman. Newt Gingrich is an animal - a fucking pig. Newt made millions skimming off the bank engineered housing bubble that wrecked our economy.

Mit Romney probably fired your dad at some point. Romney earns 57k a day off investments. He’s used his power and influence to ensure he gets the lowest tax rate possible on those investments. The number 1 contributor to Obama’s campaign in 2008 and Romney’s present campaign is Goldman Sachs.

Sachs received the lion’s share  of the staggering TARP (nearly 800 billion dollars) funds followed by the incomprehensible secret donation from the Fed of nearly 14 trillion dollars (14 trillion!). This was “lent” at 0.01% interest to Goldman and other banks like Bank of America. These banks then turned around and used this nearly free money that will be paid on the backs of the US working class to buy US debt in the form of treasury bonds that earn 3% interest. This simple sleight-of-hand hoodwinked our country into an instant multi-billion dollar revenue for the banks at all of our expense. This tid-bit of information was only found through a partial audit (imagine what a full audit will reveal) of the Fed, which was spearheaded by Ron Paul long ago. They used this revenue to buy European debt and pay the record-high executive bonuses for 2010. Ex-Goldman board members and CEO’s now sit in positions of power at the US Treasury, the Federal Reserve, The European Central Bank, and as “appointed” prime ministers of Greece and Italy. Voting for any of these monsters (Newt, Santorum, Romney, Obama) only supports the bankers hostile takeover of the planet.

The money for these bailouts didn’t come from Uncle Sam’s savings account. It was printed by the Federal Reserve. It will need to be paid back. It is paid back in 2 forms: tax revenue collected from the citizens and inflation incurred by the citizens from an artificial influx of capital into the economy. This serves to destroy the buying power of the US dollar. The taxes put a heavy burden on the middle class. The inflation all but cripples the poor and further strains the evaporating middle class. So no matter how much we are taxed in order to provide money and aid to the poor and unfortunate it will never be enough because the dollar continues to weaken. This pushes us towards a new, global currency that will give the banking cartel an even stronger hold and a wider net.

Obama let this happen. He doesn’t address it. He continues to give eloquent speeches about nothing and refuses to confront the troubles we face head on. He entered Libya without congressional approval and he is continuing with the propaganda build up to war with Iran – similar to the Bush administration’s propaganda push into Iraq. We don’t have the money to fight this war. The only way we can get this money is by borrowing from China and printing money that again drives the burden back to American citizens. Obama signed the NDAA, which makes the Bush era Patriot Act seem like child’s play.

Bush, Cheney, Romney, Newt, Pelosi, Santorum – most politicians really – are all the same thing. It’s a smoke and mirrors game that gets the US citizens worked up about token left and right wing issues while the political machine works on its own agenda; pandering to the richest 0.37% of the country that is powerful enough to sway our government with lobbyists and cash. The banks and the military-industrial complex have railroaded our government away from the people as they slowly erode our freedoms and our sacred constitution in order to create a landscape that is suitable to them. Neo-cons buy into the militarism while “progressives” buy into the welfarism – all thinking that these politicians are going to bat for their beliefs. They are being duped into surrendering their money and lives to an ever-growing, corrupt and incestuous government that threatens us all.

The media, for the most part, is towing the staus quo line driving us to the “lesser of two evils vote” by playing up our red team vs blue team spirit and marginalizing a man of integrity and ideas (if Ron Paul’s ideas are crazy I have yet to hear better ideas, real solutions that people and politicians plan to use as opposed to focus-group talking points contrived simply to gain re-election) and focusing on vapid, senseless, disconnected, wealthy used car salesman that have the money to pay for their attention.

Ron Paul is the only guy running for more than just simply winning. He warned about all the issues we face right now for 30 years. Nearly everything Paul fought to stop threatens to destroy us at this moment and if we don’t listen, don’t act, don’t research, and continue to be informed by talking heads with an insidious agenda then we deserve what we get.

A vote for Ron Paul is a vote against tyranny. It’s a statement that says “I am informed and I know what you are up to.” It sends a message to the establishment that we all understand the country is broke and we will not police the world, build bloated bureaucracies, pander to the pharmaceutical companies, the oil conglomerates, banking cartels, and the military-industrial complex. It is a vote for personal liberty and responsibility and the removal of government from our day-to-day lives. It advocates pushing the federal government back to what is outlined in our constitution; providing sound money, protecting our country, and honoring our personal liberty. Voting for Ron Paul takes a swipe at the status quo and says we won’t stand for fabricated wars that destroy poor countries and strip what remaining dignity and respect we have with the citizens of the world. We don’t support police actions (not wars) that tear our American soldiers away from their families and uses them as cannon fodder to blow their faces off for nothing more than perpetuating a stream of money to the military-industrial complex.

Vote for the guy that has single-handedly changed the conversation in Washington. The guy that has his talking points continually co-opted by both the left and right. Vote for the guy that warned against the housing bubble in 2001 as well as our reckless spending and monetary crisis years before they blossomed. Vote for the man that understood that our overstretched military would bankrupt us and make us less safe. Vote for the guy that is routinely a guest on all news shows as an expert in monetary policy. When was the last time Pelosi, Obama, Newt, Mit, or any “leaders” were considered real experts on anything? Vote for the guy that has energized America’s college students and has them discussing foreign policy and monetary policy as opposed to vacuous and esoteric concepts like “hope.”

While the media, the candidates, and the incumbent are engaged in their incestuous circle-jerk and pandering to their audience one guy is straight droppin’ science – being honest, informative, and explaining the causes then offering solutions to the grave dangers on the horizon:

Never took the time to understand Paul’s foreign policy?

Ron Paul in a nutshell:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmnIz4gIFOU&list=FLW_4b8MUyJ9PdFGq6ZF3nKw&index

Jan 152012
 

Smashing-Pumpkins-Gish-reissue-orlando-music-blogWhile the Smashing Pumpkins do a mini tour behind Oceania and release free music from their vast back catalog via the Smashing Pumpkins Record Club, Billy Corgan is remastering all of their previous albums. Sometimes a remastered release from the digital age seems pointless, but Corgan has put together some pretty sweet packages in the first two releases of their debut Gish and the seminal alt-rock masterpiece, Siamese Dream.

Both of these albums embodied Butch Vig’s relentless pursuit of perfection with Corgan’s relentless pursuit of rock glory. I fell in love with these records because they were so “BIG.” It always sounded like there was too much sound tearing through the stereo – like there was not enough speaker to handle the over-the-top, machine gun attack of Jimmy Chamberlin and the searing avalanche of Billy’s shoegaze meets 70’s rock wall of guitar. The remasters just work to emphasize a sound that is as groundbreaking today as it was 20 years ago with crystal clear reproduction.

kisses-and-noise-album-review-of-smashing-pumpkins-reissues

The reissues are great, but the real pleasure is in the extras. Each album consists of three discs now: the album, a second disc of 18 mastered b-sides, unreleased demos and alternate takes, as well as a concert DVD. The Gish bonus disc contains a series of Gish-era recordings that may be familiar to longtime fans. The epic “Starla” and chunky “Plume” get the 2011 mix treatment while bedroom demos for “Daydream” (with Billy doing vocals instead of D’arcy) and the searing “Bury Me” see the light of day for the first time.

“Hippy Trippy” (“Crush” Box Demo) Previously unreleased

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The DVD sees a Smashing Pumpkins that offered the perfect alt-rock antithesis to the Seattle sound. The Pumpkins provided something for metal heads that grew out of the hair bands of the 80’s, but weren’t completely smitten with 90’s grunge. They blended the dark romance of 80’s mod music like The Cure and The Smiths with big 70’s guitar rock like Zeppelin, Boston, and Sabbath. This pre-Gish concert at Chicago’s Metro has a longhaired Corgan and company waling at full volume with all the fire and innocence a band on the rise can deliver.

Siamese Dream disc 2 is a sublime mixture of rarities and fully mastered versions of underground favorites that had me simultaneously air-guitaring and weeping (much like I listened to them in my teens). It felt like a new Pumpkins album circa 1994. An unearthed electric, full band version of the song “Siamese Dream” and a remixed “Moleasskiss” along with the crunching demos of “Today” and “Hello Kitty Kat” reveal a thundering rock band that could crank out anthemic face melters with ease. Although both “Moleasskiss” and “Hello Kitty Kat” are available on an underground 5-disc set of lost Pumpkins’ songs called Mashed Potatoes, they are mixed to full album-worthy, speaker-thudding glory for disc 2.

The Siamese Dream concert DVD sees the Metro again, 2 years later, as Siamese Dream is released. The band now has swagger and is on a mission as the genre-fusing approaching went from description to the definition of the Smashing Pumpkins sound. Cocky and combative, Corgan bruises a packed audience with a ferocious set as the Billy / Jimmy alliance codifies its signature attack.

Read my review on Tampa’s music blog, Suburban Apologist