One thing I absolutely believe in is the [individual] capacity for evolution of thought and thought processes. Personally, my thirst for knowledge is never quenched, although sometimes I get hung up on idiocies and that quest takes a hiatus. What I can’t believe though, is how so many prevalent topics debated in our generation seem to be stuck in the mud with no way out. Sometimes I wonder when people will realize certain things. Let’s take the topic of racism as an example (one which I think feeds a self-defeating purpose, I’ll get back to that later). Although individuals may or may not have certain pre-conceived notions about races other than their own, it seems as though the longer the discussion or debate of racism itself lingers, the longer the problem and the problems it causes, will exist. I have been a confrontational person my entire life. I try to think of solutions though, rather than other problems to extend the initial problem (which seems to have been ocurring over the past two to three decades on the subject of racism, in fact it might have regressed). I’m guility of dwelling on problems myself, that is not what I’m saying, or what matters. I strongly believe, though, that for there to be such a thing as a “post-racist” society, the problem has to be confronted head on. I bet alot of other people feel the same way.

The media tends to beat around the bush and not actually get to core issues. This perpetuates and promotes many different things, including ignorance. It is also a fantastic mechanism to distract people from tangible issues that not only affect us but many generations to follow. Hell, maybe if they keep talking about frivoluous superficialities, then maybe problems like racism will never go away. And by frivoluous superficialities, since I am talking about racism, I specifically mean topics such as skin color (also the most obvious). Sure people are raised differently, and have different cultural backgrounds, but isn’t it safe to say that skin color doesn’t mean a damn thing? That skin is basically an aesthetic veil over the mounds of flesh and bone of which we all consist? One problem I can see is people identifying with their own skin color. We, all races, are guilty of this. This perpetuates many different outcomes as well; some positive, but ultimately, it further extends the problem of racism because that engenders bigotry. Bigots identify people by skin color. Thousand year old ways of thinking cannot be turned upside down in a short time, however unfortunate that may be. I believe racism starts with an obtuse pre-conceived notion that a person has of other people, cultures, or anything they do not know about. These obtuse notions are reflected in primetime and cable network news, and it rapidly spreads, like a disease, due people watching incredible amounts of television. In this day and age, there is everything right with celebrating cultural diversity and revelling in it. There is everything wrong, however, with people identifying each other by a pigmented organ (every race is guilty) rather than heritage, culture, music (and NOT top forty radio music) problems will continue, especially if people are sensitive and do not see the bigger picture. I think it is safe to say this is all common sense (to me, at least…), although I’m not so sure it’s common anymore, it seems to be dwindling out of existence.

Everyone has pre-conceived notions. We all imagine what things are like when we have no clue, and if you don’t than you are kidding yourself. The secret is knowing that it is all postulation and nothing more. So…is common sense? I know what I think, and it’s not pretty. But at the same time, I also think that there are tangible solutions to everything, including racism. On the one hand, people could take the biggest step and first confront themselves about their own prejudices, and then carry on an open discussion that would lead to solutions to the problem. Or, if all people do is argue with each other about superficialities and problems, then it will just be cyclical, and will be draw out infinitely, for many generations, possibly forever with no solution in sight.

Is this just a media tactic, to beat around the bush and not confront core issues of racism, to actually solve them (or comes to certain understandings), so that it never goes away? Shallow meaningless discussions about racism might actually be great for ratings, the problem is the public lap it up, whether it is for entertainment or something else. All political denominations are guilty; lawmakers, politicians, and especially pundits. No-one is safe, I hate all denominations with equal fervor, this will be a blog full of jumbled thoughts about moving mankind in a different direction, for if we do not evolve, more specifically our minds, we are SOL. Hence the self-defeating purpose, twice over, by the way. Not only does fabricating shallow arguments about racism prolong the problem (which the media falsely professes to want to end), it makes us dumber. We regress, instead of progress.

Some of you might say well…this seems fine and all, but what do you mean about core issues of racism? I mean issues that affect us today, not issues that our grandfathers discussed, which seem to still be the only prevalent discussions on television and radio. Most “issues” are non-issues to me: equal pay, equal rights, equal opportunities, etc. The main issue for me is psychological…why people think a particular way It is a catch 22 because people opening their eyes to what truly matters threatens the status quo, which is rigorously protected by almost every apsect of institutionalized society…an institutionalized society that places profit over well-being. Caring about profit over societal well-being ties into racism for a few reasons, one being the argument about generating ratings by discussing menial hollow subjects and debates that cause controversy, even though they should not because they are extremely archaic (It used to enrage me completely, now I usually laugh, and then feel frustration set in). In essence, archaic, hollow debates which generate ratings are placed over tangible solutions to racism in society.

Changing pre-conceived notions, or stereotypes, or extremely racist behavior (if possible at all) is dangerous, but it is not done by regurgitating arguments. Moving forward with self-relfection, followed by intelligent open discourse, or simply cutting people with these archaic means of thinking out of the picture seems to be a solution. The problem is that this solution begins with the self.

There are good news sources, and shows that offer exceptional, progressive-minded debates (not progressive as in “liberal” but progressive as in “moving forward”). But unfortunately conflict, friction, and argument always score a higher rating even if based on archaic principles, because entertainment value is more important as it generates higher revenue. Until we start valuing the well-being of our people and country over profit, there will continue to be problems with racism in the media, and no real solutions to said problems will ever be presented. I’m damn sure there is a way out, no matter how grim it seems to the rest of us.

I’ll leave you with two Thomas Jefferson quotes.

1 – Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper
2 – A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit

quotes from www.brainyquote.com

Until next time!

Devin Townsend Project

Addicted

Awake!!

HevyDevy

Acid Bath

Paegan Terrorism Tactics

Bleed Me An Ocean

Rotten

Agent of Oblivion

Agents of Oblivion

Paroled In ‘54

Rotten

Bathory

Bathory

Armageddon

Black Mark

At The Gates

The Red In The Sky Is Ours

Neverwhere

Peaceville

Augury

Fragmentary Evidence

Skyless

Nuclear Blast

Bison BC

Dark Ages

Two-Day Booze

Metal Blade

Blood Has Been Shed

Spirals

House of Fists

Ferret

Black Dawn

Age of Reason

Suicidal Groove

Suicidal Groove

Chthonic

Mirror of Retribution

Forty-Nine Theurgy Chains

Spinefarm

Blaze Bayley

Promise And Terror

Faceless

Blaze Bayley

Disfear

Live The Storm

Testament

Relapse

Burnt By The Sun

Heart of Darkness

There Will Be Blood

Relapse

Lair Of The Minotaur

Evil Power

Attack The Gods

Grindhouse Records

New

Ulcerate

Everything Is Fire

Soullessness Embraced

Willowtip

Opeth

Watershed

Lotus Eater

Roadrunner

High On Fire

Snakes For The Divine

Snakes For The Divine

E1

Obliteration

Nekropsalms

Nekropsalms Evoke The Frozen Age

Fysisk Format

Immortal

All Shall Fall

The Rise of Darkness

Nuclear Blast

Crowbar

Sonic Excess In Its Purest Form

Repulsive in It’s Splendid Beauty

Spitfire

Paradise Lost

Faith Divides Us, Death Unites Us

I Remain

Century Media

Wrath & Rapture

Wrath & Rapture

The Dirge of Fallen Warriors

Tragic Hero

Eyehategod

In The Name of Suffering

Shinobi

Century Media

Vader

Necropolis

When The Sun Drowns In Dark

Nuclear Blast

Vader

Necropolis

We Are Horde

Nuclear Blast

Ihsahn

After

Undercurrent

Candlelight

Darkthrone

Circle The Wagons

I Am The Working Class

Peaceville

New

Nile

Those Whom The Gods Detest

Those Whom The Gods Detest

Nuclear Blast

Kataklysm

Shadows & Dust

In Shadows & Dust

Nuclear Blast

Gojira

The Way of All Flesh

The Art of Dying

Prosthetic

Zappa

Kill Ugly Radio Some More

Plastic People

Ryko

Zappa

Kill Ugly Radio Some More

Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow

Ryko

Zappa

Kill Ugly Radio Some More

My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama

Ryko

The Haunted

The Haunted

Forensick

Earache

Ulcerate

Everything Is Fire

Soullessness Embraced

Willowtip

Hypocrisy

A Taste of Extreme Divinity

Alive

Nuclear Blast

Immolation

Majesty And Decay

A Token Of Malice

Nuclear Blast

New

Neuraxis

Trilateral Progression

Shatter The Wisdom

Willowtip (US)

Unleashed

As Yggdrasil Trembles

This Time We Fight

Nuclear Blast

New

Sigh

Scenes From Hell

Vanitas

The End

Black Dawn

Age Reason

Suicidal Groove

Suicidal Groove

New

Satyricon

The Age Of Nero

The Wolfpack

Koch (US)

The Perennial

Dissension

The Course Of A Coward

unsigned

New

Vital Remains

Dechristianize

Dechristianize

Century Media

High On Fire

Snakes For The Divine

Fire, Flood, and Plague

E1

Dio

Strange Highways

Blood From A Stone

Reprise

Darkane

Demonic Art

Wrath Connection

Nuclear Blast

Alcest

Écailles de Lune

Percées de Lumière

Prophecy Productions

New

Beneath The Massacre

Dystopia

Our Common Grave

Prosthetic

Burzum

Belus

Kaimadalthas Nedstigning

Byelobog

New

Obliteration

Nekropsalms

Styxerian Path (Into Darkness)

Fysisk Format

Impaled

The Dead Shall Dead Remain

Trocar

Death Vomit

Dillinger Escape Plan

Option Paralysis

Farewell, Mona Lisa

Season of Mist

New

Divinity

The Singularity

Formless Dimension

Walk As Chaos

Gojira

The Way of All Flesh

The Art of Dying

Prosthetic

Impaled

Choice Cuts

Carneous Cacoffiny

Death Vomit

Finntroll

Nifelvind

Dråp

Century Media

New

Ihsahn

After

Undercurrent

Candlelight

Lair of The Minotaur

Evil Power

Attack The Gods

The Grindhouse

New

Suicidal Tendencies

Still Cyco After All These Years

I Want More

Epic

CCR

Creedence Country

Lookin’ Out My Back Door

Fantasy

Bury Your Dead

Cover Your Tracks

Magnolia

Victory

Gorod

Process of a New Decline

Splinters Of Life

Willowtip

Gloominous Doom

The Feature

JFKFC

DRP

New

Six Feet Under

Graveyard Classics 3

Destroyer

Metal Blade

Behemoth

Evangelion

The Seed Ov I

Metal Blade

Fear Factory

Mechanize

Final Exit

Candlelight

____________________
12:00am – 1:00am
____________________

Band: Morbid Angel
Album: Domination
Song: Where The Slime Live
Label: Giant Records

Band: Black Dawn
Album: Age Of Reason
Song: Suicidal Groove
Label: Suicidal Groove Records

Band: Black Dawn
Album: Age of Reason
Song: Dangerous
Label: Suicidal Groove Records

Band: Six Feet Under
Album: Graveyard Classics 3
Song: At Dawn They Sleep (Slayer cover)
Label: Metal Blade Records

Band: Rikets
Album: All American Death Cult
Song: Vicious
Label: Burnhill Union Records

Band: Carcass
Album: Wake Up And Smell The Carcass
Song: I Told You So ( Corporate Rock Really Does Suck)
Label: Earache Records

Band: Hypocrisy
Album: A Taste Of Extreme Divinity
Song: Hang Him High
Label: Nuclear Blast Records

Band: Immolation
Album: Close To a World Below
Song: Higher Coward
Label: Metal Blade Records

Band: Nile
Album: Those Whom The Gods Detest
Song: Kafir!
Label: Nuclear Blast Records

Band: Warbeast
Album: Krush The Enemy
Song: Stalker
Label: Housecore Records

Band: Behemoth
Album: Evangelion
Song: He Who Breeds Pestilence
Label: Metal Blade Records

____________________
1:00am-2:00am
____________________

Band: Divinity
Album: The Singularity
Song: Faceless Dimension
Label: Walk As Chaos Records

Band: Darkthrone
Album: Circle The Wagons
Song: Stylized Corpse
Label: Peaceville Records

Band: Dillinger Escape Plan
Album: Option Paralysis
Song: Farewell, Mona Lisa
Label: Season Of Mist Records

Band: Ihsahn
Album: After
Song: Undercurrent
Label: Candlelight Records

Band: High On Fire
Album: Snakes For the Divine
Song: Frost Hammer
Label: E1 Records

Band: Gloominous Doom
Album: The Feature
Song: Thrashphault
Label: DRP Records

Band: Gloominous Doom
Album: The Feature
Song: JFKFC
Label: DRP Records

Band: Finntroll
Album: Nifelvind
Song: Solsagan
Label: Century Media Records

Band: Burzum
Album: Belus
Song: Morgenrøde
Label: Byelobog Productions

Band: Liturgy
Album: Renihilation
Song: Mysterium
Label: 20 Buck Spin Records

____________________
2:00am-3:00am
____________________

Band: Monstrosity
Album: Imperial Doom
Song: Darkest Dream
Label: Nuclear Blast Records

Band: The Red Chord
Album: Fed Through The Teeth Machine
Song: Sleepless Nights In The Compound
Label: Metal Blade Records

Band: Cannibal Corpse
Album: Bloodthirst
Song: Pounded Into Dust
Label: Metal Blade Records

Band: Cannibal Corpse
Album: Gore Obsessed
Song: Pit Of Zombies
Label: Metal Blade Records

Band: Cannibal Corpse
Album: Bloodthirst
Song: Condemned To Agony
Label: Metal Blade Records

Band: Ulcerate
Album: Everything Is Fire
Song: Soullessness Embraced
Label: Willowtip Records

Band: Unleashed
Album: As Yggdrasil Trembles
Song: As Yggdrasil Trembles
Label: Nuclear Blast

Band: Obliteration
Album: Nekropslams
Song: The Spawn Of A Dying Kind
Label: Fysisk Format Records

Band: Carcass
Album: Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious
Song: Incarnate Solvent Abuse
Label: Earache Records

Band: Vader
Album: Necropolis
Song: Dark Heart
Label: Nuclear Blast Records

Band: Devolved
Album: Calculated
Song: Fractured
Label: Unique Leader Records

Band: Gwar
Album: Lust In Space
Song: Metal Metal Land
Label: Metal Blade Records

Band: Gwar
Album: Lust In Space
Song: Lust In Space
Label: Metal Blade Records

____________________

That being said, I thought it would be interesting to share what I am currently reading, or have read in the recent past, as my taste encompasses a wide spectrum of literature. So without further ado, here is the beginning to the list, which will be updated as soon as I finish reading literature I deem interesting.

Soul of the Fire (Sword of Truth, Book 5) ~ Terry Goodkind
_____________________
link to amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Soul-Fire-Sword-Truth-Book/dp/0812551494/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273555430&sr=1-1

wiki link to info about the book series, and the author:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_of_Truth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Goodkind

_____________________
The Sickness unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition of Edification & Awakening ~ Søren Kierkegaard (under the pseudonym Anti-Climacus)

link to amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Sickness-unto-Death-Psychological-Anti-Climacus/dp/0140445331/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273555704&sr=1-5

wiki link to info about the author:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B8ren_Kierkegaard

_____________________

_____________________________
Gorguts
_____________________________

New line-up, new song samples:

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=137107

_____________________________
Tours & dates (headliners listed first, favored bands are bold)
_____________________________

Amon Amarth (on tour with Holy Grail and Eluveitie) ~ 4/8/10 – 4/25/10

Cannibal Corpse (on tour with 1349, Skeletonwitch, and Lecherous Nocturne) ~ 4/20/10 – 5/16/10

Pestilence (on tour with Warbringer, Vital Remains, Enfold Darkness, Sacrificial Slaughter) ~ 5/30/10 -6/17/10

Soilwork (on tour with Death Angel, Augury, Mutiny Within and Swashbuckle) ~ 7/14/10 – 8/15/10

______________________________
Primus
______________________________

Primus are set to record their first studio album since 1999’s Antipop, follow the link for more details.

http://www.metalunderground.com/news/details.cfm?newsid=55627

______________________________
“One American Dream”
______________________________
A documentary exploring what the American dream means to generations X & Y. For more info, please visit the sites listed below

www.OneAmericanDream.com

video ~ http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1284967362/one-american-dream-a-documentary

______________________________
Until The Light Takes Us
______________________________

Documentary about the rise of black metal.

info:

http://www.blackmetalmovie.com

wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Until_The_Light_Takes_Us

______________________________
Zombie Survival Guide (Max Brooks)
______________________________

http://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Survival-Guide-Complete-Protection/dp/1400049628/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273553312&sr=8-1

Down

NOLA

Bury Me In Smoke

East/West

Electric Wizard

Dopethrone

Funeralopolis

Rise Above

High On Fire

Snakes for the Divine

Frost Hammer

E1

New

Cannibal Corpse

Evisceration Plague

Evisceration Plague

Metal Blade

Dillinger Escape Plan

Option Paralysis

Farewell, Mona Lisa

Season Of Mist

New

Darkane

Expanding Senses

Innocence Gone

Nuclear Blast

Brutal Truth

Sounds Of the Animal Kingdom

Die Laughing

Relapse

Orphaned Land

The Never Ending Way of ORWarriOR

Barakah

Century Media

New

Sun O)))

Monoliths & Dimensions

Hunting & Gathering (Cydonia)

Souther Lord

Skitliv

Skandinavisk Misantropi

A Valley Below

Season Of Mist

Liturgy

Renihilation

Mysterium

20 Buck Spin

Eluveitie

Everything Remains as It Never Was

The Essence of Ashes

Nuclear Blast

New

Darkthrone

Circle The Wagons

Eyes Burst At Dawn

Peaceville

New

Burzum

Belus

v. Sverddans

Byelobog

New

Divinity

The Singularity

Formless Dimension

Walk As Chaos

Arsis

Starve For The Devil

The Ten Of Swords

Nuclear Blast

The Perennial

Dissension

Course Of A Coward

unsigned

Fleshgod Apocalypse

Oracles

As Tyrants Fall

Willowtip

Ulcerate

Everything Is Fire

Drown Within

Willowtip

Ulcerate

Everything Is Fire

Tyranny

Willowtip

Sigh

Scenes From Hell

Vanitas

The End

New

Ihsahn

After

Undercurrent

Candlelight

Black Dawn

Age Of Reason

Suicidal Groove

Suicidal Groove

New

Lair Of The Minotaur

Evil Power

Attack The Gods

The Grindhouse

New

Frank Zappa

Sheik Yerbouti

What Ever Happened To All The Fun In The World

Frank Zappa

Over-nite Sensation

I’m The Slime

Fear Factory

Mechanize

Final Exit

Candlelight

New

Arkaik

Reflections Within Dissonance

Reflections Within Dissonance

Unique Leader

New

At The Gates

Slaughter Of the Soul

Under A Serpent Sun

Earache

At The Gates

Slaughter Of The Soul

World Of Lies

Earache

Devolved

Calculated

Synergy

Unique Leader

New

Devolved

Calculated

Catatonic Ruin

Unique Leader

New

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://www.svobodanews.ru/content/article/2006510.html&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com

http://neteffect.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/04/08/kyrgyzstans_analog_revolution

For all the hype about “digital revolutions”,  “analog revolutions” are still the norm, not the exception.

who: High On Fire
where: Daniels Street Club, Milford, CT
when: April 8th

2 days! For information visit

The healthcare overhaul that was passed this month by congress is nothing more than a further entrenchment of the private insurance industry at the expense of the American tax payer. While the right calls this a “government takeover of healthcare” and the left hails this new law in the league of Medicare, Social Security and the Civil Rights legislation in fact it is neither.

When the rhetorical fog lifts, we will see the system has not really changed much. Health care will still be dominated by profit-driven insurance companies. More public money will go to executive salaries and private industry profits. Tens of millions of people will remain uninsured and costs will continue to increase. The challenge for the future is how to get public dollars to go to the nation’s public health and not to corporations that serve as middlemen that do not provide health care.

The centerpiece of the “reform,” subsidizing the insurance industry, forcing Americans to buy their overpriced product and more deeply embedding insurance market-control of health care, was barely debated. Only after passage of the bill is a debate beginning on whether this is within the constitutional power of government. Of course, the corporate media are saying the mandate is constitutional, not surprisingly since it is in the interests of corporate power. But never before has the federal government required Americans to buy a corporate product or face a penalty. This unprecedented expansion of federal power raises a very real constitutional question.

We never had a debate about whether it is a good idea to have the federal government force Americans to buy a corporate product. This major, unprecedented approach was lost in the din of death panels and the public option. Where does this precedent lead? Should Americans be forced to buy a retirement plan from JPMorgan or Bank of America to ensure retirement security?

Perhaps the change that will have the most positive impact is one produced by Senator Bernie Sanders; a deal he got for not forcing a vote on a single payer system in the Senate, and that was the expansion of funding by $12.5 billion for community health centers so that they can double the patients they see. Community health centers are the foundation of primary care for residents of rural areas and inner cities, providing basic services such as blood and dental work for about 20 million U.S. residents.

Now the law in the opening paragraph states an aspiration: for the first time ever in U.S. history, the law codifies the view that all people should have access to health care, regardless of age, income, health or employment status.
What should real reform advocates do now?

The first step is to know clearly what we want: Public dollars should only go to health care not to insurance expenses, profits, and bureaucracy. That means a national health program based on expanded and improved Medicare for all so we cost effectively provide health care to everyone in the United States.

A particular spotlight needs to be kept on the insurance industry. Their behavior will not change with the new law, indeed it will worsen. Single payer advocates need to continue to highlight their abuses, denials of care, excessive executive salaries, rapid increases in premiums and cut backs in coverage. Tools like shareholder actions, boycotts and divestiture need to be used. When abuses occur the movement needs to use tactics like sit-ins at insurance companies to show that people are angry.

The last year has seen an expansion of activism from those who favor improved Medicare for All. It is critical that the momentum of the movement not be slowed by a law that protects the status quo even if it is called reform. The urgent need for such change remains as tens of thousands will continue to die annually, and hundreds of thousands (mostly with insurance) will still go bankrupt. The task of providing at-least a basic level of health care to all as a birth right still remains.