Max and the Marginalized

Moving to Wordpress

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Wed, 21 May 2008 17:25:00 +0000

Moving this blog over to maxmarginal.wordpress.com due to better functionality and the built in MP3 player. Say hello over there please - thanks!

Go make your living, boy. I'll go on fighting.

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Tue, 20 May 2008 07:29:00 +0000

Since we're a tiny, tiny band that doesn't get a whole lot of action on our MySpace, blog, or really anywhere, the little correspondence we get resonates a lot. There's a comment on our MySpace that someone left the other day that said that the songs were great but it's time to stop and pick the best ones because the Bush years are over.

I hope he's right, but let's take a quick look at the elephant in the living room shitting in the corner, shall we? John McCain is running on the very same failed policies of the Bush years. Yeah, he believes in global warming. If that's what passes for progress when we are at a war that has killed over 4,000 troops, not counting suicides of returning vets, which are estimated well into the hundreds, perhaps the thousands.

The Straight Talk Express is a Trojan Horse, and one that I unfortunately believe is going to be very hard to stop - what talents we have are best served doing what little three dudes with instruments can do to place the tiniest of screws in the tires. Heaven knows it isn't much, but with a very popular Republican running on the same policies of his predecessor, an abortion ban on the ballot in South Dakota (you'll be hearing about this from us on Thursday), close congressional and Senate elections that could give us a veto-proof majority, and a lack of care for Veterans that may unfortunately last long after this election no matter who wins, I would say that the Bush years and whatever aftershocks we'll face from them are not over, and won't be for a long time. When they are, maybe we'll stop and pick the best ones.

I'm too tired to proofread, I just got home from seeing the almighty Leatherface and haven't gotten that sweaty at a show I wasn't playing since I was 20. Nite!

Ted Leo sticks it to Radiohead, which makes him even cooler.

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Mon, 19 May 2008 08:42:00 +0000

If you've never listened to Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, I reluctantly ask that you do so now. I say reluctantly because while they are the best band in the world right now, if you listen to Max and the Marginalized and have never heard TL/Rx, you will listen to Ted + co. and consider the distinct possibility that we are a mere Wayne Newton to his Frank Sinatra. Indeed, if I could write songs as well as his I wouldn't have to write so damn many.

My bandmates will undoubtedly give me shit about being this self-deprecating and revealing of our influences in our public forum, but the fact is I spent a lot of hours driving late at night on tour with The Actual blasting Ted Leo to keep me awake while everyone else was passed out, taking in another day of playing songs I had written years ago that didn't mean much to me anymore. Repeated listens to such vitriolic political tunefulness from someone who clearly liked both 7 Seconds AND Thin Lizzy as much as I did made me itch to get home and write songs about what I read on the New York Times opinion page, rather than sing songs on the Warped Tour about my ex-girlfriend from 3 years prior. Hence, my happiest dive into debt ever, Max and the Marginalized.

Anyways, we're always down for a bleeding of a sacred cow here at Marginalized HQ, and I just read this interview with Ted where the interviewer asks him about Radiohead's releasing In Rainbows the way they did, and his answer is just awesome:

Honestly, I'm kind of pissed off at Radiohead for doing that because they're fucking multi-millionaires. So fuck them, you know, they can do whatever the fuck they want. It makes it harder for everybody else to try to figure out a workable idea. It's like a red herring or a cul-de-sac to me to go down that road. Now, if the whole world becomes 'you release your music for free' and playing live becomes the way that you get compensated for it, then so be it. But it's not at that stage right now, and the overhead for actually making a record with a label and putting it out still requires an investment, and nobody wants to lose money. Nobody wants to fucking wind up in the gutter in a year or two. The Radiohead thing also was like a weird scam in my mind because they knew that they were going to be releasing the hard copies of the record eventually. It's bizarre man... Public Enemy's been doing it for years as well. And that's a whole different model, that's just like 'you know what, we're just giving our shit away on the Internet. You wanna come to the shows... and we're self-releasing our record, etcetera etcetera.' We're not quite in a position to be able to accommodate either model properly, like having big label support or doing things completely gratis. It'll shake out as it will and we'll roll with it.

As a band who uses a similar model (we got our idea from Juliana Hatfield, whose b-sides she sells on the honor system would still be cash well spent at $1000 per song), I can't help but agree. They weren't taking a chance, and it was an amazing publicity piece that got them into the fucking Time 100, for doing what was really nothing more than leaking their album with a donate button. Last month we spent $1600 recording and made $340 in donations which was more than I ever expected to make on those things, and I'm honored that a few people shelled out 40 bucks for the Marginography - and while Radiohead are a fine band, but he's totally right. It took no balls for them to release their album that way, and tons of balls for Ted to call them out for this since the rock and roll pasture has no cow more sacred.

So, good work, Ted... and if you have a Google Alert for yourself (this goes for you too, Ms. Hatfield) and have landed on our page here, give us a listen and say hi 'cause we love you. Thanks!

The Second Time Around

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:18:00 +0000

The fact that repeated deployments are killing our military is nothing new, but it hit home for a few of us last week. Like many urban twentysomethings with privileged upbringings, this war has demanded next to nothing from my peer group -- if it had, we might not have such a flaccid anti-war movement among us.

Not knowing anyone who had served on the ground, I and many others found gripping, chilling accounts of daily life as a soldier in Iraq reading Colby Buzzell's blog My War, one of the best and most widely read blogs coming out of Iraq.

Buzzel is being redeployed for a second tour in Iraq three years after leaving the army. He mused about his possible obituary in a heartbreaking op-ed in the San Francisco chronicle last week, which inspired this week's song The Second Time Around.

The Second Time Around

Write the info on the luggage tags
Loop the elastic through the handle on the bag
They say it ain't that bad, it ain't a folded flag
If that counts for something
400 some-odd days behind, they might not be over
The flipping calendar in mind, July through October
It's an awful lot of time, does that count for something?

And some might say that they signed up for that
When they wrote their names on down
And it's bad enough to readjust to the silence in this town
They'll keep jumping up the ante, in for a penny, in for a pound
The bombs get louder the second time around

400 some-odd days ahead, so much for high hopes
There's things they'd rather do instead, they're stretched like a tightrope
They say they planned ahead, but you know and I know

No one signed up for that when they wrote their names on down
And it's bad enough to readjust to the silence back in this town
They'll up the ante, in for a penny, in for a pound
The war gets slower the second time around

Just in case you didn't already see this Bill O'Reilly clip...

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Mon, 12 May 2008 23:29:00 +0000

This is getting constantly put up and taken down on YouTube. Hopefully my friend Rami's link will work for a while:

Crooks and Liars has it here as well.

I think it's one of the 5 funniest things I've ever seen. Turn up speakers for maximum joy.

What every Monday lately has been...

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:10:00 +0000

Me going "Hmm... Maybe tomorrow's primary will be the last one and then we'll be in the general election, where some of us in the blogostomy bag have been hanging out for the past two months since we think that winning back the White House is more important than chiming in on a battle that is unfortunately very easy to write about."

West Virginia: I don't know you well. I've played one show outdoors in Logan and it was a lot of fun. I once ate at your Perkins. You're kind of shaped like a deformed teapot. I see no reason why you, next to only Delaware in the "most-forgotten" states category, can't make a name for yourself for something other than mine collapses by ending this tomorrow in one fell swoop. Thanks!

Leatherface comes to SoCal

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Mon, 12 May 2008 07:20:00 +0000

To any of my readers and listeners in the SoCal area where I am:

One of the greatest bands of all time, Leatherface of Sunderland, UK, are coming to town next week. They'll be at Knitting Factory LA on Monday the 19th and Chain Reaction in Anaheim the following night and I will be at both shows screaming like a little girl.

I never thought Leatherface would come back to the US (I saw them last in 2000 with Hot Water Music, and I believe that was the last time they were stateside.)

They're one of the most unique and beautiful bands to ever grace punk rock, and less importantly, an obvious and gracious influence on all things Marginalized.

Here they are in all their withered glory playing "Hoodlum" in 2007:

Welcome friends from C+L

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:26:00 +0000

We <3 Crooks and Liars and as the (as far as we know) only band in the progressive blogosphere, being on their page is like making the cover of Rolling Stone!

Please feel free to download some songs and we hope you enjoy your stay here at our page. Thanks for visiting!

Consider the Source (A Song and Cartoon for John McCain's Credibility)

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:45:00 +0000

It was laughable to watch John McCain, who has proven to either have a bad memory, a problem telling the truth, or both, to ask that we "consider the source" in response to Arianna Huffington's claim that he told her he didn't vote for Bush in 2000. Then again, he doesn't remember who he was back then, so why should he remember what he said either?

This is a man who flouts campaign finance laws by flying around from speech to speech on the Sugar Momma Express, telling people between landings that their economic hardships are largely psychological. He makes repeated misstatements about Iran training Al Qaeda. Loudly denies and later admits quietly to getting into a physical fight with a member of congress. Anytime John McCain opens his mouth, it's worth considering the source.

Enjoy this week's song and cartoon.

(h/t Emptywheel, Paul Waldman)

Consider the Source
As my television box would tell it
You're a trailblazing renegade of sorts
With convictions of steel, a dead even keel
A chara-character tour de force
Denying that you spoke against the king when he ascended
Now that you've followed him along with no remorse
So the next time you call someone a liar, consider the source

I've heard you give a lecture on morals
On integrity, fidelity and more
They fail to mention your carousing with the heiress
Whoever knows how long before your first divorce
You said you never would accept her contributions
As the Sugar Momma Express rides on course
So the next time you call someone a liar, consider the source

7 or 8 years ago I might have less to say
I don't care who you were back then, but who you are today
I don't expect no talking heads to say what you're about
So I'll keep singing all these songs until the truth comes out

They said nothing on the message multipliers
So I won't put a lot of stock in their reports
And indeed there's not a word they've said about you
That's been true since O.J. had his day in court
They'll say nothing of Cindy's missing taxes
Or the pastor you chased down to endorse
So the next time they wax about your honor, consider the source

Pretend he's a giant...

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Tue, 06 May 2008 18:45:00 +0000

Fucking awesome Teflon John video!

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Sat, 03 May 2008 01:01:00 +0000

Animation courtesy of Max Waker, who engineers all our songs as well. Enjoy =)

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:22:00 +0000

Each week a new national outrage goes underreported beneath the primary noise. Last week it was the Pentagon puppets, this week it’s the deplorable living conditions at Fort Bragg, reported by a military father with a camera and a conscience.

If the people who are devoting their lives to fighting for one side of this primary devoted about 2% of their attention to some of the injustices being committed on the current administration’s watch, like the fact that we have soldiers returning from 15-month tours to living spaces not fit for a prison, we’d probably live in Candyland by now.

Enjoy this week’s song “If That Don’t Make You Madder”, and go to Vetvoice for a much better view of the tragedy at Fort Bragg than this highlight reel we put together.

If That Don't Make You Madder

I wasn’t born with a sense of outrage, just a sense of trust
7 years of disappointments, it’s managed to adjust
It’ll stay that way longer after this horrifying chapter is complete
And I’ve looked at all the pictures, kept them playing on a loop
Long enough to keep me angry, but the volume can’t cut through
The warring megaphones and billboards
And bumper stickers parked along my street

‘Cause sometimes it don’t matter which side you’re on
You don’t have to pick a side to look at this and know it’s wrong
And I don’t care what argument you make
If this don’t make you madder
If this don’t make you madder what will it take

You won’t see it reflected in the water on the floor
There’s a different kind of shit he’s in just a dozen hours before
They’ll cut corners instead of losses
But never pay respect that they demand
So if you’re begging for the perfect at the very good’s expense
May you focus on some things, that are actually worth fighting against
I know they’re fighting back now, some of us could really use a hand

‘Cause sometimes it don’t matter which side you’re on
You don’t have to pick a side to look at this and know it’s wrong
And I don’t care what argument you make
If this don’t make you madder
If this don’t make you madder what will it take
What will it take

On Rev. Wright

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 07:48:00 +0000

“Whatever relationship I had with Reverend Wright has changed as a consequence of this,” Mr. Obama said Tuesday. “I don’t think that he showed much concern for me. More importantly, I don’t think he showed much concern for what we’re trying to do in this campaign and what we’re trying to do for the American people.”

Don't you think that maybe it would've been wise to act as thought the statements were an affront to more than just his campaign's intentions? I am supporting Sen. Obama and don't think that people should take this whole Wright controversy seriously and I'm disgusted by the amount of airtime it's received... but c'mon guy. Give the people what they want, and at least pretend that you think that he was offending more than just your campaign. Sheesh.

Of course I don't care about the Reverend Wright scandal as I'm supporting Obama and have half a brain. It would be nice to see someone smack this one out of the park... right now it's just bouncing around the damn infield.

Since no one's making any noise about the Pentagon sock puppets...

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:45:00 +0000

It has now been four days since the Times broke the story of the Pentagon sock puppets. The networks in question have all but refused to make any noise about this, so we did.

Thanks to Buelahman for the awesome video!

Whose Face Can You Save?

They're retired, still spitting in the feed
The doctored up analysis mapped out to mislead
Get creative with the facts
Cyrano de Bergeracs just offscreen
The floating Chyrons omit
The names of these morticians who wrote the script
Put some credits where they’re due
Right on message right on cue, and quite full of it
What a humorless skit
Where the cue cards from the coroners read illegitimate

They’ve got their hands in the backs of the heads when they start talking
So falsely detached from the corpses in the coffins
They fire off the blanks and the pallbearers starting towards the grave
Whose face can you save?

The network knows it’s no good for its health
To turn the camera around and focus on itself
A bit of fiction for me and you
Good thing they take those medals off before they do
They’ll hang around until the story goes away
It’ll fall right off the page just give it a couple of days
There’s so much spin to sell all along the road to hell
So get on your way, and watch what you say
Won’t someone tell me, is this ABC or the DPRK

They’ve got their hands in the backs of the heads when they start talking
So falsely detached from the corpses in the coffins
They fire off the blanks and the pallbearers starting towards the grave
Whose face can you save?

My cynicism’s goalposts moved again
Profiteers and puppeteers will get theirs in the end

They’ve got their hands in the backs of the heads when they start talking
So falsely detached from the corpses in the coffins
They fire off the blanks and the pallbearers starting towards the grave
Whose face can you save?

To download this song, right-click and choose "save link as".

Another nice clip from Buelahman, this one for "Now That We Know..."

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:56:00 +0000

Thanks, Buelahman!

The problem.

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:24:00 +0000

I usually give David Brooks more credit than many of my peers because I think he's pretty insightful and funny - however, this is not the case where anything remotely relevant is concerned - i.e. I like his posts about our behavior at the beach but not about elections.

This morning he spits out this latest piece of douchebaggery:

Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos of ABC News are taking a lot of heat for spending so much time asking about Jeremiah Wright and the “bitter” comments. But the fact is that voters want a president who basically shares their values and life experiences. Fairly or not, they look at symbols like Michael Dukakis in a tank, John Kerry’s windsurfing or John Edwards’s haircut as clues about shared values.

Would someone (with a bigger mouthpiece than me) tell him that voters care about nonsense like that because people like David Brooks keep talking about how important it is?

By the way, Obama's response to that stupid fucking flag pin question should've been something about how wearing a flag pin doesn't make someone any more patriotic than someone who doesn't, much like how Charles Gibson's glasses, regardless of what they may symbolize, can't hide the fact that he has the intelligence of a gopher for asking such a dumb question.

Now That We Know That They Knew

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:08:00 +0000

Since Bush’s bankshot into the Friday evening news dumpster that he had signed off on torture and that the top echelon of his administration had all sat in a closed room to learn about and rubber stamp all the details of our illegal and unsavory interrogation techniques, the press has continued to ask how Barack Obama should answer for preferring orange juice to coffee, not how Condoleezza Rice, Dick Cheney, et al should answer for committing crimes against humanity after years of statements to the contrary.

ABC News, which originally broke the torture story ended its very short streak of un-patheticness when George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson dragged us through a debate filled with loaded questions that spoke to their Sunday morning circle jerks far more than to the concerns of the American people, and did not mention the torture issue once.

Now that we know that they knew, we should be holding the administration accountable for it, and demand that the press take a break from its how-will-it-play-narrative-meta drivel and actually cover the fact that top administration officials knew about torture and gave it a green light.

If that sounds like a good idea to you, go sign the ACLU’s petition to demand an independent prosecutor to investigate this, and hop on the letter-writing campaign asking local papers to cover this since the nationals have proven useless.

Sorry about the tome, sometimes it’s necessary. Here is our song (not our first on this matter) called “Now That We Know That They Knew”, about how we’d like to see some proof that no one is above the law and that the phrase “and justice for all” includes people at the top as well.

Now That We Know That They Knew

Now that we know that they knew
It’s what we all along suspected
It’s hardly unexpected but it’s now unquestionably true
So won’t you finally change the subject, stop obsessing over subtext
For a second fix your cameras to the proof
In the Friday data dumpster, for once demand an answer, maybe two
Now that we all know that they knew
There’s a clear-cut course of action
To respond to these infractions, yes it’s true
It’s way overdue

I’ve got no patience for fighters avoiding conflict like the plague
And I don’t believe in Hell so I thank God we’ve got the Hague
These kinds of crimes demand a certain action be pursued
There’s little time and oh so much to do
Now that we know that they knew

Now that we know that they knew
Can we just shut up for a second
There’s more important things that beckon than
A couple words so quickly misconstrued
Oh he got juice instead of coffee!
As the screaming echoes softly out of view
Is that the least you can do?

I’ve got no ear for language hypothetical and vague
And hell won’t get here quickly so let’s send them to the Hague
These kinds of crimes demand certain action be pursued
There’s little time and oh so much to do
Now that we know that they knew

Blog is the new punk?

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:02:00 +0000

Just read this nice bit at Attackerman about the similarities between blogs and punk.

A parallel I wholeheartedly embrace! Except, alas, it only works in theory. The hardcore scene that gave me succor — full of boys with Abe Lincoln beards and girls who steal soy milk from the campus cafeteria — is, alas, ridden with Luddites. You’d think that blogs would mean the end of zines, since they cost nothing to produce and are vastly more efficient to distribute, but in the final issue of HeartattaCk, there’s an attack on blogs as inauthentic and soulless. I know the CrimethInc kids have an uncomfortable relationship with blogs, something that has a lot to do with their off-the-grid anarchist politics. Plus you can’t place a stack of blogs at your merch table next to the go-vegan pamphlets and DIY-tampon instructor kits. If blogs are the new punk rock, is punk rock the new Emerson, Lake and Palmer?

Punk came along at a time when there were too many gatekeepers protecting a form of music that had become irrelevant, but dangled access to distribution too high above the heads of kids with more soul than training and 'cause them to look for another way. If that's not what blogs are than I don't know what is, and I always like to say that it's why I don't really plan on having Max and the Marginalized "graduate" from the blogs to some more formal means of distribution.

So what about blogs as punk? Obama-ites and Clinton-ites fighting one another like rudies and punks on the west coast and in England, hardcore kids and punks in the east, while the other half sings loudly for unity in the scene, declaring that too much infighting will destroy the greater cause? Is Arianna Huffington Greg Ginn (or is Kos?) Is this totally stupid?

Anyways, I'm in that Democrats and Progressives united front:

Nice clip for Teflon Jon

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 08:42:00 +0000

Much thanks to Buelahman for putting this clip together!

New download/donate page!

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:34:00 +0000

So, since MySpace has decided they will do anything they can to keep people from linking to any content not on MySpace, the think where I had people right-click to download from that page over there doesn't work anymore. MySpace seems to be the newest Newscorp property to cause me trouble, leaving only The Simpsons unblemished.

Thus, this is now the download/donate page. All these downloads are done on THE HONOR SYSTEM. Here's how this works: I have all these songs available for for download. There's a link to donate some money to us via paypal. If you can, please donate. We hate to ask, but we have to because we spend a lot of money making these songs - far more than we did when we first started. We spend $25 an hour in studio time and each song takes a grand total of about 16 hours so if you enjoy our work, please give a little. iTunes charges 99 cents a song. I think that asking for 50 is not too big a deal. If you can give more than by all means do, and if you can't afford anything please don't let that stop you from downloading. We want you to have the songs.

So your first and finest option is to have the complete works thus far, the "Marginography". This is 31 songs complete with a PDF of all the lyrics and a little blurb on what each song is about:

RIGHT-CLICK AND CHOOSE "SAVE LINK AS" TO DOWNLOAD THE MARGINOGRAPHY!

Suggested donation: $10 to $50

Click here to donate!

Option to is to get them a song at a time. Here are all the songs in reverse chronological order. To download, right-click (or Ctrl-click on a mac) and choose "Save Target As" or "Save Link As", depending on your browser. Newest at the top. Please put on your ipod, send to your friends, etc. Thanks!

DOWNLOAD!

33. The Second Time Around

32. Consider the Source

31. If That Don't Make You Madder

30. Whose Face Can You Save?

29. Now That We Know That They Knew

28. Teflon John

27. Q + A

26. Free Evenings and Weekends

25. Vicki Where are You?

24. Kiss the Ring

23. Mathematics of the Dead

22. The Good Fight Goes Bad

21. Two Peninsulas

20. Museum of Mistakes

19. The Flute of False Choices

18. The Lucky Ones

17. A Charge You Can Keep (Response to the 2008 SOTU)

16. Here Come The Incidents

15. Black and White and Red All Over

14. I Like You More The Day Before

13. The Business of Disregard

12. How the CIA Stole Xmas

11. When The Dog Who Keeps On Eating Things Throws Up

10. Lectures For The Dying

9. The Only Way Out Is The Exit

8. When The Markets Do Their Thing

7. Banner Year

6. Weeknights At Six

5. The Experts

4. Dana, Dana

3. No Kisses, No Cameras

2. Even When It Ends It Won't Be Over

1. Standing In The Driveway Holding Cardboard In The Rain

Suggested donation: $0.50 per song to $2.00 per song.

Click here to donate!

I must stress: IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO DONATE, PLEASE STILL GO AHEAD AND DOWNLOAD. I know you would if you could. When people donate a little more, what they're doing is buying the songs for you, so please download and thank them.

Teflon John

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:41:00 +0000

John McCain, whether he’s calling his wife the C-word, mixing up Sunni with Shia, making repeated false claims about Iran, is repeatedly proving to everyone that doesn’t work for CNN or MSNBC that he’s completely batshit insane. Enjoy our song Teflon John for McCain and the MSM that refuses to scrutinize him.

Teflon John

It’s so funny everyone forgot to laugh
At your temper even shorter than the shelf life of a gaffe
From your lips to no one’s ears, somehow disappears into the past
If it came from my side no one would ignore
That stupid joke about Barbara Ann, or when you called that wife of yours--
a country needs a whole lot better
than the mixed up words and letters, evermore

Bot the nonsense only echoes for about three seconds long
They’ve got their fingers in their ears, they can’t point out where you’re wrong

Teflon John, is this thing on?
All the microphones are broken
And the lines that you’ve misspoken
Are met with nothing but a token nod-along
They just move on, so move along

I never ever would’ve guessed
That when you ride for half the price on the old Straight Talk Express
You get the Denny’s senior special
And it comes with a free pass from the press
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.bold.gif
So let’s not put no huffy hotheads where they really don’t belong
I’d so much rather see you feeding ducks down at the pond

Teflon John, is this thing on?
All the microphones are broken
And the lines that you’ve misspoken
Are met with nothing but a token nod-along
They just move on
Oh Teflon John, where have they gone?
Let that sucking up begin
All your friends will let you in and that microscope will never focus on
How you’ve got it wrong
So move along, Teflon John

A song for Gen. Petraeus

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:56:00 +0000

Gen. Petraeus will be answering questions on Capitol Hill this week, and since it’s the congress and not the press doing the asking, there might even some hard ones.

My personal recommendation would be to ask about the toll that repeated deployments are taking on our troops. If you can stomach it, read about soldiers coming home after spending 19 of 21 months in combat and not being able to pick their children out of the welcome home line, and other happy tales in the sad-but-true reports that Veterans For America released last week about repeated deployments - a cycle that won’t get any better without further troop reductions.

Anyways, less talk, more rock. Enjoy our song for the Petraeus’ hearings.

(click the play button below)

Q & A

In the year and change since the upswing
With circumstances largely in the dark
The questioners are lining up with the clipboards
I’m sure you’ll hit their softballs out of the park

So get some magic markers and draw a happy face
And cross out all your notes from the past few days
The counter hits 4,000 and it counts and counts away
If they had a chance to ask, what would they say?
In Q & A

You’ll recommend against reductions
I’m afraid it’s more than they can stand
Someone get a page to bring you water
To wash that blood off of your master’s hands

A confident demeanor and the medals on your coat
Give googly eyes to the fourth estate
If someone happens to ask you if it’s worth the price we’ve paid
When you answer think of those who’ve gone away
In Q & A

No more War Pigs...

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 23:23:00 +0000

We wish this song, written 40 years ago, didn't still hold true. Let's not let these fucking War Pigs stay in power 4 more years, k?

Rock Against Telecom Immunity!

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:15:00 +0000

A song for the telecom companies that broke the law and complied with the administration's domestic spying program to play while they put you on hold. Enjoy "Free Evenings and Weekends".

Free Evenings and Weekends

Call me on the telephone, I've got time on my plan
I know that no one's listening, but I know that they can
A little bit of oversight for transparency's sake
It takes a special criminal
To break a law that there is no reason to break

Evenings and weekends are free
For them to listen in on you and me
And I can't possibly see
How you and I could ever be
If we go back in time
To when a telephone call it cost just a dime
And a crime was a crime
And we demanded a better excuse than "It's different this time."

Carry an agenda in on the backs of the dead
We tried to throw the book at them, they keep moving their heads
In spite of this duplicity I write them a check every month
And in light of their complicity
It's time that we charged them for once

Evenings and weekends are free
For them to listen in on you and me
And I can't possibly see
How you and I could ever be
If we go back in time
To when the opposition had something that looked like a spine
And a crime was a crime
And we demanded a better excuse than "It's different this time."

Richardson's endorsement of Obama (and less importantly, my own.)

noreply@blogger.com (Max) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:02:00 +0000

As some of you know, I was the director of social networking programs for Bill Richardson for President and that Gov. Richardson was my choice to best lead the country among a field of very qualified candidates, despite the fact that his candidacy didn't have a snowball's chance in hell. Nonetheless we owe fact that all the major candidates has vowed to end the war quickly to Richardson, who forced the issue for everyone and pressed HRC and Obama to take firmer stances.

Late last night I got Richardson's email to his supporters endorsing Barack Obama for president and this morning watched his endorsement (I'm a big fan of the beard):

I voted for Obama in the California and favored him slightly over Clinton, but after his speech on race this week, I, like Governor Richardson, realized that he is a once-in-a-lifetime leader and is this country's best hope to repair the horrible wound that this administration has opened and salted for the past seven-and-a-half years.

For some time, a large part of me nodded with resigned agreement at Clinton's accusations that Obama did not grasp or appreciate the complexity of certain issues sufficiently enough to be an effective president. His speech on race (Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8flxGDg6Nho to watch, that's part 1 of 5) proved him to be capable of understanding and presenting our most complex and nuanced issue with more grace, accuracy and conviction than anyone I can recall, and put to rest any doubts I had about Obama's ability to understand this country and the world. So, to the 10 people that care, I offer my resounding endorsement of Barack Obama for president.

And I'll go out on a limb and say that I like an Obama/Richardson ticket. They just look like a damn good team.