A total solar eclipse began at about 5:21 a.m. ET, but it was not viewable for most of America. Still, the pictures from around the world are so fucking cool. Earth, it's pretty awesome.....

On Friday, 2008 August 01, a total eclipse of the Sun is visible from within a narrow corridor that traverses half the Earth. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow begins in Canada and extends across northern Greenland, the Arctic, central Russia, Mongolia, and China. A partial eclipse is seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes northeastern North America, most of Europe and Asia.

Having long secured the Democratic Parrty nomination and with Senator Clinton asking not to be nominated, Senator Obama has now asked that Michigan and Florida get all of their delegates seated with full votes.

I understand why Obama is doing this, but I honestly don't think it's going to help him win over any voters. Also, Michigan and Florida did break the rules and should be punished:

The Democratic National Committee stripped all the delegates from Florida and Michigan last year for violating party rules by holding their primaries earlier than the Democratic schedule allowed.

A party committee decided in May to seat delegations from both states, though with only a half-vote for each delegate.

The extreme clashes between the two leading Palestian factions continued to escalate this weekend. In the past week, Both Hamas and Fatah have kidnapped, imprisoned or tortured as many as 200 citizens and elected officials. Reports have 11 people killed and tons more people and children injured.

Last week two human rights groups reported that both Fatah and Hamas have tortured prisoners.

The showdown erupted Saturday when Hamas forces attempted to get the large and powerful Hilles clan to turn over people the Islamist movement believed were behind the July 25 car-bomb attack that killed four Hamas members and a little girl on a beach in Gaza.

The family refused, resulting in heavy fighting with shoulder-launched rockets and mortars.......

You can say it's just politics and that this will help get McCain elected, but how low does one have to go before he gets to the bottom of the barrel where the Republcian Presidential nominee currently is sitting.

In the last week, McCain's camp has gone 100% negative with ridiculous ads that every organization has said is full of complete lies, including factcheck.org, an organizaiton that McCain once sat on the board of before he launched this current Presidential bid.

McCain's campaign is feeding red meat to the base and it has definitely gotten him a bump in the last week, but the media, which McCain used to consider his base, is turning on him hard:

St Petersburg Times: “The Straight Talk Express has taken a nasty turn into the gutter. Sen. John McCain has resorted to lies and distortions in what sounds like an increasingly desperate attempt to slow down Sen. Barack Obama.”

Newsweek's Jonathan Alter: In the middle of John McCain's dopey Britney & Paris attack ad, the announcer gravely asks of Barack Obama: "Is He Ready to Lead?" An equally good question is whether McCain is ready to lead. For a man who will turn 72 this month, he's a surprisingly immature politician—erratic, impulsive and subject to peer pressure from the last knucklehead who offers him advice. The youthful insouciance that for many years has helped McCain charm reporters like me is now channeled into an ad that one GOP strategist labeled "juvenile," another termed "childish" and McCain's own mother called "stupid."

Dallas Morning News: McCain does voters a disservice by creating a caricature of his opponent instead of explaining their many differences on issues. Even some Republican strategists are troubled, saying that Mr. McCain appears to be swinging wildly

Tte straight-talk express has completely been taken over by Steve Schmidt, the vile protege of Karl Rove. What kind of person would cede control of their campaign to the same folks that crafted the "McCain fathered a black baby" campaign that lost him the 2000 nomination? What lack of scrupuls do you have to have to sink that low? How desperate does one have to be? Is McCain that morally bankrupt?

I've been lucky enough to hear the new Byrne and Eno album and it's pretty fantastic. You can get "Strange Overtones" for free.......

David Byrne and Brian Eno have paired up for their first record together as co-writers since the highly influential and critically acclaimed 1981 release My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Due out August 18, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today is the culmination of a year's worth of writing, recording, and travel between New York and London. The album will be self-released and made available as a stream and digital download for purchase exclusively through everythingthathappens.com.

Beginning August 4, everythingthathappens.com will offer listeners a free download to preview the album. On August 18 the entire record will be made available for sale and streaming. Other formats will follow, including enhanced CD with download and deluxe package CD with download featuring artwork by Stefan Sagmeister.

With a Byrne tour, David Byrne, Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno scheduled in support of the release of Everything That Happens from the fall of `08 through early `09 in the U.S., Australasia in early '09, and Europe in March 09, the focus will be on these new songs as well as Byrne's previous collaborations with Eno including some Talking Heads albums (many of which were produced by Eno). "The live shows will maybe try to draw a line linking this new material with what we did 30 years ago," explains Byrne, "a little bit anyway."

DAVID BYRNE TOUR DATES
Sep 16 2008 Bethlehem, PA Zoellner Arts Center - Baker Hall
Sep 17 2008 Baltimore, MD Lyric
Sep 18 2008 Newport News, VA Ferguson Center for the Arts
Sep 20 2008 Atlanta, GA Chastain Park Amphitheater
Sep 21 2008 Asheville, NC Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
Sep 22 2008 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium
Sep 23 2008 Memphis, TN Orpheum Theatre
Sep 25 2008 Austin, TX Paramount
Sep 26 2008 Austin, TX Austin City Limits (Zilker Park)
Sep 28 2008 Alburquerque, NM Kiva Auditorium
Sep 30 2008 Phoenix, AZ Orpheum
Oct 2 2008 San Diego, CA Humphreys
Oct 3 2008 Los Angeles, CA Greek Theatre
Oct 4 2008 Santa Barbara, CA Arlington Theater
Oct 6 2008 San Francisco, CA Davies Symphony Hall
Oct 8 2008 Santa Rosa, CA Wells Fargo Center For the Arts
Oct 9 2008 Saratoga, CA Mountain Winery
Oct 11 2008 Park City, UT Eccles Center for the Performing Arts
Oct 12 2008 Denver, CO Buell Theater
Oct 14 2008 Minneapolis, MN Orpheum Theatre
Oct 15 2008 Milwaukee, WI Pabst
Oct 17 2008 Omaha, NE Kiewit Concert Hall
Oct 18 2008 St. Louis, MO Fox Theatre
Oct 19 2008 Kansas City, MO Uptown Theatre (Reserved)
Oct 21 2008 Lousiville, KY Louisville Palace Theater
Oct 23 2008 Cleveland, OH Allen Theatre
Oct 24 2008 Ann Arbor, MI Michigan Theatre
Oct 25 2008 Indianapolis, IN Clowes Memorial Hall
Oct 26 2008 Chicago, IL Chicago Opera House
Oct 29 2008 Toronto, ONT Massey Hall
Oct 30 2008 Montreal, QUE Metropolis
Oct 31 2008 Boston, MA Wang Center
Nov 1 2008 Atlantic City, NJ Borgata
Nov 3 2008 Red Bank, NJ Count Basie Theatre
Nov 5 2008 Albany, NY Empire State Plaza
Nov 7 2008 Pittsburgh, PA Carnegie Music Hall
Nov 8 2008 Philadelphia, PA Tower Theatre

Of Montreal will release their 9th studio album, Skeletal Lamping, on October 7, 2008. You can get a free download of lead single, "Id Engager," over at Stereogum.

A gigantic tour is slate to start this fall, with the band returning to the awful Roseland Ballroom in New York City on October 10th. Love Is All, Sinkane, Gang Gang Dance, Icy Demons and HEALTH are slated to open various dates. All tour dates are after the jump.

In related news, Kevin Barnes has recently been collaborating with Andrew VanWyngarden from MGMT, on a project called Blikk Fang. That record should be dropping in the fall or early 2008.....

Robert Novak's career has come to an end. The neo-con columnist ends his career in absolute disgrace as he was used by the McCain campaign to publish their lies (he did admit he was used) and a couple days later he speeds off (and is caught) after hitting a pedestrian with his sports car.

Conservative political commentator Robert Novak has announced his immediate retirement after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. The Chicago Sun-Times reported on its Web site Monday that Novak's prognosis is "dire."

It's hard to feel any pityfor a man who put multiple lives in jeapordy by exposing an undercover CIA agent and bolstering the government's false claims that Iraq was a threat........

Obama's new ad is rational and truthful, which is why it can't compete with the McCain's recent negative campaign. McCain's ads have been fodder for talk shows for the last week and have gotten the Republican a nine-eleven point bump in the polls.Here's the new Obama ad:.

What Obama should be doing is throwing some red meat at McCain (while staying honest). Something like this:

Iggy & The Stooges are set to play Terminal 5 this Friday. Unfortunately for them, the legendary punk outfit got robbed in Montreal and won't be using their own equipment upon the return to New York City. Here's the email that is going around.....

IGGY AND THE STOOGES EQUIPMENT STOLEN ON AUGUST 4, 2008 OUTSIDE THE EMBASSY SUITES HOTEL 208 SAINT ANTOINE OUEST, MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA

all equipment was in a rented penske 15 foot yellow truck with u.s. (michigan) license plate number AC46493 and the theft had to have happened in the morning, between 6:30 and 7:30 am

there's a web page at:

http://www.hootpage.com/stoogesstolenstuff/stoogesstolenstuff.html

More information after the jump........

I seriously don't understand how this industry hasn't completely fallen apart. Airlines continue to deliver worse service at an infalted price, not to mention that they're telling pilots to fly at unsafe gas levels. They are all disgusting and deserve to go bankrupt.......

The last and only time Weezer played Madison Square Garden was Z100 Zootopia concert in 1994. Well, they'll return to the famed arena as headliers when they hit the road this fall to support their third self-titled album. Angels and Airwaves and Tokyo Police Club will open......

WEEZER + ANGELS & AIRWAVES + TOKYO POLICE CLUB TOUR DATES
Sep 23 Boston, MA Tsongas Arena
Sep 24 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
Sep 26 Atlantic City, NJ Borgata Casino
Sep 27 Philadelphia, PA Susquehanna Center
Sep 29 Detroit, MI The Palace of Auburn Hills
Sep 30 Toronto, ON Air Canada Center
Oct 2 Chicago, IL All State Arena
Oct 3 St. Paul, MN Xcel Arena
Oct 5 Denver, CO Broomfield
Oct 7 Salt Lake City, UT E Center
Oct 9 Portland OR Memorial Coliseum
Oct 10 Vancouver, BC GM Place
Oct 11 Seattle, WA Key Arena
Oct 13 San Jose, CA Events Center
Oct 14 Los Angeles, CA The Forum
Oct 17 San Diego, CA Cox Arena
Oct 18 Phoenix, AZ Arizona State Fair
Oct 20 Austin, TX Frank Erwin Center
Oct 21 Dallas, TX Nokia Theater
Oct 23 Houston, TX Reliant Arena
Oct 25 Atlanta, GA Gwinnett Arena

The mainstream media finally picked up on the John Edwards affair story and the big story line seems to be that this is going to bring down Obama. How that is, is not made clear, but I think Joe Klein from Time asks the right question:

Commenter Ralph wants to know:

Why is Edwards's adultery a problem for Obama, while McCain's adultery is not a problem for McCain?

The answer is: Edwards' adultery is not a problem for Obama any more than Larry Craig's importunings should be a problem for McCain. As for McCain's alleged adultery--it's been denied by both parties and I really don't care about the Senator's sex life. I do care about the fact that he is running a campaign filled with lies about his opponent's positions, a campaign that is conducted in a snarky, subversive tone that is entirely inappropriate to American politics. I wish my colleagues would spend more time talking about what a disservice McCain is doing the country and less time "analyzing" why McCain has to tear down Obama in order to win. (If tearing down Obama is the only way he can win--and this should be obvious, but apparently it isn't--McCain doesn't deserve to win.)

Smart words. I wish that you heard similiar things from Senator Clinton's still bitter staff:

Sen. Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic presidential nominee if John Edwards had been caught in his lie about an extramarital affair and forced out of the race last year, insists a top Clinton campaign aide, making a charge that could exacerbate previously existing tensions between the camps of Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.

"I believe we would have won Iowa, and Clinton today would therefore have been the nominee," former Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson told ABCNews.com.

A former UPS Delivery man. An original king of comedy. A Peabody Award winner for The Bernie Mac Show. Part of the Ocean's gang. Star of a bunch of awful, but very profitable, movies. Bernie Mac has become one of the top black comedians in the last two decades. He should have gotten a "below the fold" obit.......

Isaac Hayes has passed away. The funkster behind the brilliant lp's "Hot Buttered Soul", "Shaft" and "Black Moses" was a superstar in the 70s and made an amazing comeback in the 90's thanks to his role as Chef on South Park.

In 2006, Hayes quit South Park after taking offense to the show's truthful depiction of Scientology, for which Hayes has been a cult member since 1995.........

Obama will announce his Vice President to the world and the media at the same time via email or text. Here's how....

Sign up today to be the first to know:

http://my.barackobama.com/vp

You will receive an email the moment Barack makes his decision, or you can text VP to 62262 to receive a text message on your mobile phone.

Who reads or even subscribes to Rolling Stone anymore?

Rolling Stone magazine unveiled plans on Monday for a major design overhaul, scaling down its signature large-format pages to a standard magazine size in a bid to bolster advertising and sagging newsstand sales.

The U.S. pop culture magazine will end the oversized look that for more than 30 years has distinguished it from rival publications starting with an issue set to hit newsstands on October 17.

Officials with Wenner Media, the magazine's publisher, said Rolling Stone's circulation has grown to an all-time high of nearly 1.5 million.

But single-copy sales on news racks slumped to 115,644 for the first six months of 2008, down from 119,735 for the same period in 2007, the company said.

The company expects the new format will boost single-copy sales because in the past the magazine's size has proved somewhat unwieldy for retailers to prominently display.

The redesign also will allow publishers to add 16 to 20 more pages of editorial content and to more easily run full-page ads, Wenner Media spokesman Mark Neschis said.

David Byrne is so fucking cool.

The Department of Transportation asked him to help judge a design competition for the city’s new bike racks, he eagerly agreed — so eagerly, in fact, that he sent in his own designs as well.

They were simple shapes to define different neighborhoods around the city: a dollar sign for Wall Street; an electric guitar for Williamsburg, Brooklyn; a car — “The Jersey” — for the area near the Lincoln Tunnel. “I said, ‘Well, this disqualifies me as a judge,’ ” he recalled, “but I just doodled them out and sent them in.” He figured maybe they’d be used to decorate the contest Web site, nycityracks.wordpress.com.

His Manhattan gallery, Pace/MacGill, along with PaceWildenstein, agreed to have the racks fabricated in exchange for the chance to sell them, down the line, as works of art. But for the 364 days that the racks will be out on the streets, Mr. Byrne doesn’t want them to be admired as artwork, he said; he wants them to be lashed with heavy chains, banged with Kryptonites and scratched by gears. He wants them to be used.

Russia and Georgia have gone to war over the disputed territory of South Ossetia, a region that both countries claim to control.

South Ossetia and Abkhazia are territories within Georgia that declared independence from Georgia and have been acting in a de facto independent capacity since the early 1990s. Neither state has been diplomatically recognised by any member of the United Nations. The conflict began 8 August 2008 after Georgia claimed South Ossetian separatists had broken a ceasefire by attacking villages. Georgia launched a military offensive to surround and capture the capital of South Ossetia,

On the surface it seems that Russia had a right to go in, but now that Georgia retreated from South Ossetia, should the Russians continue their campaign into Georgia?

And it's not like Russia hasn't been itching to invade Georgia since it got it's independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union. With that in mind, Georgia thought to allign themselves with a powerful backer: America. Georgia has the third largest amount of troops in Bush's coalition of the willing.

More importantly to Bush and his friends, Georgia is on the route of the only oil and natural gas pipelines not controlled by Russia in the area.

Reuters has a good timeline of the conflict.

It's a complicated situation. I've been reading about it since the invasion began on August 8th, while our vacationing President chilled at the Olympics with his good friend Russian Prime Minister Putin. While Putin left immediately after the opening ceremonies to focus on erasing Georgia from the face of the Earth, Bush spent an additional four days chilling in China watching beach volleyball, basketball and swimming.

Bush couldn't even hold the U.S. flag the right way.......

Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band will play a free show at NYC's Other Music today at 1pm. Later tonight, they play a "Souled Out" (Hardy har har) show at the Bowery Ballroom. They then return to Terminal 5 in NYC on November 8th and 9th..........

While Russia continues to pound Georgia, even though they've supposedly called a ceasefire, one question remains unanswered: Where is America's expert on Russian affairs, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice?

Four days into this conflict with global consequences, which have a direct effect on America, our Secretary of State has opted to stay publicly silent and continue her summer vacation. I konw this is a lame duck and failure of an administration, but don't they get how important this is?

Using a sledgehammer to swat a fly, Russian tanks and bombers widened their assault Monday on Georgia, the closest friend the U.S. has among the slowly democratizing former Soviet republics.

We can not get rid of this administration fast enough. The damage they have done, and continueto do, is beyond comprehension. Russia has literally laughed off America and more-or-less dared us to get involved, knowing that we don't have the military strangth because we're stuck in Iraq. Our strength as a world leader has been so weakened by Bush and his chickenhawks that our empty threats are nothing literally brushed aside by just about every nation around the world. Russia, Iran and China are laughing at America..........

WTF!!!! Why haven't the Democrats impeached the fuck out of Dick Cheney. This man is a criminal of the highest order.

The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh reports to Think Progress about a secret meeting where Dick Cheney was conspiring to provote a war with Iran

There was a dozen ideas proffered about how to trigger a war. The one that interested me the most was why don’t we build — we in our shipyard — build four or five boats that look like Iranian PT boats. Put Navy seals on them with a lot of arms. And next time one of our boats goes to the Straits of Hormuz, start a shoot-up.

Might cost some lives. And it was rejected because you can’t have Americans killing Americans. That’s the kind of — that’s the level of stuff we’re talking about. Provocation. But that was rejected

Of course, the Bush administration used a similiar tactic to lie their way into a war with Iraq:

That story begins during the final weeks of 2003, when everyone in the White House was suffering severe embarrassment over both the origins and the consequences of the invasion of Iraq. No weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq. No evidence of significant connections between Saddam Hussein's regime and the al-Qaida terrorist organization had been discovered there either. Nothing in this costly misadventure was turning out as advertised by the Bush administration.

According to Suskind, the administration's highest officials -- presumably meaning President Bush and Vice President Cheney -- solved this problem by ordering the CIA to manufacture a document "proving" that Saddam had indeed been trying to build nuclear weapons and that he was also working with al-Qaida. The reported product of that order was a fake memorandum from Tahir Jalil Habbush, then chief of Saddam's intelligence service, to the dictator himself, dated July 1, 2001. The memo not only explicitly confirmed that 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta had received training in Baghdad for "attacking the targets that we have agreed to destroy" but also carefully noted the arrival of a "shipment" from Niger via Libya, presumably of uranium yellowcake, the sole export of that impoverished African country.

The cineamatic indie rockers Noah & The Whale have finally rescheduled some NYC dates. They have three local shows set, including September 17th at Williamsburg's Union Pool, September 18th at the Sidewalk Cafe, and September 19th at the Mercury Lounge.

On September 15th, part-time Whaler Laura Marling plays the Bowery Ballroom with Johnny Flynn. What are the odds they will join forces in New York City?

NOAH & THE WHALE TOUR DATES
Sept 17 Brooklyn, NY Union Pool
Sept 18 New York, NY Sidewalk Café
Sept 19 New York, NY Mercury Lounge
Sept 20 Boston, MA TOAD
Sept 26 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle
Sept 29 Seattle, WA The Sunset
Sept 30 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge
Oct 2 San Francisco, CA Pop Scene
Oct 4 Los Angeles, CA Detour Festival
Oct 6 Los Angeles, CA Spaceland

Following her mega tour with Jay Z, Blige is heading back on tour this fall with Robin Thicke. The first few dates have leaked and they include an October 2nd date at Radio City Music Hall....

MARY J BLIGE + ROBIN THICKE TOUR DATES
Sepember 26 Susquehanna Bank Center Camden, NJ
September 27 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Charlotte, NC
October 2 Radio City Music Hall New York, NY

A crowd waits for Obama in Des Moines, Iowa (via Political Punch)

A "crowd" waits for McCain in Des Moines, Iowa (via Americablog)

Neil Diamond - "Beautiful Noise (Live at MSG, 8/12/08)

NEIL DIAMOND | MSG | 8-12-08
Holly Holly / Beautiful Noise / Street Life / Love on the Rocks / Play Me / Cherry Cherry / Thank The Lord For the Night Time / Home Before Dark / Don't Go There / Pretty Amazing Grace / Crunchy Granola Suite / Done Too Soon / Forever in Blue Jeans / Sweet Caroline / Brooklyn Roads / I am I said / Solitary Man / Kentucky Woman / I'm A Believer / You Don't Bring Me Flowers / Song Sung Blue / Man Of God / Hell Yeah // Cracklin Rosie // America // Brother Love Travelin Salvation Show

Last night, Bob Dylan and his six-piece band played their first ever proper show in Brooklyn. The relatively short 17-song set focused on some of Dylan's best protest songs. The band sounded very tight, but Dylan looked extremely uncomfortable throughtout the show and he was constantly stepping away from his keyboard to stretch out his knees and lower back.

BOB DYLAN | PROSPECT PARK BANDSHELL | 8-12-08
Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 / Lay, Lady, Lay / Lonesome Day Blues / Girl Of The North Country / The Levee's Gonna Break / Spirit On The Water / Honest With Me / John Brown / Highway 61 Revisited / Beyond The Horizon / It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) / Nettie Moore / Summer Days /.Masters Of War // Like A Rolling Stone // Thunder On The Mountain // Blowin' In The Wind

An excellent selection....

The Obama for America Campaign announced today that former Virginia Governor Mark Warner will deliver the keynote address at the 2008 Democratic Convention on Tuesday, August 26th, the second night of the Convention.

The conveniton has also announced some of the prime-time speakers:

MONDAY: House Nancy Pelosi, Senator Claire McCaskill, Senator Edward Kennedy, Craig Robinson (Michelle Obama's brother), Michelle Obama (Headliner)
TUESDAY: Senator Hillary Clinton, Governor Mark Warner (Keynote Speaker, Headliner)
WEDNESDAY: President Bill Clinton, VIce President Nominee (Headliner)
THURSDAY: Senator Barack Obama (Headliner)

PAST DNCC KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
2004 Barack Obama
2000 Harold Ford Jr
1996 Evan Bayh
1992 Barbara Jordan
1988 Ann Richards
1984 Mario Cuomo
1980 Edward Kennedy
1976 Barbara Jordan
1972 Reuben Askew
1968 Daniel Inouye

It is truly amazing to me how many people believe that John McCain is pro-choice. He has worked very hard to keep this myth circulating and it has mostly worked. The New Republic has a great piece about just how to the right he is on this issue (via Daily Kos):

During his political career, McCain has participated in 130 reproductive health-related votes on Capitol Hill; of these, he voted with the anti-abortion camp in 125. McCain has consistently backed rights for the unborn, voting to cover fetuses under the State Children's Health Insurance Program and supporting the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which allowed a "child in utero" to be recognized as a legal victim of a crime. He has voted in favor of the global gag rule, which prevents U.S. funds from going to international family-planning clinics that use their own money to perform abortions, offer information about abortion, or take a pro-choice stand. And he has voted to appoint half a dozen anti-abortion judges to the federal bench, as well as Samuel Alito, John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, and Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. During the Bork hearings, McCain attacked the Court's creation of a right to privacy in Roe v. Wade: "Whether one is pro-or anti-abortion," McCain said in an October 1987 hearing, "it is difficult to argue that the Court's opinion is not constitutionally suspect."

Some of these votes were, politically speaking, no-brainers for anyone vaguely in the pro-life camp. But McCain also joined efforts supported only by the radical wing of his party. He voted, for instance, with only one-fifth of the Senate to remove family-planning grants from a 1988 spending bill and with only 18 senators that same year against allowing Medicaid to pay for abortions in cases of rape or incest.

In 1994, the year after abortion provider David Gunn was killed outside a Florida clinic, McCain voted with 29 members of the Senate against establishing penalties for violent or threatening interference outside abortion clinics. Many solidly pro-life Republicans--Mitch McConnell, Kit Bond, John Danforth--voted in favor of the bill, called the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE). "We tried to get as many co-sponsors as we could, and we postured the thing as anti-vigilante violence," recalls Judy Appelbaum, a Washington lawyer who was counsel to Senator Edward Kennedy at the time and the lead Hill staffer on the bill. "We argued that, even if you oppose abortion, you should not condone these actions." According to Appelbaum, law enforcement officials, newspaper editorialists, health care providers, and law-and-order politicians all supported the bill. "There were a number of very anti-choice senators who voted for FACE," she says, "and [McCain] wasn't one of them." Instead, McCain joined senators like Orrin Hatch and Jesse Helms in opposition.

A DNC approved ad on McCain's oil plan...

Another pathetic, non-issue McCain ad saying McCain is a rock star...

A better McCain ad using Dem's praise (and Hillary's Obama bashing)...

This is so ludacris! What is wrong with President Bush.......

The Bush administration on Monday said it plans to let federal agencies decide for themselves whether highways, dams, mines and other construction projects might harm endangered animals and plants.

The proposal, which does not require the approval of Congress, would reduce the mandatory, independent reviews that government scientists have been performing for 35 years. Developers welcomed the plan, while environmentalists derided it.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said late Monday the changes were needed to ensure that the Endangered Species Act would not be used as a “back door” to regulate the gases blamed for global warming. In May, the polar bear became the first species declared as threatened because of climate change. Warming temperatures are expected to melt the sea ice the bear depends on for survival.

"These changes are designed to reduce the number of unnecessary consultations under the ESA so that more time and resources can be devoted to the protection of the most vulnerable species," the Interior Department said in its announcement.

“The existing regulations create unnecessary conflicts and delays," added Kempthorne. "The proposed regulations will continue to protect species while focusing the consultation process on those federal actions where potential impacts can be linked to the action and the risks are reasonably certain to occur. The result should be a process that is less time-consuming and a more effective use of our resources."

The proposal would bar federal agencies from assessing the emissions from projects that contribute to global warming and its effect on species and habitats.

The Interior Department cited its recent decision on polar bears as an example. While listing polar bears as endangered due to melting sea ice habitat, it argues that scientists at this time cannot "draw a direct causal link between greenhouse gas emissions and distant observations of impacts affecting species.

Generation Kill may be getting a gothic future. This is from the Los Angeles Times:

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has been in talks in with HBO about making a two-season maxi-series out of "Year Zero," the dark future tale that Reznor has chronicled in his music as well as in a celebrated Alternate Reality Game (ARG) with the same title that was created by 42 Entertainment.

"It's the most exciting thing on the horizon, it's the thing that when I wake up in the morning it makes me say, 'God it would be cool if that happened," Reznor told me this week while sitting backstage before a Nails concert in Toronto. "This is my grand ambition. Will it happen? I don't know. It was fun sitting and telling [the HBO] guys and watching them shake their head and having writers on board and producers that are in to it. It's been a fun thing."

"Year Zero" began (as so many things do in the music of NIN) from a place of negative emotion and sonic experimentation. Reznor was increasingly outraged by the geopolitical situation during the Bush years and he wanted to channel that fury into music, but he was loath to drift into the limiting lexicon of protest lyrics.

"How could I express what I was feeling in a way that didn't sound like bitching about George Bush? I mean, you know, I love Neil Young but I didn't want to listen to that record, really," he said, referring to the singer-songwriter's "Living with War." "My reaction to that kind of record is, 'We know this. It's obvious.'"

Reznor remembered reading about 42 Entertainment and their deeply layered ARG for the Steven Spielberg film "A.I." He met with them and the result was a truly amazing through-the-looking-glass creation on-line, shaped by the 42 team working closely with the rock star and his art director, Rob Sheridan.\

Reznor was delighted with the result. "It was probably the most fun thing I've done." Now he wants to finish the story he started and do it across a range of media.

"I just pitched it to HBO two weeks ago in L.A. It went great. Ideally, we're trying to get them to do a two-year limited series. I prefer that over a film. We would have a second ARG tying into the second album and ties into the series and they all happen together with a budget needed to pull that all off. There would be a tour down the road. The record completes the story, the ending that no one knows. I know what happens. I knew when I started it. And it's not what people think. "

I don't care for this attack ad (that was made by an individual with no direct connection to the DNC or Obama Camp), but it's the exact kind of ad that McCain's camp is officially releasing. Should the Dems do an ad like this?

With his lame duck Presidency nearing it's end, Bush and his radical fundamentalist friends are working overtime to overturn women's health rights.

In the samy way the Bush circumvented congressional approval to allow developers, not scientists, determine enviornmental risks by not passing a new law, but simply having the ESA rewrite certain parts of the law, Bush is having the HHS rewrite laws - bypassing congress - that would make numerous forms of contraception be medically listed as abortions.

A memo released Tuesday outlines a Bush administration proposal that would drastically limit women's access to abortion and contraception. The rule change would deny federal funding to medical providers who will not hire doctors or nurses that object to abortion. It significantly expands the definition of the procedure.

The proposal radically redefines abortion as "any of the various procedures -- including the prescription and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action -- that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation," according to Reuters. This would falsely label several types of birth control, including IUDs, the pill and emergency contraception as abortion.

Hospitals, clinics, researchers, and medical schools would be required to sign "written certifications" to uphold this rule in order to receive funds from the Department of Health and Human Services, reports The New York Times.

"This proposed rule will put women’s access to birth control and the information they need to make health care decisions at risk," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood in a written press release. "As a result, women's ability to manage their own health care is at risk of being compromised by politics and ideology."

McCain supports Bush's policy. Obama opposes it. Bush, of course, is a gigantic hypocrite:

In the winter of 1971 George W. Bush was dating a woman named Robin Lowman (now Robin Garner). Miss Lowman became pregnant by Smirk and he arranged for her to have an abortion - which in the great state of Texas in 1971 was very illegal!

Here's the scoop:

Rock band Wilco hopes to have its seventh studio album out by spring 2009, frontman Jeff Tweedy told Albany, N.Y., radio station WAMC recently. After opting for a highly performance-oriented recording approach on 2007's "Sky Blue Sky," Tweedy said he expects that Wilco will "allow ourselves a little bit more leeway in terms of sculpting the sound in the studio and doing overdubs and using the studio as another instrument. Last time around, it was more of a document."

At recent live shows, Wilco has played two new songs: "One Wing" recalls the melancholy, slowly building "Sky Blue Sky" closer "On and On and On," while "Sunny Feeling" has a sly main riff in keeping with loose jams from the last album.

Video of "One Wing" after the jump.....

David Byrne & Brian Eno's Everything That Happens Will Happen Tonight has been released today. You can buy it in one of three ways:

>>DIGITAL ONLY - $8.99 Entire Album (11 songs), immediate download of 320kbps MP3s, No DRM, 17-page digital lyric package.

>>CD + DIGITAL - $11.99 Entire Album (11 songs), Immediate download of 320kbps MP3s, No DRM, 17-page digital lyric package. Album will be shipped on November 30, 2008.

>>DELUXE PACKAGE - $69.99 Entire Album (11 songs) + Four bonus songs, Immediate download of 320kbps MP3s, No DRM, 17-page digital lyric package, screensaver, a short film about the album by Hillman Curtis. Deluxe boxset will be shipped on November 30, 2008.

It's excellent.......

Bloc Party will release a new album called Intimacy on Thursday, August 21st. It's $10 to download or $20 to download the album immediately and get a physical copy of the album on October 28th.

To my knowledge, this is the firswt time that a major label, Atlantic in the US, is opting to release an album in this fashion. I image it will become the norm very soon.....

Neil Young is about to hit the road for his biggest headlining U.S. tour since 1991's "Smell the Horse Tour" which hit arenas with opening acts Sonic Youth and Social Distortion. This time around, Young will be bringing Death Cab For Cutie, Wilco and Everest (???!?!). It's a Live Nation sponsored tour. This note's for you......

The concerts will feature Young with the same band that so ably backed him in Europe -- Ben Keith, Rick Rosas, Chad Cromwell, Anthony Crawford and Pegi Young. Song sets are expected to be eclectic, featuring both newer material and classic Neil Young hits. Death Cab For Cutie and Everest will support dates from October 14 through November 5; Wilco and Everest are on the bill for dates starting November 29 through the tour's conclusion, with the exception of the December 9 Chicago date which will feature (TBD) and Everest in support.

All shows for this tour will be general admission floor with reserved seating in the stands. General admission tickets will be prices at $75.00 with reserved stand tickets ranging in price from $45.00 to $250.00 (plus all applicable service charges).

NEIL YOUNG TOUR DATES
October 14 - St. Paul, MN -- Xcel Energy Center / on sale August 22
October 16 - Winnipeg, MN -- MTS Centre / on sale August 22
October 18 - Regina, SK -- Brandt Centre / on sale August 22
October 19 - Calgary, AB -- Pengrowth Saddledome / on sale August 22
October 21 - Everett, WA -- Comcast Arena at Everett / on sale September 12
October 22 - Vancouver, BC -- GM Place / on sale August 22
October 29 - San Diego, CA -- Cox Arena / on sale August 25
October 30 - Los Angeles, CA -- The Forum / on sale August 25
November 1 - Reno, NV -- Events Center / on sale August 23
November 4 - Kansas City, MO -- Sprint Center / on sale September 12
November 5 - Omaha, NE -- Qwest Center / on sale September 12
November 29 - Halifax, NS -- Metro Centre / on sale August 23
December 1 - Montreal, PQ -- Bell Centre / on sale September 13
December 2 - Ottawa, ON -- Scotia Bank Place / on sale August 22
December 4 - Toronto, ON -- Air Canada Centre / on sale August 22
December 7 - Detroit, MI -- Palace of Auburn Hills / on sale September 12
December 9 - Chicago, IL -- Allstate Arena / on sale September 12
December 12 - Philadelphia, PA -- Wachovia Spectrum / on sale September 19
December 15 - New York, NY -- Madison Square Garden / on sale September 15

On Monday, August 25th, the Democratic National Convention will begin in Denver. To make the four days scripted propaganda-fest a bit more enjoyable, we here at Product Shop NYC have created OBINGO! And be sure to check back for McCainopoly in time for the September 1st beginning of the Republican Convention. Let the games begin....

RULES
1. First to get five in a row (horizontal, vertical, diagonal) win!
2. When you find an item with one asterisk(*) you take one swig of beer.
3. When you find an item with two asterisks (**) you take two swigs of beer.
4. When you find an item with three asterisks (***) you finish a beer.
5. When you find an item with four asterisks (****) you do a shot, with a beer chaser.

COLUMN 1
Comparison of McCain to Bush *
"Hillary For President" sign or chant ***
Mention of Iran Nuclear Program or War *
Policy discussion or interview with Will.I.Am ****
Reference to "Dreams From My Father" **

COLUMN 2
Plan to go after Osama Bin Laden *
Interview with a blogger ***
Immigration policy discussion *
Angry Bill Clinton **
Mention of high gas prices, rising cost of oil *

COLUMN 3
Coverage of protesters ***
Mention of bad economy or recession *
Picture of Senator Barack Obama (Free Spot)
Speaker refers to an ordinary person by name *
Celebrity sighting ***

COLUMN 4
Mention of healthcare plan *
Shot of delegate wearing a stupid hat ***
Mention of faulty information leading to Iraq War *
Shot of Dennis Kucinich's hot wife ****
Reference to Bush looking into Putin's soul **

COLUMN 5
Chant of "Yes, We Can!" *
Speaker referring to John McCain as a War Hero **
Something that will likely end up being made fun of on The Daily Show **
Mention of "Red State, Blue State" *
Speakers on stage doing a "terrorist fist jab" ****

DOWNLOAD A PDF OF THE OBINGO! BOARD

Spin has finally put together something worthwhile. The dying magazine has started a book club and will host an eveny featuring Tegan & Sara's Tegan Quin and Running With Scissors' author Augusten Burroughs at Housing Works in New York City. Here's the info.....

SPIN Book Club Presents Liner Notes with Tegan Quin and Augusten Burroughs Thursday, September 04, 2008 at 8:00 PM

SPIN Magazine and Housing Works host an evening of music and literature with a reading by author Augusten Burroughs (Running With Scissors; A Wolf at the Table) and performance by musician Tegan Quin (Tegan and Sara) to highlight the mutual effects of music and literature and celebrate the SPIN Book Club, an eclectic collection of literary-minded musicians who hope to foster a love of reading amongst music fans.

The Obama campaign has been slipping in polls throughout July and August. It's no coincidence that this coincides with Karl Rove's protege, Steve Schmidt, took over John McCain's campaign. Here's ten things Obama's camp needs to start doing immediately if they don't want to blow this election the same way that Gore did in 2000 and Kerry especially did in 2004.

1. ATTACK JOHN McCAIN - In the last two months, McCain has accused Obama of everything from treason to being unpatriotic, a celebrity and a tax-crazy liberal. The only person who has really responded to these ridiculous charges is Keith Olbermann and that doesn't really work. Obama doesn't only need to hit back, he needs to hit first and hard..

2. SPEND MONEY ON ADS - Obama has been raising tons more money than McCain, but McCain is out-spending Obama in numerous battleground states. Run ads and start running them. Go negative. It's easy and effective.

3. NEVER STOP COMPARING McCAIN TO BUSH - Show shots of Bush hugging McCain. Show pictures of McCain hosting a birthday party for a giddy Bush the day after Katrina hit. Show how McCain supported Bush 90% of the time. Keep saying it over and over and over again.

4. ENOUGH WITH HILLARY AND BILL CLINTON - Why is the Obama camp giving such a big role to two people who continue to this day to undermine the entire Obama campaign? Hillary continues to provoke her supporters (See P.U.M.A., aka Party Unity My Ass). Bill Clinton continues to praise McCain more than Obama. These two do not want Obama to win the Presidency. How much do you want to bet that neither one of them will truly speak highly about Obama at the Democratic Convention? My guess is that both Hillary and Bill will only talk about themselves and how great they and their supporters are.

5. POINT OUT McCAIN'S WEALTH - He has 9 house, one of which he failed to pay taxes on. He is worth millions of dollars. He thinks you have to be worth over $5million to be considered rich. He obviously does not get what it means to be middle class.

6. POINT OUT McCAIN'S AFFAIR - Yes it is a low blow, but you know that if roles were reveresed, he would use it against Obama.

7. POINT OUT THAT McCAIN HAS BROKEN THE CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAW HE WROTE - Not only is McCain a flip-flopper, not only did he break a law that he wrote, but his actions are criminal! Hit him hard on this.

8. ATTACK McCAIN ON OFF SHORE DRILLING - Spend time in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana and attack McCain's plan for off-shore oil drilling.

9. REGISTER 20 MILLION NEW VOTERS - Spend more money than you have, but their are roughly 150 million Americans who are still not registered to vote. If you can get a something like 20 million of them to vote, you can win.

10. ATTACK McCAIN'S WAR RECORD - Every veteran group gave Obama much better grades than they gave McCain. Obama took the lead on the GI Bill, on fixing VA hospitals and on numerous other veteran issues. McCain voted against all these issues. Hit his base and hit him hard.

Obama needs to stay positive while incorporating a negative slant on McCain. This could have and should have been a civil debate between two candidates with completely different views on policy, but McCain has realized he can't win doing that. Since McCain enlisted the disgusting Schmidt to run his campaign, the rules have changed. McCain is now leading in some national polls. If Obama wants to win, he needs to get on the new field the Schmidt laid out.

This Saturday, August 23rd, the Dreamland Roller Rink in Coney Island will host a Ziggy Stardust-soundtracked skate party, complete with spacey Bowie movies. Get glammed up and lace up those skates. Admission is $10.......

David Wain's third time directing a feature film will once again pair him up with Paul Rudd. Also in this comedy, which seems to be Wain's most mainstream product to date, is McLovin, Elizabeth Banks and Seann William Scott. The script was written by Timothy Dowling, Ken Marino, Paul Rudd and David Wain......

This is unexpected....

Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama is getting a little bit of support from one of the big names in country music.

Toby Keith said that he's backing the Illinois senator and fellow Democrat.

Keith is best known among non-country music folks for his post-Sept. 11 song, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue."

While you may not think this means as much as say an endorsement from Oprah or Nancy Reagan, Keith has a hardcore following of a few million country music fans who respect his opinions. Keith says he's a conservative-democrat who was very supportive of President Bush's 2004 reelection.

So, will we see Keith campaigning for Obama alongside the Dixie Chicks?

Wow. If Obama said what conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan just wrote, the McCain camp would be going nuts about this. That said, this is one of the best arguments of why America should not elect McCain.

In all the discussion of John McCain's recently recovered memory of a religious epiphany in Vietnam, one thing has been missing. The torture that was deployed against McCain emerges in all the various accounts. It involved sleep deprivation, the withholding of medical treatment, stress positions, long-time standing, and beating. Sound familiar?

According to the Bush administration's definition of torture, McCain was therefore not tortured.

Cheney denies that McCain was tortured; as does Bush. So do John Yoo and David Addington and George Tenet. In the one indisputably authentic version of the story of a Vietnamese guard showing compassion, McCain talks of the agony of long-time standing. A quarter century later, Don Rumsfeld was putting his signature to memos lengthening the agony of "long-time standing" that victims of Bush's torture regime would have to endure. These torture techniques are, according to the president of the United States, merely "enhanced interrogation."

And let's remember that McCain just voted for Bush's torture bill......

For the second year in a row, the Black Crowes will be playing a halloween show in New York City with Patti Smith & Her Band opening up for them.

The Crowes and Patti just announced two shows at the Hammerstein Ballroom on October 30th and 31st. Tickets go on sale Friday at noon.

The Crowes are also playing the Hammerstein on October 27th and 28th, as well as acoustic shows at Town Hall on November 3rd and 4th.......

Yesterday, McCain told a journalist that he's unsure how many homes him and his sugarmama own. Today, the Obama camp released this attack ad......

While the liberal blogs have been keen to mention that McCain has eight to ten homes, especially after his campaign tried to label Obama an elitist.com, the mainstream media finally picked up on the story after McCain said he was unsure of how many homes he actually owns.

The story grew today with news that the McCains bought a second beach condo in the same building athey already have a home at the same time that John McCain advises Americans to skip their vacation to make their mortgage payments,

I wonder if he's going to have to increase the amount of money he spents on household employees like he did in 2007::

The McCains increased their budget for household employees from $184,000 in 2006 to $273,000 in 2007, according to John McCain's tax returns.

The additional cash supports an "increase in the number of employees," the McCain aide told Politico.

But you know what, here's what the McCain camp has to say about all of this:

"The reality is they have some investment properties and stuff. It's not as if he lives in ten houses. That's just not the case, The reality is they have four that actually could be considered houses they could use...This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison." - McCain spokesman Brian Rogers

It seems McCain has entered into that weird territory of using his P.O.W. time as an answer to everything, the same way that Giuliani way overused 9/11...........

The Homosexuals will headline an excellent bill that also features Unsacred Hearts and Look at Union Hall in Park Slope on August 22nd. Tickets ar e $10......

DOWNLOAD: Unsacred Hearts - "Point of Pride"
DOWNLOAD: Looker - "Gates of the Old City"

You can still be kicked out of the U.S. Army for being gay, even if you're a desperately needed translator, but if you break the army law that keeps personal religious beliefs out of the army, odds are you will likely get away with it. Well Military.com has exposed such an issue and it involves none-other than Gen. David Petraeus.

The book is "Under Orders: A Spiritual Handbook for Military Personnel," by Army Chaplain (Lt. Col.) William McCoy, and according to Petraeus' published endorsement of the work, "it should be in every rucksack for those times when soldiers need spiritual energy."

But the endorsement - which has spurred a demand by a watchdog group for Petraeus' dismissal and court martial on the grounds of establishing a religious requirement on troops - was a personal view never intended for publication, the book's author now says.

Which is worse, breaking down the walls between church and state or having gays proudly serve in the U.S. Army?

After a week of heavy speculation, Senator Barack Obama has welcomed Senator Joe Biden of Delaware to his Presidential ticket.

At 29, Biden was the youngest person ever elected to the Senate. In his 35 years of public service, Biden has used his power to push a moderate-democratic agenda and not to increase his personal wealth. In general, we like his politicial views. We are disappointed that Biden did vote in favor of the Iraq War invasion (even if he was one of the first to publicly speak out abour Bush's handling of the war).

The TXT announcing the pairing was sent to Obama supporters at 3am. Ha......

Matt & Kim are gearing up to continue their zany touring schedule to support their second full length. The first single is "Good Ol Fashion Nightmare" and it's been posted to RCRDLBL. Here's the word:

For the past months, every spare minute we weren't touring we were working on a new album. We knew we needed to record somewhere we could feel creative, and for us, that wasn't a recording studio. We did the initial tracking in the bedroom I grew up in Vermont. It still has skateboarding posters all over the ceiling, silkscreen ink from making patches on the floor, and the memories of all the punks songs I wrote and recorded there since I was 14 years old, tucked away in boxes of 4-track tapes under my bed.

All in all, I feel the songs we recorded are the best music I've ever worked on in that room, or anywhere else for that matter. This song is the first anyone is hearing from our upcoming album GRAND. We chose GOOD OL FASHION NIGHTMARE to kick it off, in hopes that it'll serve you well for these last summer weeks.

On Halloween, Matt & Kim will play a Todd P party in Brooklyn with The Homosexuals

MATT & KIM TOUR DATES
Sept. 2nd - SAN FRANSICO CA - Bottom of the Hill
Sept. 3rd - SACRAMENTO CA - Fun Garden
Sept. 5th - PORTLAND OR - Backspace
Oct. 31st - BROOKLYN NY - Bandbro Brewery Warehouse
Nov. 3rd - BOSTON MA - Middle East Downstairs
Nov. 5th - NORTHAMPTON MA - Iron Horse
Nov. 6th - MONTREAL - Il Motore
Nov. 7th - OTTAWA - Mavericks
Nov. 8th - TORONTO - Whippersnapper Space
Nov. 10th - DETROIT MI - Magic Stick
Nov. 11th - CHICAGO IL - Subterranean
Nov. 12th - CHICAGO IL - Subterranean
Nov. 13th - DEKALB IL - The House Cafe
Nov. 14th - MINNEAPOLIS MN - Triple Rock Social Club
Nov. 15th - MADISON WI - Union South
Nov. 17th - BLOOMINGTON IN - Uncle Festers
Nov. 18th - COVINGTON KY - Mad Hatter Club
Nov. 20th - CLEVELAND OH - Grog Shop
Nov. 21st - PITTSBURGH PA - Willia Pitt Union

The Flaming Lips long-delayed feature film, Christmas on Mars, will have a bunch of screenings at New York's Kraine Theater at the KGB Bar starting on September 12th at 7am through September 30th at 10pm.

CHRISTMAS ON MARS screens in a custom-designed screening room within the Kraine Theater of the KGB Complex at 85 East Fourth Street. A former Ukrainian Socialist Social Club, the KGB Complex features two theater spaces, a comedy club, and a bar. For CHRISTMAS ON MARS, Cinema Purgatorio is converting the KGB's Kraine Theatre into a superb screening room with high definition video and the custom designed Zeta Bootis Mega Supersonic Super-Sound Surround System, which the Flaming Lips created specifically for this film.

Please note that many of our screenings are in the *morning.* Read the showtimes carefully, make sure you know where you're going and when, as there are no ticket exchanges!

Order tickets here......

While Sam Champion will officially release their sophomore lp, Heavenly Bender, on September 2nd via North Street Records, they will do a special early charity release of their entire album at AmieStreet.com. Starting today, you can get Heavenly Bender for only $3!!! All money goes directly to charity........

SAM CHAMPION TOUR DATES
Aug 26 Bowery Ballroom New York, NY
Sep 14 DC9 Washington DC, Washington DC
Sep 15 Local 506 Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Sep 16 Village Tavern Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina
Sep 17 Cafe Eleven St. Augustine, Florida
Sep 20 Emo’s (Indoors) Austin, Texas
Sep 24 Empty Bottle Chicago, Illinois
Oct 2 Mercury Lounge (Heavenly Bender Release Party!) New York, NY

On Monday, the Democratic Convention started in Denver. Michelle Obama headlined the evening with a fabulous and powerful speech that left a lot of women in the hall in tears.

Prior to that, Caroline Kennedy gave a very dry introduction to a video tribute to Senator Ted Kennedy, which included a whole lot of sailing clips. I understand that many older folks associate the Kennedy legacy with sailing, but the whole thing seemed to come off as, well, elitist.

Ted made a special last minute appearance and delivered a powerful speech that brought the arena to its feet.

In a hysterical and pathetic move, Faux News spent the entire day pushing the story that Hillary and her supporters are out to ruin the convention and don't support Obama. Any lunatic who started n"I was for Hillary, but now I'm voting McCain" website, even if they only have five supporters, was given ample time on air. These anti-Obama folks were all absolutely crazy, so they fit perfectly in with Brit Hume and the rest of the kooks on Faux News.

On the funny side, any time Faux News tried to film on the street, they were attacked and disrupted:

For her part, Senator Hillary Clinton was in Denver and spoke to the New York delegates and was right on message with her complete support of Obama and Biden. She also tore McCain a new asshole for trying to agitate her supporters into voting against Obama.

Recreate '68, a somewhat-anarchist anti-war coalition, started a non-violent protest that was quickly ended when police threw pepper spray balls into the protesters. Roughly 200 arrests were made, but most were let go after being detained without being charged for anything.

In the cops vs protesters action, an African-American County Legislator got "accidently" attacked by the police:

As police pepper sprayed a group of protestors outside of a Denver hotel during the Democratic National Convention, an Albany County legislator got caught in the crossfire.

The Times Union is reporting that Wanda Willingham, who was a guest of the New York delegation, was doused as she tried to enter the Sheraton Hotel where she, the New York delegation and several other delegations are staying.

Here's some video from the protests and the police response:

And if you were playing our
OBINGO (UPDATED BOARD ATTACHED), you were probably drunk within five minutes.

Your thoughts on day one?

After a lackluster start to the Democratic Convention on Monday, things picked up on Tuesday thanks to four big speeches, three of which weren't even broadcast on MSNBC, Faux News, PBS.

Congressman Dennis Kucinch and Governor Kathleen Sebelius used the podium to light a fire under the Democratic's asses. They motived voters, slammed McCain and Bush and got people excited.

During prime time, Virginia Senator-to-be Mark Warner delivered an extremely lackluster keynote address, but the crowd was brought back to life by the relatively unknown Montana Governor Bill Schwietzer, who did an amazing job of recharging the room and paving the way for the night's headliner. Schwietzer should have been the keynote.

Sadly, the only netowrk to carry Kucinich, Sebelius and Schwietzer was CNN. Every other network that was covering the conventions instead had panels pondering how much Hillary will undercut Obama.

To her credit, Hillary Clinton gave an excellent headlining speech that made me wonder if she should have been Obama's VP. She did an excellent job and right on message.

While a few speakers spent time bashing McCain and the Republican agenda, I am very discouraged that not every person on the stage is using this gigantic soapbox to pound the message that McCain is another four years of Bush and that the Republicans are responsible for our economic woes, high gas prices, the Iraq War nightmare, outing a CIA agent, illegal wiretaps, spying on U.S. citizens, cutting education budgets, rolling back clean air programs, against stem cell research, against science, against choice and for torture.

Where is that anger? Where is that agenda that does resonate with a large marjority of Americans?

Montana Governor Bill Schweitzer

Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich

Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius

New York Senator Hillary Clinton

The annual New York Comedy Festival will begin the day after the elections, November 5th, and last through November 9th. While most of this year's announced participants aren't political comics, I'm sure their laughter will help continue the city's good mood or help comfort some extremely sad locals.

This year, the New York Comedy Festival will feature performances from Sarah Silverman, Katt Williams, Louis CK, Carlos Mencia, the insane Tracy Morgan, E! The Soup's Joel McHale, The Office's BJ Novak, and a round table discussion with the writers of The Daily Show with John Stewart, amongst others.

Here's the line-up:

NEW YORK COMEDY FESTIVAL
Nov 5 - Frank Coliendo - Carnegie Hall
Nov 6 - Katt Williams - Carnegie Hall
Nov 6 - Louis CK - Town Hall
Nov 7 - The Daily Show w/ Jon Stewart: Writers Speak - Paley Center
Nov 7 - Craig Ferguson - Town Hall (BUY)
Nov 7 - Carlos Mencia - Avery Fisher Hall (BUY)
Nov 8 - Joel McHale - Town Hall
Nov 8 - Tracy Morgon - Apollo Theater (BUY)
Noc 8 - Sarah Silverman & Friends - Hammerstein (BUY)
Nov 9 - Brian Regan - Avery Fisher Hall
Nov 9 - BJ Novak - Town Hall (BUY)

First we had cease & desist orders, then web sheriff and now the FBI is arresting bloggers for uploading album leaks:

Federal authorities say they have arrested a blogger suspected of streaming songs from Guns N' Roses unreleased album, "Chinese Democracy," on his Web site. FBI agents arrested 27-year-old Kevin Cogill on Wednesday morning on suspicion of violating federal copyright laws. Federal authorities say Cogill posted nine unreleased Guns N' Roses songs on his Web site in June.

The songs were later removed.

According to an arrest affidavit, Cogill admitted to agents that he posted the songs on his Web site.

My question is did Cogill upload songs he found on some other website or did he actually, physically steal these tracks from Axl's studio?

Cogill runs the blog Antiquiet. You can read his take here.............

My Bloody Valentinue - "To Here Knows When (Fuji Rock Fest 2008)"

The stage schedule for the entire three day, My Bloody Valentine curated All Tomorrow's Parties New York. Check it out after the jump.

More tickets were released here............

The Democratic Convention has steadily gotten better since it's very disappointing start on Monday. The energy level in the room was brought to a fever pitch by a very on message Bill Clinton. At the same time, Bubba is said to be snubbing tonight's Obama acceptance speech, which is something he really should not do.

The hardest hitting speech of the night came from Senator John Kerry, who gave one of the best speeches of his career. He laid out why and how McCain would be wrong for America and why Obama would be the right choice. It was an effective and passionate speech and I wish this convention would feature more like it.

Sadly, Kerry's speech only aired on PBS. Meanwhile, MSNBC, Fox, CNN and all the major networks kept their pathetic commentators on to discuss if Bill gave a good or great performance.

The highlight thought of the night was Joe Biden's humble and promising Vice Presidential acceptance speech. He also got a highly emotional introduction from his son, Beau Biden......

Beau Biden Introduces His Father, Vice President Nominee Joe Biden

Vice President Nominee & Delaware Senator Joe Biden

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry

President Bill Clinton

There used to be a couple courtesy rules to the Democratic and Republican Conventions.

One was that you don't set up an attack office in the host city at the other parties convention. For the first time ever, the Republicans broke this unwritten rule by setting up an RNC attack office that featured prominent names like Mitt Romney and Ruby Giuliani. Very unclassy.

But, in one of the most disrespectful acts that Rove/Schmidt have crafted, the RNC are said to be "leaking" McCain's Vice President pick at around 8pm tonight...or a few hours before Barack Obama gives his acceptance speech.

I know that McCain is running an extremely dirty and disgusting campaign, but announcing your VP pick on a night that each party has respected since the beginning of political parties is just another example of how low the Republicans are as individuals and politicians.......

Today, August 28th, mark's the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech. On our Sirius Satellite Radio program, the two-time PLUG Award-winning Blog Radio on Left of Center (Channel 26), we will be airing the full speech.

UPDATE: We have just learned that Sirius won't allow us to air Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech during our weekly program. The show's in-house producer said they can not air a speech on one of Sirius' music channels, but pointed out that listeners can hear the speech on Sirius' Convention Radio (Channel 113).

In my opinion, I think it's ridiculous that they won't air such an important piece of history, especially one that made it possible for half the artists we were going to play on our show to even have the freedoms and opportunities they have. Not only that, but the 45th anniversary of MLK’s speech happens to fall on the same day that the Democratic Party has nominated the first African-American for President of the United States of America.

I wanted to air the speech to an audience who, in all likelihood, isn’t listening to Convention Radio during the afternoon. I thought it was a great idea. Sadly, Sirius disagreed and has censored me from airing it on Blog Radio on Left of Center.

Tickets for Oasis at Terminal 5 in New York City are being given away through a raffle via Oasisinet.Good luck getting these tickets, which I imagine will go for a couple G's on craigslist........

Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at aniBoom
Radiohead will be livecasting tonight's tour ending show from Santa Barbara:

Hello! To celebrate the end of a brilliant tour, we're going to webcast the last show here in America. We'll be playing live in Santa Barbara, at the Bowl. It's one of our favourite places to play; I think we've ended tours there before, once even playing a cover of ' cinnamon girl '. It's not too big, in fact it's very intimate, a small arena with a dirt floor, set in pretty countryside. It should be a special night, for lots of reasons, and we're going to try and share as much of it as we can on the webcast. Nigel, our producer, will be helping out getting it to you, so if it goes wrong....It's live!

Thank you so much to everyone who's come and seen us this year; it has truly been the most special and exciting tour for all of us.

Webcast details to follow...
x
Colin

All the goodness should be viewable at radiohead.tv.

And check out tons of fan made videos from a Radiohead-approved contest here. Some more really great ones after the jump

What does it say about a man when his members of his own extended and immediate family are disgusted by the way he is running his Presidential campaign and some won't even be voting for him?

"I'm not voting for McCain," Kathleen Hensley Portalski tells Us. "I have a different political standpoint.

"I'm voting for Obama," the Phoenix resident says. "I think his proposals to improve the country are more positive and I'm not a big war believer."

Portalski, 65, and the potential first lady, 54, have the same father: Jim Hensley, the founder of the beer distributor Hensley and Co. that Cindy McCain now chairs.

Portalski's son Nathan, a 45-year-old aerospace machinist, is also backing Obama.

"I wouldn't vote for John McCain if he was a Democrat," he tells Us. "I would not vote at all before I'd vote for him.

"I question whether Cindy is someone I'd want to see in the White House as first lady," he adds.

Rumors are also circulating that John's daughter Sidney McCain, who is the general manager of V2 Records and lives and works in Toronto, is also an Obama supporter. She has not been campaigning with her father. For the record, Sidney was (is still?) a registered Democrat.

And the final word should go to John's own mother, Roberta McCain, has called the ads his campaign is running "stupid.".......

Senator John McCain has selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running mate.

First off, this selection seems to have been made without any imput from the Republican nominee, who was said to want either Joe Lieberman or Tom Ridge on the ticket. The decision to go with Palin is all Rove.

Second, let's meet Sarah Palin, pictured above with her colleague and friend Alaskan Senator Ted "Bridge To Nowhere" Stevens:

Palin is an extreme conservative.
Palin is the Vice President of the NRA.
Palin is 100% anti-choice, including in cases of rape or incest.
Palin is against gay rights, gay marriage, gay civil unions.
Palin is for drilling for oil in Alaska.
Palin is married to an executive for BP Oil.
Palin is for the death penalty.
Palin is against any form of universal healthcare.
Palin is for creationalism being taught in public schools.
Palin is also under investigation in Alaska for abuse of power.

Does the McCain campaign really think they can win over Hillary Clinton supporters simply by putting a woman on the tickets?

It was three short year's ago today, when President George Bush ended his summer vacation and flew to Arizona to help Senator John McCain celebrate his 69th birthday. Of course, the place both Bush and McCain should have been is not at a photo-op in Arizona, but in New Orleans in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

Should American's feel comfortable knowing that if McCain is elected President, that he'll put pety photo-ops as a priority instead of immediately assisting desperate Americans in the middle of it's worst natural disaster crisis?

I thought Obama was amazing, but don't take my word for it, take staunch conservative Pat Buchanan's:

“It was a genuinely outstanding speech. It was magnificent. It is the finest – and I saw Cuomo’s speech, I saw Kennedy in ‘80, I even saw Douglas MacArthur, I saw Martin Luther King – this is the greatest convention speech, and probably the most important because unlike Cuomo and the others this is an acceptance speech. This came out of the heart of America and he went right at the heart of America…”

Radiohead. Webcast. Last night from Santa Barbara. Videos after the jump.......

"Cymbal Rush"

At most of Obama's rallies, he's been using Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising," with permission, as his main theme song. I was expecting to hear the song when Obama wrapped up his fantastic convention speech. Instead, Obama used the #1 hit "Only In America" by Brooks & Dunn.

Here's CMT's take on it:

When Barack Obama finished his acceptance speech Thursday night (Aug. 28) at the Democratic National Convention, a lot of country fans were no doubt surprised — or downright shocked — that Brooks & Dunn’s “Only in America” provided the soundtrack to the festivities while the Obama family and vice presidential candidate Joe Biden walked among the spiraling confetti to celebrate. After all, George W. Bush had used that same song as one of his themes for his 2004 presidential campaign. And, as I recall, Bush had also used Brooks & Dunn’s “Hard Workin’ Man” during his initial election bid in 2000. Beyond using “Only in America” throughout his 2004 campaign, Bush was also joined by Brooks & Dunn and the Oak Ridge Boys onstage in Milwaukee on the eve of his re-election.

Ironically, though, a look at BMI’s Web site shows that Kix Brooks and Ronnie Rogers co-wrote the song with Don Cook, a veteran songwriter and producer who has worked extensively with Brooks & Dunn. As it turns out, Cook was active in the Music Row Democrats, a political action group of music industry professionals who opposed Bush’s re-election.

The track, which reached the top spot on Billboard's Country Singles & Tracks list, was recorded roughly six months before the attacks of September 11th for the duo's albums Steers & Stripes. In the wake of attack, the song become a major hit on country radio, hitting the number one spot on October 27, 2001.......

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has accused the United States of orchestrating the conflict in Georgia to benefit one of its presidential election candidates.

This has been a story that's been floating around media newsroom's since the Georgia-Russia conflict started and is now getting international coverage with Putin's direct accusation. The rumor, which Putin doesn't go into much detail about, is that high-ranking members of Bush's cabinet (Cheney? Rice?) told Georgia that Russia was spying on them and planning attacks in South Ossetia. Then, supposedly Team Bush urged Georgia to strike with the promise that they would immediately be supported by American troops and a strong foreign policy push, which did not ever happen even thought Georgia's President had publicly asked where the promised support was two days after the conflict began.

So it Putin telling the truth? Has Bush really stooped so low?

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (Part One)

Here's Governor Sarah Palin's first speech as John McCain's running mate. In the speech, the anti-choice, anti-equal pay, anti-gay rights Palin tried to appeal to Hillary supporters, saying

"I can't begin this great effort without honoring the achievement of Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and of course, Hillary Clinton, who showed determination in her presidential campaign," Palin said. "It was rightly noted in Denver this week that Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America. But it turns out the women of America aren't finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all."

So Hillary, who on Tuesday pledged to completely support Obama, should obviously have immediately put out a message bashing Palin's policies and statement, right? Well, here's Hillary's quote:

“We should all be proud of Governor Sarah Palin's historic nomination, and I congratulate her and Senator McCain. While their policies would take America in the wrong direction, Governor Palin will add an important new voice to the debate.”

Uh, WTF!!!! Seriously, what is wrong with Hillary? Calling her an imporant new voice to the debate? Why doesn't this statement call Palin out as being the total against everything she stands for. Palin is a disgusting person, but Hillary needs to get her fucking act together.......

Almost three years to the day that Hurricane Katrina wiped out large parts of New Orleans, news comes that Hurricane Gustav, which is currently classified as a Category One hurricane, will hit American shores, likely projections place lanfall in Louisiana

New Orleans was still squarely in the storm's sights. The most likely long-range track forecast had it going ashore west of the city on Tuesday morning as a Category 3 storm on the five-stage Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity.

Katrina was a monstrous Category 5 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico before coming ashore near New Orleans as a Category 3 on August 29, 2005, breaching protective levees and flooding the city famed as the birthplace of jazz.

This time, Louisiana authorities warned residents to prepare to evacuate as Gustav nears and laid on transport for those who do not have cars. Federal officials say the levees are stronger but gaps still exist that make vulnerable some of the neighborhoods hardest hit by Katrina's floods.

Work on the New Orleans' levees are not schedule to be completed until 2011, a decision that angered local residents and numerous scientists who said that was too long to wait.

The AP report also ads:

Gustav was expected to come ashore as President George W. Bush's Republican Party holds its convention to select Sen. John McCain as its nominee for the November presidential election

Fitting..........

John McCain's pick of Sarah Palin has been completely panned by voters and the media as a desperate gimmick to try and boost the Republican's losing campaign. Immediate polls found McCain did not get any bounce from this pick or sway any Hillary voters. For the record, Obama didn't get any bump from picking Biden. The thing is, in numerous polls conducted over the weekend, it seems independent and undecided voters are completely turned off to Palin and shifting towards Obama.

News has also come out that McCain has only met Palin once before, and only first heard of her six months ago, on a recommendatio from Karl Rove.

Here's some of the Alaska media reaction to the Palin pick:

ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS: "She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? said [State Senate President Lyda Green, a Republican from Palin's hometown of Wasilla]. "Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?"

ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS: The Alaska governor campaigned in 2006 on a build-the-bridge platform, telling Ketchikan residents she felt their pain when politicians called them "nowhere." They're still feeling pain today in Ketchikan, over Palin's subsequent decision to use the bridge funds for other projects -- and over the timing of her announcement, which they say came in a pre-dawn press release that seemed aimed at national news deadlines.

FAIRBANKS DAILY NEWS-MINER: She has never publicly demonstrated the kind of interest, much less expertise, in federal issues and foreign affairs that should mark a candidate for the second-highest office in the land. Republicans rightfully have criticized the Democratic nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, for his lack of experience, but Palin is a neophyte in comparison; how will Republicans reconcile the criticism of Obama with the obligatory cheering for Palin?...Most people would acknowledge that, regardless of her charm and good intentions, Palin is not ready for the top job. McCain seems to have put his political interests ahead of the nation's when he created the possibility that she might fill it. It's clear that McCain picked Palin for reasons of image, not substance.

BLOOMBERG NEWS: "She's not qualified, she doesn't have the judgment, to be next in line to the president of the United States,'' Larry Persily, who until June worked in the governor's Washington office as a congressional liaison.

Normally I wouldn't give a shit about a rumor like this, but since McCain's Vice Presidential pick is such a big supporter of "family values" and absintence-only education, as well as being a pro-life extremist. So, is Sarah Palin the new Lynne Spears?

There's a rumor surfacing that Sarah Palin's fifth child Trig, who was born in April, is actually the child of Palin's 16-year-old daughter Bristol. According to sources, Sarah Palin's announcement in early March that she was seven months pregnant came as a shock to those that had worked closely with her, since she did displayed no signs of pregnancy whatsoever during the previous seven months. Here are a couple of other pieces to this story:

- Palin does not appear to be pregnant in any photos taken during her pregnancy. Sources point mainly to the photo below, which was taken of Palin when she would have been almost 7 months pregnant.

- Palin's daughter Bristol who attends an Anchorage high school, was reportedly absent for what would have been the last 4 -5 months of her mother's pregnancy, claiming to be suffering from a prolonged case of mono.

- Sarah Palin's water broke while she was attending a conference in Texas. She then proceeded to give a 30-minute speech before taking an 11-12 hour flight home to Alaska to give birth.

For the record, a medical certificate is required if travel is within 4 weeks of the delivery date in a normal, uncomplicated pregnancy For US domestic flights under 5 hours, travel is not permitted within 7 days before and after the delivery date. If you should need to travel within 7 days before or after delivery, a medical certificate is required as well as clearance from your airline - check with your airline reservations since procedures can vary.

There is no public record that Palin ever applied for such a medical certificate......