ROOTS. WALE. CHRISTETTE MICHELLE. OH MY
The Roots feat. Chrisette Michele & Wale - "Rising Up" from Three/21 Films on Vimeo.
I LOVE ME SOME NIKE. BUT WHATS YOUR TAKE?
Japon: The Shibuya mayor and Nike Corporation will convert a public park into a Nike Park that will mean forcibly evicting homeless people.
Source: Urban Poor Associates (Fri, July 4 2008)
The Shibuya mayor and Nike Corporation will convert a public park into a Nike Park that will mean forcibly evicting homeless people staying there as well as depriving the general public of the use of the park unless they pay some fees for the use of sports facilities.
34 homeless people livining in tents in Miyashita Park (Tokyo, Shibuya) are faced to be evicted as the below, because the city is currently moving ahead with plans to fully renovate Miyashita Park and make it Nike Park. This is a issu of not only homeless evicition but also of comercialization of public spaces, i.e. the poor people are socially excluded even from public spaces. We organized to establish "The Coalition to Protect Miyashita Park from Becoming Nike Park" from varying backgrounds. Our NOJIREN (Shibuya Free Association for the Right to Housing and Well-being of the HOMELESS) is an organization of this Coalition. Please deliver the following statement of this Coalition to your friends and add your name (organization or personal) to this statement of protest.
With solidarity
Peter Shimokawa.
The Coalition to Protect Miyashita Park from Becoming Nike Park
Email: miyashita@riseup.net
We, volunteers from varying backgrounds, have come together to protect
Miyashita Park from a plan that would turn it into a Nike park. Currently,
the city is moving ahead with plans to fully renovate Miyashita Park, adding a skateboarding area and a cafe, without even notifying local residents and park frequenters. After the renovation, a fee will be charged for use of the sports facility and, it has been explained, part of this fee will be used to cover maintenance costs. The investor providing all 450 million yen of the project costs is none other than the sports apparel and accessories maker, Nike Corporation. Thus, changing the park's name to Nike Park has become part of the plan. It is estimated that Shibuya-ku will receive approximately 150 million yen over 5 years for the naming right.
We oppose the plan to make our park Nike Park for the following reasons:
1) According to the renovation plan, Miyashita Park will be converted to a
park expressly for sports enthusiasts. This means that a highly public space which people have been able to freely and actively utilize up until
now will be turned into a commercial space for the profit of one business.
Persons who do not pay for using the park as a service, will be unable to
even rest at the park. This will surely have a negative impact on society
at large and generally the way in which people come together.
2) For many years, Miyashita Park has been known as a space where many citizens' groups hold gatherings, or as a starting and ending point for local marches and events. Also, it has stood as a life-saving place where many persons forced to live on the streets can stay. This plan would unquestionably deprive groups and individuals of a space for their freedom of expression, and for their daily lives.
3) This project has been forced onto the ward by Shibuya's mayor and a number of assemblypersons in a top-down manner. Neither the ward assembly nor the city planning council has been consulted, and almost no information can be found in materials that have been made available to the public. Also, we would like to know how Nike came to be involved in this. Nike is a corporation that gave rise to the grave problem of child labor in a number of Asian countries, with reported instances of management beating and/or molesting workers. It is highly doubtful that Shibuya-ku has undergone democratic processes so as to adequately reflect the will of ward residents with regard to this plan.
We ask for as many people as possible to add their names to this statement and raise their voices.
Persons wishing to add their names to our statement should send fax or email (given below) as soon as possible with: your individual name or the name of your organization, and whether you wish to remain anonymous or not.
Please understand that names that are not anonymous may be publicly viewable when the petition is distributed or posted to the internet.
Persons opting for anonymity will be represented in documentation only by their total number.
The Coalition to Protect Miyashita Park from Becoming Nike Park
Fax : +81-3-3406-5254
Email: miyashita@riseup.net
10 DEEP'S gone too off the DEEP end. Peep the Fall Preview
10.Deep’s 2008 fall collection “Veni Vidi Vici” progresses forward as themes of a weakened American economy coincide with that of failed Manifest Destiny tactics. Pieces here for Delivery 1.2 include the Zeitgeist Baseball Jacket, the Big Time Small Time Flannel Shirt and Duck Hunt Flannel M-65 Jacket. On the horizon is 10.Deep’s Delivery 2 titled “I Versus I” as the brand switches it up with a direction much different from the one seen with “Veni Vidi Vici”.
sTEEZ-TASTIC!!! label APC. they fly. they know this.
French label APC has long been well known and respected for their simple yet mature tastes and aesthetics. Their 2008 fall/winter collection embodies a familiar stylistic direction which has allowed the brand to garner so many followers with understated color palettes and classic cuts. Their expansive collection can be seen over everything from outerwear to tops and pants as well as footwear and accessories. A full viewing can be seen over at APC (click here)
Andy Warhol and the Can That Sold the World
Perhaps one of the most exciting items that will release early next year, a book entitled “Andy Warhol and the Can That Sold the World.” With very few details known as I publish this information probably making this more anticipated, in addition to the title this will surely be a great addition for any collection of books. Pre-order it now from Amazon.
STEEZ-TASTIC!!! of course for women only
Introducing the Rockstar Workout some years back, Nike’s goal was to incorporated popular music into a workout for women which eventually launched a fitness dance revolution. Maintaining this theme, Nike designed the Air Troupe Mid featuring a hip-hop/break dance influence. With 2 years of research in the making, designer Ann-Marie Paz created a silhouette designed with all the attributes necessary for a true hip-hop dance shoe without sacrificing looks. The Air Troupe offers a high top designer feel with utmost flexibility and comfort. Adding in a non-slip rubber sole and lightweight uppers make for a winning formula.
ARTISTS PROFILE: ELLIOT SMITH
Born on August 6, c. 1969, in Nebraska; son of a singer (mother) and a former preacher (father) who served as a United States Air Force pilot in Vietnam and later became a psychiatrist. Education: Graduated from Hampshire College, where he studied political science and philosophy
An indie-rock musician who seemingly overnight went from an underground hero to a popularly recognized songwriter, Elliott Smith established his place in music by writing beautiful songs about the pains of life. Penning tunes that often drew comparisons to Nick Drake, Bob Dylan, and the Beatles--his favorite band--Smith was cast in the roll of tunesmith to the downtrodden alternative-rock crowd. "The press at home really like to call me a `folk hero,'" Smith shrugged in a 1998 Melody Maker interview with Neil Mason. "For me, that's a serious fellow who makes grand pronouncements about what's wrong with the world. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing but it's smaller than that." Music critics, as well as listeners, tend to argue with Smith's humble view of his own music. As Boston Globe correspondent Joan Anderman asserted in a feature story following the release of Smith's fourth album, 1999's XO, "His records are filled with unflinching, emotionally raw portraits of drug addicts and alcoholics, and spare, poetic sketches of self-loathing and decayed love. Gorgeously tragic words are melded to melodies that are as simultaneously lush and forthright, and as inevitable-sounding, as those created by Smith's great inspiration, the Beatles." In addition to the Beatles, Smith's other musical heroes included the Clash, Hank Williams, the Kinks, and Elvis Costello.
Because Smith's lyrics feel so intimate, many listeners assume that his life is an open book. However, as writer Chris Mundy explained in a 1998 Rolling Stone feature, "Smith's songs have always been less confession than collage--beautifully rendered glimpses of ugly realities, pieced together with little more than voice and guitar." Likewise, Smith himself offered a similar description of his songwriting: "I don't really have any goals as a songwriter, other than to show what it's like to be a person--just like everybody else who's ever played music does," he told Los Angeles Times writer Richard Cromelin in 1998. "I don't feel like my songs are particularly fragile or revealing.... They're songs. It's not like a diary, and they're not intended to be any sort of super intimate confessional singer-songwriterish thing. I like the Beatles. Dylan. The Saints and the Clash. All the good things about what they did or do is probably the same things that I'm trying to do."
While Smith reveals an openness in singing about life's darkest details, he often hesitates when asked to provide the specifics of his own childhood. Born in Nebraska on August 6, around 1969, Smith spent most of his childhood just outside Dallas, Texas, living with his mother, stepfather, and his stepfather's children. His own parents divorced when Smith was only a year old, and his mother, a singer herself, later remarried when he was four year of age. "There were family problems," Smith, who added that most of his other childhood friends also came from broken families, recalled to Mundy. "It wasn't a good situation." And problems persisted outside the home as well; often picked on by his peers because of his small size--Smith was also extremely thin as a young adult--he spent much of his time getting into fights in spite of his frailty. Known as a soft-spoken performer, Smith believed that all of the fighting, evidenced by scars and a nose broken several times over, impacted his demeanor later on. "It's probably pretty easy to put together why somebody who grew up in Texas getting into fights a lot would not want to get up on stage and start belting out songs at the top of their lungs. I've had enough of people yelling."
At the age of 14, Smith finally left his oppressive life in Texas behind, moving to Portland, Oregon, to live with his biological father, with whom he had remained close, and his new family. A former preacher who served as a United States Air Force pilot in Vietnam and later became a psychiatrist, Smith's father bought his son his first nylon string guitar at the age of 12. Before long, at the age of 13, Smith started to write his own songs. Displaying a talent for music early in life, back in Texas Smith studied piano beginning at the age of ten, playing Debussy and Rachmaninoff pieces until his mother and stepfather abruptly pulled him out of lessons a year later.
Although he had always dreamed of becoming a musician, Smith, lacking the confidence, instead enrolled at Hampshire College, an ultra-liberal school in Massachusetts, where he studied political science and philosophy. Upon graduating, however, Smith "was on this big kick that there's no point occupying a spot because it would be better occupied by someone else," he told Mundy, and at the time seriously contemplated training to become a fireman. Moving back to Portland, he went through a period marked by a series of failed relationships, serious drinking, and bouts of depression. His friend and fellow songwriter Neil Gust stepped in, reminding Smith about his true calling: music.
Giving in to Gust's prodding, Smith joined his friend to form the band Heatmiser in 1992. A punk quartet that featured the melodic-abrasive formula popular in the Northwest, the Portland-based band, taking cues from groups like Fugazi, Hsker D, and Helmet, signed with the small Frontier label and released their first album, Dead Air, in 1993, followed by the Yellow No. 5 EP in 1994. Although Smith enjoyed the success of Heatmiser, he nevertheless started to feel smothered amid the noise of the punk-inspired act. "We would play shows, and afterward he would cordon himself off with an acoustic guitar and start practicing," Smith's former band mate, Sam Coomes, said to Mundy. "That was the first time I'd ever heard him play stuff like that. He was trying to evolve away from the stuff he was playing [with Heatmiser]."
Thus, while still a member of Heatmiser, Smith began to branch out on his own, performing solo at Portland clubs and recording tapes in friends' basements. Taking a stylistic departure from the thrash of his band, Smith instead focused on acoustic songs. By now a minor hipster sensation in Portland recognized for his artistic sensibilities, the singer caught the interest of a local label called Cavity Search. For that indie label, Smith released his first work, an eight-track mini-album entitled Roman Candle, in 1994. Recorded on a home four-track machine, the folksy, acoustic effort earned critical praise for its brittle, brooding, and consistent set of songs. Some highlights included "No Name #1," "Condor Ave.," and "No Name #3." In the meantime, Smith continued to participate in Heatmiser, and the band released a second album entitled Cop and Speeder in 1994. According to reviewers, Smith's solo activities only strengthened the group's music, giving Heatmiser a powerful sense of mood in songs such as "Flame!," "Antonio Carlos Jobim," and the honest confessional "Busted Lip."
In 1995, Smith changed to a new label, Kill Rock Stars, based in Olympia, Washington, for the release of his second solo project, that year's self-titled album. Progressing to an eight-track machine, yet remaining in local basements for Elliott Smith, the songwriter saw his style fall into place. Although many early critics inaccurately placed Smith's music in the folk genre because of his acoustic tendencies, his songs covered much more territory; echoes of the Clash, the Beatles, the Saints, and, most of all, American pop icon Alex Chilton resonated throughout. "The eponymous second album was a dark, disquieting work," noted Rough Guide to Rock contributor Duncan Cooper, "by turns furious (`Southern Belle'), and desperate (`The Biggest Lie')."
Around the same time Smith's solo career was gaining ground--including the signing of a major-label recording deal with Virgin Records--Heatmiser was in the process of dissolving. The band's final album, Mic City Sons, was released in 1996. Consequently, he spent time honing his craft, practicing guitar in his living room while watching countless hours of television re-runs. Unhappy with his relationship with Virgin, however, Smith disentangled himself from the company when he started work on a third album. As before, Smith abandoned the idea of recording in a studio in favor of homes and basements and arrived in February of 1997 with the acclaimed album Either/Or for Kill Rock Stars. Offering expanded instrumentation, as well as glimpses of urban life and intense, telling emotional vignettes, the album earned favorable responses, but remained for the most part unheard of outside the Pacific Northwest.
In the spring of 1997, Heatmiser officially disbanded, and Smith moved to Brooklyn, New York, hoping that the move from Portland would renew his anonymity. But despite his intentions, this did not happen. Soon after leaving Oregon, Smith was approached by film maker Gus Van Sant, who was gathering music for a film called Good Will Hunting. Smith and Van Sant, both sharing mutual friends, had met while both men lived in Portland. When the soundtrack for the film appeared, it featured four songs from Either/Or, one from Roman Candle, and a new original called "Miss Misery," a song that Smith had been working on when Van Sant first contacted him. When he played the work in progress for the director, Van Sant was instantly impressed. "Miss Misery," an impressionistic song about making mistakes and searching for redemption, to Smith's surprise, earned an Academy Award nomination for best original song, along with songs performed by the likes of pop diva Celine Dion and country star Trisha Yearwood. "I had fully armored myself against having to be crushed by the presence of Celine Dion," Smith admitted to Mundy. "But she was the nicest person I've met in a while." Although he did not take home the Oscar, Smith performed his song for the event telecast on February 10, 1998, giving the musician instant exposure.
By now, Smith had signed with a major label, DreamWorks, for the release of his forthcoming album. With a larger budget, Smith strayed from recording in homes and basements, and instead recorded 1998's XO at Sunset Sound studios in Los Angeles, California. Insisting that the decision was his and not that of DreamWorks or co-producers Tom Rothrock or Ron Schnapf (who had previously worked with Beck, the Foo Fighters, and Mary Lou Lord), Smith explained to Washington Post writer Mark Jenkins in 1999, "I wanted to have more things, more instruments. Nobody wants to make the same record over and over. It was something that was new for me to do." Such stepped-up production concerned many fans, who worried that lush instrumentation would overshadow Smith's songs. However, fears subsided when the album arrived; the instruments used simply served to accent rather than drown out Smith's minimalist tendencies. He added horns to retro-rock song "A Question Mark," discreet strings for "Oh Well, Okay," and rolling piano to the single cut "Waltz #2." XO appeared on several top ten lists for 1998.
In the August of 1999, after a tour with his two-person band to support his album, Smith moved to Los Angeles and started work on the follow-up to XO, a record he hoped would utilize more piano. Since his successes of 1998, Smith grew more comfortable with his rising career fortunes. Adding to his upbeat outlook, he reconciled with his girlfriend and also started to mend relationships with family members. Nevertheless, an element of sadness was always evident in his songwriting. As far as his future as a musician, Smith commented, "I don't have any particular [musical] path," as quoted by Boston Globe writer Jim Sullivan in 1998. "I mean, I don't want to make the same record more than once, but ... as long as I can do something different--or something that feels different to me--I'll be pretty satisfied with that."
On April 18, 2000, Smith released his second album for DreamWorks entitled Figure 8. Working again with co-producers Rothrock and Schnapf, Smith recorded the project at Abbey Road, Capitol, Sunset Sound, and Sonora studios. A collection of 16 flawless songs, Figure 8, like Smith's prior albums, earned stellar reviews. Following in the paths of the Beatles' Paul McCartney and John Lennon, as well as Chilton, Smith proved again why he is perhaps the greatest pop songwriter of his generation.
KANYE WEST'S LOVE LOCKDOWN
THE GREATEST EVER CLOSED THE VMA'S WITH A LITTLE TASTE OF WHATS COOKIN IN HIS OVEN. IM BIASED BUT GOD I LOVE THIS MAN. THIS SONG IS CLEARLY ABOUT HIS RECENT SEPARATION FROM FIANCE. AND I LIKE IT. ITS UGLY AND UNTOUCHED AND LIVE. AND ITS STILL A NICE FIRST LISTEN
NEW KANYE DECEMBER '09. I LOVE YOU YE. ITS ROUGH DEALING WITH EVERYONE TRY AND COPY YOUR ALBUMS INBETWEEN DROPS.
THIS ELECTION IS BECOMING A BROADWAY SHOW
Obama accuses McCain camp of lies, phony outrageBy NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
NORFOLK, Va. – Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday accused Republican John McCain's campaign of using "lies and phony outrage and Swift-boat politics" in claiming he used a sexist comment against vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
Calling it "the latest made-up controversy by the John McCain campaign," Obama responded to the Republicans' charge that he was referring to Palin when he used the phrase "lipstick on a pig" at a campaign stop Tuesday.
"I don't care what they say about me. But I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage and Swift-boat politics. Enough is enough," he said.
Obama's reference to swift boating was to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, an outside group that in 2004 made unsubstantiated allegations about Democratic nominee John Kerry's decorated military record in Vietnam.
In his initial comments Tuesday, Obama was delivering a dissertation about McCain and President Bush — not Palin — when he used the lipstick aphorism. In fact, his reference to the Alaska governor later on was a defense of her strong belief in religion.
The lipstick maxim is hardly new to either Obama or McCain. The Democrat has used it in the past, and McCain repeated the folksy metaphor when he criticized Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on health care. McCain was never accused of being sexist when he uttered those words.
Later in the day, during an appearance on the "Late Show with David Letterman," the host jokingly asked Obama: "Have you ever actaully put lipstick on a pig?"
"The answer would be no, but I think it might be fun to try," Obama said. He said it was all part of the "silly season in politics" as the campaign heats up.
Letterman ridiculed the notion of the McCain campaign convening a meeting and deciding Obama had called their vice presidential nominee a pig.
"Technically, had I meant it this way she would be the lipstick, you see. The failed policies of John McCain would be the pig," Obama said, drawing laughter from the audience. "Just following the logic of this illogical situation."
Obama used the reference as he criticized McCain's policies as similar to those of Bush, saying: "You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still going to stink after eight years."
The McCain campaign immediately jumped on the comments, arguing they were directed at Palin, the GOP's first woman on a presidential ticket. In her acceptance speech last week, she had referred to herself in a joke about lipstick being the only difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull.
Accusing Obama of "smearing" Palin in "offensive and disgraceful" comments, the McCain campaign demanded an apology. The McCain campaign on Wednesday issued an Internet ad that said Obama was talking about Palin and said of Obama: "Ready to lead? No. Ready to smear? Yes."
Obama's campaign has accused the GOP camp of engaging in a "pathetic attempt to play the gender card." The campaign noted two other instances of McCain using the phrase "lipstick on a pig" and its use by other Republicans such as House Minority Leader John Boehner and Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl.
With the fight dominating television news shows Wednesday morning, Obama responded before beginning a discussion of education at a Norfolk high school.
"What their campaign has done this morning is the same game that has made people sick and tired of politics in this country. They seize on an innocent remark, try to take it out of context, throw up an outrageous ad because they know that it's catnip for the news media," Obama said.
Later in the appearance, a supporter asked Obama how he was going to avoid Kerry's fate of allowing lies to undermine his campaign. Obama responded that every day he will hammer away at the issues that matter in Americans' lives and make the argument that McCain offers the same policies as Bush.
"This whole thing about lipstick, nobody actually believes that these folks are offended," he said. "Oh, we're shocked. Everybody knows it's cynical, everybody knows it's insincere."
McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers responded, saying: "Barack Obama can't campaign with school yard insults and then try to claim outrage at the tone of the campaign. His talk of new politics is as empty as his campaign trail promises."
McCain released a new TV ad Wednesday that suggests an Obama link to what the Web site FactCheck.org called "completely false ... misleading" attacks while failing to note that the source of the attacks were, according to the Web site, "Internet postings and mass e-mail messages," not the Obama campaign.
sTEEZ-TASTIC!!! I LOVE MAHARISHI
Fusing together old world hunting concepts with a contemporary approach, maharishi’s new season combines an early used popular fabric in Tweed alongside more technical textiles such as Ventile. Utilizing modern design techniques make for an outstanding look, with each garment bringing back a nostalgic piece of history. For their 2008 fall/winter collection, comprised of neutral color usage, maharishi seeks to create fresh pieces with Native American influenced patterns, while offering a nice sense of rustic elegance.
MC CAIN'S Reversed Himself 61 Times On Key Issues
National Security Policy1. McCain thought Bushs warrantless-wiretap program circumvented the law; now he believes the opposite.
2. McCain insisted that everyone, even terrible killers,-- the worst kind of scum of humanity,-- and detainees at Guantanamo Bay, deserve to have some adjudication of their cases,-- even if that means releasing some of them.-- McCain now believes the opposite.
3. He opposed indefinite detention of terrorist suspects. When the Supreme Court reached the same conclusion, he called it one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.--
4. In February 2008, McCain reversed course on prohibiting waterboarding.
5. McCain was for closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay before he was against it.
6. When Barack Obama talked about going after terrorists in Pakistani mountains with predators, McCain criticized him for it. Hes since come to the opposite conclusion.
Foreign Policy
7. McCain was for kicking Russia out of the G8 before he was against it.
8. McCain supported moving towards normalization of relations-- with Cuba. Now he believes the opposite.
9. McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Hamas. Now he believes the opposite.
10. McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Syria. Now he believes the opposite.
11. McCain is both for and against a rogue state rollback-- as a focus of his foreign policy vision.
12. McCain used to champion the Law of the Sea convention, even volunteering to testify on the treatys behalf before a Senate committee. Now he opposes it.
13. McCain was against divestment from South Africa before he was for it.
Military Policy
Military Policy
14. McCain recently claimed that he was the greatest critic-- of Rumsfelds failed Iraq policy. In December 2003, McCain praised the same strategy as a mission accomplished.-- In March 2004, he said, Im confident were on the right course.-- In December 2005, he said, Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course.--
15. McCain has changed his mind about a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq on multiple occasions, concluding, on multiple occasions, that a Korea-like presence is both a good and a bad idea.
16. McCain said before the war in Iraq, We will win this conflict. We will win it easily.-- Four years later, McCain said he knew all along that the war in Iraq war was probably going to be long and hard and tough.--
17. McCain has repeatedly said its a dangerous mistake to tell the enemy-- when U.S. troops would be out of Iraq. In May, McCain announced that most American troops would be home from Iraq by 2013.
18. McCain was against expanding the GI Bill before he was for it.
Domestic Policy
19. McCain defended privatizing-- Social Security. Now he says hes against privatization (though he actually still supports it.)
20. McCain wanted to change the Republican Party platform to protect abortion rights in cases of rape and incest. Now he doesnt.
21. McCain supported storing spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Now he believes the opposite.
22. He argued the NRA should not have a role in the Republican Partys policy making. Now he believes the opposite.
23. In 1998, he championed raising cigarette taxes to fund programs to cut underage smoking, insisting that it would prevent illnesses and provide resources for public health programs. Now, McCain opposes a $0.61-per-pack tax increase, wont commit to supporting a regulation bill hes co-sponsoring, and has hired Philip Morris former lobbyist as his senior campaign adviser.
24. McCain is both for and against earmarks for Arizona.
25. McCains first mortgage plan was premised on the notion that homeowners facing foreclosure shouldnt be rewarded-- for acting irresponsibly.-- His second mortgage plan took largely the opposite position.
26. McCain went from saying gay marriage should be allowed, to saying gay marriage shouldnt be allowed.
27. McCain opposed a holiday to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., before he supported it.
28. McCain was anti-ethanol. Now hes pro-ethanol.
29. McCain was both for and against state promotion of the Confederate flag.
30. In 2005, McCain endorsed intelligent design creationism, a year later he said the opposite, and a few months after that, he was both for and against creationism at the same time.
Economic Policy
31. McCain was against Bushs tax cuts for the very wealthy before he was for them.
32. John McCain initially argued that economics is not an area of expertise for him, saying, Im going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues; I still need to be educated,-- and The issue of economics is not something Ive understood as well as I should.-- He now falsely denies ever having made these remarks and insists that he has a very strong-- understanding of economics.
33. McCain vowed, if elected, to balance the federal budget by the end of his first term. Soon after, he decided he would no longer even try to reach that goal. And soon after that, McCain abandoned his second position and went back to his first.
34. McCain said in 2005 that he opposed the tax cuts because they were too tilted to the wealthy.-- By 2007, he denied ever having said this, and falsely argued that he opposed the cuts because of increased government spending.
35. McCain thought the estate tax was perfectly fair. Now he believes the opposite.
36. McCain pledged in February 2008 that he would not, under any circumstances, raise taxes. Specifically, McCain was asked if he is a read my lips candidate, no new taxes, no matter what?-- referring to George H.W. Bushs 1988 pledge. No new taxes,-- McCain responded. Two weeks later, McCain said, Im not making a read my lips statement, in that I will not raise taxes.--
37. McCain has changed his entire economic worldview on multiple occasions.
38. McCain believes Americans are both better and worse off economically than they were before Bush took office.
Energy Policy
39. McCain supported the moratorium on coastal drilling ; now hes against it.
40. McCain recently announced his strong opposition to a windfall-tax on oil company profits. Three weeks earlier, he was perfectly comfortable with the idea.
41. McCain endorsed a cap-and-trade policy with a mandatory emissions cap. In mid-June, McCain announced he wants the caps to voluntary.
42. McCain explained his belief that a temporary suspension of the federal gas tax would provide an immediate economic stimulus. Shortly thereafter, he argued the exact opposite.
43. McCain supported the Lieberman/Warner legislation to combat global warming. Now he doesnt.
Immigration Policy
44. McCain was a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act, which would grant legal status to illegal immigrants kids who graduate from high school. Now hes against it.
45. On immigration policy in general, McCain announced in February 2008 that he would vote against his own bill.
46. In April, McCain promised voters that he would secure the borders before proceeding to other reform measures.-- Two months later, he abandoned his public pledge, pretended that hed never made the promise in the first place, and vowed that a comprehensive immigration reform policy has always been, and would always be, his top priority.--
Judicial Policy and the Rule of Law
47. McCain said he would not impose a litmus test on any nominee.-- He used to promise the opposite.
48. McCain believes the telecoms should be forced to explain their role in the administrations warrantless surveillance program as a condition for retroactive immunity. He used to believe the opposite.
49. McCain went from saying he would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade to saying the exact opposite.
Campaign, Ethics, and Lobbying Reform
50. McCain supported his own lobbying-reform legislation from 1997. Now he doesnt.
51. In 2006, McCain sponsored legislation to require grassroots lobbying coalitions to reveal their financial donors. In 2007, after receiving feedback-- on the proposal, McCain told far-right activist groups that he opposes his own measure.
52. McCain supported a campaign-finance bill, which bore his name, on strengthening the public-financing system. In June 2007, he abandoned his own legislation.
Politics and Associations
53. McCain wanted political support from radical televangelist John Hagee. Now he doesnt. (He also believes his endorsement from Hagee was both a good and bad idea.)
54. McCain wanted political support from radical televangelist Rod Parsley. Now he doesnt.
55. McCain says he considered and did not consider joining John Kerrys Democratic ticket in 2004.
56. McCain is both for and against attacking Barack Obama over his former pastor at his former church.
57. McCain criticized TV preacher Jerry Falwell as an agent of intolerance-- in 2002, but then decided to cozy up to the man who said Americans deserved-- the 9/11 attacks.
58. In 2000, McCain accused Texas businessmen Sam and Charles Wyly of being corrupt, spending dirty money-- to help finance Bushs presidential campaign. McCain not only filed a complaint against the Wylys for allegedly violating campaign finance law, he also lashed out at them publicly. In April, McCain reached out to the Wylys for support.
59. McCain was against presidential candidates campaigning at Bob Jones University before he was for it.
60. McCain decided in 2000 that he didnt want anything to do with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, believing he would taint the image of the Straight Talk Express.-- Kissinger is now the Honorary Co-Chair for his presidential campaign in New York.
61. McCain believed powerful right-wing activist/lobbyist Grover Norquist was corrupt, a shill for dictators, and (with just a dose of sarcasm) Jack Abramoffs gay lover.-- McCain now considers Norquist a key political ally.
LANCE ARMSTRONG: GREATEST ATHLETE EVER NO QUESTIONS ASKED MICHAEL PHELPS GET OUT OF YOUR DIAPERS
Lance Armstrong reopens legacy, warts n' all
PARIS (AFP) — Love him or loathe him, Lance Armstrong has proved in the space of 48 hours why he is still one of the biggest heroes professional sport has to offer.
But what Armstrong aims to prove by aiming to cap a highly-publicised comeback with an eighth Tour de France yellow jersey is still a mystery to some.
Armstrong, 36, made his name - often in controversial fashion - by winning the Tour de France a record seven years in succession, and so has nothing to prove.
But the fact he won even one edition of the world's toughest bike race would have been impressive enough for most fans, especially those who have battled serious illness.
In October 1996, Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer, which spread to his abdomen, lungs and lymph nodes. After finding tumours on his brain, doctors predicted that he had only a 40 percent chance of survival.
Armstrong's determination to fight the illness provided a glimpse of one of the traits that would prove vital in the world's biggest race, which he went on to make his own from 1999-2005 after recovering from illness in February 1997.
Now, despite a three-year absence from the peloton, the seven-time champion is ready to swipe aside the march of time as he begins his quest for what could be one of sport's biggest ever comebacks.
"Older athletes are performing very well. Ask serious sports physiologists and they'll tell you age is a wives' tale," said Armstrong, who insists his aim to win an eighth yellow jersey is all about raising awareness about cancer.
For many - such as his future rivals on the race - Armstrong's return has been largely unexpected, and could be problematic.
"As a cyclist, I don't understand (his intentions)," said Spanish ace Alejandro Valverde, who beat Armstrong to victory on the stage to Courchevel in 2005.
"But each person has his own desires, and can do as they wish."
For others, it will be no surprise.
Believed, in physiological terms, to be among an elite few of impressively-endowed athletes, Armstrong seemed destined for sports success as he grew up in Plano, Texas with a single mum who helped nurture his passion.
Whilst a budding triathlete, Armstrong turned professional at only 16 years of age, but deciding only two years later to concentrate on cycling alone when he qualified to do road-race training with the US Olympic development team.
Only three years later he became the US national amateur road racing champion, and Armstrong would later declare: "I was born to race bikes".
Armstrong's path to greatness, however, has been littered with plenty of obstacles - not least the cancer that tested his will to live and which, arguably, transformed his approach to stage racing.
A promising, albeit raw performer early in his career, Armstrong first put his world-beating credentials on display as a 21-year-old becoming the youngest ever rider to win the world road race championships in 1993.
The Tour, however, would be Armstrong's calling although despite winning a stage in 1993 and 1995 the Texan had to wait until his post-cancer years before making the yellow jersey a realistic aim.
But if contracting, then battling through cancer helped make Armstrong the champion cyclist he became in 1999-2005, his stunning performances attracted almost as much skepticism as admiration.
As Armstrong and his US Postal team set new speed records for racing, their performances in the Alps and Pyrenees of the Tour left the experts, as well as rivals, agape.
Then came Armstrong's 'confession', in 2001, that he had been working with Italian sports doctor, Michele Ferrari. It left a cloud over the American's entire career and, despite never testing positive, did little to diminish persistent rumours of doping.
In 1999 Ferrari publicly admitted that when Francesco Moser, in 1984, beat the great Eddy Merckx's world hour record by a mile, it was largely down to blood doping.
However, Ferrari is more known for claiming, after all three riders from the Gewiss team swept the podium at the 1994 Fleche Wallonne, that the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin) "is not dangerous, it's the abuse that is. It's also dangerous to drink ten litres of orange juice."
By the end of his career Armstrong had deflected enough flak from his detractors to leave a lasting legacy on the race - one which may never be bettered.
But days after he officially retired, fresh drugs allegations were made against him by French sports daily L'Equipe.
Headlined 'The 'Armstrong Lie', the report claimed that six samples from 1999 relating to Armstrong and since held at the French national anti-doping laboratory had tested positive for EPO.
Armstrong was his determined, poised self when he categorically denied the report: "I will simply restate what I have said many times: I have never taken performance enhancing drugs."
OIL FIELD PLAYGROUND
So like all Americans, you watched the RNC and you saw Rudy’s speech. All I can say is thank god, he failed miserable. I think the republicans view him as the crazy uncle. This was evident when he started the chant “drill baby drill” and the crowd joined in. So in honor of this historic evening, the good men at TWBE posted this piece they did for the “Yo What Happened to Peace” show. Called “Oil Field Playground” Enjoy.
MEGAWORDS IN PHILLY. ITS A CRIME TO MISS THIS
Megawords Storefront
PHILADELPHIA, PA - Megawords - the free Philadelphia-based magazine that collaborates with dozens of renowned and unknown artists and thinkers to cover the world through words and pictures, will leap off the page and into a month-long storefront exhibition during September 2008. The Megawords storefront project and exhibition will include a month-long period of intense activity including permanent and rotating installations, guest speakers, musical performances, workshops and film screenings.
"Frequently so-called 'pop-up' installations like this one take their inspiration from the world of advertising," says Smyrski. "They put people in a fancy gallery space, overload the project with sponsors, and do everything possible to take artists out of their natural context. We believe people are most interesting exactly where they are, doing what they're doing. With the storefront, we hope to spend time with people we respect, observe their creative process, and document the learning process. If we're lucky, a community will emerge."
"IM REMINDED OF SOUTH PARK"
Ok, so she’s not Jewish (score one for us!) but am I the only one who’s noticed the eerie similarities between Sarah Palin and Sheila Broflovski? The borderline psychotic smothering, the moral outrage, the hair? I’m worried that if this woman gets into any sort of office she’ll attempt to invade Canada. I mean, we’ve got oil.
STEEZ-TASTIC!!!: 5PANELS ARE WHATS WHAT
Copenhagen's Norse Projects are on their Ps & Qs when it comes to their latest release of 5-Panel caps. Three distinct graphic influences are utilized - the Bauhaus, traditional African prints, and wood camo. The Bauhaus models are most subtle, as you can see above. wood camo stylings will be familiar to all SB fans. The African print set are the most striking, and take an early 90s twist back to the 5-panel.
COOL KIDS: THE COOL KIDS
NOT THAT THEY ARE NEW, IF YOU KNOW ANYTHING, BUT THE BEAT THESE GUYS PRODUCE ALWAYS MAKES ME FEEL THE WARM FUZZIES. THEY MAKE THE EARLY 90'S LOOK LAME
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
If you’ve been paying attention to music blogs over the last couple of months you’ve surely come across Esau Mwamwaya’s brand of Afro Pop. He has collaborated with M.I.A, Vampire Weekend, the Ruby Suns and Radioclit (among others) on his forthcoming LP, which has no current release date. “Rain Dance” with M.I.A is a catchy song with lots of bongos, hand-claps, and of coarse M.I.A and Esau Mwamaya’s great lyrical ability. I have to say that I’m excited for this LP, especially after listening to the Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa remix on Esau’s myspace page (Also available on Itunes). Keep an eye out for an official release date in the near future.
Lauryn Hill say her heart was in Zion, I wish her heart still was in rhymin
unreleased track by the goddess, ms hill.
WORLD IS A HUSTLE
Palin: wrong woman, wrong message.
Sarah Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Hillary Clinton. She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger.By Gloria Steinem
September 4, 2008
Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party -- are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president. We owe this to women -- and to many men too -- who have picketed, gone on hunger strikes or confronted violence at the polls so women can vote. We owe it to Shirley Chisholm, who first took the "white-male-only" sign off the White House, and to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who hung in there through ridicule and misogyny to win 18 million votes.
But here is even better news: It won't work. This isn't the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want and need. Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie.
Selecting Sarah Palin, who was touted all summer by Rush Limbaugh, is no way to attract most women, including die-hard Clinton supporters. Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Clinton. Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for -- and that Barack Obama's still does. To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, "Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs."
This is not to beat up on Palin. I defend her right to be wrong, even on issues that matter most to me. I regret that people say she can't do the job because she has children in need of care, especially if they wouldn't say the same about a father. I get no pleasure from imagining her in the spotlight on national and foreign policy issues about which she has zero background, with one month to learn to compete with Sen. Joe Biden's 37 years' experience.
Palin has been honest about what she doesn't know. When asked last month about the vice presidency, she said, "I still can't answer that question until someone answers for me: What is it exactly that the VP does every day?" When asked about Iraq, she said, "I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq."
She was elected governor largely because the incumbent was unpopular, and she's won over Alaskans mostly by using unprecedented oil wealth to give a $1,200 rebate to every resident. Now she is being praised by McCain's campaign as a tax cutter, despite the fact that Alaska has no state income or sales tax. Perhaps McCain has opposed affirmative action for so long that he doesn't know it's about inviting more people to meet standards, not lowering them. Or perhaps McCain is following the Bush administration habit, as in the Justice Department, of putting a job candidate's views on "God, guns and gays" ahead of competence. The difference is that McCain is filling a job one 72-year-old heartbeat away from the presidency.
So let's be clear: The culprit is John McCain. He may have chosen Palin out of change-envy, or a belief that women can't tell the difference between form and content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues; the same ones who nixed anyone who is now or ever has been a supporter of reproductive freedom. If that were not the case, McCain could have chosen a woman who knows what a vice president does and who has thought about Iraq; someone like Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison or Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine. McCain could have taken a baby step away from right-wing patriarchs who determine his actions, right down to opposing the Violence Against Women Act.
Palin's value to those patriarchs is clear: She opposes just about every issue that women support by a majority or plurality. She believes that creationism should be taught in public schools but disbelieves global warming; she opposes gun control but supports government control of women's wombs; she opposes stem cell research but approves "abstinence-only" programs, which increase unwanted births, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions; she tried to use taxpayers' millions for a state program to shoot wolves from the air but didn't spend enough money to fix a state school system with the lowest high-school graduation rate in the nation; she runs with a candidate who opposes the Fair Pay Act but supports $500 million in subsidies for a natural gas pipeline across Alaska; she supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, though even McCain has opted for the lesser evil of offshore drilling. She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger.
I don't doubt her sincerity. As a lifetime member of the National Rifle Assn., she doesn't just support killing animals from helicopters, she does it herself. She doesn't just talk about increasing the use of fossil fuels but puts a coal-burning power plant in her own small town. She doesn't just echo McCain's pledge to criminalize abortion by overturning Roe vs. Wade, she says that if one of her daughters were impregnated by rape or incest, she should bear the child. She not only opposes reproductive freedom as a human right but implies that it dictates abortion, without saying that it also protects the right to have a child.
So far, the major new McCain supporter that Palin has attracted is James Dobson of Focus on the Family. Of course, for Dobson, "women are merely waiting for their husbands to assume leadership," so he may be voting for Palin's husband.
Being a hope-a-holic, however, I can see two long-term bipartisan gains from this contest.
Republicans may learn they can't appeal to right-wing patriarchs and most women at the same time. A loss in November could cause the centrist majority of Republicans to take back their party, which was the first to support the Equal Rights Amendment and should be the last to want to invite government into the wombs of women.
And American women, who suffer more because of having two full-time jobs than from any other single injustice, finally have support on a national stage from male leaders who know that women can't be equal outside the home until men are equal in it. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are campaigning on their belief that men should be, can be and want to be at home for their children.
This could be huge.
Gloria Steinem is an author, feminist organizer and co-founder of the Women's Media Center. She supported Hillary Clinton and is now supporting Barack Obama.
NO WORDS. WATCH VIDEO. BE IN AWE
The arrival of a giant mechanical spider heralds the starts of what is billed as a magical event for children and adults which will bring the streets of Liverpool to life this September.
The £1.8m La Machine has been commissioned by arts company Artichoke and is promised to be a stunning piece of street theatre.
Designed by French street arts firm, La Machine, the identity of the creature had been kept a closely guarded secret.
The precise nature of what will happen with the spider as it makes its way around Liverpool are still being kept under wraps.
The spider was built in Nantes and is 50 feet high weighing 37 tonnes.
Made from steel and reclaimed poplar the spider can move at speeds of up to two miles an hour.
Using 50 hydraulic axes of movement the spider took a year to build.
The technical requirements for the event are immense with 16 cranes being used over the five days along with six forklift trucks and eight cherry pickers.
There are 66 French personnel working on the project in Liverpool along with 20 British musicians and a 250 strong technical and support crew.
As a highlight of the city's European Capital of Culture celebrations. Vast in scale and spectacular in execution, this new commission from La Machine will spin a tale so magical that an entire city will fall under its spell. Just as The Sultan's Elephant stopped London in its tracks in 2006, so this three-day adventure will unfold against the landmarks of a great city, stopping the traffic and captivating everyone who sees it. Prepare to be amazed by a show that will make you believe in the impossible.
...and the story unfolds.
STEEZ-TASTIC!!!
New York’s Classic Kicks continues their Vans collaboration releases as they bring back the previously dead Midschool 77 model. After seeing the Midschool 77 on an old ad poster, the Classic Kicks team figured this served as a better approach rather then just going about things with a new print on an existing style. Two colorways Original Blue and Classic Kicks Red will release exclusively in the US at Classic Kicks on Saturday, September 6th at 12:00 pm with mail-orders starting on Monday, September 8th. Worldwide purveyors will include Patta, colette and Essense with a release date roughly correlating with the Classic Kicks release.
SteeZ-TASTIC!!!: K Swiss making doing something useful
Releasing September 18th will be a new set from the K-Swiss x atmos collection. Consisting of 4 sneaker models including the Classic Los, Classic LX Boot, Bristol High and Rannell, there will be six colorways available in total. Featuring materials including croc embossed leather, gull gray leather, metallics, and crystals these are not your average tennis court white on white K-Swiss. With only 300 pairs available globally, they will be split up equally between US and Japan, releasing at the atmos store in Harlem as well as Sak’s 5th Avenue with the Japanese release coming on September 28th, 2008 at atmos JP.
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