Here's something interesting spoken by an Israeli judge on why a senior Palestinian official can't be held as prisoner of war:

"Terror is not an act of war, and therefore it doesn't fall within the rules of war."

This is what I was thinking the moment Resident Shrub called the 9/11 attacks "an act of war." That wasn't war, it was terrorism. Calling it an act of war validates it to a certain extent, and excuses the perpetrators from responsibility for their actions. The only reason we're at "war" right now is to line the pockets of the super-rich oil- and weapons barons who currently have a stranglehold over our nation's policy makers, our money, our media, and our conscience. Calling an act of terrorism an act of war reduces the vileness of the act and gives the terrorists an amount of defensibility that it doesn't deserve.

in the cd spinner today:
James Lauer - Rapid Transit a departure from his house background into more progressive styles, but still sneaking in some house tracks along the way, i like it a lot. I also like that he finally split the mix into tracks!
Max Cascone - MCIII i always feel a need to listen to a cd that I give to people the night before, as if to validate that it is worth listening to.
System of a Down - Steal This Album! A collection of songs that didn't make it onto either of their two previous albums, this album starts off a little grating (except for "innervision") but becomes pure System goodness a little over halfway through. Their beautiful songs only get more beautiful with each listen; the faster, heavier ones show their meaning after a few listens, and the melody and rhythm begin to make sense.

"This administration is set to complete what the railroad barons pushed the Grant administration to start: to take democracy and its institutions of governance from the hands of the human citizen/voters the Founders fought and died for, and give it to the very types of monopolistic corporations the Founders fought against when they led the Tea Party revolt against the East India Company in Boston Harbor in 1773.

And, in the ultimate irony, the new man in charge of economic policy as Secretary of the Treasury will be a multi-millionaire Bush campaign contributor, chairman of The Business Roundtable (an elite corps of 100 of the nation's most powerful corporate CEOs), and, himself, a railroad baron. "

The robber barons are finishing the job, read this masterful article here.

The evolution is Ours
We are drowning in an ill-conceived wave of corruption and death brought upon us by the short-sighted fascinations of old men and frightened politicians. The energy to power the light of the future is being concealed by the filth produced by the energy of the past. The evil men who push us down are clinging to their last reserve of power and wealth. Soon the truth will be revealed and a new era will begin. World peace is possible in this new vision.

go here

Wow, they actually did something about the White House's economic team! Good riddance, you bastards! Maybe O'Neill will go back to looting California's energy market, which he excelled at when was a CEO at Enron(!).
The article wastes no time in noting that, as usual, the decision to boot O'Neill and Lindsey was purely political and to create the appearance that they actually give a damn about us non-billionaires. Full article here.

update: my mistake, Secretary of the Army Thomas White was the tool who was at Enron in California. O'Neill was just the CEO of Alcoa, the largest aluminum maufacturer in the world

Where are they now?
They are gone.
I saw them run,
run to the sea.
Under the waves,
all has been said.
Can you hear them?
Their voices are free.
Free from the sun's stare
Free from the noise
of lost souls.

Their voice carries on,
On the waves.

-- Neurosis, "The Tide"

On John Kerry, 2004 Presidential hopeful gleaming in his eyes: "Kerry has a strong presence within his own party: he’s a war veteran who later became a war protestor, giving him a unique advantage of being able to play both sides of the war card. He’s a staunch advocate of many core left-wing Democratic ideals (I am happy because I got to use the word "staunch" today) and has a prior history of taking on corporate fraud- something which hopefully could be used as a 2004 campaign strategy seeing how it’s all nice and fresh from no one using it in the 2002 elections, you stupid, stupid, stupid Democrats. Stupid."

From the awesome Xoverboard.

"Hoover, Eisenhower and Goldwater were conservatives. George W. Bush is not. He's a radical right-winger applying selective liberalism in order to create an expansionist military empire centered around an oppressive police state."

Ted Rall's latest column, read it all here.

In the cd player today:
Noel Sanger - summerbreeze2 i really like this cd. I met Noel last night at Big Wig - class act all the way, and truly solid spinning. I'm looking forward to hearing more from him and seeing him spin in a more exciting atmosphere.

I think I've got to recant my "eh" rating of Sasha's Airdrawndagger. It's really starting to grow on me ("like a rash", according to Andrew) and I'm starting to hear where he's coming from and what he's trying to do. It does sound like it was all made with all the same gear though; there isn't a huge depth of sounds but I'm starting to appreciate it. I do hear a few live basses and guitars which is interesting.

"How convenient to divert the public's attention from other problems with the notion that the whole world must be turned upside down to combat terrorism, when marginal and avoidable mistakes by our government allowed the dreams of madmen to be fulfilled in blood."

Read it here.