No Alarms, and No Suprises.

A Moment of Clarity.



Words.

"WHEN IT'S ALL SAID AND DONE, REMEMBER THE FEARLESS, REMEMBER THE DREAMERS, REMEMBER THOSE WHO REPRESENT THE GHETTO...THE FAIRY TALE OF NOTHING TO SOMETHING. I'M BRIEFLY SADDENED BY NEGATIVE COMMENTS, BUT I HAVE TO REMEMBER THOSE PEOPLE ARE SCARED, INCAPABLE OR JUST PLAIN IDIOTS. WE ARE THE FUCKING ROCK STARS BABY. NO COCAINE, JUST LIFE MY NIGGAS!! NO COCAINE, JUST LIFE! IT'S FUNNY TO ME WHEN FASHION BLOGGERS DOWN OUR OUFITS AND THEN SUPER JOCK OUTLANDISH SHIT ON THE RUNWAY BUT THEN THEY DRESS MAD PRUDE AND DON'T LIVE FASHION. WE LIVE IT MAN. FUCK THAT, WE LIVE IT!!! WE LIVE IT SO HARD PEOPLE LIVE THROUGH US! WE REPRESENT YOUR INNER SPIRIT!! THE CHILD IN US ALL, THE BRUTAL HONESTY, THE NAIVETY, THE BRAVE WARRIOR, THE ADRENALINE THAT ALLOWS A MOTHER TO LIFT A CAR IF HER CHILD WAS TRAPPED UNDER IT! REMEMBER, THERE WAS A TIME WHEN EVERYBODY DISSED MICHAEL JACKSON EVERY CHANCE THEY COULD. IMAGINE THE PRESSURE OF BEING A TRUE ICON. VERY FEW HUMAN BEINGS ARE STRONG ENOUGH TO TAKE CONSTANT HATE!!! IF WE DON'T DO WHAT YOU FEEL IS THE SHIT, YOU BEAT US UP VERBALLY AND MENTALLY, LIKE A CATHOLIC SCHOOL TEACHER BEATING A CREATIVE STUDENT INTO SUBMISSION. I CAN HEAR YOU SCREAMING 'COLOR INSIDE THE LINES!!!' WELL FUCK YOUR COLORING BOOK, COLOR BY NUMBERS APPROACH TO LIFE. AT THE END OF THE DAY WHO ARE WE HURTING??? OH "THE NEW BLACK???" SINCE BARACK IS PRESIDENT BLACKS DON'T LIKE FUR COATS, RED LEATHER, AND FRIED CHICKEN ANY MORE?! WHEN YOU TRULY UNDERSTAND CULTURAL SETTINGS, BOUNDARIES, AND OUR MODERN DAY CASTE SYSTEMS, THEN YOU CAN FEEL THE GLORY AND PAIN FROM THE DAYS OF KINGS IN AFRICA TO THE NEW KINGS OF THE MEDIA. LET THE BALL PLAYERS DANCE AFTER THEY SCORE! IT'S LIFE MY NIGGAS, IT'S LIFE! REMEMBER CLOTHING IS A CHOICE. WE WERE BORN NAKED!!! FRESH IS AN OPINION, LOVE IS OBJECTIVE, TASTE IS SELECTIVE, AND EXPRESSION IS MY FAVORITE ELECTIVE. NO MORE POLITICS OR APOLOGIES!!!"-Kanye West

KANYE WEST BLOG

For Your Consideration.

Hot Chip. One Life Stand.

Stream here.

COLOURS.

One Mo'gin...

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Speech Therapy - Post-Racial
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Eye of the Tiger.

Heart of a Lion.

Words. For Your Consideration...

"There is a specter haunting America: the specter of a saner, updated version of Ross Perot. He is lurking out there, ready to ride the free-floating anger and distrust of Washington. He is out there now in one of his homes or private jets, getting madder by the day. He is large of ego, full of money and cranky in mien. When he enters the arena, he’ll say that Washingtonians, all of them, are a bunch of failures. Over the past five years, Washington has tried to reform Social Security, immigration, health care and energy policy. All of these efforts have either failed or are close to failure — thousands of people working millions of hours and in all likelihood producing nothing.

He’ll point out that Washingtonians, all of them, breed selfishness. Republicans refuse to accept tax increases. Democrats reject spending cuts. They’ve put the country on a highway to a fiscal crisis, and there are no exit ramps.

When he comes, he’ll present himself warts and all. Yes, I’m an obnoxious S.O.B., he’ll say. But you need me right now. Yes, I am a blank slate, but people are so desperate that they’re voting for blank slates. When he comes — this billionaire Simon Cowell, this political Bobby Knight — he will change the political landscape, at least for a time.

If I were one of those fellows advising Barack Obama, I would tell him that you can either get run over by that saner Ross Perot or you can be the saner Ross Perot. You’re not ornery, but you are a bit of a loner. You’re not a billionaire with a huge ego, but that’s because you’re not that rich. God gave you self-esteem. You might as well use it for good.

...You made a good start in the State of the Union address, I would tell him. In that speech, you began to reclaim the mantle of the permanent outsider.you made it clear that you will not be going down with the Congressional Titanic. You took a few steps toward recapturing your image as the last thoughtful reformer. Now you have to embrace that role with a vengeance..."

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Perot Option

"WHOSE HOUSE?"

New flava in ya ear!

Usher.

Hey Daddy (Daddy's Home).

MIXTAPE FRIDAYS!!!

BASEMENT TRACKS!

SIDE A

1/Outstanding/The Gap Band
2/Blow the Whistle/Too Short
3/Put it in a Love Song/Alicia Keys feat. Beyonce
4/Superstition/Stevie Wonder
5/Get Naked (I Got A Plan)/Britney Spears
6/The Payback/James Brown

SIDE B

1/Bad Romance/Lady Gaga
2/Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)/The Jacksons
3/Sleepyhead/Passion Pit
4/Brother Sport/Animal Collective

FEEDBACK.

A Moment of Clarity.



Words.

"The conventional wisdom was wrong, as usual. Some in the punditocracy expected President Obama to tack toward the center, others expected him to run to the bosom of the Democratic Party’s liberal base. He did neither. By the end of his State of the Union address, when he summed up the whole speech in three words -- “I don’t quit” -- you had to take him at his word.

...There were no fall-off-your-chair surprises in Obama’s speech, but many people might have been surprised by the style in which he delivered it. Obama didn’t sound like a president buffeted and beleaguered by the political fates. He sounded determined, patient, forceful, good-humored, at times even mischievous. He looked relaxed and in control.

...maybe the Republicans -- and the Democrats, too -- realized that Obama was speaking over their heads to a nation that is fed up with “Washington” and “government” and “partisanship.” For the first time in months, it seemed to me, Obama reconnected with the language and themes that got him elected.

I’m for change, he was telling the assembled members of Congress. What about you?"

THE WASHINGTON POST: POSTPARTISAN: The punditocracy was wrong about Obama's speech

Up Out My Face!

New flava in ya ear!

Mariah Carey feat. Nicki Minaj

Up Out My Face.

"Come Disconnect the Dots!"

With Of Montreal, Solanage Knowles, and the Jackson 5's I Want You Back, LIVE!

PITCHFORK: Video: Susan Sarandon and Solange Crash of Montreal NYC Show

Coming Attractions.

Usher.

Hey Daddy.

A Preview.

Oh by the way...

THIS. IS. THE. REMIX!



New flava in ya ear!

Lady Gaga feat. Beyonce.

Telephone.

A Remix by the fellas of Passion Pit.

Stream here.

More, More, MORE!

A Moment of Clarity.


Don't talk about it, BE ABOUT IT!

Words.

"It's ironic that President Obama could never be convincing as populist in chief. He had a modest upbringing -- his family was on food stamps for a time -- and he needed scholarships and loans to pay for his fancy education. He is no stranger to the struggles of everyday Americans.

By contrast, George W. Bush was born to Old Money and raised amid great wealth, privilege and power. Yet Bush was able to project an Everyman folksiness that made people forget his patrician heritage. Obama just doesn't give off that guy-next-door vibe. Even if he were to roll up his sleeves, loosen his tie and start talkin' like his predecessor, droppin' his final g's left and right, nobody would buy the act.

So I hope the White House pays no attention to the critics calling on Obama to cultivate a more populist image. Regaining the political initiative will be a matter of substance, not style -- and also a matter of passion.

Bringing in David Plouffe, the architect of Obama's brilliant election campaign, is a smart move that will surely help the president deliver his message more effectively. But part of that message has to be a clear sense of Obama's bottom line. It's not enough to use variations of the word "fight" more than 20 times in relatively brief remarks, as he did Friday in Ohio. At some point, he needs to -- metaphorically, of course -- actually slug somebody.

I'm not talking about perceptions here. The point isn't that Obama should be seen slapping opponents and obstructionists around as a way of demonstrating his presidential alpha-maleness. It's that if Obama's agenda is as vital and necessary as he says it is, the White House should make its actions match up with its words..."

THE WASHINGTON POST: Obama can't create change with words alone

Skeletal Lamping.

New flava in ya ear!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Skeletons.

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Money Talks.

Starring the United States Supreme Court.

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Supreme Corp
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I.N.D.E.P.E.N.D.E.N.T!

"Do you know what that means?"




Free spirits.



Words. For Your Consideration...

"Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008 by assembling a broad coalition of Democrats and independents, but since the summer, independents have been deserting Obama's cause, and not only in Massachusetts.

That's what has White House strategists and Democrats in Congress most worried about this fall's elections: Independents, the country's most fickle voters, are in the driver's seat. They're unhappy about the economy, worried about the potential costs of the Democrats' healthcare bills and disappointed that Obama's promises of bipartisanship didn't come true.

And they're quick to fire a party that isn't delivering the goods -- as they did in Massachusetts' special Senate election last week.

...Since 2006, there has been a massive "dealignment" from party allegiance, with more voters calling themselves independents today than at any time since the invention of modern polling. In Massachusetts, more than 50% of voters actually register as independents -- in part because that allows them to vote in either party's primary. And the trend isn't confined to New England; nationwide, the number of voters who call themselves independent has risen to 37% in the Gallup Poll, against 33% who identify themselves as Democrats and 27% as Republicans.

In recent months, independents' sentiment has started to swing away from the Democrats. Over the course of 2009, the share of independents who said they "leaned Republican" grew from 31% to 40%; those who leaned Democratic dropped from 47% to 38%.

Many of those independents voted for Bush in 2004 and Obama in 2008, but they didn't turn into liberals along the way. The independents' underlying ideology has actually been fairly stable, even if their voting pattern hasn't.

"They're conflicted centrists," said Andrew Kohut of the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, which did a major study of independent voters last year. "They are closer to the Democrats on social issues, but they're closer to the Republicans in being skeptical about big government."

That last factor is part of what's hurting Obama and the Democrats now. Independents are "leery of government control of healthcare," Kohut said, "even though they say they favor healthcare reform.

...In any case, most independents -- contrary to claims from the "tea party" camp -- are looking for bipartisanship and centrism, not bloody-shirt populism. Bruce Reed, a former aide to President Clinton who now heads the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, says Obama needs to make a more dramatic move back to the middle -- much as Clinton did after losing Congress to the Republicans in 1994. Reed says his party's problem is straightforward: Liberal leaders in Congress overestimated their mandate and overreached.

"Among some Democrats, there was a hope that because the country had so many problems, people would welcome an all-out government effort," he said. "But Americans are as reluctant as they always have been to rely on government to solve problems."

In Massachusetts and elsewhere, he said, voters "are sending a message that they want Obama to be the president he campaigned as" -- a centrist, not a liberal. "They want him to succeed, and they want Congress to help."

LOS ANGELES TIMES: Independents are calling the electoral shots

Ain't that America!

Words. For Your Consideration...

"All last week, commentators recounted the dramatic swing in the national mood between this January and last. In 2009, President Obama was talking about bending the arc of history. In 2010, it doesn't look like he can bend enough arms to get healthcare reform through Congress.

Americans are not happy. We're on the downside of a familiar cycle: the bitter disillusionment that follows outsized hope. What could be accomplished in Washington isn't matching our expectations. And although Obama's fall has been steep and hard, he's not alone. Traditionally, a new president's party loses ground in the election that follows his inauguration. What's surprising is that we never seem to tire of the vaunted hope that gets the cycle going in the first place.

What's going on? Are we schizophrenic? Gluttons for punishment? Are we so addicted to the possibilities that, even when reality mugs us, we can't wait to dream again? Why hasn't the mountain of disappointing political realities -- presidents, parties, causes and processes -- turned us into a nation that stops caring?

The answer to these questions lies in the contradictory heart of the American character. On the one hand, we pride ourselves on our idealism. On the other, we fancy ourselves sturdy realists. If the U.S. were a cartoon character, it'd be a cheerful fellow with his head in the clouds and his feet planted squarely on the ground..."

LOS ANGELES TIMES: Cycle of promise and reality in U.S. politics shifts into overdrive

CONTROVERSY!

Go tell it on the Mountain.

Words.

"Populism" is the most overused and misused word in the lexicon of commentary. But thanks to a reckless decision by Chief Justice John Roberts's Supreme Court and the greed of the nation's financial barons, we have reached a true populist moment in American politics.

The Supreme Court's 5-to-4 decision last week giving American corporations the right to unlimited political spending was an astonishing display of judicial arrogance, overreach and unjustified activism.

Turning its back on a century of practice and decades of precedent, a narrow right-wing majority on the court decided to change the American political system by tilting it decisively in favor of corporate interests.

An unusually blunt headline in Friday's print edition of The New York Times told the story succinctly: "Lobbies' New Power: Cross Us, and Our Cash Will Bury You."

Think of this rather persuasive moment in a chat between a corporate lobbyist and a senator: "Are you going to block that taxpayer bailout we want? Well, I'm really sorry, but we're going to have to run $2 million worth of really vicious ads against you." The same exchange might take place on tax breaks, consumer protections, environmental rules and worker safeguards.

Defenders of this vast expansion of corporate influence piously claim it's about "free speech." But since when is a corporation, a creation of laws passed by governments, entitled to the same rights as an individual citizen? This ruling will give large business entities far more power than any individual, unless you happen to be Michael Bloomberg or Bill Gates.

...If average voters came to see government primarily as an instrument of the banks, why should they believe that the same government could help them on matters of health care and employment? This problem was aggravated by puffed-up, self-involved U.S. senators who conspired to make the legislative process look as ugly and chaotic as possible.

...President Obama was right to invoke Teddy Roosevelt in his radio address on Saturday. American democracy and the square deal in government for which TR battled are in jeopardy."

THE WASHINGTON POST: Supreme Court ruling calls for a populist revolt

For Your Consideration.

PITCHFORK: Twenty Great "Simpsons" Music Moments

SEX!

A Conversation with Willie of Day 26.

For Your Consideration.

New flava in ya ear!

She & Him.

In the Sun.

PITCHFORK: New She & Him: "In the Sun"