Thanks to our strong-standing comrades at Ropeadope records, my little organization now has an online unstore with all our gear ready to be fedexed to you in return for your donation. It's like the PBS tote-bag concept, but cooler.

For anyone who's wanted to pick up one of our much-coveted "Voters Make Better Lovers" t-shirt, this is your big chance.

If you want to be super-cool, you'll help us get the word out on this thing too. Handy url alias: www.musicforamerica.org/unstore

As shouts of "Four More Years" subsided, Niederer, standing in the middle of a crowd of some 700, continued to shout about the killing of her son. Secret Service and local police escorted her out of the event, handcuffed her and placed her in the back of a police van.

It's starting to get deeply deeply sad. I'm reminded of a sentiment I expressed quite a lot before I discovered Dean, that it was literally a painful thing to read the news; hurtful to even be informed.

Where's the hope?

Hit and Run may have found the identity of a Young Republican who was caught on tape kicking a protester at the RNC. Apparently the guy was an intern at the National Taxpayers Union. The NTU quickly cropped the photo which showed the individual in question once they heard it was being linked to.

This wasn't an isolated incident, either.

It's all pretty sad, actually. A uniter not a divider, eh?

Sparking this train of thought: Michael Badnarik's Operation American Freedom

That's the name of his campaign for President, of course. Interesting. He's against the war in Iraq. Against gun control. Against the Patriot Act. Against Massive Spending. Pretty interesting stuff, could pull from either side. It will be interesting to see how much support he picks up, and how it compares to the Ghostly figure that is Ralph Nader.

I don't use that term pejoratively, mind. I really think Nader is the essance of a polical Ghost (a haunting figure that comes back to nag you for what you done wrong), just like Kerry is kind of a Zombie (once lively, then poisoned, now monotonous) and Bush is kind of a Skeleton (fierce, easily duped, possibly under the control of some unseen Wizard or Cheney/Rummy/Rove).

Necro-analogies aside, Badnarik's campaign is a good example of how third parties build support, by taking stances that feelright, no matter how politically feasible they are. That kind of purity is appealing, even magnetic.

I'm still obsessed with Ross Perot, and how he almost got to be president -- crazy, werid looking dude that he was -- simply by going on TV for long stretches of time and explaining shit. I don't know if he had a hidden agenda. I tend to think he was simply power-hungry; but the way he went about doing it, seriously trying to interest people in the long-term economic health of the country, speaks of a rather high view of humanity.

The Anarchists also exhibit this. I disagree with some of their actions even as I agree with many of their ideals, but I will say this without hesitation: Anarchists have a great reguard for the potential of human beings to be amazing creatures. It's almost Ryndian, the "heroic conception of mankind."

And for me it is precisely here where most Republicans and Democrats come up short. They're shepards, not leaders, and the worst kind at that: those with no respect for their flock. Their consistent (mis)underestimation of the intelligence of the non-political class will be their undoing.

How and when that happens, and whether it involves the parties changing their names (breaking up and reforming, as opposed to simply undergoing robust organizational renewal) is a matter for history to decide, as is the efficacy of inside infiltrators vs. outside agetators. For me and the radicals -- e.g. the people I blogged about below -- we're somewhat in competition with each other for who fixes things first, but it's important to remember we're often after the same things.

That being said, if you don't vote, or you vote for a third party this year in a national election, you're basically wasting your time, shouting into the maelstrom. If you want to make a splash, you've got to start organizing, evangelizing and institution-building. If you're not that serious, vote for fucking Kerry, ok? Boycotting only works when the system needs you (it doesn't), and the number of votes doesn't matter for any of the fringe candidates; no one's future is made by being a spoiler. All that matters for any radical or long-term cause is what organization is built and can be maintained for future use.

So do it. Organize, evangelize, institution-build, but build something that will last; but pull the lever to eject Bush, and then get ready to rumble with Big John.

Saw a lot of these stencils on my way to getting a bike tube. People aught to do a little more research on their sloganeering. "Bring the War Home" is catchy, yes, but the Weather Underground (who's slogan is was) isn't really a model organization.

Beyond which, organizing a campaign of wheatpasting and political theater in San Fran Fucking Cisco to stop the war seems a little less than pragmatic.

As my man Mark likes to say, "I'm in the business of getting shit done."

Did Bush use his power as Governor of Texas to cut a backroom deal covering up the truth about his National Guard service? Still Unreported: The Pay-off in Bush Air Guard Fix

Greg Palast is a BBC journalist, and a fairly good one. Whether he can get any traction in the American Newsmedia is an open question.

The story breaks down like this:

• 1968: then Lt. Governer Barnes pulled some strings to get Bush into the cushy (and hostility-free) Texas Air National Guard (TANG)
• 1994 Bush became Governor in a close race, in which he'd explicitly denied having strings pulled to get into the TANG
• Barnes, at this time, is a corporate lobbiest who's working for GTech, which is running the Texas Lottery
• GTech is under investigation from the FBI for corruption and in danger of loosing its lucrative contract
• Bush spoke to the head of the lottery commission and the commission reversed itself, giving GTech a no-bid contract.
• Barnes got $23 million for landing the contract. Bush was able to "put to rest" any questions about his TANG service.

are a changin'. Barnes is singing like a canary to anyone who'll listen that he got Bush into the TANG, and Palast has memos from the Justice Department, so if enough people decide to pay attention here the truth will out.

And again, it's not the crime; it's the coverup.

This is worth watching a little web-ad for a day-pass. Salon.com News, Stung!, by Eric Boehlert:

Dating back to the 2000 campaign and right up to this day, [White House Spokesperson Dan] Bartlett has routinely changed his stories regarding Bush's service depending on what information was available to the public. As more and more documents trickle out and it becomes increasingly obvious Bush received wildly favorable treatment during his Guard days while doing his best to skirt his duties, Bartlett is left trying to stake out explanations that haven't already been discredited. And those options are shrinking.

I'll tell you why this matters to me. It's not because Bush shucked and jived his way out of National Guard service he string-pulled his way into. It's not because he tried to get out of a flying unit so he wouldn't be drug-tested. It's not because he was basically a spoiled brat from New England who picked up some heavy party habits down in Huston and wasn't about to let the Vietnam war get in the way of a good time. I mean, these are all things I can understand and so some extent appreciate.

What bothers me is that he lied about it, that a fradulent artifice was created to supplant the non-heroic but wholly understandible truth. It bothers me a lot more than Clinton's lying about Monica, and the reason is that Bush and his handlers have made the choice to trot out his stint in the Guard as an example of his character. Clinton tried to dodge the heat on what was essentially a personal matter. Bush and his team have intentionally and wilfully gone out of their way to create a completely false image, and they've used this image as a souce of political power. This isn't the only example of said routine, or even the most egregious or reprehensable (the war, anyone?), but it is a particularly specific one, especially now that all the facts and machinations are coming to light.

Bush and the people he surrounds himself with are sickeningly devoted to the power of public relations, the ability to repeat false things over and over with firm conviction, muddy the factual waters through obfustaction and misdirection, and succeed in making people believe that lies are the truth. Witness:

In 1999, when asked by an A.P. reporter why Bush had claimed to have served specifically with the U.S. Air Force when he'd only been in the National Guard, Bush's spokesperson Karen Hughes insisted the claim was accurate because when Bush attended flight school for the Air National Guard he was considered to be on active duty for the Air Force. That was plainly false, as the A.P. noted, citing Air Force policy, which stated Guardsmen are never considered to be members of the Air Force active duty.

It bothers me very much that Bush and his people are so willfully disrespectful of facts. It bothers me perhaps more than anything else because I believe it gives this guy the real live potential to put major crimps in my personal future, and pretty much trash our potential for national progress.

I also probably feel a little more incensed about this than some of you because I've studied the arts of the theater, and I love them, and I find it revolting to see them put to use for evil instead of good.

Lies are social pollution and these people are habitual polluters, deciples of stagecraft and wordplay and media strategy. They are the most devious elements of Regan and Clinton rolled into one administrative package, and they have no appreciation for science or for truth. Most disturbing, they often appear drunk on this power, on their ability to manipulate. I think this is incredibly dangerous, especially given the fact that there are really important things that we need to get done as a nation and this kind of hubristic disrespect for Real Things will make it very hard to get anything done.

Just one real solid example: can we deal with the threat of terrorism without coming to terms with the role the Saudis play? Fuck no, but Bush's White House has been obfuscating their role in 9-11 and claiming everything peachy when it's cleary not. I'm not anti-Saudi here, I'm just pro fucking truth. We've got to get the whole set of facts out front here if we want to have any chance of solving any of these problems. Telling ourselves nice stories and sending people off to kill other people isn't going to do the job, and I think we all know that.

Like I said, this isn't the most extreme or shameful example of Bush's practice of deception and dishonesty, but it's a particularly specific one. Just like Nixon went down for botching a silly little burglery and not secretly bombing Cambodia, so too may Bush unravel over his own attempts to obscure the collision between his party-hearty lifestyle and the obligations of a cushy spot in the Texas Air Guard.

But what about Kerry? Isn't he a flip-flopper? Well, he's a politician, that's for damn sure, but while John Kerry isn't the straightest tool in the shed, he's usually twisty in an intellectually honest fashion -- understanding things from multiple viewpoints -- and when he's not it's because he's trying to do his job as a Senator. You know, voting for stuff before he votes against it like they all do from time to time.

And I have to say I like Young Kerry, the guy who demonstrated a hell of a lot of nerve fighting a bullshit war, and then a hell of a lot of principle coming back and calling out the bullshit. This was before he trudged down the path of career politician and (of course) lost his edge -- and you'd have to be blind not to see ambition in all he did as a young man -- but the record that he was once a lot cooler than he is now still stands.

I have this crazy idea that maybe if he wins, if he gets there, hits the top and reaches the end of that career politician path, Young Kerry will come alive again, and great things will happen. People are ambitious for all sorts of reasons, and there's an off chance that all of Kerry's career angling has at its core a desire to do some good things. It may be a long shot, yeah, but it's a fuckton better than giving the keys to old cokie McLiarface again.

The Bright Young Things at Downhill Battle have something for you to do.

The Betamax ruling is the only thing that protects your right to own a VCR, tape recorder, CD-burner, DVD-burner, iPod, or TiVo. It's that important. But new legislation that's being pushed through the Senate by lobbyists for the music and movie industries would override the Betamax decision and create a huge liability for any business that makes products which can copy sound or video. This legislation (formerly known as the INDUCE Act) would essentially give Hollywood veto power over a huge range of new technologies. And if they get this power, they'll definitely use it: just as they tried to stomp out the VCR in the 70's and 80's, the music and movie industries want to force all content to go through their own restricted channels.

This is big important shit. Technology and culture are inextricably wedded going forward in this world, and for anyone who hopes to furthur [sic] the progress of humanity though the development of more humane, progressive, connective and throughful culture -- that's me -- this law is a dagger through the heart.

We have an opportunity here the dawn of the 21st century. With the broadening reach of the net an the democratizing implications of its decentralized nature, we can create for the first time since the early days of the printing press a truly Public Media. However, if laws are enacted -- some are already in place -- which lock down the channels of information and establish large swaths of proprietary "black box" data, this will cement the kind of corporate dominance we now see in the broadcast world.

That's why it's important to participate in this call-in day, and support the mission of those entities (like downhillbattle) which are attempting to promote the interests of the Public and the People in the world of new media.

They were talking about Wednesday night at the RNC on Hardball , the episode everyone's excited about because Zell Miller sorta c hallenged Chris Matthews to a duel. But this bit lept out of the transcript at me:

CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: And is this the agenda now for the fall? Joe?

JOE SCARBOROUGH, HOST, SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY: I find it remarkable.

We are three days into this convention, and we have been talking all year about how this election is going to be about George W. Bush. The Republicans, with their ad campaigns, the third-party attacks, this convention, three nights into this convention, this convention remains about John Kerry.

I can't remember a major presidential election where you have an incumbent that makes the central focus of their convention about the other guy, about the challenger. It is a radical departure from politics as usual. And what does it say about what they think George Bush has done over the past four years, and, more importantly, what the American people think of George Bush?

Good question, Joe!

President Bush, Because He Says So

This is good stuff. Not everything is funny, though. We just crossed over 1000 US dead in Iraq.

Why? Because he said so.