The angry music hour presents...

Gimme Shelter (Live, Brussels, 10/17/73) - The Rolling Stones

The angry music hour presents...

Dead Prez and The Coup - Get Up

Ain't That America...

Somethin' to see, baby

This is what's wrong with America

From Americablog,  This article shines light on ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council .
What is ALEC? It is the fountain from which flows nearly every rightwing legislative act aimed at increasing corporate power and disempowering and disenfranchising working people. In a nutshell, ALEC is a national right-wing group that writes "model" legislation for its members. Who are its members? Republican state legislators and private organizations (think ExxonMobil).
Ever get the feeling that the rash of anti-union legislation sweeping over several states is coordinated? That is because, as outlined in this NYT article, it is - coordinated, in fact, by ALEC:

A group composed of Republican state lawmakers and corporate executives, the American Legislative Exchange Council, is quietly spreading these proposals from state to state, sending e-mails about the latest efforts as well as suggested legislative language.

NPR also has an excellent article on ALEC. Quite a coincidence that NPR's funding is now on the chopping block, dontcha think?The NPR article explains how it all comes together:

Only 28 people work in ALEC's dark, quiet headquarters in Washington, D.C.  And Michael Bowman, senior director of policy, explains that the little-known organization's staff is not the ones writing the bills. The real authors are the group's members — a mix of state legislators and some of the biggest corporations in the country.
"Most of the bills are written by outside sources and companies, attorneys, [and legislative] counsels," Bowman says.

Here's how it works: ALEC is a membership organization. State legislators pay $50 a year to belong. Private corporations can join, too. The tobacco company Reynolds American Inc., Exxon Mobil Corp. and drug-maker Pfizer Inc. are among the members. They pay tens of thousands of dollars a year. Tax records show that corporations collectively pay as much as $6 million a year.
With that money, the 28 people in the ALEC offices throw three annual conferences. The companies get to sit around a table and write "model bills" with the state legislators, who then take them home to their states.

This, my friends, is why our 'democracy' has become a sham. You and I have absolutely no power to change it. We are not part of the process. The process is money, and we ain't got none. Read it all.
Then weep.

the angry music hour presents...

Sly Stone was born this day, in 1943, in Denton Texas.
Everyday People/Dance To The Music Medley - Sly and The Family Stone

The angry music hour presents...

In Japan, the fourth reactor is now on fire. Partial meltdowns of reactors 2 and 3 are confirmed. The jet stream points like an arrow toward my home.
Whatcha Gonna Do? - D.O.A.

Sunday Morning Music Trivia

No time this morning for research, so enjoy this great live performance of "White Riot" by The Clash.

Things that make you go AAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH

Watch this clip, courtesy of mockpaperscissors. Cringe as the fascist bobbleheads on CNBC prattle on about how the devasting earthquake in Japan, has, so far, THANK THE GODS, not had any real impact on that most important of things, the great, holy commodity markets.  Cry for humanity as Larry Kudlow makes this vile, disgusting comment:

The human toll here looks to be much worse than the economic toll and we can be grateful for that.

Assassination is too good for their ilk.

1.2 Trillion Wasted...

This article should make your teeth grind. This is what the new austerity is paying for - 1.2 Trillion in "defense" spending. This fucking country is NOT BROKE. It is awash in money, a veritable gusher of cash that pours undeservedly towards the Department of War.
Again, there is NO BUDGET CRISIS. America just prefers to spend it's vast wealth on murder.
Does that make you proud to be an American? It makes me fucking well ashamed.

The angry music hour presents...

Capital, it fails us now
Comrades, let us seize the time...
Gang of Four - Capital (It Fails Us Now)

The Fascist Regime

Inside The State House, Madison, Wisconsin, 3/11/2011

The angry music hour presents...

Plus ca change, plus ca le meme chose..

They used to tell me I was building a dream, and so I followed the mob,
When there was earth to plow, or guns to bear, I was always there right on the job.
They used to tell me I was building a dream, with peace and glory ahead,
Why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread?

Tom Waits - Brother Can You Spare A Dime?

Fascism in action

Video of the fascist denial of basic human rights in Wisconsin:

The angry music hour presents...

Dedicated to Wisconsin Governor Walker

Liar - The Sex Pistols

This is What DemocracyFascism Looks Like

The TBTB (Tea Bag Terrorist Brigade) has successfully denied unions in Wisconsin the ability to bargain collectively by removing the provision from the budget and presenting it to committee on it's own. Here's how and why: In Wisconsin, the Senate must have a quorum to vote on budgetary issues. (20 senators would constitute a quorum) There are 19 TBTB Senators and 14 Democratic Senators - this is why all 14 Democratic Senators left the state, to filibuster. The TBTB then stripped the collective bargaining clause from the budget brought it to committee and voted for it. Since there were no budget items, no quorum was needed.
As to the why:
Prior to the vote, the Associated Press reported: "Democratic Sen. Bob Jauch says he thinks Republicans plan to 'ram through' parts of the bill that take away collective bargaining rights but that don't cost any money."
State Sen. Jon Erpenbach, who has been in exile in Chicago, expressed his outrage to the Wisconsin State Journal. "They have been saying all along that this is a fiscal item, we've been saying it is not," said Erpenbach. "They have been lying. Their goal is to bust up the unions."
State Sen. Scott Fitzgerald (R), the Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader,Today, on FAUX:
"If we win this battle, and the money is not there under the auspices of the unions, certainly what you’re going to find is President Obama is going to have a much difficult, much more difficult time getting elected and winning the state of Wisconsin."
Thankfully, unions in Wisconsin are discussing a General Strike. For all of our sakes, I hope they go for it.

Repeat a lie often enough....

You have probably heard the quote "Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes truth", or some variation of it. It is usually ascribed to either Adolph  Hitler or his propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, although neither of them actually said it. Goebbels accused the British of doing it in a diary entry, dated 10/16/1928 ; "The essential English leadership secret does not depend on particular intelligence. Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid thick-headedness. The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous." . Hitler accused the Jews of doing it in Mein Kampf when he claimed there was a strategem of Jewish lies using "the principle & which is quite true in itself & that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily."
The quote is much bandied about lately, as it is fitting for the times we live in, but it got me thinking; What is so hard about repeating the truth often enough for it to be accepted? For instance, what if there were voices in the media, on the streets, around the water cooler repeating over and over this simple truth: There is no budget crisis, there is a revenue crisis. Or: The deficit is caused by tax give-aways to the wealthy. Simple, to the point, easily understood and undeniably true, yet no one in the beltway says it, certainly not President Punk Ass Bitch. Someone, somewhere, needs to start saying these things loudly and proudly.
As I contemplated this earlier today the third verse of Slip Kid by The Who kept running through my head:

Keep away old man, you won't fool me
You and your history won't rule me
You might have been a fighter, but admit you failed
I'm not affected by your blackmail
You won't blackmail me

And hence today's angry music hour. Enjoy.

The angry music hour presents...

The Who - Slip Kid

Sunday Morning Music Trivia

Well, Sunday Evening - So shoot me.  MC Solaar was born Claude M'Barali In Senegal to Chadian parents. When he was six months old his parents emigrated to France where they eventually settled in the Paris suburb of Villeneuve-Saint-Georges. He studied languages at the Jussieu university campus, and was a post-graduate in philosophy. As a rapper MC Solaar is known for his complexity, which relies on word play, lyricism, and philosophical inquiry. Critic Dan Gennoe attests to Solaar's "flow et vocabulaire" by noting "the flow of his words is staggering, as are the low-slung grooves that they roll to; deftly vaulting all language barriers." Indeed, I can't begin to translate his output, but in the end it is almost not relevant; The stunning flow itself transcends mere language. 
MC Solaar - La Vie Est Belle

The angry music hour presents...

The Pretenders - Revolution