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(The Zen Circus - Things are looking real all over)

Of all the discoveries I've made via MySpace the past two years, the one that stands out as one of my favorites has to be Zen Circus. It is truly the epitome of the International band. Made up of Italians, Croatians, French and recently involving Brian Ritchie from The Violent Femmes, Kim and Kelly Deal (The Breeders/Pixies), Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads), Italian guitarist Giorgio Canali - a virtual who's who of indie/punk/underground musicians.

Their first album, Villa Inferno came out in early 2008 and a new one, still in the process of mixing should be out towards the end of this year.

This track Les Tantes de la Dimanche was the first song I heard when I went to their site. It's only the tip of the iceberg.

I really urge you to check them out and bookmark their site. I doubt they are slated to tour the U.S. anytime soon - but it would be great if they did.

Trust me on this one - even if you don't understand the lyrics - they sing in English too. Just not this track.

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(As always, China looks at things a teensy bit differently than we do)

I've been working on getting a world overview of the Healthcare situation. Earlier this week I ran a debate over Health Care in Australia, hearing about issues we only hear rumors about. I kept wondering if in fact, the U.S. was the only country in the civilized (or even semi-civilized) world that didn't have some form of National Health, even as an option to private insurance. Hard to believe, but it's true - we are completely backwards in our relationships to health and healthcare.

Thanks to the BBC, I was able to locate a documentary done in 2008 which asked that very question - and did some exploring in Britain, the U.S. and China and came back with some interesting and very informative answers.

John McDonough (Director: Health Care For All): “All of the incentives, right now in our system reward Health Care providers for the volume of services they provide. So you get more money by doing more and more and more at a higher technological level. And we know the real secret comes from doing the lower complexity level of care much better than what’s being now. So all the rewards come from more procedures. And the more talking you do, the more time you waste and the less money you make. The incentives are completely upside down”.

The one thing I have noticed that's most disturbing about the current Health Care debate is the total lack of knowledge of what the issues and what the alternatives are. Clearly, ignorance is far from bliss and finding out how the vast majority of people on this planet handle things like doctor visits and emergencies is absolutely imperative if we're going to make crucial choices. Having ignorant people dangle the fear card in front of you doesn't do you or anyone else any good. Useful, factual information and knowledge of something your life and peace of mind depends on may save your ass in the long run.

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(The Furze - Indie and Catchy, all at the same time)

An up-and-comer, by way of the vast musical gene pool known as MySpace. I admit to not knowing very much about The Furze, other than they're from the UK, have been together since 1997. In a previous incarnation as Kid Galahad and are on the indie label Three-Sixty Records and they have three albums and several eps out. This track Stolen Cars is one of their more recent endeavors.

I've listened to it a few dozen times so far and it seems to be holding up to the extended play test.

So far so good.

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(The Transpersonals - would you buy a used mind from these lads?)

Another MySpace discovery. The Transpersonals. This time a bit of psych from Bristol England, a place where a lot (aside from Skins) seems to be happening. I think this track, Look At The Sun is off an ep they issued last year, but I'm not 100% certain of that.

You know the drill - check out their MySpace page, check out their gig list, check out what's new. They can use your support as I don't see them getting any mainstream radio airplay any lifetime soon.

A partial look back at the events of the past year from FilmstripInternational.com.

From daveyork0.

Retrospective montage on the subject of the lowlights and legacy of both terms of George W Bush, 43rd President of the United States.

December 07, 2008 C-SPAN
Former President Jimmy Carter and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay presented recommendations for a new United States human rights agenda for the new Obama administration. The agenda was developed with human rights leaders from around the world. See more CSPANJunkie Videos here

I agree with Joe Biden. Biden said: "It's time to be patriotic ... time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help get America out of the rut." Tax cuts in a time of war, or a time of massive financial crisis, are unpatriotic. But not just tax cuts for the rich.

This should flow logically from rightwing positions as well as from "kitchen table" common sense that you can't spend more than you make. As I wrote in 2005:

"In times of war when the military needs every cent for armor, bullets and bandages, it is verging on treasonous to avoid paying taxes even if the methods used are ostensibly legal. It certainly isn't supporting the troops or the war on terror."

That was the point about the "Good War', WW2. Everyone shared the fiscal burden. Either a war is worth that commitment or it isn't, and rightwingers have consistently argued that the War on Some Terror is a generational war just as vital as WW2. Bush in 2005 said it:

World War II generation endured great suffering and sacrifice because they understood that defeating tyranny in Europe and Asia was essential to the security and freedom of America.

Like previous wars we have waged to protect our freedom, the war on terror requires great sacrifice from Americans.

So, here's the sacrifice. Put your money where your mouths are and make it.

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Former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan was on Sunday's "This Week" and told George Stephanopoulos that the current financial crisis is a "once in a century" eventwhich he wouldn't bet on leading anywhere except to recession. Gloomily, Greenspan explained how US house prices, now in freefall, underlie the US government paper that permeates the world economy - and that consequently the rest of the world is suffering even more than America is from a home-grown US financial collapse.

And, on Saturday the Associated Press reported remarks by Greenspan that clearly indicate he doesn't think John McCain is the one to steer America and the world through that collapse.

"Unless we cut spending, no," the former Federal Reserve chairman said Friday when asked about McCain's proposed tax cuts, pegged in some estimates at $3.3 trillion.

"I'm not in favor of financing tax cuts with borrowed money," Greenspan said during an interview with Bloomberg Television. "I always have tied tax cuts to spending."

That McCain's "Bush-Plus" budget planning, which would make Bush's tax cuts permanent while introducing extra cuts benefiting mostly the very rich and corporations and would aim to offset those cuts by cutting earmark spending, comes up woefully short was pointed out by Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.):

McCaskill said eliminating congressional earmark spending — estimated at $17 billion annually — cannot offset McCain's proposed tax cuts.

"That's a huge amount of money, but it's not even a drop in the bucket to pay for $3.5 trillion in tax cuts," she said. "So, every time he throws up earmarks and he's asked how he's going to pay for it, he knows he's being disingenuous, he knows he's not being forthcoming."

It'sa position that McCain's own chief economic advisor also holds - as divulged in a forthcoming book. Douglas Holtz-Eakin believes that "you’re going to have to raise taxes whether you’re a Republican, a Democrat or a Martian" but the McCain campaign campaign isn't taking his advice and he isn't speaking out in public about that because "“It’s the brand and you don’t dilute the brand.”

Dick Cheney may be the least introspective man in history.

Dick Cheney, the US vice president, broadened his attack on Russia late on Saturday, directly challenging Vladimir Putin’s view of history and warning that his government could “not have it both ways” by using “brute force” and still hoping to build economic progress.

Form anyone else, the hypocrisy would be breathtaking - as Bush's administration continues to push its military adventures in Afghanistan and Iraq and neo-whatevers calls for more wars with Iran, Syria, Russia ... to say nothing of any "humanitarian" excuse they can come up with for armed intervention. For Cheney its par for the course and everyone expects it.

Business leaders and politicians attending the conference had expected an uncompromising assault by Mr Cheney. But some said it only highlighted a sense of exasperation by a departing administration that had failed in its own diplomacy toward Russia, and the acute differences between Washington and Europe.

[José Manuel Barroso, the head of the European Commission,] also appeared to want to diminish the role of the US in resolving the conflict in Georgia, telling the Financial Times: “The hope for peace is the EU.”

“I’ve not seen any proposals coming from any parts of the world apart from the peace proposal put forward by president Sarkozy on behalf of the EU,” he said.

Speaking later to reporters, Mr Barroso said: “We are interested in having constructive relations with Russia. It is important to note what we need. We need cool heads, not a cold war and this is the basic message.”

From all we've heard so far a McCain-Palin administration would simply repeat all the mistakes of the Bush-Cheney one and America's reputation would continue it's downslide as foreign policy failure piled on failure.

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Kyle Moore at Comments From Left Field writes:

Whether Palin was a good pick or not is not exactly relevant.  What is relevant is the nature of John McCain’s decision making in this instance.

Let that simmer with you for a moment.  At the first sign of trouble, McCain abandoned his game plan and went instead with a high risk maneuver that thus far seems to have some pay off, but is coming with a high cost.

What does that say about how he’ll behave in the realm of foreign policy?  Will he abandon any semblance of a safe and tested plan in favor of a high risk move that will put us and our families in danger?  What about terrorism?  In a McCain administration, I think that this indicates that instead of pursuing a smart and tough anti-terrorism policy, he would engage in a reckless and reactionary response that would only make us less safe and likely put us in another war.

We can discuss the lack of qualifications for Sarah Palin, and there are plenty, but the biggest problem is that it indicates that John McCain’s temperament and judgment is far below the standards necessary to serve in the Oval Office.

Kyle's one of the smartest unsung observers of U.S. politics in the blogosphere and he's hit a nerve for McCain here. Once the initial rush of stories about Palin subsides, people will be left wondering why McCain tapped her.

Even some of her own Alaskan Republican colleagues admit she's not ready for the Veep slot.

State Senate President Lyda Green said she thought it was a joke when someone called her at 6 a.m. to tell her the news.

"She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? said Green, a Republican from Palin's hometown of Wasilla. "Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?"

It seems to have been one or all of three: 1) a vain attempt to convince Hillary supporters that the should think with their vaginas in the same way men like McCain think with their penises, 2) to shore up McCain's standing with the abortion/hangin'/guns loving and science/polar bear cub hating base, 3) an act of supreme desperation brought on by the Democratic Convention.

None of those possibilities will especially inspire confidence in him as President. But unless McCain comes right out and admit which it was then Americans have to think that, when the going gets tough, McCain will once again pull one of the flakies he's infamous for. Does anyone want to vote for a man who - when facing down Putin, Ahmadinejad or Bin Laden - is likely to just roll the dice and pull a judgment call of Palin quality out of the bag?

    John McCain has picked Alaskan governor Sarah Palin as his running mate - which at least is interesting. But how is he going to justify attacking Obama on his inexperience now? Palin, if McCain wins, would be the VP to a 72 year old man with a medical history of four different cancer battles. The chances of her becoming President would, I have to say, be rather higher than those of Joe Biden. There's nothing at all in Palin's record to suggest she has the experience to run America or to be Commander in Chief.

She's not even sure what the VP does (h/t Kos)

In an interview just a month ago, she dissed the job, saying it didn’t seem “productive.”

... Larry Kudlow of CNBC’s “Kudlow & Co.” asked her about the possibility of becoming McCain's ticket mate.

Palin replied: “As for that VP talk all the time, I’ll tell you, I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day? I’m used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we’re trying to accomplish up here for the rest of the U.S., before I can even start addressing that question.”

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 McCain's Supreme Court position, in pop-ups

Joe Biden's ability to out straight talk the faux-maverick is definitely an asset for him. He sees what's important right now and isn't afraid to put it plainly.

Biden said U.S. President George W. Bush’s two conservative appointees — Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito — have pushed the nation’s highest court far to the right.

This, Biden charged, has threatened civil liberties and set back efforts to desegregate schools and obtain equal pay for women.

“Other than ending the war in Iraq, the single most significant thing that Barack Obama can do — and I hope I’ll be able to he help him — will be to determine who the next members of the Supreme Court are going to be.”

... During the next four years, Biden said, citing life expectancy estimates, there may be as many as three vacancies on the nine-member court.

“It’s not merely the woman’s right to choose (to have an abortion) which is at stake,” Biden told a mostly female crowd of several hundred people.

“It’s whether or not you are going to be able to have a fair shot at a fair wage,” Biden said. “It’s whether or not you are going to able to demand that you are treated equally in every aspect of your life.”

Those PUMAs who have said they'll support McCain would do well to reflect on Biden's words and McCains.

When National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru asked McCain whether he admires any Supreme Court justice in particular, he answered “of course, Antonin Scalia…I admire how articulate he is, but I also from everything I’ve seen admire Roberts as well.”

Dave Schuler at Outside The Beltway:

... like us, Russia is quite paranoid. Or, as Woody Allen once quipped, what’s a three syllable word beginning with ‘P’ that means you think that everybody’s against you? Answer: perceptive.

Dave argues that the Bush administration simply went along "fat, dumb, and happy" with the Clinton Administration's policy of making clear to Russia that there had only been one winner of the Cold War and I think there's a lot of truth in that, although the Bush hawks have taken it to a whole new level. But as Clinton-era hawks commenting on the Georgia crisis have reminded us, they don't really believe in compromise and diplomacy. While in domestic politics "It's Clinton's Fault" doesn't hold water 8 years later, in foreign policy, where other nations see "America under successive leaders" while Americans see "the Clinton and Bush administrations", 8 years is just enough time to put a good hoppy head on the home-brew of resentment.

The real problem, however, is that we're in danger of turning that perception into one of "three successive American leaders".