Yo La Simpsons

I've watched The Simpsons a lot, and I've seen Yo La Tengo live about 10 times. But I've never seen these two worlds collide the way that they do in this awesome clip.

A statement from the Electronic Fronteer Foundation (EFF)

This is in response to today's decision by Congress to allow immunity to the telecommunications companies in the revision of the FISA bill.

Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Senate this afternoon passed the FISA Amendments Act, broadly expanding the president's warrantless surveillance authority and unconstitutionally granting retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that participated in the president's illegal domestic wiretapping program. The House of Representatives passed the same bill last month, and President Bush is expected to sign the legislation into law shortly.

"It is an immeasurable tragedy that just after its return from the Fourth of July holiday, the Senate has chosen to pass a bill that betrays the spirit of 1776 by radically expanding the president's spying powers and granting immunity to the companies that colluded in his illegal surveillance program," said Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). "This so-called compromise bill represents a shameful capitulation to the overreaching demands of an imperial president. As Senator Leahy put it in yesterday's debate, the retroactive immunity provision of the bill upends the scales of justice and makes Congress and the courts handmaidens to the White House's cover-up of its illegal surveillance program."

The FISA Amendments Act won passage after several amendments intended to remove or modify the bill's immunity provision failed to pass. One amendment, offered by Senator Christopher Dodd, would have stripped immunity from the bill altogether. Another, introduced by Senator Jeff Bingaman, would have stayed the pending cases against the telecoms and delayed the implementation of the immunity provision until the Inspectors General of the Department of Justice and other U.S. government intelligence agencies finished their investigation into the spying program, thereby preventing Congress from granting immunity in the dark.

"We thank those senators who courageously opposed telecom immunity and vow to them, and to the American people, that the fight for accountability over the president's illegal surveillance is not over," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl. "Even though Congress has failed to protect the privacy of Americans and uphold the rule of law, we will not abandon our defense of liberty. We will fight this unconstitutional grant of immunity in the courtroom and in the Congress, requesting repeal of the immunity in the next session, while seeking justice from the Judiciary. Nor can the lawless officials who approved this massive violation of Americans' rights rest easy, for we will file a new suit against the government and challenge warrantless wiretapping, past, present and future."

EFF is representing the plaintiffs in Hepting v. AT&T, a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of millions of AT&T customers whose private domestic communications and communications records were illegally handed over to the National Security Agency (NSA). EFF has been appointed co-coordinating counsel for all 47 of the outstanding lawsuits concerning the government's warrantless surveillance program.

And here is a similar statement by the ACLU

Today, in a blatant assault upon civil liberties and the right to privacy, the Senate passed an unconstitutional domestic spying bill that violates the Fourth Amendment and eliminates any meaningful role for judicial oversight of government surveillance. The FISA Amendments Act of 2008 was approved by a vote of 69 to 28 and is expected to be signed into law by President Bush shortly. This bill essentially legalizes the president’s unlawful warrantless wiretapping program revealed in December 2005 by the New York Times.

“Once again, Congress blinked and succumbed to the president’s fear-mongering. With today’s vote, the government has been given a green light to expand its power to spy on Americans and run roughshod over the Constitution,” said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union. “This legislation will give the government unfettered and unchecked access to innocent Americans’ international communications without a warrant. This is not only unconstitutional, but absolutely un-American.”

The FISA Amendments Act nearly eviscerates oversight of government surveillance by allowing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to review only general procedures for spying rather than individual warrants. The FISC will not be told any specifics about who will actually be wiretapped, thereby undercutting any meaningful role for the court and violating the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

The bill further trivializes court review by authorizing the government to continue a surveillance program even after the government’s general spying procedures are found insufficient or unconstitutional by the FISC. The government has the authority to wiretap through the entire appeals process, and then keep and use whatever information was gathered in the meantime. A provision touted as a major “concession” by proponents of the bill calls for investigations by the inspectors general of four agencies overseeing spying activities. But members of Congress who do not sit on the Judiciary or Intelligence committees will not be guaranteed access to the agencies’ reports.

The bill essentially grants absolute retroactive immunity to telecommunication companies that facilitated the president’s warrantless wiretapping program over the last seven years by ensuring the dismissal of court cases pending against those companies. The test for the companies’ right to immunity is not whether the government certifications they acted on were actually legal – only whether they were issued. Because it is public knowledge that certifications were issued, all of the pending cases will be summarily dismissed. This means Americans may never learn the truth about what the companies and the government did with our private communications.

“With one vote, Congress has strengthened the executive branch, weakened the judiciary and rendered itself irrelevant,” said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. “This bill – soon to be law – is a constitutional nightmare. Americans should know that if this legislation is enacted and upheld, what they say on international phone calls or emails is no longer private. The government can listen in without having a specific reason to do so. Our rights as Americans have been curtailed and our privacy can no longer be assumed.”

In advance of the president’s signature, the ACLU announced its plan to challenge the new law in court.

“This fight is not over. We intend to challenge this bill as soon as President Bush signs it into law,” said Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project. “The bill allows the warrantless and dragnet surveillance of Americans’ international telephone and email communications. It plainly violates the Fourth Amendment.”

I strongly support both of these organizations in their fight to uphold the Bill of Rights and our system of checks and balances.

God save the queen (with the safety pin through her nose)

(This was written when Queen Elizabeth II was celebrating 50 years on the throne, back in 2002).

This image, couresty of graphic artist Jamie Reid remains deeply iconic.



Now, no disrespect to the head of what remains of the British empire, but being an Yank (and one of Irish descent at that, not to mention a left winger), I must admit that it's hard for me to be too reverential toward royal traditions. I tend to see these Buckingham Palace dwellers as little more than a curious carryover from a bygone era, and probably not really worth the care and feeing costs involved. But, as an American, I also recognize that it's ultimately none of my business whether or not the British want to keep their Royals.


However, as an amateur, but passionate, pop historian and punk fan, the thought of the Queen celebrating an anniversary will always call to mind something else for me. The great punk year 1977 was 25 years ago. It was in this year that Johnny Rotten/Lydon got his face slashed by some nationalistic street thugs in retaliation for the symbolic slashing by him of the Queen. She was for him, and for many, an empty meaningless signifier, and so he, with his sense of ironic black humor, called her a "moron" and a "potential H-Bomb." With this, the punk poster/t-shirt of Elizabeth with a safety pin through her nose became one of punk's (and thus rock's) great signifiers - a thing of beauty (in the postmodern sense of beauty). It was a gesture, an act of toppling an apple cart or the throwing of a tomato at some revered object. The punks like Johnny Rotten instinctively knew that which I always tell my students in my sociology classes, namely to recognize what the norms are,
one might go about breaching them. And breach the norms the punks certainly did.


As I reminisce about this time, it occurs to me that, like myself, Johnny Lydon, Steve Jones, Ari Up, Jimmy Pursey, Joe Strummer, Rat Scabies, Mark P, Siouxsie Sioux, and whoever's left of the Bromley Contingent are all getting older, if not mellower. Hopefully, they have some contentment in their lives today, given the likelihood of their memories of an exciting and meaningful time in their youth. Hopefully, for them, as for me, the "official" celebrations of the Queen calls to mind the great punk safety-pin signifier and that this gives them some satisfaction and puts a little smile on their faces. Hopefully, they can hear the words, sung in that expressive Johnny Rotten voice:

...GOD SAVE THE QUEEN
SHE AIN'T NO HUMAN BEING
THERE IS NO FUTURE
AND ENGLAND'S DREAMING....

some thoughts on Elvis, Beatles, and Michael Jackson

(I originally wrote this about five years ago; it is revised from its original form)



Recent discussions of Michael Jackson have gotten me thinking about a comparison of Jacko with another musical icon - Elvis; i.e., two pampered, socially isolated megalomaniacs whose musical quality went steadly downhill as each approached middle age; Elvis turned into a karate kicking, jumpsuit wearing self-parody; Jacko has been a self-parody for some time now.

I was recently watching and greatly enjoying a tape I had made of the ABC special on the Beatles, right about the time that the compilation with the song "Free as a Bird" was released; how poignant it was to see George, along with Paul and Ringo sitting around together and discussing old times.


Well, one discussion was about the time the fabs met Elvis; it sounded, from the way that they told the story, that they were pretty high, when they met The King (their onetime hero).


What was interesting, though, was how they were eventually made aware of the fact that, while Elvis may have been a rather gracious host during their afternoon in his house, he held a rather low opinion of them, in the final analysis (perhaps he was jealous, or perhaps they were a symbol of how out of touch Elvis was slowly becomming, 1968 comeback special to the contrary). Yet how gracious and even empathetic Paul and the other Beatles seemed to remain in discussing Elvis, even though it was clear how disappointed they seemed. Of course, though, to their credit, they choose to take the high road, and come out looking better.




Here's one account of what Elvis said to President Richard Nixon, during a meeting they had in the White house, wherein Elvis did a bit of trash talking about the Beatles; Nixon, of course, wanted John Lennon deported. (Please note, though, that while this incident may be interpreted in terms of politics, I am not about to discuss this politics here. As everyone probably knows, though, irony abounds in Nixon making Elvis an honorary "youth advisor" to help in the fight against drug use.)


from "Nixon the Narc"

The Prez and The King


Years later, as President, Nixon had a unique opportunity to meet another world-famous musician, Elvis Presley. In 1970, Elvis wrote Nixon a long, poorly handwritten letter requesting a visit with the President and suggesting that he be made a "Federal Agent-at-Large" in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. Elvis claimed to have made extensive study of "drug abuse and Communist brainwashing
techniques," and wanted to help save his country from hippies and communism.


Elvis was eventually received at the White House by Nixon, where the two spent some time in the Oval Office together. Although no transcript of their conversation exists, a summary of their talk written by Nixon's staff indicates that Elvis showed the President his collection of law-enforcement paraphernalia, and then derided the
Beatles, saying they had been a "real force for anti-American spirit."


Nixon clearly agreed with the King's assessment of the Fab Four, as John Lennon was already on Nixon's infamous "enemies list," with a thick FBI file investigating his anti-war activities. Nixon was personally behind efforts to deport Lennon in 1972.


Yet despite Elvis' claim to dislike the Beatles, five years earlier he had hosted them in his Hollywood home. For one enchanted evening, on the night of August 27, 1965, the lads from Liverpool and the King hung out, jammed and swapped stories about life on tour. "We all drank scotch and coke or bourbon and Seven Up," explained Lennon in a memoir of the event. "Elvis only had Seven Up. He didn't touch any of the cigarettes that were offered around, either."


While offering to serve as Nixon's anti-drug spokesman, Elvis was already a heavy user of prescription drugs. Within two years Elvis was admitted to hospital for hepatitis, pneumonia and overuse of prescription drugs. Five years later Elvis was dead at the age of 42, due to heart failure brought on by prescription drugs and poor attention to his personal health.

So basically, this little anecdote suggests that Elvis and Nixon - in spite of seeming to be worlds apart - were perfectly willing to exploit one another, at the expense of others (as well as of their own reputations), and to try to capitalize, socially, culturally, and politically, on their association with one another.

Meanwhile, here is a rather amusing clip, from around the same era, that shows just how willing John Lennon was to stand up for the people and the things that he believed in - a kind of skiffle/jugband version of a song by Lennon's friend (and hippy radical) David Peel. It is a performance that gleefully thumbs its nose at the Nixonian-era establishment, and is certainly one for the time capsule.

...Bronx keeps creating it!

Is hip-hop dead? Maybe not, but it's not sounding much like this any more. There may have been some progress from the classic "old school" era, but lots and lots of regress, as well. As Nas explains, in the song "Hip Hop is Dead,"

Everybody sound the same, commercialize the game
Reminiscin' when it wasn't all business
If it got where it started
So we all gather here for the dearly departed
Hip hopper since a toddler
One homeboy became a man then a mobster
If the guys let me get my last swig of Vodka
R.I.P., we'll donate your lungs to a rasta
Went from turntables to mp3s
From "Beat Street" to commercials on Mickey D's
From gold cables to Jacobs
From plain facials to Botox and face lifts

Scotland vs. New Zealand – a Matchup of Two Leading Indie Rock Meccas

If I can allow myself an admittedly simplistic analogy, it seems to me, based on my limited experiential knowledge, that the countries of Scotland and New Zealand – known for so much, are like the college towns of countries – urbane, sophisticated, environmentally conscious, principled, idealistic (in a good way), and filled with youthful energies and tolerances for difference. Perhaps I am overidealizing both places, but it just seems to me that they have a lot of very positive things going on.

And that is certainly true in terms of their musical output or noted music scenes, particularly their indie rock scenes. When I think of Scotland, I can’t help but think of some really great bands, from Orange Juice and the Skids, through the Jesus and Mary Chain and the Proclaimers, to the Pastels, Teenage Fanclub and Belle and Sebastian. The amount of musical talent from Scotland is truly staggering.

And of course, when I think of New Zealand, along with having vivid cinematic images of the rugged terrains shown in Peter Jackson’s Ring trilogy, I can’t help but think of the extraordinary Christchurch label, Flying Nun, and its long history of wonderfully quirky and massively seminal bands, starting with bands like the Clean, the Chills, the Straightjacket Fits, and the Tall Dwarves. The very wit-filled names of these (and other such NZ) bands, not to mention the use of a 60s pop reference to an example of a kind of kitschy pop Christianity (in a city given a "godly" name by a group of (most likely very serious, sober 19th century) clerics, in a time much different than our own), expresses for me a kind of humorous sensibility that strikes me as perhaps uniquely New Zealandish. The wit of New Zealanders - delivered with a poker faced charm by its musicians (or especially by the fictional band on the HBO carried show, Flight of the Conchords) - is a thing of great beauty.

So, as a purely academic exercise, one with no real practical concerns, I would propose that these two countries be held to a kind of matchup as two centers of indie rock greatness – a sort of U-Cal Berkeley vs. University of Wisconsin-Madison (the latter of which was once my place of residence for a few years).

Here, then, is who I would pick as the heavy hitters for each respective country – call it an indie rock top 10.

Over in the tartan corner, we have (in no particular order): The Jesus and Mary Chain, Teenage Fanclub, Pastels, Cocteau Twins, Mogwai, Belle and Sebastian, Orange Juice, The Vaselines, the Wake, and APB. All are really terrific bands, whose music holds up remarkably well to this day. In particular, The Pastels, Teenage Fanclub, and most especially, Belle and Sebastian are, for me, examples of genius bands, among the very best in rock music history. I listen to their music on a very regular basis and it never gets old for me.



And, over there, in the kiwi corner, we have another top 10 (actually top 11) to consider (though again, in no particular order); a number of these groups are connected, in one way or another, to one or to both of the Kilgour brothers - New Zealand indie rockers come across as communally spirited and generally willing to play in one anothers' bands: The Clean, The Chills, Tall Dwarves/Chris Knox, the Bats, Split Enz, Verlaines, Bailter Space, The 3Ds, The Sneaky Feelings, The Able Tasmans, Jean-Paul Sartre Experience. These too are some truly amazing bands, some focused on noisy experimentalism, others on melody and subtle arrangements, and a few on all of these altogether.



But, having spent lots of times listening to both the Scots and the New Zealanders, I would have to say – if push comes to shove – that the world’s indie rock capitol is, for me, by a relatively close margin, none other than .... New Zealand. Not only are there so many amazing bands from there, but the DIY spirit of punk seems to inform so much of what New Zealand is all about. And this spirit, too, appears to inform the possibility of these bands having full lives, both as musicians and as human beings - getting together to record, to play shows, and then to go live their lives, and then to get back together to record a bit more, and to play some more shows, with all of these things being woven together as an apparently seamless whole. Again, perhaps I am overidealizing these bands, but that is how I see it, just as I see their personalities and their passions coming across very clearly in the sublime music that they manage to produce.

So, therefore, I conclude - having expressed a true love for Scotland's bands, though I could also easily talk about great independent music from various other countries, including my own - that, nevertheless, New Zealand wins my trophy for best indie rock country. In fact, in realizing this, I kind of want to fly there right now, climb a few lush green hills, listen to a some church bells chiming, eat some local seafood with some regional side dishes, drink a few local drinks, and hear some bands!