lost highway

I'm not sure if the moderators will tolerate another foray into the inflammatory world of contemporary American politics, but I enjoyed many of the exchanges in the last one. I for one find debating with someone with a different perspective to be challenging, invigorating and often informative. I for one can get a bit carried away and respond in a way that is too flippant to advance the conversation, so I would like to promote a forum where we can challenge each other to moderate our feelings with logic and share our perspectives as election season draws closer. Maybe we can start with a l

Nice! Mikael seems like such a cool guy, he has such a unique musical voice. It's cool to get to see it presented stronger (like in Pronto) and then go back to Wilco recordings and be able to feel out his influence.

That's totally true about the Clinton years going into the Bush years. Many people say the real estate crisis was already being brewed back in the Clinton days. The budget however, looked great under Clinton. Then Bush took us on two failed wars, one of which was based on a lie, the other he had no conviction for. While him and Cheney were sending us on some wild misadventures they were also cutting taxes. Barney Frank was on TV talking about how the power of our military was necessary in WWII to keep an outside force from literally being capable of taking over our country. The cold wa

Not yet. There it is. Mitt Romney made a point of acknowledging the cultural superiority of a country that is highly successful, while it is the 4th highest recipient for USAID (that's non-military funding, nestled right between such dissimilar countries as Haiti and Kenya) and has a budget surplus. We worry about our deficit, yet were donating to a wealthy country with a surplus. All that aside, you have taken a cautious and well measured stance to moderate what could be unfair accusations against Gov Romney. What are your motivations? Are you looking for something redeemable eno

Yet Israel was given this opportunity.. That is exactly what Israel represents in modern history: the kind of opportunities other countries can give. Yes, they have used the opportunity brilliantly, but you don't hear as many people celebrating the tyrannical power of Saudi Arabia, but by these measures they are also a smashing success. You were quick to generalize about the evils of "Arab culture", yet no one seems to consider the thread of intolerance and religious extremism in Israeli culture. This is a wide detour, but to bring it home to the conversation at hand; the explanations fo

Perhaps because they receive billions of dollars a year from the U.S., more than any other country for a period of a half a century. They've been given the opportunity to industrialize while neighboring countries merely produce raw goods. Those are two reasons. As you mentioned, one needs several books to describe them all. I don't think Mittens read the book before he visited.

I admit that some of my impression of his attitude is based on his history and his demeanor. MItt Romney seems better equipped to be an aristocrat than be in office, just as Joe Biden seems better equipped to schmooze at a bowling tournament than a fundraiser. One thing that both Clinton and Kennedy knew how to do was communicate gracefully with different groups of people from different sides of American culture, as well as abroad. They had an abstract, subjective skill of acknowledging people's dignity.

Then why is he directing his tax breaks towards the wealthy but not the working class? Why does he think Israel is richer than Palestine because they're "culturally better"? Why would he put so much energy in repealing the Affordable Care Act that just today insured the health of millions of women who were not formerly covered?

And on that note, Romney's tax plan would help the rich and burden everyone else: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/study-romney-tax-plan-would-result-in-cuts-for-rich-higher-burden-for-others/2012/08/01/gJQAbeCCOX_story.html?fb_ref=sm_btn_fb&fb_source=home_multiline

Romney has demonstrated he believes in the former, while attacking Obama for falling victim to the latter.

It appears Romney not only has a hard time understanding the dynamics of poverty on a domestic level, he also struggles to comprehend them at an international level: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/30/1115049/-Romney-defends-insulting-Palestinians-Hey-I-also-said-Mexico-s-culture-sucks-And-Ecuador-s-too Mitt would suggest that the economic superiority of Israel in comparison to Palestine is due to Israel's cultural superiority. He believes the Jewish folk are just plain better at making money. After receiving all the grief expected he expanded his statement to some other examples:

Fair enough, my spelling was in vain. I don't know if "a meat grinder for young Americans" has fully entered into the common vernacular. Maybe I can get this year's candidates to start using it. We could have pundits saying: "But what does Obama propose for the meat grinder?"

Only one of these is a word.

It's important enough to never go to war because almost all of them are a total joke and a meat grinder for young Americans and their unlucky targets. The last four decades of military sacrifice have been shamefully in vein. Fighting communism? Terrorism? As an American this garbage embarrasses me. I'm really into paying taxes, but not for killing people abroad. There's my savings plan.

Yes, our engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan both did outstanding things for our economy.

Would it be better to just vote for Romney and avoid hypothesizing what he thinks?

I've been steering clear of the voter id debate here, but this is worth looking at: http://www.salon.com/2012/07/27/fla_republican_we_suppressed_black_votes/

I streamed it via NPR. It's really good. Stylistically not terribly like Stereolab, but she has a musical common sense that radiates similarly in both. What am I trying to say.... a pretty different form, with a continuous spirit between the two projects.

Yeah, I looked through his site. It is full of disastrous folly with a most Bushesque tone.

Sorry if this is old news, but I just stumbled upon this via stereogum. His new album will be called Dead Oceans. This song is a pretty cheesy song to me, but it has that touching Fay-ness to it: http://stereogum.com/1086201/bill-fay-be-at-peace-with-yourself-video/video/

That was a shortened version of Art of Almost. They cut some intro time, and some transition time. Didn't hurt the song, really. The rock out part at the coda sounded especially ferocious. If you could have shown me that ten years ago and said this is a WIlco song I wouldn't have believed you.

When I think of some of the loudest, connected voices in the leftist constituency I think of the New England blue blood types. They are kind of the old money of the left; they're rich folk. I don't see hatred for the rich on the left. That is more of an anarchist's game. Instead it's a conversation of leftists suggesting we resume a tax rate we had under Reagan, Bush Sr. and Clinton. Bank and oil tycoons wet the bed at this, so advocates for tax increases on the wealthy call it greed. Right wing politicians try to gather votes (and save their Cayman Island tax haven) by fighting against

But nowhere does he say they do nothing. As I suggested before, they do something most people can not because they have the resources. What is this rich psychology? These fearful aristocrats? At the merest gesture towards the power of socioeconomic class in the shaping of our country and its stratification they grasp their wallets and say "How dare you call me lazy." I think people feel defensive about having money, and I think Romney is trying to use that.

I think it goes beyond that. He's pointing to the fact that typically the haves owe much of their opportunities to their family and community, and often times the have nots are not handed the gift of these resources. Wealthy families create dynasties; knowledge, capital and connections are passed down.

You raise some really good questions. Equity gets really tricky when it comes to enforcing social responsibility. One wealthy person calls being busy checking the growth on their investments and sipping the vintage, another is a 60 hour ghost, hustling to earn. It's so strange to live in a society that attributes value by price. My girlfriend has acknowledged that she has an easier job than mine, even though she makes almost twice as much as I do. Cubicle vs classroom.