Journal Archive - October, 2008

mccain's primary spokesperson caught in a big lie.
it's uncomfortable, but kind of satisfying to watch...
i love when people in the media actually hold political operatives accountable for their false statements.
moby

at a rally today the mccain camp had to bus in elementary school kids to fill seats(not sure how having 12 year olds in the audience is going to help mccain's electability...).
but even more embarrassing, the famous 'joe the plumber' was supposed to be there as mccain's prop/sidekick, but he, uh, didn't show up...
here's the video:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/30/mccain-camp-busses-in-sch_n_139...

it's kind of sad, actually, when mccain is looking around for his little plumber pal.
in other news the economist magazine 'whole heartedly' endorsed obama.
the economist is about the most capitalist magazine on the planet, they certainly wouldn't endorse a socialist....
and john mccain said yesterday on cnn that obama is 'not a socialist'.
so i guess the gop can put the 'socialist' slander to bed.
moby

the u.s economy has officially contracted in the last few months(thus, technically, a 'recession', as it's smaller than it was previously...).
but not everyone is doing badly.
do you remember how high gas prices were over the summer?
and did you ever ask yourself, 'how are gas prices determined, and why are they so high?'
well, to an extent gas prices are determined by market forces and the cycle of supply vs. demand in the commodities market.
but at the same time gas prices are fairly arbitrarily determined by the worlds oil producers.
so, as i said, not everyone is doing badly.
houston, texas based exxon/mobil, for instance.
in june, july, and august they had revenues of $170,000,000,000.00 and profits of $15,000,000,000.00.
if that seems very very high that's because $15 billion dollars in quarterly profits represents the highest profits ever earned by a corporation.
so while everyone was paying a lot for gas, and as the country was sliding into recession, exxon/mobil were taking in more in profits than any company ever.
$15 billion in profits in 3 months, while gas prices were hovering around $4 a gallon nationally.
i can't imagine that makes anyone(apart from exxon/mobil employees and shareholders)feel very good.
some other interesting exxon/mobil facts...

1-exxon/mobil have received over $100,000,000,000.00(yes, one hundred billion dollars)in u.s tax breaks and subsidies and reduced fees for mining/drilling rights. so, in addition to buying heating oil and gasoline and helping exxon/mobil earn record profits you as a taxpayer have also subsidized them with over one hundred billion dollars of your tax money.

2-john mccain has received over $3,000,000.00 in campaign contributions from exxon/mobil and other petroleum producers.

3- 43 of john mccain's staff members have received $17,000,000.00 in lobbying fees from exxon/mobil and other petroleum producers

you can do the math and figure out who john mccain would represent if he were elected.
happy motoring.
moby

here are some quotes about governor sarah palin:

"she's either a scripted robot or an unscripted ignoramus"

"palin simply knew NOTHING about foreign and international issues"

"palin is a whack job"

what makes these quotes kind of surprising is that they came from
some of mccain's staff and advisors.

i still have no idea how the election will turn out, but it's interesting that the republicans
are basically in the midst of a gop civil war.
so many republicans are defecting and now endorsing obama.
and so many other republicans are just dismayed at mccain's irresponsible choice of palin as his vp nominee.
i mean, conservative republican columnist david brooks called palin "a fatal cancer on the gop".
in an odd way i hope that mccain loses so that the republican party will re-invent itself(hopefully
in a moderate, small-government, rational way).
the 'creationist/anti-science/anti-harry potter/anti-immigrant/anti-everything' wing of the republican
party has completely marginalized the republican party(unless you live in alabama, i guess).
i actually like the dialectic between the two parties, especially when neither party is in the grips
of extremists and ideologues.
as odd as it sounds, i don't even like the democrats when they're too far to the left.
the middle of the road may be boring, but rational and moderate governance seems to serve the needs of the people the best.
that's my biggest complaint about the last 8 years of republican rule(well, that and the ineptitude...).
that the republicans have governed from a place of ideological extremism, which has led them to make egregiously wrong-headed choices and led them to advance policy initiatives that are baffling in their short-sightedness.
hopefully the republicans will lose big in 2008 so that they'll be forced to reinvent themselves in a more moderate, mose sensible, more viable way.
and hopefully if they win the democrats won't get too cocky and swing back to the extreme left.
moderation just makes sense, ultimately. at least that's what i believe.
and i can't imagine it's too much fun being on mccain's campaign bus these days...
apparently things are, uh, frosty between the mccain camp and the palin camp.

moby

this is an endorsement for barack obama for president from the financial times.
note: the financial times is the company that publishes the economist.
they have also traditionally endorsed republicans.
republicans keep trying to call obama a 'socialist'(personally i thought that name calling was left behind in the 4th grade...), but i don't see how the financial-times would endorse a socialist(nor would a socialist get the support of warren buffet, ben bernanke, or larry hunter(reagan's chief economist, and a lifelong republican)).
the FT endorsement is not a ringing endorsement, but it makes some clear and rational points about why obama should be the next president.
and the fact that the financial times is an old and venerable capitalist newspaper gives their endorsement of obama even more weight.
moby

Obama is the better choice
-Financial Times Endorsement for Barack Obama
Published: October 26 2008
US presidential elections involve a fabulous expense of time, effort and money. Doubtless it is all too much – but, by the end, nobody can complain that the candidates have been too little scrutinised. We have learnt a lot about Barack Obama and John McCain during this campaign. In our view, it is enough to be confident that Mr Obama is the right choice.

At the outset, we were not so confident. Mr Obama's policies are a blend of good and not so good. Since the election will strengthen Democratic control of Congress, a case can be made for returning a Republican to the White House: divided government has a better record in the United States than government united under either party.

So this ought to have been a close call. With a week remaining before the election, we cannot feel that it is.

Mr Obama fought a much better campaign. Campaigning is not the same as governing, and the presidency should not be a prize for giving the best speeches, devising the best television advertisements, shaking the most hands and kissing the most babies.

Nonetheless, a campaign is a test of leadership. Mr Obama ran his superbly; Mr McCain’s has often looked a shambles. After eight years of George W. Bush, the steady competence of the Obama operation commands respect.

Nor should one disdain Mr Obama’s way with a crowd. Good presidents engage the country’s attention; great ones inspire. Mr McCain, on form, is an adequate speaker but no more. Mr Obama, on form, is as fine a political orator as the country has heard in decades. Put to the right purposes, this is no mere decoration but a priceless asset.

Mr Obama’s purposes do seem mostly right, though in saying this we give him the benefit of the doubt. Above all, he prizes consensus and genuinely seeks to unite the country, something it wants. His call for change struck a mighty chord in a tired and demoralised nation – and who could promise real change more credibly than Mr Obama, a black man, whose very nomination was a historic advance in US politics?

We applaud his main domestic proposal: comprehensive health-care reform. This plan would achieve nearly universal insurance without the mandates of rival schemes: characteristically, it combines a far-sighted goal with moderation in the method. Mr McCain’s plan, based on extending tax relief beyond employer-provided insurance, also has merit – it would contain costs better – but is too timid and would widen coverage much less.

In responding to the economic emergency, Mr Obama has again impressed – not by advancing solutions of his own, but in displaying a calm and methodical disposition, and in seeking the best advice. Mr McCain’s hasty half-baked interventions were unnerving when they were not beside the point.

On foreign policy, where the candidates have often conspired to exaggerate their differences, this contrast in temperaments seems crucial. For all his experience, Mr McCain has seemed too much guided by an instinct for peremptory action, an exaggerated sense of certainty, and a reluctance to see shades of grey.

Mr. McCain has offered risk-taking almost as his chief qualification, but gambles do not always pay off. His choice of Sarah Palin as running mate, widely acknowledged to have been a mistake, is an obtrusive case in point. Rashness is not a virtue in a president. The cautious and deliberate Mr Obama is altogether a less alarming prospect.

Rest assured that, should he win, Mr Obama is bound to disappoint some people. How could he not? He is expected to heal the country’s racial divisions, reverse the trend of rising inequality, improve middle-class living standards, cut almost everybody’s taxes, transform the image of the United States abroad, end the losses in Iraq, deal with the mess in Afghanistan and much more besides.

The challenges facing the next president will be extraordinary. We hesitate to wish it on anyone, but we hope that Mr Obama gets the job.

do you remember the 'wassup' youtube video from a few years ago?
here it is, updated...
it's really good, possibly my favorite political ad of the year.
moby

i'm not sure if you know about bruce haack. he was a very idiosyncratic pioneer in the world of electronic music(growing up in alberta, canada, he was reported to have taken a lot of psychedelic drugs when he was really young and also to have invented his own instruments).
i just saw this amazing video of bruce haack on mr. rogers(mr. rogers also being a hero of mine...).
-moby

just got back from dallas and the meltdown rave/party/festival.
being in dallas over the weekend reminded me of one of the first times i ever went there, to dj at the lizard lounge in ...1992?
the rave scene was just blowing up in dallas, and, to indulge in some gentle hyperbole, it was awesome.
i did two shows in one night at the lizard lounge and they were at that point in my life the most enjoyable shows i'd ever done. i remember standing at the edge of the stage and i was wrestled to the ground by a man and a woman who proceeded to good-naturedly steal my belt and then try to steal my pants(stealing a belt is ok, stealing pants: less so).
i also remember being backstage with jeff k. and a bunch of the early dallas ravers and being amazed at how NICE everybody was.
i've been back to dallas and texas many times since(the last time i was there i ended up going out with tommy lee and dimebag from pantera(r.i.p)and some hells angels, but that's another story for another time), but this time it was particularly interesting being back at the lizard lounge(well, outside the lizard lounge, with 5,000 people) after 16 years.
oh, and apparently there was a rumor that i had refused to go to dallas while gw was president.
to be clear, it's not true.
i really like dallas, and i certainly don't hold it against texans that dimwitted gw pretends to be from texas(because last time i checked andover and yale and harvard and greenwich, connecticut and kennebunkport, maine aren't actually in texas, and those are the places where dimwit gw actually grew up. gw bought the crawford ranch in 1999, just fyi).
dallas(and most texan cities)is progressive and friendly and tolerant and nice and, as i said, i like it a lot.
last night was really fun. my only regret is that i wasn't able to hear too many of the other dj's(which is a shame, as it was a really good line-up).
thanks for coming out and making it a great night.
-moby

this is important:
yesterday the right-wing news media released a story wherein it was alleged that a white john mccain volunteer from texas
was attacked by a black obama supporter. the mccain volunteer claimed that she was beaten and robbed and that
he carved a 'B' into her face with a knife.
drudge report and fox and etc all ran with the story without actually checking it out(aka-doing research).
then today people noticed some things, like the "B" was backwards, and was more of a scratch.
the police investigated thoroughly and found that her story was completely fabricated.
the right wing media were quick to pounce on this without doing any investigating, the right wing and the gop
were quick to pounce on this because they thought it would incite people to racist fears about obama.
the right wing media screwed up and are now tucking their collective republican tail between their legs
and retreating.
it was a completely made up story and fox and matt drudge fell for it.
now the mccain volunteer who made up the story is facing police charges for making utterly false claims.
hey, republicans, if you want to win, why not try to win honestly?
can you republicans even conceive of trying to win a campaign based on the issues as opposed to lies, slander, and racism?
it's disgusting how quick the republicans tried to latch onto a fabricated story about a fake racist attack.
utterly disgusting.
here's the story:

Police: Campaign Volunteer Made Up Attack Story

A Pittsburgh police commander told KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin that Ashley Todd confessed to making up the story & is facing charges
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― Police tell KDKA that a campaign volunteer has now confessed to making up a story that a mugger attacked her and cut the letter B in her face after seeing her McCain bumper sticker.

Ashley Todd, 20, of Texas, initially told police that she was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield and that the suspect became enraged and started beating her after seeing her GOP sticker on her car.

Police investigating the alleged attack, however, began to notice some inconsistencies in her story and administered a polygraph test.

Authorities, however, declined to release the results of that test.

Investigators did say that they received photos from the ATM machine and "the photographs were verified as not being the victim making the transaction."

This afternoon, a Pittsburgh police commander told KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin that Todd confessed to making up the story.

The commander added that Todd will face charges; but police have not commented on what those charges will be.

this is pretty amazing.
a friend of mines grandmother in western pennsylvania painted this in her backyard with some of her
local artist friends.
what an interesting combination: shep fairey-obama-western pa. grandmother.
moby

by now we've probably all heard about sarah palin spending $150,000.00 in the last 6 weeks on clothes.
but let's think about that, or let's at least put it in perspective.
maybe even just say it again: sarah palin has spent $150,000.00 on clothes in the last 6 weeks.
she's a humble soccer mom? a frugal reformer?
ah boy, $150,000.00 on clothes? from money that was donated to the republican party?
that comes down to roughly $3,000.00 a day as her clothing budget(not to mention that $5,000.00 went
to buy clothes for her separatist husband, todd).
granted, she's looked pretty good, and as a new yorker i'm pleased that she spent most of her rnc clothing
money here in manhattan(yes, it's ironic that the alaskan soccer mom's spending has mainly benefited
retailers here in good old new york city).
but how do republicans reconcile 'soccer mom/frugal/reformer' sarah palin with 'i spend $150,000.00 in 6 weeks
on clothes' sarah palin?
i dunno, if i had donated money to the republican party(which, you've probably figured out by now, i didn't)i think i'd be kind of pissed
off that my vp candidate was spending $150,000.00 of donation money in 6 weeks on clothes.
remember the outrage when it was revealed that john edwards spent $400 on a haircut?
$400 would buy you roughly 1/15th of the red leather jacket that sarah palin was wearing recently.
i guess the new joke/line will be 'what's the difference between a pit-bull and sarah palin? a $5,000 ferragamo
dress from saks fifth avenue, paid in full by the people who donated to the republican party.'
-moby

truly terrifying.
a government organization, SITE, has been monitoring encrypted al-qaeda web sites.
they recently released translated private communication from an al-qaeda web site wherein
the al-qaeda leaders wrote:

"This requires presence of an impetuous American leader such as McCain, who pledged to continue the war till the last American soldier," the message said. "Then, al-Qaida will have to support McCain in the coming elections so that he continues the failing march of his predecessor, Bush."

they also wrote:
"If al-Qaida carries out a big(terrorist) operation against American interests," the message said, "this act will be support of McCain because it will push the Americans deliberately to vote for McCain."

the associated press article is here:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iFK9c9KTpdbjhYyuWIlZyAuyqeJgD93VA3B80

-moby

ok, busy week here in nyc.
1-i'm dj'ing at le royale(21 7th ave south) on wednesday night with princess superstar and holy ghost!
it's a really small place, it only holds 150 people.
should be really fun, but if you want to come i suggest you get tickets early(www.gbh.tv)

2-then thursday the little death are playing at public assembly in brooklyn at 10pm.
70 N. 6th St.
718-384-4586

3-then later thursday i'm dj'ing at le poisson rouge(158 bleeker street) with:
justin miller/jacques renault
blonde acid cult
kudu
holy ghost!
le castle vania
princess superstar
and jimmy edgar.
it's a bond music group party for good magazine, and it should be fairly insane(well, here's hoping).
http://lepoissonrouge.inticketing.com/evinfo.php?eventid=29434&sid=

4-then saturday i'm dj'ing at lizard lounge in dallas with a whole host of amazing dj's for lizard lounges 10th anniversary(http://www.thelizardlounge.com/)

5-next week i'm dj'ing at a benefit for the lower east side girls club(which is a truly great organization, helping
girls in my neighborhood to develop their creativity and academic skills). it's hosted by rosario dawson, and it's
on tuesday the 28th. http://www.girlsclub.org/about/eventinfo

6-then friday october 31st at wamu in seattle with paul van dyke and crystal method(halloween).

7-and saturday november 1st in vancouver at the plaza club

hopefully see you soon,
moby

it amazes me what the right wing are coming up with to try to win the election.
rather than run on issues and policy positions, the republicans are running on false smears and slander against obama.
let's discredit some of the smears and slander:

1-that obama is a 'socialist'. really? so he has the backing of the ceo of google and warren buffet and ben bernanke and thousands
of other financial and industry leaders and he's a socialist? no, he's a capitalist.

2-that obama is a muslim. again, nothing against islam, but obama was raised christian, married christian, and has publicly
stated hundreds of times that he's a christian.

3-that obama's middle name is 'hussein'. yup, it's true. but obama joked that he's changing his middle name to 'steve'.
if a political campaign/party lowers itself to making fun of a candidates name that's probably a bad sign for that political campaign/party, in that they have little else to run on.
and did he choose his middle name? did you?

4-that he 'pals around with terrorists'. obama served on a charitable board(started by republicans)with a man who
was part of a domestic terrorist group when obama was EIGHT YEARS OLD. there were many, many people on this
charitable board, the majority of whom are republicans.

5-that obama is 'foreign born'. nope. to quote factcheck.org: "FactCheck.org staffers have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate. We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship. Claims that the document lacks a raised seal or a signature are false. We have posted high-resolution photographs of the document as "supporting documents" to this article. Our conclusion: Obama was born in the U.S.A. just as he has always said."

so what else does the gop have? nothing. john mccain voted with gw bush 90% of the time and has said publicly about himself that 'knowledge of the economy isn't my strong suit'.

if republicans want to win why don't they run a campaign on issues instead of false slander? i hope that obama wins for many reasons.
i believe that he'll be a principled and sensible and competent chief executive of the united states. but i also hope that he wins
because it would prove to the republicans that running a campaign based on slander and smears and lies no longer works.
the more negative the republicans go, the higher obama's poll numbers grow.

obama has run a respectful and issue-oriented campaign, and that's why he's ahead in the polls. people are tired of
lies and slander and smears. people are tired of being manipulated by fear. people want hope and optimism and a steady
hand to help guide them through troubled times. john mccain and the gop have just offered more of the same. more slander.
more fear. more lies. and if they lose, that'll be why.

obama is the single child of a hard working single parent. he struggled to put himself through school, eventually became a lawyer with a degree from harvard, and then worked
with displaced people in his community before working with the illinois senate. he has a great wife and 2 lovely daughters.
he's principled and honest and steady and competent.
how is that not the perfect example of the american dream?
he's worked hard and accomplished much, and that's what the american dream is supposed to represent.
you can dislike him, you can choose not to vote for him, but your vote should be cast based on real issues, and not based
on the deceit and slander that has been coming from the republicans.
-moby

i'm sure that you've heard the news, but senator obama has suspended his campaigning to go
and be with his grandmother, who is apparently very ill.
like senator obama, i was raised by a single mother, and my mom and i received unbelievable
help from my grandmother.
from what senator obama has made public, his grandmother helped to raise him and helped
to put him through college, so i can only imagine that his sadness and worry are similar to what i experienced
when my grandmother became very ill at the end of her life.
i hope that we're able to put aside partisan bickering for the time being and give our best hopes
and prayers to senator obama and his grandmother.
thanks
moby

this is a great add about global warming.

http://fightglobalwarming.com/page.cfm?tagID=25694

it's also a good site, with practical suggestions for leading a more eco-friendly life.
thanks
moby

last night i made my third appearance on the dave hill show(er, uh, explosion) at the ucb here in nyc.
the other guests were doug gillard from guided by voices(standing in for phil, dave's sidekicked), and
Walter Schreifels of Gorilla Biscuits, Quicksand and Rival Schools.
ucb is a comedy theater started by snl and daily show people, and after 10 years(?) they still manage to put on really good and funny shows
2 or 3 times a night.
i'm assuming that this was my 3rd appearance on the dave hill show because he couldn't find a better guest for the night.

here's a link to pictures:

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2008/10/dave_hill_walte_1.html#mor...

ok, at first i thought this was photo-shopped, but it turns out it's a real reuters photo taken after the debate
last night.
john mccain looks like vaguely reptilian.
ok, not vaguely reptilian.
he looks like a lizard.
weird.
moby

a couple of days ago i was invited to play a few songs with fucked up at a 12 hour show they were doing
on the bowery, just around the corner from where i live.
fucked up are a fantastic hardcore band from canada, and i met up with them and played 'wonder bread' by vatican commandos,
'12xu' by wire(made famous by minor threat), and 'blitzkrieg bop'(as we were playing at joey ramone corner).
someone put a video of 'blitzkrieg bop' on pitchfork, here's the link:

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/download/146536-video-fucked-up-an...

moby

a few months ago we had a contest for aspiring video directors to make a video for 'ooh yeah'. most of the submissions were actually really good, and it was hard to pick a winner. but we picked a winner, and here's his winning video.
moby

p.s-if you're watching at work your boss might think it's porn.

Ooh Yeah from moby on Vimeo.