Yes to ’88 style hardcore, no to John McCain

It’s another Thursday so that means another song! This week is on McCain being worse than Bush on the war and other military/vet issues, as they have identical policies but McCain’s gravitas and carte-blanche-for-endless-war POW status make it that much easier for him to jam this war down our throats for another four years.

We wanted to pay homage to Gorilla Biscuits and the other greats of 1988 style New York Hardcore, albeit with our sonic stamp. I wanted it to sound like GB wrote a song about McCain and then The Jam got back together and covered it. Enjoy!

(put the mouse over the title, a player will magically appear)
Worse Where It Counts

I know what they’re thinking
That nothing could ever be worse than it’s been
But men of great import
Can usher the same cruelty out and cart it right in
No honor or wisdom
Can offer a dropstitch of difference between
That same type of action
‘Cause the blood is still red and the money’s still green

When will we figure this out?
When will we see it’s worse where it counts?

Though the dullard is leaving
There might not be bloopers and slip-ups in each string of breath
It’s not that relieving
‘Cause killing by heroes or half-wits will still end in death
I don’t care where you came from
It ain’t nowhere near where you’re coming from now
It’s clear as the daylight
The assets that built your cachet have all been disavowed

When will we figure this out?
When will we see it’s worse where it counts?

They’ll call you what they want, no matter how untrue
I’ll judge you not on what you are but what you swear you’ll do
So put eloquence aside, and leave the history out
Measure side by side, see it’s worse where it counts

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Wednesday Morning Photoshop Fun

I’m glad to see that The Secret has become (seemingly) less popular. We all knew it couldn’t last, but a self-help movement that encourages people to lose weight by averting their gazes from fat people deserves far worse than a commercial downtick, or this really stupid parody I made.

A Sad and Lonely Lieberman Reaches Out

Put your mouse over the link below and a player will appear for our song for Joe Lieberman, “Coalition of Turncoats”. Lyrics at the end of the blog:

Coalition of Turncoats

Joe Lieberman is a sad, sad man. I realized this a few weeks ago when I read his page about McCain in the Time 100, which was funny in that is said nothing that has been true about McCain for at least 4 years, and because Lieberman wasn’t talking about McCain – he was talking about Lieberman:

“The essence of good political leadership is the courage to do what you believe is right when it is unpopular and the skill to bring people of differing viewpoints together to get things done.”

It’s the same drivel he’s been saying about himself since Connecticut Democrats decided he didn’t represent them. He must’ve loved the opportunity to write McCain’s Time 100 bit so he could extol the virtues he thinks he has, and which he thinks are the cause of everyone’s problems with him.

Still insulted (I like the term butthurt) over the 2006 primary to Ned Lemont and it’s been “I’ll show them” ever since. It’s informed every decision he’s made in the past 2 years.

Who endorses a Republican for President 8 years after being the Democratic VP nominee, and 2 years after one of the Democratic candidates’ husband who is a former president campaigned by your side through the most embarrassing six months of your political career, and when asked why says “because not one of the Democrats asked for my support?” A sad, sad man, that’s who – and that’s not putting country before political party, it’s putting childish resentment before any of these things.

So, when I got this email from Lieberman to McCain’s email calling on disaffected Democrats yesterday (he used the preferred GOP nomenclature, Democrat Party too!) to join Citizens For McCain, a “an organization within the McCain campaign for people who put country before political party and support the candidate for President who has a proven record of bipartisanship” via this pathetic shout-out to himself, I took it as more of a request for friendship than a call to action for McCain:

“I am confident we will find many Democrats and Independents who, like John McCain and me, put country before political party and will support a leader with a real record of bipartisanship… Please forward this email to your lists today and ask your friends, family, and coworkers who do not consider themselves Republicans to join me in filling out the Citizens for McCain form today.”

Surely, Holy Joe is reveling that for the first and last time in his political career, there is a swath of voters who in a fit of fury over having lost a political battle may be prepared to cast their principles aside and vote against their party out of vengeful immaturity, just like he has. If he can convince himself that that streak comes from a yearning to “put country before political party” and not said vengeful immaturity, maybe he can convince them too. Then, and only then, will Joe Lieberman have some friends who understand his pain.

Anyway, after that lovely missive from our favorite member of the Connecticut For Lieberman party hit my inbox, we scratched out this song about him, Coalition of Turncoats (play button is at the top of this blog). Enjoy.

Coalition of Turncoats

Hey Joe, thanks for the pitch
With an olive branch extended chasing ambulances into a ditch
It figures that you’re willing to go there
And it’s not just the war, it’s everything else
How the praise you give to others is thinly veiled praise for yourself
I know you won’t be finding it elsewhere

So thanks, but no thanks
You might be their only hope
And I’m sure that it hurts, so whatever works
Anything to ratchet up the ranks in your lonely coalition of turncoats

There’s a silver lining to the Florida mess
That you’ll never ever get to take up residence in that address
You’d probably be well on your way
So send out the overtures and open your hand
It’s lonely at the middle where no one can quite understand
Once we get the numbers they’ll show you the doorway

So thanks, but no thanks
If you’re their only hope
And I’m sure that it hurts, so whatever works
Anything to ratchet up the ranks of your lonely coalition of turncoats

Friday morning political tunes by other bands: State Radio

Chetro from jam-band-I-was-never-into Dispatch disbanded his old band, who sold out shows at Madison Square Garden based on people trading their tapes around, to do State Radio, this heavier, politically themed band. The Actual played with them once, they were great. Enjoy “Sudan”.

Slight delay on the new song

So I have a nice song in the can about Scott McClellan which is old news so I’m trying to redo the lyrics tonight about McCain. We’ll see what happens. In the meantime enjoy a timeline of Black Flag’s hair.

(from WFMU)

And what a fight…

Just want to say that if Al Gore had put up the kind of fight against Bush in 2000 that Hillary has put up against Obama, we’d have been in the White House the past 8 years. I’m sure some of my fellow Obama supporters who have called for her to leave the race called for Gore not to bow out in 2000 if they were old enough to.

I hope to see them both on the ticket, not just because I think it affords the best chance of winning, but because when you get just shy of half the votes (not counting the ones for other candidates), you deserve to be on the ticket if you want it.

And oh, folks on Daily Kos who keep saying “well just put some other woman who isn’t mean like Kathleen Sebelius or Clare McCaskill on the ticket to get the same constituency”: you are the most sexist of the lot. Can your monkey intellect can’t wrap your head around the fact that some women might have the same ideas of meritocracy that the rest of us have and won’t be satisfied by just having another pair of X chromosomes on the ticket than the one who fought tooth and nail for it? I hate to be using the very popular rhetorical device of the sex-race switch but imagine if she won and people said “just give it to Harold Ford, that’ll shut ’em up and they’ll come along and vote?”

I try to stay neutral but then I laugh…

Terry McAuliffe on Morning Joe wearing a Hawaiian shirt and waving around a bottle of rum is funny, and I admire his glee and non-stuffiness. But how, oh how, can you say this with a straight face?

We’re ahead in the popular vote. We added 142,000 last night. What’s important last night is this was 100% Hispanic primary, and once again, Hillary won by more than two to one. A key, core constituency for the fall election.

This is after the Puerto Rico primary. A primary of people who can’t vote in the fall election. Yes they’re Hispanic, we know, but people who don’t live in the United States are not a key, core constituency for the fall election last I checked.

I feel guilty ’cause I like to stay out of this fight because I will support either nominee with everything I’ve got, but this was too funny.

Weeknights At Six, our song about Lou Dobbs (video)

Max Waker, our de facto fourth member who engineers and produces all our stuff and is growing his talents as an animator just made this video for our song “Weeknights at Six” about xenophobic anti-immigrant CNN anchorman Lou Dobbs. Enjoy and please send around!