Cocker Spaniels’ “Withstand the Whatnot”- free download

You can get The Cocker Spaniels‘ absolutely brilliant (and brilliantly named) album Withstand the Whatnot for free on their website! I urge you to listen and to donate (not only does the artist get 100% of the profits, but it will help him to finance the production of his next CD)! This is one of the greatest albums ever recorded by one of the greatest rock bands ever to come down the pike.

Withstand the Whatnot (lyrics & credits)

Ann Richards, R.I.P.

Richards remembered as “a true Texas hero”

Dug Pinnick (of King’s X) interview

Wonderful and insightful interview with Dug Pinnick of one of my all-time favoritest bands ever, King’s X

random commentary

  • In case you’re thinking about voting for former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani in 2008, think again. The guy is a regular Hermann Goering. Read the entry to find out more about that sick, twisted sunofabitch, with no respect for people (oooh, it’s the underdogs that he hates most!) or civil liberties whatsoever. He’s nothing more than a thug with a pretty grin – but watch out, America! Those teeth are sharp.
  • As of 2002, the latest year for which statistics are available, the state of Texas has killed 666 people. And some of them may not have been guilty at all. Death penalty propagandists always like to say that there’s no conclusive evidence that an innocent human being has ever been executed. Today, the New York Times tells a different story of one of those: Cameron T. Willingham, who was executed two years ago, ostensibly for an arson in which his three daughters died. Apparently, the fire was very likely only an accident all along.
  • See if you can guess the plot of the story!
    “Soldier killed detainee in violation of ROE“; “Soldier killed detainee while handcuffed”; “1 strangulation found outside isolation unit”; “1 blunt force trauma and choking, died during interrogation” (there are three of these); “Soldier drowned detainee, body not found”; and “died sleeping after interrogation.” (source)

    To this day, no U.S. agent has been prosecuted for “torture” or “war crimes”:

    “The heaviest sentence imposed on anyone to date for a torture-related death while in U.S. custody is five months — the same sentence that you might receive in the U.S. for stealing a bicycle. In this case, the five-month sentence was for assaulting a 22-year-old taxi-driver who was hooded and chained to a ceiling while being kicked and beaten until he died,” said Goering. [emphasis mine -ed.]
    “While the government continues to try to claim that the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody was mainly due to a few ‘aberrant’ soldiers, there is clear evidence to the contrary. Most of the torture and ill-treatment stemmed directly from officially sanctioned procedures and policies — including interrogation techniques approved by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld,” said Javier Zuniga, Amnesty International’s Americas Program Director. (source)
  • Douglas Rushkoff has had it with religion (and i don’t blame him!):
    “When religions are practiced, as they are by a majority of those in developed nations, today, as a kind of nostalgic little ritual – a community event or an excuse to get together and not work – it doesn’t really screw anything up too badly. But when they radically alter our ability to contend with reality, cope with difference, or implement the most basic ethical provisions, they must be stopped.

    “Like any other public health crisis, the belief in religion must now be treated as a sickness. It is an epidemic, paralyzing our nation’s ability to behave in a rational way, and – given our weapons capabilities – posing an increasingly grave threat to the rest of the world.”

Texas “justice”?

Texas teen smokes pot while on probation, gets life sentence while a well-connected killer smokes crack and is no longer even on probation. Same judge. Judge Keith Dean, of Dallas, to be precise about it.

Why this disparity of justice? Or is there disparity, in the eyes of the man charged with interpreting the law?

Judge Dean, a widely respected 20-year veteran of the Dallas criminal bench, said he wouldn’t discuss the two cases because he might have to rule on them again someday. In general, he said, he tries to evaluate “the potential danger to the community” when someone violates probation “and what, in the long run, is going to be in the best interest of the community and the person themselves.”

Meanwhile, the kid, 16 years older now, has tried to commit suicide and where is the outcry, i ask you?