Summer Schmaltz

My entry in the Salon.com summer soundtrack contest. All downloads are legal and free.

1. "Summer Tapes," by Morning Recordings from "Music for Places."

2. "Kite," by Mascott from "Dreamer's Book."

3. "You Can Never Leave," by Crooked Fingers from "Red Devil Dawn."

4. "Such A Lovely Thing," by Devotchka from "How It Ends."

5. "Remember," by Ten Mile Tide from "Flow."

6. "July," by Onelinedrawing from "Always New."

7. "Silence," by The Autumn Defense from "Circles."

8. "Meet Me by the Water," by Saturday Looks Good to Me from "All Your Summer Songs."

9. "Candyflossdays Are Over," by Maus from "Ghostsongs."

10. "Good for No One," by Herman Düne from "Not on Top."

11. "The Summer," by Yo La Tengo from "Fakebook."

12. "New Zong," by Persil from "Duotone."

13. "Toy Soldiers," by Carbon Leaf from "Echo Echo."

Road Trip

Off on another great American road trip. Will take the side roads and take it slow, at least for one direction. Armed with the ipod and car adaptor. The intent is to avoid all Taco Bells and other chain establishments. Eat breakfast at the Say You Say Me Cafe -- if it still exists. While stuff like that still exists.

99 degrees today. Wish I were here instead. 

Iran is Next

Watched (and recorded for the record) a propaganda hour on Foxnews tonight about Iran. Essentially, it was a bunch of fat men sitting around telling us what a grave danger Iran is (as if they think we'd forget about the Iraq lies this quickly). Then those same fat men discussed our military options. Planting the seed, just like they did with Iraq.

Another Spring

Hot already here in the desert. Another April is gone. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all.

Blogger Eats A Post

Hmm... Blogger ate a post of mine from August. Not sure where it went. Censorship? Probably not because they have better things to be doing. I hope. Need to back this up myself.

Hot New Look

Unwilted has a hot new look. Enjoy!

War of Words

This is circulating in DoD channels via email.  Let's see if the Administration and/or puppets like Fox News start following these suggestions.  Just like they did with the personal versus private accounts for social security.

TrueSpeak Institute
Jim Guirard, President
1129 Cameron Road
Alexandria, Virginia 22308
703-768-0957 Justcauses@aol.com 


Possible CENTCOM, SOCOM, PSYOP, IO, PD & PA (and others)
Action Items in the "War of Words" and "War of Ideas"


1 Seek a modest change in the current DoD Guidance which advises that we
avoid almost all Islamic religious words -- modified merely so as to

a) avoid parroting the false word "Jihad" (holy war) and begin
substituting for it the word for word "Hirabah" -- pronounced hee-RAH-bah and meaning "unholy war" and forbidden "war against society," instead;

b) avoid the words "mujahiddin" (holy warriors) and "shahiddin" (martyrs)and "fedayeen" (those willing to die for, to be martyred for) and begin calling these assassins and suicide mass murderers the "mufsidoon" (evildoers) they really are;

c) allow making the point that according to Islam those "mufsidoon" who
will not cease their evildoing -- and earnestly seek and receive
forgiveness from Allah for their sinful ways -- are almost surely destined not for "Jinnah" (Paradise) but for "Jahannam" (eternal Hellfire), instead.

2 Avoid repeating al Sadr's self-sanctifying "Mahdi Army" label, because
the Mahdi is Allah Himself -- in the Redeemer and Messiah roles -- on
Judgment Day

3 Avoid being demonized by the "death squads" label, by proactively and
pre-emptively referring to the "al Qaeda Death Squads," the "al-Zarqawi
Death Squads," the "al-Sadr Death Squads" and other assorted mufsidoon
(evildoers) by both of these terms

4 Avoid the careless and gratuitous terms "invasion," "war" and "war on
Iraq" and use, instead, such correct terms as the recent "liberation of
Iraq," the ongoing "democratization of Iraq" and the current "peacekeeping" and "reconstruction" missions in Iraq -- all of which are
dangerous and life-threatening but not per se WAR or per se OCCUPATION,
either

5 Shed the negative "occupiers" and "occupation force" labels by
officially renaming the US and Coalition forces -- whose legal status has changed, now that there is an elected Interim Iraqi Government -- and by calling them the International
o "Force For Peace and Stability" (Quwwat al-Salaam wa al-Istiqrar), or
the
o "Force for Peace and Justice" (Quwwat al-Salaam wa al-'Adl), or the
o "Force For Peace and Freedom" (Quwwat al-Salaam wa al-Hurriah)

6 Place the "war of words" issue, even in small ways, on every possible
agenda and in every possible panel discussion and every anti-terrorism
conference, without which it will seldom be seriously discussed at all

7 In due course, organize and schedule a major Public Affairs, Civil
Affairs, Public Diplomacy, PsyOp and Information Operations conference on "war of words" and related "War of Ideas" matters only, or at least
primarily so

8 Create small, highly focused "war of words" working groups within each
of these DoD agencies and disciplines -- and establish an inter-agency
coordination, as well

9 Select only half a dozen principal Arabic and Islamic words (including
the three explained above: Hirabah by mufsidoon destined for Jahannam) on which to focus initially, with other "approved" words and tactics to be prudently added in due course

10 Help to recruit additional scholars and Muslim clerics to contribute
their words of wisdom and truth-in-Islam to the "Hirabah" thesis
work-in-progress compendium previously provided. Current contributors who now number about 25 should be doubled by mid-year, and doubled again by year's end

11 Help to instigate and evaluate the "Hirabah versus Jihad" Q & A format previously provided, in form of a big-prize, high rewards essay contest in selected venues -- probably best in relatively quiet and moderate Muslim World university cities -- with the basic questions to be answered as follows:

o What is going on here --Godly Jihad (holy war) or un-Godly Hirabah
(unholy war)?

o Who are these killers -- mujahiddin (holy warriors) & martyrs or
mufsidoom (evildoers)?

o Where are they headed -- to Allah's Jinnah (Paradise) or Satan's
Jahannam (Hellfire)?

o Are they promoting Sharia (Allah's Law) or Tajdeef Shaitaniyah (Satanic Blasphemy)?

o Finally, provide correct answers to whatever other good-versus-evil
questions in Islam which would strengthen the rationale for the
truth-in-language and truth-in-Islam answers that the contestant has
posited

Black Sun

"What now is the aim of my life? To sit on a rock in the desert and stare at the sun until the sun goes black." --Edward Abbey

Fun with Firefox

I'm having plenty of good clean geek fun going through Firefox Extensions. Really cool, with lots of potential is the stumbleupon extension. I went to a half dozen sites that I like a lot, told it that I like them a lot, and now it is already coming up with suggested sites that pretty much killed my whole evening. I'm sure the spammers will find a way to pollute this, but for now it's a great tool to wade through all the BS on the net and discover new things.

So, You Support the Troops?

I've driven over 3000 miles in the last few weeks over the holidays. And a stereotype has developed. There are a lot of people with ribbon sickers on their cars (usually SUVs) about supporting the troops. Sometimes yellow. Sometimes red, white, and blue.

Typically, the drivers are pricks. They pass in the right lane, they tailgate, they drive while talking on cell phones.

You assholes are not part of the team, not part of the effort. You are the weakest of the weak. You are the sycophants. You want to be part of something bigger than yourselves. You wrap yourselves in the flag without thinking. Yea, troops! Go USA! How exactly are you supporting the troops? Did the three dollar magnet you bought (you don't want to actualy stick something to your car) even help a soldier?

If you really supported us, those stickers would say bring our sons and daughters home. We didn't elect him President, but John Kerry was right 30 years ago when he asked: "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake."

Iraq was a mistake. Bush is a mistake. Support the troops, fuck the war. If you love Bush too much to actually oppose the war, give some money to the USO rather than buy a bumper sticker. True, you won't have any public recognition of the fact that you supported the troops. But this never was about YOU anyway, was it?

Basic MP3s

If you are going to steal music (as opposed to buying it for $1 from itunes or for $.05 from mp3search.com) there is audiofind.ru. Quality is only so-so. And you have to make it through the russian (but the webpage is set up like any other -- click where you think you should and you will be right). The selection is decent, especially if you like mainstream stuff. I don't know how reliable it is or if it is some sort of scam. But seems to be a well-organized way to download a song or two (say you want the latest Britney single but not a whole album). Free mp3s from our favorite country for vodka, women, and songs: Russia. Cheers to each!

In Honor of Thirty

I Don't Wanna Grow Up by Tom Waits:

When I’m lyin’ in my bed at night
I don’t wanna grow up
Nothin’ ever seems to turn out right
I don’t wanna grow up
How do you move in a world of fog
That’s always changing things
Makes me wish that I could be a dog

When I see the price that you pay
I don’t wanna grow up
I don’t ever wanna be that way
I don’t wanna grow up
Seems like folks turn into things
That they’d never want
The only thing to live for is today

I’m gonna put a hole in my TV set
I don’t wanna grow up
Open up the medicine chest
And I don’t wanna grow up
I don’t wanna have to shout it out
I don’t want my hair to fall out
I don’t wanna be filled with doubt
I don’t wanna be a good boy scout
I don’t wanna have to learn to count
I don’t wanna have the biggest amount
I don’t wanna grow up

Well when I see my parents fight
I don’t wanna grow up
They all go out and drinking all night
And I don’t wanna grow up
I’d rather stay here in my room
Nothin’ out there but sad and gloom
I don’t wanna live in a big old tomb
On grand street

When I see the 5 o’clock news
I don’t wanna grow up
Comb their hair and shine their shoes
I don’t wanna grow up
Stay around in my old hometown
I don’t wanna put no money down
I don’t wanna get me a big old loan
Work them fingers to the bone
I don’t wanna float a broom
Fall in love and get married then boom
How the hell did I get here so soon
I don’t wanna grow up

Kenko's Essays in Idleness #29

"When I sit down in quiet meditation, the one emotion hardest to fight against is a longing in all things for the past. After the others have gone to bed, I pass the time on a long autumn's night by putting in order whatever belongings are at hand. As I tear up scraps of old correspondence I should prefr not to leave behind, I sometimes find among them samples of the calligraphy of a friend who has died, or pictures he drew for his own amusement, and I feel exactly as I did at the time. Even with letters written by friends who are still alive I try, when it has been long since we met, to remember the circumstances, the year. What a moving experience that is! It is sad to think that a man's familiar possessions, indifferent to his death, should remain unaltered long after he is gone. "

News Holiday

I decided to take a news holiday after the election. First, I wanted to absorb it all myself and form my own opinions about what happened and why with as little influence from all the talking heads as possible. Second, I needed to be a more well rounded person again. So I've managed to do a bit more non-news reading, I'm picking up my guitar more. And I'm not proud of this, but I got the new Grand Theft Auto video game and am releasing all my agression by violently killing and cursing at innocent bystanders. It is a thoroughly offensive and wonderful game.