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Elizabeth Banks in Women's Health Magazine March 2012

Added 02/07/12
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Elizabeth Banks in Women's Health Magazine March 2012

Added 02/07/12
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New Found Glory Live in Studio B - Part 1 - Radio Surgery

Added 12/29/11
3 Views

New Found Glory Live in Studio B - Part 1 - Radio Surgery

[LESS INFO] 3 VIEWS | ADDED 18:31:59 12/29/11
Part 1 of New Found Glory performing live at Mevio Studios in San Francisco For the full performance CLICK HERE New found energy, new found purpose: that's what Not Without A Fight is all about. The first New Found Glory album to bear the Epitaph logo brims with fresh promise, showcasing a band comfortable in their own skin and eager to get back to basics and present it all to the world. Not Without A Fight is arguably the strongest addition to an impressive catalog with no less than three gold records and ... some of the most memorable songs of the past decade. Album opener "Right Where We Left Off" is an instant reminder of the keen self-awareness that endeared New Found Glory to millions of fans worldwide in the first place. And naming their album Not Without A Fight? That's a nod to that other side of the group Epitaph owner Brett Gurewitz called "the greatest pop-punk band in history," the side that is scrappy, that's from the do-it-yourself scene. The side of a band who probably never should have been lumped in with some of the more teeny-bop friendly fare they've often shared the rock radio and TRL charts with. Lead single "Listen to Your Friends" flips the script by rocking a verse even catchier than its chorus; "I'll Never Love Again" boasts a killer singalong. "47" has a hooky scream that breaks new ground for the Florida-bred five-some while "Truck Stop Blues" summons the potent urgency of the burgeoning scene that New Found Glory arose from, recalling a bygone era when they shared small stages with their friends in Get Up Kids, Piebald and Saves The Day. Not Without A Fight packs together the best elements of fan favorite albums like Sticks and Stones (2002) and Catalyst (2004) with a reinvigorated drive making for a declaration that's fresh and timely. There's pop, there's punk, there's crunch, there's those irrepressible melodies and Jordan Pundik's instantly recognizable voice is in fine form. "Nobody in New Found Glory loves anything as much as this band," says guitarist Chad Gilbert, by way of explanation as to how they have managed to maintain the same lineup - Pundik, Gilbert, Steven Klein (guitar), Ian Grushka (bass) and Cyrus Bolooki (drums) - for over ten years. "You fight with your mom. You don't hang out with her all the time. But you love her! You're never going to hate her. We're family. It might sound cliche, but that's what it is." That family first came together in Coral Springs, Florida in 1997. Nothing Gold Can Stay (1999) and New Found Glory (2000) became classics thanks to hard-touring and good natured relationship building the world over, which ensured the next two albums (Sticks and Stones and Catalyst) would both debut in the Top 5 on the Billboard 200 chart. As happens all too often, the uber-successful and beloved band found themselves delivering Coming Home to a group of relative strangers who lacked the same investment in them as before. By 2006, many of the folks who worked with the band at the label had been replaced by new faces, from the president on down. "At major labels, people are always losing their jobs," Gilbert points out. "Someone can love your band one week and the next week that person is fired." With their recording contract fulfilled and in between management, New Found Glory seized the opportunity to have some fun while weighing their options, releasing From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II (something their most ardent supporters had demanded for years) and a split EP with their alter-ego, International Superheroes Of Hardcore. "It brought this different attention to our band that we hadn't had in a while," Gilbert says. "Through the major label years, some of those lines got blurred because of some of the things the label did representing our band. With the release on Bridge 9 Records, we were able to do things how we wanted to do them. It was awesome." In the midst of all of this, the band continued to write their next album, which they ultimately decided to record before choosing a new label. That's where +44 / Blink 182's Mark Hoppus came in, agreeing to produce Not Without A Fight at the studio he co-owns with Travis Barker. "He's an old friend of ours," Gilbert explains. "We had no money to make the record so we wanted someone with the confidence to do the album for free and get reimbursed later." Eventually, of course, the label situation needed sorted out, as the guys in New Found Glory have no desire to be in any kind of "business" other than than business of writing great songs, recording them and playing them live. "When we announced that we were no longer signed to Geffen two years ago, Brett Gurewitz was the first one to call me," Gilbert remembers. "'People at Epitaph are all music fans and have their shit together." And as for that spectacular accolade from the man running their new record label home? "It's crazy!" Chad says, laughing. "The Descendents could take that crown way before we could, or Screeching Weasel, or Green Day. I don't know why he said that! He's crazy. It's flattering. It's really flattering. But I don't know what to say!" New Found Glory's first Epitaph album has no guest appearances, no frills, nothing but fantastic songs and powerful performances. "If you really listen to our music, you can't pigeonhole it. We play music that we love." Not Without A Fight is alternately the band's most streamlined and direct but powerful and broad album thus far. "New Found Glory is back to where we want it to be: we tour, we play music and it's from the heart." http://www.newfoundglory.com http://www.myspace.com/newfoundglory http://www.newfoundglorystuff.com http://www.steveisthereason.tumblr.com http://www.twitter.com/xchadballx http://www.twitter.com/boomersaveus http://www.twitter.com/steveisdareason

New Found Glory Live in Studio B - Part 2 - Anthem For The Unw...

Added 12/29/11
2 Views

New Found Glory Live in Studio B - Part 2 - Anthem For The Unwanted

[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 18:27:42 12/29/11
Part 2 of New Found Glory performing live at Mevio Studios in San Francisco For the full performance CLICK HERE New found energy, new found purpose: that's what Not Without A Fight is all about. The first New Found Glory album to bear the Epitaph logo brims with fresh promise, showcasing a band comfortable in their own skin and eager to get back to basics and present it all to the world. Not Without A Fight is arguably the strongest addition to an impressive catalog with no less than three gold records and ... some of the most memorable songs of the past decade. Album opener "Right Where We Left Off" is an instant reminder of the keen self-awareness that endeared New Found Glory to millions of fans worldwide in the first place. And naming their album Not Without A Fight? That's a nod to that other side of the group Epitaph owner Brett Gurewitz called "the greatest pop-punk band in history," the side that is scrappy, that's from the do-it-yourself scene. The side of a band who probably never should have been lumped in with some of the more teeny-bop friendly fare they've often shared the rock radio and TRL charts with. Lead single "Listen to Your Friends" flips the script by rocking a verse even catchier than its chorus; "I'll Never Love Again" boasts a killer singalong. "47" has a hooky scream that breaks new ground for the Florida-bred five-some while "Truck Stop Blues" summons the potent urgency of the burgeoning scene that New Found Glory arose from, recalling a bygone era when they shared small stages with their friends in Get Up Kids, Piebald and Saves The Day. Not Without A Fight packs together the best elements of fan favorite albums like Sticks and Stones (2002) and Catalyst (2004) with a reinvigorated drive making for a declaration that's fresh and timely. There's pop, there's punk, there's crunch, there's those irrepressible melodies and Jordan Pundik's instantly recognizable voice is in fine form. "Nobody in New Found Glory loves anything as much as this band," says guitarist Chad Gilbert, by way of explanation as to how they have managed to maintain the same lineup - Pundik, Gilbert, Steven Klein (guitar), Ian Grushka (bass) and Cyrus Bolooki (drums) - for over ten years. "You fight with your mom. You don't hang out with her all the time. But you love her! You're never going to hate her. We're family. It might sound cliche, but that's what it is." That family first came together in Coral Springs, Florida in 1997. Nothing Gold Can Stay (1999) and New Found Glory (2000) became classics thanks to hard-touring and good natured relationship building the world over, which ensured the next two albums (Sticks and Stones and Catalyst) would both debut in the Top 5 on the Billboard 200 chart. As happens all too often, the uber-successful and beloved band found themselves delivering Coming Home to a group of relative strangers who lacked the same investment in them as before. By 2006, many of the folks who worked with the band at the label had been replaced by new faces, from the president on down. "At major labels, people are always losing their jobs," Gilbert points out. "Someone can love your band one week and the next week that person is fired." With their recording contract fulfilled and in between management, New Found Glory seized the opportunity to have some fun while weighing their options, releasing From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II (something their most ardent supporters had demanded for years) and a split EP with their alter-ego, International Superheroes Of Hardcore. "It brought this different attention to our band that we hadn't had in a while," Gilbert says. "Through the major label years, some of those lines got blurred because of some of the things the label did representing our band. With the release on Bridge 9 Records, we were able to do things how we wanted to do them. It was awesome." In the midst of all of this, the band continued to write their next album, which they ultimately decided to record before choosing a new label. That's where +44 / Blink 182's Mark Hoppus came in, agreeing to produce Not Without A Fight at the studio he co-owns with Travis Barker. "He's an old friend of ours," Gilbert explains. "We had no money to make the record so we wanted someone with the confidence to do the album for free and get reimbursed later." Eventually, of course, the label situation needed sorted out, as the guys in New Found Glory have no desire to be in any kind of "business" other than than business of writing great songs, recording them and playing them live. "When we announced that we were no longer signed to Geffen two years ago, Brett Gurewitz was the first one to call me," Gilbert remembers. "'People at Epitaph are all music fans and have their shit together." And as for that spectacular accolade from the man running their new record label home? "It's crazy!" Chad says, laughing. "The Descendents could take that crown way before we could, or Screeching Weasel, or Green Day. I don't know why he said that! He's crazy. It's flattering. It's really flattering. But I don't know what to say!" New Found Glory's first Epitaph album has no guest appearances, no frills, nothing but fantastic songs and powerful performances. "If you really listen to our music, you can't pigeonhole it. We play music that we love." Not Without A Fight is alternately the band's most streamlined and direct but powerful and broad album thus far. "New Found Glory is back to where we want it to be: we tour, we play music and it's from the heart." http://www.newfoundglory.com http://www.myspace.com/newfoundglory http://www.newfoundglorystuff.com http://www.steveisthereason.tumblr.com http://www.twitter.com/xchadballx http://www.twitter.com/boomersaveus http://www.twitter.com/steveisdareason

New Found Glory - Live in Studio B Part 3 - My Friends Over You

Added 12/29/11
2 Views

New Found Glory - Live in Studio B Part 3 - My Friends Over You

[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 18:18:46 12/29/11
Part 3 of New Found Glory performing live at Mevio Studios in San Francisco For the full performance CLICK HERE New found energy, new found purpose: that's what Not Without A Fight is all about. The first New Found Glory album to bear the Epitaph logo brims with fresh promise, showcasing a band comfortable in their own skin and eager to get back to basics and present it all to the world. Not Without A Fight is arguably the strongest addition to an impressive catalog with no less than three gold records and ... some of the most memorable songs of the past decade. Album opener "Right Where We Left Off" is an instant reminder of the keen self-awareness that endeared New Found Glory to millions of fans worldwide in the first place. And naming their album Not Without A Fight? That's a nod to that other side of the group Epitaph owner Brett Gurewitz called "the greatest pop-punk band in history," the side that is scrappy, that's from the do-it-yourself scene. The side of a band who probably never should have been lumped in with some of the more teeny-bop friendly fare they've often shared the rock radio and TRL charts with. Lead single "Listen to Your Friends" flips the script by rocking a verse even catchier than its chorus; "I'll Never Love Again" boasts a killer singalong. "47" has a hooky scream that breaks new ground for the Florida-bred five-some while "Truck Stop Blues" summons the potent urgency of the burgeoning scene that New Found Glory arose from, recalling a bygone era when they shared small stages with their friends in Get Up Kids, Piebald and Saves The Day. Not Without A Fight packs together the best elements of fan favorite albums like Sticks and Stones (2002) and Catalyst (2004) with a reinvigorated drive making for a declaration that's fresh and timely. There's pop, there's punk, there's crunch, there's those irrepressible melodies and Jordan Pundik's instantly recognizable voice is in fine form. "Nobody in New Found Glory loves anything as much as this band," says guitarist Chad Gilbert, by way of explanation as to how they have managed to maintain the same lineup - Pundik, Gilbert, Steven Klein (guitar), Ian Grushka (bass) and Cyrus Bolooki (drums) - for over ten years. "You fight with your mom. You don't hang out with her all the time. But you love her! You're never going to hate her. We're family. It might sound cliche, but that's what it is." That family first came together in Coral Springs, Florida in 1997. Nothing Gold Can Stay (1999) and New Found Glory (2000) became classics thanks to hard-touring and good natured relationship building the world over, which ensured the next two albums (Sticks and Stones and Catalyst) would both debut in the Top 5 on the Billboard 200 chart. As happens all too often, the uber-successful and beloved band found themselves delivering Coming Home to a group of relative strangers who lacked the same investment in them as before. By 2006, many of the folks who worked with the band at the label had been replaced by new faces, from the president on down. "At major labels, people are always losing their jobs," Gilbert points out. "Someone can love your band one week and the next week that person is fired." With their recording contract fulfilled and in between management, New Found Glory seized the opportunity to have some fun while weighing their options, releasing From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II (something their most ardent supporters had demanded for years) and a split EP with their alter-ego, International Superheroes Of Hardcore. "It brought this different attention to our band that we hadn't had in a while," Gilbert says. "Through the major label years, some of those lines got blurred because of some of the things the label did representing our band. With the release on Bridge 9 Records, we were able to do things how we wanted to do them. It was awesome." In the midst of all of this, the band continued to write their next album, which they ultimately decided to record before choosing a new label. That's where +44 / Blink 182's Mark Hoppus came in, agreeing to produce Not Without A Fight at the studio he co-owns with Travis Barker. "He's an old friend of ours," Gilbert explains. "We had no money to make the record so we wanted someone with the confidence to do the album for free and get reimbursed later." Eventually, of course, the label situation needed sorted out, as the guys in New Found Glory have no desire to be in any kind of "business" other than than business of writing great songs, recording them and playing them live. "When we announced that we were no longer signed to Geffen two years ago, Brett Gurewitz was the first one to call me," Gilbert remembers. "'People at Epitaph are all music fans and have their shit together." And as for that spectacular accolade from the man running their new record label home? "It's crazy!" Chad says, laughing. "The Descendents could take that crown way before we could, or Screeching Weasel, or Green Day. I don't know why he said that! He's crazy. It's flattering. It's really flattering. But I don't know what to say!" New Found Glory's first Epitaph album has no guest appearances, no frills, nothing but fantastic songs and powerful performances. "If you really listen to our music, you can't pigeonhole it. We play music that we love." Not Without A Fight is alternately the band's most streamlined and direct but powerful and broad album thus far. "New Found Glory is back to where we want it to be: we tour, we play music and it's from the heart." http://www.newfoundglory.com http://www.myspace.com/newfoundglory http://www.newfoundglorystuff.com http://www.steveisthereason.tumblr.com http://www.twitter.com/xchadballx http://www.twitter.com/boomersaveus http://www.twitter.com/steveisdareason

New Found Glory - Live In Studio B

Added 12/29/11
1 Views

New Found Glory - Live In Studio B

[LESS INFO] 1 VIEWS | ADDED 17:17:37 12/29/11
New Found Glory performs live at Mevio Studios in San Francisco New found energy, new found purpose: that's what Not Without A Fight is all about. The first New Found Glory album to bear the Epitaph logo brims with fresh promise, showcasing a band comfortable in their own skin and eager to get back to basics and present it all to the world. Not Without A Fight is arguably the strongest addition to an impressive catalog with no less than three gold records and ... some of the most memorable songs of the past decade. Album opener "Right Where We Left Off" is an instant reminder of the keen self-awareness that endeared New Found Glory to millions of fans worldwide in the first place. And naming their album Not Without A Fight? That's a nod to that other side of the group Epitaph owner Brett Gurewitz called "the greatest pop-punk band in history," the side that is scrappy, that's from the do-it-yourself scene. The side of a band who probably never should have been lumped in with some of the more teeny-bop friendly fare they've often shared the rock radio and TRL charts with. Lead single "Listen to Your Friends" flips the script by rocking a verse even catchier than its chorus; "I'll Never Love Again" boasts a killer singalong. "47" has a hooky scream that breaks new ground for the Florida-bred five-some while "Truck Stop Blues" summons the potent urgency of the burgeoning scene that New Found Glory arose from, recalling a bygone era when they shared small stages with their friends in Get Up Kids, Piebald and Saves The Day. Not Without A Fight packs together the best elements of fan favorite albums like Sticks and Stones (2002) and Catalyst (2004) with a reinvigorated drive making for a declaration that's fresh and timely. There's pop, there's punk, there's crunch, there's those irrepressible melodies and Jordan Pundik's instantly recognizable voice is in fine form. "Nobody in New Found Glory loves anything as much as this band," says guitarist Chad Gilbert, by way of explanation as to how they have managed to maintain the same lineup - Pundik, Gilbert, Steven Klein (guitar), Ian Grushka (bass) and Cyrus Bolooki (drums) - for over ten years. "You fight with your mom. You don't hang out with her all the time. But you love her! You're never going to hate her. We're family. It might sound cliche, but that's what it is." That family first came together in Coral Springs, Florida in 1997. Nothing Gold Can Stay (1999) and New Found Glory (2000) became classics thanks to hard-touring and good natured relationship building the world over, which ensured the next two albums (Sticks and Stones and Catalyst) would both debut in the Top 5 on the Billboard 200 chart. As happens all too often, the uber-successful and beloved band found themselves delivering Coming Home to a group of relative strangers who lacked the same investment in them as before. By 2006, many of the folks who worked with the band at the label had been replaced by new faces, from the president on down. "At major labels, people are always losing their jobs," Gilbert points out. "Someone can love your band one week and the next week that person is fired." With their recording contract fulfilled and in between management, New Found Glory seized the opportunity to have some fun while weighing their options, releasing From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II (something their most ardent supporters had demanded for years) and a split EP with their alter-ego, International Superheroes Of Hardcore. "It brought this different attention to our band that we hadn't had in a while," Gilbert says. "Through the major label years, some of those lines got blurred because of some of the things the label did representing our band. With the release on Bridge 9 Records, we were able to do things how we wanted to do them. It was awesome." In the midst of all of this, the band continued to write their next album, which they ultimately decided to record before choosing a new label. That's where +44 / Blink 182's Mark Hoppus came in, agreeing to produce Not Without A Fight at the studio he co-owns with Travis Barker. "He's an old friend of ours," Gilbert explains. "We had no money to make the record so we wanted someone with the confidence to do the album for free and get reimbursed later." Eventually, of course, the label situation needed sorted out, as the guys in New Found Glory have no desire to be in any kind of "business" other than than business of writing great songs, recording them and playing them live. "When we announced that we were no longer signed to Geffen two years ago, Brett Gurewitz was the first one to call me," Gilbert remembers. "'People at Epitaph are all music fans and have their shit together." And as for that spectacular accolade from the man running their new record label home? "It's crazy!" Chad says, laughing. "The Descendents could take that crown way before we could, or Screeching Weasel, or Green Day. I don't know why he said that! He's crazy. It's flattering. It's really flattering. But I don't know what to say!" New Found Glory's first Epitaph album has no guest appearances, no frills, nothing but fantastic songs and powerful performances. "If you really listen to our music, you can't pigeonhole it. We play music that we love." Not Without A Fight is alternately the band's most streamlined and direct but powerful and broad album thus far. "New Found Glory is back to where we want it to be: we tour, we play music and it's from the heart." http://www.newfoundglory.com http://www.myspace.com/newfoundglory http://www.newfoundglorystuff.com http://www.steveisthereason.tumblr.com http://www.twitter.com/xchadballx http://www.twitter.com/boomersaveus http://www.twitter.com/steveisdareason

Mitt Romney's Big Promises - and Bigger Lies

Added 12/29/11
6 Views

Mitt Romney's Big Promises - and Bigger Lies

[LESS INFO] 6 VIEWS | ADDED 16:00:56 12/29/11
Click here to view this media In the election of 1928, the Republican Party of Herbert Hoover promised voters "a chicken in every pot and a car in every backyard." (We all know how that turned out.) Now, Mitt Romney is pledging that "If I'm President" every college graduate will be guaranteed a job, Iran will have no nuclear weapons and the United States will dominate the 21st century. And when Romney isn't making fantastic promises about what he'll do when he gets to the White House, he's slandering the current occupant , Barack Obama. "I Won't Let Iran Get Nukes" Governor Romney's guarantees start with Iran and its nuclear program . In a November 10, 2011 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Romney pledged, " I won't let Iran get nukes ." Or as he put it 10 days earlier during a GOP national security debate : > "If we re-elect Barack Obama, Iran will have a nuclear weapon. If you elect me as president, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon." As to how he'll ensure that outcome, Romney explained that "If you want peace, prepare for war." And despite occasionally acknowledging the complexity of a strike against Iran and even the questionable possibility of success, Romney told the Wall Street Journal this weekend how he would get it done: > So what would he do about it? "I do not have a top secret security clearance at this stage to be able to define precisely what kinds of actions we could take." But he adds that "the range includes something of a blockade nature, to something of a surgical strike nature, to something of a decapitate the regime nature, to eliminate the military threat of Iran altogether." No U.S. Decline in Romney's "American Century" Romney's promise to "eliminate the military threat of Iran altogether" is just part of his larger assurance that the 21st century will be another " American Century ." Pretending that the rise of India, China and Brazil doesn't inevitably entail the relative loss of U.S. power and influence, Romney announced in his October address at The Citadel : > "This century must be an American Century. In an American Century, America has the strongest economy and the strongest military in the world. In an American Century, America leads the free world and the free world leads the entire world...As President of the United States, I will devote myself to an American Century. And I will never, ever apologize for America." Not content to rest there, Romney accused President Obama of "waving the white flag of surrender": > "An eloquently justified surrender of world leadership is still surrender. > I will not surrender America's role in the world. This is very simple: If you do not want America to be the strongest nation on Earth, I am not your President. > You have that President today." Two months later, Mitt Romney repackaged his promise and his slander at the December 15 Republican debate in Sioux City, Iowa: > "Our president thinks America is in decline. It is if he's president. It's not if I'm president. This is going to be an American century." As for Romney's charge that President Obama "went around the world and apologized for America," the Washington Post Fact Checker deemed it a Four-Pinocchio lie . A Job for Every College Graduate At an event in New Hampshire last week, Governor Romney's pandering went from the sublime to the ridiculous. There, Mitt pledged President Romney would deliver full-employment for all American college graduates: > "What I can promise you is this -- when you get out of college, if I'm president you'll have a job. If President Obama is reelected, you will not be able to get a job. That's the reason I will hopefully get young people who are in college is to say, You know what, I understand what it takes to get jobs in America." As the record shows , not so much. After all, as the Los Angeles Times recently documented, Romney's "Bain Capital often maximized profits in part by firing workers." That's why FactCheck.org , the Washington Post Fact Checker and Fortune all refused to vouch for Romney's claim that "In those hundreds of businesses we invested in, tens of thousands of jobs net-net were created." Obama "Has Not Created Any New Jobs" If Mitt Romney can't prove his boasts about his own job creation record, neither can he justify his blatant lie about President Obama's : > "25 million people are out of work because of Barack Obama. And so I'll compare my experience in the private sector where, net-net, we created over 100,000 jobs." > "I'll compare that record with his record, where he has not created any new jobs." Sadly for Mitt Romney, the Bush recession began in December 2007. As ThinkProgress rightly noted, "The private sector has added 2.3 million new jobs since March 2010, and it took the Obama economy one year to create more jobs than the economy under President Bush did in eight." As The Economist explained earlier, the recession was not at its deepest just as Barack Obama was entering office, but far worse than official statistics revealed at the time. Romney might also want to check with former McCain economic adviser Mark Zandi as well as the non-partisan CBO , who concluded that the Obama stimulus program "added up to 0.9 million jobs in 2009, 3.3 million jobs in 2010 and 2.6 million jobs in 2011." Obama's Debt Exceeds All Previous Presidents Combined Mitt Romney didn't just lie about Barack Obama's jobs record. At the Sioux City debate, he got President Obama's contribution to the federal debt all wrong as well: > "We all understand that the spending crisis is extraordinary, with $15 trillion now in debt, with a president that's racked up as much debt as almost all of the other presidents combined." Of course, we don't all understand that, because it's not true . After Ronald Reagan tripled the gross national debt and George W. Bush doubled it again, Uncle Sam's red ink totaled almost $11 trillion when Barack Obama took the oath of office. Obama is "Taking over 100 Percent" of Health Care In his desperate quest to win over conservative Republican primary voters, Mitt Romney has turned his back on his signature achievement which he once boasted was a health care model for the nation. And to do it, Romney has been lying for months by telling voters "Obamacare is about taking over 100 percent of the people's insurance in this country." In a September 15, 2011 interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer , Romney made the same charge: > "The Massachusetts plan was crafted for Massachusetts, for the needs of 8 percent of our population that didn't have insurance, not for the 92 percent that did. Obamacare is a plan that takes over 100 percent of the people in the country and their health care, and that's one of the reasons why people don't want it." Sadly for Mitt Romney, repetition of a lie doesn't make it any more true. The Affordable Care Act passed by Congress and signed by President Obama in the spring of 2010 targets the 17 percent of people (over 50 million people) who are uninsured . As Politifact explained in deeming Romney's fraud another "Pants on Fire" lie: > According to the Census Bureau, the percentage of Americans without health insurance nationally was slightly under 17 percent in 2009, the year Obama began pushing for the bill. According to a Congressional Budget Office estimate, the number was about the same in 2010, when the measure was signed into law. Other estimates have pegged the national number at about 15 percent. As Henry Aaron, a senior fellow with the centrist-to-liberal Brookings Institution right noted, comparing 8 percent to 17 percent "would have been apples to apples" when it comes to the impact of the individual mandate at the center of both the Massachusetts and national plans. Sadly, Politifact concluded, Romney was guilty of "a felony case of comparing apples and oranges." Romney "Will Reverse President Obama's Massive Defense Cuts" During that same "American Century" speech in October, Governor Romney pledged: > "I will reverse President Obama's massive defense cuts. Time and again, we have seen that attempts to balance the budget by weakening our military only lead to a far higher price, not only in treasure, but in blood." Sadly for Romney, as Steve Benen pointed out, defense spending has not only gone up every year of the Obama presidency . It is higher than it ever was when George W. Bush sat in the Oval Office. Of course, Romney's confusion over matters of war and peace are hardly new. In an April op-ed for the Manchester Union Leader, Mitt forgot about the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan as he denounced President Obama for "one of the biggest peacetime spending binges in American history." Obama's "Equal Outcomes" and "Entitlement Society" Last week, the Romney campaign rolled out what may well become the meta-theme and meta-lie for the 2012 general election race. After President Obama declared in his Osawatomie, Kansas address that Republican trickle down economics "never worked," Romney struck back. Just not with the truth: > "Just a couple of weeks ago in Kansas, President Obama lectured us about Teddy Roosevelt's philosophy of government. But he failed to mention the important difference between Teddy Roosevelt and Barack Obama. Roosevelt believed that government should level the playing field to create equal opportunities. President Obama believes that government should create equal outcomes. > "In an entitlement society, everyone receives the same or similar rewards, regardless of education, effort, and willingness to take risk. That which is earned by some is redistributed to the others. And the only people who truly enjoy any real rewards are those who do the redistributing -- the government. > "The truth is that everyone may get the same rewards, but virtually everyone will be worse off." By raising the mythical red menace of communism and falsely attributing it to Barack Obama, Romney in the words of Paul Krugman had introduced " The Big Lie " into his " Post-Truth Campaign ." While Andrew Sullivan announced "Mitt Romney is a big, fat liar," Steve Benen lamented that "Romney, allegedly the responsible one in the Republican field, has been reduced to lying uncontrollably." And while Greg Sargent in the past had expressed amazement at "Mitt Romney's casual, effortless falsehoods," New York Magazine's Jonathan Chait explained that Romney's red scare rose to a whole new level of duplicity: > "This isn't just a casual line. In eight sentences, Romney asserts over and over again that Obama wants to create "equal outcomes" and give everybody the "same rewards." This is nuts, Glenn Beck-level insane. Restoring Clinton-era taxes is not a plan to equalize outcomes, or even close. It's not even a plan to stop rising inequality. Obama's America will continue to be the most unequal society in the advanced world -- only slightly less so. The alternative proposals accelerate inequality even further." Of course, as the proliferating profiles from the Wall Street Journal , the New York Times , the Washington Post and others show, Mitt Romney is no stranger to inequality. Legendarily cheap and analytical , as a Harvard Business School student Romney gave a presentation to his classmates that "proved the value of family time based not on emotion but on yield." Two Romney quotes - " I love business " and " I love data " - seem to sum up the man. As for loving the truth, that for Mitt Romney is apparently another matter altogether. (This piece also appears at Perrspectives .)

Geeky Gadgets for New Years Resolutions

Added 12/10/11
26 Views

Occupy Y'All Street: Occupy Atlanta Shows the Power of the Mov...

Added 12/06/11
1 Views

Occupy Y'All Street: Occupy Atlanta Shows the Power of the Movement

[LESS INFO] 1 VIEWS | ADDED 01:00:59 12/06/11
The second video in Jason Cherkis and Sara Kenigsberg's Occupy Y'All Street series for Huffington Post takes a look at the story of Tawanna and Christopher Rorey , a Gwinnett County, Georgia, couple facing eviction at the hands of Fannie Mae. Christopher is a police officer and the family had done nothing wrong: > In the spring of 2010, the Roreys decided they wanted a loan modification. They had managed to pay their mortgage each month. They just wanted a little more breathing room. When they made the request to their mortgage servicer, then-called Everhome, the Roreys say they were told that unless they could prove financial hardship, they couldn't get the modification. A foreclosure consultant they hired told them to stop paying their mortgage. Counterintuitive as it may sound, it's common advice in the industry. The Roreys took the advice that summer. In September, Everhome entered into foreclosure proceedings on the Roreys. On Oct. 5, they were foreclosed on. Their foreclosure consultant has since been arrested for allegedly breaking into foreclosed homes and renting them out. "Fannie Mae is committed to helping homeowners avoid foreclosure whenever possible," Amy Bonitatibus, senior director for Fannie Mae corporate communications, stated in an email to HuffPost. "We have a Mortgage Help Center in Atlanta where homeowners can meet with a trusted housing counselor to discuss their mortgage situation and options to avoid foreclosure. Unfortunately, the homeowner did not seek assistance from our Help Center." The Roreys' attorney Asim A. Alam says it was unknown that Fannie Mae was the lender until well after the foreclosure. Everhome never mentioned Fannie Mae's involvement. Shortly before the foreclosure proceedings started, the Roreys expected that the consultant would file a modification request. They are unsure if he ever did, Alam says. Everhome did not return a request for comment. "I am very happy [this case] is receiving this much publicity," Alam tells HuffPost. "It is a representative case. Most of my clients are not poor, lazy people who get in over their heads. They are getting screwed over by the bank. They were given inaccurate information by their lender. What happened to the Roreys can happen to anyone in the community." Once again, the video tells a powerful story of a family whose life is being devastated by the policies and actions of the 1 percent, when there is no reason for the crisis that is taking place. The Roreys did nothing wrong and they played by the rules and it didn't matter. Beyond that, this video highlights a couple of important things about the movement. While the Roreys ultimately lost their battle, despite the help of Occupy Atlanta and the newly-formed Occupy Gwinnett County, something bigger is going on. The first thing is that many people, in the movement and outside the movement, have had a vague idea for a long time that things are going wrong in this country without being able to put their finger on what exactly it was. Stories like this are helping many new people figure out what's wrong with the system. And once that knowledge is out of Pandora's box, it isn't going back in. Change can't come in any significant way until the masses start to learn about the wrongs that are being done. More importantly, though, is that thousands of young activists across the country are not only being brought into the political system through the Occupy movement, they are also learning how to organize and more effectively fight the problems they see. While the Occupy movement couldn't save the Roreys' home, there is no doubt that a lot of people learned from the attempt what things work and what things don't work and they're going to try again. And they will increase their success rate because they will learn from their mistakes. And this process is being repeated over and over all across the country. That's something that should really scare the 1 percent and something that should help cheer up the 99 percent. Change is coming.

OCCUPY UNPLUGGED - Third Eye Blind

Added 12/02/11
3 Views

OCCUPY UNPLUGGED - Third Eye Blind

Added 12/02/11
2 Views

Thank You - For the Occupation, For the Intensity, For Lettin'...

Added 11/25/11
2 Views

Thank You - For the Occupation, For the Intensity, For Lettin' Me Be Myself Again

[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 17:30:23 11/25/11
It's like the old-timers always said: Don't quit before the miracle happens. While the Arab Spring showed that people can still accomplish the impossible, Our political debate was frozen in corporate cynicism. Now everything has changed. For the United States, spring came in autumn. Who says miracles don't happen? Like a Prayer A few months ago I prayed for something. Granted, it wasn't the kind of prayer that's sanctioned by any ecclesiastical authority. And, okay, maybe it wasn't exactly a "prayer." I guess the technical term for it would be "blog post." But trust me, it was a prayer. I'd been asked to write something for the Fourth of July, and I wrote we have to fight a new war, a " war of independence from corporate politics ." To be honest, those words felt Utopian even as I wrote them. Still, I never doubted them. The words were born out of the desperate sense that so many of us shared, a sense that our society is collapsing. And that it will keep on collapsing unless we change the way we think. I wasn't arguing for any particular policy or platform. "The problem isn't just with politicians, or even the system," I said then. "The problem is dependence itself." Oh, come on. How starry-eyed can you get? Stop depending on politicians? Declare psychic and political independence from celebrity-driven politics and media-made leaders? I'd always considered myself a realist, but this was almost embarrassingly idealistic. Except for the fact that it happened. Passionate Intensity Like so many others, I had grieved and raged over the lack of commitment displayed by good people. Cynics, robber barons, and American warlords are hard at work degrading - and downgrading - this country. In a strange set of parallels, we were reenacting the stories of the Third World countries we'd invaded. Like them, we were becoming a nation where servile or fearful politicians served a cynical oligarchy while the people's way of life died all around them. Some might call it karma - or simply "payback." But whatever you call it, the forces of hate and greed were running wild. The "two-party" system seemed to offer nothing in response except a) posturing, b) surrender, and c) a politics of compromise that seemed to amount to little more than ... well, see "a)" and "b)", above. Good people were fighting for better policies, and I tried to play my part. But too many of us focused on the prose of politics and not its poetry. Meanwhile, too many politicians got lazy quoting Bill Clinton's hack line: Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. It can be, of course. But before our eyes, the "good" became the enemy of the "perfect" and the mediocre became the enemy of the good. Then the cynical became the enemy of the mediocre, and democracy began to die. Meanwhile the other side gained its momentum with every passing month, fueled by a pseudo-populist movement ginned up by corporate-funded political hacks. A nation that had rejected the politics of greed and oligarchy at the ballot box was even more suffocated by it than before. No wonder so many people were uninspired, discouraged, despondent. Some people quoted William Butler Yeats: The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity. The good people who did burn with passionate intensity were in danger of turning the torch on themselves. " The game is over," wrote Chris Hedges . "We lost. The corporate state will continue its inexorable advance until two-thirds of the nation is locked into a desperate, permanent underclass." As boom times came back to Wall Street, depression - emotional as well as economic - entombed the majority. But the suffering of the majority turned invisible inside the Beltway, as politicians debated deficits in a broken economy. It was like debating water conservation while the house burned down. The Condition of Everything Miles of commentary have been written about the Occupy movement. As the occupations gained steam, people criticized them for their lack of specific policy demands. But they were right not to issue specific demands. They were declaring independence from a frame of mind, a set of assumptions that led to passive acceptance of an unacceptable system. And they had passionate intensity. I've told this story before, but I'll tell it again: When OccupyDC marched down K Street, in the early days of the movement, a young security guard asked an older one what they were protesting. "I'm not sure," said the older man. "But I think they're objecting to ..." He circled his hands to indicate the environment around him. ".... the condition of everything. " By objecting to the condition of everything, the Occupiers changed the political dialog in this country. By rejecting leaders and insisting on self-governance through General Assemblies, they taught us by example how to escape emotional dependence. Like William Butler Yeats, they understood that you can't distinguish the dancer from the dance. One of the movement's most articulate and forceful advocates is Chris Hedges. Recalling Democracy The Wisconsin uprising had been going on for months, even in the dark days of July. The miracle of Wisconsin is that it's still going on. People there occupied their capitol to protest laws designed to break the middle class, laws written by corporate America's "ALEC" division. Then they mounted recall efforts against recently elected GOP State Senators, reducing their majority and draining resources from their coffers. Now Gov. Walker is facing a recall. The struggle in Wisconsin isn't about "Democrats" against "Republicans." It's about resisting politicians that are wholly-owned subsidiaries of corporate America. The people of Wisconsin showed the country how to resist. Now they're showing us how to persist. And just this month, Ohio voters rejected an ALEC-inspired initiative to strip that state's workers of rights. Maine voters rejected a move to overturn election-day registration, another attempt to restrict the ability of lower-income citizens to vote. And Mississippi rejected a definition of prenatal rights so extreme that many anti-abortion advocates were disturbed by its implications for the rights, health, and safety of women. Like I was saying: Miracles. Radical Innocence But elections aren't the point. They can be a reflection of the change we need, but they're not the change itself. The real changes are personal. "When I remake a song," said Yeats, "it is myself that I remake." The Rolling Stones said "It's the singer, not the song." We misunderstood our own power. We were being distracted and manipulated by fear and anger. Our minds, our souls, were being manipulated by what the Native American poet and activist John Trudell calls "the mining of the essence." One of the reasons we were powerless is that we believed we were powerless. That's even true economically. "All money is a matter of belief," said Adam Smith. We needed to push our fear and anger away to see the obvious truths all around us: The corporations rule our political process. That our democracy is dying. That Wall Street is filled with people who broke moral (and sometimes actual) laws and forced the rest of the country to pay the price. We had to see with fresh eyes. "All hatred driven hence," wrote Yeats, "the soul recovers radical innocence." Our political process has become too cynical. Even reasonable and very moderate ideas favored by a majority of Republican voters, as well as others - a breakup of five or six too-big-to-fail banks, a public option health plan that's only available to one American in twenty - were declared impossible. We needed an infusion of radical innocence, the innocence of Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. We sometimes think of innocence as something childlike and weak. But innocence has great power. Innocence changes the world. We needed that radical innocence,and we got it. What we do with it now is up to us. Can we commit ourselves to moving forward, to persevering against all odds? The future's unwritten. But we know what's happening right now. The political dialog has shifted in a way that seemed impossible a few months ago. I don't know how you feel about that, but I know how I feel. I feel thankful. So thankful, in fact, that I'm gonna let Sam & Dave tell you all about it. Take it away, fellas: