Bydio

Thanks, Elliot.

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That Flaming Lips song I got from the Dell commercial reminds me of another good song I haven’t listened to in a while.

Snot – Snooze Button

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(I actually wrote out all these lyrics when I went online and either found incomplete lyrics or just plain wrong lyrics posted on all the lyrics sites. I got a little bit of help from the people at the forum at Free Talk Live.)

Band: Snot
Album: Get Some
Song: Snooze Button

Aw yes, you hit the snooze button
I’m sure you up and fell asleep again
You did not even fight

Well, it’s just another song
Talkin’ about how you let them take your rights
Another redundant verse about how you refused to fight
And lost, what cost, your cause has got no champion
How could you hope to win by just complainin’
Now it’s rainin’ on your parade
Decisions made could cost you dearly
Not just your money but your freedom
Are you wealthy? Improper choices could be deadly
They took your so-called rights
You did not even fight

Well, here’s your motherfuckin’ wake up call
And there just ain’t no way around it
Caught you asleep once again, we ain’t havin’ it
Got freedom for them to do just what they tell ya
You missed that train of thought
You refuse to be taught a lesson
Now this is what I’m guessin’
You’ll be held accountable
Things you did not want to know
You’re stressin’
Now with your head yeah they keep messin’
They took your so-called rights
You did not even fight

You hit that snooze button, fell asleep again

While you were busy fuckin’ sleepin’
You know your government was creepin’
Somebody left the door unlocked
Your seatbelt life was bought and sold
Yes, to the highest bidder
Left you in sitcom hell
So convinced you’re doin’ well
You sit back, synapses are attacked
American Gladiators are the only thing they’re givin’ back
You’re dyin’, and in your mind, while they keep lyin’,
They took your so-called rights
You better fuckin’

~WAKE UP~
Aw yes, you hit the snooze button
I’m sure you up and fell asleep again ~FIGHT~
They took your so-called rights and again and again
You better dream again
~WAKE UP~
Aw yes, you hit the snooze button
I’m sure you up and fell asleep again ~FIGHT~
They took your so-called rights
You did not even fight

You know that’s not your way
Once again you’re doin’ what they say
Don’t you fall asleep today, no way

WATCH OUT!
~OBEY, OBEY~
No, that’s not your way
~OBEY, OBEY~
Once again you’re doin’ what they say
~OBEY, OBEY~
Don’t you fall asleep today, no way, ~OBEY~
No way, they’ve got to break
~OBEY, OBEY~
You know that’s not your way
~OBEY, OBEY~
Once again you’re doin’ what they say
~OBEY, OBEY~
Don’t you fall asleep today
~OBEY~
Awake
~OBEY~

Now that we’ve given you a message
I’ve got a mess that you can salvage
Continue to grow, you will know
That little things in life can make a difference
You’ve got to beat your politician
Take back those given rights
You better fuckin’

~WAKE UP~
Aw yes, you hit the snooze button
I’m sure you up and fell asleep again ~FIGHT~
They took your so-called rights and again and again
You better dream again
~WAKE UP~
Aw yes, you hit the snooze button
I’m sure you up and fell asleep again ~FIGHT~
They took your so-called rights
You did not even

No no no, no no, you did not even fight
Fight
Fight
They took your so-called rights
You did not even fight

Why Study Dead Greeks? by Victor Davis Hanson

[...]

Virtue is pretty simple in this other world: duty to the state, civic participation in all its manifestations; abidance to the truth; avoidance of sin as defined mostly by avoidance of overindulgence, as in too much money, talk, drink, sex, food, and sleep; financial and social loyalty to children and friends; and unceasing cultivation of mind and body. Public secular shame, not private religious guilt, is the goad that keeps us on track.

Absent is the modern notion of victimization in which any character lapse is automatically attributable to some past childhood, parental, gender, racial, or class infliction. Usually you screw up because you were weak, or selfish, or stupid, and if you don’t make amends, it was due to an innate character flaw rather than momentary weakness.

And most importantly, there is no myth that human nature is malleable, and radically changed by money and education. Thus there exists on the other side of this modernist door, in this enticing garden, our old now taboo words like lazy, stupid, traitor, cowardly, no-good, disgraceful, shameful, etc., and an expectation that when a society is given too much money, leisure, and affluence, people will usually do all sorts of ludicrous things, being people after all—perhaps in our own time like watching Anna Nicole Smith Fox News Alerts, complaining that Wal-Mart has run out of motorized shopping carts as you devour Big Macs (I saw just that two days ago), and spending $10,000 on batteries and hydraulic lifters for your car while not investing $200 a month for catastrophic health insurance plan.

Then you put down the poems of Catullus or Homer’s Iliad and get sucked back through the keyhole into our modern world, in which there is a veneer, a falsity really, that coats almost everything we do, sometimes for good reasons, more often for the bad. So it is a fine thing to read a little Greek and Latin each evening to remind us that the modernist mindset is antithetical to almost everything that preceded it, and mostly a human reaction to a novel generation of once unimaginable and now unlimited choices, appetites, and opportunities.

Cringely rules information.  Read the short article that tells about how U.S. consumers have been destroyed by the telcos – The $200 Billion Rip-Off.

And the upshot is that I could move to Japan and pay $14 per month for
100-megabit-per-second Internet service but I can’t do that here and
will probably never be able to.

From CNN.com, President Bush’s new war adviser says our all-volunteer military is stressed by frequent tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, making it worth considering a return to the draft.

Advice Goddess Blog

Amazon

Guess what? The Indians didn’t save the Pilgrims from starvation by
teaching them to grow corn. Thomas Jefferson thought states’ rights—an
idea reviled today—were even more important than the Constitution’s
checks and balances. The “Wild” West was more peaceful and a lot safer
than most modern cities. And the biggest scandal of the Clinton years
didn’t involve an intern in a blue dress.

Surprised?
Don’t be. In America, where history is riddled with misrepresentations,
misunderstandings, and flat-out lies about the people and events that
have shaped the nation, there’s the history you know and then there’s
the truth.

In 33 Questions About American History You’re Not Supposed to Ask, Thomas E. Woods Jr., the New York Times bestselling author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History,
sets the record straight with a provocative look at the hidden truths
about our nation’s history—the ones that have been buried because
they’re too politically incorrect to discuss. Woods draws on real
scholarship—as opposed to the myths, platitudes, and slogans so many
other “history” books are based on—to ask and answer tough questions
about American history, including:

- Did the Founding Fathers support immigration?
- Was the Civil War all about slavery?
- Did the Framers really look to the American Indians as the model for the U.S. political system?
-
Was the U.S. Constitution meant to be a “living, breathing”
document—and does it grant the federal government wide latitude to
operateas it pleases?
- Did Bill Clinton actually stop a genocide, as we’re told?

You’d never know it from the history that’s been handed down to us, but the answer to all those questions is no.

Woods’s
eye-opening exploration reveals how much has been whitewashed from the
historical record, overlooked, and skewed beyond recognition. More
informative than your last U.S. history class, 33 Questions About American History You’re Not Supposed to Ask will have you wondering just how much about your nation’s past you haven’t been told.

The Fix Is In

On August 2, Democrats fixed a House vote in order to overturn a motion that would prevent undocumented immigrants from receiving federal housing funds.  The House voted 215 to 213 to deny housing and employment to illegal immigrants on the annual agriculture spending bill.  The votes were counted, but the Speaker closed the vote with his gavel.  The Democrats then unilaterally and imperially overturned this result—defying 218 years of precedent.  The Speaker reopened the vote to ensure that the motion was then defeated by a vote of 212 to 216, disenfranchising the American people and paving the way for illegal immigrants to receive federal housing and employment benefits.

Personal Story by a Lawyer from a Previous Asset Bubble

Hard to believe and even conceptualize a time when prudence and financial discipline were esteemed. This is the sad account of many folks being demoralized and unable to recuperate a substantial nest egg to retire. Their main concern shifted to providing the basic necessities for their family. Keep in mind that the majority of Americans store their wealth in home equity. Many people that grew up during the depression seem frugal and downright strict with their budgets and lifestyles. It left a visual scar on their psyche. How could it not? We look at our current culture and hear prominent financial gurus telling people to walk away from their home if they have no equity. Just leave. Don’t try to fight to keep it. Default and declare bankruptcy if necessary. My main question is who will pay the eventual bill? If you say the government then that means you will be paying back for the mass irresponsibility of financial institutions, imprudent government policy, and the mass greed of many. Unfortunately, this bubble will affect everyone in some form since all of us need shelter and this credit bubble was built on the over appraisal of a shingled laden roof over your head.

So I was looking for the recent Dell Inspirion commercial’s song, because it’s sweet, and off to Google I go.

At FatMixx.com I found just was I was looking for:

950. socalrider Says:
July 13th, 2007 at 1:10 am

New Dell Commercial:
The Wand by The Flaming Lips

Aw yeah.

The Flaming Lips – The W.A.N.D.

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THE FLAMING LIPS lyrics – “The W.A.N.D. (The Will Always Negates Defeat)”

(You’ve got the power in there)
(Waving your wand in the air)

Time after time those fanatical minds try to rule all the world
Telling us all it’s them who’s in charge of it all
I’ve got a tricked out magic stick that will make them all fall
We’ve got the power now, motherfuckers; that’s where it belongs

You’ve got that right
(Power in there)
You know that it’s…
(Wand in the air)

They’ve got their weapons to solve all their questions, they don’t know what it’s for
(Cause they don’t know what it’s for)
Why can’t they see it’s not power, just greed, to just want more and more?
(Just want more and more)
I got a plan and it’s here in my hand but it’s all made of rights
We’re the enforcers, the sorcerer’s orphans, and we know why we fight
(And we know why we fight)

You’ve got that right
(You’ve got the power in there)
(Waving your wand in the air)

(You’ve got the power in there)
(You’ve got the power in there)
(You’ve got the power in there)
(Waving your wand in the air)

You’ve got that right
You know that it’s…

I’ve been thinking about this for about two decades now, and I’ve not heard of a single comprehensive plan to deal with this major issue.  Anything that comes along is piecemeal and doesn’t account for other parts of the infrastructure.

Daily Pundit

Minneapolis I-35 Bridge Collapse – Expert Op-Ed – America’s Weak Infrastructure – Popular Mechanics

The fact is that Americans have been squandering the
infrastructure legacy bequeathed to us by earlier generations. Like the
spoiled offspring of well-off parents, we behave as though we have no
idea what is required to sustain the quality of our daily lives. Our
electricity comes to us via a decades-old system of power generators,
transformers and transmission lines—a system that has utility
executives holding their collective breath on every hot day in July and
August. We once had a transportation system that was the envy of the
world. Now we are better known for our congested highways, second-rate
ports, third-rate passenger trains and a primitive air traffic control
system. Many of the great public works projects of the 20th
century—dams and canal locks, bridges and tunnels, aquifers and
aqueducts, and even the Eisenhower interstate highway system—are at or
beyond their designed life span.

The reason for this is quite simple: It is the utter corruption of
our political system. Our system has become a single machine designed
to raise huge amounts of money for a few people through a system of
institutionalized bribery by special interests, and public payment
wealth transfers in exchange for votes.

Bridges and other infrastructures don’t vote, and it has already
been calculated that it is cheaper to pay off the aggrieved after a New
Orleans drowns, or a Minneapolis’ primary bridge falls into the river,
than to actually fix our ancient infrastructure systems – since doing
so would divert too much money from the more politically attractive
system of direct bribes to voter segments.