A Country We Should All Be Proud Of

As part of it's Independence Day greetings, Headcount pointed out that America isn't a perfect country but rather a work in progress. "As American citizens, it's our job to point it in the right direction. That's the principal it was founded on 236 years ago." And they're doing that the way they know how to do it best-- combining music with democracy. And this summer they have 4 bands on the road making that connection: Wilco, Phish, Dave Matthews Band and Furthur. You can follow along online at the HeadCount blog which new tour journals are posted every few days.

Wilco's leg is part of Patagonia's and the League of Conservation Voter's Vote the Environment promotion. LCV's offers a record of every member of the House and Senate, based, respectively on how Members voted on 35 and 11 crucial roll call votes. They list every House Member and every Senate Member with their scores. Wonder who the best friends and worst enemies of the environment were this year? The best in the House (scores of 100%):

Tim Bishop (D-NY)
Judy Chu (D-CA)
David Cicilline (D-RI)
Hensen Clarke (D-MI)
Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO)
Gerald Connolly (D-VA)
Diana DeGette (D-CO)
Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
Janice Hahn (D-CA)
Rush Holt (D-NJ)
Mike Honda (D-CA)
Jay Inslee (D-WA)
Steve Israel (D-NY)
Barbara Lee (D-CA)
John Lewis (D-GA)
Jim Moran (D-VA)
Grace Napolitano (D-CA)
Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA)
Bobby Scott (D-VA)
Jose Serrano (D-NY)
Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)
Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)

And the worst in the House (scores of 3% or lower):

Mark Amodei (R-NV)
Dan Benishek (R-MI)
Paul Broun (R-GA)
Francisco Canseco (R-TX)
Jason Chaffetz (R-UT)
Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
Trent Franks (R-AZ)
Louie Gohmert (R-TX)
Tom Graves (R-GA)
Wally Herger (R-CA)
Doug Lamborn (R-CO)
Billy Long (R-MO)
Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)
Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)
Paul Ryan (R-WI)-- Ayn Rand reveled in filth and pollution
Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
Bob Turner (R-NY)
Joe Walsh (R-IL)
Kevin Yoder (R-KS)

In the Senate, there were no really difficult votes and it was very easy, even for corporate whores, to get perfect scores; there were 30 of them-- Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Tom Carper (D-DE), Chris Cooner (D-DE), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Kay Hagan (D-NC), John Kerry (D-MA), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Joe Lieberman (CT), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Patty Murray (D-WA), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Jack Reed (D-RI), Harry Reid (D-NV), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Mark Udall (D-CO), Tom Udall (D-NM), Mark Warner (D-VA), Jim Webb (D-VA) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

And there were 13 perfect zeros-- Roy Blunt (R-MO), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Dan Coats (R-IN), John Ensign (R-NV), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Hoeven (R-ND), Mike Johanns (R-NE), Dick Lugar (R-IN), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Rob Portman (R-OH), Pat Roberts (R-KS), John Thune (R-SD) and Roger Wicker (R-MS).

Meanwhile Dave Matthews Band is doing a similar thing with Volkswagen, registering rock'n'roll lovers all over the South. Phish's own charitable arm, The Waterwheel Foundation, is coordinating Phish's efforts, which includes there first full-on tour since 2004. And Furthur (which features Phil Lesh and Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead) has been registering the most voters of all so far.

As you know, Rick Scott's GOP passed some laws in Florida that pretty much put voter registration groups out of business in the state. Just in time a Federal judge threw out some key provisions of the law. So... the Florida leg of the tour is back on. On July 18-21 they’ll be registering voters at Dave Matthews Band shows in W. Palm Beach and Tampa, and there are more concerts to be announced.

They're also registering voters at almost every music festival in America between now and the election. The next one is the High Sierra Music Festival in Quincy, CA this week and then everything from the Newport Folk Festival (with Wilco) at the end of the month, Farm Aid in Pennsylvania with Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews in September and Austin City Limits in the middle of October in Zilker Park with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jack White, Neil Young and the Black Keys to Lollapalooza in Grant Park (Chicago) August 3, 4 and 5 (with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black Keys, Black Sabbath, Jack White, Sigur Ros, Doctor Dog, The Shins and tons of other bands). And that's just a few. You can check out the whole list of festivals here. Prepare to register to vote... or suffer the consequences.