Tom Morello: "I'm Working Hard To Change That-- Hillary Clinton Is Not"

Did you watch Tom Morello take on a pack of liberalish capitalism-apologists on Bill Maher's HBO show Friday? No? Me neither, but I caught it on YouTube. Watch the clip above and remember, "capitalism is a morally bereft system that harms much of the planet." And Hillary is, at the end of the day, Wall Street's candidate. No one disputes that; the Hillary part. The "grotesque economic inequality"-- built into the cake-- that Morello referred to when he spoke about Indonesian sweat shops making Nike shoes is not just inherent to capitalism, it isn't something Katie Packer and Andrew Ross Sorkin have probably not thought much about, nor about there own role in.

How about that for a nice short, to the point way to start the day? Now... about that realistic mix of capitalism and socialism, Bill Maher is so enamoured of as an all-American alternative to Trumpism...

BONUS Vid:

Samantha Bee has a lot to say about gun-nuttery and gun nuts and the politicians who exploit them. Well worth watching:

There Was So Much Rock'n'Roll In The Political News This Week

Let's see... Rage Against The Machine, Pussy Riot, Megadeth... Green Day. That's the official video for Green Day's new single, "Oh Love" from the first album in a trilogy they're releasing: ¡Uno! (September 25), ¡Dos! (November 13) and ¡Tré! (January 15). A reporter once asked Billie Jo if musicians ought to be putting political content into their music. He looked at the condescending asshole and told him, "The only people who should sing about social issues or politics are the ones who aren't full of shit."

In tribute to Billie's spirit, I took a blue stratocaster guitar that Green Day autographed for me while I was president of their label and decided to use it to raise some campaign funds for the politician I know who is least full of shit of any of them-- Alan Grayson. Here's a photo of the guitar. Everyone who contributes here-- any amount-- to Grayson's campaign has an equal chance to get the "thank you" guitar from Blue America. We'll pick one person at random. If you give $1,000 you get a chance to get the guitar. If you give $10 you get the same chance to get the guitar. (Yes, we're Democrats, not Republicans; that's how we roll. In fact, if you don't have the cash to give and you want the guitar, just send a note to us at Blue America, P.O. Box 27201. Los Angeles, CA 90027 and you'll have the same chance as everyone else.)

Who else isn't full of shit? Tom Morello from Rage, a band hipster gym-bunny Paul Ryan claims is one of his favorites. Well, Ryan isn't one of Rage's favorites. "Ryan's the machine we rage against," Morello tweeted a few days ago. He followed up with an absolutely devastating explanation in Rolling Stone:

Paul Ryan's love of Rage Against the Machine is amusing, because he is the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades. Charles Manson loved the Beatles but didn't understand them. Governor Chris Christie loves Bruce Springsteen but doesn't understand him. And Paul Ryan is clueless about his favorite band, Rage Against the Machine.

Ryan claims that he likes Rage's sound, but not the lyrics. Well, I don't care for Paul Ryan's sound or his lyrics. He can like whatever bands he wants, but his guiding vision of shifting revenue more radically to the one percent is antithetical to the message of Rage.

I wonder what Ryan's favorite Rage song is? Is it the one where we condemn the genocide of Native Americans? The one lambasting American imperialism? Our cover of "Fuck the Police"? Or is it the one where we call on the people to seize the means of production? So many excellent choices to jam out to at Young Republican meetings!

Don't mistake me, I clearly see that Ryan has a whole lotta "rage" in him: A rage against women, a rage against immigrants, a rage against workers, a rage against gays, a rage against the poor, a rage against the environment. Basically the only thing he's not raging against is the privileged elite he's groveling in front of for campaign contributions.

You see, the super rich must rationalize having more than they could ever spend while millions of children in the U.S. go to bed hungry every night. So, when they look themselves in the mirror, they convince themselves that "Those people are undeserving. They're... lesser." Some of these guys on the extreme right are more cynical than Paul Ryan, but he seems to really believe in this stuff. This unbridled rage against those who have the least is a cornerstone of the Romney-Ryan ticket.

But Rage's music affects people in different ways. Some tune out what the band stands for and concentrate on the moshing and throwing elbows in the pit. For others, Rage has changed their minds and their lives. Many activists around the world, including organizers of the global occupy movement, were radicalized by Rage Against the Machine and work tirelessly for a more humane and just planet. Perhaps Paul Ryan was moshing when he should have been listening.

My hope is that maybe Paul Ryan is a mole. Maybe Rage did plant some sensible ideas in this extreme fringe right wing nut job. Maybe if elected, he'll pardon Leonard Peltier.  Maybe he'll throw U.S. military support behind the Zapatistas. Maybe he'll fill Guantanamo Bay with the corporate criminals that are funding his campaign-- and then torture them with Rage music 24/7. That's one possibility. But I'm not betting on it.

How's that for not full of shit? Neither are Pussy Riot. They're going to prison in Russia, Vladamir Putin's fascist hellhole. They've actually been convicted of blasphemy, although what they were really convicted of was standing up to Russia's autocrat. And most discerning people see the reaction from Putin and his fascist state as a verdict on their own authoritarian nightmare of a regime.

In a chilling passage of the verdict read aloud in a Moscow court today, three members of punk group Pussy Riot were said to be "motivated by religious enmity and hatred." A reasonable response might be that those who have locked up these young singers for the crime of blasphemy in Vladimir Putin's Russia were motivated by religious bigotry and fear.

Far from being hooligans, as the prosecution alleged, the three feminists were unconventional campaigners whose anti-Putin songs in a Moscow Cathedral achieved a much vaster audience than originally anticipated.

The Kremlin's foolish over-reaction, which included keeping the band members in custody and away from their families for five months, led it to a lose-lose situation today. Hand down the full sentence of seven years and incur the wrath of international condemnation; let them go free and appear weak. The final sentence-- two years' imprisonment-- was a hopeless fudge. And it bodes ill for Russia's society, economy and hopes for political reform.

No open society can brutally suppress free expression in the name of preserving other people from offense. If such suppression becomes the norm, it will inevitably be mobilized at the convenience of those in power. So it is, by all accounts, in Moscow now. The scenes outside the courtroom today, which included the bundling into a police van of former chess champion Garry Kasparov, suggest the country's slide into autocracy is, if anything, accelerating.

Dozens of people were arrested at the courthouse in Moscow, protesting what people who care about human rights see as a clear violation. Serious stuff-- unlike Megadeth's deranged right-wing singer/hate-monger Dave Mustaine who was campaigning against President Obama this week-- in Singapore. His claim is that Obama "secretly planned three recent shootings as a precedent to steal Americans' guns.  "Back in my country, my president is trying to pass a gun ban," he said. "So he's staging all of these murders, like the Fast and Furious thing down at the border and Aurora, Colorado, all the people that were killed there. And now the beautiful people at the Sikh temple." The audience screamed back that they love President Obama and luckily for Mustaine the Singaporean authorities didn't search him and find any weapons. The peaceful Southeast Asian country has a total ban on private ownership of guns. And no one is thinking of depriving the idiot of his freedom of speech or of charging him with any crimes. Only right-wingers do that.

And while we're on the subject of music, here's a thoughtful little ditty by Hugh Atkin that helps explain who exactly Mitt Romney is. (And, don't forget, here's where you go if you want a chance at the nifty autographed Green Day guitar-- or if you just want to help elect Alan Grayson to Congress.)

Most Musicians Are Canceling Arizona Concerts-- But Not Elton John

Oink

So, my impressionable friend Irwing is in college and one of his classes gets addressed by a La Raza activist who goes ape-shit on Arizona's racist anti-immigration law, SB-1070, and tells the kids how whitey will never accept them and all. Irwing, who is descended from Mexican immigrants, decides to rediscover some kind of heritage and asks me to come with him to the beautiful Getty Villa in Malibu to see a new exhibition, The Aztec Pantheon and the Art of Empire. We did that yesterday. The Getty Villa is gorgeous-- almost worth the drive-- but the exhibition was kind of mediocre and Irwing didn't look that inspired. I was able to reinterpret the La Raza guy's rant for him in a more classic Marxist way about how the wealthy use the divide and conquer tactic to keep working people at each others' throats so as not to disturb a status quo that guarantees their own economic and social dominance. And we talked about practical steps we can take to undermine the racist politicians in Arizona who are behind SB-1070.

A couple weeks ago I was all excited because Los Lobos canceled their Arizona concert. John Amato at Crooks and Liars and I have been encouraging musicians to do that. The guys even made a statement about why they had made the decision: "We support the boycott of Arizona. The new law will inevitably lead to unfair racial profiling and possible abuse of people who just happen to look Latino. As a result, in good conscience, we could not see ourselves performing in Arizona. We regret the inconvenience this may have caused ... Talking Stick Resort and our fans, but we feel strongly that it is the right thing to do."

Other artists who have joined suit include Cypress Hill, Pitbull, Rage Against the Machine, Kanye West, Sonic Youth, Carlos Santana, Willie Nelson, Joe Satriani, Tenacious D, Shakira, Massive Attack and Hall & Oates (who were supposed to play at a July 2nd Diamondbacks game). Rage's Zack de la Rocha was organized an Arizona sound strike.

“Fans of our music, our stories, our films and our words can be pulled over and harassed every day because they are brown or black, or for the way they speak, or for the music they listen to,” de la Rocha said. “People who are poor like some of us used to be could be forced to live in a constant state of fear while just doing what they can to find work and survive. This law opens the door for them to be shaked down, or even worse, detained and deported while just trying to travel home from school, from home to work, or when they just roll out with their friends.”

The law-- SB 1070-- takes “racial profiling... to a whole new low,” the singer went on. “When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, they arrested her. As a result, people got together and said we are not going to ride the bus until they change the law... What if we got together, signed a collective letter saying, ‘We're not going to ride the bus,’ saying we are not going to comply. We are not going to play in Arizona.”

This week, when Hall and Oates announced the were canceling their show in Phoenix they made it clear they weren't boycotting the Diamondbacks... just Arizona-- and the team said they understood why the band had made the decision.

"In addition to our personal convictions, we are standing in solidarity with the music community in our boycott of performing in Arizona at this time. We would like to emphasize that this has nothing to do with the management of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who have been professional and cooperative throughout our dealings with them. This is our response to a very specific action of the state."

One artist unlikely to back out of a big payday is Elton John. Many have been urging him to do so but after the openly gay piano player took a million dollars from homophobic bridegroom Rush Limbaugh last week to play his wedding, no one seriously thought John would give up his show on July 21 at Tucson's Convention Center Arena.

Meanwhile, the Mormon chief of police in Salt Lake City joined other police chiefs in coming out strongly against racist laws like SB-1070, including Utah's similar SB-81.

Rupert Murdoch, Condoleezza Rice, Digby, Rage Against The Machine-- Guess Who's The Odd Duck

If anyone is still wondering where Australian neo-Nazi billionaire and international media mogul, Rupert Murdoch, is coming down, set your mind to rest. Like all neo-Nazi billionaires, Australian or otherwise, Murdoch has endorsed the like-minded John W. McCain today-- his class' only hope for a continuation of the Bush agenda that has been so catastrophic for American working families... and so very, very beneficial for neo-Nazi billionaires.

Over the weekend, Condoleeza Rice was somewhat less enthusiastic about her party's choice than Murdoch was. "In a less-than-hearty endorsement, Rice declined to say anything more positive about Palin than "she gave a terrific speech" and "she’s governor of a state here in the United States.” Especially interesting in light of the fact that she was extremely enthusiastic about Joe Biden last month, enthusing that "Biden is obviously a very fine statesman.” A couple months ago she told Wolf Blitzer that she had made up her mind which candidate she would vote for in November-– but that she isn't telling. People who know her say she is extremely eager to vote against McCain-- at least in part because of an entirely unsuitable. and even dangerous, temperament-- and for Obama and that the addition of the unqualified Palin has made her even more certain that McCain is the wrong choice. I'm not sure how close Digby and Rice still are but Digby speaks for many Americans who have been watching McCain in action when she describes him as a powder keg

John McCain made a quick stop at the Capitol one day last spring to sit in on Senate negotiations on the big immigration bill, and John Cornyn was not pleased.

Cornyn, a mild-mannered Texas Republican, saw a loophole in the bill that he thought would allow felons to pursue a path to citizenship.

McCain called Cornyn's claim "chicken-shit," according to people familiar with the meeting, and charged that the Texan was looking for an excuse to scuttle the bill. Cornyn grimly told McCain he had a lot of nerve to suddenly show up and inject himself into the sensitive negotiations.

"Fuck you," McCain told Cornyn, in front of about 40 witnesses.

It was another instance of the Republican presidential candidate losing his temper, another instance in which, as POW-MIA activist Carol Hrdlicka put it, "It's his way or no way."

There's a lengthy list of similar outbursts through the years: McCain pushing a woman in a wheelchair, trying to get an Arizona Republican aide fired from three different jobs, berating a young GOP activist on the night of his own 1986 Senate election and many more.

You think Rice might think a hot headed extremist like McCain or an empty headed small town beauty queen like Palin might set back our national interests if either of them deals with leaders of other countries?

Watch:



Far less enthusiastic about the McCain ticket than Rice, let alone Murdoch, was the much-loved all-American rock band, Rage Against the Machine.

At both the Democratic and Republican conventions this year, Rage led marches, performed through megaphones when prevented from taking their stage, and generally agitated against the politics of convention and the conventions themselves.

None of this would be especially noteworthy-- cause musicians reflexively congregate around political events-- but Rage has millions of fans whose ardor has not been diminished by the band’s not putting out a record in eight years. The group’s insistent calls to action, in song and from the stage, still fall on receptive ears. Some of its hard-core fans are less prone to buying T-shirts than engaging in the kind of civil disobedience that sometimes ends in tear gas.

The Democratic convention opened with a free Rage show at the Denver Coliseum in support of Iraq Veterans Against the War, with the band’s lead singer, Zack de la Rocha, kicking into “Guerilla Radio.” “It has to start somewhere, it has to start sometime,” he sang, “What better place than here?”

...Republican Party officials here and in Minneapolis this week reacted to various Rage endeavors as if a sleeper cell were in their midst. A concert sponsored by the Service Employees International Union at Harriet Island on Monday, the first day of the convention, had its permit revoked and then restored after Rage was placed first on and then off the bill.

On Tuesday a five-band protest concert was scheduled on the lawn of the State Capitol above St. Paul. Near the end of the day the four members of Rage pulled up and were immediately surrounded by the police. The band members were told that they were not going to take the stage because they were not on the bill-- but there were no bands listed on the permit. And so the four members of the band walked out into the crowd, which was chanting, “Let them play!,” and someone handed them a megaphone. With the guitarist Tom Morello vocalizing instrumental interludes, Mr. de la Rocha did two songs: “Bulls on Parade” and “Killing in the Name.” The crowd surged around the band and filled in the musical gaps.

After Mr. de la Rocha suggested that the assembled police were “not afraid of four musicians from Los Angeles, they are afraid of you!,” Mr. Morello took the megaphone.

...Later that night, Mr. Morello, who like Mr. Obama is the son of a Kenyan father and a white American mother (and who went to Harvard), stood in an alley behind the Parkway Theater in Minneapolis, tuning up for a hootenanny with Billy Bragg hosted by the Minneapolis musician and writer Jim Walsh. Neither he nor the other members of the band were granting interviews, however. Mr. Morello, who performs solo as the Nightwatchman, was talking to the songwriter Ike Reilly, and said the day had been a busy one.

“When we got to the capitol, we were surrounded by cops, and they asked, ‘Are you in Rage Against the Machine?,’” Mr. Morello said. “And I didn’t know what the right answer was, so I just said, ‘I don’t know.’ They blocked us from even approaching the stage, saying they’d arrest us if we played. So we went into the middle of the crowd and began to improvise.”

The Rage show at the Target Center on Wednesday night was a commercial concert, not a protest rally, with proceeds going to benefit various antiwar causes, according to Mr. Morello. But the political backdrop had hardly disappeared. When the lights came up at the start of the set, the band was clad in orange jumpsuits and black hoods, with hands behind them, an image that seemed to shout “Guantánamo Bay” without ever saying the words. Still, the rhetoric from the stage was more nuanced than that of the previous shows.

“I hope you all leave peacefully, but you don’t have to be passive,” Mr. Morello said. “Don’t let anyone put their hands on you.”

Thousands took that advice, and a few took it a step further, refusing orders to disperse at Seventh Street and Second Avenue.

Arrests, a mainstay of the latest Rage shows, quickly ensued.