Stop Building Fences
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Below is the copy of a letter I sent to Senators Feinstein and Boxer regarding their recent "aye" vote on the question of 700 miles of new reinforced fencing along the U.S./Mexico border.
Dear Senator Feinstein/Boxer,
You recently voted in the affirmative for an amendment to H.R. 2892 requiring the completion of at least 700 miles of reinforced fence along the southwest border before December 31, 2010. I am writing to express my disappointment at your vote and to urge you to reconsider your stance on the question of border fencing.
Having recently returned from a church youth group trip to Tucson, AZ and Nogales, Mexico, I have personally seen the blight that these walls are to the landscape. The Sierra Club Borderlands Campaign has thoroughly documented the damaging effect of border wall on animal species, vegetation, and community infrastructure. Lengths of border wall are ugly and damaging to the otherwise picturesque landscape of the American southwest.
Furthermore, these walls are ineffective. One Border Patrol spokesperson has referred to them as "Speed bumps in the desert." Professor Wayne Cornelius of the University of California San Diego studied the efficacy of border walls for over a decade and concluded: "the border enforcement build-up seems to have made no appreciable difference in terms of migrants’ ability to enter the United States clandestinely.”
I urge you to reconsider your support of new lengths of border fence. While supporting these new additions helps classify a legislator as "tough on security," the evidence shows that this is not a security issue; you won't find a single Border Patrol agent who has apprehended someone with terrorist intentions. The high price of these fences make their construction, while lucrative for contractors, devastating and irresponsible for the federal government, especially in a time of financial crisis, when health care providers, schools, and other essential social institutions are suffering from a lack of funds. Please reconsider how you vote on this issue, and vote "nay" on any new border fences.
Sincerely,
Not Prince Hamlet
Album of the Year Nominee: Eulogies, "Here Anonymous"
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
This discovery came through KCRW. I heard "Day to Day" on the radio in my car and later found the cd in the great used record shop in town for $7. "Here Anonymous" is the first Album of the Year nominee to be procured via hard copy, ie on an actual disc and not an mp3 download.
Here's "Day to Day":
Labels: album of the year
Album of the Year Nominee: Phoenix, "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix"
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
"Do let do let do let jugulate do let do let do."
Listen to "Listzomania," the first track on French band "Phoenix's" new record "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix," and that little bit of jibberish will rattle around your head for days. And days.
Listen to "Listzomania," the first track on French band "Phoenix's" new record "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix," and that little bit of jibberish will rattle around your head for days. And days.
This record has caught everyone's attention. To be honest, I can't recall where it first caught mine. My best guess is Lala.
And you will love it.
And you will love it.
Labels: album of the year
Album of the Year Nominee: Wild Light, "Adult Nights"
Monday, August 10, 2009
The title is terrible, but the record, released much earlier this year, is terrific. It's indie-pop at its most buoyant. Track after track float atop catchy melodies and downright earnest vocals.
I discovered "Adult Nights" through a PopMatters review that hailed it as the absolute pinnacle of "indie pop." I knew after one listen that it would be there at the end of the year, and I've given it several months to disappoint me; it hasn't.
Warning: track one is a crazy obscene rant against the state in which I currently live.
Try "Heart Attack" on for size:
Warning: track one is a crazy obscene rant against the state in which I currently live.
Try "Heart Attack" on for size:
Labels: album of the year
Album of the Year Nominee: We Were Promised Jetpacks, "These Four Walls"
Thursday, July 30, 2009
So good it hurts. Would the vocals be as good without the accent? Discuss.
Labels: album of the year
Douglas Rushkoff Life Inc., Dispatch X: "Life on a Monopoly Board"
Monday, July 27, 2009
There seems not to be a dispatch IX.
Life Inc. Dispatch 10: Life on a Monopoly Board from Douglas Rushkoff on Vimeo.
Album of the Year Nominee: Telekinesis, "Telekinesis!"
I'm sorry to say I've forgotten where I found this record. It was back in March, and I immediately started recommending it to people. It's breezy pop performed by a band with a lead singer who doubles as the drummer. That's just cool. Seriously, it's a combination of fun and feeling that's rare to come by. Enjoy.
Labels: album of the year
Album of the Year Nominee: Freddy and Francine, "The Briar Patch"
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Hat tip to KCRW's Today's Top Tune Podcast for this discovery. I bought it on Lala over a month ago and listened to it several times that first week. Then it sat quietly in the queue until this past week when, while driving to Santa Barbara and to San Diego with international pals, we all discovered that it's great road trip music.
Here's a video of the first track from the album, "Brownstone Alley" as performed by some dancers in Brooklyn.
It's simply excellent vocal music. The songs are simple and solid, and they're sung wonderfully. Here's the entire album:
Here's a video of the first track from the album, "Brownstone Alley" as performed by some dancers in Brooklyn.
It's simply excellent vocal music. The songs are simple and solid, and they're sung wonderfully. Here's the entire album:
Labels: album of the year
