Friday, April 28, 2006

Neil Young - The Restless Consumer

Found on a site with lots of ads and popups.
The people have heard the news
The people have spoken
You may not like what they said
But they weren't jokin'

Way out on the desert sands
Lies a desperate lover
They call her the "Queen of Oil"
So much to discover

Don't need no ad machine
Telling me what I need
Don't need no Madison Avenue War
Don't need no more boxes I can see

Covered in flags but I can't see them on TV

Don't need no more lies
Don't need no more lies
Don't need no more lies
Don't need no more lies

The restless consumer flies
Around the world each day
With such an appetite for taste and grace

People from around the world
Need someone to listen
We're starving and dying from our disease
We need your medicine
How do you pay for war
And leave us dyin' ?
When you could do so much more
You're not even tryin'

Don't need no TV ad
Tellin' me how sick I am
Don't want to know how many people are like me
Don't need no dizziness
Don't need no nausea
Don't need no side effects like diarrhea or sexual death

Don't need no more lies
Don't need no more lies
Don't need no more lies
Don't need no more lies

The restless consumer lies
Asleep in her hotel
With such an appetite
For anything that sells

A hundred voices from a hundred lands
Need someone to listen
People are dying here and there
They don't see the world the way you do
There's no mission accomplished here
Just death to thousands

A hundred voices from a hundred lands
Cry out in unison

Don't need no terror squad
Don't want no damned Jihad
Blowin' themselves away in my hood
But we don't talk to them
So we don't learn from them
Hate don't negotiate with Good

Don't need no more lies
Don't need no more lies
Don't need no more lies
Don't need no more lies

The restless comsumer flies
Around the world each day
With such an appetite for efficiency
And pace...

Don't need no more lies.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Neil Young's new album "Living With War"

I'm not so likely nowadays to jump into things political, but I am interested in Neil Young's upcoming album "Living With War". An interview can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7utryGZ25dg

A rather articulate man. Kind of sad that rather than ask him about what he was trying to do and say with the album she (the interviewer) kept on trying to pick at ways he was being disloyal or perhaps might not have a right to speak because he's also Canadian even though he's been living in the US for 40 of his 60 years. The strategy seems to be to prevent disloyal speech when possible by questioning the credibility or motives of the speaker. Speech is supposed to be one of those inalienable, self-evident rights. Whether people will listen is another thing. I appreciate that Neil Young emphasized this in the interview that the protection of freedom and the right to speak and disagree is a responsibility shared by all people in all countries. At least the host's last comment was frank. The interviewer didn't know what to do with ".. I think that anyone who feels that the themes of this album are motivated by publicity, I think that's ridiculous".

The album can be listened to on the web starting Friday the 28th at http://neilyoung.com/

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Two out of three ain't good

Sitting atop seven active earthquake faults, the Bay Area has a one-in-25 chance of experiencing another large earthquake in the next 25 years, the U.S. Geological Survey predicts.

In early 2001, a report from the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) concluded that an earthquake in the area was one of the three "likeliest, most catastrophic disasters" facing the United States.

The other two were a terrorist attack on New York City and a hurricane striking southern Louisiana.