Lyrics For Thought

"Instead of A Show" by Jon Foreman (Listen at myspace.com/jonforeman)

I hate all your show and pretense
the hypocrisy of your praise
the hypocrisy of your festivals
I hate all your show

Away with your noisy worship
Away with your noisy hymns
I stop up my ears when your
singing ‘em
I hate all your show

Instead let there be a flood
of justice
An endless procession of righteous
living, living
Instead let there be a flood
of justice
Instead of a show

your eyes are closed when you’re praying
you sing right along with the band
you shine up your shoes for services
but there’s blood on your hands

you turned your back on the homeless
and the ones that don’t fit in your plans
quit playing religion games
there’s blood on your hands

Instead let there be a flood
of justice
An endless procession of righteous
living, living
Instead let there be a flood
of justice
Instead of a show

Ah! let’s argue this out
if your sins are blood red
let’s argue this out
you’ll be white as the clouds
let’s argue this out
quit fooling around

give love to the ones who can’t love at all
give hope to the ones who got no hope at all
stand up for the ones who can’t stand up at all
instead of a show
I hate all your show

Act Gives Frightening Powers to Paulson

http://www.speaker.gov/pdf/AYO08C04_xml515pm.pdf

I've read some stuff about (and some of the actual text of) the "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008" that the House is voting on today and it gives some frightening powers to the Secretary of the Treasury. I e-mailed Todd Akin and told him to vote NO.

If it passes, the House votes Wednesday.

I also learned today that the short-sell ban (which every opinion I read about it called it a bad idea) ends Thursday night. So expect another stock market drop on Friday.

Video Blames Dems For Crisis, Vindicates GOP

Here's an interesting video circling the web (to the tune of 600,000+ views in less than 4 days). The text moves fast to stay in the YouTube 10-minute time limit, it looks like it was done in Windows Movie Maker, and it seeks to lay the blame squarely on one side, but there's no denying the powerful facts included.

In summary, it claims that Clinton's adjustments to the Community Reinvestment Act in 1995 forced banks to make more loans to people with bad credit, and that it was only after this action that housing prices rocketed past overall inflation. It further claims that Bush and McCain tried unsuccessfully to stop these actions and that Democrats resisted such moves because they wanted to keep housing "affordable" and because they were getting the most money from Freddie and Fannie. It reveals that Obama worked for a law firm that attacked banks that weren't making as many "affordable" (i.e. bad) loans as the government mandated, and claims that it is total hypocrisy for Obama to blame Bush policies when it was Democratic actions that caused and propped up the housing bubble.

Deas Vail - White Lights EP

(Originally posted at AbsolutePunk.net)
Deas Vail was a pleasant surprise last year with their debut All the Houses Look the Same on the new Brave New World Records. The smart, piano-driven melodies, melded by Mark Lee Townsend's production quality and topped with Wes Blaylock's soaring vocals, have been creating remarkable impressions everywhere. They've wasted no time working on the next chapter in their growing history, and with White Lights they've given us a five-song EP to hold us over until the new full-length releases early next year.

The familiar Deas Vail elements are present here, once again treating us to the cohesion of Laura Blaylock's flowing keys, Kelsey's deliberate rhythms, Justin's nimble bass, and Andy's undulating guitar work. Their strategy of pulling things back for the choruses threatens to feel overused, but it's not regrettable. Fans looking for progression will note the added influence of strings, which throughout the EP sounds not unlike a string quartet coming out of the background to add accentuating flavor. (I confess that the coda of "Balance" reminded me of Relient K's "Failure to Excommunicate".) Background vocals are also given more of a role, complementing Wes at several strong points.

For the most part, the lyrics contain the typical Deas Vail abstractness, although there may be some growth here as well. "White Lights" is simultaneously Wes's most complete metaphor and most straightforward tale to date. "From Priests to Thieves" is a haunting admission of loss: "We're not coming back / It's all our fault / We loved ourselves and lost it all / What have we done / What have we become?" Wes carries it, but it's Laura's softly wrenching harmonies that sell it.

Deftly creating an engaging musical landscape, listeners will wade through smart rhythms and subtle time signatures in an atmosphere of flawless production that brings out the talents of each band member without ever sounding busy. The keys and vocals of the debut reminded many of Mae or Mew; the soothing guitars here are drawing more comparisons to Edison Glass. Complemented by the natural tone of a few strings, this is the perfect EP to experience over and over on a lazy swing as you watch summer turn into fall.

Soothing but not dull, active but not puppy, beautiful but not proud - Deas Vail has captured me again. There's nothing quintessential here that will rival fan favorites such as "Shoreline" or "Rewind," but it's another very strong and satisfying release, and since you can order it for $5 with free shipping, you have no excuse.

Some Thoughts On The First Debate

> Both candidates did a good job responding to each other's jabs by providing fuller context (although Obama conveniently declined to respond to McCain's comment that he's requested $900 million in earmarks in the Senate. Yeah, that's change. Although I would like to know how much McCain's requested.)

> I dislike McCain's continued Doomsday fearmongering that if we don't pass a bailout plan soon the country's gonna collapse. I'm much more concerned about the long-term incentives and effects of whatever may come out of this short-term politicized bill.

> I really like McCain's drive to dissect federal agencies and cut wasteful spending, especially in the bloated defense area, and his continued opposition to ethanol subsidies, which inflexibly prop up one type of energy and prevent the allocation of investing and resources to their most efficient uses.

> I dislike Obama's railing against the ideology of free markets and lack of regulation. It's kind of ironic to blame these ideas when it was some of the obstacles to the free market system (such as letting the government provide loans cheaper to people who really couldn't afford them) that were some of the very causes of our current crisis. It's like watching a ship sink because somebody didn't plug all of the holes and then blaming the policy of hole-plugging as ineffective.

> I was really glad that McCain mentioned that we have the second-highest corporate tax rates in the world, something that is a huge incentive for businesses to move to other countries instead of supporting the American economy. It was also important that Obama mentioned that tax loopholes make it one of the lowest rates. But loopholes do not help businesses equally, and Obama's plan to close these loopholes without lowering the tax rate will only provide an even greater incentive for businesses to leave America, making things worse, not better.

> I really dislike McCain's "League of Democracies." I'd hoped he'd abandoned that idea in the primaries, but I guess not. Our dealings with UN and NATO cause enough headaches - let's collect more world power in a global organization!

> I think (and this is probably the least rigid of my opinions, because it is only based on my unresearched reasoning) I agree with Obama's non-fear of talking to other world leaders without "preconditions." McCain's repeated claim that sitting across the table from a totalitarian and/or a liar somehow inherently legitimizes their claims or actions doesn't quite make sense to me.

Why Gas Prices Jumped: Economics Of The Ike Spike

As I write this something like 95% of our refineries along the Texas gulf area are shut down, or roughly 20% of our nation's capacity. That means prices have to rise, and it's not anybody's greedy fault. Here's why.

First, the demand at the current price will not change at all (in fact, it may even have risen as hundreds of thousands of people rushed to evacuate) even though the supply is suddenly cut short by 20%. Prices have to rise to reduce demand to the level of the supply, and yes, even something as "inelastic" as gas demand can be influenced by raising the price. Just look at how much demand dropped earlier this summer when oil (and subsequently, gas) hit record levels - the number of miles driven by Americans actually dropped significantly, something that almost never happens.

When prices suddenly rise to factor in shorter supply, the supply that is left will go farther. Some people who would have filled up under the old price will only get enough gallons to last a few days under the new price. This lets the supply of gas last for more people, whereas under the old price gas would have run out sooner and some people would have no way of getting much-needed gas, even if they had enough money to buy gas at either price.

Secondly, the transportation of oil and gas has to be adjusted, and the costs of this extra transportation make the gas cost more. If any still-running refineries have extra capacity, they will take on some of the oil from the shut-down refineries, and it costs money to transport them. More importantly, some of the remaining supply of gas has to be transported farther to get to all the stations that normally rely on the gas refined from the shut-down refineries. If prices aren't raised, they won't be able to afford to transport the gas these extra miles, and the stations will not be able to get more supplies of gas.

President Bush has promised that they will be on the look-out for "price-gouging," but they're unlikely to find any. The reason prices temporarily rise is to ensure that more people who need gas will be able to get it. There's no point in forcing prices down for something if you can't get it anywhere.