the Unwelcome Consequences of Radical Intervention

Two thousand American soldiers will have died in Iraq by the end of October 2005. With a nice round number like this, the American news media has decided to resume paying attention to the human cost of the Iraq war. While its belated criticism of the criminally incompetent regime of GW Bush and their disastrous Iraq misadventure is sign of a press finally beginning to do its job, it probably has more to do with anger over the imprisonment of Judith Miller than any desire to hold the administration to any sort of standard of conduct. The shame of this sudden resurgence of interest in the failing imperial policies of the New Primitives is that it has arisen so late in the game, after nearly 2000 American soldiers have given their lives away for nothing more than an attempt to secure a particularly valuable and diminishing fuel commodity. After playing a collaborator's role in the felonious lies dispensed by the Bush gang to a moronic, docile, and utterly gullible American public, the media now decides that it is time to take a step back to commemorate one of those totally meaningless statistical milestones that it celebrates so well.

Sober-minded individuals who contradicted the neocons' claims of instant victory in Iraq in 2003 were all over the political landscape (such disparate Americans as Noam Chomsky and Norman Schwarzkopf thought this war to be a figment of the administration's imagination that was brought to fruition by the careless use of fear-mongering lies); they were, however, studiously ignored by the mainstream corporate media as it served as town crier for the fictions put forth by the Bush administration. Republican stalwart (and former national security advisor to King George Bush the First) Brent Scowcroft has issued his sternest criticism to date of the second Bush's ineptitude--saying that the current mess in Iraq is an example of what he calls "the unwelcome consequences of radical intervention". This statement is important for a number of reasons: a high-powered intelligence and policy guy like Scowcroft is expressing some serious discontent and in all probability he is speaking for a large segment of the intelligence community in the US; additionally, he becomes one of the first Republicans to outwardly declare that GW Bush is a radical conservative. By extension, this statement harshly criticizes Bush's extremism in defense of supposed liberty while also indicating a certain eradication of support among a political group that once wholeheartedly supported the Fratboy President. Scowcroft's statement also uses a word fraught with significance when applied to a democratic system of government like the American system--he says that the administration uses tactics that "invade....threaten and pressure...(and) evangelize". Evangelization has no place in a political system based on the concept of separation of church and state, and Scowcroft's choice of the word was deliberate--he is identifying GW Bush and co. as politicians with a religious sense of their own mission. As such, the administration can be expected to maintain its tenuous grip on reality by clinging to its own failed policies rather than indulging in any sort of positive self-analysis that might yield some different results in Iraq.

At this point in time, how much more will it take to impeach GW Bush? This blog has recounted a number of different crimes that he and his administraton have committed (whether they were deliberate acts or crimes of omission and negligence), yet it seems that the more blatantly Bush fails at something the more he is excused by the same charlatans who served as the Empire Crew's publicists in the days leading up to the illegal war in Iraq. This lack of accountability is all the more stark when compared to the media's treatment of President Clinton--who was impeached for a blowjob and investigated for five years by a biased special prosecutor for an incident of financial impropriety that involved less than $100,000 (a pittance in a world that tolerated such sleazeballs as Al D'Amato and Charles Keating). If the same standards of criticism that once applied to Slick Willie were applied to King George Bush the Second, he would have been impeached and arrested before even having the chance to run for "re-election" in 2004.

And so things go merrily onward--without accountability, without regard for the laws of this land, without concern for human lives lost. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina the mask finally fell away from this empty and callow cipher that calls itself George W. Bush; the only efforts to help the suffering citizens of New Orleans occurred when the Bush administration realized it was being embarrassed politically. Now that the magic 2000-killed-in-action mark is within range, this heartless murdering bastard who is allegedly the president of the US will mark this grim anniversary with much public grieving; behind the scenes, however, his only concerns revolve around himself and his pretty little plans for an energy empire. As his approval ratings plummet and his delusional grand scheme of easy conquest crumbles into dust, I predict that his response will be to seal himself off ever more tightly in the binding fabric of his religion. Even his selection of the egregiously sycophantic and spectacularly unqualified Ms. Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court is part of this same "solution", and it reveals Bush's ultimate aim to be the sabotaging the constitution of the US. Once his attempt to overturn Roe v. Wade is prepared, will he even notice that there are far more important matters of state left untended in his pursuit of sanctimonious and irrelevant religious goals?

Both Bush I and Bush II have overseen administrations that are and were relentlessly negative in their view of humanity; peace and prosperity are apparently considered by them to be contradictory and simultaneously incongruous conditions. The Bushes consider our population too dumb to handle the crises that life presents us, so they enshroud their activities in secrecy and construct elaborate lies and justifications that are straight out of the Cold War Playbook. They are the epitome of an evil and divisive superstructure in which the top 1% of the world's population manipulates the remaining 99% into violent sectarian and fundamentalist politico-religious conflict. When challenged on their well-documented record of blood and iron, the Bushes wrap themselves in the American flag and wave crucifixes around as proof of their Christian piety. One thing is quite true about both Bush administrations--they identify strongly with the Christian concept of self-sacrifice, although with a twist--they require that self-sacrifice to be performed by the help. Like the 17th and 18th-century nobility types they aspire to, they've got other things to tend to around their property, and they are far too important to risk their own physical safety in their exploitative endeavors.

Sounds and Words

I break from my usual routine this morning...instead of growling at the latest political nonsense in the US or suppressing violent impulses while thinking about GW Bush and crew, I will walk on a kinder path today and dispense a few blurbs about what's currently in the McBain CD player and on the McBain reading list.

I haven't been purchasing music at my normal rate lately--not due to disinterest, but rather to lack of funds--but when I have been buying I've forced myself to scour used bins like never before. I've been on a hot streak though, finding some good stuff at some low prices. Titles that I even would've paid full price for, in most cases. So in the munificent mood that today finds me, I will dabble in a little cultural writing and offer some capsule reviews on a few books and discs.

On my way to see Fly Ashtray in the West Village a few weeks back, I snuck into Revolution Records. I rarely have occasion to check them out, as my path does not cross the West Village much anymore, but it is a good store. They have a great selection of obscure metal of all genres, and though pricey, it's staffed with knowledgeable types who aren't all that annoying to talk with. The real deal in the place is downstairs, where the used bins are along with a variety of other rock merch like t-shirts and posters. Anyway, I found a copy of Orthrelm's OV there and snapped it up. For those unfamiliar, Orthrelm is a duo featuring Mick Barr on guitar and Josh Blair on drums. The two men possess staggering technique, and create a bizarrely original sound together, both dense and tinny simultaneously, equal parts metal guitar shredding and free jazz. OV is a single composition, forty-five minutes in length, that uncoils like a predatory snake in a dark forest; it borders on the mesmeric in its use of repetition. I think it's fantastic, but Orthrelm is the type of band that will alienate as many as it will entrance. This release, with its tightly structured repetitive format, can tax the patience of the most patient listener. Repeated listenings only reveal the excellence contained within their frenetic riffs, as far as I'm concerned.

Other used nifties that I've recently grabbed have come mostly from Kim's on St. Mark's Place. I found Oren Ambarchi's My Days Are Darker than Your Nights EP there, recorded with Ambarchi on guitar and devices along with Johan Berthling on harmonium. It is not as engrossing as his Grapes from the Estate LP; this little one-track EP finds Ambarchi playing with a simple insistent drone, one that changes little throughout the 32-minute piece. The harmony achieved is a dissonant one, and there is little dynamic fluctuation in the piece. That day also yielded a used copy of Tom Carter's Monument disc, released on Kranky Records in 2005. While different from the work of Carter's main gig Charalambides, this live to 2-track recording of Tom's solo electric guitar improv is pretty cool in spots. It starts out incredibly sparsely, and then doesn't fill in a whole lot after that; overall its spareness lends a sense of fragility to the guitar tones. I had seen some other reviews that really hammered this release, but I found it to be interesting. His playing is dextrous and his efficient use of delay, slide, and e-bow results in some very nice guitar textures. Again, this release is not for every listener, as it requires some patience to get into it. The last thing I found that day was a copy of last year's Kites/Prurient split on Load Records. The Kites material is more noisy and discordant than their Metallic Gardener full-length of '04, but it is enjoyable nonetheless. Prurient's two pieces steal the show on this release for me, with the instrumental I Lay Down on the Ground in the Woods and Fell Asleep of particular note. The last track is a collaboration between both bands and it can best be described as an excursion into noise hell. Still pretty cool though.

Other new used discs recently acquired: Radian's Juxtaposition (Thrill Jockey)--excellent; a great mix of weird noise and futuristic drum technique. The Blithe Sons' We Walk the Young Earth (Family Vineyard Recordings)--pretty acoustic guitar-based mostly instrumental improv from Loren Chasse and Glen Donaldson of Thuja and various other Jewelled Antler Collective projects. My only complaint is that it's a little on the precious and boring side, as a couple of numbers meander into double-figure track times without developing much beyond their original ideas; plus the singing on the disc is lovely and underutilized. Max Richter's the Blue Notebooks (Fat Cat) is also a very pretty release, in the vein of neo-classicists the Rachels. Violin, viola, and piano are the primary instruments on this disc, but Richter allows himself some serious experimentation within what could have been a restrictive format--the disc even ventures into quiet dub-influenced soundscapes, all the while retaining a taut compositional discipline. Some pretense, of course, is present--a female narrator appears in a few tracks, reading excerpts from Czeslaw Milosz and Franz Kafka, but such potentially ham-handed material is incoporated without giving much offense. In fact, without explicit reference to the texts in the liner notes, the conceit may have gone undetected by most listeners. Whatever. It's still worth checking out. Last on the used parade is Et Sans' Par Noussss Touss Les Trous de Vos Cranes, featuring Fly Pan Am's Roger Tellier-Craig and Felix Morel, along with Montreal scenester Alexander St-Onge and Godspeed You Black Emperor's Sophie Trudeau. Released on Alien-8 Recordings last year, this band purports to be the noisy cousin of such American bands as Black Dice and Wolf Eyes. Hyperbole aside, Et Sans does not come close to the outbursts of noise of such acts; rather they use synths and vocal loops to create a weird psychedelic morass of sound. It is a sound that is much more melodic than their American counterparts. The disc is not bad, with some surprisingly cool dinky synth sounds that seem to have more in common with NYC club music from the early 1980's than the new noise of the 21st century. Titles are impenetrably written on the disc insert, and helpfully they are listed only in French. Fans of Fly Pan Am will like this, but it is not the easiest listen at first, as the material is quite repetitive. I'm glad I found it used; I was curious enough to buy it new.

Discs I've been listening to lately--a whole lot of Southern Lord material, like the new Earth disc. It's called Hex--or Printing in the Infernal Method. Along with a great title this disc finds Earth playing a reflective and spacious brand of slow-tempo rock; nothing like their earlier records, this one is composed and song-oriented rather than droning, blissed-out guitar work. The drumming is excellent and spare too. I picked up the new Twilight disc also. They're a black metal supergroup of sorts, featuring Malefic from Xasthur and Wrest from Leviathan along with 3 other black metallers from the USA. It's awesome. Lo-fi evil, claustrophobic production, and some of the coolest, most abstract, and most fucked-up vocal sounds around. The most recent Boris (Akuma no Uta) is OK, not as great as I'd hoped. They seem to be on a real Stooges kick on this disc; but my faves are the instrumentals that open and close the album. Both are doomy, drony, and intense. My favorite release by this excellent label was one from a few months back--a Chicago band called Lair of the Minotaur. Their disc Carnage is just great. Top shelf metal, referencing bands like High on Fire and Celtic Frost if you really had to name influences, but they write good songs on top of playing in a properly mean-spirited way. They get extra points in my book for using the Greek myths as the lyrical template of the album too.

Some other repeated listens of late include the new USAisamonster disc (Wohaw, Load Records), the new Pelican (the Fire in Our Throats... HydraHead Records), and the Spire: Live in Geneva Cathedral double disc on Touch Records. The last is a compilation with Fennesz, Philip Jeck, and BJ Nilsen using their laptops to wreak havoc on some amazing pipe organ source material. Also included are several organ works in full, performed by Charles Matthews and Marcus Davidson. It's pretty engrossing stuff; the long Philip Jeck piece in particular is excellent, while the Fennesz piece is also tremendous.

As far as books go in NYC, no place is better to the broke reader than the Strand. I've been grabbing books 3-4 at a time when I've been there lately, but usually spending less than $25. Recent good scores for me include Marzieh Gail's Avignon in Flower (1309-1403)--an entertaining study of the history of the Avignon papacy; Procopius' Secret History--a courtier and propagandistic historian of Byzantine emperor Justinian revenges himself upon the emperor and his wife by publishing a scandalous collection of fact and rumor after his own death; Philip Ziegler's the Black Death--a comprehensive overview of the details of the great plagues of 14th century Europe, still possessing merit though its 1970's-era conclusions as to the nature and causes of the plague have been somewhat discredited; Simon Winchester's Krakatoa and Korea--two outstanding books by the wildly erudite and verbose Mr. Winchester, which alternately find him investigating the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 and walking the length of the South Korean half of the Korean peninsula while digressing into countless historical and scientific anecdotes. Also snagged there recently were Bertrand Russell's the Problems of Philosophy--in which Mr. Russell attempts to take on various theories of knowledge; Richard Pipes' excellent history of early Russia entitled Russia under the Old Regime, which deals with the formation of Russia in the 12th and 13th centuries and its development into the tsarist state; and lastly, Orlando Figes' magnificent cultural study of Russia, Natasha's Dance.

Nothing beats cheap books and cheap music. Without them I could not live.