Thomas Czermak's blog

Greece is burning. Here's Indymedi.org on the happenings:

"On Saturday 6th of December at around 10pm, two Greek policemen were in patrol in a central street by Exarchia square, in the center of Athens. They had a verbal argument with some young people who were there. During the argument, one of the cops pulled his gun and shot a 16-year-old guy twice. The victim was moved to Evangelismos Hospital to be found dead. According to eye-witnesses, the cop had been swearing against the young man, showing his genitals, before shooting him.

In a spontaneous response, thousands of people gathered in the centers of most of Greek cities. In Athens, people gathered outside Evangelismos Hospital, in order to prevent the cops from entering the building. A little later the riot police attacked in a street in Exarchia resulting to one person being arrested. The evening in Athens evolved with a spontaneous assembly in the Polytechnic University, a lot of riots in the whole center of Athens [photos 1] [photos 2] including attacks against police departments and banks, until the early hours of the next morning. Meanwhile, a spontaneous demonstration took place, but it was confronted by the riot police with tear gas. Three more University building, the Economic, the Pantion and the Law School have been occupied."  read more »

Progenitor of electronic dance music, as well as an innovator in the art of sampling, Delia Derbyshire demonstrates, in the video above (from 1969), how ahead of her time she truely was. Effortelessely illustrating the basis for contemporary beat mixing with old tapes machines you could almost see her pulling this off live as a DJ. You can listen hear to an experimental dance track that she recorded roughly 30 years ago which resembles a lot of IDM playing in clubs today. Click here to listen to a cool interview with Derbyshire, and here for a BBC article on her legacy.  read more »

Two people's brains are never wired exactly the same way. If you don't see things the way everybody else sees things you build filters for processing the real world differently than other people. And that's what we call invention.

Bill Etra: the man and his massage.  read more »

Rick MacArthur, publisher of Harper's Magazine, talks to Juan Gonzalez and Amy Goodman about the current state of US capitalism. The latest issue of Harper's Magazine poses multiple questions, two being: how to save capitalism; and, is it worth saving? James K. Galbraith puts some bullocks into discussing the need for government planning independent of today's artificial constraints, such as corporate lobbyists.  read more »

The Real News posted an interview with Howard Zinn, arguably one the most important American iconoclast and historian. He reaffirmed my belief, which was initially shaped by Jesse Jackson's statements regarding this election, that a slight change in power structure could have a huge impact during this US election. But if you vote for Obama instead of Ralph Nader, don't expect any fundamental change unless an organized citizenary movement 'envelopes' the government.  read more »

ACORN, a grassroots activist group, is receiving the blunt end of the GOP's attempt at stealing this upcoming US election. Check out the vid.  read more »

With Noam Chomsky on TheRealNews.com, editor Paul Jay brings up the now infamous assertion George Will made: "surely in a democracy it's time for us to quit being sentimental and say the question we settle in an election is not whether an elite shall rule but which elite shall rule." Chomsky, as he has many times before, discusses James Madison's (the fourth US president) view on US democracy: 'that power should be in the hands of the wealthy, those who respect the rights of property.

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The American News Project has been exploring the impact the US economic crisis is having on mainstreet through a series of truthful interviews with real people. Americans describing their struggles deeply contrasts the big financial bailout wallstreet just received. The video above brought tears to my eyes - that's all I can say.

Naomi Wolf, author of the incredibly critical The End of the America, declared in this video that the United States government is preparing to enact Martial Law. To put simply, this means: United States troops standing guard on American soil to help protect the peace. Since Oct 4th, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has found "sources that the Bush administration is putting the final touches on a plan that would see martial law declared in the United States with various scenarios anticipated as triggers." And a few days ago, Brad Sherman, a congressman, recently spoke publicly about various congresspeople that were told that Martial Law would be enacted, without the permission of congress, if the Bailout Plan for Wallstreet was not accepted by congress.  read more »

The London Community Foundation just released it's vital signs report on the city of London's health. Above is a graphic detailing the public's perception of our quality of life in London. This report grades various facets of London, such as Housing (C), Safety and the Arts (B), as well as the Environment and Equality (D).  read more »