Grateful Dead

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Of course there's great hue and cry re Titanic. Loads of dosh to be made by those holding the appropriate marketing rights. Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

> Why do people find it so alluring? They've been taught to find it alluring... > by those holding the appropriate marketing rights ...through the processes of commodification. com·mod·i·fy [kuh-mod-uh-fahy] /kəˈmɒdəˌfaɪ/ verb (used with object), com·mod·i·fied, com·mod·i·fy·ing. 1.to turn into a commodity; make commercial. 2.to treat as if a commodity. Related forms com·mod·i·fi·a·ble, adjective com·mod·i·fi·ca·tion, noun http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/commodification

The American Legislative Exchange Council was founded by arch-conservative Paul Weyrich in the 1970s and ostensibly provides "access" to state legislators and legislation that would impact it's corporate donors. However, it has the greater political designs of it's corporate sponsors such as the Koch brothers. Other corporate sponsors include: Pepsi; McDonald's; Kraft; Wendy's; AT&T; Johnson & Johnson; Pfizer; Diageo; the US Chamber of Commerce and Wal-Mart. A major component of of ALEC is a favorite socially responsible (NOT!) corporate citizen the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhARMA) composed of the all the major big pharma players suck as Merck and previously noted Pfizer. These corporations have been supporting Stand Your Ground laws, voter identification projects (read: disenfranchise black and other minority voting blocks) and electing republicans. Does anybody need more information that these corporations are anti-democratic, extremely conservative and moving our country towards fascism? This umbrella group is being called out and corporate directors are starting to abandon the ALEC ship like rats before their individual companies are boycotted. One thing is sure, if the horse the corporations rode in on (ALEC) is croaked they will find another horse to ride in on. Corporations must be stripped of their person-hood and their ability to influence our elections in any way. Political contributions must be reduced to individuals and then capped at a low level so we all have a level playing field to politic on. If not, the future is here, corporations are it and we are on our own.

Live free or die!

The last month has seen the rebirth of the anti-nuclear power movement in New England. The focus of the movement has been the Vermont Yankee nuclear power generating station on the banks of the Connecticut River in Vernon, Vermont. More than 120 people were arrested in a nonviolent civil disobedience action at Vermont Yankee headquarters in Brattleboro, VT. three weeks ago and yesterday about 1250 rallied on the Brattleboro Town Common with a unified front of Vermont's top-ranking elected officials, including independent Senator Bernie Sanders, giving highly supportive speeches. Vermont has totally weened itself off nuclear power. None of the power being generated by Vermont Yankee is being bought by Vermont utilities. Because of the nature of the power grid, it is impossible to say if any of the power generated is being used in Vermont but at least the citizens of this state can say that they are not electing to purchase power from this corporation. The objections to Vermont Yankee split into two levels: 1. The nature of nuclear power is unsafe and there is no proven method of long-term storage. 2. There is a State's right issue involved -- If the people of Vermont choose to not use the power does the NRC have the right to shove it down their throats through the re-licensing process? Sanders addressed a very key and important point in this struggle. Many people, including the Obama Administration, believe that nuclear needs to be a key ingredient in America's energy strategy. If the nuclear industry were safe then the industry should be able to go on the free market and obtain the seed funding it needs and buy the insurance it needs to fund the dawn of a new nuclear power era. The reality is they can't get it and continue to rely on the Price-Anderson Act to get Federal welfare to fund their boondoggles. Entergy Alabama, owner of Vermont Yankee, is one of the key players in the collapsing nuclear industry. It is a rogue corporation that lies and continues to lie like a rug to every regulator that it has ever encountered. It owns or is part-owner of six operating stations. It has already shown it's propensity to leave everything as it is, including unfunded obligations for decommissioning costs as well as it's long-term employees. The resurgent anti-nuclear movement was an inspiring thing to be part of yesterday. It was like a gathering of druids. Colorful costumes, tie-dyes and sprigs of evergreen adorned protesters heads. The sad thing noted was the total lack of anybody under the age of 35. It was strictly a baby-boomer thing. Can we trust anybody under the age of 35?

Some times you have to feel bad for Barak Obama. The poor guy. Here he goes to represent the US in South America at the Conference of the Americas. He already faces an uphill battle on Cuba and the "War On Drugs" and a plethora of other issues and before he even steps off the plane his entire secret service contingent has been recalled to the US because of disputes with prostitutes at the hotel in Cartegena where the conference is being held. This in a country (Columbia) where prostitution is legal. If we're going to rule the empire, can't we do it with a little class and style? Really, it's getting to be embarrassing! It's bad enough that we have a former president and vice president (Bush & Cheney) who can't travel to the EU because they might be arrested as war criminals -- now we have to suffer the pettiness of the imperial guard who want to stiff their whores?

i am over here in new hampshire and have been hearing a little about what is going on but i didn't know that they don not supply power to vermont. So where does vermont get it's power from?

gets it's power mostly from hydro in Quebec. The thing was the State of Vermont was actually preparing for Vermont Yankee to shut down until the NRC stuck it's ugly snout into the act. 1250 people at a rally might not sound like a lot to some people but it is one whole hell of a lot in a small Vermont town. So is 120 people people being willing to be arrested for civil disobedience these days. Hopefully we can drive the last nail in the coffin but, unbelievably, it is still an uphill battle and since the Feds have the last hole card in the form of the NRC, they are likely to win the court battle. So we get to watch this sagging-ass cooling tower with cracks continue to leak radioactive isotopes into the ground water and eventually into the Connecticut River for another twenty years or until the thing goes 'China Syndrome' on us and gives us the scenario described in Stephen King's new novel 11/23/63, where he uses the example of life in Maine after Vermont Yankee melts down. (That isn't the main plot of the book)

The Taliban has commenced a spring offensive in Afghanistan, simultaneously attacking on four different fronts throughout the country, including the capital city of Kabul. There is no real reason to keep 90,000 troops in harm's way at this point. A bunch of conservative cold-warriors and conservative think tanks, using the unbelievable rationalization that American soldiers need to keep dieing in order to honor the sacrifices of their brothers & sisters who have already died, are pushing to stay the course. These people are an obscenity. It is not their sons and daughters who are shedding blood in this war. It is time to go. It is time to declare victory a beat and orderly retreat and prepare about 50,000 green cards for all our Afghan allies who have been with us for the past ten years (NOT Karzai or other warlord's kin). Not another Saigon, dear God, with the nightmare images of the helicopters taking off from the embassy roof.

Somehow, sadly, the following seems appropriate today... This is the end Beautiful friend This is the end My only friend, the end Of our elaborate plans, the end Of everything that stands, the end No safety or surprise, the end I'll never look into your eyes...again Can you picture what will be So limitless and free Desperately in need...of some...stranger's hand In a...desperate land Lost in a Roman...wilderness of pain And all the children are insane All the children are insane Waiting for the summer rain, yeah There's danger on the edge of town Ride the King's highway, baby Weird scenes inside the gold mine Ride the highway west, baby ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** A shout to all the brothers and sisters in Afghanistan: Please come home safely! Your friends, family and relatives are waiting for you!!

Obama's proposed tax of millionaires is no doubt a political fooball that is doomed to failure. It has been pointed out that those making 30-50k have an average tax rate of 6.4% while those making more than a million have a tax rate of about 23%. Therefore, the tax system is fair? Really? It is also always pointed out that even if the rich were taxed at 30% it would only cut the national deficit by 1.5%. Therefore, it isn't important to do so. Who comes up with these factoids and why does the press feel obliged to spout them every time this story is reported? How about we tax the rich 40% so it DOES make a bite into the deficit with a MINIMUM tax rate for corporations of 30% and we abolish taxes for anybody within 200% of the Federal poverty guideline.

While the GPA scandal is bad and the book deserves to be thrown at them, the sanctimonious Congresspersons who are skewering them are the same ones who are still able to profit off insider trading after watering down the bill that was supposed to have stopped the practice. These strutting turkeys who go on and on and on about how these wasteful Federal bureaucrats are violating their sacred trust of stewardship of the taxpayer dollar are themselves so totally violating that trust that it just wants to make you throw up. If they could make accepting bribes and acting unethically and betraying their constituents legal, they would. How can we EVER expect these people to do ANYTHING but perpetuate their own privileged positions? In the age of instant computer communication we need to have a recall mechanism that that would turn them out on their asses for the smallest possible ethical violation. Similarly, we should be able to throw out career bureaucrats who continue to betray the public trust by acting with seeming impunity. Why do I even bother to waste my breath?

When someone turns me on,it's never a waste of breath. Rant ON! It's a strange kinda turn on but um yeah! Aroooooooooooooooooooooo! Tax Dollars are Vile and Wasted. I need politicians to turn me ON, wish there was a taker but alas, fluffanutter you'll do just fine for now. I got a good poem for this I will try to find it. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 corrupt politicians....ah ah ah! thunder striking sound...ah, ah, ah!

Anyone know some interesting GD history for today April 17th?

How about this :-)

Great video archive from the Tivoli in Denmark. I especially like the clown masks during Big RR Blues. Good pick, CB ! April 17, 1971: Another terrific show w Pigpen at Dillon Gym in Princeton, NJ Select and listen to it on the Grateful Dead Live Music Archive. >> www.archive.org Almost done with figuring taxes....tick tock tick tock

awesome...thank you so much....RAT

great one.......Big RR....Denmark....thank you!!! Rat

Members are playing later over at the Beacon, NY, NY.Tonight, 4/17/2012... In a band called, FURTHUR. They are excellent, repeatedly. It will be history, one second after the show ends, stay tuned in. Time passes fast. Just a while back it was 4/17/1971. Really, such a long long time to be gone... a short time to be there. Eat Sara Lee Bread, xo!

not too shabby. sorry, no video to embed but it's probably an aud. on the archive.

agree...no question...history will be made during tonight's show @ the Beacon...will be great...enjoy FURTHER...

Thanks for the suggestion to listen to the Hartford show, Fluffanutter. Here's a link to a Bertha'd soundboard which sure has a strong audience sound. The crowd is really ready for New Minglewood to start !! http://archive.org/details/gd82-04-17.sbd.bertha-ashley.23933.sbeok.shnf

ALEC (described in this thread, 21 posts back), archenemy lobbying group for mega-death corporations, has given up it's lobbying efforts on voter ID and Stand Your Ground Laws. Corporations were deserting the ship in droves. A small victory, but a victory none-the-less. Savor it. There are so few these days.

That was Leon Panetta's (Secretary of Defense) comment on US service people posing with bodies and body parts of dead insurgents. I would beg to differ. These pictures prove that THIS IS who we are. He goes on to say, as he has said numerous times in the past: War is hell; It happened before; It'll happen again. The dehumanizing process of war is clearly at work here. The scariest thing? These people will eventually come home and reintegrate into our society. It isn't the same as WWII or the Korean War. In those wars there was a sense of righteousness involved. People had a clear moral imperative. The vets were able to come home and not have excessive nightmares. There is a corollary to how well you can sleep and function after you've killed or experienced trauma when you believe right is on your side. When right or wrong is much more muddied and it isn't clear who is the enemy and who is just an innocent bystander then the moral clarity collapses and coping mechanisms set in. Coming home, without the adrenaline rush, without the camaraderie, the vet is left to cope or not. Many will not seek help from the VA. When they do they might be given the band-aid of psych meds such as the latest, greatest benzodiazepine. Their families are the ones who feel the greatest impact. A service person who performed work in my home, a special forces army ranger whose duty was as long-range sniper, said to me: "You're either all right or you're not." Clearly, many are not. Say a prayer for them.

You are right. War IS atrocity. If you can find it, do watch Winter Soldier, filmed in 1971, and a testimony to how war brutalises. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Soldier_(film)

I greatly enjoyed watching the Grateful Dead concert movie in Boston last night. Thank you to whom it may concern.

I hope that a "Phil Bomb" rattles that stick off your stack. Cant stand looking at it and knowing my favorite bass player and band backs this. Jerry is rolling in his...Well, he would be rolling in his grave. Come on Phil, please remove.

Congrats to Philip Humber, the Chicago White Sox and all who love Baseball.

I'd rather have a free bottle in front of me, than a pre-frontal lobotomy.

"And you know that notion just crossed my mind, xo!

So we listen to Sirius&XM radio alot, and 90% of the time it is on the Grateful Dead channel. My XM radio unit rebroadcasts the signal to about an acre on 88.3 FM, so I can use the regular home stereo tuner, and also have the boom box outside simulcasting. Well my kindergartner son tells me the other day , "I know how to change the radio stations with this dial, but I wont." I say that its okay and show him some stations we can receive by dialing up through several of them. After sampling many different genres of music, I paused on a Rolling Stones song that was sounding especially rich that afternoon. I thought he may like it, but almost immediately my son says, "Can we turn it back to our station." and I to think I sometimes worry my kids will gravitate to some weird type of music....after that I decided right away that I would have to share that experience with you all here...... sdk

Reports that the trust fund supporting Supplementary Security Income (Commonly known as SSI) will run dry in 2016. That means that all those who depend on the government for disability income will no longer receive a check starting in 2017, if these people are to be believed. They are also saying the same thing, albeit at a later date, for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Other, less hysterically right-swing conservative types are saying that with minor adjustments in funding mechanisms these programs are in good shape through 2075. The US has become such a welfare state that if SSI checks stopped coming in 2017 there would be a disaster of epic proportions. These are the people least able to take care of themselves (minus the one's who are gaming the system, which is not an unsubstantial proportion). It'll be a great day when the air force has to hold a bake sale...

After the 1st round of voting, the dreadful Mme LePen is at 18%. Entirely 18% TOO MUCH for the Front National. I know that part of those votes are poo-pooing Sarky, but COME ON!!!!!!!!

Gee your post really sounds like you're bashing the vets - until the very last sentence that is. I am one of these people you are referring to and I for one took offense at your writing. It sounds like you have feelings of fear towards returning vets. Remember fear and hatred are real good friends and can often be seen walking hand-in-hand. I am one of those people as I just stated. I didn't agree and sure as hell did not like what you wrote. You make vets out to be a bunch of bloodthirsty monsters. Not to mention some of the stuff you wrote is just plain wrong. Factually. DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE.

I'm not a veteran basher. I'm a war basher. Returning vets have directly effected my immediate family. I don't need to say how. You can use your imagination. I don't blame them, I blame the politicians who sent them to war. I don't mean to say that the majority are the ones who pose with dead bodies or body parts or desecrate enemy bodies through various methods. Clearly, they are not. But this is a snapshot of a minority of those who have served. It may not be you as a veteran, but it is some veterans. Then we have politicians that seem to excuse this behavior by saying we don't need to try any better because this is the nature of the beast. Whatever the horrors of war, don't we have a responsibility to hold ourselves to a higher standard? I live near a large, regional VA Hospital and there are always stories in the newspaper about the lack of care and run-around being received as well as the lack of funding for much needed programs. The reality kind of breaks my heart, War is the monster, not the small number of veterans who have become monsters through the experiences they have been through. I hope this clarifies my sentiment

Awesome station for any Deadhead .... they are playing a bunch of Furthur from last weekend now ! www.freshjamradio.com

The local community hospital is turning away medicaid patients because of low reimbursements from the Federal government. This even as this hospital takes medicaid funds and is thus bound by Federal mandates to accept these patients. If you don't have private health insurance you might want to think seriously about this. Despite the law people with non life-threatening emergencies are being sent packing. Those with just medicaid or medicare are being given rationed health care. Not having health insurance or not making it a priority is starting to look more and more like playing Russian roulette. The chances are are that your number is going to come up sooner or later. And this is not a choice for a lot of people, If it was at all possible to be insured, they would be. Rather, they choose to eat and have a roof over their head and drive a car. The head administrator (CEO) of my local community hospital makes $500,000 a year and all his staff do everything they can to preserve their salaries and perks at whatever cost to the patient. This is not the main or only problem. But it is one of them. With the health industry it's hard to know what is the greatest obscenity these days. How can this happen in the wealthiest country on the planet?

Good topic to bring up Fluffanutter: New Hampshire has cut their medicaid funding and are looking to the feds for help. Meanwhile, the poor and uninsured are getting arguably less quality care or are being turned away! From a physicians viewpoint, a doctor is not likely to want a reduction in compensation for services given. I'll read more about Medicare and Medicaid to see how the tug of war is developing between payments to doctors with the quality of care given.

Not only are NH hospitals turning away some medicaid patients but they are taking some of the medicaid reimbursement money from the feds and throwing it into the General Treasury fund (or whatever they call it). You have to remember that in the "Tax Free Or Die" State they will do anything to avoid imposing a state income tax. ANYTHING! Even if it means killing poor people whose hospital bill the Feds have already paid! This is what prompted me to write yesterday but I took a different tack. This whole issue is so beyond the pale. Health care is one of the most profitable industries in our country today. There is no rhyme or reason to any of it. A widget for a medical implant at one hospital can be billed at $72 while at the next it can cost $72,000. This is an exaggeration, but not by much. Then there is the way that doctors are reimbursed by insurance companies -- this whole system of "medical coding". There are conferences that medical coders go to to learn the bible of coding so that they can get paid the maximum possible amount -- in other words they are teaming up with doctors so they both use the greatest possible number of codes to receive the greatest possible reimbursement. What in the world does ANY of THIS have to do with people receiving reasonable health care at reasonable costs? The more I look at it the more I think we need a Canadian system style of universal health care with the upper-middle class forced to go to Thailand for reasonably priced first-world healthcare if they don't want to wait. The rich and privileged, like Cheney, will always get theirs when and where it is convenient.

Although it seems to be playing out as some high stakes drama, the current presidential election has already been decided. The serious Republican players have stayed on the sideline this year. To unseat an incumbent president is nearly an impossible thing to do. The serious money and candidates are biding their time. The serious betting money in Vegas is on Obama. He has to seriously screw up between now and the election to lose. You have to bet about $140 to win $100 if you pick Obama, at this time. The odds should narrow a bit as we go to the post. All bets are off if the Israeli's nuke iraq, otherwise I'll take Obama and give you Romulans 33 basis points -- if I were a betting man. "Scottie, Spock, take their bets!"

Hydro & Oxy are being so over-prescribed (or gotten in other ways) these days that Americans, alone, are consuming over 4,000 lbs of these painkillers annually. If you care/need to know, oxy is beating hydro 2 to 1. One reason for this is the sheer effectiveness of these medicines. They work extremely well and are as devastatingly addictive. As much as your first snort of heroin or cocaine. Tragic in the extreme. If your Dr. prescribes it you should ask yourself, seriously, "Do I really have the pain needed to go there?" The DEA busted 2 large chain drug stores in Florida for outright selling these substances for cash. Hey,I guess if you're in the line-of-fire (as a pharmacy-tech) and corporate doesn't care about you, you'll do whatever not to face the constant threat of armed robbery. I don't blame Dr.'s as much as I blame Big Pharma and the plain mental weakness or quiet desperation that drives people to find escape from the reality of their lives. Still, it is so utterly sad to see people being put on the hook like in China centuries ago. At least it was all organic back then, not the souped-up versions that leave no room for escape. You want a sure-fire profession these days? Hang out a shingle as Suboxone (opioid dependent drug treatment) counselor and your schedule will be booked to overflowing within three days. No joke, for real -- for sorrow :(

Talk about an epidemic that is out of control! If you find yourself on a crowded subway car in a large American city (that holds about 100), look around closely -- 8 or 9 of the people around you are addicted to opiate painkillers. I live near a city of 100,000 that is under siege by petty criminal addicts that will do anything for a quick buck to feed their habits. While the problem should be looked at in terms of legalization, voters and politicians are instead rising up in typical American harshness and demanding tougher enforcement. Basically, voting to build more prisons. Infinite sorrow and sadness are indeed correct terms to describe this, from the addicts to their families to the victims of their stupid crimes and the human beings with a heart who have to go out and put handcuffs on them and then process and guard them. Everybody is a victim here. What is the cause(s) of this insatiable desire?

A drug-dependent baby, mostly to opiate painkillers, is born every hour in this country. It takes months to carefully wean them off with methadone to avoid any complications. This is a powerful statement about addiction. You can quit! You have the power. Keep breaking the damn things in half then trail off with Tramadol and lots of saunas and something to occupy your time and mind. Hate to sound like a Nike commercial but Just Do It! Especially any expecting mothers out there...

One year ago the Seals took out OBL and made our world a little safer. Rough men are made so we walk free. Never forget to say thank you.

Although the history books, and media outlets, will never say it, President Barak Obama surrendered in the middle of the night after cowardly slinking in on Air Force One after a 13 hour flight from DC. The protocol was signed with President Hamat Karzai amidst a total news blackout with 6 big chinook helicopters packed with elite troops guarding them in a tight cordon on the tarmac. One year to the day after the navy Seals disposed of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan Obama addressed the troops in an airplane hanger and told them how proud he was of them for always upholding America's most cherished values. This is a president that always says and does the right thing, no matter what. Now America is signed to a contract to keep the troops in play in advisory roles till some time in 2024. I can't imagine who would want to remain on that blasted heath for another day. We're not fooling anybody. Least of all the Taliban who wouldn't even negotiate with us. Meanwhile, "Occupy" rioters took to the streets this May Day from Miami to Seattle. While not exactly a show of strength it was something to be considered. (I am currently reading "American Sniper" by ex Navy Seal Chris Kyle and had another comment for this day but will save it for another. This BUD/S for you & your tribe Mr. Kyle. I don't support war but I support the warriors who would stand for us.)

And people call me an "Alarmist" (among other things)! 1. War Could 2012 be the year World War Three begins in earnest? We've discussed this at some length in a number of letters, and though our timing has been wrong (we imagined hostilities would already be upon us by this time), we stand solidly behind our conviction that a Middle Eastern conflict that begins in this calendar year will spread and encompass nearly the entire planet, and that hostilities will not cease for some years to come. Part of our belief is predicated on the massive stockpiling of crude oil we see here at home, a development that only makes sense if someone, somewhere is expecting a sharp spike in the price of oil. 2. Liquidity Call 2012 the year that economic Rohypnol, the so-called 'date rape' drug, finally took effect. After several years of the Fed (and other central banks) slipping the stuff into the money supply, we're all beginning to 'go under'. With the world now awash in paper that people call money, inflation can never be far behind. In 2012 the dreaded 'I' word starts to bite. 3. Civil Unrest and Terrorism One look at Greece, Spain and to a lesser extent our own Occupy Wall Street movement, and its clear there's something afoot globally that looks like a riot. Recent disturbances in (of all places) Canada, where thousands of striking university students and union workers took to the streets of Montreal to voice their displeasure with the 'status quo' show that even sleepy backwaters like Canuckia aren't immune to the trend. Call 2012 the year that anarchy reached unprecedented proportions globally. In Europe, particularly, it appears the violence will take on nationalistic hues, bringing with it everything that normally attends such outbreaks (beatings/lootings/lynchings/pyrotechnics/etc). The terrorist underworld will likely view the whole show as an excellent opportunity to piggyback on popular frustration and begin marking their favorite targets. 4. Wilder Weather We're just the messengers here, so don't shoot, but it's looking like we're in for some strange and persistent natural calamities over the course of the year. After a steady pickup in tectonic activity over the last year and a half, scientists are now calling for even more seismic action in the twelve months, particularly around the so-called ring of fire that circumscribes the Pacific ocean. But that's not all. West coast earthquakes will also apparently be augmented by a hectic hurricane season (on the east coast and Gulf states), and tornadoes are expected to multiply across the Midwest during the storm season as well. Most of all, we have generational – and possibly historical – sunspot activity expected in the next year that most experts agree could cause irredeemable damage to our power grid, satellite technology and even domestic electrical appliances. 5. Summary In short, no one will be secure or immune from what's about to hit. The stock market will rise, we believe (liquidity), but the value of our holdings will diminish (inflation). And how long can such a condition persist? That depends on how safe our cities become in the face of a general civil breakdown, how successful terrorists are at undermining our habitual way of life, and how much increasingly violent weather and extended blackouts conspire to deprive us of confidence in corporate growth. That sounds strangely like the end of the world How do you plan for that? Well, I'm not going to give you their investment advice, you have to pay for that. But if this is what Wall St. is talking about then maybe the Mayan calender people aren't so nuts after all. Time to load the bullion supplies into the survival bunker. (!)

I'll Have Another cashed in at 40-1: any winners out there? I'll continue with the mint juleps and some double IPA's (Wood-aged from Great Divide). Bodemeister placed.