John Mellencamp recently release an album produced by the prolific Bonester (T-B0ne). I think you can recognize the Burnett production style by, among other attributes, an organic, live sound, product or recording live, with the whole band playing, rather than capturing each player’s tracks separately.

The result for Mellencamp, as it was for Kraus and Plant and others, is a musical maturity, a respect for the music’s roots, and a willingness to create within a tradition – in Mellencamp’s case, down to earth country rock. If you’re looking for the right pigeon hole for this album you could argue it fits nicely in alt country, with the Drive By Truckers and Wilco (without Wilco’s extensive experimentation).

OK, I’ll shut up now. Enjoy the music.

Works for me.

The fake “recovery” was nice while it lasted, says famous apocalyptic forecaster Gerald Celente, founder of the Trends Research Institute. But now the fun’s over, and we’re headed for what Celente describes as the “Greatest Depression.”

Specifically, the always startling Celente says the country is headed for rising unemployment, poverty, and violent class warfare as the government efforts to keep the economy going begin to fail.

I think Celente’s analysis and basis for his predictions on this matter are not too far removed from the Krugman school of political economy. If I may interpret and summarize, governments and the U.S. economic and political elites have poured gasoline on the fire by trying to solve the crisis top down. Unlike FDR, who attacked the Depression by throwing a lifeline to the middle and working classes, the suits in charge these days seem to think that if the big banks and Wall Street are happy, problem solved.

Celente’s prescription on the other hand is something FDR and Krugman could live with:

The crux of the problem, Celente argues, is that the middle class has been wiped out. America used to be a land of opportunity for all, where hard-working people could build their own small businesses in their own communities and live prosperous and fulfilling lives. But now a collusion of state and corporate interests that Celente describes as “fascism” have conspired to help only the biggest companies and the richest Americans. This has put a shocking amount of the country’s wealth in the hands of a privileged few and left the rest of the country to subsist on chicken-feed wages and low job satisfaction as Wal-Mart “associates” — or worse.

The answer, Celente says, is to bring back the laws that prevented huge companies from getting so big and powerful, and put some opportunity back in the hands of ordinary people. But doing that is going to take a while. And in the meantime, we’re headed for trouble.

I’m taking a bottle of Grey Goose out of the freezer and going back to bed. Somebody wake me after World War III.

Thanks to Raw Story for alerting me to this story. The whole interview is Yahoo Tech Ticker (linked to above) and here is a Yahoo article about wealth and inequality inthe U.S.

Well, Arcade Fire has stepped onto that visionary turf. The latest album from AF is not just a collection of songs, but a look at North American culture at war with itself. The title (The Suburbs, remember?) is a clue to how this Montreal band diagnoses our continent’s spiritual illness.

I don’t know if The Suburbs is a candidate for Broadway musical or rock opera, but it maintains a musical and lyrical integrity throughout. So far, I can’t get enough of it. Enjoy the title track.

Anyway, back to the LeAlan Jones article.

There’s not much politics in the piece. It’s mostly biographical:

At 13, he started his climb up and out. He and his best friend, Lloyd Newman, teamed up with a producer from New York City and made an award-winning documentary for National Public Radio, “Ghetto Life 101,” a 30-minute tour through the other America.

A few years later, Mr. Jones, Mr. Newman and the producer followed with a radio documentary about the death of 5-year-old Eric Morse and the two boys — ages 10 and 11 at the time — who in 1994 dropped him out of a 14th-floor window at the Wells housing project.

Not much has changed in the intervening decades, Mr. Jones said, whether Democrats or Republicans have been in power.

“People don’t want to buy milk and bread from those establishments anymore,” he said, referring to the two major parties. “Their goods are rotten. The Green Party is the new convenience store on the block. We have the freshest fruits and vegetables.”

We also learn that as well as being mainstream Green on most issues, Jones is not entirely opposed to some gun rights.

Mr. Jones is not the stereotypical Green Party member. He supports, for example, “conceal-and-carry” laws, which allow registered gun owners to carry weapons for protection.

“I’ve never carried a gun and don’t want to,” he said. “I’ve always used diplomacy. I only support conceal and carry as a last resort. But there are those in our society who look at people as prey. They must be stopped.”

On other issues, Mr. Jones is Green all the way, from protecting the environment to advocating a single-payer health-care system to bringing the troops — and private contractors — home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The article quotes Robert T. Starks, professor of political science at Northeastern Illinois University saying that Jones and the Greens are not very visible in the African American community at present.

“But if he keeps getting his name out there,” Professor Starks said, “he could be a factor, especially among young people.”

From what I hear, which is not much, both Jones and Green Gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney are both doing well for third party candidates. I don’t have any fresh polls to back me up, but my sense is that both of the top of the ticket Greens could get more than 10% of the vote in November.

Will all of that support come from the Democrats? I don’t think so. Greens like to say that there is no difference between the two old line parties, which is not quite true, but in Illinois, many voters feel that both big parties have been cooperating in milking the state since before Lincoln passed the bar.

It is a song that is hard not to live.

The rest of the tracks take the same velvety approach, but don’t let the languorous pace or the sonic smoothness fool you. Both Plant and Kraus bring a quiet intensity to the record and they both display plenty of vocal and instrumental chops throughout.

It’s a buy it all the way from me, Greg.

Which is not to say that all or even a majority of USians are racists or bigots, nor would I argue that the United States is a completely racist country. Other nations are indeed worse, and the U.S. can boast of many who fight peacefully yet vigorously against racism, hatred and divisions of all kinds.

Still, racism remains strong in the U.S. It would take a prodigious effort to deny this is true. Fresh evidence presents itself daily.

The recent Shirley Sherrod episode is a splendidly clear example. A racist hack who calls himself a journalist or blogger delivers a doctored video and labels it evidence of reverse racism. This is the same slime bucket who successfully slandered ACORN to death (another example of the political use of racism). Sherrod was virtually lynched, or maybe just tarred and feathered, by most of the corporate media (led by Fox News of course) and driven from public service before a true picture could be drawn of her past, her personality, her beliefs and the complete context of her “offending” remarks. Even the NAACP and the post racial White House joined in piling on.

All because a significant chunk of white America was ready to believe the worst of a middle aged black woman and because Fox News has been on a race baiting campaign from the hour of Obama’s inauguration. If you doubt this is the case, explain the frequent racist attacks on Obama by Glen Beck and that morning zoo crowd Fox inflicts on viewers each day. And provide another explanation for the Fox campaigns against ACORN and the three guys in the New Black Panther Party.

The tea baggers and other Republicans have been spreading the rumor for the last two years that Obama was not born in the U.S. and so is not really President. They have succeeded in clouding millions of willing minds to the point that, according to a CNN poll, over a quarter of the population of the U.S. has doubt Obama was born here.

Where did I hear yesterday that the Fox News audience is only 1.38 per cent African American? Can”t imagine why.

Now the Republicans are on about repealing the 14th amendment, which makes a citizen of anyone born in the United States. The target is babies who are born in the U.S. of one or more parents who are undocumented aliens. They are not serious about amending the constitution. This is mid term election year racial politics. The object of the exercise is a to encourage white USians to be angry at Hispanics, whether they are immigrant (legal or no) or citizens of the U.S. This too will cloud minds ready to be made more ignorant, but will not delay what the racist white is most afraid of: a U.S. where the majority is not composed of the descendants of northern Europeans.

Last night, we were joined by the 2010 Democratic candidate for the Illinois 18 Congressional District, D.K. Hirner (accompanied by her husband Chuck). I must admit to being impressed with Ms. Hirner as a candidate and as a person. She seems intelligent, articulate and down to earth, aware of the issues and the problems many voters face in this mess of an economy the wealthy have imposed on us.

That does not constitute an endorsement and I am not sure who, if anyone I will vote for this year. I am more than a little disappointed with the performance last year and this of the national Democrats. In particular I deplore the performance of President Rahm Emmanuel – er I mean the other one. Obama.

The stimulus was too small, health care and wall street reform legislation was too timid, and the escalation in Afghanistan was too big. Other than that, the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats are doing a heckuva job.

I could vote Green, but Sheldon Shaefer, the Green candidate in Illinois 18, cannot earn my support until he gives up being an anti choice forced birther. Too bad, because in many ways Sheldon is a very fine candidate. Anyway, in the absence of a Labor or Socialist or Social Democratic party here, I might vote for other Green candidates.

But there are plenty of Democrats to admire in both the House and Senate: Grayson, Kucinich, Franken, Schakowsky. Pelosi and Durbin immediately spring to mind as skilled legislators whose heads and hearts are in the right (or left) place. It is regrettable that there aren’t 50 or so Bernie Sanders’, because he has the whole government thing totally figured out.

So I was eager to engage Candidate Hirner in a discussion of the issues to see whether she is enough of a progressive to overcome the stigma of being a Democrat, the party of Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln, as well as all those good Dems mentioned above. I have to admit, she did not disappoint. The Hirners spent a good part of the evening with our little group. DK did not just show up to give a 5 minute speech and ask for our votes. Rather, she and Chuck settled down for a pleasant evening at the pub (Kellehers on Water Street btw) and had a beer or two and a little bit of Irish fare.

The discussion was wide ranging and Hirner had one on one’s with several individuals, including me. She said the right things when I asked about the issues. She agreed that it’s time to start withdrawing from Afghanistan. Unemployment is her number one priority. She favors a public option (dang, I should have asked about single payer).

Hirner’s strategy involves attacking the incumbent, Aaron Schock, at every opportunity, and he provides plenty of those. The attacks are on policy and records, nothing personal, which is refreshing these days. For example, Schock votes against unemployment insurance extensions when they come up, and he routinely votes against job creation measures. The challenge is to make swing voters aware of Schock’s record with little or no assistance from the local corporate media (including NPR).

As I said, I was impressed. I may come around to support eventually. There is one disturbing piece of Hirner’s bio that is on her campaign website. from 2005 to 20009 She was Executive Director of
Illinois Environmental Regulatory Group. Sounds green and Earth friendly, doesn’t it. but the IERG is an industry group formed to present a united negotiating front when negotiating environmental regulations with the state government. Does that make Hirner a Blue Dog? Not necessarily. She is endorsed bu unions like the UAW and IBEW.

As I said, I was impressed. I may come around to support eventually. But for now, I am holding out for a firmer commitment to progressive government from Hirner and her party.