New Post/Update by Greg Puciato
by Adrian Clement
From MySpace:
Quick update:
-The Dillinger Escape Plan is writing for a new album, to be recorded in 2009, and we are confirming tour dates for random places throughout the world for early 2009 and possibly if the stars align even a few for late 2008. We’ll announce them as soon as they’re confirmed.
-The self-titled Spylacopa EP comes out on November 18th. Pre-orders will be available soon. The leadoff track “Haunting A Ghost” has just been added to the Spylacopa player, and new reviews, interviews, and info is constantly being updated in the Spylacopa blog section. Don’t be a stranger over there.
-Other musical outlets are starting to develop on the horizon as well: a little somethin’ called Shit Yeah, another project, and other random developments. Details of everything will start to come into focus very soon, and you’ll know everything as soon as it makes sense to tell you haha.
So….now to get some shit started on a total non-musical front. The question everyone is talking about. Who is everyone voting for? Why?
The last blog over on the Dillinger page about voter registration seemed to get a lot of attention. Some people were stoked we were advocating voter registration, some people were pissed we didn’t say who we were voting for, and some people were pissed we aren’t like Rage Against The Machine and that we didn’t dismiss the whole system as an Illuminati controlled dictatorship and encourage people to try to violently overthrow the government. Whatever the reaction, it was very interesting. So in the interest of not speaking on behalf of my bandmates on the Dillinger page, I’m interested in getting some healthy discussion brewing over here….without getting shitty with one another. Because hey, everyone’s entitled to an opinion. It doesn’t mean we can’t go out and eat ice cream together afterwards, as long as you aren’t a total asshole. I’ll lead this one off. I’m voting for Obama. Do I think he’s the messiah? Or is anyone for that matter? No. But whether you consider yourself a Republican, a Democrat, or refuse to be institutionalized and have your vision clouded and your mind constrained by committing to party affiliation(you can see where my bias is hahaha), the reality is that there are two people realistically up for the job. Obama, and McCain(ok four if you factor the Grim Reaper into the Obama/McCain scenario), and I use the term “person” loosely to describe Sarah Palin and her neanderthalic/archaic views on stem cell research, abortion, gay rights, and religious fundamentalist/magic man in the sky/superstition over science views on creation and life. So three people and a creature from another dimension(seriously did a portal in Alaska open up into the realm of “stupid”? Because where else do people like her come from?). But seriously, all kidding aside, I thoroughly disagree, with the notion, as some people on the Dillinger blog have said, that the two tickets are the same, that it doesn’t matter who wins, both are equally evil, etc. I don’t agree with everything Barack has to say, like for example, raising taxes on higher income brackets, because I mean really, how is anything other than a flat tax fair? So, like I said, nobody is perfect, but I think the issues we are dealing with right now are a little more pressing than taxes, and especially on a level of social justice/human rights there is no place in 2008 for government enforced denial of gay marriage, denying equal benefits because of sexual preference, opposing abortion, making policy decisions based on religious beliefs, denying medical advances due to relgious beliefs(opposing stem cell research) etc. There is no room for somebody with a quick temperament to be holding the reigns of this sinking ship, somebody who insults your intelligence by picking Sarah Palin as a running mate, somebody who ran the first half of his whole campaign on a forty year old POW story instead of issues, and now is just running a mudslinging campaign, someone who appears more and more senile with each public appearance, combined with a running mate who appears dumber and dumber with each one. Obama isn’t perfect, and we may very well be too far down the shitter to get out of it in the near future, but we have to start trying to get back in the right direction and I can’t see any way that McCain has shown any signs at all of being able to become a responsible, unifying, and forward thinking leader who is keen to the issues directly facing this era.
Let me also point out that I am NOT endorsing or expressing allegiance to the Democratic party, only supporting the current ticket and opposing what I see as the gross and curious aberration of nature that the Republican ticket has become, as I think that there have obviously been disasters(Jimmy Carter, Bush), and greatness(FDR, Reagan) in both parties at different times.
I’m sure some of you will furiously agree or disagree, and we could obviously go into policy differences and minutia ad nauseum, which I’m not opposed to doing. I’m just interested in hearing what all of you have to say.
OH and by the way, when this recession/depression/economic downward spiral eventually leads us to national collapse…and revolution and anarchy are upon us(a very real possibility given the exponential rate with which this is all going downhill), meet me at James Love’s(touring guitar player for Dillinger in between Brian Benoit and Jeff Tuttle) house down in Houston, because word has it that he is slowly but steadily stockpiling a Terminator 2 style arms collection, and already roams around at night with a shotgun he calls “The Persuader”. We’ll take over the Astrodome or something and have a miniature Matrix styled Zion inside.
Comments
I suppose I’ll be the first to respond. I’m a huge fan of the band and have the scars to prove it. I also really appreciate you encouraging this type of dialogue and people exercising their civic duty of voting in our democracy. At the present moment, I’m in the same boat as you and feel that those who abstain from voting have very little to criticize when it comes to their elected officials. This is much like how I feel about people condemning birth control as they simultaneously decry the practice of abortion.
I’ll be voting for Obama in this upcoming election for various reasons. One noticeable attribute of his, but not the most important, is his demeanor to the present crises (economy, healthcare, national security). He appears calmed, reserved, and calculating. It’s superficial, but can be an influencing factor. McCain has shown himself to be snide, sarcastic, rude, and unhinged. On foreign policy matters, I admire Obama’s insistence that we need to start talking to those whom we deem are the enemy, as long as we’ve done our due diligence. Obama doesn’t want to halt spending on programs that actually make a difference, education and job related. In 2006, Obama gave a speech highlighting his commitment to keeping church and state separate, for the sake of democracy, but also for the sake of religion. To part company from Greg, I like his tax plan. Superficially, I think a flat tax rate might be the fairest. However, one has to consider that the wealthy can afford the accountants and tax specialists who manage to discover any loophole devised by our present tax system. The only burden they need to bear is what they pay those accountants. The poor and middle class don’t have that luxury. Big corporations don’t even need to worry because of the tax subsidies, or corporate welfare, their given. At the present moment, their seems to be socialism for the rich, where you “socialize risk and privatize gain,” to quote Robert Reich. This can be heavily attributed to Reagonomics, or best called “trickle down” economics. This is another matter of respectful disagreement that I have with Greg. In considering if Reagan was a great President, I would ask you to look at his economic policies, particularly the corporate welfare he fought for and won. Perhaps, we should ask a Nicaraguan if he thinks Reagan was a good President. That is a side matter, but it gives an idea of where I’m coming from.
Where I part company with Obama is on his support for subsidies going to farmers for ethanol production, his vote for the most recent FISA legislation, his support for ‘clean coal’ technology, and his hawkish stance to Iran and Pakistan. Don’t get me wrong, those countries scare me too, but hawkish rhetoric doesn’t work. In fact, it’s a valuable recruiting tool for those we are trying to fight.
So that’s my take. Love the topic and love the website.
Later.
I posted the last comment. Please disregard the numerous instances where I’ve mixed up ‘there,’ ‘their,’ and ‘they’re.’ My mistake.
No worries man. Thanks for your comment. I've added it to the comments section on Greg's blog, where quite a bit of discussion has been passed around on the topic: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=258754099&blogid=442528403&page=2
Glad you dig the site, thanks for your support!
Whoops, the url cut off, here it is again: http://tinyurl.com/gregpuciato