general

Speaking of bailouts, this little AP item may have been eclipsed by recent financial news:

House clears huge defense bill, sends it to Senate

By LAURIE KELLMAN – September 24, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bowing to President Bush's demands, the House passed a mammoth package for the Pentagon on Wednesday that contains a pay raise for troops, billions of dollars for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — and some political protection for lawmakers during a tense election season.

The 392-39 vote sent the $612 billion defense authorization bill to the Senate, which was expected to clear it this week.

To earn President Bush's signature rather than a veto, House and Senate negotiators dropped several provisions he opposed. They include a ban on private interrogators in U.S. military detention facilities and what would have amounted to congressional veto power over a security pact with Iraq.

Why any congressman at this point is "bowing to Bush's demands" is a mystery. It's frightening that the US's empire costs in a year equal the amount of a supposed one-time financier bailout. Expect worse under McCain and no change under Obama, who told maniac Bill O'Reilly that he "absolutely" believes there is a war against a noun ("terror").

David Galbraith - "Lines in Two Directions (Once More and Again, with Feeling)" Soundmuseum.fm (Click "depot" and pray.)

The essence of analog, very warm and sensuous abstract electronic music in a Subotnickian vein. Galbraith has performed with the Experimental Makeup duo (with Michael Mahalchick) and in the Analogos series at Diapason.

Had a hard time finding the tune at soundmuseum. It didn't come up with the search function. Eventually I found the little billiard ball icon in the "Electronic" field and dragged it into the play bar. (These icons change every time the page loads.) Really wish organizations wouldn't use Flash bells and whistles. A simple html list would work fine (but then you could easily save the mp3 and they seem keen to prevent that).

Still, looking forward to checking out the site's other offerings. Work by Hakan Libdo, Tom Fruchtl, etc.

Crisis or no crisis:

Mr. Gross, a lanky 64-year-old who practices yoga and who sometimes speaks so softly that co-workers lean toward him, as if on an E. F. Hutton commercial, drifts around the room, an unknotted pale blue Hermès tie draped around his neck like a scarf, his gray and brown hair extending down over his ears, a style reminiscent more of the 1970s than today.

Calculated Risk

The Big Picture

echoing the "saving child with vortex," here is the "untempted hipster child assailed by large hands" (hat tip js)