I woke up this morning and as I was waiting for the coffee to brew, I dialed up the Huffington Post and read the following headline:

Number of Americans lacking medical coverage now exceeds the population of Spain.

Ouch! How fucked up is that? It’s just so depressing. Why? How was it allowed to get this bad?

Yep, there are currently 59 million of us without healthcare here in thee greatest country on earth, whereas the EU insures 100% of its population, cradle to grave, by law, including dentistry! Every major industrialized economy in the world has universal health care… except for us. We’re the exception. I don’t think this is exactly the brand of “American exceptionalism” Sarah Palin is talking about all the time, but it’s sure the way it looks from where my ass is sitting.

What we’re getting in 2014—if the Republicans can’t repeal it in the meantime—is a step in the right direction, but it’s not great. What would have been great is a single payer system, but that would have also been too easy!

In Europe for their tax dollars, they get universal health coverage. We here in America get a bunch of weapons and give tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires who don’t need ‘em. Why? Because Fox News said we should. Let’s face the cold and clammy facts: we’re a country of idiots, run by a class of amoral scoundrels and criminals.

Why there isn’t rioting in the streets over the turn for the (much) worse the quality of life has taken in America is a mystery. How is it possible that it’s gotten this bad without major social unrest? Beats me.

And then to make me even more depwessed, I read this article, “America in Decline: Why Germans Think We’re Insane: A look at our empire in decline through the eyes of the European media.”

Der Spiegel has run an interesting feature called “A Superpower in Decline,” which attempts to explain to a German audience such odd phenomena as the rise of the Tea Party, without the hedging or attempts at “balance” found in mainstream U.S. media. On the Tea Parties:

Full of Hatred: “The Tea Party, that group of white, older voters who claim that they want their country back, is angry. Fox News host Glenn Beck, a recovering alcoholic who likens Obama to Adolf Hitler, is angry. Beck doesn’t quite know what he wants to be—maybe a politician, maybe president, maybe a preacher—and he doesn’t know what he wants to do, either, or least he hasn’t come up with any specific ideas or plans. But he is full of hatred.”

The piece continues with the sobering assessment that America’s actual unemployment rate isn’t really 10 percent, but close to 20 percent when we factor in the number of people who have stopped looking for work.

Sound like a country you know? The thing I keep obsessing over is “How much longer can the “smarts” and the “dumbs” co-exist in America?” We really don’t want the same things, you know? Sooner or later something’s got to give and it ain’t gonna be pretty.

Read more of America in Decline: Why Germans Think We’re Insane (Alternet)
 

 
Thank you Steven Otero!

Ear-bleeding, anti-music, anti-abortion song from the one and only Wlliam Tapley, “Third Eagle of the Apocalypse” and “Co-Prophet of the Endtimes.” I realize that linking to this shitty song by this nincompoop is a bit like saying “This smells like shit, here, smell it,” but there it is. Waiting for you. To hit play.

 

Rock snobs, your Christmas present came a few days late, but it did arrive. Have a listen to the perfection that is the multi-tracks for Dead Kennedys’ second single, “Holiday in Cambodia.”

Jello Biafra’s genius as a punk rock vocalist has almost never been displayed better than it is right here. Revel in his voice’s snotty, sneering, naked glory (The satirical lyrics have been slightly sanitized here, probably for the better)
 

 
Simply one of the greatest guitar performances of all time, courtesy of East Bay Ray. It’s merciless

 

 
Klaus Fluoride and “Ted” (Bruce Slesinger) on bass and drums. What a crack rhythm section. Jesus, these guys were tight!

 
Killer live performance of “Holiday in Cambodia,” Don’t listen to this song behind the wheel of a car. Nothing good could come of it!

 

Via Studio Multitracks

 
The Beyond Within is a well-balanced two part documentary on LSD featuring Albert Hoffman, Ken Kesey and British politician Christopher Mayhew.

While the entire documentary is filled with absorbing insights, The Mayhew segment is particularly fascinating.

Media and public interest in LSD reached a point in the early 60’s that a politician by the name of Christopher Mayhew agreed to undergo an experiment, and for this experiment to be filmed by the BBC. This fascinating experiment involved his taking a dose of Mescalin in the company of a physician, and answering certain basic brainteasers over the course of his little trip. The footage of his experience is extraordinary, as this eloquent upper-class aristocrat describes what he is experiencing under the influence of the drug, his eyes wide as saucers. Indeed, the footage proved too controversial for the BBC at the time, and was not shown until this Everyman documentary broadcast it in the 1980’s. Interestingly, Mayhew, who in 1986 was a member of the House of Lords, watches the footage, 30 years later, and stands by his description of the experience. “I had an experience in time” he says, and his conviction is apparent.”

There has been a recent resurgence of interest in psychedelics within the psychiatric and scientific community and I personally think it’s about time. The benefits of psychoactive drugs, DMT and LSD in particular, far outweigh the hazards. It’s time to make pharmaceutical quality LSD available to adults who want an alternative path to mental well-being and spiritual insight. We need to re-approach this extraordinary chemical without hysteria and hype.

Made in 1986 for BBC television, The Beyond Within explores the rise and fall of LSD.  Here it is in its entirety.
 

 
The author Evelyn Waugh once described New Year’s Eve as ‘‘drunk men being sick on a pavement in Glasgow,” which is probably true, for part of the great Scottish tradition of Hogmanay is to get drunk, though being sick is non-obligatory. Amongst the fine selection of alcohol chosen by Scots to celebrate the arrival of 2011 (especially for Glaswegians, or Weedgees), is a tipple made by Benedictine monks at Buckfast Abbey in Devon.

Buckfast is a fortified wine first produced by the monks in 1890 from a French recipe. It was first sold in small quantities as a medicinal tonic under the advertising slogan:

“Three small glasses a day, for good health and lively blood.”

In 1927, the monks lost their license to sell this medicinal plonk, so the Abbot negotiated a deal with a wine merchant to distribute their booze the length and breadth of the United Kingdom. Its recipe was changed to make it more palatable, and Buckfast, or Buckie as it is known colloquially, became the drink of choice amongst the working class, low-rent bohemians, NEDs (non-educated delinquents) and soccer fans.

Buckie is cheap, potent and effective for inebriation. It is also sweet-tasting and is highly caffeinated - one bottle contains the equivalent to eight cups of instant coffee. Recently, various politicians have called for a ban on Buckfast in Scotland, as it was claimed the “Commotion Lotion” has been responsible for anti-social behavior, as the New York Times reported:

..a survey last year of 172 prisoners at a young offenders’ institution, 43 percent of the 117 people who drank alcohol before committing their crimes said they had drunk Buckfast. In a study of litter in a typical housing project, 35 percent of the items identified were Buckfast bottles.

A BBC TV investigation into Police figures revealed:

...the drink was mentioned in 5,638 crime reports in Strathclyde from 2006-2009, equating to three a day on average.

One in 10 of those offences were violent and the bottle was used as a weapon 114 times in that period.

Against this goes the argument from the wine merchants, who say Buckfast is but one of many alcoholic drinks available, of which Buckie represents only 0.58% of total alcohol sales - which is, to be fair, but a piss in the Ocean.

Back in the early 1990s, writer and broadcaster Stuart Cosgrove produced an excellent arts magazine series for Channel 4, called Halfway to Paradise. It was launching pad for many talents including Hollywood director, Jim Gillespie and producer, Nicola Black. In this short clip, Cosgrove examines the history of the famed drink and its culture. Since then, and with the advent of YouTube and camera ‘phones, fans of Buckfast have developed a new trend - the Buckfast Challenge, where devotees to the “Coatbridge Table Wine” down a bottle in seconds. The record, for those interested, is seven seconds. Happy Hogmanay.
 

 
Buckfast drunk in seven seconds, after the jump…
 

 
This is better than The Who and Springsteen’s Superbowl half-time shows combined!

“By using long poles and four adult-sized puppets—with himself in the middle – Christopher is able to be all five Village People at one time.”
 

 
Via

 
Strangely mesmerizing Bay Area space-rock combo, Lumerians, will be the opening act for the Butthole Surfers shows in Brooklyn this week (12/30 and 12/31) at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Lumerians’ debut full-length, Transmalinnia, is due in March on Knitting Factory Records. In the clip below, they perform “Black Tusk” on cable access.
 

 
Via Brooklyn Vegan

 
Well, here’s something you don’t see everyday…a Papoose Board! From Olympic Medical:

Olympic Papoose Boards solve the frustrating problem of temporarily restraining injured, frightened children (also teenagers and adults) for medical or dental treatment. A struggling, frantic child can be completely immobilized in less than 60 seconds on a Papoose Board. Then, while the patient is securely and safely held, the physician can expose any part of the child’s body for examination or treatment.

 
A selection of Amy Winehouse’s teenage lyrics and a “to-do-list” has been found in a “stash of dumped school books,” Britain’s Sun reports:

They also include diary entries the Rehab singer made when 17 in 2001, the year before she landed a recording contract.

In one Amy, who has fought cocaine and booze addiction, urges herself to “live like the bombshell I really am”.

In another she tells of her lust for a fella named Felix and writes: “There’s too much sexual tension.”

Amy, now 27, scrawled lyrics amid course work for an English Literature A-level. She wrote “Amy’s Songs” on the front of a red notebook.

Lines include: “I’m digging myself into a hole/These days I’ll just work when once I had so much soul.”

Another verse starts: “Drain my drink & order more.” And a third - “Find someone with whom I can come undone” - predicted her future with junkie BLAKE FIELDER-CIVIL.

The books were found in rubbish on a North London street.

Amy’s to-do-list includes: buy a flat, buy a car, buy a sunbed, get a gym membership - all of which pales into insignificance when compared to what Amy eventually did do.

Full pics and story here.
 
Amy’s youthful longing.
 

 
The shape of things to come?
 

 
Via The Sun
 

 
Although I found this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special to be a little disappointing and confusing, I’m really digging this 12-piece handmade nesting doll set by Molly23. Want.

(via TDW)