I was just forwarded a press release that outlines one of the best media pranks I’ve ever seen :

8/26/03

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEGATIVLAND PRANKS CLEAR CHANNEL,FORCES RADIO FORMAT CHANGE

An online media prank has changed the programming of a major market Clear Channel FM radio station.

Seattle’s KJR-FM, a Clear Channel radio affiliate, quickly and quietly altered its playlist, following an amusing online tirade accusing the station and its Program Director of “false advertising.”

Negativland, known for their media-critiquing music collage and culture jamming hoaxes and pranks, outed KJR-FM on charges that it played at least 114 different songs from the early to mid-1980’s, despite marketing themselves as being a “Just the Greatest Hits of the ’60’s and ’70’s” radio station. Negativland members noticed that it was virtually impossible to listen for even a short period of time without hearing hits from such quintessential 80’s artists as Huey Lewis and the News, Air Supply, Men at Work, Cyndi Lauper, and many others. KJR recently pushed the envelope further by adding “Kokomo,” a 1988 hit by The Beach Boys.

In a moment of maniacal inspiration, Negativland decided to point out this ridiculous deception by sabotaging the public’s perception of the station. The group created an online rebuffing of Clear Channel, KJR-FM, and KJR Program Director Bob Case, in a tabloid-style internet magazine parody, complete with damning evidence and scathing audio commentary. Disguised as the abrasive, misguided and over-the-top outlaw media journalist “Jack Diekobiscz”, Negativland cited Clear Channel’s contempt for its listeners and willingness to lie and re-write music history for profit. Negativland claims their stunt was an obtuse and funny way to draw attention to Clear Channel’s much-criticized involvement in the general dumbing-down and homogenization of radio as the company, with the blessings of the FCC, continues to gobble up station after station across the USA.
. . .
Negativland’s dubious association with KJR and Clear Channel is nothing new. One year ago, Negativland was invited to contribute audio material to a massive microradio invasion of the Seattle airwaves as part of “Reclaim The Media,” an event sponsored by the Seattle Indy Media Center that was scheduled to take place at the 2002 National Association of Broadcasters Convention being held at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Downtown Seattle. Rather than composing a predictable narrative criticism of Clear Channel, Negativland decided to strike out with a more engaging approach that would hit local radio listeners where they lived. The strange absurdity of a Clear Channel station that refused to stay true to its own heavily marketed identity seemed an obvious way to showcase the company’s attitude toward its listeners.

Utilizing KJR’s own canned liners and jingles, Negativland produced a convincing 24-minute recording that simulated a telescoped version of KJR’s format. Host “Jack Diekobiscz” ranted against Clear Channel and named KJR’s program director, Bob Case as responsible for the misrepresentation, as he played one 1980’s hit from KJR’s playlist after another. For the duration of the NAB convention, six pirate microradio stations across the FM dial streamed anti-Clear Channel programming, including repeated performances of the Negativland/Diekobiscz show, sometimes playing in a 24-minute loop for seven hours at a time. Despite some bad publicity and a flurry of e-mails, Clear Channel and Bob Case refused to remove the songs from their playlist until hit with the events of last week.

I’ve noticed this quite a bit myself. I remember a few years ago the oldies station I listened to started sneaking 80’s songs into their format. The last time I tuned in, almost a third of the songs they played were from the 80’s, but they hadn’t changed the format. Where I was just annoyed by the whole thing, the guys in Negativland seem really pissed (You can listen to the full 24 minute loop that they played during the broadcasters convention by clicking here.) The press release also pointed out that there are better reasons (ie. media monopolization & payola) to hate Clear Channel, than obnoxious playlists, but this is pretty damn funny.

This is a really, really bad sign of things to come :

Car bombs exploded at a crowded jewelry market and a historic landmark in Bombay on Monday, killing at least 44 people, wounding 150 others and shaking buildings in India’s financial capital.

The bombs, hidden in the trunks of two taxis, blew up within five minutes of each other, police said. Several people were being interrogated, including one taxi driver.

Police were focusing their investigation on Muslim militant groups.

“There are many jehadi groups out, let loose by the enemy country,” said Ranjit Sharma, a police commissioner. Jehadi groups are operated by Islamic militants.

The “enemy country” was a clear reference to Pakistan, India’s longtime rival. Such an accusation could threaten to increase tension between the nuclear-armed neighbors, though Pakistani officials quickly denounced the attack as “wanton targeting of civilians.”

The hatred between India and Pakistan is every bit as intense as the tension between Israel and Palestine, except in this case, both sides have nuclear weapons. What’s so sad about all this is that it’s all about some religious nonsense :

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the lunchtime bombings, which came hours after the release of a long-anticipated archaeological report on a religious site in northern India claimed by both Hindus and Muslims. The dispute has been linked to previous bombings.
. . .
Police say those bombings were in retaliation for the 1992 destruction by Hindus mobs of the 16th-century Ayodhya mosque, and to avenge Muslim deaths in riots that followed. A bloody attack on Hindus who want to build a temple at the site of the destroyed mosque set off revenge rioting in western Gujarat state that killed more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, in early 2002.

Some Hindus claim the mosque was built centuries ago on the ruins of a Hindu temple that marked the birthplace of their supreme god, Rama.

The report, issued by the government archaeological agency, indicated there had been some sort of ancient structure at the site, lawyers for both sides said, though they disagreed on whether it said there had actually been a temple.

Is something as silly as religion really worth killing for? Just imagine how many millions of lives would be saved of everyone just gave up their territorial and xenophobic superstitions and started playing nice. America’s recent turn toward religious fundamentalism makes me wonder how long it will be before our citizens start blowing themselves up for God.

Before you get too depressed about the state of the world, here’s some pictures of an all-dwarf Kiss tribute band to cheer you up :

I’ve found myself spending a lot of time on George Bush’s new site lately. Among my favorite finds is this quote on his downloadable wallpaper :

“When government and landowners and conservationists and others work together, we can make dramatic progress in preserving the beauty and the quality of our environment.”

-President George W. Bush

In his entire career in public office (as short as it is), was that honestly the best quote they could find? It reminds me of all his responses to the “What’s your plan for ___?” questions during the 2000 debates that were pretty much like this :

“It’s a complicated issue, ______. We need to get beyond the rhetoric and get some real work done. They’ve had eight years to fix _____ and it’s still not working. When I’m president, I’m going to get all the best minds in a room together and we’ll come up with a plan to get some work….uh….get….get some answers for the American people. We’re going to come up with a plan, we’ll formulate it, and then we’ll execute it.”

After three years of being president, he should have a better environmental plan than “we’ll come up with a good plan”.

I bet there’s going to be a line of people waiting to dance on this guy’s grave :

John J. Geoghan, the former priest and convicted child molester killed in a Massachusetts prison Saturday, was followed into his cell just after lunch by a fellow inmate who bound and gagged him before strangling him with a bed sheet, according to a union representative for prison guards.

The attacker, whom authorities identified as Joseph L. Druce, jammed the electronically operated cell door to prevent guards from opening it. He tied Geoghan’s hands behind his back with a sheet and gagged him. He then repeatedly jumped from the bed in the cell onto Geoghan’s motionless body and beat the defrocked priest with his fists.

I don’t like the idea of celebrating anyone’s death, but considering that this guy raped one hundred and fifty kids, it’s hard to not think that he deserved this. In a perfect world, this asshole wouldn’t have been allowed to have a second victim, but I guess this is what you get with a combination of children too scared to come forward and a priesthood that likes to protect its own. I just don’t know why every Catholic official that helped cover this stuff up wasn’t sitting in jail with him. If this were a bank robbery, would they be letting all the getaway drivers off this easily?

There’s been a lot of chatter about how low property taxes are in California. How low are they? Here’s an example from Warren Buffet (via Uggabugga) :

Billionaire financier Warren Buffett, an adviser to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s campaign for California governor, suggested in an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Friday that the state’s property taxes should be higher.

But he used his own properties to illustrate an example.

Buffett’s home in Omaha, Nebraska is valued at about $500,000, and recent yearly property tax on the home totaled $14,401, he said in the report.

He paid $2,264 in annual property taxes on his $4 million home in Laguna Beach, California — about 16 percent of the tax he paid Nebraska for a much cheaper property.

Buffett said in the interview that taxes on his Nebraska home grew by $1,920 this year, while those on the California home rose by only $23, thanks to limitations on increases in property tax established by Proposition 13.

For those of you who don’t want to do the math, Uggabugga’s provided that as well :

Property tax in Nebraska: 2.88 %
Property tax in California: 0.05 %

With property values as high as they are in California, raising the property tax could probably bring in billions. Of course there’s an argument to be made that Prop. 13’s low tax rates have led to an artificial inflation of those property values. I dunno if it’s a bubble waiting to burst or not, but it’s clear that the minuscule property tax is in need of some sort of “correction”.

Hey, Earth Liberation Front. Way to make your enemies look sensible. Morons.

Public officials, firefighters and Hummer fans rallied outside an auto dealership to denounce the unidentified vandals who did $1 million in damage as an environmental protest.

“We don’t disagree with the need to improve fuel efficiency,” said West Covina City Councilman Mike Miller. “But vandalism doesn’t get the message across.”

About 25 members of a Southern California Hummer fan club joined officials outside Clippinger Chevrolet for Sunday’s rally. They toured the area where fires early Friday gutted a parts warehouse and destroyed 20 Hummer H2s. Another 20 Hummers and several Chevrolet Tahoes were significantly damaged by fire and spray-painting.

I hate Hummers. They pollute more than just about anything else on the road and their hulking presence makes driving less safe those of us who don’t want to drive a tank. Driving a Hummer is one of the most selfish decisions a driver can make.

But there’s good ways and bad ways to get attention for your cause. Writing letters to the editor and your congressmen? Good way. Handing out flyers in front of car dealerships? Good way. Setting a bunch of stuff on fire? Bad way. (By the way, a burning car dealership creates a lot of air pollution)

If the retards at ELF were smart, they’d concentrate all their protests around Arnold Schwarzenegger’s gubernatorial campaign. He owns five of the damned things and he’s on the news 24-7. If they followed him everywhere, they could get some pretty good air time and could avoid being called “terrorists”.

Peace protesters are looking to take their activism to the President’s back yard :

President Bush is not the only show in this sleepy town any more.

A few months ago, a Dallas peace activist bought a house near the Bush’s ranch so that hundreds of demonstrators trekking into Crawford have a place to gather and voice their dissent of the Iraq war and other issues. They speak words that some residents here could do without hearing.

“We wanted to have a place to speak our truth from,” said John Wolf, who paid the down payment on the $54,000 house with proceeds from the sale of $1 buttons at peace rallies. “The idea is to provide a voice for those truly affected by the administration’s policies.”

Am I the only one who’s pissed that our president spends so much time on vacation that the protesters had to buy a house near him?? As far as I know, no other presidents have spent as much time off as Bush Jr. It’s not like the presidency is a permanent position. It’s not too much to ask for the president to spend 4 or 8 years without taking a month-long vacation. Most Americans work their whole adult lives without the luxury of taking a month off. Bush does it every year. For a guy who’s so proud of “hitting the trifecta”, you’d think he’d realize that now isn’t the best time to chill out at the ranch.

I just got back from the Sunset Junction Street Fair, and the local Howard Dean supporters were handing out burned CDs full of Howard Dean speeches and interviews. I haven’t listened to the CD yet, but I’m pretty impressed with their dedication. Even more telling was the fact that no other presidential or gubernatorial candidates had booths (that is, unless you count Gray Davis’s “please don’t fire me” booth). Someone needs to tell the rest of the Dems that it takes a lot more than setting up a Blog*Spot account for your press secretary to start a grassroots movement.

When given the choice between upholding the constitution or upholding his personal beliefs, Judge Roy Moore chooses the latter. Now he’s gonna get in trouble for it :

Chief Justice Roy Moore was suspended by a judicial ethics panel Friday for his refusal to obey a federal court order to remove his Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama Judicial Building rotunda.

Moore was automatically suspended with pay when the nine-member Judicial Inquiry Commission referred the ethics complaint against Moore to the Court of the Judiciary, which holds trial-like proceedings and can discipline and remove judges.

As Jack Chick would say, “Haw, Haw!” If a judge refuses to uphold the law, then he has no business being a judge. Period.

In other news, a federal judge has put Faux News in its place (emphasis added) :

A federal judge on Friday denied Fox News Channel’s request for an injunction to block liberal humorist Al Franken’s new book, whose title mocks the Fox slogan “fair and balanced.” U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said

Fox’s claim was “wholly without merit, both factually and legally.” The network had argued Franken’s book — “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right” — could trick some consumers into believing the book is associated with Fox.
. . .
“In addition to thanking my own lawyers,” Franken said, “I’d like to thank Fox’s lawyers for filing one of the stupidest briefs I’ve ever seen in my life.” On Friday, the book was listed at No. 2 on Amazon.com’s bestseller list, behind “The South Beach Diet.”

The rsulting publicity has not only shot Franken’s book to the top of the bestseller lists, but it’s also prompted the publisher to release the book a month early. You can get the book now by clicking here.

The music world lost one of its most unique voices yesterday :

We are deeply saddened to report that Wesley Willis passed away yesterday, Thursday, August 21st. Wesley will be greatly missed by all that had the privilege to know him, as well as the fans who have been fortunate enough to experience his genius.

Wesley was diagnosed with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) at the end of 2002, and had to undergo emergency surgery on June 2nd to identify the source of, and to suppress internal bleeding. It is not clear if this bleeding was related to his leukemia or not, and the exact cause of death is still unknown. Wesley had been recovering at a Hospice in Illinois, and since the surgery his health had deteriorated rapidly.

His songs were simultaneously disturbing, hilarious, blunt, and intoxicating. Wesley’s sheer excitement and unaffected honesty about every cultural phenomenon, defined his music as truly individual, and truly punk rock.

There’s also a great tribute to Wesley by Jello Biafra here. For those of you not familiar with Wesley Willis, click here to check out some sound clips. I promise you’ll laugh your ass off. For those of you who are already fans, I strongly recommend the excellent documentary Wesley Willis - The Daddy of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Rock over London, Rock on Chicago…