Obama's NOT Transparent

Obama seems to be acting like a soul brother to George Bush and Dick Cheney when it comes to government secrecy. IF A GOVERNMENT IS A DEMOCRACY THEN WHISTLE BLOWERS ARE PROTECTED AND REWARDED NOT IMPRISONED!!

We need a real progressive in the White House not someone using this as a cover up for the same old Bush/Cheney brand.

Hat Tip to Glenn Greenwald.

YOU TUBE BANS THIS VIDEO IN USA...

THE RAVEN - 720 HD from THE RAVEN FILM on Vimeo.

YOU TUBE CENSORED this video in the USA...Wake Up America!!

Bernie Sanders is Fighting for US!!

Let our VA Senators know we want the Grayson Paul Amendment.

Our Senators need to represent Main St. not Wall St.

Drill Baby Drill....NOT

A reminder of why the majority of Virginians OPPOSE oil drilling off of our coasts....yet the politicos are busy selling us out. Damn democracy....ignore the will of the people...they are gonna sell us out and drill baby drill...and the profits will not remain in Virginia.

Does this make us a third world colony of Big Oil now? Hmmm....

Still Eating Factory Farm Animals?

Did you know that--"In 2008, a shipment of US beef was rejected by Mexican inspectors because it tested above the Mexican tolerance level for copper in beef. The food was sold and consumed in the US, where no levels are set."

If you continue to eat meat you might want to pay more for the good local, grass raised meat and just eat less of it. Your body will thank you.

For more information...

John McCain incoherent ex-maverick

John McCain maybe "cuckoo" but he sure has the audacity to call out our current US policy as "INCOHERENT." I guess it takes one to know one. McCain's most recent blustering ramble about not being a maverick raises (or lowers?) the bar on what is coherent or not. Hat tip to the Huffington Post.

Inspiring Leaders of Tomorrow

We need more of this everywhere!

Caroline Herring Takes Critically Acclaimed Music on Tour

Popular international folk singer, Caroline Herring, has announced a spring and summer tour that begins in Texas, and winds through the Southland before a whirlwind tour of London, Paris and the Netherlands in late May and early June. Creative Loafing Magazine credits Herring with “almost single-handedly making folk music ‘cool’ again with her great lyrics, fine finger picking, and unique interpretations of popular tunes."

We have written about Caroline in this space in the past and want to support her summer tour and urge readers to get out and hear her if she is in their area. Caroline is a fierce advocate for human rights and her music reflects this commitment. She deserves our support, as do all artists who work for what is right in this world.

Herring emerged out of the Austin music community ten years ago, beguiling critics and accumulating an international following with her provocative outpourings about southern life and pathos. Her subject matter takes its inspiration from the complicated and controversial history of the rural American South. As a onetime folklore scholar Herring also draws on her knowledge of traditional music and culture as a way of presenting her unique interpretations.

“I’ve learned a lot from academics and all the artists I’ve worked with,” she says, “but I do try to write from my own experience, as a poet would approach her work, rather than as an academic. Though I admire all sorts of traditional art forms, I would never call myself a traditional artist.”

In April, Caroline Herring won the prestigious Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters award for the popular music composition and her fourth critically acclaimed album, Golden Apples of the Sun (Signature Sounds).

The critics love Herring, and the Boston Globe named Golden Apples of the Sun one of the top ten folk albums of 2009. Scott Alarik said, “Herring’s haunting, honey-husk voice seems to be singing only to you. Full of fresh turns, yet as knowable as your best friend’s smile.”

Caroline's song “The Dozens” was featured as part of the 11th Annual Oxford American Music Issue CD in December. Featured in the “Southern Masters” section, the Oxford American says Herring’s Golden Apples of the Sun “Is the album of a woman who has come into her powers as a singer-songwriter, claiming as her ground the territory where folk meets alt-country.”

The summer tour will wind up at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art on August 13 in New Orleans. Herring and fellow southern singer songwriters Claire Holley and Kate Campbell will reprise their critically acclaimed presentation, “A Celebration of Eudora.” The concept performance was conceived by the Eudora Welty Foundation and originally performed in Jackson, Mississippi in April of 2009 to mark the Pulitzer Prize winning author’s Centennial. Welty was a short story writer, photographer, and novelist credited for unique insights into Southern living, and traditions.

The New Orleans concert will coincide with an exhibit of Welty’s work and photography.

For more information on this and all other events, visit Caroline Herring’s website.





UPCOMING SHOWS:



Friday, April 16
All Good Cafe
Dallas, TX
8:00 PM
(214) 742-5362

Saturday, April 17
Anderson Fair
Houston, TX
9:00 PM
832-212-4057

Friday, April 23
Howard's
Greenwood, SC
8:00 PM

Saturday, April 24
East Cobb United Methodist Church
bobbonstein@bellsouth.net
Marietta, GA
8:00 PM

Saturday, May 22
Ivey House Concert Series
Fort Mill, SC
8:00 PM
704-877-9282


Sunday, May 23
Sundays on the Square
Roswell, GA

Wednesday, May 26
The Green Note
London, England

Thursday, May 27
La Pomme d'Eve
Paris, France

Friday, May 28
In the Woods
Lage Vuursche, Netherlands

Saturday, May 29
Naked Song Festival
Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Sunday, May 30
De Schalm
Westwoud, Netherlands

Tuesday, June 01
Folk in de Wâlden
Oentsjerk, Netherlands

Wednesday, June 02
Qbus
co-bill with David Olney
Leiden, Netherlands

Friday, June 11
Mountain Heritage Literary Festival
Lincoln Memorial University
Harrogate, TN
6:00 PM
606-344-0662

Saturday, June 12
The Melting Point
with Jim White
Athens, GA
8:00 PM

Saturday, August 07
Music at the Lakes Concert Series
Flat Rock, NC
7:00 PM

Friday, August 13
The Ogden Museum of Southern Art
CELEBRATING EUDORA with Claire Holley and Kate Campbell
New Orleans, LA
8:00 PM

Friday, Sept 1
San Angelo New Folk Series
San Angelo, TX
7:00 PM

Friday, Sept 17
Camp DeSoto - private event
Mentone, AL

Saturday, Sept 25
Jammin Java
Vienna, VA
7:00 PM

Saturday, October 16
Our Kind of Folk Music Series
Seminole, FL

What was promised....

Bob McDonnell promised to restore voting rights for nonviolent offenders who have served their time. (VA and KY are the only two states that do not restore voting rights when someone has paid their debt to society!)

However, what we got was another set of Jim Crow machinations. Hmmm....let's see 50% of the folks who do NOT have voting rights are African Americans.....Do we see a pattern of racism?

WAPO has the story.

A Brief History of Weed

For over seven decades the US has outlawed marijuana and been on a rampage with it's maniacal, expensive War on Drugs that gives us a Police State and places unnecessary limits on our personal freedom. We can't win this War on Drugs and it provides financing for criminals and so-called "terrorists."

Wouldn't we all be better off if we waged a War on Poverty? Isn't this the real War we should be fighting?

We should use our resources wisely.

I "realize" that the drug war is a big cash cow for certain bankers, various elements of the police state, and the C.I.A.....but aren't we tired of pouring money down a drain?

Think about it folks....Buzz....Buzz.....

Film Aid Changes Us

Using film for positive changes opens up our minds to new truths.