Earth Night

Filed under: Uncategorized

Kent Kresa and the Carlyle Group

General Motors (GM) has appointed Kent Kresa, senior adviser of the Carlyle Group as its interim CEO.

From the Caryle Group’s website:

Mr. Kresa was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Northrop Grumman Corporation from September 1990 until October 2003. He served as Chief Executive Officer from January 1990 until March 2003, and President from 1987 until September 2001. In 1982 he was appointed Group Vice President of the company’s Aircraft Group and in 1986 was named Senior Vice President-Technology Development and Planning. Mr. Kresa joined Northrop Grumman in 1975 as Vice President and Manager of the company’s Research and Technology Center, developing new proprietary processes and products for the company. From 1976-82 he served as Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the Ventura Division, a leader in the production of unmanned aeronautical vehicles.

Before joining Northrop Grumman, Mr. Kresa served with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, where he was responsible for broad, applied research and development programs in the tactical and strategic defense arena. From 1961-68 he was associated with the Lincoln Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), where he worked on ballistic missile defense research and reentry technology.

After forcing the resignation of the former Chairman President Barack Obama said, “The United States government has no interest in running GM. We have no intention of running GM.”

But who runs the United States Government?  The Carlyle Group?

Filed under: Atrocities, Dolores Umbridge, Facade, Ministry of Magic, News, carlyle group, DARPA, defense, GM, kent kresa, military, obama, war

Summary of H.R. 1207 – the Federal Reserve Transparency Act

If any are canvassing this weekend and would like to distribute some literature to New York state constituents regarding a very significant bill, here is something to take with.  You can download the PDF below and print them if you wish.  Thank you and I posted a new movie about this project on the last post titled “Protecting Your Lifestyle”.

Summary of H.R. 1207: The Federal Reserve Transparency Act

Compiled by Defense Against the Dark Arts (DATDA)

Saratoga Springs, New York – U.S.A

The Federal Reserve refuses to provide a public accounting of trillions of taxpayer-backed loans that were issued during the financial crisis. In November 2008, the Federal Reserve refused a request by Bloomberg News to disclose the recipients of more than $2 trillion of emergency loans from U.S. taxpayers and the assets the central bank is accepting as collateral. A bill – H.R. 1207 – is now being proposed in Congress to conduct an audit on the Fed in order to determine the whereabouts of these loans and assets and to prevent future generations from believing that this system is viable.

The state of New York is a central player in the financial system of the United States. Many still remember when the sheriff of Wall Street, former governor Elliot Spitzer, was outed for participation in a prostitution ring in the beginning of 2008. It was hardly mentioned in the media, however, that just weeks before Spitzer had written an Op-Ed in the Washington Post accusing specific members of the Bush Administration and their colleagues of allowing the sub-prime mortgage crisis to worsen while profiting off of the misfortune of many American citizens.  Now former president of the NYS Federal Reserve, Timothy Geithner, is serving as Treasury Secretary under the Obama administration – and Geithner is working hard with Chairman of the Fed, Ben Bernanke, to keep the ball of “money as debt” in play.

The 20^th Congressional District of New York is now facing an upcoming election to replace Kirsten Gillibrand’s seat in the house. Whether or not Scott Murphy is the “Wall Street insider” that Tedisco claims him to be, or if Tedisco truly doesn’t support the “creation of 76,000 upstate jobs” – voters of New York are currently in a prime position to make sure both of these candidates (and perhaps the entire nation) are aware of H.R. 1207 and the consolidation of wealth that has occurred in the past year as a result of letting the Federal Reserve oversee the bailout operations.

Getting somebody onto Capital Hill is perhaps only temporal. Shedding light on the hoax of centralized banking could change history forever. Visit http://datda.wordpress.com for more information.

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”

-Thomas Jefferson

Summary of H.R. 1207 – Federal Reserve Transparency Act (PDF)

Filed under: Atrocities, Dolores Umbridge, Ideas, Ignored, Ministry of Magic, News, bailout, barack obama, congress, dennis kucinich, federal reserve, fractional-reserve, h.r. 1207, hr1207, jim tedisco, nys, ron paul, scam, scott murphy, stimulus, timothy geithner, transparency

Protecting Your Lifestyle

If you read the rather controversial article posted in this week Skidnews and are now visiting to find out more information, first of all I thank you.  If you have 8 minutes, I made a new movie today.

It is my understanding that this is one of the most significant challenges any of us face in our lifetime, and we are entirely unprepared to adequetly protect ourselves from the actions that are being taken by large scale government and private institutions.  While the Barack Obama presidency is perhaps a sign of America’ willingness to change, it is of the utmost importance to not sit back and wait for Barack to save things because as of now – he is only letting them get worse.

The President is the Executive of the nation, but many other players are involved – especially in this stage of the game.  America operates on a system that was enacted upon the initiation of the Federal Reserve Bank that renders money and debt inextricable entities from one another.  What that means is that America does not pay back debt, but it continues to borrow more and more money.

Growing up, I always felt America was the most powerful nation in the world, but I now realize it is not because we are producing a tremendous amount of goods and services  – the corner stones of a domestic economy.  Rather,  it is because we create capital out of thin air through institutions like the Federal Reserve and bet on it like horce racing while playing golf, tennis, and drinking champagne.

The past year has been a wild ride, and most of it has been covered up.  Thanks to the Internet, conscious citizens have been able to share information with each other around the globe that is helping piece together the pieces of this puzzle that are being deliberately hidden or thrown away.  On the DatdaTV will be an assortment of videos to help you understand this, and on the Delicious feed will be a plethora of articles from around the web.

For any who plan on canvassing for Scott Murphy, I think this is a wonderful opportunity to try and flex your political muscles in an unconventional way.  I have compiled a hand out, which in conjunction with the video, should give you the ammo to properly articulate this situation regarding the Federal Reserve and Rep. Ron Paul’s motion to conduct on audit on the Fed.

It will also be a way for you to actually connect with your fellow people out there who are legitimately scared about the state of our nation.  This is something they can actively participate in, and if we gather enough support both offline and on, I am very optimistic about the possibilities.

But it should be noted that this could very well be an apocalyptic scenario…but apocalypse simply means unveiling.

Lastly, DATDA is entering the Facebook world as a Public Figure, so please look it up and become a fan if you are interested and would like regular updates.  We have an awesome event coming up on the 15th of April you won’t want to miss, and more information can be found at our Facebook page.

Thank you for your time

Filed under: Atrocities, Education, Ministry of Magic, News, 20th district, bailout, ben bernake, congress, economy, election, federal reserve, new york, ron paul, senate

This Binary Universe

This week feel free to download one of the most spectacular classical/electronica albums to date that was actually mixed by two Skidmore graduates: BT’s This Binary Universe.  Other news, just want to apologize for the lack of updates recently.  It’s an incredibly busy time schoolwise, but always be sure to check out what’s already here.  On DatdaTV there is somewhere around 50+ videos, and on the write are two long articles that are full of wild-eyed content.

Study hard, be good…spring is on its way.

01 All that Makes Us Human Continues

02 Dynamic Symmetry

03 The Internal Locus

04 1.618

05 See You On the Other Side

06 The Antikythera Mechanism

07 Good Morning Kaia

PS…be sure to check out skidmore’s newest creation, The Zine, sprinkled all over campus

Filed under: Music, News, BT, Music, spring, this binary universe

Younger Brother Records 3rd Album and new Box Playlist

LJT Bukem – Journey Inwards

Ratatat – Montanita

Iron & Wine – Pagan Angel andthe Borrowed Car

Trentemoller – Take Me Into Your Skin

Luke Barthelemeow – Cracks in the Fabric of the Known

Shulman – NN3

John Scofield – Georgia on My Mind

Ott – A Shower of Sparks

Cheers…everyday is the right day

Filed under: Music, News, Music, Simon Posford, Younger Brother

The role of a news organization…

I learned a powerful lesson this week, that media organizations, even ones at Liberal Arts Colleges, still retain some sort of agenda.  For this exact reason, last fall I thought about creating an Open-Source news network, much like WikiNews or Current for the Skidmore Campus, but I decided instead to start writing for SkidNews, and maintain Datda on the side.

So, just for the record, the article published this week by SkidNews titled “The Role of Faith at Skidmore” is not the original article.  Here is the original, and next week will feature part II.

Nurturing the Spirit Part I

I went to an Episcopalian school most of my life founded by nuns in the early 1900′s for kids with disabilities, most of which had polio. My dad grew up in the mountains of Japan learning about Shintoism and Buddhism, while my mom, who is only thirteen days younger, grew up in Denver learning about the predominantly Latino streets, alcoholic adults, and living with polio. I started smoking weed in high school and it was the tonic that helped me fall in love with music and and the immense pleasure of just soaking in the outdoors. My one cousin in the world is a veteran and ex-cop missing a leg who tokes an awesome amount of medical marijuana out in California. My mom helped raise my cousin, and now she and her nephew share something in common because if she wanted, she too could get a medical marijuana prescription to help cope with what is now her post-polio syndrome. I came here to play lacrosse, now practice yoga everyday, like to hula hoop, and have only been to church four times in my life. Indigenous “religions”, particularly those with active shamanic rituals and ceremonies, fascinate me beyond anything else…and for some reason I saw a Colorado band called The String Cheese Incident (SCI) play forty times before they called it quits.

I think what could perhaps be called my first “spiritual” experience was in the Ken Caryl Valley of Colorado, just thirty minutes west of Denver. I was fifteen and we were smoking, listening to SCI’s “Little Hands”, and suddenly this amalgamation of hand drums, harmonized vocals, acoustic guitar, violin, electric mandolin and piano became the invisible architecture of the beautiful landscape I was witnessing through the car’s windows; winding roads, giant red monoliths, green hills, blue skies, and fluffy white clouds. It was at this point that I thought perhaps humans are incredibly special because creativity allows us to sprout our own beautiful flowers from the lands that we know and love; flowers to cherish and to hold for all of eternity.

Five years later on August 12, 2007, as SCI left the stage perhaps for the last time, a new moon meteor shower streaked across the Colorado sky. A friend suggested we take a ride out to this park to catch a better look, and I happily agreed, offering to drive. As I drove somewhat mindlessly, thinking about the past five years, just trusting my co-pilots directions, “Little Hands” suddenly came on from a mix CD and through our stereo. “Shit…are we in Ken Caryl?” I asked. We pulled into a parking lot and without doubt, it was the exact same place I had been five years before, and I had not been back in all that time. Two other SCI songs then came to mind: “Round the Wheel” and “Way Back Home.”

I bring this up because my story is only one little snapshot in the vast mosaic of incredibly diverse and dynamic religious, spiritual lives here on campus, but as Skidmore seeks to fill a new position the administration is calling the Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life, there is minimal campus-wide interest. In attendance at Rev. Dr. Andrea Ayvazian’s talk titled “Nurturing the Spirit at Skidmore” on January 26^th were about two handfuls of students and a pocketful of faculty members. Rev. Dr. Andrea is an ordained minister, the former Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life at Mt. Holyoke College and close friend of our new Dean of Student Affairs, Rochelle Calhoun. As we learned at her talk, Rev. Dr. Andrea played a critical role in Mt. Holyoke’s spiritual metamorphosis which resulted in something in which the Skidmore Community would undoubtedly be interested in.

As she described it, Mt. Holyoke is a predominantly Christian institution, but through the course of her work there, they managed to transform the office of Religious and Spiritual Life into a central hub for all faiths and beliefs. The result was a system in which Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and even Pagans were each allowed three representatives who worked closely with the office of Religious and Spiritual Life, regardless of their denomination’s population. Additionally, they renovated a small chapel that sits beside a much larger one into a collective spiritual space in which each faction was allocated an area within the chapel to designate as sacred. While we did not get to see any photographs of this, the idea I think resonated with many of us in attendance.

Given the amount of intellectual, artistic, and physical creation that regularly occurs on this campus, I wondered why this was not of interest to the larger Skidmore community. Is it because the larger student, faculty and staff population engage in a more “self-organized” type of religious or spiritual activity? Or is it because Skidmore has little “faith”? And if it is because we have little “faith”, I guess the next question would be, well what is “faith” and what purpose does it serve?

The next meeting regarding “Nurturing the Spirit” at Skidmore will take place on February 11 from 5:00 too 6:00 PM in the Inter-Cultural Center.

Filed under: Atrocities, Dolores Umbridge, Ignored, Ministry of Magic, News, Op-Ed

After a few more steps…

More to come soon

Filed under: Ideas, News

Superbowl Sunday

Greetings everybody – just wanted to wish everybody a fantastic Sunday for both those watching and smoking the Superbowl today.  Just wanted to let you know that the Box is up and running and features the recently reviewed album ‘The Last Days of Gravity’ in its entirety, 2 tracks (Shock Doctrine + Baraka) from Sts9′s very memorable 2008 Red Rocks run, as well as one track from Telefon Tel Aviv who recently experienced the death of one of its two members, Charlie Cooper.  The Order of the Phoenix thanks Charlie Cooper for helping bring so many never-before-heard sounds to us while he was here, and our hearts go out to his friends and family.

This week’s playlist is as follows:

00 Fahrenheit Fair Enough (Telefon Tel Aviv)

01 Happy Pills (Younger Brother)

02 All I Want (Younger Brother)

03 Elephant Machine (Younger Brother)

04 Your Friends Are Scary (Younger Brother)

05 I Am a Freak (Younger Brother)

06 Ribbon on a Branch (Younger Brother)

07 Sleepwalker Part I (Younger Brother)

08 Sleepwalker Part II (Younger Brother)

09 Psychic Gibbon (Younger Brother)

10 Shock Doctrine (STS9)

11 Murph (STS9)

12 Baraka (STS9)

These will only be available for this week so please stream or download them soon.  Also for your enjoyment a live clip of ‘Baraka’ at Red Rocks as well as a live rendition of ‘Ribbon on a Branch’.

Filed under: Music, News, charlie cooper, electronic music, Music, Simon Posford, sts9, superbowl sunday, telefon tel aviv, Younger Brother

The Room of Requirement (Update)

Broccoflower (Saratoga Apple Lady had one once!) 1.618 baby

Welcome and congratualations on finding the Room of Requirement!  In order to celebrate this magical event, I welcome you to spend some time checking out the plethora of Defense Against the Dark Arts (datda) data, including the music files found in the ‘Box’.  Each week we will have a new playlist to check out that is available for download.  This week because of their recent announcements – will feature Simon Posford (Shpongle) and STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector 9).  Be good

Update:

Due to some time constraints, the music hasn’t made its way up yet.  For now, type in the password ‘rainbow’ and check out some Rena Jones from Portland, OR.

On another note, Third Nature is going to be in Wilson Chapel tomorrow night at 10:05pm.

Filed under: Music, News, datda, Music, skidmore college, skidnews