solarcane summer mix

Yes, my friends, I made it. I completed the "summer mix" before summer ended! Two volumes of fun, the first being...

1. I Want You Back (Z-Trip Remix) - The Jackson 5
2. Trick Me (TM J Remix) - Kelis
3. Sunshine Of Your Love - Spanky Wilson
4. Cold Bear - The Gaturs
5. Misdemeanor - Foster Sylvers
6. One Thing (Siik Remix) - Amerie
7. Fresh Feeling - Eels
8. I Found Love (Styrofoam & Sarah Shannon Mix) - The Free Design
9. The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
10. The Music Next Door - The Lucksmiths
11. Grenoble - The Mexicos
12. Through The Looking Glass - The Libertines
13. Public Image - Public Image Ltd.
14. Candyass - The Dirtbombs
15. Dub Will Tear Us Apart - Jah Division
16. Hotel California - The Cat Empire
17. Hey Hey Shorty - Faith Boogie
18. Boomin' In Ya Jeep - Kenny Dope ft. Screechy Dan
19. Rip Rip - David Holmes
20. What Tom Said About Girls - The Blow
21. Getting To The Other Side - Hamilton Bohannon
22. Chicken Payback (Madlib Remix) - The Bees
23. For What It's Worth - Lou Rawls

1. I Love Meatballs - Phofo
2. Memo From Turner - Mick Jagger & Ry Cooder
3. Police Sweater Blood Vow - The Fiery Furnaces
4. Pour Un Ancien Ami - Lismore
5. Light My Fire - Koichi Oki
6. Giving Up - Howward Hello
7. Brigher Than Sunshine - Aqualung
8. Beautiful Close Double - Damon & Naomi
9. Girl Arms - The Coach & Four
10. Between The Lines - Sambassadeur
11. Chuy - Bunky
12. The Planeiac - Palomar
13. Call It Ours - The Legends
14. Mushaboom - Feist
15. First Sad Song - The Snow Fairies
16. Homeless Club Kids - Phofo
17. Rude Bwoy Thug Life - Ce'Cile
18. Need You Tonight - Tanya Stephens
19. Seven One Eight - Fannypack
20. He Was - Leslie Winer
21. Some Hot Lazy Day - Obadia

(Okay, so I actually made vol. 2 back in the spring but what the hell? I still like listening to it, 'specially when it's warm outside)

waterfalls

It's true, there are lots of different paths to the waterfall.

love london

sign posted in window of Covent Garden cafe yesterday:

from Metro Blogging London

portraits of patriotism...

photos from kurt

no coercion, no money, no foul?

Really interesting piece in yesterday's NYTimes Magazine by Noah Feldman on finding a compromise in the church-state debate. His approach?

"Put simply, it is this: offer greater latitude for religious speech and symbols in public debate, but also impose a stricter ban on state financing of religious institutions and activities. This approach, the mirror image of O'Connor's compromise, is drawn from the framers' vision and the historical experience of separating church and state in America. The framers might well have been mystified by courthouse statues depicting the Ten Commandments, but they would not have objected unless the monuments were built with public money. Having made a revolution over unfair taxation, they thought of government support in terms of dollars spent, not abstract symbols.
...
"In the courts, the arrangement that I'm proposing would entail abandoning the Lemon requirement that state action must have a secular purpose and secular effects, as well as O'Connor's idea that the state must not ''endorse'' religion. For these two tests, the courts should substitute the two guiding rules that historically lay at the core of our church-state experiment before legal secularism or values evangelicalism came on the scene: the state may neither coerce anyone in matters of religion nor expend its resources so as to support religious institutions and practices, whether generic or particular. These constitutional principles, reduced to their core, can be captured in a simple slogan: no coercion and no money. If no one is being coerced by the government, and if the government is not spending its money to build religious-themed monuments or support religious institutions and practices, the courts should hold that the Constitution is not violated."

I'm not totally on board yet, but we need more of this kind of thinking - i.e., constructive rather than destructive - to move the debate forward. Interesting that Feldman's background includes a stint nation building with the CPA in Iraq. In many ways, we could use a little nation building ourselves...
(Great photos in the essay too, btw.)

Happy 4th

From Mimi, a true patriot.