Tracklist

1. Bricks and Thunder
2. Derailer
3. Go On Home
4. When Spirits Collide (remixed by Cenotype)
5. Beneath (remixed by The Carapace - featuring Josh from scrap.edx)
6. Beneath (remixed by c2)
7. Go On Home (remixed by LAN Formatique)
8. Bricks and Thunder (shithouse remix by Caustic)
9. Beneath (remixed by The Vomit Arsonist)
10. Bricks and Thunder (remixed by HEDORAH)
11. When Spirits Collide (remixed by Nau-Zee-auN)
12. Derailer (derailed by synnack)
13. Bricks and Thunder (reimxed by Jeye)
14. Beneath (remixed by Prometheus Burning)
15. Derailer and Beneath T-Mashup (mashed by Concrete Cookie and the Maggot Farmer)
16. When Spirits Collide (remixed by Freeze Etch)
17. Derailer (remixed by c2)
18. Beneath (remixed by Wilt)

Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich Votes Nay

More of note, I suspect, at least in the years to come, is Ohio Democrat Rep. Dennis Kucinich's reasons for bucking his own party leadership to vote against the bill.

In a statement issued following passage of the bill (full statement posted below), the progressive Democrat describes it as "a bailout under a blue cross", given that it "would put the government in the role of accelerating the privatization of health care [by] requiring at least 21 million Americans to buy private health insurance from the very industry that causes costs to be so high, which will result in at least $70 billion in new annual revenue, much of which is coming from taxpayers."

He also notes that the "'robust public option' which would have offered a modicum of competition to a monopolistic industry was whittled down from an initial potential enrollment of 129 million Americans to 6 million."

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7507

Tuesday is a critical day in the saga of the public option. Democrats Charles Schumer (New York) and Jay Rockefeller (West Virginia) are introducing an amendment to include the public option in the bill to be reported out by the Senate Finance Committee -- the committee anointed by the White House as its favored vehicle for getting health care reform.

Before you read another word, call and email the Senate offices of Democrats Max Baucus (Montana), Tom Carper (Delaware), Robert Menendez (New Jersey), Kent Conrad (North Dakota), and Ben Nelson (Florida) -- telling them you want them to vote in favor of the public option amendment. And get everyone you know in these states to do the same. Hell, you might as well phone and email Republican Olympia Snowe (Maine) and make the same pitch.

V/A - Get A:Head
12", Mash Up Soundsystem, 2009
www.mashup.org

"Expect the unexpected" could well be the motto for the Mash Up Records label and artists collective, and their new release, the 5-track 12" compilation "Get A:Head", illustrates this quite well with a music selection that some would consider paradoxical.
Side A of this release was left essentially in the hands of Scottish veteran producer Element Abuse, who opens hostilities with "Oxna", a furious mélange of poly-rhythms and cut-up voice samples overlying a surprisingly calm soundscape - a piece which is perhaps the most in-your-face track on this release. He follows suit remixing "Purpose Aches", by fellow Scottish artist Helicopterface, with a similar aesthetic approach.
In contrast, Side B begins in a rather laidback fashion with a smooth electro-acoustic piece by Concrete Cookie, in collaboration with cellist Laura Cetilia and guitarist Marc Thomas, titled "Dry Red Shard", while "Positive Collide", Helicopterface's second contribution, comes across as an intense piece of metallic background and percussion over a brooding soundscape intermeshed with shifting rhythmic patterns. "Mean a Swing", by Brazilian experimentalist Retrigger, is the decidedly oddball track on this release, a crazy but meticulous patchwork of sampling and rhythmic patterns for which Retrigger shamelessly grabbed musical elements and influences wherever he could; it's a track which leaves the listener wanting more.
For home listening, this release is unfortunately too short (especially considering the two-sided vinyl format) and may well leave the listener craving additional material - with some luck, perhaps the Mash Up Records collective will consider a follow up, full-length release. "Get A:Head" also seems to have clear potential as a tool for DJs (especially in the breakcore and related fields), with a relatively broad scope of material that can be utilized for melodic or rhythm building - plus Retrigger's inspiring piece of insanity.

-- Miguel de Sousa [7.5/10]