A demonstration of a circuit bent George W Bush doll, via the appropriately named Wrongbot.

Before the wingnuts come out in force, note that wrongbot’s work is all-over-the-place sick and wrong, but in a good way.

In the article, Klein call’s Obama’s speech “A Tonal Masterpiece“, and compares the qualities of recent presidents as synthesizers:

The modern presidency is a vast electronic synthesizer, capable of exhilarating musical effects or rank cacophony. The President needs to be able to throw his voice in a variety of ways — now sober, now soaring, now educating, now soothing.

George W. Bush’s presidency was straitjacketed by his inability to command any style but clenched orotundity. The two great television-era communicators in the office were yin and yang: Bill Clinton was a master of the conversational, not so good at set-piece speeches; Ronald Reagan just the opposite.

Barack Obama has now demonstrated an ability to synthesize those two. On the day before his budget speech, the President was positively Clintonesque, interacting easily with a gang of high-powered political and business leaders at his entitlement summit, alternately ribbing Eric Cantor, the House Republican, about GOP intransigence, then wonking out on defense procurement policy with Senators Susan Collins and John McCain.

If the entitlement summit was a conversational concerto, the budget speech was a full-blown symphony featuring a percussive series of simple declarative sentences that conveyed a sense of command, especially in the emotional heart of the speech, the section on banking reform.

While Obama did do a great job with his speech (at least, as a speaker), Klein’s direct comparison of Obama to an electronic synthesizer is a little bizarre.

Other writers have compared Obama to a synthesizer, but not in such explicitly musical terms.

Disregarding politics and focusing on Obama’s oratory, do you think it’s valid to compare Obama to a synthesizer?

Brian Eno spoke out against the Gaza situation at the Stop Gaza Massacre protest, London Saturday 3 January 09.

Here’s his summary of his comments:

An Experiment in Provocation

Stealing Gaza

By BRIAN ENO

It’s a tragedy that the Israelis – a people who must understand better than almost anybody the horrors of oppression – are now acting as oppressors. As the great Jewish writer Primo Levi once remarked “Everybody has their Jews, and for the Israelis it’s the Palestinians”. By creating a middle Eastern version of the Warsaw ghetto they are recapitulating their own history as though they’ve forgotten it. And by trying to paint an equivalence between the Palestinians – with their homemade rockets and stone-throwing teenagers – and themselves – with one of the most sophisticated military machines in the world – they sacrifice all credibility.

The Israelis are a gifted and resourceful people who fully deserve the right to live in peace, but who seem intent on squandering every chance to allow that to happen. It’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that this conflict serves the political and economic purposes of Israel so well that they have every interest in maintaining it. While there is fighting they can continue to build illegal settlements. While there is fighting they continue to receive huge quantities of military aid from the United States. And while there is fighting they can avoid looking candidly at themselves and the ruthlessness into which they are descending.

Gaza is now an experiment in provocation. Stuff one and a half million people into a tiny space, stifle their access to water, electricity, food and medical treatment, destroy their livelihoods, and humiliate them regularly…and, surprise, surprise – they turn hostile. Now why would you want to make that experiment?

Because the hostility you provoke is the whole point. Now ‘under attack’ you can cast yourself as the victim, and call out the helicopter gunships and the F16 attack fighters and the heavy tanks and the guided missiles, and destroy yet more of the pathetic remains of infrastructure that the Palestinian state still has left. And then you can point to it as a hopeless case, unfit to govern itself, a terrorist state, a state with which you couldn’t possibly reach an accommodation.

And then you can carry on with business as usual, quietly stealing their homeland.

I tend to agree with Eno. The US has been dumping buckets of money into the Middle East for decades, and it’s difficult to see how this serves our interests or humanitarian interests anymore.

You can hear that there were both supporters and hecklers in Eno’s audience, though.

Do you think Eno is right? Or do you think he should STFU and get back to making music?

via Dean Whitbread

We try to avoid politics at Synthtopia, because we’d rather be thinking about patching a synthesizer than thinking about patching up the country. 

We know you don’t come to Synthtopia to read about politics – you may even come to the site to escape it for a while. 

But – can George W. Bush be gone soon enough?

Bush’s legacy to his country will be 8 years of incompetent administration, the worst deficits in history and laying waste to traditional Republican values.

You might think that music and musicians could escape George W. Bush, but no. 

Massive Attack has publicly condemned the use of their music by the Bush administration as a tool for interrogation and torture.

Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor has just made this statement, Regarding NIN music used at Guantanamo Bay for torture:

It’s difficult for me to imagine anything more profoundly insulting, demeaning and enraging than discovering music you’ve put your heart and soul into creating has been used for purposes of torture.

If there are any legal options that can be realistically taken they will be aggressively pursued, with any potential monetary gains donated to human rights charities.

Thank GOD this country has appeared to side with reason and we can put the Bush administration’s reign of power, greed, lawlessness and madness behind us.

When news like this comes out, you realize that you can’t ignore it, compartmentalize it or think that this stuff won’t affect what you do. 

George W. Bush has bought the domain name for his Presidential library back from cybersquatters – so lets hope that he gets to work on patching up his legacy, so we can think about patching up ours.

Dancefloor hooligans Coldcut join forces with America’s leading audio-visual vigilante TV Sheriff to bring you an election vivisection Revolution ‘08. 

A drum+bass powered all-out AV assault on an American media machine now in psychotic overdrive for the Presidential election. A 10000-frame crash edit comedy celebration of the blatant corruption, warmongering, florid insanity and plain good old smelly bullshit that characterises the cultural landscape of the world’s most confused country. 21st century satire is alive and well.

Looks like Obama may corner the crucial thereminists vote. 

One of several fun designs at Democraticstuff.com.

Don’t miss Moogers for Obama, either:

If you see any equivalents from other political parties, let me know in the comments. 

via Matrix

Over at Salon, Camille Paglia writes that Barack Obama is a synthesizer:

As an Obama supporter, I of course see things quite differently. Whatever his tactical assertions in the primary trenches, Obama seems to have an open and flexible mind. He is a conciliator and synthesizer, ready to give due respect to opposing views — a grace desperately needed in paralyzed Washington. When the camera comes close — as it did last week when CNN’s terrific Candy Crowley tenaciously grilled him about Hillary Clinton’s prospects for the vice-presidency — his deliberative thought process is plainly visible. What a deft performance under high-stakes pressure: Obama was firm, authoritative and methodical without ever losing his warmth and geniality. The guy is smart as a whip. And his administration will be as good as its appointments. As for Michelle Obama, she is formidable, representing a bold, stylish feminism more authentically contemporary than the old, bellyaching, blame-the-males style of Hillary’s omnipresent cheerleader, Gloria Steinem.

Paglia joins the Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan in calling Obama a synthesizer. 

And while you still can’t play Lucky Man on Barack Obama, John McCain wants to sell you golf gear. 

I’m starting to lean towards Barack Obama.

Here’s one reason why.

According to Andrew Sullivan at the Atlantic, Barack Obama is a synthesizer:

A Synthesizer, Not A Divider

The rather banal view of “bringing people together” is such a cliche and so clumsy a phrase when describing Barack Obama’s history of coalition politics. Jeff Rosen, who seems almost as smitten as I am, describes (reg req.) one such Obama moment:

After Obama was elected to the Illinois state Senate in 1996, he defended individual rights in a way that might have marginalized him: He joined only two other senators in voting against a bill to forbid convicts on probation from having contact with street gangs, and he voted against a bill to expand the death penalty to gang-related murders. But Obama nevertheless won the respect of police and prosecutors in Chicago by building those “alliances of consent.”

One of his greatest legislative triumphs was a bill to require the videotaping of all confessions and interrogations in capital cases. Initially, police, state prosecutors, and the newly elected Democratic governor were strongly opposed, some death-penalty abolitionists viewed the bill as too moderate, and legislators were afraid of being soft on crime. But Obama led daily negotiations (without reporters) during which he emphasized his opponents’ common values. At the end, the bill had the support of all parties, passed unanimously, and today has been adopted as a model by four states and the District of Columbia.

But can you play Lucky Man on Barack Obama?

Here’s his take on Barack Obama:

barack obama. first off, he has the single worst name anyone could ever have in the history of politics ever ever ever.

barack(rhymes with iraq) hussein(like the guy who tried to kill
gw’s daddy) obama (one consonant away from bush family pal osama bin laden).

personally i see his terrible name as being kind of a plus, as it really couldn’t be worse unless his name was satan hitler babyeater.

he’s the least experienced of the candidates but he’s also really smart and principled and telegenic. he seems like he would be fun at a barbecue but he’d also be good if you needed help doing your taxes and he’d definitely be nice to you if your goldfish
died. ironically i think he’s the democrats best chance to win.

ironic, as he’s:

• a-inexperienced
• b-1/2 muslim
• c-possessed of the worst name in the history of politics

but gw was a coke addict with 2 dui’s and a history of running companies into the ground(not to mention a last name that is colorfully and colloquially used to describe ladies baby making parts).

so who knows? barack obama seems like the dem’s best choice.

plus it would be awesome to have an african-american president. the rest of the world wouldn’t be able to hate us as much, which would be nice.

The Board endorsed Kerry for his stance on labor issues and economic issues affecting musicians. AFM President, Thomas Lee, stated, “Kerry’s stand on economic issues is consistent with that of the AFM. Whether the issue is offshore outsourcing, special tax giveaways to the wealthy or unrestrained corporate power and influence, Kerry promises to fight for fairness and economic prosperity for America’s workers.”

A key issue for the Board was the issue of health care. President Lee noted that “John Kerry believes in securing a bright future for working families who are currently struggling under failed health care policies. Kerry’s promise to give every American the same access to the health care plan of the President and Members of Congress is one of the many reasons that working families across the country are supporting his candidacy.”

Other issues leading to the Board’s endorsement included Kerry’s focus on the arts, copyright piracy, middle class tax relief, job creation, fair trade, prescription drug coverage, and social security protection.

The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada is the largest organization in the world dedicated to representing the interests of professional musicians. Whether it is negotiating fair agreements, protecting ownership of recorded music, securing benefits such as health care and pension, or lobbying our legislators, the AFM is committed to raising industry standards and placing the professional musician in the foreground of the cultural landscape.