POLITICS - posted on October 7, 2007 by

Blackwater

1st, how come we can’t just call a mercenary a mercenary? They’re being called contractors, which makes them sound like sweaty guys with bad t-shirts and hammers hanging from their belts……they couldn’t be further from that….

2nd, how come people talk about it being a bunch of Americans when Blackwater gts a very high percentage of it’s manpower from places like Chile and Central America?

3rd, why wasn’t anyone other than Jeremy Scahill talking about this weirdness long ago?

4th, go buy his book on Blackwater right away, not only for the info directly related to the issue but also for insight into what’s going on in the current administration and the direction the Military corporate structure is now taking….it’s pretty alarming…

5th, what the hell is wrong with using OUR own military forces to do what these mercs are being hired out by OUR government to do, at triple the cost? That way they’d a LEAST then be under the Military Code of Justice, instead of how it is now, with mercs in Iraq free from any legal oversight. That’s right, they don’t fall under the MCJ, nor American civil or criminal law, nor even under Iraqi law, so they can do pretty much whatever they want, as we’re starting to see now.

6th, if you use hired mercs, you don’t have to claim them as in-country forces, nor do you have to include their deaths and injuries in your casualty reports.

I’m just saying……and Blackwater is just ONE of the companies that do this work, there are MANY others.

*UPDATE – 10/26/07*

Here’s a PBS Bill Moyers Show on this exact subject, with Scahill as the guest, very informative.

You can also find excerpts on YouTube here.

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MY MUSIC - posted on October 7, 2007 by

Played on a cool project

A coupla weeks ago my awesome Singer/Songwriter/Crazed -Alaskan-Samoan friend Kelly Moneymaker asked me to come play on her new recording project she is doing with her friend Dan Silver. They are calling it Silvermoney (wink wink) and it’s really sounding good. They had an awesome drummer named Randy Cooke who I’d never heard of before but he was just CRUSHING it and it was a blast to play to his tracks…..the whole thing sounds slamming and I got some pounding rock yah yahs on it…..

Keep an eye out for this thing, I can’t wait to hear the final mixes…

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MY MUSIC - posted on October 5, 2007 by

Song of the Day at Garageband.com

Ok, that’s fairly cool then. There’s a LOT of good music on that site, yet they have “My Ecstasy” as “Song of the Day” for Friday the 5th.

Here’s the badge and everything –

What’s funny is that song placed #34 all time in their power pop category and peaked at #27, 4 years ago….shh……don’t tell…..

But it’s nice all the same, because it’s the ratings of other musicians who DON’T know who you are when they’re listening, so it’s pretty honest…..

I have it for free download at Myspace.com for the day, go check it out…..

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MY MUSIC - posted on September 27, 2007 by

Internet sites for STILL

So there’s like 10 million places that I have been signed up on, played on, filled in all the forms on, etc etc….when in fact they really do nothing for me but waste time and get me on more email lists….so……I’ll probably only be devoting any time to this site and the obligatory MySpace Page (which actually HAS been helpful in meeting people, finding old friends, and making a few new ones). Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to get ANYTHING done, not that I’m overwhelmingly successful at that anyways…but one must at least attempt to focus…

So if you find some weird thing on me out there, maybe drop a note here if it’s too outlandish to be allowed to stand, or if you think I’m missing out on something…things change so fast…..I was watching a little news thing online this morning about Microsoft buying FaceBook, which I was thinking about putting a page on, and dreading it….

Funny thing, all the kids were saying they thought it would be cool if Apple bought it, but Microsoft was the Kiss of Death……even tho the entire gamer world seems to be on fire about a game called Halo 3, (full diclosure – I’m a HUGE Halo freak…sad I know), which is a Microsoft product. Hunh….biggest entertainment launch in history….and I don’t have it yet? What’s wrong with my life….dang…but then – look at THESE Geeks….

Anyways, another thing I noticed is that to the people in the video, it was pretty much a given that MySpace is over, and in fact even Facebook is near it’s end, for them at least….so I’m getting ready to check it out, and they’re getting ready to bail….
So it’s this site and MySpace for me for now, and of course a little Halo 3 here and there….

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MY MUSIC - posted on September 20, 2007 by

“Honorable mention”…..yeh…whatever…..

So I’ve been working on a new batch of tunes, and one of them I’ve had around for awhile but only lately started fleshing out in the studio. “Ain’t Nobody”, which you may have heard me do at a live show, is a song I really like and so I’ve been sending it around in it’s semi-demo state to some of the songwriting contests….yeh I know…..contesting about songwriting is like dancing to a painting, but these days it’s smart to get your stuff out there to get it heard, what’s the point of playing your music to yourself and whomever in your family you can bludgeon into sitting still long enough to hear it?

So they sent me this note a bit ago –

We wanted to contact you and let you know that the Song of the Year song & lyric writing contest has received the votes from the judges from July’s round. Though your material did not place in the top 5 within it’s respective category, your material was still quite impressive. You did make our Honorable Mention placement.

Honorable Mention means that the preliminary judges and/or the professionals offering the critiques have found your submissions exceptional for one reason or another. It could be the lyrics, melodies, music, etc… If Song
of the Year receives a lot of positive responses from our judges about a song, you will be place in the Honorable Mention category. This status indicates that a submission was found impressive by a number of the judges.

Oh goody goody, I guess what that really means is that I got BEAT by like at least 5 other songs that month, that REALLY sucks….

Then they send this –

Attention Wade Biery;

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your recent success in the July 2007 round of the Song of the Year song and lyric competition. We have received notification that a song you had submitted was recognized as a Honorable Mention in that month’s competition round. We have added this accolade to a webpage produced under your name in our “Web Awards” archive. This “Web Award” page is a powerful tool for you to share the good news of your success to family, friends, associates, and professional contacts! You may view or link to your “Web Award” page at:

http://www.songoftheyear.com/webawards/w/wadebiery.htm

Please review your “Web Award” page and contact us immediately if there are any corrections required. Based on information we have on hand, we have taken the courtesy of including a link to your website, if your submission record included one. Once again, congratulations!

regards….Blah Blah Woof Woof

Now THAT makes me feel better, I may not have even placed, but at least I get a Cheesy little web graphic that I can put on my site and everyone can go “Ooooooooo he got an award…..Ooooooooo

I guess it’s better than having someone drive back and forth over your foot, but maybe not quite as good as having a well known music exec walk out of his office restroom in a bathrobe at a lunch meeting (WTF?!?!?) (that actually happened to a friend of mine…yikes), saying that he wants to sign you (and then show you something….)

Now I’m raving….

OK, ya wanna see the thing?

Great, here ya go….

Here's my little Toy Badge, Ken and Barbie version....

So there it is, let the hate-fest begin…..

WB

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