Author Archive

Scientology is in it for the money, but aren’t all religions?

February 3rd, 2012 by DJ Pangburn

Christopher Hitchens, in one of his finer moments, once said, “The secular state is the guarantee of religious pluralism. This apparent paradox, again, is the simplest and most elegant of political truths.” Certainly, he was likely leveling the statement at the three biggest offenders, the Abrahamic religions—Christianity, Judaism and Islam. However, sub-textually, he meant all religions.

And the paradox could hardly be any more ripe than when one considers Scientology. Here is a “religion” that managed to classify itself as a “church” in order to reap the benefits that tax-exempt religions had already enjoyed, as well as to insulate itself from being called a cult, or dismantled for being a fraud.

Minted, as it were, by the U.S. government, the Church of Scientology is free to extort unwitting and ignorant people as long as it sticks to the law. The government won’t tolerate any of that Operation Snow White shit, but Tom Cruise is free to redistribute his wealth to Scientology clerics. Hell, maybe even some of that money from the lower rungs makes its way into Cruise and John Travolta’s pockets, but we’d never get close enough to know the truth.

Thomas Paine was also well-acquainted with the idea of people seeking salvation through indulgences, or any individual contributing money to a religious institution for good of his soul, stating in “The Age of Reason”:

The doctrine of redemption is founded on a mere pecuniary idea corresponding to that of a debt which another person might pay; and as this pecuniary idea corresponds again with the system of second redemption, obtained through the means of money given to the Church for pardons, the probability is that the same persons fabricated both the one and the other of those theories; and that, in truth there is no such thing as redemption — that it is fabulous, and that man stands in the same relative condition with his Maker as he ever did stand since man existed, and that it is his greatest consolation to think so.

Paine would have been truly baffled at how the creation and existence of Scientology was enabled by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. Whether he would have taken to the “church” the way the Europeans have is another matter.

According to the Associated Press, yesterday a French appeals court upheld a 2009 fraud conviction involving the Church of Scientology, in which it forced members into paying money for questionable Scientology remedies. Sounds rather like Catholic indulgences; however, the case bears closer resemblance to buying self-help materials found in a late night infomercial.

The case began with a legal complaint by a young woman who said she took out loans and spent the equivalent of euro21,000 ($28,000) on books, courses and “purification packages” after being recruited in 1998. When she sought reimbursement and to leave the group, its leadership refused to allow either. She was among three eventual plaintiffs.

Karin Pouw, the Los Angeles Scientology spokesperson, has said that the church will appeal to the Court of Cassation, but also plans to bring a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights. Well, the case should do well in these venues, naturally, because it is no doubt a human right to charge others to become more complete Thetans and then refuse reimbursement once a displeased Thetan attempts to leave the fold.

Why could we not then apply this logic to all religious institutions—one joins, gives money away, and one leaves without much improvement and without the cash. It’s a poker game that any believer is destined to lose.

Indeed, the simple fact of the matter is that all religions make promises—”remedies” let’s call them—that they cannot possibly keep. They may not offer the cures that Scientology offers, but in the final analysis, the three Abrahamic religions offer salvation for mortal souls subjected to the realities of being a biological being here on Earth.

Then again, like the woman in this Scientology case they are simply a legion of suckers, so perhaps we should not take pity on them.

Tenacious D set to return with ‘Rize of the Fenix’

February 3rd, 2012 by DJ Pangburn

It seems ages ago (ages in the Tolkien and Ronnie James Dio sense) that Tenacious D was on the tip of every college student and comedy fan’s lips, but here we are in 2012 and the band, Jack Black and Kyle Gass, are back with a new album. And what would a new Tenacious D album be without a suitably over-the-top title like “Rize of the Fenix.”

The album follows six years after “The Pick of Destiny.” The duo’s first American tour date will come on Memorial Day with a performance in Washington at the Sasquatch Festival.

At the Tenacious D website, listeners can hear a “snippet” from “Rize of the Fenix.” Naturally, it sounds similar to what’s come before it, but methinks I heard an organ note at the tail end of the preview.

Listen: Freescha ‘Babies In Your Body’ and ‘Heartbreak Attack’

February 3rd, 2012 by DJ Pangburn

It must be a rather odd thing to be a band or artist that helps create the blueprint of a sound, then go inactive, and in the midst of this sabbatical a legion of blogged-out bands come into existence. And upon re-entry, you find that either A) most people don’t even know who you are, or B) no one knew you returned. This seems to be case with the Nick Huntington and Michael McGroarty’ LA-based musical project Freescha.

Indeed, I—a longtime fan—only just discovered yesterday that the boys had returned in August of 2011.

Bafflement. Freescha has been on steady play every few months since 2005 when I came across them while on a Casino vs. Japan and Ulrich Schnauss kick. The duo actually did a split EP with CvJ in 2004, but it was Freescha’s double album “Head Warlock Double Stare” that appealed most to my tastes. HWDS is a great electronic album and contains one of my favorite songs, “Moving,” which in turn features one of my favorite snippets of electronic music from any band, stretching from 2:04 to 2:19 (listen to the track below).

Freescha has returned with the “Babies In Your Body” single which features another track titled “Heartbreak Attack.” The sound will be familiar to any Freescha fan, and will also be familiar to anyone who thinks chillwave was an original, though absurdly-labeled genre.

On “Babies In Your Body,” Freescha freely mixes their grainy, distorted synths with mid-80s electro (think the now-forgotten Cybotron), and a low-end bass that would be a wonder to feel while all alone in an empty room with wooden floors and stacks of speakers at the four corners reaching to the ceiling. “Heartbreak Attack” is more down-tempo, with a vista of bass and lead synths atop which Freescha sprinkle two vocal tracks. The two songs are a welcome return for the duo.

Stream the songs below and buy the digital download over at Attack Nine Records. Also streaming below are the tracks “Moving” and “Old Age for Duke of Slade.”

And if you dig Freescha, be sure to check out Nick Huntington’s side project Terror Train.

Freescha – “Moving”

Freescha – “Old Age for Duke of Slade”

Listen: Daniel Rossen ‘Silent Song’

February 2nd, 2012 by DJ Pangburn

Daniel Rossen, multi-instrumentalist in the bands Grizzly Bear and Department of Eagles, has released the latest song, “Silent Song,” from his solo EP “Silent Hour/Golden Mile.” Listeners will recognize Rossen’s vocals from his work in Grizzly Bear, but the music here has a very West Coast cosmic country vibe, with spare instrumentation, including the banjo.

Stream “Silent Song” below. The EP will be released on CD, vinyl and as a download on March 19th on Warp Records.

“Silent Hour / Golden Mile” tracklisting:
1 – Up On High
2 – Silent Song
3 – Return To Form
4 – Saint Nothing (listen above)
5 – Golden Mile

‘Rub Out The Words: The Letters of William S. Burroughs’ out February 7th

February 2nd, 2012 by DJ Pangburn

The great dark surrealist writer William S. Burroughs, who blended science fiction, pulp, and transgressive writing into a chaotic style, is having selected letters published in hard cover as “Rub Out The Words: The Letters of William S. Burroughs, 1959-1974,” out February 7th by Ecco.

If one has never quite found Burroughs’s style or subject matter tolerable, these selected letters might be a good entry point into understanding the author’s aesthetic and modus operandi. Then, of course, read some of his short fiction before graduating to works like “Naked Lunch” and the “Nova” trilogy. Also highly recommended is Burroughs’ last trilogy of novels: “Cities of the Red Night,” “The Place of Dead Roads” and “The Western Lands.”

Burroughs may have distorted narrative beyond recognition more than occasionally, but at bottom he was inspired by popular literature and culture; everything from spy novels, westerns and Jules Verne to Dashiell Hammett, Joseph Conrad and comics.

Below are a few of the selected letters provided by Paris Review, one addressed to “Mom and Dad” and the other to Allen Ginsberg, both of which make mention of the great but criminally under-appreciated genius Brion Gysin.

WSB [Paris] to Laura Lee and Mortimer Burroughs [Palm Beach, Florida]
[ca. November 17, 1959]

Dear Mother and Dad,
I am sorry.. Can only say time accelerated and skidded—No time to eat as you see in the photo—(Taken by my friend Brion [Gysin] the painter, certainly the greatest painter living and I do not make mistakes in the art world. Time will bear me out.. Brion used to run The 1001 Nights, restaurant night club in Tanger but at that time we barely spoke disliking each other intensely for reasons that seemed adequate to both parties.. Situation and per­ sonnel changed.. The 1001 Nights closed for dislocations and foreclosures and Brion woke up in Paris.. And I, stricken by la foie coloniale—the colonial liver, left the area on advice of my phy­ sician.. “You want to get some cold weather on that liver, Bur­ roughs. A freezing winter would make a new man of you,” he said.
So when I ran into Brion in Paris it was Tanger gossip at first then the discovery that we had many other interests in common..
Like all good painters he is also a brilliant photographer as you see.. A curious old time look about the photo like I’m fading into grandfather or some other relative many years back in time..)
Rather a long parenthesis.. It strikes me as regrettable that one should reserve a special and often lifeless style for letter to parents.. So I shift to my usual epistolary style.. When my correspondents reproach me for tardiness, I can only say that I give as much atten­ tion to a letter as I do to anything I write, and I work at least six and sometimes sixteen hours a day..
I am considering a shift of headquarters from The Continent— or possibly England—All we expatriates hear now is: “Johnny Go Home”and may be a good idea at that..Terrible scandal in Morocco.. Cooking oil cut with second run motor oil has paralyzed 9544 per­ sons.. The used motor oil was purchased at the American Air Base and was not labeled unfit for human consumption .. The Moroccan press holds U.S. responsible not to mention 9,544 Moroccans and a compound interest of relatives.. “Johnny stay out of Morocco.”
I want to leave here in one month more or less a few days and make Palm Beach for Christmas if convenient.
I was sorry to hear that Mote has been ill.. Take care of your­ self—Dad—and get well. I will see you all very soon —
Love
Bill
PS. If my writing seems at times ungrammatical it is not due to carelessness or accident. The English language—the only really adjustable language—is in state of transition.. Transition and the old grammar forms no longer useful..
Best.
Bill

 

WSB [Paris] to Allen Ginsberg [New York]
Dec 2, 1959
9 Rue Git Le Coeur
Paris 6, France

Dear Allen,
I enclose material for Big Table.. Hope is not to too late.. So much work I never catch up and all absolutely urgent.. Brion’s [Gysin] work which I enclose illustrates new cut up method which he taught me.. I have met my first Master in Brion..
“Back Seat of Dreaming” is part of my current novel.. I have writ­ ten most of it remaining only the task of correlating material.. It is based on recent newspaper account of four? young explorers? who died of thirst in Egypt desert.. Just who died is uncertain since one member of the party has not been found yet dead or alive and the identity of the missing person is dubious owing to advanced state of decomposed when found the bodies and the methods of identi­ fication used lacked all precise techniques based entirely on docu­ ments on person but it seems the party was given to exchange of identifications just for jolly to wearing each others under and outer garments and even to writing in each others diaries an unheard of intimacy in any modern expedition.. So if my fictionalized??? account is difficult to follow so was the action, pops..
I am sending this material to you instead of direct to [Paul] Carroll so you can dig it.. I know you are busy but I think worth while pick up on this action now and I will explain method in detail when I see you also we have other project fore.. Temporary hitch.. My Old Lady [Burroughs’ mother] read the Life article and has thrown off her shop keeper weeds and revealed her hideous rank in Matriarch Inc.: “I Queen Bee Laura of Worth Avenue.. Stay out of my territory, punk..” She has, in fact, forbidden me to set foot in Palm Beach on pain of Orpheus.. And won’t send me money to come home.. I will buzz my Greek Uncle Gid [Maurice Girodias] and make it soon as possible..
Love
Bill
Will send more $ when I receive Mother Money. Please send mescaline if possible. Need transport out of the area.

Read the original Death and Taxes series “Cabinet of Subversive Books” for authors as brilliant and demented as William S. Burroughs.

Visa, Mastercard and Discover should come clean on hackability of RFID credit cards

February 2nd, 2012 by DJ Pangburn

RFID chips have, over the last several years, become a point of contention with everyone from privacy advocates and hackers to Luddites and conspiracy theorists. RFID stands for Radio-frequency identification, a technology in the form of a chip that can be installed in clothing, the human body and credit cards, amongst other things.

Hackers have long known (and shown) that RFID credit cards can be hacked, a claim ignored and denied by credit card companies. This past Monday, however, according to Forbes, hacker Kristin Paget attempted to once and for all demonstrate that RFID chips installed on credit cards could be easily and cheaply hacked.

At the Schmoocon hacker conference, Paget took a volunteer’s credit card, swiped it through a Vivotech RFID credit card reader (bought on Ebay for $50), then set about encoding the card owner’s information on a blank card; then, with the iPhone square attachment, paid herself $15 with the counterfeit card.

That credit card companies have not addressed the security vulnerabilities in RFID chips is absolutely negligent, and their silence on the matter should be investigated by the government.

It’s also worth nothing that “Mythbusters” was set to create a 2008 episode in which they would test the security vulnerabilities of RFID chips, but were forced to can the episode after The Discovery Channel was leaned on by Visa, Mastercard and Discover lawyers (watch the video below for more details).

Ben Bernanke on American economy: improving but… not

February 2nd, 2012 by DJ Pangburn

One never can quite tell whether Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, the so-called expert in Great Depression economic history, is set to perpetual hedging regarding the American and global economic outlook, or if he’s just as baffled as the rest of us. The look on his face is never happy, always serious and full of pathos, and probably for strategic purposes—no one wants a joker at mission control of the American economy.

In a sense, however, that is exactly what this whole American economic system is: a joke, a collective hallucination, a circus show, an illusion, a mirage (we could go on with metaphors). Except, Bernanke is not the only absurdist. People of his ilk are legion—bankers, investors, legislators, bureaucrats, technocrats, etc. They are an immense, insectile team of self-replicating Wizards of Oz.

Today, Bernanke testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Budget. As expected, lots of hedging, a lot of ins and outs and what have yous.

“Over the past two and a half years, the U.S. economy has been gradually recovering from the recent deep recession,” states Bernanke. Good, hit ‘em with some vital information. Then, after confirming for the uninformed that there has indeed been “sluggish” economic expansion, Bernanke indicates that it may just easily go to hell by stating, “the outlook remains uncertain.”

On to labor. Big Ben notes an improvement in employment figures, but stresses that long term unemployment is “particularly troubling.” Later in the testimony, Bernanke states, “More recently, the pace of growth in business investment has slowed, likely reflecting concerns about both the domestic outlook and developments in Europe. However, there are signs that these concerns are abating somewhat.” Again, improvement but not really—that was the theme of Bernanke’s House testimony.

Again, is Bernanke hedging or is he clueless and pretending like he isn’t, then hedging to cover his tracks? I like the second option best.

Then, out of the blue, Bernanke hits on a transcendent truth about the American economy, which of course he has stated before:

Larger businesses are still able to obtain credit at historically low interest rates, and corporate balance sheets are strong. And, though many smaller businesses continue to face difficulties in obtaining credit, surveys indicate that credit conditions have begun to improve modestly for those firms as well.

Essentially, this is a roundabout way of stating that the American economy has transformed into a corporatocracy or big business oligarchy. Big business is able to capitalize on the low interest rates, enhancing their financial capabilities for operations, while small business—those most in need of credit—are continually denied a helping hand. Translation: Socialism exists, but for big business.

It’s rather a wonder we got this degree of truth from Bernanke sandwiched, as it were, between a whole lot of statements qualified with “but,” “however” and “nonetheless.”

Expect nothing less from a man who was asleep at the wheel as the housing market crashed.

Can the FBI record Skype chats with spyware?

February 1st, 2012 by DJ Pangburn

CNET writers Greg Sandoval and Declan McCullagh published an article yesterday raising the possibility that the FBI installed spyware on MegaUpload employee computers as far back as five years ago for its 70-page indictment.

Sandoval and McCullagh write that while the FBI has stated it obtained a search warrant before securing the MegaUpload correspondence, “there are hints that the FBI managed to place government-issued spyware on the defendants’ computers,” without getting specific.

The article makes reference to government spyware known as CIPAV, or Computer and Internet Protocol Address Verifier, uncovered both by CNET and EFF Freedom of Information Act Requests. As McCullagh noted in his original CIPAV article:

The FOIA documents indicate that the FBI turns to CIPAV when a suspect is communicating with police or a crime victim through e-mail and is using an anonymizing service to conceal his computer’s Internet protocol address. If an anonymizing service had not been used, then a subpoena to the e-mail provider would normally be sufficient.

Lending weight to the possibility of an FBI-implanted CIPAV is the claim by Skype (owned by Microsoft) that it only holds chat logs for 30 days on a local hard drive, which could be accessed with spyware. Additionally, Skype told CNET that it was not served with a court order to turn over this information. It stands to reason then — given what Skype claims — that it was also not hit with a gag order because it’s quite clearly speaking with CNET.

However, security researcher Anton Kapela told Death and Taxes that the FBI probably also obtained logs from IRC (Internet Chat Relay) or AIM, MSN and ICQ. “IM networks keep things for who knows how long. Also, no way to know how long Skype does or does not keep logs,” Kapela said, even though Skype’s stated policy is 30 days before deletion. Kapela adds, “Skype may comply normally with regulations and store some data, [but] we can’t know how that might change given some other factor.”

Kapela also notes that last year Skype’s protocol was reverse-engineered, and certain Skype ciphers were cracked a few years before that event. “There have been a few famous penetrations of the Skype crypto layers and internal application message routing system,” said Kapela. In June of 2011, Efim Bushmanov announced that he had reverse-engineered Skype with the intention of making it open-source. This, and other reverse-engineering, might have created security vulnerabilities that trojan spyware, for example, could exploit.

The reverse-engineering, however, wouldn’t explain how the FBI obtained records before Bushmanov published Skype’s code going back to the very beginnings of MegaUpload. Or would it? If the Skype code can be reverse-engineered, it’s not much of a stretch to suggest that the FBI was able to do it long before June of 2011 with CIPAV or something like it; or, as Kapela suggested, Skype might be storing logs far longer than the company claims.

Either Skype or the FBI are lying, though it could perhaps be both: Skype, about its data retention policy, and the FBI about how it obtained five year old documents that were supposed to be deleted. A hall of mirrors, folks.

Nevertheless, CNET’s theory does once again raise the rather ominous specter of the FBI covertly implanting spyware on computers without a warrant.

[Image via Moma]

Morgan Stanley: Facebook IPO Illusionists-In-Chief

February 1st, 2012 by DJ Pangburn

As noted yesterday in my editorial, IPOs come about for several reasons, but they are also an excellent opportunity for investment bankers, employees of start-ups (such as Facebook’s) and early investors to create the illusion of quality stock in a booming business. The Facebook IPO valuation, believed to be somewhere in the range of $75 billion to $100 billion, is not so much about what it is worth now, but what it might (might) be worth in the future if all goes well.

Be that as it may, the reality is that those early investors and banking partners are banking—pun most certainly intended—on the fact that they can inflate the Facebook valuation to such a height that hundreds of massive paydays result. And that stock will be sold first to preferred investors, not available to the middle class dregs of American society.

Of the two banks who vied to bring Facebook public, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, it appears now that the latter got the gig, according to Businessweek, quoting “four people with knowledge of the matter.” Not to worry, though, the bounty will be plentiful, with Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays Plc and Bank of America also involved in the sale.

Congrats, however, to Morgan Stanley for getting the prestigious positioning as Illusionists-in-Chief. They will certainly see a boost in their IPO reputation, not to mention the hundreds of millions in fees they’re set to make off the Facebook IPO.

And one must wonder if Goldman Sachs was bypassed because of the (righteous) negative public opinion associated with its brand. Sorry, Lloyd, but don’t despair: you and your crafty enterprise will undoubtedly come across other avenues of enrichment in due time.

Until then, keep your nose to the grindstone, and think of various other ways the law can be circumvented.

Cabinet of Subversive Books: Neal Stephenson’s ‘Cryptonomicon’ & the dream of a data haven

February 1st, 2012 by DJ Pangburn

“Cabinet of Subversive Books” profiles fiction and non-fiction, both popular and underground, children’s and transgressive, poetry and tomes, comic books and even romance novels. And if you don’t see one of your favorites now, don’t despair, for it might well make an appearance in due time.

Listen: Air side project Tomorrow’s World ‘So Long, My Love’

February 1st, 2012 by DJ Pangburn

The new side project from Air’s Jean-Benoit Dunckel, Tomorrow’s World, also features Lou Hayter from New Young Pony Club on vocals. The first single “So Long, My Love” is much more Harmonia-inspired motorik than 10cc pop. Credit goes to Dunckel here for crafting something sonically divergent from Air. Hayter sounds rather like Ladytron’s Helen Marnie, and though the song might have benefitted from a deeper female vocal performance here, the overall sound is still pretty great.

The track will be appearing on “Kitsuné Parisien II,” out February 13th on Kitsuné. The compilation will also feature French artist Owlee, whom we we featured last year here at Death and Taxes in a must see performance of her track “Don’t Lose It.”

Stream Tomorrow’s World single “So Long, My Love” below.

Read my review of Air’s score of the Georges Melies film “La Voyage Dans La Lune.”

Julian Assange takes extradition fight to UK Supreme Court

February 1st, 2012 by DJ Pangburn

Julian Assange and his lawyers appeared in the UK Supreme Court today for two days of hearings over his extradition case. Assange, who is accused of having unprotected sex in Sweden, is fighting extradition, believing that Swedish authorities will clear a path for extradition to the United States. If extradited to the U.S., he may be prosecuted under espionage laws due to his work with WikiLeaks.

This week’s hearings follow the November 2011 ruling that Assange could not stay in the United Kingdom. He and his lawyers appealed to the UK Supreme Court and have not ruled out an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. Assange, of course, has not been charged in Sweden, but is being asked to travel to the country for questioning.

It’s useful to note that the case was originally dropped, then resurrected as Assange and WikiLeaks continued being a thorn in the side of governments worldwide.

Assange’s lawyer, Dinah Rose QC, argued today that the extradition violated a fundamental principle of law, even going so far as citing Codex Iustinianus, dated 376 AD. Rose stated that the Swedish prosecutor, Marianne Ny, was a party to the Assange case and as such did not have the judicial authority to issue the warrant according to the 2003 Extradition Act (itself a controversial treaty).

Rose argued that the UK Parliament had, in signing the treaty, believed that judges would sign European Arrest Warrants (EAWs), not other parties. As the BBC noted, “The High Court, which previously approved his extradition, had recognised that the status of the public prosecutor was debatable.”

“The EAW is a draconian instrument which affects individual liberty, freedom of movement and private life: it should only be resorted to if other, less invasive measures for achieving the general interest have failed or are unavailable,” said Rose.

Stay tuned for updates on the Assange UK Supreme Court hearings.