GREG PUCIATO VS. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, ROUND 1
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 at 11:30am by Axl Rosenberg
Wowza. Greg Puciato posted this Sunday on his MySpace blog (and I think it’s important to note that it’s his MySpace blog – I don’t know if we can assume this represents the feelings of the entire band). It’s fucking War and Peace length, so wait ’til your boss isn’t around to start reading.
I just read a new gallop poll, dated two days ago, that said “the majority of Americans (53%) approve of the U.S. government’s expansion to help fix the current economic crisis, but most of this group would like to see the government’s role reduced once the crisis is over”. I hope if you are reading this and you are one of the 53% you PULL YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS, because…NEWS FLASH…in case you haven’t noticed…..it’s not really a habit of government to EVER get smaller once it’s allowed to get bigger. Government expansion in times of crisis NEVER dies back down once the crisis is over, it’s a ratchet effect that only gets tighter and tighter. People believe this unrelenting expansion/intrusion is necessary, or they don’t think twice about it, because this non-stop buffet of delusion has been presented to them by every major media outlet and every government run institution that you’ve ever encountered in your life, so why shouldn’t they? Being naïve is understandable, especially when its so easy to be, thanks to the fact that the education you are offered about the subject serves no purpose other than to lead you to continue fulfilling your role as a well behaved taxpaying serf to the imperialist police/welfare/warfare state, in the process conditioning you to forget that we created and pay for them, thereby making us the boss, which in turn trains you to always be willing to give over your rights as an individual to the central government without resistance, and to continue to regurgitate and propogate those mis-teachings to others so that they too can continue to get bent over. If I could tell everyone to do one thing right now, it would be to buy a gun, preferably a non traceable illegal black market machine gun, basically whatever gun you can find that comes the closest to the one Jesse The Body used in Predator to level the ENTIRE JUNGLE(how rad was that?), buy a bunch of gold bricks, put that shit in a safe and be ready to shoot people in the face when it all goes down….even if they wear a uniform. Sound like lunacy you say?
You ever wonder how prosperous countries fall? Or wish you could have been around for the fall of the Roman Empire? Well you might be in luck. Remember how psyched most of us were when Obama won? Well it turns out he’s pretty much George W. Bush lite, wearing a young black man costume, and it pisses me off waaaaaay more than W did because at least George smelled like a dick coming into it. You knew he didn’t know any better, he would be working at a tractor dealership or something if his last name wasn’t Bush, so even though he pretty much screwed up at every possible opportunity, what did you really expect out of the guy? Obama on the other hand had every single possible thing he could ever have going for him: public sentiment for change, public disapproval for current government policies on just about every issue, charm, relative newness and lack of corruption from the system, youth, a different/hipper look….and with his overwhelming victory, he obviously had people’s support, so really was in position to shake some shit up. So its sooooo much more infuriating to watch him still pander to old white dorks who haven’t had a fresh idea or uncorrupted brain cell blinking in their heads since my parents were born. Did you see him when they asked if he thought marijuana should be legalized? When he gave that bullshit answer, even though you know without a doubt that him and half his cabinet smoke? Its just a letdown to see someone so promising still be scared to do what he knows is right. I wanna talk about this shit because a lot of Dillinger listeners and heavy/alternative/whatever music listeners in general are younger, full of piss and venom, and most of the time they don’t have a clear place to direct it, or are just unfortunately oblivious to how royally fucked the society they are entering is. I don’t view music or art as totally separate from this. If we were content and didn’t have a thousand potential “fuck yous” to give out on a daily basis we wouldn’t have the fuel to keep making the art that we do with the attitude that we have. Good art always ties in directly to life, so if I didn’t think this was relevant I wouldn’t be opening my mouth.
Its not that Obama isn’t better than Bush. He is, though you’d have to try hard not to be. That’s like trying to cook a dinner that tastes better than dog shit….not too tough. He reversed the ban on stem cell research right away, and is reaching out hard to foreign countries and making a pretty big effort to try to reverse our standing in the eyes of the rest of the world, and both of those are necessary and admirable steps. Having just recently been overseas with Dillinger, it was obvious that the rest of the world already feels a little more at ease with our mascot than they did with the last boner. He’s doing the best he can do without radically shaking things up and giving tons of people the one finger salute. That’s the point though….thats what needs to happen, and he kinda acted like he was gonna do that, and really he’s still just playing the same game, selling the same snake oil, just a little tweaked to make it easier to swallow. Same shit, different spin. I don’t think he’s evil, its just obvious that he comes from the same basic school that every politician has come from for the last century. Don’t think for a second that republicans and democrats aren’t both trying to lead us to the same end result: massive federal government and complete dominance of a central power over your day to day life. They might argue about little shit along the way, like sucking out fetuses or gay marriage or whatever else they cling to to try to pretend they are different, but really deep down they both wanna extend their reach as far as they can, be it through excessive taxation, excessive policing of victimless crime laws, or excessive military intervention, while in the process degrading us as human beings and stripping us of our naturally given self worth and self determination as much as possible. When republicans say they are pro huge military interventions, and pro the expensive and futile drug war, but somehow also say they are pro small government and low taxes, they are delusional. How can you be into massive government spending and stripping of individual rights, but want low taxes and small government? Its not possible. At the same time, democrats claim to want all these personal liberties and want the government to leave them alone, but oh by the way can we please still become dependent on you for health care and education? Don’t believe the lie from both of them that high taxes and government interference and babysitting of our lives and our money is a societal necessity.
If all that shit doesn’t absolutely infuriate you, you are probably high as fuck. Just remember though, that even if you are high as fuck, even if you are high as fuck in your own home(in which the word “own” is also a joke, since you still have to pay property tax and if the government wanted to bulldoze it to make a highway they could), if the government knew about your activities and really wanted to they could kick down your door and put you in jail. All of which, by the way, the jail, the cops, etc….are all paid for by our taxes….taxes which by their very nature are degrading and dehumanizing. People are so excited to get their chunk of taxes back this time of year, so they can get a flat screen or whatever consolation prize they get for playing, that they actually think they are being given something. You aren’t being given shit, you are just being given a moment of relief from the ass raping that you take every week when you get shook down, in a supposedly capitalistic country no less, by the legal mafia known as the IRS, to collect an income tax that we never even voted on, which when put into existence was only supposed to be temporary. Now we have sales tax, state income tax, federal income tax, property tax, taxes on imports, business taxes, taxes on capital gains, taxes on gas, alcohol, tobacco, death tax(!!!), motor vehicle fees, the list is shockingly long. Call it whatever you want, economic enslavement, legal racketeering, grand theft, its disgusting. In case anyone has forgotten, the reason why we established our independence from Britain is because we didn’t wanna be taxed by what we saw as a corrupt government.
I got pulled over for speeding the other day and ticketed for the seventh time or so in the last three years…yet another form of Bullshit Tax. How ironic that we pay their salaries just to have them come take it back from us for one of the many nonviolent“crimes” they’ve created for us. If the government didn’t want us to speed they would limit the top speeds of the cars being built. Instead they deliberately make the speed limits ridiculously low relative to the potential speed of the cars being built, and then they add brainwashed and hungry tax collectors – sorry – traffic police/highway patrol, to the equation. They want us to speed so that they can ticket us and have yet another revenue stream. The whole speeding/ticket cycle is a farce. Police are supposed to stop problems or deal with emergencies. There is no speeding problem. The word problem implies that you can fix it eventually. They aren’t trying to stop speeding, because that would be easy to do. Like I said earlier, they could easily impose speed restrictions on car manufacturers. They created the false problem as a means for them to continually generate more government revenue, to continue funding their reckless and destructive spending habits and bloated appearance. Speeding doesn’t cause accidents, people driving like assholes cause accidents. More people get in accidents in parking lots than anywhere else, and its definitely not because they’re speeding. Now I either have to pay or go to court and get lectured to by some old dick who’s been warped into believing he’s a crime fighter by being a traffic court judge. Either way my insurance will go up, insurance I’ve paid about fifteen thousand dollars towards in the last thirteen years but never had to use. Oh, did I forget to mention that I also went through a toll while I was driving? Shook me down there too. Sorry massa, I didn’t realize you needed even more of my money. I be givin’ it to you right away now massa.
After all this, some people say they only oppose what the government does with the taxes. They don’t mind being taxed, but in return they want free healthcare, or college education for everyone, instead of wars and whatever else. Sounds pleasant enough, but it’s still insulting and dehumanizing. People that want that don’t realize that by doing that you are still negotiating with the enemy and giving the government even more power over your life, by creating a nanny state where you will be sucking at their teet for everything. You are telling them that they know how you would want your money spent before you do. How about just stop the excessive taxing? If people didn’t get a third to a fifth of their incomes stolen from them through all this taxing, maybe they’d be able to get healthcare, or pay for school, or not lose their house. Maybe businesses would be able to hire more people, and then, the people who live in shame on welfare from government redistribution of other people’s money will actually have the pride of employment and pride of self actualization! Taxation is immoral and personally degrading and has been, from the beginning of time, only used to help bankroll the growing imperialist ambitions of corrupt beyond repair nations. The policy of taxation, by its nature, leads to a growing central government with irresponsible and ineffective spending habits, and an economically weakened populace, and is not sustainable. As our overseas ambitions and corrupt federal programs grow, the only way to fund them is to continue raising taxes. As taxes are raised, people have less money to spend, hence the creation of a credit based society with which people can spend imaginary money in a lifelong credit cycle most people will never be able to escape. Now, however, even the infinite taxation of everyone in the country in every way imaginable isn’t enough to pay for our class-warfare welfare state, our overseas expansionist military policies, the idiotic money pit known as the drug war, and the federal government’s imminent takeover of private business that they’ve disguised as “bailouts” designed to help us. How do they fund those endeavors? By creating even more fake money with the federal reserve, crossing their fingers that we’ll believe the bullshit that one day all of our tax dollars will pay back the deficit and balance out all of their spending. Its never gonna happen. Ever. Ever. In the meanwhile inflation is gonna skyrocket and the value of the dollar will soon be next to nothing(not that it hasn’t been reduced to nothing already, the dollar is worth 95% less than it was at the time of the federal reserve’s creation, this is the reason we need two incomes to do what one used to provide), and when that happens, historically one of three things happen: the government is overthrown by the populace, the country falls into civil war and splits apart into new countries or stays in a state of never ending civil war/in-fighting/third world hell while the rest of the world moves on without them, or, the country is invaded and taken over by another country who actually has their shit together. If there obviously needs to be some tax it should be the bare minimum to allow for defense, treasury, legislative, judicial, etc. That’s really all we’re entitled to pay for. As of right now all the taxes combined average out to about 35-40% of your income. Gross right? Have you gotten anything beneficial back outta that? Didn’t think so.
Some of you reading this already know all this shit. This isn’t for you. This is for everyone coming up right now that wants to know whats really going on, and wants a briefing before it all goes down. Things are going to inevitably get really crazy in our lifetime, and I wanted to throw some ideas out there about what I see unfolding right now, just to get some brain cells boiling, to get some conversation started. They can only pacify new generations for so long before public consciousness reaches the breaking point and calls bullshit. Thats what its gonna take to keep things from completely imploding, if it isn’t too late already. That will sadly enough probably not happen anytime soon though, because we have all become pussies and traded the spirit we are born with, the spirit that longs for freedom and integrity and has a resistance for getting shit on. We’ve traded that spirit for infinite distraction, novelty and poison masquerading as entertainment, and the false promise of safety and comfort until we’re dead. We’ll trade anything, our hard earned money, our childrens’ futures,our dignity…..anything, we’ll trade anything….just to maintain the comfort of our gluttonous and shallow culture ’til the very end. Honor, personal respect, protection of our basic human worth….that means nothing. We will gladly allow the threat of government punishment for dissent to completely lobotomize us, in exchange for the illusion of protecting the order and safety of our self created jail cells, protection from ourselves. Do you know that in DC the other day a protest was planned and then scrapped, because they couldn’t get a permit for the protest?! HELLO! IT’S CALLED A FUCKING PROTEST!! I know all those turtlenecked pussies were all scared to go to jail but asking for a permit to protest is like asking someone if they mind if you punch them in the face. “Hey…city hall? Hi I’d like to protest today and was wondering what form I’d need to…..oh……I’m not allowed to do that there? There’s no way to make it legal? We’ll clean up afterwards…. so a mess won’t be a problem and we’ll definitely be respectful…….no? Ok, thanks…bye.” Just like the Born Against song says…“Are you a good team player? Remember….the boss is your best friend.” Only now the government is the boss, and everyone had better be a good employee. One day DEP is gonna take over some cool location and declare independence and we’ll invite you all and we’ll play loud music and do cool shit and barbecue every night and tell the rest of the world to suck it. ‘Til then….read some books on anarcho-capitalism and build up your knowledge base so you can get more infuriated as you begin to realize how personally offensive our government has become.
And, uh, then he reveals that Dillinger hit the studio on July 20 to record a follow-up to Ire Works, but seriously if you just read that whole thing and you wanna know when Dillinger are hitting the studio, then, um, I don’t even know, dude.
So… I still need to digest all of this. In the meantime, it’s certainly a good conversation starter. So, converse. Convince me of your view point, and maybe I’ll post more once I’ve read through all of this at least one more time.
-AR
Thanks to all fifteen of you who e-mailed me about this.
He’s right about the government. The government will just get bigger and bigger and it will mean that the economy will have a harder time recovering since it can’t do it naturally. And thanks a lot Obama for puttling a $787 Billion hole on top of this already bad economy and rewarding the fools who made bad decisions.
While I do think he’s a meathead and have no respect for him, I’m aware that just about everyone else in heavy music is waiting in line to swallow his penis. I don’t think he’s correct, but at least he writes well.
so just because he likes to work out that makes him a meat head?? it means he’s healthy and has the discipline and self respect to take care of his body.
Funny that people really did think things would actually change for the better. A politician is a politician, especially the socialist ones.
so stupid….
Finally someone in the metal community that isnt a fucking democrat, im getting so sick of hearing everyone bullshit about change, the only thing we need to change right now is the fucking idiot sheep in this country who follow everything the gov’t says, speak for yourself people … lead your own country!
Agreed Mothafucka!
I have yet to see anything change for the better, so im with you
While I respect a majority of his views and agree with some…
Holy fuck! Those have to be some of the most ignorant, asinine, and overall poorly thought out ideas concerning speed limits. I mean… Wow.
Yeah, he totally lost me with the speeding crap. Maybe people that speed too much ARE the assholes! Just scream and breathe fire and don’t do anything else with your mouth.
I agree with Greg, especially about the bit on how Obama is Bush in a new outfit. The same old faces of lobbists and advisors around him…
Contrary to Bush he pretends (?) to care what the rest of the world thinks. It seems it’s the only difference.
Still, I hope I’m wrong, and we’ll all see THE CHANGE.
Fucking A right. We, as American citizens are being bent over by a government that is supposed to be “By the people and for the people.” When is the last time your government acted in your best interests? If the majority of Americans think we should stop wasting money on a pointless war (and yes, I do support every mother fucker in uniform), then why are we still over there pissing money into the fire? The redneck assholes that talk about “love it or leave it” when it comes to our country are the ones who are the most blind to what is going on. Any true patriot wants what’s best for his country and his countrymen, well from where I stand, our government hasn’t acted in our best interests in a long goddamn time. But most mother fuckers are too preoccupied with their McMansions, Aryan super cars and what talentless piece of shit won on American Idol last night to be bothered with the guy who lost his job at a factory that closed down because of our economy and now his kids can’t eat. The fucking blinders are being put on us to what is going down in our own country, much less the rest of the world.
The men behind the curtain are destroying our rights as human beings. The president and his cabinet are puppets….Check out “the obama deception” on youtube it’s a definte must watch…Obama is the next BUsh he’s just more charasmatic and well-spoken…Greg’s right start stocking ammo and guns b/c were about go to to war in a few years…If obama gets his way everyone from 18-24 will be training for a civilian military to fight off the riots of the people who will not cooperate with the NEW WORLD ORDER…
FUCk the NEW WORLD ORDER…
people need to be more aware of what is going on…The obama following is a media ploy…wake up everyone the evidence is out there….we need to be aware
He’s pissed about that speeding ticket.
Probably could’ve summed up these ideas using less words. There are a couple words to describe this;
Rant: To speak or write in an angry or violent manner; rave.
Diatribe: A bitter, abusive denunciation.
Greg, it’s good that you’re aware of some of these injustices. But it might have been more useful to post some links to factual examples of what you’re trying to say rather than pretending to be an expert. Some young kids who worship you might be misguided by what you said and get a skewed perception of reality, unless they go and seek out actual evidence on their own. When you’re in a position of celebrity, you need to be careful what you say and make sure your fans don’t get the wrong idea. Kids are impressionable.
Love the passion though, hope it comes out on the album!
I can’t believe he made a reference to anarcho-capitalism. I got into so many arguments about that ridiculous ideology.
Opinions are like assholes. This one kinda stinks.
I found that hilarious for some reason.
Ill take my music soup without the politics in it please. Im on a bullshit diet. No bullshit for me…
hey greg,
ever heard of FDR and the New Deal? do you want another Great Depression or do you want government intervention? i have a feeling you’d be bitching about it either way.
and anyone that doesn’t believe in universal health care is spoiled, heartless, and naive. it’s not about socialism, people. it’s about every human being having equal access to treatment AND toppling the most truly evil entity in our nation: the medical insurance industry.
You are an idiot. Universal healthcare is a huge failure in places it exists like say Canada for example. I mean if you seriously want the govt to tell you what tests you can and can’t have and what doctors you can and can’t go too… this is BS plain and simple. Politicians don’t go to medical school last time I checked. Universal healthcare = horrible healthcare. If you want socialism move to Cuba moron.
Who cares? Dillinger is hitting the studio soon!
Read books by economists and historians. Rome fell because it couldn’t support its army. The public works (like plumbing, roads. and government infrastructure) made possible their empire. Overestimating their military might and its societal cost is what killed them, not social spending. FYI, Ayn Rand is not an economist, Paul Krugman is.
That’s what the Obama-ites didn’t realise when they were spouting off all their shit….a politician is a politician is a politician, regardless of everything else. It’s pretty evident that the corruption is still there – as opposed to Bush’s presidency where Cheney was the really only corrupt one, just about every single fucking person Obama has appointed – and even to the new departments he created to make the government EVEN FUCKING BIGGER – are corrupt. People complain that the Bush presidency took rights away, and we’re looking at a PERMANENT renewal of the assault weapons ban (which is a load of horseshit – if you don’t know the actual wording of it, take the time to look it up, don’t just blindly assume it’s only making illegal shit you’d see in a Viet Nam movie), a proposal to make a true Big Brother government branch that can “shut down the internet” in times of “domestic crisis” – and that crisis remains wonderfully undefined, leaving it up to the government to decide when that it (basically meaning the government would have full control of what information gets out during a crisis….hey, that’s not bad at all, now is it? the USSR did it and look how things turned out for them!), FBI abilities to monitor any and all online activity, without ANY restrictions whatsoever, of people they feel are threats. Taxes went down a whole $25/month for families, but we’re looking at massive corporate taxes that will indirectly raise the amount families have to pay for things like power, as well as the huge amount of inflation that’s headed our way, massive corporate buyouts (meaning the government now owns ungodly amounts of previously private assets), and even things like the government dictating who is allowed to continue working for a company and how much they can make if said company accepts government sustainment funds.
Just brings me back to the first point – politicians are politicians and will say whatever it takes to get elected, and rarely feel the need to stick with what they said after they get into office. People who thought Obama would be any different evidently eschewed reality and bought into the “Hope and Change” bullshit. Should be interesting to see how close we are to a fully-socialist and government-run state in 2012.
Your bullshit jets forth like Niagara Falls.
Cheney the only real corrupt one? How much of a Neo-Con are you DL? How about Karl Rove? How about these guys defending the torture techniques just released? How about Bush searching under White House Press Office furniture mocking the public with sarcastic calls of “No WMDs here!”?
Jesus, pull your head out of your ass, the whole administration had signs of extreme corruption, from hiring Fox News personalities to continuing the deregulation that lead to our current crisis right on down to infusing the same language Al-Qaeda uses into our goals for the two wars we’re engaged in, Cheney the only corrupt one.
What fucking planet do you live on? Pull your fucking head out of your ass.
Yes yes, even fucking bigger, because Bush didn’t do that, and neither did just about every president before, it’s not like the government has gotten progressively bigger, it’s that Obama, in his first 100 days, has turned us into a socialist regime.
“Under the former Federal Assault Weapons Ban, the primary characteristics of the U.S. M16 and M4 assault rifles, other than fully automatic fire, were chosen to define what makes a semi-automatic rifle an assault weapon – many other regulations in the United States have adopted similar defining characteristics.”
More bullshit from you, and it makes you look like an ignorant hick to even bring that up, if you want a fucking shotgun and a handgun to knock the brains out of someone intruding on your property, believe me, you’ll have them, there’s no reason assault rifles(which are the focus) need to be readily available to everyone.
There just isn’t.
As for this new proposals before the senate, I somehow doubt they’ll let it go worded the way it is, they never do, and even then Bush already did everything but what you listed, and has done it under the Patriot Act since it was signed, the only real difference here is this extends it to the currently poorly worded “crisis” instead of “terrorism”, which actually is the distressing part.
Great, so we should drop taxes on corporations and increase them on the public, that’s totally logical.
Tell me something though DL, do you live in Texas? I just have a feeling about that.
Massive corporate buyouts, I love how fucktarded neo-cons supported the buyouts when Bush was proposing them, but when Obama does it’s “oh evil socialism supreme state control” panic attacks. You’d do well to actually research the plan for the assets we currently own and be aware the long term plan is not to keep them, I’ve noticed fucktarded neo-cons often believe we’re going the way Japan went and refuse to research any of it.
The last bit is just more of us finagling with the free market, let’s face it, corporations are massive greed structures, it’s what makes Capitalism so effective, thousands of people working to attain increasing amounts of money as they become successively more important to the corporation.
I’m somewhat conflicted, I do believe in the system, but after seeing how much that Exxon Mobil CEO got, and this absolutely appalling amount of corruption due to all the deregulating that’s taken place over the past 20 years, I want to punish these companies. That’s my passion and anger talking, the very same passion and anger that blinded me to theocratic nationalist thinking of the Bush administration around 2001, and I learned then putting unquestioning faith in a horrible, wretched human being surrounded by all manner of evil people leads you down a dark path.
So I have no true opinion to offer there.
“politicians are politicians”
Unless they’re George W. Bush of course, he’s a great guy, and Karl Rove too, it was all that dastardly Cheney.
You’re about as delusional as those who thought “Change” would happen instantly, your final statement, no doubt driven by the 3% tax increase(as someone else noted, previously 90%), cements this.
“Great, so we should drop taxes on corporations and increase them on the public, that’s totally logical.”
You do realize that corporations don’t actually pay taxes, don’t you? They shift the burden on to the public via cutting costs of production and/or raising prices.
Which is the same bullshit I’ve heard for years, of course they pay taxes, if they didn’t we’d be a third world country right now, why do people whip this out at every turn?
Example…let’s say you own a business and your gross income is 10,000 (I’m using very basic numbers). It costs you 8,000 to run the business, and you pay 1,000 in taxes. So your profit is 1,000. If taxes are raised on you by 500, do you just take the hit? Or is the tax burden shifted to your customers? Or do you live on 500?
I don’t really think that’s a fair example, don’t you think that’s hyperbolic? We aren’t talking about small businesses here on top of that.
To me he’ll always be the guy who shat in a bag and threw it into the crowd at Reading festival. No more, no less.
I had hoped for a truly intelligent blog, not a sad little “I-just-need-something-to-be-angry-about” rant that almost appears to be well-informed. I just lost a lot of respect for Mr. Puciato. Hopefully the rest of Dillinger isn’t quite so short-sighted.
Greg, don’t be mad at Obama. Be mad at yourself for buying all that campaign rhetoric hook, line, and sinker and becoming emotionally invested in a POLITICIAN! They NEVER do what they say they are going to do.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am a card-carrying Republican (although I’m a conservative first)…I voted for McCain and Bush tboth times before him, not because he was a great candidate, but because he was better than the alternative (as was McCain, but not by much). Here are my thoughts:
-Mike, I disagree with your post that Obama is rewarding the fools who make bad decisions…he isn’t rewarding them, he’s bailing them out with government money (read: OUR money) so that the federal government will now have a stake in private corporations. He’s trying to nationalize the banks, just through the backdoor. This is much, much worse than just rewarding failure. They bailed out GM, then what does Obama do? He FIRES the CEO…let me repeat that…an elected, PUBLIC official used our money to bail out a PRIVATE corporation, then steps in and fires an employee of that PRIVATE corpation. Whether you think the big CEOs deserve to keep their high paying jobs or not is irrelevant…this is a free market, they have a skill (some more than others) that corporations deem to be valuable and they pay this CEO in kind. If they want to waste their money, fine. If they want to waste taxpayer’s money, the solution isn’t to fire the CEO, the solution is to NOT GIVE THEM TAXPAYER MONEY in the first place.
-As far as Greg’s post, I find it refreshing that someone from the rock/metal world isn’t a gung-ho Democrat/bleeding heart liberal. He’s not exactly a pro-conservative hard-core right-winger like I am, but that’s fine, I don’t need to be pandered to. It’s nice to see somebody have their own honest opinions.
-With regards to his points he makes, I agree with some of them, disagree with others, especially about the military spending/tax cuts. I can’t speak for all conservatives obviously, but there are many who feel the way I do…it’s not about the taxes necessarily. Without taxes of some sort we have nothing. Roads, bridges, schools, military, etc. do not build themselves. The problem isn’t the taxes as much as the SPENDING. To quote Ronald Reagan: “We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much”. I have no problem at all with military spending (the more the better, IMO). But these stimulus packages that the Democrats crammed trough congress without even reading (similar to the same spending Bush approved as well last year) are loaded with earmarks. Example: 1.7 million dollars is going to pig-odor research in Iowa. Or $49 million tax benefit for fishermen and other plaintiffs who sued over the 1989 tanker Exxon Valdez spill? So what’s $50 million when we’re talking about HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS? Well, you know what $50 milllion buys? Ten unmanned predator drones. Ask any Navy SEAL or Army Ranger pinned down in the mountains of Afghanistan under fire from the Taliban which they would rather have, a predator drone or a solid understanding of why pigs stink so bad? Yeah, so they’re gut-shot and bleeding to death on a snow-covered peak thousands of miles from home, but at least those people who sued over a tanker spill 20 years ago got some sort of justice! They’ve got millions earmarked for a high-speed rail-transit system. Is there even a demand for this? Can it actually make money? If there were any demand for it and any way to make money on it, wouldn’t private businessmen have already jumped all over it? If the only thing is will ensure is more government jobs, then no thank you. You want to create real jobs? Drill here for oil. I don’t think it will make the price of gas go down much (if any) at all. But…if you allow private companies to drill, they they will build rigs/refineries. It takes steel & concrete to build those…so the people who sell that make money. it takes trucks to haul the material…the people who sell trucks make money. The people who work on the trucks make money. Whichever town is near the rigs/refineries gets a spike in population, meaning more money for the foods & services businesses. Homes will have to be built to accomodate the new employees or at least vacant homes can be sold or apartments rented. A boom in those different businesses means a need for more employees, which means more tax revenue, which means health insurance providers get more business, which means other providers have a chance to get into that market to create healthy competition. I could go on and on, but I won’t.
-As far as Greg’s stance against speeding tickets…dude, just slow your ass down. It’s not hard to do. You get a ticket for driving too fast? Don’t drive too fast, there, problem solved. Whether you agree with the system or not, it is in place and isn’t going anywhere, so obey the speed limit and you won’t get a ticket. If you do, you’ve got nobody to blame but yourself. Besides, unless there is some sort of emergency, there’s really no reason to speed anyway. The speed limits are usually fairly reasonable.
Yeah, I’d like to see someone hardball Obama for a change and actually ask him the tough questions. People are so foolish as to just believe whatever he says. If Bush had been doing the same things that Obama is doing now, he would be slaughtered by the press and by popular opinion (for example, how Bush got slaughtered for the first bailout but Obama is being praised for a bailout that is just as harmful if not moreso). People don’t actually form opinions about Bush and Obama, they just swallow what the media tells them and form their own opinion based on little or no actual thought.
And the speed limit thing was kind of pathetic. He’s just mad because he got caught speeding. Speed limits save gas as well as lives.
It’s nice to see someone speak about Obama as a politician rather than a savior. I feel pretty much the same as he does and I won’t write a shitload of stuff because he’s said it well enough. Just don’t trust everything you see on CNN, NBC, FOX, or any other mainstream source of information, because they obviously like to keep us distracted from what really goes on behind the curtain (ie: “What dog is Obama going to buy?” Seriously?).
This is proof-positive that head banging leads to brain damage.
What a fucking crybaby.
The only thing worse than a brainwashed redneck is a brainwashed redneck with a persecution complex.
Jesus Fucking Christ. I actually pity the people who made it through all that shit.
I would have to say the only thing I agree with in that whole statement is the speeding ticket stuff. If the speed limit is 70 why in the world does the spedometer on my car go to 140. The two posts above me sum up the rest of my feelings.
That’s pretty much an anarchist viewpoint. “It’s all the fucking shadow government, anyone else is just one of their puppets”, simply because whoever is in power isn’t doing exactly whatever the fuck it is they want immediately. I also find it hilarious that there’s all this bullshit about Socialism. Guess what, retards? Obama wants to raise the tax rate from 36% to 39% on the richest Americans. The tax rate on the same income bracket was (until very, very recently) ninety percent. So fucking stupid.
Yeah, Obama’s doing a lot of things that I don’t agree with. That’s life. Are we going to impeach Obama because he isn’t legalizing granola fast enough or whatever? Maybe an armed revolution, like Glenn Beck keeps rooting for? Secession? The guy hasn’t even been in office for 100 days yet, and I’d like to see any of these assholes who think they could do it better even try to stare down the tidal wave of shit washing over us right now. Everyone thinks they know better, but no one actually does because NOBODY who is alive right now has been through this situation before and been the person who was instrumental in fixing it.
Puciato makes some decent points, I guess, for that kind of an absurd rant. He sounds like me, when I was like fucking 15 and still thought that shit could even kind of work that way.
P.S. Fuck Ayn Rand. “Atlas Shrugged” is about personal philosophy, not world economic policy. “Go Gault” in Somalia, motherfuckers.
@ RobThank you for pointing out he’s been in office less than 100 days.
Did people just expect the country to turn around on a dime the moment Bush left office? While I don’t agree with everything he does and think some things Obama isn’t pushing enough he is making progress following the same general principals that FDR used to get out of the great depression successfully. I love DEP, but I have to call bullshit on this the only two points I really agree with what so ever are the facts we’re in wars we shouldn’t be in over seas and to a lesser extent the war on drugs in the sense that a war on marijuana is stupid as it could be easily regulated like cigarettes or alcohol and bring in those taxes Greg loves so much and maybe reduce the income taxes we all pay. I still stand by the war on other drugs though, meth, crack, coke etc. only costs each and everyone of us through incarcerations and related crimes.
You sum me up perfectly, your P.S. was the stuff of philosophical hard-ons everywhere, because it is just more of this selfish libertarian/anarchist bullshit.
Out of curiosity, Revrant, what are your political leanings?
Loaded question, but you could call me fiscally centered and socially left leaning, if you were going to just use the two tenants of modern politics.
boobies are awesome!
Nice to know there ARE some non bleeding heart liberals out there in the metal world. I’m about completely alone out here by Chicago.
He’s completely right about everything.
I wil be at that barbecue.
Well said, Mr. Puciato. Glad to see you have no part in the bullshit Liberal Agenda, like alot of metalheads do. Fuck Obama, and his stealing of my money.
Greg said
“As of right now all the taxes combined average out to about 35-40% of your income. Gross right? Have you gotten anything beneficial back outta that? Didn’t think so.”
I drove my car on a road to the record store to buy a copy of Ire Works. Before that I ordered a copy of Miss Machine off the net and had it sent to me by US Mail. I bought a copy of Calculating Infinity at a DEP show. I got there via public transportation.
Let’s see….roads, postal service, affordable public transportation. All paid for by tax dollars. So basically our tax dollars aided me in buying three DEP albums.
I guess Greg is getting something out of taxes. My money. Anarcho-capitolism, please.
He’s talking about Income Tax, which does not go to fixing roads, or anything for that matter. Income Tax is interest that we pay on the money that our government borrows from the Federal Reserve. In other words, it goes straight to bankers from England. Look up the Rothschild family timeline some time…
he’s got nice teeth…real sharp lookin’…
Only a self-obsessed douchebag could equate getting a speeding ticket (while admitting to speeding) with slavery and then proceed to do a little verbal shuck n’jjive. Classy.. If you’re such a rebel and don’t want your money to go to the system, STOP SPEEDING…or would that be too much of a sacrifice for your freedoms?
No one like to pay taxes and everyone should look for ways to hold the government accountable. However, taxes represent roads, they represent schools, they represent public libraries, national parks, a nationwide energy grid, a defense force, etc. Now, there are huge issues with this country and the leadership, but spoiled brats saying they don’t want to pay anything for the benefits they’ve already reaped infuriate me. The taxes you pay now are a payback for the taxes given by others that paid for your school, your roads or looked after you or your family during a hard economic time.
There is a ton wrong with this country, but if people can’t identify the real problems and formulate well-thought out solutions, it will go the route of the Roman Emplire. Buying gold and a gun isn’t a solution (although owning a gun responsibly is cool).
Speeding tickets…bitch, please.
Agree with most of his rant. No care. Van flip for this whole retarded country. We just need to start a Metal country… Maybe annex Mexico… ;D
Well unfortunately everyone fails to realize how the government works.
In any administration there can be claims that “we’re gonna make the government smaller.” How does this happen? Contracting out. Which means that the government is still massive, but getting paid MORE than they would as government employees without the protections provided for the everyday citizen. They are uncontrollable. They are profit-driven. Democrats and Republicans alike provide for this equally. Don’t blame Obama. It’s the way the American system works.
So the next time you ask yourself why government keeps getting bigger, realize it’s because privatization is a nasty nasty thing. If you want to bitch about your taxes getting wasted on bailouts, complain that they’re wasted on the same bullshit they have for the past 3 decades. Overpaying halfwits to do the jobs the government thinks doesn’t matter. Who was in charge of prison interrogations at Abu Ghraib? Private contractors. Hmmm. Why is it that Lockheed Martin is one of two weapons contractors in the U.S. and also bid to process application and distribute checks for welfare in certain states across the country? When shit hits the fan it’s because people want a smaller government, and will settle for hearing that the government cut a few thousand jobs instead of thinking “Oh, wait, people still do that, they just aren’t government employees.” There’s your “wasting money.”
There are easily 3 time more private government employees then public. That still sounds like a massive government even if the payroll seems smaller. So quit yer bitchin’ you ignorant fucks.
Fox News and CNN don’t make you smarter. They just give you the bits and pieces you use to form the arguments you post on this great site.
Ha ha ha! Maybe all that pot smoking messed him up. Bush isn’t half as bad as Obama is. Even if he did smell his dick a mile away. Remember when the news was bashing all the conservatives and like for being right-wing nut jobs that were preaching doom and gloom about Obama and were just a bunch of racist haters? It was just like they said wasn’t it?
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Someone with a FUCKING BRAIN! Obama is going to turn us into a socialist nation if the public keeps being so naive. I mean for fuck sake READ A HISTORY BOOK!
“If the government didn’t want us to speed they would limit the top speeds of the cars being built.”
So…let me get this straight…you want the GOVERNMENT to be the only manufacturer of cars in this country, and physically limit how fast you can go?
For some strange reason…that seems just a TAD un-Republican.
I was almost interested in this post until I saw he misspelled “Gallup poll” in the FIRST FIVE WORDS of this polemic. By the way, Buffet of Delusion sounds like an awesome shitty grindcore band.
Someone has been watching a little too much Alex Jones. We get it Gregg, you are “the one” and will enlighten us all.
In 1932 – during the Great Depresson – the economy did not get better until Hoover got out as president and FDR got in. Why? Do you ask? Because FDR let go of the governments ideological stubborness that Hoover had and actually purchased bank stock which then capitalized banks. Yes it did expand the government and no it didn’t retract after but the market would have taken too long to regulate itself and we would have been much worse off.
ANARCHO CAPITALISM GREGG?? REALLY?? You know there is one thing worse then the government and that is private corporations, and that is where your Defense, Police and fire protection would all come from in an anarcho capitalist state, PRIVATE COMPANYS, yeah fucking right, keep wishing baldy, I love your music but wake the fuck up to reality.
Just out of curiosity, why was the depression the worst it had ever been in 1937? Because the temporary fixes FDR put in place were negated by his stopping and trying to put stack the Supreme Court with the justices he wanted. Did FDR mitigate the depression? Yes. Did he solve it? No, it was solved by WWII.
I’m a bit bemused, are you blaming the severity of the Great Depression on FDR?
There’s definitely truth here, WWII put the entire nation to work, but you’re taking a lot of credit away from FDR, he put in place the very systems that allowed our unhindered growth after we became a nation about production, about work, dedication, basically it’s a little more complicated than you’re suggesting.
“I’m a bit bemused, are you blaming the severity of the Great Depression on FDR?”
No, read again please.
I understood quite well the first time, and the second time wasn’t enlightening.
The comment system won’t let me reply your comment, so I’ll just add it here. I was originally saying that the help FDR gave during the first years of his tenure was (somewhat) negated when he stopped in 1937 to stack the Supreme Court. It became worse that year because the temporary fixes he was making stopped. He did mitigate the depression; I agree that it would’ve been a lot worse had he not done anything. I’m just not convinced he brought us out of the depression in any way that wouldn’t have happened eventually under some other President.
Yes it’s limited to a certain number of replies by the looks of it.
Still, nice to have replies all the same.
I see what you’re saying now, but I disagree, that’s something akin to Nazi Germany would have happened without Hitler, which I don’t believe either.
FDR helped create many of the systems we still hold dear and helped our society boom, ironically it’s the deregulating of what he established that helped lead us to our current crisis.
Who would of thought? Not I.
This doesn’t really seem too biased in either direction (although only read part of it), it just seems like he hates both ends. Which, in my opinion, is admirable, although I don’t agree with everything he had to say.
Regardless of the bad speeding ticket analogy (it’s not really the government’s fault he was driving too fast, even if the speed limit IS sometimes set artificially low to generate ticket revenue), the one truism Puciato speaks is that politicians are always politicians, with the main goal being election and then re-election. One should never vote for an individual, save for maybe a local city/county legislator, with altruistic naiveté. A politician, in our current system of systemic legal bribery, will always act like a politician.
Fuck yeah!!! I don’t agree with all of this, but this dude knows what he’s talking about!
Fuck democrats AND republicans!!!
LIBERTARIAN FTW!!!
I’m as a big a Dillinger fan as the next person, but did Puciato really expect something life-altering from Obama? He would not have become the President of the USA if he didn’t play “the game” and was completely different from the majority of American politicians. He wouldn’t have been elected a Senator if he was a Socialist in the first place, and he wouldn’t have gotten this far by being a complete revolutionary, politically. So Puciato, your music is great, but for a smart guy, are you really not that perceptive in understanding the American political system and our history? If you expected revolution, you are dumber than you appear.
“As of right now all the taxes combined average out to about 35-40% of your income. Gross right? Have you gotten anything beneficial back outta that? Didn’t think so.”
I guess your country doesn’t have the crime rates of third world countries because people there are just nice by nature. Stick to music, dude. I live in a country where taxes are about half those in the USA. The result? the government can’t do shit because not only are taxes really low, no one fucking pays them. The murder rate is 18-20 PER DAY in the city I live in. If you walk down any street there’s a good chance you won’t make it to your destination without getting mugged. Public education is a joke, public hospitals are overcrowded and underfunded. There’s no welfare.
Take YOUR head out of YOUR ass, you get to live off making music so stop whining about a fucking speeding ticket.
I agree with most of his points. The government has become more and more bloated after recovering from periods of crisis. We already experimented with Keynesian economics. It lead to disaster in the 1970’s. De-regulating industry is the only way to stimulate growth, but you need and educated populace to be able to discern the lemons from the chargers. Unfortunately, this country has been failing miserably on that account for the past couple decades.
It’s a depressing situation.
So I take it he went to one of the tea(bagging) parties last week?
This guy is a retard. He is just pissed he got a speeding ticket, again, so he comes up with this entire rant about the government. Greg gives the main reason I don’t listen to celebrities or musicians for politics because they don’t know what they are talking about.
Finally, someone not suckling at the Obama taint.
Screw the political games.
Up with independence. Down with large government.
Many of those who claim increased socialism doesn’t exist miss the big picture and prime examples of its happening right now. For instance, what about the court case where anything used in a crime can be confiscated by the government, even if it’s jointly owned and your spouse did the crime and you had nothing to do with it? Or what about the case where the good of community, i.e. a shopping mall, can justify kicking people out of their homes, whether they like it or not?
Before you say “roads and food for the poor,” think about this: the government spent money so that my no name school could go hellbendering. Yeah, hellbenders, the salamander creatures. The government is also spending, through the FCC, $20/hr. (for guaranteed 40 hour minimum) per person plus $150/day and $.55/mi. traveled for people to help others in the transition to digital transmission of television channels. That’s about $90k/ year in case you were wondering. The stimulus package is hundreds of pages long with various provisos attached that spend tons of money on worthless pet projects. In short, the government may do good, but it does it inefficiently, and many times, it grabs control and never lets go.
I have to admit, you seem to purposely word this to be politically vague, but somehow I think you’re applying this only to the Obama administration.
People seem to be misreading him…as much as I disagree with his perceptions, he isn’t anti-Obama. He’s no conservative. He thinks of himself as a neo-liberal, with a “sadistic” name (anarcho-capitalism). I just think he expected Obama to be some revolutionary, and like I said above, Puciato is moron for not being perceptive enough to understand that Obama wouldn’t have gotten to this point if he was some revolutionary.
He’s right about pretty much everything he’s talking about except the speeding ticket part.
I don’t listen to any dude with a nose-ring. Easy as that.
Greg, ever hear of the Articles of Confederation? Maybe you’re to naive from the education you got that your taxes gave you.
Damn, I love Dillinger…
He’s about right… You learn a lot of this shit playing Civ on the PC, this shit happens all the time through history. Buy a gun & play more Civ.
Wow man what a rant! And the always enjoyable comments hahaha! To quote an analogy of a Swedish friend “USA’s left-wings are Swedish right-wings”.
In order not have government and be self-controlling is to have anarchy. And who in this world is self-controlling? Most people may speak high ideals, but when given the opportunity (or enough of them) they get down right dirty. The only way for a country not to have taxes is to be able to have an income that covers or surpasses it’s expenses. In order to have an income without taxation means to have productive facilities that create profit and banks and so on (if you look at it in the western world logistics view). But that is actually socialism, which for me at least in not such a bad thing. To have a common education and health care for everyone, that is not socialism, it’s fucking giving a crap about your citizens. And avoiding incidents like dropping important subjects like science and evolution theory in certain states just because they don’t agree with their crazy religious beliefs or most people not able to afford a doctor.
As things are politically all over the world it is impossible not to have government interaction and laws by the way. But democracy is not voting for somebody and then complaining for 4 years while he does whatever he and the rest of the senate pleases. That is oligarchy flavored with a speck of democracy. Democracy is when people are actually participate in the decisions for the nations welfare.
And really? Speeding tickets? Car companies make faster and more impressive cars to sell more and make profit. To keep you safe they include safety measures that don’t always work, for collisions in those high speeds. Traffic laws are there to keep you safe or better yet everyone else safe from imbeciles that think they can have complete control all the time over a car that goes above 50 mph (and why not more?). Real life is not Need for Speed, or Grand Tourismo and has unpleasant consequences when you crash at these speeds that has nothing to do with government collecting tickets.
I doubt that anyone will read this post, but in conclusion, democrats or republicans are actually the same basic politics with minor variations that for some reason seem very important, Dillinger Escape Plan makes awesome music and while this guy is entitled to his opinion at least he should at least think things a bit more before taking the worst parts of any ideology to create an even worse opinion hahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!
My comment was also a rant hehehehe!!!
in case Greg (and the Tea Partiers) has (have) forgotten, the reason why we were pissed off at Britain taxing us is because we didn’t have any representation in Parliament.
I am a liberal/democrat and I voted for Obama. He has not been in office long and he is trying to get things done but I am disappointed in a lot of his economic policy’s. The problem I see with this whole new deal is that we can only have so many construction workers. A program of public works does not help lawyers and financial analysts and computer programmers. What we should be doing is giving company’s who keep workers tax breaks and incentives. This way if people stay employed than they aren’t collecting unemployment and they are paying there taxes, bills and spending money. The problem is when unemployment really starts to expand those unemployed people aren’t paying taxes and instead are collecting money from the government. Same thing goes for lending, instead of giving the banks money the government should back any loans that are made to company’s or people with good credit. This way the government isn’t really paying anything out of pocket but if things go wrong they can step in. This shouldn’t happen because stricter lending will be enforced.
On to what Greg talked about, I have been thinking a lot of the same things recently and I just think our government has gotten too big. Yes we are a democracy but there is not a hell of a lot we can do to change anything and in the end we aren’t really that free. The government is just so massive and locked in such a shitty neverending cycle that I just can’t see thing getting much better. We really need a prominent third party and we need senate and house term limits. I also think the amount of campaigning that is done needs to be minimized because the media just turns it all into this rediculous circus where people talk more about mistakes and what people wear than what’s getting done.
I could go on and on but I have talked to a lot of people who have long term run responsible well functioning businesses and they are under the concensus that what I said in the first paragraph is a necessity and its insane that Obama’s team isn’t doing it.
Dave is right. And Greg is a semi-informed faux-libertarian twerp. He might grow out of it eventually, though.
in any election, it’s always going to be around 50/50, so there will always be dissenters to oppose the current administration.
the republican party has come to stand for pro-radical christian ideals, racism, homophobia, etc, so at least they aren’t in charge at the moment.
i’m not going to put too much thought into mr. rockstar’s vulgar pandering to the teenage audience.
In what way does the Republican party stand for racism?
I’d say the shirts linking Osama to Obama, and “Barack the Magic Negro” song released by Republicans, *to* Republicans, which loved it, and of course spent weeks defending the song on Fox News, just off the top of my head.
I like cats.
We need to abolish the Federal Reserve as it’s a private corporation that works with the Federal government. Instead of the government creating it’s own money, the Federal Reserve does it for us AND charges us interest on this money that they create out of nothing. So they cause inflation AND charge us interest that will never be repaid because they create all the money. They create only principal, so where does the money come from to pay all this interest? Nowhere.
Our monetary system is based on debt and we will ALWAYS have it unless we fight back against the bankers.
Ehhh Obama isn’t gonna be this saviour everyone hoped for, even if he pulls America out of recession [not too likely soon], they’re gonna be faced with another problem – INFLATION.
Srsly, pumping out 780 billion dollars just like that? hmmm…… In the future expect to pay 200 dollars for a DEP show LOL
Also, government intervention in a time like this, IS COMPLETELY NECESSARY, if it weren’t there guess what would occur, it beings with an ‘A’ and this word appears in a very famous but shitty punk rock song by the Sex Pistols
Bring on the Socialism!
he’s right. if this is what hope is I want nothing to do with it.
HAHAHAHA you people think that presidents rule the world?
they don’t
they’re puppets
flopped around the tables of nestle, IBM and the other wealthy corrupt multinational corporations that decide which allegiances should be made, to rule the rest of the developing nations, all this empire building takes place in such sutil ways we are oblivious to it all.
that’s what’s happening
now just meditate for a while.
and go shopping
I really don’t like Dillinger Escape Plan. I walked out on them when they played with Cavalera Conspiracy. With that said, I didn’t read the blog.
tl;dr
damn got here too late for the political argument… fuck anyway greg is right obama isnt gonna change shit he is gonna continue the path that bush, clinton, bush, reagan and several other puppet leaders started.. wake up people there is no real difference between the republicans and democrats. obama is bush’s cousin and cfr globalist scum
Obama is Bush’s brudda
Fuck all you Americans. Dillinger is hitting the studio
Hippie.
“You are telling them that they know how you would want your money spent before you do.”
What does he mean by that? The words….they confuse me….
This Puciato guy seems pretty intelligent, by the way, even if some of his views are flawed.
“If you don’t agree with me, you’re high as F*ck”…thanks for the advice, Mr.Musician Jerk. You know, hanging out with Trent Reznor doesn’t automatically make you smart. Just ask MarilynManson…