... with liberty and justice for all.

You don't realize how much mythology you've swallowed about the Deep Wisdom and Abiding Respect For Humanity that the Founding Fathers possessed until you read some history and think about it a little harder. I'm reading Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States these days, which presents the less-rosy side of our nation's past. The way he tells it, it's less about Freedom and Liberty and more about oppression by dividing-and-conquering -- including intentionally encouraging racism (!) -- and a whole lot of money.

( ... and... )

*hiphop fanboy squee!*

Aesop Rock is coming out with a new album next month. And a tour approaches, but he's not coming to Atlanta :-\

But! John Darnielle is collaborating on this one!

And! I'm not exactly sure how or why or when this happened, but Def Jux (the label Aesop Rock, El-P and Mr. Lif are on, among others) and Adult Swim got together to release a Free Internet Album for you to download. I hadn't listened to Calm Cool Pete yet, but this track is pretty hot -- he's obliquely referencing late-80's Sega games. I'm impressed.