So, we played four shows in about a week. That was cool, besides us leaving Walker's bass at Turtlehead House in Chattanooga. We've got the show on June 29th with the Besties, Recovery Period and Walker's other band, Tyrants @ Cave9, and July 6th in Nashville with Ruiner, Die Young, Hollywood, and the Ackleys @ the Muse.

Did anyone else read the Washington Post article about the CIA gearing up to release a slew of previously classified info? It's being touted as "the family jewels", meaning it's loaded with accounts of unthinkable human rights violations in the name of intelligence gathering or national security. Early reports have it detailing things like opening the mail of dissidents like Jane Fonda, but also testing drugs on unwitting members of the population.

And our taxes paid for it.

This, of course, pales in comparison to the inhuman tactics taught at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly the School of the Americas, based in Macon, Georgia - a drive of no more than 4 or 5 hours from my front door. The methods of torture and intimidation taught there are the stuff of nightmares; entering a village that was essentially squatting on land that had belonged to the area families for centuries, literally, and because of new ownership by companies like Dole Fruit or some such interest, using tactics like smashing babies' heads in on rocks, cutting women's breasts off and leaving them hanging from trees, decapitating local leaders, all to demonstrate the end effect of resisting American encroachment. This isn't some sort of left-wing conspiracy bullshit - this is documented history. If you want more information on this situation, please visit School of the Americas Watch's web site: http://www.soaw.org.