Pardon me, but David Brooks should stick a bong up his ass

By Michael J.W. Stickings

One of the best responses to David Brooks's remarkably stupid column against marijuana legalization comes from The Nation's Michelle Goldberg, who writes this:

Brooks's lament about marijuana legalization is astonishing in its blindness to ruined lives and the human stakes of a serious policy debate. Somehow, he's written a whole column about the drug war that doesn't once contain the words "arrest" or "prison." It's evidence not just of his own writerly weakness but of the way double standards in the war on drugs shield elites from reckoning with its consequences.

And the obvious problem, except to lazy pontificators like Brooks, is that the "war on drugs" highly disproportionately targets non-whites. Rich white guys, or even just most white guys, smoke pot and get away with it. Not so much, say, blacks. And so Brooks's argument that marijuana should remain illegal because it doesn't promote "temperate, prudent, self-governing citizenship" is self-absorbed bullshit. It's the sort of bullshit I used to hear a lot of when I was a Straussian graduate student, when the cult of the ancients prevailed and we would distinguish ourselves from the nihilistic postmodern world around us by aspiring, at least in speech, to what we pretentiously thought of as higher form of citizenship, the sort of which Socrates might approve. (Actually, I thought this was bullshit back then as well, a simplistic perversion of Strauss's teachings, and I recoiled from it.) But I digress...

It's not that I object to "temperate, prudent, self-government citizenship." Liberal democracies require it to some degree, and it's when citizenship is perverted, when, say, we become consumers instead of citizens, that our democratic rights wither and we basically lose the capacity for self-government and indeed of enlightenment generally.

But it's ridiculous to connect this to marijuana use, unless of course Brooks wishes to ban alcohol as well, which is also ridiculous. Our concept of citizenship allows for a great deal of individual choice and freedom, and people in a free society should be allowed to do things that do not harm others and indeed in a free society the burden is on the government, the government of the people, to show that something is harmful and so should not be permitted. Driving 100 mph through a residential area or physically assaulting someone qualifies as something harmful or so potentially harmful that it is in society's interests to try to prevent it. Smoking pot doesn't. Not even close. You can smoke pot and be anything but a threat to others. You can also smoke pot and be a good citizen. But even if you smoke pot and don't vote, which I hardly recommend, so what? It's a free fucking country. No?

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A.M. Headlines

(Sen. Bernie Sanders): "Is the NSA spying on Congress?"

(Dave Weigel): "Ruth Marcus, David Brooks, and reefer madness"

(Ron Brownstein): "Why the Senate will only get more polarized"

(New York Times): "Access to abortion falling as states pass restrictions"

(Wall Street Journal): "Obama Administration urges high court to preserve birth-control mandate"

Sarah Jarosz: "Build Me Up From Bones" and "1,000 Things"

By Michael J.W. Stickings

One of my favorite albums of 2013 -- if a long way from the post-prog genre that I generally like most these days (e.g., Porcupine Tree, Anathema, Gazpacho, Amplifier, North Atlantic Oscillation, The Pineapple Thief) -- is the wonderful Sarah Jarosz's Build Me Up From Bones. Her third album, it's a gorgeous blend of folk and bluegrass that I suppose qualifies as "Americana," however much her influences and range extend beyond America's shores.

Back in 2011, I posted two songs from her second album, Follow Me Down. Here are two from her new one, the title track and "1,000 Things." Enjoy!

On the Hustings

(Washington Post): "Is New York’s de Blasio prompting a repositioning by the Clintons?"

(CBS News): "Americans enter 2014 with plunging faith in government"

(Los Angeles Times): "A keep-the-bums-in mood may prevail in midterm election"

(Washington Post): ""Hawaii Senate primary is dividing Democrats along ethnic and generational lines"

(Denver Post): "Rep. Mike Coffman says he’ll do push ups for cash money"

They really hate it

By Mustang Bobby

Josh Marshall does the numbers and notes that as more and more people sign up for Obamacare, so grows the rage among the right-wingers.

It is amazing to witness the sheer depths of rage, denial and disgust many people experience as they see millions of people gaining access to affordable health care for the first time. Back on the 31st I wrote this overview which outlined how more than 9 million people now have health care coverage because of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). It now seems like the number is more like 10 million (more on that in a moment).

This evening I mentioned this number on Twitter and saw the full force of denial and outrage as many anti-Obamacare diehards made first contact with the actual number of Americans who’ve gained coverage under the program. More though, it was clear how in the absence of a dead in the water website to cry crocodile tears over, anti-Obamacare hardliners have suddenly gotten a whole lot angrier about Obamacare.

[...]

…there are a lot of Obamacare dead-enders out there who just blow a gasket when they make first contact with these numbers. The first claim is that Medicaid expansion somehow doesn’t count. Or it doesn’t count if a 24 year old is now covered under their parents policy because well that happened a while ago or well, something.

The best dead-ender argument is that well, maybe these people who’ve signed up for subsidized private insurance policies won’t end up paying their premiums. When the arguments get down to this level you know you’re dealing with a deep and intense form of denial. I mean, what if all these people change their mind next month and decide they don’t want the coverage after all? What if Obamacare is so bad they all die in the Spring? What if Spartacus had an airplane? If you really, really are hoping for bad news you can come up with anything to keep hope, as it were, alive.

What I find most disturbing is that these conservatives would rather that 9 million people either don’t have adequate health insurance or none at all; that people suffer through catastrophic illnesses and lose their fortune, or have to support a family member because their coverage was null and void because of a pre-existing condition. That’s not what they’d say out loud, of course — who but a pre-spectral-seeing Scrooge would want poor people to suffer? — but that is the end result.

The real fear they harbor is that the Affordable Care Act will work and they will have been on the losing end of a century-old battle to provide better healthcare for everyone in the country, not just the rich or the employed.

It’s just one more loss to be added to the column along with Social Security, civil rights, women voting, and the many other things they’ve fought against.

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

A.M. Headlines

(New York Times): "At work, de Blasio finds full plate of headaches"

(Reuters): "Doctors, hospitals expect some confusion as Obamacare plans start"

(New York Times): "Boehner is said to back change on immigration"

(Toronto Star): "Rob Ford registers to run, claims he is best Toronto mayor ‘ever’"

(ABC News): "Massive winter storm dumps more than 2 feet of snow in parts of Northeast"

Occupy Gracie Mansion

By Carl

Bill De Blasio was sworn in as New York’s mayor yesterday.

Jan. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Bill de Blasio assumed office as New York’s 109th mayor yesterday, sworn in by former President Bill Clinton at a ceremony attended by thousands who heard him vow to dedicate his government to improving life for the least fortunate. The first Democrat to run New York in 20 years pledged to move swiftly on an agenda that calls for affordable housing and community health centers. He renewed a proposal to tax the wealthy to pay for universal pre-kindergarten classes and after- school programs, a levy that would require state approval in an election year.

“We are called to put an end to economic and social inequalities that threaten to unravel the city we love,” de Blasio, 52, said in his 18-minute address delivered on the steps of City Hall in lower Manhattan. “And so today, we commit to a new progressive direction in New York. And that same progressive impulse has written our city’s history. It’s in our DNA.”

Egalitarian themes from de Blasio, who officially took the oath of office hours earlier at midnight before hundreds of supporters outside his Brooklyn home, have already captured national attention. President Barack Obama invited him and other newly elected mayors to a White House meeting last month to focus on job creation and economic fairness, and he emerged from the 90-minute session as the main spokesman for the group. Democrats will run the 12 biggest U.S. cities this year.

If the Occupy movement can take any heart from the protests of the past three years, it is this: New Yorkers saw their protests, and realized the movement was right: something is desperately wrong with the economic model of the United States. The largest city in the country is now a lab experiment on how to fix that.

And in fixing, we hope that other problems like healthcare and crime will similarly be lessened. Altho how crime in the city can get much lower is anybody’s guess. One thing we can be sure of: black men and women will be able to walk the streets in far less fear of being Stopped and Frisked.

There will be critics, both local and national, watching his every move and ready to pounce on even the slightest veer from course or aberrative data point to prove he’s a failure. In this, I hope he takes a page from President Obama’s playbook and stays the course. It’s easy to criticize, far harder to govern.

We here at The Reaction wish him well.

(Cross-posted to Simply Left Behind.)

A.M. Headlines

(New York Times): "Taking office, de Blasio vows to fix inequity"

(The Denver Post): ""World's first legal recreational marijuana sales begin in Colorado"

(Roll Call): "5 million without health care because they live in red states"

(The Hill): "WH ups pressure for passage of jobless aid"

(CNN): "Blizzard, sub-zero wind chills and foot of snow ready to hit Northeast"

Is the fight for marriage equality really over?

By Mustang Bobby

As noted in the Sunday Reading yesterday, Josh Marshall at TPM is seeing the marriage bower at the end of the tunnel. His optimism is based on the rulings by the 10th Circuit Court in Utah’s case, the ruling in Ohio that allowed for same-sex spouses married in other states to be listed as survivors on death certificates, and the 50% increase of the number of states allowing marriage equality since last summer.

In this sense – and not to be overly dramatic – it’s almost reminiscent of the Fall of the Berlin Wall – when actions on the ground, literally on the ground, swept a lot of details and technicalities before it and presented authorities with faits accompli,which they were likely to accept eventually, much more rapidly than they would have preferred.

So yes, this will percolate a bit, as they say. Decisions will come up through the individual Circuits. In pretty short order, the Supreme Court will be forced to revisit the issue. And their logic in the Windsor case will join forces with the march of public opinion to make it almost impossible for them not to issue a broad ruling which invalidates every gay marriage ban in country.

I think everybody, on each side of the issue, has realized for the past two or three years that it is only a matter of time until this happens. But the decade or so of different policies from state to state now appears quite unlikely. I don’t want to end without noting that a lot of lawyering remains to be done. Nothing is ever certain. And even when it’s all but certain it’s still not easy. But I see little way to look at the last week and not conclude that gay marriage will be the law of the land in every state in the country in the near future. Probably during the Obama presidency and maybe sooner still.

I wish I could share his outlook, but I don’t, despite the fact that I fervently hope he is right and I would love to be proved wrong. But I’m old enough — barely — to remember the impact ofBrown vs. Board of Education and how long it took for school desegregation to become the true law of the land. That decision was handed down in 1954. It was a sweeping decision that invalidated every school segregation law in the nation, be it in Alabama or Massachusetts. But it was a full twenty years, through struggle, strife, riots and political upheaval before the public schools were integrated, and to this day there are still remnants of de jure segregation as seen in the crumbling schools in the inner cities as compared to their shining counterparts in the wealthy suburbs of the same school district.

Read more »

On the Hustings

(Wall Street Journal): "De Blasio takes oath of office"

(The Recall Election Blog): "The year in recalls -- 107 recalls in 2013; 478 attempts -- 73 officials ousted or resigned"

(Real Clear Politics): "Mont. candidate on hot seat for Guard impropriety"

(The Hill): "Five things Obama must do to avoid lame-duck status"

(Roll Call): "12 most fascinating races of 2014: Pennsylvania’s 13th District"

Looking back / looking forward

By Mustang Bobby

Okay, campers, it’s time for my annual re-cap and prognostication for the past year and the year coming up. Let’s see how I did a year ago.

- President Obama moves into his second term with pretty much the same situation in Washington and Congress as he has had for the last two years, so nothing will really get done. The budget matters, including the fake drama of the Fiscal Cliff, will still be around in some form because it’s a lot easier to kick it down the road than actually do something, especially when you have a Republican Party that absolutely refuses to work with the president on anything at all. It has nothing to do with policy, deficits or debt, taxes or revenue. The reason is pretty simple: they don’t like him, and so like a kid in grade school who refuses to do his math homework because he hates the teacher, they refuse to budge. You can pick your excuses, ranging from his Spock-like demeanor to his refusal to suck up to the Villagers, but most of it comes down to the unspoken reason that dare not speak its name: he’s black. No one dares say that out loud, but get three beers in any Republican, and I’ll bet they’ll admit it by saying “He’s not one of us.” How many dog whistles do you need? A big tell was that in the last-minute budget negotiations, Mitch McConnell went to Vice President Joe Biden as the go-between the Congress and the president. Why? Because Mr. Biden was in the Senate and knows how to talk to them, and also because he’s the white guy. So we will have another year of gridlock, and the new Congress will make the one just concluded look good.

That one was pretty easy, and I’m sorry I got it right.

- The Supreme Court will rule the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Prop 8 are unconstitutional. It will be a very close vote, probably 5-4 on both cases, and they will narrowly rule on both cases, doing their best not to fling open the doors to marriage equality with a blanket ruling and leave the rest of it up to the states. But they will both go down. On the other hand, they will rule against Affirmative Action. I also think there will be some changes to the make-up of the Court with at least one retirement, either voluntary or by the hand of fate. 

Read more »

A.M. Headlines

(MSNBC): "Supreme Court halts contraception mandate for religious groups"

(The Hill): "Reid says jobless aid vote coming Monday"

(Bloomberg): "Pot shops in Denver open door to $578 million in sales"

(Yahoo! News): "Exclusive: U.S. government urged to name CEO to run Obamacare market"

(New York Times): "Kerry to press for ‘framework’ accord to keep Mideast peace effort moving"

On the Hustings

(Chris Cillizza): "Hey, it’s an election year! Here’s what 2014 might bring"

(Real Clear Politics): "GOP can count ways to Senate majority"

(DC Decoder): "Supporters, opponents gear up for Obamacare election fight in 2014"

(Roll Call): "Most fascinating races of 2014: Arkansas Senate"

(WCPO): "Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune announces bid for Ohio governor mansion"

Republicans lead America's head-up-the-ass ignorance on evolution

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Americans are often characterized by non-Americans as ignorant, self-absorbed morons with their heads up their asses. This is often true, but I tend to recoil from such generalizations. Having spent much of my life in the U.S., and spending so much of my time focusing on the U.S., I know that Americans are a diverse lot and that it's rather unfair to judge the entirety of the American people based on the ignorance and self-absorption of a part of the whole.

The thing is, though, what if this part isn't just a small segment of the population but a wide swath that includes a massive number of people? And what if the sheer stupidity of this wide swath is so enormous that it threatens to define the country as a whole? Because, well, this:

According to a new Pew Research Center analysis, six-in-ten Americans (60%) say that "humans and other living things have evolved over time," while a third (33%) reject the idea of evolution, saying that "humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time." The share of the general public that says that humans have evolved over time is about the same as it was in 2009, when Pew Research last asked the question.

About half of those who express a belief in human evolution take the view that evolution is "due to natural processes such as natural selection" (32% of the American public overall). But many Americans believe that God or a supreme being played a role in the process of evolution. Indeed, roughly a quarter of adults (24%) say that "a supreme being guided the evolution of living things for the purpose of creating humans and other life in the form it exists today."

Yes, yes, I know, America is a generally religious country, and obviously it's religion, specifically evangelical Protestantism, that is behind much of this head-up-the-ass ignorance. But the numbers are staggering. It's bad enough that a third of Americans reject evolution. A quarter of Americans believe that evolution is divinely ordained (which is either wishful thinking or blatant stupidity). Add those two together and you get the full breadth of ignorance, with less than a third of Americans accepting non-divine evolution, or, you know, science without the taint of religion.

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There's no "liberal media" on the Republican-friendly Sunday talk-show circuit

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Our friend Steve Benen performs yet another valuable service in identifying who made the most appearances on the major Sunday talk shows in 2013:

You'll note the obvious, and if you've been paying attention you'll see confirmed what you saw this past year:

The general impression is rooted in fact: the Sunday shows love Republicans. "Meet the Press," "Face the Nation," "This Week," "State of the Union," and "Fox News Sunday," hoping to reflect and help shape the conventional wisdom for the political world, collectively favor GOP guests over Democratic guests every year, but who were the big winners in 2013?

The above chart shows every political figure who made 10 or more Sunday show appearances this year, with red columns representing Republicans and blue columns representing Democrats. For 2013, the race wasn't especially close – House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) easily came out on top, making 27 appearances this year.

*****

In all, 10 of the top 13 are Republicans, as are six of the top seven.

I actually had no idea that Rogers had made that many appearances (though it makes sense that the media would favor him, given his intelligence role, just like McCaul with his homeland security role), but otherwise it's the usual suspects, the right-wing darlings who command the media attention in Washington, notably McCain, Gingrich (who of course doesn't even hold office), Graham, Paul, and King.

Sure, there are a few Democrats on the list, but they're of the establishment variety (Durbin, Schumer) or otherwise on the right wing of the party (Manchin, likely there in large measure for his bipartisan efforts to enact pro-gun gun control after Newtown). And while there are a number of far-right Republicans on the list (Cruz, Corker, Paul), there are no genuine progressives at all.

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Tarring with the same brush

By Richard K. Barry

Carlyle, not Williams

We have known for some time that public approval of Congress is miserable, averaging, according to Gallup, around 14 percent for 2013. And in that number we find the greatest coup of the Republican Party over the past few years, which has been to successfully convince voters that Democrats share the blame with Republicans for the dysfunction.

But, as Juan Williams correctly points out, the truth needs to be seen in the context of one of the most quotable quotes of 2013, which Williams calls the quote of the year, from House Speaker John Boehner, Republican of Ohio:

We should not be judged on how many new laws we create. We ought to be judged on how many laws we repeal.

This understanding of government as "anarchy plus a constable," in the words of Thomas Carlyle, is just what Republicans seek. When in fact most people, despite what they say, want government to take positive action to solve their problems, or at least help solve them. 

For some reason many people have difficulty seeing the obvious, but is it really that hard to understand that today's GOP has done a great deal to ensure that government accomplishes as little as possible?  And, when very little is accomplished, is it any wonder that voters see the entire institution as a mess. 

As I never tire of saying, Republicans know Washington doesn't work because they broke it. 

A.M. Headlines

(National Journal): "The biggest political winners and losers of 2013"

(Real Clear Politics): "Population data show more movement south and west"

(Jonathan Cohn): "We don't know if Obamacare is working well. But we know it's working"

(David Frum): "Out of jobs, out of benefits, out of luck"

(BBC News): "Volgograd blasts: City on alert as death toll rises"

P.M. Headlines

(CBS News): "Republicans' belief in evolution plummets, poll reveals"

(New York Times): "Second blast hits Russia, raising Olympic fears"

(Steve Benen): "The great 2013 Sunday show race"

(Paul Krugman): "Fiscal fever breaks"

(David Denby): "The best movies of the year"

The ten most important stories of 2013

By Carl

Some of these will not hit the radar as big stories of the year. For instance, I completely ignore the Edward Snowden saga as basically a footnote to history: he uncovered nothing, merely put it in the shop window, and you’ll notice it’s had all the lift of a lead balloon.

No, these are stories that will affect the news in 2014 and well beyond:

1) Pope Francis – what can you say about a man who upends an entire monolithic bureaucracy as big as the Catholic Church, while inviting dialogue from Islamic tyrants? He’s made the Vatican relevant again, from Twitter to the long-disgruntled American Catholic church.

2) Eight banks hold 90% of the US GDP.

3) A robot who is not a robot. Or is it a human who is not a human? Either way, the Turing Test is in trouble.

4) The same sex marriage battle will open the doors to many unexpected loosenings of other restrictions of the law. I expect marijuana will be legalized by the end of the decade.

5) Africa. The cold war between China and the US will heat up in the coming years. The internal conflicts in Africa are merely the opening salvos.

6) Bill de Blasio. Arguably, the first real liberal since John Lindsay to serve in “the second toughest job in America”. He campaigned on a progressive platform, and his appointments thus far point to maintaining that stance. His biggest obstacle? He has to push reforms through the state legislature, not exactly a hotbed of progressivism. He has Andrew Cuomo’s ear, however, but keep in mind, Cuomo is looking at a 2016 Presidential run.

7) Turkey. The bridge between the Muslim Middle East and the EU got swing-y this year. Keep an eye on this.

8) Likewise, the Ukraine. It’s not a coincidence, I think, that the loosely connected Russian Federation is seeing an uptick in violence ahead of the Olympics in February.

9) Worldwide satellite broadband? It could happen.

10) Cloned or printed, growing organs for transplant is in our immediate future.

(Cross-posted to Simply Left Behind.)

On the Hustings

(New York Times): "Cost of being mayor? $650 million, if he’s rich"

(CBS): "GOP eyes Senate majority despite Tea Party complications"

(New York Times): "Democrats turn to minimum wage as 2014 strategy"

(Washington Post): "Texas, California embody red-blue divide"

(The Hill): "Five Senate races to watch"

A.M. Headlines

(USA Today): "Legal pot sales begin Jan. 1 in Colorado"

(CNN): "Poll: Afghanistan war arguably most unpopular in U.S history"

(Gallup): "Obama, Clinton continue reign as most admired"

(The Hill): "Juan Williams: Republicans to blame for the public's disgust with Congress"

(Crooks and Liars): "Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson: Girls should carry a bible and marry 'when they are 15'"

On the Hustings

(The Hill): "O-Care rollout is top story of 2013"

(Politicker): "Clintons to boost Bill de Blasio’s swearing-in ceremony"

(New York Times): "West Virginia Democrats face an uneasy time"

(Real Clear Politics): "Republican governors defend edge over Democrats in 2014"

(Houston Chronicle): "Stockman faces questions over donations from Indian casino backers"

What should Pope Francis do about Paul Ryan?

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Not the pope.

Honestly, just who the fuck does Paul Ryan think he is?

Oh right, an Ayn Rand devotee, trickle-down ideologue, and Republican leader of all things fiscal, as he towers over the ignoramuses of his party and holds court like some wizard in the land of Oz. But, really, he's a sham, his expertise a mirage, his concern for the poor utter bullshit, his Catholicism a self-aggrandizing joke. As Salon's Joan Walsh writes:

When 1.3 million Americans lose their unemployment benefits on Saturday, they can thank Rep. Paul Ryan. He took the lead in negotiating a bipartisan budget deal with Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, and on behalf of his party, held the line against continuing extended unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless.

Sure, a lot of Republicans share blame with Ryan. But he deserves extra-special (negative) credit for the deal, because he has lately had the audacity to depict himself as the new face of "compassionate conservatism," insisting Republicans must pay attention to the problems of the poor. Friends say the man who once worshipped Ayn Rand now takes Pope Francis as his moral role model. Except he can't help treating his new role model with arrogance and contempt.

It's true that while knuckle-draggers like Rush Limbaugh attack the pope as a Marxist, Ryan has praised him, which I guess takes a tiny bit of courage since normally Republicans don't like to buck the leader of their party. "What I love about the pope is he is triggering the exact kind of dialogue we ought to be having," Ryan told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "People need to get involved in their communities to make a difference, to fix problems soul to soul."

But he couldn't suppress either his right-wing politics or his supreme capacity for condescension for very long. "The guy is from Argentina, they haven't had real capitalism in Argentina," Ryan said (referring to the pope as "the guy" is a nice folksy touch.) "They have crony capitalism in Argentina. They don't have a true free enterprise system."

Pope Francis isn't just triggering dialogue and isn't just promoting good-hearted communitarianism, he's taking a stand against the very sort of capitalist brutality that Ryan espouses. And I suspect he has seen more than enough shit both in Argentina over the decades and throughout his long pastoral and ecclesiastical career to give him a certain credibility when discussing capitalism and its horrors. (Besides, how exactly does America have a "true free enterprise system" -- what with its corporate welfare and plutocratic politics? It's also cronyism, of a sort, and if Ryan really thinks America has real capitalism, he's as much of an ignoramus as his blind followers in the House.)

Sure, Ryan isn't quite as odious as Dear Leader Rush, but the two aren't all that far apart, and where they differ it's more in style than substance. The media blowhard is just more forthcoming with his extremism, whereas the politician tries to pass himself off as a caring individual, wrapping his, and his party's, extremism in a neat little package that he hopes a gullible electorate will lap up with glee.

Pope Francis has many more important things to concern himself with than Paul Ryan's political games, but is excommunication out of the question? Seems to me it might send the appropriate message.

A.M. Headlines

(CNN): "Official: Suicide bomber kills 14 at Russian train station"

(Politics): "White House says Obamacare sign-ups passed 1 million mark"

(Washington Post): ""Red, blue states move in opposite directions in a new era of single-party control"

(Dallas News): "Ted Cruz says he’s hired lawyers to renounce Canadian citizenship"

(New York Times): "As the Obamas celebrate Christmas, rituals of faith become less visible"

Anathema: "Dreaming Light" and "Thin Air"

By Michael J.W. Stickings

While I've been an Anathema fan for a long time, dating back to 2001's A Fine Day to Exit (if not to their metal days before that), my fandom deepened profoundly in 2013, to the point where I now put them in Porcupine Tree territory. I attribute this in part to the release in 2012 of Weather Systems, an incredible album that is, I think their best to date. It prompted me to go back through their awesome catalogue, and I came to appreciate them like I hadn't before.

It helped, too, that 2013 saw the release of Universal, a four-disc set (2 CD, DVD, Blu-ray) of the band's stunning September 2012 show at the ancient Roman theater in Plovdiv, Bulgaria (also known by its Greek name, Philippopolis), with the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra. It was filmed by Lasse Hoile, best known for his work with Porcupine Tree and Steven Wilson's solo projects. It's an incredible film of an incredible performance by an incredible band. Wilson's third solo album, The Raven That Refused to Sing (and Other Stories), is my favorite new album of 2013, but Universal is certainly an impressive achievement, and it's my favorite live album of the year.

(Last month, I posted "Untouchable (Part Two)," my favorite Anathema song, from Universal.)

Here are two of Anathema's best songs, both from 2010's We're Here Because We're Here (mixed by Steven Wilson, no less): "Dreaming Light" (video) and "Thin Air" (live at London's Union Chapel, also on the Universal release).

Enjoy!