Thursday, April 30, 2009

Support The AETA 4

MIA "Bang"

I want to turn off the lights, turn up the volume, and play this.

M.I.A Bang (original test) from David OReilly on Vimeo.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Crass Documentary

"global pandemic" PANIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!

People always need a new boogeyman to scare them into submission. Last season, it might have been SARS but Swine Flu is the new black.

Liberals are blaming the supposed coming pandemic on Republicans.

Rightwingers are blaming Mexicans.

Who really is to blame?
Capitalist Industrial Animal Production!

This genetic chimera was likely conceived in the fecal mire of an industrial pigsty.
Mexico lacks some of the capacity and political will to monitor livestock diseases and their public health impacts. Of course, the USA does not but still opts to not adhere to more healthy regulations and advice of scientific research. The CDC did not learn about the outbreak until six days after the Mexican government had begun to impose emergency measures.


READ: Mike Davis: Capitalism and the Flu


...waste of my time...

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

eh, fuck asher roth

Laina Farhat-Holzman: An Imbecile's Rant Against Anarchy


Laina Farhat-Holzman wrote what could almost be considered an article on "Anarchists" published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel (thank you for the quotes, "Laina"). It actually reads more like a paper written by a semi-retarded 6th grader who did no research (and trust me, I would rather not dis semi-retarded people like that).

READ ARTICLE "Anarchists have a long and nasty history" HERE
At least the comments are fun-to-read

I won't bother arguing against any of her flimsy statements. Anyone with some sense of what anarchy is or wikipedia could do that.
Farhat-Holzman goes into some weirdo tangent comparing anarchists with Islamists. What a fuckin' joke!

Write Farhat-Holzman an email and tell her how awesome she is:
Lfarhat102@aol.com

Check out her blog. It is full of insane rants:
http://www.globalthink.net/
_____

Speaking of Anarchy and Santa Cruz:

Santa Cruz Anarchist Convergence

Thu May 7th through May 11th
SubRosa Infoshop, 703 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz

(watch out for hippies disguised as revolutionaries)



(thanx Bryan)

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Bambu


It wouldn't be fair for me not to hip you to Bambu and the FUCKING BANGERS he keeps droppin'. His consistency, flow, and content would be difficult to match.

2 Dope Boys Drop
"If you never held a baggy or never hit a lick and you throw it in your raps, you should die for that shit"

Ain't No Future In Yo Frontin' 2009
"I rap for gangstas. The rest of y'all can do Asher Roth"

When Will The Time Come?
"...bring us all justice. Call out those who kill us and those who fund it"

I also highly recommend his newest official lp, "Exact Change."


To keep up with this cat, peep his blog:
Bambu's Rants

Congresswoman Harmon: ZOG

In 2005, Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-CA) told an Israeli agent that she would encourage the Justice Department to reduce Espionage charges against two members of the Pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC. In exchange, the Israeli agent promised to help Harman get appointed to chair the Intelligence Committee.

Harmon also happens to be the Chair of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence & Terrorism Risk Assessment.

The two AIPAC members were Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman who allegedly gave classified Pentagon documents to Israeli officials.
DOJ lawyers concluded that Harman had violated the law. But then Attorney General Gonzales ordered a stop to the investigation into Harman’s activities. In exchange for this, Gonzales wanted Harman to help defend Bush’s illegal wiretap program.

On Dec. 21, 2005, Harman issued a statement defending the illegal wiretap operation. Now she is upset that her conversations offering to help Israeli spies was recorded without a warrant.

Salon.com: Major scandal erupts involving Rep. Jane Harman, Alberto Gonzales and AIPAC

War Handwavium: Congresswoman Harmon, Israeli Spies, and Bush’s Illegal Wiretapping

CQ: Wiretap Recorded Rep. Harman Discussing Aid for AIPAC Defendants

1. How is it possible for US government officials to serve Israeli interests over interests of the USA and have it be acceptable?
2. How is it that Israeli agents could promise an American member of Congress favors within the US government?!

I Can't Wait!

Fun Food

I live near the largest Long's store anyone has ever seen. I found some fun food there today (all vegan)!


wow.




fried wheat flour


lentil flavors crisps. These were great.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Steven Cohen & Hillsborough or Why I Won't Listen To WSD

As I have stated on this blog and probably ad nauseam in real life, I have been a huge fan and proponent of World Soccer Daily.
I have recently decided to stop listening to the show at all.

The shows defacto leader & voice of soccer in the US, Steven Cohen, is known for his hatred of all things Liverpool probably more than he is known for his love of Chelsea FC. His every-so-often rant or ill comment directed at Liverpool FC, the City of Liverpool, or Scousers in general is to be expected and I could handle it. It always stunk of classism which I don't think most American listeners are aware of.

Recently, it was the 20 year commemoration of the Hillsborough disaster. 96 football fans died. Cohen fumes and launches into anti-Scouser rants at every mention of Hillsborough. He still clings to a long debunked theory that the fans themselves are responsible for this tragedy. Cohen is also the co-host of Fox Soccer Channel's Fox Football Fone-In (FFF). When FFF aired a segment at the end of their program commemorating Hillsborough, Cohen didn't even take part!

The Liverpool supporters were a victim of a combination of mistakes by the South Yorkshire Police (for failing to notice that the central pen was overcrowded while the pens to the left and right had room for more spectators, as well as not directing the Liverpool fans who came through the turnstiles away from the central pen), Sheffield Wednesday Football Club (Leppings Lane was ill-suited to admit the 10,100 fans, had too few turnstiles and the club failed to fix those and other issues between 1981-1989 even though they were well aware of them) and the Football Association (for deciding to play the semi-final match at Hillsborough despite previous crushing incidents).

EPLTalk posted an excellent article calling Cohen out and debunking with amazing clarity Cohen's blaming the fans.
What did Cohen do? Launched into numerous anti-Liverpool rants for the rest of the week on WSD! He has remained completely smug about the whole thing. WSD had to apparently hire a PR firm for damage control. Cohen's latest approach to all this is some disgustingly pro-USA patriotism. (I believe this to be part of his rallying his support which primarily seems to come from American fans whose first or main exposure to the history of Liverpool and Hillsborough comes from Cohen himself.) He calls the UK "pussies" because I guess they care more about getting to the bottom of what actually happened than just spouting off sectarian conspiracy theories.

EPLTalk's sister site, MLS Talk, interviewed Cohen about all things football. At the end of the interview, the issue of Hillsborough was brought up. Cohen asserted that he recognized blame was due to the police, the stadium, and the FA but that the Liverpool fans also must shoulder some responsibility. Kinda like telling a rape victim that he/she must shoulder some of the blame for the rape I suppose. Cohen also took issue with the author of EPLTalk's article, blaming him for all the threats that have been made against Cohen and family, Odd. Cohen's illogical rant about responsibility illustrated how people use the term "resposibility" as a way to assert power. The Liverpool fans are supposed to bare responsibility for a tragedy that befell them but should anything happen to Cohen, it is not his fault for speaking incendiary words but the fault of the person who critiqued those words? Very nice Mr. Cohen. Fuck off.

EPL Talk: Steven Cohen Blames Liverpool Fans For Hillsborough Disaster

EPL Talk: Steven Cohen Offers Liverpool Fans No Hillsborough Apology

MLS Talk: Steven Cohen Interview

As Cohen told me, he isn't going anywhere because WSD is his show. Perhaps, FSC should know that an unpopular sectarian hosting FFF isn't a good idea.
If you would like to make any comments or suggestions for the Fox Football Fone-In team, e-mail fff@foxsoccer.com
Fox Sports Contact Page

Homeland Security Apologizes To Veterans For Extremism Report

Homeland Security apologizes for documenting the truth about growing rightwing forces because the rightwing didn't like the report.

So, do you think Homeland Security will be apologizing to Daniel Andreas San Diego anytime soon?
San Diego and ELF/ALF-type forces have never even killed anyone!

Friday, April 24, 2009

JUDGE- "What Was Said and Where It Went" unfinished documentary

Wow.
Judge is one of my all time favorite bands, period. This is an unfinished documentary about Judge.


This is a rough cut of a short documentary that Porcell, Sam Siegler and I were doing together. The audio is NOT mixed so please take that into consideration. Unfortunately I had a hard drive crash and lost all the elements which stopped us form wrapping this project up and making it final. This almost complete version is all I had left over. I hate showing incomplete work so please don't JUDGE it too harshly (pun intended), I just want to show what it was going to be to anyone that may have heard about this project and then never saw it released and also find a bit of closure in it for myself. - Joseph Patisall

taken from Double Cross


(Since I am so proud to have caught this favorite band of mine live in 1989, I want to note that the flyer for the show I attended in Salt Lake City is flashed in the video at 1minute 33seconds. :) )

RightWing LOL


I subscribe to a rightwing blog, Matters Of Manner And Type. I was hoping to find articulate rightwing arguments. Instead, I really only find misleading and hilarious (or frightening) nonsense.
Here are some of the LOL-worthy latest with a sort of roundtable discussion.

1. FBI Spied on Tea Party Americans
"The Department of Homeland Security Intelligence Assessment that is receiving so much attention is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, and the true patriotic citizens of this country are on the Titanic."

shane: He is trying to explain that those at the tea party protests are different than usual protestors...they were not "political activists" just frustrated citizens. hahahaha He is freaked the fuck out that the FBI monitored the Tea Parties as if it is proof that Obama wants to lock up conservatives.

Ben Edge: now he knows how smart people feel when they protest shit that really matters


2. Campus Leftists Don't Believe in Free Speech
"speakers now have bodyguards when they visit universities"

3. List of those supposedly under attack:
"veterans, small-business owners, practicing Catholics, gun owners, talk-radio listeners, tea-party attendees, Texans, smokers, limited-government proponents, pro-lifers, taxpayers, NASCAR fans, Boy Scouts, oil-company employees, secure-border advocates, capitalists, global-warming agnostics, Cuban refugees, school-choicers"

Ben Edge: besides vets, small business owners, and "taxpayers" (wait, that's everyone!), fuck all those people.
"global-warming agnostics"? Like retarded people?
poor Cuban refugees. Mexicans? Deport 'em!
boy scouts! what? Is this guy a pedophile?


Pranjal: i bet those practicing Catholic gun owning capitalist small business owners in Texas-- who listen to talk radio or watch NASCAR while they reminisce about their years working at Exxon-Mobil (which helped them to see the myth that is Global Warming)-- who are fed up of the loose border controls that fail to keep out those Mexicans who should just line up with the others because their family in Cuba didn't have a border to jump, and who wish they could choose to send their kids to a school where they wouldn't be subject to the big-government public school tyranny and the anti-life homosexual agenda... i bet those people are so pissed right now, they're just gonna go out for another cigarette and plan another tea-party with their ex-army buddies


Ashton Kutcher Oi!

Ashton Kutcher thinks he is a Bovver Boot Boy!

Haha!
Jog on, mate. Jog on.

(thanks WMF)

Consequences & Responsibility


Thirty years of conservative misrule have muddled Americans' understanding of words like responsibility, accountability, discipline,and punishment to the point where nobody knows that they mean any more—and don't seem to want to know, either. The social conservatives go on and on about the evils of postmodern morality and situational ethics; and on this score, I can't quite summon myself to disagree.

For conservatives, the goal of discipline is to assert the power of external authority. In their worldview, most people aren't capable of self-discipline. They can't be trusted to behave unless there's someone stronger in control who's willing to scare them back into line when they misbehave. Don't question the rules. Don't defy authority. Just do what you're told, and you'll be fine. But cross that line, dammit, and there will be hell to pay.

In this view, the whole point of punishment is for greater beings (richer, whiter, older, male) to impress the extent of their authority upon lesser beings (poorer, darker, younger, female). I'm in control, I make the rules, and I'm the only one of us entitled to use force to get my way. Since emotional and/or physical domination is the goal, the punishments themselves often use some kind of emotional or physical violence to drive home that point. Spanking, humiliation, arrest, jail and torture all fill the bill quite nicely. I'm not interested in what you think. Do as I say, or I will be within my rights to do whatever it takes to make you behave.

Note, too, the hierarchical nature of this system. Those at the top of the heap enjoy the freedom that comes with never being held accountable by anyone. This exemption is implicit in conservative notions of "liberty," and is considered an inalienable (if not divine) right of fathers, bosses, religious leaders, politicians, and anyone else on the right who holds power over others. The privilege of controlling others' liberty, without enduring reciprocal constraints on your own, is at the heart of the true meaning of "freedom."


-Sara Robinson
excerpted from The Truth About Consequences on Orcinus

Left Forum Travel Journal

My friend/comrade, Harjit, represented at the Left Forum in New York.

Check out his journal of the event.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Finally! They Are Back!

Peanut Butter Builders Bars are back after a hiatus!
New wrappers and the same old 20g of protein.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Tazing Hippies For Sport

Look, I hate hippies and Coachella as much as any self-respecting individual, but I hate cops even more.


Naked Wizard Tased By Reality from Tracy Anderson on Vimeo.

*I am not sure why these overweight pigs were so damn offended by this dude's nakedness. I would hate to think they were envious of his wiener.
*Watch that one pig! He is just itching to use the tazer! Even after the other dude motions for him to put it away, the tazer-holding pig is just stoked.
*Where the fuck did these douchebags learn their submission techniques?! Yikes!
*How many fuckin' times are you going to electrocute a naked hippy?!?!
*Why is EVERYONE fucking filming the shit and NOT DOING anything?! If those fat pigs can't properly subdue one trippin' hippy-wizard, surely a crowd of hundreds could just take their clubs and knock them unconscious or something.

This is the result of a culture where torture is the rule of the day.

I might even be more offended by the "Put it on and stay dude. Who cares? This is Coachella." bro than the naked hippy-wizard.

Hitler x Brokencyde

until they allow sharing of the video,
PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



(thanx Ben)

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

I Ain't Making Any Money Off This

What am I doing wrong??

The Wall Street Journal came out with a pretty interesting report on bloggers.

In America today, there are almost as many people making their living as bloggers as there are lawyers. Already more Americans are making their primary income from posting their opinions than Americans working as computer programmers or firefighters.
...the number of people doing it for at least some income is approaching 1% of American adults.

Lovelle Mixon, Police, and the Politics of Race/Rape

Oakland's Raider Nation Collective wrote an amazing piece about the police killing of Lovelle Mixon and the social circumstances it was born from and created.

It is pretty heavy but I recommend reading it... Especially if you are sick of the immediate unquestioning martyrdom of the cops killed by Mixon.
READ IT HERE
(I am sick of seeing billboards memorializing these cops outside my apartment or seeing completely unwarranted fundraising for their families by businesses in Oakland.)

Stockton Militia

Stockton claims to have a rightwing militia 270 members strong ready to take the streets.
"They're going to have rifles, shotguns, pistols--whatever they get their hands on," said 66-year-old Alan Pettet. "We're not going to go out looking for trouble, but the first person who fires on us, will get a lot of return fire going is way."
The militia claims police layoffs will force them to take to the streets. How many of that 270 do you think are cops?

The super fit militia leader.

People get ready!


(thanx Mel!)

Anti-Zionist Tea Party

On April 15th, rightwing groups (or one group- Fox News) held their "anti-tax" Tea Parties protesting a 3% increase on taxes of people making over $250,000/yr.

The signage at a lot of these rallies was priceless. It really brought the conspiracy theorists out!
Amidst all those signs hating Black people, calling on people to wage war against the federal government, and declaring Obama a socialist dictator, one sign from San Mateo, CA seems to have caught the ire of the rightwing.


It appears some people were clever enough to inject some sensible tax protest into the crazy orgy. Afterall, it is apparently ok to give billions to a racist government for genocide (in fact, it is supposed to be "anti-Semetic" To oppose such a policy) but it is not ok to give less money to the wealthiest fuckers in the country.

Portraits Of Past: Burning Fight

Portraits Of Past will be playing the Burning Fight show in Pomona on May 9th.

On May 8th, POP will be playing in San Diego at Che Cafe.

They are replacing Jenny Piccolo on both shows.

POP are also apparently recording new material.

(Stay tuned for a big Portraits Of Past announcement.)

Monday, April 20, 2009

G.I. Joe: Resolute

Ya, G. I. Joe is an imperialist tool to teach kids to love militarism and the USA... but I loved it as a kid (and it is largely responsible for getting me so into comics).
Adult Swim now has awesome mini episodes of G.I. Joe: Resolute. It is more realistic than the original cartoons and looks way better than the upcoming live action film.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

108 Again

I saw 108 at Gilman tonite.
I think it was my fourth time seeing them in 15 years. I forget how much I like them.

photo by Clean Cut American Kid and not at Gilman

"Secret" Prisons

A lot of media attention is being paid to the ringwing nuts' claims of secret prisons or concentration camps to lock up Republicans and other rightwingers.

At the 1:15min mark.

What is not getting as much attention is that secretive prisons already exist for political prisoners!!!
However, they do NOT include Republicans, Rush Limbaugh dittoheads, or even rightwing militia types. They house inmates accused of being tied to “terrorism” groups. These "Communication Management Units" overwhelmingly include Muslim inmates, along with at least two animal rights and environmental activists.

The CMU “experiment” limits prisoner contact with the outside world:

-Phone calls: Only one phone call per week, limited to 15 minutes, live-monitored by staff and law enforcement (according to attorneys, this includes the NSA) and scheduled one and half weeks in advance. It must be conducted in English. Other prisoners get about 300 minutes a month.

-Mail: All mail must be reviewed by staff prior to delivery to the inmate or processing at the post office. This means significant delays in communications (and, in my personal experience, letters frequently not being received by inmates).

-Visits: Four hours of personal visits per month, non-contact, behind glass, and live-monitored by staff and law enforcement. It must be conducted in English. When a CMU inmate is transferred to the visiting room, the entire facility goes on lock-down.


Who are in CMU's? They include:

-Rafil A. Dhafir, an Iraqi-born physician who created a charity called Help the Needy to provide food and medicine to the people of Iraq suffering under the U.S.-imposed economic sanctions. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison for violating the sanctions.

-
Daniel McGowan, an environmental activist sentenced to seven years in prison for a string of property crimes.

-And, until recently,
Andrew Stepanian. Stepanian was convicted of conspiring to commit “animal enterprise terrorism” and shut down the notorious animal testing laboratory Huntingdon Life Sciences, in a landmark First Amendment case pending appeal. The government’s case focused on a controversial website run by an activist group that published news of both legal and illegal actions against the laboratory. He was sentenced to three years in prison, and is currently on house arrest in New York City. Stepanian is believed to be the first prisoner ever released from a CMU.
_____

Let's also not forget the multitude of political prisoners in the USA. Many of whom have been in prisons for many many years.

Anarchist Black Cross Federation: political prisoner support

(thanks to Green Is The New Red)

Don't Go See Wolverine!

Don't go see X-Men Origins: Wolverine! At least don't see it the first crucial box office week.
It is crap and a big step backwards in the progress of comic book adaptations.

If this film does well and Watchmen is considered a box office flop, it just opens the door for more bullshit usage of comic book properties/characters.
It will just encourage them.

Burning Man Racism Challenged



If there is one thing I hate more than Burning Man enthusiasts, it would be racist Burning Man enthusiasts (is that a redundancy?).
This is maybe old news but it rules...

There was supposed to be a "private" Burning Man party in Oakland, complete with three hundred guests, twenty DJs spinning thumping techno and bass, dancers, a fashion show, micro-massages, raw food, and an absinthe bar.
More than fifty Bay Area Native American rights activists converged on the historic East Oakland property at 9:30 p.m. to ensure the shutdown of popular Burning Man group Visionary Village's "Go Native!" party.

READ HERE FOR MORE- It just gets better. HAHA


(thanx Mel)

Saturday, April 18, 2009

I can't wait!

TDS: Tea Bagging Against Tyranny

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

"We Can Be Together"

We are all outlaws in the eyes of america
In order to survive we steal cheat lie forge fred hide and deal
We are obscene lawless hideous dangerous dirty violent and young
But we should be together
Come on all you people standing around
Our lifes too fine to let it die and
We can be together
All your private property is
Target for your enemy
And your enemy is
We
We are forces of chaos and anarchy
Everything they say we are we are
And we are very
Proud of ourselves
Up against the wall
Up against the wall fred (motherfucker)
Tear down the walls
Tear down the walls
Come on now together
Get it on together
Everybody together
We should be together
We should be together my friends
We can be together
We will be
We must begin here and now
A new continent of earth and fire

Tea Bag aka Get Over Yourself!

(THIS REALLY DESERVES NONE OF MY TIME OR ENERGY...)

Y'know how when someone gives birth to their first child, they seem to be under the impression this has never been done before?
Rightwing fucks in the USA have had their first child: a protest.

Somehow they think that this is all new and has never been done before.
They freaked the fuck out beforehand that they wouldn't get the media coverage somehow entitled to them. As if other protests always got media coverage.

Somehow these idiots think that dipping your toe in the ocean of dissent is equivalent to being beaten, jailed, and killed by the waves of state repression deep out into that ocean.

Only in the USA could people be hyped into protesting in favor of the rich being able to keep more of their money.
_____



Frothing Tea Bagger Hate-Fest in Sacto

Tea Bagging Confusion About Fascism

Tea Bagging Sen. Joseph McCarthy-style
_____

If the rightwing wants to turn this country into Lebanon, bring it!
Sectarian militias! Get into it!

If Texas wants to secede, can California??

Hillsborough 1989

Monday, April 13, 2009

Death By Homophobia: Carl Walker-Hoover

Carl Walker-Hoover.
Remember that name. Remember his face.

This young boy killed himself after being the target of gay jokes and being threatened with physical violence on a daily basis.



Everytime I hear someone casually throw around "gay" and/or "fag" as insults as if words bore no connection to meanings, I think of people like Carl Walker-Hoover.
Blood on your hands.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Vans: Customize

Vans has redone their custom shoe site.
Now you can order customized Eras!!!

I been waiting for this!

Music To Torture To

music used to torture U.S. captives:

1. Fuck Your God – Deicide
2. Die MF Die – Dope
3. Take Your Best Shot – Dope
4. White America – Eminem
5. Kim – Eminem
6. “I Love You” – Barney The Dinosaur
7. Bodies – Drowning Pool
8. “Enter Sandman” – Metallica
9. Meow Mix TV commercial
10. “Sesame Street” Theme
11. “Babylon”– David Gray
12. Born In The USA – Bruce Springsteen
13. Shoot To Thrill – ACDC
14. Stayin’ Alive – Bee Gees
15. All Eyes On Me – Tupac
16. Dirrty – Christina Aguilera
17. America – Neil Diamond
18. Bulls On Parade – Rage Against The Machine
19. American Pie – Don McLean
20. Click Click Boom – Saliva
21. Cold – Matchbox 20
22. Swan Dive – Hed P.E.
23. Raspberry Beret – Prince
24. “Dirrty,” Christina Aguilera
25. “Shoot to Thrill,” AC/DC
26. “We are The Champions,” Queen
27. Britney Spears “…Baby One More Time”
28. Barry Manilow “Mandy”
29. Captain & Tennille “Muskrat Love”
30. Twisted Sister “We’re Not Gonna Take It”
31. Neil Diamond“America”
32. Meat Loaf “Paradise by the Dashboard Light”



Metallica loves torture:
"If the Iraqis aren’t used to freedom, then I’m glad to be part of their exposure…It represents something that they don’t like — maybe freedom, aggression… I don’t know… freedom of speech... I think politics and music, at least for us, don’t mix. It separates people, we wanna bring people together... (Metallica) felt honored to be part of the “war on terror.”
-James Hetfield

(Ya, nothing screams freedom like torture. Nothing screams separation of politics and music like supporting a specific "war." Hetfield rocks a fauxhawk these days too.)

_____

Fuck the Hippocratic Oath or Geneva Conventions. American Doctors got in on the torture too.





(thanks to Kasama)


We <3 Socialism

Only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism.

Adults under 30 are essentially evenly divided: 37% prefer capitalism, 33% socialism, and 30% are undecided.

Republicans - by an 11-to-1 margin - favor capitalism.
Democrats are much more closely divided: Just 39% say capitalism is better while 30% prefer socialism.
Those not affiliated with either major political party, 48% say capitalism is best, and 21% opt for socialism.

iPod Domination

I was fascinated by this poll:


100% of teens want an iPod (and no other mp3 player).
Mac/iTunes has a fuckin' stranglehold on mp3 players. I don't want to sound shortsighted or naive but I can't figure out how it will end (although I am certain it will).

(Lifted from The Smoking Section)

Watch: Pacquiao-Hatton 24/7

HBO's 24/7 Part 1 for Pacquiao and Hatton is online.


Honestly, it makes Pacquiao look more interesting and a better fighter.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Pirates!.. yawn

I cannot fuckin' believe the amount of airtime this one American who is captured by pirates warrants!
The US has even sent in a warship!!!!
One fuckin' dude!

I have yet to see any major corporate media report on a foreign government firing on and nearly killing another dude.
Tristan Anderson

Seth Rogen & Date Rape

Hey, I loved him in Freaks & Geeks and thought it was cool how he graduated to writer with Undeclared but now I am a little tired of Seth Rogen's bro humor.
I don't know if anyone even plans on seeing his latest masterpiece 'Observe And Report' about a mall cop. Here's another reason NOT to see it. Rogen's character rapes an unconscious female after heavy drug and alcohol use!

Seth Rogen justifies it like this:
When we're having sex and she's unconscious like you can literally feel the audience thinking, like, how the fuck are they going to make this okay? Like, what can possibly be said or done that I'm not going to walk out of the movie theater in the next thirty seconds? . . . And then she says, like, the one thing that makes it all okay: "Why are you stopping, motherfucker?"

Ya, hilarious, Seth.
This film is all about a fascistic loser who goes to great lengths to protect a woman's innocence (whom he rapes) from a flasher who he eventually kills.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Econ Lessons: Stimulus Package is Bound to Fail

It is very important for us all to understand the economic shit that is going down as best we can. It is often intentionally presented in ways too heavy for the average person to understand... especially a person not drinking the Kool Aid off the tit of capitalism.

I came across Why the U.S. Stimulus Package is Bound to Fail by David Harvey.
Part 1 is mainly historical. Part 2 is where it gets juicy.

I suggest reading it.
Here are some highlights:

In order to work, the stimulus has to be administered in such a way as to guarantee that it will be spent on goods and services and so get the economy humming again. This means that any relief must be directed to those who will spend it, which means the lower classes, since even the middle classes, if they spend it at all, are more likely to spend it on bidding up asset values (buying up foreclosed houses, for example), rather than increasing their purchases of goods and services. In any case, when times are bad many people will tend to use any extra income they receive to retire debt or to save (as largely happened with the $600 rebate designed by the Bush Administration in the early summer of 2008).

What appears prudent and rational from the standpoint of the household bodes ill for the economy at large (in much the same way that the banks have rationally taken public money and either hoarded it or used it to buy assets rather than to lend). The prevailing hostility in the United States to “spreading the wealth around” and to administering any sort of relief other than tax cuts to individuals, arises out of hard core neoliberal ideological doctrine (centered in but by no means confined to the Republican Party) that “households know best.” These doctrines have broadly been accepted as gospel by the American public at large after more than thirty years of neoliberal political indoctrination. We are, as I have argued elsewhere, “all neoliberals now” for the most part without even knowing it. There is a tacit acceptance, for example, that “wage repression” – a key component to the present problem – is a “normal” state of affairs in the United States. One of the three legs of a Keynesian solution, greater empowerment of labour, rising wages and redistribution toward the lower classes is politically impossible in the United States at this point in time. The very charge that some such program amounts to “socialism” sends shivers of terror through the political establishment. Labour is not strong enough (after thirty years of being battered by political forces) and no broad social movement is in sight that will force redistributions toward the working classes.

...collective goods do have the potential to generate multipliers for employment as well as for the effective demand for further goods and services. But the presumption is that these collective goods are, at some point, going to belong to the category of “productive state expenditures” (i.e. stimulate further growth) rather than become a series of public “white elephants” which, as Keynes long ago remarked, amounted to nothing more than putting people to work digging ditches and filling them in again... preference for tax cuts rather than infrastructural transformations makes the pursuit of a full-fledged Keynesian solution all but impossible in the United States.

But in China the emergence of mass unemployment (at last report there were thought to be some 20-million unemployed as a result of the slow-down) and signs of widespread and rapidly escalating social unrest will almost certainly push the Communist Party to massive redistributions whether they are ideologically concerned to do so or not.

If China uses more of its financial reserves to boost its internal market, as it is almost certainly bound to do for political reasons, so it will have less left over to lend to the United States. Reduced purchases of U.S. Treasury Bills will eventually force higher interest rates and impact U.S. internal demand negatively and, unless managed carefully, could trigger the one thing that everyone fears but which has so far been staved off: a run on the dollar... The supreme irony, of course, is that the political and ideological barriers in the United States to any full-fledged Keynesian program will almost certainly hasten loss of U.S. dominance in global affairs...


David Harvey's blog



(thanx to Kasama)

Tofu Yu Is Back!

Awhile back, I noticed that Tofu Yu had shut down their cafe.
They are back!!!

Support this spot!
I would hate to see them shut their doors forever.

"Pace Your Rage"

Maybe you have been hearing about the case of Richard Poplawski and the three dead Pittsburgh cops. Poplawski was fueled by a mix of white-supremacist/conspiracy-theorist paranoia and mainstream-media fearmongering, including from the likes of Glenn Beck and Fox News... That bit doesn't seem to be catching the headlines though.

Orcinus is a blog that covers the USA rightwing like no other. I highly recommend checking it out. Dave Neiwert of Orcinus fame recently came out with a book, The Eliminationists: HowHate Talk Radicalized The American Right.

I don't agree with Neiwert on everything but his blog rules enough for me to really punt it.
______

Let's catch up with the mighty loud rightwing shitstorm in America.

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Sunday, April 05, 2009

My Office: Hawaiian Shirt Day


Earlier this week it was announced that our monthly first Friday afternoon party would have a theme: Hawaiian shirts. My very first thought was “I don’t own a Hawaiian shirt!” followed quickly by “Who the hell owns a Hawaiian shirt?!” I immediately dreaded the coming Friday at work.

Let me explain a little. I am the office manager and I am expected not only to take part in displays of team spirit. I am expected to lead them. It is already painful enough that at the end of my day on a fuckin Friday, I have to set up beer and chips for an office of over 50 people. Then when I should be wrapping up my day and heading home, I, instead, am mingling and talking and playing silly games… and cleaning up after everyone.

So, Hawaiian shirt Friday is here. As my way of participating while not participating, I took an old t-shirt and wrote “ALOHA!” across the front in black marker. I decided not to don the shirt until party time. For the bulk of today, I will remain in my sharp professional gear. I don’t like this idea of office casual. Their concept of casual and my concept of casual are worlds apart in dress and attitude.
Of course, this leaves me being harassed by everyone that walks by for not joining in the “fun” of wearing a Hawaiian shirt. I wonder how many people went out and bought a Hawaiian shirt this week just for kicks. I can think of trillions of ways to better spend my money.