dead time pacifies

2011-03-27T17:40:00.001-07:00

USA & BofA VS. Wikileaks

2011-02-25T14:33:00.000-08:00

"it's a concerted, unified effort between government and the most powerful entities in the private sector "

Colbert can give a quick rundown easier and more entertaining than I can:

For a detailed article on the whole thing, check out the article written by Glenn Greenwald:

"the real issue highlighted by this episode is just how lawless and unrestrained is the unified axis of government and corporate power."

Obama promised to "walk on that picket line" if workers are denied the right to bargain

2011-02-25T14:30:00.000-08:00

I can recommend some good walking shoes for Barry.

nails in the coffin

2011-02-21T10:04:00.000-08:00

Entries on Dead Time Pacifies have decreased steadily. I address why HERE and then HERE. The obligation I feel to keep up my posts are tempered with the functionality of reaching the most/best audience.

New York Times just published an article detailing most of the reasons I have abandoned this blog and the "marketing" it would take to drive traffic here in favor of social media where I can easily reach a more personal audience.

discouraged by how few people bothered to visit, he instead started posting his clips on Facebook, where his friends were sure to see

Among 18-to-33-year-olds, the project said in a report last year, blogging dropped two percentage points in 2010 from two years earlier.

Former bloggers said they were too busy to write lengthy posts and were uninspired by a lack of readers. Others said they had no interest in creating a blog because social networking did a good enough job

Still, blogs remain a home of more meaty discussions

anyone who is taking blogging seriously — they’re using several mediums to get a large amount of their traffic.”

I am toying with the idea of re-inventing Dead Time Pacifies on Tumblr.

Wisconsin Crit

2011-02-20T11:36:00.001-08:00

This is not a critique of those struggling in Wisconsin. This is a short critique of what I wrote... Or at least some thoughts I had after initially writing about it.

The struggle we see in Wisconsin is part of a failing empire. The bourgeois democracies of Europe and America are increasingly finding it difficult to maintain capitalist growth and any semblance of social services (even in the USA where such social services are practically non-existent). This bumps up against the peoples' increasing demands for society to provide for its members who really feel the pains of dying capital.
As global capitalism's crisis deepens, those in government along with their masters in industry will continue to cut social spending. They see this as a sort of austerity measure that meets with rightwing libertarian Reagan/Thatcher-esque ideas of individual "responsibility." One thing is true, governments will find themselves unable to support social welfare. This does not mean we should not struggle for and demand all social services. We should. It will sharpen the contradictions.

Ahead of us are the struggles against dying empire and for building new societies.

Wisconsin

2011-02-19T16:43:00.000-08:00

Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill Protest from Matt Wisniewski on Vimeo.

Hopefully you know what's going on in Wisconsin right now. The bad and the good. Especially the good. There is no way, at this late stage in the game, I am going to try and give an exhaustive explanation. It is inspiring and I will say this...

I am White and I come from the midwest. In the seemingly ever present question of 'what is the revolutionary potential of White Americans?', I tend to be a pessimist. I tend to point to too many examples of privilege giving in to privilege at the expense of others (or even one's own interests). However, I have this friend. He is Filipino from California and much more committed to social change in day-to-day terms than I probably am. Wisconsin makes me think of him. He is much more optimistic of White America's capacity for change. (And this is not to suggest that the struggle in Wisconsin is only White people or that Madison is even indicative of the midwest.)

If there is to be change on any major level in this country, it probably needs to look and feel like Wisconsin does right now. To the folks in Wisconsin, never give up. Never give in. Never concede an inch. Occupy that shit and stay strong until we win. The whole country is watching you and corporate media can't paint you in lies enough to fool all of us. Keep inspiring.

The Palestine Papers

2011-01-30T17:04:00.000-08:00

Al Jazeera has obtained more than 1,600 internal documents from a decade of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. These have become known as The Palestine Papers.

The Papers document The Palestinian Authority's collaboration with Israel against the interests of Palestinians. Not only is the PA willing to concede almost anything (such as refugee's non-negotiable right of return) but also The PA's partnership with Israel against the Palestinian people and their elected body.

PA's foreknowledge of the Gaza war?

PA, with US encouragement, delayed a UN vote on the Goldstone Report into war crimes committed during Israel's Gaza war.

PA and Israel planned to kill Palestinian fighter in Gaza.

The PA blocked potential prisoner swaps that would have freed thousands of Palestinians

It shouldn't come as any surprise that these US anointed "leaders" have done all they can to appease their masters and remain in positions of power. Can the PA still even pretend to be acting in the interests of Palestine?

Death to collaborators.

Onward Our Christian Soldiers

2011-01-16T19:50:00.000-08:00

US Army's "Spiritual Fitness" Test

The test contains questions written predominantly for soldiers who believe in God or another deity, meaning nonbelievers are guaranteed to score poorly and will be forced to participate in exercises that use religious imagery to "train" soldiers up to a satisfactory level of spirituality.

If Sarah Palin Were an Animal Rights Activist, She’d Have Already Been Convicted of “Terrorism”

2011-01-16T19:48:00.000-08:00

From Green Is The New Red:

Spokespersons for Sarah Palin and Tea Party groups have bristled at the suggestion that their violent rhetoric may have contributed to the recent shooting in Arizona that left six people dead and Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in critical condition. The topic is, for the most part, being treated with kid gloves in the press, and the “terrorist” label is conspicuously absent from the discussion.

However, animal rights and environmental activists have been labeled as “terrorists,” and sent to prison, for much, much less.

The murder attempt of Gabrielle Giffords needs to be put in a political context: Sarah Palin’s PAC used this map with gun targets on lawmakers, including Giffords; Palin has repeatedly used the rallying cry “Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD!”; Tea Partiers have carried assault rifles to political rallies; and militia members have urged followers to vandalize the offices of politicians (including Giffords), which they have done.

As I have reported here many times previously, none of this is being labeled terrorism by the government. Meanwhile, the animal rights and environmental movements are labeled the “number one domestic terrorism threat.”

To draw an even more specific comparison: the SHAC 7 were convicted of “animal enterprise terrorism” for running a website which posted the names and addresses of individuals tied to the animal testing lab Huntingdon Life Sciences. They were not charged with any act of property destruction, they were charged with “conspiracy” on the grounds that they should be held accountable for the actions of others in the same movement.

To be clear, I am not arguing that Sarah Palin should be accused of terrorism. However, such a stark hypocrisy needs to be addressed.

Simply put:

If Sarah Palin cannot be held responsible for the actions of those who visit her website, neither can animal rights activists.

And if animal rights activists are terrorists for running a website listing “targets,” then Tea Partiers and Sarah Palin, who have gone much further, must be labeled terrorists as well.

Israel Targets Anarchists

2011-01-16T19:42:00.000-08:00

Israeli security is targeting (and attempting to intimidate) anarchists for not supporting Zionism.

Movie Reviews

2011-01-02T10:36:00.000-08:00

Over the past month, I have seen more films than I did in the previous 12 months. Here are the ones I could remember with how I graded them and also how I graded the audience if I saw the film in a theater.

FILM, FILM GRADE, AUDIENCE GRADE

Black Swan: C, D
Like to be creeped out in every way?

True Grit: A, F
Fun. I love the actors, guns, The Coen Brothers, and witty dialogue.

Tron Legacy: B, A
I liked the film so much more than all the bad reviews, it made me like it more.

Star Trek The Motion Picture: n/a
uh, I fell asleep.

The Fighter: C, B
Good acting. Decent film.

Up: D, n/a
As much as people hyped this up, I thought it sucked.

Wrestler: B, n/a
Pro wrestling, strippers, 80's hair metal.

A Single Man: B, n/a
As cliche as it may sound- This film looked stunning.

Where The Wild Things Are: F, n/a
What the fuck!? Totally pointless and it dragged on.

Winter's Bone: A n/a
Hillbillies, meth, brutality. Wow.

Expendables: F, n/a
Even the knife action couldn't give this movie a point. ;)

Kick Ass: B, n/a
It moves from comic book deconstruction to a real super hero movie.

2010: the end/the best

2011-01-01T14:27:00.000-08:00

How could I forget
FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa
I am much more interested in club football rather than international tournaments but this was the World Cup and so many great games. I followed it all closely and went into work late or took those extra long lunches several times. One of the most exciting games I have ever seen was USA vs Algeria. When Landon Donovan scored that 91st minute goal to advance the USA, I literally shouted and ran around in a circle.

Spain took the title just as they should have.

2010: the end/best

2010-12-31T15:53:00.000-08:00

I tried to compose a concise and definitive tops list for 2010 and I just can't. I am sure as soon as I post this, I will think of a million things I forgot, but oh well...

* Electronic music.
From the grave wave of Cold Cave to the neo-rave of Steve Aoki I was feeling this new generation of electronic music. I got to see Cold Cave, Crystal Castles, and Bloody Beetroots perform live and took in DJ sets by Dada Life and Aoki. I have written about these sub-genres before and how they fit into an internet-savvy generation with no underground scenes. Live performances are experimenting with what works still but these sounds are the most interesting music I have been hearing.
The Bloody Beetroots. Major Lazer. Cold Cave. Steve Aoki. Crystal Castles. Daft Punk. La Roux. A-Trak. Death To The Throne.

THE BLOODY BEETROOTS DEATH CREW 77 Live CrossOver Festival
Uploaded by DaveTV. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

* Kanye West.
This was Ye's year. From his debut of "Power" to his mindblowing performance on SNL to his GOOD Friday project to the insane trainwreck of "Runaway" to the final release of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Kanye West has embraced this new era of music by putting out so many free tracks and using the ability to quickly release music to re-release constantly evolving tracks. He may not know how to edit but he has no competition.

* Comic books:
Ultimate Thor, Avengers: Children's Crusade, and New Ultimates. Two of my tops are from Marvel's Ultimates line. A line I swore to never read for their catering to Marvel's films. However, let's face it, fresh takes on familiar characters w/o any slopping retconning is fun. Ultimate Thor is like the regular Marvel God of Thunder re-imagined by people who actually know about Norse mythology. Avengers: Children's Crusade is just an exciting story that should have a big payoff. It is important for me to note that no X-title is included in my faves. Marvel has so ruined the X-titles and characters with convoluted stories trying to be the next big thing that they are pretty unreadable.

* Drake
It pains me to admit that this former TV star and kinda cheezy dude is the best out there, but he is. It doesn't hurt that he is so damn prominent. I would go as far as to say that Drake is up there with the likes of Lord Finesse and Ludacris. If he dropped the singing, he would gain more points. Maybe, just maybe, the best verse of the year: "Aston Marten/Paris Morton Music"

* Hardcore/punk:
I grow less and less interested in or inspired by this aging genre. I know that new fresh stuff exists but it isn't catching my attention. The Off! ep was good and End Of A Year might have been my favorite punk (post-punk?) band to release anything in 2010.
OFF! by OFF

* Anarchy
From Greece to Oakland. From London to Wikileaks. Anarchy has continued to not only garner the attention of media and states but has continued to grow into a strong global current. Leaderless student rebellion has almost become the global norm (Especially in Europe and North America). While Julian Assange has declared he is not an anarchist, his analysis of conspiracies is solidly anti-authoritarian. Wikileaks whittled away at state power effectiveness while spawning anonymous/Anonymous acts of "war" against state/corporate power.

Honorable mentions:

Jersey Shore. Blue Scholars/Sabzi. Olivier Coipel. Tron Legacy. Anarchy News. Mishka Bloglin. Tumblr. Kung Fu Panda. Doomriders. Hank Williams Jr. Pandora. Christy Langer. Inception. Joe Bluhm. Survivors. AR-15s. Our house.

The Walking Dead vs Survivors

2010-12-19T13:55:00.000-08:00

I have been watching and enjoying the first season of The Walking Dead. It is a fun take on post-civ using the all-too-common zombie apocalypse scenario. However, it is impossible to watch this ragtag band of still living folks and not compare it to another recent post-civ television program: Survivors.

The Walking Dead and Survivors are based on essentially the same premise: Some "sickness" causes a human die-off on a grand scale and a group of strangers bond together to survive. While both groups attempt to avoid conflict, in TWD, they fight zombies and in Survivors, they fight other people. At the same time, these shows are almost the inverse of each other and this is where Survivors is far superior.

SPOILERS BELOW

I now turn this critique over to my friend, Pranjal:

There was the nagging sense, especially in the finale of Walking Dead, that the group of survivors was looking, seeking, searching for someone in authority to save them. "We didn't come here for the eggs", they say to the one doctor who's left at the CDC. And it doesn't help that the 'main people' in the group are both cops. When they go to the CDC, this bunch want to know what 'the experts' or 'the government' are working on and how they are going about curing or solving the situation. When it turns out the authorities aren't fixing the problem, it ends up being the massive revelation for the survivors, and then it seems like all hope is lost and they don't know what they are going to do.

Compare this with Survivors, where the people just seem to get on with living and working out how to make it work together. They don't go out looking for the cops or the equivalent of the CDC, they sort of figure that everything is gone but they self-organize and get shit together. In fact, when they encounter the remnants of the UK-equivalent of the CDC, it is the Health Minister and her proto-fascist state who want to take everything over again and dominate everyone, either that or the insane, secretive phramaceutical company doing human experiments... this is clearly shown to be a cold and sinister thing, in contrast to the hopeful and human world that the survivors seem to be building on their own.

It is very interesting to me that a US show would seem so much more dependent on authority than a UK one, when the former is hailed as an individualist, 'free', 'can-do' society, and the latter is often dismissed as old and authoritarian.

More thoughts on Survivors HERE and HERE

io9's critique of TWD HERE

The Coming Death of Blogs

2010-12-19T13:44:00.000-08:00

I have written about my changing feelings regarding the blogosphere, sharing of information, and social networking before. Gawker has an interesting piece about how blogging has peaked (and is now in decline).

"Only half as many online teens work on their own blog as did in 2006, and Millennial generation adults ages 18-33 have also seen a modest decline-a development that may be related to the quickly-growing popularity of social network sites. "

The purpose of Dead Time Pacifies has always been to share information I feel is important/interesting/exciting. For a while I tracked traffic to this blog and it has very few recurring visitors (and I would assume I know these people personally). So, it seems like I can more effectively share info via social networking sites. This does call into question reaching "new" people (which I had hoped Dead Time would do and, by design, social networking does not do). I would suggest that this is a much grander question: sharing important information with a tighter circle of people (which is not necessarily "preaching to the choir") versus gambling to reach a much wider audience who may be less likely to be exposed to the information elsewhere.

Marketing, fame, or chasing down links and referrals takes more time and energy than I have available. This is why I have thrown more effort behind the easy "sharing" of social networking. I would prefer to keep this blog as a space to share original thoughts or critiques rather than just link roundups.

OPD + FBI war on Oakland anarchists

2010-12-19T13:37:00.000-08:00

This should come as no surprise...

Documents reveal the significant involvement of state and federal law enforcement in monitoring the various Oscar Grant protests in Oakland over the past two years.

Agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency, United States Secret Service, and the California Department of Justice were assigned to monitor crowd activities.
The Secret Service, the state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, and Bureau of Intelligence and Investigation took video of the protest. DEA and Oakland Police officers recorded the protest, while others dressed in plainclothes provided intelligence from within the crowd to OPD’s Emergency Operations Command Center.

FBI involvement in monitoring the Oscar Grant protests began as early as January 2009. A police report shows the FBI was providing intelligence to OPD on the movements of “black bloc” anarchists in Downtown Oakland. OPD forwarded information about anarchists to The Department of Homeland Security.

Raymond Pettibon Does Not Fight Dogs

2010-12-19T13:29:00.000-08:00

OK, so Raymond Pettibon said in an interview that he raise dogs for fighting. I wrote about it and even tried to update his wikipedia page to reflect his tale.

Then, Pettibon admitted to Swindle that he, in fact, does NOT raise fighting dogs.
I guess he has fun making shit up. One ought to be careful claiming to be a douchebag for the hell of it, I guess. Anyway, now we can all go back to digging his art.

Where's the music?

2010-11-27T18:41:00.000-08:00

In this wonderful internet age of music, it is super easy to release a song on the internet. Hell, it is even easy and cheap to release a video on the internet. However, if you are gonna do this, you better have the damn song readily available for download (free or pay).
I don't think it works any longer to leak a hot video to hype an as-yet-unavailable song/mp3. We ain't gonna see a hot video and remember to look again for the mp3 in a month (or longer). (Also note: I don't really want to sign up to some semi-obscure site to pay for your mp3. If I can't easily find it for free and am not moved enough to pay for it on the likes of Amazon or iTunes, I am likely to move on without it.)

DEADBOTS - GIRL ON FIRE - DIRECTED BY DANXZEN (UNOFFICIAL) from deadbots on Vimeo.

Abolish The TSA!

2010-11-26T10:36:00.000-08:00

4th Amendment Violation?

My TSA Stripdown: Nov 21 at Seatac (LONG VERSION) from Furry Girl's Feminisnt.com on Vimeo.

(you get the idea after the first 2min or so)

Why isn't TSA on the anti-big government chopping block?

NSM & PPD

2010-11-26T10:29:00.000-08:00

Fires Never Extinguished details how the Phoenix Police collaborate with and, in effect, support NSM nazis.

acab

Fox Agenda

2010-11-26T10:27:00.001-08:00

What if a corporation had its own news channel and used that news channel to create issues and trick people into believing the interests of said corporation were actually their interests?

The Bloody Beetroots: What did I witness?

2010-11-03T12:38:00.000-07:00

What did I witness? As the ominous drawn out intro to 'Domino' played, my friend turned to me and said, “This crowd is about to go off!” And off we went.

I am not exactly sure how to describe The Bloody Beetroots Death Crew 77 live or what to compare it to. There is a lot of comparison to punk. It might look like that on the surface to the uninitiated but it was glaringly obvious to me that this crowd had no sense of punk’s decades old culture. (I kept thinking about how even AFI, with their hardcore roots, speak out against crowd surfing and in favor of stagedives and headstomping.) There was also the influence, be it good or bad, of resurgent 90’s rave culture. As soon as the beat hit, pretty much any sense of PLUR was vanished. Within the first 15 minutes, I saw two fights and one broken nose. There was also a minor exodus of people moving towards the back to escape the aggro. The crowd actually removed the barricade and passed it overhead to the back of the venue!

The crowd itself seemed pretty normal. No discernable sub-cultural dress. You had your Sunset District Asian ravers and a noticeable ‘bear’ contingent. Is this rebel music for the post-sub-cultural era brought to us by the internet? It makes sense but also confuses me how, like Crystal Castles live, so very very few of the audience members resemble the performers (sans Venom masks, of course).

After the initial aggro, the crowd calmed down a bit. The energy didn’t die down but the violence did. Bloody Beetroots don’t resemble your typical electro dance live ensemble. Most song elements are recreated with live instruments (guitar, bass, drums) with the help of Tommy Tea and some dude in the back with no mask. Dennis Lyxzen came out for a few songs; the remix of 'New Noise' and some straight “punk” sounding joints. As much as Beetroots might incorporate punk and it is picked up by media and the blogosphere, they also ventured into more droning mellow piano, vocoder, and drums jams that reminded me of '31 Seconds' played by Roger & Zapp.

Like Glen E. Friedman, I am not entirely sure what I saw but it was awesome. It has been a while since I saw a crowd lose themselves like that. I don’t know that this is ushering in some crazy new sound or scene. I do know I enjoyed myself and felt old.

A-Trak Blows My Mind

2010-10-17T19:03:00.000-07:00

From this:

To this:

And he is still rockin it:

Fuck Raymond Pettibon & Wikipedia

2010-10-17T16:21:00.000-07:00

Notorious artist Raymond Pettibone raises and trains dogs for fighting like a total scumbag.

I think this is something folks ought to know about the man's character. So I added it to his wikipedia profile with a cited source.
Within hours, it was removed and I was given this message:

"Although everyone is welcome to contribute to Wikipedia, at least one of your recent edits, such as the one you made to Raymond Pettibon, did not appear to be constructive and has been reverted or removed."

While I find the info very constructive and neutrally presented, someone apparently did not.

Defending Tila Tequila?

2010-10-17T10:08:00.001-07:00

I am probably the last person I would expect to rush to the defense of Tila Tequila. Pretty much everything about her is sad and disgusting. However...

Nearly seven years ago Tila Tequila and her then-boyfriend filmed themselves having sex. Her ex is now threatening to release this sex tape against Tequila’s will. Tequila went to court to get an injunction against the tape’s release, but the judge denied her request, arguing that “Tila exploits her sexuality” anyway.

Tequila’s exploitation of her own sexuality (or, more accurately, her sex appeal), apparently, gives everyone else the right to exploit her sexuality, too. This is what it means to live in a society in which women are second-class citizens, specifically, the “sex class.” Women’s bodies are public property. Women are supposed to display them in public for men’s pleasure.

The Lost Dogs

2010-10-17T10:04:00.000-07:00

Michael Vick might be winning over America with his football skills and our collective short memories but don't forget what a sadistic fuck he is.

"Expanding on his Sports Illustrated cover story, Gorant (Fanatic) offers a chilling investigation into Michael Vick' s dog-fighting operation and the men and women who brought him to justice and rehabilitated the rescued dogs. Gorant outlines the rise of Bad Newz Kennels, describing in sometimes painful detail the abuse, torture, and execution of the animals--particularly disturbing is an episode in which Vick and a friend swing a failed fighting dog over their heads like a jump rope and kill it by repeatedly slamming it into the ground--and tracing the rescue of dozens of pit bulls seized from Vick' s property. Gorant outlines the efforts to save these animals from euthanasia, challenging the negative public perceptions of pit bulls and reporting back on the status of dogs like Sox (now a certified therapy dog), Zippy (adopted by a family of five), and Iggy (still shy but growing comfortable with his adopted circle of friends). At a time when Vick has returned to professional football and much of the public outcry about Bad Newz Kennels has been forgotten, this book provides a stark reminder about the horror and prevalence of dog fighting."

Intellect as Evasion

2010-10-17T09:59:00.000-07:00

Mel at BroadSnark offers an insightful critique of (Jay Smooth's) liberal anti- anti-intellectualism.

I understand why people are critical of the anti-intellectualism displayed by right wing populists who seem so disdainful of reading books, processing facts, or critical thinking of any kind. But it amazes me when otherwise observant people can’t see that anti-intellectualism is reactionary. It is a reaction to the idea that there is a small cadre of elites who are uniquely able to make important decisions on behalf of all of us.

There is no essential difference between supporting a ruling class based on blue-blood birth or ivy league degrees – it’s usually one and the same anyway.

The Christine O’Donnell commercial Smooth refers to is focused on morality, not intelligence. She is saying that she will “do what you would do” in the context of not being a corrupt politician. Now I have no doubt in my mind that she will be just as corrupt as the rest, but why not confront the issue of morality and corruption directly? How does being an intellectual make someone more moral? Is intellect the only thing of value in life?

For people who supposedly do a lot of critical thinking and evidence-based decision making, those who think like Smooth offer no proof that these supposedly smarter, more moral people are good leaders. In fact, they seem completely blind to all evidence to the contrary. Bill Clinton was smart and totally fucked us over. Carl Rove is smart. So is Paul Wolfowitz. I hear Stalin was smart.

The intellectual hierarchy implicit in this way of thinking bugs me, but I think what bugs me even more is the abdication of responsibility. In one part of the video, Smooth talks about how he wants to vote for someone who actually knows about stuff he doesn’t. I realize that none of us can know everything, but that also includes politicians. That’s (presumably) why they hold hearings and listen to people with expertise.

It reminds me of a blog comment that really irked me some time back. The commenter was responding to the idea of anarchism.

I have literally no interest in doing much of the day to day running of a city myself, nor do I want to be at the mercy of “might makes right” types. I am happy to cede some powers to government to have them do those things for me.

So basically, the commenter wanted to be able to sit on their ass watching Top Chef without having to trouble themselves with the boring details of life. And if their ability to do that is only won by giving power to people who will use it to enrich their friends, bomb children in Afghanistan, or put millions of poor people in jail? Fuck em.

How selfish is that?

One of the reasons we constantly get screwed is that people think they can remain ignorant of policy and process. They think they can leave the tedious stuff to others. If we actually want any justice in the world, we need to take the time to learn boring shit. We can’t just sit around in our underwear eating family-sized boxes of cereal, at least not all the time. Maybe if we all got off our asses and did something we would find out that we are more capable than we have been led to believe.

American politics continue to shift to the right

2010-10-17T09:58:00.000-07:00

44% of likely voters say the Democratic Party is "more dominated by its extreme elements"

Hipsters and the Commodity of Cool

2010-10-17T09:52:00.000-07:00

Marcus Dowling at Mishka wrote a great piece on hipsterism's move from subculture to mainstream commodification.

Thoughts on Ballin’ Ass Hipsters and the Commodity of Cool

It’s been going strong for a decade now and with all things we’ll soon need to bury it and start a new with whatever will replace it. But not before we crown a few victors as they move on to their next life as celebrities which is around where we’re at now in it’s lifespan. We’ve seen a slow embrace by popular culture of hipsterdom, from M.I.A. winning Grammies to Electro becoming the reigning sound of ClearChannel radio.

In their pursuit of the brass ring most of the artists successfully crossing over have very openly used aggressive marketing concepts, licensing, advanced promotional theories and financial partnerships (large and small) on their road to success. Does any of this sully the caliber of their creative output? Should it or shouldn’t it? If it does, why so? If the end result (the music) is still of original and excellent, does how it gets out there even matter? Interesting questions.

Zionist Endgame: Genocidal "Population Exchange"

2010-10-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

Israeli forces have been conducting large scale national drills preparing for a possible "population exchange." This is done in case any agreement is reached that would trigger Israel to forcibly relocate Palestinian populations.

In such an event, a large detention camp for Palestinian citizens will be constructed and all illegal aliens will be released from prisons to make room for Palestinians.

It calls to mind the bloody partitioning of India/Pakistan (but A LOT more one-sided.)

Accused Oakland, CA Shooter: Glenn Beck 'Blew My Mind'

2010-10-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

Byron Williams is charged with allegedly opening fire on police on Interstate 580 in Oakland, California, while on his way to "start a revolution" by attacking members of the ACLU and the Tides Foundation. He notes is inspiration by saying that Glenn Beck "blew my mind."

"Beck would never say anything about a conspiracy, would never advocate violence, he'll never do anything like, of this nature, but he'll give you every ounce of evidence that you could possibly need."

William W. 'Bill' Norton: True Hero

2010-10-17T09:40:00.000-07:00

The action-movie specialist's best-known script was 'The Scalphunters,' starring Burt Lancaster. But the former Communist later rededicated himself to leftist ideals and smuggled arms for rebels in Northern Ireland.

Now I would like to see his films:

"The Scalphunters" (1968)
"Sam Whiskey" (1969)
"White Lightning" (1973)
"Gator" (1976)
"I Dismember Mama" (1972)
"Big Bad Mama" (1974)

Public Option Was Secretly Nixed Early in Health Care Debate

2010-10-17T09:36:00.000-07:00

uh, I called it back in August 09

"They wanted to keep those stakeholders in the room and this was the price some thought they had to pay."

White America Has Lost Its Mind

2010-10-17T09:33:00.000-07:00

"Race was always a tough one for white people to deal with, but now the backflips some people are doing over it requires a scorecard."

The Relationship between "indie rock" and racial barriers

2010-10-03T10:54:00.000-07:00

There is undoubtedly a segregation and veiled racism in the British indie music business dating back to punk's interruption.

In America, unfortunately, white rock has always been considered as art, and black music as commerce. The early US punk musicians, however, were more genuinely rebellious than the Brits and were distinguished by multiracial bands such as the Gories and the Rollins Band. Their skill standard was much higher than the determinedly amateur Brits. Also, these players were not blinkered in their tastes – the seminal MC5 lionised Sun Ra and Coltrane, giants that the British punks had never even heard of.

The British punks were sadly characterised by flirtations with swastikas and the BNP, and the odious pronouncements of such sages as Sid Vicious – all this was swept under the carpet by a British press keen to promote the music.

But all music has multi-ethnic origins, and these genes sustain it. To deny these ethnic streams' existence is to create brittle and lifeless music, which seems to me where Morrissey is at.

US citizen was murdered by Israeli commandos

2010-10-03T10:51:00.000-07:00

US citizen Furkan Dogan was murdered execution-style by Israeli commandos.

How many US citizens will Israel get to murder and/or injure before the USA cares?

Christine O’Donnell Is Dangerous

2010-10-03T10:47:00.000-07:00

As funny as O'Donnell is, don't forget how dangerous she is!

- O’Donnell excused gay bashing as ‘kids being kids.’
Asked about disparaging comments children had made about a gay peer, O’Donnell dismissed it, saying, “It’s kids being kids, that’s it.” [Hannity & Colmes, 7/19/00]

- O’Donnell believes women do not enjoy sex, using it only as a means to love.
“Women play sex to get love. Men play love to get sex.” [Fox News, 8/2/03]

- O’Donnell doesn’t understand why gays get ‘upset’ when called ‘deviant.’
Asked if she could “understand why gays might be upset?” by someone calling homosexuality a “deviant sexual orientation,” O’Donnell replied, “Absolutely not. I cannot understand.” [Hannity & Colmes, 6/26/00]

- O’Donnell believes the proper role of a woman is to ’submit’ to her husband.
[CNN, 6/11/98]

The Huffington Post Is Sexist

2010-10-03T10:46:00.001-07:00

Americans Hate Vegetables and Love Being Unhealthy

2010-10-03T10:43:00.000-07:00

Only 26 percent of the nation’s adults eat vegetables three or more times a day. (And no, that does not include French fries.)

The amount of vegetables Americans eat is less than half of what public health officials had hoped.

Sales of convenience vegetables, like packages of cut broccoli designed to go right into the microwave, are growing.

Platini threatens to annul Israel's membership of UEFA

2010-10-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

The president of the European Union of Football Associations (UAFA), Michel Platini, has threatened to annul Israel's membership to the union because of the restrictions it imposes on Palestinian football players.

Joseph S. Blatter, President of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), expressed his strong displeasure with Israeli practices and its restrictions on Palestinian players.

Why the fuck is Israel even in UEFA?! Check the fuckin map! Israel is not in Europe.

Correlation Between Religion & Poverty

2010-10-03T10:35:00.000-07:00

A correlation between poverty and religiosity

Poor People Need “God” 2 distract them from having crappy lives

Religiosity is highly correlated to poverty. Richer countries in general are less religious.

No surprise that atheists know more about religion.

In Defense of Rick Sanchez

2010-10-03T10:34:00.000-07:00

Taken from The Minority Militant

First of all, when was it ever wrong to call someone a "bigot" (look up the dictionary meaning) and say they are out of touch with working class people? That may not have been the brightest thing Rick Sanchez said, nor was it the appropriate response, but can't he speak his mind and make an honest inference? Secondly, why does a man get fired because he courageously says that Jews like Jon Stewart, the same people that own the mainstream media, are not minorities?

Is it wrong to say that an upper middle class guy with roots like Jon Stewart doesn't understand the plight of working people? No, absolutely not. There was nothing that Sanchez said that warranted a firing from CNN. When someone says that Blacks dominate sports, or Asians own dry cleaners and nail salons, would that be a solid reason to reprimand him, no less take his job away?

We have guys like O'Reilly and Beck spewing all kinds of hate to uneducated tea baggers on the right, and the pseudo-liberal, Jewish-run mass media, with thin to limited skin, fires someone like Sanchez because he said something that was brutally honest. Sure the guy might not look like a Cuban because he's mostly of European/Spaniard ancestry, but he speaks for working class people who grew up in ghettos and run-down inner-city urban areas that come from blue collar roots.

I'm not a fan of Sanchez, and I know he's far from perfect. We all are in our own ways.

Are Jews minorities? Ummm....No. You can't have it both ways. You can't claim to be an oppressed minority then turn the other cheek and benefit from White Privilege. What happened in the past (pre-WWII/WWII) was one of mankind's worst atrocities and should never, without an inkling of a doubt, ever be repeated so long as civilization shall flourish. That card is played-out. This political correctness mantra has engulfed the over-sensitive, over-analytical, monkey-see-monkey-do, progressive media to the point where there is no healthy discourse. No wonder those on the right are tea bagging.

But when it comes to making fun of Asians on TV/media/film, you executives (yes, mostly Jews) turn a blind eye to it while nodding your shoulders trying to figure out the harm in it. This is hypocrisy at best, the same kind of free speech you consistently point to in the bill of rights when you need to make an argument on slanted cable TV "news." Not only is it intellectually dishonest, it's morally incomprehensible.

And you wonder why shit never gets done in Washington? It's because we have big distractions like these that take our attention away from Wall Street as they buy up the entire congress of these undemocratic states and rob us of our livelihood. Talk about a knee-jerk society, making HUGE, impulsive decisions based on tabloid news and unreliable 24/7 polls.

Forced Fun At Work

2010-10-03T10:31:00.000-07:00

(This is a subject I am forced to deal with daily at my office job.)

Compulsory fun is nearly always cringe-making.

The problem is that as soon as fun becomes part of a corporate strategy it ceases to be fun and becomes its opposite—at best an empty shell and at worst a tiresome imposition.

Behind the “fun” façade there often lurks some crude management thinking: a desire to brand the company as better than its rivals, or a plan to boost productivity through team-building.

The Poor Get Poorer

2010-10-03T10:27:00.000-07:00

USA Income Gap Widens

Who benefits from the Bush Tax Cuts?
(Hint: not you)

ACTUAL VS. ESTIMATED U.S. WEALTH DISTRIBUTION:

Gitmo

2010-10-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

This photo has been so used, re-used, changed, and de-fanged, I think it is important that we look at the original.
This is what they do when they catch you and they do it in our name and with our money.

Blue Scholars x John Coyne x Oakland x The xx

2010-10-03T10:23:00.000-07:00

I just don't get sick of this sick beat. Blue Scholars put it to far better use than The xx.

Republican Pledge To America

2010-10-03T10:13:00.000-07:00

The Republican Party is pledging to uphold the mythology of the rugged individualist White settler.

In this mythology, the cowboy is a white man. He is a crusty frontiersman taming the west and paving the way for civilization. He is the good guy fighting the dangerous Indian. He is free and independent. He is in charge of his own destiny.

Bill Ayers denied emeritus status at UIC

2010-10-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

Wait. I thought that the liberal elite socialist cabal ruled higher education and won't let creationist rightwingers run shit?

Making us work for free

2010-10-03T10:10:00.000-07:00

"The distressing part is that in reality these companies actually employ hundreds of millions of people, particularly young and otherwise un or underemployed superusers. People that work for them day in and day out for free: finding, sifting, sorting, connecting, building, etc.

Let's take Facebook as an example. Currently it's valued at ~$25 billion by the market. However, it could be argued that ~100,000 superusers out of 500 million part time users, are the reason that Facebook is valuable. They generate the core network that is the backbone of the tool. Their devoted use, high levels of connectivity, and loyalty forms the engine that grows Facebook, year in and year out. They are the materials, labor, and product of Facebook's assembly line. Yet they aren't paid for their effort. They aren't generating wealth for themselves or their families."

Very similar to what CrimethInc recently pointed out.

Hunters in Oregon Shooting Down Google's Fibers

2010-10-03T10:07:00.000-07:00

Gunmen have been playing target practice with the insulators on Google's electricity distribution poles. It's so problematic Google's moving their fibers underground.

What if they were less "bored hunters" and more saboteurs?

"anarcho-capitalism" is impossible, duh

2010-10-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

accumulation and concentration of capital is impossible under anarchism

the cost of protecting property rises dramatically as the amount of property owned increases, without a state.

Bambu x Muggs x immigration

2010-09-25T00:07:00.000-07:00

"Why not be aggressive? They aggressive on us. They pass bills, try and kill me, so I don't give a fuck about that life you live. Every breath you give is spent trying to lock me up. Man, I should kill that pig."

"... that pig didn't stand a chance"

I can't wait for this mixtape to come out!!

First as tragedy, then as farce

2010-09-24T23:55:00.000-07:00

"The real aim is to try & reconstruct society on such a basis that poverty will be impossible!"

The Living Room

2010-09-20T22:18:00.000-07:00

THE LIVING ROOM IN SANTA BARBARA

We would like to keep you updated with what's going on with The Living Room. My intent is still to reopen the club as soon as possible and I don't plan on giving up. We still face the same obstacles (lack of funding, finding a location, acquiring nonprofit status, etc.) but fortunately, there are people working on solving all of those problems. Knowing that we have your support makes a huge difference!

YOUTH ADVISORY COMMITTEE
We are working to build a Youth Advisory Committee. This may be one of the most important components of our organization. We want young people to have the opportunity to influence what happens with the club and participate in operating the facility. If you know anybody (a sibling, a neighbor, a friend, etc.) who is between the ages of 13 and 18 please encourage that person to contact us and get involved with the club. This is for the kids, and we want it to be by the kids too!

WE HAVE A STAGE!

Unfortunately, our friends over at Mainstage, hosted by Jensen Guitar & Music Co. in Santa Barbara, are closing their doors this month. Their music store in the Ralphs shopping center will stay open for business but they will no longer be hosting shows and other events for the youth.
Fortunately, I have been able to strike a deal with Jensen Guitar and, in the long run, we will be acquiring the stage. The stage will be used temporarily at Ventura Charter School and when we reopen The Living Room VCS has agreed to pass it along to us.

Thank you for your continued support. If you think of any other ways that you can help out please get in touch. If you think there's something that we should do that isn't being done already, we are open to suggestions.

For the kids,
Allan Viscarra

If you would like to join the email list please contact thelivingroomftk@gmail.com

The Freebie: Hollywood can't stand open relationships

2010-09-20T22:13:00.000-07:00

I saw the trailer for The Freebie and it intrigued me. Here it appears we have a romantic comedy dealing with a couple venturing into an open relationship. The trailer even gave realistic looks into what brought the situation about and the couples' apprehensions. I was excited but also worried. I was worried that Hollywood would fall into the usual tropes of dealing with polyamorous love; that is it unrealistic and unacceptable. I still planned on seeing the film... Then I read this:

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

they have a huge fight in which they agree to violate their previous agreement and tell each other what happened. She says she did have sex with someone, he says he didn't and calls her a "slut" (which makes no sense to me). He takes off, she follows him and says she didn't really have sex, she would never do that (even though they agreed it was OK and he's the one in the wrong at this point). They seemingly reconcile. Then, we see a moment that may be a flashback moment in which they agreed to the freebie concept or which could be interpreted as a sort of alternate reality where they talked about the freebie but never went through with it, thus saving their relationship.

Bummer. The feelings that this couple experience that lead them to consider opening their relationship are average healthy feelings that I would wager all longterm monogamous couples deal with. Why can't the option of polyamory be explored in a healthy fun mainstream movie? I'm not suggesting that couples don't try it (which this fictitious couple did not do) and run into difficulties or even decide it isn't for them. Relationships whether monogamous or polyamorous are never simple and easy. I think we could find more than enough hilarious and heartwarming instances in a couple opening their relationship.

Link Roundup

2010-09-20T22:04:00.000-07:00

- Rich people are rude. No surprise. They assume their wealth is entirely the result of their own brilliance.

- French club hates on gay footballer.

- More US military troops arrive in Philippines.

- Rachel Corrie v. Israel Trial: Contradictions Emerge

- How to drive kit prices down? bootleg!

- Real IRA says it will target UK bankers

- Prison Industry Funnels Donations To State Lawmakers Introducing SB1070-Like Bills

- Monsanto hired Blackwater Subsidiary to Spy on Animal Rights and Environmental Activists

Art is apparently The Weapon

2010-09-20T18:25:00.000-07:00

It might come as a surprise, but I am not afraid to admit I am a HUGE fan of My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade. There were reportedly recording a follow up heavily influenced by The Stooges. Well, I feared a boring stripped down album lacking The Black Parade's epic scale/tone (and I am a Stooges fan!). Recently Rolling Stone reported that MCR ditched the "Stooges" effort and got synth. Hmm... I do like synth but...
Then I saw this:

WTF?! They look like 90's wanna-be alts from a cyber movie starring Angelina Jolie! Yikes!
The music isn't too great but it is also too short to tell much. The one pretty fuckin awesome thing about this video is GRANT fuckin MORRISON!

the pigs won't quit

the future is bulletproof

brb

2010-09-16T22:04:00.000-07:00

Fighting in the New Terrain

2010-09-06T10:18:00.000-07:00

CrimethInc. have put out Fighting in the New Terrain which is a sort of self-crit as well as being one of the best things put out under the CrimethInc. banner in a very long time.

Once, one could speak of a social and cultural mainstream, and subculture itself seemed subversive. Now “diversity” is at a premium for our rulers, and subculture is an essential motor of consumer society: the more identities, the more markets.

Now every aspect of existence is becoming “work,” in the sense of activity that produces value in the capitalist economy: glancing at one’s email account, one increases the capital of those who sell advertisements. In place of distinct specialized roles in the capitalist economy, we increasingly see flexible, collective production of capital, much of which goes unpaid.

In the era of capitalist globalization, the interests of state power transcend national boundaries, and the dominant mode of conflict is not war but policing. This is occasionally employed against rogue nations, but continuously implemented against people.

instability, decentralization, and anonymity have come to characterize our society without bringing the world of our dreams any closer.

resistance is the motor of history: it drives social, political, and technological developments, forcing the prevailing order to innovate constantly in order to outflank or absorb opposition. Thus we can contribute to tremendous transformations without ever achieving our object.

The state increasingly relies on the same do-it-yourself ethic that once animated the punk underground to offset the deleterious effects of capitalism.

The cultural landscape is different today; subculture itself seems to function differently. Thanks to new communications technology, it develops and spreads much faster, and is replaced just as quickly. Punk rock, for example, is no longer a secret society into which high school students are initiated by classmates’ mix tapes. It is still generated by the participants, but now as a consumer market mediated via impersonal venues such as message boards and downloading. It’s no surprise if people are less personally invested in it: as easily as they discovered it, they can move on to something else. In a world composed of information, subculture no longer appears to be outside society, indicating a possible line of escape, but rather one of many zones within it, a mere matter of taste.

our wishes have been granted in form rather than content. Free distribution, once thought to demonstrate a radical alternative to capitalist models, is now taken for granted in a society in which the means of material production are still held hostage by capitalists.

The 21st century may show us how supposedly non-hierarchical means can produce hierarchical ends.

In the panopticon, power is already based in the periphery rather than the center, in that control is chiefly maintained by the inmates themselves.[6] Workers compete to be capitalists rather than establishing common cause as a class; fascists enforce oppressive relationships autonomously, without state oversight. Domination is not imposed from above but is a function of participation itself.

Now, it’s increasingly obvious that global capitalism has no center, no heart through which to drive a stake.

In fact, this development is a boon to anarchists, in that it closes the way to top-down forms of struggle. There are no shortcuts now, and no justifications for taking them—there will be no more “provisional” dictatorships. The authoritarian revolutions of the 20th century are behind us for good; if revolt is to break out, anarchist practices will have to spread.
They must somehow refuse and interrupt the forms of participation essential to the maintenance of order, both the ones predicated on integration and the ones predicated on marginality. They have to provide for people’s immediate needs while giving rise to insurgent desires leading elsewhere.

If we permit proponents of hierarchy to monopolize opposition to the prevailing order, anarchists will simply disappear from the stage of history.

Every riot has to be followed by an even broader outreach campaign, not a retreat into the shadows—a tall order in the face of backlash and repression.

our struggle is a pursuit of joy—to be more precise, it is a way of generating new forms of joy. If we lose sight of this, no one else will join us, nor should they. Enjoying ourselves is not simply something we must do to be strategic, to win recruits; it is an infallible indication of whether or not we have anything to offer.

Link Roundup

2010-09-06T10:10:00.000-07:00

- What collapsing empire looks like

- Racism doesn't cut both ways

- Eliminating Jealousy As Swingers

- Laser Weapon That Produces 'Deep Burning Sensation'

- LAPD Minority Report

- After Katrina, New Orleans Cops Were Told They Could Shoot Looters

- Want a raise? Wash your vagina!

- “I’ve been to my share of tea party events... Always a couple of anarchists who want to kill all of us in public office.” -House minority leader John Boehner (R) of Ohio

- I AM FOR A SATANIC DEATH CULT CENTER AT FOX NEWS HQ AND OUTSIDE THE OFFICES ORDICK ARMEYAND NEWT GINGRICH-and all the GOP WELFARE FREAKS

Happy Labor Day

2010-09-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

May 1st was claimed by the workers of the world.
America's Labor Day was offered by the state as a token act of reconciliation.

No thank you.

Wolverine Is Stupid

2010-09-05T13:24:00.000-07:00

Marvel is apparently planning to launch a whole family of Wolverine books (because he isn't in enough titles already and they haven't done this before). To get everyone ready for these books, Marvel put out a free "All-New Wolverine Saga" book that is basically a primer for Wolvie, X-23, and Daken. Reading this free one-shot, I realized how fucking lame Marvel made Wolverine.

Did you know that the first proposed Wolverine origin was going to make him a mutant wolverine? Silly, huh? Luckily, the then-powers-that-be at Marvel rejected the idea. So then we had a Wolverine with no known past for quite a while. It was a major part of what made him so popular. He was an fierce peculiar mystery. As much as Marvel would like, you can't really manufacture that type of enigma... Just look at Gambit.

In 2000, when Marvel decided to flesh out Wolvie's origin with 'Wolverine: Origin', I boycotted it. I didn't even want to know the story. I felt like there was no way they could do the mystery justice. Almost 10 years later, I read the book and actually enjoyed it. Of course, I am not prepared to read the seemingly endless titles Marvel puts out making Wolverine into some Forrest Gump character that seems to have met everyone in the Marvel universe all prior to him joining The X-Men somehow.

So, catching up on all the details of Wolverine's past via this free book made me want to vomit. It must have been the drive to milk the character's origins until the well runs dry (and then keep milking) or perhaps they went to 5yr olds for ideas. It is so convoluted and bizarre! He makes a sword that can kill anything (!?), has a stupid xtreme son and psuedo daughter (both who pop out claws in places other than their knuckles), and is part of some masterplan designed by the king of wolf-people. WTF?!

Unless Marvel retconned the whole thing, I can't think of a storyline that would redeem Wolverine's character. Give up, Marvel.

Farewell From Monument To Masses

2010-08-28T10:14:00.000-07:00

I remember when I very first learned of FMTM and where I was when I heard the first bits of sound. It was in a vehicle with Sergio Robledo-Maderazo in Emeryville. I was very curious but didn't quite get it. In time I got it.
FMTM became everything I think a band or art should be. 'The new noise' if you will. It was impossible to divorce FMTM from the politics and that wasn't done in some contrived RATM fashion. Sure there were the minimal vocals and samples (which I always wished were more audible if just for my own curiosity) but it was infused in the music.
Of course, FMTM to me wasn't just the music. It was also the comraderie and criticism of some right-on friends/comrades who have been a part of my life longer than most. There was a point, maybe in the middle of FMTM's life, that I feared losing the connection to you three due to some real life clash of loyalties. Instead of letting go, I held on. I am glad I did.
The thing that pisses me off about FMTM is how you never caught flight like you should have. We could pontificate about how the stars never aligned but we are too smart for that. Nothing happens by chance in this system. It is all by design and intent. I am not going to waste any more words on the mechanics of music within the capitalist system. Afterall, FMTM certainly does have a vibrant and dedicated following.
I am bummed that I can't attend the final FMTM show. I have to say, I was doubly sad upon learning that the original three would all be partaking. A proper finale.
Forward.

Bloody Beetroots + Dennis Lyxzen pt.2

2010-08-25T09:04:00.000-07:00

as I was typing, something happened

August Is Almost Over: We Are Everywhere

2010-08-22T15:06:00.000-07:00

August is almost over. What are you up to?

Bloody Beetroots + Dennis Lyxzen

2010-08-21T18:45:00.000-07:00

I have learned that The Bloody Beetroots Death Crew 77 have worked with Dennis Lyxzen (The Lost Patrol Band / The (International) Noise Conspiracy) on an upcoming song.

Not The New Punk

2010-08-21T18:32:00.000-07:00

I must admit, it's been a minute since I have been very excited about any HC/punk coming out and probably even longer since I felt any fresh sense of energy at a HC show. I have even pondered on if punk, as we knew it, is over. In this void, I have found myself finding interest in and drifting towards something else...

I hate to think of it as "the new punk" because it isn't but the (new) electro scene seems to be emitting an energy that resonates with me. What I find most interesting is that two groups I was drawn to also have a history in punk and seemingly a foot in the anarchist milieu. Crystal Castles play discordant electro with influences from punk and black metal. Vocalist, Alice Glass, was apparently part of a punk band and lived in a squat. The Bloody Beetroots Death Crew 77 (or their shadowy ringleader, Rifo) have a background in punk and still spout the semantics of anarchy.
One has to be careful when dealing with these subjects. Are the parties involved co-opting punk aesthetics and anarchy to sell music or is it a genuine integral part of their art? I wonder what it was that drew me to these two acts before I had any idea of their politics or punk backgrounds. Was it just because I thought they looked cool? (And can image actually be divorced from one's politics?)

It is also odd, coming from a punk background, that the majority of Crystal Castle & Bloody Beetroots' audiences do not seem to be counter-cultural nor do they even seem to resemble either group.
Where does this leave the politics? Can anarchist ideas be transmitted through the noise of these corporate channels? Perhaps it could even be the end of punk as the lifestyle ghetto of anarchy. I don't have high hopes but I am curious.

Punk and Anarchy are big words for anyone to shoulder. Anyone who wants to adopt this philosophy has a big responsibility and a duty not to betray it. I try to encourage freedom and independence through the channels that are available to me. In Italy, as usual, the sense of Punk has been misconstrued generating extremism that ends up confining itself to ghettos it builds with its own hands.

ANARCHY AND PEACE, LITIGATED: Crass Interview

2010-08-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

We’d said everything that was to be said in that context, fucking hell. The fact that it’s still just as pertinent today is indication that nothing’s changed. You can’t say more than what we’ve said, really, except possibly offering a few answers. But you know, I’m still looking for them. And they’re certainly not ones that will be found in the context of punk rock. I think within the context of punk rock we did everything we possibly could.

Vice Magazine sucks. They also just did a pretty extensive interview with Crass (at least Penny Rimbaud and Steve Ignorant- which is significant because the other members are in conflict over Penny and Gee's re-issuing of the catalog with no music and info.)

The interview is amazing. It is pretty much always amazing to get into the heads of Crass. Whether you like their music or not is irrelevant as they are much more than music. They also aren't exactly the anarcho gods they are made out to be.

ANARCHY AND PEACE, LITIGATED
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE IDEALISTIC PUNK ICONS CRASS, AND WHY IN 2010 THEY ARE GOING TO COURT OVER SOME TOTAL BULLSHIT

“We are classical now, we’re not actually just another fucking bunch of kids pissing around with a DIY mimeograph machine, we’re doing this plush, we’re doing this smart.” You have to have a particular arty sense of something or other to want to look at that old Crass stuff. It’s got its charm, but it’s charm only… it’s got no relevance. I want stuff to look slick, I want people to go: “Fucking hell, this is crazily good design.”

Philippines Torture

2010-08-19T21:04:00.001-07:00

Have no illusions. When we are a threat, they will try to catch us. If they do, this is what happens.

DEMOCRACY NOW: PHILIPPINES POLICE TORTURE VIDEO

La Vida Footy

2010-08-08T11:13:00.000-07:00

Let me recommend a fantastic blog on the beautiful game,
La Vida Footy

Joe Bageant: Kingdom of Survival

2010-08-08T11:12:00.001-07:00

Prop 8 / Marriage

2010-08-08T11:04:00.000-07:00

United States district court Judge Vaughn Walker overturned Proposition 8 on August 4, 2010. Same sex couples are once again allowed to marry (for the time being, at least).

Watching this all unfold, I wonder how long the rich rightwingers are going to determine what agenda we have to spend money and energy reacting to?

I won't deny that this ruling is significant or that, same sex couples shouldn't be afforded the same benefits associated with marriage that are available to heterosexual couples. However, it is ridiculous that such needed benefits are attached to some old religious institution that still equates love with property.

I now turn it over to the awesome folks at Gay Shame:

Marriage Is Murder

Wyclef Jean- Comprador

2010-08-08T10:49:00.000-07:00

Haiti's history is a history of imperialism. Is Wyclef Jean the latest comprador servant of American imperial interests?

Instead of spending billions on the war,
I can use that money, to feed the poor.
I know some so poor, when it rains that's when they shower,
when screaming "fight the power".
That's when the vulture devoured

Wyclef Jean is running to become President of Haiti. Wyclef Jean is an ideal candidate for the USA, because his record is one of outright support for American imperialism in Haiti. He attacked the elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and supported the death squad 'rebels' that overthrew him. He has continued to support the brutal MINUSTAH occupation, on the grounds that it must contain the 'gangs' (referring to Lavalas, Haiti's most popular political party).

Sean Penn has come out hard on Wyclef.
"This is somebody who's going to receive an enormous amount of support from the United States, and I have to say I'm very suspicious of it, simply because he, as an ambassador at large, has been virtually silent. For those of us in Haiti, he has been a non-presence," Penn said.
"I see in Wyclef Jean somebody who could well have been influenced by the promise of support of companies. I think Haiti is clearly vulnerable ... There is a history of American interests coming in and underpaying people." Penn openly worried about American corporations and individuals "enamored" with Wyclef becoming "opportunists on the back of the Haitian people."

If I was president,
I'd get elected on Friday, assassinated on Saturday,
and buried on Sunday.

comprador bourgeoisie:
A section of an indigenous middle class allied with foreign investors, multi-national corporations, bankers, and military interests.

Black August

2010-08-08T10:48:00.001-07:00

On Aug. 7, 1970, George Jackson’s brother Jonathan, only 17, invaded the Marin County Courthouse alone, planning ultimately to free the Soledad Brothers. “You can take our pictures. We are the revolutionaries!” Jonathan shouted.

Crud Wizard

2010-08-08T10:43:00.000-07:00

You should all be reading Crud Wizard!

Crud Wizard is 9yr old Ezra Lux's blog on metal (and whatever else he fancies).

Wikileaks, Project Vigilant, & "Freedom" of Speech/Press

2010-08-08T10:30:00.000-07:00

Americans love to shout about their freedom. Americans love to shout about how free and informed we are due to our free press.

Pfc. Bradley Manning is accused of helping leak files to Wikileaks to help facilitate this freedom of press and information. Afterall, we were being misled by our benevolent government.

Now a member of Congress is calling for Manning to be executed. A Wikileaks volunteer was detained for three hours and interrogated as to the whereabouts of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange as well as "his attitudes to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and on the philosophy behind Wikileaks."

I guess our government is not as keen on a well informed citizenry.

As a matter of fact, the FBI doesn't even want their blessed seal to appear on wikipedia!

Project Vigilant "monitors the traffic of 12 regional Internet service providers" and "hands much of that information to federal agencies."
Lamo, the hacker who turned in Manning to the federal government for allegedly confessing to being the WikiLeaks leaker, was a "volunteer analyst" for Project Vigilant. Project Vigilant's executive director, Uber, directed Lamo to federal authorities to inform on Manning.
Project Vigilant is but one manifestation of a booming and unaccountable industry: groups which collect vast amounts of highly informative data about American citizens -- particularly their Internet activities -- and then sell it or otherwise furnish it to the U.S. Government.

Another Death for Affirmative Action

2010-08-08T10:13:00.000-07:00

CA's affirmative action ban has been upheld.

The struggle for affirmative action and what it means holds a special place with me. I was heavily involved in the struggle to defend affirmative action in CA in the early 1990's and it was a struggle that helped radicalize me. I saw all facts distorted, I witnessed the media straight up lie, I saw the discouraging manner in which Whites rejected any solidarity and sided with self-serving privilege, and I felt the sting of confused defeat.

Affirmative action is far far too often framed as a way to have a well rounded ethnic population on university campuses. (A strategy that has backfired when Asian students become majorities at some campuses.) Affirmative action is something much more important and stronger. Only a blind fool and/or servant of racist privilege will suggest that our country doesn't have a history of institutionalized racism. Affirmative action is a tool to continue to dismantle this institutional racism.

If you hold a running marathon and let the White runners get a wide head start before you decide runners of color should be allowed to participate, those White runners have an unfair advantage no matter how close the runners of color get. Even if some runners of color take the lead over some White runners, they should be even further ahead.

Affirmative action is a tool to right this wrong. White people don't like the notion that the privilege they have is unjustified and could/should be stripped of them. I always thought of affirmative action, while perhaps not revolutionary, as what the Black Panthers would have called a "survival" program. It could help us get 'there.'

Link Roundup

2010-08-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

- According to published reports, College prep summer program in LA hosted Justin Pearson and Jose Palafox to discuss DIY culture. "it was their DIY ethic, which celebrates the ordinary person, promising these students that if they are self-reliant and proactive learners, they can each become experts in their own right."

- Eugene Levy is trying to remain relevant by constantly making racist tweets. He isn't funny, just lame.

- Google & Verizon are seeking to destroy net neutrality.

- Casting has begun for Marvel's Runaways.However, instead of seeking an Asian girl for the Asian character, the casting only calls for "Uniquely beautiful, nurturing but guarded Female, must play 16-18." Racebending is on the issue and hopefully will prevent Marvel from pulling A Last Airbender.

-White rightwingers control all discussion on race in the US. (no surprise)

Bay Area Action Assembly of Anarchists and Comrades

2010-08-07T19:00:00.000-07:00

Aug. 8 2010

3-6pm

AK Press Warehouse

674-A 23rd. (between MLK and San Pablo)

Oakland, CA

After the second round of Oscar Grant Rebellions in the streets of Oakland on July 8 some atrocious events unfolded that made our recently powerful movement against the police feel weaker than ever.

July 9th, 15-year-old Traveon Avila, unarmed, was the THIRD person murdered by ONE police officer in Bakersfield, CA

July 14th, Verna Lisa Hollins, a gun shot victim, was left with no medical attention while the San Jose police “secured the crime scene.” She was dead by the time the paramedics came half an hour later.

July 17th, Fred Collins was shot to death in a hail of 50 bullets fired by Oakland and Bart Police just blocks away from Oscar Grant's murder

July 21st, Youtube video shows San Francisco Police knock out woman with baby. She's unconscious through the duration of the video. Police have not released her name, well-being, or whether there were charges filed against her

July 22nd, 16-year-old James Rivera, also unarmed, was murdered by Stockton, CA police

Anarchists must not be content with one night of riots, as that alone does nothing to put a stop to the police's war on the oppressed. Our lack of action in the wake of the police's newest bout of complete disrespect for human life reveals nothing but our complacency. The Bay Area has the largest population of anarchists in the nation, therefore it is incumbent upon us to develop praxis on how we can both be in solidarity with those most negatively impacted by the police and judicial system and how we can be agents in strengthening the anti-police movement.

You are hereby invited to participate in an experiment in anarchist organizing. Without the presence of an agenda or an expectation to make decisions as an assembly, we hope a wide array of ideas are toyed with, given room to breathe, taken into consideration, and ultimately solidified into actions outside of the assembly.

This is a space for us to determine our capacities to act in terms of innovation, resources, and confidence, but also a space to increase those capacities. The goal is not to produce a united front of anarchist analysis or tactics, but instead to produce a multitude of anarchist analysis and tactics. Respectful debate is highly encouraged. As long as we maintain solidarity with one another against our common enemies, the presence of internal conflicts could be just the substance necessary for us to truly become a movement.

It is not a requirement for participants to identify as anarchists, but is expected that everyone present respect the tone and direction of the assembly to be one that is in opposition to the state, capital, and the police, and a space for self evaluation and inspiration for those who wish to take action in an anarchistic fashion. This assembly will be much more about verbs than adjectives. We should all feel accountable to one another to come together to share thoughtful analysis, critique, inspiration, and especially ideas to move forward in ways that build solidarity and make us all more free from the police.

Although any actions that come out of this assembly will be on people's own initiative – whether they do so alone, through small affinity groups, or in more formal meetings – we should all feel compelled to make a mark on the world we inhabit and not passively let history pass us by!

Mind-Blowing Facts About Wealth And Inequality In America

2010-08-07T18:47:00.000-07:00

Despite the myth of social mobility, poor Americans have a SLIM CHANCE of rising to the upper middle class

Income Inequality By State

The gap between the top 0.01% and everyone else hasn't been this bad since the 1920s

Real Average Earnings Have Not Increased in 50 Years

Eminem Crit

2010-08-05T20:03:00.000-07:00

I generally don't give White rappers much of a shot. Sorry. I like my White rappers like 3rd Bass: conscious of their White privilege and rapping against it. I never was a fan of Eminem. To me, he was just a White guy with skills that played into everything he could for fame. From his routine silly 1st simgle/video from each album, to his fabricated trailer park cache, to his angry at everything for no fuckin reason. Of course, there was also his strong tendencies towards sexism and homophobia. While both of those may be prominent in hip hop at large, unfortunately, when a member of the ruling strata (i.e. White male) says them, they take on a whole different dynamic.

Em was due for a comeback apparently. The first salvo of which was his verse on 'Forever.' That verse was heralded as amazing but I felt it put on display Em's shortcomings when juxtaposed with Weezy and Yeezy (hell, even Drake killed it on that song!). Eminem YELLS his verses and doesn't seem to have any speed but fast (which he acknowledges on the track).

Then I started hearing tracks off Eminem's Recovery... and I liked them. He definitely has skills. I suppose he always had them but rapping about killing your ex wife in a clever way smells less like real hip hop to me and more like what Juggalos listen to. The beats also felt stronger. Then I found out that he worked with Just Blaze and other non-Dr Dre producers on the album and it made some sense. Stronger beats.

Em teamed up with a lot of female singers apparently. He has a really catchy song with Rihanna. I hear it on the radio enough... but the lyrics...
Does anyone else find it a little unsavory to hear Rihanna, who might I remind you was beaten to a fuckin pulp by her abusive boyfriend Chris Brown, on a hook singing:

I like

The way it hurts

Just gonna stand there

And hear me cry

But that's alright

Because I love

The way you lie

Em follows it up with:

If she ever tries to fucking leave again

I'mma tie her to the bed

And set the house on fire

OK OK Perhaps it is a commentary on abuse. Perhaps it is just a dramatic story. Then I saw the video:

If there is any anti-abuse message in that Joseph Kahn video, it is completely lost in the romanticizing of the obviously abusive relationship.

Hip Hop History

2010-08-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

The Berrics have THE WORST website I have maybe ever been to. It is almost IMPOSSIBLE to navigate and they must still not be hip to the fact that if we can't link to and/or share their content, it ain't going nowhere. Anyway...
The Berrics hosts Hip Hop History with Dante Ross. First they had a series of vids with Dante just schoolin' on East Coast hip hop from the 80's. Of which, he was a part of. Now they got Hip Hop History with Dante Ross and DJ Muggs and it covers all OG Los Angeles shit.
Really! Do yourself a fuckin' favor and watch every single one of these videos. Make sure you got a pad and pencil to take notes too because so many gems are dropped.

I could go on and on and on and on about things D Ross and Muggs say and how much I relate to some of it but you just gotta watch these vids.

Because The Berrics wants to make shit difficult, all I can do is provide you with a link to video #1 of 6 with Dante and Muggs
CLICK HERE

in memoriam

2010-08-05T19:23:00.000-07:00

It dawned on me that my last 3 posts were in memoriam. Sad.

I only knew one of the three individuals personally but they all affected my life in some way and/or left me with important memories. Individual anecdotes and examples are unimportant. However, if there is a common thread it is loyalty. I ain't talking about blind loyalty. I am talking about critical loyalty.

I also hate using the term 'Rest In Peace' as it is heavy with religious connotations. I don't mind 'Rest In Power' but that doesn't always feel right. I try to stick with 'Long Live..." because anyone worth remembering lives on forever through us.

Long Live Marilyn Buck

2010-08-03T22:47:00.000-07:00

RIP Mahk Daniels

2010-08-02T17:59:00.000-07:00

Long Live Lolita Lebron

2010-08-02T00:02:00.000-07:00

August 2010: WE ARE EVERYWHERE

2010-08-01T18:48:00.000-07:00

Today is August 1st. Don't forget...

WE ARE EVERYWHERE

THE OBJECTIVES

To create and maintain points of entry everywhere. To demonstrate our ability to work together despite internal differences and external obstacles. To invigorate anarchist infrastructure rather than lean on it. To orchestrate a show of force in solidarity with anti-authoritarians all over the world. To inspire curious newcomers without exhausting our vigor. To illuminate the map like a starchart of constellations. To remind ourselves – everyone – that we are everywhere.

THE CHALLENGE

Can anarchists mobilize to achieve these objectives with a tight deadline? In an effort to test and strengthen our potential, we’re inviting anarchists of all stripes and contexts to participate in a widespread and decentralized demonstration of outreach and infrastructure. To get involved, all that is required is that you facilitate or organize one or more events that will occur simultaneously across North America throughout the month of August.

THE PLAN

During August, we make anarchist principles and activity visible and accessible at a scale never before attempted. Consider it an international month of action; the activities can be of any caliber and temperament, and can appear anywhere: in the news, in the library, in the bedroom, in the supermarket, at the Really Really Free Market, on the streets, and so on. Use this as an opportunity to explore and experiment: if you aren’t typically involved in local mutual aid projects, give it a go; if you’ve never gone on a tour before, plan one with your friends; if you write zines, write banners; if you author theory, stage a reading; if you occupy classrooms, teach one for free. Whatever you do, wherever you go, wave the black flag for everyone to see –including, and perhaps especially for, our friends and comrades – and let the world see that we are everywhere.

Deadhead: music you should listen to

2010-08-01T12:31:00.000-07:00

Touche Amore continue to blow the fuck up on some retro skramz tip. Now 3/5s of Touche Amore are Deadhead playing some brutal d-beat-esque punk worth checking out.

DEADHEAD blog

Download their ep HERE but then buy it when it is officially released or go see them when they play near you!

Are these youngsters from Burbank, who so many people love to hate, some serious students of the game or what?

Hudson Criminal: music you should listen to

2010-08-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

Hudson Criminal have finally put out their cd, Last Days of Man. If I had to compare it to something you kids might be familiar with already, I would go with Hour Of The Wolf.

Hudson Criminal plays the occasional show in CA and you should go see them.

HUDSON CRIMINAL on MySpace

Buy Last Days of Man HERE!

Frank Turner: music you should listen to

2010-08-01T12:07:00.000-07:00

Frank Turner plays English folk music very much in the vein of Billy Bragg. One of the things that really draws me to Frank's music is his obvious connection to the punk scene. His lyrics often view the world and politics through the eyes of someone who came up through punk and the baggage that tends to create.

FRANK TURNER SITE/BLOG

Please support Frank!

NeverNothing Show in Philly

2010-08-01T12:06:00.000-07:00

"There is a Cop in each of us...

2010-08-01T12:03:00.000-07:00

and he must be killed."

Another example of police infiltration in Toronto.

SFPD plans to train civilians to act as police.

A Now Open Letter to the East Bay Express

2010-08-01T12:01:00.001-07:00

To the Editors, East Bay Express,
It wasn’t enough to be faced with your cover editorial of July 7-13 implicitly equating (as “errors”) the killing of an unarmed and prone African-American man at the hands of a white BART cop who “lost his cool” with the breaking of business and automobile windows by protesters who “reacted in anger” to what has recently been deemed involuntary manslaughter. Let’s leave aside how precisely you believe people on the receiving end of routine police harassment are supposed to express their outrage at yet another in a seemingly endless series of extrajudicial—of course we mean accidental—murders.

No, that wasn’t bad enough. Now readers are treated to Robert Gammon’s “Seven Days” column of July 14-20, in which he repeats—almost verbatim from the discourse of OPD and the future bureaucrats of Youth Uprising—contemptuous red herrings as part of a wider de rigueur anti-anarchist frenzy being aided and promoted by mainstream and so-called alternative media. Perhaps anarchists should be grateful that at least you have finally dispensed with the cumbersome and paternalistic qualifier “self-described,” as if journalists who are thoroughly ignorant of the history and philosophy of anarchism could possibly be the arbiters of who authentic anarchists are and what we do.

Ridiculous and hackneyed stereotypes abound in Gammon’s scribblings. First there are the ever-present “angry white anarchists” “bent on violence.” This presumes that non-white anarchists don’t exist, inside or outside of Oakland. And yet there are anarchists all over the world, not only in the US. Some of us are even People of Color. It also presumes that “violence” is primarily a question of breaking windows and setting dumpsters on fire. As if the mere existence of police is not violent, as if the relationships of domination and economic exploitation that characterize industrial capitalism weren’t violent or oppressive. The State reserves for itself an exclusive monopoly on the so-called legitimate use of violence; that sort of violence is not to be called into question. Only the scandalous actions of the disenfranchised and dispossessed are referred to pejoratively as “violence,” while the routine bullying, arrests, thievery, beatings, etc. carried out under the cover of legality are just standard operating procedures.

OPD and many municipal politicos are intent on playing up the fact that people who live outside Oakland make up a large percentage of those arrested on the night in question. Any issue involving BART police affects all those living/working in areas served by BART. Oscar Grant was killed in Oakland, which means that it is perfectly reasonable for any demonstration calling into question the killing, the trial, the verdict, and the sentencing would take place in Oakland, with interested residents from the greater Bay Area participating. As an aside and for more context, it might be interesting to know how many people work in Oakland who don’t reside there—police officers for example?

The pairing of anarchists and looters is facile. Who’s to say that the people who looted the Foot Locker were anarchists? Anarchists usually target the windows of the symbols of capitalism, like banks and multinational corporations. Making anarchists exclusively responsible for violence and crime is an easy way to ignore the other dynamics involved in looting, like the fact that people are constantly bombarded with media images equating the consumption of commodities with happiness and satisfaction. Given the proper circumstances, why wouldn’t people who can’t afford to pay for various commodities but who want them—indeed who’ve been told for years that they need them—not take advantage of their sudden easy availability with minimal consequences?

Saying that anarchists used “the peaceful demonstrators as a shield from police” is a typical canard. The image of human shields is deliberately meant to conjure up terrorists, and the implication is clear: the police and their media pals are beginning to fabricate the equation anarchist = terrorist, the better to make the increased surveillance, eventual arrest and apprehension, and ultimate suppression of anarchists easier to stomach for a public already accustomed to extraordinary rendition and the labeling of anyone the State finds inconvenient as an “enemy combatant.”

Like all the others squawking about the ethnicity and residences of those arrested, Gammon presumes they are already guilty of whatever crimes for which the police decided to arrest them. Whatever happened to the presumption of innocence? Gammon knows that the innocent (in this case chess players) also get arrested, but blames that too on the anarchists.

Anarchists are accustomed to being off-handedly demonized by agents of the State (in and out of power, and those training to attain it) and their friends in the media. Elisee Reclus, a famous French geographer, who also happened to be an anarchist, had this to say over a century ago: “No reproach is too bitter for us, no epithet too insulting. Public speakers on social and political subjects find that abuse of anarchists is an unfailing passport to popular favor. Every conceivable crime is laid to our charge… Overwhelmed with opprobrium and held up to hatred, we are treated to the principle that the surest way of hanging a dog is to give it a bad name.” But being accustomed to it and accepting it without objection are two different things. The prejudices and insults being tossed around are intolerable and irresponsible, and we hope that people who value rational discourse will be able to see through the haze of irrational and parochial declarations coming from the police, politicians, and the media.

Signed, a half-dozen local anarchists (four who reside in Oakland and two who live about 50 feet from the border).

The Wikileaks Drip

2010-08-01T11:47:00.000-07:00

The New York Times, The Guardian and Der Spiegel were given 92,000 reports by Wikileaks, including thousands of pages of raw “human intelligence” (i.e., uncorroborated claims and gossip from interested parties and anonymous sources pushing a multitude of agendas), and diplomatic notes passed between the promulgators of the occupation in Washington and their factotums “in country."

As I have referenced before, invoking The Falcon and The Snowman, despite this leak being heralded as unmasking the war to the public, the documents are far too dense and numerous for lay-people to really sink their teeth into.

However, these leaks could play right into the hand of the warmongers.
The Taliban are also reportedly using the leak to cull for spies and collaborators.

There was a delayed response from the state and media but they finally went hard on their narrative that this leak is a "tragedy" and would result in the deaths of innocents. It is insanely humorous how the US military can equate occupying forces and their collaborators as "innocent."

Private Bradley Manning is in solitary confinement subject to who knows what for being the main suspect of the leak. However, now the government is using this leak to expand surveillance on other Americans.

What liberal America has a difficult time swallowing is that for one side to win, the other must lose.

Priv-Lit

2010-08-01T11:38:00.000-07:00

I despise the hocus pocus self-help of Oprah and her empire. Joshunda Sanders and Diana Barnes-Brown have put together a TERRIFIC article for Bitch Magazine critiquing this privileged market and its anti-feminist underpinnings.

For decades, self-help literature and an obsession with wellness have captivated the imaginations of countless liberal Americans. Even now, as some of the hardest economic times in decades pinch our budgets, our spirits, we’re told, can still be rich. Books, blogs, and articles saturated with fantastical wellness schemes for women seem to have multiplied, in fact, featuring journeys (existential or geographical) that offer the sacred for a hefty investment of time, money, or both. There’s no end to the luxurious options a woman has these days—if she’s willing to risk everything for enlightenment. And from Oprah Winfrey and Elizabeth Gilbert to everyday women siphoning their savings to downward dog in Bali, the enlightenment industry has taken on a decidedly feminine sheen.

“Live your best life!” Oprah Winfrey intones on her show, on her website, and in her magazine, with exhausting tenacity. Eat kale. Lose weight. Invest in timeless cashmere. Find the perfect little black dress. But though Oprahspeak pays regular lip service to empowerment, much of Winfrey’s advice actually moves women away from political, economic, and emotional agency by promoting materialism and dependency masked as empowerment, with evangelical zeal.

As Karlyn Crowley writes in the recent anthology Stories of Oprah: The Oprahfication of American Culture, Winfrey has become the mainstream spokesperson for New Age spirituality because “she marries the intimacy and individuality of the New Age movement with the adulation and power of a 700 Club–like ministry.”

It’s no secret that, according to America’s marketing machine, we’re living in a “postfeminist” world where what many people mean by “empowerment” is the power to spend their own money. Twenty- and thirtysomething women seem more eager than ever to embrace their “right” to participate in crash diets and their “choice” to get breast implants, obsess about their age, and apply the Sex and the City personality metric to their friends (Are you a Miranda or a Samantha? Did you get your Brazilian and your Botox?). Such marketing, and the women who buy into it, assumes the work of feminism is largely done. Perhaps it’s because, unlike American women before them, few of the people either making or consuming these cultural products and messages have been pushed to pursue secretarial school instead of medical school, been accused of “asking for” sexual assault, or been told driving and voting were intellectually beyond them. This perspective makes it easy for the antifeminism embedded in the wellness jargon of priv-lit to gain momentum.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE: Eat Pray Spend

Cultural Generation Gap

2010-08-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

AZ pigs are ready for battle but Sheriff Arpaio can't stay away from TV cameras.

Arizona's xenophobia is the result, in large part, of a cultural generation gap. As other states led by older White elites salivate at Arizona's attempt to enact fascist racist laws to protect the Whites' hold on power, it is interesting to look at this cultural generation gap.

Whites compose a majority of the senior population in every state except Hawaii. Minorities compose a majority of the youth population in seven states and at least one-third of young people in 17 more. In 11 states, minorities already represent a majority of elementary and secondary public school students.

Over time, the major focus in this struggle is likely to be the tension between an aging white population that appears increasingly resistant to taxes and dubious of public spending, and a minority population that overwhelmingly views government education, health, and social-welfare programs as the best ladder of opportunity for its children.

At the root of the generational mismatch are federal policies that severely reduced immigration from the 1920s until Congress loosened the restrictions in 1965. With immigration constrained, whites remained an overwhelming majority of American society through the mid-20th century, including the years of the post-World War II Baby Boom. (Demographers date the Baby Boom from 1946 to 1964, the year before the restrictions on immigration were eased.) The result was a heavily white generation of young people.

read more: The Gray And The Brown: The Generational Mismatch

Mob Rule

2010-08-01T11:25:00.000-07:00

...a political fable about the irrationality of crowds, and the impossibility of reasoned collective decision-making.

Link Roundup

2010-08-01T11:18:00.000-07:00

- USA USA USA... Americans are more patriotic than other nations. (no surprise)

- Israeli Police killed a Palestinian-American in cold blood. (no surprise)

- A snitch led to the arrest of ALF suspect, Walter Bond. (no surprise- Why is the animal liberation movement(s) so rife for infiltrators and informants?! Is it the social/class makeup of these movement(s)?)

AZ Goes Hard

2010-07-29T23:16:00.000-07:00

Alto Arizona!

Immigration protesters try to close Tucson freeway with tar, tires, glass
Arpaio's crime sweep delayed by protest
Joe Arpaio's Deputies Faced Down by Anti-SB 1070 Protesters in Guadalupe

sb1070resistance.blogspot.com

Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva closed his Yuma office this morning after staff found "a window shattered and a bullet inside." Grijalva has vocally opposed the new Arizona immigration law.

NO BORDERS!

Oakland: Feds Are Coming

2010-07-25T19:50:00.000-07:00

Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts will ask for federal help in patrolling Oakland.

The FBI, DEA, ATF and ICE will meet with "community leaders" and police in August. I wonder if those "community leaders" will be the same "leaders" who recently collaborated with the police to get their piece of the pie?

There was little doubt that the Feds had their eyes and hands on Oakland over the past year. Now Oakland may be an out-and-out Federal police state. We should make it clear that the Feds are unwanted and unwelcome... although I doubt our voices will do any more than make OPD more desperately desire federal support.

Outside agitators? ha!