Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Loves Animals, Hates People
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Allies, Women, And The Oppression Of A People
We have the greatest allies in the world. From staunch dictators to war criminals to theocratic monarchs we have successfully made friends with the world's social and political pariahs. A good example of this comes from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Earlier this week King Abdullah granted the female citizens of Saudi Arabia the right to vote in the next election in 2015. This is largely symbolic anyway since the country is ruled by a King and a vote for lower level politicians who seek the approval of the King is a far cry from democracy. Should we, the citizens of the world, take our wins where we can get them and stop complaining? Not in this case.
While giving women the right to vote is a step in the right direction, it is hardly going to make a difference in a country that closes its people off from news of the world. This country should have been overthrown in the "Arab Spring", but the grip on the media would make China proud.
Saudi Arabia is a country ruled by a monarch that uses religion to imprison its citizens in themselves. Giving women the right to vote doesn't really mean anything when a woman can be tried and convicted for the crime of driving. Driving! Let that soak in for a moment. At least the King was merciful enough to commute the sentence of 10 lashes.
There are two overarching problems here: a ruthless monarch is doing what he can to not lose his grip on the country and religion is such an oppressive entity that it can be used by said monarch to suppress the people in his country. Isn't that always the way? Religion as a form of control is something to has been seen throughout our (human) history. The only way to overcome these obstacles and progress as a species is to not only smash oppressive and non-democratic governments but to smash the foundations of religion itself. Religion has, is, and will continue to cause nothing but harm and strife. All in the name of god.
Http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/25/saudi-arabia-women-vote-elections - Women Given Right To Vote Http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/28/saudi-woman-lashed-defying-driving-ban - Woman Lashed For Driving Http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/29/saudi-woman-lashing-king-abdullah - Saudi Woman Spared LashingSaturday, September 10, 2011
Perspective On 9/11
Since 9/11 we have seen the Patriot Act get put in place and supported by Democrats and Republicans alike who are unrecognizable as separate parties. We have seen the military industrial complex rise to a state of power that would make Joseph Stalin squeamish. We have paid with blood and treasure for nothing more than the rights of corporations to make money in new lands. We have given up the freedoms that we used to care about. We allow "security" agents to molest our children, our elderly, our disabled, and ourselves when we go to airports for no other reason than to feel safe, regardless of how safe we actually are.
Am I in mourning on this upcoming 10th anniversary of 9/11? Absolutely. But I am in mourning for the country that we used to be, not for the people that we lost.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
So Long Environment, We Hardly Knew Ye
This move is coupled with the president and the State Department putting their full support behind a new pipeline that will run from Canada to Oklahoma and Texas that will transport tarsands crude for refinement. This pipeline will run through the "heartland" of the United States and, more importantly, a major waterway where millions of people receive drinking water. According to the State Department the Keystone XL pipeline will safely carry this crude oil because, you know, oil companies have such a stellar record of transporting oil without spills.
I fail to see how anyone serious about the environment can support this president. If this is a bad time to enact regulations that will actually do something to curb our destruction of the environment then when is a good time? It is going to be hard to create jobs in a country that is uninhabitable.
More promises from the Obama administration that have been refined to the point of non-existence.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Music To Enrage You
NOFX - We Called It America
The leads are weak, the leads are weak, fucking leads are weak?
YOU'RE WEAK
Remember when America had a middle class
And an upper class, that was way before the exodus
That was the America that we thought was number one,
Thought would overcome, thought would never die
That was just our pride and faith, two shitty deadly sins
I know faith isn't one of 'em but it should have been
Cuz when things were crumbling, we had no camaraderie
Just a faith someone would save us from despondence
We called it America (whoaaaaaa)
Number one America was a slogan used to keep morale up
When we knew we were already cooked
Then the richer western states, succeeded in secession
And the eastern ones followed right behind
Mexi-Can-America was the perfect name that
Epitomized the order of significance, authority and affluence
We had turned it all around
Went from number one straight to number two (shit)
We called it America (whoaaaaaa)
National bankruptcy, circumcised society
USA dined and ditched, Fox reports "poor is the new rich"
We called it America (whoaaaaaa)
This next song is epic. It is also 18 minutes long. Enjoy.
NOFX - The Decline
Where are all the stupid people from?
And how'd they get to be so dumb?
Bred on purple mountain range
Feed amber waves of grains
To lesser human beings, zero feelings
Blame it on
Human nature, mans destiny (mans destiny)
Blame it on the greediocracy (greediocracy)
Fear of God
The fear of change
The fear of truth
Add the Bill of Rights, subtract the wrongs
There's no answers
Memorize and sing star spangled songs
When the questions
Aren't ever asked
Is anybody learning from the past?
We're living in united stagnation
Father what have I done?
I took that 22
A gift to me from you
To bed with me each night
Kept it clean
Polished it well
Cherished every cartridge, every shell
Down, by the creek, under brush, under dirt
There's a carcass of my second kill
Down, by the park, under stone, under pine
There's a carcass of my brother William
Brother where, have you gone to?
I swear, I never thought I could
I see so many times
They told me to shoot straight
Don't pull the trigger, squeeze
That will insure a kill
A kill is what you want
A kill is why we breed
The Christians love their guns
The church and NRA
Pray for their salvation
Prey on the lower faiths
The story book's been read
And every line believed
Curriculum's been set
Logic is a threat
Reason searched and seized
Jerry spent some time in Michigan
A twenty year vacation, after all he had a dime
A dime is worth a lot more in Detroit
A dime in California, a twenty dollar fine
Jerry only stayed a couple months
It's hard to enjoy yourself while bleeding out the ass
Asphyxiation is simple and fast
It beats seventeen fun years of being someones bitch
Don't think (Stay)
Drink your wine (Home)
Watch the fire burn (Be)
His problems not mine (Safe)
Just be that model citizen
I wish I had a schilling
(For each senseless killing)
For every senseless killing
I'd buy a government
America's for sale
And you can get a good deal on it
(A good deal on it)
And make a healthy profit
Or maybe, tear it apart
Start with assumption
That a million people are smart
Smarter than one
Serotonin's gone
She gave up, drifted away
Sara fled, thought process gone
She left her answering machine on
The greeting left spoken sincere
Messages no one will ever hear
Ten thousand messages a day
A million more transmissions lay
Victims of the laissez faire
Ten thousand voices, a hundred guns
A hundred decibels turns to one
One bullet, one empty head
Now with Serotonin gone
The man who used to speak
Performs a cute routine
Feel a little patronized
Don't feel bad
They found a way inside your head
And you feel a bit misled
It's not that they don't care, yeah
The television's put a thought inside your head
Like a Barry Manilow, jingle
I'd like, to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
A symphonic blank stare, yeah
It doesn't make you care (make you care)
Not designed to make you care (make you care)
They're betting you won't care (you won't...)
Place a wager on your greed
A wager on your pride
Why try to beat them when, a million others tried?
We are the whore
Intellectually spayed
We are the queer
Dysfunctionally raised
One more pill to kill the pain
One more pill to kill the pain
One more pill to kill the pain
Living through conformity
One more prayer to keep me safe
One more prayer to keep us warm
One more prayer to keep us safe
There's gonna be a better place
Lost the battle, lost the war
Lost the things worth living for
Lost the will to win the fight
One more pill to kill the pain
Na na na na na
La na na na na
Na na na na na
Na na na na na
The going get tough, the tough get debt
Don't pay attention, pay the rent
Next of kins pay for your sins
A little faith should keep us safe
Save us
The human, existence
Is failing, resistance
Essential, the future
Written off, the odds are
Astronomically against us
Only moron and genius
Would fight a losing battle
Against the super ego
When giving in is so damn comforting
And so we go, on with our lives
We know the truth, but prefer lies
Lies are simple, simple is bliss
Why go against tradition when we can
Admit defeat, live in decline
Be the victim of our own design
The status quo, built on suspect
Why would anyone stick out their neck?
Fellow members
Club "We've Got Ours"
I'd like to introduce you to our host
He's got his, and I've got mine
Meet the decline
We are the queer
We are the whore
Ammunition
In the class war
We are worker
We love our queen
We sacrifice
We're soilent green
We are the queer
We are the whore
Ammunition
In the class war
Friday, August 5, 2011
The Police Love To Kill
One funny (i.e. sick and disgusting) thing about the police force is that they, as a whole, were so famous for just shooting people without cause that cities began to gave them all TAZERs. I guess if they are going to shoot something at someone, lets make it electricity instead of a bullet. At least that way the victim (yes, victim) has a greater chance of surviving a police assault. That is unless you are unlucky enough to receive a beating and TAZERing simultaneously from a group of rabid thugs while also having the misfortune of being mentally disabled.
Recently in Fullerton, CA, a group of six police officers beat a homeless mentally ill man and TAZERed him repeatedly until he was dead. These six police officers murdered a man in the street in view of cameras and the public. I guess they missed the class at the academy about unnecessary force and when is the right time to stop beating the shit out of another human being.
Eye witnesses at the scene claim the six officers tasered him five times and beat him beyond recognition, which the disturbing photo of him in hospital shows.Yes, this man obviously got what was coming to him. His crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time and for that crime the punishment is death.
Mark Turgeon, who was there, said: 'They kept beating him and tasering him. I could hear zapping, and he wasn't even moving.
'He had one arm in front of him like this, he wasn't resisting. And they kept telling him, "He's resisting, quit resisting", and he wasn't resisting.'
According to Gawker, Thomas - who suffered from schizophrenia - caught the attention of the police after someone reported that a burglar was breaking into cars parked near a Fullerton bus station.Now before anyone loses their head and says "Well obviously he resisted. They had to beat him into submission", I would like to point out the fact that he was mentally ill. There is a way to subdue someone without killing them or even breaking a bone. You might even be able to do it without *gasp* beating someone. I know that is a hard pill for most police to swallow, but I assure you that it is true.
When officers approached Thomas in the depot parking lot and tried to arrest him, he resisted.
So since he resisted arrest the police must have had crazy injuries, right? Right?
Police will not issue a statement saying the issue is under investigation but they did say that six officers were involved and two 'suffered broken bones in the fight'.So the police lied about having broken bones and it was later revealed that they suffered "soft tissue damage". Do you know what that is also known as? Scrapes and bruises. The police get a boo-boo and a mentally ill man gets murdered in the street. That sounds a little less than fair, but what do I know? I am just a crazy liberal.
However, they recently retracted that statement saying that it was only 'soft tissue damage'.
I am sure that many will come to the defense of the police and say "oh, if you aren't a police officer then you don't know what it is like on the streets. People are evil and in the heat of the moment bad things happen." You know, I don't need to be a fireman to understand that giving and arsonist a book of matches isn't a good idea. I don't need to be a police officer to understand that it is dangerous on the streets.
What does this say about our standards for hiring police officers in this country? Are we so hard up for badges on the street that we will hire people who are obviously unstable enough to not stop beating someone? It seems to be the police officers in this case that are mentally unstable and lack control. When someones face looks like hamburger it is probably time to stop beating them.
This brings up another issue of the overuse of TAZERs. Electricity is deadly. How can a police officer know if the person that they are about to TAZE has a heart condition, or a pace-maker, or an insulin pump? They can't and if one person dies because of the misuse of a TAZER by a group of bullies then that is one person too many.
The final issue that this story highlights is the need for good citizens of this country to record everything that the police are doing. If you see the police pull someone over, pull over as well and record the show. Do it while it is still legal because there is a movement afoot in this country to make it illegal to film the police. Without footage of this incident there would have been very little notice in the media. The person you film getting accosted by the police very well could owe you their life.
(Source 1, Source 2, Source 3)
The police, like the government, should fear the populace. Not fear of getting killed or some sort of vigilantly justice but the fear of being held accountable. That fear should motivate them to use their brains when arresting someone and perhaps exercise a little bit of restraint.
After this article if anyone is still on the fence about what happened to this man, watch the video and check out the before and after pictures. If that doesn't sway your opinion then you must be a heartless wretch.
Alternate Source: LA Times
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
One Fish, Two Fish. Red Fish, Dead Fish.
Photos of the OC Fisher Reservoir in San Angelo State Park that began circulating fishing forums last week have conjured up apocalyptic images, with one preacher from Indiana saying the lake is another sign of the end times.Slowly fulfilling themselves? So the end times are going to come not like a shot gun blast but like a soccer game? We should really start listening to this previously unknown man from previously unknown Knox, Indiana.
"I'm not saying that this Texas lake is these scriptures in Revelation but what I am saying is the Bible prophecies are slowly fulfilling themselves in the midst of an end time revelation – that we need to be right, we need to be saved, we need to be born again and ready to meet the coming king," said Paul Begley of Community Gospel Baptist Church in Knox.
So that is it. End times prophecies coming to pass. There can be no other explanation as to why this lake turned red and all the fish died.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Inland Fisheries officials said the water's color is the result of Chromatiaceae bacteria, according to Live Science.Oh come now. You expect me to believe that this can be explained away by science? This is one of the signs or seals or whatever the fuck. Science and it's zany explanations.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Christian people of America. Be proud.